As he rode, Drake tried to think on how, exactly, he was going to be able to get Eclipse to shift to his TF… It was getting dark out, which increased his chances, but… Eclipse never used his TF… even when he was teaching Drake to fly he’d only go halfway most of the time; just his wings would appear.

Occasionally, when doing combat training, Eclipse would shift to his TF; it was one of the reasons Drake had learned how to use his own as well as he could… he’d never stood a chance in a battle with Eclipse when the man was in that form, though. As it was, he’d barely stood a chance even if he waited till Eclipse was asleep or attempted to poison him…

It was an impossible task he’d set up for himself, and it all came to reality as he saw that Pricilla’s ship was not the only one to have docked… meaning Eclipse was back. Drake wondered how long ago that had happened…

He needed to come up with a plan… and wasn’t liking his options. He thought of hiring someone. Some lone assassin from another region—someone who wouldn’t know who Eclipse was. Hire them to kill his advisor and, had he not been on this annoying path of redemption and had he the ability to find someone on such short notice, he would have… sadly, penance wasn’t helped if the body count piled up against you.

Drake had to make Eclipse very, very upset… enraged. He had to do this without getting himself killed, as well. Ugh. The next time one of those mercenaries ranted about how easy it was to save your soul he was going to beat them down.

Ruxandra’s powerful stride finally pounded to a slow trot inside the palace gates and Drake flung himself off, allowing her to continue on to slow her heart beat gradually. He began running into the tower. He passed the guards facing in rather than out, all of which were muttering about Pricilla’s arrival and making him feel ill. He sprinted up the stairs a dozen at a time; silent as possible.
Once inside his room he quickly ran and opened all the cage doors in the hawks keep. At least giving his friends a chance for freedom and escape if they desired it.

“Vanda! Go!” He ordered, flinging his arm out and making a signal with his fingers, pointing.

Vanda was very loyal to him; he imagined she’d follow him to the gates of Hades and back if the need should arise, and he did care greatly for her. She was the first being on the planet that ever seemed to simply accept him without force or hidden agenda; the only person to not once ever look at him with honest hate in their eyes at any time; the one being that never made the comments and traumatic events the others had and whom he trusted more than anyone else for longer than anything he could remember...

Eclipse knew all that. Thus Drake knew he had to send her away now or risk losing her forever.

The other birds scattered when Eclipse was angry, but Vanda always stayed by Drake… Even now she hesitated and gave him looks while tipping her head to either side, trying to persuade him to change his mind. “Go!” Drake snapped again, repeating the signal.

Vanda let out a cry and bobbed her head a bit, hesitating, before she took off outside, following the other raptors.

Eclipse was in his room, having got back just before Pricilla's own arrival. The preppy Empress's visits seemed to be much more frequent since Drake's equally numerous visits to the Alexandria palace.

He had never liked the girl. She was rather offensive to him, but they had an understanding. If she left him alone, she could see Drake all she wanted... and Eclipse wouldn't have her throat cut while she slept. It was an unspoken agreement, and rather generous of Eclipse. As anyone would agree.

Drake's presence was immediately obvious when he got back to the palace. The Prince had made no dramatic effort to remain stealthy on his way through the tower to his room, other than the fairly common attempt at being silent, which he had not fully accomplished this time. Eclipse was familiar with this, it was the frantic attempts to evade Pricilla. He paid it no mind.

Drake’s second stop was to the drawer in his bedside table. He pried it open and dug through it till he found the mixed bottle of aspirin and other assorted painkillers he'd hidden. He clawed it open, pouring an unregistered amount of the capsules and pills into his hand and downing them just as fast. With a twist, he sealed the bottle and put it back into hiding, kicking the door shut. He then grabbed one of his bows and a quiver of arrows before he turned, ran, and leapt off his balcony.

Drake’s wings erupted and the darkness did a poor job at hiding that fact… However, with Pricilla’s arrival he knew no one was going to be looking up or toward the tower. She would make sure they were looking for her or she'd send them to go looking for him. Even with her urging the guards weren't stupid enough to go into the tower anymore.

