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** ** The Vanguard: the famous dragonslayers of the assembled lands. A branch exists in every region, each having their own jurisdiction in their respected homelands. The ones that stand before me now come from the Valora branch, respectfully, and consists of a number of humans, all battle-scarred and appearing as if they could break my neck with just their steely gaze alone. The man that comes before me must obviously be their commander, as his armor seems to bear the most damage in its apperance. The stories this man could tell, I'm sure, would be plentiful, if his battle attire isn't evidence enough. He speaks calmly, smoothly, but with a voice that demands respect.

"I am Commander Sigmund of the Valoran Vanguard. You must be the half-dragon they spoke of."

I steel my wits, and speak with a level tone. "If you'll allow me to explain, I-"

"We know." Sigmund states bluntly. "We're quite familiar with this 'Mate's Crest' as they call it, we've only been fighting them for centuries. But fear not, civilian, we'll purge you of your curse soon enough."

Purge? They must mean...no. I can't let them hurt Tana!

"I am sorry, but I cannot allow that."

Sigmund's expression turns much more grim, as he pulls up the visor of his bone helmet, staring me down with eyes that have seen their fair share of pain and torment. He brandishes a pair of dual longswords. They look worn, given their many cracks and the blades' chipped surface, but have been treated well, the metal spires shimmering to a fine, deadly point. "I've no time for dragon sympathizers. Stand down before I put you to the blade!"

"She isn't going to hurt anyone!" I stand firmly in the face of almost certain death, Meeting the hardened vise of the veteran dragon hunter. "And I won't let you near her! She-"

"That dragon is a threat." The man's grip on his blades becomes firm and unwavering. "A threat that, your involvement or no, I will have eliminated!" The commander steps forward, menacingly staring at me, wordlessly threatening me. "I'll give you one last warning, citizen: stand down. Or I'll be within my legal rights to slay you along with that dragon."

I nearly waver, but I speak to him with a confidence I wasn't sure I had. "And I'm giving you one last warning: leave, because you're not having her!"

Sigmund surges forward at me with a blood-curdling warcry, and I ready myself for the worst. Then, as if by sheer instinct, I come forth in supernatural motion, evading the blades by a sheer inch. My tail comes up, disarming Sigmund's left hand, and I quickly grab his sword. I return upwards to a fighting stance, and the human commander stands firm to match me. His men start to lurch forward before he raises his arm to them. "Cease! Let the halfling have an honorable fight." He raises his blade to mine, and prepares his strike. "As it will be his last!"

I feel the impact of the blade strike at mine as I clash with the battle-hardened man. The way he swings his blade shows he is much more experienced than I, but something in me is driving me forwards, some unnatural push that's causing me to not waver in his presence. I don't know whether it's love or instinct that keeps me standing, but as I feel him strike out at me, thrusting his blade at my own, I know in myself that I mustn't falter. We continue to face one another for some time, as the charges under Sigmund's leadership cheer him on. Fatigue runs through my being, my very core, and I can see the same on his face. I parry his next strike, and with a swing of my tail, bring the man to the ground with a sweep of his feet. He drops his sword, to which I kick away, bringing mine to rest at his face. "Do you yield?"

A look of rage erupts from the man. "I do not accept pity from your kind! Soldiers!" His men rush forward at me, brandishing sharp and deadly weapons of all variety. Fear runs across my spine, until something primal surges through my head, triggered by an instinctual need to survive. The battalion of Vanguard troops stop dead in their tracks, gripping at their heads with groans of pain, some crying out in agony. I don't quite know what it is until I realize...I can feel their thoughts, their emotions. I come to the realization that I've somehow gained the telepathy trademark to my adopted race. But there's...something more to it, like it's beyond just that. I can feel more than their minds, but their hearts, their very souls. I stand firm, my glowing blue eyes reaching into the warriors before me. Stand down.

All at once, the soldiers step away from me, sheer terror upon their faces. I speak calmly. "Now, leave me and my Tana be. We're no threat to you or this world." I stare down at the man known as Sigmund, still pinned to the ground by my blade. "I'm not going to kill you. That would be pointless." I throw the sword to the side, and meet his questioning gaze. "Accept this, and leave in peace. Lest I be less merciful."

As I turn to walk towards the mouth of the cave, fury imparts from the commander's lips,unphased by my mental assault. He screams at me in a fiery rage. "I'm not done with you!" He leaps up, charging towards me with a dagger in his hand, and an undying hatred in his eyes. I turn to face him, to try to defend myself...

But it's too late.

I can feel the blade slip past my scales, like they were little more than fabric. My chest feels like it's caving into itself as the blade buries deeper in me, my whole body convulsing in pure agony. A wave of unspeakable pain and anguish consumes all other thoughts, swelling to each and every nerve ending. "You like it, half-breed?" The furious man says as he twists the knife inside my chest.

