by Sami Dougish
It took much longer for me to climb down as I was taking great care to stay silent, but eventually, I felt the cool earth beneath my feet. Now that I was on the ground, I laid down flat, and carefully crawled away from the men. I wanted to be further back in the trees so I could circle around without detection. I slowly brushed aside twigs and leaves with my hand as I crawled, and once I was a sufficient distance from the group, I picked myself up into a crouch. I did my best to keep my gaze averted from the flames so as to preserve my night vision. I then proceeded to move around the flames, so That I would be behind the man called Merric.
It was hard to move this slowly. As much as Raskorian irritated me, I had to admit, I did enjoy the idea of just rushing in, and slaughtering them all, but I would have more opportunity for actions like that in the future once I had proper equipment. For now, I focused on keeping my temper caged for a few more minutes.
Eventually, I was positioned about 50 feet behind the group of men, and my gaze was locked on the back of Merric. He was going to die tonight, as would the rest of them. I moved forward in a crawl again, this time though in the direction of my prey. At thirty feet away, I felt the familiar buzz of adrenaline that always found me before a fight. The animal that was a part of me that I lived with everyday was fighting to take control of me, as it so often did when I began killing. I was eager to begin the slaughter. At twenty feet away, I let my tongue slither out, and taste their scent on the air. I was now in the clearing and if they weren’t so focused on their drink, and the fire, they probably could have seen me.
I closed my eyes and listened for the sound I was waiting for. My heart was beating quickly in my chest, and I felt it throughout my entire body. Then, I heard it. The wood in the fire popped. I reacted immediately. I sprang to my feet and crossed the distance between me and Merric in an instant. My left hand shot out, and gripped a fistful of Merric’s hair, and wrenched his head to the side and back. Without a second of hesitation, I sank my teeth into the man’s throat. Merric tried to scream, but his scream turned into a wet gurgle, as I bit straight through the soft flesh of his throat. I wrenched my mouth back and ripped a chunk of his throat out. Blood sprayed from the arteries in his neck, and I felt the warm splash of blood across my face and chest. My tongue slithered out, and licked some of it, as the rest of the men stared at me in shocked horror. They sat their frozen for a split second, stunned into inaction by my sudden and vicious attack. That was their mistake. One of the most important facts that I learned in the arenas was that your opponent’s perception of what they faced could change the entire course of a fight. These men outnumbered me, but all they saw right now, was a giant scaled man, who had seemingly appeared out of the night, and ripped their leader's throat out with his teeth. I had terrified them, and now I would end them
Quick as a flash, I reached down and pulled the hammer out of Merric’s belt. It felt good to have a weapon in hand again. Now that they had seen me, I didn’t care about subtly anymore. I opened my jaws and let loose a guttural bellow that tore through the quiet night air. My vison turned red, and I felt my animal instincts kick in. I swung the hammer at the nearest man to me. The hammer sped around me with a vicious force and slammed squarely into the man’s forehead. To say that the hammer crushed his skull would have been an understatement. Paired with my affinity for hammers, and my natural strength and agility, the hammer turned the man’s skull into pieces. Bone fragments exploded from his head along with grey brain matter. The man fell to the ground dead, blood-forming a pool where his head used to be.
I heard Raskorian’s voice again, but this time it sounded as if it came from all around me, and for once, I enjoyed the sound of the dragon’s voice.
“YES! YES, AFTER HUNDREDS OF YEARS I FEAST AGAIN! SLAUGHTER THEM, SLAUGHTER THEM ALL! LET THEM FEEL OUR HATEFUL RAGE! THEY WILL BOW BEFORE YOU IN FEAR!”
It was then that I noticed that the blood of the two men I had slain had risen up into the air and hung suspended like a wave of blood. Then without warning, all of the blood shot towards me. Despite me not being in the best state of mind as I had mostly given myself over to my bestial conscious, I was momentarily distracted from the fight along with the other men, as we all stared at the floating pool of blood. Before I could properly react, the blood wave crashed into me, but it didn’t hurt. Instead, the blood was absorbed into me instantly, and I felt a wave of rage, and battle lust rush through me. Gods that felt good.
I didn’t know what the hell that was, but it felt amazing, and I turned back to the men, and roared again, in pure bestial rage and hate.
