Chapter Twenty-Three

“This is Kaida’s shrine?” Maddy repeated. “I can’t believe it. It’s nothing like the other shrine we’ve been to. This place looks so…”
“Dead?” Tatsuya finished for her. “Well, yeah, she is the Dragon of Death, isn’t she? I mean, think about it… her brother, the Dragon of Life, his shrine was in the midst of a ton of trees and stuff. And he’s the Dragon of Spring. It’s pretty self explanatory to why Kaida’s shrine looks like this. Also, the area is covered with fallen leaves even though there aren’t that many trees. It is kind of weird.”
“I’ll say,” Maddy said. “It’s kind of giving me the creeps.”
“Should we go in?” Tatsuya asked.
“What sort of stuff do you think is guarding the shrine?” Maddy asked.
“I don’t know,” Tatsuya answered. “I don’t think we should worry about whatever it’s guarding, though. I mean, the thing we should worry about the most is Lance and saving Kaida, right? I bet if he has gotten though, he probably got rid of all the protection for us. So we shouldn’t have to worry about anything that’s guarding the shrine.”
“Do you think whatever is guarding this place would be able to keep Lance out? I mean, Ember was able to keep us out of the other shrine.”
“Honestly,” Tatsuya started, “I don’t think anything is guarding this place.”
“Why do you say that? Do you think they would just leave this place empty?”
“I think so,” he said. “Kaida wanted to keep the pendant with her at all times because she wanted to keep it safe by herself. So I doubt that she would even want anything to guard her shrine because it was always with her, and she was too independent to want others to help her.”
“I don’t know,” Maddy said uncertainly. “I kind of really don’t want to go in there.”
Tatsuya glared at Maddy. “I think I know why.”
Maddy gave him a confused look. “Why? What the hell are you talking about?”
“I mean, you would gladly come along when it meant saving your boyfriend’s life,” Tatsuya said. “The life pendant was able to solve both of our problems, which is why you wanted to come. But this has nothing to do with Darren. There’s no way we can save Darren this way, and you kind of just so happened to be there. Is that why you don’t want to go?”
Maddy didn’t answer.
“That’s what this is about, isn’t it?” Tatsuya asked. “I knew you were lost. No, Maddy, I knew that Madison Anabel Fisher was lost.”
“Tatsuya, what the hell do you mean by that?”
“Madison Anabel Fisher wouldn’t think like that,” he said, more to himself than to Maddy. “That’s what I’ve been trying to do this whole time. By being your friend. I thought it would bring Madison Anabel Fisher back, but no, you’re still just Maddy. You’re Maddy. And when I heard you call me your best friend when Lance had just came to my house, I thought I might have gotten Madison Anabel Fisher back out of all the crap your parents have covered you with, but no, it’s obvious that you’re just going to be Maddy for the rest of your life.”
“Tatsuya, you’re not making any sense at all,” she said. “I’m Maddy. And Madison Anabel Fisher is just my whole name. It’s not like we’re two different people.”
Tatsuya stomped his foot so hard on the ground that it practically hurt his leg. “You practically are two different people! There’s no way Maidson Anabel Fisher would ever be like you!”
“Stop doing that,” Maddy snapped. “I don’t understand, you’re not making any sense at all, just stop and explain to me what the hell is going on!”
Tatsuya sighed, and calmed down. “I would explain,” he said, “but we don’t have too much time. Lance is probably in there getting the pendant all charged up so he can fully control Kaida and get the other pendants. Now is our only chance to stop him. And if we don’t move quickly, we’ll be under the rule of Lance for the rest of our lives.”
Maddy nodded, and they stepped into the large stone building.It was completely dark at first. It seemed like a large area at first, because with every step, the noise echoed several times. Tatsuya was careful to take slow steps, even though they weren't any less loud.
"Tatsuya," Maddy whispered loudly.
He turned around to try to find her, but couldn't see her. He felt her tap his shoulder and tried to find out what she was doing.
"What, Maddy?" Tatsuya said. His voice was oddly loud in such a quiet place.
Tatsuya noticed the ever so slightest bit of light, which was just enough to allow him to see what Maddy was doing. She was pointing at the source of the light, a corridor which was just ahead of them, lined with torches that were completely lit.
"I bet that's where Lance went," Tatsuya said. He followed the light until he was in the stone corridor.
"This hallway is really long," Maddy said. "This place is so much bigger from the inside than it looks on the outside."
"Yeah," Tatsuya said, squinting his eyes in attempt to see how far the corridor went down. "I can't see anything. What do you think is at the end of this place?"
"What do you think is there IN this corridor?" Maddy asked.
"I don't think there's anything here," he said. He held his breath so he could listen, and all he heard was the sound of his heart thumping against his chest. "Yeah, I don't think there's anything here."
"Well, you never know," she said. "And I think at the end of this corridor... I think we're going to find..."
"I think we're going to find Lance," Tatsuya finished for her. "We're going to find him with Kaida."
"How are we going to save her?" Maddy asked. "How are we going to break his control over her?"
"We'll have to steal the pendant back from him," Tatsuya said.
Tatsuya and Maddy began to slowly walk along the corridor, careful to avoid the flames that were lined up on the walls. Tatsuya couldn't afford to get burned any longer.
The walk from one end of the corridor to the other end was a long one. Tatsuya felt like the walk was going to go on forever, like it was never going to end, and all he wanted was to get to the end of it already. He could hear something at the end--a faint whisper or a toe tapping. Whatever it was, it was distant, but within reach. Tatsuya wanted nothing more than to get to the end of the corridor. He decided to pick up the pace.
