We juked and dodged like mad as the sky literally turned red with
laser blasts. Screaming across the ground *centimeters* above the tops of
sand dunes, we returned fire as best we could. It was like shooting a
squirt gun up into a downpour.
	Rock formations blew apart all around us, sand was melted to
glass, and the air turned almost unbreathable from the heat. Passing under
the main body of the enemy fleet, we were almost vaporized by thunderous
volleys from the underside guns of their batt leship line. Empire flitters
swarmed all around us, but they were forced to attack more infrequently
than one might expect, dodging fire from the capital ships high above.
More than one flitter met its end in the grossly misnamed phenomenon known
as friendly fire.
	Firing wildly at an onrushing group of flitters, I managed to
scatter them and we broke through an opening, sailing up and away from our
pursuers behind us. We had passed by the worst of enemy fleet, and
thankfully were no longer in the battleships' fields of fire. As most of
the pursuing flitters broke off, I breathed a brief sigh of relief. The
reprieve was only temporary, however, as I noticed a bizarre Empire
airship had detached from the main group, and was moving towards us at a
speed I had never seen from an airship before.
	The odd craft was the size of two destroyers, twice as wide as it
was long, and looked vaguely like two globes fused together side-by-side.
Several flaring fins jutted out the back, and I could make out turrents of
some sort on the top and bottom of it.
	My attention was drawn to the rear of the airship as it disgorged
several large projectiles. Flame spewed from the rear of those
projectiles, turning them into the oddest missile I had ever seen in my
life. Spinning like a top, the missiles dove all the way to the desert
floor, almost colliding with it, and then climbed high into the sky and
dove again, homing lazily in on our position. I almost casually blasted
them out of the air, nearly losing my grip on my dragon as they detonated
massively, sending huge shockwaves through the air. Regaining my
composure, I fired at this unusual airship, surprised to find my laser was
only chipping away at the thick shell armour of the craft. In the
meantime, the airship had launched more conventional missiles; three
homing missiles resembling tropical fish streaked from the rear of the
craft, and two heavy triangular missiles tore from side launch tubes,
heading in our general direction. We dodged the heavy missiles and shot
the fish-like ones out of the air, and I prompted my dragon to bank right
in behind the craft.
	I had to dodge quickly as six small missiles closed on us from the
direction those heavy missiles had travelled in; the heavy missiles had
broken apart upon missing us, sending these smaller ones back the way they
came. Deciding I'd had enough of this, I fired a steady stream of laser
pulses into the rear of the airship. No sooner had I opened fire than a
long green beam lanced out and struck my dragon. Fearing the worst, I
tried to urge my dragon into a dive. The Kouriheat struggled, but for some
reason we couldn't break free of the beam, which as it turned out wasn't
harming the dragon, merely holding it in place. The two ominous-looking
cannons that were pivoting around to point at us, however, undoubtedly
*would* hurt us, so I fired at the source of the emerald beam. There was a
small explosion, and the beam winked out, releasing us. We dove and banked
just as the other two cannons fired, angry red pulses converging on empty
air.
	Two more of those odd swerving missiles appeared, and an idea
occured to me. Annihilating those missiles and bracing for the shockwave,
we juked and dodged until I noticed another pair appear in their launcher.
I fired everything we had into those missiles before they could launch,
detonating them and blowing the whole rear of the airship off. The
remainder of the craft plummeted to the desert and crashed, sending up a
huge plume of sand as it hit.
	Looking around to make sure there were no additional pursuers, we
shed a little altitude and rocketed northwest, straight towards the
principle cities of the Empire. 

	I walked through the streets of downtown Taveid, a sprawling city
on the edge of the Inner Empire, feeling almost naked without my armour
and blaster. They were waiting for me with my dragon in a cave well
outside the city walls. I was forced to enter the city because of my
dwindling food, water, and Feska essence supply; the first two seemed to
exist only on farms in this region, which were under heavy guard this
close to the front lines. Upon approaching the city gates, I had been
challenged to name the fifth Emperor and had responded with the only
Emperor's name I knew. Fate once more smiled on me as that had proven to
be correct, and I was allowed into the city.
	I had sold the body of a Kanta ray, one I had killed on the
outskirts of Ceero just prior to crossing over into the Eastern Continent,
getting a less-than-fair price for it, but more than enough to purchase
what I needed. After buying a sack of Feska essence at the alchemist's
table at the market, I treated myself to a well-prepared meal of Kanta
steak. Refreshed, I refilled my canteens at a public font and now returned
to the marketplace in search of some nonperishable food supplies.
	Perusing the tables, I was sorely tempted by some
delicious-smelling pastries at an old lady's table, but settled on the
more nutritious - if not exactly appetizing - choice of preserved Marlack
meat.
	It had been quite some time since I last experienced the
hustle-and-bustle of life amongst humans... almost two months now... I
felt a twinge of nostalgia, an urge to simply take up residence here,
maybe start a farm... live out my days in peace.
	I shook my head, dissolving those thoughts; they were a luxury I
couldn't afford. I had chosen to fight the black dragon, and I owed it to
myself, my Kouriheatan friend, and our two species to see it through to
the end. I was so engrossed in my musings that by the time I looked up, I
was totally lost. The sun drifted low in the western sky, and I tried to
get my bearings.
	At that moment, no fewer than six large men strode onto the
deserted street where I stood. Warning bells went off in my head; these
people didn't seem like the type to want to chat. It was at that moment I
noticed the uniforms they wore; Imperial Civil S ecurity.
	"There's a curfew," the first one told me. "No people on the
streets after sunset."
	"But the sun's still up." I protested, not liking the looks I got
from some of them.
	"So?" the first one asked. "But seeing how this is your first
offence, *right*?" I nodded, vaguely wondering what the penalty was for
blowing up enough Empire airships to conquer a small continent. "Well,
then, we might let you off... with a little *persuasion*." The others
gave murmurs of assent, eyeing me evilly.
	"I don't have any money," I replied cautiously, taking a step
backwards. "I spent it all in the market today."
	"In that case, we're going to have to deal with you." one of the
others said, cracking his knuckles. I set myself for a fight, but then
felt a presence closing on my location. I heard several shouts of panic
and smiled grimly.
	"Before you do that, you might want to look behind you." I said
smugly. They all laughed at me, telling me they were too smart to fall for
that one. One of them, however, did glance over his shoulder, doing an
astonished double-take and alerting his comrades as he saw what was
hovering behind him.
	My Kouriheatan friend let out the most hideous, formidable,
bloodcurdling scream I had ever heard him utter mere centimeters from
these thugs' faces, the sheer volume of it shaking the ground and rattling
the walls of the nearby houses. Two of them fainted right there, while
the rest tripped over themselves in an effort to get away, running like
crazy when they were free. I didn't stop laughing until they were well
into the distance. Walking up to where my dragon had landed, I patted it
on its armoured neck. "Thanks." I said, still shaking my head. The
Kouriheat let out an amused chirp as I donned my armour, obviously
enjoying this as much as I was. After a moment we took off with the
setting sun to our backs, leaving behind a confused city garrison and six
Imperial guards who would think twice before assaulting anyone ever
again... 

