A nearly invisible shadow crept stealthily along the back end of the room, as silent as the darkest of nights. Violet flashed when the dark form passed the sliver of light leaking from the cracked window frame opposite the room, the color splashing against the obsidian darkness that shrouded the rest of the private quarters of one of the more seasoned infirmary staff. Soft, quickened paw steps, claws raised above the stone floor to prevent them from clacking characteristically, padded across the length toward the heavy wooden door.

Her eyes were wide with concentration. She knew even the slightest of noises would awaken that of her rider from his blasted light sleeping. Even now, not a single snore radiated from his still bed. She could hear his even breaths, but that was hardly a measure of safety from his uncanny ability to rouse without warning. A slight growl nearly threatened to give her away when she doubted the dosage level of his medicine last night. She had been careful enough to a bit extra, but now she wasn’t so sure. Paranoia was a horrible thing. It didn’t sit well in the pit of her already churning stomach at all.

Iridae knew quite well that the time had been fast approaching. Other females were beginning to rouse restlessly, the males starting to smell more…appealing than they did the rest of the year. Her own internal clockwork had made her senses more alert in the wee hours of the morn. She found herself unconsciously ingesting more calcium, bone marrow, and protein as the days passed on into winter. Her sleep cycle became screwed up in the process, finding herself awake or exhausted and unable to get comfortable at the most inopportune times. However, she was no fool. As a practiced healer, she knew exactly what was happening to her body, yet refused to let herself be guided around by the innate desire to rise.

Yet a single, frustrating thought nagged constantly at the far reaches of her mind. It infuriated her to no end and she knew she would not be satisfied until she took action to it. No doubt her chosen would fully endorse the idea, the smug bastard. It made her writhe beneath her skin during the waking hours and haunted her like a festering ghoul when she was not in the world of the conscious. No doubt the rising levels of estrogen and other sensual hormones aggravated it to no end. It was such a simple thing to complete, too, yet it made her angry with herself for even wishing for it to happen.

She had no heir to speak of.

If it weren’t for that, she would have done her best to steer well clear of the pesky males altogether like it were any other day. However, with the war becoming more violent as the minutes passed, she risked passing on into the next world without a little someone to leave behind in her wake with all the glory that she graced this one with. She wouldn’t admit it even to her chosen, but there were two things that rested uncomfortably within the pit of her stomach about the whole ordeal, trivial motives aside. For one, she hardly wished for her offspring to be borne unto a world as horrendous as this one. Only certain death, regardless of when it came, awaited the child and it’s bonded. Surely she was a vain, selfish creature on the exterior, but that wasn’t the whole of her. Not that she would readily show just anyone the softer side of Rosemary Iridae.

Therein lied the other contributor to the problem. The core of her being was still stricken with grief at it. Hao himself knew naught of this, for she had made dead sure to keep this knowledge well away from him. Although, in the past, she had an inkling that he knew of her conspicuous absences to be with… a certain male Rosemary before their wing was massacred. His death made her nearly deaf to the calls of the other males, made her sneer with disgust at their pitiful attempts to court her. To this day, she never spoke of him to any living soul.

However, despite these problematic issues against her, the fact still remained that she had no heir. That was perhaps the only reason that she was currently slinking out beneath the nose of her chosen with a ghastly grimace plastered across her face. She felt utterly filthy for what she was about to partake in, but an oddly pleasant satisfaction soothed the edges of her anger toward the subject. It was almost as if nature were praising her for finally deciding to give into the desire that all living creatures had at the core of their bodies. It made her want to gag right there and then. With an inward shudder, her petite hands quietly rotated the brass handle of the door and she slipped out with the barest whooshing of air.

In his bed, eyes closed in feigned sleep, Hao smiled.

Outside in the Infirmary’s main room, Iridae glided out on feet as light as feathers. No one was awake in these wee hours of the early morning, except for, perhaps, the fluffy orange kitten that tried to follow her. The Rosemary utterly ignored the young cat, wishing to be anywhere but where she was headed, and high-tailed herself out of the room with speed. Her wings were already at half-mast by the time she breached the cool outside air.

No sooner than the violet dragoness cleared the overhang of limestone than her long, narrow feathered wings shot out and up. With a powerful down stroke and a nimble leap skyward, Iridae all but shot into the air like a minuscule cannonball. She beat down in quick, rapid succession, the warming caught beneath her wings swiftly handing her the necessarily altitude that she would need for this ordeal. Her mouth opened to release a menacing snarl. She would be regretting this later, of that she knew for sure.

Iridae’s gravely voice rose high above the stone concourse beneath her, calling down to the half-awake males like a clarion. “Come what may, you sniveling bunch of maggots. If you think you have what it takes to impress me, I dare you to chase.”

It almost seemed comical for what she said, her being but a tiny Rosemary in the sea of behemoth titans that towered over her on a day to day basis, but she would have no weakling as the sire of her children. If it meant submitting to the largest of them, she would do so if they proved themselves worthy in her eyes.

