Silver awoke slowly, the cool, comfortable feeling of a metal nest under her. She groaned softly, before letting out a small sigh. It was early morning; the sun's rays hadn't even reached the opening of her cave yet. The metallic statues around her were silent and almost foreboding, their soulless eyes staring into nothing.

"I think it's about time I get rid of these statues," she murmured to herself, slowly getting to her feet and yawning.

"I agree," said a sudden voice, "They are rather frightening if I may say so."

The dragoness yelped in surprise and spun around, teeth bared and wings spread, glaring at the intruder. When she saw who it was however, she blinked, surprised, and sat up. O'hen was sitting in the cave, seeming rather pleased with himself as he looked around with interest.

"O'hen... I... aaah, to what do I owe this pleasure?"

He turned to her, "Well, we need to continue our training."

She titled her head, "Now?"

He smiled slightly, "Well, we have all the time in the world. You won't be late for your meeting this morning."

"I guess, but still, I just woke up," as if to prove her point she let out a loud yawn, before shaking herself down, "And I'm hungry."

"I knew you were going to say that," said the time dragon with a chuckle, "But you can't put this off forever. We have a year to get you ready, at most."

"Can we do it tonight?"

"Very well, tonight then," he nodded.

"Cool," she yawned one last time before moving to walk to the entrance of the cave.

"Oh, and Silver, to tell you this wasn't my only reason for coming here," O'hen said, suddenly very solemn.

"Then what?"

"Be careful of who you trust," he continued, "Just because you have returned, it doesn't mean you're entirely safe."

She frowned, "What's that supposed to mean?"

"That is not something I can share with you," he sighed softly, flicking his tail, "And I don't want you to become paranoid, but there are some here that are not whom the seem."

"Oh thanks, that's not gonna' get me worried at all," she snorted sarcastically, "Let me guess, Eldawin has disguised himself as another dragon or something like that."

He smiled grimly, "No exactly, but be careful."

"O'hen, you know me. Since when have I been careful? Besides, I've reached equilibrium now. Besides Eldawin, who can hurt me?"

"I can think of a few," he frowned at her, "Don't go around thinking like that Silver. It is a sure way of getting yourself killed."

She was slightly surprised at his directness. Grunting softly she turned around to the exit again and opened her wings. The silvery light that had been there as she woke up faded away, leaving her alone once again. She snorted, before launching into the air, taking a flap of her wings. O'hen had no idea what he was talking about.

Much to her surprise, the soreness and stiffness that usually came from travelling such long distances wasn't there. It was like her body had completely recovered after a nights sleep. Her metal also felt different. Without needing to be warmed up it was already at its usual malleability.

As she slowly glided toward the mountain she found herself looking around. It had been so long since she had woken up to do this. In A.O.D.H she rarely flew, and when she did it hadn't been for enjoyment. What was fun about flying in a large metal box without any view and no wind? She let out a sigh, shaking herself. She was free now. There was no use thinking back to that place.

Tucking in her wings, she dived swiftly down to the entrance with a grin, letting the sky breeze past her, the wind tugging at her metal shell and creating an almost chiming sound. Fifty metres above the rock below she pulled herself out of the dive and swung into Sky Mountain. It certainly looked far better then last time she had seen it. During the battle the forest had been burning, but now it was green and vibrant. The Centre had taken on almost a sleeker look, with the river that ran through it twisting and curling instead of just going straight. The small gardens and plants that were placed through The Centre had grown, and the large picture of the dragon on the floor was even more vibrant. It was certainly a sight to behold.

The dragons below her looked up as she came in, the reflective nature of her shell casting light into the area. There were a few 'mornings' and 'hellos' directed toward her, which she greeted with a polite nod of her head. As usual, there was a group of dragons toward the middle of The Centre. They were the hunters, and usually provided food for the vast majority of dragons. Silver felt her stomach rumbled. This would be the first time she took food she hadn't hunted, willingly. She didn't really feel like tracking her own food down at this moment in time.

After she accepted her meal, surprising the hunter dragons slightly with her presence, she lay down beside the stream to eat. A patter of footsteps behind her caused her to look up, and grin. It was West, the wind dragon seeming quite happy with his own feed. The blood around his maw suggested he had enjoyed it quite a lot.

