The Dragon Prince
Subject Zero

Alyssa

Subject Zero knocked me to the ground every time I got up. My whole body ached, and I was out of breath. Subject Zero turned into mist again, and no matter what I tried, I found myself on the ground. I remember Gloria saying this thing has powers similar to Vincent’s but different. He doesn’t need to see the opponent using their elemental magic. Dahlia noted that she smelled cardiac tissue, meaning he had been eating dragon hearts. Only one ritual involves the consumption of a dragon heart: Dragon Communion. Elijah has been feeding this guy dragon hearts so he can obtain the powers of all dragon types. Still, Gloria and Skyler are the only Shadow Dragons left in the world, so Elijah must have made an artificial Shadow Dragon heart and fed it to the Behir to obtain Shadow Dragon magic. This thing is indeed a dragon killer.

Once again, Subject Zero threw me against the wall. I got up once again, determined not to give up. The Behir materialized before me. There was a hint of annoyance in his eyes, but he didn’t say anything, and then the intercom opened again. “Finish her, Subject Zero!” Elijah laughed. As soon as Elijah’s order came through, he charged at me. He pinned me against the wall and struck me in the stomach.

Desperately, I aimed for his face, but he lazily pushed my hand out of the way and landed another punch in my face. I tried raising my hand to protect myself, but his fits always found a way around them. My vision started to blur. I can’t let Elijah win! As more punches followed, I could see the wrath in his eyes.

I could taste blood in my mouth, and my left eye was almost entirely swollen shut. Blood dripped from the cut on my body, and I could feel a few broken ribs as I tried to breathe. Subject Zero continued his assault, and I could feel my conscience fading.

“No, Alyssa! Stay with me!” Dahlia cried out. “ALYSSA! ANSWER ME!”

I can hear Dahlia’s voice, but I can’t respond. Subject Zero stopped and could see that he had all but won. Shadows started gathering around his clenched fist. This is it, the Final Blow.

“NO, I’ll be damned if I let things end like this!” Dahlia snarled. All of a sudden, I could feel the heat in my chest. It didn’t burn, and I could feel my sense heighten. Subject Zero seemed to notice the change as he stopped mid-punch to observe me. I could feel Dahlia’s energy like never before and her rage. I looked down at my chest and could see a familiar golden glow, but this time, it was shining from my chest. Subject Zero snapped back from his thoughts and went for the final punch. But before his fist landed on my face, my hand blocked it.

“Now I’m pissed!” Dahlia’s voice echoed from my mouth. Dahlia took complete control as she held his wrist tight, and no matter how hard Subject Zero tried to pull back, he couldn’t. Now we were seeing him start to panic. I looked at his fist and noticed the shadows around it were being sucked away into my hand. By the look of terror on his face, it was not his doing.

“Impossible!” Subject Zero gasped.

I was absorbing his energy, his magic. I started to siphon more of his power, and as I gathered more strength, I began to feel my wounds healing. I regained control and punched Zero’s face, sending him flying across the room. “You’re kind should’ve stayed extinct!” I breathed out. There was something strange about my voice; it sounded rough and deep.

“Dahlia, are you doing this?” I asked.

“No, WE are!” Dahlia smiled. “Together. Let’s send this bastard back to the hole he crawled out of,”

The light in my chest grew brighter, and I could feel the warmth all over my body. “Dahlia, what’s going on?”

“Trust me,” Dahlia said. I took a deep breath as the light grew even brighter. The pure energy I felt was flowing all over my body, and I closed my eyes as all my senses heightened. When the light faded, I felt different. I looked at my hands; no bruises or cuts were visible anymore, and I could no longer feel pain in my ribs. But I felt something else; my skin was strange, and as I rubbed my hands, there was no mistaking the touch of dragon scales. My skin changed, but that wasn’t the only thing I noticed; I felt an extra weight on my back, and the feeling of them was all too familiar. I saw a smaller version of my dragon wings.

How is this possible? Almost forgetting about the boy I was fighting, I looked around for Subject Zero. I observed him as he slowly got up. The punch I had landed had sent him flying across the room, and I could see a deep cut above his eye. There was still bloodlust in his eyes, and once more, the shadows started appearing around him.

“This time, he won’t win so easily,” Dahlia said.

I felt my eyes adjust better, and to my surprise, I could see everything in great detail. I smiled as I followed Zero’s shadow. I looked down at my hand, which was already glowing with golden energy. I raised both of my hands, and I fired it at Zero. I released two streams of golden light, and they both hit Zero in the chest; it made him materialize, be thrown across the room, and hit the wall. The tables have turned in my favor. No matter what Subject Zero did, I could shield every attack and knock him off his feet. Now, Subject Zero began going on the defensive, and it didn’t take long for him to be out of breath.

I held Subject Zero by his shirt, his eyes shut, blood coming from his nose and mouth. “Such a poor excuse for a species that kills dragons,” I threw him across the room, and he landed with a loud thud. I heard his heartbeat, so at least he wasn’t dead. A part of me wanted to finish him off, but I’m not a murderer. I will not be like him.

“We won,” Dahlia cheered.

“Well, I’m pleasantly surprised. There seem to be plenty of adjustments that need to be made on Subject Zero,” Elijah said through the intercom.

“When will you learn that what you’re doing is wrong!? You could all see that he has no mind of his own! Zero is just a puppet filled with rage and hatred! That’s what you’re aiming for? An army of brainless soldiers?” I screamed. “And you wonder why I rejected your proposal to join you!”

