The blast of lightning energy hit just above Ravyn and the demon glanced up in surprise, looking for where the attack came from. Her golden eyes rested to where the lightning dragon was hovering in the air, powering up another breath spell to fire at the demon. With a fanged grin, Ravyn stood up and levitated herself higher into the air, placing her hands on her hips and leaning forward to gaze at Ray.

"You silly lizard! Do you really think you're going to do much damage to me?"

Ray's only answer was a loud bellow and then another blast of lightning flew by the demon, just grazing over her shoulder as she watched the bolt of energy fly by. Ravyn tsked lightly and shook her head.

"You need to work on your aim, dragon boy."

With a snarl, Ray rushed at the demon, bellowing loudly as he lashed out at her with his clawed talons. There was a bright flash of light and his attack met air as Ravyn vanished suddenly. With a confused growl, the dragon swirled about in the air, looking for where the demon could have vanished too. A laugh sounded out from behind him and Ray spun around to see the demon hovering behind him, her black tail waving back and forth lightly in the air as she grinned at the dragon.

"You want to play tag? Is that it?" The demon gave another wide smile at the dragon. "Well let me even out the odds a bit and we can use the sky as our playground." A black glow encompassed the demon and she closed her eyes, crossing her hands over her chest as her tail lashed around her. A swirling wind picked up, surrounding the demon and suddenly her form went entirely black. The dragon reared back in surprise as he watched Ravyn's form begin to stretch and grow, slowly turning snakelike and soon the demon's body was a writhing black serpent that coiled itself around the volcano. With a hiss the snake beast opened its massive golden eyes and flicked a fork tongue out in the direction of Ray, the serpent creature's mouth opening in a cracked grin as it bared the folded fangs that rested in the demon's jaws. Ray bellowed loudly again and sent another bolt of energy at the giant serpent. The attack slammed into the forehead of the snake and the large black creature reared back with a blood-freezing cry, its coils wrapping tighter around the volcano it was curled on. With lightning speed the snake demon lashed out, snapping at Ray with its massive jaws, just barely missing the dragon as its fanged mouth slammed shut inches away from Ray. The snake gave out a raged hiss and opened its mouth once more, blasting out a stream of golden energy that slammed into Ray, sending the dragon tumbling backwards through the air with a pained cry. With a rush of wings the dragon launched himself higher into the air, circling around the volcano as he looked for an opening to attack the giant serpent. The snake's large head followed after the dragon as Ray circled the mountain, lashing out again in a quick bite to the dragon. Just barely managing to pull himself away from the attack, Ray turned and countered the demon with a swipe to its head, his claw raking across one of the demon's large golden eyes, causing the serpent to let out a pained cry as once again its coils around the volcano tightened. The snake turned and snapped out at Ray again, this time catching the dragon by the leg as the serpent's long fang sank into the dragon's hide, piercing down to the bone. With a vicious jerk of its head, the snake tossed Ray to the side, sending the dragon falling towards the ground. With a flurry of wing beats, Ray managed to pull himself out of his fall and rose back up in the air as he charged for the serpent demon once more. A light tingling sensation began to pick up in the dragon's leg around the bite area, and Ray did his best to ignore it as he swerved away from another one of the demon's attacks, circling around the volcano once more as the serpent's head followed after him. Ray could feel the tingling around the bite begin to spread through his leg and suddenly the limb hung like dead weight on the dragon as he worked to keep his balance in the air. With a loud bellow of surprise, the dragon just barely managed to dodge another bite, countering the demon with a blast of lightning that struck the creature once more in the head, causing the snake to let out a loud hiss as it flicked its tongue out at Ray. The dragon faltered in the air as the poison of the bite continued to spread through his body, causing the paralyzed feeling to move from the dragon's legs to his chest. Ray heaved in a few breaths as he dove again, circling around the mountaintop with the demon coiling around after him. The serpent hissed and snapped out again, just missing Ray as he moved to avoid the attack. The poison was slowly working its way up into the dragon's wings and Ray struggled to keep himself in the air.

Another attack from the snake demon, this time a head-butt that rammed into Ray from underneath, causing the dragon to be tossed into the air helplessly as Ray's wings finally succumbed to the paralyzing poison and the dragon landed in a crumpled heap on one of the snake's coils. As Ray reverted back to his normal form, the serpent reared back for another strike. Ray managed a leap to the side just as the snake lunged at him. With a startled hiss, the serpent demon sunk its fangs into the coil that Ray had been standing on. A look of shock passed over the demon's face as its golden eyes went wide and suddenly the serpent's form began to whither and shrink. Instantly the coil Ray was standing on vanished in a dark flash of light and the dragon found himself tumbling down the side of the mountain as the large form of the serpent reverted itself back to the pale figure of Ravyn. As Ray finished his tumbled down the mountainside, landing hard on the ground with a thud, Ravyn hovered down to him, glaring angrily at the broken dragon.

"And just how, prey tell, did you manage to leap aside after being affect by my poison?"