"Good morning," said the silver dragon, nodding her head toward him.

"Morning," he replied, stretching his wings, "This place is awesome."

"Ha, it's not too bad," replied Silver.

"Not too bad? I don't even have to hunt for my food! I get a cave, a nest I didn't even have to make. A bunch of... oh what's the human word for it... roomies. A few of them female, and I'm pretty sure one of them likes me."

Again the dragoness laughed, "Well, good for you. I prefer to have a cave of my own."

"Aargh, they told me that. Said you had your own private abode on the edge of the crater. You're boring."

"And you're too excitable. Where's Reha, Blaze and Krita? They settling in okay?"

"Oh, they got different caves to mine. Blaze and Reha are together I think, and Krita got taken to the top cave. It think they wanted to talk to him," West flicked his tail, "Don't know why. I'm obviously the most important one."

Silver snorted but chose not to reply, digging into her meal again. She was surprised at how hungry she was. In A.O.D.H she guessed she had been fed relatively well, but it hadn't been enough. Here, she could eat whenever she wanted. A grunt of laughter escaped her at the thought.

"Silver and... wind dragon!" came a sudden and demanding voice that was all too familiar.

A sigh escaped the dragoness and she looked up to see Gravon walking toward them, holding himself high, "What do you want?"

"Mum told me to come and get you two," he explained, "So I did."

West glanced at Silver, "Who's the lizard?"

"Don't insult me," hissed the other drake, "I'm Gravon, a gravity dragon, and son of Iraliene herself.

"Oh, so the high snobbish type," West nodded his head, "Makes sense."

Gravon snarled angrily and the pressure around them increased slightly, "You would do well not to anger me."

"Okay. Okay, gees, sorry," he took a step back, lifting his wings in surrender, "Just joking around."

The gravity dragon snorted, before turning and opening his wings, "Don't be late."

They watched as he took to the air, other dragons getting out of the way quickly. He seemed to be a little more detestable then last time Silver had seen him. Maybe when she defeated him it had made him realise he couldn't have whatever he wanted. Shrugging to herself she finished of her meal and stood up, licking the blood from her maw.

"Let me guess," West said, watching him go, "The high, snobbish and actually powerful type."

"Yeah, you have no idea," Silver replied, stretching her wings and beating them a couple of times, "Now, lets get going."

The two of them rose to the air, the dragoness taking the lead, and flew toward The Nest, chatting on the way. West seemed to be extremely happy about his new home, and had relaxed quickly into the new way of life. It suited him, and he was obviously quite popular with the others, through the way he was talking about them anyway.

They entered the Iraliene's cave, gliding inside and landing at the stone walkway. They walked inside, Silver showing him the way into the cave usually meant for rarer species of dragons. However, as they walked inside they found it to be startlingly empty. There was a small group in the middle, comprised of Iraliene, Gravon, Silver's two brothers, Reha, Krita and even Zepos and Retrix. They looked up as she came in.

The humans were also there, the ex-handlers as well as Liam and Tyler. It confused Silver slightly, as humans weren't commonly allowed in this area. It was strictly dragon only. But she guessed this was a special situation. West and her joined the group, sitting down in the circle they had created.

"Good to see you here Silver, now we can finally start," Iraliene said, nodding toward her, "I have gathered all of you here because you are all involved in the matters at hand, and I would like to here each of your sides of the story. Of course, we are here because Silver has asked us to be, as she has important information that she has learned from A.O.D.H. I've been told most of you know this already, but for those who don't, would you please enlighten us? First of all, how did you escape from A.O.D.H?"

Silver glanced around at the dragons and humans around her. They looked to her for the answer. The only four that knew were the dragons that had been with her on the trip back to Sky Mountain. She hadn't told the humans, besides Liam, in fear they would hate her for it. It made her slightly uncomfortable, and the experience hadn't exactly been a good memory. Even so... she sighed, before shuffling slightly and looking up at them.

"We escaped A.O.D.H... because I reached equilibrium," she said.

Gravon grunted in surprise, but other then that there was a startling lack of reaction. She blinked, expecting a little more then what she got, especially from Retrix and Zepos. However, they only shared a glance, as if what she said had proved what they were thinking.

