It was a rush to fly on the back of a dragon.

Stilas laughed as Burr flew through the clouds. The wind in his face, the freedom from gravity. And the power. The power of sitting on a two-ton dragon was better than anything he had ever imagined.

“Enjoying yourself?” The Blue dragon growled.

“I am, thank you.” Stilas cackled. He should have done this centuries ago. He was high off of the magic that he had stolen. He felt invincible. He noticed a red dragon. It was time to test his power.

Stilas pulled at Burr’s consciousness and urged him to dive at the Leader of the Elders. Through the bond, he could feel the dragon resisting.

“I’m destroying the Elders!” Stilas exclaimed, “That’s what Demetrius was doing!”

“But not me.” Sadness filled Burr’s deep voice, “I never wanted to help him.”

Stilas pushed his will through the bond. Guardians had originally functioned as protectors. A stop-gap to keep Mages safe, but they were also the last line of defense against a Mage using black magic. Guardians were best suited to kill the Mage that they were protecting. It had worked for thousands of years, but the Dark Legion had developed a way to beat it. Demetrius’ memories flooded into Stilas’ mind, instructing him through the spell that had forced Burr to do the work of the Dark Legion for so many decades.

Burr quivered as the spell took effect. The Blue Dragon reluctantly turned and dove towards its kin. Claws outstretched it opened its jaws. Smoke wafted back towards Stilas as the Dragon took a deep breath, and then blew.

Fire poured out of the dragon's mouth, burning a path through the clouds toward their opponent.

Stilas brushed the heat away from his face. The ring that Demetrius had given him had protected him against the heat, but it didn’t make it less uncomfortable.

Kark thrust out his hand and a shield covered the front of the Red Dragon, diverting the fire to either side of them. Kark continued to pour more magic into the shield and the fire ate away at it.

Stilas reached into his pocket and pulled out his staff. He had a moment while Kark was busy fortifying the shield spell. Zeus was in Dragon form, so the old Red wouldn’t be able to use magic. He was free to line up a shot.

Stilas stood up and pointed his staff down the dragon’s neck. This was going to be too easy.

Electricity cut through the fire and arced through his body. His nerves tightened as pain skated around him. His staff fell from his hands. It tumbled out of sight below them.

Stilas urged Burr to the right, out of the way of a second lance of blistering pain. He pushed magic into his tattoo and rubbed his hand over his body. The pain dulled to a low throb and the welts disappeared.

“You let me take that hit!” Stilas growled through the link

“Would you rather fly yourself?” Burr asked as he dodged a third blast of electricity.

Stilas was about to answer when a fireball hit him in the back. He tumbled over Burr’s head, into a cloud. He grasped at the cloud, trying to find a perch.

Stilas watched as lightning charged in Zeus’ mouth. There had been a rumor that Zeus had earned his name on Earth before the banishing, because of his affinity with lightning. The rumors were seriously underrated.

Stilas didn’t have anything else he could use to focus magic through. Using a raw magic blast would just drain him, and wouldn’t scratch the Elder. Burr was his only other option, but the blue was moving too slowly to be of much help. He wanted to shoot the rebellious Dragon, but that would only push him down to the ground faster. The thought gave him an idea.

Stilas locked eyes with Zeus, he had come too far to go out like this. With the wind running through his short hair, he waited for the dragon to blink.

Zeus closed his eyes and the lance of electricity shot out of his mouth. Stilas smiled, Magic was good for more than just fighting and dominating weaker beings. He fired a raw magic blast out of his tattoo. The mark focused it a little, but that was enough. As the blast split the clouds to his right, he was knocked to his left. The lightning passed through where he had been.

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Stilas fired three more short blasts and directed himself back onto Burr. He looked up at Kark and Zeus. The pair were watching him, waiting for his next move.

“Knock them out of the air,” Stilas ordered

“Fire won’t hurt them.”

“Not with fire.” Stilas charged his tattoo, flexing his fingers as he did. “Grab them and drag them down to the ground.”

Burr tried to resist. Stilas knew the feeling all too well. It was the way that he had felt for over a century. Forced to do the will of someone who was stronger. He would have sympathized, but-. He didn’t care. He hadn’t been able to fight back then, now he could fight back and he was going to use all of his power to never be like a pawn again.