	The towering marble walls of Genos, the capital city of the
Empire, loomed before us. The entire city was inhabited by highly-screened
servants of the Emperor, who did everything from attending the Emperor's
sometimes extravagant wishes to polishing the marble walls, streets, and
buildings of the city every other day. That we had managed to get this
close to the city was an indication of just how much of the Empire's might
had been sent to crush Mechania; normally, the sky over Genos would be
filled with dozens of battleships, over a hunderd destroyers, and the
Emperor's personal flagship. Now, although the mighty flagship still cast
a shadow over the Imperial Palace, its escort fleet was barely larger than
the one I had defeated at the Mechanian crash site back in the desert.
	I was surprised as my dragon banked up and over the city wall,
flying extremely low down a side street, cutting under clotheslines as we
drifted down the surprisingly wide road. Below us, people pointed up and
scattered, and cries of panic could be heard everywhere. Nevertheless, we
drove on towards the Imperial Palace as I kept a nervous eye on the
flagship, half expecting it to start bombarding us at any moment. That did
not happen, and we shot up the steep wall of the palace, flying into the
Emperor's expansive throne room. I was shocked to see the black dragon
sitting in front of the Emperor and raised my cannon to fire, but the blue
dragon urged me not to. Reluctantly, I lowered the weapon as we drifted to
a landing near the two of them.
	"So you did come," the Emperor said to me. He turned to the black
dragon. "It seems you were correct, after all." The black dragon merely
grunted in response, turning on me with a look so hateful it shocked and
terrified me, but only for a moment.
	"My young friend, why do you oppose us?" the Emperor asked me.
"Once we have crushed the Mechanians, there will be peace. As allies, we
would be a poten..."
	"*You* attacked *us*," I reminded him. "And I'm not sure peace is
worth the price of your rule."
	The Emperor's tone became angry. "We attacked you because you
assaulted the black dragon, *unprovoked*, outside the Mechanian crash
si..."
	"That's a lie!" I shouted. The Emperor held up a hand to silence
me, and despite my anger, I decided to hear him out.
	"It doesn't matter; what's done is done. I say we make a new
beginning. Together, we can maintain order all over the globe. Humanity
can prosper again," I gasped. "Yes, that's right, I too know of the
history of mankind. I believe we can return to that world, a world where
human and Kouriheat live on equal terms."
	I wanted so much to believe him... "But what of the black dragon?"
I shot back, pointing at it. "What is its role in this?"
	"The black dragon is our ally in pea..."
	I snorted a laugh. "You are a fool! The black dragon desires only
the destruction of humanity. You may have seen humanity's past, but have
you seen the black dragon's? If you had, you would understand that it
believes there can be no reconciliation with humanity, and even
subservience wouldn't be tolerated. No, what the black dragon desires is
genocide, and if you were any kind of a leader, you'd order your war
fleets to turn on *that*!" I finished, pointing at the black dragon.
	The black dragon screeched at me, and I felt its considerable
psychic powers reach out and seize my mind. I was flooded with countless
images of humans killing and slaying Kouriheat. The deluge was more than I
could handle; my heart pounded and my breath caught, and I felt myself
slipping away. Then a more familiar force intervened, shutting out those
images. I held my chest, gasping for air; that was another one I owed the
blue dragon.
	"I see," the Emperor replied emotionlessly. "I don't think we have
anything further to discuss... wait, what are you doing?! NOO..."
	The Emperor's scream was cut off as the mammoth tail of the black
dragon came down on his head, crushing him with a meaty 'thwack!' Eyes
burning, the black dragon turned towards me. "Wh... why?!" was all I could
manage.
	'The seeds of doubt were planted; I could not let him live,' I
heard the black dragon's voice in my mind. Obviously it had had much more
experience in communicating with humans. 'Besides, it was an excuse to do
away with one more human, one of the more vile ones, if I do say so
myself. And now I will deal with you...'
	"Wait!" I pleaded. "Let us talk first! I..." I was cut off as two
guards burst into the throne room.
	"Emperor!" the first one shouted, staring as the mess of bones and
blood on what used to be the throne. He then looked up to me, pointing.
"The blue dragon has killed the Emperor! Sound the alarms!"
	I wondered about the guards' reaction; not only were we across the
room from the Emperor's remains, but a huge red bloodstain was evident on
the black dragon's tail. Then I realized that the black dragon had
manipulated the guards' minds, causing them to see what it wanted them to
see. Deciding it would be best not to be caught underneath the flagship of
an Empire whose Emperor you were charged with murdering, I urged my dragon
to fly out of the open throne room, diving alongside the palace walls and
sticking close to the rooftops as we fled the city. 

	Shaking the Empire's pursuit fleet had not been easy; cut off from
returning west we turned east, finally losing them over the Panean Sea.
Panea stretched across the horizon, an Imperial domain, to be sure, but
hopefully not a well-armed one. I cursed th e latest turn of events; if
Empire forces were hostile before, they'd be positively ruthless with us
now. I could almost picture the black dragon chortling back in the throne
room; once more it had successfully manipulated the pathetic humans into
doing a ll its work for it. The situation was so ironic it was ludicrous;
the black dragon was humanity's greatest threat, and we were mankind's
best hope, and the black dragon had just tricked a good chunk of humanity
into attacking us for it. Reasoning with it was seeming less and less
likely...
	A thought occured to me. Perhaps after reputedly killing the
leader of their enemy, Mechania would become our ally. Frowning, I
dismissed that idea; Mechanians only tolerated total servitude, and
besides, they weren't the type of allies we needed. Feeling as if the
whole world had turned against me and my dragon, we pressed on to Panea,
hoping to perhaps somehow to draw the black dragon to us... 

	"It's hopeless..." I lamented, tossing a clump of dirt into the
Feska fire, watching it disintegrate. "The black dragon will hang around
Genos and we'll never be able to get within a thousand kilometers of it
without forty destroyers crawling all over us."
	The blue dragon did nothing, simply watching me from where it
rested.
	"And reasoning with it... hah!" I shook my head. "It killed its
closest ally because he *might* possibly become wary of its motives! I
don't think it'll cut us much slack," I looked up at the Kouriheat. "Will
you quit staring at me like that?! I can't help it that we lost... twice.
Weapons failed, reasoning failed... what's left?!"
	The blue dragon still remained silent, just looking at me with
those seemingly human eyes. I felt myself giving in, even though I was
certain it wasn't influencing me. "Oh, all right, I suppose we can give it
another go. What do we have to lose?" No reaction. I shook my head,
chuckling wryly. "Damn, I hate it when you do that..." 

	Panea had not proven hospitable; two days and sixteen downed
airships later, we headed north into the Layan mountains. We were forced
to alter that course, however, as an Empire war fleet came dangerously
close to spotting us. Despairing at the ever-incr easing distance between
us and the black dragon, we headed southeast, towards the tropical jungles
of the Thao peninsula. 

	Flying in amongst the trees of the forest, just scant meters above
the underbrush, I was reminded of the last time we flew through such a
forest; hopefully we would have better luck this time. 

	I believe those were my exact thoughts as we soared into a slight
clearing and stumbled on a rather large Marlack den. 

	Firing wildly at several Marlack as they attempted to bat us out
of the air, we banked left and were about to climb above the treetops when
we spotted it.
	Four Empire destroyers escorted a huge warship, its size rivalling
the flagship's. It wasn't anywhere near as large as the crashed Mechanian
ship, but its odd shape seemed to be that of two ships grafted onto each
other. Deciding I'd rather deal with the ferocious but none too bright
Marlack than an unknown Empire ship, we refrained from climbing as I
turned to fire at my foes.
	I gasped in horror as a Marlack queen tore through the jungle
behind us, bowling over trees as if they were twigs. The queen resembled a
shell-covered catlike creature, with an almost feline face, scorpion-like
tail, and lobster-like claws. Screeching like a banshee, it quickly
gained on us as we were forced to dodge and weave in amongst the trees.
Just when I thought it would run us down it leapt completely clear of the
forest, landing in front of us and turning to swat us out of the air.
	Diving suicidally, we barely ducked underneath its massive claw,
my dragon's underbelly scraping against the underbrush. I fired steadily
into the queen's front, side, and then back, but only seemed to be having
moderate success.
	The queen turned and leapt once more and I braced myself.
Suddenly, several pink objects fell from the sky, hit the ground, and
blossomed open. I only had one second to recognize them as the biggest
Feska fireflower blossoms I had ever seen in my life, and only one more
second turn urge my dragon into a sharp bank before those blossoms shot
huge streamers of flame into the air, as was their natural defense. It
appeared this particular queen was no stranger to strategy.
	Blasting away as the queen finally hit the ground, I manged to
sever its left arm. Screaming in pain, the queen tried to swat us with its
tail, but we dodged easily. Firing crazily, I made what would have been,
in other circumstances, a fatal mistake.
	Three Marlack leapt at us from the bushes all around us. We had no
time to dodge. However, before they could hit us, red fire from above
vaporized them, and the queen as well.
	Looking up, I saw the Empire task force we had been trying to
elude, raining fire down on the general area. They hadn't exactly spotted
us, but knew we were in the area and were trying to flush us out. Unsure
whether to be thankful or not, I urged us north, dodging laser blasts and
exploding trees as we eventually wound our way out of their fields of
fire.

	Setting down on a towering cliff, I looked to the east; the entire
horizon held a seemingly endless sea. As the sun set behind us, I slid off
my dragon, gazing despondantly at the ocean below. Our backs were against
the wall - there was nowhere to go but back west now, back into the
veritable hellstorm of Empire ships that had no doubt been deployed to
intercept us.
	My dragon gave a breif screech, gesturing with its head at the
ocean. It took me a moment to interpret what it was saying, and even then
I couldn't believe it.
	"You want us to cross *that*?!" I questioned it disbelievingly,
pointing to the ocean. "That ocean is thousands of kilometers wide! And
even if we did make it, we'd have to cross the Dead Continent and
*another* ocean almost as large to reach Genos! It'd take two weeks at
best!"
	My dragon snorted, shifting its feet impatiently. Would it be any
easier heading back west? They certainly wouldn't expect an attack from
the east... "You better not let me fall off if I go to sleep on your
back." I warned it. The Kouriheat chortled, and we made camp for the
evening. 

