It wasn't long before Shaun was outside, watching a blood-stained white wolf slowly making its way across the stone bridge leading to the mansion. His narrow eyes widen when he realized the wolf's fur wasn't just stained, but was leaving a crimson trail behind it. Shaun met the wolf just in time for it to revert back to his half-conscious bloodied younger brother, and caught him his strong arms as he slid on his knees.
"I couldn't... get him..." Michael muttered in a hushed, strained voice. Shaun held him protectively, unable to believe that his younger brother looked like he wasn't far from death's door step.
God, there was so much blood. Just how much of a fight did this kid put up? Shaun grit his teeth, his hair covering his eyes.
"You dumbass, why didn't you call for me?" He said in a low voice, honestly scared that he could lose his brother at any moment. He was glad Sierra had gone home. Michael only chuckled, then winced and basically curled up in his brother's arms. He was a tough little shit, but he wasn't very good at hiding his pain.
"Shifter... Tried to run.. he followed me..." Michael murmured, his voice cracking as his consciousness began to fade. That bastard was a shifter? What kind of shifter could cause this kind of damage to his brother?!
"Run..." Michael murmured in a wispy voice. Shaun could feel his brother's body go limp, and he tightened his grip around his bloodied frame.
"..and leave you here to die? I don't think so." He murmured under his breath in a low voice.
Shaun slowly stood, with his brother in his arms, and slowly laid the heavily injured boy on the stone bridge before shifting into his dragon. A large dark brown and jade green colored dragon with small spines trailing down the back of his neck reaching to the tip of his long tail. He slowly lowered his head towards his brother, and carefully picked the boy up with his large muzzle, then moved his head to lay the boy on his back, being secured by his leathery wings. It would be difficult to make it home without flying, but he couldn't risk his brother falling off anyway. Michael said the vile man had followed him, probably to try and finish him off- well, Shaun wasn't going to let that happen. Being an Earth dragon, he didn't really have a breath to use on his enemies, only teeth, claws, spikes, and his tail. What was he to do if he was attacked while carrying his younger brother under his wings? Well, he didn't have time to think about it... So, he just started walking across the heavy-duty stone bridge, to at least gain some distance from the crystal mansion. Once that was out of the way, then he'd try to figure the shortest path back home.
Either way, he'd be traveling for a while on foot.
He had just crossed the long bridge when he heard a loud roar, coming from over the distance and it belonged to a dragon much stronger than an Earth dragon. That much was obvious. Shaun stopped and raised his head to try and locate the creature, before slowly lifting his wings and moving his tail to cover his brother's body, as if to hold him in place without crushing him. He didn't stand a chance if he stayed on the ground like this... Shaun had to take a chance in getting his brother home safely, and slowly took to the clouds, making sure his brother was securely on his back. That's when he saw the creature that had sounded the roar. It was searching for its prey... Was that the shifter? The other dragon had spotted him, and he knew it.
With how fast the other dragon had flew over to him, the only thing he could was land, if he wanted to keep Michael safe. Seeing the other dragon up-close secretly terrified Shaun. This thing was an Ancient dragon, made himself look like nothing! He was in deep-shit if he couldn't get away from it, somehow. He used his wings to shield his brother when the Ancient tried lunging at his back, and instincts said to fight. He used his tail like a whip and smacked the Ancient in the side of its large jaw, then grabbed the back of its neck and bit down, causing the Ancient to screech and struggle against the Earth dragon. The Ancient dragon voiced a force Thu'um, practically pushing him back, away from the other dragon. He held his wings over his brother's body and watched the Ancient circle around, getting another Thu'um ready for an attack.
Ice began to surround Shaun in a large parameter. Pillars of ice shot up through the ground around the hindered dragon. He felt like a dinosaur as he side-stepped some of the pillars as he continued to watch the Ancient swoop down to release its Thu'um in a frost breath. Shaun lost track of the Ancient as it used the frost-fog as cover, and swiftly attacked the Earth dragon, managing to knock him over and pinned his neck with his claws, digging into his thick skin. Shaun continued to shield his brother with his wings, protecting him from the impact of him falling over and being pinned, but the back-sided wing had been damaged enough to hinder him if he were to try and move it. He was hurt pretty bad, but his objective was to protect his defenseless brother. He would be at his limit if this kept up, then they'd both be in trouble...
This ice had him even more concerned. It was obvious that the Ancient dragon hadn't caused them- was it Michael's berserk? Shaun tried using his tail as a whip again, but he was helpless in this state. He picked up his tail and added it to the shield his wings had created, when the Ancient dragon held ice breath in its mouth. A beam of light shot up through Shaun's wings and the force threw the dragon off of the Earth dragon, before Shaun was forced to revert back to an injured human.
"Shit!" Shaun cursed, shielding his eyes from the light. As the light began to dim, more ice shot up through the ground and formed a dome over the oldest of the siblings, as well as spike barriers around the dome. Shaun could see the smudged blue hues of the wyvern form his brother had taken, through the ice dome.
He had just crossed the long bridge when he heard a loud roar, coming from over the distance and it belonged to a dragon much stronger than an Earth dragon. That much was obvious.