Collenham Mountains

Izzy growled low at the shadow demons. Before jumping back at the sight of another dragon appearing....a dragon...who wreaked very strongly of alcohol, enough so that she pinched her nose."Oh gods...thats....thats horrible." She stated. Waving meekly when the dragon had waved at her. Before watching the shadow dragon."You want me to fight? to prove my worthiness? fine, but if I win, you have to let all of us go. Unharmed. Thats the only way I'm making the deal to fight with you." She growled low again, although it sounded weird as she had her nose pinched.

She watched the drunken dragon talk and talk, man this guy was weird...even for a dragon. Then again, there was the other one who was in an absolute state of terror. And then...wait...was this guy related to them somehow? Oh great....there was a family of them, and here she was, all alone, no friends, or even shadows, to keep her company. Feeling under appreciated all of a sudden, like she was just an afterthought to the world of this large group.

Draco's head quickly turned as he heard the call of the other Night Fury, and when the lines of flame appeared on the ground, his wings flapped gently, a small breeze coming from them. "Toothless...It's been a while...." he commented. "I see you've stuck to Vodka for the past week and a half...." he said, his tail moving in front of his nose as if to try and dispel the smell of alcohol.

As Toothless pointed towards the girl in the tendril, he looked at her, growling softly out of habit. "I do owe you a small favor, so consider us even with this, thurkear wiivai." he said calmly. With that, the Tendrils lowered, and moved over to Ixu Shen, placing the twins down on the ground before retracting back into their shadows.

As the elder Night Fury waved to the shadow demons, one of them waved back, only to be audibly smacked by another. The two would bicker in the distance while the Dragons spoke. "I do know the power of a parent's love, Toothless, I had a mother, too, believe it or not." he said. With that, the great Dragon laid down on the ground, the ground shaking beneath his weight.

He then looked at Izzy, and nodded. "Yes, you will fight in order to leave. Toothless, however, is free to come and go as he pleases. His daughters...." he growled again, glancing at them "...Must prove their worth as well in a different manner." he said. "When you can fly, you may leave the valley. Until then, you stay." he said. "Sounds fair to me."

Soon after he was done talking, the shadow demons started to emerge from the cave, a lot of them bipedal. They had extremely sharp claws and teeth, and their entire bodies were just grotesque and horrifyingly ugly. "Kill five of them, and you may leave, Child." he said to Izzy. "If you cannot, you stay until you can."

Fifteen Demons started heading towards Toothless, since he was willing to fight, while ten moved towards Izzy. Draco growled and smashed one of them with his claw, dragging it back to his body slowly. "I called for two dozen, you fools. That doesn't mean twelve and a half." he barked.

He then looked at Izzy. "Whenever you're ready, you can begin." he said, seemingly bored.

"Sounds fair to me as well. These two" Toothless pointed towards Hasa and Seba, the two Chinese dragons looked a bit better, though Seba still looked very ill. "Are in the proccess of teaching this one." He patted Ixu Shen on the shoulder then. The young woman at that moment blanched slightly at the drunken scent coming off the massive black dragon.

Toothless continued. Speaking now to Ixu Shen, "therefore; until your training is complete, your camp not far from here at the other end of the valley; that is the boundry as far as you can go at this time. Once you finish training however, you can come and go as you please." Ixu Shen herself now looked ill due to the close thick reeking alcoholic scent that seemed to just wash off the black Night Fury

"We all had a mother at some point. Oddly though I don't remember mine." Toothless said softly, trying to recall just what his mother looked like, but unable to do so. He straighted up. "You do not owe me anything Elder, How can you ? After all you, control all shadows, You are the Lord of Shadow Keeping, therefore, you owe no favors. And I owe you the respect and frienship you deserve. I am honored in fact to be able to shadowbox with yours."

He snickered then at mention of the drink, with a hiccup he said "Hey! Don't knock the good stuff! You'd like it if you tried it, trust me, its good." He said, he then clapped his massive paws together, "OK, boys, lets go, line up for the session here fellows." With that, Toothless waited for the two dozen to come his way in a very drunken stance of sorts. Waiting for the shadow demons to strike first.

Izzy growled darkly as she watched the other dragons. The black drunk one not seeming to understand the importance of the situation. At least...to her it was important. Taking a deep breath she changed back into her true form, a very large black dragon, wings stretching out as she gave a fierce roar at the shadow demons.

It was a sign of attack on her part, trying to swat at some and burn others with dark green flames. She wasn't in the mood for games anymore, nor was she going to tolerate them. Whatever this shadow dragon was planning wasn't gonna be good. And she just wanted to get away, if that meant fighting, then so be it. She'd fight the quickest way she knew how. Chomping, burning swatting, clawing, using all of her abilities that she could to try and defeat the demons. Ignoring the drunken smell of the smaller black dragon.

