Goddard was becoming increasingly suspiscious of his brother ever since they had returned from the cave. He wasn't so ferocious anymore, his suprise attacks had stopped, and he had holed up in his room. Whenever Goddard saw Paxton, he looked like he was thinking hard about something. When Goddard had tried to fight, or sneak attack, Paxton would find some way to slither away.

  One time, Goddard was relentless in his assault, chasing Paxton into a closet where there was no escape. Opening the door and demanding a fight, Goddard was greeted with an empty closet. When he tried to ask Paxton how he had escaped, Paxton told him that he had used magic to make himself invisible.

  Goddard knew that was a lie, Paxton's white magic had never let him turn invisible.

  In fact, that wasn't even possible with white magic.

  That was purple magic.

  Extremely advanced purple magic.

  The more answers Goddard tried to get out of his brother, the more questions he came up with. Paxton didn't even seem to train anymore, and there was one time when he caught a speeding arrow purely by reflex. His brother was getting stronger, as was evident by some things breaking down quickly. He was starting to make Goddard worry.

  On Paxton's side of things, he was contending with a voice in his head that was giving him incredible information. Having lived nine years of his life as a self-conscious child, Paxton had already established what the average person was supposed to know. What this dragon was telling him didn't exist in the classical history textbooks. If it wasn't

for her teachings on magic manipulation, he would have disregarded her words as insane ramblings.

  Also, her constant yammering was breaking his concentration on the real world.

  'Give me a name!' she once called while Paxton was trying to read.

  "What? Why?" Paxton asked.

  'Dragons don't need names, we aren't the most social creatures. The only time I'd see another of my kind was when they wanted to fight. But now everything has a name, except me!'

  "Okay, then I'll give you a name. How does 'Gratia' sound?"

  'Atroscious.'

  "Okay, maybe something to do with ice.... Glaciel? It sounds like glacier."

  'That's even worse.'

  "Jeez, you're blunt," Paxton groaned, trying to think of a good name. "Alright, you're Crystal, and I don't want to hear any sass."

  The dragon was silent as it pondered it's new name, but eventually sighed, 'If that's the best you can do, I suppose I'll accept it.'

  "Oh come on, Crystal," Paxton teased, "don't be so hard on me."

  'You're making a pun, aren't you? This is going to get old fast, and I am very old already.'

  "You asked for it," Paxton brushed off the criticism.

  "Paxton!" Goddard shouted from outside of the room. "Paxton, do you want to train?"

  "Shit, this is bad," Paxton mumbled.

  'This is the second time today,' Crystal mentioned, 'is that boy obsessed with training?'

  "No, I'm the one who used to train with him all the time. It was kind of our thing, but now that you gave me this massively overpowering strength, I can't even swing a stick without breaking down a tree."

  'Maybe you should train,' observed Crystal. 'As long as it's not sparring, you would be able to train and learn to control your strength.'

  "Holy crap, why didn't I think of that?"

  'One point for me.'

  Getting up, Paxton had the biggest smile on his face as he found Goddard and explained how he was going to start teaching the boy his own techniques.

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  Taking the practice swords, Paxton when through the steps of a simple rapid slashing technique. When Paxton swung the practice sword at a wooden post they had been using as a dummy, the dull metal rod bent slightly at the impact. The dummy had the short end of the rod, receiving mortal damage down the center as though it had been split by an axe.

  "When you can do that," Paxton pointed at the split log, "I'll teach you another technique."

  Goddard tried the technique on his own dummy, but the impact didn't even get through the sinews. He tried again, this time using his magic to boost his muscles and harden the fake sword. The impact was better, but the log still didn't split.

  "Nuh uh, no magic for this one. It's purely technique, you need to train your body for it."

  Finally, the two trained once again, perfecting the simple technique of waving around a stick. Paxton was getting into his own techniques, how they relied on efficiency and speed rather than any brute strength. It was all about getting from A to B in the fastest way. The techniques were alien to Goddard, giving him new ideas of thinking on fighting skills.

It was a divine experience that gave Goddard more questions than he could imagine.

  How did Paxton know these techniques?

  Where did they come from?

  How are they so powerful?

  Did he create these?

  Why didn't he share these techniques with the army in the war?

  'Are these techniques from a different future than mine?'

