The Change. 46

Deep in the dark crags of Maricora, the dead city of Napia sat. It was a cold dead place that housed only one living being. This was the home of Polan Dresek, the Shadow dragon. Ruler of all he saw. Polan sat at his throne in a dark mood full of hate. His enemies, the Keanna Dragons still thwarted his every move. He stared at a map on the wall that was covered with red except a few white areas. The red areas were territory he held, the white controlled by the enemy. Meaning the dragons or areas still free. Polan wanted to dominate the world. He wanted the whole map red and the white areas so frustrated him. Sitting in his study staring at the map, Polan thought about all the presidents and prime minister's, royal families and high courts he had destroyed or killed. He knew there were many out there looking to kill him. But none of them scared him, none of them had more power then he did. His only worry was the dragons. Only they were any danger to him. His magic he knew was above there's. A smile spread across his face as he thought of the plans he had for all of them.As he sat and pondered his next move, Maveta the lone white spot visible glared out at him. He stared back wishing that color would change to red. Suddenly as he watched, another white spot appeared on the map. Polan stood and walked over to the map to look at it in disbelief. Certain cities and countries shone out in white. Tir Na, Yadessa,these cities were dragon cities. Now Dansport shined out. Somehow it had been freed. As he watched Ardia, Winterhaven, Mythioes and Kensor turned white. This cant be. He was losing countries fast. And if they were anything like Maveta, He couldn't enter them to take them back.
"NOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!"
This was somehow being done by the dragons. Polan flew into a rage and tore through the study trashing everything in sight. He blasted his desk then threw his world globe against the wall smashing it to pieces. He turned to the map and started to rip it down then stopped. He had to calm himself. This would not get his conquests back. He still had the Collectors family. He would deliver the dragons to him. While he waited, he could send his Black Armours and the armies out to take back what he lost.He walked out to his courtyard and summoned his captains to him. One by one there images appeared before him. Most of them were dark elves or trolls. All from armies he had taken and made his. And all infected with the poison Polan oozed to keep them loyal.
"I am losing lands we have taken." He said. "How do you explain this?"
"This is not our fault Sire." Said one human captain. "We capture lands as you bid us. after that we move on."
"ARE YOU SAYING THIS IS MY FAULT????" Polan screamed at him.
"No. sire. My apologies."
"Not accepted."
Polan reached out and sent a bolt of black energy into the sky. A look of fear covered the humans face. He turned and ran hoping to get away from what he knew was coming. Seconds later the bolt struck him and he fell withering to the ground. Polan watched as he began to age and die. Soon he was nothing but dust blowing away.
"I want those lands back under my control." He told them. "I don't care how you do it. Invade them in mass. BUT GET THEM ALL BACK NOW!!!"
He turned and stalked back to the house. He had plans to make and dragons to kill.

Far off in Petralia, A handsome winged man came flying out of the clouds, winging his ways down to land. Jayce St.James looked all around him. He hated what Polan had done. Petralia was once a beautiful flat grain bearing country, full of life and hard working people. Now it was a bleak dark place poisoned and suffering to feed its sick inhabitants. Now those days were over. The dragons had a way to cleanse the land and banish Polan forever. Jayce flew to the center of town and pulled Salvation from its scabbard. The sword hummed with power. He raised it to the skies and watched as the clouds parted. Soon the dark dusky sky was bright and clear, filled with sunlight. Smiling he took the sword and stabbed it into the ground and watched as a flash of light overwhelmed the land. From the spot he placed the sword, the ground began to change. It began to take on a more healthy hue the spread out and into the rest of the country. Jayce stood the and smiled. He saw people begin to come out of there homes and look around. From the look on there faces, he could tell the healing had began. Quickly he touched his pin and became invisible. This was the beginning to Polans end. Spreading his wings he took to the skies again. On to the next place to be cleansed.

