Epilogue: Dawn of souls

The war was over, the 693 dragons without partners flew away, in the direction of the rising sun, vanishing from sight in a few slow moments. Burnt bodies of mobs were strewn everywhere, amongst the bloody corpse of the fallen ender dragon, amongst the dripping innards of the Phantasm snake, the field was stained with the blood of mob and dragon, even though there was only one fatality that day, dragons were well known to not keel over and die that easily. The sun had managed to cast a gentle golden orange glow across the land, despite the downpour that was about to be upon the thirteen riders and twelve dragons, Nascha and Solaris had finally landed among the dragons, wings outstretched to shield their partners from the impending rain. Doing a swift head count, Lomadia realised one person was missing; it was Lalna. Mystic had also reported that Destiny was missing as well, but other than the two, everyone was here. "Hm, does anyone have any idea where goggle boy went?" Sips finally had enough of the silence, thus his sudden outburst. "I last remembered seeing his dragon fly off into the jungle, do you think he is still there?" "Lomadia, this is of utmost urgency, I cannot sense Destiny anymore, but I can still sense a human at the aforementioned clearing." "Alright, we'll go over and check it out, something tells me there's something wrong."

Mounting swiftly, (minus a rather clumsy Sips and Sjin) the twelve riders and dragons flew for the clearing, ignoring the cold, relentless deluge as they ascended. Mystletain and Skydancer were not really positive about such a decision, they knew something was up, but what? They will soon find out though, as the two were the first ones to land on the blood soaked plain, to see a very badly burned scientist on his knees, clutching at a pastel blue jewel and crying his eyes out. But there was no sound. Skydancer didn't need any more proof to know what happened, there could only be one reason why he would suddenly break down like that. "No... she didn't.... she couldn't have.." his words only seemed to have aggravated the already broken scientist, causing him to fall onto the grass, his arms wrapped around the glowing jewel. All of the dragonriders, the members of the yogscast, seemed to finally understand what had happened, Lomadia had wanted to reach out to her adoptive brother, but Rythian stopped her, "No, he'll need some time... alone, we can come and get him later." Honeydew was also beginning to crack, Eclipse at his side, the young dragon trying to comfort her partner, gently licking his sodden face, Xephos was trying to hold his feelings back, Saiyana with her orange head on his shoulder, offering him mental comfort. Lilalna showed no emotion on her face, but her sorrow was cruelly contained within, threatening to burst out of her, to finally show after so long, Mystletain battling her never tiring wave of emotion, Joca was trying to calm an obviously furious Skydancer, furious at himself, and at Israphel.

He should have known, why did he go along this path? He could have turned back and saved her, but no. He went along with her, and it got her killed, for him, all just for him. Why hadn't he known something was wrong when she mentioned of the dragon's final duty to riders, why? "Lalna.... you still have to keep your promise.." "Destiny?" "Yes, it is I, here to deliver a final message and thanks." "Wait! Where are you?" "I am at the place where all spirits go, the Aether. Herobrine had been kind enough to let me convey my message." "Exactly a year from now, a cherry blossom tree will bloom at your castle's garden, wait there on that night.." "And Lalna, thank you for everything, for the jokes we shared, the laughs we had, and the moments we were together, they will be memories both you and I will never forget. I will remember that day, when we viewed the lovely elemental lights, undisturbed, and at peace, as one. I will remember that day, when we finally accepted each other, that we finally stopped trying to chase each other away. But most of all, I will remember every moment we shared, all of it, from sleeping in caves to death defying escapes, I will remember them forever." "And Lalna,... I... I.......I love you." And she was gone for good.

