Cold. Everything was cold. Not like the normal chill from walking outside on a rainy day or the shock of jumping into icy water, or the freezing temperatures of a snowy blizzard. Colder then that. So cold that nothing else mattered. So cold that there wasn't an ounce of heat anywhere, not even the tiniest amount. So cold that within moments of entering it the body began to shiver uncontrollably and feeling began to leave the tips of toes and wings.

It didn't help that nothing was visible either. It was like the world had been plunged into a realm of pitch black and sub-zero temperatures. There was nothing. No land, no sky, just an endless array of nothing.

Silver went to take a breath, only to find nothing entering her mouth. Panic began to feel her. She couldn't breath. She couldn't hear. The cold was climbing through her shell making it stiff and unresponsive. The chill ran right through her, worse then anything she had felt before. It was like a thousand ice dragons had poured all their power onto her at once. She tried to roar, but no sound came from her maw. Nothing.

Something slammed her side, hard, and she nearly lost grip of the one real thing in this place. Silently growling she gathered her will, trying desperately to hold on to the solid flesh that her claws still gripped into. Her wing swung forward, hitting something hard. The mass in her claws convulsed wildly, trying to desperately get away from her, but she still held on.

All feeling had left her body and it was getting harder and harder to find a grip. She could barely move, and just when she thought that she would fall, light pieced the darkness. The two dragons tumbled through the remade portal and back onto the white sandy beach. Silver breathed, gasping for the abundance of air surrounding her. Her body shivered uncontrollably, the cold metal seeming to want to freeze her.

A couple of metres away lay the purple dragon, Retrix. Bloody claw marks were raked down his side and his right wing hung limply from his side, the only point still connected to his body was the joint that held the wing. The red device was bleeping aggressively, seeming to be yelling at him through his head.

Slowly he began to move, slowly pushing himself to his feet, his useless wing trailing loosely by his side. He turned toward the dragoness, a growl escaping his throat, and he began to limp forwards.

"Silver!" Zepos yelled, seeing the two dragons on the beach.

Retrix looked up in surprise, and growled as a lightning bolt flashed by his side, narrowly missing. He quickly back up away from Silver and opened his maw, sending a purple beam of energy in the general direction of the lightning dragon. Zepos easily dodged and fired again, but Retrix was already gone, falling back into the void.

The lightning dragon looked around, preparing himself for any attack, but non came. After a couple of minutes of waiting he turned and flew down to Silver, who was still laying on the beach. She was still in her full metal form and was nearly completely frozen. The only sign she was still alive was the ragged frosty breaths escaping her mouth.

"Silver?" said the worried drake, reaching out to her.

He placed his paw on her shell, and quickly drew it back. It was so cold that is caused stinging pain to rush through him. Even more worried now he touched her again, ignoring the lacing of pain through his paw. He shook her slightly.

"Silver please, talk to me," he said desperately.

The sound of footprints behind him caused him to spin around with a growl, only to recognise the familiar form of Merene. She looked worried as well, her gaze on the silver dragoness. She padded up next to him, looking down at her, trying to figure out what to do.

"There must be a way we can do something. If she is like this much longer she could die," Zepos pleaded.

"Just a second," Merene frowned, concentrating deeply.

Suddenly Silver's shell began to move, retracting from around her legs and stomach, revealing the pale yellow scales underneath. It continued to move past its usual point, removing itself from her wings and most of her tail until it was a thin strip running down her back. Zepos watched in surprise, never having seen her like this before.

"What did you do?" he snarled at the mind dragon.

Merene snorted, "I've bought her some time, but we need to warm her up quickly. She is cold... very cold. I can create an illusion of warmth to give us some extra time, but it won't fix her. You need to grab as much wood as you can from the forest around here and then light it on fire. The bigger the better. You got that Zepos? Zepos!"

He nodded quickly before taking wing and rushing into the forest to follow the mind dragon's orders. Merene stayed behind, looking over the silver dragoness. They needed to move quickly. She had entered Silver's mind to retract her shell but when she did she had felt the cold Silver was feeling, and it had scared her. She had never felt that before, never, and the silver dragon couldn't die. Not now. That was her mission. To keep the dragoness alive. If she failed then everything would be lost.

Zepos came back a couple of minutes later carrying, with much difficulty, two large logs. He dropped them as near to Silver as he could and landed beside Merene.

"How do we set them on fire? We don't have a fire dragon with us," he said.

"No, but we do have you. Lightning is just as good at starting fire," Merene replied.

"But... whenever I've tried before it hasn't worked so well."

"Just do it!"

Zepos jumped at her tone before turning toward the two wooden planks. He opened his maw and gathered his power, before letting out a bolt of lightning toward the logs. It struck, sending a shower of wood into the sky and scorching the wood, but not starting any fire.

"See! I told you!" Zepos growled getting frustrated.