The Dark Prince had to move fast or he feared he’d lose his nerve. A dove was flying within sight and he lifted an arrow from the quiver and pulled back the bow’s string while spinning the arrow, slowly, in his fingers till the nock fit into place against the string. He held his left arm straight out and tightened his fingers around the grip, following the bird even though it was just an excuse for a target…

Drake’s aim followed the dove till it got close to where he was intending to fire. He took careful aim because he knew a miss would ruin his plan, then he let out a sharp whistle as he often did when hunting avian prey to confuse them and released the arrow aimed perfectly through Eclipse’s open balcony doors.
As the arrow flew, Drake grabbed another one from his quiver and aimed again. This time, however, he set the arrow from tip to feathers on fire before releasing it.

He pulled a third, but by the time he had the first arrow had struck…

Eclipse had just sat down at his desk and opened a large and dusty old tome when he heard a whistle and then suddenly felt something hit his shoulder hard. It wasn't strong enough to damage his skin, but looking back be saw it had managed to embed itself through his robes. The man snarled in annoyance, wondering where the arrow had come from and why... he was not going to be pleased if it turned out to be what he thought it was....

The second arrow entered the room at that point, flying uncomfortably close to his face as it passed him and crashed into one of his book cases. The flames quickly spread to the old antique pages, the aged paper offered the perfect fuel.

Then the flames died suddenly, snuffed out as the room suddenly got bitterly cold. A glass of water on the desk froze instantly and shattered. The lanterns and candles in the room all went out as well, while outside the world got darker, like a cloud had passed in front of the moon.

As the clouds appeared, Drake released the third with great force. The flames ignited by his hands whipped back, riding the arrow as if they, too, knew how foolish their firing had been.

The first one had decent aim, but was done quickly, the second even faster than that, this one… Drake had taken time on. Not much… but he hardly ever needed much time to take aim— the grips on all his bows had marking on them by now; letting him know exactly where to lineup the shaft and head of the arrow in order to get the proper sight for a direct fire.

He had to force his fingertips to release the string and only was able to by reminding himself that the longer he took, the less his lie that this was an accident and he had been after the dove would be believed… Drake didn’t even know where that bird was right now.

Eclipse was a blur of shadowy motion as he burst out from the balcony and into the air, a strong icy wind following him out. He was already transformed, his shadow wings darker than Drake had ever seen them, his white hair blowing in the wind like angry snakes.

The flaming arrow that the prince had just fired was in Eclipse's way, and was backhanded by Eclipse's clawed hand. The arrow was smashed into a million pieces, the flames snuffed out instantly like a blown out match. The motion didn't even slow Eclipse down.
In fact, he seemed to be moving faster and faster as he sped toward Drake, his slit eyes bright and dangerous, his fangs longer and sharper than they usually were in his TF, but his face still dead and expressionless as he reached out a clawed hand toward the boy.

No thoughts even crossed Drake’s mind… He didn’t realize he was even moving for a second or two, but he was and he was damned glad about it. He’d wanted Eclipse mad, yes, but… at least he thought he had. Eclipse being mad was never a good thing… But getting him to express that anger, or any emotion for that matter, usually was rather difficult! Him this mad… Drake could not ever remember having happened.

He’d made a tragically lucky event take place. Drake had, in all his years, never really been allowed into Eclipse’s room for long. He’d gone in there with permission a handful of times at most, but he’d never really noticed before that his temperament often determined what places, when he was younger, he was allowed into… there were ‘do not burn’ zones and he’d never realized Eclipse’s room was one of them.
Eclipse liked those dust scented, crumbly old documents. So did fire. Fire liked them in a very different way…

Irreplaceable documents were key note items, apparently, in the ‘how to piss off Eclipse’ guide.
Drake didn’t think very much about anything but direction and how to go faster while he flew. Direction. Direction and speed.

A moment or so passed before Drake realized he was going the wrong way, though, and he had to kick himself for that and pull something he’d only done a dozen or so times while hunting as practice… true, it was practice for the war coming up, but he hadn’t thought it would actually need to be done; it was more of an exercise to prepare for a different event.

Turning was a bad plan, it allowed anything smarter than Ryan or a box of stones to gain ground on you as no matter what direction you go, you’re ending up closer to their path. Up was not nearly as bad, but Drake knew for certain Eclipse could top his speed at high altitude flying, Drake didn’t have any practice at it. So he went down, into the water.