The men finally reacted and howled back at me. Their howls however were a mix of surprise, fear, and anger. They fumbled for their weapons, but I had no intention of waiting. I threw myself at them, and my hammer swung out in front of me. It connected with the arm of the man called Flint, who screamed in agony, and fell to his knees clutching his ruined arm. He began to cry from the pain of his shattered elbow, and I revealed in the sound. I lashed out with my foot and caught him squarely in the chest. The strength behind the kick launched him off his knees and laid him out flat on his back. I felt the satisfying feel of bones breaking under my foot. There was a certain give that always accompanied shattering someone’s chest, was intensely satisfying. I left him there, trying to breathe while he choked on his own blood, and writhed in pain and fear.
“YES, MY VESSEL! THIS IS WHAT YOU WERE MEANT FOR! BATH IN THESE GNATS BLOOD!”
Only two men left, one was the shield-wielding Jasper, and the final one was the youngest looking man, who had been called Cedric, he was the one who betrayed his village. Still, he was fumbling for an arrow, and I preferred to have killed Jasper before I had to worry about dodging arrows. I could tell by the way he was holding the shield and sword; he was no skilled fighter. Good enough to attack a few guards, or villagers, but against a killer like me? No, he was like a child. I charged forward, and I saw from the twist of his sword arm that he was going to try and slash at my face. I easily ducked the wild swing and slammed my scale enforced shoulder into the man’s shield. The force of my charge crushed the man’s arm against his body and lifted him off his feet. He cried out and landed in a pained heap nearly eight feet away.
I pounced and lifted my hammer, and with the force of a falling boulder, brought the head of the hammer down on his face. As with the other man I had struck in in the face, there was a meaty thump, and his face crumpled and splattered out all over the grass. The hammer sunk into the earth, and instead of trying to pull it out of the ground, I whirled around and faced Cedric. The young man was in a panic and still hadn’t managed to set his arrow correctly on his string. I could see his hands shaking from here, and I heard him babbling, “Oh fuck, oh fuck! What the hell is happening?! Come on, COME ON!”
I had a feeling he wouldn’t be firing that arrow anytime soon, but I still didn’t want to test that thought. Instead, I ran at the man, and swiped my hand down, and knocked the bow out of his hands. The man screamed in fear and fell back on his ass. He quickly scrambled away from me, desperately looking for a way to escape. I so wanted to kill him. The act of resisting that urge actually caused me pain, but I needed to question him first. Then I could kill him.
As I stepped over to him, I felt more blood being absorbed into my body, and by the time I reached him, I was riding a battle high that I had never felt before. I reached down, and grabbed his hair, and roughly yanked him back to me. He whimpered like a dog as I dragged him back to me. I then spun him around, and grabbed the front of his leather armor, and lifted him right off of his feet, so that he was level with my eyes.
“P-P-Please, d-d-don’t kill me!”
I grinned at the man savagely and hissed in his face. Almost immediately afterwards, I smelled piss. He had pissed his pants, and I chuckled in his face and said, “What’s the matter boy? Never seen a free drayzraac before?”
He didn’t reply and simply whimpered, terrified as my bloody visage filled his vision.
“I will make this simple, I have a few questions, you will answer them. If you don’t, I will hurt you, understood?”
Cedric was visibly shaking, but he still nodded his head vigorously at me and said, Y-Y-Yes!”
“First, where are we? What kingdom?”
Cedric looked at me with confusion and fear written on his face. He began talking though after I shook him slightly.
“W-W-We are in the northeastern f-f-forests of Thuum, in Count Renee’s land! He is of house Dierdan!”
Fuck, I was still in Thuum. I needed to get out of this filthy kingdom as soon as possible. I didn’t know much about this count Renee, but he was a Thuum noble, and that was never a good thing in my experience. I had heard of House Dierdan, they had been a relatively middling family, but they must have risen in prestige if the family held a countship in Thuum.
“What are the nearest kingdoms to here?” I growled at the trembling man
“Uh I think, the Stenao Dukedom‘s borders are a six-day ride east from here on the main roads, and on foot, more than double that. Across the mountains, you’ll find the territory of the Vereen.”
Hm, I had heard of the Stenao Dukedom, it was a human-dominated kingdom like Thuum, but had a far more diverse population, or so I had been told from slaves taken from there. The last slave that had come from there had told anyone he could about the war between Thuum and the Dukedom. Apparently, the two had been in direct conflict for the past few months. They had no love for the Thuums and might be a suitable place to flee to.
The Vereen on the other hand were mostly unknown to me. I had heard their name mentioned by a couple of slaves, but I had no more knowledge about them than that. I assumed the journey over the mountains would be much more arduous, and dangerous than the journey to Stenao. Granted if I journeyed to Stenao, I would be traveling through Thuum lands. I would have to avoid soldiers and keep my scales very well hidden. Most guards would leap at the chance for my scales. The bastards loved skinning the dead drayzraac. That was if they were able to before a noble house scooped the corpse up, for its scales first.
