Warning horns sounded all across the camp. Cole was among the first outside to see the arrival of the Blue Dragon and its passengers. As soon as the dragon was on the ground, Mirage hoped off with someone held tightly in his arms. It didn't take long before Cole realized who it was.

"Get Carmen out here!" Cole shouted back.

The Dragonmaster cleared a path for his friends. Together Cole and Mirage found someplace to put Carla down. Someone unrolled a mat and laid down several rolled up robes for a pillow.

"What happened?" asked Cole.

"I went after the last Stone," replied the Blue Knight. "When we got there we ran into Scorn, Thiss, three Demon Knights, and her." A grim smile passed over his face. "Foxx won't be bothering us anymore."

Cole read between the lines and nodded. "What about the Stone?"

"I had to make a choice," answered the pirate. "Carla was under..."

"I know," interrupted Cole. He laid a hand on his friend's shoulder. "We had a run in with her on Lunar."

Mirage gave him a grateful smile. "I got through to her. Rayn had bought us enough time, but there was only time enough to get Carla or get the Stone."

Cole smiled warmly. "You did the right thing, Mirage. This war would be for nothing if we didn't care for our own. I've learned that much over the past year."

It was clear that Mirage was fighting back a couple of relieved tears. "Well, at least we still have Ruby's Stone and the one you got."

Cole was shaking his head. "Problem there. We lost them in our escape a few hours ago."

A ghostly look washed over Mirage's face. "Then that means they have all eight Stones."

"I am afraid so." They looked up to see Luna with Carmen and Leeta right behind her.

Carmen pushed past and dropped to kneel next to Carla. The priestess held her hands over her friend and whispered a small prayer. Relief was evident on her face seconds later. "She's not hurt. Her mind has just undergone a lot of stress, and she's just exhausted. With a little rest she'll be fine."

Cole rose. "Good. Get her someplace more comfortable," he ordered in a commanding voice. "Then get the word out that there's a meeting in the command tent."

Heads nodded, and runners broke off to get his orders out there.

It was not too much later that found all the important people in the camp gathered in the command tent. The tent itself was filled with tactical maps that were either hanging or spread out on the oval conference table. Cole, in his Armor minus the Helmet, stood at the head of the table looking very serious. He cleared his throat and all talking within the tent ceased.

"The enemy has what it has been searching for," he announced. "Using the eight Resurrections Stones, the Demon Dragonmaster is going to somehow release the entity known as the Chaos." The Dragonmaster leaned forward and placed his hands flat on the table. "We are going to stop him."

"May I inquire as to how this will be done?" asked the elven general Bireial.

Cole leaned back up. "Simple. First our army will attack Xobelisk. Then, while the conflict is being raged, the Dragon Knights and myself will attack the Demon Dragonmaster himself."

Everyone started talking at this point. "Did that last spell knock something loose, Cole?" asked Mirage. "Yeah, we probably have enough people to put together an army, but they are spread all over the world. By the time we put the army together we'd be too late. I mean, what do we have, a couple of hours at the most before the Chaos is released?"

"He's right," agreed Fox. "How can we accomplish this task?"

Cole didn't say a word. The Dragonmaster simply reached into a pouch at his side and pulled out the Time Runes. The three tear drop shaped items floated silently in his right palm. "We can do it with these. First I teleport our forces here to that teleportation ring we came through on our first trip to Xobelisk. Then using Mirage's knowledge of all our allied camps plus the teleportation ring, I'll open portals across the world for our people."

Reinalthus started chuckling. "That is just crazy enough to work, my boy."

Argile raised his hand. "I have another question? Where is Connery?"

Cole smiled deviously at his large friend. "That was my next surprise. If everyone will please follow me outside, I will show where our little thief is."

With the Dragonmaster in the lead, they all filed outside. A large area was cleared out at Cole's order. Once that was done, he raised the Time Runes high. There was a flash around the Runes, and suddenly a large color filled portal opened up before them. For a minute nothing happened. Then, all of the sudden, something large literally rolled out of the portal and into the camp. All eyes went wide as a dragonship came to a stop, but it didn't end there. After that first ship, at least nine more rolled out. When the last one came to a stop the portal vanished.

"Well? What do you think?" asked a small voice from the lead ship. A rope ladder rolled of the ship's bow, and Connery, dressed in stained overalls, climbed down.

Cole walked over to greet their small friend. "Perfect, Connery. Just perfect."

Everyone gathered there was dumbfounded. Ruby was the first one to find her voice. "H... h... how?" was all she was finally able to stammer.

Cole turned to her all smiles. "I took advantage of the one thing we had over the Demon Dragonmaster." He raised the Runes up again. "With these little fellows we control time and space to a certain extent."

Next he looked over at Leeta. "Right before we attacked the Minister's palace in Fummara, I teleported back to Meribia. While there I grabbed Connery and then used the Time Runes to go and see Zeke." There were a few confused looks. "I'll explain later."

"To keep the story short," he continued, "with Zeke's help we found a dimension that was running slower than Lunar and the Blue Star. So, using the Runes again, I transported Connery, his work crews, all the materials, and some of our Meribian forces to this new dimension."

"Wow!" cried Rayn. "That's brilliant! So while only a few hours have gone by here, it's been weeks in that other dimension."

"Well, more like almost a year," corrected Connery. "That's why I have ten ships instead of four or five."

Ruby whistled at the scene before them. "You know what? We just might pull this thing off."

Carla, for the first time in months, opened her eyes. Another breath later she knew that her nightmare was finally over. For months and months she had been a prisoner inside her own mind as the personality that had replaced her had been in control. She had been forced to watch her actions as the Chaos Sorceress like some bad play. As that woman, she had tortured, killed, and done other unspeakable acts, including trying to kill those she loved. But that was all over now. Her knight had come through the darkness and saved her.

The Premier exhaled loudly as she raised herself up into a sitting position. She was slightly surprised to find herself in a white nightgown. There was a knock at her tent pole. "Come in."

The flap was peeled aside, and Cole entered. Her cousin smiled warmly as he walked over. "Hey," he said in a low voice. "How are you feeling?"

"Like I took a camping trip to hell," replied the Premier.

He chuckled. "Trust me. Going to hell is no camping trip." They both laughed lightly for a moment. "Really, though. How are you?"

Carla sighed and looked down. "I'm not sure. I was a prisoner in my own mind, while a second me did horrible things. I'm really not sure how I'm supposed to feel. Hell, I even remember trying to kill you at one point."

"Don't worry about it," he told her happily. "I came out with the usual amount of scraps and bruises from one of your tantrums."

Normally she would have tried to hit him for that one, but for now Carla was perfectly happy to just be in a situation where she could joke with her cousin. "Well, I'd love to stick around and chat, but there's a line outside. I'll see you when this is all over."

He got up to leave, but a call from Carla stopped him. "You guys aren't leaving without me."

Cole stopped and looked back at her. "You're too weak..."

"Bull crap," snapped the Premier. "Those bastards stole almost a year of my life." A thin smile crept on to her face. "I deserve the chance to settle up."

There was a brief look of hesitation, but it disappeared as Cole relented. "All right then. We leave in thirty, so keep your visits short." With that said the Dragonmaster left the tent.

It was not long before some one was at the tent's flap to replace him. Carla swallowed hard as Mirage entered. The pirate slowly walked over until he was standing over her cot. "Hey, stranger," he said with a smile.

A warm feeling started to wash over the Premier. "Hi," she answered. As soon as he knelt down beside her, Carla reached out and pulled him into tight embrace. "I am so sorry," she sobbed.

"It's okay," soothed Mirage. "There's nothing to be sorry for. It wasn't you."

She pulled her head back with tears streaming down her face. "I tried to kill you, yet you still kept coming." She laughed and punched him lightly in the shoulder. "You really are thick headed."

Mirage reached out to caress the left side of her face. "Do you remember the things I said out on the snow?"

Carla sniffed once. "Yes," she said quietly. "Did you mean them, or were you just trying to reach me?"

The pirate took her left hand and slowly slid a diamond ring on to her finger. "I meant every word of it." He looked into her eyes. "So?"

Another tear rolled down Carla's left cheek. She looked from the diamond, then up at him. "You're damned straight I will," she whispered as she leaned forward to kiss him deeply.

The next half an hour was a blur of sorts for everyone in the camp. Under Cole's supervision the camp was broken in record time and the entire army was mobilized. Flanked by five dragonships on each side, the Dragonmaster's forces stood in rank and file formation awaiting his action. Cole took in the entire sight and removed the Time Runes from their pouch. It only took a single, silent command for him to teleport the entire force to the teleportation ring in the former Eastern Empire.

Army commanders immediately began to set up a base camp, while Cole used the Time Runes to open numerous portals to the allied camps around the world Mirage had showed him. Runners were sent through each portal with confirmation and orders to mobilized immediately. When all the runners had been sent, Cole opened a larger portal through the ring that connected to all the other portals. It was not long before soldiers began to file out of the portal.

With that task accomplished, the Dragonmaster called a final meeting of all the highest army personnel. Soon he stood before the Dragon Knights, Leeta, Carla, Carmen, Althena's Dragons, Luna, Alex, and other commanders in a small clearing away from the main force.

"This is it people," Cole began. "From here on there is no turning back. In less than a half an hour our forces will be gathered, and we will march on Xobelisk."

He folded his arms and looked over all of them. "Here is our battle plan. Our main force will be lead by General Bireial with Alex and Reinalthus as his sub commanders. Nine of our ten dragonships will run as support to the main force to be used at the General's discretion. The tenth ship will be crewed by the Dragon Knights, select others, and myself. With the Five Dragons of Althena running as point, we will attempt to break the enemy's lines and find the Demon Dragonmaster."

"Any questions?" No one moved. "Good. General Bireial, I leave our troops in your capable hands. Dismissed."

The old elven general turned and started barking orders, which caused officers to start running in all directions. "Members of my group please remain for a special briefing."

When his friends were gathered around him, Cole continued. "As usual we have the toughest assignment. Stopping the Demon Dragonmaster is our one and only goal and must be accomplished no matter what. If he is stopped then we will win no matter what. So in order for us to have a chance, we need to be prepared for what's to come." He stepped aside. "Luna."

The blue haired woman nodded and took his place. "Although the Resurrection Stones are important, they are only the keys to accessing the Chaos. The Demon Dragonmaster will try and use them to pull the Chaos' prison out of the dimension I once placed it in. This prison is three fold. The first part is in fact a planetoid somewhat small than Lunar. On this planetoid I put my strongest tribe to guard it."

She looked over at the dragons. "The rest of the Dragon Tribe resides on this planet with the sole purpose of guarding the Chaos."

All dragons went wide eyed. "Are you serious?" breathed Nall. "You mean there are others?"

Luna nodded. "Yes. The rest of the Dragon Tribe is the second barrier around the Chaos. If they fail in their mission, there is the prison itself. When I stopped the Chaos the first time, I could not destroy it for it had become too powerful. Instead I trapped it in an item called the Orb of Infinity. This is what the Demon Dragonmaster truly seeks."

"What will he do if he gets the Orb?" asked Argile.

