By now the rest of the crowd had taken notice of the situation and backed away while Serena and Charles quickly made their way over.

“Burtrum!” Derrick shouted “What’s wrong with the field!?”


There was no answer

“BURTRUM!”

“What’s the matter?” Serena asked quickly rushing to their side

“I…I don’t know” Miranda managed to answer “everything just started hurting”

“What about the healing field?” Charles asked

“It’s not working” Derrick responded quickly as he pulled a crystal from his jacket and formed some runes in the air “and Burtrum isn’t responding” the runes in the air turned green and floated away “good, all of your serious internal injuries have healed already, so you’re not in immediate danger.”

“Tell that to my ribs.”

“Don’t worry” Derrick said confidently as his grip on her tightened “I’m going to fix this, I promise you’ll be fine, Serena, Charles, look after her” he said as he handed her to them “I’m going to the heart room to figure out what’s wrong.”

He jumped over the balcony and beat his wings a few times, slowing himself down slightly, the crowd beneath him quickly moving out of his way, as soon as he landed he began pushing his way through the crowd towards the lift.

The three of them moved to the balcony so Miranda could support herself and watch Derrick as he headed towards the lift, suddenly he stopped and looked up, Miranda fallowed his gave to see that one of the main chandelier crystals was turning a dark red, the rest of the crystals in the room quickly followed suit

“What’s happening?” Miranda asked

Before Richard or Serena could respond an unknown voice spoke up from the crowd “It looks as though you have an invasive consciousness in your network” the dragon said as he casually walked towards Derrick.

“That’s….” Miranda paused as she tried to think through the pain “Derrick's cousin right?”

“Luckily I happened to bring a crystal with a vaccine spell in it”

“Durstin?” Derrick said confusedly “why do you have that….Is this your doing!?!”

“Of course not” Durstin responded, his voice dripping with sarcasm “I just happen to have the good fortune of being well pre”

“Cut the crap!” Derrick growled cutting him off “What do you want?”

“What do I want? Well, a vaccine crystal like this isn’t exactly cheap, and even your fortune won’t cover it. So I’ll make you a deal; you challenge me to duel of property, your cave against my vaccine.”

“The cave? That’s what this is about? You told me that you had no interest in our father’s quarrel!”

“Your father cheated mine out of this cave which was rightfully his as the oldest of the family! Almost every day of my life I was told how this lair is rightfully mine, how your father lied and cheated his way into it, did you really think I would just give up! Now you have three choices, challenge me to a duel, create a vaccine yourself before Burtrum is completely erased, or just let him die” He glanced over at Miranda “and let your guest continue to suffer.”

Derrick gritted his teeth “Durstin SkyBlaze, I challenge you to a duel, my cave for your vaccine.”

“I accept, the duel shall be a contest of battle, the weapon, twin blades.”

Serena left Miranda’s side, quickly rushing into the dining hall, before Miranda could ask where she had gone she reemerged with four short swords in her arms.

“With Burtrum out of commission she’ll act as the judge” Charles answered flatly before Miranda could ask.

“Why is this happening?” Miranda grunted as waves of pain continued surging through her body “Durstin’s clearly responsible, cant you make him give up the cure?”

“We might have been able to but making Durstin give it up would take too long and now that Derrick has issued a challenge the law is clear, none can interfere until the contest has ended.”

Serena pushed her way through the crowd that had formed a large circle around Derrick and Durstin who had both removed their shirts and were standing back to back with their horns crossing under the still floating sun crustal, she approached Derrick first “Good luck” she said as he took a sword in each hand, she then walked over to Durstin and held the two remaining swords out “Your father always could hold a grudge, I had hoped that habit would have died with him.”

Durstin remained silent as he took the swords

She backed up to the edge of the circle “Derrick has challenged Durstin to a duel of property, Durstin has accepted; the property, Durstin’s vaccine crystal against Derrick’s lair, the contest, a battle of twin blades, Are the challengers ready?”

