//------------------------------// // Converging // Story: Legacy of Dragons and Knights // by DARKPHANTOM13 //------------------------------// Spike's P.O.V. I met up with my friends, with the addition of Kerva and Sapphire, at the motel room. Thankfully, Smith and Jack were out so the room wasn't too cramped. I gave them what information I was able to gather. Mist, Zero, and Naota had heard pretty much the same thing. Fortunately, Shadow, Kerva, and Sapphire were able to discover some specifics. "I have heard about one of the warriors," Sapphire claimed. "His name was Amidamaru of the Phantom Fire Clan. He was quite a well-known warrior and adventurer during his time." "Wait. The guy in my dream mentioned that I'm that guy's descendent," I mentioned. "You mean you’re a member of the Phantom Fire Clan!?" Sapphire yelled, now suddenly an inch away from my face. There was a look of awe and admiration on her face and I swear there were freaking sparkles in her eyes. I could feel my face warming up at the close proximity. "Apparently..." I manage to say before gathering my wits before they completely left me. "If you know something about them, can you fill me in? The only thing I know about my Dragonborn heritage is that my ancestors gained their powers from a zombie dragon after killing the guy controlling it. Even then, I'm not really sure if the story is true or not." "Of course," The silver haired Dragonborn replied. She had a familiar look on her face, one that I hoped to never see again. She had the same look Twilight gets when she is about to deliver a lecture. "What you mentioned is, for the most part, correct. The Phantom Fire Clan was a family of wandering mercenaries and adventurers. Even after they gained their powers and their status as a noble clan, they preferred to continue living the life of a warrior, as opposed to the safe and easygoing life of a noble. The problem is that with that mindset, your clan's population had declined over the years, either from the natural dangers that come with the lifestyles of warriors and adventurers, or assassinations from or performed on behalf by people with a grudge against them. Nowadays, the remaining number of members of your family are small and said to be spread throughout the world." Well, that is a bit depressing. Sure, coming from a family of wandering badasses is pretty sweet. But because of that, we're something of an endangered species. I wonder if I have any family nearby. Maybe I can even find out about my birth parents! "Do you know if any of my clan members are in Dracoheart?" I asked, hoping against hope. Sadly, there were none to be found. "Sorry, but I don't know of any Phantom Fire Clan members that have a permanent home here. In fact, as a general rule, most of them don’t have one period. The only one that I've heard that has an actual home anywhere lives in the Kingdom of Lucis, and I have no idea where it is exactly located." No luck there. It’s starting to look like the only way I'll be meeting anyone even remotely related to me is by running into them by complete accident. And the only known member that is supposedly staying in one spot is on another continent all together. Plus, if what I remember from my mom and the reports sent to Twilight through me are correct, Lucis has been in the middle of a mostly cold war with the Nifheim Empire for the past fifteen years or so and is still going strong. In short, it would probably difficult, if not outright dangerous, to travel there right now. Looks like it is a dead end…for the moment at least. "Sorry to interrupt," Kerva politely said, "but Shadow and I may have some information on the one who fought alongside this Amidamaru guy, and might also be the one who contacted Spike through his dream. "Though if we’re being totally honest, it isn't much," Shadow continued. "From what we could find, the guy who helped Amidamaru fight against that necromancer was named Azure Kite. The guy looked like a kid that died, was buried, dug up, and brought back to life. Also, he was supposed to have power over blue flames." "Yeah, that sounds like him," I replied as I thought back on my dream. "Anything else on him? Like where he came from and stuff?" "That’s the thing," Kerva answered. "Outside of what Shadow said, there is almost nothing about this Azure Kite. It's like the guy just popped up out of nowhere. Nobody even knows what race he is. The only thing everyone can agree on is that he was a wandering hero, but that's it." Not much to go on at the moment. I was hoping for some more info on him. I really don't want to end up walking into a big, elaborate trap, especially with my friends right behind me. Though if past experiences has taught me and my former friends anything, it is that stuff like this shouldn't be ignored. A group of bandits have already unsealed the place, thereby awakening an undead mage and his zombie army. Speaking of which… "I don't suppose you guy learned anything about the necromancer, did you?" I asked the one and a half Changelings. "I'm willing to bet that we're going to have to fight him before all of this is over." "Not much really," Shadow said with a shrug. "Only thing we got was that the bad guy's name was Rahgot and outside of necromancy he specialized in ice magic." "In that case, Naota and Spike should be good match against him due to their fire attacks," Zero pointed out. "I as well, since I have a heat based elemental power," Sapphire volunteered. "Which is?" I asked out of curiosity. The noble Dragonborn wore a similar teasing grin that reminded me of a certain Changeling. "That, you will just have to wait and see." "It's good to know that I'm having a positive influence on you," Kerva said as she hugged her friend. "Well, I don't know about you being a positive influence," the silver haired girl joked. "What about the guys hanging around the place?" Naota interrupted. "I don't think they'll just let us walk right into the temple." "Oh right, almost forgot about them," Mist said as he rubbed his chin in thought. "How about having Shadow and Kerva sneak in and check out the place?" "Right. You two can see whether or on not we have to use force to get in. And if that is the case, after gathering some intel, the two of you could cause a massive distraction. When that happens, the rest of us could go in and finish them off." I thought up before turning towards the two. "As long as you two are okay with doing this." "Sure, not like this is the first time I've done something like this," Shadow answered with a shrug. Kerva had a smirk on her face when she said, "And it's been a while since I've seen some action." "Okay, then we have a game plan." Mist said as he and rest of us made our way out of the room. "Yeah, let’s see if Jack will give us a ride," I suggested. "We'll have him stop about half a mile or so from the ruins. From there, we'll go on foot." "Mind if we hitched a ride with you guys?" Kerva asked as she pointed to Sapphire, Shadow, and herself. "We don't have a ride ourselves, and flying might draw too much attention." 