Draco merely seemed smile at Izzy's swiftness in transforming and swatting at his shadows. At Toothless's words, he nodded, and his claw raised, making a small motion as if to say "Go on, then."

The shadow demons rushed forward, two or three at a time at Toothless, aiming to slash wildly at him or bite at his throat. The ones that were around Izzy all tilted their heads for a second before rushing forward to surround her and then they all attacked at once, trying to climb onto her back or side to claw at and attack her vulnerable spots, such as behind the wings or in the spaces that could be considered armpits.

"Of course, young one, there is a penalty if you cannot win...." Draco spoke calmly. "If you do not defeat the Shadow demons, not only do you not leave the Valley, but I get to decide what to do with you...." he chuckled darkly. "Or to you."

His head turned back to Toothless and his wings moved as if he were to shrug. "Perhaps you should bring me a bottle, or a barrel of vodka next time you visit, Night Fury." he said as the shadow demons continued to attack him.

Ixu Shen sat next ot Seba who leaned on the teens shoulder as Hasa worked to realign the qi within Seba to let her natural healing take over. Ixu Shen however watched, and listened to Toothless as he spoke, and boxed rather comically. She found herself smiling at his antics and words as he fought and easily fended off many of the shadows, literally treating the match as a typical shadowboxing personal training session, She herself had done it a few times, never found it the least bit useful. Howerver as she watched the black dragon shift down to a human sized creature, Weaponless, Toothless shadowboxed, rather drunkenly at that

Two shadows dove at him, Toothless jumped between their flailing arms and kicked one in the leg before knocking the other into his fellow and they both sprawled on the ground, out of the fight yet still quite alive, just, down for the count. Another came, Toothless weaved drunkenly, Causing the shadow to suddenly start boxing with Toothless' own shadow as Toothless went to the sidelines and watched next to anothe shadow

"Get him with a left, another left!" Toothless said, as if cheering on the fight, somehow his shadowboxing ended up with his own shadow doing the fighting, "Get him with a right, get him with an upper cut, an uppcer cut!" Toothless cheered his own shadow and as he did so he ended up clobbering two more that he stood next to.

Such was how he had fun with shadowboxing; when the two shadows tried to slug him, he ducked quickly and let them hammer each other senseless before rejoining his shadow in the fight, His shadow looked tired, so he patted it on the shoulder "OK, I'll take over," Ss soon as his shadow let him take over, Toothless said to the next demon or three in line, "What are you waiting for an invitation ? Come on fellas, lets have fun here tonight" He made some funny motions with his hands and arms as he waited for the next strikes to come

Izzy looked back at the ones climbing on her as she shook her body like a dog's when they were wet. Trying to get the demons off of her. If that worked, shed use her tail in an attempt to hit them with enough force that they would at least be knocked back, if not defeated. If there were any in front of her she'd blast them with her flames. Before swatting at them with her powerful claws. Trying to literally do everything possible, grabbing one with her mouth and violently shaking the demon around in an attempt to just kill it that way. Like a dog would do to a rat or something.

Hopefully she'd manage to at least nab a few using these methods. Her eyes had a fierce, powerful look to them, she was pissed. It wasn't fair, why did she have to fight these guys just to survive, when the others could leave if they wanted to, or at least, the drunken one could. Tch, this was annoying. Why couldn't she just get a chance to do what she wanted. First pestered by humans, now, fighting for her life because some dragon had to be bitchy about his territory. Today just wasn't going well for her.

Alasia followed her brother to the mountains, taking note of how many rocks there were. Great for shelter she thought to herself as they landed beside a stone. Delamia sat down, copied by Alasia, who was hoping to be safe and away from anyone or thing that was after them, or something just wanting to attack. She plucked a loose feather from her wing. It stung, but she had to look neat. She had and idea. She grabbed a stick firmly in her jaws, using the pointed end to try and stab a hole in the bottom of the feather. It worked. "Come here," She smiled, watching as her brother leaned over.

Delamia felt a small pain in his ear, yet he didn't flinch. Alasia did something with the feather she had, and pulled away. "Delamia, I'm done, you can look away now," Alasia inspected his ear. "You look great, I didn't think you could touch ghosts or spirits." Delamia shrugged with a smile. He guessed his sister had just placed the feather in his ear, like hers. He noticed the slight amount of blood from her wing, and simply licked it away, noticing how tired he felt. He lay down and let sleep take hold.

Alasia copied her brother, sleep easily taking over. Through her dreams she still heard fighting, and wondered if it wasn't just her imagination.

