Zack flew unassisted. Without any machine or tool to aid his ascent. The wind stung his eyes until a pair of clear eyelids slid over them. Then he started to go faster and his body began to rotate. Until he lost control completely and started to fall. He reoriented himself and rose again. Flying using magnetic waves was difficult. They weren’t currents like the waves of the sea, but they shifted and twisted at times. He also found that he could lock on to large masses of metal within the mountains and attract himself towards them, or repell himself away from them as needed.

Bayei sat on her Poiraud and held on for dear life, screaming her head off.

Zack yelled out “You can open your eyes now!”

She peered out of one eye slowly, then started screaming again. First with terror but then it turned to thrill “WAHOOO!” They ascended through the cloud layer and it’s dampness soaked them.

He flew just a little bit closer to Bayei to get a better look at her form but then dropped before she noticed ‘Must fight perverted tendencies.’

They ascended over the mountaintops. Admiring the scenery as they passed the chiseled rock faces and pillowy clouds. A wild Orkrik passed them but paid them no mind. After an hour of traveling, in the distance they could see the blue portal. The Poirauds squealed in alarm until Zack sent the word ‘Safety’ across their link.

Something made Zack look up, feeling a sense that something dangerous was coming. A silver mass rapidly descended towards them from above, it’s flaming wings burning at it’s sides.

‘DIVE!’ he commanded the Poirauds just as he recognized the dragon golem.

The metal dragon’s mouth erupted in flames as it dove at a much faster rate. Zack activated his Magnetic Attraction ability to accelerate himself into the golem’s neck.

His kick sent the metallic monser careening to the side, but didn’t even leave a dent in the metal. Fire erupted from it’s mouth in an arc as it’s long neck twisted away, failing to incinerate Bayei and the Poirauds like it had intended. It rolled and lazily slashed at Zack with it’s talons. He pushed himself away from it using Magnetic Repulsion and went ten feet in a second.

The dragon looked at him with it’s artificial orange eye, then continued it’s pursuit of Bayei.

”Don’t ignore me!” Zack yelled, nothing pissed him off more. But then again what could he do to it? Zack mentally went through his abilities and options. He couldn’t use Hroyd’s claws while in Poiraud form and none of the abilities currently equipped can stop it or…slow it down?

Zack focused half of his one inch magnetic tendrils on a large piece of metal within the nearby mountain and the other half on the dragon golem. Then pulled on both as hard as he could. Nearly tearing himself apart like he was the victim of an ancient execution method. The flying golem barely slowed and continued it’s relentless pursuit of Bayei. The green one inch tentacles that covered his body crackled, shocking him into irritation. Despite his efforts the dragon still got in range to unleash it’s fiery breath. The Poiraud carrying Bayei by her backpack screeched and entered the spiritual ether to save herself, leaving the Poiraud she was mounting to slowly land on the mountaintop below. Zack let go of his hold on the mountain and flew towards the metal dragon like a bullet.

‘What do I do? What do I do?’ Suppressing the panic within him he said ”Okay I have really great gap closing and escape mechanics for this fight. But how do I damage it?” falling back on gamer terms in order to distract himself from the fact that this is a real live battle.

His coach’s words came back to him ‘Study your opponent.’ Okay. It has big claws, big teeth, a stupidly huge flame breath attack, flaming wings…perfect. Zack smiled and flew directly towards it, landing on it’s back as it mindlessly pursued it’s target.

Zack said with an evil grin “You really shouldn’t have ignored me.” then magnetized the wings, locking them in an upright position and preventing them from flapping for lift. Then used Magnetic Attraction to pull himself and the golem towards the metal vein within the mountain directly below. Driving it downwards into the rock. He repelled himself away at the last moment, avoiding two broken legs. The impact of three ton metal golem shook the mountain and rubble flew in every direction. A dust cloud arose and a crack opened up in the side of the mountain.

Zack floated in the air above and folded his arms in front of him “You made a tactical error. Your target wasn’t going anywhere after you got rid of it’s transportation. The decision to ignore the threat at that point cost you everything.”

