Rae opened her mouth to speak, and stared at Loa’s turned back, but then there was a shout and then silence in the noisy marketplace.

"Ni Shang!" a voice called.

A man came riding a black stallion into the Square. His face was contorted in a saucy expression. On his shoulder he bore a small black dragon.

Loa saw him, and her color drained from her face. She looked sick, and Rae came up behind her, worried.

The horse trotted slowly up alongside Loa and Rae.

"Kuroi ryu, kangei katei."

Loa stared up at the man with haunted eyes. "Watashi wakaru nan no ga aru."

"Ah, good. I see you do understand the true weight of the crest you wear. You remember the feeling... You understand the black dragon..."

"Yes, I do."

"What is that little... Amazon, is it? Hiding behind you?"

Rae began to walk forward, indignant, but Loa held an arm up.

"She’s here to protect these people from my wrath."

"Oh?" Ni Shang chuckled. "Why did you really return, Loa? You want to be a ninja again?"

"My place is not among the petty fools that work for you. And you will address me by my title, Shang."

"What title? Gutter rat?"

Loa cringed at the sound. She hated this man. How could she even control herself and keep herself from leaping upon him and killing him? The onyx stone, the one she had not remembered in awhile, glowed hotly.

"I am the Black Dragon."

"Of Shang." Ni Shang finished.

"No. Not of Shang. I don’t belong to you anymore."

"You really think so?"

"I know so. Stay away from me Shang, or you will have another scar... One that will not heal as quickly as the last."

Loa then grabbed Rae and began dragging her away.

"You have become a coward, I see." Shang called after her.

Loa steeled herself against the insults. She could not allow...

"Coward! Child! You don’t deserve the black dragon’s seal! Ha!"

Loa burned with rage, and her stone around her neck was aflame.

"You will fade into the abyss you came from! You will follow in the footsteps of your mother! Your worthless mother!"

And then... A silence slid, cool and sickly over Loa’s ears. She could stand no more. Her eyes burned terribly. She could not control this anguish anymore.

"Ni Shang!" she screamed. Slowly, surely, she turned to face the haughty man atop his horse.

As he saw Loa’s face, his eyes grew wide. "Prepare to die, you scum." Loa’s voice grew low, the onyx stone was glowing brightly, but the power within it could not keep...

A woman, and then a man screamed. As if nature had turned on itself, clouds raced across the sky, Loa’s eyes grew cold and glassy. And then...

"Ano kuroi ryu!!" a person screamed, pointing at the sky above.

"Oh my God..." Rae gasped, as she followed the town’s peoples gaze.

A huge black dragon floated above Loa, it crackled with energy. Rae could feel it’s power... It was like... Like the night of the fires...

"Seigi..." Loa said softly. She raised a terrible hand in the now dim light. "Never... Never challenge..."

"Wha...?" Shang’s horse bucked, and he struggled to keep the stallion under control.

"Die... Shang, feed the dragon..." and then a horrible flash of bright light flew from the effigy of the dragon above Loa, and consumed Shang horribly...

"Be God’s food." her voice echoed up against the town’s rickety buildings and everything went black.

When the light returned, Rae struggled to her feet, she squinted, the sun had returned, but the square was empty, save one pitiful figure in the center...

"Loa?"

Loa lay there, quiet, unmoving.

"Loa?" Rae called again, moving closer.

Still no response.

"Loa?!" Rae rushed over now, and looked at Loa. Her lips were slightly blue, but her pulse was still there. Barely, but nonetheless there.

"Hey! Somebody!" Rae stood, quickly. She looked around, but no one was there. "Anyone?! We need help!"

But no one answered.

Rae shook her head, and stared down at Loa. If they didn’t get help...

"Maybe... I can help you?" a demure voice called from the other end of the dusty square.

Rae spun to see a girl... She had to rub her eyes and look down to be certain...

It was the mirror image of Loa.

************

"What’s your name?" Rae asked the young girl as she handed Rae a cup of green tea.

"Ming."

"You do realize... Ming..."

"Thank you for returning my sister. You did a good job."

"What?! How do you know about that?"

Ming gestured to the bedroom in which Loa lay in the bed. "I knew I had a sister for a long time. I know she is the black dragon. We were... destined."

Rae took a sip of the tea, trying to calm herself. This was a little farfetched.

"What happened to Shang?" she asked.

"I don’t know." Ming replied, honestly. "I think that Loa killed him... But souls like that... Evil never dies, it is merely reincarnated..."

Rae nodded, and sipped a little more tea. "So what happens now?"

"I suppose... You can leave my sister here... But... I don’t think I can help her." Ming sighed, looking down.