The first time he’d done this Drake had nearly killed himself and learned to be very careful while diving. You had to protect your head, neck and spine and you really had to make sure nothing giant was under the water waiting for you. He tucked his head and mimicked many of the kingfisher raptors hunting fish; folding and holding his wings half way and keeping his legs and feet straight and pointed with his arms folded high across his chest, helping to help protect his face.

Once under the water, Drake quickly turned onto his back and used his wings and arms to propel him forward as well as the propulsion he still had from the dive. He headed back the way they’d come and slowly turned back over till his back faced the sky, before pulling up out of the water and heading off in the correct direction, trying to use everything he’d learned about low level and aquatic flight to get his speed up and whatever advantage the waves gave him.

That’s cold! Drake shivered, glanced at the water in a brief attempt to see why it was so unusually cold.

He got his answer as he saw ice forming and crashing around the waves.

… That… that just is not good. He was surprisingly calm as he thought that, just registering it.

Cold was bad. Exceptionally bad. He needed advantages and was quickly losing them. It was getting darker which should have been an advantage to him, being darker, dressed in black, with black hair, but… it wasn’t. He could have sighed at that thought. Bright red! His scales and eyes had to be bright, freaking red! Without trying, Eclipse would be able to see him in the darkness. He had bright shiny beacons running along his wings! Perfect!

Great, I’m a target, this wasn’t hard enough already… La dracu!

Eclipse was only mildly surprised by that move; but it was foolish and dangerous... typical of something Drake would do. It took Eclipse only slightly longer to make a safer turn and then he sped up, as if his wings used the darkness to lift and propel him rather than the air. The water droplets from Drake turned to ice almost the instant they left his body as Eclipse’s anger grew colder.

How dare he run!? Eclipse thought to himself, before he lashed out with a lightning spell aimed at one of Drake's wings.

He fired off the spell that was even more powerful than Thundaga without showing any effort at all. The mighty crack of lightning would be heard for miles and miles. The sound of barely restrained killing intent.

If the boy was going to use those wings to defy him, he was very tempted to remove them...

Căcat! Căcat! Căcat! Drake cursed in his mind, just barely missing the full force of that attack by altering directions yet again, heading for the trees. His left wing burned and tingled from the hit. He was also freezing now and this was becoming worse as the seconds passed; much too dangerous to make this take any longer than necessary.

He flew to the trees, feeling glad only for two facts that he wasn’t very proud of; Eclipse could not kill him… if he could he would have by now, and when this was over and he was in a coma at least he wouldn’t have to talk to Pricilla.

Drake rose higher, trying to get faster! Eclipse gained speed so easily… Naturally, Drake was fast. It was in his soul to be swift, but natural talent only goes so far against hundreds of years of training, which Eclipse had.

He hated this… the whole feeling. Running and being chased down!?! It was vile! Being fired at didn’t help. Rage burned and he got enough to sear the panic and shock away.

The Dark Prince almost turned back as he glared behind him. The desire to test his strengths was nearly as overwhelming as the cold was becoming. For an instant the thought of how suicidal an attack would be was washed out of his mind and the desire to get back at this monster ruled his thoughts.

No! He ordered, forcing his gaze back to the trees. Don’t do it, don’t try it, don’t even think it! Not yet! You lose and you might never get a second chance.

Drake hissed as his left wing started to feel heavier. His speed greatly fell as his body tried to escape the pain. He decided to try something else. Flying wasn’t an option, not with one busted wing. Time to land anyway... Zidane was meant to see Eclipse, not Drake... he might tell Garnet and Drake couldn't let her see him like this. He was giving her up, yes, he had to... it would be so simple to steal her away, but she'd always be missing her soul mate... She deserved an angel, not a demon… but if she never found out what he was, he’d be happier.

The Prince flew over the trees and before the cave came into sight, Drake flipped forward and made his wings disappear at the right moment so he dropped down through the branches feet first.

His small size helped him avoid most of the branches and the scarce ones he didn’t miss weren’t any bother to him. He landed on his boots and allowed himself to crouch down to absorb the impact before taking off running. He didn’t know why he was always faster in his TF form, but he was, so he kept all but the wings as he headed to an area where Eclipse would be more visible from the cave…

Come on... Come on! Follow me, la dracu! You hear everything, you have to hear my footsteps here!