Azeal arrived in Yadessa riding on the back of a beautiful unicorn. Denner in his unicorn form. Together they almost flew there the forest and mountains that surrounded the vampire home. He couldn't wait to see Valkar again, his adopted father. Jandar and the others had taught him well of the importance of family. he was glad to be here, back home. His job was to put there protection on Yadessa. With Justice at his side they rode in to the city. Everyone turned to look as they passed. Its not everyday they saw a vampire riding a unicorn in Yadessa.
[I'll bet you'll be glad to be home and see Valkar again.] Denner sent to him.
"Yeah." He smiled. "But Yadessa's not my home anymore. Settlement is. I like it there. So many different people. No one treats me like an outside. And no ones afraid of me."
[You mean because your a vampire? With all the werewolves and dragons and things. We're all use to different types of people around us.]
"But people don't think your gonna creep into the room at night and suck them dry." Azeal said. "My people have always brought fear to others. That's our history. My whole race was created from a curse and an evil ancestor."
[But as I was told, he wasn't always evil. The curse was laid on him because of love. Isn't that true?]
Azeal looked down at Denner as the rode. Not many knew the history of the vampires. He was shocked that Denner knew.
"Yeah." He said. " It's true. One of Valkar's great ancestor loved a woman so much, he fought against all odds to make her his bride. He even fought against his god and lost. He was denied his love and cursed. Doomed to walk the lands as the undead and spread his curse to others. That's how we were created. At least that's one of the stories."
[Undead? Like Polan's undead?]
Azeal could hear the twinge in Denner's voice. It wasn't fear. More like uncertainty.
"Polan makes dead things walk. That's not undead. They are dead, he magically gives them a resemblance of life. We were different. It's hard to explain. His crave for blood and life made him evil. It took a new love to show him what he's been doing. The evil that he spread across the land. He praying to the gods to grant him the love he needed and he swore to never feed on another being. They granted his wish. But it took centuries and by then, there were hundreds of vampires roaming the lands biting and dominating others. We created werewolves, treated them like slaves. Then the war. By the end, everything changed. The wolves taught us something. We were still much to proud for our own go. But we were changing for the better. We no longer feared the sun, we no longer feed on humans, except the truly evil among us. For them nothing has changed."
[Vampires like Velusia?]
Azeal hesitated for a few seconds. Not sure how to answer. But he decided truth would be best. "Yes. My mother thinks blood makes her more powerful then the rest of us. But she's wrong. I have none of her weakness's and all of her strengths."
[Except she's been changed by Polan now and is much stronger then before.]
"I know." The dark haired youth said.
In front of them they saw Yadessa coming closer. They had been traveling all day. Denner was thirsty but not very tired. The gates of the city loomed in front of them. A guard called down then recognized Azeal and greeted him. He opened the gates and told him he'd let Valkar know he was back and on his way to the castle.
"We can walk from here." Azeal said. He climbed down and Denner began to change. His form shimmered and soon he was standing there in Nautica's deep blue colors.
"Nice outfit!" Azeal walked over and brushed something off his shoulder. Denner was wearing trouser of an almost black deep blue. High boots an a gray shirt. He had a lighter blue vest and a dark blue jacket. Azeal as usual wore all black except his white shirt. On his hip he wore his dagger, Justice.
"Excited?" Denner asked him.
"Yeah a little. Come on. The castle is this way."

Up in the mountains of Tir Na, A small troop of Black Armours kept out of sight. There mission tonight was to take the city if they could. But to at least cover a certain person as they completed their mission. He idea was to cause so much confusion, no one noticed what was really going on. Slowly they made their way down the side of mountain and to the outskirts of the city. They sat and watched as people went about there business in the late of the night.A beautiful woman walked by with a wolf cub at her side. Seconds later the cub became a young boy, jumping up at her as his mother laughed.After a few minutes the street became clear and the men started to come out slowly. All around the town they positioned themselves and tried to hide and wait. with a little luck, no one would find them until it was to late. Werewolves are nocturnal. There much better at night like the vampires so normally there up during the night hours. The home of Drake and Tressandra Tyr is no exception. Being the royal family, the house is always filled with messengers and nobles and people seeking an audience with Lord Drake or Lady Tressandra. This night things went as usual. Except for the beautiful golden eyed woman that came to visit. She had been announced as a visitor sent by Valkar to learn the ways of the werewolves. No one suspected anything as she'd been here for two days, and so far had been very polite and courteous. Be today she had something else on her mind. Something evil was afoot. She had toured their home and know where she was going as she climbed the stairs towards the family apartment, There wasn't many people up there at this time of night so she wasnt worried about being seen. She was looking for a certain room and its inhabitant. It didn't take her long to find the room she was looking for. Soon she stood outside the room she had been looking for. It was the room of her son, Ranjer. Velusia smiled as she saw him in there playing with his favorite toy. A spinning top. Ranjer wound it up with the string and tossed it. Round and round it spun as Ranjer watching with a smile. He had put obstacles in the way for his top to bounce off of. Her son. How she hated them. Rejek was dead and she plan to make sure both Ranjer and Azeal joined him in the ground. It was time to make her move. The soldiers must be in place by now. She backed up and dissolved it to a smoke cloud that rose up to the ceiling and waited for the attack to begin.

