The lobby of the Dragon temple private hospital was where one usually found refuge of silence and healing. The sunlight penetrated through the glass windows on the floor and the walls, covering marble floors and the costly artworks. There was a soft-soled wearing of shoes, and a fragrance of fresh lilies.CRASH!The calmness was broken immediately.The large revolving glass doors did not merely open, but were beaten off.A huge armored boot came down on the clean white marble and powdered the debris."Secure the perimeter! No one leaves!"A dozen men attacked the lobby. They were by no means typical soldiers. They were giants. They were all at least six and a half feet tall, and were clad in heavy grey tactical armor with the blue badge of the "Global War Council" on the breast of their armor. Their bodies were unnaturally broad, and their muscles were swelling out of the fabric they wore which was reinforced. They had a faint, chemical blue light in their eyes--the mark of genetic en

The North.It was a country of perpetual winter. Where the wind did not blow, but bit. It tore through the flesh and solidified blood in a couple of seconds.There was a terrific snow-storm and the world had been become a sheet of white blindness. But even in the storm two figures were walking down the street like those in a spring garden.One of them was dressed in a long black coat, and his face was covered by a plain black mask. The other had a white fur-lined robe on, and a white porcelain mask on her face."Black" and "White.""Are you cold?" Alex asked, his voice muffled by the wind.Sarah—now "White" shook her head. "No. The fire inside me... it likes the cold. It feels like it wants to eat it."They topped a swell of crashing ice.Beneath this, hewn straight out of the side of a giant, purple glacier, was a gigantic edifice.The Blood Coliseum.It was old and was constructed in the past by a vanished people. It was now black with red banners. There was a sack of witch-fire bur

"Come to me!"The cry of Alex shook the Blood Coliseum.The rusted mass of iron which constituted the Dragon Slayer Sword screamed back on the black pedestal in the middle of the arena.PING!The chains of iron that connected the blade did not snap, it was vaporized.The sword struck out at the air like a lightning bolt made of gold. It turned round, and through the freezing wind, flew straight at the open hand of Alex.THWACK.Alex caught the hilt.With one touch of his skin on the leather grip a shiver of golden energy went rolling away.BOOM!The rusty-corrosive thicker than ever layer which had been coating the blade in the past decade snapped off in a second. It flew off like dust in a hurricane, and showing the real character beneath, it did so.It was magnificent. A rope of Dragon Steel of four feet length, and with a light of shining golden warmth. The metal sang like an angel choir--or demon choir, as was the bearer.Oh, old friend, I said to myself, and touched the old weigh

"Prove you are worthy."The voice of Glacia was like a diamond cutting glass.She was standing in the remains of the Blood Coliseum to which the transparent Dragon Slayer Sword lay gently in her hand. The air was so cold that the snow she had fallen upon had been frozen in mid-flight forming an ice-curtain of floating crystals.Alex defended himself, and his breath smoked greatly. I did not go here to play games, he said, and his hand was close to his waist where a combat knife was sheathed. "I came for my sword.""Your sword?" Glacia laughed softly. It was a chilling sound. "Boy, this blade is my fang. I lost it ten thousand years ago to heal the Rift of the Void.The tip of the sword she was pointing on the dead body of the Blood Sect Leader.Do you believe that this insect was the danger? The Blood Sect? The Council? They are nothing. Symptoms of a disease."She looked up at the grey sky."The Void is opening. Here comes the Darkness which devours stars. I woke up because I smelled

"Victory!"The scream was in the Dragon Guards. Flung in the air behind them their helmets, with shouts of joy as the last of the armored transports of the Council ran away into the open, their tires screaming on the asphalt.Alex was approached by General Talon, who was limping on with a broad smile on his blooded face. "We did it, Lord! We drove them away, like whipped dogs! The Underground City is safe!"Alex was on the wreckage of the Command Carrier and the dust was settling. Sarah was standing beside him, her hands still hot with the flash of Phoenix fire.But Alex didn't smile.He gazed down at the great Ice Dragon which was wrapped about the debris."Glacia," Alex said. "Why aren't you celebrating?"The huge head of the dragon was turned towards the sky. Her crystalline blue eyes became narrow. The temperature in her vicinity plummeted considerably, and the puddles of the melted steel were frozen on the ground.Glacia was speaking in their heads, and said: DO NOT CELEBRate YET