Ophidian Vale (IC)

The Desecrate smiled. "You know it"

He was massive enough to fly into the air, grab Crystal with his limbs and carry her to the top of the Spire, throwing her onto the top. "Mistress" he said. Naloma was surprised by the suddenness.
"I found this one out lurking" he said. "Thank you Deialur" she replied. "Who are you and what are you doing here?!"

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"Thank you" Cain said smiling. "It's saved me a great deal of times, calming dragons who try to attack me and stops them from fighting" he added. He liked this dragoness, she'd make a good friend. She had powers of calming and peacefulness, a bit like his. His most often used power, the MoonEye...

Crystal stared into Naloma's burning eyes and took a few steps back. She considered making a run for it, but she had no idea what this dragoness was capable of. Worst of all, she couldn't fight back. "My name is Crystal." she reluctantly answered. "And I'm kinda... lost." There was no way that she was going to tell Naloma the full truth. Her eyes darted back and forth across the Spire, wondering if there was any means to escape.

"Fighting?" Dillusia asked, confused. "Who is fighting? I fight nightmares sometimes."

She sat up straight, with her tail curled around her front paws. She was clearly expecting a story.

Cain looked into her eyes. "Well, I don't like to fight, at all. I hate it with a passion. But I... I had to kill my adopted brother when he tried to kill my mother and my mentor Anikus. My cousin was helping him, but my eyes stopped her... It was hard, Anikus was trying to become a Hallow and then he would turn into a Desecrate. I couldn't let it happen..." he said.

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Naloma looked at Crystal, she made a face that suggested a lifting eyebrow, though she had none. "Really? Well, where exactly are you planning to go?"

Suddenly, a voice sounded from the trees, "Leave her alone!" the voice of a very young dragon, perhaps only a few years older than a hatchling, rang out. The little white dragon Albus, his golden markings glowing brightly, burst from the forest, looking both foolish, and like a prince from the desert at the same time. He charged out and stood between Crystal and the strange black dragon, Naloma, "Don't you threaten her!" He yelled, the air around him rippling as heat radiated from his scales. In reality, Albus had no clue what was happening, he had just gotten worried about Tenebris and come looking for him. Instead, he found himself standing before a scary dragoness trying to protect a poor dragon he didn't know. Although the little white dragon was baring his teeth, and trying to look fierce, he was shaking with fear. However, as foolish as his behavior was, he was still being very courageous.

"It's a wonder how a little dragon such as yourself managed to fly so high up into this tower" Naloma sneered. She was amused by Albus, yet curious as to how he got there. "I never said I was going to hurt her, little one. But I do want to know what her business is..."

"Sal, do you know either of these dragons?" Naloma asked Sal.

"Home. Well... after I find my friend." Crystal replied, trying to sound causal as possible. Looking up at the sky, she wondered how far away she was from her world. Planets? Stars? Maybe even galaxies? She wondered if Naloma believed in aliens, but quickly pushed that thought away. Suddenly, a little white dragon burst between the two. Was he trying to protect her? This warmed Crystal's heart, causing a slight smile to appear. But reality crashed back into her face; a large, mean, evil dragoness was looming in front of her, possibly going to hurt both Crystal and the adorable little stranger... or worse. Her instincts took over and she spread one of her wings to cover Albus, trying to keep him out of harm's way.

Sal kind of stared at Albus a moment like someone who sees an angry squirrel barring its teeth and hissing. He turned his head to the side, and then back again, trying to figure out exactly what to do here. On one hand, these little dragons were becoming annoying and Sal had become really hungry while fighting off that storm earlier. Though, on the other hand, Sal had just met this Naloma character, and wasn't exactly going to waste his energy fighting for a cause that he had just now heard about. At this point, Sal was in it for the curiosity and the money; hopefully this Naloma would offer him some kind of reward for assisting her, whether it be in land or power. So, Sal simply shrugged and sat back on his haunches.

"Never seen them before in my life." he said "Though this one's looking particularly comical. He reminds me of a pet parrot I once had; small, angry, an wouldn't shut up".

Naloma burst out laughing, nearly as hard as she could. When she was done she looked back up at them. "Do you need me to point out that your surrounded by undead dragons?" she smirked gesturing to all of the dragons hanging on the sides of the tower and circling in the skies above and around.

"Not to mention that I myself am quite harm to kill, seeing that I've been resurrected from the dead twice" she giggled. Naloma looked at Sal. "I see... Now, onto business. Will you be staying here?" she asked Crystal.

Crystal's expression turned sour. She didn't like being laughed at, nor did she like her friends being insulted. After the little stranger's courageous attempt to stand up for her, she had become a bit attached to him and therefore considers him her friend. She pulled Albus closer to her and looked up at Naloma.

