The Southern Mountain Path [POST HERE FIRST]

Jun was still waiting on Gravlor's response, though somewhat taken aback by Zaltos' offer of Phoenix Magic.

Whatever their response, Jun would get chills down her spine at Jorech's declaration. Again, she wasn't up to date concerning the new alliance between the Phoenix State and her people, but if it was true, then Jorech had technically just declared war on her people. It also clicked that what Jun was sensing in Jorech that made her want to fight was the dark plague, which meant that Jorech's behavior wasn't his fault.

This was turning into a real fuster cluck.

"Wait, Jorech, you're going to declare war just like that?!... That doesn't make sense. What happened between your kingdom and the Phoenix State? Umm... OUCH my knee."

Jun decided to stand up and step away from the dragon, then turn and bow down to Jorech. "Forgive me. I probably don't have any right to speak. My name is Jun, and I'm both a citizen of Medan and of the Land-Tiller Tribe, which I THINK is recently allied with the Phoenix State. I don't bare any ill will towards anyone here and am just here for selfish reasons, but the bravado between you and Zaltos seems unreasonable. Why do you two hate each other?"

"Child of Gaia, you are not ready for the magic of the draconic species, especially of mine. To learn it, you must hold a bond with a dragon. To learn from me, you would have to conquer the powers of evil and be a vessel of the light. When your heart is pure, come to me, and I will teach you all that I know.

Follow this path and you'll stand as one of the wisest and most powerful mages in this world. Zaltos knows where my lair is, and I trust him. The best way to achieve this is to study under him, and when he says you are ready, you come... As a promise, I will wait for you to arrive." Gravlor spoke to Jun.

He would then turn to Jorech and bear his teeth, "War is unnecessary, and you have not been insulted. How would it look if he took your orders and ran away? I will not be involved in such an atrocious thing, and I will remain here no more."

With that, Gravlor leaped up and began to flap his wings. Gravlor would take off with a burst of speed. He wanted no more involvement with the anger there, and it was an affair that would only turn on him if he did involve himself.

Jun grimaced. "I see. Thank you." She turned to Zaltos. "I don't know if I can ever be pure of light. I have a light soul, but my affinity is dark magic and fire. I've spent most of my life trying to understand the chaos magic of my grandmother, which requires a balance between light and darkness. Even Blackbean here is a demon, though not particularly evil one." The large creature flew down and rested next to Jun, who rubbed its chin. Even though it was a very dark entity, it didn't seem to balk at Zaltos or Gravlor, but instead viewed them with indifference.

"Zaltos, you seem to know a lot. Have you heard of chaos magic? Do you know if its power can be unlocked when the world is in balance? Because this is a question that is starting to haunt me. My grandmother's diary seems to indicate that a chaos mage can only be born when the balance of the world is off, and its extremely rare for two to appear in succession. I've always sought this power because I want to defend my people just like she did, and she was one of the most powerful spell casters to have ever lived."

She sighed and looked at her gauntlets. Her melancholy seemed to ease the flow of light energy into her right hand, while dark energy flowed into her left. She held up both her hands, and stared at them.

"It's funny. Demon crows don't seem to have a problem with the light. It feels good, being around both of you at once. But maintaining the balance in my soul, it's maddening."

The small golden dragon took a long look at the humans around her. This was not something she wanted to be a part of. This... whatever it was. She did not understand why Jorech was acting on such impulses or why that smug mage was feeding into it. Did they want more blood shed and death? Why was that such a precious thing to these beings?

She shook her head once again. She was finished with this. Silently she went to Aesath, nudging his shoulder with her wing. "Take this one and I will take the blue one. We will travel to the edge of the kingdom with them and then discuss what we will do from there. I do not want these dragons to grow in a war."

Her heart was heavy... She had seen Jorech grow up from a small boy. He had helped her through the years, but now after this battle. She didn't know if it was the anger that had come from the silver dragon or this was actually something he had been hiding from her. Nonetheless, Aesath and her would leave.

There was nothing for them here.

The shadow "perked up," metaphorically speaking. It had received a message. If Drude could roll his eyes, he would. The shadow slithered away from this place.

Jun was dumbstruck. She couldn't believe she had just witnessed a declaration of war, just like that. And this Zaltos, the so called pharaoh of Amun-Ra, just let it happen!