My whole body is wracked in endless pain, every fiber of my being screaming out for it to stop. Every twist of the knife sends a renewed sensation through my body, amplifying the torturous feeling running through my body. My breathing shallows, warm blood running down my torso. "H-how.."

"A rare flower from the Marshlands we discovered some few years ago. Its leaves have a powerful effect on dragons, and apparently half-dragons." He grunts as he shoves the knife further in, puncturing my vital organs. He yanks and shoves the blade upwards, and I know at this point that the blade has just ruptured my heart.

"Sh-she...hasn't....done a-anything to you.."

He grips my throat, throwing me to the side. "No, but her kind has. That bastard dragon, that...thing, Hra'Kul, they call him...he took everything I cherished from me; days go by where I miss my daughter's voice, asking if her father would be coming home today." Pain grips his fierce gaze, and I can tell that somewhere, a part of the man is broken. "They destroyed everything. Now..." He walks over to my bleeding form, and drives the knife down into my body with his foot, all the way to the pommel. "Now, I'm leaving nothing for them as well."

I can barely breathe. It feels like every part of me is being torn apart from each other, sent into millions of directions all at once. My consciousness fading, I spit at Sigmund's feet, my voice a quiet mutter. "M-murderer...bastard..."

The man grunts at my limp body. "How dare you?!"

"S-so...caught up in your rage...you'll take it out on everyone.." I gather enough strength to look him in the face. "Y-you're...no worse than him..."

He kicks my body, promptly silencing me, then pulls back down his bone visor, and turns towards the battalion behind him, all hissing and jeering at me. "Come, men! Leave this misguided soul to bleed." He and the Vanguard under his banner storm into the cave, and I know that I've failed Tana. I failed my friends. And as I start to slip into the abyss...

I've failed myself.

---

Blackness. My mind, drifting through seas of empty space. The pain's gone, but now...I feel numb. I drift, for how long, I'm not sure, but I eventually hear something...muffled sounds from the reality I've been wrenched from.

"There he is!" "Gods, so much blood..." "We have to do something!" "What can we do?!"

Indistinguishable voices, all crying out at each other. They seem distressed, worried.

"It's too deep in! I can't get it out!" "Let me try!"

I feel a jolt through my body, followed by a sudden emptiness. For a second, the pain returns, but then subsides to...peace. I feel so warm, so calm.

"His heart's stopped!" "We can't give up on him!"

The muffled voices grow quieter, until I hear one, all too familiar...mother?

I realize now. I'm dying.

I can feel the ethereal gripping at my soul, trying to bring me to a higher being. I can feel myself slip from my mortal coil as I ascend. My mother finally comes into view of me, stretched in open arms. I reach out to her, smiling. "It's been so long, mother."

"Come, my son. Let me look at your face." I stand before her, and she smiles warmly. "You look so different, Jarrod. But you still have that heart of gold I cherished of you."

I step forward into my mother's arms, ready to accept my fate. But before I can embrace her, I can feel a tugging at me. Something's trying to pull me back down. I can hear the other voices again...

"It's working! Keep going!" "I'm...trying..."

I recognize them. Katrina...Loren...

"Don't die on us yet, Jarrod." "Son! Can you hear me?"

Reed...father...

They still need me.

"M-mother..." I say waveringly. "I can't. Not yet." She nods, understanding that I must do this. I feel as my spirit descends back into my corporeal form, feeling the clasp of life come over me once more. My time to leave this would will come some day, and on that day, Death will assuredly take me.

But that day is not this one.

---

The blackness around me starts to distort and take shapes, until I open my eyes, gasping and choking on my own blood. Loren is waving his paws across my body, murmering some sort of strange chant. My father, Katrina, and Reed all kneel beside me, all sporting battle wounds of some sort.

"Thank the gods!" Katrina happily hugs me, before I wrench up another fit of blood and she recoils back, looking a bit self-scolding.

"Careful, Katrina. Jarrod's wounds are still very fatal." I look to Loren's wings, which are bloodied and torn asunder, missing many of their feathers. The poor gryphon's taken a heavy blow, as has everyone else. My father's holding a hand over his left eye, and Reed his leg. Katrina looks otherwise okay, until I notice that her arm is bandaged. She's lost half her hand.

'When we saw all those soldiers storm the cave," Reed says shakily, "we knew they must've left you for dead. We had to fight through half a damn army of them just to reach you."

I get up slowly, Loren insisting I stay down, but I won't have any of it. "Wh-what about Tana?"

"There're still soldiers in the cave." My father says, wrapping a bandage around his eye. "It's only a matter of time before they find her."

I move Loren to the side, standing to my feet with a stumble. Everything hurts...everything. But I can't let that stop me, not when Tana's in danger. She's my friend, my love. Something inhuman drives me forward, like some unseen force has taken refuge in me, lending me its strength. "Not if I find them first."