"It's time." The captain turned to his men. "I want you all to split up. Head to the all sides of the town. We have to draw the towns guards out and everybody we can. Tear this town up. Start fires, do as much damage as you can. If we can take this town for our master, we do it. But don't let them capture you. The master has plans that will make them turn this country over to us. Now go!!"
Fanning out in teams, they all quietly spread out through the town and began to cause havoc. Breaking windows, beating citizens, starting fires, they did anything to bring out the guards. Soon the entire city guard was out spreading around the time battling the Black Armours. Drake Tyr and other leaders were there directing men to places where they were needed. Battles broke out all over the town with soldiers trying not to be capture but most failing. Soon the werewolves had many of the soldiers in custody in there city prison.
Back in the Tyr residence, Velusia heard the noise of battle raging through the streets. It was time for here to move. She stepped out and smiled at Ranjer.
"Hello young Prince, Do you remember me?" Ranjer looked up at her and the smile faded from his face.
"I remember." He said. " You're the mean lady that hurt my brother. I don't like you."
"That's to bad." She said. "Cause your coming with me."
"No, I'm gonna tell my Poppa Drake on you."
He stood up and tried to run past her. She blew a stream of smoke in his face that overwhelmed him and knocked him to his knees. the last thing he remember before he passed out was calling Azeal.
"It's to bad your Poppa Drake will never see you again. Say good bye to all this."
She reached down and picked him up and started for the door when Tof came walking in.
"Ranjer, come on, were..." He stopped when he saw the woman carrying his brother. He had no idea who this woman was but she was holding his brother. Tof shifted to half wolf and growled.
"Put him down now!!"
"Or you'll do what?" She smiled showing her fangs.
"Who are you?" He asked.
"I'm his mother." She put him. "And theres nothing you can do to stop me."
"We'll see about that."
He launch himself at her, his claws slashing at her trying to rip her to pieces. Before he came into contact, she dissolved to smoke and swirled all around him. Tof swung around and kept slashing, hoping somewhere in this cloud he would find her. But she was the cloud and soon the smoke began to overcome him and he fall to the floor gasping for air. He wanted to get up and fight her, he had to stop her. Tof had no idea what she would do to Ranjer. He knew it wouldn't be anything good. He had heard Jandar and Ono talking about her. But he could barely move. The last thing he heard before he passed out was her laughter.

Later on that night, Velusia carried Ranjer in a pocket of air to her new castle. It was someplace no one knew about, not even Polan or any of the shadows She planned to keep him here until she killed him weather Polan liked it or not. Soon as she got Azeal and Valkar and Drake promised to abdicate, she could turn the lands over to Polan and be rid of these two thorns in her side. She reformed on the stairs heading for the dungeon. There she put Ranjer in a cell and locked it.
"Your days are numbered little brat, just like your fathers." She turned and headed for the stairs. "Soon I'll have everything I want and you my son, will be dead."