  Paxton couldn't answer while his brother was within range, but his focus was purely on the training.

  'Oh, wow, you were a serious killer in your past life. Good lord, some of these memories....'

  Paxton was starting to get annoyed.

  'This is very impressive. Your power is very fortunate, especially that one guy whose spine became-'

  "That's enough!" Paxton said aloud, dropping his sword suddenly. Goddard paused his training, looking at his brother curiously. When Paxton realized his outburst, he added, "I'm getting tired. I need some rest."

  "Really? YOU are tired?"

  "Yeah, I've been overdoing it for a long time. Maybe we should take a break."

  "Alright, this is the last time," Goddard said angrily. "What the hell happened to you in the cave? You've been really strange since we left the mountain, and I'm not going to take any shit. Tell me right now, what happened in that cave!"

  Goddard had his training sword brandished, his fist clenched around the handle.

  "Calm down," Paxton tried to disarm his brother.

  "NO!" Goddard screamed, lifting his training sword into a fighting stance. "I need to know if you're my brother or not. Nothing about this makes sense!"

  "What are you talking about? Goddard, put your sword down and talk to me!"

  Without warning, Goddard took a swing at Paxton, who just barely dodged the blow. Goddard swung again, but this time Paxton deflected it with his own sword. Goddard was viscious in the fight, and the self-proclaimed tired Paxton was able to dodge and deflect every hit.

  Finally, Goddard pulled out a special trick he had been saving, a special magic usage he had been practicing in secret.

  "Hasten," Goddard declared, triggering the memory of his magic. As he expected, his body filled with incredible energy, his limbs crying with inane strength. Goddard's next attack took Paxton by suprise, because he was too fast. Within moments, Goddard was next to Paxton, the practice sword brushing past his brother's hair.

  Paxton put up a guard, but Goddard had overboosted his power. With five consecutive blows that felt like being rammed by a bull, Paxton's sword cracked in the middle.

  "Goddard, stop it!" Paxton shouted, but his brother wasn't listening.

  "Goddard," came a voice from the garden, causing Paxton to turn around.

  Standing on the edge of the pavilion overlooking the garden was their mother, her beauty stifled somewhat by her age. She stared in horror as Goddard ruthlessly attacked his brother.

  "What's wrong?" Goddard turned on Paxton, forcing him to defend as best he could.

  "Where's your next trick? What hidden technique are you going to use now? Show me your secrets! TELL ME WHAT YOU'RE HIDING!"

  'Your bother must suspect something,' Crystal added unhelpfully.

  "Goddard, that's enough," Paxton tried to order his brother. "Stop this right now, it's not funny anymore!"

  "Is that what this is to you?! You think this is all a big joke for your amusement?! This isn't a game, Paxton! It never was!"

  Goddard swung angrily at Paxton, who put up his guard just a bit too short. The training sword shattered, the top half flying off towards the garden.

  Towards the pavilion.

  Where their mother stood.

  Paxton only had time to regard that his mother was in danger before he acted.

  He watched the broken rod flying through the air, and he pulled out his special magic. His body seemed to become transparent for a moment, then all that was left was a slight black fog. Looking up, Goddard witnessed his brother miraculously appear on the rail of the pavilion.

  He also noticed that Paxton had his arms spread out like a goalie, the broken end of the practice sword flying towards him.

  The near endless moment suddenly climaxed as Paxton's chest was pierced by the metal shard. He shut his eyes as tightly as he could, trying to register the pain in a body that wasn't trained for it. The rod impaled him all the way through, sticking out just enough that his mother almost got hit.

  Paxton suddenly felt dizzy, slightly tipsy before he started to get the sensation that he was falling. There was a sudden impact to his back, causing him to cough out the air and some blood in his lungs.

  Goddard watched in a daze as the metal shard pierced his brother's body, then Paxton fell limply off of the pavilion. The drop was around eight feet, enough to seriously injure if he landed wrong. Dispelling his magic, Goddard felt weak from using up so much of his energy. That was the downside to that particular magic, it turned endurance into strength for a massive boost in ability. Now weak, Goddard fell forward as even more questions reeled through his mind. However, there was one very prevelant thought that ran circles around his cranium.

  'How did Paxton use black magic?'