With a loud, mannish snort, Iridae abruptly dived downward toward the line of trees. Her wings opened before impact with the ground, the momentum readily shooting her lithe form up and above the canopy with just a minor adjustment of her tail. The purple dragoness flew onward for a good half hour until she was well away from the limits of the Academy. There, she hovered, purring quietly, waiting for her suitors to come.

Vulcanus knew that sleeping so close to Sekkaian territory had its dangers. One could kill him in his sleep, dishonorable as it was. They were desperate to win. Of that he was sure. Still, Vulcanus was glad to rest in the seemingly peaceful border, hidden beneath trees. Even though he was resting, small tendrils of flame shot from the vents and holes on his neck and back, but quickly died. His chest rose and fell steadily. For once, he felt relaxed and calm. He was dreaming, something pleasant, of old days gone by. There was a small smile on Vulcanus's face, just barely curled lips.

His sleep was light, though. Deep sleep would have been bliss, but this light sleep wasn't too bad. The soft, cool foliage felt good against his scales. His strength was replenishing. But there was something nagging at his thoughts and instincts even as he slept. The fire dragon's claws twitched. Vulcanus's lips began to curl up into a growl. He stirred, raising his head. His eyelids drooped, feeling heavy. But there was something in him that told him something important was going to happen. He tensed, looking skyward. Vulcanus could smell another dragon coming nearer, and judging by the scent, she was looking for suitors. Whoever she was, she was most definitely not Tainted. Should he chase? His gut twisted and his heart began to beat faster and harder. Sekkaians were not as vicious as Tainted. Vulcanus supposed he could try his luck.

The dragon heard soft wing beats above. The purr only enticed him even more. He could try. Vulcanus knew he would probably not win, but instinct demanded that he try. He craned his neck, then unfurled his wings, beating them against the tree trunks. The gusts pushed the plants back, and Vulcanus shot upward, taking in the sight of the rosemary.

"I do not wish to fight you. I only wish to chase." He felt he needed to clarify that in words. After all, it wouldn't do any good to scare her away. He hovered, flames shooting from his form and illuminating the dim dawn sky.

The best air was morning air. Slithering through his domain with utter bliss, Kubikiri pulled his wings a little closer and tilted his beak into the wind. His impossible barbels whipped out from his muzzle in a spray of gossamer threads, tissue extruding into the silvery tendrils and drawing his velvet skin thin over his translucent, milky cheek muscles. Flushed back against his skin by the force of the air, they fanned out in his wake as his lithe body pitched into the niche of air broken by his snout. Gravity tugged futilely at him, dragging the tiny form in a route carved by enormous, sailing wings. The effervescent dragon slipped into roll, wings and tailtips spinning in the air for the sheer pleasure of the turbulence making the thin feather and flesh shudder.

He’d been awake since before the sun, drinking in the moonlight with his skin and his bilious wings and taking in the sensations of the air with every part of his hypersensitive form. It revitalised him more than laying in the dust ever could, here in the sky with nothing to touch him but the breeze. For hours he danced and weaved in and out of the eddies and currents, navigating the landscape with innate expertise and covering miles with little more trace than the kitelike flutter of his boneless tailtip. Every night the sky was his, every night until the sun rose up and the others began to fight the sky with their heavy bodies, beating it into submission instead of freeing it and letting it work as it willed. He didn’t like that, it was better to be on the ground, with Esoriel, than to be alone among strange dragons with the sharp noon burning into his enormous eyes.

To his dismay, and curiosity, a commotion in the currents caught his attention. Fanning out his four pinions in a loving stroke, the Air slipped from his stream and into the quiet stillness between turbulences, disturbed by the cloying trees only metres below. Something else was washing through his senses, a forceful bite in the air as some thing large beat it into submission. This was strange, at this time of morn. A quick slither whipped him away from the chaotic slipstream of the tantalising source of commotion. Something stirred in him, something primal that overwhelmed his natural skittishness, already muted by prolonged exposure to other breathing beings. With the warm sunlight casting rich shadows of gold and blue off his beautiful, filamentous body, the dragonfly swarmed up and around the only marginally smaller Rosemary with wary, rather curious desire. Catching her yellow eyes in the sun with his own violet orbs, Kubikiri hung weightlessly before her, head tilted in question and the rays of light shining right through his skin onto the muscles and organs below.

The second presence had a much different effect on him. At the first hint of air deflected from the not-so-aerodynamic protrusions of Vulcanis’ hide, the Air coiled into a tense ball of wing and body and spat in terror, springing out of range with a wild whistle of stressed gas. Whirling around and darting like a crazed damselfly, he darted closer and farther away trying to drive the startled terror from his muscles and return to that pleasant buzz of desire the female had initially excited. However, not even the horror of the massive one could alarm him enough to overwhelm the instinct to chase, at least for the moment. The booming words meant nothing to him, only hurting his eardrums so attuned to the silence of the skies. If he had known of the Taint in the dragon before him, Kubikiri would have fled. As it were, he merely swished around uncertainly. Only time would tell what the strange dragon would do now.