	The following afternoon found me in the neutral city of Zhao,
stocking up on supplies and provisions for the long journey. I had spent
the entire morning hunting Kanta rays - basically flying Manta rays - and
managed to secure all the items I thought we would need. After stowing
them in hidden storage sacks in my dragon's armour we took off. For a long
time I stared back west until the land faded into the distance, and we
were completely over the open ocean. 

	We were making good time as the weather apparently decided to
cooperate with us, giving us clear skies and a slight tail wind as well.
Despite the discomfort of sleeping atop a speeding dragon, I was in good
spirits. In three days we had crossed two-thirds of the giant ocean and
were well on our way to the Dead Continent, where at least we could land
and I could have a decent nap.
	It was on the fourth day that I sensed it. An airship, much
smaller than a destroyer, but of a potentially greater threat. 

	An Empire scoutship.

	'What is it doing here?!' I demanded to myself. Cursing my luck and
diving us to the ocean surface, I tried to sense if it had spotted us. It
continued northwest, not in any particular hurry, and I hesitantly
breathed a sigh of relief. If we had been see n or forced to destroy it,
our strategem might have been blown. Wondering what the Empire was doing
this far in the ocean, I remembered the man I had seen aboard the
Mechanian airship. ".... a tower in the ocean where much of our technology
is stored ...."

	A few days later the Dead Continent appeared on the horizon. Far
to the south several volcanoes could be seen spewing ash high into the
air, and mountains lined most of the coastline. After about an hour we
crossed over onto the land; from the looks of i t the land below appeared
to be benign, but my link to my dragon's enhanced senses told me
otherwise. Some distance below the surface I could sense the restless
churning of magma, the straining of continental plates against one
another, the cataclysmic fo rces ready to be released at any moment. The
air in this area smelled of sulphur, and it was pretty obvious we wouldn't
be landing any time soon. 

	Three hours later the blood-red sun rode low in the western sky.
The mountain range had vanished into the distance behind us, although the
smoke from a few active volcanoes was still visible, and below was a
seemingly endless desert. As evening turned in to night we landed amongst
some odd tall rock formations, ducking into a cavern of some sort for
shelter from the wind. After starting a fire and enjoying my first cooked
meal in five days, I curled up to sleep, thankful for solid ground
underneath me. 

	As morning broke rays of sunshine infiltrated our little hobble,
awakening me earlier than I would've liked. Sitting up and stretching, I
got my first good look at our surroundings.
	"What the...?"
	The closest equivalent to where I was now would've been the
crashed Mechanian airship back in the S'rah region. Below me was familiar
sand, but all around and above me were odd walls. Not shell or wood, but a
type of stone I had never seen before. It took me a moment to realize we
were in a man-made building of some sort. All around the inside of the
building I could see worn-down walls and supports. Looking up, I saw a
hole in the ceiling and could make out several floors above this one. I
dashed outside, ignoring my dragon who was apparently just watching me,
and was shocked to discover that the building stretched hundreds of meters
into the air, and was but one of many. The towers had been well worn by
the wind, but aside from the seemingly unnatural hole in the one we had
slept in, appeared to be intact.
	It was at this moment that my dragon lumbered out of the building,
wings spread as it always had them whenever it walked. "What is this
place?" I asked it over the constant noise of the wind.
	At that point I was taken back to three images I had seen in my
past: the gleaming white city, that same city in ruins, and the city
behind the man I had seen aboard the Mechanian airship.
	"This... this is that city? Pacano?" Tapping into my dragon's
senses, I could detect an unbelievably expansive city stretching for
kilometers, all buried deep within the sand. "What happened? How long has
it been?" A number appeared in my mind, but at th at time it held no
meaning for me.
	10786 AD....

	Three days later we passed over the massive Ntairo crater that I
had heard about as a child; many centuries ago a huge rock fell from the
sky, killing the peoples of this continent and shrouding the planet in
darkness for several months. The severe cold killed many, but the sturdy
Feska fireflowers, K'saa trees, and other plant life endured, permitting
our survival. The Northern, Eastern, and Southern continents had their
fair share of deserts and wastelands, but this place was absolutely
desolate. South
 of the Dead Continent was another, the Dark Continent, but no-one ever
went there. The Island Continent was a habitable if slightly desolate
place, but the Ice Continent was home to no human. Islands which dotted
the Eastern Sea occasionally housed humans, but they tended to be small
backwards people of no real significance.
	As we put down for our final night on an Eastern peninsula of the
Dead Continent, I wondered what life here was like before the rock fell...
and before the Ripping... 

	I felt no regrets as we left that depressing, lifeless wasteland
the next morning, bound for the shores of the Northern Continent. We were
making better time than I had expected, and as a result I had more than
enough supplies to keep me going.
	The trip over the Western Sea - called that even though it was to
our east at the moment - was largely uneventful. Civilian airships passed
us by as we neared the rocky coastline. This area, Cerona, had some Empire
influences but was too far west to be considered part of the Empire.
Still, I was wary, scanning the sky frequently for anything that didn't
resemble a fishing airship or transport. Finding nothing we continued
east, over the expansive city of Cerona itself. Several Ceronan destroyers
monitored our progress, keeping their distance but insuring we didn't do
anything untoward to their city. They had no need to fear; I wasn't about
to engage in a fight so long as I could avoid it. 

	I had hoped to remain undetected until we reached Genos; that
hope, however, dissipated as three Empire destroyers spotted us, turned,
and shot away as fast as they could travel. Soaring after them in pursuit
lest they inform the Empire of our location, we managed to down all three
in the waters off of Sasalee. It was at that point that I discovered the
Empire wasn't the only blood enemy we had made.
	From the south came four creatures heading in our direction. It
wasn't until they were almost within sight that I realized what they were. 

	Mechanian Dragoons, mounted on the backs of genetically mutated
Kouriheat. 

	Letting out a cry of what I would describe as anger, my dragon
turned sharply to intercept them. I could understand its feelings; the
Mechanians had taken the blue dragon's brethern and *altered* them against
their will. It was even more sickening than the wholesale slaughter of
Kouriheat that went on in Empire and Neutral territories. Driving hard
towards the Mechanians, my dragon fired first and we climbed, wanting the
higher ground in this battle.
	The four dragoons dodged the seeking blasts from my dragon's
throat, only two of which found their mark on the underbelly of one of the
mutant Kouriheat. Firing at one of the diving dragoons, I missed but made
sure it'd be occupied for a time.
	The dragoon with the wounded mount climbed into view. The mutant
Kouriheat was a sickly-looking version of the dragons I had seen, drab
grey like young Kouriheat and much smaller than legitimate dragons. For a
moment my eyes found its eyes, and I found myself looking at a creature
no more intelligent or sentient than a Kanta ray or a horse. The
Kouriheat's very soul had been drained away, replaced with directives of
total obedience and skills of combat. Feeling some of the rage of my
dragon along with a deep shame I opened fire, laser blasts at first
missing, but then finding a target.
	Blue-white pulse after blue-white pulse tore into the mutant's
hide, and it emitted a weak yelp of pain. One of my blasts severed a wing
and the mutant rolled, bringing the man mounted on it into my line of
fire.
	Up until that point I had never directly killed a man, as in
lining him up and pulling the trigger. I did so now, laser pulses ripping
through his body and sending both rider and mount plummeting lifelessly
through the sky. I felt no joy or sorrow at seeing this, just a sense of
dull acceptance at the way things had developed. Diving to avoid a short
stream of yellow pulses one of the other dragoons fired at me, we swooped
in behind two of them, killing both the humans with short, controlled
bursts. The suddenly riderless Kouriheat flew straight ahead, and I
wondered briefly if they would ever stop.
	I was forced to break from my musings as the final dragoon dived
at us, firing madly. Dodging left the dragoon shot past us, looping back
up before I could get a bead on them. The dragoon soared at us again, and
I noticed this one was different from the others. The rider was a female,
which in itself wasn't unusual, but for some reason her mount responded
much more readily to her commands than any of the others' had. Dodging for
another minute or two we finally got in behind her. I expected my dragon
to fire its homing shots and finish her off, but was taken off guard when
it broke off our pursuit and dove. Why hadn't it fired? Infinitely
perplexed, I looked over my shoulder as the dragoon dove at us again,
firing off a salvo which we barely avoided.
	I fired a steady stream of blue-white pulses at her as she shot
by, but none of them connected as she masterfully dodged them all. We had
to bob and weave a bit as she fired over her shoulder, limiting the
effectiveness of my counterattack. It continued like this for several more
minutes, the two of us using the entire sky from the ocean surface to high
above the clouds in pursuit of one another. I would've had a tremendous
advantage if my dragon would just fire off a beam or two, but its mouth
remained stubbornly shut, so I was going to have to win this battle
myself.
	Aside from the black dragon, this young woman and her mutant
Kouriheat were the biggest threat I had ever faced. Her skill at
dragonriding was at least on par with mine, but she was at a disadvantage;
her mount was a slower, more lethargic, broken-spirited creature who,
while nimble and agile in its own right, wouldn't be able to outfly us for
long.
	Her luck - and her dragon's stamina - ran out as I urged my dragon
into a sharp half-roll and looped violently upwards, changing direction
180 degrees and catching her totally off-guard as we were all of a sudden
headed towards one another. If my dragon had fired at that moment it
would've been all over, but I wasn't depending on it.
	Executing a knife-edged left turn as she shot by we slid in behind
her. I saw her try to bank and dive out of harms way, but it was too late.
I fired several blue-white shots into her armoured chest and midsection,
killing her instantly. Satisfied at the result but perplexed concerning my
dragon's actions, I was surprised as the Kouriheat brought us alongside
the mutant mount, letting out a long, mournful cry as it looked over the
raven-haired young woman's corpse. 

