• Chapter 3

    tab The Control Tower stood against the imposing backdrop of a cloudless sky, the blood-red sun slowly rising from behind the jagged teeth of the eastern Dynee Mountain range while the night sky gently receded from the earth, giving way to the piercing light of dawn. Seated at various intervals within the bisected rounded observation room of the Southern Dragon Control Tower, twelve Dragons and two Humans monitored the radio air traffic, some waiting for their shift to end, and some just waiting for the next transmission. Anxiously awaiting the turning of night into day, Snow Arc Hammer paced ceaselessly, wandering the spacious confines of the room with a look that suggested extreme boredom. “Curse you Angel… You said this was only going to take an hour!” He chose a direction at random, and ended up staring out the large window which took up the entire southern wall. The wonderful vista of shadows stretching for miles across a dry, cracked, windswept ground arrested his vision.
    tab A footstep and the swish of a long cloak behind him alerted Snow to the presence of his young commander, Angel Arc Hammer. “Hey Angel, admiring the view on a break, or is the meeting finally over?” He said without turning around. Angel grinned at the back of his head, “Hey, the meeting only lasted twenty-seven hours over the arranged ending time. Are you really that bored of this place?” Snow faced his commander. At exactly seven feet tall and two hundred eighteen years old, Angel was not only the youngest, but the shortest soldier in the entire Arcland; she had just barely been accepted into the Arc Hammers. The high-collared long cloak, combat pants, wire-mesh covered long-sleeved shirt, and tall boots of the white-on-white uniform that their army of the Great Arc wore, was complemented by her light skin, deep blue eyes, and shoulder length blonde hair. Snow, on the other hand, was an eight-foot-five, thirty-five hundred year old veteran with skin, eyes, and hair the color of new-fallen snow. At the moment, Snow was wearing his usual face of seeming boredom. He raised his right eyebrow, “Do I look bored?” Angel barked a laugh and started walking to the exit door sealing off the head of the stairs leading down, saying over her shoulder, “You always look bored Snow.” Snow turned to face the window again, “Yeah, yeah. Just keep walking, I’ll catch up with you once I’m done up here.”
    tab Descending the stairs in the center of the room, Angel stopped and looked back with a sad smile. “The beauty of the Dragon land casts a long shadow. Over the millennia, many nations have attempted to claim its riches as their own. It will not be long before this beautiful world that we share, Mankind and Dragon, is deafened by the sound of war machines, while the blood of countless millions drowns the land in sorrow once again. Enjoy this short-lived peacetime, Snow.”


    tab Pyra landed softly near the Second Gate and retracted her wings. She paused momentarily before jogging up to what was left of the entrance to the guard tower. The barred-metal door fell with a soft thud as she pushed her hands against it. Automatic lights flickered, and then turned on as she stepped into the first room. Looking at the extent of the damage inside, she figured that whatever had trashed the place wouldn't be coming back for a second pass.
    tab Walking down the main corridor to the gatehouse, Pyra noticed strange marks on the walls. Deep, burned-black, claw marks lined the corridor, as if whatever had been in here dragged its claws against the walls while chasing the sentries. She walked up to the door into the gatehouse, and stared at it for a bit. Her only comment was, “Wow.” The door was scarred more than the entire corridor was. She looked for the key pad, and was surprised to find it intact. “Looks like the enemy doesn't know about modern technology...”
    tab She tried a few universal unlocking codes, and resorted to pulling a metal sheet off the wall and short-circuiting the lock by jamming her cavalry blade into the revealed tangle of wires when none of them worked. The misshapen door slid halfway into the wall before jamming, leaving an opening just big enough for Pyra to squeeze through. She stepped into darkness, the small beam of light coming from the partially opened door rested on the edge of a pool of blood. Pyra reached up to the visor mounted on her helmet, and pulled it down. The room was revealed as the visor adjusted to the low light. Bodies rested in a pool of blood on the ground, various organs were slightly visible under them. Another body was slumped over the long range com unit.
    tab Pyra walked over to the body on the com, choosing her steps carefully as not to contaminate the blood on the ground, and checked for signs of life. She was rewarded with a faint heartbeat. “Lucky b*****d's still alive!” She thought as she quickly focused power in her hands and carefully healed him enough to be moved. Suddenly, her com unit came to life with splashes of static; the sudden noises in the tomb like silence causing her to jump. “Elite third class Pyra Faolan speaking, what's up?” A gravelly voice emanated from the com unit, “This is Research and Recovery crew Gamma; we're en route to your current position. We request that you stand by until we get there.”
    “Sorry guys, I’m in the middle of a mission. You're going to just have to make do with a beacon.” A sigh greeted Pyra’s words. “I guess today’s just not their day...” She thought. After a moment of silence, the crew chief spoke again. “Rodger that.” Pyra looked over at the guard draped over the chair in the middle of the room, “Oh, and by the way, there's a survivor, probably the only one. I healed him to the point where he's stable enough to move.” She said.
    tab “Okay, we'll 'port him out of there and let the medics pick his brain for info.”
    tab “Tell me if they find anything useful.”
    tab “Will do, Gamma out.”
    tab The transmission ended with a click
    tab Pyra moved the sentry to a more comfortable position on the only non-bloody chair in the room, and continued her exploration of the room. She stood in front of the main security station, and touched a panel. The screen associated with that panel flickered and glowed into life, showing little clusters of options. Pushing the button for the cameras, she was sent to another cluster of options, this time the names of cameras were overlaid on a map of the gate. She chose the option for the camera facing the First Gate, and fast forwarded to a point a few minuets before the camera's destruction. She had to rewind the footage a few times before she saw something interesting.
    tab It wasn't much, just a blur across the ground right before the camera was destroyed, but it was enough to convince Pyra that she wasn't dealing with a Rogue. Rogue Dragons didn't move in the open. She tried watching the same footage from a different camera, and got a better angle on the blur. “There!” A flash of blue light showed briefly. She backed the footage up a bit and went through frame by frame. She stopped at a frame, and looked at a blurry photo. The blue flash was its eyes; twin ghost lights with no pupils, staring directly at the camera.


