Waking the Dragon: Prelude (Private Thread)

Birds sang throughout the skies atop the peaks of the mountains. Reiki jumped his way up a broken set of archaic stairs; a bag full of supplies strapped to his back. It had been quite a long time since he had done some training on his own. So with Zeno's permission, Reiki set out in search of a place to train himself. He had come across this set of stairs several hours ago whilst he was wondering around in the mountain range south of Magnolia. It had been bringing him higher and higher towards the summit of the mountain.

As the temperature continued to drop, Reiki began thinking back. He hadn't been thinking like he normally used to lately. Ever since he had formed a team with Aian and Alye, Reiki felt different. Whether this was due to the formation of the team, the way he had begun thinking of Alye since, or the memories of his old life coming back to him with each day and fight, Reiki was uncertain. However, he knew this training trip of his would be the perfect time to try and figure it all out.

Reiki continued his climb until he came to the top of the of the archaic and ruined stairs. What awaited him at the top was a sprawling temple of stone; covered with moss and falling apart with the passing of time. The temple was huge and ornate, covered with dozens of ancient drawings and symbols. It was quite the sight to behold. Jeez.... this place is huge! I bet there's all sorts of booby traps and things inside all these ruins. That's how it always ends up being. This place will be perfect for starting training! Reiki said enthusiastically to himself, punching his right fist into his left palm.

Walking to the center of what used to be the courtyard, Reiki set his bag down and began unpacking. He had brought with him a fold up tent for one, as well as several boxes of food and ice, enough to sustain him for a few weeks. If he ever ran out, he knew how to hunt. The forests surrounding the mountains he found himself in were crawling with wild life that would make fine dinner for a hungry dragon after a day of training.

Whilst he was unpacking, Reiki thought long and hard about what he would do for his training. It's been such a long time since I've done something like this.... I really wanna start by checking out the innards of the temple... That might be too much to start out with though. Reiki thought aloud. A long moment of silence went on before Reiki let out a small laugh. There I go, thinking things through again... I really am changing. Damn this feels weird...

Ah well. Might as well just start training.... lets see how many of these pillars I can lift. Reiki decided, as he finished setting up his little tent. He figured it wouldn't be too difficult. The pillars were simply made out of stone. Lifting stone would be all too easy! Reiki walked over to the nearest pillar and bent down in preparation to lift it. He grasped the pillar as best he could and began to pull, barely exerting any force. The stone pillar refused to budge. Confused by this, Reiki put more and more force behind trying to lift the damn thing. His fingers then slipped and he was sent flying backwards, crashing on to his back.

Reiki sprung up, staring at the pillar confused and flustered. Why the hell was this stone so damn difficult to lift? Stones were never that heavy to Reiki. So none of this made any sense to Reiki. Reiki pushed himself back up and walked over to the pillar. Noticing broken pieces of the pillar around where its base was, Reiki tried to pick up one of the smaller pieces. He struggled, but managed to lift it just to his knee caps before dropping it. The piece of the pillar crashed into the ground between Reiki's legs as soon as he let go of it, creating a miniature crater from it's impact. There was no way that this stuff was made out of stone. Just that piece of the pillar itself weighed more than Aian ever did.


This was exciting to Reiki. If he kept this up, his physical strength would skyrocket easily. Reiki then set a goal for himself for his first day. Lift that piece of the pillar that he dropped higher than his knee caps. Reiki searched the rubble of the area for smaller pieces that he could lift easier than before. He found four decent sized pieces of rubble, not too easy to lift but still pretty heavy. Alright... these will do! Reiki exclaimed, as he carried the pieces over to his little campsite. He grabbed some rope he had brought with him and tied the pieces of rubble to his wrists and his legs. His plan was to train himself under the weight to boost both his physical strength and his speed.


As Reiki assumed his combat stance, he could already feel the stress of the weight on his muscles. He knew this would work, but it was going to take a long time before he could even begin to lift the entire pillar. However, he knew that by working his way up from the smaller pieces, he would be able to do it eventually. Reiki then began striking at the air as rapidly as he could, beginning to train his muscles to a new level than he had ever before.

As the sun dropped behind the mountain, Reiki dropped to the ground exhausted. Sweat poured off of him like a rampant waterfall. He couldn't feel his arms or his legs in the slightest. All he felt was pain resonating from those areas. Reiki had exhausted himself practicing his punches and kicks with the pieces of pillar strapped to his arms. He knew the pain had to come before the gain. Slowly and painfully, Reiki untied the pillar chunks from his arms and crawled his way to the comfort of his tent.

