Cybelline looked at the giant creature above her and blinked.

An enraged dragon whose body covered the sun stared down at her. Around her, the fear was palpable coming for humans and fae alike. The power of the dragon was immense.

Suddenly a voice as terrible as thunder sounded above. Everyone except for Cybelline covered their ears in pain.

"FREE! I AM FINALLY FREE!"The voice cried as the dragon spewed a mouthful of fire into the air. Cybelline looked at the massive figure in the sky as it covered the sun.

She was the only standing.

The dragon roared again, the sound sank into the earth and caused large cracks to appear. Some, who were too weak against the magical power fainted.

It roared and spew flame at the city, kill mages left and right. Only death and smoke remained.

Cybelline stood, her face a mask of ice,.

"Where is killian?" Her voice was cold. Like ice from the heart of the northerlands, it was so cold it would never melt.

The dragon laughed, "Consumed! He had served his purpose. He is a part of me now and he is gone. You and all these mortals will follow. Humans and Fae, you thought you could kill me! But you forgot my eyes!"

Opening is giant maw, a grey fireball the size of the temple appeared in its mouth.

The people below grew pale and closed their eyes. This was certain death.

Cybelline felt the rush of power as the grey ball seemed to draw every power. She closed her eyes. In that second, she saw the tree in her mind's eye. It had grown once more into a grand thing, strong and silent within the land of the ring.

I need your power. She called to it. She knew that it could hear her.

Cybelline raised her arm and felt the power flow into every vein and every cell. She withstood the fire and of the power.

Just then, the dragon roared and threw the grey ball towards them.

In an instant, a golden shield bloomed out of Cybelline, like a rose, its petals covering each and every inch of the city until it was shielded in gold. If one looked closely enough they could see thin black veins connected the gold material like tiny silken chains.

The grey fireball of power crashed against the golden shield in the sky. The shield wavered but held.

The Dragon gave pause and stared down at the bloom beneath him. Then suddenly he roared in anger, "How?! This power isn't supposed to.."

Cybelline's arms were now covered in blood as the power she drew from the source threatened burst out of her earthly body.

The dragon laughed again, "As I expected, no mortal or fae could withstand that kind of power. When you're dead, I will consume your power and then the shadows will fall!"

The dragon opened its mouth to start attacking again.

Cybelline looked at the shield, "Hold." She commanded. She broke off her connection with the shield barrier and took a step back.

Looking down, she looked at Kyria who looked at the sky in disbelief. Her face was covered in the thin grey cracks that Cybelline had seen only once before, on the light fae who had given her the light stone.

Kyria's eyes stared in the sky, "He said...he said that once I helped him gain the power of the dragon eyes, he would leave! He would go far away." Suddenly, she laughed and could not stop laughing, she laughed until blood dripped down her lips, "I am the fool. I have doomed everyone."

"Nice of you to notice." Cybelline said quietly. Kyria looked at her suddenly, "I was wrong. I was blind." She started slapping her own face, the sound was harsh as it left deep scratching on her own face, "Fool! Fool! Fool!" She cried as she screamed after each slap.

Jinon rushed forward but Cybelline stopped him with a sharp look.

Cybelline was impatient. With her bloodied hand, she grabbed Kyria's arm, "Now is not the time. How do I kill the monster and get Killian back?"

Kyria looked bewildered, "I...I..."

The barrier shook more violently. Cybelline felt the power that was in the source rush through her body, tearing her at her flesh as if a thousand knives passed through her. She gritted her teeth. She pointed to the dragon in the sky, "After all these years you spent with that thing, you should know. Or do you want the world as you know burned to the ground."

Kyria bowed her head deeply, "The dragon is an ancient spirit, a god of death and shadows. He and I had made a bargain long ago that if I help him, he would give me unlimited power to do everything I wanted." She looked Cybelline, "I told him that I wanted the world to burn."

SLAP

Cybelline's hand flew across Kyria's face, the other woman crumpled onto the floor. Ithos sighed and knelt beside Kyria, looking at his sister, he did nothing. Myrai came over and put a hand on his shoulder, and he looked up at her, shame and sadness lined his face.

"My hand slipped." Cybelline said, her face stoic, "Continue."

Kyria sat stunned but then smiled bitterly, "Yes. I was wrong. But I can help you. I have one condition."

"You have no conditions." Cybelline replied, "You just created a monster and if you don't provide to be useful in about three seconds I'm going to feed you to it."