"The Chaos can never really be released from the Orb," answered Luna. "It is forever trapped inside it. However, minions of darkness discovered that the Chaos can instead take on a host organism. The Demon Dragonmaster plans not on just releasing the Chaos, but in fact becoming the Chaos."

Everyone stood there in stunned silence at Luna's revelation. "Can we stop him if he becomes the host?" Cole asked.

Luna looked him directly in the eyes. "I do not know. The Chaos was unkillable, but I do not know if the same applies to a host."

Cole straightened. "Then we just have to stop him before he becomes a host." The Blue Dragon's Helmet was suddenly in his hands and then on his head. "It's time to go to work."

The army was spread across the dead plains surrounding the teleportation ring. At its head a small stage had been erected. Dark red cape fluttering in the wind, Cole slowly ascended the stage in his full armor. He stopped in the center of the stage and looked out at the men and women assembled before him. A small spell from Carla, and his voice was now amplified so that the entire army could hear him.

"We've come a long way. For almost a year we have fought and bled together against the dark forces of the Demon Dragonmaster. Many have died and sacrificed themselves so that we could be at this place at this time. This time is our time. This day is our day. No longer will we stand by and watch as the Hades Army marches across our worlds, leaving a blanket of death in its wake. No. Now we will march as a united front against them. Now we will take back our lives... our worlds."

A wind suddenly started blowing stronger, causing his cape to billow back. "The time to fight back has come! And fight we shall! Many of us may die this day, but these deaths will not be in vain. We are fighting for our freedom to live, to exist! We will not let some madman dictate our destiny as though he were a god! The peoples of Lunar and the Blue Star have shown time and again that we are more than just the playthings of the immortals. We hold our destiny in the palms of our own hands!"

"The darkness has tried to stay the light before, and the light in turn has tried to blot out the darkness. The truth is that one cannot exist without the other. That is what makes Humanity so strong. We can embody the light, but at the same time we can usher in the darkness. We hold the power of both in our hands. As people, we understand that we need both sides in order to exist. That is the true power! Understanding the balance and the strength that lies within it. We have that power! We know that no matter what, in our darkest hours hope will always spring eternal!"

He lowered his head slightly. "Today we bring back the hope," he whispered.

In one swift motion Cole suddenly drew the Goddess's Sword and raised it high. "Today we march on Xobelisk!" Following his words the holy weapon burst into pure white light.

As one the army cheered with weapons raised high. Their cheers were drowned out by the roars of Althena's Dragons as they suddenly rose up into the sky behind the stage. Cole lowered his ancient blade and sheathed it just as the newly named Dragonship Hope rolled up beside him. The Dragonmaster quickly climbed on board the massive vehicle. Soon he was standing beside his friends, with Mirage at the wheel.

"Take us in, Mirage," he ordered.

The Blue Knight grinned back at all of them. "You got it, boss."

With the Hope in the lead, and the Five Dragons of Althena flying above, the Army of Humanity marched on Xobelisk.

Footsteps echoed through the shadowed stairwell of Xobelisk. Kole slowly made his way up the stairs as if he had all the time in the world. Clutched in his left hand was a black, canvas bag holding his most prized possessions. He didn't halt his stride even when Thiss drifted out of the shadows to fall into step with him. Kole continued walking for a few moments more before acknowledging the Shadow Dragon.

"What?" he asked without halting.

"Reportssss from out sssscoutssss, my lord," hissed the demon as the pair exited the stairs out on to the top of the black tower.

Kole took in a long breath. "No need to tell me, Thiss." He waved his right hands and the clouds below parted to reveal the dead land surrounding the city.

Off in the distance to the west was an approaching army of enormous proportions. "My they certainly have been busy little bees," chuckled the dark warrior.

"They will reach the city wallssss within the hour," warned Thiss. "What are your orderssss?"

"Release the horde," Kole told him. "Do not worry, Thiss. The Dragonmaster can do nothing to stop me now."

He opened the canvas bag, and the eight Resurrection Stones floated out. The Stones quickly formed into a perfect circle and proceeded to hover several feet in front of the Demon Dragonmaster. Black bolts of power began to flow from one Stone to another.

"The game is over," purred Kole. "I win."

The wind was cold against their faces as the Dragonship Hope rolled across the gray plains towards Xobelisk. Behind the great ship were millions of determined warriors marching towards a battle that many of the would most likely not survive. Cole, standing at the bow of the ship, watched calmly as the tower of Xobelisk itself slowly grew in the distance. He didn't turn his head as Argile came up behind him.

"Never have I seen such an army at our backs, my friend," commented the Knight.

"Let's hope you never will again," replied Cole in a low voice.

They were now only twenty miles outside the dark city. Cole lowered his eyes from the tower to the very visible mass of black standing between the forces of humanity and Xobelisk. A horde of demons the likes of which only few of this army had ever seen writhed like a nightmare ahead. The only thing that forced Cole's eyes away from it was a flash from the high top of Xobelisk. Even from this distance, the Dragonmaster could make out the eight colors of the Resurrection Stones flowing in a circle.

"It's started!" cried Cole. "We leave the Hades Army to the others!" He spun around to face his friends. "Connery! Get us up there!"

"Right!" answered the White Knight. Having moved Mirage aside, he reached down and pulled a lever next to the steering wheel. "Prepare for flying mode!"

Long, steel wings suddenly extended out from the sides of the Hope. At the rear of the ship something Connery called rockets emerged. The thief pulled on a second lever, and the rockets began to glow with the combination of fire and wind magic.

"Hold on!" he warned with a large grin. The little Knight stepped on a panel located at the base of the wheel, and the Hope suddenly lifted off from the ground at an astounding speed.

In response to this sudden move the demons of the Hades Army started releasing all sorts of attacks at the ship. At Cole's silent command, the Dragons of Althena were suddenly around the ship providing cover. With Ruby in the lead, the five dragons loosed their breath weapons down at the demons. There would have been another retaliation from the enemy force if the human and elf army hadn't struck at that moment.

Possessed by the spirit of war and survival, the humans and elves tore into the Hades Army with a vengeance with Alex, on Nall's back, at the head. Confident in the legendary hero's ability to lead the army, Cole returned his attention to his goal. When they were clear of the Hades Army, the Dragonmaster telepathically told the dragons to break off and aid their forces. All of them except for Onyl and Alleia broke off.

Didn't you hear me, Onyl? asked Cole impatiently. I said go help our forces.

I heard you, but I'm still going with you, she replied. Thiss isn't down there, so he must be up here. Cole could feel her anger. The Shadow Dragon is mine.

Understanding her motives Cole relented. And what about you? he asked Alleia.

There's already one white dragon down there, she answered simply. They don't need two. Besides, there are still other Demon Dragons.

Cole sighed outwardly. Fine. Just watch yourselves and don't let your emotions blind you.

Their affirmative thoughts came back to him as they transformed and landed on the Hope's deck. The Dragonmaster returned his focus to the tower top just in time to witness the beginning of what could be the end of everything.

The eight Stones continued to spin around faster until they were nothing but a colored blur. Kole closed his eyes and reached out to feel the power building up between the keys to his destiny. Then, all at once, he felt them all click into place. The Demon Dragonmaster opened his eyes to see that they had all stopped spinning. Suddenly, the glowing Stones released an energy blast off into the heavens. Kole watched with childlike glee as the very layers of time and space opened before his eyes.

The space between Lunar and the Blue Star seemed to literally split down the center and open. Out of that opening floated a planetoid somewhat smaller than Lunar, but still significant. It was rose in color with very few white clouds swirling around it and no sign of water what so ever on the surface. Kole closed his eyes again and stretched out with his senses.

"The massster isss near," hissed Thiss.

"I can feel him," added Arlax.

Kole chuckled to himself. He opened his left hand, and everyone on top of the tower was suddenly surrounded in a transparent black sphere. The sphere suddenly lifted off from the tower and rocketed off towards the new planet at an amazing speed. Soon they were through the Blue Star's atmosphere and in space.

"We're being followed," Miraje alerted him.

Kole opened his eyes and looked back. Heading up from the Blue Star as well was none other than a dragonship. The dark warrior smiled to himself. "Not for long."

"We're about to leave the planet's atmosphere," announced Connery.

"What does that mean?" asked Fox.

The thief glanced over his shoulder quickly with a small grin. "It means that we're going into space where, if my theory is correct, there is no air to breath."

"Carla," Cole called out.

"I'm on it," replied his cousin instantly. The spidery words of a spell rolled off her lips. Seconds later there was a small shimmer around the entire ship.

"That should do it," she told everyone. "I put a combination wind and water shield around us, which should keep us in a nice little bubble of sorts."

"Ummm," stammered Itise from the bow. "Can the bubble be popped?"

Carla blinked twice. "I don't think so. Why?"

"Because here come some pretty nasty looking pins!" he shouted as he ran back to the center of the deck.

Everyone looked forward to see a group of black energy lances screaming towards the ship. "Hang on!" cried Connery.

The White Knight threw the Hope into a series of maneuvers that succeeded in dodging the lances. Cole was about to congratulate his little friend, when the second wave of lances suddenly appeared to replace the first. The entire crew cried out as Connery threw the ship into another lurching set of maneuvers. Everyone on deck was thrown back and forth with only Cole, Argile, and Connery managing to stay steady.

"I think I'm gonna throw up!" announced Lorene.

"Wait a few seconds!" Carla told her. "I think I'll join you!"

One too many lances filled the space, and Connery couldn't get the Hope out of the way in time. Two of the deadly lances were seconds away from impact when Cole thrust his hands out while chanting rapidly. "Black Dragon Shield!" he cried out just in time.

There was a faint black shimmer around the ship that served to absorb the energy lances before they did any form of damage. There was only a collective brief sigh of relief before Connery once again jerked the ship to avoid more blasts. By this time the rose colored planet was looming largely before all of them. And just ahead was the black sphere that contained the enemy.

Cole teetered back to the steering wheel, barely managing to keep his footing. "So what do we do if we make it over there?" asked Connery.

"Find the Orb of Infinity before Kole and his minions," answered the Dragonmaster.

"And just how do you propose to do that?" asked Carla, who was refusing to release her vise grip around the railing in front of the cabin entrance.

"Trust me," Cole assured her. "I don't think it will be hard to miss."

"Oh crap!" shouted Mirage suddenly.

Everyone looked around just as two huge black power blasts shot out from the sphere. Connery tried, but the attacks were just too large to dodge around. Both Cole and Carla loosed the words to their most powerful protection spells, but each one knew from the feel of the two on coming blasts that they wouldn't be enough. Their spells were completed just as the first blast made contact.

The Dragonship started spinning end over end backwards, but was soon spinning forwards again after the second blast hit. Everyone couldn't help but scream in terror as they dropped out of control towards the planet's surface.

"And I just put this damn thing together!" whined Connery moments before they passed through the atmosphere and crashed.

Kole watched from within the transparent black sphere as the Dragonship crashed into the planet's surface. He chuckled to himself as the sphere altered its direction to his silent command. They flew across the rocky surface of the planet towards the distinct power source that had to be the Orb of Infinity. The Demon Dragonmaster's eyes brightened suddenly when they passed over a ridge of mountains. Sitting nestled at the foot of the range was a domed temple surrounded by a circle of pillars.

Unfortunately there was also a welcoming committee in front of the temple as well.