Draco could see the look of annoyance in Izzy's eyes, and chuckled darkly before looking over to Toothless, not really surprised that his Shadow Demons were having a hard time with a Dragon as old as Toothless was. He was, however, surprised that the same demons were having such a hard time with a Dragon as young as Izzy was.

In terms of age, she was a child compared to Toothless! Let alone compared to Draco! Draco made a mental note to form stronger Shadow Demons. The nine he had sent towards Izzy were actually being held back, and their numbers had dropped down to four. And those remaining four looked tired while Izzy looked relatively fresh.

The twenty-four that Draco had sent against Toothless now only numbered at eight, and they, too, looked tired. In a last-ditch effort, each group of Shadow Demons rushed forward all at once towards their targets, aiming to strike whatever they could and be done with the match.

While he watched, Draco's great wings spread out and his maw opened wide as he let out a huge yawn and stretched out his wings at the same time. Perhaps he was getting ready to do something....

After a long rest the two woke up. Alasia heard fighting still.
"Bro, I don't like this..." She whispered to her dead brother. He nodded and got back up.
"Maybe we should head back to Terra," He mumbled. "It was rather calm there, and there must have been plenty to eat."
With a sigh, she got up and spread her wings with a yawn. Delamia did the same and took flight.

Delamia let out a yawn as he felt rays of sunlight heat his back. The feathers in his ear didn't bother him at all, and seemed to now be part of him. He smiled and looked to his sister, who was close behind.
"Well then, let's make this quick!" He laughed as he began to make his way back to their starting point.

Mark and Elsa both made their way through a valley, heading towards where Elsa felt the presence of the last Shard of Eden. With each passing Shard they collected Elsa felt more and more strange, and Mark noticed subtle changes in her appearance with each one as well.

The first thing he noticed wasn't actually very subtle: Her wings. No longer were they the beautiful feathered wings he admired and loved to run his fingers through, but they were now reptilian in nature, so were other parts of Elsa's body such as her arms, hands, legs, and feet. However with time Elsa learned to revert back to her human form, but it didn't stop her from feeling strange.

What Mark, Elsa, and even Ulnaus, who was an almost constant companion now that Mark could summon him again, could never be prepared for though, was what awaited them at the last shard of Eden, which rested in a cave at the end of the valley. This cave was also the largest in the entire mountain range, as well.

It was also the Darkest. Aside from the golden light of the Shard of Eden, which rested at the mouth of the cave on a pedestal of stone, there was only pure blackness. No light, natural or artificial, could pierce the darkness, save the light of the Shard of Eden itself.

From the cave came a steady rumble, and a pulsing sound so deep it shook the earth for a good fifty feet away from the mouth of the cave. Around the cave in a one hundred foot diameter was nothing but rock, as if something had eroded away any evidence of life from the area completely.

The shadows of the entire valley, however, are what were the most strange-they danced. From the beginning of the Valley, where Mark and Elsa were now, the Shadows swayed back and forth, and the drum-beat could be heard, setting the tempo of the strange song to which the shadows danced.

"Methinks something strange is afoot, my Queen." Mark said to Elsa, his hand on her upper back gently, helping her forward with a comforting touch that he was sure to have kept her from loosing control of her newly acquired power given to her by the Shards as they collected them.

For the moment his hood was down, and Ulnaus sat on his left shoulder lightly as Elsa walked on his right side. The sun was out, the air was clear, the birds were singing....

And the Shadows were dancing.

After that last piece they'd found inside a dead mans coffee table safe is what nearly did her in.. She was constantly clawing at her hands, scratching a the scales that appeared in brilliant untarnished white. herr feet even felt weirdas scales of the same make rippled down her legs and on her feet. It made her slightly nervous at times. But the last piece nearly did her in. She felt very sick. And for almost a week could only eat raw meat or fresh kill. All she could see were visions of flying.

And icefire. Lots and lots of icefire.

But; the closer they got to the last piece of her great-great-great-great-great-great grandmothers piece of eden, the sicker, and more reptilian she became. She never saw the shadows dancing, and more than once she had to stop to take a breath. The scales rippling on her arms, poking through her dress without damaging it, down her arms to her finger tips into razor sharp claws clear as glass.

She took a deep breath and let it out, icecold steam came from her nose and mouth. Well, that was not helpful. She stared at her hands as the scales rippled and spread across her skin, easily moving under her dress sleeves without damaging the cloth. She felt something welling up inside of her.

Fear.

She hated fear.

