Light of Shadows Chapter 08

~Chapter 8: Xander's Tutorial~

"Soon as in?" asked Alec.

"Soon," said Kayla.

"So who is Ember's sister anyway?" Alec asked.

"She's a sun dragoness," Kayla said, "Her name is Sienna."

"Sienna..." The name seemed to strike a chord with Alec.

He felt like the name rang bells in his mind, yet there was nothing coming up. It was like the name had importance to him, but what? He did not know the answer. But he did, however, take note of it, as it kept bouncing up and down in his head.

"So…" began Xander, "What should we do to pass the time?" he asked.

Kayla shrugged, "I don't know," She answered, "I have to train for the time being. That's what I do to pass the time."

"Can I watch you train?" Xander asked, "I have nothing better to do anyway."

Kayla smiled, "Of course you can, Xander. You want to come too, Alec?" she asked, turning to the said dragon.

"Maybe I can go to. By any chance do you guys have like, a…paper and a…writing medium?" Alec, asked curiously.

"I think we do," Kayla said, "Come on then."

X~~~~~X

Outside of the Temple, an electric yellow dragon who was the electric guardian, Volteer, walked with a groan as he carried two big forms of what seemed like ice sculptures. Like the other guardian, Volteer was larger than how he appeared in the games. And unlike the games, sparks of electricity was found shooting around his body once in a while.

"Good thing...I'm still as strong...as I used to be," Volteer panted as he carried the two icy forms.

At first glance, this wouldn't have made any sense. An electric dragon messing with an ice sculpture just didn't add up. But…taking a closer look, what mattered was what was inside the frozen still life. In careful examination, one will be very surprised to see what was in them, as the beings were long thought gone; dead in other words...

...But dragons who said they were gone were now to be proven wrong.

X~~~~~X

Out in the forest, a dragoness was foraging for fruits and berries. She was a golden orange dragoness with a golden yellow underbelly, red-orange wings, and violet dorsal scales and tail blade. Her eyes were golden orange. Her tail blade was a flame shaped ax. She had two long thin horns that curved back behind her head and down the length of her neck.

As she was foraging, she hear a groan coming from a bush. The dragoness checked the bush a found a cyan dragon with ocean blue underbelly and wings. His horns looked like Cyril's icy horns, but this dragon's horns look more watery than icy. He had a fin instead of a tail blade. And his paws were webbed. He was a pure water dragon.

The water dragon was covered with scratches and lacerations. He needed medical attention...NOW! The dragoness was about to pick him up and take him to the temple when a large Predator attacked. She quickly dodged to the right and smacked the Predator away with her tail. Unfortunately this one, didn't back down so easily. Before long, she was thrust into a fight she wasn't expecting.

X~~~~~X

Back at the Temple, Volteer had successfully arrived, much to the surprise of the other Guardians, and they were even more surprised to find out the dragons that were inside the frozen statues.

"What shall we do?" Cyril asked.

"Are they even alive?" Terrador added.

"I'm not quite sure," Volteer said, "But we need to get them out of this state."

"Any bright ideas?" asked Cyril, tapping on the statue with his claw, "This is very hard."

"Maybe we can ask The Chronicler for help in this matter," Terrador suggested, "He may know how to fix this." Volteer nodded in agreement.

"I agree," Cyril said, nodding as well, "We have to get these two to the Chronicler." The ice guardian made sure that everyone was in agreement, "It's settled then. The Chronicler it is."

X~~~~~X

Alec sighed as he stared at the blank piece of paper before him. Tried as he might, nothing was coming up to his mind. More so, he looked up and saw Ember was staring at him. She visibly flinched and backed away a little, no doubt her phobia acting up. He just smiled meekly, trying to convey the message that he wasn't evil. Xander on the other hand felt contented to just watch Kayla train; who was lobbing fiery Lava Shots at some dummies that appeared…and was failing at it. It would seem that her shots just seemed to come up short. She was getting annoyed.

"Why can't I hit it?" she exasperated. Xander scratched his chin. He looked at the scenario in front of him. From close observation, Kayla was firing her Lava Shots at approximately zero degrees when it came up short. Even at sixty degrees, it still came up short. He scratched his chin as he tried his best to crunch the numbers. He wasn't that much good at math.

Coming up with a reasonable solution, Xander approached her, "Hey, um…Kayla?" he asked her.

Kayla sighed in frustration and turned to face him, "What is it?" she asked.

"I think…you're doing it wrong," Xander said.

Kayla cocked her head to the side, "What do you mean?" she asked.

"Here let me help you," Xander said, "Stand straight and face the target." Kayla did so and turned around, facing the target that seemed to have been laughing at her futile efforts in hitting it.

"Now what?" she asked.

Xander went over to her, and to Kayla's surprise, as well as Alec and Ember who were watching the tutorial unfold, Xander held her maw in his paws, "Bend your maw…around…this angle," he said, positioning her maw at around forty-five degrees. Kayla looked at him; her eyes filled with surprise, but followed his instruction, "Got it?" Xander asked. Kayla nodded, "Let it rip then," Xander said with a smile.

Kayla turned back and adjusted her angle. Following Xander's instruction, she fired her element and sure enough, it struck the dummy head on, burning it to a crisp in a glob of fiery goo. Kayla squealed in joy. Ember was surprised whilst Alec just smirked. Xander smiled at Kayla who just beamed at him.

"Thanks Xander. For teaching me," Kayla said. He just shrugged.

"You're welcome," Xander said.

X~~~~~X

As the day droned on, Kayla frequently asked Xander of how he knew to solve her problem. She always had trouble aiming and was never really good at it. Xander on the other hand, explained to her the 'layman's terms' verson of what he did. Of course, Kayla was a bit confused, but she learned a few pointers. Ember's phobia on the other hand…seemed…a bit better. At least, she wasn't freaking out each time Alec was turning to look at her, but there were still some moments. That was an improvement.

Then…A knocking was heard at the front gate to the temple.

The guardians, along with Xander, Alec, Kayla, and Ember, who was keeping her distance from Alec, went to it. When the doors opened, there stood the same dragoness that was foraging earlier. However, her coloration was different. Her scales and underbelly was a golden yellow. Her wings, dorsal scales, and tail blade were a golden orange.

The dragoness was covered with lacerations and cuts. But the cyan dragon she carried was a mangled up mess.

"SIENNA!" Ember and Kayla shouted as they ran over to the sun dragoness.

"I'll...be fine..." Sienna said, gritting her teeth in pain, "This dragon needs...help though." Sienna suddenly collapsed.

Alec ran over to Sienna, unintentionally chasing away Ember, and helped her up, "You'll be alright," Alec said to Sienna, "I'm here for you." Alec and Kayla carried Sienna to the infirmary as Ember and Xander carried the cyan dragon.

Cyril got a good look at the cyan dragon and was shocked at who it was, "Liquis?"