Still, the offer to learn Phoenix magic was far too tempting. Isn't this why she had left home in the first place? Princess Camilla wouldn't mind her absence if her lady in waiting returned to Medan with powers beyond imagining, right?

"Ok... I'll come..." Shoulders sunken, she started to walk in Zaltos' direction. But then she hesitated and pulled out a magic scroll, which contained a powerful water spell.

"Hang on."

She petted Blackbean and placed the scroll in its mouth. Then she gestured towards the forest. The creature flew off. Jun meanwhile raised up her hands and revealed her gauntlets. Underneath her cloak one could see the scepter glowing at the small of her back, releasing a powerful surge of energy through the chains that connected to her wrists. Jun concentrated with all her might for many seconds. After all, water wasn't her forte at all.

"Water Art: Aqua Bomb!" A swirl of blue energy appeared between her wrists that quickly congealed into a physical mass of clear water. She hurled the mass towards the sky over the forest. The shimmering mass was still quite bright, looking like a glittering snowball rather than concentrated water. At the same time it made a wooshing sound as it absorbed more water from the ambient atmosphere, augmenting its power.

Next came the hard part. Jun would gather up even more mana and focus on Blackbean, specifically the magic rune that she had placed on his back. There was an electric blue flash and Jun disappeared, reappearing on top of Blackbean.

"Oh... crap didn't think this through. Hope I can teleport one last time." She took the scroll from Blackbean's mouth and broke its seal, just as the water bomb made it to the area above the fire. She watched it detonate and released a blast of water over the fire, raining down on it like an intangible umbrella.

Next came the fun part. Jun jumped.

This spell would released a powerful shock wave of water in all directions. She jumped and thrust the scroll open. By casting it in midair she would give the water maximum distance while avoiding hurting Blackbean. Sure enough, the blast, which would have caused a small flood on the ground, erupted into a sphere of water that turned oblong and draped the forest fire below on the other side. Now there were two blasts of water to help put the fire out.

When Jun cast her spell, she floated in midair for a second. But now she was once again falling, and tried once again to focus on Blackbean for a second teleport-

"Ack!" Blackbean, however, had other plans. In an astonishing burst of supernatural speed, the creature had darted out of the way of her spell and circled back, grabbing Jun's thigh before she reached terminal velocity. "Wow, nice catch! Also, ow, ow ow ow ow OW." Unfortunately, Blackbean's claws were digging into her inner thigh.

The pain prompted Jun to teleport back to Zaltos' side before Blackbean could actually get there. But once again...

*thump*

"Ouch."

Jun teleported several feet off the ground, and landed with a thump... again.

She looked back towards her handiwork. The fire was hopefully subsiding. She rubbed her head and her inner thigh. "There was probably an easier way to do that. Ok... let's go. Thanks Blackbean."

The creature faded away, back into the darkness from where it came.

She turned to Jorech. "It's nothing personal, if my little stunt was an indication of my good will and neutrality. Please, leave the Land-Tiller's Expanse out of this war, that is, if you really are gonna go through with it. Good bye sire."

She left with Zaltos, muttering to herself. "All I wanted was to find a goddamn dragon..."

"Minor?! You call trespassing and commanding the leader of another nation MINOR?! You just can't stand the thought of someone standing up to you.

So we shall stand a beacon of light against a foe none can see in the darkness. The Lion will devour the Phoenix!"

The king turned and walked away. He knew the anger would only feed the situation and push him to attacking the man right then and there. Jorech would not take away the honor of fighting for Aaedan's pride from his people. And he would not make them fight alone. Jorech would be on the front. For in Aaedan the king leads from the front and dies with his men. That is how Jorech's father "died" and how his father died and so on. Jorech would follow this tradition and die on the battlefield. If this war failed Jorech was sure his people would die resisting the Phoenix. If nothing else he had to make the Phoenix know that The Lion would never be it's prey.

<exit>

Ildesias rode down the mountain road on a white horse, his body wrapped in a cream-coloured cloak with a hood that partially hid his face. He was more than likely accompanied by his companion Sariandi, though he said nothing to her or any of those they met on their path. He was completely focused on the dangers ahead; the threat that they would soon face. As such, he passed through into Aedanian lands without so much as stopping to take a five minute rest.

<Exit into Aedan.>