"Why?! What do you mean? Loa said if you didn’t..."

"Everyone dies? Yes... It’s true. But I... I don’t know if I’m strong enough... Or if I can... Or if I want to."

"But if you don’t..."

"What if the world is crushed, Miss Rae? Would it matter? Look at my sister. She was given away to those ninjas... She was turned into a killer, a sinner. She will go to hell. Is that her true nature? Are we merely born to destroy? You amazons, you say that you like peace, but you promote war and death as much as anyone else. There is no peace. There is no silver lining... Everyone goes to Hell... And I can’t save my sister. Why should I try?"

"You have to Ming!" Rae pleaded. "There’s more to life than pain and death."

"You don’t understand, young amazon... I am as old as you, but my sister and my soul have experienced eons. We are the dragons of the ancient kingdom. We will exist forever. Can you fathom eternity? I can only touch the surface of my existence... And for this life to end now, and sweep the dragons into the next world... Well... It is divine shukumei."

"Shukumei?"

"Destiny... Unmei."

Rae said nothing more. "So..."

"I will do what I know is right... I do not know where the path leads yet..." Ming returned.

Rae nodded. She leaned back and drank her tea... The dragons... This mystery, this fire in their hearts... Could they bring the end?

***********

Loa awoke with a sharp start, and sat straight up in the bed. In front of her, in a delicately embroidered kimono, was her sister. She knew...

"Ming."

"Loa."

Silence.

"How long?"

"13 years."

"Is it time?"

"The world..."

"Must not die."

"You hold the power Loa. I am not strong enough."

"What do you mean?"

"You are the Dragon that holds eternity."

"Ming..."

"Make the choice..."

Thunder and lightning crashed outside, and Loa breathed in sharply. She stared at her sister’s eyes in the ensuing flash. This land... This home...

"You stole her!" Loa shouted, piercing the silence.

"What?" Ming replied, shocked.

"You... You were the one..."

"What are you talking about?"

"You made her give me to Shang!! It was you!" the onyx glowed.

"What? Loa, how could I have...? She died..."

"You with your..."

"Loa?"

Loa had risen now, and drew a sharp dagger from the table on the side of the bed.

"You’re not my sister!" the onyx was beginning to...

"Loa, you’re not in your right mind...."

"Demon! Demon! You stole my life! YOU STOLE MY LIFE!!!" Loa screamed and hurled herself forward as the lightning struck again.

A dagger into flesh, a gasp and a cry. Blood, and burning. The stone...

"What...?" Loa gasped sharply as she drew away, letting her sister’s dead body slide to the ground. She backed away, and shook her head... She glanced at the flaming stone... Why was it so hot?

"No... No... Lao Ma, don’t betray me!!"

The stone began to crack, slowly, down the middle, to the bottom... And then it fell away, crumbling to the ground like sand through a child’s hand.

"No..." It was coming... The dragon...

"NO!!"

**********

Through the sleet, the pouring, driving rain. The cliff. The cliff. It began there. Her mother. Ming! They had been at...

The cliff.

The cliff. It was there.

********

Rae walked into Ming’s hut to see where the two were, she was dripping wet. As she walked in, she realized the house was dark.

"Ming?" she called, as she walked into the house. "Loa?"

She walked through the hut, and lit a candle near the bedroom. She nearly tripped... She looked down.

"Ming? Oh... Gods... No..."

Emblazoned across Ming’s face was a black dragon.

**********

Here! Yes here! Loa’s mind leapt: Ashes to ashes...

"Ha ha ha ha ha ha!" Loa cackled. She clapped a hand over her mouth. "In... Sane." she whispered as the rain trickled down her face, mixing with her tears.

"I remember now... hahahahah." she screamed. "I remember!"

"My fault! Mine! Ha! I’m going back to hell! Hell..." tears rushed down her face, and she pulled the dagger, with the black dragon on it, still set from her sister’s blood. Into the air, it hung, blood trickled down onto her hands.

"No more hope... Killed the hope..." she muttered madly. "Killed Ni Shang... Ming... Mother... All dead... all eaten... By God."

"Loa!"

Loa did not turn around. She knew who it was.

"Loa!"

"Good bye you horrible planet! The dragon has been sealed. We are the last. We have become..."

"Loa!!!!"

"God’s food."

"LOA!"

But it was too late. As Rae plowed through the rain, and sleet, Loa brought the dagger across her throat in one swift movement. In seemingly slow motion, her body pitched forward, limp. Rae knew it was too late, seeing the pool of blood mixed with rain water...

Too late...

What had she said...? God’s... They had all been God’s food.

The black dragon stared at Rae from Loa’s scarred neck.

And the rain and lightning continued...