Chapter 15: Wings of fate

Nyxon and Cleo dashed through the dungeon. They ran to the top of the stairs and kicked the door open. Cleo had trouble running, but Nyxon stayed close to him so he wouldn’t fall. “I can’t teleport right now,” exclaimed Cleo. He was nearly out of breath. “All my Aura was sapped from me in that cage. I need time-”

“It’s fine,” replied Nyxon, “Luna is waiting right outside for you on a horse,”

Cleo smiled, “Of course, that woman is,” he followed Nyxon around a corner.

Nyxon and Cleo soon came into sight with the royal guards. There were at least two dozen of them in the way. They all looked fierce as they noticed a prisoner had escaped. Nyxon cracked the window behind him with his sword. The soldiers gasped in suspense as Cleo stood tall next to Nyxon. Nyxon stepped into a battle stance, “LAPIS!” shouted Nyxon in his head. He was trying to talk to Lapis from his mind.

Lapis scratched a guard across the chest, hoping he would stay down that time. “YEAH?” responded Lapis.

“Cleo is up here with me– Jump out the window and catch him!”

“Just tell me when I got it!”

Nyxon nodded his head. He told Cleo to jump out the window but thought Nyxon was crazy. He saw the stare in Nyxon’s eyes. He knew he could trust him. He leaped out the window as Lapis also jumped and caught him. Nyxon smiled, knowing Lapis was able to retrieve Cleo in time. Now, it was all up to Nyxon. He couldn’t force himself to attack the guards with his sword for some reason. He tucked it away, “Hey, I don’t wanna hurt you guys.” said Nyxon. He was trying to reason with the guards as best as he could. “You guys are family to me. So I don’t wanna hurt anyone here.”

The guards looked at Nyxon in shock. They didn’t think he would say that. One of the guards even wanted to leave, but he kept his feet planted on the ground. Nyxon knew he might need to fight, but he didn’t want to kill anyone– so he decided to fight with his hands instead. The guards quickly charged; one by one, each of them took a side, hoping it would slow Nyxon down. Nyxon glared at the back lines of the guards. It terrified him almost, watching Nyxon effortlessly maneuver behind everyone, dismantling their weapons one by one. A guard quickly tried piercing Nyxon from behind; Nyxon quickly reacted by taking the blade for himself. He admired how his hair looked in the reflection before kicking the blade into a wall, scaring a guard.

Only a couple more left. Nyxon was charged by a sword again. Luckily, Nyxon could catch it and break it in two before sending the guard backward. That seemed to be it; at least, that’s what Nyxon thought. A chain quickly hit near his feet, tearing the ground from underneath Nyxon. Nyxon jumped off from the falling platform. He noticed the blades were familiar, too familiar. It was easily him. It was Brinks who threw the chains. Nyxon almost panicked. The chains were meant to be a distraction, one Nyxon fell for too easily. Brinks plunged his blade into Nyxon’s wing. He kicked him violently to the ground as his shouting echoed throughout the castle. He was knocked to the ground painfully, his ears ringing from the pain of getting kicked violently. The dust soon settled as he saw Brinks running towards him, each footstep sounding more fierce than the last. Nyxon struggled to get up. His head was spinning from the kick he previously suffered.

He managed to grab his sword, but Brinks was too close. He raised his hand– ready to strike. Until a familiar face appeared. It was Manda. Her arms stretched out over Nyxon as she brought Brinks to a halt. Brinks huffed and puffed. The run must have made him short of breath. Nyxon started to groan in pain as he finally noticed the figure in front of him. “Manda-”

“Nyxon,” snapped Manda. She could feel her teeth about to crack from how hard she was biting down. “GO! Nyxon!” shouted Manda.

“WHAT ARE YOU DOING?” exclaimed Brinks. He was about to shove Manda, but he made himself stop.

“Doing the right thing,” whispered Manda. “Brinks, have you ever thought about– doing the right thing?”

The conversation was awkward. Nyxon was about to be killed just moments ago; why was Manda trying to convince Brinks to think differently?

