The Duel

Eva hastily avoided the black figures of the Meraki Clan. Her sword wobbled in her hand, but she gave her best thrust, which was not very good at all.

Elaine positioned her feet. She parried and then countered with a riposte.

Eva placed her other hand on her sword's hilt. She held it up like a shield and managed to block the attack.

"What?" Elaine asked. The force of Eva's attack knocked her back a few feet.

"Oh, my gosh!" Eva removed one of her hands. She chewed on her fingernails. "Did you see that? I can fence!"

Elaine did not let her get off that easily. She rushed into her people's crowd to confuse her.

Instantly, Eva's smile vanished. She searched the crowd, but all she saw were black glitch figures and a red background. "Evangeline's Flame, turn off!" she begged. "Evangeline's Flame!"

Her infrared did not listen to her.

"Eva!" Axis yelled from the pole. He kept prying away at his ropes. Finally, he heard a snap, and the ropes fell. His dark eyes caught Elaine sneaking up on Eva from behind. "Eva!"

Elaine held her sword over Eva's neck.

"Eva!"

"Huh?" Eva noticed a figure running towards her. "Axis?" She whirled around, just in time to see Elaine.

Axis pushed through his pain and fear of fire. He changed his form into a large, scruffy, black dog that had an ugly scar over its right eye. His powerful jaws caught Elaine's sword hilt, preventing it from beheading Eva. He growled and kicked her with his back feet.

Eva was so surprised that she fell over. "Axis, what are you doing?"

"I'm training you," he replied.

"But you're hurt."

"Don't worry about me. Just get the horses and Gawain and get out of here."

Elaine dug her sword tip into the muddy ground. A smile on her face, she lifted one of her knees. "Oh, I see how it is. You're protecting the one you love."

"Love?" Did Eva seriously just hear that? Axis loved her?

His black fur turned red, indicating he was blushing. "No-No! I just promised the king I would look after her."

"Oh, how cute," Elaine chuckled. "Very well, shapeshifter. Let's see what you got." She tossed the sword into the pole where he once was.

Her people backed away to give her space. They hugged each other, but Elaine's mother smirked.

Elaine and Axis's bodies glowed bright red, through Eva's eyes. She crawled away from the glowing figures. They grew wings and long snouts and tails.

Eva recognized Axis's dragon form from the town, but she did not recognize Elaine's.

Rough, silver scales covered her body. Her claws matched the size of a Megalodon tooth. Razor-sharp fangs overtook her whole mouth. Like Axis, she had spikes on her tail.

"What?" Eva shouted. "You're a shapeshifter, too, Elaine?"

"I am," Elaine growled. "I am the heir to all the shapeshifters. This is who we are... the Meraki Clan." A silver fireball appeared in her mouth. She aimed it at Eva.

Axis countered with his own fireball–an infrared one. "Run, Eva!" he yelled in her head. The dust settled, and he opened his massive wings. Both Axis and Elaine ascended into the heavens.

They clawed at one another and swung their tails like they were drunk. Elaine bit down on Axis's left wing, the limb that had been injured by the arrow when he was human.

Crying out, he quickly changed his form into a griffin, in order to slip out of her teeth. It was a mix of a dragon, bird, and lion.

"Axis, stop!" Eva hated to see him in so much pain. He barely moved his left wing.

Gawain finally found his way out of the dungeon's black tunnels. "Oh, my gosh, I made it." He clutched his sweaty knees. "Where is Eva's fire when I need it?" It felt good to be outside, but then he noticed the dragons. "Ah! Could this day get any worse?"

Axis changed his form from the griffin to the snake. He landed on Elaine's scaly head, hissing, and dug his fangs and spikes into her skin.

She roared and threw him off.

Axis fell towards Eva, severely weakened by his wound. He made another attempt to turn into something else but was unsuccessful. Elaine was too strong. He needed Eva.