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Ender hovered in the sky, his black wings beating heavily. The full moon watched from behind him, surveying the chaos that lay below. Fire burned in a desolate wasteland, where only the scattered stumps of ashen trees survived. Bright beams of golden light lit up scorched rivers and broken ground, piercing into clouds of living darkness. The roars of pain, fear, and determination warped together in a constant drone of terror. The cacophony of flapping wings and elemental blasts only added to the shock. Lightning sizzled in all directions. Fire lit the sky red. Scarlet chaos energy broke through the battle lines. The other side was nearly silent as black shadow dragons clawed their way through the battle with slashing talons and biting teeth, disappearing into the shadow realm, and reappearing in a constant pattern, basking their enemies in darkness.

The night gave them strength, and in the melee the battle had become below they had the advantage in power. But the numbers of the enemy were immense, a sea of red, golden, and yellow scales that stretched for as far as the eye could see. Not to mention that no matter how strong one was within their element, the power of the many equilibria shattered them apart. But they were stopped and halted by the shadow dragons' own equilibria. Enormous storms of darkness were difficult to find in the night sky, but no less deadly as spears of darkness pierced golden balls of living light and enraged hurricanes of red chaos energy.

But that was nothing, not compared to the wall of fire that slowly approached from the west, stretching from the ocean that marked the shadow nation's southern border, to the Living Mountains that marked the nation's north. Tens of thousands of dragon lengths long, and thousands high. They were trapped, and slowly being pushed back toward their main city and final home of their nation.

There was a general hopelessness to the situation. Ender felt cornered, with the only options being retreat or surrender, both with which he refused to even consider. This was his home, and they would do whatever it took to defend it. Death would be a better option than fighting so hard for years only for it to end in humiliation. But with the current battle having been stretched for nearly a week, and his reserves of equilibria dragons growing low, in his heart of hearts he was beginning to consider it.

He quickly shook the feeling off, folding his wings, and diving toward the battlefield below. He closed his eyes, pulling at the darkness around and within him, his body quickly becoming shrouded in shadow as he disappeared into the shadow realm. A place where things were only visible through a lens of darkness and light. The world became an inky black, with shapes warped in darkness moving like shapes through water. Parts of the dimension were broken by holes and lines of blinding white.

The drake landed on the ground, a shockwave of darkness rippling through the shadow realm as he did. He spread his wings, reaching out to the power around him and gripping it with his will. The very realm shuddered, trying to resist him for but a moment, but he overturned any strength it had. A headache formed in his skull as he reached through the shadows, pushing it into the white holes that appeared throughout the realm. The nature of the darkness was to coil back from the light that was its enemy, but Ender forced it forward, spearing it into multiple breaks in the dimension, filling it back up again. Cries of surprise echoed through the dimension as the drake dragged multiple dragged in multiple enemy dragons, reds and golden yellows, crying out as reality around them disappeared as they were shrouded in shadow.

Ender rushed through the darkness, lashing out with talons and claws, spilling blood only represented by warped liquid darkness as he continued to pull other dragons into his realm. He skirted around the large breaks, where the blinding light was too powerful for him to shroud, and he couldn't ignore the giant wall of white in the distance, slowly dissolving the shadow realm with each passing moment.

Bodies quickly littered the shadow realm as Ender continued to drag each one to their demise. Some were strong-willed and didn't surrender to the darkness right away, fighting and snarling. But Ender dispatched them with his claws, teeth, and bladed tail. No one would stand against the shadow king. At least until he found a dragon with a bright light that he couldn't quite dissolve from within the dimension.

Curious, Ender stepped out of the dimension and into the melee, narrowing his eyes at the brightly shining light dragon before him. It was a younger drake, around mid-twenties, with his golden light a beacon in the darkness. What startled Ender the most was that instead of scales, this dragon had feathers, each gilded quill rippling under the warm light that radiated from him. An aura reminiscent of a warm summer's day radiated from him, and his eyes glowed golden.