As he stared up at the deer skin of his new home for God knows how long, Reiki began to think to himself aloud. Ughhhhhhhh this is gonna be a fun.... I don't even know how long I'm going to be out here doing all this. I still haven't even been inside that temple... My curiosity is freakin driving me nuts!!! I can't even feel my legs though.... Gah this is gonna be nuts! As Reiki complained, he slowly drifted off into a deep sleep.


The dreams that visited Reiki that night were rather bizarre. Dragons, imps, monkeys, talking pieces of steak; these were just the tip of the ice berg. Reiki wasn't sure if this was a dream, an exhaustion induced illusion, or some kind of drug that he inhaled and wasn't totally aware of it. Either way, Reiki couldn't feel pain anymore, so he decided to embrace it all; despite the bizarre colors that were flashing in the sky around him. He even had an engaging conversation with a fish that had a bizarre accent. Needless to say, Reiki enjoyed the trip away from his thoughts for the night. It brought him a well needed rest for the exhausting day of training he had flung upon his shoulders.

Three weeks passing since he began his training, Reiki was already able to run at his full speed with the chunks of pillar strapped to his arms and legs. His muscles had grown quite significantly. As he performed his morning stretches, his attention turned back to the entrance of the temple. The past 3 weeks he had been completely focused on his training. His curiosity was driving him mad at this point. Today, he had enough of waiting. He ran towards the large ornate doors at full speed.

Once at the entrance, he stared at the door of the temple. Surprisingly, it was still very well intact compared to the outside of the temple. The door was ornate, covered with dozens of ancient designs and words. What caught Reiki's eye the most was the abundance of dragons drawn onto the door. This place must have been linked to dragon's in some way. Maybe dragons were the reason this place was in such a state..

Such a thought only got Reiki more interested. If this place had anything to do with dragons, he had to go inside now. Gripping the handle on the door firmly, Reiki pulled open the door as hard as he could and stepped inside. What awaited him was a large room covered from wall to wall in cobwebs and dust. The strange thing was that there were lit torches still burning inside. As the door slammed itself shut, Reiki knew that someone, or something, was still alive in this temple. Well, this training just got a hell of a lot more interesting! Reiki exclaimed, banging his fists together. Whatever was still running around in this dragon related temple was about to get a visit from a live one.

With that statement ringing in his mind, Reiki headed down one of the many corridors of the temples main room. Pushing his way through cobweb after cobweb, Reiki began imagining just what exactly could be living in this place. He wouldn't be wondering that for much longer. The corridor led him downward, into the very depths of the mountain. The room he walked into was mixture of natural rock and man made bridges of stone and wood. Torches dimly illuminated the area, spread out across the walls to allow for maximum light coverage. However, few of these torches were actually lit.

Reiki stood in the entry way of the sprawling cavern. He figured that whatever was still living here probably was used to seeing in the dark, explaining why so few torches were lit. Whatever lived here wanted people to wander into their home. Which meant one thing to Reiki as a confident grin grew upon his face. Well then, guess I should introduce myself to the welcoming party! he shouted, his ears perking up as he spun around. Reiki launched his fist forward towards the figure that lunged at him.


His fist collided with a cold, scaly feeling skin. Whatever he hit was reptilian in nature. The figure went flying towards a torch, colliding with it and lighting it on fire. What Reiki saw was a reptilian humanoid type creature. It almost looked like a dragonoid type of creature. As it burned, Reiki's ears twitched yet again. The dragonoid had brought some friends with him. The lizards swarmed him from every angle, their claws and fangs viciously bared.

Reiki threw himself forward, standing on his hands and spinning around his legs. His feet smashed firmly into every lizard, sending them flying into the walls. As the lizards slunked back to the earth, they crawled along the ground before lunging at Reiki again with full speed. Reiki bent his elbows downward, building up power to launch himself into the air. The lizards collided with each other as Reiki found his legs pressed against the ceiling, springing himself forward down to the lizards. His fists met with the spines of two of the lizards. He could hear their spines snapping with the impact of his fists. Not wanting them to suffer, he grabbed by the necks and snapped them, killing the two instantly.

As for the others, they grew quite displeased that Reiki had killed two of their comrades. The remaining six roared in anger, each one assaulting Reiki separately. Utilizing his Silver Wolf style, Reiki easily used the dragonoids momentum against them, deflecting their blows into one another as he added his own quick strikes to their bodies as well. This kept up for quite some time, Reiki not being lucky enough to simply break their spines as he did the other two.