"Easy." Ray pushed himself up to a kneeling position, wincing as he glanced up a Ravyn. "Spells and affects wear off of me when I revert back..."

"Great." Ravyn rolled her eyes and charged up a glowing ball of energy in her hand. "Then I guess I'll just finish you off like this." With a toss of her hand she threw the ball of energy at the downed dragon, the attack slamming into Ray and sent the dragon flying back down to the ground. With a cry of pain Ray felt the searing heat of the attack enveloping itself around him and a choking sensation started up in the dragon's throat. Ray let out a whimper as he struggled to gain breath, all the while doing his best to fight the burning sensation that covered every inch of his skin. A moment later and the attack stopped abruptly, leaving the dragon shaking and gasping for air as he lay quivering on the ground. A light chuckle came from Ravyn and the dragon listened as she called to him lightly.

"Silly lizard, it's nice of you to still entertain me with your feeble fighting, but I'm afraid it's time for us to end this." Ravyn began to charge up another ball of energy when the sound of Lucy's shout was suddenly heard.

"Holy Beam!" A beam of energy slammed into Ravyn, causing the demon to cry out in surprise as she turned to see Lucy and Janet rushing towards the demon and the dragon. Ravyn pulled her lips back in a vicious snarl at the approaching girls and sent her energy spell flying at them. Lucy dodged in time to miss the spell, but Janet was caught up in it and the windian fell back with a loud cry as she felt the breath rush from her lungs and something like invisible fire covered her body. Lucy turned quickly in hopes of assisting her friend but her efforts were stopped as a wall of flames appeared in front of her and suddenly the Red Bird was before her, its beak open in a wild cry as it leapt at the raven-haired windian. Lucy was about to cast a wind spell to avert the bird away from her when the fire beast let out a loud shriek and changed its direction of attack, rushing past Lucy and aimed for Ray. Lucy turned to witness the dragon charge at Ravyn, his long sword in hand as he sliced out, catching the demon across her midsection as she recoiled from the attack. Ravyn let out a pained cry as a black liquid began to seep from the cut in her flesh and she turned her fiery golden eyes to the dragon.

"You'll pay for that, lizard!"

As if on cue the Red Bird leapt at Ray, its flames arching out at the dragon as the creature attacked. Ray turned in time to see the large demon bearing down on him before a sudden gust of wind blasted the creature away from the dragon. With a screech of annoyance the Red Bird turned and launched itself at Lucy, catching the windian by surprise as she struggled to cast another wind spell.

"Lucy!" Ray watched as she was struck by a wild swipe of the Red Bird's fiery talon, the attack tossing the windian aside like a rag doll and the fire beast paced up to Lucy's crumpled form. Ravyn looked on in amusement as Janet, struggling to recover from the spell that she had been hit with, rushed over to try and assist her fallen friend. The Red Bird noticed the approached windian and let out a loud shriek, leaping at Janet. Ravyn's mouth turned into a fanged smile as she mused to herself.

"My... looks like my little bird is about to bathe the in the blood of its first kill." The demon let out a light chuckle as she watched the Red Bird bear down on Janet, the windian just managing to dodge the animal's pounce as she rushed out of the way. Ravyn's chuckle was brought to a sudden stop and the demon's eyes went wide as her gazed turned from the scene of her creation and its prey and shifted down to the long blade that was suddenly protruding from her chest. With a jerk, Ray slid his weapon out of the demon.

"You forgot about lizard boy."

Ravyn turned her empty golden gaze to where Ray was standing behind her, the dragon working weakly to support himself as he leaned up against the side of the volcano base. "You foolish lizard..." The energy that had been holding Ravyn up in the air as she hovered in place was cut off suddenly and the demon fell to the ground, black blood pouring from her wounds.

The Red Bird let out a cry of pain and fell back as Ravyn coughed loudly, streams of the dark liquid spewing from her mouth. The two windians managed to pull themselves into a standing position and watched in wonder as the Red Bird lowered its head, its form shuddering as Ravyn cursed Ray loudly.

"You think you've won now, lizard," the demon turned a deadly gaze to Ray as the dragon started down at her from where he was leaning against the volcano. "but this is far from over!" With a hiss, Ravyn's form stretched and faded until there was nothing more of the demon but a dark stain from where her blood had splattered the ground. In the same instant, the Red Bird gave out a shrill cry and fell back, its form shifting unstably as the bird shrieked and jerked about, finally collapsing into a burning heap on the ground. Lucy and Janet hurried over to where Ray was carefully resheathing his sword.

"Ray?" Lucy studied the dragon over with worry and she approached him. Ray just shook his head.

"I'll be alright, don't worry."

"What about that thing?" Janet was staring over at where the Red Bird, aside from the dancing flames of its body, now lay motionless. Lucy shrugged.

"The power that it was fighting for is gone... it doesn't have a will to fight anymore."

Janet approached the fiery demon slowly. "Why is it still here though? Shouldn't it fade away like the other demons did?"

