Dual Souls (Training Mary/Aayla)

It was the most interesting of mornings for Mary, for it was days since she had the conversation and incident with Aayla. Questions flooded herself about who Mary was and what path she was going to take. The nun sighed as she looked up some holy text books for inspiration for guidance, something to shield her from the impending darkness in her soul. It has been a while since she read these most holiest of books for guidance in her path, but there was nothing but ways to kill her and purge all demonic beings. In ways it caused Mary to cry, the books that she read for guidance and mercy... instead called for her head. Why was fate so cruel to her? Was this payback for all the mischief in the convent she caused? Was this the Makers punishment?

Mary was alone in her room looking at the iron keys in her hands and jingled them. She had gotten accostumed to their darkness and intune to what it was. It was her own Celestial Spirits whispering their dark advices into Mary's ears. Some encouraging her and some saying to abandon the foolish notion of the Maker, for a God of Light has no place for creatures of Shadows. However it was the most feral of all her keys to probably give the most blunt and sagest of advice, "If you ask me, the Makers an idiot. Every time light shines on something, it creates shadows. So if you ask me, the Maker creates darkness too. Would a mother ever reject a daughter?" It calmed Mary down at least, but the struggle in her own soul gave an idea.

The theory was sound, the practice however needed to be tested. She held a blank Platinum Key in her hand, a creation of hers with practive of her shadow arts. There was always a potential of light and shadows in every individual. So why not use it to unlock a person's true potential? Why not simply summon it the same way she summoned her Celestial Spirit side? She waited on her potential candidate for her experiment, the one that has actually been in the Celestial Realm. Mary sighed, it should work as Mary set up a picnic area with grilled shark meat sandwiches over a nice view of the Ocean. This was basically an experiment for Mary, but the whispers of the iron keys were complaining why they weren't invited. Fenris in particular wanted to taste shark meat, but others were just as annoyed. A particular spirit wanted to bring tea to the picnic.

Eventually the time would come to ask the question, "So Aayla I would like you to see this..." The Demon nun procured the Platinum key and if Aayla were to touch the key it would begin to transform and morph upon her touch. It was expected, the key was supposed to reflect the intended person's soul. Mary explained, "I did a study on peoples souls and how to summon their souls for combat. Every person has a dominant light or dark soul, but we keep the other side of our soul buried. The key is a reflection of the soul you always show, but this unlock the other side to mingle properly with yours."

She really wasn't sure what she was doing... meeting Mary in such a strange place to help her with her spirit magic. She didn't wuit understand why she was the perfect candidate to help her other than the simple fact that she had been to the Celestial Spirit World before and survived. She let a sigh escape her lips as she leaned back against Zinnath, petting the serpents neck gently. She couldn't just abandon Mary to her dark fate... she had to find some way to help her, and if that meant facing the dark spirits... then she would have to stop crying and she would have to fight.

It was easier said than done. As she sat down with Mary, she grew nervous, but the smell of the shark meat really distracted her from that nervousness. She didn't even have the chance to ask about the shark meat whenever Mary offered her a key. It looked different than the others. It was really plain, no markings or symbols or anything on it or anything. When she took it into her hands however, the key began to shift and change right there in her hands.

"Hunh...? It's... dragon wings..."
She said softy, raising an eyebrow as she watched blue jewels pop out of the key and horns come out of the top while a tail wrapped itself around the key.

"W...what do you mean summon their souls? and... you want to unlock my other side? so... my darkness..?"
She asked cautiously, looking up to her friend with a raised eyebrow, showing her the key that had just finished transforming.

Mary ate the shark meat for the first time, it was actually delicious despite it was from the fish market. This caused Mary to pause and think about it for a bit before commentating, "You need to teach me to Shark hunt one day, I overheard you talking about it to Cirven the other day... Hee hee, I was always the more adventurous of all the nuns." Mary watched in silence as the key transformed into a black key with wings and a blue gem on it. It was a very unique design of someone, her should was strong after all. Not many would survive the challenges of being in the Celestial Realm like that and walk out alive. Mary ate the last bit of the sandwich as Aayla started asking questions, which Mary had a few answers to.

