Ebony flew. She didn’t dare glance behind her, she knew they would be following. If not now, soon.

  Nameless celestial bodies whisked beneath her outstretched wings as she sped away from her home planet, her heart aching at the knowledge she had abandoned it to the Vanguard. They would be rummaging their dirty claws through her artifacts, gaining ancient knowledge from her treasured tomes and picking through her chests. She imagined Juliet, the immature dragon, unable to control the urge to roll in her piles of golden trinkets and let out a puff of smoke that coiled around her snout. She dismissed her frustrations knowing that in each claw she clasped the only things of value: one her egg and in the other its decoy.

  A hoard of her size would keep even the most focused of dragons occupied for a moment; and a moment was all she needed.

  Her wing tips brushed the stars, their heat tickling her scales as she slowed down, coming to rest beside the Cypher Milky Way. Humans had renamed it over the years but for her, she had learnt to fly amongst its star nurseries, it’s why she had chosen this distant place.

  She gently clasped her egg, its shell flickering with midnight galaxies as she pulled it close to her chest. She allowed herself the briefest pause to mourn the future that could have been, flying free, her daughter beside her, becoming a mother so fierce that the gods themselves would tremble before endangering them.

  With a pulse of magic, she imprinted a memory on her egg, wrapping her unhatched fledgling in a cocoon of love and simultaneously instilling a deep distrust of any being associated with the vanguard's mark.

  Dipping low, and with a visceral roar, she released the egg propelling it forward. Soon it would be sucked into orbit and a millennium absorbing the Milky Way would make her egg strong enough. Strong enough to survive. Strong enough to avoid the vanguard. No daughter of hers would be a slave, sacrificing their magic to feed one dragon’s greed.

  Ebony put on a burst of speed, pulling the decoy egg close to her and putting as much space between her and the Cypher Milky Way as fast as possible.

  Time passed uninterrupted by sound and occasionally in pitch black as she flew between solar systems. Briefly, she even entertained the idea of reaching Haven, secluding herself with the Astral race.

  It was another future that would not come to pass as she soon heard a roar behind her rattling her bones.

  “Ebony, you should not have fled.” Saigon’s voice rumbled telepathically. “You would have sat beside me in the new kingdom. Your daughter is a prize to the vanguard.”

  She could have laughed - beside Saigon! Beside him, but still beneath Balguund. She was too prideful to answer to anyone.

  “My daughter is no one’s prize.” She spat. Twisting her body to better view her pursuer.

  Saigon’s fiery red scales burned bright in the dark skyscape. In a battle, she may be able to escape him, though they were both ancient enough that they would leave with heavy wounds but beside him, she saw Violetta and gave a toothy grin.

  Sending her the message loud and clear, they never planned to retrieve her peacefully. Violetta would enjoy the chance to rip her apart.

  “You sold your soul to the vanguard, Saigon.” She answered. “They will lay waste to the galaxies.”

  Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings.

  He laughed. “For growth.”

  “Yet Balguund scavenges others’ eggs. It seems growth has stalled.”

  She knew they would close the distance between them. Saigon was renowned for speed and she had flown for too long.

  “Only a fool stands in the way of progress,” Saigon said his powerful voice imbued with magic and rumbling against her scales.

  “Then I am a fool.”

  “The last fool standing. Aerial fell in battle today.”

  She almost stopped. Aerial, a beautiful soul, passionate and kind, was barely considered an adult by their standards. Only a monster would murder a fledgling when young dragons were so hard to create.

  “Balguund is no real dragon.” She whispered aloud but her voice carried through the silent void. Anyone who snuffed out innocence didn’t deserve the title of dragon. She clutched the decoy egg tighter, her claws almost threatening to scratch its surface something that would be impossible on her true egg.

  Violetta roared incensed. She was a sycophant who joined the vanguard early in its reign for its favourable policy on violence.

  “Your daughter will kneel to me.”

  The time for talking was over. Ebony would never surrender.

  She flew into the asteroid belt, weaving between the rocks and dust as Violetta’s fire exploded in a torrent behind her. She twisted, a heat building in her belly as an explosion of blue flames shot forth. Violetta bolted beneath an asteroid but Ebony was not weak, mere rock would not prevent her flames and she heard a roar of pain as her fire burned Violetta’s scales.

  The chase was on. Her scales shifted colours reflecting the space around her as she camouflaged, her claws were occupied but she dove towards Violetta, sinking her teeth into the exposed flesh left from her burn and pulling free more scales, she wanted to leave her mark, a wound that would never heal. She pulsed her magic costing her precious seconds but she never planned to escape with her life and leaving a permanent weakness on a dragon was an incredible insult. Violetta’s claws raked her scales as Ebony darted away beginning evasive manoeuvres that weaved and spun at dizzy speeds.

  Saigon had decided to join the battle, perhaps he feared he would lose the upper hand if she slaughtered Violetta.

  She soared away from the asteroids into the open, needing the space to face her opponents properly.

  Saigon launched at her, claws and teeth snapping with brutal efficiency. She flashed him a grin, wrapping him in her wings like a lover's embrace as she pulled him into a free-fall dive. He was trapped with her as they fell.

  Her body grew into a fireball, her fire singing his wings, burning webs of damage even as his teeth plunged into her neck. She roared, answering with a magical explosion that propelled them away from each other, wings flaring to slow her trajectory. Before she could recover Violetta was on her, clinging to her back.

  “Enough,” Saigon said, his throat hoarse. “It is time for you to see what Balguund and the vanguard are capable of.” He withdrew a crystal clasping it.

  Violetta immediately withdrew, as a bolt of lightning flashed forward hitting her in the chest. It shouldn’t have been enough to damage her but it ate a hole in her scales.

  She must have looked confused. “Acid Lightning. Balguund isn’t merely recruiting dragons, those who don’t bend the knee serve their purpose, their abilities are harvested so nothing goes to waste.”

  She watched as the power of her brethren was mutated into this abomination. She had seen enough, she reached into her soul, and she would destroy him. Calling on the deepest part of her soul, she drew her astral magic and charged Saigon, dropping the decoy.

  “Don’t lose the egg!” He shouted before her body slammed into his.

  She blinded him using her power to remove his senses and digging her talons into his chest. He screamed bucking to try and free himself. Stars exploded beside them, gas and debris flying as the sky plunged into darkness. She flexed her magic beneath her talons, feeding it directly into Saigon, stars grew like mushroom spores along his veins, travelling through him.

  “I am the dragon of astral creation, just because I chose peace does not mean I am weak.”

  She was one of the First, a Creator. She created space, designed planets, watched races live and die within her solar systems, but she could also take it away. After all, what was an artist without the ability to erase their work? She flicked her wrist, knowing it would destroy them both.

  They burned together in an inferno of stars and meteors to Saigon's final planet-shaking roar.

  Then the world stopped.

  She was pleased that she came to this open space, to die within this celestial sea felt free.

  Ebony would die with him impaled on her talons, with a smile on her face, imagining Violetta discovering that the egg was a decoy and peaceful with the knowledge that her true egg was safe and growing strong.

  After all, who would travel as far as the long forgotten Cypher Milky Way?