Stilas pushed black magic through his bond. He wasn’t going to give the Dragon a choice. It was going to do what he wanted.

Burr’s resistance cracked, then caved. Stilas’ will flooded the Dragon’s mind. Any thoughts of rebellion were scrubbed, focusing Burr into one singular thought: To please Stilas.

The Blue Dragon flapped his wings and sped through the air towards Kark and Zeus. Kark fired a column of flames out of his staff. The fire raced towards Stilas, like a hungry red snake. Eager to devour anything that would burn.

Lightning sparked out of Zeus’ mouth, twisting around the flames, making them even more deadly.

Stilas wove a flimsy shield in front of them as Burr reared back, his talons ready to strike.

The flames and electricity broke through the shield the same time that the Dragons collided. Fangs, claws, fire, and blood mixed with the clouds as the two massive Dragons tore at each other. Each desperate for the lucky strike that would kill the other’s mage. Wings tore, scales were peeled off. Both Dragons roared in anger, pain, and bloodlust.

Stilas ignored the screams from his Dragon. Instead he focused on getting a hit in on Kark. The younger Mage was bouncing around on Zeus’ back, healing the wounds that his Guardian was taking, while shielding some of the blows. Using offensive magic this close would hit both Dragons and could be turned back on the mage himself.

Zeus tucked his head and rammed Burr in the jaw. The Blue Dragon roared in pain as a tooth the size of Stilas’ hand flew out of his Dragon’s mouth. Stilas looked at the tooth and had an idea. Dragon parts were the best magic conductors, but any part of a sentient being was forbidden by the Congress. It was a good thing he didn’t care about the Congress’ rules.

Stilas let go of Burr and dove for the tooth. He stretched out his hands over his head as he shot through the air. His fingers wrapped around the tooth and he pulled it close to his body. He twisted around and pointed the tip of the tooth at the fighting Dragons. Magic built in his around his tattoo, then bled into the tooth. A line black line shot out of the tip of the tooth. The line crossed the gap and burned into Burr’s shoulder.

Burr roared and pulled away from Zeus, but the old Red had his claws firmly in the Blue.

Stilas lined up a second shot. He couldn’t afford the thin line that he had used before. He was going to end this right now. He blasted underneath him three time to send him above the fighting Dragons. To say that it was still a fight was a huge exaggeration. Burr was leaking so much red that his scales were more red than blue. It wouldn’t matter. In a moment Burr would die and revert back into Stilas’ magic reserves. Then he would summon the blue Dragon again.

Stilas twisted the tooth around as he began falling towards the fight. He built magic in his tattoo and fed it into the tooth. He shouted “Deluge of Darkness!”

Instead of a thin black line, a whole wave of darkness spewed out of the tip of the tooth. The inky darkness closed the gap spreading out in a cone as it got further from the tooth.

The hair on the back of Stilas’ neck prickled as the cone got closer. He was about to kill a Vita! That was an instant seat at the Dark Master’s table. He was giddy with power, He had killed one Elder today and was about to bag his second. After he had drained Kark he was going to go after Feletis. Once he had drained the old mage he would be invincible.

The cone hit a shield and washed around the fighting Dragons. He screamed the spell again, pushing more magic out of the tooth. He threw he left hand behind him, using raw magic blasts to propel the globe down. As they fell through the air, he stayed about thirty feet above the shield. His magic was wrapped completely around the fighting Dragons, blocking his view. He couldn’t see what was happening under the inky shell, but he hoped that his magic was killing everything inside.

The globe continued to fall. Just before it hit the ground, Stilas twisted away and landed on the ground fifty feet away. He lowered the tooth and began walking towards the globe. Burr hadn’t returned to him, which had him worried. Nothing should have been able to survive that assault. The ink was dripping off of the shield. Shiny blue light poked out from underneath the ink, revealing that the shield was still intact.

Kark jumped off of the Dragon pile and dusted off his jeans, “Don’t kill him.”

Zeus had Burr firmly pinned to the ground, “I know how to fight Guardians.” Smoke accompanied his growl.

Stilas held the tooth out in front of him. He looked behind Kark at the Dragon pile. It wasn’t ideal, but it had taken Zeus out of the fight. He hadn’t counted on having Burr with him when he fought Kark. That put him ahead even without the magic he had stolen from Demetrius.

Stilas grinned, “Now it’s just you and me.”