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Description
Acceptance III: A Chosen Destiny

I run
And the silence splits me open
I run
And it puts me underground
But there's no regret
And no roads left to run
-from “No Roads Left” by Linkin Park

My tail went for ValinHorn’s face but was blocked as Valin calmly put his tail blade in front. I then jumped at his tail blade and he aimed for my face with his tail blade. I ducked and rolled over and jumped at the base of Valin’s tail. He jumped away but I was able to cut a long slash on his tail. I ducked again as his tail blade came for my head.

As the tail blade went over my head, I was able to see Valin turn around and look at me. I looked into his eyes and saw a deep seated pity that I didn’t bother to think over. I didn’t bother to think about it as I jumped right at him and fell down on my face. Turning my head a little, I could see that Lina had managed to scratch Perfida’s face. I turned back to Valin and hissed, “Ocelot against tiger. Your daemon won’t last forever.”

I rolled over as Valin lunged at me and waited until the last second to turn onto my back and scratch his belly. While that happened, he managed to step on my tail with one foot and I held back a yelp. As he cleared me, I tested my tail and felt that it’d still be able to move a little. I turned over and stood up to face Valin coming back at me. I saw him stumble and knew Perfida had made a successful attack. I put one of my claws up, muttered a few words, and Valin smashed into an invisible wall. I jumped onto his back while he was dazed, but he managed to shake me off with little trouble. I grinned as I had still been able to give him a scar or two for my troubles.

I tried for another jump on his back, but then I had to dodge a waterball that ended up grazing one of my wings making it numb and wet. I started muttering a spell to heal my wing but then had to move as Valin went after my good wing. I ran to the edge of the meadow and managed to pull a tree out and throw it at Valin. Valin, though, just sliced through it easily with his tail blade and the sides fell harmlessly to the ground. Suddenly he was pushed down to the ground and I felt the bottom of my neck hurting.

I stood up warily and muttered a few words to protect myself from another waterball. I took up another tree and turned it into a stake and threw it at Valin. He was able to hit it elsewhere with his tail blade. It ended up landing right in front of Lina so she couldn’t attack Perfida’s neck again. I smiled as Valin roared and I ran at him while I created many little fireballs around me. He did the same, but with waterballs, and our “shields” were the first to crash and we were thrown a few feet away from each other.

My whole body felt numb and wet. Looking over at Valin I smiled as he was burnt all over, albeit slightly. He jumped up and went up into the sky. He circled around me and I felt helpless since one of my wings was useless. Hissing, I muttered a spell that would make me float. It’d make me float, but some of my much needed speed would be lost.

I barely dodged Valin as he came at me, but was able to do a little damage to one of his wings with my injured tail. He roared as he managed to chop off the tip of my tail with his tail blade. I roared in defiance as I went as quickly as I could towards him. He was able to dodge me easily and rip my injured wing. I turned and we held each other’s claws. It was like how lovers would clasp each other’s hand. But we gripped each other until the other’s claw was bleeding and then went quickly away from each other.

I held my claw up and a ghostly image of ValinHorn formed from the blood that was dripping from my claw. Valin roared and Blood Valin roared in the same way. Each went for the other and each attacked the other the same way. I was pretty sure that Valin would win against Blood Valin. Most Bloods would be beaten and only the strongest Bloods could win against a dragon. Mine was a normal Blood and so I used Valin and Blood Valin’s fight to heal my wing and my tail, though I couldn’t heal the tip right then.

Suddenly Blood Valin exploded and, at that exact moment, I raced at Valin and sent a fireball at one of his wings. His tail blade made a pass at my head and he was able to dodge the fireball. His tail blade was pulled back slightly, but enough for me to dodge it, and I knew Perfida had succeeded in one of her attacks. I roared my approval as I slammed into Valin. After a few moments we were embracing each other and his tail blade was trying to hack off my tail. Luckily enough, I was able to stop it by a weak shield spell.

We each went for the other’s neck and I felt the wind beneath me and knew we were both headed quickly to the ground. I tried, in vain, to be on top but I wasn’t able to. I felt the ground embracing me and paralyzing me for a few seconds. In the time it took me to recover my senses, Valin had come to stand like he had won the fight and was patiently waiting for me to acknowledge that fact. I was a Sunset Maker, I would not bow down before a John Connor dragon!