"The Dragon Tribe," growled Kole. Thousands of dragons were hovering in the air before the temple.

"They will not be a bother," assured Arlax. "We are close enough to the Master to take advantage of his powers." The Chaos Dragon stretched out his hands, which started to glow purple.

There was a sudden explosion of power above the temple. A blue portal had opened up above the structure, and out of the portal flew a wave of abominations. Chaos fiends of all sorts poured out and attacked the dragon army. The war that was being fought on the Blue Star erupted in a new chapter around the resting place of the Orb of Infinity. Despite their great power, the dragons were quickly overcome and thrust into a deadly struggle with the minions of the Chaos.

"Do what needs to be done, Demon Dragonmaster!" shouted Arlax. He and the other two Demon Dragons teleported out of the sphere and transformed. "We will handle things out here!"

Kole let them leave without a word. He commanded the sphere to fly right for the entrance to the temple. Once in a while a dragon would attempt to bar his path, but a single blast of dark power disintegrated any opposition. Finally, the sphere landed on the steps of the temple. The black globe disappeared, and Kole began ascending towards his goal.

He glanced over his shoulder at Arguile, Miraje, and Konnery as he walked. "Kill anyone who tries to follow me."

The three Demon Knights bowed their heads. "Yes, lord."

Kole returned his eyes forward. Now it was only a matter of time before the end.

Cole's head was filled with the ringing of a thousand bells. The Dragonmaster struggled to stand up. When his vision finally cleared, he tried to locate all the members of the Hope's crew. At first glance the Dragonship didn't seem to be that damaged, overall. Bodies were scattered all across the ship's deck, but each one of them seemed to be moving. Cole made his way over to Leeta to help her back up.

"You all right?" he asked the princess.

She coughed once, but nodded back to him. "Yeah. How about you?"

"I've taken worse." He looked around the deck again. "Role call!"

"Owe!" came a groan from beneath a pile of wood chunks that Cole identified as Connery.

The rest of his friends and the crew were all slowly getting back to their feet. "I don't want to take that ride again," announced Carla.

"I dunno. I kinda liked it," commented Lorene with a broad smile.

The Premier shot the elf a look. "You know, you are way to cheerful right now."

"Yeah, I think everyone's fine," said Leeta quietly.

Cole was a about to respond, when Onyl shouted a warning cry. Everyone spun around to see several things that were undeniably dragon in shape flying towards them. "Keep it cool," ordered Cole. "Remember, the Dragon Tribe guards this place. Onyl, Alleia, transform so they know we're friendly."

The Black and White Dragons transformed instantly and hovered a little into the air above the crashed ship. All too quickly ten dragons ranging from red, to black, to green came to a halt in the air before them. A black of moderate size flew slightly ahead of the pack and dropped down to the ground. Once landed, it bowed its long neck.

"I am Shirak of the Black Clan," he announced. "It is my great honor to welcome two of Althena's Chosen to Puaj."

Onyl looked down at Cole, who nodded back. She flew over to Shirak and landed in front of him. "I am Onyl, the Black Dragon of Althena, and that is Alleia, the White Dragon. We're glad to be welcomed."

Shirak stood and gave her a toothy grin. "It is fortunate that two of the Chosen are here now. The minions of the Beast are attempting to free their master as we speak."

Cole leapt off the Hope and ran to stand between the two massive creatures. "Where are they?" he shouted up.

"Who is this little man?" asked Shirak. "Who is he that he believes he can talk to members of the Dragon Tribe in such a way?"

Cole suddenly remembered that when Althena had banished the Chaos, she had not yet created the station of Dragonmaster. So it was that none of these dragons would have any idea of who or what he was. "I am Althena's most trusted guardian, the Dragonmaster."

The other black's yellow eyes widened. "Much has changed in our world, brother since the Goddess placed our tribe here as guardians," explained Onyl. "During the long years, Althena needed to call on other tribes to help protect her creations. She created the position of Dragonmaster to be her most powerful champion in times of crisis."

"You mean that Althena's Chosen bow to a mere mortal?" asked Shirak in a awed tone.

"Well, I wouldn't put it quite like that," added Alleia as she came to rest next to Onyl. "A Dragonmaster must earn the respect and blessings of the Dragons before they give him or her their power. I guess in the end we aid the Dragonmaster because he or she will use our powers for good."

The other nine dragons who had landed behind Shirak were conversing in hushed, if not still rumbling, tones. The black was slowly shaking his head. "Things truly have changed since the times of my forefathers." He looked down at Cole. "So Dragonmaster, you are here to stop the minions of the Beast?"

Cole drew the Goddess Sword and tipped its blade. "I swear by Althena's Blade, that we will."

The presence of the holy artifact seemed to dash any doubts Shirak and his fellows may have had left. "Very well. The enemy is attacking the Temple of Sorrow even now. Climb on our backs, and we will fly you to the conflict."

"Excellent," replied Cole. He turned around to find his friends waiting right behind him. "Connery, what about the ship?"

The White Knight looked back at the vessel. "I think my boys can get her back into flying shape soon enough. I think your spells soaked most of the damage."

"Good. I want them to get it fixed. We might need to get out of here in a hurry." He looked back at Shirak. "Shirak and his dragons will fly us to the temple. Onyl and Alleia... will take care of the Demon Dragons."

"So will I." Everyone looked over at Carla as she spoke those words. "Arlax brainwashed me into almost killing the people I care most about in this world." Her eyes thinned and the Star Crest around her neck started glowing. "I want to make that bastard pay."

Cole watched his cousin for a second before nodding. "All right. Onyl, Alleia, and Carla will deal with the Demon Dragons. The rest of us will go after the Kole and the Orb."

Moments later the small force was flying back towards the Temple of Sorrow to face a foe that could well be more powerful than a god.

Carla, riding on Alleia's back with Connery and Itise, watched with unexplained calm as they neared the battle. She found herself grimacing at the multitude of chaos beasts engaging the Dragon Tribe. A quick scan of the battle soon located her target. Arlax was soaring through the air taking on dozens of dragons at a time. Unfortunately, none of these dragons had near enough size, power, or strength to meet the challenge of the Demon Dragon. It would take a Dragon of Althena, or something of equal power, to battle the monster.

"Alleia!" she shouted out to the White. "Fly past Arlax so that I can get his attention. Then get us away from the main battle!"

Alleia released a blast of frost from her maw that encased a tentacled blob of a monster. "Easier said than done! I'll do my best, though!"

It took a little doing, but the White Dragon managed to get them near to where Arlax was fighting. Having retained some of the spells Arlax had implanted in her mind, Carla decided one of those would be the best way to get his attention. Shadowy words left her lips followed by a blue bolt of power that shot from her right hand. The bolt impacted right on the Chaos Dragon's side. His head snapped around, and Carla flashed him a winning smile.

"Get us out of here, Alleia!" cried Connery. The White Dragon banked around and flew as fast as she could away from the main conflict.

When they were just outside the perimeter of the battle, Carla patted her young friend on the back. "This is good enough! I'll get off here! Be careful!"

"You too!" Connery told her as they swooped low, allowing Carla to jump off.

The Premier landed on her feet and turned to watch Alleia leave and Arlax arrive. The Chaos Dragon completely ignored Alleia as she returned to the battle. The massive wyrm landed thirty yards from Carla and loosed a low rumble of a growl.

"You are a fool to challenge me, woman." He raised himself up to his full three hundred feet. "I should have killed you when I first had you."

Carla tapped her left foot, and a long, ornate wooden staff appeared in her right hand. "You're right. You should have. Now, I'm going to put you down." She gripped the staff with both hands and took a defensive stance.

Arlax expelled steam from his nostrils. "Then die, bitch!" The demon inhaled quickly and released a stream of purple lightning bolts.

The Premier willed a shield into existence just in time to repel the purple bolts. Arlax's bolts bounced off of her shield, flying in random directions to explode against the surrounding landscape. The massive dragon ceased his attack and reared back. Seizing her the chance, Carla drove her staff into the ground while chanting quickly.

"Seismic Shock!"

The earth beneath the Chaos Dragon suddenly exploded with the ground collapsing and huge stone pillars jutting up to stab the monster. Dust filled the air, and Carla would have sighed with relief had not a furious roar split the air. Arlax launched himself up through the dust cloud high into the sky. Carla reflexively raised her staff while shouting activation words. Small comets of fire flew from the tip of the staff right for Arlax. The demon, however, easily avoided each blast.

Carla pulled back her spell and reset for the next round. As she had expected, battling the Chaos Dragon was not proving to be an easy task. Arlax was not stupid, and it would take more than average spells to even scratch his tough scales. The Demon Dragon streaked across the sky above, obviously preparing for a dive.

"Fly through this," she hissed. Words rolled from her lips, and the air around suddenly took on a new life. "Tempest Rage!" cried the Premier with her arms outstretched.

Long, dark curls whipping back from her head, Carla watched as three tornadoes literally spun into existence around her. Following her mental commands, the twisters reached high into the skies and grabbed Arlax as if he were nothing but an insect. The Chaos Dragon roared in anger as he was tossed around between each wind funnel. The tornadoes combined into one, lifted Arlax high into the air, and then summarily slammed him into the ground.

Carla, taking in long, deep breaths, leaned heavily on her staff. "Phew," she said quietly. "That took more out of me than I thought." It was apparent that she had not recovered as much from her ordeal as she had let on.

She was about to find a shady spot, when the world around her suddenly exploded. Carla flew forward through the air to belly flop hard on the ground. She rolled on to her back and watched in horror as Arlax slowly climbed out from a new hole in the ground. Black blood was dripping from numerous wounds all over his body, one of his horns was broken, and the membrane of his wings was shredded.

Arlax emerged completely to loom over her. "Not quite good enough," he rumbled.

Carla rolled over crying out the activation words to her next spell. "Blades of Light!" Long blades of light repeatedly flew from her hands to imbed themselves in Arlax's underside.

The Demon Dragon roared in pain. He reared back, but at the same time his tail snapped around to slap the ground next to Carla. The earth exploded, sending the small Premier high into the air. Carla landed hard on the ground and rolled for several feet before stopping. She tried to inhale, but every breath was suddenly racked with pain. That last fall had definitely cracked a rib or two.

"I was not made to fight like this," she moaned to herself. The ground started shaking, telling her that Arlax was once again approaching.

She tried to get to her feet, but a pain racked cough made her pause. Another pain laced cry escaped her lips as Arlax's huge claw suddenly wrapped around and picked her up. Incantations for various spells raced through her mind, but Carla couldn't bring enough concentration to bare to chant even one. Hot putrid air washed over her. The Premier looked over to find herself staring right into the maw of the Chaos Dragon.

"Now our little game is over, Carla," gloated the monster. "I was just going to crush you, but our bout has made me hungry." His maw peeled back into a toothy grin as the demon chuckled.

Carla desperately grasped for an idea to get her out of this increasingly bad situation. Her time slipped away even faster as Arlax lifted her higher into the air and opened his mouth. Praying for some form of divine intervention, Carla grabbed at the Star Crest hanging around her neck. As her right hand clasped the Crest, its warm sensation suddenly gave her an idea. In one last desperate move, Carla transferred all the magical energy she could into the Crest, set the magical equivalent to a timer, tore it from her neck, and threw it down Arlax's open maw.