"What's equilibrium?" asked Diana, frowning slightly as she looked at Silver.

"It happens when a dragon pushes itself to the breaking point," the dragoness explained slowly, "They basically become their element, and usually on the first time they loose control. If you want a description on how powerful it is... I was the one who destroyed the A.O.D.H base and the island along with it."

The startled humans muttered between themselves, "Why didn't you tell us this before?"

"Because I didn't want to frighten you," she replied.

"I suspected as much," Iraliene cut in, causing them to look to her, "It was the reasonable explanation. You're change in looks, and the strange aura that you carry around with you. It's very similar to what happened to your brother."

Raize nodded his head, "I think most of us realised it almost as soon as we saw you."

"I didn't," muttered Gravon, seeming a little nervous.

"I think what we all want to know is... how did it happen?" said Retrix.

"My memories are a bit hazy of the moments beforehand, but I think I remember enough accurately," she took a deep breath, "When I was at A.O.D.H they were making me build something, a machine. For most of my time there I had no idea what I was doing, only following orders. But, when we went to that inspection day, a little over a week ago, I was forced to undergo a mental test. When I came out of it... well, I met the leader of A.O.D.H."

Iraliene tilted her head. The leader of A.O.D.H. It was something that had been hidden for over one hundred years. He had never been found or seen, and it had been one thing that Sky Mountain had been trying to figure out for a very long time, but had never been successful.

"Who is he, or she?"

Silver smiled grimly, "I'm sure we have all heard his name before, and I've already told most of us. The leader of A.O.D.H is the first mind dragon... Eldawin."

Shocked silence emanated through the room. Of course, the dragons and humans that had been travelling with her knew this already, but it didn't make it any less startling. The idea that the leader of the most feared and hated dragon-hunting organisation in the world... was a dragon. It was ludicrous. But it was true.

"T...that's impossible," Iraliene stuttered, "I saw him die myself."

"An illusion he created, I'm guessing," said Silver, "He would be capable of such a feat."

"I know... but still. Why would he do such a thing? What would lead him to enslave his own kind?"

"That brings me to the reason I wanted to talk to you," said the dragoness, "I talked with him, Eldawin I mean. I turns out he's the one that controls or the mind controlling devices. All of them..."

She was cut off when Krita barked a laugh, "I'm sorry, but that would be impossible. Even for a dragon such as him. I would believe you if it was for a short while, but he has been controlling them all day and all night for... what... twenty, thirty years?"

"He's very powerful," said Silver, "One of the most powerful dragons to ever exist."

"Still, controlling one dragon for a long time is hard enough. I know. But fifty thousand? That's impossible."

She shrugged, "It's what he told me."

"Yes, we'll figure out that later," Iraliene spoke, "What else did you find out Silver."

Again the dragoness took a deep breath, "The machine I was building, he said he's going to use it to destroy the human race. All of it. With no survivors. That was when I reached the breaking point."

Again there was silence as the dragons slowly took in the information. There was numerous shufflings and twitches of the tail. Whatever they had been expecting, it hadn't been that. Domination of the world, maybe, power, most definitely, but the destruction of the human race...

"So... how would this machine help him do that?" asked Retrix.

"I... don't know. But if it does get finished, it is capable of doing such a thing," replied Silver

"That is a rather ambitious goal," stated Iraliene with a frown, "Are you sure he is capable?"

Again Silver nodded her head, "I'm positive of it."

"But... why?" asked Zepos, "I mean, why would he want to destroy an entire race?"

"He said he wanted to create a world where dragon's could live without the fear of humans looming over them," replied the metallic dragoness.

Again there was silence as they thought over this problem. The humans watched them, a little nervously. Among dragon kind, they weren't thought of very highly. Of course, many of them knew a human, and were even friends with them, but overall dragons generally disliked and didn't trust humans.

"We can't let that happen," growled Retrix suddenly, "No matter what. The destruction of the human race wouldn't solve anything."

"I agree," Silver nodded her head.

"Yes," Iraliene said, looking to the humans with them, "As problematic as your race is, I can't deny that you have helped us through a great many things. We wouldn't benefit from your destruction, not at all. But I still want to know how Eldawin plans on accomplishing his plan."

