With the fire gone, the dragons of Sky Mountain slowly returned, hesitantly, fearing the worst for their home. Not many dragons had been killed by Raize, thanks to Silver's early warning, but there were still casualties. Nearly a hundred dragons had been caught by the flame, and also a fair amount of the humans that lived in the mountain. Not to mention the amount of destruction that had been caused. The Centre was completely destroyed and The Nest was nearly as bad. Most of the upper part of Sky Mountain had survived however, and the training Centre was merely scorched.

Over the next few days everyone was brought forth to help rebuild what had been destroyed. Silver found herself reasonably busy, as her metal came in rather useful in reinforcing weakened parts of the mountain and generally rebuilding. She already had a mind for detail, so helping fix many of the broken nests and melted floors wasn't a problem. The other dragons helped as well, as much as they could, shifting stone and rocks from the collapsed tunnels and finding more straw, sticks and leaves to rebuild burnt nests.

"You seem better Raize," Silver spoke as she slowly walked through The Centre.

Her brother was walking beside her, and smiled slightly. He did seem far different then when she had last seen him. His scales shined in far more brilliance, like they were new and regrown. His eyes were brighter as well, not brimming with hate and malice. Instead they glowed a golden yellow. Any injuries he had had before were completely gone. There was also a strange heat that flowed from him. It was a soft, nearly comfortable heat, but that could change in an instant, as Silver knew.

"I feel better... I think," he sighed with a slightly musical voice, similar to what Firefly had.

After he had returned to normal, he had been unconscious for the next day as he recovered from the great loss of energy. When he had awoken many dragons argued that he should be thrown from Sky Mountain for what he had done, but the fire drake's memories were hazy. He only remembered feeling a great surge of power and heat, but that was all. He knew what he had done, that much was obvious from the guilt he felt whenever he looked around. Thankfully Iraliene had chosen to keep him in the mountain, saying that his power would be useful for any attacks from A.O.D.H that were sure to come.

"Good," Silver said before stopping, "But you're still not back to your normal self."

"No, I don't think I ever will be," Raize came to stop as well and looked back at her, "All I felt before was anger and rage. That has changed now. I feel... sad, and exhausted. As if I don't have any of that emotion left."

The dragoness frowned slightly at that, "Why?"

"Maybe because I let it all out," he chuckled slightly, "But other then that... I don't know. It's like there is enormous drain on my body. Frezron said it would disappear after a few days, but it makes me feel strange. And then there is the power. I can feel it, just below the surface, ready to boil over at any moment. It's not out of control like it was before, but if I wish I could easily reach and grab it."

Silver nodded, a little hesitantly. She hadn't slept well the past couple of nights, haunted by strange dreams that continued to assault her. She guessed they were the dreams that O'hen had warned her about, and some of them scared her immensely, and she had been growing more and more weary of them. She hadn't told anyone, and had gone about acting as if nothing was wrong, but Merene had noticed, and so had Retrix it seemed. She had managed to keep Zepos in the dark about it however, saying she was simply exhausted from all the work she was doing.

"But enough about me. How have you been doing?" asked her brother.

The metal dragon glanced at him with a small grin, "Fine. It's good to be able to rest. After the trip to Eldawin's Syndicate, and well... this, I think the rest is doing me good."

He frowned slightly, "You seem really tired lately."

She shrugged, "Don't ask me why. It's nothing to worry about."

"If you say so," he said, "Just don't push yourself to hard. I know you tend to do that."

Silver forced a laugh, "I'm not me if I don't push myself."

"That's true," he chuckled again.

* * *

The two of them spent the rest of the day together, and Silver began to feel like she could trust her brother again, and with a mended bond they began to feel more comfortable with each other. The other dragons didn't feel the same way though. Many of them cast dark glances in Raize's direction, and others avoided the two like a plague. They were frightened of him, Silver realised after a while. She understood them, but it still hurt to have her brother thought of in such a way.

