It took hours before they found any worthwhile results. Eclipse ended up calling Jay and Emperion after the first half hour. Jay decided to see if any of the medicinal herbs he had would help Shadow at all while Emperion was employed as extra hands and eyes, though he got bored faster than Eclipse did. Eventually, thanks to Shadow's obsessive organizing, they found the section of the library that had the books about curses and curse removals.
"Here." Solaris sat on the floor with his squad and Emperion looking over his shoulders. "A curse that eats away at the bearer's magic. 'It requires the curse user to make contact with the curse bearer's magic system. At first, it starts at the contact point but spreads throughout the magic system the more magic that it eats. Once it reaches the magic core and vessels, the bearer will be unable to use magic and will die soon afterwards from insufficient magic. Symptoms include; slower magic regeneration, low energy, dizziness, loss of focus and spaciness, mild to severe pain at the contact point, dying skin and black marks spreading from the contact point. After effects include, but are not limited to; paralyzation of the affected areas, amputation, loss of memory, spastic functioning, death.'" A grim mood washed over the group. "Now for the ritual ingredients. 'Ritual sand, fox blood, wolf fur, spider legs, crushed dragon scales, purified salt.'" Another silence.
"Do we even have any of those?" Emperion asked.
"I do have quite a few of those in my study. Most of those are common ingredients for rituals and this isn't my first time dealing with curses so…" Solaris frowned. "The only ingredient I don't have is the dragon scales. Dragons are rare after they were hunted during the demon extermination because the human race got drunk on glory. I think I remember one living kinda nearby though."
"So… are we just going to walk up and ask it for some scales?" Eclipse raised an eyebrow.
"Dragons aren't very friendly to other creatures and they don't speak our language." Solaris gave Eclipse a questioning look. "Didn't you say you've seen a dragon before? Wouldn't you know?"
"Uhhh… yeah! Of course I knew that!" Eclipse looked guiltily side to side.
"Anyways, I'll think up a plan for us to get the dragon scales unscathed while I gather the rest of the materials. The rest of you rest up. Fighting a dragon won't be easy." The group dispersed and Solaris went to his study to gather the materials. Eclipse and Emperion stopped by Shadow's bed. He was asleep. Jay was sitting next to him, a tray with herby smelling cups on the nightstand next to them. Jay looked up as they walked over.
"How's he doing?"
"He's sleeping peacefully right now. I gave him some herbs that should help with the pain at least, but I don't think I have anything to slow his curse."
"Mmm." Eclipse nodded. They watched Shadow for a moment in silence.
"It's late, we should probably go to bed now." Jay mentioned.
"If you two want to stay here for the night, we have plenty of spare beds." Eclipse offered. The two took him up on that offer. They changed into their respective pajamas and went to sleep.
~ * ~
The next morning, everyone assembled in Solaris' study. He had some of the prepared ingredients on his desk in jars, looking creepy and gross as ritualistic ingredients do.
"The plan is to sneak into the dragon's nest when it's not there and pick up some of the scales it naturally sheds. We want at least 5. If we don't find enough, we'll have to take some directly from the dragon itself. But whatever happens, we want to make it out of there with minimal confrontation. We can't win against a full grown dragon. They are strong physically and are some of the few non-demon creatures that can use magic. We don't want to get trapped in its nest with no way to escape the instant we're in danger." They nodded. "Let's set out then!" Solaris flew them through the mountains nearby the lodging. After rounding a couple mountain peaks, they came across a dip in between the mountaining spires. The dip was floored with shining gold coins and a wide variety of glittering gems. No dragon in sight.
"I didn't know we had a lizardy neighbor so close to us." Rolla said as they descended towards the nest.
"I use a barrier around the lodging to keep the dragon from attacking us. It just makes us harder to find." Solaris explained.
"Why would you have it built so close to a dragon nest in the first place?" Emperion asked.
"Extra protection. After all, there's a chance of people running into the dragon before us so why not." Emperion nodded in understanding. "Alright, we need at least five dragon scales. Search as quick as you efficiently can. And under no circumstances can you take anything but the scales." The group scattered all over the nest, searching under coins and gems. After a couple minutes, they only came up with four scales.