	Confused and somewhat shaken by the events of the morning, I
brought us in for a landing on the rocky shore of the Natalyn peininsula,
just a short distance from Sasalee. Ever since we... ever since I had
killed that female dragonrider a few hours ago my dragon had been morose
and sluggish, and our pace had fallen off considerably. "What was so
significant about that particular dragonrider?" I would ask it, but the
Kouriheat remained maddeningly silent. 

	Three days later the blue dragon seemed to be coming around.
Crossing over onto the mainland we headed north to circumvent the battles
between the Empire and Mechania. The frigid tempuratures combined with our
altitude and velocity chilled me to the bone; I had been born and raised
in the desert, and was unaccustomed to such climates. It didn't seem to be
bothering my dragon so we pressed on, as I tried in vain to surpress the
chattering of my teeth. 

	A day later we came upon a city in the mountains, one I had never
heard of before. Despite its size it had no airships defending it, so I
surmized it to be a neutral city. In fact, on closer inspection, it seemed
to be totally abandoned! Expecting my dragon to maintain its altitude and
pass the seemingly insignificant settlement I was shocked as we dove to
nearly rooftop level, and doubly surprised when the Kouriheat let out a
lamenting howl as we passed over the city's graveyard... 

	Approaching Genos from the north was more tricky than I had
anticipated. Destroyers were stationed at regular intervals, becoming more
and more numerous as we approached the capital. I began to grow worried,
not so much about us being spotted, but rather the size of the
reinforcements the black dragon would be able to summon once we confronted
it. This didn't seem to be deterring my dragon, as it pressed on with what
I can only describe as a type of grim determination.
	The night before the final battle we hid ourselves in a rock
outcropping northeast of Genos, within sight of its gleaming walls and the
towering Imperial Palace. Miraculously we had not been spotted, even
though the sky was now filled with destroyers and battleships, along with
the Emperor's supermassive flagship and a variety of smaller, exotic
airships. On the ground landcrawlers and Land Defenders - large, vaguely
humanoid vehicles with four legs and folding-down rotor blades of a sort -
surrounded th e towering marble walls, which themselves were dotted with
laser cannons. It was the single largest gathering of military might I had
ever seen, and tomorrow we would fly right into the thick of it.
	Throughout the entire night my Kouriheatan friend never once
looked into my eyes, seemingly lost in the steady orange-white glow of the
Feska campfire, which was shielded from the above fleet by an almost
cave-like surrounding of rocks. For lack of anything better to do, I too
stared into the slowly burning plant essence, thinking about the events of
the past few days and the upcoming battle.
	Who was that young woman that my dragon wouldn't directly attack
her but didn't prevent me from killing her? What was significant about the
graveyard in that neutral city? Why were we all of a sudden charging
suicidally into the middle of an Empire fleet when we could have attacked
the black dragon the first time we encountered it in Genos and dealt with
a much smaller force? I still trusted the blue dragon, but that trust had
admittedly be shaken slightly by the Kouriheat's refusal to fire in our
battle with the female dragoon and its continued reluctance to tell me
why. Staring outside at the starry night sky, I watched one of the lesser
moons sink into the horizon, ultimately eclipsed by the menacing
silhouette of the Emperor's flagship... 

	I was awakened from my intermittent and fitful sleep by a soft
jabbing in my midsection. Opening my eyes, I saw the blue dragon gently
poking me with the long Rison horn that jutted out of its head armor.
Sitting up and rubbing my eyes, I looked out the largest hole in our
cave-like shelter, hoping against hope that the Empire fleet had decided
to move off during the night. Sighing as I saw it was still there, I got
to my feet. Morning had not yet broken, but I could see rays of sunlight
glinting off of countless flight hulls, giving the false impression that
hundreds of fireflies hovered over the city, waiting for something.
Waiting for us.
	Stepping out onto a long, sharply sloping rock outcropping, I
regarded the capital as the sun rose behind me and off to my left. I
watched the light travel down the ugly Imperial Palace, ultimately
illuminating the city and the glossy marble walls as the sun climbed above
the horizon. 

	The dawn of a new day.

	Looking down to where my dragon had emerged from our shelter, I
found it staring straight back at me. It emitted a kind of questioning
warble and I nodded once, climbing down from my perch. Moving into the
shelter, I donned my armour for what I hoped would be the last time.
Glancing back at the relative safety of the cave, I picked up my laser
cannon and vaulted onto my dragon's back, and together we took off towards
Genos, towards the heart of the enemy fleet, in search of the black dragon
and an end to this madness...

	As soon as I touched the blue dragon I felt something different
about it. Usually I sensed a sort of underlying passion to defeat the
black dragon, a confidence in our success, and a sort of mutual trust.
Having access to those feelings had always bolstered my resolve, always
increased my will to fight. Now, they were absent, and the emotionlessness
with which the Kouriheat was treating this situation worried me. There was
something else, something I couldn't quite pin down. It was a sort of
pent-up feel ing, as if the Kouriheat had been holding something inside
for a very, very long time, and just now it was in real danger of coming
out.
	Fortunately for us both these feelings - or lack of them - didn't
seem to be affecting the blue dragon's flying, our psychic link, or the
ease with which it responded to my prompts. Flying extremely low and using
rock formations for cover, we managed to get to the edge of the Empire's
landcrawler forces without being spotted. There was no way we would be
able to get to the Imperial Palace without being spotted, not unless those
landcrawler and Land Defender pilots were all asleep, and so, steeling
myself for who-knows how many hours of combat, I strafed a whole
division's worth of landcrawlers as we shot forward, catching roughly
forty-eight of them with my laser and my dragon's homing shots before they
could respond. 

	And respond they did.

	A blanket of yellow and red fire went up all around us as beams
crisscrossed through empty air trying to find us. Banking up and over the
city walls, we avoided their fire while strafing the numerous landcrawlers
that filled the city's streets. We were recieving limited fire from the
fleet above - obviously they had to avoid demolishing their own capital
and decimating their own land forces. It was an advantage, one of the only
ones we had.
	Determined not to be slowed in our approach to the palace lest we
be somehow repelled and forced to retreat, we largely ignored the
hellstorm occuring all around us. We dodged when it didn't interfere with
our approach too much, but other than that we were willing to take a few
shots if we could get at the black dragon. Swooping up the Imperial Palace
as we had before, I sensed several salvos chipping away at the mammoth
building all around us. Soaring into the throne room I spotted the black
dragon and gasped. 

	Someone was riding the black dragon.

