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"She's not who you think she is. She's innocent."

Chief Meadow shot daggers at me, "And do you honestly believe that?"

I nodded, "Yes, I do. And I'm not alone either." I gestured to Merana beside me, "She believes it too."

Meadow had a frown on his furred face and has now turned to Merana, crossing his arms, "You believe it? How can you be certain?"

Merana while wearing a fuzzy green dress, flattered her ears and answered, "Cause I've seen how she acts. She didn't appear to be evil. She looked innocent. No evil monster would ever look that way, and me and the human can see it."

I added, "Mister, everyone has always assumed what she was and no one has never listened to her words." Meadow was showing disbelief in his eyes, and I shook my head, "Meadow, I know it's hard to believe, but-"

"Exactly, it is hard to believe. And I'm not buying it." He made a nod to himself, seemed to be pretty sure of things, "And I'd bet my tail that Dark Storm's just playing tricks on you both. Especially you, human."

Him calling her Dark Storm just made my blood boil. She's not like that. I know she isn't. I protested, "Meadow, she's innocent!"

It's now morning after me and Merana ate some food at her house. Since last night, the only thing that has been on my mind was Luna. How lonely she'd looked chained to a post on top of that hill. With no company, no food, or anything. How she's been chained for something she's not doing now. That she was innocent. That she was forced to do all the things that everyone in the village described.

This morning, I told Merana about what happened last night, told her every single detail. Merana, which it wasn't a big surprise to me, figured that I would give her a chance and said I did the right thing. Merana pretty much wishes that she wasn't asleep last night and came with me. But hey, too late for that now. Morning has come.

So after I told her everything, I told her that I was gonna talk to Meadow about setting that black dragon free from her chain, and she said she'd come along and help me out on that. I appreciated her kindness and help, and so we both went outside after having breakfast to find the chief. Who we interrupted his conversation with one of the cheetahs who was just one of the guards on top of the wall here.

And as you can see...Things aren't going very well. He doesn't believe that Luna's innocent! He thinks of her as Dark Storm as before, but he's wrong about her. She was forced to be Dark Storm. Abyss, the evil dragon, somehow had her come to his side and work for him. Somehow, I don't know how yet from Luna, but he somehow got her to be with him.

Meadow waved a dismissive hand in front of my face, snarling with a fierce look, "I'm not falling for it!" I backed off a bit from him and he raged with his ears perked up high and his red cape flapped behind him, "Does she really think that I'm a fool for falling for her lies?! I think not! Dark Storm's evil and deserves to be in chains!" He pointed his finger at me, almost touching my nose, "I don't know what magic she'd used on you, but-"

I argued with a shout, "Magic?! Come on! She didn't use any magic! And she didn't use any magic on Merana! We're both talking without any magic on us."

Merana was rubbing the side of her blue furred face and said, "Chief, she doesn't seem to be evil. She hasn't been that way for eleven years. Ever since The Great One stopped her. Ancestors, she probably was never evil at all. Not from the very beginning. I do believe from Mike's words coming from Lunasin is that she was forced to do all those things. And...She's sad. That's another reason why I really think she's not a monster."

Meadow spat, "The only reason why she's sad is because we've beaten her! And you human, you telling me that you went to her last night and talked to MY prisoner is stupid! She's playing you! And you, Merana, I've thought you were smarter than that! She's playing you too! You're being played for fools! She's got you wrapped in her claws! She's a liar, a manipulator, and an evil one, just like Abyss!"

I shot at him, "She's nothing like Abyss! I see the truth in her eyes! And I forgot to mention, she saved my life!"

Meadow drew back his face with a shocked look, "W-What?"

I nodded at him, "She saved my life the other day. She has saved my life from Lost Souls."

He was showing disbelief again and started to shake his head at that, "That's...Impossible."

"It's the truth, chief."

There was a long pause between the chief and I. I even thought I saw his expression softening up. My heart was beating with hope. I'm telling the truth, man. Please...Let her go. I'd thought he would consider letting Luna go, until he brought his glare back on his face and flatly said, "No."

Merana bared her teeth, "What?! Chief, you just heard-"

"That doesn't make up for all the mistakes she's made! She's murdered a lot of dragons and cheetahs, and countless other innocent creatures! And I'm getting a feeling that how she's saved you is probably-"

I groaned, "Yes, I know, I was thinking that before! But I'm sure it's not a lie now! She really has saved me! Because she cares!"

"Lies! LIES! More black hearted lies! She was lying that she's changed before and she's lying again!"

I made an angry protest, "Damn it, Meadow! If you've just talked to her, she-"

Meadow bared his teeth, "And listen to her lies? NO!"

I flashed anger at him, "Are you fucking kidding me?! All everyone has ever done is judge her and not listen. Even when she never did anything now, you guys still do so. It's no wonder she doesn't try to explain what happened to her before, cause she believes you won't listen and trust her! That is what has happened to her for years. She was all alone for eleven years and I'm the one that's found her. I trust her, Meadow! I'm willing to listen to Lunasin. And..." I hung my head, slumping my shoulders, "I want to help her."

Meadow sucked in a lot of air and let it out slowly, "Mike, you can't trust her. Dragons like her don't change. Nothing like her changes. The world has been at war with Abyss for years and he never changed. And Lunasin's just like him. No part inside a dragon like that changes. There's no good. And there's no heart."

