The battlefield was silent. All fighting had stopped. Dragons just hovered in the air, confused and fearful. The control in the mind devices had completely disappeared. Fires flickered from the city below, still spreading rapidly. There were car alarms wailing in the distance. The Machine still pulsed its white energy, spreading its ominous power across the sky. But that power was insignificant now.

Standing atop the same building was the source of the silence. A metallic dragon, unmoving on the roof. It was unlike any other dragon most of them had ever seen. The metal it was created from moved like liquid over the surface of its skin. Glowing silver eyes shone from its head. Yet it didn't move, as if it were waiting for something.

On another building parallel to them another dragon rose. Eldawin. Despite being recently thrown into a building he seemed mostly unharmed, besides the few cracked scales and small scratches. There was a snarl on his maw and anger in his eyes as he took in the silver equilibrium.

"Very well," his voice echoed unnaturally loud through the sky, "If it comes down to a battle between equilibria, than so be it."

Another power began to rise up through the dragon. This one far different from any other they had experienced. It had the same effect. The sky around Eldawin twisted and warped as time and space bent under the pressure. At the same time a pulse ran through the air, causing many of the dragons to flinch as something seemed to begin changing in the sky around them. Not something they could see, but something they could feel.

Silver took a step forward, deciding she would end this before it had even begun. She launched forward, moving her body into a long narrow stream of metal, spearing straight for Eldawin. Somehow though he managed to force himself into equilibrium far faster than normal, and the area around him instantly exploded with a blast of wind so strong it caught the liquid metal and blew it backwards, distorting it.

Silver quickly drew herself back together, forming into a dragon. A low growl sounded from her, echoing through the sky as she looked upon the mental equilibrium for the very first time. At first glance it didn't look as if he had changed much. He still had the same body, same look, but his eyes were glowing and a massive amount of power radiated out from him.

"Welcome, Silver, to the mind," he whispered, his voice echoed from everywhere all at once.

The building below him suddenly erupted, exploding into a million pieces of debris and rubble. It circled up and around him in a spiral, before a large slab of concrete flung around in Silver's direction. She mentally snorted, pulling herself into a narrow spike and simply spearing through the concrete. Quickly she moved forward, spreading herself out across the sky, aiming to surround the mind dragon before he had a chance to retaliate, only to find herself blocked off by a wall of rubble. Again she broke through it extremely easily, but as she moved onto the other side she realised Eldawin had disappeared.

Slowly she began to move again, rising higher into the sky until she was just below the clouds. The metal then began to spread outwards, much like it had done at A.O.D.H, creating a large liquid lake above the city, weaving and moving as it searched for its prey.

* * *

The dragon army, now free from Eldawin's control, quickly fled from the battle between two of the most powerful dragons on the planet. They spread out, flying in different directions over the city. Some were more considerate and swooped down to pick up the few that had been knocked unconscious during the battle, while others simply fled for their lives.

Retrix watched them go, before turning to look at the dragons below. He doubted he would be able to get all of them to safety before the fight between the equilibria grew out of hand. So he opted to save as many as he could before then. He quickly swooped down to the ground.

He spotted the unconscious bodies of Gravon and the three other dragons he had brought with him, as well as the dead green form of Iraliene. He gulped softly, before carefully dragging the gravity dragon into a more open spot, doing the same with the others. He opened a portal to the void on the ground and pulled them threw, disappearing and reappearing in the sky, the unconscious dragons falling through the air. He opened another portal, and this time was able to get them out of the city without making another stop.

He placed them on the edge of a mountainside before flying into the void again, doing his best to get back to the battle as quickly as possible. He watched as metal began to cover the sky, and he wondered what Silver was doing. It seemed a waste of time to simply loom over everything. He frowned slightly, before shrugging to himself. He would let them be for the moment.

As he arrived back at his destination, on a nearby street to the building holding the Machine, a movement from behind him drew his attention. He turned to face it and let out a startled cry as a dragon pounced from the window of a building, flames billowing from its back, and tackled the void drake into the ground.

Retrix grunted in pain as the flaming dragon pinned him down by the throat. Raize. Why Silver's brother had been so adamant in hunting him down he didn't know. He assumed it was because of an order from Eldawin, or maybe because he was the only one who could move the Machine and make it useless.

"Raize, don't," grunted the void dragon, "I didn't come to fight. The dragons here... if we don't move them they will die."

Raize shook his head, "I have that covered already. They will be safe. You on the other hand, won't be."

Retrix studied him for a moment, noting the breathlessness and general lack of strength in the drake above him. It seemed he still hadn't recovered from his use of equilibrium, and therefore would be weaker than he usually was. But he was still an extremely powerful dragon, and Retrix wasn't going to be taking him lightly.

A void portal suddenly opened under the two of them, and they fell through. Raize let out a startled yelp and tried to open his wings to fly away, but the other drake dragged him through with his talons. The void was not a great place for fire dragons, as it was one of the few places that they felt truly frozen, and Raize hated it.