	Fire from the outside had stopped; ground forces didn't have us in
their line of sight any more and air forces didn't want to risk killing
the black dragon and vaoprizing the Imperial Palace to get us. I held my
fire as we circled the black dragon and la nded in front of it, making
sure to situate ourselves some distance away from it. For a long moment we
stared at one another; I was shocked to see the other dragonrider - a
redheaded young man no older than myself - had a hatred burning in his
eyes that rivaled the black dragon's.
	"I would speak with you!" I shouted out, unsure of whether the
black dragon or the young man would reply.
	'What reason would I have to talk with you, *human?*' the black
dragon replied telepathically. I was about to reply when I sensed
something; the blue dragon was transmitting thoughts and experiences to
the black dragon much as it had to me on numerous occasions. Although I
only had indirect access to these images, I got the gist of them. First
came images of humans and Kouriheat working together prior to the Ripping,
then the actions of numerous humans who denounced the Tantuk's attack on
the black drago n, followed by - to my surprise - images of the two of us,
the blue dragon and myself, on our pursuit of the black dragon, and of the
bond we had formed.
	"I will never reconcile with you!" The black dragon's rider
screamed, raising a laser cannon of some sort. I was prepared to open fire
when the black dragon whipped the man's laser cannon out of his hands with
its tail, causing him to fall meekly silent. Slowly, I lowered my own
cannon, unsure of what would happen next.
	'Speak your piece, human, but make it short. I weary of the endless
chatter of your species.'
	"Black dragon, I understand your hatred for humanity," I began. "I,
too, am greatly angered and shamed by the actions of my fellow man. But
surely we can find some other solu..."
	'You think your PITY and your SHAME will reciprocate for the loss
my kind has suffered?!' the black dragon shot back. 'You HUMANS are the
source of all this death and destruction. Your removal will end it.'
	"But you are the one behind the destruction now!" I replied. "Are
you no better than those you destroy?"
	'I am defending my people from your merciless onslaught. Did you
not, yourself, once witness a young Kouriheat being slaughtered and do
nothing about it? When you returned home, did you do anything to halt the
butchering of our young?'
	I balked as the black dragon's words struck home. Obviously our
brief link the last time I had visited the Imperial Palace hadn't been
just one-way. "I was wrong," I said finally. "I did not know..."
	'And so ignorance is an excuse? Unacceptable. Thousands of years
ago your kind knew of our deeds to help you, did you *accidentally* allow
that knowledge to slip away? You raised your children to hate and fear us,
to hunt us for sport. Is it any wonder why I desire to be rid of you?'
	"The other Kouriheat seem to think..."
	'The other Kouriheat are fools!' the black dragon shouted mentally,
cutting me off. 'They believe we can return to the old days before the
Ripping, as you call it. Even you must know that is impossible. Undoing
seven thousand years worth of persecution and hatred is impossible.'
	"What of the humans then? Were they not your allies?" I asked,
desperately searching for any point I could make. This dragon had had
seven thousand years to justify its actions to itself. What hope could I
have of convincing it otherwise?
	'You are a changed species,' the black dragon replied. 'It is true
that prior to the Ripping I had many human allies... and even friends...
but... but they are long dead. You are no longer the same type of humans
they were.'
	"We changed once. Could we not change again?"
	'I am not willing to wait the decades, centuries, or millenia it
would take,' the black dragon replied wearily. 'Your people have had a
seemingly endless amount of time to change of their own accord; they have
not done so. Humanity's death is all that will solve this situation.'
	"You're talking about genocide..." I said quietly.
	'How is that any different from what humans visit upon the
Kouriheatan people every day? I tried to work with you... but the endless
bickering and infighting amongst your people... I couldn't get anything
done like that, and in the meantime conditions deteriorated all around
us. Perhaps I may have worsened things with my proclaimation of
Kouriheatan superiority - no matter how true it was - but things were
headed in that direction anyway. Then my ousting by my own people... At
that point I was enraged, but had the Tantuk not hunted me down and
killed me... I would've never acted.'
	"You killed your own people in retaliation against the Tantuk," I
said softly. "Don't you see? You've become what you proclaim to hate; a
killer of Kouriheat."
	I sensed a flare of anger from the black dragon, but it quickly
died away. 'The end will justify the means. You think if I do nothing the
situation will rectify itself? Look around you. Surrounding us is not a
peaceful city, but a base of war. Your people cannot live without
conflict. I intend to give it to them.'
	"We do not all fear the Kouriheat!" I shouted, sensing that the
black dragon's interest in this discussion was waning. "Look at myself and
my Kouriheatan friend! Does this not prove to you that we can live
together?"
	'HAH!' the black dragon barked derisively. 'Even your oh-so-noble
blue dragon here is an example of the subversion of our species, no better
than I am. Do you think it told you the whole story regarding its past?'
	I felt a familiar force seizing my mind, the force of the blue
dragon, trying to tear me away from what the black dragon was saying. The
black dragon wouldn't let me go, and for a few moments I was in
excruciating pain as my mind was the focus of an intense mental
tug-of-war. Finally, the blue dragon released me and I clutched my chest,
gasping for air.
	'You see?' the black dragon asked smugly. 'It fears the truth. Do
you want to know the truth, little human?'
	"*The* truth, or your truth?" I challenged, although I will admit to
some consternation over the blue dragon's actions.
	'The truth, through my own eyes. Even you must know forgeries of
memories are impossible.'
	"Very well." I sensed my dragon cringe at my acceptance; what did
it have to hide? More, had I just irreparably damaged the bond of trust we
had formed?
	'As you may or may not be aware, I am over 11,000 years old by your
calendar. Your *friend* here claims that such a long life has corrupted
me, made me bitter and singleminded. If that is true, then it would hold
that the same applies for the blue dragon , for it is in actuality over
eight thousand years old.'
	I sat back heavily in the armored saddle as images verifiying the
black dragon's words entered my mind. I saw the blue dragon soaring over
the then-vital city of Pacano, I saw it visiting one of the huge
artificial satellites in orbit around Earth aboard a Kouriheatan
starship... these and many other images flooded my mind, and then ceased
suddenly.
	'Do you know the reason the blue dragon, and indeed most Kouriheat,
require dragonriders in order to commit any kind of act of aggression?'
the black dragon asked. 'By nature, most Kouriheat are peaceful creatures.
It is only by tapping into your *hate*, your *anger*, your amorality that
they can bring themselves to kill. Years of being hunted by the humans
removed this restricition from me, as they gave me effective lessons in
how to hate, but your supposed friend still has this constraint. Don't you
see? You, and the countless dragonriders who came before you, are merely
pawns in the blue dragon's obsessive quest to see me die. You are a pawn,
your *father* was a pawn when the blue dragon took the form of a red
dragon, you all toiled under the pretense of saving your species, when
this Kouriheat knew that the very best it could hope to accomplish was a
stalemate, a pause of a few years in the endless clash of two immortals. I
almost pity you foolish humans for throwing your lives away for such a
worthl ess cause. You do not believe me? Fine. See the truth through your
so-called friend's own eyes, and by doing so realize your own blindness
and stupidity.'
	The inky black tendrils of the black dragon's mind-force gripped
me once more, and I saw the blue dragon, riderless and armourless, flying
over the mountains of the northern regions, obviously looking for
something. Far below I could see a figure mounted on a Yuffa dashing
through a rocky crevice being pursued by an almost sandworm-like creature.
Whoever it was led the worm on a merry chase, which nearly ended in
tragedy as the worm leapt out of a snowdrift to attack. The Yuffa rider
was quick, though, and not only managed to dodge but also put several
crossbow shots into the worm's thick hide. I watched the wounded worm
tunnel underneath the snow and come up directly under the Yuffa,
dissolving its entire underside with its acidic venom. Leaping clear, the
rider rolled in the snow and came up firing, putting all four crossbow
shots into the worm's head. Head shaking at the corpse of the worm and the
Yuffa, the hunter turned and began to walk back to the city in the
distance.
	The scene shifted slightly; the blue dragon was standing before
the hunter - a brown-haired young female - much as it had with me,
offering the aid the young woman. She accepted more readily than I
would've anticipated and together they flew back to the city.
	I gasped as I recognized the settlement; it was the same abandoned
city we had flown over on our approach to Genos. Instead of getting a
hostile reception like we had in Thuth, the blue dragon and its female
rider were welcomed openly. Did these primitives not even hear of the
Prophecies?
	Another scene shift; the blue dragon was now asking the woman to
accompany it in its hunt for the black dragon. After speaking with several
other people - a stern- but loving-looking man, and dignified woman, a
perpetually-angry looking young man, and a young girl; her family, I
assumed - she agreed, and together they took off after the black dragon.
	The next few scenes came very fast as they were of limited
importance. I saw the blue dragon and its rider head south to take on the
forces of Mechania and pursue the black dragon. After decimating a
Mechanian fleet they spotted the black dragon and gave chase. They
succeeded in wounding the black dragon, but then something horrifying took
place. 