Then he paused ‘Why am I floating up here like Magneto, lecturing the corpse of a metal dragon on tactics like I’d just beaten a teammate!? Old habits die hard I suppose. Not that what the Poirauds give me even compares to Magneto’s. All I can really do is push and pull on a metallic object, I don’t nearly have such fine control as to do something like rip the guns out of the hands of an entire police force and point them at their owners.’

A roar interrupted his thoughts. The dust cloud cleared with a wave of the dragon golem’s wings, it’s metal armor was in pieces and one of it’s orange glowing eyes had been split in half.

‘Note to self. Always confirm the kill.’

It’s neck craned to look straight up at him and it’s throat glowed orange, then it glowed red. At the last second of the eruption it pointed it in Bayei’s direction. Zack paled and reacted without thinking. He used Magnetic Attraction to drive his foot into the top of it's head. Red flames erupted at a point blank range of the ground, spreading forty feet in every direction. Tongues of flame surrounded him and the tips of every one of the green tentacles covering Zack’s skin. He immediately repulsed himself out of there.

‘It’s bigger than it was when it was in the air. Why?’ He summoned the eldest Poiraud Lulu and Lili left Bayei to join him in the assault against the metal fire-breathing dragon ‘It’s wings are no longer flaming, so it has more energy for it’s breath attack.’

A plan entered his mind, that was just too crazy not to try. He sent the Poirauds to fly around the dragon. Then ordered them to use Enhanced Voice to bellow in a low tone as loud as they could whenever the dragon uses it’s fire breath.

The Poirauds tore into the dragon, ripping loose plates away. The golem’s throat glowed again and it let loose another fiery inferno, spreading into a cone this time instead of the stream like it was shooting while it was in the air. The Poirauds did as instructed and Zack used his own Enhanced Voice to add to the waves of sound.

‘Damn it not even a flicker’

The golem bounded towards Bayei, who had fled to the edge of the cliff. Zack joined the Poirauds in ripping pieces of the dragon golem away and using Magnetic Repulsion to turn the plates into projectiles. And still it continued it’s charge towards Bayei. It used it’s fire breath again and there was no room for her to escape. The Poirauds used their sonic blasts and the flames wavered slightly, but not nearly enough. She disappeared in the inferno.

Zack would have screamed were it not for the blue screen that popped up

Bayei's Status: Alive Location: Climbing down the cliff side.

‘Thank you Akma’

The dragon, thinking that it had accomplished it’s goal, turned to Zack, each glaring at one another in hatred. The smaller Poiraud Lili didn't see the talon coming as she tried to rip off a wing, getting split in half before she could reenter the spiritual ether. The eldest Poiraud Lulu hissed and magnetic energy crackled along her tentacles, redoubling her efforts out of a desire for vengeance. She ripped off a piece of it’s chest and the golem’s core was exposed but. Zack sent a message to her, ordering her to help him carry Bayei so they could flee, but she was unresponsive in her rage. She continued to tear away chunks until the dragon’s teeth entered her skull.

Zack took a deep breath ‘Moment of truth!’ the dragon turned on him with it’s throat glowing. Zack charged and the tactician in him screamed to run away, but he did have faith in the science of his next action.

Sound cannons are routinely used to fight forest fires back on Earth. Firefighters just turn them on and all fire within twenty feet of them instantly blinks out. So if a person had the right tone, would it not work against a Taelon flame blast as well?

He took a step and the dragon opened it’s mouth. He took another step and another. The flames launched towards him and he let loose a bellow at exactly the right tone. If it hadn’t of worked Zack would have repulsed himself away, but it cleared the center of the flames. And he attracted himself down the path as he yelled in a low tone, carefully keeping his pitch steady. It was time to go for the kill.

The flames ceased and the jaws descended. Zack just smiled and summoned Hroyd within three feet of the golem’s core, then repulsed himself out of harms way. The Kulabv warrior still had numerous broken bones but he had managed to reform his spine from the fall. His clawed hand reached into the golem’s chest and cut away the important looking tubes and wires. Making the golem lifeless, and retreating back into the spiritual ether.

Zack couldn’t help but think as he watched it’s remaining orange eye grow dim ‘Dragon golem used flame breath. Zack used sonic blast. It’s super effective!’

