TDH - 'The New Era' part 2.

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Chapter 3 - bring it down.

Patches had flown back to warn his brother, Ossy, leaving Tiffin holding the shard of crystal in his mouth as he went past his own cave. He didn’t’t know who to go to, or what to do now. He thought it would be fun to get the shard, prove Lakazo had lied and that would be the end of it, however he saw now it would not be that easy.

He suddenly felt something grasp his shoulders and he yelped, as dark talons clasped him In their grasp, tightly. In his moment of panic, Tiffin coughed out the shard and held it in his paws, ready to snap it somehow!
“do not dispose of the stone and don’t struggle, I am here to help you” the gentle, rather young voice sounded as it held onto Tiffin, guiding both of them towards the ground. Tiffin whimpered and let his wings stop flapping as the bigger dragon took control of their flight.
He hang like this for ages, as silence fell between the pair of dragons until the pink and brown dragons paws hit the ground, and the larger yet more sleek back dragon landed before him.
Tiffin frowned, looking the male over, its body a pitch black. It also had a head band with a gem in the middle of it, nestled under its fringe, and a black chocker like band on its neck. its red eyes locked onto Tiffin’s, and its sleek black mane blew in the wind.
Tiffin growled, the quartz now under his paw as he bristled his fur, trying to look bigger.
“who are you? What do you want?” He snapped, his ears right back as the dragon smiled
“I am Dante Shadowmoon..”
“Quuda’s Dante…?” Tiffin blinked, his ears flicking forward again as Dante nodded. Tiffin tilted his head as Dante’s gaze fell to the paw that held the slither of quartz.
“Tiffin, why did you take it?” he asked gently as he then walked closer to the buck as Tiffin n response, stepped back from the shard.
His eyes were guilty as he let Dante pick up the splinter in his humanlike hands and rolled it around, inspecting it.
“… I wanted to show them I wasn’t lying..“
“that may be the case, but do you know what you have started?…” Dante asked as he held the shard in his hand, turning his head to the bright skies growling nervously. He knew they would be coming for Tiffin soon, Lakazo wouldn’t’ let this go. However, at least they had a head start on the evil dragons in terms of distance...
“come Tiffin. We must get the others”
Dante flared his wings once Tiffin agreed, and flew off towards the caves of the others who would help…

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The red slash on the young bucks face bled and stained his black face, as the sound of the powerful hit echoed on the vast mountain walls.
The youngster was shoved violently backwards and he yelped as he stumbled, landing on his side on the hissing death vines. His frightened gaze lifted to the eyes of the dragon that had forced him to the ground - Lakazo. He was a huge, intimidating mass of dragon. His black scales glistened blue whenever the light touched his smooth, miniature diamond hard scales, his imposing unique forward facing horns were now alarmingly close to the other males eyes..
“insolent idiot!” Lakazo snarled as his face fans flared out, as he loomed over the other much smaller male, as he glared down at him, who whimpered
“im sorry great leader! I tried to catch him, but the loiterer saved him! The black stitched one and another!”
“I don’t give a damn who stopped you from killing the furred thief, the fact is you failed!.. Sweet Nightmare..” he turned towards Nightmare, a large out of place whitey grey wyvern dragoness with black wings moved forward. She belonged to the shadow clan, and was here along with the dark clan members for the emanate meting. Her long, silky black hair ended in dark red tops, and she had a sick smirk on her face.
“yes sir?”
“… give him your best treatment. I do not wish to see him again”
“with pleasure…” she chuckled as she nodded to two males beside her, who approached their fallen comrade and grabbed his neck, dragging him towards a cave. Nightmare followed swiftly, and as she entered the dark cave after the dragons, pained roars sounded into the air, and the chuckle of Nightmare was heard too, she loved her work…

Lakazo growled and leapt onto the sacrifice rock he had been standing beside, flaring his great wings, as he leaned down towards the collection of dragons, casting his gaze from one to the other
“Listen to me, brothers, sisters, Now is the time for us to rise! One of the haven dwellers has given us the perfect excuse to start our ascent to ultimate domination of this land! And now, they have no leader…”

He gestured towards a large collection of slithering death vines, which parted slightly so a pit could be seen. And at the bottom, lay a massive green dragon tangled in the subterranean roots death vines . Vergon.
Lakazo had promised to back down and break up the dark clans, requesting Vergon to come with the quartz, to smash it to pierces on the sacrifice rock. He had said it was a symbolic way to end the black dragons old ways..
Lakazo had never back stabbed or double crossed Vergon before during their many years of meetings, so like every other time he was called. He had come..

