Silver collapsed in a nest of straw, not caring what it was made of and simply enjoying the chance to rest. It had seemed like a long time since she had been able to sleep in security without anyone else lying beside her. Kunder had lead them to one of the large ice pillars in the haven, which turned out to be riddled with caves, and allowed each of the dragons to choose one of their own while they waited for the leader of the Syndicate to summon them. It annoyed Silver slightly, their plight was important, but her exhaustion far overwhelmed any need to be noticed.

She let out a tired yawn, curling up in the nest but not yet going to sleep. It was still only the middle of the day, and sleeping during the day was not a good idea in her mind. Instead she went to gazing out the entrance of her high up cave at the haven outside.

There were dragons everywhere, far more then what there was at Sky Mountain. From what she knew there were close to ten thousand dragons living in Eldawin's Syndicate of every known species. Their customs were quite strange as well. It was almost like a human world, with everything from currency and shops to different sports, like dancing. There was also a strict code of honour that every dragon obeyed under punishment of death, or worse. But it seemed like a relatively happy place, completely cut off from the rest of the world.

Feeling herself slowly drifting off to sleep Silver shook her head and growled. She got up from where she was laying and trotted over to the entrance of her ice cave and looked outwards. Maybe later, after an appropriate rest, she would fly down and explore a little. Her stomach grumbled, causing her to sigh.

"I wonder if there's anything to eat around here," she murmured to herself.

"Not if you just sit around," came a very feminie voice from right above her.

Silver yelped in surprise and jumped backwards, spreading her wings out for balance and growling. She looked up at the assailant and frowned. A fire dragon was hovering right above her, female, and possibly the most beautiful dragoness Silver had ever seen. Her scales were polished to perfection, talons sharpened to the sharpest point and horns polished so they glowed. A perfectly lean and curvy body rippled slightly with every flap of her unscarred wings. A long tail swayed behind her in a hypnotising fashion and the ruby red eyes glittered like gems from the dragonesses' face. White sharp teeth flashed as she grinned, seeming to enjoy Silver's lack of words.

"It's rude to stare dear," she said with a tilt of her head and a colourful smirk.

Heat rose in Silver's scales, both from anger and embarrassment. She looked away and shook herself before looking up at the dragoness again, "Who are you?"

"Hmm, I may ask the same question," the fire dragon glided downwards and touched her paws against the ice in the most elegant fashion.

A growl found itself out of the silver dragon's throat, "You first."

"Oh fine, fine," the other dragon's head bobbed side to side as she said the words, "I'm called Firefly."

Her words were laced with eloquence, sounding like music. But behind it all was a surprising amount of cunning, along with a dangerous edge that sounded as if it could snap in a single moment. It was a challenge; one Silver would rise up to.

"I'm Silver," replied the metallic dragoness, holding herself slightly higher.

The other dragoness was larger then her, but not as robust. Speed and agility then. It was impossible to guess Firefly's age. It could have been anywhere between ten and fifty. No one would know. A strange heat also radiated from her body, similar to Raize but far greater. She was powerful as well.

"Silver," Firefly's gaze ran over her, judging, "What a... suitable name."

Silver shivered, beginning to get a little uncomfortable around the other dragoness, "What do you want?"

"Oh.... now what did I want?" she titled her head mockingly as if trying to remember, "That's right! I was sent here to come fetch you and your companions! Zoralth is ready to see you. In fact he is quite... eager."

Silver muffled a sigh, 'Already? I wanted to at least have a little bit of a rest first.'

She nodded at Firefly, "I'll fetch them."

"Good," the fire dragoness purred, "Meet me here will you?"

Silver had a feeling that it was more of a command then a question. She nodded and dropped out of the cave, flapping her wings to stay in the air. She let out a quiet groan as saw muscles began to work feverously to keep her up. The other dragon's caves were just below her own. The two females had the top two and the males were lower.

She found Merene sleeping quietly on her nest. She woke when Silver touched down and struggled to get up. She looked very tired, with droopy wings and ragged looking scales. They all needed a rest.

"What is it Silver?" yawned the mind dragon.

"A dragoness called Firefly has come to get us. A dragon call Zoralth wants to see us. Probably the boss dragon we have been wanting to see."

"Oh," she yawned again, "I'll contact the drakes. We're meeting in your cave?"

Silver nodded and left the cave again, flying back up to where Firefly was waiting. The dragoness had settled down at the edge of the cave and smiled in an almost innocent way when she saw Silver. The metal dragon nearly growled again but kept her anger in check. It was important to keep her head cool in a diplomatic mission, especially when she didn't know exactly whom she was dealing with.

"Where's your little group?" asked Firefly, cocking her head to the right.

"They're coming," said Silver shortly.

Sure enough the other dragons slowly flew up to the cave. Merene took one glance at the fire dragon before sitting down and waiting. The two drakes had a mixture of reactions. When Zepos first saw her he froze, staring opened mouthed. Firefly had chuckled at that, and Silver glared at him. Afterwards he had gulped and flown to the cave, looking anywhere but the beautiful dragoness in the cave. When Retrix saw her he had frowned, and flown in suspiciously as if wary of the fire dragon. Firefly had seemed confused at that. She was quick to regain her composure however.