The Demon Dragon reflexively swallowed. It was only a second later when he clamped his mouth shut, dropped Carla, and grabbed his long neck with both claws. Carla barely managed a small levitation spell to float her safely back to the ground. As the Premier drifted downwards, Arlax was obviously suffering from an extreme case of indigestion. There was a sudden muffled explosion from within the demon, followed by what could only be described as star light breaking out from every pore of his body. Finally, he opened his maw in one last roar of defiance just before the light erupted from his mouth, eyes, and finally exploded out from his entire body.

Eyes covered, Carla touched down on the ground with a sigh of relief. When it was safe to look again, there was nothing but ash left of the once mighty Chaos Dragon. And floating in the air where he had been standing was the Star Crest. Carla willed the item back to her hand, picked up her staff, and started making her way towards the temple.

Onyl entered the battle claws first. Purple and blue winged chaos beasts that looked like nightmarish birds made the mistake of getting in her way. With mighty swipes of her claws the Black Dragon tore the monsters from the air as she sought her true prey. In a battle with so many dragons, it didn't take her quite as long as she had thought to find Thiss. The Shadow Dragon, being more than a match for the average dragons, was soaring through the fight dealing out death at will.

Not even bothering to announce her presence, Onyl released a blast of acid from her maw that impacted right on Thiss' back. The attack took the demon completely by surprise and sent him hurtling to the ground. Seeing her arrival and sensing who she was, other dragons moved off leaving Onyl to deal with Thiss. The Black dropped out of the sky to land right in front of her most hated enemy.

Thiss had recovered enough to take up a defensive stance. "Black Dragon," he growled.

Onyl bared her teeth and readied herself to attack. "You won't get away from me this time, Thiss." The Black slapped her tail on the ground in anticipation.

Thiss' tail started to sway back and forth. "I do not plan on running from my moment of victory," replied the Shadow Dragon. "Death'ssss Ssssweet embrace awaitssss you."

Onyl roared at him and attacked. Thiss replied in kind and lunged at her as well. The two massive creatures collided ending with the pair in a claw to claw grapple. The test of strength was soon decided when the larger Onyl began to push Thiss down. Seeing his imminent loss, Thiss dispensed with playing fair and clamped his jaws down on Onyl's right shoulder. The sudden bite shocked her enough to allow Thiss to take the advantage away. The Shadow Dragon released the grappled and raked Onyl across the chest with his claws.

The Black stumbled back, and Thiss came at her again. This time he leapt into the air over her. He cleared her, and at the same time wrapped his tail around her neck. Next the Demon Dragon landed while slamming Onyl down to the ground at the same time. Thiss then continued to move forward and drag her along behind. Onyl flailed for a few moments in an attempt to break free, but every attempt only served to expend what air she had left. At last, she decided to use her size to her advantage.

In a last ditch effort, Onyl spun herself around. She drove her hind claws into the ground and spread her wings. Then she grabbed Thiss' tail and with all her strength she pulled. Taken by surprise, the demon was yanked back. In the process he loosened his tail's grip around Onyl's neck. Onyl, however, was still holding the tail. A roar flew from her maw as she swung the Shadow Dragon over her shoulder and down into the unforgiving ground.

With her opponent down for the moment, Onyl took a brief second to steady herself with several deep breaths. It was not long before Thiss was back on his feet. He took in a long breath, and Onyl tensed to defend against his breath weapon. But instead of attacking, Thiss loosed his energy sapping breath between them. Having created a screen, the demon launched himself into the air to escape.

"Not this time!" roared Onyl. The Black Dragon flapped her wings repeatedly until the deadly breath had dissipated enough for her to pursue.

She instantly spotted Thiss breaking away from the main battle and heading off for a mountain range to the east. Speed driven by determination, Onyl chased after him. Soon the two of them had left the battle around the temple. Due to their speeds, it was not long before they were above the mountains. Thiss banked down to the left towards the mountains' bases. Onyl released a blast of acid, but the attack only served to damage the mountain side. The longer the chase continued, the more distance Thiss was creating between them. It didn't take Rayn to tell Onyl that the Shadow Dragon was a faster flyer, and that eventually he would get away if this kept up.

No sooner had that thought crossed her mind, than did Thiss drop down closer to the ground. Onyl followed and caught sight of the demon again just as he flew down a large hole in the ground. Undaunted, the Black Dragon followed him down. With her superior vision, Onyl was just able to make out her surroundings enough not to crash into a cavern wall while she flew on. The passage she was flying down soon turned and opened up into a larger cavern. The cavern was huge, and Onyl expected that other dragons may have created it at some point. Unfortunately, they hadn't left any form of light behind. Onyl summoned a ball of fire to create some lighting, but it did little to help. There was still an endless wall of darkness around her.

A hissing chuckling suddenly echoed all around her. "Feeling losssst, Black Dragon?" came Thiss' voice from everywhere. "You were a fool to follow me here. Now you are in my world."

Onyl cried out as a cold pain shot across her back. Darts of pain quickly followed all over her chest, causing her to thrash wildly in the air. The attacks ceased, leaving Onyl breathing heavily, yet still in the air.

"Your pain tolerance issss high," hissed Thiss. "Let'ssss ssssee how much you can really sssstand."

All at once darts of pain hit Onyl on every part of her body. It was as if thousands of needles were piercing her from all angles. Then several larger shots hit her in the chest, which finally caused her to cry out in pain. The last shot completely drained the Black of her strength, and she plummeted an unknown distance to the cavern floor. Fortunately for her, Onyl barely missed a large stalagmite rising up off the ground. All around her Thiss' laughter echoed.

"It wassss fun while it lassssted, Black Dragon." The air around the cavern suddenly became colder.

Onyl struggled to her feet leaned on that large stalagmite. Then she suddenly realized something. How had she known that the stalagmite had been there? That was when Onyl realized she could feel the entire cavern around her. Once she concentrated on it, she could literally hear the earth singing to her. And it was telling her exactly where Thiss was. With the last of her strength Onyl ripped the huge stalagmite from the ground and looked straight up at where Thiss was hovering.

"The shadows may be your world, Thiss," she roared, "but you're still playing on my turf!" Along with her roar, Onyl made herself one with the cavern around her.

As her roar echoed all around them, so did the cavern itself begin to shake. Seeing his advantage slipping away, Thiss decided to make his escape while he could. The cavern's shaking increased, and there was the definite sound of the ceiling beginning to fall. The shadows warned Thiss of the falling rocks, allowing him to dodge away. That, however, had moved him right into Onyl's path. He'd been so focused on all of the falling rocks, that he hadn't realized his mistake until it was too late.

Roaring with rage, Onyl soared straight up just as Thiss moved to dodge the cave in. For a brief moment, Onyl's more savage side wished she had been able to see the Shadow Dragon's face as she drove the stalagmite into the center of his chest. The rock spear pierced Thiss' chest, forcing an agonizing roar from his maw. Onyl didn't stop there, though. She pushed the stalagmite deeper and deeper, while continuing to fly upwards. The trip finally ended when Thiss' back hit the ceiling, forcing the stalagmite all the way into his chest.

Onyl hovered there for a moment, still holding the bottom of the stalagmite as Thiss' blood dripping down on to her. With the death of the Shadow Dragon, some of, but not all of the grief over her parents' deaths was lifted. Her thoughts may have continued around that if she was not reminded of the battle raging outside. Emotions pushed down to be dealt with later, Onyl turned and headed for the tunnel back to the surface.

Cole saw what was coming before it even happened. The chaos beasts' bellow suddenly lashed out in a frenzied offensive, which took the dragons by surprise. Purple, black, and blue blasts raced past all of them succeeding more often than not in hitting one of the dragons. One blast vaporized the head of the dragon Cole, Leeta, and Mirage were riding on. The dead beast crashed into the ground sending its passengers flying off in the process. Cole curled himself into a ball as he hit the ground and instantly rolled back to his feet. Waiting to greet him was a horde of maddened chaos demons.

A dual horned, purple scaled demon with pincer claws lunged at him. The Goddess Sword burst into red flames as the Dragonmaster sliced off one pincer and then reversed his blade right through the demon's chest. As the monster fell several more moved in to take its place. A quadruped demon with tentacles rising off its back lashed out at him with a black blast of power. Cole blocked it with the Dragon Shield and side stepped to his left to parry the axe of a blue armored knight with his Sword.

Something dashed by the knight causing it to fall to the ground dead. Cole briefly saw the blur that was Mirage as he darted past a series of demons, leaving a trail of corpses behind. The Dragonmaster chanced a look over his shoulder at Leeta. The princess was holding her own with sword and sorcery. A nightmarish version of a large cat with four heads lunged at her. Leeta kept it at bay with her long sword long enough to get out the words to a spell that shot out as a blade of fire, which split the monster right down the center.

It was not long before the rest of his friends had found their way to his position. Argile literally plowed through a line of demons with Fox and Carmen on his heels. Lorene suddenly came running out into the open with a pack of purple and black scaled hounds chasing after her. An silent signal from Cole had Fox turn the power of the Red Dragon's Bow on the pack of chaos hounds. The lead beasts stumbled into the dirt as fire arrows suddenly pierced their heads. Opening created, Lorene stopped on a dime, spun around, and charged back into the pack. The Gold Knight tore right through the center of the pack leaving dead bodies in her wake.

"We're not making any headway at all!" shouted Leeta.

"She's right!" added Mirage. "We haven't moved an inch closer to the temple since we crashed!"

Cole grimaced at the situation. Even after using his Dragon Magic, the horde of chaos demons didn't seem to weaken. Then, to make matters worse, Scorn entered the fray. The Pestilence Dragon swooped down from above easily killing weaker dragons as he went. The presence of one of their leaders seemed to only spur the demon horde onwards. Cole knew that he could take on the Demon Dragon himself and win, but with a horde of demons at his feet there was no way he could fight such a one on one battle.

Just as things seemed to darken then did they lighten up again. A cone of frost suddenly slammed into Scorn, sending the demon hurtling back through the air. He tried to right himself, but then a stream of ice hit him right in the head. With their apparent general halted, the demon horde slowly pulled back. Cole looked up to see Alleia with Connery and Itise on her back. The White Dragon lowered herself so that Connery and Itise could dismount. Free from riders, Alleia drifted back into the air in front of the reforming Dragon Tribe.

"Welcome to the party," commented Cole.

"Our invitation got lost in the mail," replied Connery with a smirk.

Cole smiled back and looked over at Itise. "How are you doing Itise?"

The young man tried to return the smile with confidence. "I'm a little in over my head, but otherwise fine. I'm still not sure what I'm doing here."

Mirage walked up to pat him on the back. "I think it is just a case of wrong place at the wrong time, pal. Don't worry, though. Just keep your guard up and you'll be fine."

Cole shook his head and returned his attention to the demon horde. "We're running out of time. If we don't get into that temple, the Demon Dragonmaster will release the Chaos."

"What's the plan?" asked Connery.

"Spearhead?" suggested Fox.

"I say we fly over them," said Carmen.

Cole shook his head at both suggestions. "Too many of them and too few of us for a spearhead, and too much ground to air fire for a fly by. We need to punch a hole and then run like hell."