Merana shook her head and made a step towards him, "Meadow, we know what Lunasin has done before, and...We have to stop blaming her for the past. You're just in denial of the truth. You can't believe it. You...Can't believe what Lunasin's saying to Mike here." She put a hand to her chest, "I'm willing to believe. Cause, Lunasin's probably one of the hopes everyone has left for this world. We know of her power! She's probably one of the dragons that'll bring peace and MAYBE put an end to the war."

Meadow rolled his eyes, "Bah! Her? Bring peace? She hasn't brought peace to us before, so what makes you think she'll bring peace now?"

Merana made another argument with a narrowed glance, "She's not even doing anything wrong." She gestured towards the tall wall surrounding the village, "The real danger is outside this wall, don't pretend to ignore it."

Meadow shot a glare at her and made a growl deep in his throat, "I'm not ignoring anything."

I held out a hand, "Chief, this has to stop. This isn't fair."

"None of what she's done was fair!"

"Why can't you let it go?!"

"I will NEVER let it go!"

"Why not?!"

"I lost my whole family because of her!"

I gasped loudly and he went on with a wave of his hand, "That monstrous bitch has took away so many lives! Including my family's!" I paced back one step, while Merana's narrowed look melted away to be replaced with a pity look for the chief. He spoke with heated words, "That day when Lunasin and a few Dark Dragons flew over the village and landed, it was like a bloodbath. I even saw the hatred in her eyes. How she has used her powers out of her mouth to make my kind suffer, how she used claws and jaws to tear apart several cheetahs, how she has declared that the lands belong to her master. She's murdered a lot of cheetahs, including cubs and the chief before me! She...Destroyed my house by spurting fire at it and...My family was in it! My mate and two cubs! Do you have any idea what that's like, Mike? Do you, Merana? I know that you have a daughter that's still alive. I know YOU wouldn't understand it. I saw it in her eyes, she never cared. She'd never showed remorse."

My heart dropped and I winced at his confession. God....That's horrible. But...Luna's not like that. I can feel it. She was forced to do it. She was forced to do all that.

Luna's not like that.

Meadow huffed with that glare still on his face, "And after the last chief died and I took his place, I swore to every cheetah in the village that nothing like that would ever happen again. And I swore to my family up in the sky that I will make Dark Storm pay."

Merana was slowly shaking her head, walking up to him and placing a comforting hand on his shoulder, "Meadow...I know what happened to you. And...It was horrible. I remember that day as well, and I'm lucky to be alive...Barely alive."

I looked at Merana, remembering what she told me last night. God...So that's what happened to her back then. The only time she's seen Luna doing all those horrible things. That's what she meant that she was lucky to be the survivor.

Merana sighed, "I know what you're thinking. and I do understand your pain. You...Want to avenge them. But...You do know that it won't bring them back."

Meadow breathed in through his nose, expanding his chest and letting it out, "I know that. But...She won't hurt anyone else ever again after we execute her."

Merana made a small argument with a low voice, "But Lunasin's not like that anymore. I remember what look she had years ago, it seemed unforgivable. But...Up that hill from inside my house last night, and where I was standing outside when morning came before we talked to you, I can see that ....She had a different look, and it's innocent." She shook her head, "You're making a big mistake. We all are. I think there's more to what happened to her than what we know. She's just like an innocent little girl who was out here all alone. She'd left her home, because she feels sorry and guilty for what happened before. I believe she's guilty now and none of us don't believe it...Not even you."

There was a long pause, and then Meadow softly grabbed Merana's wrist and brushed it off his shoulder, "I won't let it happen again. I won't."

I made a protest, "But chief, you're going to kill an innocent person."

He snarled, making Merana back up, "I won't let her do it again!" He walked up to me, his breath at my face, and shot a look that would've made me feel chilled, but I wasn't, "I will make Dark Storm pay."

I glared back, "Her name's Luna."

"I don't care what her name is! I will avenge my people! I will execute her tomorrow! So she'll pay for her crimes! Or I'll at least let her starve to death, see how she feels when she suffers like all of us have."

I started, "But chief-"

He shoved a finger into my chest, "If you want to believe her lies, go ahead. But if you try anything to prevent that..." He pulled out his dagger from his vest and held it straight up near our faces. The blade shined by the sun above, "I will assume immediately that you are a threat to my people, and regret not leaving you chained up with her. If you try anything, I will personally use this on you, understood?"

My eyes rolled to the dagger near my eye and I narrowed at him, "Got it."

Meadow sheathed his weapon away, backing away from me in the process, "Good, now stay out of my way." He shot a glare at Merana, "You too." With a swish of his cape, he whirled around and took off in fast strides, leaving me and the blue cheetah alone together.

My anger was going away, as he was out of sight. Damn it. He won't let her go. I hissed through my teeth and whirled around too. Throwing a fist in the air and grunted in frustration, "Shit!"

Merana got in front of me and looked me in the eye with a soft look and voice, "Calm down."

I sighed, hanging my head only to see her feet, "I can't believe this."

She gave me a comforting smile, "Don't worry, something will change."

I huffed, "But he's...Going to kill her. Well if he won't execute her, he's just going to let her starve to death." I looked into her eyes, "Merana, since he knows that I went to her last night, I won't be able to feed her. Do you have any idea how this is getting to me?"