"I think I have an idea," Tyler suddenly said, surprising everyone.

The queen of Sky Mountain frowned, "Go on."

The young human patted himself down, frowning slightly, before digging his hands into one of his pockets and pulling out a small round stone. It looked almost like a crystal, but instead of a beautiful sheen it had a plain grey shell. At first it could have been mistaken as a piece of grey ash.

He walked forward and placed the stone in the middle of the circle and stepped back, "Blaze, could you breathe the weakest flame you can over that crystal. As weak as you can."

"Okay..." the fire dragon frowned at the strange request.

He leant forward and breath a flicker of flame onto the stone. The reaction was immediate. The stone pulsed, and the fire was instantly sucked into it, causing them all to jump back in surprise. A soft glow lit up the circle as the once grey crystal now shone a very dull white.

"This rock is often used by A.O.D.H in many different ways, including in their mind devices," Tyler explained, pulling out a gun, "Now I suggest you all stand back. Depending on how much power Blaze put into it, it could easily kill us all."

They all instantly took a big step back, and Gravon gulped softly. The small glowing stone glared at them all ominously. The soft glow flickered as if winking at them, daring them to come closer. Tyler took a breath, before aiming his pistol at the stone and pressing the trigger. There was a sharp bang as the bullet left the gun. It hit the stone, and it shattered, unleashing the power it had gathered in a small explosion of white energy. It dissipated before it reached any of the dragons, but every one of them felt the kind of power that had been unleashed from Blaze's weakest possible flame.

Silver shivered softly, "What is that?"

"A.O.D.H calls it element stone. It has a property that allows it to absorb the powers of dragons and amplify them in the energy you saw just now," he explained, "It is also able to be controlled, though I was never able to figure out how. It wasn't on any of the A.O.D.H databases. Though, if my thinking is correct, a mind dragon could probably use its element to effect the stone and control the energy it produces to, I don't know, target a specific gene type or even a particular life form."

"That's the energy they used to take out Raize when he was in equilibrium," Retrix suddenly said, eyes wide.

"It was," growled Silver.

Raize narrowed his eyes slightly, but didn't say anything about the subject, seeming a bit withheld from the discussion.

"But, even if it is a very powerful stone, how would it be able to cause an explosion to cover the entire earth?" Reha spoke for the first time, stuttering slightly, "I mean... it's not like it could hold all that power at once."

"Well... if a large enough stone was given enough power, and it had something to contain it to allow that power to build up... it very well could," Tyler said, "And just last month A.O.D.H brought in the largest element stone they had ever found. It would probably be around the same size as Silver."

"But what about the stuff it would need to contain it. To hold that much power it would need to be extremely tough. I don't know if there is something that could," Raize tilted his head.

"But there is," the silver dragon spoke softly, feeling dread flood through her, "It's on my back right now. That must be why they needed me. Elronium is the only substance known that would be strong enough to hold that much power."

She shivered, gulping softly as she looked around the circle. She should have chosen the other option. It had been a mistake to build that machine, a massive mistake. And now they were going to use her metal, basically who she was, to create something capable of destroying the entire human race, and possibly the whole world.

"We need to stop them," she growled suddenly, "We need to. We don't have any other choice. I will not let them use me like this."

They all looked at her in surprise, a little startled at her sudden outburst. She didn't care. She was angry, frustrated, and extremely worried. She needed to find that machine and destroy it. They used her elronium, so it would be extremely easy to rip it apart. All she needed to do would be to find it.

"I agree," Iraliene said, "Thank you Tyler. Could you continue to hack into A.O.D.H servers, figure out where they are keeping that machine and warn me once you do. I will have to send a message to the Chinese government about this. They need to know as well. This meeting is dismissed."

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Hey guys! New chapter, finally. I hope you enjoyed, it was a bit longer this time. Vote if you did, and comment what you thought. The next chapter will be out as soon as I can get it. And also, if you guys wanted a more detailed description of the dragons of the Silver Trilogy, I've been working on one. I've done the first ten species in my 'Ideas, Updates and other stuff' book. So if you're curious go and have a look. I've added things like what a dragon's equilibrium would be and what mastery of their element would look like. See Ya!

Pennator^^