The demon horde surged as Scorn rose above them again. "Think of something fast, you guys!" warned Lorene.

"I think I have an idea," announced Argile. All looked to the Black Knight. "The Dragon Aura Blast."

Cole raised his right eyebrow. "That could work, but we need time to build up the power between us." He looked up at Alleia. "Alleia! We need cover for at least two minutes!"

The White Dragon nodded down at him. "You got it!" She gestured to a few dragons, who dropped down to set up around the Dragonmaster and his companions.

A horrific roar filled the air announcing the charge of the chaos horde. Cole turned to face the horde and closed his eyes. "Well, here goes everything."

Alleia, with the rest of the Dragon Tribe behind her, charged as the chaos horde did. The brutal battle quickly resumed with little or no semblance of strategic order. It didn't take Alleia long to notice that none of the chaos demons were attacking her directly. The reason was soon apparent when Scorn drifted up ahead of her.

The Pestilence Dragon chuckled. "Nowhere to run, little dragon. This time it will be just you and I with no help from mommy, daddy, or the others."

Alleia swallowed hard. Past encounters with Scorn had proven that alone she was not truly a match for the larger and stronger Demon Dragon. But with no apparent way out of this, the White Dragon set herself to attack her enemy.

"Oh, I wouldn't quite say she's on her own." Both Alleia and Scorn looked up as Onyl dropped down to the left. "I think this should even up the odds a little."

"And this should completely tip the scales," said a new, but familiar voice.

Ruby, Rayn, and Vaul suddenly lowered themselves into sight, which now placed Scorn in the middle of a very deadly circle. "We finished a little early back on the Blue Star," continued Ruby. "So, we decided to come see what was going on up here."

"I think you're in a lot of trouble, Scorny," Vaul told the Demon Dragon with a vicious smile.

"The odds are definitely not in your favor," added Rayn.

Scorn looked back and forth between all of them. Finally, he raised his head to loose one final roar of disbelief as the five Dragons of Althena converged on him.

Leeta watched carefully as the dragons defending Cole and the Dragon Knights did their best to keep the enemy at bay. But every few moments a chaos monster would slip past. Then it was up to her. A two headed snake demon made it past and went right for the unawares Dragonmaster. Leeta threw herself in the way with her sword leading. The snake reared back, hissing at the princess. Words rolled off of Leeta's lips calling on a spell.

"Gravity Well!" All at once the snake demon was flattened into nothing but a stain on the ground.

The princess stepped off to the side. She looked over her shoulder at her beloved. "Hurry up, Cole."

It was almost there. With the Dragon Knights standing behind him, Cole could feel their combined strength growing. All he was waiting for was that mental... click!

Six pairs of eyes snapped open at once. At that same moment energy began to gather right in front of Cole. The dragons, being sensitive to the power being harnessed by the Dragonmaster and Knights, immediately got out of the way. Cole raised his hands directly at the mass of demons between himself and the temple.

"Dragon Aura Blast!" shouted the six as one.

Suddenly the energy exploded forwards in the shape of a dragon's head. The energy dragon roared and hit the chaos horde. The resulting explosion sent off a mushroom cloud high into the sky, along with demon parts. Ignoring the fatigue brought on by the attack, Cole drew his sword and started running for the temple with his companions following close behind. The chaos horde had been thrown into complete disarray that allowed the Dragonmaster to just about make it to the temple steps. Unfortunately when they were just feet from the steps, the demons recovered enough to converge on them.

Cole blindly slashed his way forward until he surprisingly found himself at the base of the steps. He spun around to rally his friends, only to find them too entrenched in fighting to follow. "Go! We'll hold them here!" shouted Mirage before he could rejoin the fight.

"You need to get in there and stop him!" added Leeta as she released a wave of electricity. "We'll be fine!"

Despite all his urges to help his friends, Cole turned and started running up the stairs. Soon he reached the top and his next obstacle. The platform at the top of the stairs was ringed in ornate pillars that ran like a hall all the way to a silver door that laid open. Standing between Cole and the open door were the three remaining Demon Knights. Miraje, Konnery, and Arguile smiled evilly at the Dragonmaster as he slowly approached.

"Well well well," purred Miraje. "Looks like the Dragonmaster finally decided to pay us a visit."

"What's a matter?" asked Konnery sarcastically. "Were your friends too afraid to come with you?"

"Or are they all just dead?" added Arguile.

Cole slowly set his feet. "Don't worry. The others will be along soon enough. You three will just have to play with me for the time being."

Miraje drew his Scimitar, Konnery began to spin his Scythe, and Arguile's Armor began to writhe. "You are just a Dragonmaster," growled Arguile. "We have nothing to fear from you."

The Goddess Sword glinted. "We'll see about that," replied Cole as he started walking forward.

Cole waited for them to make the first move, and they obliged. First they spread out to try and surround him from three sides. Then Arguile, from the left, shot a pair of blood spears from his Armor. Cole raised his Shield to deflect the spears, but as he did so the other two charged. Miraje reached him first, and Cole quickly parried his first two slashes. Then the Dragonmaster locked up the Shadow Knight's sword on the third slash and muscled it to the right into Konnery's oncoming side slash. The two Demon Knights' weapons locked. Konnery was thrown off balance, and Cole sent Miraje to the ground with a quick kick to the gut.

Pounding foots steps alerted Cole to Arguile's charge. He spun around just in time to duck under a side slashing axe blade from the large man's Armor. Next Cole leapt back several feet to avoid a second axe blade that came slashing down. As the blade hit the floor, Cole burst into white fire. "White Dragon Dash!" he cried and slammed into Arguile. The Blood Knight was sent flying through the air right into one of the pillars.

The Dragonmaster turned now to face Konnery, who had regained his balance and charged again. The Pestilence Knight's long Scythe arced at Cole. He managed to dodge the first two slashes and parry the third just under the curved, black blade. Suddenly, Miraje emerged from the shadow of a nearby pillar and lunged. Cole raised his Shield to block. As he blocked the Shadow Knight's attack, Konnery brought the other end of his Scythe up into Cole's right side. The Scythe didn't get throught the Black Dragon's Armor, but the shot hurt all the same. The Dragonmaster lurched in pain, thus allowing Miraje to bat down the Dragon Shield and slash his left arm. Cole held back a scream, but his left arm reflexively went limp from the slash letting the Shield slide off his arm in the process.

Both Demon Knights slashed at Cole's head, but the Dragonmaster had recovered quickly enough to duck and roll under and away from the pair. When back on his feet, Cole was now holding the Dragon Wings in his left hand. Miraje and Konnery moved on him, but only swirls of teleportation magic were left. Cole reappeared back at the top of the stairs with his Sword pointed at them and words of magic flowing from his mouth.

"Dragon Bolt!"

A dragon of electricity flew from the tip of the Goddess Sword right for the two Demon Knights. Miraje narrowly escaped by retreating into a shadow, but Konnery was not so lucky. The power of the Dragon Magic hit the Pestilence Knight full on. He could only cry out in pain and horror as the electricity writhed all over his body. When it was over, Konnery dropped to the ground nothing but a charred husk of flesh.

The brief sound of something brushing against one of the stone pillars above made Cole look up just in time to see Miraje diving down at him. Cole threw up his Sword just in time to deflect the Shadow Knight's downward slash. Blades clashed, and both men leapt away from each other. Cole quickly secured the Dragon Wings and reset for Miraje's next attack. The double of one of his closest friends smiled wickedly and charged.

It took all the speed Cole could gather from the Blue Dragon's Helmet to keep up with his foe. Miraje's Shadow Scimitar lashed out repeatedly at him. Soon, though, Cole had settled into the rhythm of the fight and had started to push Miraje back. He almost had the Demon Knight pinned against a pillar, when the other man dodged to the left and into the pillar's shadow. Cole instinctively stepped back into a defensive stance while looking around warily.

Miraje suddenly leapt up from the Dragonmaster's own shadow. His Scimitar sliced upwards through Cole's cape and into his back. The Dragonmaster cursed loudly as he jumped away while using his Sword to keep Miraje at bay. The Shadow Knight, however, back flipped away and into the shadow of another pillar. Then the Demon Knight was lunging down at Cole from above again. Their swords clashed again, but Miraje just continued to fall right into yet another shadow.

"Great," muttered Cole. "Not only is he too fast, but now he's just going to keep jumping from shadow to shadow." An idea suddenly occurred to Cole. He took a quick glance around the area and found the perfect spot.

He started running down the pillar hall towards the silver doors. As expected, Miraje leapt out from one of the pillar's shadows to reengage the Dragonmaster. Cole spun around so that his back was facing the opened doors. At first he did his best to keep up with the Shadow Knight, but soon Cole began to allow the other man to push him back. The closer the came to the doors, the more Cole angled his retreat towards one of the doors itself. When they were just feet from the open door, Cole went on the offensive again. A powerful combination at Miraje's torso forced the Knight to back peddle towards the nearest pillar. Predictably, he retreated into the pillar's shadow to escape Cole's offensive flurry.

Going with a gamble, Cole quickly reversed the direction of his Sword and stabbed backwards into the shadow created by the open door behind him. The green eyed warrior immediately recognized the feeling of his blade entering another man's body. The Dragonmaster withdrew his weapon, took several steps forward, and turned to watch as Miraje stumbled out of the shadow. The Demon Knight, holding his left hand over the hole in his chest, took two steps out and fell to the floor dead. Cole loosed a relieved sigh and started walking over to where he had dropped the Dragon Shield.

All of the sudden Arguile leapt in front of him with several dozen blood spears protruding from his Armor aimed right at the Dragonmaster. Taken completely by surprise, Cole cried out and stumbled back on to his rear. The Blood Knight roared and moved to finish Cole, but suddenly stopped in mid attack. His roar turned into a gurgled choke as a white spearhead exploded out from the center of his chest. He tried to say something, but instead the large man only let out a sickening exhale as he dropped to the floor.

Cole lifted his eyes from the fallen corpse to find Connery standing there with a large grin on his face. The White Dragon Knight pulled his Spear free from Arguile. "I managed to get free from the fight and figured that you might need some help up here. Besides," he added with a nod to the dead Demon Knight, "I owed this guy one for throwing me off the roof of Xobelisk."

"Connery," Cole said as he got to his feet, "don't let anyone ever tell you you're not something special." He reached out to pat the small Knight on the left shoulder. "Thanks, buddy."

"Just returning one of many favors," replied the thief.

Cole retrieved his Shield and straightened his Helmet. Next he turned and looked into the open doorway before him. "You want me to go with you?" asked Connery.

"No," Cole told him. "You stay here and wait for the others. I'll try and hold him off until then."

The White Knight nodded. "Be careful."

The Dragonmaster looked down at his small friend with a half smile. "Aren't I always?" That said he marched steadily into the Temple of Sorrow.

The inside of the massive dome was virtually empty. Soft, yellow light filled the chamber from an unknown source. Cole could easily make out an ancient script that ran all around the walls of the dome. The very center of the domed ceiling was in fact a window. The light from the window shone down directly on to the only object within the temple. Floating in between three golden staves was the Orb of Infinity. The Orb itself was the size of a human fist with the colors of purple, black, and blue seemingly swirling around together inside.