Derrick and Durstin both walked to the edge of the circle and assumed their stances, Durstin widened his legs, extended his left arm towards Derrick and pulled his right arm back next to his head with both blades pointed forward; Derrick assumed a similar stance except that he turned the blade in his left arm so it was perpendicular to his other blade; they both nodded

“Then Begin!”

The two rushed at each other, Durstin quickly thrusting his forward blade towards Derrick’s throat, Derrick moved his forward blade under Durstins charging blade and twisted it sideways so the blade was redirected past the side of his head. Derrick then slid his left blade, now on top of Durstins, forward in a slash that would have taken off Durstin’s head were it not for Durstin quickly bending backwards to let the blade pass above him.

The two of them passed each other, now standing back to back they quickly turned and swung their right blades at each other clashing the swords together before both quickly jumping back.

The two were still for a moment before Durstin dashed forward again; as he was approaching he opened his wings and flapped them down as he jumped sending him into a flip over Derrick’s head, he brought both of his blades in front of him to slash at Derricks back but Derrick crossed both of his blades behind himself and deflected the attack.

Durstin landed into a roll and quickly resumed his stance, he began charging again, opening his wings like last time, this time Derrick was ready, as Durstin launched himself upwards with his wings Derrick did the same and the two met in the air, Derrick had brought his legs forward in mid jump and used them to kick off Durstin as they met launching Derrick into a backwards flip and Durstin towards the ground, Durstin managed to catch himself and the two landed on their feet with a heavy thud on either side of the circle.

They rushed each other again, their blades never making solid contact, always either missing the other by a hairs breath or sliding of the edge of the others blade, it was almost like a dance as they both nearly killed each other with every step.

After a few munities of the wild sword play Derricks eye’s were raging with anger, the two rushed each other again, Durstin pointing both blades straight ahead, Derrick swung both of his swords upwards to knock Durstins out of the way and began to bring them both back down, straight onto Durstins head, Durstin managed to dash to the left at the last second.

Time seemed to slow down for Miranda as Durstin brought his left blade down onto both of Derrick’s blades, trapping them; his lips twisted into a wicked smile as he swung his right blade directly at the back of Derrick’s neck.

Miranda looked away quickly as the room was silent

“Please no” she said quietly

Miranda felt Charles’s hand on her shoulder, she looked up at him; he had a slight grin on his face as he motioned towards the battle.

Miranda forced herself to look.

At the last second Derrick had looked straight up causing the blade rushing at his neck to sink halfway into one of his horns.

Durstin had a stunned look on his face.

Derrick quickly shifted his blades so they were now holding Durstins in place “Do you know the difference between you and me?”

Durstin remained silent as he tried to pull either of his blades free

“You spent your life trying to mimic your fathers failings” Derrick continued “while I've spent my life trying to overcome them!” Derrick raised his leg and delivered a strong kick to Durstin’s chest, sending him flying backwards and wrenching both of his blades from his hands.

Miranda breathed a sigh of relief before the pain surged again causing her to fall to her knees.

Derrick walked over to Durstin, pushing the tip of his blade in front of his snout

Serena came forward “The contest is over, Durstin has been disarmed, Derrick is the victor!”

“You have lost dear cousin, now hand over the vaccine”

Durstin looked down, remaining silent for a long moment before suddenly exploding in sadistic laughter “Unfortunatley dear cousin I seem to have left it at my lair, silly me”

Derrick pressed his blade against Durstin's throat “Liar! You know what kind of trouble you'd be in for wagering something you don't have!”

“That'd be a problem if I really cared, but I figured that if I couldn't beat you I might as well ruin as much of your life as I can”

Derrick was fuming at this point, he drew his blade back, swinging it to cleave Durstin's head off

“NO!”

Derrick stopped his blade just above Durstin's neck as he looked back to see Miranda leaning over the edge of the balcony, reaching out to him, begging him to stop

He looked back at his cousin, before throwing his blades to the the opposite end of the circle and walking away, he stopped a step away from the wall before placing a hand against it, he was quiet for a moment before he started chuckling softly.