((His pride being wounded is just the thing he needs.... XD))

Salus had been working late in the Infirmary, into the early hours of the new day even but somehow content listening to the soft snores of their charges, smiling while he moved between beds, careful not to wake anyone during his nightly shift. Only when his work was done he had permitted himself to sit and sigh, his silvery eyes closed half shut while he was perched atop the Infirmary, tail curled around some stoneface that someone had carved or shaped many a year ago. Maybe it had been some earth dragon, gracious for his or her healing... Salus didn't care. He liked this spot where the cold, icy wind could harshly touch him whilst he watched the stars fade. Blue and grey were the first colors to return to the dark world, next came red and orange and finally crisp white and the few remaining spots of green. The sun had barely gone up over the horizon when he glimpsed someone run from the main gate. A Rosemary, that much he could see by first glance. Nothing unusuall. His brothers and sisters oft were rushing somewhere during the oddest hours of the day. Healers, all of them, always at duty, smallest yet busiest breed among dragonkind. Sometimes he deemed it unfair that he needed fifty steps to cross the distance an earth would skip in just a single one. It wasn't like someone's life depended on how fast they reached another place. And it wasn't helpful when trying to put some other dragons splintered bones back in place either. Salus wasn't capable of even lifting a paw of theirs, let alone a complete limb. Yet nobody could heal as good as they did. No Sekkaian Army could survive without their Rosemarys... Still, sometimes he wished they could do... more... more of everything... just a little...

He raised his head and smiled his draconic smile while watching an Air proppeling its lithe body through the still dark sky, dancing and diving. Nobody could rival them in their element. Like nobody could rival a Water in their own. Every creature in this world seemed to have its little spot, its little niche to fit in. Only the taint... did not. He was still smiling, when he heard a females song. Only did this one sound like someone was scraping a sword over a stone to his own ears, leaving them ringing and sore. Iridae. Of course he knew her, a fellow healer, someone who walked the halls of the Infirmary alongside him. But he made very certain not to come too close to her cold eyes and even colder tongue. If you wanted to get burned, you could just aswell jump into a fire and be done with it. Talking with her was just the same, only that it didn't kill you and therein lay its cruelty. She'd only burn you, burn you so painfully and leave you scorched and twitching on the ground. There could hardly be two creatures of the same breed sharing the same duties more different than she and him. She was ice and steel, a hard shell covering what he guessed might be a lonely desert by now with no softness beneath. He... well, according to his rider, he was soft and mushy all the way through, but especially between his ears. With only the tiniest hint of adamant at the very core of himself. Was it madness that made him rise? She was a vile creature and he held little love for her. Why would he wish to win her heart? Or her body at least?

Because we both are coming from the same world, a world inhabited by Titans and humans and yet we are both more graceful than either of them. And I cannot have that.... thing... catch her., Salus stepped to the rim of the Infirmary's roof, testing his wings and stretching his talons before he took flight, wasting no time with idle games but making a beeline for the only other Rosemary in sight. He did not quite herald his arrival... but neither did he come silently. He chose to not annoy her with empty words but to make his own position very clear. That he held no love for that bruteish looking fire. "You might aswell go back where you came frome, lackwit, for the only children that may come from your body are as ugly as your face and certainly not much cleverer, even if they were Iridae's own...", he flung at Vulcanus with a smirk, rolling and diving away, full well expecting some sort of revenge for his nasty 'hello', be it either claw, teeth or scorching heat raining down on him. His breath was steaming in the cold air as he brought himself to one height-level of the Air, the second male to answer Iridaes call. "Have some courage, son. Her Grace would rather chop off his nose than allow him to interfier with her choosing, that I can assure you off...", his tone was much warmer, softer, yet somewhat mocking still. There was one thing about her, that had always kept him away, shunning her. It was her wits that made her verbal strikes hurt even worse. And her wits was what he feared. Not a pissed-off Fire at his heels. Not an Air that could as easily outfly him as the fire could swat him like a fly. No. Her wits. Always her wits.

He wondered, if it had been a clever choice to leave his post and follow her into the skies. He wouldn't get away unscarred, that much he was certain of. He had enough children he could fuss about, enough to carry on his line... and he was almost certain that this pairing could only bring forth another Rosemary. Altough the Academy could not even begin having too many healers, he had not only always sired Rosemary Twins, they had also been somewhat... odd... at times. Not that it made him love them any less, but some females might be taken aback when gazing at Disio or even worse, at Ozium. He tried to imagine seeing another Twin-Pair of his own turning the Academy upside down and felt his stomach churn at the thought of the destruction they would leave in their wake. But...

...yes, there had always been a 'but...' in his life, whenever he was worried he was not making the right choice. A but that assured him, he doing it right - not for himself but for those around him.

He could not leave Iridae with those two chasers alone... Even she... deserved better.