Kyria paused and then continued desperately, "Then I beg you. When this is all over. Save my people. Don't let my sins condemn the fate of my people."

"I'm not you." Cybelline said her gaze steely.

Jinon suddenly knelt beside Kyria but his eyes were on Cybelline. He knew this girl was dead serious, "I am in no place to ask this, but when you kill her, kill me too."

Kyria looked at him suddenly stunned. Cybelline looked at Jinon and then sighed, "You're a fool."

"Yes." Jinon agreed, "She has done unspeakable evil. But I am a part of the reason for it. I will pay any price for that sin."

Cybelline pinched the bridge of her her nose, "Lets do the whole killing the lesser evil thing later. Tell me. How do I kill the monster and save Killian. I can't hold this shield forever."

"I can't help you kill it. I don't have that power. But, long ago, when you were young, you channeled magic into him that suppressed the Dragon's eyes. He is now bonded with the shadow creature. I don't know if it will work, but you may be able to suppress it again."

Cybelline frowned, "How?"

"Touch his eyes and use your power, channel it into his eyes." Kyria responded, "You've done it once, you can do it again." The lady of light got up and swayed on her feet, "I will help you."

"As a sign of good faith." She then turned to Ithos, "Brother." She drew a thin necklace from her own neck, a white stone pulsing with power. Ithos looked at for a moment, a thousand words left unsaid. He took the necklace as she told him, "These are the souls of the fae I saved, once I realized what the Shadow was doing. Do what you will."

SHe looked towards Cybelline, "With that many souls, you can create a new fae empire."

"You still destroyed them. You took their future." Myrai spoke up suddenly, "Don't think we have anything but hatred for you."

"I know." Kyria said, "I did what I thought was right."

"You did what you wanted." Ithos said quietly, "There is a difference."

Kyria opened her mouth but no words came out. There was pain and remorse, but she would not bow her head,

Kyria faced Cybelline, "Let's go. You have to keep it distracted while i complete the spell. Then you only have moments to suppress that thing."

Cybelline nodded, and her great black wings unfolded from her body. In a moment, she and kyria was gone from the shield.

The Dragon roared in excitement as soon as he saw the two women standing on the ground before him. He dove down and landed before them, taller than any mountain in the world.

It roared and from its mouth, a long stream of flames erupted. Cybelline threw up her shield and in her hand, a golden sword appeared. She grunted with effort, the heat twisting the air and turning the land into a huge dark pit.

Cybelline rose into the air, and flew towards the dragon, her sword hitting the claw with a metal clank. The dragon and her both stumbled from the impact.

Cybelline could feel her arm go numb at the effort. She drew more power from the Source. The shadow dragon saw her efforts and laugh, "You won't last the day, the way you're going. That power can't be commanded by a fae. It will kill you after you done here."

Cybelline shrugged, "I've had worse."

Beneath her Kyria closed her eyes and muttered her spells, connecting her once more to the dragon. She opened her eyes, "Today will be your last, shadow."

"Are you still alive?" The dragon taunted. He looked at Kyria, "You should have just died."

"I'll take you with me." Kyria said "I won't let you kill my people."

"How?" The dragon asked, "I destroyed the stone, that prison I called home. You have nothing to contain my power now."

Kyria opened her hands and the broken remnant of the stone that once housed the Shadow appeared in her hands.

She closed her fist around the pieces and held it to her on own chest, "For all those years that thing laid on my chest, I had worried that you would one day do me harm. After all these years, I have fed it enough of my blood so that you and I are connected like one. i might be able to kill you, but I can make you suffer."

Suddenly, her hand plunged into her own chest. Gripping her own heart, she squeezed, forcing the shards in. At that time the dragon screamed.

Kyria looked at Cybelline and croaked out, a thin line of blood at her face "Go."

Cybelline flew into the sky towards the dragon's eyes, narrowly avoiding the long claws and fire. She felt pain as a fireball singed her wings but she did not care. She flew straight for the eyes.

Once there, she placed her hands on its head and sank into its head.

Flurries of memories entered her brain. A mixture of kyria's memories, the shadows, and Killian's.

All of Killian's memories was her. Cybelline smiling. Cybelline being sarcastic. Cybelline creating a world of trouble.

Cybelline the child, holding onto his own childish hands and promising him a lifetime of happiness. These are the memories that kept him from being consumed.

Killian, come out, come back to me. Cybelline pushed her magic, her mind and her body at the very limits.

Grey magic rushed out at her, but she combined her dark magic with the source forcing it back.