My father grips me by the shoulder. "Jarrod, please. Don't do anything you'll regre-"

I knock his hand away, staring back at him with a growl. "What I'll regret is if I just let them kill her!" My father backs up slowly, and my friends look at me like I'm some sort of feral beast. I sigh, and turn towards them. "I'm sorry, I truly am. But Tana's become more than a friend to me now. She needs me, and I need her. And I'm not just going to deny that gut feeling in me that I have to do this."

The others look to one another, and Reed finally speaks. "Go on, go save your girlfriend." The grin on his face calms me, but then frustration kicks in.

"She's not m-for fuck's sake..." I take wing, ignoring my body's screaming in agony, and fly into the mouth of the cave.

---

As I fly through the caves, following the trail of questionably alive soldiers, one finality echoes through my mind: it's do or die. This isn't something I can try to find a peaceful solution to. If I don't act, and act fast, Tana will die. This thought makes my wings spread out wide, my flying doubling in speed as I reach closer towards the cavern.

Get away_ from me!_

I've been beat to the draw. Vanguard soldiers have already swarmed into the cave, pinning Tana down with rope coils that several soldiers pull at, constricting any appendage they can. I can see Commander Sigmund, being given a waraxe the size of me from one of his subordinates.

"Time we end this."

He brings the axe over his head, ready to swing it forwards and lop Tana's head clean from her body.

_STOP! PLEASE! _

Time feels like it's moving at half speed. I dart into the scene like a spectre, and as I reach ever closer to the man, as he prepares his final blow, I crash into his chest, horns tearing holes straight through his armor. The impact sends a tremor across the whole cave system, as the incredible force sends Sigmund barreling into one of the cave walls. I'm reeling, as is he, but I was thankfully in time.

"It's the halfling! Kill him!"

The vanguard behind me swings a sword overhead, and a part of me snaps. "Enough."

I grab the man's arm with my tail, and, taking his sword, throw him into one of the nearby vanguards. Another charges me, and I slam my foot into them, sending them to the ground outright. I clash with a third one who's picked up the battleaxe, and I duck and weave as they swing at me like a madman. One swing lodges the axe into the stone floor, and I take my opening, cracking them over the top of the head with my sword pommel, kicking them to the ground. Having finished with them, I charge and tackle one of the men holding the ropes. My target loses grip of his, giving Tana opportunity to free herself from her captors. Gouts of fire flood the room as her maw is freed, sending the soldiers backing up more and more. I walk through the fires, taking my stand beside her as the soldiers regroup and push ever closer. There's got to be at least 15 of them, including the quickly-recovering Sigmund. I don't quite know about Tana, but I know for certain I can't survive this fight. But that won't stop me.

"Come on! We're right here!" I say as my wavering form fights off the pain that haunts it still. The hardened slayers can tell I'm weak, and that Tana's too fatigued to fight back. They start to encircle around us, Tana and I backing towards the cave walls. If I can't save Tana, I'll die alongside her.

J-Jarrod...I don't want to die...

I can feel a well of tears start to gather in my eyes. What can I possibly say? I stand my ground, unsure and unprepared, waiting for the worst to happen. They charge, ready to cleave me in two, before a familiar blast of smoke erupts below their feet. Suddenlty, I'm seeing figures in the smoke collapse left and right. The smoke settles, and I discover that father and my friends have joined the fray! Katrina wrestles a spear from one of the soldiers, and sends 2 to the ground with a single swipe. Reed charges forward into one of them, grabbing the man's warhammer and throwing it at another soldier. My father, despite one eye and his age, still swings his blade like the best of them, disarming one and knocking out another. Loren mutters something, which sends an archer straight into the cave wall. Tana swings her mighty tail, sending 3 soldiers flying alongside him. As for me, I'm squaring off against the recovered Sigmund, my blade meeting his. We trade blow for blow, swing for swing, as the two of us are equally matched, equally fatigued, our swords whistling through the thin cave air as flames dance around the battleground. We end up connecting our blades into a power struggle, pushing at the other, the both of us waiting for the other to break.

"An 'honorable fight,' feh! You've no honor of stabbing an unarmed man!" I say to him with a fierceness in my voice. "I'm more honorable than you'll ever be!"

"Who you are is a traitor to your kind, and a pain in my side!" His words carry a sort of vile, the rage of a man blinded by the love for his people.

We push at each other for some time as the choes ensues, until he notices a weakness in my stance and takes it. He stamps his foot into my tail, forcing a yelp of pain from me before he headbutts me to the ground, ready to thrust his blade into my gullet. Suddenly, he recoils, dropping his blade to my side and clutching his head. I don't understand why until I can feel something clawing at my head, almost like something's trying to break it in half. The same pain seems to overwhelm all the others, including my allies. It's something surreal, unnatural, reaching into my heart and mind, but I shake it off, blocking it out.

And then I hear a voice.

How I've waitied for this opportunity.

The battle stops abruptly, everyone collapsing and stumbling in agony, gripping their heads as they feel this maddening voice reach into their very minds. I take this chance to roll to my feet, heading over to Tana, who looks wholly terrified.

Jarrod...it's him.