As they came back through Retrix spun the disorientated fire dragon around and slammed him against the ground, before pushing himself into the air once again. Raize lay there for a moment or so, stunned, before rolling over to his feet, breathing heavily. He looked up to see Retrix watching him with a small growl. He snorted, before opening his wings and with a burst of flame shot upwards at the void drake.

* * *

The metallic equilibrium moved around the sky like one massive cloud, searching relentlessly for the mind dragon. It was like he had completely disappeared from the face of the earth. Either that or he was hiding in the buildings down below, waiting. What he was waiting for Silver had yet to find out.

There was a sudden change in the sky around her. She couldn't tell what it was, but there was a different feeling in the wind and clouds. Lightning swung through the air, a yellow bolt that somehow moved sideways above her. The fires below began to toil and spread. The waves of the ocean began to sway, breaking its banks and flowing into the city.

"You see Silver," Eldawin's voice echoed in the sky, coming from everywhere and nowhere, "A lot of dragons consider the mind equilibrium's conscious to be a great weakness, and they are right. But it is also a grand strength. You see, while I can spread my power out over a large distance without revealing myself, you need to reveal yourself to do so. And here is my advantage."

Suddenly lightning struck down from the sky. The yellow bolts of electricity were so hot they melted right through the elronium and continued into the city below. To those watching it would look like giant fingers of electricity piecing the metal cloud above. The metal seemed to almost flinch, curling back away from the lightning, only to be struck again in a different area.

It didn't really hurt. Not in the sense it usually did, but with every strike Silver felt as if a part of her was being... ripped away. It was unpleasant more than anything, but she knew she couldn't allow this to continue. Instead she drew her metal back into her, forming a narrow snake-like spiral that wounds its way down into the city below.

Lightning followed her, but she had made herself narrow enough that it became a lot easier to avoid whatever shot down at her. She hit the ground and spread out again, resuming her search for the conscious of the mind equilibrium. She only needed to hit him once. The problem was that he was so small he could easily be hiding in any of the buildings in the city, and there were thousands of buildings.

The ground below her suddenly erupted as geezers of high pressured water burst up from the ground. The water was steaming hot, not as much so as the lightning, but enough to cause discomfort, and the high pressure broke through the liquid metal with ease. Once again Silver found herself engulfed by an element, being ripped apart at all angles.

The buildings around her began to shake and crumble, the debris falling down into the city below and seemingly crushing a number of dragons that had been knocked out during the fight. Silver saw this and inwardly growled. Had Eldawin really lost all his senses? She moved over her metal, covering a number of other dragons in a metallic shell in an effort to protect them.

"What are you doing?" she roared out, "Killing the very dragons you are trying to save?"

"They are not dead Silver," replied the mental equilibrium, "They are protected and even as we speak I am moving them from the city."

Through her metal she saw a dragon be encased in earth and then dragged underground. She mentally sighed in relief before growling as more buildings collapsed down upon her. The metal suddenly moved upwards, smashing the rubble into smithereens. If she couldn't find the mind equilibrium just through searching, then she would destroy every building in the city until she did.

'I hope the humans aren't too upset about this,' she thought to herself.

Once again she descended, the metal spreading out in liquid form, growing and changing until it was a massive wave of metal that spread like a shockwave through the city. As it reached each building tentacle like streams shot out and through them, ripping apart small houses and skyscrapers alike within moments.

Hot water continued to boil up through the crust of the earth, piecing through the metal, and lightning continued to rain down from the sky in increasing frequency. She did her best to ignore them, but every water spout and lightning strike seemed to sap just a little bit of energy, even though she covered every hole created with more metal.

* * *

Retrix growled as he narrowly avoided a large mass of rubble from a falling building. Below there was an explosion as Raize followed him, simply destroying the pieces of falling building that were aimed towards him. The void dragon flew out into the open and then down towards the building that held the machine. It seemed both equilibriums were avoiding it, knowing that if they damaged the building or the Machine itself, it could cause the element stone inside to break and let off its energy.

Raize followed, landing on the opposite side, closest to the Machine. His breaths were coming in ragged gasps and his body shook with exhaustion. He was barely able to keep himself standing, and was approaching his limit. Still, Retrix knew he needed to be careful. The fire drake was far from done and he didn't want to end up cooked.

"Raize, stop this! There is no need for us to fight!" Retrix said, glancing at the Machine as plan formulated in his head, "You are exhausted. You won't last much longer."

"I will last as long as I need to," growled the fire dragon, staggering slightly as a massively strong wind gust moved across the sky, "And I will not let you take the Machine!"

Retrix narrowed his eyes, "Why!? Why do this?"

"Because I won't let you take away our only chance at freedom," the other drake snarled back, "And I will do everything in my power to stop you."

"Retrix!" a voice from above called.

Both dragons looked up in surprise to see a small group flying down towards them. Retrix recognised them instantly. It was Blaze, Faen and the humans riding them, as well as Zepos and West. They glided down as best they could in the strong winds and landed on the building.