Lakazo sneered down at the ‘king; of the Haven. He then turned to his clan
“the old fool listened to us, and now we have him in our grasp! Without the green meddler to guide them, they will fail!”

Lakazo turned his gaze towards his most trusted assembly of dragons from the 3 clans, they included many types of dark dragons. He picked his best trackers and fighters for this mission, and they stepped forward.
One was Sergorba, a slender light blue dragon with a white helmet like structure on its head made of bone.
Another was Torn, a massive black hybrid dragon, he was one of Lakazos oldest companions and an imposing male, with many spikes and bulky muscles.
The third was named Furnace. A large burgundy colour dragon with a mane of red hairs, tipped with yellow. He had more scars and tattered wings than Lakazo himself, and was arguably as fierce looking.

“Retrieve the shard from that cretin, Furnace and Sergorba. Take some others with you“
Furnace snorted, and Sergorba bowed, before they both took off with a few black dragons and other clan members in tow.
Lakazo watched them go, then turned to the other male who stood with his head lowered and gaze not meting Lakazos, showing his respect to the leader of the darkness.
“…Torn, you will retrieve one for the last sacrifice...but not alone.” he then bellowed loudly, and another massive buck walked forward . He was built for power, his striking red underbelly stood out against his pitch black skin, as did the huge red ball on the tip of his tail, with many spikes jutting off it..
“..with my brother, Rowan. Go now! And“ he purred “I want a strong species for this finale....no classics..” Lakazo smirked down at the horned male below him who nodded respectively to Lakazo as he looked over to Rowan who grunted
“Lets get moving, the sooner this is done the sooner I may sleep again” He hissed, as he spread his black wings, the red underside membrane spread out wide as he reared and leapt into the air. Torn spread his own mighty wings, and followed Rowan.

Lakazo chuckled
“Haklash will get her last gift from us..” he addressed those around him
“then the Haven is ours! Hail Haklash!” Lakazo then flared his wings, and as if declaring the war, he let out his biggest, most earth shattering bellow. The dragons around him reared and followed suit, shooting flames and plasma into the air, roaring too.. The whole mountains around the black dragon lands seemed to vibrate and rumble with the sound..

It was started.


4 DAYS LATER

The dragons had come together, most of the good “Haven Guardian” dragons had managed to get to the Okitkus family grounds, the place furthest away geographically from the black dragon lands. Currently the focus was on Tiffin, as he roared at Flames, who had innocently asked him why he took the shard.
“well if you had just believed me I wouldn’t of done it! You were all being so mean” Tiffin snapped, causing Flames to rise her eye ridges at the buck whose ears were right back and his eyes were narrowed
“Tiffin you’ve changed..” Flames said gently, before Tiffin snorted
“MAYBE I just see you for who you are…”
He turned his back on her, but he came snout to snout with Vidas who narrowed his purple eyes
“don’t talk to her like that again” he warned, his teeth showing as Tiffin snarled back which reserved a hiss from 77, who stepped up beside Vidas

“come on guys, this isn’t getting us anywhere. And where’s Vergon? Should he not have come here by now?” A calm voice floated into the air, as a grey dragon with two golden yellow horns on his head stepped forward, between the 3 bucks. Dinorenk. He successfully disarmed the situation with this action, as everyone was indeed interested in where the giant Great Earth Dragon was.
“Last I saw of him, he was heading towards the black dragon clans.. Russel would know more as he lives by the BD lands, but I have not seen him for 4 days. I thought he may come to this meeting…hope his ok” Dante piped up from his laying position, as his mane was preened by Quuda who lay beside him.