	Dodging blue-white shots, the black dragon dove to the neutral
village far below, smashing into one of the homes. It then began literally
shredding the family inside with its teeth in one of the most brutal,
sickening acts I have ever witnessed. Diving in a rage but unable to fire
because of the black dragon's proximity to the civilians, the dragonrider
seemed intent on ramming the black dragon, perhaps hoping to force it from
the house back into the air. At the very last possible second, however,
the dr agon shifted focus. It almost happened faster than I could track,
but the black dragon raised its head and lunged forward... 

	Half a second later I saw the horrific end result. The black
dragon had indeed been thrown clear of the house, but impaled on its
razor-sharp teeth was the limp, bleeding form of the female dragonrider.
Gasping out in despair, I watched as it dropped her body contemptuously in
an open street and soared off into the distance.
	One final scene shift; a short time later, I saw the blue dragon
confronting me in the deserts near Thuth. 

	'You see?' the black dragon said as the link ended. 'Your *friend*
values not your life, but rather the capacity to kill that your presence
grants it. When you die it will merely find another. And another. The
cycle will never end, and the contribution o f your life will never be
recognized and never amount to much more than a moment's pause in this
giant struggle. Should you succeed, what awaits you then? The Empire will
never let you live for the death of their Emperor, and Mechania begrudges
you your l ife because of your indirect link with that female and the
havoc she wreaked with their fleets. You are a fool, human. Accept your
fate now, and at least you will not die a total idiot.'
	I didn't know what to think. All this time... the blue dragon had
withheld the truth... had committed a lie of omission. "Is it true?" I
whispered to the back of the blue dragon's armoured head. Its silence and
the wounded emotions I felt from it confirmed it. For a very long time I
sat there, mimicking the silent and defeated posture of the black dragon's
rider, processing the various emotions of betrayl and hurt that swam
through me. Was I a fool for taking up this quest? Was the blue dragon
every bit as mad and obsessed as the black dragon was? Was all of this
worth the three or four years worth of peace it would bring?
	'Well, human?' the black dragon goaded, obviously enjoying this.
'Do you now realize the insignificance of your life, not only to me and to
events, but to the blue drag...'
	"No," I replied quietly. No matter what the black dragon had said,
no matter what I had seen, something still felt wrong. If learning to hate
humans had permitted the black dragon to kill without need for a rider,
why had hating the black dragon not permitted the blue dragon to do the
same? The only reasonable conclusion to draw was that the blue dragon
*didn't* hate the black dragon, that it was indeed doing this for the
benefit of both our species, as I had assumed for this entire quest. "No,
you're wrong. I don't believe that the blue dragon doesn't value my
life," I sensed something snap up in shock inside the blue dragon, a kind
of surprised appreciation. "Why else would it have gone out of its way to
save my life on more than one occasion when it could've easily left me to
die?"
	'Dragonriders are rare. And even still, what of its withholding the
truth from you? The mistrust it's shown? Do you condone that?'
	"No," I admitted. "It was a mistake. But it is in the past now. I
am willing to forgive, and to move on in the hope that this incident will
strengthen the trust between us in the future, not weaken it." The link
between myself and the blue dragon surged with a kind of grateful pride,
and I smiled, patting the Kouriheat on the neck. I felt something else, a
long-held shame slipping away replaced by a firey determination. At that
moment, the link between myself and the Kouriheat opened to its full
potential, and I gasped at the sensation. Our two minds were essentially
joined as one, and I had full access to the blue dragon's innermost
feelings and thoughts, something it had naturally declined to share with
me before. I sensed that my summations were indee d correct, that the blue
dragon did care for me, as it did all its previous riders. After a moment
of exploring this new connection, I returned to the 'real world' and the
black dragon's reaction. I had chosen my words very carefully, drawing
parallels between my situation and the black dragon's.
	'You are a fool...' it replied, but with much less anger than I had
anticipated. 'Your father was a fool...' I felt its - and my own - anger
mounting. 'Your species is made up completely of fools. Only in death will
you accomplish anything useful, and I will ensure that comes to pass!'
	We leapt back and into the air as the black dragon lunged forward.
I returned fire, amazed at how this new link felt. I actually felt as if I
was both myself and the dragon, that our bodies had been grafted onto each
other. These were my wings cutting through the wind, my legs nearly
scraping the surface of the Imperial Palace as we dove out of the throne
room. It was the most exhilirating experience of my life!
	I was jarred back into reality by a near-miss from the black
dragon. Firing over my shoulder I drove it off, but we too were forced to
disengage as the ships above us opened up. Only this greatly increased
agility from our strengthened link permitted our survival as we wove in
amongst the buildings of Genos, dodging countless laser shots. Obviously
the Empire now found the survival of Genos - and the lives of the now-dead
Emperor's personal servants - to be of secondary importance to our deaths.
	Pursuing the black dragon through this sky set ablaze we managed
to get several shots into its thick hide. Its rider, however, returned
fire with a steady stream of yellow laser pulses. I still wondered who
this man was and what his stake was in this, but his function was
obvious; he was merely a form of gun emplacement on the black dragon's
back.
	Firing and dodging, firing and dodging was meeting with limited
success. Numerous attack runs by destroyers and countless flitters had
come dangerously close to nailing us, but so far we remained unscathed. 

	Against a force this large, though, no lucky streak lasts forever. 

	From high above, a battleship fired a huge slavo of red laser
shots. Most missed. 

	One didn't.

	Clutching my left shoulder I screamed in agony as the crimson fire
slammed into and overwhelmed my armor, sending waves of pain coursing
through my body as my flesh burned. I felt the pain being echoed by my
dragon as our link shared all our senses and feelings, including those of
injury. As I sat there momentarily stunned, I felt a kind of anger welling
inside the blue dragon. This anger intensified as another laser shot hit
the Kouriheat's tail, mildly wounding it. The anger tapped into... into a
reservoir of incredible power that I sensed had been building up for
many, many years. Another shot clipped my leg and I screamed again, and I
felt that anger and that energy intensify into a white-hot nova... Even
though it was on the opposite side of the Kouriheat's throat from where I
sat, I saw the phosphorescent marking on the dragon's throat shining
impossibly bright, building towards a catacylsmic release.... 

	At that moment, the sky was filled with a light so intense I had
to shield my eyes lest I go permenantly blind. I sensed what was going on
rather than witnessed it; hundreds, then hundreds of hundreds of white-hot
beams streaked from my dragon to every Empire vehicle in the area,
decimating them in a hellish fire the likes of which I would never see
from it again. Thousands of people died in that instant, consumed by the
cleansing fire that annihilated airship, landcrawler, and flitter alike.
For many lo g seconds the deluge endured, and then as suddenly as it
began, it stopped, and my link with the Kouriheat went terrifyingly
silent. 

	Out of the corner of my eye I watched the wounded black dragon
limping away with its still-alive rider on its back. We could not give
chase, however, because the blue dragon was unconcious... or perhaps even
dead.
	We drifted slowly to earth, crashing ignominiously in the deserts
south of Genos. Frantic and concerned, I leapt off my fallen friend,
ignoring my wounds, and limped around to its front. Collapsed on the sand,
its eyes stared unfocusingly into the sky. Fearing the worst, I lifted
the Kouriheat's head up. The glowing marking on its throat was dim, dimmer
than I had ever seen it before, but it was steady, and as I watched it, it
grew faintly brighter. 

	My friend was alive.


	Three days later found us in much better shape; my injurys had
been wrapped and were on the mend - they were only flesh wounds to begin
with - and the blue dragon was up and about, seemingly returned to normal.
I was still somewhat overwhelmed with the display of power it had shown;
not a single Empire aircraft or ground vehicle within 100 kilometers had
survived. The Emperor's flagship, the recipient of over a thousand homing
shots, had crashed into the Imperial Palace, totally demolishing it. The
flagship was more disabled than destroyed, and I expected it to be
salvagable. That was not, however, my primary concern; the black dragon
was still alive.
	The following day we resumed the hunt. The black dragon seemed to
be moving at a sluggish pace when I saw it fleeing the slaughter over
Genos, not using the incredible speed boost I had seen it use on occasion.
We flew over Genos now, a city largely in ruins due not to our attacks,
but rather the crashing hulks of so many demolished airships. The whole
area was littered with broken hulls and husks of landcrawlers. As we
passed by, a looming Land Defender toppled over, pulverizing a section of
Genos' blemished marble walls. Wondering vaguely what effect this
devastation would have on the Empire and the war with Mechania I urged my
dragon to go faster, and we shot southeast in pursuit of the black dragon. 