Merana held a pity look for me and nodded slowly, "I know, sweetie. This is getting to me too." She was shaking her head now, "My kind are making a big mistake and...Nobody doesn't get it."

I felt like I was gonna break down in tears in front of her, but I held them back. I don't want her to see me cry, "What can we do about it?"

She answered with another shake of her head, "I don't know, Mike. The only thing we can do about it...Is just wait for a miracle. Hopefully that Meadow will take our words seriously and believe them."

I lowered my eyes to the ground, "I doubt that's gonna change. He's...Dead set on killing her."

Merana held me tight in a hug, shushing me while caressing the back of my head. Her fingers were running through my shaggy hair, "Shh, it's gonna be ok." She nuzzled my cheek with her nose, "You'll see." I returned the hug too, holding the older blue cheetah tightly against me.

We were held like this for a minute, until she pulled back and asked running her fingers through my hair still, "Are you alright?"

I held a breath, "A little."

She gripped my shoulder, "Look, come inside my home and rest. Maybe a little sleep will help you. And don't worry, you'll see what happens. The only thing we can do is hope." I nodded at that and she led me walking on the dirt and head back to her wooden house. When we went in through the wooden front door, she took me to one of her rooms in her house, which has a hammock in there that's mostly made of thick rope. I climbed myself in it and laid down, swinging around a bit but stopped shortly. I was looking up at Merana's eyes, giving me a soft smile on her muzzle and she walked out of the room, leaving me in peace alone.

I was staring up at the ceiling, thinking about what just happened. Then I could see Luna's silver eyes staring back at me. And I was feeling dread and guilt forming around in my body.

Luna...I'm sorry. I failed you.

You're going to die tomorrow, if something doesn't change.

This isn't fair. This is not fair.

I was judged for most of my life for the things I've done in the past, but...I was never executed for it. Now I feel terrible.

Then I was feeling more terrible when Gabby's face showed up too. Making me show guilt on my face, and tears started to form. I was shutting my eyes, turning over in the hammock. No...I don't want this happen. I don't want you to die. I know we don't know each other that well, but I don't want you to die. You're innocent...Like Gabby.

You're an innocent dragon, Luna, and they're going to kill you for something that happened in the past. But you're not like that. You were forced.

I'm sorry, Luna....I'm so sorry.

With that, I broke down quietly in tears, they were falling down my face.

I'm sorry.

*****

I woke up with a snort, when the sun's rays coming through the balcony window came shining on my face. I blinked them open and saw that I wrapped my arm around Emily still in our sleep. She moaned with her mouth closed, but didn't wake up. The sunlight didn't even hit her eyes. I was smiling at her face. She looked cute when she was sleeping. I moved my eyes to the window again, seeing the blue sky and ocean barely. I let out a breath. Well...It's morning.

So that means that we'll be leaving the ship and begin our journey to Wingspan, the dragon city. But...I don't want to get up right now. I feel warm with her.

I could hear somebody knocking on the door, making me roll around in bed to gaze at it. I know that the only person on board the ship other than us knocking on the door would be Rick. He appears to have already been awake. After another knock, I hear him, "Guys, time to get up!" Emily twitched in my grasp and shot her eyes open, moaning real loudly. Not wanting to get up.

I hollered at Rick, "We're getting up!"

Emily whined, laying her head firmly back on the pillow, "Can we have five more minutes?"

I scooched myself to the side of the mattress and sat down on it, stretching up my arms, "Nope, have to get up." Too bad we can't stay in bed any longer. Rick and Damon are waiting for us.

Emily murmured when she sat up in bed and yawned, "Rats, I was enjoying it." She looked over her shoulder at me, when she scooched her way to her side of the bed, "I think dad did that on purpose. Did you lock the door?"

I laughed and got up from bed, "Nope, and now you got me thinking...Did he see us sleeping?" I snickered, "I can imagine your father's face when he peeked in and saw us sleeping together."

She rolled her eyes and got up from bed too, "Well that's my dad for you. Being an ass."

She trampled her way to her clothes and started to put them on one piece at a time. I found my pair and began to put them on too. When we put all our clothing on, including our shoes and socks, we grabbed our bags that we packed up for the trip, making sure that my flare gun's in there. Which it is. I zipped it closed and swung it over my shoulder. Emily came up to me with her bag in her hand, sighing, "Well too bad that we can't stay on the ship." She chuckled a bit, "I'm gonna miss this place. I feel like I want to swim in the pool again, and...Sleep some more in that comfy bed."

I was giggling on my end, "Heh, if we stayed, we'd have to see if Damon would even fit in the pool."

Emily stated with a hum in thought, "I'm sure he'd fit. The pool looked big enough."

I shrugged my arms, "I guess." Now I was chuckling when a thought popped up in my brain, "Crap, can you imagine if the captain and everyone else was still aboard the ship saw Damon's ass in the pool? They'd freak out!"

Emily put a wrist to her mouth, trying to stifle her laughter, and said through her giggles, "I think the captain would be so pissed and he'd scream at Damon saying..." She shook her fist and deepened her voice to sound like a guy, "You get the hell out of the pool, giant lizard! You're hogging it!" We were sharing a laugh together. We were laughing so hard cause we can now picture Damon's face looking so freaked out by the captain screaming at him. I was about to collapse to the floor for a moment, but I held myself firm.