Mary paused for a bit and said, "Yes, it most likely will be dark in your case. Every soul has potential for good and evil within it. Every soul is influenced from the light and darkness within it. Wouldn't you want to know what does your inner darkness look like? It would reveal things about you that you may not even realized yourself." She was attempting to make it sound like it would summon a whole new entity in its place. Something that may pique Aayla's interest in this idea for a Secondary Magic. She continued, "What if we use this magic to learn more about our enemies that we originally thought?"

Mary continued with her line of reasoning as she continued, "The process is easy actually, you place the key around your heart and you turn the key..." Mary gave a reassuring smile that everything was going to be all right. Aayla was not in actual danger from the key after all, in fact Mary already had a plan for what to do. Mary had her Celestial summoning keys in her left pocket after all, so Mary was not going to be helpless. Mary just watched in silence as Aayla would probably do the deed, curiosity would get the better of her. It always did.

Mary would watch the deed as almost immediately a portal of darkness opened up behind Aayla
and black tendrils wrapped around the Water Dragon Slayer. It would happen so quick and they seemed to attach themselves to Aayla's soul Mary finished the sentence finally, "...And have your body dragged into the Dark Celestial realm. Don't worry Aayla you are not going alone after all... My Celestial Summons and I are going to join you." Mary was smiling as Aaylas body was dragged back into the place of nightmares. The land where she almost died, but made it out by skin of her teeth. Aayla was not alone for a minute, before Mary stepped in, but it wasn't human Mary.I t was the transformed Dark Mary complete with the skin and menacing claws. Mary breathed in the air and sighed, "Looks like I am finally home." Mary smiled wide and awaited Aayla's reaction.

Taking her words of praise to the meat as a cue, Aayla quickly nabbed the sandwich and took a bite of her favorite meal. Of course, it was nothing like either fresh shark meat or even raw shark meat, this stuff had been sitting dead for a long time, but she couldn't deny that adrenaline rush she got from the taste of the meat. She nearly shuddered in excitement before her thoughts were brought back to the present and forced to look back down at this key again, before looking back up to Mary.

"I've worked really hard burying that darkness Mary...I don't know if it's such a good idea..."
She said hesitantly but Mary went on to explain the magic, how to do what Mary brought her here to do and eventually Aayla sighed in defeat. She ate the rest of her sandwich, putting it down in front of her before bringing the key u to her heart, taking in a deep breath and turning it as Mary had instructed. 

Almost instantly she felt a tug at her heart, then quite literally something tugging on her body. She looked back to find an open portal, tendrils waving their way out and wrapping themselves around her body, dragging her into it. Then, Mary's words told her exactly what was happening... she was going back to the Celestial world. Her eyes widened wth fear as she started to push and struggle against the tendrils with all her might, looking up at the transforming Mary pleadingly.

"You never told me this was part of your plan! Mary no! I can't go back I can't!"
She pleaded with the now Celestial being, small tears forming in her eyes once more as she tried to get free, however, all her efforts were in vain.

Mary just watched with her feral yellow pupil eyes as the shadows curled up around Aayla more and more with every struggling moment she did. There was no escape for Aayla, no chance to be free and no mercy from Mary's eyes. Instead all Aayla got was a single clawed finger on Aayla's lips to shush her. Then a wide dark grin smiled, "Shh... Of course you can. You knew deep in your heart that you were going to return to my birth realm. No worries though, because I will be there to play with you... along with ever single one of my Celestial summons. They have been waiting to meet you... And want to play with you all day long... Sounds fun doesn't it?" Mary chuckled evilly as she gave Aayla the one final push and the Water Dragon Slayer was through the portal. She was back in the place of nightmares, the place of Darkness incarnate... Aayla was once again trapped this world.

Mary stepped through the portal straight afterwards and stretched her back. This place felt so good to be in! So much darkness and none of the pesky light to deal with! She panted hard 3 times, before composing herself. The Darkness going straight to her head, she felt different here. She felt... strong and in fact this rush was so distracting that she was not paying attention to Aayla who could start running any second now. And it would be fun to start chasing that little mouse down while in this realm...

"No! Stop, Mary please!"
She wanted to continue pleading with the girl, but her clawed finger came up to her mouth, silencing the young water dragon slayer who now looked at her with the same panic in her eyes that she had back at the abandoned mansion. This was the form she wanted to help Mary control... this evil thing that lived inside her... she wasn't religious by any means... but this... it just didn't feel right... it scared her just as much as those dark mages did. She wanted to cry out, to let the tears roll freely down her face, but as she made the transition to the Spiritual World again, the world went dark.