"Janet be careful..." Ray called out after the windian as she continued her slow approach to the Red Bird. She wasn't sure why, but for some reason she didn't feel as afraid of this demon now. The Red Bird's ear twitched lightly as it noticed Janet approaching, and the beast pulled its head up in a snarl at the windian. Janet stopped and watched the bird silently.

The fire beast gave out another cry as a shiver passed over its body, and then it dropped its head back to the ground with a sigh, and the fires of its body slowly began to burn out. Janet watched in wonder as the form of the bird before her began to shrink away.

"You're sure you're alright?" Lucy wasn't yet certain that she believed Ray as the dragon tried to convince her that he'd live.

"Yes yes I'm fine, really, Lucy I'm fi-" Ray's voice was cut off suddenly by a scream from Janet, and the two turned quickly to see the windian drop to her knees, her face buried in her hands.

"Janet?" Lucy rushed over to where her friend was kneeling. "Are you alright?"

"Oh my god... Jason..." Janet was sobbing quietly as she knelt before the unmoving form of the red haired windian. Lucy stared down in wonder at the teen who had appeared in the very spot where the Red Bird used to be. A moment later and Ray was standing with Lucy and Janet, staring down at Jason's still form.

"Is he dead...?" Lucy asked quietly as she stared down at the still figure. Ray shrugged.

"He better not be." Janet wiped away a few tears from her eyes and sniffed. She doubted that the other two had noticed her crying as they all three stared down at Jason. "Because if he is, I'm not lugging his stupid weapon back to Windia..."

A low moan sounded from Jason's crumpled form and the windian stirred slowly as the three that had been staring at him froze in shock.

"Shit my head..." Jason pushed himself into a sitting position and rubbed the side of his head. "What happened?"

"WHAT THE HELL WERE YOU THINKING WHEN YOU RAN OFF FROM THE CAMP IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT??!!!" Janet's enraged holler was the first that to hit Jason's ears and the windian fell back with a shout, holding his hands up in defense.

"Holy shit, Janet! Do you mind?" Jason glared up at where Janet was now standing, her hands placed firmly on her hips as she glared down at Jason.

"Jason..." Ray was staring down at the red haired teen in amazement. "You really are okay?"

"Yea, if you want to call this fucking headache okay." Jason groaned and rubbed his head.

"Lemme help you out." Ray reached out a hand to Jason. The windian reached up with his left hand to grab a hold of Ray and froze suddenly. The dragon gave him a curious look. "Jason?"

"What the fuck..." Jason was staring at the back of his left hand were a large mark was sitting. Pulling his hand up to his face for a closer examination, Jason's eyes went wide as he studied the mark on the back of his hand.

It was shaped like a pair of wings. The scar-like mark was positioned on his hand directly in the spot that Jason could remember the demon kissing. The windian stared down at his hand in amazement, hardly recognizing the other three people who were standing around him, asking him what was wrong.

"Jason, what is it?" Lucy's quiet voice suddenly snapped the windian out of his trance and he turned his hand around to show the scar to the other three.

"What..." Janet stared in wonder at the wound on Jason's hand. "What is that?"

"I don't know..." Jason rubbed at the spot lightly. There was some sort of strange feeling in his hand, a light tingling sensation that seemed a bit familiar. Suddenly Jason's eyes went wide and he knew exactly what it was. "Oh my fucking god it's that fucking demon..."

"What?" Janet stared down at him in amazement. "What do you mean?"

"He's talking about the Red Bird." Lucy shook her head. "Jason must have been possessed by it from Ravyn... no wonder she kept saying it was different from the other demons..."

"Possessed?" Jason gave Lucy a wild look. "What, I don't want this fucking thing in me! We've got to get it out!"

"Calm down, Jason. We'll have to see what we can do." Ray was rubbing the back of his neck in consideration. "Maybe if we stop by and see Jim on our way back to Windia. He might be able to help out."

Jason was still staring at his hand in wonder as he managed to pull himself to his feet. "That fucking bitch of a demon! She fucking put that thing in me!"

"Just calm down, Jason!" Lucy did her best to reassure the frantic windian. "We'll take care of it."

"Yea." Ray gazed around at the group's surroundings. "Well, we did what we came out here to do. Looks like we'll be heading back home now." The reunited group of four, one weakened but still healthy dragon, two tired windian girls, and one frantic and confused windian male slowly made their way away from the volcano to start their long journey home. As the party stepped into the woods, Janet turned to Jason.

"Hey Jason."

"Yea?" The red haired windian gave her a wondering look. Janet unslung the crossbow and quiver that she had been carrying from off her back and shoved them into Jason's arms.

"I'm not carrying these back to Windia for you."

Jason raised his eyebrow at Janet as she made her way over to walk beside Lucy. In the sky above the group a sun was slowly beginning to set. Soon the party would stop for the night, build up a campfire, and with Jason watching the flames the group would spend their first night of their journey home restless and wary of the darkness around them..