But she was not going back to Arendelle empty handed. She promised Anna she'd bring back their grandmothers Piece of Eden. Nomatter what it took to get it. She mastered her ice magic. She mastered who she was in the midst of the deadly storm within that shipyard after she mortally wounded Hans. She tried to get a grip on herself. It took her a bit, but after the first three pieces were collected her wings felt strange and she felt.... stronger., then the fourth and fifth pieces made her feel somewhat clusy with her wings, and her wings seemed bigger then they had been before.

And then the last three pieces, six, seven and eight, she felt light headed when she got the sixth pieces, and then when the seventh piece was in her grasp she felt as if she had been hit by one of those horseless carriages And then the eighth piece made her only way freshly killed meat, or raw meat for a week.

She stood back up as Mark held out a hand, As shje stood she felt the briefest of rippling across her skin, ,ooking down to her ams she felt the ripples of the scales under her corset, on her stomach and going up her chest to her neck. The closer she got to the last pne, the more numourus the scales became.

At least for the moment her wings did not tear or damage her dress.

It was then she noticed the shadows.... "Dancing...." She said softly, pointing to Marks own shadow on the nearby rocks with a crystal like clawed finger. it was dancing even though he stood still. "....Shadows..... ?"

Mark glanced at the shadows once more, now noticing that his own was dancing as well even though he stood still. "It would appear so, My Queen...." he said calmly. It may sound like something a smart-ass would say, but then, Mark was a smart-ass, and he didn't know what else to say. "Come on....we need to get that last piece for Anna." He said encouragingly.

With that he took Elsa's clawed hand in his gauntlet-ed hand gently, knowing he'd be safe from the scales and claws as long as he had the gauntlet on. He then started walking forwards, towards the cave. Towards the Shard of Eden. Towards the Blackness. There was no sound whatsoever as Mark and Elsa walked through the forest; nothing at all, aside, of course, from their own breathing and footsteps on the ground.

It was when they reached the clearing of the Cave, however, that all was absolutely silent. The Shadows stopped their dancing, the beating stopped, the rumble stopped.

Everything stopped.

The Shard of Eden sat on its pedestal at the mouth of the cave, glowing violently bright as it sensed the presence of the other Shards.

....

Everything was silent for a good solid minute; even Ulnaus was still, sensing something dangerous his feathers were puffed up to make him look like the size of a small car. Suddenly a branch snapped, and all hell broke loose Tendrils lurched forward from the mouth of the cave and from behind Elsa and Mark, coiling around everything they could grab. Ulnaus was smashed instantly and vanished from sight as Mark's pain broke his focus and made the bird vanish. The tendrils grabbing Mark coiled around his ankles and wrists, holding him up in the air while more tendrils coiled around his neck and waist, stopping him from letting out any noises whatsoever.

The Tendrils that darted for Elsa suddenly stopped, however and seemed to dance around her; swaying back and forth to the rhythm of the beat which had returned, and the rumble that shook the ground beneath her Assassin Queen of Arendelle. In the blackness of the cave red mist began to swirl and form into two red orbs of pure hatred and anger. These red orbs glowed hot like coals from the deepest pits of hell imaginable, and black slits ran down the center, marking where the pupils were.

"Xarzith Darastrix" a dark, malevolent voice called out to Elsa. This language it spoke seemed a bit similar to Nordic, but had many other variations from other languages. All of it culminated into this ancient language known only to those who possess the mental capacity to learn it from birth. Draconian.

This language, however, wouldn't seem all that foreign to Elsa. In fact, she would recognize these two words to mean "Ice Dragon."

Mark struggled against the tendrils that gripped him, and managed to squeak out a pained "Elsa!" From his constricted throat before his voice gargled and he was reduced to just barely being able to breath properly.

"Svabol dronilnric wux tenpiswo, Xarzith Darastrix? Renthisj!" The voice roared violently, the grips on Mark's ankles and wrists growing tighter as he struggled against it. Again, Elsa would understand this sentence as screaming "What brings you here, Ice Dragon? Speak!" Now the chances that Elsa could speak the language were not in her favor, but the fact that she could at least understand it meant something. What that was....it seemed only Draco of the Shadows knew.

For now....

Matthew was not out for a simple hike, however much he might wish that was the case. No, the forest and terrain simply made it harder to track him. The clouds did not look normal above him. Then again, nothing was really strange to him anymore.

He did hear a commotion nearby though. He went to investigate, make sure it was not a threat to him. After all, what is the worst that could happen. The real danger was not knowing what might be around to try and kill him. So, he went off to investigate. That is when he started climbing up some rocks, getting a birds eye view.