After catching my breath, I said to her with a somewhat serious face, "We need to go, they're waiting."

Emily sighed and we began to walk out through the door, "Great, that means I'll have to ride on Damon's back again to get off the ship."

I pulled the door open and we trotted out in the hallway, "I know the feeling, but hey we'll get used to it. Besides that, it won't take long to get off the ship."

Emily and I rounded the corner of the corridor and made our way to the deck, "I know, but...I'm still nervous about it."

I wrapped my arm around her, "Me too, but I'm gonna put up with it."

Emily giggled and leaned her head onto my shoulder, as we strolled through the ship, "If you're putting up with it, I know I will." We giggled together when I pushed the door to the deck open and we went outside, the sun greeting us from up in the sky. I looked up and shielded my eyes from the brightness of it. Emily paced forward a few steps, her eyes wandering the area, "Where are they?"

I pointed when I saw Rick and Damon standing at the very end of the ship, the end facing the beach and forest beyond it, "I see them, over there." Emily followed my gaze and we jogged to where they are. Damon I can tell heard our footsteps, since he must've had good hearing, and saw us coming. Rick followed his gaze too and saw us.

After we stopped near them, Rick had an annoyed look on his face, "What on earth took you so long?"

Emily was giving him a shy smile, "We were slow."

Rick showed a hint of a smile and rolled up his eyes, "God, you were slow at getting up from bed when you were little, and you're still slow at getting up from bed."

She narrowed her eyes at him, "I'm not as slow as before!"

Damon shot up his green head and laughed, "Wow, I heard some dragons are slow at getting up from napping, but now I think you're like them."

Emily shook a fist at him and glared, "Shut it." He shot his eyes wide at the threat and saw that he gulped loudly. Curling his long tail nervously around himself.

I was laughing at the dragon, "Wow, some dragon you are. You're scared of Emily's threat."

Damon looked down at me, "Well I don't know you creatures all too well, so I don't know what you can do to hurt me." He lowered his head to our levels, "Well you're about as tall as the cheetahs, so maybe nothing much."

Emily teasingly raise a brow, "You'd be surprised."

He was smirking when rising his head above us, standing on all fours, coughing into his paw, "Well, ok, so are we ready to go?"

Rick nodded, "Course I am. I've been ready to go since an hour ago!"

My eyes widen. Crap, he got up a bit early. I protested, "Well we didn't know that you were gonna get up early."

Rick sighed and began to walk up to Damon's side, "Whatever." He motioned for Damon to lower his body to the deck, "Lower yourself. We're ready." Damon complied when lowering his body to the wooden floor. And all three of us, like we did yesterday, began to mount ourselves on top of him. I was sitting in front of Emily and Rick as Damon rose his body off the ground. Padding a step to look out to the landscape of the forest and beach near the ship. His gaze looking out beyond. Ready for our journey to begin.

Emily made a plea to the drake, "Ok, so can you take it easy like-Ah!" Her eyes bugged out of her skull and she held tight around my waist, as the dragon without warning began to run on the deck and leapt off the ship with a mighty flap of his wings, taking us in flight over the water for a moment. As we're now in the air, Emily let out a high pitch scream and held on tighter. I wrapped my arms around the dragon's neck, and I'm sure Rick's holding onto his daughter himself.

I looked over the side of the dragon and much to my shock didn't fly down to the beach, but with another beat of his wings, flew over the trees. We were going to fly further away from the ship. Damon called out to us, flapping to gain some more altitude, smug in his voice, "You hanging on?"

Emily angrily shot at him, "You scaly bastard!" He laughed in response and beat his wings again, now only gliding over the woods. I tried to look back past my girlfriend and her father, but I couldn't tell how far we are from the beach and cruise ship. But I guess for the start of the journey, we're going to fly a bit far from there. I wandered my gaze back and forth in flight, Damon flapping his wings once more, making sure that there aren't any evil Dark Dragons flying among the forest too. But don't see anything yet.

After another minute of flying, Damon started to descend to the ground after finding a spot in the woods to land. When he got close, he back winged to slow himself down and with his paws sticking out from under him, he landed on the soft grass with his hind feet first and then his front feet. Trotting himself to a stop and sighed with his wings folded on his back. He lowered himself to the ground and we all dismounted him.

We all paced to his front and he looked down at each one of us after raising his belly off the grassy floor, "So, have fun?"

Rick shrugged his shoulders, "Well...Not what I was expecting. I expected a short flight."

Emily shot her daggers at him, "That was not taking it easy! You scared me to death!"

Damon made a playful whine, "Aw, but I thought you loved it."

I remarked with a little chuckle, "I did...A little bit. Take some time to get used to."

He was flashing us a toothy grin on his snout, "See? You'll come to love flying. Flying's always great."

Emily pointed a threatening finger at him with gritted teeth, "Don't scare me like that."

Damon flicked his tail along the grass and shot up his head, "You'll get used to it, little one. You will." He started to pad around, his eyes scanned the surrounding area. Looking to see which way we should go.

Rick asked with a shrug, "So which way?"

Damon shot his head forward, "We'll go that way. Since Wingspan's north from here, we'll head off in that direction." He turned his eyes down to the three of us, all seriousness in them, "Remember, do exactly what I say no matter what, got it?" We all nodded at his instruction and he began to trot off with his tail moving behind him with each step, "Lets go, humans."