"Tatsuya," Maddy whispered. "Are we almost at the end?"
Tatsuya held his breath again, and strained his ears to listen. "Yeah," he said. "We're almost there."
Before too long, him and Maddy had entered a giant sanctum that was even larger than the previous room. In fact, it was large enough to hold Kaida in her dragon form, as illustrated when Tatsuya and Maddy saw Lance with Kaida as a dragon next to him.
"Lance!" Tatsuya screamed. His voice echoed. "Lance! Lance...Lance...ce..."
The man turned around, holding the pendant tightly in his hand, and smiled. "You followed me all the way over here?" he asked, his tone slightly surprised. "My, my, I certainly didn't know you wanted to keep the pendant that badly. I'm sure you know what power it wields, and I'm sure you know that I want to control it."
"Give it back to us," Tatsuya said angrily. "We need to have it now."
Lance glared at him. "There is no way you're getting this pendant piece, boy," he spat. "I've been trying to get this power for decades, I've killed too many people to just hand it over to you!"
"Why?" Maddy screamed. "Why are you doing this? What is this going to give you?"
"Everything, little girl, everything!" Lance screamed with a sinister chuckle. "Everything and anything! I'll be rich, famous, powerful, glorious, and the absolute ruler of the world! No one will be able to stop me, and I'll live forever, and nothing will ever go wrong!"
"You're just an insane psychopath!" Tatsuya spat back. "There's no way we're going to let you rule the world, especially after all of the horrible things you have done! You ruined my life, you ruined my whole family's life, and now I want to see you die, I want revenge, Lance."
Lance's eyebrows raised and disappeared completely behind his messy bangs. "I ruined your life?" he asked.
"You killed my father," Tatsuya said through gritted teeth. "You killed him right in front of me. I was five years old. It was at the very doorstep that you visited today. His blood spilled where I was standing, and that was the single worst day of my life."
"You were five years old when your father died? You are Joseph Gray's son? And you were five years old ten years ago?"
"That's right," Tatsuya said. "I actually existed. And that's why you didn't get the power when you killed my father. Because I actually existed. I was there, and when you thought you were killing the last one in the line, I was there. That's why you failed, you failed because you looked over one tiny thing. Literally, the tiniest thing--a five year old!"
Lance snarled and growled at him. "You! It's your fault I've been hunting this stupid piece of crap--" he shook the pendant in his hand "--for so many years! Do you know what sort of shit I had to go through because of you?"
"Do you have any idea what sort of shit you made me and my family go through?" Tatsuya shouted. "We grew up without a father because of you, and all because of your obsessive greed!"
"Not just greed, boy, greed is something that all humans have naturally," Lance said with a sinister chuckle. "Tell me, why do you want to see me dead? Why have you chased me down here?"
"I want revenge," Tatsuya said.
"Exactly!" Lance cheered. "Revenge! Though it's horrible, it's so, so sweet. And that's what I want. I want pay back from the entire world!"
"What has the world done to you?"
"The world has completely killed me. I, too, grew up without a father, boy. I grew up without a father or a mother. I was more alone than you could imagine. All I wanted was for someone--someone in this whole God damned world! Anyone! But the world gave me no one, the world gave me nothing, and the world killed off everything that could possibly have made me happy. The world was a cruel, unusual place."
"So you want to control the world and get your revenge because your life sucked?" Tatsuya snapped. "My life sucked, and you don't see me trying to gain the power of all the dragons!"
"Yes, but I thought to myself that all of this pain can't be bad. I can use this loneliness, I thought. I knew I could become something! When I found out about the power of the dragons, I realized how perfect this was! I knew that this is what I could do with all of this pain, all of this power! I will put the power to good use instead of using it stupidly like you did!"
"I did NOT use that power," Tatsuya said. "That power is too much for anyone! I didn't even want to use it!"
"But you used it!" Lance argued back. "And the way you used it was stupid!"
"Is that why you went for Kaida first?" Tatsuya asked. "Because her ability to control death is what you wanted first, right?"
Lance laughed. He was laughing so hard that he almost fell over. "Of course not. I wanted to go for her first because she was the weakest one of the four dragons, the easiest to obtain first. And then I would use her power to get the others. After all, she is the weakest one because she is the only woman."
"Hey!" Maddy shouted, stepping out from behind Tatsuya. "That's sexist! Kaida is just as powerful as any of her brothers! She can control death, if she was free to be in her own control right now, she could kill you instantly!"
"Oh, the bitch barks," Lance teased.
Maddy scowled at him. "You're not going to hurt my friends. We're taking that pendant back now. Let's go for it, Tatsuya. We can take this guy."
"You might be able to take me," Lance said. "But behold! Try to take me while I control the dragon of death!"
Kaida roared and screeched, and flailed as if she were in great pain. Her mighty tail swung from the left violently and knocked attacked the wall that Tatsuya and Maddy were in front of, completely demolishing it.
Rocks from the wall were raining down from the breaking down building and all over the area where Tatsuya and Maddy were standing.
"Maddy!" Tatsuya called. He put his arms around her, and pushed her head into his chest in attempts to protect her from the falling rock. Over the sound of all the rubble and destruction, he could hear Lance laughing maniacally in the background.
"Tatsuya," Maddy cried, trying to break away from his grasp. "We can't just stand here! We can't just let him keep attacking us!"
"You can't, you'll get hurt!" Tatsuya said, but Maddy had already gotten away from his grasp.
Kaida swung her tail again, and broke down more of the gigantic wall, causing more stones to rain down.
Tatsuya jumped quickly to his left to avoid getting hit, but when he looked back, Maddy was on the floor, surrounded by large boulders, unmoving.