After what felt like an hour, the rest of them finally went down. Reiki had grown slightly exhausted from the fight. They were tenacious bastards, willing to fight till their deaths if it meant killing Reiki. However, this provided a much better training experience for Reiki than simply punching the air repeatedly.

Safely assuming there were plenty more deeper inside the sprawling temple, Reiki decided to head back to his present home for his training. If he was going to explore the full extent of this temple, he was going to need to better prepare.

Several days passed as Reiki spent his time hunting as he kept up his physical training. Tackling this sprawling temple would take quite a while, so he needed to gather as much food and water possible. With his magic, keeping them fresh was as easy as breathing. Using a few deer hides, Reiki had strung together a much larger bag for his supplies than what he had originally brought with him. His time spent training both with the monks and his father when he was younger had taught him how to live off the land very easily.

As the moon rose over the temple, Reiki looked back and forth between the entrance to the temple and the small fire he was cooking deer meat on. He was feeling somewhat...drawn to the temple. Not just out of curiosity, there was something more to it. Reiki couldn't tell what it was, but he felt a rather familiar presence dwelling within. Feeling confident enough to tackle the temple now, Reiki eagerly chowed down on his meal and put out the fire. He threw himself into his tent and fell asleep, awaiting what tomorrow was going to bring.


He awoke seven hours later, the sun not even up yet. Grabbing hold of his bag of supplies, Reiki tied it around himself and headed immediately for the door. The excitement in his eyes was burning like the flames of the sun itself. He couldn't wait to see just what lay within the temple.

As he ran past the area where he had stopped before, Reiki grabbed one of the torches and pressed on further into the temple. Winding stair cases, sprawling halls, and disgusting cobwebs greeted him as he moved through the maze like system of the temples innards. Most of it was preserved from the caves they dug out, only offering little human touches such as beds, tables, and book cases. If Aian was here he'd probably wanna stop and read all these books. So glad I'm training without him right now! Reiki laughed, as he tore his way past the enormous book cases that were sprawling with loads of ancient texts that were of little interest to Reiki at the moment.


Continuing for what felt like hours, Reiki was getting slightly curious. Where were all the other dragonoid lizards like earlier? Surely that couldn't be the only ones living here. Yet, Reiki had still run into nothing. Following the now linear pathway he discovered, he listened carefully. Yet he found no sounds of any form of life. However, that familiar presence Reiki had felt drawn to was still there. The presence kept growing stronger and stronger the further he went into the temple. Someone, or something, was in this temple, and Reiki was determined to find out what it was.

After nearly two hours of corridors, and several meal breaks, Reiki finally reached an enormous cavern. This was the biggest one he had encountered so far. There was enough room in here for a dragon to move about freely and have plenty of space. The ceiling went up higher than Reiki could even see. This was quite the spectacle to behold, but something was odd. The presence Reiki felt was its strongest here, yet Reiki couldn't see anyone or anything in this cavern. He made his way into the cavern curious.

In what he assumed was the middle of this area, the ground was rather different. It was built up as if it was a burial ground. In front of that particular area, there was a tablet with an ancient text on it, as well as a translation beneath it in English. Cold winds of old, breathe life into the past. May the Tundra Maker awakens to entertain his guests? ....The hell is that supposed to mean? Reiki said aloud.

As soon as he finished reading the encryption, the ground in front of him began to violently shake. Bones burst forth from the ground, revealing a skeletal dragon pulling himself out of the ground. The skeletal dragon shook the dirt off himself like a wet dog, sending dirt flying everywhere. Ahhhhh that was a nice nap. When did I fall asleep again? Must have been back in... the dragon asked aloud, rambling on as he was looking around the room. It seemed as if the dragon was completely unaware of Reiki's presence.


Reiki just stood in shock, unsure of how exactly he should be responding to the situation that was unfolding in front of him. There was a live dragon standing right in front of him, yet the dragon looked like it should be dead. Curious, Reiki decided to ask exactly what was going on. Uh....excuse me? The dragon continued looking around, ignoring Reiki's voice entirely. ...There was SOMETHING I was supposed to do when I woke up. What was it again? I think it had to do with a party or something.... Wait why am I holding a party? Is it my birthday!? Dammit I forgot to get myself a present! I am going to be mad at me for forgetting!