She couldn't breath... the air and gravity of the Celestial World felt like it was trying to tear Aayla apart by every limb at the same time.

Mary had betrayed her trust... again... even though her team mate knew of her fears she pushed her... pushed her again, and again! She relentlessly pushed her to her sanity's limits and here, in this darkness, she felt it teeter on the edge. She hated Mary... she hated the Celestial Spirits! not for what they were but what they did! What they did to her and to others. She ground her teeth together, her breath slowly coming back to her as she concentrated on her hate for Mary and her spirits.

Suddenly, the pressure around the girl didn't seem so strong, in fact it seemed lighter than the real world. As for her breathing, she had no trouble with that at all. She finally snapped her eyes open and sat up straight suddenly, crying out as her head pounded and she brought her hands to her head. However the hands she brought up weren't her own. Dark blue scales covered her arms, her hands were turned into extremely sharp claws... however this wasn't one of her takeovers... this mind, this hatred wasn't her Serpents Soul... It was her dragon's heart.

She stood up, looking herself over frantically, taking in every scale, every talon, everything from touching her wings to the tip of her tail. She then turned sharply, glaring at Mary.

"What the hell did you do to me?!"
She demanded angrily, her voice sounding 10 years older and as if there was a second being speaking along with her, transferring her anger into her voice for everyone to hear and feel.

Mary watched as the transformation occured before her eyes, scales grew from her skin, hands and feet sharpened to claw and a tailwith wings were out of Aayla's back. This was obviously a thing of beauty if it weren't for a fact it was about ready to bite her head off. Mary sighed, but continued tosimply watch Aayla, her movement was powerful now and with dedication. her voice though betrayed the fact the transformation was not complete. It was far from it in fact, there was still some light in her heart that was not being snuffed out yet. Instead she calmly answered, "Your darkness, it is reshaping your body so you can breathe in this atmosphere. Otherwise you would be dead within minutes... Slowly you are becoming like me, A Dark Celestial Spirit." Mary said it in such a way that it sounded like a good thing, but Aayla was probably not going to take it well. She was basically being told that her light was getting snuffed out and that she was becoming what she most hated and feared.

Mary continued, "I also did it so that if you ever get trapped in the Dark Celestial realm, you will have a means to defend yourself. I know you hate me, despise me. After my last time though, I have learned to embrace the darkness. Now I am passing my gift of darkness to you... So I can protect you." Mary was keeping wary of Aayla in case she planned to attack the Dark nun again. However she had trouble keeping eye contact, Mary was feeling guilty.

"Helping me?!"
She cried out at the spirit in front of her, gritting her sharp teeth together, not realizing that she was now baring her fangs at Mary. She was turning her into a Celestial Spirit? She didn't want to be one! She didn't want to have to fight in the Celestial World at all! She nearly choked on her anger as her facial featured continued to change as she spoke. Her eyes were soon glossed over with a pure blue color, her scales continued to harden and grow as the girls mass in and of itself continued to grow and bulk up with every passing minute.
 
"I don't want your stupid gift! I hate it! I hate you and I hate the spirits!"
She cried out, this time, agony could be heard in her voice as her body grew beyond the form of a 15 year old girl. One could say she was the size of an adult, however with the bulk her body was building, she started to resemble a young t-rex more than a human at all.
 
With her thoughts blinded by pain and hatred of the person who was inflicting this pain and torment on her, she pushed herself a few feet towards Mary, swinging her tail angrily to strike at the girl while her dragon’s hands held at her head.
 

“Arg… it hurts…”
There were actually tears building up in the corner of this creatures eyes, threatning to fall and stain the beautiful scales that covered her face.

Mary watched as Aayla had a bit of a meltdown, but continued to press further as she transformed into the dragon. It was beginning to hurt her, the darkness in her head beginning to try and change her thoughts. Mary walked closer to Aayla as he was flinching from the recent pain and wiped the tears from the Dragons eyes with her claws. She answered Aayla, "I hate myself too. I feel betrayed for everything that was told to me in the convent despite them knowing what I was. I feel betrayed as one of my friends opened a door to a demon that killed everything I held dear. I feel betrayed by you all when I got revulsion, instead of getting help that I was promised." Mary then said to the dragon in the face, this time with just a hint of anger in her voice. Mary told Aayla, "I wanted to die, but instead I survive the fall. Survive getting gutted. Survive against getting poisoned, shot, stabbed and other things you woudn't believe. I have tried dying since my first transformation, but I can't die... And I know why... I am ressurecting every single time that my 'death' is occuring in the same spot."