Dinorenk tapped his chin with his claw, before he turned to the others.
“should we not send out a search party for him?“ he asked the group, but a snort greeted his idea from the big fire dragon who stood with his arms crossed as he leaned on a bolder next to Flex.
“and break up the small amount of guardians we have left? Clever. Relax, he will turn up soon” Inferno grumbled as he walked over to Flames and playfully punched her shoulder, as she looked sad from Tiffin’s growl. Flames smiled at the big gruff male but then turned her attention to Dinorenk, a thoughtful frown on her beautiful face.
“I think his right, Vergon wouldn’t just disappear”
Dinorenk nodded
“well, I don’t mind going to hunt for him” he looked around at the others
“I’ll go with you!” Dawn, who had been sitting with Sedas piped up as she looked over at Dinorenk with a bright smile on her face

Dinorenk smiled back, but a warning growl escaped Vidases mouth as he eyed the grey buck
“if she gets hurt, Dino…you will have me on your neck, ok?” he bared sharp teeth at the other male for a spilt second, then stopped and smiled
“good luck”
“…thanks, Vidas..” Dinorenk blinked, as he and Dawn then spread their wings to leave, and soon they where soaring in the air.

“so what made you want to come with me?” Dinorenk asked, as Dawn smiled, her eyes closed as she inhaled the fresh air with a smile, her purple and pink eyes then opened and she turned her head to the male beside her

“because Vergon has always been around to help us out of troubles, and for him to go missing.. It means there Is something very wrong..” she frowned and looked ahead of her, flapping her spotted wings as she then looked back to Dinorenk

“and plus, I like you, your fun to be around!” she giggled, and Dinorenk blushed, looking down
“well, thanks..” he muttered, before he looked up again with big eyes at the dragoness,
Dawn was shooting through the air, chasing a butterfly. She span around the small creature, her wings causing a current of air sending it upwards, the poor thing seemed a bit flustered briefly but soon carried on its way.
Dawn put one claw to her mouth daintily and looked at Dinorenk
“oops, didn’t mean to do that..” she then flew back to the male, and nipped at his horns as she flew over him
“chase me!” she squealed as Dinorenk looked shocked for a second, but he followed her grinning, as Dawn threw back her head and laughed, spinning upwards just as Dinorenk leapt forward, missing her by millimetres
“oh no you don’t!” he grinned as he flew after the smaller dragoness, shooting up into the clouds with her. She giggled, the clouds sweeping around her and Dinorenk with each wing beat they made. She smiled over at him as did he at her, as they span around together, laughing in the clouds.

“we are not going to find Vergon doing this are we? Maybe we sho-” wack! Dawn was stopped mid sentence, by a large, black and blue bolt, she yelped as she was dragged through the skies
“Dino!” she gasped as she struggled to see what had taken her. she cried out as talons dug into her wings, as the larger dragon held her in his strong arms
“do not struggle, little one…it is useless to fight” the strong voice boomed out, and the great expanse of blue wings flapped either side of her. She screamed out for Dinorenk again, but saw he was in combat with a massive, huge dragon. Rowan! Lakazos brother!
“Please don’t hurt him!“ she whimpered, as she felt the strange sensation of fur rub her skin, the large dragon had clasped its hand around her mouth.
The large blue underbelly scales glinted above her, She let out a gasp as she locked eyes with its own ice blue orbs
“the more you struggle the tighter I must hold you..”
Dawn shuddered and practically went limp
“come Rowan, we have who we need, have you finished playing…?” Torn asked, as Rowan grunted in reply, shooting out a flame of volcano lava temperature towards Dinorenk
“I got him under control” Rowan replied, as he watched the dragon that was half his size dart away from the fire.
Rowan growled as Dinorenk then flew upwards, and dived, landing on Rowans back mid air and clawing his way down it, until he leapt off in time to avoid the swing of Rowans massive wrecking ball like tail.. Rowan roared in annoyance, and snarled as he swung himself around, his eyes following Dinorenk in the skies
“release her!!” Dinorenk bellowed, his teeth bared as he watched the two males.
“ or what, midget? I’ll see you in the war” Rowan growled as he then turned to follow Torn, who bellowed into the air to tell Lakazo, they had their special species!

“you can still save her…” Rowan growled to Dinorenk
“bring the one who broke the shard, and we will negotiate a deal….him for her”
Dinorenks eyes went wide
“… what?.. We cant just offer him for sacrifice just as much as we cannot offer her!”
Torn chuckled as he turned his head back to the smaller male as he hovered.
“…. if you will not give him up willingly, then the black dragons on their way to your little gathering of guardians will take him by force… and then we will have surplus to requirements, Dino. Lakazos death vines do need feeding…”

Torns eyes narrowed

“Make your choice quickly..”

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Tiffin, Lakazo 1/2 Sedas etc
77
Sergorba
Torn
Nightmare
Rowan
Ossy and Patches
Flames / Furnace / inferno
Dinorenk
Dante