"There!" the drake roared, point toward Ender, "That's the one!"

The dragons around him leaped to his command, and at the same time the feathered drake opened his mouth, allowing a golden beam of light to shoot toward the shadow king. Ender snorted, the darkness around him leaping to his defence. The beam of light hit it, piercing it with strength, but it didn't get far. The darkness around it pierced into it, corrupting it, and dissolving it.

The other dragons under the feathered one's command charged toward Ender. The drake simply snorted, pulling at his connection with the shadow realm and flapping his wings. Darkness launched from the ground, wrapping around the charging dragons and their desperate attempts to strike him with their elements. Lightning was blinded and redirected. Fire died, and chaos was tamed. Their screams echoed through the battlefield as they were dragged into the infinite shadow realm, and to their demise.

The feathered drake hesitated, startled at the ease his company met with defeat. He held up a wing to halt the charge of the few survivors, narrowing his eyes, "King Ender."

"You must be Kibre," the king replied, taking some measured steps forward as his tail flicked back and forth with glee.

He couldn't believe his luck. Even in defeat, he would be able to take out the son and heir of the light nation. Kibre growled, his own tail lashing back and forth as the light around him grew more intense, waves of power emitting from him.

"Oh, immediately going for equilibrium I see. Are you sure you want to make this battle about that?" Ender growled, reaching for his own power at the pit of his being, a well of infinite strength.

Kibre hesitated a moment, "You have lost Ender. You must see that. Surrender and your species may still be allowed to live."

Ender laughed, shaking his head with malicious glee, "You expect me to believe that? Your father will not stop until we are wiped away."

"And whose fault is that?" snarled back Kibre, lashing his tail, "He warned you. He told you to stop the antagonistic hatred. To hold your subjects back. But you didn't. You kept on letting them go after us, encouraging the hatred and despicable acts of injustice."

"My fault? Do you even know what your father did," Ender rumbled, "Do you even know what your nation did? How they betrayed us at the moment we needed them most?"

Kibre frowned at that, though didn't reply.

Ender laughed again, "Oh I doubt it's kept in your historical records. That's how despicable it was."

"It can't be worse than anything you've done to us."

"That, young dragon, is where you are mistaken," Ender rumbled, flicking his tail as he began to pace, enjoying the wary and hesitant look on his enemy's face, "We were allies in the Ashen wars, you know. A close-knit conjuncture of clans, trusting one another with our lives, and with the other energy species on our side, we were winning. The shadow dragons and light dragons, working together to steadily take over the eastern side of the continent, while the others worked elsewhere. But we were then betrayed. The light king, and his son, your father, brokered up a deal with the mind dragons, and they attacked us, breaking our alliance, and destroying any chance of victory in the war. They attacked from behind, slaughtering everyone, young and old, male and female, even going so far as to boil hatchlings in their eggs. It was a massacre, and we fled, opening up the line for the other nations to come through and win the war. It was all your nation. Your fault."

Kibre's eyes widened a little, "You're lying."

"No, Kibre, and now, for what your father has taken from me, I'm going to take away from him!" the shadow king suddenly leaped forward, spreading his wings with a cry of rage.

The shadows around him followed in a storm that he had been building up through the conversation. He opened his mouth, unleashing a barrage of darkness on the young dragon. Kibre pulled up his wings, golden light burning intensely from his body as he surrounded himself in a shield, trying to defend himself as darkness surrounded him. Ender let out a roar of pain as his scales were burned by the shield of light, taking several steps back. His darkness parted around the young drake, the shadows being dissipated by his defence.

"You will pay for his crimes, Kibre!" Ender roared through the darkness as the light drake looked around, desperately trying to find him.

"You would risk the survival of your species for revenge?" Kibre growled.

"We are already dead," snarled back Ender, "All that's left is revenge."

"If your surrender, we will have mercy on the others of your nation that do."

"Do you even know your father? He will slaughter until he is satisfied we aren't a threat any longer. That will only happen if we are all gone!"