And standing before the Orb was the Demon Dragonmaster.

"I am glad that you finally made it here, Dragonmaster," said Kole without turning around. "It is a shame that you had to kill my minions in order to do so, though."

Finally he turned to face Cole. "No matter," he continued in an emotionless tone. "They were insects after all."

"Step away from the Orb," ordered Cole. He raised the Goddess Sword to emphasize his point. "I'm not going to let you release the Chaos."

Kole tilted his head to his right. "You are not going to let me? Ha!" he spat.

Without another word Cole charged his double with a battle cry. The dark warrior merely opened his right hand and released a black globe of energy. Cole saw it coming at the last second and raised the Dragon Shield to block. The impact of the globe on the Shield sent the Dragonmaster flying across the room into the wall. Cole exhaled loudly as he slid down to the floor.

"You are nothing to me, now, Dragonmaster," announced Kole. "You forget. While you have given up your immortal powers," another globe of darkness formed in his right hand, "I have not." He released it at the prone Dragonmaster.

Cole barely threw himself out of the way as the globe exploded against the chamber wall. The green eyed warrior was soon back on his feet, if not barely standing under his own power. "I will stop you... no matter what."

The Demon Dragonmaster chuckled lightly. "I could have already taken the Orb, Cole, but I waited. I wanted you to be here to witness the beginning of the end." He quickly spun around and reached for the Orb.

The power of the White Dragon Dash surrounded Cole as he ran for his double. He was just feet from the other man, when Kole's right hand grasped the Orb. A shockwave of power fanned out instantly, throwing Cole all the way back into the wall. The impact knocked the Blue Dragon's Helmet from his head and caused him to drop the Goddess Sword. Cole managed to open his eyes and witness the transformation before him.

Kole released a monstrous cry as he raised the now violently glowing Orb up. Black, purple, and blue bolts of power were firing off in all directions leaving gaping holes in the walls. Then a tornado of power began to swirl around the Demon Dragonmaster. He loosed another long cry and drove the Orb right into the center of his chest. All the power being given off from the Orb at that moment reverted back to where Kole was standing. First it all centered at his feet, and then a huge pillar of purple, black, and blue power erupted up to the heavens. Then it was over as suddenly as it had begun.

Cole immediately knew that what now stood before him was no longer his double. His Helmet had been blown off during the transformation, and now the hair of the being that had been Kole was standing up straight. Purple, black, and blue wisps of power seemed to constantly be flowing off him. He slowly turned, and Cole's breath caught in his throat. No longer were his eyes green, but now they were completely black. The entity took in a slow breath and exhaled just as slowly.

"I am Life..."

"I am Death..."

"I am the Chaos..."

As the Chaos spoke his words were echoed by secondary and third voices and either blue, black, or purple mist would drift from his mouth. He slowly began to walk away from the center of the chamber, seeming to completely ignore Cole. The Dragonmaster pulled himself up, grabbed the Goddess Sword, and moved to intercept the entity.

"Kole!" he shouted.

The Chaos stopped and turned his now purple gaze on him. "Kole no longer exists. He has become something greater than even the gods themselves."

Cole's eyes drifted to the Orb centered in the entity's chest. His hands tightened in his Sword's hilt. "That doesn't matter. I'm still going to stop you."

"Humph," snickered the entity. "You cannot fathom the power I now possess, Dragonmaster." He raised his right hand. "Die."

As soon as the first explosion of power escaped from the temple, the battle outside stopped. All eyes, including chaos demons', turned to watch as purple, black, and blue bursts of power began to erupt from within the temple. Leeta found herself holding her breath right up to the point when a huge pillar of power exploded through the dome. All was silent for a few moments, until a column of destructive power blew out the side of the temple and far into the distance. Moments later a figure appeared on the temple steps out of swirl of purple mist.

Leeta felt her heart brake at the sight of the Demon Dragonmaster. No. By the Orb pulsating in the center of his chest he was no longer the Demon Dragonmaster. The Chaos waved his right hand across the battlefield, and all the demons suddenly disappeared in puffs of smoke.

"There is no longer a need for such a pointless battle," thundered the entity in a tri-echoed voice. "Submit to me."

"Never!" roared Ruby.

The Red Dragon released a gout of flame from her maw that only served to part around her target. Undaunted she dove for entity with her maw open. The Chaos raised his right hand, and a series of blue tentacles suddenly shot out and wrapped themselves around Ruby. Before Ruby could even attempt to break free, the Beast twitched his hand and sent her crashing into the ground. With his mother in peril, Vaul roared and charged. The Gold quickly met the same fate as his mother when black tendrils shot from the palm of the entity's left hand to wrap him up. The Chaos waved his left hand and sent Vaul into a collision with the other three Dragons of Althena.

The Chaos retracted his tendrils and continued down the steps. All the other dragons in the air began circling above. One brave blue even released a bolt of lightning at the Beast, but it merely bounced off an invisible shield. The Chaos stopped his descent again to look around the battlefield.

"Be gone," he ordered.

Every dragon in the area was suddenly surrounded by unseen winds and propelled far away from the temple. The Chaos chuckled and continued downward. Soon he was before Leeta and the others. He stopped in front to take them all in. "So, the heroes stand firm. The question remains, though, how will they fare without their leader?"

Leeta blanched. "Yes, Princess," hissed the entity. "That last blast you saw from the temple removed the pest that was the Dragonmaster once and for all."

"No," Leeta said softly.

"That's it!" shouted Mirage. The Blue Knight launched himself forwards.

He leapt at the Chaos, but the Beast raised his right hand to halt the Knight in mid air. Argile had charged at the same moment, but his attack was stopped as the Chaos sent Mirage crashing into him with a small gesture. Suddenly Connery was running down the steps at the entity from behind. "White Dragon Dive!" The small Knight, surrounded in a white glow, jumped high into the air and dove Spear first. The Chaos slowly turned until he was facing the diving Knight. Then two black beams shot from his eyes and hit Connery right in the chest.

As Connery dropped from the sky, Lorene and Fox attacked. The Red Knight released a stream of fire arrows, but each one bounced off the Chaos harmlessly. While Fox tried to lay down cover fire, Lorene attempted to dash past and rake their foe across the back. But since the fire arrows had no effect, the Chaos simply reached down, grabbed the Gold Knight by her left claw, and tossed her aside. Lorene flipped herself around in the air to land on her feet next to Leeta.

"This is not going well," muttered the elf.

A soft singing filled the air, and all heads turned to see Carmen with her hands clasped in a healing prayer. The Chaos smiled darkly and began to advance on the priestess. "No!" cried Leeta.

The princess and Lorene ran to try and intercept the Chaos before he could get to Carmen. Lorene reached him first and tried to maul him, but a thin blue beam from his right hand hit her in the shoulder, dropping the elf instantly. Words of magic rolled from Leeta's lips, and she raised her left hand to release beam of blue power. "Plasma Beam!"

The spell hit the Chaos, but like others it just parted around him. Her attack, however, had caused him to stop again. He slowly turned to face her with a dark look on his face. "Unwise, Princess. I was going to leave you till last. Believe me, this death will be much more painful than the last." His eyes started to glow purple.

"Dragon Elemental Blast!"

A multicolored beam of power suddenly tore across the battlefield and washed over the Chaos completely. When the spell had passed the Chaos was still standing, but that was not what everyone was looking at. Standing at the base of the steps was a worse for wear Cole. Blood was dripping down the left side of his face from a forehead gash, his tattered dark red cape flapped in the wind, the Dragon Armor was scuffed all over, but he was standing tall with the Goddess Sword in his right hand and the Dragon Shield on his left forearm.

The Chaos' eyes actually went wide. "Impossible!" he gasped.

Cole only smiled. "You'd be surprised how much power the White Dragon Protect spell can take in." He lifted his ancient blade towards the Beast. "This ends now."

The Chaos showed emotion for the first time by snarling at the Dragonmaster. He looked around wildly as the Dragon Knights, having been healed by Carmen's prayer, encircled him. "You pathetic mortals truly believe you have a chance against me? Ha!" The Beast reached down and drew his sword Kasra. "So be it! Let your deaths be the first among many more to come!"

Itise couldn't move. Fear was keeping his feet glued to the ground. So it was from his position that he had a ringside seat of the battle to decide the fate of the universe. Cole was the first to move. The Dragonmaster charged the Chaos without hesitation. The entity met his attack head on, and their two swords clashed repeatedly for several seconds. The Sword of Althena came down in a slash, which Kasra parried easily. The Chaos gave a mighty push that sent Cole flying away. Connery came dashing in under the flying Dragonmaster.

The White Knight made several thrusts with the icy tip of his Spear, but the Chaos easily deflected each one. Suddenly three purple tendrils shot out from the Beast's chest to wrap up the small thief. Connery could only cry out in distress as he was lifted into the air and slammed back into the ground. Mirage was now there with Argile following close behind. The Blue Knight darted in to the right with his Scimitar, and the Black Knight hacked at the Chaos from the left. The entity, however, somehow managed to evade both men.

Mirage's Scimitar was somehow parried down to the ground, and the Blue Knight was summarily kicked aside. Next, Argile's Axe missed completely as the Chaos actually seemed to bend around the black crescent blades. The left hand shot out to grab the Black Knight by the throat and lift him up like a small child. Fire arrows from the Red Dragon's Bow were screaming towards the Chaos' back, but he quickly turned and used Argile for a human shield. Each arrow exploded against the large warrior's back instead, eliciting cries of pain. Fox cursed loudly and altered his angle of attack. Two quick streams of fire shot out from the Bow with one wrapping around the Chaos' legs and the other around his friend. The Red Knight pulled back taking the entity right off his feet and pulling Argile to safety.

The Chaos was immediately back on his feet looking for his next opponents. Cole and Lorene obliged him quickly. Leeta loosed a lightning spell at the Beast, which was repelled just as earlier spells had been, but the spell had only been meant to draw attention. Lorene dashed in first with a combination of swipes that the Chaos was forced to deflect. Cole used that moment to make his move. He preformed the Red Dragon Slice as he dashed past the back of the Chaos. A very visible gash was now running across the entity's back. Both Lorene and Cole backed off with their weapons raised in defense.

Shock soon registered on their faces as the wound and Chaos Armor on the Beast closed up one after the other. "This in not good," commented Cole.

The Chaos made a quick slice in the air with Kasra, creating an arcing wave of energy that hit both the Dragonmaster and the Gold Dragon Knight. Cole and Lorene rolled across the ground until they hit a small pile of rocks. Left hand raised, the Chaos began to gather energy to fire at the pair. Mirage was suddenly their slashing at the entity's back. He managed to land two hits, but just as Cole's had those slashes only succeeded in annoying the monster. A pair of black tendrils shot out from his back to wrap up and throw Mirage right into a charging Connery.

Free to fire at will, the Chaos released a tri-colored blast at the still recovering Cole and Lorene. The blast would most assuredly finished them both if a white barrier hadn't suddenly appeared to absorb it. All heads quickly looked around until they spotted Carla with her staff aimed right at her cousin's position. Two blue beams shot from the Beast's eyes right at the Premier, but she was quickly pulled out of harms way by a rope of fire from the Dragon Bow. Leeta entered the fray again by first loosing a gout of fire from her left hand. The Chaos stepped aside to avoid the spell and raised his Sword to parry the incoming slashes from the princess. Leeta managed to engage him for all of three seconds before the entity brushed her aside with a telekinetic blast.