I wearily stood up as I saw Lina and Perfida had both ended their fighting as they looked at me. “So, Cassius-Raphael, will you now come with me peacefully?” Valin asked calmly as though nothing had happened.

“I…” And then with a burst of energy gathered, with help from Perfida, I let loose a blast of mental energy that paralyzed both Lina and Valin. I breathed hard and then walked over to the paralyzed form of Valin. “Think not, ValinHorn.”

For the first time I saw fear deep in Valin’s eyes. I was glad and revealed in it while I was scared by that fear. I wanted to kill him now but the confusion in my own mind stopped me. I knew that if he was let loose he’d attack me again, at least I thought so. Perfida rubbed up against my front legs and purred. I closed my eyes and took in her reassurance.

Valin said with his mind, the only way he was now able to talk.

“Free me?” I growled. “You think I don’t like my chosen profession?”

The silence along with his pitying look made me look into myself. I felt compelled to let him win this battle, to finally abandon secrecy. I would become a jeweler and wouldn’t have to worry about any side jobs. But I highly enjoyed the blood and screams of the dying. “I’m sorry, but I am an assassin.” I said. “You were a worthy opponent, though.”

Valin asked.

“Of course I have honor.” I replied. “But it is not your kind of honor.”

Valin replied and I shook my head.

“My honor is in the killing and doing a job to please my clan.” I said. “Your honor is for the ‘betterment’ of Nessus and all of its inhabitants.” I put a claw on his face. “It’ll feel so good to kill you after the fight you gave me.”

< I know what it’s like to want to do evil. > Valin said. < But, in the end, it isn’t worth it. It isn’t worth the thrill in the end. >

I put my claw on his face and muttered a few words and then both he and Lina went into a deathly sleep. I closed my own eyes and tried to think. If Valin hadn’t mentioned he hadn’t been good in the beginning, I would have killed him. It was in no way because I suddenly saw him as a comrade, it was because I had something to use against him. In the long run, I knew, the ability to control was more important than the ability to kill. In that one second I knew I had grown and no longer had a hatchling’s mind, but the mind of an adult dragon.

“We will let him live.” I said and smiled. “For having a John Connor dragon under our control could prove important in the coming future. But it will ruin the fun if he remembers his original mission and knowledge.”

I placed my nose on ValinHorn’s forehead and breathed forgetfulness into his mind. I made it seem sweet to his mind so that he would invite it without knowing why. I made him forget all about what he had learned about me so that he would report to the rest of John Connor’s dragon that the report had been false.

After that was finished, and I had quit looking at ValinHorn, Perfida jumped onto my back and I took off. I flew quickly away from the battlefield. Valin would wake up within the hour and I had to be far away. The wind underneath my wing seemed to call me back towards Valin and towards Valin’s justice. I shook my head, there was no confusion in my mind. The only thing in my mind was how proud Jesse-Dali would be after I told her the heartwarming story of my defeat of Valin, at least heartwarming to a Sunset Maker. A heartwarming story for my clans.

The day was drawing to a close when I reached the border of Ithor and Ravenna. I stared into the wilderness of Ravenna. I roared in delight as a familiar Magi Dragon, with her Pine Marten daemon on her back, flew towards me and Perfida. She roared as her orange form flew towards us. Her Pine Marten climbed up the webbed crest as she then flew beside me.

“It’s good to see you, Jesse-Dali.” I said and then looked at her daemon and smirked. “And it’s also good to see you, Grey. I am glad to see any Sunset Maker now.”

“Cassius-Raphael, did you really defeat ValinHorn or is he going to chase us?” Jesse asked with an edge to her voice. “You look injured. We can land a few miles from here and no one will notice our presence.”

I nodded and we landed after a few minutes. Perfida jumped down and met Grey as he also jumped off of Jesse. I felt an added cruelness coming from Perfida and that Grey liked the change. Jesse then gave me a very thorough search for any and all injuries. “So you killed ValinHorn or not?” Jesse asked after she had examined and healed me.