Manda whispered to Nyxon. She told him goodbye and to leave the window as soon as possible. Nyxon tried to fly away. Brinks noticed. He charged his red Aura around his body as he threw his blades again at Nyxon. Luckily, he missed.

Brinks shouted and roared in annoyance, “DAMN IT!” he shouted. “Come on! Nyxon’s gonna get away– and if he does-”

“If he does… then what?” asked Manda.

“If he gets away, Dad’s gonna-”

“See!” shouted Manda. She cut off Brinks before he could finish. “It’s always about him.”

“If he gets away– everything he worked for would be a waste,” said Brinks as he tucked his blades away. “Nyxon’s a monster. A speck of dirt on our family name,”

“If Nyxon’s a monster… then what does that make us?” responded Manda. “We kept Nyxon’s sister in a cell for so long that she doesn't even know what love is anymore,”

Brinks felt his eyes widen. “W-Well, if Dad found out-”

“Brinks, Dad can’t tell you to do anything,” said Manda. She wiped her eyes from the tears that streamed down. “I think you're afraid of Dad… you think if he finds out you failed again– he won’t accept you?”

“Dad holds the highest authority. If I can’t uphold it, we must pay for it,” sighed Brinks. He was getting fed up.

“So, you’ll listen to everything he tells you to do?”

“Yes,”

“If he told you to kill someone, you would do it?” asked Manda. Her heart raced after asking such a question.

“...Yes… I would,”

“If he told you…” Manda was scared. She swallowed the fear of her next question. “If he told you to kill me, would you do it?”

Everything stopped. Brinks could feel his arms and legs weaken. His mouth went dry as he tried to come up with an answer. Manda could feel her legs soften. The question almost made her fall to her knees as she waited for an answer. The room's silence was deafening. It almost made Manda sick trying to wait for an answer. Brinks wasn’t moving. His head was pounding as he tried to come up with an answer. Brinks sighed. He knew what to do.

Nyxon stumbled through the trees. Each branch hit his shoulder as he tried to scrape by the long layers of grass. His shoulder was in pain, and his wing was still damaged. He crouched near a tree; he was trying to let his wing heal before he called for Lapis. Then, before he knew it– a twig snapped. He turned around violently to see Brinks standing in front of him. He looked annoyed (that wasn’t anything new.)

Nyxon wanted to pull his sword out, but he hesitated. He just stared at him. Brinks just stood there and stared. His eyes were cold. There was no life in them at all. His hair was shriveled, and his blades looked like they would snap in half if he squeezed them any harder. He stopped squeezing as he finally spoke softly, “You know you won’t leave here alive… right?” said Brinks. Nyxon didn’t respond. The silence annoyed him, “Once Dad sees this-”

“Can I ask you something?” asked Nyxon. He cut off Brinks surprisingly. Brinks nodded silently, his anger showing through his teeth. “I don’t get why you hate me,”

“You don’t?” replied Brinks.

Nyxon shrugged his shoulders, “No,”

“Do I have to spell it out for you?”

“Would that explain it?” said Nyxon annoyingly. Brinks was also getting annoyed.

“You’re an Elderian. There’s nothing more to say about that,”

Nyxon frowned. It wasn’t the answer he wanted. “I know– just tell me, what’s wrong with that!”

Brinks sighed. He didn’t think it would come down to this. “Years ago, before you stumbled into our castle,” Brinks docked his weapons on his waist. “Father received a prophecy from the Goddess of Fate, Afraina. Said that a warrior from a fearsome race in the future would bring him down,”

“A prophecy did all of this?” asked Nyxon. Brinks wasn’t finished talking, so Nyxon stood quiet again.

“Of course, seeing how he was a dragon, he was confused about why he would die so early. I mean– they do often live to see hundreds of years. So, of course, he fought everyone he saw as a threat, including your people.”

“So you see me as a threat?” asked Nyxon.