Toward the end of the day Silver flew out of the mountain toward her nest. The muscles in her wings and back were still sore after the flight back to Sky Mountain, and it made it a little difficult to fly. After she warmed up a bit it wasn't so bad, but she was still tired.

She arrived at her small cave in her cove on the edge of the crater surrounding Sky Mountain. It was a beautiful place, with a rather deep pond at its base and a small clearing with lushes green trees and plentiful animals to hunt. It was an amazing place, and every time she laid her eyes on it, it helped her relax. There was no one else around, for very few dragons came out this far, and it was rather large as well, allowing plentiful room for anything she wanted to.

This time however she allowed herself to slink into her metal nest and curl up. The coolness of her nest ran through her and she let out a sigh. It was comfortable in a strange sort of way. The hard, smooth surface allowed for a soothing surface, instantly lulling her into a near sleep. She tried to fight it for a moment, before allowing herself to slip into unconsciousness quickly and easily.

That night, she dreamed again, of many things. Of fire, of a life dragon flying alone in the sky, of knights in armour charging into battle, of the darkness of the void, the warmth of dragon scales. It all came through her, and it was a rather peaceful night compared to most, but it was toward the midnight where she entered a dream that was far more real then most others.

Silver was flying above a human city, and it was burning. Fire reached into the sky like fingers, readily gripping anything that came near. Screams ran through the city, as well as the roars of thousands of dragons clashing in battle. In the centre of the city, on top of a building, lay a strange machine made from elronium. It was dome shaped, with four legs keeping it standing upright. It took up nearly the whole top of the building and an enormous amount of power radiated from it.

In front of the machine flew the biggest mind dragon Silver had ever seen. A grin spread across its features when it spotted the dragoness and it flew right toward her, wings outspread and power rippling the sky around it. The dragon had equilibrium, but as Silver approached it only laughed, before unleashing a mental attack so strong that it knocked many of the dragons out of the sky, and Silver roared out in pain.

That roar was what awoke the silver dragoness as she shot out of her nest, breathing heavily. A throbbing ache had formed in her head, and shook herself, tyring to get rid of it. Sighing she looked out of the cave to find that the moon was still high in the sky, casting its dull gloom over the forest around. Taking a deep breath the dragoness slowly got out of her nest, knowing she wouldn't be able to get to sleep. That was the first time she had seen herself in one of her dreams, so she knew that it would be real. Or at least it was a possibility. That was how time worked, wasn't it?

Shaking slightly she opened her wings and leapt from the edge of her cave, gliding over the barely illuminated forest below. A small breeze washed of the trees, causing them to sway almost rhythmically and creating a harmonious song. It was slightly haunting to Silver, and she could only imagine the types of creatures roaming within the forest. Of course, she was a dragon, so the thought of nocturnal creatures barely worried her at all.

She entered Sky Mountain and made her way through the half finished construction and into the Training Centre. The scorched black walls and resolidified stone made it seem gloomier then usual, but Silver was still able to see quite well. She walked to the edge of the area toward a number of dragon sized punching bags. There was something she had wanted to try out ever since she left O'hen.

Letting out a small sigh she let her metal shell retract from around her, leaving her pail yellow scales open to the cold air. The metal conjugated on her back between her wings. She shivered a little as the circling air within the room brushed the sensitive scales, before shaking the feeling off. Looking at the punching bag she focused on the metal on her back, making it ripple and move. Instead of making it grow over her body she made it move, slowly covering her right wing.

"Okay," she muttered to herself, "Let's try this."

Taking a step forward, within range of the bag, she let the metal slid back from her wing and onto her back again. Drawing back her right wing, she struck forward at the bag. The metal on her back moved quickly as she tried to cover her wing as she swung, but she was more used to having it already covered, and without the extra weight of elronium on her wing she struck faster and harder then she meant to. Her bare wing cracked against the bag, causing pain to shoot through her. A yelp escaped her and she leapt back, shaking her wing with a snarl.

