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The Last War of Light and Darkness

The next day, after the event, the whole Dark Sentinel had ceased their suspicions on each other. As they didn't recover Baritgetv and Fenrico's body to get a proper draconic cremation, they just left their condition on whatever happened to them, including what gory end Fenrico got. The dragons mourned over two of their comrades, though. Poio and Pio had left them, as he was the dragon's strategist.

"We lost many dragons this time...and we don't have more dragons to volunteer as our Sentinel. This is a lost cause," said Coraero to his rider. "Is it really time? Are we going to lose?"

"Don't lost hope, Cory," said Jon while patting his dragon's huge snout. "We'll be alright. We just need help."

"At least what happens here doesn't reach the Light."

"Anyway, Cory. How's the new member of the dragons? I haven't seen her sometimes after the traitors' deaths. What happened to her?"

"I don't really understand what the dragoness has to say. Fenrico was like a best friend to her. Being a death dragon really isn't an easy task, is it? I also can see her health started to wane...she's sick, Jonathan. What are we going to do?"

Avila was actually pretty sick after the fight. She started to cough blood every now and then. She also had a very weak body after the fight, and she sometimes couldn't wake up at all. Since the night after she returned to the headquarters, Cynder realized Avila started to swoon and she collapsed to her side out of exhaustion. With the help of some dragons, Cynder helped the black dragoness to her place while Cynder watched her counterpart all night without sleeping, ignoring the fact that she also needed treatment on her leg. Since the fight, the shackle-like bracers Avila possessed on her front legs were gone, as if they vanished.

Today, Avila was strong enough to at least lay down on the comfortable hay bed, but she was still very sick. Only she knew what happened to her, and it involved her own condition.

"Damn...the sickness kicked in faster than I thought," thought Avila while swishing her tail. "She said I will endure the ailment and pain I got right now as a compensation for my power. Well, I didn't blame my heredity. I just thought...what the hell did I do to deserve this?"

"Did you forget Seraphor, Avila?"

The voice of the Death dragon manifesting inside her ringed inside her head. Hearing the word Seraphor made her realize what she had done, and she just made a sad smile.

"Oh...you made me remember bad times," said Avila inside her head, to the dragoness.

"Don't blame too much on your side, Avila. That genocide was controlled by the vile darkness manifesting inside you. The better you saved your mate. That's what happened. You're not to blame your own, Avila."

"I..."

"Shhh...young dragoness. You're still alive and young but you have endured that much. Just calm yourself, okay? You're the protector of this realm now...at least."

"I can't be a hero. I'm a vile dragon."

"Your friends think you're, Avila."

As she finished talking inside her head, she realized Cynder was in front of her all the time as she yawned and tried to stand, only to find out she had still too weak. Cynder was carrying something on her back and she tried to put it down. Avila helped her unbuckling the straps and pulling the belt from Cynder's body. Avila realized it was food. A fresh, marinated meat, coated with human's wine.

"I thought you're hungry, so...I asked Os to hunt for us both."

"You don't need to do that, you know. Your leg is..."

"It's healing nicely," interrupted Cynder. "Sikha said I still can fly for a while, but I can't force myself to dash away with pure muscle force. My back is still a pain."

Avila made a grin while chuckling. "We're really in the same condition, huh?"

"You can say that to yourself. Let's eat, Avila, it's still warm."

While Avila couldn't move for the rest of the day, the rest of the sentinel had been trying to coordinate a defense pattern, knowing that the dragons had lost most of their best dragons. The riders weren't enough to fight the technologies, and of course the dragons, despite of good strategy and coordination, wouldn't be able to fight without more members on their own. They were at loss and sooner or after their small Dark Realm would be lost.

"I...really don't know what to say."

"It's not your fault Fenrico betrayed us," said Jonathan to his friend. "The dragon was not a Dark Sentinel from the start, and he somehow modified your memory to think that you're his rider."

"I am fooled for 10 years.... Goddamn that son of a bitch..."

"Hey, man, chill out. I'll treat ya a drink or two and you'll be good as new."

"Thanks."

"And anyway, Cory," said Jon to his dragon. "About the weapons you said..."

"Varkast said he needs more time to take more in. Smuggling from the Light is not easy."

"I know...goddamn it, we're fighting against them but we're relying on their weapons. We won't be able to win with only magic to account for. We need an army, not a group of dragon rider club!"

