Part 5

Link heard the trespassers before Xander did, his horned head lifting from the hovel they had made their home. Emerald smoke blew from his nostrils, and Xander nodded. It had been several days since the wolf hunt, they were going to have to go out again soon. The young boy rose from the small stump that served as his seat, and Link crawled out from the hovel’s hole, squeezing through the narrow opening as he always did. Used to the sulfur smoke of his breathing, Xander followed his partner outside into the freezing cold.

Feeling the stiff breeze against his face, Xander clung sharp to the steel blades. Link breathed deeply, getting a good lock on their scent.

“This smell,” he muttered, his jade eyes flickering to the left. “I’ve smelt these people before.” The dragon breathed again, turning his whole body in the direction the aura was coming from. “A Bird-woman and something else.”

“Man or shadow?” Xander knew Bird-woman meant Rito, Link was still too young to remember most of the things Xander had taught him about the world.

“Neither. Something in between.” Xander breathed, was it some new weapon that Shadows One had created to battle him? The monster already had the whole of the world under his sway, why he needed to turn others was beyond the boy’s understanding. It didn’t matter, because there was only one creation in the whole of the world that would travel with a Rito, and was neither shadow nor man.

“Is the Rito possessed?” Xander asked suddenly.

Link sniffed. “No.”

“Let them come,” Xander sighed, sheathing his blades. “They are friends.”

Link was suspicious. “Who are they, Xander?”

“My Master,” Xander answered. “Master Fangor, and Mistress Dark. They will be coming from the air, correct?” Link nodded, pointing his head upwards. “These are the people that gave you to me when you were nothing but a little baby dragon. You’ll recognize Master Fangor.”

Link sniffed. “I smell dragon on him.”

As if in response to this statement, two shadows emerged above both Link and Xander, sweeping over the snowy field. Xander shielded his eyes as a very familiar figure fell to the ground, his dark boots sinking into the snow. Xander fell to one knee.

The Dark Knight looked him over, his piercing golden gaze never faltering. His dark auburn hair did not stir, despite its growth over the past two years, nor did the threatening-like swords that he wore; the Gilla Blade, the azure katana of water that hung on his side, and the mighty Toraero Sword, a great sword which housed the mystical Madra Medallions of Earth, Fire, Wind, Spirit, Shadow, and Forest upon its blade. The Water Medallion, the reason all of this had began, was embedded into the hilt of the Gilla Blade, along with three Aurias Crests, one for Courage, Honor, and Love. But it wasn’t his weapons that made Xander and Link gasp in awe, or the fact that Master Fangor’s skin seemed to shimmer in and out like a light. It was the wings and claws.

The Dragon Gauntlets. Xander had been by his master’s side on Dragon Roost when he had been given them by the dragon deity that sat upon the volcano, along with the instructions that they were to be taken care of for an enigmatic reason. They had learned later, when the luck charm Hailey’s father had given them hatched into a baby dragon that Master Fangor had dubbed ‘Link’ then unloaded on Xander to raise and protect. Now, the Master’s dragon wings glimmered in the sunlight above, stretched to their full span of almost twenty feet each. The Dark Knight’s claws were formed as well, massive scaly talons that ended in black knives that were the nails. Fortunately, he was not fully transformed, or else there would definitely be trouble.

“Master Fangor,” Xander said with reverence, bowing his head.

Tobias Fangor nodded. “Rise Xander,” he muttered, waving a hand. As Xander stood to full height, the dragon-like features vanished, leaving only his master there. Link stood off, looking over the Dark Knight. “And you must be Link.” Tobias turned from Xander, looking over the dragon himself. Link was almost as big as he was now, even though only two years old. The wings were broad, and the horned head was still surveying him with a mindful gaze. “I will not harm either of you,” he said to the dragon. “I am Tobias Fangor, the Dark Knight of Madra.”

“Titles don’t mean anything,” Link hissed. “But Xander trusts you, so I will as well.” Master Fangor nodded his head, and turned his attention towards Xander, his apprentice. “Who is this?” Link raised a giant claw, pointing at Dark.

“My ally, and scout,” Fangor answered. “Ladyfeathers Dark.”

“Just Dark,” the Rito muttered, rolling her eyes.

Xander felt the ever-present gaze of his master as Tobias looked him over, the boy he had taken from Outset long gone, turned man by the way he had lived. When they had met, Xander had been a short, but scrappy, child of ten, with short red hair and red eyes, with tanned skin. Now, he was still those things, though his hair was longer, he was slightly taller, almost half the height of his Master’s hulking frame, and muscles were beginning to grow along his body. “You’ve grown up,” he said.

“Yes, I have,” Xander answered, nodding his head. “I’ve trained and raised Link just like you asked me, and stayed alive for all these years.”

“I’m very proud of you,” Tobias replied. “But now we have a mission to undertake. Kor has found the location of the last Crest, and a way to travel there.”

“Where is it?”

Tobias chuckled, sensing that his apprentice was already eager to leave. “A little town called Earth, Xander,” he said. “Where we sent Hailey and Ne Ella a little while back. Where I came from.” Tobias smiled. “Kor figured out a way for you three to travel to Earth, and me as well.”

“When are we leaving?” Xander asked.

“We are first going to New Beginnings, where the Teleport Dome that brought me here is. Then we need to wait for Kor. He says he needs something before I can be transported.”

Xander lifted both his knives. “Let’s get going, Master Fangor.”

Word Count- 1056

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Signature by the Sinfully Delicious Lady Knives