She found herself falling into a maze of memories connected by the grey magic. At the center, covered in grey veins was Killian.

He opened his eyes at her call. Green eyes met green eyes. Then the panic set in, "Don't!" He cried, "He will devour you. No matter how much power you have, no matter what you are, he will eat you. Leave this place. I will hold him back!"

Cybelline smiled, "Hey don't take my job."

She gripped the webs around him and pulled but quickly stopped when she saw it took his flesh with every tug.

Killian smiled at her bleakly, "We don't have much time. Please. Just kill me. If I am dead, the monster will die. He needs time to absorb the power of my eyes. If you kill me and burn the eyes, you be safe."

Cybelline gripped the webs and called the remaining bit of her magic, "No."

With sheer will and stubbornness, she called up the last bit of her dark magic and forced it to eat away the webs. There was screams of pain and an outraged roar.

The shadow. It was coming back.

She worked faster, burning and burning it all. She looked at Killian, "We have to control him." Killian nodded and put his hand on hers. Green and dark magic mixed, force the webs to be wrapped in the combination of power. As they were nearing the end, suddenly Cybelline was thrown back

Suddenly, she was falling off the dragon. Kyria was already lying on the ground.

The dragon roared in agony and then in the blink of an eye, began to shrink back into a person. Killian stood in the rubble, staring uncomprehendingly at his own hands.

Cybelline dropped the golden shield, and Jinon rushed out, he gripped Kyria's body and looked down into her face, a face that was now covered in thin grey cracks. Reaching into his pouch with shaking hands he fumbled for a healing stone.

"Don't waste it." Kyria said, a smile on her lips, "I'm not worth it. I have done too many wrong things and too blind to know it. My regret is the lives I taken and the pain i caused, I deserve to die."

"I will follow you wherever you go, Kyria." Jinon said quietly, "Even in death."

"No, I worked hard to keep you safe. Even when the Shadow wanted to kill you. But I can't anymore." She smiled up at him, "This is the last time I save your life." Her final breath was a sigh.

The Lady of Light had died.

Cybelline staggered up, her body more broken than on any other mission. Yet she stumbled towards the man in the center of the crater.

When Killian opened his eyes, the were pure green. Cybelline smiled, "You're alright."

She felt her knees buckle, the dragon was right, she was on the edge of death. She needed to heal, she was spent. She turned around, looking to make sure that her people were fine.

He was close to her, a smile on his face, "Let me help you." Suddenly a shadow sword appeared in his hands and he lunged forward, his eyes red once more.

Instinct told her to move, and the sword missed her heart by and inch. Cybelline clutch the sword and sent the very last blast of power toward the Shadow.

She had wanted to avoid this. But she needed a place to suppress the shadow.

With tears in her eyes, she looked into his face, "One day, I promise, one day, you will remember me again. But only it would be safe. Only when you can control him. But right now, I want to keep you alive. And I will always choose that above anything else."

Cybelline sent the shadow into a part of Killian's mind where he stored the most precious of memories, the strongest stronghold that she knew. And she knew that it would be a safe place to lock everything in. Everything including the memories of her. Of them.

She chose for him to forget her. It was his only chance to live. I hope you live a life where you are happy, even if I am not there. It broke her heart, but she forced the pain away.

Killian's eyes rolled to the back of his head and he fell to the earth.

Cybelline felt the world spin as she too fell from the last impact of her magical use. She was empty and perhaps this would be the last moment of her life. She looked and saw that her people were running towards her, she smiled. They were safe.

Ithose reached her first and held her in his arms gently, "Child you can't die now. You have family. And we'll do anything keep you safe."

"I'm trying, Ithos." Cybelline whispered, "I promise."

The world started to dim as her body began to glow. Ithos and Myrai looked at each other in horror as Cybelline's life started to fade away.

----------------------

Author's Note:

So the world seems a little crazy right now and I know that everyone must be having a hard time. I hope that this story can provide a little bit of an escape for anyone who happens to like it. Thank you all for reading - be you someone who likes or comments, or any of my silent readers. I appreciate and value you all.



I do have one request for you, an this is something I'm trying to do as well. People are panicking and doing irrational things, please be kind to those around you. There are those who are going to have a tougher time and I genuinely hope that you will get through this unharmed. Some people I know have started to worry about their future, I hope that we as a society can do what we can to help those who are unable to help themselves.



Thank you so much for reading this story and thank you for reading my story. You are all precious, valued, and loved. I wish you safety in these trying times and that someone will be kind to you when you need it the most.



Rin.