The Enternal Secret (Derick and Dawn)

[dawn]

Sophie is startled as he suddenly pulls her close to him as vines appear around them. Her slim frame pressed against his hardened, muscled body as she tries to understand what's happening, even as she listens to the destruction around her. When the vines disappear she stares silently at what's left of the house, still amazed at what's possible with magic. She hurriedly follows after him, the girl pulling her jeans back up and tying the tattered remains of her blouse above her midriff. She shivers as she hears a roar, instinctively looking up, wondering if they really are going to fight a dragon..

[Derick]

As they moved outside the now destroyed house, he turned to her. “Understand, your magic makes you an enemy of all Dragon Kind. If they had known what Magic you had, you would of been the one they killed, or both of us. Dragons lost their homeworld to the Devourer, and they were all scared by it. Dragons need magic,  much like you and I need food or air. Dragons always grow, and if they had unlimited magic, they would continue to age and continue to grow, needing more magic. Meaning at one point they will run out, when their supply is dwarfed by their need and use.

 A Dragon without magic, is little more than a feral animal, and they cannot recover from it. Once they go Feral, they are as good as Dead. To a Dragon that has committed no crimes, stealing their Magic is a cruelty beyond words. Yet this Dragon, has been hunting humans, specifically humans with Magic to extend their life time. We would of been its victims, feed to it and its children who now lie dead.”

“Summon your Hunter, and send it after the Dragon. My magic will keep the Dragon occupied, while the Hunter will seek to drain it. This will be a chance for you to learn a vital power of yours. The Hunter will attempt the Drain the Dragon, yet you can use the Hunter as an extension of yourself, and drain the Dragon directly”.

[dawn]

Sophie isn't sure she understands everything he just told her, but she wastes no time. She sings softly to herself, drawing on to what magic she has left, trying not to be overwhelmed by what's happening around her. The Hunter stares at her quizzically, but as if reading her mind it snarls, and turns around to chase after the dragon. It's a strange sensation, she could feel the creature and its hunger for magic. The dragon is still circling the skies, but it roars, agitated, knowing the danger it's in, as she waits for him to distract the monster, knowing time is of the essence.

[Derick]

Symon focus on the Dragon, as vines grew from the ground below the Dragon... many vines, as they lifted up into the sky, the Dragon, clawed at them, breathed fire at them, yet every vine that was destroyed, split into two smaller ones. Instead of fleeing, the Dragon flew at Symon, knowing he was responsible for the destruction of her children, yet the vines would wrap around her frame, dragging her from the air, and causing her to crash against the ground.  Allowing it to be attacked by the Hunter.

"The Hunter will grow in size as it feeds of the Dragons magic"  he turns to say to Sophie.

[dawn]

Sophie watches in awe as vines snake out towards the dragon, and gasps when the creature begins to swoop down on Symon. Relief as vines throw the dragon to the ground. With a mental command, the Hunter roars and bites hard into the dragon's hide. Already she could feel the Hunter draw immense amounts of magic. The creature's muscles ripple as it grows, nearly matching the dragon in size. The dragon continues to howl and thrash in its bonds, but the Hunter does not let go.

[Derick]

As Dragon struggles against the vines, fire, claws, but every time a vine is cut or burned, a new one grows. Yet as soon as the Dragon, saw the incoming Hunter, their was panic, it fought harder, more fire and it was working, it was almost free from the vines as the hunters jaws descended on it. It panicked even more breaking free, yet as as the Hunter continued to attack, and drain magic, as the Dragons finally breaks free from the vines. Something vanishes from the Dragon, the light behind its eyes. The creature now just roars like a savage beast, as it faces the Hunter, strike at it with an uncoordinated feral rage. It would fight back but the at the Hunter claws and teeth ripped into it, it would still grow, just far slower than before. Before long the Dragon would collapse, the Hunters teeth around its neck as it clamps down on it. "Dissmis your Hunter, it is over." he breaths a sigh or relief, "Such a tragedy."

[dawn]

Sophie watches with horror as the dragon thrashes violently against its bonds, her Hunter relentlessly ripping at its flesh. She flinches whenever the dragon manages to strike the Hunter, but she remains still, staring as the dragon begins to slow, and gasps as the Hunter clamps its jaws around its neck, and the dragon falls still. Symon's voice wakes her and with a word her Hunter vanishes, leaving behind the dragon's corpse. She shivers, rubbing her arms. "Yes," she replies absently. She glances at him. "We fell into their trap. I thought you died. They were going to.." she imagines the men tearing off her clothes again, and she covers her mouth with a hand and turns away.

[Derick]

"Indeed we did" he paused, his own curse had saved their lives, he knew it, he would gently place his hand on her shoulder, "Yet you did well, you summon your Hunter, during a fight. its on thing to do it in practice, its another to do it when it counts." He would pause to let her react.

Yet something else would happen. the sky would darken, as a second Dragon would fly over,  yet it would land as it would focus on them. "I did not come to fight...." he turns to the corpse of the other Dragon... "I came to put an end to my sister." he looks down at her corpse, "Yet it seems, that I was to late for missing the battle. I am sorry for that ... Hunters should not have to deal with Dragon Kind, yet their is far to few of us to police are own."

Symon tensed up, as he saw a second Dragon, but immediately relaxed as he simply landed.

Looking at Sophie, he stared at her for a while, "Your magic is a threat to my kind, more than you may understand, yet I would ask humbly that you share the magic you took from her. By rights it is yours, and I will take what I can from her corpse, to at least get some positive use from her flawed choices."

Symon look at her and says, "That is your choice."

[dawn]

Sophie feels his hand on her, almost comforting, and then she realizes how tired she is. She's breathing hard and panting softly, and finds herself leaning against Symon to steady herself. "It's taken a lot out of me," she admits.

Then she gasps when the second dragon arrives, instinctively trying to summon her Hunter again. Yet the dragon doesn't attack, and only speaks respectfully to them. She stays close to Symon, watching the dragon warily, hesitating at first, before stepping forward to touch the dragon's face. She takes a deep breath, before nodding, and lets her magic flow. "What will happen?"

[Derick]

"Summon your Hunter.... it will shrink back down to normal size.  You must of seen it, you must of felt it, when the Dragon had run out of power. Dragons need magic to exist, without Magic they go utterly feral. A half a dozen Dragon can be born, and when they are born they are feral. Only a few awake, and grow and develop. The Dragon we killed was a mother, the two earlier were here children that survive that process. Yet, we were sent here by the Hunters, because those Dragons were consuming humans. Every bit of life has a little bit of magic, and perhaps they would of tried to find a Magus like you.... one that did not know. They were killing humans for Magic."

His eyes looked back at the Dragon, that was awaiting their response. "Dragons try to take care of their own. The Hunter lets them, but we do have to contain Magic, we always must keep the secret. By our laws and the Dragons laws those Dragons must of died.  Being forced to carry judgement out on your own kin must be hard."

"But summon your hunter if you wish. Release the Magic that it has stored."

[MariaElige]

Very exciting news indeed.  Boogie and I dug in a park in NY City but came up empty. Funny little story goes along with that dig regarding a shovel.

Ive been on this thread since the beginning.....since I was the one who brought the Secret Thread to this message board.