As Azeal and Denner stood in the palor waiting, Azeal wondered what was taking Valkar so long. They have been there an hour so far. He knew that wasn't like Valkar to keep people waiting. Valkar was an impatient man,. He hated to be kept waiting so he didn't do that to his guest. The more they waited the more he knew something was wrong.
"Denner, somethings not right." He said. "This is not like Valkar to keep us waiting."
"He's a king." Denner said walking over to a chair and sitting down. "I'm sure he's busy."
"To busy to see me, his ward?" Azeal paced back and forth in the room.
"Calm down Azeal. I'm sure eveything's fine."
"I don't think so." He said. "I'm gonna check with Rage. He may know whats going on."
"OK, if it makes you feel better."
[RAGE? is somethings wrong? Valkar's got us in a waiting room for over an hour.]
[There's been an attack at Tir Na. I'm waiting for Drake to tell us how serious it is.]
Suddenly the double doors open and Valkar strides in with a stone serious look on his face.
"Azeal. I'm glad your here. We have a big problem." Valkar reached out and shook Denner's hand.
"Welcome to Yadessa." He said. "I'm sorry about this but there's been a kidnapping."
[AZEAL!! RANJERS BEEN KIDNAPPED. I THINK IT WAS VELUSIA!! STAY IN YADESSA. I'M COMING TO YOU.] Jandar sent to him.
Azeal looked up at Valkar. He reached out and grabbed him.
"She took Ranjer!!" He said. "She took my brother!! She'll kill him I know she will!!"
"Calm down Azeal." Denner said. "She wont hurt him. She needs him to get what ever she wants."
"I'm afraid he's right. Velusia will kill Ranjer. She hates her boys."
"Why?" Denner asked."They're her sons."
"I made them both wards of the kingdom and my successors. If I were to die. Azeal becomes king. If all three of us die. She his a claim to my throne."
"Even if she killed you?" Denner asked.
"She doesn't care about the throne!" Azeal cried. "She wants us dead! Me, Ranjer and Valkar! She already killed Rejek, now she wants to finish it! I have to save him!"
"You will with our help." Valkar put his hand on his shoulder. "Getting excited and running off after him wont help. You don't know where he is or how many are holding him. Let's wait for Jandar. He may have a way to locate him. Come on up to my study. He wont be long."
As Valkar finished talking. Jandar appeared with Graym and Pelic in the doorway.
"You're right. I won't be long." He said. "Rage and the others are flying. I thought it best if I get here as fast as I can. We don't have a lot of time."
"Aiya Jandar." Valkar reached out and shook his hand. "You and your friends are welcome to join us in my study."
"Thank you."
Jandar waved Pelic and Graym to join them.
"Follow me."
All together they followed Valkar through the doors and upstairs to his study. Shutting the door he sat at his desk while the others pulled up chairs.
"So here's what I know." Valkar asked. "Tir Na was attacked tonight by Black Armours. They came in and burned buildings and it seemed like they were everywhere. Drake thought it was the prelude for an invasion. But they manage to capture all the soldiers, then nothing happened. Last I heard from him, he was a bit confused by the whole thing. He didn't understand what Polan wanted. Was it just to harass them? That's all he told me. He said he'd get back with more information when he can. Jandar, I guess you have more?"
[Jandar!]
"Hold on." He said. " My father's sending to me."
[Polan wants us to bow to him. Were suppose to turn TirNa and Yadessa over to him in two hour or Ranjer dies. Im sorry son but we cant do that. There to many peoples lives it stake here. Are you with Valkar?]
"Yes." Jandar told them. "I'm with Valkar. I'm tell him."
"My Dad sent me the rest. Tof was worried that the invaders had gotten into the Manor where Mother, Sharone and little Ranjer was. so he went home to protect them He found mother and Sharone safe, so he went up to check on Ranjer. Upstairs he caught a beautiful woman with golden eyes carrying Ranjer out."
"Velusia!!" Pelic said. "I should have killed her when I had the chance. Now I'm sure the spell Polan gave me won't work."
"Yes." Jandar said. " I'm sure by now he knows you've changed sides. But let me finish. Tof fought her or tried to but, how do you fight smoke? He said he should have grabbed Ranjer and ran, but he really didn't have a chance to. Next thing he knew he was choking on smoke and passing out."
"It wouldn't have worked." Graym told him. "She would have chased him down and the same result would have occurred."
"Tell that to Tof. He blames himself for losing Ranjer. Now we have two hours to find him or he dies. Polan wants us to give him the two countries. No fighting, We bow to him and swear to serve him. My father wont do it. No matter how much he loves Ranjer. Valkar?"
"I can't do it either."He said. "Not for the sake of one little boy."
"So what do we do?" Denner asked. "I could go out and catch the others and start searching. With all of us, we could cover a lot of ground."
"I don't think we have that much time." Azeal said."My mother doesn't care what Polan wants. She's going to kill him, I know it!!"
"We believe you Azeal." Valkar got up and went to comfort his ward.
"So we have to find a way to find Ranjer."
"No we don't." Graym said.
"What do you mean?" Denner asked. "We find Ranjer, we get him out."
"How do we find him?" Graym said. "Anybody know?"
No one it the table had any idea. Even Azeal, who was closest to Ranjer couldn't locate him.
"Do we all agree that wherever he is, Velusia will be near him?" Graym asked.
"Yes." Jandar said as the rest shook there heads."That makes sense."
"Then we find her." Graym said with a smile.
"How?" Azeal asked impatiently.
"Shadow Beast."
"Of course!!!" Pelic banged his fist on the table. "We use Polan's own magic against him. That's brilliant!!"
"What are shadow beast?" Valkar asked.
"One of the powers Polan granted us was total control over the shadow beast." Pelic told them. "Watch."
Pelic leaned back and called one to him. From under the table a growling noise came. Everyone pushed away from the table and a dark figure emerged. It was the size of a Great Dane and completely made of shadow. The shadow beast came over and stood by Pelic.
"We can call thousands of them and they can go anywhere there's shadow." Pelic explained.
"That means everywhere in minutes." Graym said. "And there attuned to her. They've found her before."
"What about Polan?" Jandar asked.
"Polan may be able to destroy them, but he cant command them." Pelic told them. "Only Graym and I can. And Taren a little.
"Well what are you waiting for?" Azeal asked. "Do it!!"
Graym bent his head down and tried calling them to him. Seconds later through the window sparks of light came pouring in and flying all around the room. Everyone looked at them in wonder. These weren't shadow beast, they were sunbirds. Many landed on Grayms shoulder. He held out his hand for some to land on.
"I guess your change give you something new." Jandar told him. " I'll bet they're the same as the shadow beast only in light. Send them out. They may find him."
Pelic send out the shadow beast. "This is going to work. We'll find him."