"Aargh! Here, let me do it," growled Merene.

Something touched his mind, causing him to growl slight. The mental presence quickly spread through him and he took a step back, shaking his head. He tried to push back but the presence was surprisingly strong.

'Stop resisting!' Merene's mental voice speared his consciousness.

'What are you doing?'

'I'm going to start a fire, but I need you to do it, so if you want to save Silver let me take control or your love will die.'

He hesitated, before lowering his head and letting her continue. It felt strange, and it was hard not to push back, especially when he started to move without his will. His gaze turned to the woodpile and he mentally shivered. Slowly his maw opened and a bolt of rather weak electricity shot from his maw. But instead of cutting it off instantly Merene kept the bolt going, heating up the wood quickly. Before long a small tongue of flame began to flicker and Zepos closed his mouth.

Merene, using Zepos's body, set another part of the wood on fire, then another, then another, until the log was beginning to send heated flame onto the other. She withdrew from him and he shivered slightly, staggering as he got control of his body once again.

He glanced at the mind dragon with a slight amount of fear, but she wasn't looking. Her gaze was on the fire as it spread through the log, engulfing everything in heat. The two stepped back as the heat of the fire began to spread across the beach.

"Silver's a little close don't you think?" said Zepos a little worriedly.

"No, she is still very cold," replied Merene, "But she is slowly coming back to consciousness."

She sounded relieved, nearly as much as Zepos was. He didn't know what had happened when Retrix and Silver had disappeared into thin air, but it hadn't looked good. The purple dragon had come out badly injured, but not out of the fight. Silver had ended up much worse, and the other dragon hadn't even injured her. What had happened?

The two of the dragons waited until Silver slowly began to move. Her breaths weren't as ragged any more. Slowly her head moved and a small groan escaped her mouth. Her body was only shivering slightly as warmth cascaded over her bare back and across her body.

It was a wonderful feeling for the dragoness. The cold was still there, but it was slowly fading under the beautiful light. Her eyes remained closed but a small hum resonated through her as the beautiful heat reached into her. Finally her eyes opened slowly and she looked up to where Zepos and Merene were standing, watching her carefully.

"You were right!" grinned Zepos, glancing at Merene, who nodded back.

"What happened?" Silver's voice was slurred slightly, not yet recovered.

"I don't know," Zepos lay down beside her and put his wing over her.

Even with the heat her body was still surprisingly cold, thought not painfully so anymore. She instantly moved closer to him, the warmth of the fire on one side and the warmth of Zepos on the other. She could barely remember what happened.

"All I remember was cold, darkness and not being able to breath," she said, shivering slightly under the dragon's wing. She was a lot more sensitive then normal.

"You disappeared," said Zepos.

"It seems this new species of dragon is a bit more than we expected," spoke Merene.

"Did you get anything from his mind?" Zepos asked.

"Only a little. As I said, my strength is illusions, not breaking into minds, so I need to focus a little to be able to do so, and with him constantly teleporting, it was a bit difficult," said Merene, "But I did find out some things. He's a new species of dragon, the only one of his kind, called a void dragon, at least that's what A.O.D.H is calling him, and he's been ordered to hunt Silver down," she said.

"We should rescue him then," Silver spoke up, "We can't let a dragon like that be under the control of humans."

"I agree," Merene nodded, "But we can worry about that in the morning. Right now you need some rest. I think I know what happened to you, but I'll need some time to think of it."

Silver nodded, only to glad to rest. The cold and the warmth were making her drowsy, and she was finding it hard to keep her head up, but she was a little hesitant. What if the dragon came back? She didn't like their chances if he did, especially if she was asleep.

A nudge from Zepos caused her to look over to him.

"We'll be alright," he said with a small smile, "You go to sleep."

She smiled slightly and nodded, resting her head on the sand. She let loose a small sigh and gently closed her eyes. Within a few moments she was asleep, but this time breathing easily and contently with Zepos's wing wrapped around her. The lightning dragon watched her worriedly, and gazed over at Merene.

"She'll be alright," the mind dragon said, looking out over the sky.

"Thanks," he said genuinely, "I was freaking out back there, and you managed to keep control. You saved her life."

Merene grinned in reply, "I'm a mind dragon. It's my job to act logically."

Zepos chuckled slightly, hugging Silver closely, "Still, we owe you a lot."

"Think nothing of it. I would have done the same for anybody," Merene sighed and looked away, "Now get some sleep. I'll keep watch."

The lightning dragon nodded and lay down his head beside Silver's, slowly falling into a slumber next to the dragoness he loved.

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Hey guys! New chapter! I hope you enjoyed. Vote if you did and comment what you thought. Sorry it took so long, been very busy lately and have found very little time to write, but finally managed to get this chapter out :) Next one will be out as soon as I can get it. See Ya!

Pennator^^