“I see you as a nuisance,” snapped Brinks. “He thought maybe after all that fighting, he thought he had them all. Of course, he was wrong,”

Nyxon thought about everything to himself. Fighting everyone he saw as a threat? Was a goddess behind this? Nothing was making sense to him. He was even more confused than before. He only had more questions than answers. In fact, he didn’t get a single one. He was only getting angrier as he awaited a response. He gritted his teeth, ready to ask something he would probably regret. Nyxon swallowed his regrets and finally spoke. “So, if Dragons can live for hundreds of years… why would you spend so many of them just to hate me?”

Brinks's eyes widened. He gripped his head in frustration as Nyxon watched strangely. Brinks shouted, “Always asking questions–” he stood himself up, trying to make himself seem more adult-like. “I never liked you. You were given everything here. A home, a wife, a family… even the title of Prince. Which was mine…” Brinks gritted his teeth again. Nyxon could almost feel his anger from the shadow he was standing by. “All because… You had some… ‘potential’. It didn’t make sense until I noticed you had that glare.”

“Glare?” asked Nyxon.

“The majesty glare,” replied Brinks. “It’s a technique passed down through royal blood. It helps show the quality of a leader.”

Nyxon couldn’t get any more confused now. Majesty glare? Has he used it before?

“But it didn’t make sense! Why would some nobody walk into my life and take everything I ever wanted right from underneath me?!” shouted Brinks. “Was I not good enough? Was I not strong enough? DAMN, IT!” shouted Brinks. He quickly rushed at Nyxon, pinning him to the ground as Nyxon struggled for his sword. “And now I must live with this guilt– the pain some monster inflicted on me. THAT I HAVE TO FIX!”

Nyxon panicked. He smacked and grabbed anything around him that could get Brinks’s shoulder off of his neck. He bit him, and Nyxon sank his teeth as far as they could into Brinks’s armor. Brinks shouted in pain as he threw Nyxon into a tree, the ground, and his knee. He did it until Nyxon was able to throw himself loose. Brinks didn’t waste any spare time. He spewed as much fire as he could from his mouth at Nyxon. In a forest? Was he crazy? Nyxon’s sweat hit the ground faster than the trees around him burned.

Nyxon’s sword glinted in the moonlight as a blue Aura expelled from it. Nyxon swiftly spun in a circle, “Azure Style: Blue Hurricane!”

A blue whirlwind of energy soon overtook him, taking the flames into the sky as the fire disappeared.

Nyxon steadied his breath. He was trying to focus as he noticed he lost sight of Brinks. He kept his stance intact, waiting for the right sound. He listened to everything around him. The birds squawking, the leaves crunching below his feet, his heart racing as he continued to move around the grass. Finally, heard something– a roar behind him. Brinks had transformed and tried to take a bite at Nyxon. Nyxon quickly reacted– knocking a tooth out of Brinks’s mouth as Nyxon glided across the ground.

“TRANSFORM! I KNOW YOU CAN–” shouted Brinks as Nyxon also began to transform.

Nyxon quickly became a dragon as he pinned and wrestled Brinks to the ground. Each hit, slap, and roar coming from the two only got more violent as the forest shook from the impact. Nyxon swept Brinks with his tail; he quickly countered with a devastating stab to Nyxon’s chest as he flew to the air for more room to move into. They both undid their transformations, looking at each other as they flew into the air for support. Nyxon clung to his chest in pain. The wound felt like it was on fire; he could barely keep his hand over it.

He could feel his Aura start to give in to the fight. Nyxon needed to end this fight, and soon. He gave his sword a flashy intro to Brinks (He wasn’t pleased.) Brinks took his blades off of his waist. He gave them a twirl as Nyxon steadied his eyes on Brinks. Brinks looked into Nyxon’s eyes; he almost seemed calm during the whole fight. The wind brushed past Nyxon’s black wavy hair; he could feel his Aura exiting his body for another attack. Brinks also let his Aura flow; its power swelled from within him and leaked like smoke from a fire.

Then suddenly– Nyxon and Brinks exploded with energy. Their bodies clashed against each other. Their Aura combined in power as they continued smacking into each other as violently as possible. Brinks shouted as he slammed into Nyxon, “THE WORLD WANTS YOU DEAD! NYXON!”