"Okay, follow me," she purred once again, gracefully leaping off the edge of the cave and twisting her body with a flap of her wings.

The others followed, Silver in the lead. Even the way Firefly flew was somewhat of an annoyance. The fire dragoness seemed to want to be seen by everyone. Her wing beats were sleek, like a butterfly's, and with every flap her body rippled like water. Her red scales flicked like fire, catching the fractured light from the ice that encircled the area.

'She's even more of a show-off then Iraliene,' Merene thought to Silver.

Silver looked back at her friend in surprise. It was the first rather negative comment the mind dragon had said about the queen of Sky Mountain. Silver grinned and sighed. She was right though, this dragon was far worse.

Many curious glances were thrown their way as they flew. There was no doubt Firefly was quite popular among the dragons of the haven. A few of them even started to follow the group from below, seeming to have eyes only for the fire dragon, though there were others quite interested in the two new species that had arrived.

The fire dragoness led them to a large cylindrical dome on the far side of the haven. It was on of the bigger 'buildings' there were, and most of it was built into the ice that surrounded it. Dragons had been posted at the numerous entrances, most likely guards. Small openings were cut out of the higher areas like windows, and the occasional flat balcony stuttered out as a landing platform.

When the guards saw the group of dragons they instantly moved aside, heads down, allowing them to pass. They obviously knew Firefly. She seemed like quite an important dragon. Inside the dome were large tunnels big enough to fit most dragons comfortably. It was also cooler, though still not uncomfortable. It reminded Silver a bit of the tunnels of D.E.D, but lighter. The memory was not a welcome one. She shivered slightly and focused on following the fire dragoness.

After taking a couple of turns they reached two doors made completely from ice. Patterns of dragons from all species were carved into them along with strange runes that Silver didn't recognise. Two dragons stood guard at the gate. A male water dragon and a female ice. They didn't even glance at the group of dragons as they walked forward, but once they got close the ice dragon stepped forward to stop them.

"I have returned," Firefly said in her sing-song voice, "Zoralth ready for us yet?"

The ice dragoness narrowed her eyes slightly. It seemed Silver and Merene weren't the only ones annoyed with Firefly's attitude, "Yes, go right in."

"Thank you dear," the fire dragon said with a small chuckle.

The ice dragon snorted in return before taking a step back. The water drake pushed the door open with his snout quite easily and without hesitation Firefly trotted through, head held high and a smirk on her face. It was like she thought she owned the place. Sighing Silver followed after glancing at the ice dragon, who ignored her.

The room behind the door was rather large. Rows of pillars stretched out creating a pathway inside. A smooth ice floor glittered in dancing firelight torches attached to the pillars. Patterned walls with more dragons and runes surrounded them in a dome shape, with a beam of sunlight piecing through the centre of the roof and into the centre of the room, where what looked like a nest of blankets and embroidered pillows were set.

Sitting in the nest was another dragon. This one was rather large, getting close to a hundred years old. He was telekinetic, with brown scales that looked as if they had seen their fair share of battles. Desert like eyes stared out at them, evaluating with interest. The horn on his nose was cracked and scared and one of the eyes looked as if to have been cut open at one point. As they walked in a smile appeared on his maw.

"Firefly," he nodded to the dragoness, who bowed mockingly back, "I see you have brought what I wanted."

"Anything for you my wholesome leader," Firefly replied with a smirk.

Zoralth sighed and turned to look at the other four dragons. His eyes passed over them, seeming to spend extra attention on Silver and Retrix. The metal dragon was beginning to feel uncomfortable with all the attention. She was rare, so what?

Seeming to finish with his evaluation the telekinetic dragon stood up from his comfortable looking nest, "Welcome to Eldawin's Syndicate, diplomats from Sky Mountain. I am sorry that I had to call you here so soon after you finished your journey, but I've been eager to meet you. My name is Zoralth, the leader of this place, and you are?"

Silver hesitated, before stepping forward, "My name is Silver, this is Merene, Zepos and Retrix."

"Silver...." Zoralth tilted his head, looking at the dragoness with new interest, "I must say I've heard quite a substantial amount about you. For such a young dragon, I must say I'm impressed. Escaping D.E.D is not an easy task, and evading A.O.D.H for as long as you have, simply amazing."

The metal dragoness frowned, wondering how he knew all this.

"Haha, don't act so surprised," he said, "I have sources all throughout the world, sending in a surplus of information about everything and everyone. I know about your plight, why you are here, and I know that you rescued the void dragon over there from A.O.D.H not four days ago."

Her eyes narrowed, now starting to distrust this dragon, "Then you know how important it is that our haven's should combine together. A.O.D.H is a rising threat to the dragon race and if we don't start acting together then the whole dragon race may fall."

"Hmmm, A.O.D.H. They are not a rising threat young dragoness; they have been around for a long time. They rose a few years after I hatched, and have been growing in strength ever since. No, they are not a rising threat, they are a threat," Zoralth sighed, "But what do you expect us to do? Even with our forces Sky Mountain would be devastatingly outnumbered. What? Fifteen thousand dragons against close to fifty five thousand? That is not counting the amount of human soldiers that the dragon hunters have, and the other dragon hunting organisations that would surely take advantage of such a massive clash of arms."