"Stay here? In this dry, forgotten land, give my soul to evil, and be slaughtered when I'm no longer of use to you? Hmmm... I dunno... it's awfully tempting." she replied. Her main concern was whether or not Naloma took prisoners, and keeping everyone alive.

"I'm sorry?" Sal shivered visibly, and took half a step back away from Naloma, freaked out from this statement. He began to wonder whether or not he should take the money and work for this dragoness or run like a bat out of Hell. But, he figured that running would mean death, so he decided to stay around. Instead of running, Sal simply sat back on his rear and began to preen his featherlike scales, picking out small ice balls and insects which gathered there during the storm. He preened his scaly feathers for quite a bit, and then sat back to watch the fireworks.

Harroc turned and walked away. He was thinking. Thinking about his statement from before. About how he would keep unneeded destruction from occurring and how that was a hypocritical statement. He knew nothing about this world. Not its language, not it's residents, not the power it possessed. He had been here a week, and hadn't even scratched the surface of what he could learn.

Soon, he came upon a beach. The one he had arrived from. He had not gone far from the water, as it sported so much to learn from.

But he could learn somewhere else. A place that could give him time to learn to combat the threat.

A storm(1) was coming. To large to be avoided. And it was coming too fast. He needed time. And where he was, he didn't have it.

There was only one thing he could do. He was not abandoning the cause he said he would fight for, but currently, he would serve little use.

So, he backed away from the water, to where he was next to the forest's edge. He dove down, and took a massive pile of sand from the ground, and ingested it. He looked directly at the water, and ran to it.

His body began to glow a brighter color, growing brighter rapidly. By the time he reached the water, he was bright white with heat. He jumped, sailing over the water for a few seconds, before bursting into a fireball of flames. So hot that it kept rising and rising. The roar of the flames was loud. The sound of pure power and energy at it's most primal. The sound could be heard for miles around.

And he was gone.

A/N:
1-Think Batman movie storm.

Albus just growled at Naloma, "You big bully, you think you've got Death beat, don't you?" He hissed, meeting her bright red eyes with his own deep blue ones. Although he was still shaking, a fierce light had crept into his eyes, and the golden markings on his body were beginning to glow. Although he was scared, he also began to feel very angry. "We'll see, just wait and see." He spat, "I'm not going to fight you, because I know I only have one life to live, while you treat the one that you lost as though you still had it. Death already took it, twice, and it'll find you again. You could be flying outside and get struck by lightning, or maybe a chunk of hail hits you in the head and snaps your neck. Either way, Death will come for all of us, and don't you act like it won't, because your fate already determines it from the moment you're born." Although Albus was a little kid, he had a surprisingly good grasp of more complex subjects. He knew this dragoness was no longer alive. Maybe she had been a good dragon when she was born, but now she was an undead shell, no longer whoever she had once been. "Even if you kill me, the consequences of it would ruin you."

Flower finally opened her eyes, feeling rested and not quite as sick. She stood up and shook some of the dirt off of her scales. Then sat on her haunches. She looked towards Dillusia and Cain, and now that she could think much more clearly, decided to try to join in on their conversation.

"Erm... Hello." It was a simple statement, but it should get their attention, and hopefully, they're friendly. If they weren't, well, she could always try running, right?

Naloma laughed more. "Death? Beat it? You have no idea, little one!" she growled. "I might die again and again, a million times more. But in the end someone will always resurrect me. I have followers spread all over the world now, thanks to the power of Shadow..." she said, glancing over to Sal and moving closer. "Don't worry, it's not how it sounds. I saw Tharan through The Oracle once, the vision I saw portrayed him enslaving the entire world if we didn't stop him. I am resurrecting someone he once murdered that has the power to stop him"

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Cain, after telling his story, glanced over at Flower. "Hello" he said. "I didn't see you there, who are you?"

Albus just growled a second time, but then his curiosity got the best of him, "Who?" He asked, genuinely confused. "Who's Tharan, what's an Oracle, and who is the dragon you're talking about?" He kept an angry tone in his voice, but now it sounded fake, because he couldn't really maintain a bad temper when he couldn't find the answers to a problem. His brother Tenebris had never mentioned anything about Tharan, or an Oracle. He also started to suspect that maybe his brother didn't want him to know, or maybe Tenebris just really never cared enough to look into it. "Well, I don't approve of reviving the dead, but I guess I can't really ask anyone else. Nobody ever tells me anything, I always find out at the last minute." He huffed something else under his breath, which was very quiet, "Great, now I've done something stupid again."