Nyxon steadied his breath, clashing again violently into Brinks, “IF THE WORLD WANTS ME DEAD– THEY’LL HAVE TO SEND ME SOMEONE STRONGER THAN YOU!” Nyxon was fighting with everything he had; he wasn’t giving up.

Brinks grunted and screamed as he tried to catch Nyxon but was too quick. Brinks spewed fire again, this time– he ensured Nyxon couldn’t escape. He grabbed him with his blades as soon as he dodged and tackled him into the faraway kingdom.

Crowds shouted and screamed as Nyxon’s face planted into the ground. Brinks twisted his arms as smoke filled the air around the two. Nyxon’s arm felt like it would come off soon– he tried pushing Brinks away, but he only pushed harder at Nyxon. He was getting annoyed. He wanted to escape. He wanted to beat Brinks. He could feel his body changing again with his new goal in mind. He pushed at the ground, hoping to muster the strength to get up. Then suddenly– a kick came from a different direction. Brinks shouted as his body flew into a shop next to Nyxon. He was confused, but not before seeing Lev in front of him.

Lev smiled, “CORMAC!”

“ON IT!” replied Cormac. Both he and Neve quickly sped into Brinks to buy enough time for Lev.

Cormac and Neve quickly dove into the fight, ensuring Nyxon had enough time to recover. Lev pushed her glasses up as she tried to heal Nyxon. Her arms shook as she watched Cormac fly into a wall as Neve fought Brinks. “G-Guys, get out of here! It’s not safe!” stammered Nyxon. Lev couldn’t heal Nyxon; her arms couldn’t stay still, and her focus was all over the place; the sounds of swords and tables being smashed were scaring her. The most she could do was try and shake Nyxon to get up. She almost started to cry, but Nyxon assured her it would be alright.

“Lev… please take everyone and go,” whispered Nyxon.

“I-I can’t! They wanna help! They wanna help you!” replied Lev.

Nyxon’s eyes widened in terror. Brinks was behind Lev, standing over her as his shadow made his presence known. Nyxon’s mouth quivered, “LEV!”

It was too late. Her glasses hit the ground as her body fell limp to the ground. Nyxon’s heart started racing; his body quivered as he tried to get up before Brinks. Nyxon’s body started shaking; he could feel himself changing again, and this time, there was nothing he could do to stop it. His hair started flowing, changing colors as a wave of lightning hit Brinks’s feet. Brinks shouted in pain as he fell to the floor, hurting his foot even more.

Nyxon stood over him, his face twisting in anger. He didn’t know what was wrong with him or why this was happening. But he couldn’t control himself. Nyxon grabbed Brinks closely; his purple eyes glared at Brinks as he began to growl. Lev looked at Nyxon in fear; she reached for her glasses as Cormac and Neve groaned in the nearby shop. Soon enough, Nyxon and Brinks took the fight back to the forest.

They landed in the center of their previous fight. Nyxon let go of Brinks as he quickly drew his weapons again. Brinks scratched his hands, the chains connecting his weapons jingling as he circled Nyxon. His breathing was heavy, and his footsteps echoed in the forest's silence. Brinks made an attempt at an attack– his blades swung near Nyxon’s face as he growled in annoyance.

Nyxon quickly turned to the blade– he bit down on the weapon as he began to growled violently. He snapped the blade in half as he watched Brinks’s face lose hope in the battle. Nyxon dashed behind Brinks, catching him off guard as he began to juggle him in the air with his power. Nyxon started to let a flurry of strikes release as Brinks coughed and shouted in the air helplessly. Brinks fell back to the ground, swinging at Nyxon fiercely, only for him to dodge. First an elbow to the face, then a knee to the stomach, Nyxon struck relentlessly. He turned around to hit him with the back of his fist as Brinks tried to strike him again. Nyxon turned around, his body and mind feeling hot as he shot out a wave of his power from the ground.

It knocked Brinks into the air and made his eyes wander around the field, trying to find Nyxon. Nyxon zipped into the air, dashing across the air fiercely behind Brinks with a path of lightning. Nyxon placed his hand on Nyxon’s back. A flash of lightning struck from the clouds, highlighting Nyxon’s purple eyes and spiky white hair. Nyxon shouted, “Tempest Storm!” Suddenly, a barrage of lightning strikes from the clouds called down, pushing Brinks to the ground as the smoke cleared from his body.