"And you think killing me will give you a better chance?"

"No, killing you will show him that he can't just take what he wishes without consequences!"

A tendril of darkness pierced the barrier of light, disintegrating before it reached too far. Ender growled, forcing his darkness to press even harder against the light, slowly reducing the shield.

"You are wrong. He will have mercy. The only reason he started this war is to get you to stop! If you don't stop, he will slaughter you all!"

"You are wrong! He is a soulless monster! Just like you and the rest of your species!"

"You are blinded by hatred!"

"And you are blinded by pride!"

Kibre's shield continued to shrink, even as the young dragon inside began to unleash beams of light into the darkness, hoping to break it apart somehow. Ender was nearly amused at his efforts. As powerful as the young dragon was, he didn't have the experience or control over his element necessary to break the shadow drake's cloud of darkness. There was only one thing he could do to escape, and Ender could already feel the waves of power start to rise within the feathered dragon. So, he reached for his own strength.

The shadows around him rippled with eagerness as a flood of strength rushed through the shadow dragon. He closed his eyes, reveling in it. He had lost count of the number of times he had used this power over the course of the war. Each time it allowed him to have such ecstasy, such freedom. It was almost more natural to be in a state of equilibrium with his element than his usual form. His scales began to dissolve into the darkness around him as his mental presence expanded through the cloud of darkness that was already established. A laugh escaped him as the very atmosphere shuddered under his power. It was as though a huge weight was pressing against the very fabric of reality.

At the same time Kibre exploded into a living being of pure light, Ender completed his transformation into utter darkness. The initial explosion of Kibre's equilibrium allowed him to break out of the cocoon of darkness, but it didn't take long for Ender to charge after him. Having already established himself throughout the already existing darkness, Ender was now quickly taking over the battlefield. He pierced through several equilibria at once, growing faster and faster as he dragged hundreds, thousands into his depths. It was like he had completely lost control of the power, as not even other shadow dragons could escape his complete devolution into the utter madness of his shadow equilibrium.

He no longer cared anymore. They were going to lose anyway. They were all going to die anyway. All that was left for him to do was cause as much damage to the enemy as possible before they finally took him down. So he ignored the screams of his subjects, the desperate wingbeats, the begging to be let go as he continued to expand through the night. He basked the battlefield in his own created shadow realm, drowning thousands in his rage. A lightning equilibrium struck into him, flooding him with electricity as it struggled to slow him down, but he tore it apart, dark tendrils encompassing the yellow light and slowly dissolving it in the darkness. A fire equilibrium tried to grow up and around him, but the shadow king's expansion was too fast, too violent. The tendrils of shadow pierced through the flames, encompassing it in darkness.

All the while Ender laughed, chasing Kibre's equilibrium into the sky as the golden light fled, trying to grow himself to match the power of the equilibrium that challenged him. But the shadow king was far too at ease with the power he wielded. His very own shadow realm that he continued to expand further and further, swallowing every living creature in his path. The ravaged land below became shrouded in shadow, a storm that steadily grew into pitch blackness. A place where no light could ever exist.

"Surrender yourself Kibre!" the shadow's voice echoed with gleeful laughter, "And I will make it quick!"

The golden light continued to grow into the air at an impressive rate for one so young, but it still could not compare to the giant hand of darkness that reached out to smother him. Kibre was faster though, and as he fled he fired bolts of light back into the sea of darkness.

"You're mad!" he called back, the voice of his own equilibrium echoing with a celestial tone.

"You were the one that wanted a battle of equilibria!" laughed Ender as spears of darkness suddenly shot from the cloud.

Beams of light met them, dissipating them in a flash of light. But Ender did not flinch, only sending forth more as they continued to rise, higher and higher, above clouds. The shadow equilibrium continued to expand in width as well, swallowing more and more into its depths. The other equilibria who were part of the battle struggled to fight against it, lightning, light, chaos, and fire bashing against him, drilling into him, and struggling to expand around him. But it was useless. The shadow equilibrium was quickly becoming an ocean of darkness only dwarfed by the massive firewall still in the distance.