Eclipse was getting angrier. He growled loudly as Drake disappeared beneath the tree cover. Eclipse couldn’t get down there as fast… so he shot down several large ice spells to try and flush the prince out. It was rather reckless, a direct hit might kill the boy, but Eclipse's patience was being stretched to the limit now. If he had to go down into the woods for the prince... he'd make him pay for it.

He heard the stupid boy running and followed the sound, firing down more ice spells as he went before the footsteps were lost to the sound of the storm crashing down around them! It would spread, too, the ice... and the damned fool was a Fire Elemental! No matter how stupid the boy was, self preservation instincts would take over and Eclipse would find him soon enough!

Drake cursed, rather loudly, as the ice hit. It started off behind him, but then a few hits got in front and he just barely avoided those and found a single spot where the ice that crawled across the ground hadn't reached. The forest was dense, but... they were still basically trapped. This was an island. A mountainous island at that, but still an island. He couldn't run forever and if he kept trying...

Enough is enough! Alright, Zidane, this is your only chance so you best not miss it… Drake sent out a Flash Beacon spell toward the sky, making sure not to aim it at Eclipse. It was not a dangerous spell, really, not to anyone at Eclipse’s level, but it would be bright enough to illuminate the sky a few seconds... he didn’t want it taken as an attack.

Drake watched as the light sparked then erupted like a firework before slowly falling back down to him and disappearing just like his hope of getting through this unscathed.

Zidane waited in the trees, but nothing was happening. The sun went down and it got dark, very dark. Usually Zidane could see better in the dark than most, but that night... It was just so dark.

He started to worry. The trees were thick, and the palace far enough away that the guards looked like little fleas walking on the walls. Maybe he was supposed to have brought a telescope? If so, he was completely missing any show Drake was setting up for him, or perhaps something had just gone wrong. It was starting to rain anyway, and it was cold.

He was about to start back toward his Chariot, there was no way he was going to see anything in the pitch black. In fact, he would be lucky just to find his way back to his ship… That’s when he heard the sound.

There was an angry roar that pierced him to the bone, made him shiver, despite how distant it was. He had heard monsters shriek, growl and roar before, but this was darker. Like the sound itself had eyes and knew where he was... but it was just the thunder from the sudden storm... right?

Was it his imagination, or had this place got even darker? One thing was for sure, it had got a lot scarier.

A few seconds later, he could hear more sounds, and flashes that lit up the sky for only a split second. Lightning spells, he was sure of it. The other sounds could have been spells, too, but he just couldn't see. By the time his eyes had flicked over to the area in the sky he had seen it, the lights were gone again.

You have to do better than this! Zidane thought, if this was Drake's show, he should fire his lighting technician.

It all happened very quickly, in less than a minute Zidane thought he heard the sound of large wings in the air above him, then the rustling of leaves accompanied with the breaking of branches and the sound of running forest creatures.

Whatever it was, it was close. Should he investigate or stay put? He saw something in the sky, but he couldn't tell what... some monster causing all this disruption.

But he never got to decide... There was more flashes of light and the ground shook from a barrage of powerful ice spells crashing down into the forest nearby. There was a cold fury about the spells. An anger that even the magic couldn't hide.

And they were coming his way...

Everything was suddenly silent. Not just the mysterious 'monster' in the sky, but the whole forest. There was no sound from the creatures at all. Zidane felt the fear in the air. It seemed to grow colder every second. Something was there!!

If only he could see!

As if on cue, there was suddenly a bright light! Like a flare, but obviously some kind of spell.
He had to try hard not to gasp as he was surprised at how close the spell was. Only a few yards away. He pulled himself closer to the tree he was in, to keep concealed. There was a figure down there that, for a moment, looked like it was looking right at him.

When Zidane's eyes had adjusted to the light, he wished they hadn't. It was obvious now that the figure he had seen was looking at someone obscured by a tree, but... what he had seen... Zidane felt an instant fear from the figure, and knew that if it looked at him, he wasn't sure if he could hold back the urge to run.

Was this thing Eclipse? The hair looked silvery now, but the height and clothes matched. What was that moving shadow behind him? It almost looked like wings... No... They moved like they had a will of their own… and were shadow... he could see right through them, and felt like they could see through him too!