Me, Emily and Rick didn't argue with him, so we all followed up close behind him. Letting him lead the way through the woods.

*****

I'm standing on top of the log made wall right now. Looking out at the meadow and the forest at a distance away from the village, like I did yesterday. Only I came up here to relax, after feeling worked up over Luna. How I was just...Feeling worried for her. I hung my head and sighed. This isn't going well.

It's been hours since morning has been over with, since mine and Merana's conversation with the chief here. How he wouldn't budge at our attempts to talk him to freeing Luna. I had to say, he's one tough feline! He didn't believe a word I was telling him! Neither would he believe a word from Merana, one of his villagers! He didn't listen to either of us. He wouldn't believe that Luna wasn't evil from the beginning at all. He was so stuck in the past of losing his family and most of the cheetahs years ago, well mostly his family.

God...The way he described what happened to everyone before...It was horrible. How he said Luna didn't show any remorse...God, Luna what happened to you back then? Abyss really made you do all those things and made you show no remorse. Well I remember Merana saying that Luna was little back then, and Abyss was the one who made her big, tall, and dangerous with his magic, I'm getting a feeling he used his magic to have her show no other feelings at all, except hate. That would be my guess. I'm getting a feeling that's what he did to you, girl.

You do have feelings. Meadow's wrong about you. You were forced to do all those things. You were forced to be evil. That's not who you are. You're not the Luna I saw last night and the day before that. You have feelings, girl. And they're kind.

I know something happened to you, and no one else will believe me. And...You're going to die because of what you did. But it wasn't your fault. You were forced by Abyss. I know it, you told me you were, and I see it on your face...In your eyes.

I feel anger and frustration boiling me over. This is not fair! No one shouldn't treat you this way! You're not evil! I know you're not!

And if Meadow doesn't change his mind about you....You're going to die, because of what happened.

I was starting to feel my eyes misting and I took a deep breath to my calm nerves. I already cried once today, I don't want to cry again.

Then a thought came. ....I have to do something. I have to save Luna.

But how? Steal the key from the chief and unlock her chain? Hell, he'll kill me if I try that. But if I don't try it, Luna will die. I could break it, but how? With what? I was lowering my gaze in sadness. I don't have any options. I don't have any way to save her.

No! I can't let this happen.

But...How can I save her? I don't know what to do.

I looked up at the afternoon sky. Mom...Gabby....Scott, if you're dead too....How would you deal with this? How can I save her? If you know how, then please for god's sake tell me.

I breathed deeply, trying to stay calm about this. Maybe the chief will change his mind about her. Maybe he will.

Will he?

I...I really don't want Luna to die.

I hope he does change his mind. I hope he does.

Before I could move and walk back to a ladder to climb off of here, since I was done standing up here, I saw something coming out of the forest. A lot of small figures coming out of them. My eyes widened when I saw that those figures were two legged and had...Black fur and red eyes.

Oh no, Lost Souls!

But something else came out of the forest and it looked big. I gasped as I realized they were dragging something, and I realized what it is. It was a massive catapult! Crap, they have one of those?! About seven of them were tugging that thing by rope, and on that catapult in a big basket of some sort, were several massive rocks. Probably about to be used for projectiles. They were dragging the huge thing across the meadow. They didn't have a hard time doing it.

I heard a guard standing posted on the wall nearby shouting out to everyone else, "We have enemies outside! Prepare your weapons!" I see about several cheetahs, counting twenty, carrying bows and arrows taking positions and readying their weapons.

Behind me down below the wall, I can hear the villagers screaming and taking cover in their houses. Well this is official. We're about to be under attack.

Up ahead on the meadow, I see several Lost Souls who were not dragging the big catapult, disappearing in a flash of light. Meaning they must've used their teleportation stones. Ice gripped my veins. Uh oh.

Right at this moment, one Lost Soul popped up out of nowhere beside me with his glowing red eyes piercing at me and tried to attack me with one of those long claws. He snarled and tried to swipe me with them in one hand. I leapt back to dodge, and then ducked low from his next strike, trying to take my head off. Before he could swipe again, I held out both hands and shoved that bastard off the wall, sending him screaming and falling to his death. The cheetahs positioned on the wall all shouted in unison, "ATTACK!!!" They aimed their bows high in the air and let loose of their hail of arrows towards the advancing Lost Souls outside the village. Several of them went down in crying pain. But apparently there were a lot more coming from the forest. And that wasn't all, there were about three more big catapults that they were dragging other than more numbers of them running out of the forest. A few more of them?! That's bad.

I backed away from the edge of the outside wall and whirled around to see the other Lost Souls that have used their teleportation stones are inside the village past the very tall wall. Several cheetahs have unsheathed their swords to attack their intruders. From up where I was, I saw one Lost Souls stabbing one cheetah in the gut, who didn't look like a warrior, to death. I gasped. Oh no...

Then I felt a hand grip my shoulder, making me cry out and turn to a cheetah with a bow in one hand, "Either take cover, or fight!"

I nodded at him, before he went back to firing his arrows, only this time at the ones in the village. A few others were doing the same thing, realizing what's happening now. But I can see more and more popping out of nowhere down below. Crap, he's right. I have to help. Before I could move a muscle, outside the village, I saw the Lost Souls readying to fire one of their catapults. Loading it up with a big massive rock. I can hear one of them make a war cry, pointing at the village and the catapult fired away. It had enough trajectory to sail over the wall and land in the middle of the village with a loud crash, killing about three cheetahs in the path. I gasped. Ok, I really need to help.