"You all will fall!" cried the shadow king as tendrils of darkness fought back against the elements, "You want to kill us all? Then you will all die!"

His laughter was suddenly cut short as a great beam of light cut through the arm reaching into the sky. The darkness fell back as a roar more akin to thunder echoed through the shadow equilibrium. Ender turned all his attention toward the new threat. A figure made from pure light. Far smaller than the ocean of shadow, but no less ominous.

"Ender! You face me now!" the challenge roared from the equilibrium.

Hatred overcame Ender as he recognised his challenger. His enemy. There was only one dragon of light that could cut him apart like that, and it was the luminous king himself. Lumiane, the one that had stolen everything from him. Any left-over rationality fled from the equilibrium's conscious as he descended upon the being of light with another roar. Clouds of shadow as big as mountains shrouded the other equilibrium, drowning him in the shadow realm. Lumiane was a fool to fight Ender as he was.

Ender felt savage satisfaction as he tightened his grip on the light equilibrium that faced him. Shadows were burned away by the glowing light, but they were quickly replaced as Ender quickly surrounded the light king in a ball of darkness, not allowing an iota of light to shine through. And he tightened his grip, more and more, not caring about the sudden loss of power he felt as the outside of his equilibrium was attacked by lightning, fire, and chaos. He would deal with them later.

But his enemy was not phased by the attack. Instead, the liquid light formed itself into a tight ball, waiting. There was no hesitation from Ender as his darkness continued to press around the ball, piercing into it with its dark tendrils. Suddenly the ball moved. It was almost a blur as it expanded rapidly, shooting through the darkness in a near-instant. The shadows reeled back in pain, Ender crying out in anger as his enemy escaped.

He turned his attention upward as the sky above was suddenly lit by glorious light. The moon was still high in the sky, but the sky itself had become blue, reflecting the brilliance of the rapidly expanding equilibrium of golden light. Its expanse was far faster than even Ender's, turning a dark night into the brightest day. Giant beams of golden light shot down toward the shadow equilibrium, shredding through it with ease. Ender roared, gathering himself together and shooting upward to his enemy, giant tentacles delving into the light, but the other equilibriums below were beginning to catch up. A giant ball of chaos half the size of the shadow storm ripped through it, lashing out with its own tentacles and tearing Ender apart from below. Lightning and fire surrounded him, shooting him with light that forced his shadows to disappear. Ender struggled with increasing conviction, but his power was slowly waning as he grew small and smaller.

He still threw tendrils of shadow at the brilliant light above him, but it was useless. The shadows burned up before they even had a chance to make any difference. Then the light descended upon him. With one last surge, gathering the last of his power, the shadow equilibrium thrust himself forward, burning up in the brilliant light as it shrouded him. The ground below became molten rock, and any dragons below were forced to flee in fear of being caught up in glorious death.

Ender only laughed. He laughed as his equilibrium imploded in on itself. He laughed as he lost grip on the power, returning to flesh and blood, too exhausted to even stand. He laughed as he felt the heat on his scales, melting them into his flesh.

"You have lost Ender," the glorious light boomed, "this tale of light and darkness is at an end."

Ender's laugh turned into a roar of hatred as he pulled the last tendrils of strength from his body, unleashing his shadow breath into the light. A beam shot through the darkness, descending down toward the king. Ender closed his eyes, and suddenly there was nothing.

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Hey guys! New chronicle for you all! This one was intense, but a lot of fun to write. I think this is the first time I've shown the potential of the powers of a dark dragon. So I hope you enjoyed. Tell me what you thought of Ender, and below make sure to vote on which Chronicle you would like next! We are closing in on fifty.

Ocean Depths: Ruban, Water drake - 1Yr BTA

Flightless Wings: Aviosa, Crystal dragoness - 7Yrs BTA

See Ya!

Pennator^^