	A day and a half later we flew over the Layan mountains, searching
intently. At the speed I had seen the black dragon travelling, we would
catch it any time now. If I were the black dragon, I'd be waiting in any
one of the countless caves and crevices be low, waiting for us to pass
over so it could mount a surprise attack...
	Banking hard left and diving to the ground, we barely dodged the
green-white energy streamers that shot from a canyon betwen two large
mountains. Plummeting straight down, we saturated the area with blue-white
fire, blasting up plenty of rocks but otherwise not accomplishing much of
anything. Pulling out, I saw the black dragon attempting to flee into a
deep-running cave system. Determined to finish this, I urged my dragon
into the caves in hot pursuit. 

	Stalactites and stalagmites whizzed by us as we dove deeper into
the mammoth caverns. Firing sporadically, I had yet to connect with the
black dragon as it used all the terrain for cover. Once, it almost lost us
as it faked us out and we headed down a side passageway, but a little
backtracking and a speed burst put us right back in the thick of things.
The black dragon's counter-fire was abbreviated and misdirected, perhaps
owing to its still-visible injuries.
	As we continued to trade pot-shots, we passed into a absolutely
gigantic cavern. Quickly scanning the area, I noted that the only way out
was the way we had just come in. The black dragon obviously noticed this
too, because it had turned to face us. 

	It didn't take a genius to realize that this was the final battle.

	For a long moment we both hovered there, the monstrous black
dragon dwarfing myself and the blue dragon. Injured though it was, the
black dragon was still a formidable opponent. Our only advantages - speed
and agility - would be greatly curtailed in this enclosed enviroment. In a
sense, we were both fighting crippled.
	The stalemate did not last for long; firing a curving yellow
homing shot from its mouth, the black dragon started the contest. We had
execute a full barrel roll from a hover to avoid being hit. Exiting the
roll nose-down, we dove a bit, picking up momentum as I returned fire.
Several of my shots connected, causing the black dragon to yelp out a bit,
but otherwise having little effect. Returning fire with a series of harsh
yellow energy waves, it blew out countless stalagmites on the cavern floor
as we do dged and wove, trying to use the terrain to our advantage. The
problem with that strategy was that the black dragon wasn't exactly the
subtle type; it didn't mind bringing down a whole mountain range to defeat
one opponent.
	Shooting straight up to the ceiling as an intense beam slagged a
good portion of the floor, we hammered away at the black dragon once more.
For several minutes we rocketed desperately around the mammoth cave,
blasting away at one another. We took a few h its, but dished out worse
than we got. Both of us were still vital, but the black dragon seemed to
be growing more and more frustrated with every passing moment. The cavern,
however, had seen better days; most of it was slagged, and the air was
quickly be coming unbreathable. If the fight lasted much longer, we'd have
to retreat lest I pass out from lack of oxygen.
	Putting a salvo of laser shots into its hide, the black dragon let
out a bloodcurcling screech of pain comixed with a burning anger. It
started a counterattack when I stitched it again. A second counterattack
was also thwarted as I nearly brought a stala ctite down on its head.
Letting out the most fearsome, frustrated howl I had ever heard, it spun
on me harshly, and I saw a mammoth charge building to some sort of
horrific release. 

	My dragon screeched at me; this wasn't going to be your average
laser shot. 

	Rocketing through the cave system towards the surface, we missed
rock formations by millimeters as we build up a suicidal amount of speed.
Behind me, I could sense an energy building up at least on par with what
the blue dragon had released over Genos. 

	We had just exited the caverns when the whole mountain range blew
up. 

  	Lowering my arm from my eyes, I saw the awesome end result of the black
dragon's apocolyptic hellstorm. Where three huge mountains once stood, all
that remained were slagged craters. Lava bubbled up into one of them, but
not the one we had been in. The surrounding mountain range had been
parially melted, and for hundreds of kilometers around, rockslides and
avalanches occured. The heat was positively oppressive, but still we
drifted in to inspect what used to be the cavern where we had dueled with
the black dragon, just to be sure.
	I gasped as I saw the broken body of the black dragon lying amidst
the rubble, its yellow throat marking still glowing dimly. Setting down on
the warm but tolerable crater floor, I dismounted and walked over to the
black dragon's body.
	'It doesn't matter...' the black dragon sent to me weakly. 'In a
few years... I'll be back... and I'll kill you... you all. So finish it...
do what you came to do, boy... do what your father did... kill me, and
live out your species' imperative for blood and destruction...'
	I raised my laser cannon, lining the glowing mark on the
Kouriheat's throat up in my sights. For a very long time I stood there,
agonizing over what I was about to do.
	"No."
	The black dragon raised its head slightly to look at me. 'What do
you mean 'No?' It is your destiny, or whatever that rot about the
Prophecies teaches you. I'm Evil, you're Good, right? White knight against
the black dragon... even after seven thousand y ears your legends never
change...'
	"The color of my armour and of your hide doesn't matter," I
replied, lowering my laser. "You're no more the personification of evil
than I am of good, and you know that. If this cycle of revenge must end
somewhere, let me be the one to break it. I'm willing to forgive you,
black dragon, if you'll only abandon your mad quest."
	'Your forgiveness means nothing to me...'
	"If that's true, then shoot me," I challenged. Finally, after all
this time, I saw that this conflict would never end until one side
extended the olive branch, so to speak, to the other. If doing that meant
laying my life on the line, then so be it. "I k now you still have the
power, even in your current condition. I, who have hunted you for months,
am willing to end it all here, peacefully. If you can honestly say that
means nothing, nothing at all, then kill me right now."
	The black dragon lifted its head from the rubble, swinging it
around to face me. For a long time it scrutinized me as I stood there,
laser hanging limply at my side. 'After all I did to your species... you'd
just forget it all?' I nodded. 'You are a fool...'
	The black dragon opened its mouth, and I was prepared for whatever
might come, when suddenly dozens of azure beams slammed into the black
dragon's throat. Screaming one final time, it fell dead upon the rocks,
the glow from its throat marking gone dark.  Spinning to confront the blue
dragon, I dismissed my anger before I could say anything; what was done
was done. I had been willing to sacrifice my life for peace; the blue
dragon had sacrificed peace for my life.
	"That's it then..." I said to it quietly. "Let's go..." 

	"No!"

	I spun to face the voice, but was brought up short by the sight of
a laser pointed at my chest. The black dragon's rider, burns over most of
his body, was standing - barely - next to the pile of rubble he had just
dug himself out from.
	"Hold, friend," I said to him calmingly. "I have no quarrel with
yo..."
	"I am not your FRIEND!" he shrieked back. "And I have a quarrel
with YOU! Both of you!"
	I eyed him cautiously, uneasy about the mad look in his eye. "I
assure you, we have never met bef..."
	"No, but you know my family well enough!" he replied, starting to
sound hysterical. "My older sister... that ABOMINATION got her killed a
few months ago! And you... YOU... you murdered my baby sister in cold
blood!!!"
	My mouth fell open as I recognized this man; it was the young man
I had seen in the black dragon's vision, the brother of the blue dragon's
previous rider. But me, killing his sister? I'd never... wait... that
Mechanian Dragoon... it couldn't be! Could it?
	"You shot her down," he said, starting to cry, "murdered her in the
air... we both wanted vengance for my older sister's death... and now I
shall have it!" He snapped up his laser, and began to depress the firing
trigger. Before he could, though, a blue- white beam hit his hand,
demolishing the laser, and reducing his hand to a charred stump. Screaming
in agony, he fell to his knees. "NO! My revenge... it's all I have left! I
won't let you take it from me!" He tried to charge at me, but stumbled and
fell of his own accord long before he even reached me. "My revenge...
revenge... sisters... forgive me..." He lapsed into unconciousness,
finally falling silent. Pitying the scarred young man but unsure of what
to do about him, I mounted the blue Kouriheat, and together we soared
into the sky, victorious after our long struggle... 

	It was all over. And it was just beginning.