His mourning and moping in the northern jungles eventually did Denkou good. His wing healed well enough that he could fly, and he was able now to regenerate the bone he had over used on the blasted Sekkian fire and sonic the weeks before. He almost detested how slow it was getting for him to regenerate his used bone. He was aging, sadly, but eventually, that too would pay off, with a nearly indestructible shell for a body and enough brute force to make a difference in the tainted lines. He was on his way back to the Desolation now, to avoid anymore unecessary run ins with the Sekkians and preserve his power for Tainted needs. That was his excuse for fleeing like the coward he was with his tail between his legs.

However, things did not go exactly as he planned. As he glided down the border between the Sekkian and Tainted territory, a noise caught his attention, one familiar yet unfamiliar. A sekkian female was rising. His skin pulled at his jaws into a malicious grin, spines on his shoulders flexing with excitement. His success with the bloated females of the desolation sea made him confident now, maybe overly so as he was encroaching onto a Sekkians female. Either way, he halted his path to the desolation and turned right back into Sekkian territory, seeking out the brutal female who called the males. The authority in her voice made his bones bone as his fangs enlogated into curly spikes and claws lengthened into deadly precise weapons. As she was sekkian he doubted she would want him to show off his spines, as a tainted female would, but hoped that a touch here and there wouldn't hurt to bad. Plus if things got nasty with any Sekkians... well, he had to be prepared, of course.

He flew into the scene quickly, almost surprised to see the female was only a small, brightly colored rosemary, of all things. She sounded much bigger, he mused, but she would be a fine prize indeed. Like a caged bird. He called out to her, his hollow raptor like call (Think Jurassic Park 3 :D ) echoing over the other males who were there. He was surprised to see Vulcanus, the strange tainted fire, as well as the air who had won over the spectre before he has gotten to her. He hissed audiabley at those 2 suitors, snapping his jaws at them threateningly as he glided over. To Salus, he barked at, this sekkian far smaller than he. So far, it seemed there would be a bit of a challenge, but the air and the rainbow rosemaries were smaller than he. The fire was larger, posed a bit more of a challenge, but Denkou knew he wasnt in control of his fiery blasts, making him a 50/50 chance of danger.

Like a rolling cloud of inescapable mayhem came the swift encroachment of a dull, mind-numbing haze that threatened to consume the swirling river of rapid thoughts that ran through her heightened state of mind. Having given into the overwhelming instinct to seek a mate at long last, the many score of repressed years that she had tried to do away with the urge altogether slapped her hard across the face with bleak mercy to be had. Her head, logic, sense of reason, nearly everything that made up the thinking being that was Iridae was lost in a billow of her approaching suitor’s scents. She growled softly at them, taking in their pheromones like an intoxicating drug that had been just out of reach for far too long. Her hovering body stiffened at the sensory overload as a rush of adrenaline burst into her system with roaring passion. Iridae screeched murder at them to come closer to her, to even try to claim her in her prime. Yet, despite the frustrating rage that took her rational judgment as easily as a thief to a coveted pile of precious gems, she was not completely gone from her senses yet.

Eyes wide with increasing hunger, the dancing inferno that inhabited those orange orbs fixated themselves upon the four forms that dared to Chase her in her time of wanton need. The largest by far, the first to approach, came in the form of a massive ember-imbued beast that spat fire around the air she glided in. Bold thought he was and possessing more brawn in his thick calves than she had within her entirety, the vile secondary odor that accompanied the raw testosterone billowed up from his broad wings made her snarl. Iridae spat at the unfamiliar, yet familiar scent of the tainted Fire. However, despite that, he bade her a neutral welcome. If she were in any sort right mind, she might have dived at him for the sheer audacity that bade him any sense to come close to her at all. For now, no, she would tolerate only. The musky waft of that was so very male forced her body to remain still and complacent; at least, for now.

The second male that came for her proved to be much more graceful, but was no less imposing. What he lacked in obvious size he made up with in elegance as he stroked the air with four lovely plumed wings that rivaled any Air that she had seen. His blue and white form was the opposite of the first. He, soothing and calmly hued to the eye, while the other, Vulcanus, appealed to the wild, untamed beast within her with those glowing colors of feral cinders. This one, yes, she had seen this male before as he skittered anxiously about the infirmary. Even now, the fear that cowered within Kubikiri’s large deer-like eyes was painfully evident with barely a glance toward his angular face. Iridae bared her teeth at his initial reaction to her call, but let him approach nonetheless.

It was the voice of the third male that she noticed first rather than that of his approach. Svelte and sweet, but rich and strong with pride, the quieter tone made her head snap toward the shadow of the Fire with a sneer rising upon her dainty features. She knew that voice well. Iridae hardly needed to see his lithe form, as large as her own diminutive body, burst into existence as his rainbow hide caught the brilliant dawn of the warm sun. His scales became prisms, entrancing her like a sightless doll for a time. But she quickly regained her sense of self, as much as anyone could in this heightened state, as his wings moved in a peculiar, wistful fashion in the air. He was only too recognizable as the father of her deceased mate, and the pain jogged her back when she recognized the family resemblance once more. The reminiscence from the past issued another challenging scream from her throat as Salus approached.