"What are you doing still here!?" exclaimed Zepos, glancing at Raize.

"This is our chance to get the Machine," responded Retrix, a small smile on his maw.

Even Raize wouldn't be able to defeat all six of them, especially as exhausted as he was. The equilibrium he had used a couple of days back had really drained him of nearly everything he had.

The fire drake seemed to realise this and took a small defensive step backwards with a snarl, looking across the line of dragons he now faced. His heavy breaths created steam from his snout, the strange amount of moisture in the air vaporizing quickly around him.

"Raize!" yelled Blaze over the wind, "Come on bro. Come back to us."

"No! I will not let you do this!" he roared back, "Not now, not ever!"

A power began to rise through the dragon, accompanied by fire. Retrix's eyes widened and he took a step back, as did the others. He wouldn't... would he? The power of equilibrium continued to poor from the fire dragon.

"Raize! Stop! Your body won't be able to handle going into equilibrium again so soon! You'll die!" roared Retrix.

"Then so be it," snorted the fire drake, before he exploded.

The four dragons and two humans were thrown back toward the edge of the building by the force. Fire spread out over the building, a low growl forming through it. The fire flickered and warped, as if it was struggling to stay alight in the wind. They all backed up, preparing to flee, when the equilibrium did something none of them expected.

It rose up, growing for a moment, before descending down on the Machine. The fire engulfed it instantly, and for a moment Retrix wondered if Raize was attempting to destroy it, but quickly realised the complete opposite. The element stone pulsed as it was flooded with an insane amount of power, thirstily drinking up the equilibrium. The white glow intensified to even greater heights and the power it generated increased to a massive level, and it continued to absorb the equilibrium until every flicker of flame from the fire dragon was gone.

* * *

The metal continued to rampage through the city, creating destruction wherever it went. All that it left behind was rubble and broken down buildings. All that was left of New York were the outskirts of the city and a number of buildings on the Island of Manhattan, which was where Silver was aiming for next.

Lightning and water continued to assault her from every direction, but it was doing barely anything to the metal now. She had grown accustomed to it, and she wondered why Eldawin wasn't trying anything different, as this obviously wasn't working.

As the metallic equilibrium approached the stretch of ocean the water suddenly exploded upwards. It froze solid as it did, creating a massive wall of ice in front of her. Not phased by the sudden attack Silver pieced through the ice, shattering it with ease, only to have lightning coarse through the ice and into her equilibrium. This time it spread through every piece of metal that was part of her, causing her to wince slightly.

Then she saw him, descending from the clouds. It was kind of strange that he looked so normal in his most powerful state, but she guessed that was the strength of a mental equilibrium. They controlled everything in an area they created, an area that could spread and contract like most other equilibriums, and he seemed to have control of the whole city.

The wind began to pick up, swirling around and inwards like a massive tornado. Cold air, far colder than anything she had felt on this earth, descended from the sky. Ice began to grow outwards along the equilibrium, freezing it solid. Silver groaned softly and began to slowly move again, finding it surprisingly difficult with how cold it was.

"You will never defeat me Silver!" roared Eldawin, "A mind dragon's equilibrium is everything! I can do anything! As long as you are in my mind you are governed by me!"

Silver snarled and forced her metal to suddenly increase in heat, becoming red-hot and instantly melting the ice that had frozen her down. She then moved forward like a flood, striking upwards toward the mental dragon with large tentacles of red hot metal. He snarled and the tornado he had created around them grew into a more focused one, which he directed at Silver.

The wind was so intense it ripped apart the metal equilibrium, throwing it everywhere. Silver instantly reacted, drawing herself back together and making herself into a solid, the wind no longer having any affect. The tornado dissipated, but was instantly replaced by a concentrated stream of lightning bolts from the sky. They all melted through the solid metal, and Silver felt the sudden drop in power almost unbearable.

Eldawin didn't relent. The earth around them began to move, and two giant slabs of rock began to lift like trapdoors from the ground. Silver, her equilibrium a fair bit smaller, found herself right in the middle. The five-mile long stretches of rock smashed together with an enormous clap. They held like that for a moment, before moving backwards and falling back into place.

Silver was barely holding onto her power now. The assaults from all sides and with different elements all holding her down and back from the conscious she wanted so badly. In a final effort she surged forward toward where she could see Eldawin, trying to grow herself outwards, but was instantly stopped by another series of lightning bolts that melted through her metal with ease.

The final step of the puzzle was as Eldawin blasted what was left of her equilibrium apart with a sudden series of random explosions of fire, separating the metal from itself.

Unable to hold on any longer, the metal began to flow back towards the ground. What was left began to form together once again, but this time it made the shape of a dragon, lying on the ground. Slowly the metal receded, revealing the golden yellow scales of the dragoness underneath, and stopping when it completed the shell on her back.

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Hey guys! New chapter! Vote if you enjoyed and comment what you thought. What is Silver going to do now? And what is the consequence of Raize powering the Machine? The next chapter will be out soon. See Ya!

Pennator^^