“I didn’t kill him.” I said and smiled at Jesse’s reaction on her dragon’s face. I was the only member outside of the Dali clan to have seen her in her dragon form. Being a Magi Dragon, she could have easily shielded herself from my eyes. “I found out that he might have some stains on his records and chose, instead, to erase some of his memories so I can use him later. Of course I will find out his whole past to fully control him.”

Jesse grinned cruelly at me. “And you said you had nothing to offer the Sunset Makers.”

I grinned the same way back at her. “That was before my trial with ValinHorn.” I replied. “I’ve also seen the need for our secrecy. Or at least mine. If I don’t keep my own secrecy Valin will become useless to me.”

“Of course you need to satisfy your own needs to see the needs of your clan.” Jesse replied. “And have you decided on your specialty?”

I closed my eyes and the blood coming from my claw earlier turned into a ruby. I imagined the night sky and its star as diamonds but the main focus being a big diamond, the moon. I then imagined the setting sun as gold. “Before I tell you,” I told her. “I must ask you to help me destroy any remaining evidence against me.”

“I promise to.” Jesse replied. “You have grown up and you deserve a chance to thrive.”

I bowed to her and picked up a rock. I muttered a few words and it changed. From a grey rock it transformed into a ring big enough to go on a dragon’s claw. It was made up of pure gold with one diamond and many rubies in it. She growled as I handed it to her. “It’s an engagement ring.” She said.

“Something for the humans to talk about.” I said and she let me put it where the ring finger on a human would be. “It will change with your form so you don’t have to ever take it off. Each of the rubies can contain one spell and the diamond will be where you can store some energy for later use.” Now Jesse stared at the ring closely. “My specialty will be in making rings that will transport the wearer to where he or she most fears. But, to make it so it’s hard to detect, the wearer will have to think of the place a certain time each month. Also, when the wearer dies, all the magic will be gone from it.”

“But do you love me?” Jesse asked and there was a long pause as they all waited for my reply.

“I am loyal to the Sunset Makers.” I replied and wouldn’t say anything else and we all watched the sun set and let the sunless night take over the land.

Description
Acceptance III: A Chosen Destiny

I run
And the silence splits me open
I run
And it puts me underground
But there's no regret
And no roads left to run
-from “No Roads Left” by Linkin Park

My tail went for ValinHorn’s face but was blocked as Valin calmly put his tail blade in front. I then jumped at his tail blade and he aimed for my face with his tail blade. I ducked and rolled over and jumped at the base of Valin’s tail. He jumped away but I was able to cut a long slash on his tail. I ducked again as his tail blade came for my head.

As the tail blade went over my head, I was able to see Valin turn around and look at me. I looked into his eyes and saw a deep seated pity that I didn’t bother to think over. I didn’t bother to think about it as I jumped right at him and fell down on my face. Turning my head a little, I could see that Lina had managed to scratch Perfida’s face. I turned back to Valin and hissed, “Ocelot against tiger. Your daemon won’t last forever.”

I rolled over as Valin lunged at me and waited until the last second to turn onto my back and scratch his belly. While that happened, he managed to step on my tail with one foot and I held back a yelp. As he cleared me, I tested my tail and felt that it’d still be able to move a little. I turned over and stood up to face Valin coming back at me. I saw him stumble and knew Perfida had made a successful attack. I put one of my claws up, muttered a few words, and Valin smashed into an invisible wall. I jumped onto his back while he was dazed, but he managed to shake me off with little trouble. I grinned as I had still been able to give him a scar or two for my troubles.

I tried for another jump on his back, but then I had to dodge a waterball that ended up grazing one of my wings making it numb and wet. I started muttering a spell to heal my wing but then had to move as Valin went after my good wing. I ran to the edge of the meadow and managed to pull a tree out and throw it at Valin. Valin, though, just sliced through it easily with his tail blade and the sides fell harmlessly to the ground. Suddenly he was pushed down to the ground and I felt the bottom of my neck hurting.