Mary tried to stroke the Dragons head if she would let her, the scales softer than they looked without losing the toughness. Now Mary herself is crying, but it was for a certain other kind of pain. She muttered, "I feel betrayed, because I am going to see the lost of my family grow old and die... And I won't be able to join you in the afterlife."

At this point, Aayla wasn't hearing anything that Mary was telling her, everything that came out of the girls mouth simply continued to enrage her, fuelling her now darkened spirit until the Dragon Slayer's transformation into a Celestial being was complete. Before Mary now stood a fully grown dragon, with scales so dark blue they seemed black, when her wings opened up, they reflected the starts of the night sky, All along her body, her scales spiked up and our of her skin, looking as if her very bones themselves were protruding from her flesh. A crown of horns sat atop her head, leading all the way down her back in a menacing display of sheer power.

Aayla arched her back forward and let lose her first real dragon's roar. The echo resonated throughout the Celestial space, sounding loudly within the ears of those around her to a degree that wold make most cover their ears and shy away for fear of breaking their ear drums. She then took another two steps forward, swinging her massive tail from one side to another, swiping away at the spirits littering in her presence. Then, her eyes fell on Mary and she reared her head back, opening her mouth and letting lose a stream of water so hot and powerful it could easily strip the flesh off of any humans bones. 

Whether her strike hit her target or not, Aayla began to thrash around in her new body, beating her wings down to blow those around her away while constantly whipping her tail at the spirits while also trying to stop on the tiny beings.

Mary looked down at the ground as Aayla roared, she did this to her. She made her into a dark and powerful Dark Celestial Spirit, but she was lost withing her own darkness. Trapped without her own small heart of light to guide her way. All that anger and resentment did not come from just her doing this to her. And Mary was going to dive into the darkness if she had to. She was tired of running away from her fears, anger and pain. Mary wanted to be free from the chains of evil that gripped her soul, because for the first time ever the Dark nun felt at peace with herself. She accepted herself for what she was, a Dark Celestial Spirit that plagued childrens nightmares. She also accepted her life as a nun that's goal was to serve the Maker and better the people around her. Mary decided that she would use the darkness to help people, realize their faults, sins and pride. She wanted others to accept themselves too.

Mary immediately jumped into the shadows to avoid the stream of boiling water, the heat and steam still leaving nasty scars. Mary's eyes were narrowed as she came out of the shadows to attempt to claw the Dragon's wing. Mary had to be quick against Aayla, but she would not give up on her. It just wasn't in her nature. Mary would say despite hitting or not, "You want to be angry Aayla, be angry at me. I brought you here and there will be blood between us. I will make you stronger. I will cure you of your fear... even if it kills me."

The huff that escaped through the dragon's nostrils shot out smoke as her breath attacked missed her target, well it missed burning her alive. Her pure blue eyes scanned the area to find the wretch that had caused her pain, swiftly turning her body around with another powerful beat of her wings. When Mary emerged from the shadows and clawed into her wing, Aayla let lose another blood curdling roar, beating her wing down to strike at Mary. At the same time, a blast of pure darkness shot from her wings to beat down into Mary.
 
The attack itself looked as if the constellations within her wings were striking out at Mary with everything they had. Meanwhile, the dark dragon beat her powerful wings once more, taking off from the ground and taking to the sky, darting forward and away from Mary at such an incredible speed, she would be a blurr if it wasn’t for her large mass.  She was aiming to put some distance between them. Although she was physically powerful, a creature so nimble would be hard to deal with up close, and so, she let lose another jet of boiling water towards Mary as she flew, hoping the spirit didn’t have enough time to recuperate from her first attack.
 

Her eyes then darted around the area, trying to locate anyone else that dared help this traitor in her plan. She roared angrily again as she let lose breath attack, after breath attack on the surrounding area, boiling and melting whatever couldn’t withstand the heat.