With the thought in my brain, I started sprinting to a ladder, skidding myself to a stop, barely falling off of the platform barely, but I balanced myself to not fall off. I lowered my foot to the step of the ladder, found my footing and with a bit of haste I started to climb down. There was no time to lose, I have to get my weapon that I'd gotten yesterday. It was back in Merana's house. I looked toward her house which it was a bit far away from me. Before I could stare away, I saw that another catapult fired another heavy projectile and barely landed on Merana's place! But it didn't and landed close to it with a very loud crash. My heart was filled with dread for the moment, but then it was replaced with relief. Crap, that was close.

I resumed myself to climb further down and made it to the bottom of the wall about several seconds later. I was about to turn and run to the old female blue cheetah's house, but I ran into another Lost Souls who sneered and tried to swipe my neck off with his claws. But I rolled to the side before it happened. I recovered and stood up facing him. With his red eyes locked on me, he was trying to strike me again with another long clawed hand, this time thrusting them at my face. I jerked myself back, the pointy claws were only inches away from my eyes. If I didn't move at all, he could've stabbed them and also could've went through the back of my skull. I stumbled myself, drew back my hand and thrown a punch at the evil cheetah's face, knocking him back with a cry. I kicked him in the gut too, and he fell to the ground. He was trying to get up with a groan, but before he could, a normal cheetah ran to us and jumped high with his sword and plunged it into the Lost Soul's chest. My eyes went wide and I waved at him, before running off to my destination, "Thanks for the help!" I didn't see if that guy acknowledged, I kept running. There was no time for chit chat.

I ran at full speed, looking up in time to see another big boulder crashing through a house near me. Wood splintering all around. I didn't know if there was anyone in there or not, but I didn't want to know. I covered my face while running through the cloud of dust created upon impact. I breathed in some of it by accident and coughed a bit, but it didn't slow me down. I ran out of the cloud and saw that I'm not far away from Merana's house. I was halfway there when I decided to take a peek to see Luna on top of the hill. She looked all alert with her snout baring teeth and wings flared. I saw her using her talons to kill one of the Lost Souls who was running at her. Crap, she's in trouble! I have to help her!

But first off, get my weapon.

So I was dashing up to Merana's until I barged myself through her front door. Hollering for the female cheetah upon entering, "Merana!"

I heard a response, "Mike!" I let out a sigh of relief. Thank god. I ran into another room and found her hiding in it. She was ducked down below a window and her ears perked up when she saw me with a smile, "Mike."

I ran and crouched to her, "Are you ok?" She nodded and I nodded right back, standing up to look out the window she's hiding below. I see Luna attempting to take the shackle off that's around her neck in vain. I have to get her free. I ran away from the window, and ran back into the room I was sleeping in, looking for my weapon and I found it moments later, laying close to a wall. My bow and a quiver full of arrows that I got yesterday.

I picked them up off the floor, gripping the bow in one hand, swinging the quiver on my shoulder with my other hand, and almost ran into Merana before I could leave the room. She was having a fearful look shone on her face, "Mike, you're not going back out there!"

I argued with her, "I can't stay here! They need my help!" I threw my hand at the window, "Luna's in trouble and she needs my help, we all need her help! Please let me go!"

Merana stared at me with that look, but she faltered not a moment too long after. She backed away from me, her tears were about to fall off, "Please be careful!"

I went up and gave her a kiss on the cheek, "Don't worry, I will." With that I sprinted out through the door, emerging out in the ensuring battle outside. Another cheetah was slaughtered by a slash of a Lost Soul, sending that guy rolling on the ground, now lying dead after that. A second after that, another big boulder fell from the sky with another loud crash, killing two more cheetahs. God, those catapults are really doing wonders for the enemy. I looked to Luna, still tugging in vain from her chain holding her captive. I nodded to myself as a thought came to me. Only she can destroy those things. It's the only way.

I have to set her free now!

I was about to run up the hill, when chief Meadow grabbed my shoulder and gave me a death glare, "You!"

I was gasping in shock, "What?"

He was gripping my shirt with his hands, "Now see what she's done! She brought them here!"

I knew he was talking about Luna, so I shot a glare right back, "Fuck you, pal! She didn't bring them here!" Then I remembered that I need the key for Luna's shackle, and since I don't see any time to talk him into giving me the key, I had to improvise. I smacked his hands off me, clenched a fist and threw it across the chief's muzzle. Knocking him out. He was laying on his back on the grass. I let out a huff, "Sorry about that. But I need your key." I crouched down to search his vest, until I found a key. Perfect! I muttered before standing back up, "I'll be taking it, asshole."

Merana actually ran outside and I instructed her by pointing at Meadow, "Take him in your house!" She did what she was told and bent down to drag him by the shoulders to her house. I didn't wait and see if they were all the way in, I decided to run up the hill now, shoving the key in my pocket for the time being.