Whatever was going on, it was clear that this dragon...didn't exactly have all of his marbles together. Reiki decided to speak up louder, hoping to get the dragons attention. HEY, DRAGON!!! OVER HERE!!!! he yelled, as the dragon turned his head in Reiki's direction. Whazzat? Oh why hello there! the dragon said, as it lowered its head to Reiki's level with a smile on its face. My name is Azrael, though most of your kind call me the Tundra Maker. I have no idea why, really. Every single time I go to ask them why they call me that they are frozen solid. That is strange as well, for I don't recall attacking them at all... Wait a minute....Maybe that is why they call me the Tundra Maker! Azrael exclaimed, having a sort of epiphany right before Reiki's eyes.

The mention of ice is what really caught Reiki's attention. You said you're an ice dragon? A...are you my... my dad? Reiki asked, as the dragon turned his gaze back towards Reiki. Dad? What? I don't have any children! ....At least, I don't think I do? ....Would my children look like humans? Why would my children be humans? They would be dragons like me.... I think they would anyway? ...Nope, no human children. Never had one. Pretty sure I didn't..... Honestly I hope I didn't. I can't pay for child support! I'm too old for this crap!!! Azrael ranted on, pretty much solidifying he had no relation to Reiki whatsoever.


Reiki remained silent, somewhat afraid of this dragon called Azrael. He was an Ice Dragon, yet he wasn't the one who trained Reiki. He also seemed completely out of his mind. However, that familiar presence was now like a throbbing pain for Reiki. The only other thing in the room besides him was Azrael. So what exactly was the connection? Azrael simply continued to rant on and on about donuts or something and how he never understand what was so appetizing about a circle. Azrael's mood suddenly changed, as he pulled his head down and glared at Reiki, a killing intent in his ghostly eyes. Now I remember why anyone comes down here to visit me.... Well it sucks for you! I'm not handing over that lacrima!

With that, Azrael swiped his enormous claws down at Reiki simultaneously. Reacting instinctively, Reiki jumped backwards, watching as Azraels claws tore up the ground where he once stood. A phantom like flame engulfed the skeletal dragon, giving him a ghostly looking body. The temperature suddenly dropped within the room, and the ground around Azrael began to slowly freeze over. Reiki simply grinned, taking the supply bag off of his back and dropping it to the ground. Well, I have no idea what the hell you're talking about, but if it's a fight you want then you've got my full attention!

Reiki wasted no time starting his offensive. Given the fact Azrael was already freezing over the area, inhaling enough air and energy for his Roar was much faster. The beam of ice was launched at Azrael too quickly for him to react. Ice...that is cold to me? As well as an attack similar to our own Roars..... Interesting. One of the Dragon Slayers, is it? You must have been trained by quite the dragon to have ice that would feel cold to me.... However! Azrael stated, throwing his head back before letting loose his own Roar. The beam of ice hurtled its way towards Reiki, violently tearing its way past Reiki's position and ripping through a massive chunk of the temple Reiki had just came from. The roar left an extremely chilling ice in its wake, leaving Reiki frozen solid in its path.

Your Roar is nothing compared to that of a real Dragons. Even for a Slayer, it is quite lacking. I've fought plenty of Slayers in my day. Their roars were far more powerful than that, let me tell you. Why this one time... Azrael rambled on again, as he seemed to have a tendency for doing. He was completely unaware of the fact that Reiki was coated in his Scale Armor, beginning to break free from his cold prison.

Using his new strength from his training, Reiki ripped out of the ice that was trapping him, tearing off at full speed towards Azrael. Using the ice on the floor to increase his momentum, Reiki kicked off the ice to deliver an uppercut straight to Azraels jaw bone. Surprised that he was actually being lifted off the ground, Azrael flapped his wings, the sheer force of this sending Reiki flying backwards into a nearby wall.

Well, tenacious child aren't you? I give you credit for that... You may just have enough surprises to entertain me! Azrael shouted, as Reiki jumped forth from the wall. The sheer force of the impact had destroyed his armor in one blow. Yet a grin was still wide upon his face. I haven't even started yet! Reiki responded, as his crystaline wings ripped forth from the magic circle on his back. To Reiki, this was the ultimate test of strength for him. His chance to prove to himself he was worthy of the title of Dragon Slayer. Combining both his training with Alye and his own personal training, Reiki was determined to slay Azrael for his title.

Reiki was caught off guard however, as spikes of ice ripped from the floor towards him. While he was able to fly up and dodge some, most ripped through his clothing and slashed his skin. Azrael laughed at this, seeing the surprise in Reiki's eyes as he looked towards the floating dragon. Surprised? Unlike most of my other bretheren, I am my magic. I am a living form of ice itself. Which is why I am able to things such as this without moving my main body! With that, ice in the shape of dragon heads launched forth from the floor and headed straight for Reiki.