"Stupid idea, stupid, stupid," she muttered to herself through gritted teeth.

A laugh caused her to spin around, her metal shell quickly returning back to normal. It took her a moment to spot the dragon, but when she did she felt herself relax a little. The purple form of Retrix sat a couple of metres away, his scales blending in with the sky around.

"Hey Retrix, what are you doing up this early?" she said, calming herself down and trying to ignore the small throbs of pain coming from her right wing.

"I would to ask the same question," he replied, tilting his head, "Not sleeping well?"

"You know the answer to that already," Silver grunted before turning around to look at the bag again.

"What are you doing exactly?" asked the void drake, padding over to her.

"I'm trying to learn this knew way of fighting that O'hen told me about. It's where, as a metal dragon, instead of fighting with my shell on, I move it around as I fight," she explained, letting her shell shrink once more until all the metal was gathered on her back, "It seems strange, because being protected by elronium is a metal dragons greatest strength."

"I agree," said the drake after a moment of silence, "So then why are you trying to use it?"

"Because he said it's how the best metal dragons fought. I'm just trying to figure out how it works," she replied.

"Hmm," he frowned, thinking for a moment, then his eyes widened, "I think I know why."

She looked back at him, "Please, tell me if you think you've figured it out."

"Okay, so you know how you are far faster when you don't have your metal shell on?"

"Yes."

"Well, by using this technique and moving your shell around, you have the best of both your forms. You have the speed you have without your shell and the defence you have with your shell. I'm guessing the best metal dragons could manipulate their shell so it is exactly where they want to be in an instant, meaning they could defend and attack with as much speed as they can possibly get."

"That would be extremely difficult. You don't know how difficult it is to control a metal shell."

"You seem to do it fine."

"Yeah, but to do it like you said... that's crazy hard. It would be harder then you keeping a rift open for as long as you did a couple of days ago."

Retrix laughed, "And how would you know. I suggest you give this a shot. Maybe if you train hard enough you can master it within a few years."

"We don't have a few years," replied Silver with a snort.

"True. Then start off slow. I'm sure you'll get it eventually."

The dragoness gave a small nod, before turning toward the bag again. She took the same position as before and swung her right wing at the bag. This time far slower and with less power. The metal wound up her wing and encased it in protective metal, and she hit the bag. It moved slightly.

"You'll have to hit it harder then that," chuckled Retrix.

"Shut up," she growled and tried again.

This time she hit a little harder, but still far lighter then she usually did. The two dragons went into silence as Silver practiced moving her shell around her body. Occasionally the void dragon made a comment, suggesting new and different ways of testing the new technique, but for the most part they stayed in comfortable silence.

"Hey Retrix," said Silver after a while, "Has Iraliene given you 'the talk' yet?"

"Hah?"

"You know, where she wants you to find a mate and produce eggs as quickly as possible."

"Oh, that. Yeah, about two days ago, after she berated me for being so reckless as to take on a dragon of equilibrium," he chuckled slightly, "It was an... interesting experience."

"How long did she give you?" asked Silver, turning to look at him.

"About a month," he replied with a sigh.

"Hmm, probably going to be longer then me," she muttered, she had been avoiding Iraliene for the last couple of days and hadn't talked to her since before Raize reached equilibrium.

"Yeah, she said I'd better not be as stubborn as you are," he chuckled again, before sighing, "Can I tell you something?"

She nodded her head with a small frown, "Yeah sure."

"I have mated before," he said quietly, looking away.

"What?!" Silver's eyes widened, utterly surprised, "When? Who?"

"Back when I was in A.O.D.H. They, aaah, forced me to," he said, "So, I don't really know if I'm the only void dragon alive or not. There were two of them, a lighting dragoness and a water one as well. I felt horrible afterwards. No idea whether they had eggs or not."

"Oh... I'm sorry," Silver said.

