“What do you mean you couldn’t find it?” A voice hissed from the shadows. Two red eyes gleamed through the poorly lit room. Silhouetted against a single large and round window was a nekomata- a large feline with two tails. Her fur was dark in color with a tint of purple and a white underbelly. Black tiger-like stripes marked most of her body.

                “Yugito, we searched the entire town for the flame orb. It was nowhere to be found.” A dark grey dragon spoke. Next to him stood a smaller lighter grey, almost silver, dragon. Beside the smaller dragon’s claws was a small brown bag. Despite being several times larger than the nekomata, they kept a cautious distance from her. Both knew how dangerous Yugito’s temper could be.

                “I suspect that the orb was sealed within a shrine in the town. The two of us tried to break it open- but neither magic nor brute force worked.” The lighter dragon spoke in a calm tone. His tail twitched nervously as he tried to sense the nekomata’s emotions.

                A brief pause of silence filled the air. “What of the guardian?”

                The dark grey dragon opened his jaw to speak, but was quickly interrupted by his companion. “Kura killed her. She will not be a problem in the future.” The lighter dragon spoke, ignoring an annoyed glance from Kura.

                Yugito sighed in annoyance as if this were merely a minor setback. “Did you at least complete your other objectives?”

                “Yes, Yugito. We killed everyone in the town- not a single creature in Marua escaped. The place is ruins, and as you’ve been told, the guardian is out of the picture.” Kura spoke, a slight hint of satisfaction for having caused so much destruction. It was no secret that the dragon enjoyed his job.

                “Good, but we still need a way to get into the shrine.”

                The silver dragon spoke again. “The seal placed on the shrine is held together by a very ancient magic. Without knowing the exact nature of the spell used, it would be incredibly difficult to safely remove. We can assume that several of the other orbs are under similar protection as well.”

                “Then what do you suggest we do?”

                “The guardian must have had some method to temporarily disarm the spell. From what I gathered from some of the creatures there, it might be possible for a powerful fire elemental from Marua to break the seal.”

                “Tell me, did you think of this before or after you two killed every last one of them?” Yugito growled.

                With one strong stroke of his tail, Kura shoved forward the bag that had been sitting next to the silver dragon. “Before, thankfully.”

                “I took one of the younger fire elementals that we found.” The silver dragon opened up the bag, revealing a small grey nekomata with darker tabby stripes. She was unconscious, but alive. “This one showed exceptional promise as a fire elemental, and being as young as she is, it should be easy for me to train her so that in the future we can have her break the seal.”

                Yugito studied the fire elemental for a few moments. “What makes this one so special?” She seemed rather unimpressed by the scrap of fur laying on the stone floor.

                “She’s got a rare resistance to fire. As you know, most fire elementals are only immune to the flames they conjure. This one did not get burned by Kura’s fire like the others.”

                “Very well. I will permit her to stay and be trained here as a dark warrior. However, I want Kura to be in charge of her training.”

                “But-“ The silver dragon began to protest, but quickly stopped. This was an argument he could not win. “Yes, Yugito.”

                “Yugito!” Another nekomata with thick dark-grey fur walked into the room, pausing next to the silver dragon. “I just received reports that all known light elementals in the southern region have been taken care of. The east is almost clear as well.”

                “Good. All of you are dismissed.” She glanced briefly at the little fire elemental. “Take her with you, Kura.” The dragon scowled, clearly not happy with the decision. He roughly grabbed the nekomata by her scruff and left the room followed by the other two.

                Once Kura was out of sight, Zera looked questioningly at the silver dragon with her two strikingly yellow eyes. “What in the world were you thinking?” She hissed quietly.

                “I did what I had to.” The dragon said flatly. “There were no other options. If I could have done anything else, I would have.”

                “And what about the other one?”

                “Don’t worry, Zera. I took care of that too.”

                “And what exactly is that supposed to mean? Did you just-“

                “I will explain later, Zera. Now is not the time or the place.” The silver dragon snapped, which was unusual for the usually calm reptile.

                “Alright then. You better have a good explanation.”