Reiki tried his best to outmaneuver the dragon heads, flying his way between them hoping they would simply collide with each other. Easily seeing this coming, Azrael simply floated in the air, controlling his extended body sending more and more dragon heads at Reiki. There were finally too many, blasting into Reiki and driving him down into the ground. Azrael smirked, about to make another comment. However, he was interrupted by a howl of pain; from himself.

Reiki was eating the ice that Azrael had used to attack him. Though this wasn't as easy as simply just eating regular ice. Azraels ice was rather spicy, so Reiki couldn't handle a lot of it once. Still, the old dragon had given away quite the weakness stating he was his own ice. Heh, your ice tastes pretty good! A little spicy for my tastes, but I think I can get used to it! Reiki stated confidently.

Azrael found the challenge Reiki was posing shocking, yet amusing at the same time. I forgot you Slayers could eat like we could... though, the only one to ever be able to eat my magic was my brother. You're nothing like him though... then again your wings are slightly reminiscent of his... Though to be fair, a lot of our brethren had wings shaped like that. That is a story for another time though. Let's see just how much you can handle, Slayer!

With that, Azrael began to unleash a barrage of attacks at Reiki, both magical and physical. Reiki was doing everything he could to dodge, eating as much of the magical attacks as he could whilst dodging. Damn, he's fast for just being a pile of bones! I can't even get a move off at this rate! And... is his magic getting spicier?!?! WHY IS IT SO DAMN SPICY!?! Reiki thought, continuing to dodge.

He could only keep this up for so long, eventually ending up being crushed under Azraels claw. Reiki pushed Azraels claw off of him, but soon found it was a tug of war between a mass of bones and Reiki's own strength. The aura that Azrael had engulfed himself in was burning at Reiki, but not as though it was a fire. It was a cold type of burning sensation. So this aura is ice magic, just like how I perform my Shotgun Fist..... so then that must mean! Reiki began inhaling the aura, but stopped and let go of his grip on Azraels claw. The claw dropped onto his body again, crushing him as he screamed in pain. BAD! IDEA! TOO DAMN SPICY! MY MOUTH IS ON FREAKING FIRE!!!!!

Azrael simply laughed as he increased the pressure he was applying to Reiki's body. Hah!!! That is amusing. I can see you eating the ice I emit as an extension, but trying to eat my own aura?! Now you're trying to be way too much like Gellidus!! That old bastard, the only one who was capable of eating my ice was him. We called him-

Azrael was then interrupted by an immense burst of power coming from Reiki. His claw was shoved off of Reiki's body, Azrael himself being sent flying backwards into the air. As Azrael regained his balance, he looked at Reiki to see that his magic power had taken a visible form, one that Azrael recognized all to well. It was the image of Reiki's father, the very dragon that raised him.

As Reiki stood up, it was Azrael who was in awe now. Reiki's skin was much more scale like now, with a feint, ice blue tint to the scales that appeared on his body. He had consumed enough power from Azrael to enter his ultimate state; Dragon Force. Wh-what is this? ....Boy.....what relation do you have to Gellidus? Reiki looked at him, his eyes flickering between their normal yellow and a pure, glowing white. G-Gellidus.... that's.... my dads name, isn't it? I... don't remember anything about him Reiki stated.


So.... Gellidus raised a Slayer, huh? That is explaining things now... You say you can't remember anything about him? Very well..... I propose this to you, son of Gellidus. If you can defeat me, then I will re-spark the memory of your father for you. What do you say?

Reiki simply looked at Azrael, his eyes stable now and glowing pure white. Bring it on...

Back and forth, Reiki and Azrael tore at each other. To Azrael, it felt as if he was battling his brother once more. It filled him with an enormous amount of adrenaline and joy that he had not experienced in many ages. To think, he was getting this amusement simply from a Slayer that his brother had raised. It was evident to Azrael that this was a life or death battle, and the excitement was pushing him to give his all in this battle.

For Reiki, however, this engagement was about a lot of things. It was also a life or death situation, but he had no intentions of dying here. He was determined to win. This was his chance to feel like he could earn the title of being a Dragon Slayer. If he died here, he wouldn't be able to protect what he wanted to the most. He wouldn't get to be with the one that he cared for if he died here. All that was what was driving Reiki to win this fight with his uncle.