He could see these vines or tendrils choking one man, with another woman standing near him. He heard a strange language, which he felt like it partially translated for him, but that might just be the Rift affecting him. He got a bit closer, and that is when it happened again. In his curiousity, he accidentally activated his powers. The Rift created a small gravity well, pulling Matthew right towards Elsa and Mark, before dropping him onto the ground and disappearing. He was now in plain view of both of them, and therefore put his guard up.

"Woah! Please don't kill me!" Matthew quickly said as he got up. The gravity well triggered again for just a moment because of his fear, pulling him up by his legs before going away for good this time, making him fall flat on his face. "Owww".

The ground around him, which had been a barren plot of dirt when he landed, but suddenly grass and a few flowers grew at an accelerated rate. Matthew knew he had accelerated time in that area. He used to be better then this, but trying to survive on his own out in the woods had not been his best idea. Sure, he had managed to go three days without some attempt on him. But the strain was killing him.

"So, are you not going to kill me or anything?" Matthew asked, fully ready to unleash his powers if needed.

Hell had broken loose around her. The closer she got to the last piece of eden, the last shard, that glowed brilliantly before her. the more she changed. With every step she felt ripples of the scales growing across her body. This was it. So focused on the shard on is pedestal was she that she failed to notice the sudden arrival of tendriels around them until she heard Marks sudden strangled cry of her name. She twirled around, closer to the shard she felt something poking out of her tail bone. Ah crud what now ? She wondered briefly before hearing that voice.

A voice that commanded her to stop her movements. Without thinknig it she dropped to her knees, clutching her head as a headache came on fast and furious. The two words invaded her mind. For the longest moment it was all she could think about. Ice Dragon it rattled in her mind constantly at that moment. Whoever spoke, spoke very old Nordic, possibly Kudzul, or even older then that itself!

Her gaze snapped around the room as tendriels stopped just out of her reach, one or two poked at her wings. Which at this point felt heavy and quite oversized for her five foot eleven inch fame. The scales rippled across her body as she heard th voice speak again. How to respond ? What to say or do that wouldn't seem stupid or worse.

Finally she said as she pointed at the brightly, violently brightly glowing Shard of Eden. "We came for that." She replied in Kudzul, the older form of Nordic. But it did not sound like Kudzuil or even nordic to begin with to Mark as somehow, something inside her mind formed the words in nearly perfect Draconica.

She inwardly frowned, how did she know those words ? What did she even say ? She felt sick. Her wings felt heavy on her back. She felt them move slightly off her shoulderblades the longer she stood there so close and yet so far from the last shard, the more weird, and out of place she felt.

After a very long tormented moment Elsa spoke up. "Why do you call me Xarzith Darastrix ?" She had no idea that she said Ice Dragon, meaning herself, her whole body shook violently, as if there was something within wanting to get out. For long moments she laid on the ground, on her knees. She was tired, wired, hyper, in pain, all of these things and more because of something within her very soul.

What was she ?

Her gaze snapped then towards a boy that somwhow appeared next to her. Looking no older than ten. For a long moment hunger loomed in her eyes before it fled and was instantly replaced by pain as her tail began to grow. Elsa bit back a shriek as bones snapped and muscles convulsed around her stomach. Good God in heaven it hurt! Her entire being hurt! Scales rippled across her body. Her eyes shifted slightly, but retained their snowflake patterns as her face was soon covered by the beautiful ice white scales. Her beautiful blonde braid quickly disappeared under the icewhite scales as she started to transform.

As the young boy of about ten years old appeared between Mark and Elsa, Tendrils rushed for him from the cave immediately. However, Draco noticed what he had done to the area surrounding him and stopped his Tendrils short, plenty out of reach of the young boy as those red orbs of hate turned towards him for a brief second before returning to Elsa.

The eyes turned to the Shard as she pointed at it, and then looked back to her. "And what makes you think you can take it?" the voice now asked in English, the voice, filled with malice and anger, faded in and out of existence like that of a spirit. It was also echoed by the screams of millions of crying voices all screaming for mercy.

At Elsa's next question, Draco let out a sort of snarl of disappointment. "Why? You ask Why?" There was a small sense of disbelief in his voice before the ground shook with another snarl. I call you that banprivi tagoa wux re vin Xarzith Darastrix!" he screamed. To Elsa his words meant: :Simply because you are an ice dragon!"

With that those orbs of negative emotion turned back to Matthew. "What are you doing in my valley, boy?" came Draco's voice in a low growl-like fashion. The shadows danced again, and suddenly Matthew's shadow expanded in a circle around the boy, killing all of the plant-life he had just made appear in a silent and swift motion.