"Stay calm, Jonathan. We will survive the war."

"If I may..."

Both the dragon and his rider turned their heads to the source of the voice. Avila was standing in front of their vision, straining to even stand. It had been three hours since she ate, so she still had energy to walk despite of her temporary paralysis.

"Avila, what are you doing here?! We're not going to see you die too!"

"I'm not dying, Coraero," said Avila weakly. "This is the side effect of the death power I had."

Avila wasn't able to stand for a longer time, so she fell to her side while coughing. She could taste blood in the cough, so she closed her maw with her paw while trying to hide the blood away from them. She then said, "Fenrico betrayed us because of a belief he got. He was corrupted by the Dark magic he was possessed to...like us."

"But we..."

"Listen to me for a while before you give a comment, okay? Please, Coraero."

After Coraero stopped talking, Avila solemnly said, "Dark magic is a very dangerous art, which had a very terrible consequence. Fenrico was normally a Light dragon, which, of course, never was born to what we have. While you all only knew he's a Light dragon, he confessed to me that he got the evil desire we all not get accustomed to. But then...I realized one thing when he confessed that."

"Hmm?"

"In my world, black dragons are resented by the other dragons because of their vile nature and reputation. Most of the villainous dragons back in my world are black scaled and had dark powers. I don't want to say I've changed to the better, since I'm still a vile one in many aspects. But then, after being together with you all, I realized that while the polarity of personality has changed, you all, being black dragons, are the ones being nice, wise, and...and had fear like normal dragons."

Avila flapped her wings. "For that purpose, I have thought about a plan we can do to stop this war once and for all."

Hearing the words made Coraero reacted suddenly and exclaimed, "What?! How do you devise a plan in your state?! Tell us, Avila! What are you thinking?!"

"It's a simple matter, really. The Light dragons are nothing but slaves to the humans. They are vile not because of nature, but because of the technology humans had."

"So that means..."

"This is a plan we can't succeed without all of your help. This is our only chance."

Avila then made a silence, before saying, "We'll try to embrace this technology. Feel the cause, and try to combine science with magic."

"Combining them?! Are you insane, Avila?"

"I'm not insane and I'm not joking! This new technology can unify the non-magic beings with magical beings like us. Can you tell what our own humans say about us, the Sentinels? If we try to use magic, we can't survive, but just like them, without magic, their technology would surely be weak by time. Fenrico mentioned about the 'green forest Tragedy'..."

"It's 'Green Forest Assault' for us, Avila. That was the time when we managed to kill an army of humans with fire and magic..."

"Because their technology failed. We also lost dragons because of our over-confidence with magic, just like their over-confidence with tech."

"But, we won't get this peace without any conflict."

"Believe me, Cory, I've seen many conflicts with my mate, and I know how hard it is without peace."

Both dragon and rider hesitated for a moment. They couldn't think of any better reason to counter Avila, but also, they couldn't hide the fact that they also wanted to accept the plan. It was true they were trying to find peace from war, even by smuggling technological advances. After hesitating, Coraero and Jonathan stared at each other for a while before nodding to each other. Jonathan then said, "It's going to be hard to cross the border."

"I've got a plan with Cynder, just you wait," said Avila with a grin while Cynder walked into where they were talking.

Meanwhile, at the Light side...

"Elder...Fenrico and Baritgetv had fallen."

"So...the sons of the wicked had tasted Damnation," said the elder dragon. "I can feel our group can finally try to devise a peace with the dark dragons."

"But...we can't trust an enemy. Even if we want to, the humans would never acknowledge us because of their pitiful mindset."

"I know, Arzhein, I know...but they had tried it."

"Eh?"

The big mountainside cave suddenly got an air rift. The dragons had readied themselves when suddenly they only saw a dragoness, walking out from nowhere. The elder saw that the dragon wasn't normal, having feather-covered leather wings and protruded fangs like snakes. He also saw the dragoness had two lashing tails waving independently.

"Illusion...what a great show of dark art, youngling," said the dragon in patience. "Are you proposing peace on us?"

"Yeah...sorry about Fenrico, though," said Avila while trying hard to stand.

"Your legs are still weak, youngling. Sit, if you may," said the elder after seeing the trembling legs of the dragoness. Avila relieved herself while getting down to rest. After she finished resting, the elder dragon said, "I believe...you have stopped the traitors?"

"Traitors?"