The last, the forth, her final suitor, became known in a much similar manner to that of Salus. His echoing, airy, repetitious bark made her eyes hone onto flying bleached corpse of a tainted Bone. She knew naught of this one by sight, only by recollection from the many patients that he sent her way. The frustration that he managed to indirectly cause her made her writhe beneath her skin. However, now was not the time for settling the affairs of war. No, she would tolerate him for the time. Iridae snarled at him, too, making it clear that she was not in favor of either of the tainted males from the start.

Good potential sires, all of them, but only one would win her body and mind. Her heart was too far blackened and cold to be stolen by any one male from deep within her narrow chest; those that dwelt within the realm of the living, at least. He was never coming back and no one but him would be able to thaw it. Iridae opened her maw and screamed her agony of her loss at the suitors encircling her. She suddenly felt revolted by the thought of being claimed by one of them, but the sea of intoxicating elixirs that powered her Flight would not let her back down again from a proper Chase. Her wings caught the artificial heat that Vulcanus brought with him, beating sluggishly upon the thermal to gain height with swift ease. Scooping the churning winds with wide, dreamy beats only seemed to worsen the effects of those wretched hormones upon her weakening will to fight the surrounding cloud of primordial desire. She fluttered in shock for the briefest of moments, loosing a bit of altitude for the trouble, before giving another screeching roar at the males.

Iridae arched her back and brandished her wide wings high over her head like arms waiting to dance a dangerous tango. With a powerful down stroke of those feathered sails, the dragoness catapulted forward and dove straight at Kubikiri with a command readying in her throat. How dare he try to face her in this state! “Grow a pair!” she all but roared into his too alert ears before listing gracefully to the right. It was not a rejection, only unbound anger in her shrill voice. She somersaulted sideways at Salus, claws and fangs bared to strike him if he didn’t move quickly enough to dodge her violent descent. “Move your feathered behind and show me what you’ve got! Pompous royal dignitary!” The dragoness didn’t wait to see if she made contact with Salus as she continued to let her momentum carry her straight toward the lush canopy. Her wings snapped open before she crashed, billowing the saturated white-blue ventral feathers with whipping winds. The violet Rosemary shrieked once more, glaring daggers at the males above her with molten pools of amber rage, before shooting off headlong toward the sunrise. If they still wished to Chase, they would follow and try their luck.

The presence of more dragons. Vulcanus's lip quivered as an Air, not so much different from a fly in the way he was acting, approached. He could almost hear that grating buzzing noise. His eyes narrowed, flicking to follow the Air dragon as he darted to and fro, much like a serpent would watch its soon-to-be catch before striking out when its prey got too close. Vulcanus snorted and cocked his head, keeping part of his focus on the Rosemary female, but that Air was just so annoying. He would have to be more focused on the coming Flight, though. No, he could not lose sight of that beautiful gem of a prize that was hovering, so tantalizing, in the sky, framed by the dawn sky as if she were its crowning glory.

The second suitor was a haughty rosemary. Silly thing, trying to provoke him like that. Vulcanus sneered, his eyes narrowing once more as his lips curled up to reveal shining white fangs in a wicked grin. The flames that spewed from the Fire in their ever rhythmic pattern became more intense and angry, their glows fiercer than before.

"Hehehehe, you come to conclusions too swiftly, Rosemary," he purred, though there was glaringly evident malice laced through his words. Vulcanus's head moved to point toward Salus. His tongue flicked. "I can already tell you are far less intelligent than I, and I consider you far uglier. Rainbow. Disgusting and shameful."

Vulcanus paid little attention to the Tainted Bone dragon that arrived. The bark and that odd, familiar stench was good enough. He whipped his head back to stare at the Rosemary female whose Flight was about to begin. Vulcanus could barely contain the energy, the need to start flying higher and higher, outmatching his rivals. The flames that constantly fired off from his scales was visual proof of this, coming in more frequent bursts of brighter yellows and blues. The female's snarls, hisses, and roars did not deter him. She was wild and vicious, but why turn back?

Slow, powerful wing beats propelled him upward as Iridae used the very heat he gave off to soar. Clever enough to do that, at least. All the more reason to keep going. Vulcanus felt assured that he would be able to last through the flight, at least. But could he win the Rosemary over? That was the question.

The Fire was completely focused. That downward stroke of her feathered wings immediately registered in his mind, told him what she was about to do. Vulcanus's eyes were locked on Iridae, the Fire slowing ever so slightly. He was following almost blindly, but made himself slow down so that he could judge what to do. She shrieked at the Air and the male Rosemary, and Vulcanus felt his confidence soar. To him, it seemed as if those two were already not in her favor. That didn't mean he could slack off, however. She was already violent, lashing out at one of her suitors. The sheer desire to catch her was blunted, if only for a brief moment, by the joy he felt at Salus being attacked. He tried to get close to the Rosemary, enough so that his fire would at least singe his feathers, before swooping higher and after Iridae.