Mary's claws met home and ripped a tear in Aayla's wing's, small smirk of victory escaped her lips. The small humanoid creatures victory was short lived however as she got smacked across the face with a flap of Aaylas wings. Well that was definitely an embarrasing mistake that Mary made. She should have seen that coming, the dragon was bigger, stronger and angrier than Mary was. Also Aayla was fighting at her 100% power and was not holding back, but Mary didn't dream about hurting Aayla. She did not deserve it, the claw in the wing was just a burst of anger. Instead she felt like Aayla deserved better than to have that happen to her. Mary had an idea, but did not want to do it until something drastic did happen. Until then there was no reason too...

Instead Mary got a blast of pure shadows in her face to reward her hesitation. This was straight shot in the face, but that did not hurt him. Contrary, she practically resisted that darkness attack due to her nature. That was fine, but the slam into the ground wasn't. In fact there was little to stop her from landing flat on her back and case a small crater in the process. This hurt badly that Mary just laid there stunned from the impact. That completely caught her by surprise, but nothing to worry at all. Was she dead? No far from it. Was she hurt? Not really...

But it still hurt a lot! OW!

Mary stood up from the crater that was was created in a heartbeat so that a repeat attack wouldn't happen. Despite not really being hurt, Mary was still looking at the Dragon with slight concern. How was she going to get through to Aayla, how was she going to bring her sanity back to that dragon from? So many questions were popping in Mary's mind, but the most important one was the following: why can't I feel my right arm? Mary checked her arm to noticed it was dangling in a twisted shape sort of way. It was broken or dislocated, but oddly enough there was no pain. Just a very numb sensation in her arm. It was then Mary realized that maybe it was a good time to call quits while they were ahead or while she was still alive at least.

"Okay, sorry Aayla. The fun is going to have to stop now."

Mary grabbed Aayla's key in her hand and squeezed it with all her might. After a bit of effort, the ke broke and the darkness left Aayla in a massive drove. Scales would reced, size shrink and appearance would return humanoid. It would appear that everything was going to return to normal and Mary rushed up to help Aayla, and check to make she was alright. Arm was dangling to the side still as she tried to make sure her friend was alright. Mary cried, "Oh Maker Aayla, I am so sorry! I shouldn't have brought you here. I shouldn't have done that to you. Let us return home and forget about this..."

Aayla let out an angry roar towards Mary for her words, suddenly flying forward with such an intense speed, she was n front of the girl in no time at all, ready to chomp down on her and eat her whole. However, just as she landed in front of the Celestial Spirit, her own key was broken, and her transformation began to fade, causing Aayla to rear her head back and roar up towards the sky angrily. That roar soon turned into Aayla’s own, regular voice still crying out in agony.
 
When Aayla was herself again, large streaks of tears were flowing down her face,  a pained expression in her eyes as she let herself fall to her knees, and cover her face in her hands as she cried out loudly. She had just become a dragon! She had become just like her mother, a powerful, nearly indestructible creature that she herself couldn’t control… she wanted to do nothing more than to kill… she wanted Mary dead, she really really wanted to kill her. She flexed her finger, almost clawing into her own face, as if she was clawing into Mary’s. This was worse than her takeover training…
 

“D… Don’t touch me!... please… I… I’ll hurt you…”
Aayla stated as she tried to take in deep breaths through her tears, but barely managed to gasp for air. She looked up above her hands towards Mary, still angry with her, and fearful that her anger would turn into blood lust once more. It had been so long since she had totally lost herself like that… since her time with the dark mages… and she had hoped to never go through that again.

“I… take me out…. Of this world… please…”

Mary sighed, she really screwed up this time. She looked at Aayla and saw what she reduced her guild mate into. A frightened little girl attempting to hide in a corner practically, scared of what was inside her. This was not the brave and strong Aayla as before. This was something of a broken shell now trying to hold something in that she absolutely feared. That fear was her own anger, her own darkness that nobody else saw. This was the state Mary herself was in when she first faced the darkness too. However this was different, Mary was the darkness and Aayla was afraid of the aspect of darkness. Mary got down to her knees next to her and asked the question that would define a lot about her. Mary asked, "What happened to you that your darkness took the form of a Dragon? I mean besides you being the Water Dragon Slayer. This is beyond simply being afraid of the dark, this is more than just that. Something drove you to the pinnacle of insanity and you try to hide it... "

Mary sat down and kissed Aayla in the forehead the same way nun's in the convent calmed their nervous nuns. Not caring if she was angry or could potentially hurt her, this was some sort of motherly instinct she seemed to have adopted for those in the dark. This was one of those moments that she sat down and held Aayla against her chest for several minutes. Mary continued, "I don't care if hurt, eat, kill or otherwise cause me harm. I opened a soft spot in your soul in hopes to fix it. I do not care how monstrous it is, because you are my friend..."