Running up the dirt hill, I can hear several clangs of the cheetah's swords colliding with the claws of the Lost Souls. I looked to my side and see that one cheetah managed to bring the sword down on top of the Lost Soul's head. While another cheetah was slicing another Lost Soul's head off, blood spurting out of the spot. I looked ahead and saw four Lost Souls attacking Luna. She was hissing and swiping one of them away. But I saw one of them jumping on top of her back. I gasped and brought the bow and arrow together and aimed at my target. When I had the one on Luna's back in sight, I turned loose of the arrow and it went right into that monster's side. He fell off of Luna and landed beside her with a thud.

Luna was using her long tail sending another Lost Soul behind her flying away. I pulled another arrow with the bow and fired another one at the last Lost Soul standing, the shot hitting him in the shoulder blade. He cried out and fell face first, lying dead.

Luna had a surprised expression after seeing that arrow pierce the enemy in front of her. She turned her neck and saw me running up to her. She cried out in happiness, "Mike!"

I was beaming at her, as she was lowering her head to my level. I looked into her eyes, "Thought I'd return the favor for you saving me."

She nuzzled me with her nose, "Favor returned." The black dragoness put on a fierce gaze, "If you're trying to free me, do it now! The village is in trouble!"

I swung the bow over my back and pulled the key out of my pocket, "Hold on!" I found the keyhole for the shackle on her neck and inserted the key into it. Turning it a bit and unlocking it with a snap. Sending it falling to the dirt. Luna was now free.

She rose her head above my level and narrowed at the battle going on, "Alright, little guy, here we go!"

I told her before she could go off fighting, "There are catapults outside that need to be destroyed! They're destroying everything!" And speaking of catapults, another flying boulder was coming right at us. My eyes went wide and I ran, "Crap!"

Luna read my mind and she ran too, "Run!" The two of us were about seconds away from the spot before the giant boulder crashed onto the wooden posts that held us captive.

I huffed when I ran as fast as I could, gripping the bow tightly. I pointed upward, meant to be pointing at outside the village, "Luna!"

Luna knew what I was getting at and started to flap her wings, "I know!" She made a leapt and starting flapping them, taking her high above the wall seconds later. I watched her fly off, as I got my weapon at ready. I'll see you back, girl. I saw one Lost Soul charging at me with both hands full of long claws outstretched to kill me. I raised my bow, firing at my charging enemy. Taking him in the chest. He collapsed with a thump to the dirt.

*****

Luna beated her wings over and over again, her paws barely scraping the top of the tall log made wall that surrounds the cheetah village. The cheetahs standing on the narrow platform near the top of the wall were all gasping in shock and surprise at the dragoness flying over past the wall, to the outskirts of it. That their prisoner had escaped from the chain. She let out a roar announcing to the Lost Souls advancing out in the meadow, ready to use their teleportation stones to get in the village.

But she wasn't about to let that happen.

Without a second thought, Luna breathed deep and let out a torrent of orange fire out of her maw, engulfing numerous enemies on fire. They were all screaming in agony, until several were now lying dead. She angled her wing, turning herself in the air to pull off another strike at the enemy below her. This time she'd used a different power other than her flame. This time she was spitting out a green mist that was called poison at several more Lost Souls. She heard several of them gasping for air and soon a lot of them collapsed to the grass. Lying dead by the poison. With that, she let out a sigh, satisfied to see more of those monsters die.

Luna backwinged in mid air and started to hover above them. With her vision, she can see four catapults on the ground, one of them ready to be fired at their own enemy. Luna hissed when the catapult let loose of the very heavy projectile and it was coming right at her. Luna swooped down in time to dodge it, letting it sail over the wall of the village and crash in there. She gasped out loud, feeling a bit of dread forming in her body. A big part of her was hoping that no one else was hurt, including Mike. She doesn't want the little guy getting hurt or killed. She may not know him well enough, but she still wants to protect him. She'd saw several of those cheetahs in the village die because of giant boulders like them. Seeing them lying dead wasn't really what she wanted to see. She didn't want any of that to happen to them. Even though she was treated badly because of her past, she couldn't blame any of them, and her kindhearted nature was telling her to save them. She growled and started taking altitude in the sky over them. She won't let them get away with this and with that thought she flew down to her enemy, ready to make another strike at them. Only this time at the catapults.

As another catapult was getting ready to fire another gigantic boulder, Luna started breathing in more deeply, building up enough power for her breath to make a fireball. When the dragoness fired the thing out of her snout, the fireball flew down at a fast rate and exploded onto that catapult, taking out another one in the blast radius and also making several kills. Luna held up her snout in a grin and flew away again, making a barrel roll while at it, hearing the cheetahs on the wall actually cheering for her. Seeing that she's helping them. They went back to shooting their arrows at some of the Lost Souls that weren't burned to death by the enraged dragoness's fire. Several of the arrows took down more Lost Souls.

She can plainly see that there are two more catapults left and that's one thing left on her mind. Letting out another loud roar to her enemy, she flew towards the last two big weapons, building up another fireball in her throat and fired at the enemy's big weapons, making them explode in splintering wood upon impact. The blast killed a lot more Lost Souls on the ground, but she saw that they've kept coming from the woods behind the destroyed catapults. She groaned in irritation and started to fly back to the village with another flap, flying over the smoke of the destroyed weapons. Knowing that her mission is done, knowing that there won't be anymore worse casualties after destroying them. The cheetahs on the wall cheered for her once again, while some of them were still turning loose of their arrows, firing arrow after arrow from their quivers. Hearing those cheers were a sweet thing to the dragoness's ears. That doesn't happen a lot to her. Actually it'd never happened to her. And her heart swelled to hear them cheering happily for her. After hearing them, now the only thing on her mind is Mike. Wondering how he's holding up.