This thing… it had fangs too large for its mouth, it had scales where flesh should it, it had long black claws and its eyes… they were like snake eyes, but they glowed like nothing he'd ever seen! It was too hard to figure out exactly what scared him the most, or even just what scared him. There was something wrong with that thing! This thing.... it wasn't the appearance that scared you... not completely. It was the feeling. Every fiber of his very being cried out that this thing shouldn't exist. It was a demon! An actual demon was in the sky in front of him. He'd never fully believed in them, but now... there it was! It was right there!!! If it looked over and saw him he was going to die. As simple as that, it was primal knowledge.

It was more than Zidane needed to see, he took off as fast as he could. He did wonder what Drake’s plan had been, but his greatest concern now was to get away! He’d contact Drake later… He didn’t know what Drake had done, but it worked… mission accomplished, in Zidane’s mind. He got back into his Chariot.

Eclipse didn't get what Drake had bothered to use that spell for. Maybe he was giving up and revealing his location...?

About time for the idiot to see reason. Eclipse thought and sped down toward the point in the trees where the spell had come from. He didn't have any fear, because he knew that Drake wasn't stupid enough to try and set a trap.

As soon at he saw him, Drake backed up a few steps and put his hands out in front of him.

“Unintentional, întâmplător!” He insisted and felt wretched the instant he had; hearing the panic in his own voice and hating the sound, but being unable to stop it. “It-It was an accident, î-întâmplător!” He took another few steps back.

“You fool!!!” Eclipse shouted, moving toward Drake.

His voice no longer sounded human. It was deeper, distorted and many would call it demonic. Everything else in the forest went silent when he spoke, it was like they stayed quiet out of fear. The grass beneath Drake and Eclipse's feet crunched with newly formed and unnatural frost, and the shadows seemed to be closing in.

The robed monster was far too angry to not lash out at Drake now. Darting forward he slashed at the Prince's chest with his claws.

The instant Drake saw those claws he panicked.

Nu că! He pleaded, but even if he'd shouted it out loud, he would have been ignored.

The strike was not with enough intent to kill him, but with enough to satisfy Eclipse's considerable blood-lust somewhat. His claws ached to taste the boy's blood. The wings on Eclipse' back peeked over his shoulders like henchmen, seeming to watch the boy. They moved back and forth excitedly at the prospect of seeing blood.

Drake clenched his teeth and fought to hold back a scream as he threw his body backward. The pain he felt now rivaled the agony he'd felt when Eclipse's claws had left their mark across his face. The pain was intense! The acidic burning was the worst part... even after the claws were gone the attack continued and that was wretched, but they were so much deeper than before...

The same result as last time occurred, though... He was filled with the desire to fight back; to make Eclipse pay for the pain he'd caused! While the pain throbbed he imagined the attack; visualized it so grandly it was hard to remind himself why he couldn't attack. The ice surrounding them was a great reminder. The fact that Eclipse had shouted stunned Drake as well; more than enough proof that his adviser was far angrier than he could ever imagine making him before.

There was also the fact that Zidane was just a few acres away. A fight would force him to get involved, that Angel wasn't one to just run away... and in the back of Drake's mind he knew it would be destroying their only real chance.

Overall, though... Drake knew he physically couldn't fight back. Even if Zidane joined in he'd taken too long. He let Eclipse attack first; draw first blood. He'd also spent all this time fighting for speed and exhausting himself throughout the day. That on top of all the ice, the frigged wind and the frost took away all his energy and he'd only himself to blame. His daring move going under the water had simply worked against him in the overall goal; the positioning, the location... it all worked against them.

“How dare you!?!” Eclipse shouted again, taking a few more steps forward.

Drake stumbled back as Eclipse moved forward.

He had to do something! Attacking was not an option but neither was sitting there and taking it, Eclipse was far too mad.
Drake's body and his mind took turns arguing against both options and in the end the fact that he was putting Zidane and their plan in anger by being this close to where he'd told Zidane to wait outdid any possible argument... he couldn't put his own life at risk for this, either, so there only was one option.

Drake saw both the risk and gain for this next move and favored it anyway… It would cause more anger, but also assure that Zidane would be able to get away… Keep the attention on himself. For this plan to work, he had no real option.

He turned and ran.

Droplets of blood ran down the man's black claws, dripping off one by one and freezing in the air to form little dark red balls on the ground by Eclipse's feet. Tiny beads of trapped life.