	The next five years were ones of pure bliss. The Empire had
finally routed Mechania, smashing their sick Kouriheat mutation
facilities, but those concerns were far removed from where we were now. My
Kouriheatan friend and I spent our days in the northern settlements, and I
finally came to realize that the inhabitants of this region were by no
means primitive; quite the opposite in fact. They were keepers of a great
deal of knowledge from before the Ntario disaster, and even before the
Ripping. They had i ntentionally divested themselves of technology such as
airships so as to make them low priorities on any would-be conquerors'
agenda. Since we couldn't attack all of the Empire, we pledged ourselves
to defending these remaining reservoirs of knowledge.
	I shared with these people the story of mankind's history, and
regaled their children with the tale of our adventures on more than one
occasion. Bards now sang of our deeds, and word had reached me of a grand
legend being written in our honour. I sort of shrug those kinds of things
off; they weren't why I had undertaken this quest, but that somebody
appreciated it was sure nice to know.
	I never did settle down with the wife and family that was so
valued in these settlements. I don't know... I guess I was just a free
spirit, not really meant to be tied down to anything. When the sky was
yours to command, it was kind of hard to keep your feet rooted to the
ground. Money and lodgings were never a problem; as unsolicited defenders
of the north, we were always treated to the finest meals and best
accommodations in whatever settlement we visited. I had finally come to
accept the Prophecies for the rubbish that they were, although several of
them did contain some measure of truth...
	... I'd never fully adjust to those winters, though.

	On more than one occasion I visited that abandoned city in the
mountains, and visited what my Kouriheatan friend pointed out to me as
that female dragonrider's grave. I wished that I had known her; she seemed
to be the type who really believed she could make a difference in the
world, a rare type of person these days.
	To this day, I have never found out her name...

	Life was good.

	Nothing good lasts forever.


	I remember my reaction upon hearing the news; First despair, then
a sort of weariness, and finally an unbreakable resolve to take up the
fight again. 

	The black dragon had been reborn.


	The next month was filled with familiar battles against familiar
foes, as the Empire once more sought my death with the black dragon at its
side. We had returned to square one, but I tried not to think of that - it
tended to make me despair against ever truly winning - and instead focused
on the task at hand.
	It was upon my return to Zhao that I learned their mutual
objective; the Empire had discovered a black tower in the Eastern Sea.
	".... a tower in the ocean where much of our technology is stored ...."
	Many weeks later I located that tower, but was driven off by a
mammoth Empire fleet, nearly at the cost of our lives. Chased west, we
ultimately wound up in the S'rah regions not too far from the crashed
Mechanian airship where it all began. 

	Appropriate, I suppose.

	High in the skies over where the golden desert met a mountain
range, I once more danced the deadly ariel ballet with the once-again
riderless black dragon, trading lethal salvos of light.
	Dodging a steady barrage of fire, we dove. I looked for an
opportunity to pull up and mount some sort of counteroffensive, but the
black dragon was giving no quarter. Gritting my teeth as the side of a
mountain rushed up at me I fired into it, creating a gaping hole into a
sort of cavern below. Thanking whoever controlled lucky breaks we dove for
it, soaring into the opening and down an artifical-looking grotto. As I
entered the grotto, I noticed two things just below our ingress point: a
crushed Marlack , and a young boy...
	Looking around, I was shocked to discover that I recognized much
of the architecture in here as being from that Mechanian airship! Had
someone buried it inside this mountain? I was jarred from these thoughts
as a massive energy pulse whizzed by us. Recognizing it, I swore, brought
us about 180 degrees, and shot past the black dragon who had followed us
in, soaring out of the grotto seconds before a massive fireball erupted
behind us... 

	Minutes of intense combat had resulted in a few hits scored
against the black dragon, but nothing really significant. Out of the
corner of my eye I saw that boy I had seen inside the grotto; he had been
blown clear by the fireball onto a ledge of some sort, and was just now
coming around. Briefly thankful that I hadn't been indirectly responsible
for the death of an innocent bystander, I returned my attention to our
duel.
	Diving to the canyon floor, we once again had to juke sideways as
another energy pulse shot by. It detonated against the desert floor,
creating immense shockwaves that sent us spiralling upwards. Regaining my
grip on my dragon, I looked up... 



	They say in the moment before death, time slows to a crawl.



	That wasn't the case for me.



	The angry red beam that leapt from the black dragon's throat
curved straight and true, punching straight through my chest and exiting
out my back. In that instant, my whole world flashed crimson as a numbing
pain seized every portion of my body above the wound. Below it, I felt
nothing; the blast had vaporized my spinal column just below my heart. 

	I watched the black dragon soar past me and vanish off into the
distance as we just hovered there. The expression I had seen on its face
was indecipherable, but I could've sworn I saw a fleeting trace of...
shame? 

	So this was to be my death. Clutching my chest in an instinctive
but futile attempt to stop the bleeding, I scanned my feelings. No
regrets, save for that I would be leaving my friend to deal with the black
dragon alone. I knew it would happen sooner or later, be it death in
combat or of old age, but I wished I could've been there longer.. to stop
the black dragon... to save my world... the world... humanity... 

	I felt myself slipping away; it was like the offer of comforting
sleep, of rest from the pain... Slowly, inexorably, I began to embrace
it...
	Then something jarred me back into the realm of the living; I
recognized the forces that now flowed through me. Somehow, my Kouriheatan
friend was keeping me alive as we descended towards the mountain ledge.
The reprieve was only temporary, however, as I felt more and more of its
transferred life force, spirit, or whatever, leaking from my broken body.
Looking up as we landed, I spied that same young boy, obviously terrified
but rooted where he stood by this awe-inspiring sight. I almost smiled...
so much like myself... so long ago...
	Something about this boy was... different from most other humans.
Through my link with my dragon I felt he had a different... 'texture' to
him. His mind was more... malleable, more receptive than most. 

	This boy was a dragonrider.

	Not wasting time marvelling at the coincedence or debating what to
do, I reached my arm out pleadingly to the young man, trying to control
the convulsions that began wracking my body, and trying not to crash to
the ground. 'Please... take it...' I implored him mentally, lacking the
strength to speak.
	After what seemed like an eternity, he touched my armoured
gauntlet, and we connected... 

	Using my dragon's psi-powers in a way I had never concieved of
before, *I* sent the young man through that purple-white tunnel of
suprasensory input. *I* projected the image of the black dragon flying
towards the tower I had seen. And *I* spoke to him... 

	"Don't... let him reach the tower... My dragon... knows the way..."
	The brief link ended, and I felt the transferred life force from
the blue dragon leaking away at a fearsome rate. Death was near, and I
managed to draw enough breath to implore the young man one final time. 

	"... please ...."


	The power the blue dragon had given me rushed out of my body in a
cloud of yellow energy motes, seemingly spiralling off into the desert
breeze. I closed my eyes one final time and slipped off the blue dragon's
back, collapsing face-down on the surface of the ledge... 


	'Yara, I'm so sorry... I... what the black dragon said back then,
you have to know it wasn't true...'
	"Shhh..." I answered, grateful for this brief opportunity to say
goodbye. "I know how you felt... I know why you did... what you did...
Carry on for me, my friend... remember... me... Goodbye..."
	For the first time, I heard my Kouriheatan friend's voice affected
by, and even filled with, emotion. 'I... I will... Farewell, my
friend....'

	... and then ...




	I speak to you now from a realm I cannot describe with a thousand
volumes, even though it is simpler than any I have occupied before. The
afterlife? Heaven? Those are concepts too steep for a simple dragonrider
like me.
	I know a little of the events after my death; the boy, accepting
my mission, has gone off to face the black dragon. The outcome is
uncertain, but I hope for his success.
	A disturbing scene comes to me from the rebuilt city of Genos. The
scarred former rider of the black dragon has ascended to Emperor as his
bloodline decreed, embracing a legacy his parents attempted to forsake by
fleeing to the north. He seeks vengance for what was done to him and his
sisters, and I fear others may come to pay for my actions. 

	A question which comes to me often is 'Was it worth it?' All that
effort for five years of peace from the black dragon - even though death
and destruction continued throughout the closing days of the
Empire-Mechania war - followed by an even greater threat than the one
that I faced before. Every stime that question comes up, I answer yes,
even though it did earn me an early grave. For inasmuch as I brought a
measure of peace to the planet, I discovered a bit of peace in myself, I
found a place for myself in this mad world, and, for a brief span of
time, actually made a difference.
	My only regret now is being seperated from my Kouriheatan friend.
I hope that one day when the black dragon finally sees reason the blue
dragon will finally permit itself rest, that somehow we will be reunited. 

	After all of this... he is still with me.

THE END