Mary continued to hold her despite any protests she may give or any angry remarks. Mary continued to cradle Aayla in her arms, but looked down to the ground as she cried. She could feel her sorrows, anger and anguish, but had no way to alleviate it. No way to end the pain, but instead said "In a way I am like you though, angry at the world. I have been away from the convent longer than Kiersa has and the place leaves an impression that the world is a bright and beautiful place. However when you first experience it, the shock hits you. It's not the perfect world that the Maker put it in, there is evil in this world. The true saints of this world become the victims of said evil. I have seen too much pain, misery, hurt and suffering to feel angry at the world. A part f me wants to lash out at others, but I do not do so because from the darkness came the light. The dragon only came out, because behind that very same darkness came a light that burned brighter."

Mary cried and squeezed Aayla tightly one more before letting her go and standing up. She tried to give a comforting smile that most likely wouldn't work, but it was the attempt that mattered. However there was one final thing that Mary wanted to say, "That is why I can't be a nun like Kiersa. She preaches too much peace, hope and love. It's not for everyone, I believe that people like her will be slaughtered. Instead someone needs to play the wrath of the Maker and employ her justice on others so that people like her can preach peace afterwards. Dark needs light and vice versa to survive... It is the way life is."

Mary stood up and looked at the air for briefest of seconds as if something were there. She closed her eyes and tried to feel the air that was around her. Mary muttered, "It should be right here somewhere." She walked around a little bit more until she felt it and slashed a hole in Dark Celestial Realm and back to Earthland. She pulled Aayla, or carried her if needed, through the portal and into Earthland again. As Mary stepped through the scales of her Dark Celestial form seemed to dissipate in the light like a small mist evaporating in the sun. While in that realm it was easier to maintain it, the Dark form left a dirty feeling to her. Something that was not natural to her at all... Mary sighed as they returned to the picnic table as if no time passed at all. Almost like it never happened at all.

Mary looked at Aayla one more time and looked down. She was ashamed with what she did and could have caused scars between them that will never heal. Mary simply said, "For what it is worth, your darkness is not evil. In fact it is actually a good reaction, because it means your past has not made you fall into despair. It has made you stronger. And in a world like this, one has to be strong to survive... Heh wish I could do what I preach sometimes." Mary set down her keys on the picnic cloth and sighed, "Sometimes wonder if I will ever be able to use these spirits for anything else but destruction."

"I don't want to... to talk about it... Mary... please just take me home..."
She whined, even as the girl came up to kiss her forehead, causing the young dragon slayer to flinch and recoil. When she hugged her, her tears slowly began to dry up, however not for the reason Mary would have hoped.

She was feeling completely betrayed by Mary, hurt and extremely angry, especially when the girl didn't co-operate and take her out of the Celestial world right away. She moved to protest getting out of here again when Mary dragged her out. She gave a sigh of relief when she felt the familiar feeling of her world but then glared at Mary once more as she took an extra step to close the gap between then and out of no where punched the girl in the head.

"I've tried being nice with you! This whole light and darkness crap down't make any sense! And you would betray my trust, you would hurt me with the things I fear and for what?! I've had enough! I hate you!"
She exclaimed finally, anger rolling off of her in waves, quite literally. Waves of darkness began emitting from her body, the key in May's hand began to pulsate as f a tiny heartbeat had begun beating there once more. From it's broken core, the key gave a flash of bright yellow light before being covered in darkness, repairing itself with ease.

Aayla brough her hands to her head as a sharp pain began to grow once more. She let out a pained scream that slowly began to grow into a dualed voice as her body once more began to transform. Her skin grew black before slitting off into scales, slowly growing larger and larger with each passing second. Her hands and feet turned into deadly talons and claws while wings sprouted from her back. Lastly, a long tail emerged from her tail bone, swinging out to strike at anything that was near her. Then, her body continued to grow larger, and larger until she reached the size of a full fledged dragon, her scream now turned into a powerful angry roar.