I stood up warily and muttered a few words to protect myself from another waterball. I took up another tree and turned it into a stake and threw it at Valin. He was able to hit it elsewhere with his tail blade. It ended up landing right in front of Lina so she couldn’t attack Perfida’s neck again. I smiled as Valin roared and I ran at him while I created many little fireballs around me. He did the same, but with waterballs, and our “shields” were the first to crash and we were thrown a few feet away from each other.

My whole body felt numb and wet. Looking over at Valin I smiled as he was burnt all over, albeit slightly. He jumped up and went up into the sky. He circled around me and I felt helpless since one of my wings was useless. Hissing, I muttered a spell that would make me float. It’d make me float, but some of my much needed speed would be lost.

I barely dodged Valin as he came at me, but was able to do a little damage to one of his wings with my injured tail. He roared as he managed to chop off the tip of my tail with his tail blade. I roared in defiance as I went as quickly as I could towards him. He was able to dodge me easily and rip my injured wing. I turned and we held each other’s claws. It was like how lovers would clasp each other’s hand. But we gripped each other until the other’s claw was bleeding and then went quickly away from each other.

I held my claw up and a ghostly image of ValinHorn formed from the blood that was dripping from my claw. Valin roared and Blood Valin roared in the same way. Each went for the other and each attacked the other the same way. I was pretty sure that Valin would win against Blood Valin. Most Bloods would be beaten and only the strongest Bloods could win against a dragon. Mine was a normal Blood and so I used Valin and Blood Valin’s fight to heal my wing and my tail, though I couldn’t heal the tip right then.

Suddenly Blood Valin exploded and, at that exact moment, I raced at Valin and sent a fireball at one of his wings. His tail blade made a pass at my head and he was able to dodge the fireball. His tail blade was pulled back slightly, but enough for me to dodge it, and I knew Perfida had succeeded in one of her attacks. I roared my approval as I slammed into Valin. After a few moments we were embracing each other and his tail blade was trying to hack off my tail. Luckily enough, I was able to stop it by a weak shield spell.

We each went for the other’s neck and I felt the wind beneath me and knew we were both headed quickly to the ground. I tried, in vain, to be on top but I wasn’t able to. I felt the ground embracing me and paralyzing me for a few seconds. In the time it took me to recover my senses, Valin had come to stand like he had won the fight and was patiently waiting for me to acknowledge that fact. I was a Sunset Maker, I would not bow down before a John Connor dragon!

I wearily stood up as I saw Lina and Perfida had both ended their fighting as they looked at me. “So, Cassius-Raphael, will you now come with me peacefully?” Valin asked calmly as though nothing had happened.

“I…” And then with a burst of energy gathered, with help from Perfida, I let loose a blast of mental energy that paralyzed both Lina and Valin. I breathed hard and then walked over to the paralyzed form of Valin. “Think not, ValinHorn.”

For the first time I saw fear deep in Valin’s eyes. I was glad and revealed in it while I was scared by that fear. I wanted to kill him now but the confusion in my own mind stopped me. I knew that if he was let loose he’d attack me again, at least I thought so. Perfida rubbed up against my front legs and purred. I closed my eyes and took in her reassurance.

Valin said with his mind, the only way he was now able to talk.

“Free me?” I growled. “You think I don’t like my chosen profession?”

The silence along with his pitying look made me look into myself. I felt compelled to let him win this battle, to finally abandon secrecy. I would become a jeweler and wouldn’t have to worry about any side jobs. But I highly enjoyed the blood and screams of the dying. “I’m sorry, but I am an assassin.” I said. “You were a worthy opponent, though.”

Valin asked.

“Of course I have honor.” I replied. “But it is not your kind of honor.”

Valin replied and I shook my head.

“My honor is in the killing and doing a job to please my clan.” I said. “Your honor is for the ‘betterment’ of Nessus and all of its inhabitants.” I put a claw on his face. “It’ll feel so good to kill you after the fight you gave me.”

< I know what it’s like to want to do evil. > Valin said. < But, in the end, it isn’t worth it. It isn’t worth the thrill in the end. >

I put my claw on his face and muttered a few words and then both he and Lina went into a deathly sleep. I closed my own eyes and tried to think. If Valin hadn’t mentioned he hadn’t been good in the beginning, I would have killed him. It was in no way because I suddenly saw him as a comrade, it was because I had something to use against him. In the long run, I knew, the ability to control was more important than the ability to kill. In that one second I knew I had grown and no longer had a hatchling’s mind, but the mind of an adult dragon.