He watched Drake go to run as if the event were happening in slow motion, and his eyes narrowed dangerously at the thought that his Dragon would actually dare to run again.

Oh no you don’t… The monster pulled up the blood soaked hand and made a kind of punching motion, shooting out a devastating ice spell toward Drake's back. Eclipse had grown tired of this stupid game already, yet he was surprised... Drake somehow avoided the blast. It was as if he'd seen it at the very last second and knew exactly where to move in order to avoid it by dropping down, almost like he tripped, but the way he landed let him get right back up the instant the attack flew past.

That just infuriated Eclipse more and he stomped forward in order to keep Drake insight and fired off another blast.

Drake fell as the ice hit and he did not get up. He tried pushing himself up, to get going again, but he just couldn't do it... The idea had been to get to the palace... if people were around he assumed he would be safer... a pathetically desperate hope; Eclipse had ways of making crowds lose their conscious minds and Drake knew he'd have to face up for this eventually. Like most anyone, though, he'd hoped to delay the inevitable; at least until Eclipse had a chance to calm down.

This whole event made him feel worse and worse about the upcoming battle. He wasn't fast enough yet. Every weakness he had, Eclipse knew, and they were big ones. He was unmatched in his fire power, but if things get too cold he always felt it worse than everyone else.

Eclipse was too powerful. Drake had been concerned about Zidane panicking and becoming petrified, unable to act, at seeing Eclipse in his true form... but it was Drake who was freezing up now.

He closed his eyes and listened… faintly, very faintly, he heard the engines of the Chariot powering on.

Eclipse would not have a problem attacking them, Drake knew it. They would have to surprise him... somehow, and even then there would be no chance of them being able to do much before he fought back.

“Josnic, dăunător vită...” Drake hissed from the ground as he heard the jet take off, making sure Eclipse would ignore the sound.

Eclipse stalked over like a shadow moving with some unseen light, insulted by the remark enough that he did not hear Zidane’s escape. He stood over Drake now, his cold eyes staring icily into the boy's back like daggers. He knew he couldn't kill the boy and the wound on his chest was already visible enough...

The dark shadowy wings around him reached out longingly, dark smoke-like tendrils touched the prince's body probably feeling like bites by small icy teeth, they left icy trails everywhere they went.

Drake hissed again and tried to get up, but the shadow wings, though opaque, seemed to have weight behind them as somehow they managed to push him back down enough that he gave up with fighting back

Eclipse felt the energy that usually radiated from the Prince fade away at a slow, but steady pace. It was that energy that reminded Eclipse that he couldn’t kill the boy, for it was that energy that gave Eclipse himself power.

Pure, raw energy straight from the source. It was what made him exceedingly more powerful than any other Occultation; that he was constantly exposed to that energy, the energy from their god’s power that gave them life. He had always been stronger, of course... he wasn't like the rest of those pawns. But having constant exposure to Dragon's primal energy flow was like a drug that made him stronger every day. To kill Dragon would remove that flow completely, and that would be devastating... He had to remind himself of that. He's spent far too long searching for Dragon and too long raising, training and taming him to be his.

No, he had to punish him another way... And his wings had given him an idea...

Eclipse started to cast a spell, different from the regular combat spells of Gaia. Something that had been dug up from the depths of some old, dark tome written in blood. The sky darkened even more as he muttered some indecipherable words, his clawed hands started to glow blue and the blood on them sparkled red, apparently being used as part of the spell.

There was a loud cracking sound and spheres of light scattered from his hands like glowing wasps buzzing as they went, then they landed and disappeared.

Suddenly, the vines and branches of the forest started freeze over with ice and frost, then come alive. Some frozen ivy and vines started to wrap around Drake.

Drake’s eyes snapped open at that. He hadn’t thought it was possible to get colder than it was, but it had… and when he saw why he about lost all sanity left in him. The vines… were alive! Alive, frozen and for some inexplicable reason, growing at an extremely unnatural rate. Drake had read horror stories where this happened; vines from hell come out to pull lost souls down into the underworld! Seeing it was worse, seeing it was much, much worse!

They moved like nothing he had ever seen and they made him colder—made even the air around him colder! After all that, he noticed they weren’t there to just scare him; they weren’t exactly attacking, but they were binding him and that terrified him far greater than anything else. Entrapment. In ice covered demonic plants.