Mary sighed, this was not what she wanted. Not the anger, violence or hatred. It was about the betrayal however and Mary had every reason to be yelled at. So when Aayla grew to be a Dragon again there was no surprise. There was no anger. There was only sadness in her eyes as she looked up to the creature that stood taller than her. Mary showed no fear, but just a simple smile on her face. The darkness and anger was strong in this one. Threw her keys aside, this was between 2 Celestial Spirits fighting for supremacy. Mary looked at the Dragon as she chuckled softly, this ws a part of her. She enjoyed the pain, violence and war that came with all of this. This was her dark side emerging and secretly enjoyed every second of it.

"I hurt you now, so that the pain is lessened later. I make you afraid to show you there is nothing to fear. I make you angry so that you can vent on me and not towards others I care for. You have so much bottled up anger that one day you were going to explode. You are a danger Aayla and I will have you face your fears, conquer your anger and make you into the better because of it. I will not let you put Kiersa (my friend) into danger because you are frozen in utter fear. What are you going to do? Face the fear and grow up or forever be the coward? It seems that I have my answer though. Who would have thought that I'd see a dragon be afraid?"

Hydrias, (the name that became hers in this form) glared at Mary, her eyes narrowing and radiating such hatred, hat if the dragon's eyes could kill they would. She let out a loud, angry roar, directed directly at Mary before beating her wings and lifting herself off of the ground just enough to use her massive height and weight against her enemy, Mary. She darted the small distance between them, aiming to swat Mary free from the ground and into the sky. Wherever the girl ended up though, Hydrias opened up her large maw as a ball of boiling water began to form before being turned into a jet that was fired at Mary.

'I would never hurt my friends, EVER, no matter how angry I get, or how scared I become! I think you're the one who's scared Mary! That's why you're putting others into so much pain! You don't want to be the only one to suffer so you make the rest of us suffer! Well, I'm not going to let you keep hurting me, or get the chance to hurt Kiersa or Cirven! I'm ending you and your evil right here!'
The dragon thought to herself angrily. Every muscle in Hydrias' body was twitching, itching to destroy every piece of Mary that remained. And the best way to do that, was to consume her and leave nothing behind. Whether her boiling breath struck of not, Hydrias dove in behind her attack, teeth bared and ready to chomp down on the Celestial Mage.

Mary closed her eyes and remembered the gentle breeze of the convent, the calmness of the hymns being sung to the Maker and the sense of peace given to her. Despite her uncomfortable feeling there and lack of any light, she felt at peace there. Quiet boring peace in a place without sin and regrets. It was a life that she missed, but knew that she could never return to. A life that had no place of darkness to give mercy or compassion. It did not fit for those that embraced the Maker's light, but instead she lived in the Maker's shadow. She remembered the faces of the fallen and their kind compassionate words and strict lectures. There was plenty of reason for them to get angry at Mary, but they were as quick to love her. To care for her and to treat her like an equal. Some things never turn out right, the innocent sense of love and compassion got them all killed. Mercy and pity unleashed a terrible demon in this world. What they treated with love, they got pain in return. Mary had hardened and realized the terrible reality of life that a cloistered life could give.

Some people say their lives flash before their eyes when they are about to die. Mary knew the answer better than anyone. It was closer to the truth than anyone realized, but it all depended on the state of mind. All depended on how one felt would determine what one saw in their final moments.

If ones state of mind was of sadness, anger and pain then the final glimpses would meet be the same. It would essentially be a a maelstrom of your worse fears and regrets. Survival instinct would turn on as one struggled to save oneself. It would be the fear of ones soul and of the afterlife, it was not even controllable to Mary. It was all instinct and that was hard to control, even for Mary. Nobody ever wanted to feel pain and to die. Even to someone that could do so again and again multiple times in what seemed to be a a merry go round of the circle of life and death. Mary's body were always fresh and new, causing her to always feel all pain like new again. Meaning pain receptors would never dull out and thus felt it like a normal person.

However if one were in a calm and serene state, then there was a sense of peace in death. It would be one that would end in pleasant and happy dreams that would allow one to rest in peace. Pleasant dreams with the ones that you care and love, not remembering the negative about one self. It also was remembering the happy bits of life that made it all worth living. And with a final breath the dream would just simply fade away in happiness. Death would be a release, an escape. So what type of death would this one be? One way to find out...