The two went at each other for what felt like at least an hour. With Reiki's training and Dragon Force pushing his body to the limits, he was still raring to go. His body was bruised and battered by Azraels vicious attacks, but he was still standing despite all the pain. Azrael on the other hand, was beginning to wear out. His breathing was heavy, and his attacks were slowly beginning to loose their power. You really are Gellidus' runt, arent ya? That old bastard....could always out last all the rest of us. That's why we revered him... Azrael panted.

So, are you giving up already? Reiki asked, breathing slightly heavy himself. Dragon Force was a great boost, but it also took a serious toll on his body; and it was starting to wear down. Azrael simply laughed at this statement. Hah! Dragons don't give up. We go down fighting, boy! he roared, as he charged at Reiki full speed. Reiki pulled his body back along with his right fist, coating it in an aura similar to that of Azraels.

As the dragon neared, Reiki launched his fist straight through Azrael's ice aura, connecting it directly with his skull. The icicles that launched forth from Reiki's fist tore through the dragons skeletal structure, shattering many of the bones to pieces as it went. Reiki then through back his head and began inhaling the aura Azrael had around him. As he continued inhaling, Azraels bones fell to the floor and shattered, turning into the very same magic.

Reiki inhaled the last remnants of the dragons magic, including all the ice in the cavern around him. The ice from the corridors had trailed its way back to the cavern as well, all going into Reiki's gullet. Once it was all gone, Reiki's aura faded, his scales receding as he fell over backwards onto the ground. He was triumphant, Reiki had successfully slain a dragon.

Reiki simply laid there for several minutes before the realization finally hit him. He had just eaten and killed the dragon that promised to explain everything about his father to him. Dammit!!! My one chance to learn about my dad and I blew it!!!! Reiki shouted in frustration. He then heard a familiar laugh. Hey now, don't go assuming that I'm dead!!! ....Well, I guess technically I am.... perhaps? Though I'm still talking to you so how can I be dead? Quite the conundrum indeed....

The voice belonged to Azrael, which confused Reiki even more. He looked around, but no more of Azrael's ice existed. Yet he still heard Azrael laughing at him. I can see you are confused, my young nephew. It's quite simple, really. ....Actually, no its rather complicated...... Though not as complicated as that thing humans refer to as math..... I have no idea why they choose to complicate numbers like they do. ....Alas, that is another story. The reason why you can still hear my voice is the present one. When a Slayer kills a dragon, they become much stronger because of it. However, when a Slayer kills and consumes a dragon of their element, they also gain the soul of that dragon, essentially allowing the dragon to live on in the respective Slayer. Think of it as I'm an extra brain inside of your own! ....Though that can be confusing.... then would all the unfortunate fools I've had to eat be inside my brain? So many possibilities....

Despite Azrael's constant rambling, Reiki somewhat grasped what he was saying. So then.... You're going to be in my head from now on? Reiki asked, as he tried to sit up. Pretty much, yes. Now that you've actually slain a dragon, you are much more powerful! That's why the title exists. What's the point in being called a slayer of something if you don't slay that something you are a slayer of? Pointless, I tell you! Granted I was no where near my full strength due to that damnable curse the humans put on me that once dwelt here.. Yes the bright idea to make a dragon immortal! Only made me weaker and all bones!!! Don't even get me started on my diet. That went straight down the- Azrael began ranting once more. Reiki was in slight disbelief of this. Azrael was no where near the strength he once was?! The sheer thought of this made Reiki shiver at the thought of had he fought a stronger Azrael.

As Azrael was ranting, Reiki turned to look over at the hole that Azrael had climbed out of. It seemed as if the presence he felt was coming from that burial mound. Noticing Reiki's attention had turned to the burial mound, Azrael remembered the lacrima he had mentioned earlier in their fight. Ah yes, the lacrima. Go on and take it, my nephew. It is rightfully your property now, seeing as I'm no longer around to protect the thing. Hearing Azrael's words, Reiki instinctively just pushed himself up and walked over to the burial mound.

Looking down into the hole that Azrael had made, he saw a pedestal that was holding what looked like a scale. This scale was very similar to the ones Reiki had when he entered Dragon Force; color and all. Acting on essentially instinct, Reiki jumped down and grabbed the scale from its resting place. As he held the scale like lacrima in his hands, the cold emitting from it was incredibly familiar to him. Azrael didn't even need to explain it to Reiki. He could tell clearly that this lacrima was directly from his father Gellidus. Reiki didn't know what exactly to do with it, but for now, he would be bringing this and his uncle around with him wherever he went next. Now, he just had to climb his way back out of this temple....tomorrow.