As Leeta literally bounced away, Argile came charging in again surrounded by the Black Dragon's Rage. With mighty swipes of his Axe, the Black Knight actually began to push the Chaos back. Unfortunately his success was short lived. The Chaos jumped back to avoid a rather viscous slash, opened his mouth, and released a purple fireball that Argile took full in the chest. Then Cole was there again with his Sword and Shield ready to fight. The Chaos turned all his attention to the Dragonmaster and was completely taken by surprise as Connery vaulted a drop kick right into his upper back. The Beast stumbled forward right into Cole's Blue Dragon Driver. The ball of blue fire that was Cole hit dead center, sending the Chaos flying through the air to crash into a small rock outcropping.

Not wasting anytime, Cole and the Dragon Knights charged the spot where the Chaos had crashed. They had almost reached him when a great explosion of energy suddenly ballooned out at them. Each hero was picked up by the power and thrown away. Itise flinched as each one of them hit the ground hard. Then he returned his gaze to the Chaos and swallowed. The entity had seemed to grow in size, as had his sword Kasra. The eight foot tall being began to laugh at them all.

"There is nothing you can do to stop me!" he bellowed. "I am invincible! Nothing can ever hurt me again!"

As he listened to those words, Itise realized something. At that moment he no longer saw the powerful being that was the Chaos. All his layers of power peeled away until all that as left was the hollow soul of the man named Kole. The power of this revelation forced away any fear that Itise had been harboring. The young man slowly started walking forwards with his path clearly defined.

Pain crackled through every joint of Cole's body. He tried to get up, but his legs would give out every time. Then there was a pair of arms under his shoulders helping him. The Dragonmaster looked over his shoulder to find Leeta there. He gave her a smile and did his best to help himself to a standing position. "Thanks," he told her.

"Any time, hero," she replied. She looked away from him and gasped. "What the hell is he doing?"

Cole followed her gaze and saw Itise walking towards the towering monster that was the Chaos. The Beast suddenly stopped laughing and looked down at the young man standing before him. "And what is this? Does this boy believe he can beat the all mighty Chaos?"

"I'm not here to fight you," replied Itise clearly. "I only wanted to say that I forgive you."

Confusion was evident in the entity's features. "What?"

"I understand your pain, and I forgive you for everything," continued Itise. "I watched you when I was in the palace in Fummara. I saw how you acted when you were all alone. Everything you have done has been nothing but an attempt to fill the hollow pain that is in your heart."

Rage suddenly replaced confusion on the Beast's face. "You know nothing, mortal!"

"But I do." Itise looked up at him with an unwavering gaze. "You lost the dearest thing to your heart, and now all you feel is constant pain. You have tried to fill that void with power, but that still didn't make the pain stop. So, now instead of trying to fill the void you just want to create a universal void so that everyone can feel the same pain you do."

Cole slowly looked away from Itise to the woman standing next to him. Leeta looked up at him and favored him with a small, loving smile. Cole smiled back not needing to say the words that their looks were already expressing. It had been clear to the Dragonmaster ever since he had rescued her from the Underworld just how much his princess had truly meant to him. For a brief time he had felt that hollow pain that Itise was speaking of. He also knew just how easy it would have been for him to turn that pain on the world around him. He was forced to look back as the Chaos loosed a raging roar.

"Do you want to know my pain, boy?" screamed the entity.

Itise didn't even flinch in the face of his rage. "I know your pain, Kole, and I am sorry you must suffer in such a way."

"That man is gone!" the Beast shouted. "No longer will he ever feel pathetic mortal emotions! Now there is only the power!" He raised his left hand, and three purple black tentacles shot out and pierced Itise's chest. "If you know my pain, then feel it first hand for eternity!"

Cole immediately knew those tentacles for what they were. He had witnessed Ziatoch use them against the Dragons of Althena when he stole their souls and Auras. Before the Dragonmaster could even act a white light traveled up the tentacles and was absorbed into the Chaos' hand. The three tentacles retracted, and Itise fell back lifeless.

"ITISE!" screamed Connery.

The White Knight, crying out all the way, charged the Chaos without any heed for his safety. Spinning the Dragon Spear above his head, he attacked the Beast with a ferociousness Cole had never seen from the thief. The drastically bigger Chaos eagerly stood his ground and awaited his prey. The speed with which Connery attacked was beyond anything Cole had ever seen. The White Dragon's Spear lashed out in combination attack after combination attack. Even with his size and that of his Sword, the Chaos seemed to be having trouble dealing with Connery's offensive flurry.

The Chaos parried a triple thrust at his chest and side slashed to the right at Connery's head. Instead of parrying the slash, the small Knight did a side flip right over the slice, landed, and loosed an uppercut arc with his Spear. The icy tip of the weapon clipped the Chaos right on the chin. The Beast actually cried out in pain and stepped back. He tried to cover it up, but everyone else had already seen the results of Connery's attack.

"He's bleeding," said Cole with a savage grin. Everyone could clearly see the line of red running perpendicular on the Chaos' chin.

Breathing heavily from his output, Connery slowly backed away from the entity to reset himself. "How do you like that?" hissed the White Knight.

"How did Connery do that?" asked Leeta.

"I think I know," replied Cole quickly. "The Chaos made a mistake by absorbing Itise's soul. Itise was a pure and innocent person. I can't be sure how, but the power of that purity must be neutralizing whatever made the Chaos invulnerable to our attacks."

"Which means..." said Mirage as he came up beside them with Lorene.

Cole lifted the Goddess Sword and thinned his eyes at the Beast. "Which means we finish this once and for all."

Before the Dragonmaster and the others could even move, Connery attacked again. The White Knight charged in crying out. This time, however, his attack was not so successful. The Chaos leapt back out of the Spear's range, extended his left hand, and released several black tendrils that wrapped the thief up. Connery was lifted high into the air to be slammed back to the ground, but suddenly Cole was there. Goddess Sword surrounded in ebony flames, the Dragonmaster sliced right through the tendrils with the Black Dragon Cleave. Connery fell towards the ground, where Argile easily caught him.

Cole spun around to engage his former double head on. The pair charged each other with their respective swords shinning with power. Althena's Blade and Kasra clashed sending of colored sparks. They dueled back and forth for several moments with neither gaining any ground. The Dragon Shield protected Cole from what would have otherwise been fatal blows from his enemy. Cole dodged left and slashed down, but the Chaos easily brought his Sword around for a clean cross parry. With a mighty roar, the Beast muscled back Cole's blade throwing the Dragonmaster ten feet back in the process.

As Cole hit the ground Mirage and Lorene dashed past to take his place. Using his Slip Stream technique Mirage seemingly disappeared as he moved forward. A pair of slashes suddenly appeared on the Chaos' sides, and Mirage soon appeared a dozen feet behind. Lorene made her attack next. While the Chaos reeled back from Mirage's slashes, the Gold Knight exploded forward with the power of the Gold Dragon Maul attack. The Dragon Claws tore repeatedly into the Chaos actually forcing the Beast back, but a sudden surge of blue power halted the attack by throwing Lorene away. Then three purple tendrils shot out from the Beast's body, grabbed the elf, and threw her right into Connery, who had been moving in to make the next attack.

Argile stepped up next instead to defend his fallen companions. He swung his Axe in wide, yet precise, arcs to keep the Chaos at bay. When there was enough distance between them and the fallen Knights, Argile switched from tentative to aggressive. His wide slashes became short, quick, and aimed for vital areas. The Chaos managed to deflect or parry each mighty slash. The Black Knight made a downward slash, which the Beast dodged by jumping back. Then the Chaos' eyes burned with black power, and a pair of pure black beams shot out to hit Argile square in the chest. The black beams instantly knocked the large warrior down. Argile rolled for several feet before he stopped and tried to stand. But the Chaos merely loosed two more purple beams from his eyes, this time not letting up after they hit.

The power of the entity poured out and into the Black Knight. Argile would have died if a flurry of fire arrows from Fox hadn't pelted the Chaos. Each flaming dart hit the Beast either in the chest or head, forcing him to shield himself and retreat away from Argile. Suddenly he raised his left hand, and all of Fox's arrows were drawn into it. Fox ceased his attacks, but a large fireball had already formed in the Chaos' hand. Without even a sound the Beast launched the ball at the Red Knight, who had to dive out of the way to avoid being charred. Before the Chaos could choose its own next target Cole and Mirage chose for him.

The Dragonmaster and the Blue Knight attacked at the same time like darts of lightning. The Goddess Sword, Kasra, and the Blue Dragon's Scimitar danced back and forth so quickly that only the three wielders could keep track of each blade. It was not surprising that the Chaos was capable of keeping up with the pair of expert swordsmen attacking him. To everyone else but the three, time seemed to slow between thrusts, parries, reposts, slashes, and deflections. Unfortunately Cole was the first to make a mistake. He miscalculated a thrust, and the Chaos parried his blade right into Mirage's side slice. The Beast opened his mouth and released a purple fireball right into Cole's chest before the Dragonmaster could even cry out in surprise.

With Cole blown away, Mirage was left alone to duel the entity. What he lacked in strength he more than made up in speed, but when half a dozen black tendrils started to jab at him it was all that the Knight could do to slap each one aside. Then Kasra lashed out at him from between the tendrils leaving a gash across his chest. Mirage cried out and crumpled to the ground momentarily defenseless. The tendrils disappeared, and the Chaos pulled back his blade. His fatal thrust was stopped by a sudden stream of ice. More blue tendrils lashed out to block the ice stream, but it just kept coming, and the Chaos was forced to retreat once more.

Connery slowly marched forward, keeping a steady stream of ice flowing from his Spear, until he was standing in front of Mirage. Carmen was right on his heels with a healing prayer already half spoken. The Chaos started to form a shield to block the icy attack, but before it was complete Lorene ran behind him raking her Claws across her back. The shield was lost, and Connery's ice stream hit him right under the chin. The Chaos roared in pain as he flew through the air to land on his back. The ice ceased with a mental command from Connery, and he, Lorene, and Argile charged in.

Right before their eyes the Chaos suddenly floated back to a standing position with his arms stretched out to the sides. Black power shot out from his hands and hit both Argile and Lorene before they could dodge. At the same purple tendrils lanced out from his chest at Connery. The thief leapt high into the air to avoid them, but that had been what his foe had intended as a pair of blue eye blasts slammed into the small Knight sending him crashing back down. Kasra floated back to the Chaos' waiting right hand. He snapped the black blade to the left to parry a slash from Cole.

The Beast shrugged the Dragonmaster's weapon away, and the pair squared up to duel again. Cole wasted no time and feinted left then right with a combination attack. The Chaos saw through the feints and parried the actually thrust to his abdomen. Two black tendrils shot out, but Cole blocked them with his Shield. What Cole didn't see coming was the gigantic blue pincer claw that suddenly emerged from the entity's chest to grab him. The claw locked around the Dragonmaster's torso and lifted him into the air. Black tendrils lashed out to slap the Goddess Sword out of his right hand. The huge claw lifted Cole higher into the air, squeezing tighter all the time.