    tab The four Arc Twin Blades dashed through the forest in a spread diamond formation. Their leader, Kyle, had point. Sasha and Hallsoor were behind and at angles to the left and right of him, Karin followed between and behind them. They had been running nonstop for hours. Kyle glimpsed a wisp of fog in the forest on his right. He turned in that direction, and the others followed, adjusting to stay in formation. A few seconds later, the fog became dense as the group shot out of the forest onto a thickly covered plain. Bent, misshapen trees appeared in the fog from time to time, the unit had to stay alert if they didn’t want to crash into one.
    tab Kyle spoke into his com unit, “We're almost there, ETA… Mid-afternoon. We should be seeing the Toorill Mountain range soon.”
    tab Sasha answered him, “Right, just mid-afternoon. At a sixty mile-an-hour sprint in zero-visibility? We'll be fine.”
    tab Hallsoor chose that moment to enter the conversation, “What, can't take a challenge with a possibility of a sudden end? Kyle! Up the speed a bit old man!”
    tab Kyle answered, “If I increased our pace any more, we'd arrive dead.”
    tab Karin laughed, “Come on Kyle, I don't think we're going to be in this fog for much longer, why don't we have a race?”
    tab Kyle sighed. “All right. Line formation people, last one to the tower waits outside.”
    tab They changed formation while running; now they were in a horizontal line. From left to right, Sasha, Karin, Kyle, and Hallsoor prepared to run even faster when Kyle gave the word. Kyle looked over at Karin and winked. Karin grinned back. They both lowered the visors on their helmets.
    tab Kyle and Karin disappeared in twin blurs, leaving Hallsoor and Sasha far behind. Sasha shouted in frustration, “That's not fair!” and doubled her speed. Hallsoor lowered his visor and made his body as aerodynamic as possible. Pushing off the ground with a burst of speed, he left Sasha in the dust. Sasha glared after him, “Why am I the only one who can't use the wind-step?!” she moaned. They ran on, the fog suddenly giving way to momentarily blinding light. The silhouettes of the Toorill Mountains appeared in the distance.
    tab Kyle and Karin were the first to reach the foot of the mountains, the world looked a blur to them as they half-ran, half-flew into the mountain pass. Karin spoke into her com, “Let's settle this in one shot!” Kyle dodged a tree, “Sounds good, I want to have enough energy to talk when we reach the Tower.” They began ricocheting off of boulders and trees, their speed increasing with every rebound. Kyle checked his com, he was in range. “Dragon Control Tower, this is Arc Twin Blade Emissary Kyle.” A woman’s voice answered, “This is Dragon Control Tower. Emissary Kyle Arc Twin Blade, you're approaching at a suicidal speed. I suggest you pass by and double back.”
    tab “Negative, you'll feel an impact.”
    tab “Rodger that. Tower out.”
    tab The two Twin Blades rocketed out of the mountain pass into the scarred and jagged desert at two hundred feet above the ground; their bodies were parallel with the earth for better air control. A clear tunnel formed in the cloud of dust and sand that gathered behind them as they flew on a suicidal path towards the tower. At the last second, they flipped their bodies around and the tower shook as boots met stone. The jarring impact stunned Karin and Kyle. They fell, rolling as they hit the ground. Kyle brushed himself off and turned to Karin, “Let's not do that again.” Karin groaned as she massaged her ankles, “I thought the stone would have more give to it.” Kyle winced as he felt his lower back, “Dragons don't mess around when they build defenses.”
    tab “You got that right.” They started to walk towards the entrance to the tower when a couple of medical dragons rushed out to meet them. Kyle waved them off. “We're good.” Their puzzled faces made him smile.
    tab “Are you sure?” They asked.
    tab “Yeah we're good, but the two following might not be in the best of shape. Stick around and wait for them, will you?”
    tab “All right.”
    tab The Twin Blades entered the tower antechamber, massaging bruises from the flight and landing.