Mark struggled still against the tendrils, but they held strong and without mercy. His armor was scraping against itself from the friction, and his breathing was ragged and heavy; Elsa would hear it for sure by now. The Shard of Eden glowed ever so brightly, revealing nothing in the cave as the light illuminated a good ten feet into the mouth of the cave. There was only darkness.

And those eyes.

At the words, the sounds of the voice alone. Elsa bit back a scream as her body continued to change. When the voice asked why she thought she can take it she reached for her belt. Or where it should have been, with the most recent transformation she had gone through it had fallen at her feet. With clawed fingers she gently as possible removed the Piece, nearly complete with eleven pieces out of twelve; as she lifted it out of the statchel her body twitched briefly as her features became more draconic as she held up the nearly complete Piece of Eden that belonged to her ancestor, Queen Marissa.

But, as she held up the nearly complete Piece of Eden in her clawed hand she felt the briefed of shivers course through her. her body finished its transformation then. Nolonger was the Queen of Arendelle standing in that cave. No, in her place was a human sized female dragon of ice white, with wings much too large for her tiny frame.

When the voice screamed at her question of why she put her hands to her head to try and block out the torrental screaming. Her own screams that issed from her however were inhuman as he body trembled and began to increase in size. The Piece of Eden landed on the cave floor, glowing a brilliant golden white with the piece, the last final piece of it, on the shard blazing in brilliant white light. Reflecting off her scales. Making the cavern glimmer brightly with many colors.

But Elsa never saw it happen, her eyes were closed, she was still screaming, her entire body hurt as he grew in size. Scales rippled across her skin as she grew.

Within minutes it was over.

In Elsas place stood a majestic icewhite scaled dragon. She was, in a word, absolutely beautiful, and huge. And extremely scared out of her wits at what just happened to her. She napped her gaze ot where she thought the voice from. Replying to it in nearly perfect draconian. "Then what do I call you ?" Her own voice was deeper than she recalled. Ice flowed from her mouth, Icefire. she stared at her own sudden breath. What the heck ? Just by breathing she had a weapon ?

She pointed a massive glasslike claw towards where Mark lay tightly tangled in the tendriels of shadow. "Let him go!" She said, trying to channel her authority as Queen to get some semblince of her sanity back into order.

Draco's eyes narrowed in mild curiosity and anger as Elsa dug out the almost completed Piece of Eden, but then widened back to their normal size as she started to shift forms. Once she had reached a human sized dragon the ground began to shake and as Elsa grew in size Draco's eyes watched calmly. Draco let out a long, low growl as Elsa stood over him; but she was only taller than him because he was still in the cave.

"Ve? Wux relgr doutan vi Darastrix, vur wux vucot ti di svaust Si mi?" Draco then began to emerge from his cave, his head coming out from the blackness first. A powerful beast of darkness he was, his claws digging into the ground as he began to emerge. Next came his front claws, and he began to extend them, allowing him to stand and already look Elsa in the eye. Next came his wings, which unfolded to make him look so large it was as if he were a part of the mountain he came out of. Faces of those he'd killed burst forth from his wings, screaming for mercy before being pulled back by something, their screams dying off. His words meant: "Me? You call yourself a dragon, and you know not of who I am"

Finally he was fully out, almost twice the size of Elsa's new-found Dragon form he stood before, his wings flapping twice before folding against his back tightly. Draco looked her dead in the eyes and seemed to smirk. "Wux re ekess relgr ve Draco. Draco di wer Sjachi." his own voice, much deeper than hers could ever hope or want to be, was all the more intimidating; shaking the ground with how deep it was. It meant: "You are to call me Draco. Draco of the Shadows"

Draco glanced at Mark as Elsa pointed to him before looking back to Elsa again, his lips parting in a grin of pure evil. "Ahh, wer dastudr wux siofme itov majakic wux." He growled, the tendrils around Mark only growing tighter, causing him to let out a pained squeak due to his lungs and throat being constricted. "Svabol xurwkic wux siofme si geou tir svabol wux yenta?" He asked. What he said meant: "Ahh, the strength you think love gives you... What makes you think I will do what you say?"

And then in perfect English, he roared "What gives you the authority to command me, Draco of the Shadows?" as loud and as terrifying as he could, which meant that his voice alone caused landslides all over the valley and every animal within a 20 mile radius all stopped what they were doing and either ran, swam, or flew away as fast as they could.

"Compared to me, you are not even a Hatchling! You are still an embryo inside your egg which was laid in the nest a few days ago! I am more ancient than this valley, and more powerful than you could ever hope to become in any of your lifetimes!" The shadow Dragon growled out darkly before spreading his wings and flapping them twice as hard as he could, which would likely knock Elsa backwards, if not make her slide backwards on the ground. He then took a deep breath and let out a gut-wrenching roar of authority and dominance over Elsa, Mark, Matthew, and the entire Valley.