"Fenrico and Baritgetv. They betrayed us by performing the dark arts for personal gain, just like their fathers and mothers. They infiltrate your Realm to take away our long peace with you all by trying to kill the demonic entities."

"You mean the five pains?"

"They're slaves to the humans, and we all try to spark an alliance with you lot, if not for their foul desire."

"Fenrico said you asked them to use the dark arts..."

"A lie, indeed! In my life, I never knew any magic except fire, our only pride. They have wronged our images. We're not vile, just misdirected. Ah...at least, I have my thanks that you've disposed of them."

"Damn, that fucking downright liar!"

"Easy, girl, easy!" said a blue dragon trying to calm Avila. "Damn you're cocky!"

"Yeah, I thought you all just plain evil," said another.

"Peace, my friends, peace," said the Elder, which silenced the others. "We are not intending to make a conflict, just peace. If you want to fully defeat the corrupt humans, we'll be gladly aiding your help."

"We don't want bloodshed, elder," said Avila with respectful tone. "To fully bring peace, we want you to cooperate with us."

"For?"

"For combining our humans with yours, and your technology with our magic."

"You really want to do that? For years we had tried to convince the governing humans to make a peace with your cause, but their arrogance causes the extinction to magic, and we realized your cause is the only hope to revive the magic..."

"And yet our magic can't improve without using technology, as we only rely on old knowledge," said a disembodied voice.

"We all made a decision that whatever happens, we're not going to destroy our hope," said another voice. "Let's fight together."

While the other dragons were curious on the voice, the elder said, "Dragoness, it's no use acting cool while hiding your comrades. Let us introduce each other, and I want to see your leader."

Avila made a smile before staring at nothingness. She then waved her tail and all of the sudden the whole Dark Sentinel materialized before the dragons, startling them. The elder also saw Yorloka and Yrelka among them, and he said, "Demon dragons. You both have guts to cross our border."

"Look, elder, we're not going to fight here because of the demons, okay? They're both fine, trust me."

The elder dragon was a little bit distrustful toward the demon dragons, but when he saw that the others didn't express distrust to them, he made a sigh and said, "I believe I can meet the leader, either human or dragon."

Both Coraero and Jonathan then stepped forward.

"Ah, a fine combination, both of you," said the elder dragon with a grin. "It has been a long time since I've seen a dragon and its rider walk side by side."

"It's really a pleasure to meet the leader of the Light dragons," said Coraero. "I'm Coraero, and this is my rider, Jonathan Monroe."

"Greetings to both of you and your command, Coraero. Such a young leader, yet energetic. My name is Pertyiviid."

Pertyiviid then made a low growl, followed by his voice. "If you all may, my comrades, I and their leader will go to my private cave about the Sentinel's plan."

Coraero then moved to Avila. He then whispered, "Whatever happens, wait for us. We don't want to get into trouble with the Light."

"We'll try to, if they don't start first," replied Avila.

Then Pertyiviid opened his leathery wings, tattered because of the past battles. He raised his wings, then beat it down to the rocky cave and started to glide magnificently, though Avila made a smile and turned her head to Coraero, which returned her grin with a toothy grin. Coraero also opened his wings, but didn't beat it. He proceeded to run toward the cave opening, startling the other dragons. He ran very quickly before he started to fly up. He managed to make a jump at the end of the cave, greatly increasing his altitude and speed and went past Pertyiviid.

"What dragon taught you how to fly like that?!" exclaimed Jonathan over his back. "You almost throw me off from your back, bro!"

"I realize I fly faster like this!" said Coraero while waiting for Pertyiviid. "Let's go, elder dragon."

Avila watched the two dragons flying away while exchanging words before they disappeared behind a rocky mountain, quite possibly Pertyiviid's cave. Avila sighed and turned her head to Cynder.

"Well, Cynder. Maybe we have stopped this worthless war after all," said Avila while she saw many of her friends started to chat with the other dragons.

At the day, it was the first contact between the Light and the Dark, creating unison between the feuding factions. The humans staged a revolt to the corrupt government, and they made clear of the liberation of their cause, deactivating the force field a week later. After a negotiation between the humans and the dragons, they decided to make big organized twin cities, modernizing the cities with the combination of both the magic and the technology, creating the arcana architecture based on the assimilation between magical and technological aspects, and arcana objects.

After almost a hundred years in tension, the Light and Dark had finally able to be one, as a whole, creating completion.