Sal rolled onto his feet, and began to circle Albus like a lion circling a dying zebra. He was really more perplexed than angered by this little white dragon, though he wasn't exactly pleased by its presence. This dragon had a lot of bark, but seemingly no bite. However, it made him chuckle, so Sal decided to entertain the little white dragon with a scrap of information.

"Tharan is a Hallow." he began "I know almost nothing about him besides that, but he's one of those dragons you don't mess with without an entire army. I'm guessing Naloma here wants to get rid of him before he can foil her ambiguous evil plot of evil". he then turned to Naloma "What should we do with this kid?" he asked "Because I just got here and I don't feel like killing some little kid with a big mouth before I even know who I'm fighting for".

"Leave him be" Naloma said. "He's just a little overconfident, like most children... As for what we're fighting for... My answer, is the freedom of all dragon-kind" she said, turning finally to Albus. "I am about to revive Shadow, an enemy Tharan fought long ago before the Ancients took over and were destroyed"

Albus, upon hearing this, stopped trying to look angry, and scratched behind one of his horns with a paw, confused, "I wish I knew more history. I know a lot of things about reading, math, and science, but nothing about other dragons. I don't even know what a Hallow is, but I guess they're not normal dragons." Unfortunately for the little white dragon, he just didn't have much of a sense of anger or hatred to drive him. He was too naive to really understand what was happening, and he truly didn't wish to fight anyone. He didn't know how anyone would enjoy coming back to life, only to die again, but at the same time, he had never done that himself, so he couldn't really know. "Do Hallows bring the dead back to life? I don't know how that works, but I guess it takes a lot of magic to do that, especially if you're trying to bring a Hallow back. It kind of makes sense, sort of..." He drifted off, not entirely sure if the part where it made sense was true or not.

"Well, that is actually one of the things they are renown for. Necromancy, although the necromancy they use is evil. The type I use will restore said dead person back to originality, their personality and soul, mind, spirits--all intact. Tharan will raise bodies from the dead, without souls at all. They are monstrous, mutant, flesh-eating creatures" Naloma said, cringing slightly. She looked over to Sal. "And Sal, when everyone is gone... I want to speak to you alone, alright?"

Albus frowned, "Well, I guess that would explain everything, nobody actually looks or behaves like they were dead once..." He said, sitting down and folding his wings. When he did this, he sometimes looked like something that would have been drawn on hieroglyphics in desert pyramids. It was also a small wonder that he was also hatched in the desert, although he was not sure where his parents had gone. Days later, Tenebris had found Albus and promised to be his big brother, as loyal as though they were related by blood. Tenebris always kept his promises, even though he was a thief, there was a sense of honor. "Sorry, then, that I said all of that." The little white dragon said, his wings drooping slightly, as though they were the withering branches of a golden tree.

Naloma smiled, both darkly and kindly. "It's fine. Now, what is your name, little one?" she asked. A few thunderbolts boomed above. Just above the tower was a vortex of black clouds which would be the only entrance This was the entrance to the spirit worlds such as The Vault and would be used on the night of the Black Eclipse, similar to what resurrected the Celestials in Keros.

Crystal glared at Naloma with suspicion. "Fine, I'll stay... for now. But don't think I trust you, because I don't. I'll choose sides once I understand the situation better. After all, there has to be some history to all this, doesn't there?" Upon saying this, she lay down on her belly and folded her wings. She placed her right paw over the left one as if waiting for something to happen. She stared upwards at the black vortex and frowned. Her indigo crest softly blew backwards from the power that the vortex above was exhaling. She didn't know what that thing was, and she wasn't very eager to find out. "So, what are you going to do with us?" she asked in a casual, yet questioning way, as if expecting punishment from her accusing words earlier.

Albus was vaguely alarmed by being asked his name, but seeing as Naloma was no longer openly threatening him, and the fact that he was surrounded by an undead army, he knew he had no choice, although his brother was probably going to kill him for it, "My name is Albus." He said. His name, he knew, meant 'White.' He glanced upward at the sound of thunder, "Is a storm coming?" He asked, distracted. Although he never said it, Albus was terrified of thunder. Lightning was interesting, but the sound it made was scary. "I hate thunder, if my brother finds out I was running around during a storm, he'll throw a fit."

"Albus..." Naloma repeated. "Don't worry, the thunder is not like the kind you find in the storm. It's there simply to... ward off evil. And..." Naloma said turning to Crystal. "I am gathering as many dragons as I can to fight against Tharan or to at least help me gather other dragons. I need as many people as I can get if we're going to take him down and stop his plans from succeeding in being fulfilled"