Everyone in the hall was somewhere between confused and worried as he reached back to pull the sword out of his horn, letting it clatter to the floor before turning around to look at Durstin “I can't say I'm really that surprised, like father like son I suppose”

Durstin's smile faded from his snout “What did you just say?”

“Well I think it's pretty obvious but if you're too stupid to parse a simple analogy and need it spelled out for you. You've forsaken everything you've worked for, everything you have in an attempt to get something beyond your reach, just like your idiot of a father. Sure he was older but he was never as strong or smart as my father, that's why he didn't get this cave, because he wasn't worthy of it, because he was a week fool, just like you”

Durstin bolted to his feet, now growling at Derrick “Your father cheated his way into this cave!”

“Is that what he told you? That my father had to cheat? I suppose that's not too surprising, weaklings usually try to justify their inadequacy with lies, but the truth is he just wasn't good enough, and neither are you, and you never will be”

Durstin looked to be on the verge of exploding at this point “I'll show you good enough! FRANZ KILL HIM!”

The cave shook as the red lights flickered, between the two of them, the floor began to bulge and a mishapen stone hand emerged, it began scratching at the floor trying desperately to get a hand hold and pull itself the rest of the way out, it eventually sunk its claws into the ground and dragged the rest of its body out. It looked like a dragon but just wrong, one of its arms was longer than the other, going all the way to the ground, ending in a hand that was far too large it's leg on the same side as the long arm was extremely thin and about half of its face was just gone, revealing a violently flickering red crystal at the center of its head.

The misshapen creature roared out as everyone in the ballroom backed up as much as they could, it looked around before locking its eyes on Derrick and rushing forward, it raised its long arm as the limb shifted into a blade and extended towards Derrick who just stood there

The stone blade was barley a hairs breath from Derricks eye as it was stopped, another stone arm, this one normally proportioned, had come out of the wall to the side of Derricks head and was holding the blade in place. Derrick leaned to the side as more of the arm emerged from the wall fallowed by its head as the crystals in the hall began returning to their usual color.

“Sorry about the delay sir” The golem said as it emerged from the wall slowly, pushing the other one back “I had to contain myself to the root of the crystal network to keep from being erased, luckily the infection centralized its attention here before it could break through my defenses, letting me take back control”

“No worries Burtum, I assume you've taken back control of the network”

“Indeed, I had to tap into the power from the sun crystals we have in storage but this is the last of the infection” Burtrum threw the other golem's blade to the side and rushed forward, the misshapen one tried to defend itself but Burtrum's fist crashed right through the other golem's arm and plunged into its stomach. It whimpered and then slowly smiled as the crystal in it's head turned the same green as Burtrum's eyes before going silent and crumbling into a pile of stone on the floor

The hall was silent as Burtrum bowed to Derrick and melted back into the floor, Derrick turned towards Durstin who had a look of utter defeat as he fell to his knees

Miranda felt the pain begin to ebb as she closed here eyes and slowly lost consciousness

…………………………………………………………….

Miranda felt as though she was floating and cold “this seems familiar” she thought

“Miranda”

“What” Miranda thought as she felt warmth surround her

“Miranda please wake up”

“That voice, It’s so warm”

“MIRANDA!”

Her eyes flew open as she quickly regained consciousness, there was a large blurry figure above her, she blinked a few times to clear her vision, the large figure above her was Derrick, and he was holding her in his arms and wings.

“Thank the Gods, are you alright?”

“I am now, thanks to you.”

“I told you I wouldn’t let anything happen to you”

“What happened to Durstin, and Burtrum?”

“Burtrum’s fine, and Durstin’s…been dealt with.”

“What do you mea”

“Awwwww.”

The two looked towards the voice; it was Lelisa who was part of a larger group that had circled around the pair on the balcony; they booth blushed slightly as Derrick helped Miranda get to her hooves.

“Why do I get the feeling that you didn’t tell us everything about your relationship with your new business partner?” another voice asked from the other side of the circle, the two turned around, it was Darren

“Well, you see”

“About a month ago, while we were trying to figure out the sun crystal there was a little accident, we ran out of ideas and just tried to shove more mana into the crystals, the resulting explosion incapacitated Derrick for about a week and left me unable to leave the healing aura until my wounds finish healing in about a month.”