Eclipse turned and started to walk away, turning back into his more human form. This little unpleasant spell should keep the prince busy, punish him and leave him… relatively unharmed, physically anyway, all at one. With any luck it would make the boy keep still for a while; long enough for Eclipse to decide what to do with him.

His little Drake really loathed being restrained... it was a fear he couldn't recall occurring, the boy seemed to have been born with it so it wasn't as easy for Eclipse to train him out of. Though, given what he was... it was logical. Dragon had been imprisoned for ages. He was a new soul to this world, a lone child surrounded by the elderly and none but Eclipse and his people were even aware of it. There wasn't another soul like it... new souls weren't created very often, the planet proffered to recycle old ones to be reborn, live, die, wait and be reborn yet again... but not Dragon. Dragon was new. A fresh soul neither Gaia or Terra had claims to for neither of them had created it. One that had been able to only watch while everyone else lived... It had to be torture for him to be trapped again in the cold and the dark.

Age was not an excuse. Even when the Prince was very small Eclipse hardly ever let him get away with anything; not without some form of punishment he would remember, anyway... He'd need to figure out what Drake had been thinking... the boy hadn't truly dared to attack him, had he? He'd begged for forgiveness... if it had been an attack, he would never have done that...

For less than a second a voice inside told Drake to just give in. Stay there, don’t panic, accept whatever happened and do nothing to resist because that would make Eclipse mad. You can do nothing about the pain... it told him.

That voice, however, was silence by a more familiar, and louder, voice screaming GO!

With strength and energy he doubted any part of his body could register how got there, he was up and moving, fighting, struggling till he was free. The vines closed in and he was already gone.

The Dark Prince was shivering even as he ran. The ice, sleet, frost… stopped mattering. The wound on his chest that had still been burning when the vines came alive no longer troubled him. Every ounce of agony he’d felt disappeared.

Drake looked down and he could still see the ice, see it break and flake off every time he bent a leg or an arm to run. He saw the blood on his clothes and the wound on his chest that still seemed to be growing… same as the one across his face had. He saw reasons for the pain he’d previously felt, but it just… didn’t matter!

For a few brief moments he just knew anything could come after him and it wouldn’t matter. He wasn’t going to back down because Eclipse got mad. He wasn’t going to give in because that monster had the advantages he lacked. There was no way he was giving up because of this! He was fire! Fire didn’t give up easy! So long as there was an ember burning there was a chance at recovery! Fire spread, fire adapted, fire raged!! Fire melted ice! Ice relied on the strengths it had solid within itself, fire learned new tricks. He had a candle, once, which was a block of ice that went over the flame, trapping it. Within minutes the fire always broke free.

He could have laughed if he’d had the air to do so, instead he just grinned and let whatever this new power was carry him away from the forest.

Eclipse was slightly angered by that and he almost attacked again, but his senses returned when he saw the amount of blood on the ground. It caused him to hesitate… When he had scratched Drake across the face, it had been very bold, of course, it had to be. It was a very painful, very evident wound the boy wouldn’t be able to hide… but it wasn’t deadly. The wound he’d caused this time…

That isn’t good…He had to admit it to himself, he’d made an error. There were major blood vessels running down the area he’d slashed. It was a wound that could be hidden much easier, yes, but it was in a vital place. In a battle, a blow to the chest would be a direct hit to fresh wounds; just moving would put strain on such a wound… if he didn’t bleed to death first.

Stupid boy! Running! The brat was fast, too. It would take effort to catch him now. Eclipse was angered by that now even more; if the vines had trapped the boy he would have had the ability to do more and deal with the wounds.

Eclipse didn’t resent doing any of it, though. Drake had dared fire at him! Eclipse did believe the boy when he’d been pleading with him, insisting it was an accident; of course it was! Drake could act foolish, but he was not a complete moron; he would never intentionally attack Eclipse, but mistakes wouldn’t be tolerated, either! … Had Drake stuck around, Eclipse would have been sure the lesson stuck… as it was, he still planned on it. The blood on the ground irritated him because it forced him to realize he’d acted too fast, but it did not make him feel the punishment had been enough.

Like mist fading away, Eclipse disappeared to go correct the event.