Then he looked over at the floating heads of his Eidolans around him “Gotta catch em all.” both of them looking at him with disbelieving eyes.

Bayei climbed up and asked incredulously “What did you do?”

Zack smiled, he was very proud of himself “Nikola Tesla once said that if you wish to understand the universe, think in terms of energy, frequency and vibration. So I found the right tone to vibrate the air that would disrupt the flames. It’s the same thing as disrupting a candle’s flame by blowing it out.”

Bewildered Bayei said “Sound beats Taelon flame blasts?”

“A very specific tone of sound, yes.”

“There is so much I want to learn from your people.”

A thought struck Zack “How come you don’t already know this already? Your people made their own portal.”

”The lords of the Dirske have decreed that the undesirable members of society are barred from public education.”

”You don’t even have a library?”

”What’s a library?”

Zack shook his head in disgust “Never mind. I guess we’re stuck here until my last Poiraud recovers from her burns”

Ilvan Vakardrea scowled as he resolutely climbed towards the most secure location in the entire mountain city. The visitors from Akmadouric’s army had betrayed his trust by disrupting the festival of golems. Worse, they were interfering with Lords agenda of cleansing the planet of violet hairs.

A hundred years ago there was a rebellion. A mountain city on the northern end of the world, filled with predominately violet hairs, dared to go against the time honored traditions of the Dirske. They taught their lowest caste how to harvest red flame so they could create and use Taelon energy, a secret kept by the top thirty percent of the population. They refused to send any of their metallokinesis users for the creation of golems, saying they were researching better methods of defense. And finally, their now nameless lord had withdrawn his mountain city from the alliance.

In response the alliance had sealed up the break away mountain city using a carbon based foam that hardened into an uncuttable, flame resistant material. Cutting off all oxygen supply and sunlight. To this day it was their tomb.

Only the Lords of the Dirske knew of it, as the official history had been changed to suit their needs. Leaving the common people to simply think that one of the mountain cities got overtaken by the denizens from below.

Yet there was still a debt to be paid. The crimes of a group belonged to every single individual within it. All of the violet hairs were guilty of rebelling against the Lords of the Dirske. For that the punishment was to be cleansed. Admittedly it was a bit extreme, but treason is the highest of crimes.

And now Akmadouric’s minions had interfered with the cleansing process. There were only a few violet hairs left in the world. To the best of Ilvan’s knowledge, Bayei the violet hair who had been exiled from her own family, could very well be the last.

Ilvan Vakardrea entered the corridor to the facility flanked by two guards behind him. He pressed his thumbprint into the pad and passed through to a room full of technicians.

Each one sat before a computer of the very latest state of the art design. Some even having CPU’s capable of reaching 800 megahertz and hard drives capable of storing 32 gigabytes of data! A marked improvement of the 650 megahertz and 16 gigabytes that had been considered the state of the art eight years prior.

He looked at the portal creation device that his people had made. The eight foot tall metal disc pulsated orange with Taelon energy. It’s circuitry glowing along it’s outer edges. At the center Ilvan could only imagine the hole that led to another dimension, since it was too small for the naked eye to see.

The Grand Lord said ”Open the portal just enough for communication. I wish to open up a dialogue with this Ulgroth.”

The technicians spent an hour pressing their buttons and pulling on their levers, eventually a signal got through.

He spoke across dimensions “I am the Grand Lord of the Dirske, Ilvan Vakardrea. I wish to establish diplomatic relations with the…Deity Ulgroth. My dimension has been invaded by an enemy I have no power to defeat. Akmadouric has sent his minions here to threaten my peoples way of life. I ask for you to be the third party in negotiations and that you send a representative.”

The only thing that came back was static.

“Increase the size of the portal.”

The technicians worked for several minutes.

Then he spoke again “I am...”

A black line shot out of the portal at an impossible speed. Twisting in the air until it suddenly stopped.

The humanoid was thin, impossibly thin. Looking no different than a child’s stick figure drawing. And it was black, impossibly black like it had been made of ink.

A raspy slow grating voice croaked out “Maaake it stooop.” then the area around it turned gray, as if it sapped the color from the world.