Salus had known from the very beginning that it was not one of his smartest ideas to give chase to Iridae. But indeed it turned out to be much much worse than anticipated. He had always been brave. Maybe much braver than befitting of someone of such a small size as was his own. He did not flinch, nor wheel out of her path as Iridae dove, instead he frowned at her, almost as if he judged her badly for throwing her frustration out at Kubi. Scolding her with his eyes alone. but he paid the price for it in blood and pain. Her claws did not cut deeply as she passed by but it was more than enough to chip off two of his scales and send them hurling towards the ground, glittering like diamonds as they fell. Red and orange they shone as they fell. Salus tucked one of his frontlegs tighter to his chest, turning his head, his body following more slowly, facing Iridae as she went past him. Pain lanced through his leg and he winced. He was about to begin his own decend after Iridae when Vulcan came lurching after him. He struggled and beat his wings frantically to get out of his reach, still stunned by the impact just a few heartbeats ago. The Tainted Bastard had come to finish him off... Salus saw the flames coming, seconds stretching endlessly. He could see warm, red light dawning in the back of his throat, swelling until the flames suddenly emerged from his maw.

And when the flames engulfed him, Salus screamed...



He choked at the sudden heat surrounding him, closing his eyes against the blinding brightness around him. It was suffocating, burning in his lungs with every ragged breath. He struggled to rise or dive, to fight his wing out of the scorching cloud. Somewhere, somewhere... And then he broke free, ashes swirling behind him and cool air caressing his skin. He had gone mostly unharmed, his shining scales dulled by smoke and ash but still intact. They had taken most of the heat without burning, proving themselves as suprisingly tough and not just pretty. Unlike many flowers, he had not wiltered and died in the heat. But half of his tailfeathers were missing, the ruined remains still glowing like red rubies in the sky. He coughed once, twice, never turning to face Vulcanus, never bothering to give him any more attention. Salus had never... Why would both of them wish to wound, to maim even kill him? What had he done to deserve such cruelty? His eyes were wide and burning when he fixed his gaze on Iridae again. He went after her swiftly, almost as if nothing had happened. But the train of smoke and ash he left behind him and the brightness of his silver eyes told otherwise...

What.

Did.

She.

Say?!

Iridae’s cutting words echoed in his brain like a foghorn set off in a cavern. Hovering in the air almost dumbstruck, Kubikiri simply stared with unblinking eyes as the violet violence tore through the male ranks and shredded her way to the continuation of her lustful turbulence. Something ached deep in his anatomy as her shrill voice into his ears, the flaring satellites of his doe-like ears funnelling all the force of her curse deep into the canal. A trickle of blood leaked from the ruptured tympanum, the sudden snuffing of input all but unnoticed as the gears clocked over agonizingly in his brain. You just going to let her say that, my elusive pet?

Fuck NO!

Like a skipped heartbeat the currents holding each beast aloft stuttered and failed, stolen from beneath their wings and sucked inexorably into the impossibly expanding lungs of a narrow, shrinking creature. Vulcanis’ heated plumes glowed through the stretched tissue, distorted and strutted with braces of rib bone barely disguising the fact that silhouettes could be seen clean through his chest. The wind made an unholy shriek as it ground past his narrow, glassy teeth, exposed by the vicious snarl crumbling his sweet face in a grotesque mask, extruded across the long skull like the visage of a milk-skin gargoyle. Salus’ scream of agony and the roar of Vulcanis’ fire disappeared as the oxygen temporarily vanished into the bloated gas-sacks of Kubikiri’s lungs. They might have stuttered and died as their burned dioxide products were swept away along with the precious oxygen that they eagerly consumed, perhaps the disappearance of the flames might have fooled Salus into believing that the horrible, agonised squealing of the skies was for his benefit.

But Seppuku had no such designs. With an almighty scream like the pained cries of a wailing squall, his ribbed slammed the gathered wind from their cavernous depths with a blast that stripped the leaves from the trees below him and silenced what brave birds dared the dawn chorus with lust-driven dragons aloft. Four wings hammered viciously at the air, zipping along with their sinuous cargo over Salus. The faint vestige of sanity in his Taint addled brain flared them open in protection of the rainbow Rosemary, as Seppuku hovered before Vulcanis like a frenzied hornet. How dare the scum intrude on his skies, rape them with his thudding wingbeats and make his air currents scream with disruption as his heat burnt the atmosphere. Ungraceful, pitiful excuse for a filthy wyvern!

Shrieking in his echoing, seelie howl, Seppuku hissed his bile at the Taint with another blast of warning air, secure in the fact that no bone could ever hope to catch him in his God-Given realm. Frenzied and animal, the Air let out another unholy wail before pitching in pursuit of Iridae, mad with pent-up rage and testosterone pumping through his blood. In the nanoseconds it took for him to catch up behind her, a tiny fragment of his sanity screamed out and made him pause, dizzy, zipping in the air around her in frustration as he tried to banish the shrinking insect fighting with his darker nature.