'So Sapphire and Kerva can fly huh?' I thought before mentally storing that piece of information away in my head. It might come in handy for later. "Sure, but Jack drives a truck so some of us might have to ride in the truck bed." "Then Sapphire and I will ride in the back. I don't like to be in crammed into places if I can help it." Kerva suddenly had a familiar look on her face as she looked towards me. A look I see all the time when Rarity is flirting someone. "Though having you sitting with us in back would make the trip even better," she said with a smile as she lean towards me. It was difficult to fight down my blush, and I could tell by how the smile on the Changeling's face grew that she could sense my struggle to some degree. While I was leaning away from her, I bumped shoulders with Sapphire, though she didn't move away. In fact, it felt like she was slightly leaning against me. "While I wouldn't have said it like that," The noble Dragonborn said, while trying to keep a straight face. Though I could see that she too was fighting back a blush, as well as a sly smile that was growing on her face. "I wouldn't mind having your company with us." "I see that I've been a good influence on you," Kerva said proudly as she wrapped her arm around mine. "You have indeed been an influence on me," Sapphire commented as she does the same to my other arm. "Though I'm not sure whether or not you've been a good one." The witty back and forth continued for a while, but I was a bit busy at the time keeping my face from overheating and my mind out of the gutter. 'This is going to be a long ride.' ________________________________________ Third Person P.O.V. "Are you sure about this Wild?" Cid asked his friend as the two rode in his truck out of the town towards wherever Wild was leading them towards. "I'm sure man. I've been sensing this since last night," Wild answered. "I couldn't make it out at first, but now I can tell that there are two large magic signatures. Though for some reason their signatures are hazy and muffled. I think they might be sealed or something." "If they are sealed up, then why are we in such a rush to get there?" "Because the seal on one of them is showing signs of breaking soon, and not only do I sense dark magic leaking past it, but the thing that’s sealed seems to have the traits of a necromancer." That last bit of information got Cid's complete attention. Necromancy is considered one of the worst magical arts in existence and is outlawed throughout most of the world. Though it doesn't stop cults and the like, who pop up every now and then, from attempting to use it as they please. Anyone who finds out about one of these groups are expected to report them to the proper authorities or stop them themselves if they have the skills and talent to do so. "Well, at least this would be a way to combat test my new gauntlets. Though I'll have to stick with the Mark 1 Air Gear for this fight." The blonde engineer said as he thought about the fight ahead with some concern. Seeing his friend's worry Wild gave him a reassuring pat on the back before saying, "Don't worry about it dude, between your brains and tech and my magic and brawns we can handle anything." Understanding his friend's attempt at cheering him up, the Taurus-Blood smirks while responding with, "And it's a good thing I'm the brains between the two of us, if it was just you you'll just go charging in at the top of your lungs." "Hey, I can't help it if I'm immortal and you’re not." The magic user quips back, smiling that he managed to get his friend to feel more at ease. The two continue to bicker back and forth as they made their way towards their destination. ________________________________________ There was a third group that was making its way to the ruins, though they were taking a more rough and rugged route. Especially since this route took them through a forested area. The truck the three passengers were riding in were narrowly dodging trees and the occasional boulder by a hair's width, all the while the occupants were practically tossed around the cabin due to the uneven ground. Surprisingly, only one of them seemed to be genuinely worried. "Hey Alucard, are we going the right way?" Seto calmly asked the vampire in the passenger seat as if he was on a Sunday drive instead of narrowly missing a boulder and threading the needle through two adjacent trees. "According to this map, we should be." Alucard assured as he looked over the map in front of his face. He and the others bounced into the air for a second due to a large bump. "If we keep going like this we should reach the ruins in about five minutes." "Let me see that map." Alucard leaned the map closer towards Seto while the archeologist leaned closer to get a better look, blocking his view of what was in front of him. "Keep your eyes on what's ahead of you, moron!" Alma yelled from the backseat. He was gripping the seats as hard as he could since he was pretty sure his life was on the line. "Alucard, you have the map upside down." Seto pointed out, ignoring Alma's yelling. "Whoops, my bad," the vampire admitted as he turned the map around. Seto looked back toward the road, just in time to dodge another series of trees once again. "And that's another thing," Alma continued, carrying on with his rant while pointing towards the vampire. "Why did we let him be in charge of the map and directions?! He has absolutely no sense of direction!" "Because I called shotgun and whoever is in the shotgun position is in charge of the map and directions." Alucard replied as if it was a law of the universe. "Okay Seto, make a hard right here and jump that cliff. That should put us in the tomb's general direction." "Wait, WHAT?!" "You got it." Seto said before turning around a boulder and increased their speed towards the aforementioned cliff. As they sped up and off the cliff, Alma cried out what he thought might be his last words. "IF I DIE, I'M GOING TO KILL YOUR ASSES FROM THE GRAVE!!!"