When he was finished he stood over the pedestal with the final Shard of Eden, and the remaining eleven pieces were just in front of said pedestal on the ground underneath the great Shadow Dragon. Draco let out a loud, long snort through his nostrils; a challenge to Elsa to see if she would fight back against him.

Elsa backtracked as Draco came from the cave to his full size. When he spoke she replied calmly "I never called myself a dragon, you did." She tried not to be snotty about it but it WAS true what she said. This guy was nuts! Draco huh ? Interesting name. She'd have to look him up when she got home she thought, something about the name sounded strangely familiar. A deep growl rose in her throat as she heard Mark struggling to breathe. This was not happening! She just got him back and she was not going to lose him again!

What gave her the authority ? Well that was a very good question. When he yelled at her she never flinched nor did she back down. She just stared him dead in the eye. Something within her stirred however at his sudden roar into her face.. Her ears rang, but there was something inside that stirred. Something.... strong. Something powerful.

Something beautiful.

When he flapped his massive wings Elsa stood her ground, her glasslike claws gripping the rock under her feet and held her firm as the wind threatened to send her flying. "I may be a young woman before I became this." She said calmly. "But something tells me I have something you do not." She felt it deep within her. Her weapon, knowledge. Icefire! If he wanted to be dominate over her. He'd best think again. She saw he seemed more ghostly than solid like herself, Perfect!

She built it up as she spoke. "Compared to you I may be young. But compared to me, you might be weaker than you think." And those words she roared and let loose her icefire. Beautiful and deadly, firey yet ice cold, the icefire swept forth dirctly for Dracos face. "I will take what is mine." She growled, pointing a glasslike claw at the shards around the pedistal, and also the shard on it her icefire formed a ring around it, keeping the tendrils back from it. "Those wont work for you. They never have and never will. They belong to me. He, belongs to me." Her right hand claws pointed at Mark. "Let. Him. Free!" She let loose with her icefire once again.

Draco snarled loudly. Damn, she did have a point; but he'd never admit that he was wrong. Not to her, not to anyone! Draco sensed something building up inside her, and slowly his wings started to spread again, making himself look bigger, and more intimidating. He noticed that she didn't even move when he flapped his wings against her as hard as he could, and he snarled again.

As she spoke again, Draco's eyes narrowed. Did she know? Did she know he didn't have his own Body? No, it couldn't be. No one knew that but him! No one! Suddenly she let forth the Icefire and with a growl Draco didn't even move from its path, letting hit him square in the face, freezing his entire head solid as his eyes narrowed before closing.Suddenly the head came loose from the neck, but the red orbs remained as she shadows from the frozen solid head moved out and up Draco's body to reform his head.

As she pointed to the pedestal he growled; but it was more of a sigh as he knew he couldn't use the Shard anyway. He looked at Mark and hissed loudly, snorting after wards. Before Elsa could unleash her Icefire again, however, Draco's shadow tendrils moved forwards at a blinding speed, aiming to clamp down on Elsa's snout and around her nostrils so she couldn't use the Icefire against Draco any longer.

With a low, growling voice, Draco turned his back on Elsa and returned to his cave. "Very well......take your things and leave my presence, you hatchling." He would hiss back at her as his body suddenly all collapsed into shadowy goop and seemingly skittered around the ground to get into the Cave, where those red orbs of his stared outwards again. The Tendrils in the area would also turn to goop, and skitter along the floor to where they had come from.

Mark was therefore dropped and he landed on his feet before falling to his hands an knees, gasping finally for a full breath of air, his hand to this throat. He coughed loudly for a good five minutes before managing to stand up, still some-what coughing as he looked up at Elsa's Dragon form.

"And I thought you were beautiful with your wings......" His voice trailed off at her beauty as an Ice Dragon, walking forward he retrieved the final shard of Eden, and put handed it to Elsa, his palm extended upwards. After she activated it, he would add it to the remaining pieces, and hold up the completed Piece of Eden for Elsa to see.

"Well, we're done! Now we can return home for Anna!" he said, smiling happily as he looked at Elsa.

Matthew sort of just silently watched, not sure what to say. But that did not mean nothing happened. For whatever being that manipulated Matthew's shadow would find itself hit with a backlash of energy that would harm it. In fact, something about using magic like that on him caused some sort of instability with his own energies, because Matthew could feel it affect him.