"Well you can't just sit here and wait for them to come for you, can you? Every day A.O.D.H gets stronger and stronger. Eventually they will come for you, and even with all your defences and illusions and power you won't be able to hold them back," Silver growled.

"That is true," Zoralth said, "But you are wrong about one thing. We have more then enough power to hold out against A.O.D.H and enough food to feed ten thousand dragons for fifty years."

"What is this power?" snorted Silver, disbelievingly.

"You've already met her. Our very own Firefly, a dragon of equilibrium and one of the most powerful beings on this planet."

The metal dragon looked at Firefly in surprise, though she couldn't help but think she had known it all along. The dragoness radiated power, and the respect she held couldn't have been only because she was beautiful. Firefly her paw waved at Silver with a stark smirk and stalked over to Zoralth, sitting down in his nest.

"Yes my dear, if it comes down to it and A.O.D.H, or D.E.D for that matter, attacks, we lure them inside that large tunnel that you entered through, and I burn them all," she laughed.

"What if A.O.D.H has a dragon of equilibrium as well?" Zepos spoke this time, stepping forward.

"Everyone knows that it is impossible to control a dragon at equilibrium," Zoralth said, "Unless one was willing working for A.O.D.H, they wouldn't have any."

"But what about Sky Mountain? You surely can't be heartless enough to let them go as well," Silver said, struggling to find arguments.

"The dragons of Sky Mountain are fools. Maybe once they fall they will realise the folly of their ideals," snorted the king of Eldawin's Syndicate, "You don't even know why we are at odds with each other, do you Silver?"

The metal dragoness hesitated.

"Didn't think so. You see, Sky Mountain has the strange idea that humans and dragons can live in the same world and be at peace. They think that humans can learn to accept us, to live with us, and they try to show it by working with the Chinese. But really that government is only in it for their own benefit. Once Sky Mountain stops being useful they will destroy them. That mountain will crumble and fall in the human world. But we, here at Eldawin's Syndicate, know the truth. We know that humans are selfish creatures, only willing to see threats to their way of life destroyed. Eldawin, the first of our order and the most powerful dragon to ever live, knew this. He set up this place with his own paws, building it with the power of his mind, with a goal to set the world in a place where dragons could live once again. His mission was cut short however when he died, slaughtered by the creatures he hated. Now we continue his mission. We will stay here until we find a way to wipe every human from the face of the earth. Only then will we be safe again. We'll be damned if we help the dragons who are our enemies. Maybe this way they will learn their lesson."

"You want to destroy the human race?" Silver was shocked.

"Yes," Zoralth growled.

"But not all humans are bad. I spent a year of my life living with a group of farmers in the south west of Australia. It was one of the best years of my life," growled Silver, "They didn't do it for gain, or because they thought that they would get something out of it. They risked their lives for me."

"They are in minority. It doesn't excuse what the rest of them have done to us. Now, if all you have done is come to debate philosophy with us then I suggest you leave."

"But..." Silver fell short. They needed the Syndicate's help. There was no way they could hold out against A.O.D.H without it. Not in a million years. Sky Mountain would be found before long, and it would be destroyed, all the dragons inside captured and forced into the will of humans who would use them for their own destructive purposes. She couldn't allow that to happen. But how would she convince them.

"What do you want," Retrix suddenly said, stepping forward.

Zoralth's gaze fell upon the young void dragon, eyes narrowed, "What do you mean?"

"Exactly what I asked. What do you want? There must be something that we, or Sky Mountain, could give you that will convince you to help us," he said.

The telekinetic dragon titled his head, "There might be."

"What is it? I'm sure we could accommodate it," Retrix replied with a strange deal of confidence.

"Hmm," the king of Eldawin's Syndicate thought for a moment, "Let...."

The doors behind them crashed open, causing the four dragons to spin around in surprise. There was a mind dragon standing at the entrance with a worried and angry look in his eyes. He looked over the dragons in the room, an overall glance, before turning to Zoralth.

"Sir, I need to speak with you," he growled, "It's urgent."

"Thylo," said Zoralth with narrowed eyes, "Can you not see that I am in the middle of a meeting?"

"Yes sir, but this could not wait," was the reply.

The telekinetic dragon narrowed his eyes, "Very well. Silver, Retrix, Merene and Zepos, I will speak with you at a later date. Rest your wings and be welcome to stay for as long as you deem necessary. I am sorry out meeting has been cut short, but it will continue. Firefly, would you please take them back to there quarters."

"Be my pleasure," purred the fire dragoness.

She stood up and padded over to the door. Silver glanced at Thylo, a little annoyed, but followed along with the rest of the group. There was something strange about the mind dragon that she couldn't put her mind around, but he didn't seem friendly.

With a sigh she shook her head, she would worry about that later.

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Hey guys! New chapter! I hope you enjoyed. Vote if you did and comment what you thought of the new characters in this chapter. I want to see what you thought of them. Next chapter will be out soon. See Ya!

Pennator^^