"It's the past, nothing I can do about it now," he shrugged slightly, "I guess that's one of the reasons I came with you guys. I want to rescue them eventually."

"We'll have to make that happen then," she said with a soft smile.

"Yeah," he said with a sigh.

She turned around again to look at the punching bag and deciding to change the topic from that time of his life.

"Have you given it any thought?"

"What do you mean?" the void dragon frowned.

"Who you're going to choose as a mate," Silver said.

"Oh... umm," he hesitated, "There is this one dragoness, but I doubt she thinks of me that way."

"Hmm, who is it?" she asked with a small grin.

"I'm not going to tell you!" he gave a small and playful growl.

"Oh, come on. I won't tell anyone."

"No."

She snorted, "Fine. Will you tell me if I guess?"

"Fine. Only if you guess though," he sat back on his haunches.

"Hmm, do I know her?"

"Yes, you should."

"Okay, is she a rare?"

"She's a rare gem," Retrix chuckled.

"I mean as a species," Silver snorted.

He laughed again, "Yeah, you could say that."

"Merene?"

"No, not her. She's... strange, and I don't like the way she does some things," he replied.

"Yeah," Silver replied, thinking back to what she had seen in O'hen's cave, Retrix and the mind dragoness didn't seem to get along that well, "Okay, how about Celestia."

"That light dragon that you are friends with? No, not her. I hardly know her."

"Hmm, to bad. You two would make a good couple I reckon," she laughed again, before falling silent, thinking through all the other dragonesses she knew, "I can't think of any others."

"Come on, think a little harder," he said.

Silver frowned, "Umm... Iraliene?"

"What! No way. What would make you even think of that?" Retrix growled.

The dragoness laughed, "Just joking. She is the only other rare dragon around here that I know of. You sure I know this dragoness? Or do you think I know her when I really don't."

"Oh, you definitely know her," he said.

"Firefly?" she tried, thinking of dragons that weren't in Sky Mountain.

"No. Why would you guess her? She's not a rare species."

"I know, but she has reached equilibrium, making her rather rare," Silver said.

"Ha, true, but no. She's... very seductive. I don't like dragons like that, they annoy me to no end. Though don't take it the wrong way, I am thankful to her for rescuing us. Besides, she would be to old for me anyway."

"Yeah," Silver nodded her head and began thinking again. There was one name that she kept coming back to but it didn't make any sense, or maybe it did. It was the only dragon she knew that wasn't on the list she had said so far, and the only dragoness that fit into everything Retrix had said.

"Retrix, are you talking about me?" she asked quietly, looking at him.

He stared back, not answering the question, which answered it for her. Silver sat silently, not sure how to take this new information. For some reason she wasn't surprised. In some way she had suspected that the void dragon felt something for her, but it was at the same time hard. She couldn't deny that she loved Zepos, and it was the lightning drake that was always there when things went wrong, but she liked Retrix as well, quite a lot.

"I know it wouldn't work out," he said, turning away from her, "So don't bother saying no."

"I'm sorry," she said, looking down, "But... you know."

"You're with Zepos. He's a lucky drake that one," the void dragon chuckled slightly.

"Yeah," Silver said, before faking a yawn and stretching her wings, "Well... I think I'm going to go back to my cave. I'm getting tired."

She began to trot toward the exit of the Training Centre. A call from Retrix stopped her however and she turned around to find him right behind her. Before she could think, he leaned forward and connected their muzzles in a kiss. She froze, for a moment, before sinking into it, and almost whimpering when he drew away.

"I had to do that at least once," he said with a light smile, "Good night."

He turned and disappeared through a rift, leaving a stunned dragoness sitting alone, her mind still trying to figure out what had just happened.

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Hey guys! New chapter! Vote if you enjoyed and comment what you thought... but don't rage to hard. The book hasn't finished yet :) Next chapter will be out soon. See Ya!

Pennator^^