Hours turned to days. Days turned to weeks. Weeks turned to months, and soon enough, an entire year had passed ever since that fateful day. Solaris and Nascha now spend their days travelling, searching for any dragon eggs that may require the loving care of the deeply bonded two. Saiyana and Eclipse now spend their days in the Jaffa factory, sometimes helping with the wiring, sometimes ballsing everything up, but the two were inseparable from their partners (Especially Eclipse, who just can't seem to stop eating Honeydew's endless supply of Jaffa cakes, driving the ginger dwarf crazy every time he discovered ALL his jaffas were eaten, including his hidden ones.) Moonflight and Spore followed their partners back to Blackrock stronghold, the death cap dragon slowly learning how to cultivate giant mushrooms (that are not death caps, considering he has killed more than ten peaceful mobs, and poisoned many more) While the death dracolich taught Rythian the eight death balances (only if he promised to not use it on people) and how to loosen up a little, usually with her giving him rides across the ocean, and by rolling, twisting and stunting in the air until he learned how to really enjoy himself. Lumina and Subterra followed their partners back to Sipsco, with the supernova dragon forever getting her partner unstuck from impossible wire tangles (minus electrocution) and with the pure earth dragon trying (and failing) to get Sips to do something productive. Dryad followed Martyn and Toby back to their little camp, where she protected day and night, and woke everyone up at irregular intervals in the morning with a never ending list of tasks to complete (Pretty useful for Sips, if you know what I mean) Circuit still liked to make everyone's hair stand into creative sculptures (much to the person's dismay) and also helping to power machines, with the cost of letting him play with their hair. Hurricane was back with Nilesy, at the pool stand, this time with him in a giant of a pool, plenty of room to swim in, which is no surprise to see him splashing at anyone who got close, but mostly Nilesy. Lomadia and Mystic decided to stay at Lalna's castle, just to be sure he will not do anything stupid, but it was only for two weeks after the scientist's burns healed over, before they left for owl island. Joca, Lilalna, Skydancer and Mystletain stayed at Lalna's castle, since they didn't really want to just set off in another adventure so soon.

It was drizzling on that day, and the scientist just got back from an overly stressful day at the Jaffa cake factory (somehow, all the machines decided to balls up on that particular day) and he didn't feel like doing anything but sleep through the day to tomorrow, but he knew he couldn't sleep now. Peering out of a window, he could see the cherry blossom tree in the courtyard, it's pale pink buds almost ready to bloom in a cascade of petals and scents. He had known that there would be an asteroid shower tonight, which meant plenty of shooting stars. He wondered if they held a hidden meaning. But the time was almost upon him, grabbing the polished jewel in his hands, he teleported down to the courtyard, and settled down beneath the cherry blossom tree, waiting for the time to come.

The rain was unforgiving, slowly escalating from a drizzle to a downpour, but the scientist waited, ignoring the cold of the night. it was about eleven when the first shooting star shot through the sky, followed by many others, Lalna wished on every falling star, he wished the same thing over and over again, on most of the asteroids, all carrying the same message to the Aether. "Please bring her back."

"Lord Herobrine." "Yes, what is it, my enderman spy?" "I have received messages from the star messengers." "I guess it is from the scientist." "Correct, each one of them carry the same message, "Please bring her back." The pupil less god stood from his seat, revealing what he had been holding in his arms the whole time.

A white shelled egg with crimson markings.

"My Lord, is that....?" "Yes it is, she had reverted back to egg form, and quite literally begged me to send her back, it seems even fate can't separate the two of them. Take the egg on a star, and send it crashing next to the scientist, but do not kill him." "I'm on it."

Lalna finally opened his eyes, the cherry blossom had bloomed magnificently, delicate pink petals falling around the scientist, captivating him with it's unnatural beauty. He noted that one of them landed on his nose, but he didn't sneeze, he just let it fall into his palm, before he let it join the others around him. He could see one last shooting star in the dark blue sky, but it was slower than the others, and heading for... wait what? Why is it heading in his direction?! He had just managed to dive out of the way before the asteroid crashed, and disappeared in a puff of blue smoke, leaving a sooty oval object in the mini crater. Lalna instinctively touched it, and felt a strangely familiar surge of power from his fingers, but had no time to think about it before the egg exploded in a burst of light. 

Getting to his feet, Lalna could see a dragon-ish figure from beyond the smoke, but it was not any one of the other dragons of his friends. Joca and Lilalna had woken up at the sound, and were standing behind the scientist, disbelief and happiness written all over their faces. The scientist was about to speak, until he heard an all too familiar voice in his head, "I'm back from the dead, scientist." 

His smile couldn't have been wider.