Denkous white eyes bulged in anger. They hardly paid notice to him! None of them even gave him a second glance.He felt his bones itching to be of use, but he wanted to try something different than to maim for the right of mating. He wanted to win this one and he counting on the other males to fight amongst themselves and give himself passage right to the commanding and domineering feathered female. He smirked at the snarl she gave him, wondering faintly if she had taken care of any of his recent victims. His thoughts soon snapped to her and her alone however, as she stooped her fluttering on Vulcanus' heat and launched herself at the strange tainted/sekkian air and Sekkian rosemary. He thought for split moment she had decided already, herself seeming rather hasty and fighting against her hormones, but instead she came to chastise the two smaller ones. Denkou laughed on the inside, gliding on the winds after she shrieked indignantly.

His eyes rolled over the competitors, waiting to see what happened. For one, there was a change in the Air, and he turned into the crazed male he had been at the flight for Geist. He didn't like the change, but hoped maybe the female wouldn't either. He carefully dodged the flames of Vulcanus, flying after the female with as much speed as he could muster as she darted towards the rising sun. The sound of the rainbow colored rosemaries scream washed over him, giving him renewed vigor to win. His wings beat steadily, quickly, eyes locked on the female... However this presented to be a problem to him, since he didn't see Seppukus attack. With the beat of his wings, the air blast hit him, causing his wings to flail. He growled, the deep noise reverberating from deep in his chest cavity. He quickly regained his composure, trying to catch up to the air to no avail. He was built for this element, built to be faster than any other dragon or bird could hope of being.

He itched to fire a bone spear, to tear those 4 little wings of the bastards back and watch him fall to the ground, but right now he had no hope of catching up and didn't want to waste his time on the suitors. This time he was 100% on the female in front of him. He beat his wings until the muscles were sore from use, refusing to stop. If he couldn't be first, he'd be as close a second as he could muster. He roared at the air, who was already close behind her. It was all he would do for now, but later... later he would sink his claws into that dainty male and make him pay.

Iridae’s mouth slackened to allow for more oxygen to enter her tiring body. The straining of her ill-used muscles was beginning to hurt abominably. She was far from used to exertion like this on a daily basis, and none such extended flying. Her breathing was beginning to labor from the sprint; true, she was built in both wing and chest for speed, but not of endurance. Small clouds of heated carbon dioxide puffed visibly from her open jaws in the cold air. It was a shame; really, being a healer and not having the endurance or the conditioning that she did her best to beat into her unsuspecting patients for not possessing in the first place. Her muscles were beginning to tire; yet she was not done quite willing to finish her Flight so soon. The instinct to Choose was too overpowering to meekly let her give up and try another day.

When the violet mistress hazarded a glance behind her to see which males still Chased, she snarled vehemently. The brawl that ensued her was turning violet and bloody faster than she had anticipated. Pearly fangs glinted with disgust in the dawning yellow light of early morn. Tainted wretches always brought this added mayhem to the table. Salus’ raw scream brought her hormones to a faint, jarring halt. The sudden, high-pitched screech of pain forced the panting Rosemary to halt mid-air and whip around with fear. The sound was all too familiar, too painful for her to not remember. Involuntarily, her thoughts raced back to the shrouded incident years ago. It haunted her like a plague and the scream of the very male’s father sounded almost exactly like the one that her mate had uttered.

D-disio?

Before she knew it, the thought had vanished from her. That scream was hardly the cry of teasing males. He was injured. Her heart skipped a beat before the frantic pulsing shot back with renewed vigor. Golden eyes locked onto the smoking form as if to shoot it down with gaze alone. Salus’ charred feathers streamed smoke from the massive fire that loomed just behind him, the flames still trailing from his mouth like ravenous, glowing tongues.

Before she knew it, the Air, too, had snapped from the frightful whelp that he had been into something much more sinister than from what he had arrived as. The menacing glint in his massive eyes shown brightly as he screamed after his opponents. His scent all but billowed into her face like a cloud as he approached her. The dragoness growled, hit with yet another wave of desire as it coursed through her system.

Iridae, fueled by a renewed rush of testosterone-enticed hormones and fear, bolted back into motion with a loud screeching cry. Her fluttering form shot over the racing pack of males that craved her flesh for their own pitiful desires. On her way back toward them, she shot over Denkou, grabbed one of the bone spears on his back, and yanked it clean with her entire weight behind her. The spear snapped off with a loud crack! However, she would have none of their ‘catching’ business. Not in a million years would she let them snatch her out of the air like some sort of prize. No, that was not how she conducted things. This was her Flight and she’d be dammed if they made a pet of her, especially those tainted brutes.

Her narrow wings panned the thin, frigid air. As Vulcanus flew below her, she dived at his super-heated form and caught the dragon-made thermal to ease the strain of her weakening shoulders. “Thanks for the lift!” she yelled harshly down at him. The dragoness squealed rage at the changed Kubikiri. Gone was the gentle creature that chased her with some level of decent honesty. That revolting tainted look in his eyes coaxed another snarl from her thin lips.