There was a pause for a second

“I really hope they buy that.”

“I guess that explains it” Charles said quickly “now I think it best we end this evening before something else drastic happens.”

There was a slight chuckle fallowed murmur of agreement among the crowd

Darren approached Derrick “I don’t suppose you would mind me hanging around to help clean up?”

Derrick sighed heavily “No, I wouldn’t”

……………………………………………………………………..

All of the guests had left and Derrick, Charles and Darren were busy moving all of the display tables and models to the store room, meanwhile Serena and Miranda were sitting at the dining room table, having a chat with Sheila and Kayla, Darren’s guests.

“So you’re from the peasant village at the base of this mountain?”

“And you climbed all the way up here to save your families temple?” Sheila and Kayla asked

“Yes and yes” Miranda answered as she took another sip of wine “now it’s my turn to ask you two a question, what exactly is your relationship with Darren?”

“At first he was just with us because he thought we were pretty and there were two of us.” Kayla explained

“But after the ball” Sheila continued “he was more, intimate, he actually got to know us and let us get to know him, so now I guess were together-together and not just together.”

“Does it ever get awkward, with their being two of you and one of him?”

“Not really” Kayla responded

“We weren’t just born from the same clutch like most twins” Sheila elaborated “the two of us were born from the same egg.”

“And since birth we’ve almost feel like were two halves of one dragon” Kayla continued “so we have no problem with sharing”

“And believe us” the two said in unison with a bit of a giggle “there’s plenty to share.”

Miranda blushed a little at the implication

“Well I’m certainly glad it’s working out for you” Serena responded “Any idea on when I can expect Grand nephews and nieces.”

Now it was the twins turn to look at each other and blush

Their expressions made Serena burst out laughing as Miranda took another sip of her wine

“That question goes double for you my Dear” Serena said to Miranda when she finished laughing.

Miranda nearly choked on her wine in shock “WHAT?!?”

The twins snickered at her reaction

“You heard me, when do you think you and Derrick will have a couple of young ones of your own?”

“Serena! You promised you wouldn’t tell anyone about my feelings for Derrick!”

“I didn’t say anything about your feelings, but you just did.”

Miranda blushed furiously as she looked over at the twins who had a shocked look on their faces.

“We won’t tell anyone” they said in unison.

She sighed heavily and slumped back in her chair “It’s not like it matters anyways” Miranda said with a defeated tone “I’ll be leaving in a month and even if I did stay” she paused as she had to keep herself from having any ideas “Not only are we two completely different kinds, which itself isn't that big of a deal anymore, we're also from two very different worlds that aren't supposed to interact with each other.”

“I don’t know about that, the expo proves that there's more overlap between our worlds than you'd think” she placed her hand on Miranda’s “and love has a way of making things around it change, weather it wants to or not.”

The room was silent for a while after that

There was a knock at the door “were done out here if you’re ready to leave” said Charles

“Well I guess that’s our cue” Serena announced “Come on girls.”

The lot of them got up and walked out to the lift with the Men quickly accompanying them, goodbyes were exchanged on the landing platform, the wyvrens were called and, after some affectionate nuzzling between the two large scaly beasts which surprised everyone but Miranda, they were off.

“Well that was quiet the night” Derrick said, looking off into the night sky

“It certainly was, I don’t suppose there are any more social events I should know about, right?”

“Fortunately no, that was the last of them, for this year anyways.”

Miranda turned to him, looking at the gashe in his horn from where the sword hit it “Those horns of yours are really though huh.”

“Luckily for me, they are”

She reached out and touched the damaged horn “There’s a gash nearly all the way through them and there still”

*Snap*

“Miranda?” Derrick asked as he turned around “Did you hear a noise?”

“No, what noise?” she answered quickly as she pulled her arm, which was holding a jet black cone, behind her back.

“I guess it was nothing”

“Um, Derrick? Do your horns grow back?”