“We will let him live.” I said and smiled. “For having a John Connor dragon under our control could prove important in the coming future. But it will ruin the fun if he remembers his original mission and knowledge.”

I placed my nose on ValinHorn’s forehead and breathed forgetfulness into his mind. I made it seem sweet to his mind so that he would invite it without knowing why. I made him forget all about what he had learned about me so that he would report to the rest of John Connor’s dragon that the report had been false.

After that was finished, and I had quit looking at ValinHorn, Perfida jumped onto my back and I took off. I flew quickly away from the battlefield. Valin would wake up within the hour and I had to be far away. The wind underneath my wing seemed to call me back towards Valin and towards Valin’s justice. I shook my head, there was no confusion in my mind. The only thing in my mind was how proud Jesse-Dali would be after I told her the heartwarming story of my defeat of Valin, at least heartwarming to a Sunset Maker. A heartwarming story for my clans.

The day was drawing to a close when I reached the border of Ithor and Ravenna. I stared into the wilderness of Ravenna. I roared in delight as a familiar Magi Dragon, with her Pine Marten daemon on her back, flew towards me and Perfida. She roared as her orange form flew towards us. Her Pine Marten climbed up the webbed crest as she then flew beside me.

“It’s good to see you, Jesse-Dali.” I said and then looked at her daemon and smirked. “And it’s also good to see you, Grey. I am glad to see any Sunset Maker now.”

“Cassius-Raphael, did you really defeat ValinHorn or is he going to chase us?” Jesse asked with an edge to her voice. “You look injured. We can land a few miles from here and no one will notice our presence.”

I nodded and we landed after a few minutes. Perfida jumped down and met Grey as he also jumped off of Jesse. I felt an added cruelness coming from Perfida and that Grey liked the change. Jesse then gave me a very thorough search for any and all injuries. “So you killed ValinHorn or not?” Jesse asked after she had examined and healed me.

“I didn’t kill him.” I said and smiled at Jesse’s reaction on her dragon’s face. I was the only member outside of the Dali clan to have seen her in her dragon form. Being a Magi Dragon, she could have easily shielded herself from my eyes. “I found out that he might have some stains on his records and chose, instead, to erase some of his memories so I can use him later. Of course I will find out his whole past to fully control him.”

Jesse grinned cruelly at me. “And you said you had nothing to offer the Sunset Makers.”

I grinned the same way back at her. “That was before my trial with ValinHorn.” I replied. “I’ve also seen the need for our secrecy. Or at least mine. If I don’t keep my own secrecy Valin will become useless to me.”

“Of course you need to satisfy your own needs to see the needs of your clan.” Jesse replied. “And have you decided on your specialty?”

I closed my eyes and the blood coming from my claw earlier turned into a ruby. I imagined the night sky and its star as diamonds but the main focus being a big diamond, the moon. I then imagined the setting sun as gold. “Before I tell you,” I told her. “I must ask you to help me destroy any remaining evidence against me.”

“I promise to.” Jesse replied. “You have grown up and you deserve a chance to thrive.”

I bowed to her and picked up a rock. I muttered a few words and it changed. From a grey rock it transformed into a ring big enough to go on a dragon’s claw. It was made up of pure gold with one diamond and many rubies in it. She growled as I handed it to her. “It’s an engagement ring.” She said.

“Something for the humans to talk about.” I said and she let me put it where the ring finger on a human would be. “It will change with your form so you don’t have to ever take it off. Each of the rubies can contain one spell and the diamond will be where you can store some energy for later use.” Now Jesse stared at the ring closely. “My specialty will be in making rings that will transport the wearer to where he or she most fears. But, to make it so it’s hard to detect, the wearer will have to think of the place a certain time each month. Also, when the wearer dies, all the magic will be gone from it.”

“But do you love me?” Jesse asked and there was a long pause as they all waited for my reply.

“I am loyal to the Sunset Makers.” I replied and wouldn’t say anything else and we all watched the sun set and let the sunless night take over the land.