Luna backwinged and muttered when she was over the village, hovering in the air, "Hold on, I'm coming." Her eyes scanned from above the battle, seeing Lost Souls and cheetahs clashing together to the death. Also seeing several bodies lying on the ground too, both Lost Soul and cheetah. She was muttering again, her eyes showing worry since she can't see the human, "Where are you?"

*****

"Whoa!" I pulled my head back to dodge another attack from another Lost Soul. His long claws barely touching my throat. I would've used one of my arrows on him, but he was too close to me for a long shot attack. So I threw a fist at the side of his black furred head. Grunting in pain as he was knocked down by me. With the moment found, I raised my bow, pulled out another arrow from my quiver and fired at him while he's lying on the ground. Hitting him squarely in the chest. I let out a sigh of relief and pulled out another arrow, looking out for more targets for me to shoot.

I see the battle's still going on in the village. I see a couple of two legged cheetah cubs who were actually outside on the battlefield running away in terror from a Lost Soul. I heard him laughing as he was chasing them. I gasped. Hang on kids! I raised my bow and turned loose of my arrow, firing at him from a very long distance. My shot actually hit that asshole in the back and he never noticed it, as he was about to catch up to one of them and use those long claws to kill the little guy. That cub was lucky I killed the evil black furred cheetah behind him. The two cubs ran into a wooden house, being let in by an adult female cheetah. I let out a whoosh of air in relief. Gee kids, why did you have to run around during battle? You're too young for that stuff!

I narrowed my eyes, running up to a tree to take cover near it. I saw another Lost Soul has spotted me, it's glowing red eyes staring right at me. I didn't give him a chance to charge at me, so I fired another arrow from my bow, hitting him in the torso. I heard a battle cry behind me and managed to see over my shoulder that a Lost Soul's charging at me. I gasped, whirled around, bow and arrow raised and fired at him. Hitting him in the arm. He cried out and kept charging at me, but he was still a few feet from me. I pulled another arrow out, drew it on the bow and let it loose, this time hitting him in the chest, making him slump forward to the ground and die. I groaned in frustration. Damn it, there's so many!

I looked up in the sky and saw a big boulder coming down from the sky to land right on top of me!

I cried out and ran fast before it could. The boulder only landed about a foot behind me, destroying the tree I was huddled close to. I wheezed as I was at a good distance, looking up at the sky again. Luna, I hope you destroy them all and fast.

I can hear someone calling out, a female voice, "HELP!"

I shot my head to the direction of the pleading call and saw near the tall wall that a lone female cheetah that I don't know is backed up in a corner by two Lost Souls. Advancing threatening towards her with long claws raised. She shrieked to high heaven, "Help!!!"

I held a glare and drew back a arrow, firing at one of them. Then with lightning pace, I drew back another one and fired at the second one. One arrow hit one monster in the back, then a second after his buddy saw him falling dead, another of my arrows hit him right in the back and fell too. Joining his fallen pal. The female cheetah ran off to take cover. Well that was a close call for her.

I hear cheering on top of the wall that surrounds the village. Much to my surprise. What are they cheering about? I'm guessing the archers must've saw something good has happened.

My eyes went wide when a thought popped up. Wait a minute....Did Luna destroy the catapults? I'm getting a feeling that's the case. They all see that she's helping them out. That's good. A second after the cheering has died down and the archers on the wall began firing their arrows at our enemy again, I could see Luna's black scaly form flying over all of us. Hovering with her wings flapping repeatedly. She appeared to be searching for someone. Searching for me, I guess.

"Hey!" I whirled around and didn't see in time that a Lost Soul snuck up behind me and brought his long claws down fast. I barely stumbled back, cause they almost sliced me in half! I grunted and shouldered my bow to fight barehanded with the monster in front of me. He snarled with his red eyes glowing fiercely, "Die!" He swung and swung with both hands, but I was moving backwards with each strike he made. He was growing frustrated and kept wildly swinging at me. But he has managed to graze my left arm with those claws, making about four cuts on it. I cried out as pain shot at my arm, and what else caught me off guard was he made a high kick to the side of my head. Knocking me to the ground with a thud. The back of my skull accidentally slammed into a rock after I fell. Making me grunt out in pain. Now I was starting to feel dizzy, my vision a bit blurry from the achiness at my head.

The Lost Souls was about to kill me on the ground, judging by his look, he was happy to finally get it over with. Before he could give me the killing blow, I saw Luna with a blurry vision actually landed behind him with a loud thud and a bit of a shake to the earth. Finally must've found me from up in the air. The Lost Soul cursed when whirling around to fight the black dragon. When she was about to come up close to the monster, I think I saw that Lost Soul making a horizontal strike to the right and I must've heard Luna crying out in a roar. The noise sounded so faraway, and my blurriness gotten worse. But I did manage to catch Luna killing the attacking Lost Soul with her jaws, throwing him away with a snarl.

I moaned a bit and laid my head down on the ground, feeling more dizzy than before. I was looking up at the blurred blue sky, barely hearing the sounds of the battle still going on, even Luna's panicked voice sounded very distant, "Mike! ....Mike!" I think I must've saw her form over mine, before everything went black. Then I lost consciousness.