The woman slid gracefully to the ground from the intruding white dragon's back. She tossed her head proudly to throw her long black ponytail over her shoulder as she gazed calmly at the four dragons before her. The pools of her dark eyes seemed powerful and limitless, not to be trifled with. The woman casually rested a hand on her mount's leg in a manner that implied friendship, and not the relationship between a rider and her steed.
"Hello, Twyla," Nall ventured, a swift stab in the dark.
The woman raised one of her eyebrows slightly, but did not betray any more surprise than that. She spoke crisply, with an authority that would not be questioned. "Whether you know my name or not hardly matters. You know why I'm here."
"How did you find us?" Ruby asked accusatively.
"What," the new white dragon began cockily, "you think I wouldn't be able to sense Nall using his magic?"
Nall cursed quietly at his double's superior grin. It was disconcerting enough seeing his own face grinning smugly at his stupidity, but he should have figured that if they were drawing on the same source of power, the other white dragon would be able to track its use.
Oblivious to Nall's self-disgust, Ebony took a position in front of Jia and spread his wings wide to offer her as much protection as possible. "You are not getting the crest," he said calmly.
Twyla shook her head. "You do not understand. You should see that what I am doing is for the betterment of the world. You are dragons! Why do you try and stop me? Are you so greedy that you want your power more than you want the planet to flourish?"
"Flourish?" Nall echoed. He snapped his head down towards her, looking as though he would swallow her in a single bite. "You're the power mad one here! We have done our job for a millennia, the same as our ancestors always have!"
"By doing what?" Twyla began. She sounded slightly bitter as she folded her arms across her chest. When it became apparent that none of the dragons would immediately answer she waved one of her arms around her with all the emotion the subject evoked in her. "You sit in your caves and do nothing, caring nothing for the lives of the many humans on this planet."
"That isn't true! Only a century ago we took an active part, by destroying Pentagulia," Ebony claimed in their defense.
"No," said Twyla, bringing her arm back to raise an accusing finger. "You were called to do so, and were you not, the world would not exist. You were given no choice! Where were you when the mage Borgan enslaved Zaback? When Zophar formed the Cult of Althena and perverted the goddess's name? While you sleep in your caves, your magic could do much for the world. How little of your power it would take to make it rain on parched crops, to help build homes for those without, to defend towns from monsters? There are hundreds, thousands, more ways you could help, yet you choose to do nothing. Only in the gravest of circumstances have you lifted a talon to help. You waste your power and skills on your own comfort and convenience. Since you won't put them to a greater use... we will." She stopped, eyes feverishly bright with belief. Her last threatening words resounded in the dragons' minds.
Ebony and Jia were quiet, perhaps thinking over what she had said. Nall seemed a bit taken aback by the speech, yet he clearly didn't buy it. Ruby, on the other hand, blurted out angry thoughts without need for self-reflection.
"You don't understand!" The red dragon's voice trembled violently. "We're not supposed to be the servants of mankind, we are the protectors of the world itself! We aren't supposed to interfere in the day-to-day lives of the people! If we were to do everything for them, they would come to rely on us, and soon wouldn't be able to do anything for themselves!" She hiccuped. "And as for Zaback... we all had lost our auras by then. But we did free those people. I was with the humans who defeated Borgan!"
Nall blinked and looked at Ruby after her uncharacteristic show of wisdom. Twyla, however, seemed less than impressed. With piercing gaze she simply stated, "This discussion is at an end."
And, lifting her arms from within her cloak, she cupped her palms before her, and began to chant quietly. The dragons took preparatory stances, while Ebony remained defensively before Jia. The blue dragon hid the claw holding her crest behind the shimmering membrane of a blue-furred wing. Ruby hissed flame but did not dare attack.
Twyla finished her incantation swiftly, raising her arms wide in front of her and calling out, "Elemental Prison!"
Flame erupted from the ground in a circle around Nall, rising up around him and meeting to form a dome over his head before he even had a chance to react. Ebony and Ruby found themselves imprisoned by similar forces. Ruby was trapped within a dome of ice, clear enough to allow her to see through, but thicker than a tree trunk. And powerful winds surrounded Ebony with such intensity that they seemed a physical barrier and impervious to any of his earth magic. Jia alone was left unimprisoned.
The dragons immediately knew what Twyla had done. She had trapped them each within the element opposite to theirs, the one that they were weakest against. Nall stood in the middle of the flames, curling his neck low and tail in while trying to keep as far away from the heat as he could. Ruby exhaled flame against the walls of her prison, even slashing at the ice with her claws without any effect. Ebony tried to press his way through the wind, but the air was so strong it hurled him back every time he tried to breach it. Twyla looked strained, her face withdrawn, which in itself was not surprising. What was surprising was that she could do this at all. Even though she was conceivably drawing on the power of the other dragons she had created, such a feat was nothing short of remarkable. Nall's twin just watched, grinning with all the impudence the original white dragon was capable of.
Taking a deep breath, Twyla turned towards Jia. "Now, let me have the crest."
The blue dragon shook her head slightly, backing away. Her wing still shielded her crest from view. "No," she intoned.
Twyla sighed. "Then I'll have to take it." She began to advance, with a modicum of reluctance that seemed almost genuine to Jia.