I aimed my magic at the brick where the door I had entered had been. Two streams of golden light shot out of my hands, and I started to see cracks in the wall. When the magic barrier failed, the door and rows of scared people on the other side became visible, trying to get out. Before I could blow the door off its hinges, a door opened behind me. A group of people entered, led by Gabrial himself, and now I see a chance to avenge Isabella!

“This is for Isabella!” I unleashed all I had on Gabrial. But when you attack someone in anger, you often lose the ability to think clearly. Gabrial dodges my attack, but the man behind him isn’t so fortunate. He was hurled towards the wall, and I heard something creak as he landed. Then I noticed the guns the other men held, and I was too focused on Gabrial to see them. I could feel something pinch my neck, and when I pulled it out, it was a tranquilizer dart. Dammit.

“Give her everything you’ve got!” Gabrial yelled.

I tried to fight them and managed to knock two more unconscious, but there were too many of them, and I could feel myself slipping as more darts pierced my skin. My sight began to cloud, and my limbs felt heavy. I fell on my knees, and my energy was fading away. Pain shot through my back as the wings were forcefully pulled into my back, and my body weakened. I felt drained and couldn’t move a finger as Gabrial walked towards me. Then his fist met my face, and everything went black.

Vincent

My team and I managed to sneak up to the forest edge closest to the castle. Thankfully, no more guards were in our way, but we could see dragons flying over the Sozin’s base. “Is that the wall where the secret entrance is?” I asked the girls. I had these two ladies tied up, and not wanting them to shift, I had Bao and Jacob hold blades to their throats.

“Yes,” Losi squeaked.

“You sure we can trust them, Vincent?” Annabeth asked me.

“No, but we don’t have much choice in the matter. It’s not like we can walk through the front door,” Jacob said.

“That hardly seems relevant,” Bao rolled his eyes. “There are only six of us and hundreds of them,”

“We just have to wait for the right time,” I pulled out my phone and called Elizabeth, who quickly answered. “Lizzy, it’s Vince. What’s your status?”

“We’re just about to head out. I’ve gathered every able-bodied person willing to fight. The kingdoms are sending as many as they can spare. Unfortunately, they are still under siege, so I’m still determining how many,”

“We’ll just have to make do with what we got,” I nodded. “What’s your estimated arrival?”

“No sooner than tomorrow morning,” Lizzy said.

“Call me when you arrive at the coordinates I sent you, and Goddess be with you, Elizabeth,” I said.

“Goddess be with you too, your highness,” Elizbeth said, then she hung up.

“When our army starts attacking, we will use that as a distraction to infiltrate the castle using the secret entrance, and hopefully, that will draw most of the guards outside. This will allow us to find Alyssa and others that might have been captured,” I said.

“So what do we do until then?” Bao asked me.

“Right now, all we can do is wait until Elizabeth gets here with reinforcements tomorrow. Let’s find someplace to hide until they arrive,” I suggested.

“And these two bitches,” Annabeth scoffed at Lena and Lois.

“Tied them up and gag them to ensure they don’t give away our location,” I smiled.

“Seriously?” Lena said.

“Trust me, that’s way better then what you deserve,” Caitlin growled. “Now march!”

The others took our prisoners to our new hiding spot while looking at the castle. “Vincent, you holding up alright?” Jacob patted my shoulder.

“It’s hard to wait. Knowing Alyssa’s so close, going through Goddess knows what! I can’t feel her or our bond, and I don’t understand how Sozin’s warriors are blocking our connection. They know I’m her mate, and I will come for her, Jacob,” I said.

“Just promise me that you won’t do anything stupid. We have a solid plan, but it’s easily ruined if we a mistake,” Jacob said.

“Don’t worry about me. It’s just going to be a long night,” I sighed.

“Well, I’m here if you need to talk,” Jacob walked off to join the others.

“Astarot, try to reach Dahlia if you can,” I asked.

“I’ll make no promises, but I’ll try,” Astarot said.

Hang on, my love, I’m almost there.

Alexandria

Everyone had gotten better clothes, more fit for Everest’s bitter and harsh environment. Even though we could not take a portal directly to the Crystal Caves, we could take one closer to the mountain.

“Are you kidding me? It’s fucking freezing,” Megan shivered.

“It’s not that bad,” Ashley said.

“Easy for you to say, you’re an Ice Dragon,” Megan grunted.

I looked around where Merlin took us and saw a nearby tent. “So you keep this tent around so you can portal here without anyone noticing?” I pointed to the tent.

“That’s the idea,” Ethan said.

“But there isn’t anyone here,” Daiyu said.

“Unfortunately for us, right now is the worst time to climb Mount Everest due to cold and weather,” Ethan said.

“That doesn’t sound very safe,” Skyler said with worry.

“It’s not, but thankfully, we don’t have to climb to the top. It’s about a days walk, in a hidden path,” Ethan nodded. “The bad news is, there’s a storm inbound. So we must start walking to a cave to crash in for the night,”

“Why can’t we just wait here for the storm to pass?” Megan tilted her head.

“We don’t have time to spare and if we wait, I think it will be harder for us to clear the path after the storm. Why on Earth would use Everest as the place to install the barrier?” I asked.

“As I said, Mount Everest is home to the Birthplace of Magic, The Crystal Caves. The mountain is also ancient and has been absorbing magical energy over time, and since it is the tallest mountain in the world, it can beam the barrier over Earth. The Moon Goddess may be the Mother of Magic, but who do you think made the Crystal Caves that breathed magic all over Earth?” Merlin said. “Let’s get going,”

We all looked at the mountain in front of us. The wind started to pick up, and we could see gray clouds not far from where we were standing. This is going to take a lot of work.

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