His body fell to the ground, aching and limping in pain as Nyxon continued to strike. Nyxon’s attack started to hesitate slightly– his body was doing this alone, and he couldn’t stop it. “STOP– WHY CAN’T I STOP!?” shouted Nyxon. He was speaking, but his mouth wouldn’t move.

His body just kept on hitting Brinks’s arms. He was using them to defend himself from the onslaught of strikes from Nyxon. “STOP! I SAID STOP! STOP IT!” shouted Nyxon again. He just kept going. There was nothing he could do. Nyxon helplessly watched as his body continued to attack for what felt like hours. Nyxon was terrified; he never wanted to do this again. The lightning around his body finally settled, and the fight ended. Nyxon’s body shuddered in disgust as he glanced over at Brinks.

Nyxon walked away with the fight replaying in his mind. It was scary– he never wanted to do something like that again. He kept telling himself this as Brinks shouted in the background. “HEY!” shouted Brinks. Nyxon silently turned his head in pain. “W-Why… won’t you f-finish me?” shuddered Brinks. Nyxon tried to answer, but all that came out were soft gasps of air. He couldn’t speak at all; he was still afraid. He ran away without a second thought, leaving Brinks behind at the tree of the battle.

Nyxon ran into the town again, avoiding everyone who saw the battle between him and Brinks. He was still terrified at the end result. The town of prophets soon came by; he was almost happy to see Luna’s castle again. He pushed open the doors in pain, shaking from the battle still. Luna and Lapis were sitting on the couch; they looked worried. Luna caught a glimpse of Nyxon and shouted as she ran to hug him; Lapis followed behind her. Luna rambled about how worried she was about Nyxon. His mind was blank from the fight with Brinks; he still couldn’t comprehend what happened. He looked over Luna’s shoulder to notice the kids; Lev was in the middle of getting her glasses fixed. “M-Man… I need to buy new ones now,” muttered Lev.

Cormac sat up from the couch, “Better than this– my eye’s killing me!”

Neve frowned; she cracked a tooth in the battle with Nyxon. Cleo finally made his presence known; everyone quickly turned to give their attention to him. Nyxon couldn’t keep his hands still; he was still nervous and afraid from his fight with Brinks. Cleo cleared his throat, “You do know what happens from here now… right?” asked Cleo.

Luna cleared her throat, “It’s not safe for us now,”

“That’s right,” answered Cleo. “Luna, I’ve given you enough money to survive for as long as you need to,” Luna looked at the bag on her waist; it was quite heavy. “Go to Efrana; they can help your sister there, Nyxon.”

Nyxon lifted his head up. He was thinking about the battle still, but he was able to give a nod to Cleo. “Go to the Alcaraz family; their number is on here,” said Cleo as he reached into his pocket and gave Luna a sheet of paper. “Tell them Cleo said ‘hi,’ they’ll understand,”

Luna nodded. “Does this mean… I won’t be a princess anymore?”

Cleo and Patrica’s eyes widened. They knew this was coming. “Well, you do want to be with Nyxon, right?” asked Patrica.

Luna glanced over to Nyxon; he was holding onto his shoulder to where Lapis could support him to stand. Lapis looked worried for once. Luna needed to make a decision now. Was she ready to stop being a princess? Luna quickly ran to her Mom and Dad; she hugged them as tightly as possible while the kids also said farewells. Luna quickly gathered her things throughout the house. Luna walked to the door again, and she waved goodbye. Lapis decided to leave Milo behind; it was safer for him to be with the kids now than with her. Nyxon glared at the family he saw as his own again; he would miss everyone dearly. He started to cry; everyone quickly ran to comfort him. He was going to miss everything. The hospitality of Patrica, the wisdom of Cleo, the bickering between Cormac and Neve, the smart remarks from Lev, and Manda’s sweet gestures. And even Rock’s willingness to help. He was going to miss it all.