Ruby threw herself against the ice in a futile manner while Ebony was again spun away from the sides of his chamber as he tried to force his way through. Nall raised his head slightly as he saw that the other two dragons would be unable to help, and he knew what was different about his cage from theirs. He was not imprisoned by a wall of substance or force, but something that could be passed through, if he would risk it. Gathering his will, he waited until Twyla walked close to his flame prison on her way to Jia. The white dragon narrowed his eyes into slits as he felt his muscles tense in anticipation. He jumped through.
Pain wracked his body and he could feel his fur and skin withering beneath the heat of the flames. Nall bellowed an agonizing roar as he stumbled his landing outside of the fiery prison. Fur aflame, the white dragon allowed himself to roll once to smother the blaze, then weakly raised himself to his feet. The white dragon was missing most of his fur, and burns covered his body even as small kindles of flame still danced near blacken portions of his skin. One eye was swollen, almost to the point where he could not see, but he knew that it was Twyla that stood before him, with a look of startled disbelief on her face. She had not conceived that one of the dragons would risk so much.
Nall snarled, a horrible sound through his burned lips and parched throat. With a great effort he lifted a paw and swung it at Twyla before the thought of his escape had fully registered in her mind. He struck her and her body arched gracelessly through the air to strike a tree. She fell to her knees, then collapsed on the ground.
"Twyla!" cried the other white dragon. He snapped his head angrily in Nall's direction.
"No, Laln, don't..." Twyla called out weakly. She placed a hand against her chest as she fought to retrieve the breath knocked from her lungs.
Laln either did not hear her or chose not heed her. He threw himself on Nall with an bloody roar, clawing ferociously. Nall tried to leap out of the way, but the flames had dulled his senses and weakened his muscles. Laln caught him about the shoulders and slammed his back to the ground. Nall slashed and bit in retaliation, but his blows became weaker and weaker as the two dragons rolled around, struggling for superiority.
Jia watched, paralyzed, and not knowing what to do. Laln finally spotted an opening, and Jia tried to cry out in warning, but the words would not come. The new white dragon snapped his head forward and sank his teeth cruelly into Nall's neck. Nall cried out in pain, his struggles growing faint as Laln bit deeper.
Ruby shrieked from within her icy cage. "Stop! You're killing him!"
Laln pulled his head back, along with a bit of Nall's throat, leaving an ugly gash in the blood-stained neck. His eyes began to glaze and he shook. Below him, Nall convulsed once and lay still. A pool of blood formed beneath the dying white dragon, growing larger with each shallow breath Nall took, and each inhalation was softer and weaker than the last.
Laln moved back, his fur stained red in places, breathing heavily and bleeding from various claw marks. The new white dragon shuddered, shaking his head and then snarling with horror.
"Nall!" Ruby screamed, throwing herself with all her strength, yet uselessly, against the ice wall of her prison.
Jia gasped and hurried forward, only to pull up short as Twyla stepped in her path.
The black-haired woman had recovered and met Jia's wild gaze with her own cold determination. Her voice had the comfort of ice. "As much as I hate the situation, I will use it." Twyla extended her hand. "Give me the crest, or he dies."
Jia looked down at the woman and growled quietly.
"Don't be a fool." Though devoid of warmth her tone was sincere. "You can try and fight me, but even if you win, he might not have the time it will take you to get by me. Give me the crest, and you may pass to heal him."
Jia hesitated only a moment, and threw the crest at Twyla's feet. The sunlight reflected as dimly off the blue crest as the dragon felt in her heart. The lives of her family were more important to her than her power. But she could not shake her feeling that something terribly was about to happen in consequence.
Twyla picked up the crest, eyed it critically in her hand, and nodded. True to her word, she turned and walked away, over to Laln. The standing white dragon lowered her head to speak softly with her.
Jia heard none of it. She scurried the rest of the way over to Nall and appraised his condition swiftly. He looked a sad sight with most of his fur blackened and burned. The skin that showed was either blistered or clawed, and his breathing was coming in weak, bubbling sounds. Closing her eyes, Jia rested a paw on his side, calling on her power and channeling it into healing energy. Azure light flowed over the blue dragon's being, spreading down to infuse her patient with the magic needed to stimulate his body's recovery. Nall's wounds closed, the burns faded. The large missing part of his throat was by far his most severe wound, and closed the slowest. But it too vanished, leaving Nall whole, if still missing fur.
Jia opened her eyes and was relieved to see he was all right. She let out a sigh, then turning, she saw no trace of Twyla or Laln. She shifted her attention back to Nall as he coughed a few times and began to weakly push himself to his feet. She was going to protest his moving when a shattering sound signaled that Ruby had finally broken free of her prison. The red dragon was next to Nall in seconds.
"Nall! Are you okay?!"
Nall coughed a few more times, but instead looked up to Jia. "You shouldn't have traded the crest for me."
Ruby bared her razor teeth at his statement. Fuming she raised a paw as if to strike him. "Idiot!" she cried. "You're more important than a stupid crest! Can't you see that?"
Ruby glared at him a second, then set her paw down to lean forward and give him a fierce lick on his muzzle before turning and stalking off. Nall blinked... and either from the weakness caused by his wounds or the kiss... fainted. Jia turned her head slightly as Ebony appeared at her side. He looked down at Nall then off in the direction Ruby had gone.
"It's about time one of them realized it," he said quietly.
Jia looked at Ebony, puzzled, then nodded.