Cole cried out in pain as the ridges of the claw started to tear through his Armor and into his skin. "Now you die, Dragonmaster!" shouted the Chaos.

The claw closed tighter...

...and tighter...

...and tighter...

Then the pain started to fade, and Cole realized he was falling. He opened his eyes just in time to see the remains of a spinning wheel of fire, that had sliced right through the arm of the pincer, trail off into the distance. The Dragonmaster couldn't help but smile when he heard a victory whoop that he distinctly identified as Carla's. The pincer evaporated just seconds before he hit the ground. Cole landed on his back and roll backwards into a kneeling position with the Dragon Shield up.

"Cole!" He looked back to see Leeta throw something at him.

Cole smiled as the Goddess Sword flew end over end towards him. With just a little help from its wielder, the ancient blade's golden hilt fell right into his waiting right hand. As soon as the weapon was back in his grasp, Cole stood and returned his gaze forward. Fox released the Red Dragon Claw attack from his Bow, and a huge dragon claw of flame seemed to actually roar right for the Chaos. The Beast raised Kasra in front of his torso to block. The flaming claw hit, and the entity was pushed back several feet leaving dirt trails with his boots. Then the Chaos raised the black sword with the intention of releasing something from it, but suddenly Kasra... and his right hand were flying through the air.

All eyes watched as an ebony disc of energy arced through the air and back. Argile caught the Black Dragon's Axe with ease, spun it once, and set himself up for another attack. The Chaos could only stare at the stump that was his right wrist. He snapped his head around suddenly as Cole, roaring a battle cry, charged at him. The Beast answered with a roar of his own and fired two black beams from his eyes.

Cole raised the Dragon Shield...

The beams hit the Shield with their full force, but the Dragonmaster kept coming. The power of the Chaos' beam attack increased, but Cole continued his charge undaunted and not halted. As the Dragonmaster came ever closer, he began to utter the words that would unleash his most powerful attack.

"Ancient spirits of the Dragon Tribe..."

Twenty feet...

"... I summon thee forth!"

A pearly mist of ethereal energy began to gather around the ancient blade.

"Infuse my sword with your mystic energies..."

Ten feet...

"...and let me strike my enemies with the power of..."

The Chaos, still firing the beams from his eyes, roared as the Dragonmaster reached him. Cole angled the Dragon Shield up, swung the Goddess Sword around, and lunged...

"...Essence Blade!"

The Sword of Althena pierced the Chaos Armor and went right into the stomach of the Chaos. The Beast threw his head back, roaring in pain. "Strike now with everything you've got!" shouted Cole.

Mirage reached them first. The Blue Dragon Knight, his Scimitar glowing a bright blue, stabbed the entity in the right side. Argile came charging in from the right. The Black Dragon Knight swung his Axe and embedded a crescent blade right in the Chaos' back. Connery, crying out all the way, attacked right over Cole's head. The White Dragon Knight drove the white misting tip of his Spear right into the left side of the Beast's chest. Lorene dashed up from the rear, and the Gold Dragon Knight sunk her golden glowing Claws right into the exposed left side of the Beast.

"Fox!" Cole called back. "Hit him in the Orb!" With his eagle eyes the Red Dragon Knight took aim and fired an arrow of red power from his glowing Bow.

The red arrow streaked right over Cole's right shoulder to hit its target dead center. The Chaos suddenly stopped his pain filled wails and went stiff. Cole pulled his Sword free. "Scatter!" he cried. All five of them removed their weapons and ran as fast as they could away from the Chaos.

Purple, black, and blue energy started to crackle around the entity. The Orb of Infinity itself was flashing rapidly through the entire color spectrum. Cole finally stopped running and looked back. All the crackling energy seemed to slowly be going back into the Orb. Cole's vision blurred for a second, and he found himself staring into the darkened green eyes of his double.

"I was so close," whispered Kole.

The Demon Dragonmaster suddenly lurched back with his chest facing the sky. He cried out in horrible pain as a tri-colored pillar of power erupted up to the heavens from the Orb. The pillar climbed for a few seconds before coming straight back down on to the man. The impact of the pillar hitting Kole sent out a shock wave that knocked everyone to the ground. In the wake of the shock wave, only the wind could be heard across the battlefield. Cole slowly opened his eyes and moved to a sitting position. He glanced around quickly to take a head count. He breathed a sigh of relief when he accounted for all of his companions.

The Dragonmaster finally got to his feet and sheathed his Sword. Next he began to walk towards where his double had been standing during his final moments. As he neared, the Orb of Infinity could clearly be seen hovering several feet off the ground. Cole stopped in front of the deadly object. It flashed the three colors of the Chaos briefly at him. For a moment, Cole swore that he heard a whispering voice in his head urging him to take up the Orb. The Dragonmaster only frowned back at the Chaos' prison.

"Never again," he told the Orb.

Cole looked back as his friends started to gather around. Aside from his companions, the five dragons were also there. "Nice job, guys," complimented Ruby.

"And where the hell were you?" asked Carla with her hands on her hips.

"Hey," replied Vaul from Lorene's shoulder. "He knocked us around like we were flies. It really didn't make much sense for us to get in your ways."

"He does have a point," agreed Argile.

"Ah shut up," muttered the Premier.

Cole felt someone clasp his left hand. He looked down and smiled at Leeta. "What should we do with it?" she asked.

"Make it go away forever," he answered.

Roughly one hour later everyone was gathered back on the hastily repaired Dragonship Hope. Around the ship was what was left of the Dragon Tribe that had been guarding the Orb. After a brief discussion between Cole, Ruby, and Gilthras, the elder of the other dragons, it had been decided that the Tribe would return to the Blue Star and Lunar with Cole and the others.

"So who's going to guard the Orb now?" asked Lorene.

"Nobody," replied Cole. "I'm sending it away forever."

"That should be a neat trick," said Mirage.

Cole gave his friend a brief smile before reaching into a pouch at his right side and pulling out the Time Runes. He opened his right hand, and the three Runes floated silently over his palm. The Dragonmaster concentrated on them. Beads of sweat started to roll down his face, stinging the many gashes already there. All everyone else could do was watch and wonder exactly what he was doing. In truth, Cole was having a fierce battle of wills with the three Runes. Finally, though, he won out.

"Now go," he commanded. "Seal this place in the folds of time and space along with yourselves." The Time Runes flashed brilliantly and began to spin in a circle. Then they rocketed off into the sky, which was soon a storm of white, yellow, and purple energy.

"Time to go," Cole said quietly. He pulled the Dragon Wings out and created a picture of Xobelisk in his mind. Everyone, including the Dragon Tribe in its entirety, vanished in a swirl of teleportation magic.

The area around Xobelisk was littered with the dead from both sides. The remains of the human and elven army, however, was standing tall and proud in their hour of victory that day. Everyone was shocked when the Hope and several thousand dragons suddenly appeared, but they were even more captivated by the light show going on in the now once again visible sky. The new planet that had appeared only a short time ago was surrounded in storm of power. Then, as suddenly as it had appeared, it was gone in a flash.

Cole loosed a long sigh and slumped his shoulders. "It's finally over."

All at once the army raised their voices in a cheer. Human and elf alike began to truly realize that the war was over, and that they had really won. As Cole released Leeta from a tight embrace, his eyes drifted around the ship watching his friends celebrate. Everyone was celebrating in some manner except for one. Connery was off by himself standing over the recovered body of Itise. Cole patted Leeta softly and walked over to his small friend.

Connery looked up slightly at his arrival. Cole reached down and put his right hand on the thief's left shoulder. "You going to be okay, buddy?"

"He was my friend," replied Connery with a sniff. "When we first met, all he wanted was a little adventure." He started rubbing his eyes. "Well, I sure gave it to him."

"It's not your fault, Connery," reassured Cole. "What Itise did was of his own free will. Whatever it was he wanted, he found it as a free man. That was something you gave to him. In a lot of ways, you enabled him to find a purpose in his life. Yes, we killed Kole and resealed the Chaos, but Itise was the real hero. It was his sacrifice that truly defeated the Chaos. His pure heart is what really saved the universe."

"I'm going to miss him," said Connery after a few seconds.

Cole nodded. "I think we all will. But don't worry, Connery." The Dragonmaster looked up to the darkening, night sky and smiled. "I know for a fact that heroes get the rest they deserve in the end."

A lone pair stood on a small hill over looking the celebrating forces of humanity. Alex, with his arm around Luna, quietly took in the scene below. No matter how much joy he got from watching the relieved people below celebrate one thing continued to bother him. The war was over, which meant his time among the living was as well. Luna seemed to sense his thoughts for her arm around his waist tightened.

The area around them was suddenly filled with a pearly light. Both of them looked up and watched as the Dragon Angels slowly descended to the ground. The pair of fifteen foot beings with the heads of dragons touched down silently. They bowed their heads to Luna before speaking.

"Greetings, Goddess," they said in unison. "It is good to see you safe."

"Greetings, gods of compassion," replied Luna.

Their black eyes looked back at them with no showing emotion. "We have come to transport you back to the Tower. It would be best if we left now before the people begin demand you remain."

Luna sighed. "Yes, you are correct. It would be best if I were removed from direct contact again. Dependence is the last thing my children need to rediscover."

She turned back to Alex, but he placed his right index finger over her mouth before she could speak. "It's all right," he told her. Tears filled her deep blue eyes, and they hugged each other tightly.

"We must all be on our way as soon as possible," repeated the Dragon Angels.

Luna raised her head and looked back at them. "What do you mean by that?"

"We have received a message from the Pantheon," they replied. "The mortal known as Alex has been reinstated on this plane of existence as a Guardian of the Goddess Tower as of this moment."

Luna's head snapped back to look at Alex. The former Dragonmaster could only marvel as the light of life shone brightly from her face. He reached out and caressed her face tenderly. "Come on. Let's go home."

Cole and Leeta stood off from the rest of the group on the ship and watched silently as a white light just outside the battlefield flew high into the sky and away. Through their remaining connections to the Goddess Tribe, both of them could feel the two presences that had just left.

"I hope they're going to be happy," said Cole.

"They will," answered Leeta. "I know they will." She placed her arm around his waist, and Cole responded by putting his arm around her.

"Well," he started to say. "Want to get out of here?"

She looked up at him questioningly. "What?"

The Dragonmaster looked back with a small smile. "You remember what I said back in Fummara. When this was over we'd go off together." His smile broadened. "It's over, and we're alive."

Leeta was suddenly speechless. She turned to completely face him. "We can't just disappear, Cole. There's a lot that has to be done before..."

He stopped her by placing his right hand over her mouth. "Well, what do you say to a short vacation then? I know a little shack back on Lunar where no one is going to find us for at least a couple of days."

The princess' eyes brightened at his words. Cole removed his hand to reveal her loving smile. "Take me away, sir Dragonmaster."

Swirls of teleportation magic rose up and surrounded them. The lovers embraced while sharing a passionate kiss and started to fade away. As the pair disappeared from sight, Lunar slowly began to rise in the night sky and shine its brilliant light down on the children of humanity.

Back to Lunar: Mirror Images.

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Back to the Shrine to Ghaleon.