Tightening her grip on the bone spear, she raised it blunt end high and struck him hard across the face. “CALM THE FUCK DOWN!” Iridae all but screamed into his pinned ears. “I have no patience for tainteds or their violence! It’s actions like these that make me cold!” She hovered angrily over his head for a few seconds before flinging the bone spear at the forest below. Her tongue darted out to carefully lick the Air’s wounded forehead. “However, I still think you’re….cute.” The words issued from her mouth slowly, as if it pained her to actually say such a kind thing.

Iridae hissed lowly beneath her breath and dashed off back into the sky to reclaim the lost altitude from the incident. Her body shook as she tried to hover, but failed miserably. The violet dragoness gulped before glancing around for the last time at the males that proudly Chased her. Strong, able Vulcanus would make a strong sire for her children. Denkou, too, was nearly invincible with that hard outer coating. He, too, could be a good sire if given the chance. That was what she came here for, right? However, cracked crystals that fell beneath her critical eyes pushed her consideration for either far from mind. She couldn’t risk their corrupted ideals pass on with their gametes into her precious offspring.

That left Kubikiri and Salus, the bright forms of both flying below her like sparkling gems embedded within a rich curtain of green satin forest. The Air was fast and nimble; he had proved that right off the bat. The downside, unfortunately, was his temperament. Although he excelled in physical fitness and prowess, both highly heritable traits, his mentality was a tad iffy. She welcomed hellion spawn with open arms, but not weaklings, even if this strange side of his mind proved to be determined and proud. Salus showed none of these hesitations. Strong in mind and proud in appearance, he embodied what she could only hope for in a potential father even if he lacked the physical greatness that the other three harbored.

A low, miserable keen escaped her throat as she locked her eyes back upon the prismatic Rosemary that fluttered far below. The choice she needed to make was a hard one indeed. Her heart screeched a defiant NO! while her mind, the ever-present logical piece to her puzzle nodded wholeheartedly. Damned emotions. If only she could just be rid of them altogether.

Iridae gave a short, thick cough before summoning back up the mask of indifference that she had perfected for the last two years. He was dead. She shouldn’t have cared. But the clouded film of saline that distorted her vision as she stared rigidly at the living rainbow beneath her belied otherwise. Iridae shook her head and dived headlong at the glittering dragon before she could back down. Her wings tucked close to her body, she braced herself for impact. Arms and legs spread wide to drive him into the forest below with the least resistance. He was still injured no matter what way she looked at the situation. Oh well. The poor dear.

“You are mine, Salus!” echoed the emotionless shriek as it resonated through the lush canopy.

Salus watched in growing horror as Iridae flung herself at the other males. She even plucked a piece of boney spike from Denkous back, recklessly wrestling it free of its socket. It must've been somewhat loose or else Salus could not imagine how she wrenched it free so swiftly. Kubi, poor Kubi, got his taste of that bone and Salus flinched when Iridae struck him, feeling an overwhelming pitty. The poor dragon... he had just... gotten carried away. She did call him cute but Salus knew pretty well that Iridae was not looking for 'cute' exactly. Another stroke or so it seemed, a stroke just to Kubis heart. Poor, poor young dragon... Salus paused mid-air to watch the female they had all come to catch... and suddenly felt an increasing doubt that duty was strong enough to endure her. He watched her struggle vor height, watched her look at every male in turn, pondering. He didn't wish to know what she thought. He only watched. But when her eyes fell on him last, his stomach churned. Coincidence! Cleary, it had to be. It was just impossible for a female like her to choose a dragon such as him. Im-pos-sible.

He blinked and frowned when he heard her low keen, suspecting now more than ever, that there was something broken inside her. Something all his power could not reach, a wound he could not heal, a gap he could not fix. And she was still looking at him. Why was she staring at him so intently? There were other males too, were there not? Salus begun to backwing slowly, feeling a growing unease in his chest. She coughed and almost like a curtain, her mask dropped. The feeling of an unhealed wound deep inside her suddenly vanishing like smoke. As if it had never been there to begin with. He felt startled, off balanced even. And then she dove at him. He held onto his bravery until the last second, panic constricting his throat and filling his bright eyes a mere heartbeat before she crashed into him. Somewhere inside his head, sanity screamed Nooooooo! to her shriek, a small squak of surprise escaping his maw as if he hadn't believed until her body crashed into his that she would truely hit him and not dodge the last moment. He felt the air rush out of his lungs together with his squak of surprise. He knew they were falling, no plunging towards the ground, the forest below and something inside him snapped back into place. Instead of struggling against her as he had intended to do at first, his bravery finally going to hell, he pulled her even closer. His arms closed around her, claws hooked gently but firm into the gaps between her scales, holding her in his embrace. He even folded his wings around her, curling them around her back protectively. I cannot fix her wound... I cannot... but what I can do is protect her for this moment, for the stretch of an heartbeat. And hope to keep her warm, even if only for a little while..., he thought, only belatedly remembering what all this had been about at the start. Not the thrill of being half-burned and tackled out of the air but mating. Yes, sometimes he was indeed slow...

Gods, I hope I survive this... he thought grimly, as the ground came rushing up at him, knocking the air from his lungs for the second time within a few moments when his back crashed down into the soft soil.