"Whatever...you are doing to my shadow, stop!!" he yelled, as a giant tear opened up in the Sky. Whatever had messed with his shadow, somehow had affected his equilibrium. Though, to be fair, Matthew knew almost next to nothing about his own power, so he had no idea what was causing this. And he had read every single book related to Spacetime, Quantum Physics, Magic, Magic for Dummies, Psionic abilities, Metahuman abilities, and a number of insane doctors trying to figure out the truth. Still no reason why he developed this unique ability. Hell, he even researched Angel-Demon lovechilds looking for an answer. What he found was...well, he hoped he would forget someday.

Needless to say, the giant hole in reality was something that no one needed to see. Matthew tried to control it, and it started to close. But not before a giant oger fell through it, and right in front of Mark.

"Oh...shit...sorry..." he said, as the rift popped closed. Matthew was having a bad day it seemed.

The mountains were always a peaceful area for many who lived there; the animals, the people, and the plant life. However, the mountains held a terrible secret within their largest valley. Nothing lived there, nothing at all. The trees had all withered away, and stood lifeless. The ground was practically a barren wasteland; with a few hardy shrubs barely clinging to life as it is. Animals completely avoided the area completely, yet for some reason the entire area seemed to move.

No... Dance was the better word. The Shadows of the area all danced; swaying back and forth constantly to deep, loud, and slow drum-beat that pounded constantly, as if the shadows were rowing a ship across the ocean to the beat of the drummer. Beneath the beat was an almost constant rumble that shook the ground slightly, growing stronger the further into the valley an individual went.

At the back end of the valley was a huge chasm in the face of the mountain, and suddenly alive with terrifying vigor, a pair of fiery orbs of red appeared, and with earth-rumbling steps, the great Draco of the Shadows emerged. Standing at roughly 330 feet tall, 1947.2 feet in length from tail tip to snout, and with a wingspan of 649 feet in total, the Shadow King was truly a terrifying sight to behold, and even more to hear.

With a long, violent breath, Draco roared as loudly and as powerful as he could to proclaim his dominance over all things within vocal range of his roar, which was roughly 50 miles in every direction around him, giving him a huge amount of territory. And he could see and hear things from the shadows in any sector he wanted of it, meaning he didn't have to patrol it constantly, which meant less stress and more time plotting.

With his roar concluded, Draco spread his wings and flew to the top of the highest mountain in the range, which was also the mountain in which his cave was situated, and roared again; a challenge to all who would dare challenge his power. A call to arms for all who think they are worthy of facing the King of Shadows in combat and living! Or...perhaps...it was a call to a long-lost mate he had lost over a million years ago....

It was out in the woodlands sprawling around the base of the mountain with winding hidden roads and nature trails that a convoy of three trucks had been parked. Each truck served the simple purpose of carrying a series of cages filled with pokemon under the cover of darkness to the Terra-Ruula portal and quickly transporting them to the other side. The pokemon on Terra were at least partially exotic and were valuable to sell. And if they didn't sell, many of them were good workhorses in the machine that was Maycross Industries. Originally the scheme had been tried Ruula side, but too many curious people kept interrupting. Terra was just convenient because less people cared.

Of the three drivers, one of them was currently lying down asleep, nauseous, drowsy and in no condition to drive causing the whole convoy to come to a halt until a replacement driver showed up. For the time being the other two had a gas stove out and were cooking an easy dinner of sausages leaving them in good spirits. Hell, they were getting paid by the hour and their boss told them not to go anywhere, so it was an easy day for them.

Ozzy approached the convoy quietly, observing the attitude among the men. It was typical. The average grunt would take any opportunity too slack off. Snorting quietly, he rubs his palm down his face before stepping confidently up to the fire, bringing himself to a stop next to the men cooking sausages.

"Hell gentlemen," He starts, arms crossed staring down at the two men with a grimly amused smile. When they react he continues. "don't let me interrupt, it's not like we have several truck full of highly illegal merch to move or anything."

"Well if it isn't the man himself," said the first grunt, raising his head with a grin and jabbing at one of the sausages with a pair of tongs, "Do you want a sausage? We've got plenty of spares and the first few are almost done. No bread or sauce though." He seemed calm and casual, despite Ozzy's tone and words. "If you want to take off on your own, go ahead. We'll catch up, but either way we haven't eaten since the sun first came up so we're taking it easy. Trucks are that way." He gestured a thumb for a small incline that left the trucks just out of sight of the main road, but still safe solid ground.

And standing motionless in the trees was a lone figure known as 'Sparky'. Natasha was starting to move slow as they approached from the opposite side of the slope, keeping cover amongst the trees and stopping occasionally. "I do not think I can go any further," she nickered irritably, "I will compromise the mission with my light. But there, the three metal boxes. Can you go get a closer look for me?" However as she spoke, it almost sounded like she said 'Can you take a closer look, for me?'.