"Is this all we could find?" The dismay in Eclipse's voice was evident. He was holding the deep red scales in his hands, each smaller than the palm of his hand.
"Would it still work with four scales?" Fia looked at Solaris, who was in a thinking pose, as his face was covered by his mask.
"I don't know. It would be safer to have five but I don't want to risk staying here any longer." A moment of silence. "Let's take one more quick look. If we still can't find a 5th, we'll leave." The group nodded. Just as they turned to disperse, a dark shadow slowly loomed above them.
~ * ~
Shadow wasn't dreaming. The herbs that Jay had given him stopped the pain almost completely and put him to sleep in an instant. He enjoyed not needing to use his magic to null the pain and the tranquility of drifting in his own headspace. Then he felt something in his chest. It wasn't from his curse, he could tell that instantly, but he didn't know what was causing it. He could hear his name being called when he couldn't hear anything before. An unsettling feeling started to build up in his heart. The strange feeling spread from his heart to different spots around his body. Something was wrong. Pain suddenly shot through his head and he woke up. The pain from his hand was stinging ever so slightly and his headache decreased a little. He lifted himself on shaky arms and looked at the magic bracelet on his wrist. It was glowing vibrant red. His unsettling feeling burst into panic. He quickly tried to slip out from under his covers, disturbing Jay, who had been sleeping next to him.
"Wha- Shadow?!" Jay turned as Shadow started towards the door, using whatever was closest to him to keep his wobbly legs from collapsing under him. Jay rushed to Shadow's side, grabbing his arm and trying to pull him as gently as possible back towards his bed. "You can't be up right now! You need to rest! The others will get the ingredients to cure you! Just wait!" Shadow paused for a second. He then turned to Jay with a smile.
"I'm sorry. But this can't wait." Shadow tapped Jay's forehead with his healthy hand. Jay fell asleep in an instant, falling to the floor. Shadow continued stumbling out the door before unfolding his wings and jumping into the air.
~ * ~
Eclipse sat on his knees, eyes wide with horror. Everyone else was lying unconscious next to him. A fiery red dragon loomed over him, casting a massive shadow over him and his friends. All it took was one blow and it swept them all away. Something had locked away their magic just before the attack struck, sending them all flying. They had tried to fight back, but the dragon hardly had to work to beat them back. Despair was filling his mind as the dragon took in a deep breath. This is it… If even Solaris doesn't stand a chance against it, what could I hope to do? Is there anything that could even stop it now? Despair turning to desperation, he gave out one last cry.
"SHADOW!!" A dark figure slipped in front of him as the fire rained down upon them and he lowered his head in submission. It was hot, but he didn't feel his skin burning. He looked up. Against all odds, Shadow was standing before him, casting a shield wide enough to cover everyone. His cursed arm had started to shrivel up and his nose, eyes and mouth had started bleeding. But he held his ground against the fire, not giving an inch. Once the fire disappeared, Shadow disabled his shield. He was breathing heavily but he stood firmly and glared at the dragon, death in his eyes.
"LEAVE." The dragon stared at him for a moment before it turned around and took off. Eclipse stared in utter disbelief, his jaw touching the floor from shock. His shock didn't last long, though, when Shadow collapsed. He rushed over to his side in a panic, lifting Shadow into his arms. Shadow was hardly breathing, the blackened veins reaching all the way up his neck, cradling his left cheek and stretching across his chest.
"Shadow! Shadow!!" Eclipse shook him, but he didn't even flinch. He felt his heart drop. He looked around. Solaris, Emperion, Fia and Rolla were all down for the count, and his own exhaustion and injuries kept him from taking Shadow back to the city himself. Tears started forming in his eyes. "HELP!! HEEELP!!" All he heard was his voice echoing back at him. He looked down at Shadow again, the tears now streaming down his face. He had stopped breathing. He held Shadow's blackened hand in both of his hands and raised them to his forehead like a prayer, curled his wings around them like a shield and closed his eyes.