Still, I would rather go to a kingdom that was in direct conflict with Thuum, then one I had little knowledge of. I had a general idea of where to go to get here. Cedric said that it was east of us, and I would be able to find east easily enough by the stars and sun, but I would still prefer to have a map on hand. These bandits had raided a nearby village, maybe I could go there, and try and get a map. Granted I would probably have to kill the bandits, but that would be a welcome task, should be relatively easy as well, if they were all looting the town. I could pick them off one by one, while they were drunk or asleep.
“Which way is the village you raided?”
“Six miles that way!” Cedric pointed behind me; in the direction, the group had come from.
“Please, I answered your questions, let me go! I swear I won’t tell anyone about you!”
“Oh, I know you won’t be,” I said with a savage grin. I then heaved him straight towards the bloody body of Jasper. He screamed as I threw him, and before he could get back to his feet, I stepped back over to him. I reached down and gripped the handle of the hammer lodged in the ground, and with a grunt, tugged it free of the earth.
Cedric tried to scramble back, but I stomped down on his stomach, and he gasped, in pain, as I raised the hammer above my head.
“NO! PLEASE!” Cedric gasped out desperately.
I respond with another guttural roar, and brought the hammer down, and splattered his brains all over the ground. I stepped back from the bodies, breathing hard. It wasn’t from exhaustion, but from the adrenaline, and battle rage flowing through me. My race was known for being able to fly into uncontrollable rages in battle, and I felt my racial rage asserting itself as I longed for more enemies to slaughter. I stood to my full height, and leaned my head back, and roared my defiance to the heavens. I was Vakarrian, a slave no longer, who never would be again!
“You have pleased me vessel, I have feasted again after millennia, come join me in your mindscape, and I will show you the power my soul can offer your body!”
Raskorian no longer sounded caught up in a bloodlust, but he still sounded extremely satisfied, and his voice helped me to reign in my dangerous rage. I was curious to see what powers the dragon could offer me. Maybe he would be easier to deal with if he could actually offer me other assistance, then irritating conversation.
I quickly I ran back over to the tree and climbed back up as fast as I could, If I was going to retreat into my mind, I had no intention of leaving my vulnerable body out in the open. Once I was up in the canopy of the tree again, I concentrated, on the same feeling of retreating into myself that I had felt when I first went to my mindscape. It didn’t come easily though, and it was hard to clear my mind when thoughts of fighting and killing kept racing through my mind. Still eventually though, I felt that odd sensation of falling back into myself, and my vision shrunk until all I could see was the black.
Then I was standing before Raskorian again. The dragon seemed much livelier this time, and he was standing at his full towering height, and looking down at me.
“Ah you have arrived, perfect, now I will be able to explain more to you about the power you available to you now that we are one soul.”
I was completely confused about all the blood my body had absorbed, and I wanted answers.
“What the hell did you do with that blood? I assume it was you that pulled it all towards me?
“Obviously, that was the blood essence I informed you I craved.”
I rolled my eyes, as his superior attitude was still firmly in place, but I was too curious to care about it. I had never heard anyone speak of this blood essence, but the dragon kept telling me it led to great power.
“But what is blood essence? Earlier you mentioned that I had to find beings with appropriate blood essence.”
“I will never fully come to terms with your lack of knowledge, I think. That being said, Blood essence is the energy that resides in the blood of all living creatures. It is the most naturally magical substance in existence and has innumerable uses for one capable of harnessing it.”
“So, it’s like a mage's mana?”
“No!” Raskorian said with an indignant tone. “Mana is the force which the lesser races use to cast magical spells. It is a crude and primitive application of magic in comparison to blood essence. Only dragons have the ability to truly harness blood essence. While only certain people of any given race have the ability to access the mana in their bodies, all dragons ever in existence have the innate ability to use blood essence. It is the reason why we have such extended life spans and can grow to our magnificent size!”
He never seemed to miss a chance to compliment himself and his race as a whole.
“So, I have to kill people with sufficient blood energy for you to absorb the blood essence?”
“Yes, it is the swiftest way for us to acquire it now. In my bodily life, I could use my own blood essence to generate the magical power that comes from it, but now that my true body is long since dead, I can only absorb the blood essence of slain foes.”
“What qualifies a person to have a sufficient blood essence?”
“Simple, a small creature such as a rabbit or a mouse, will not be able to provide enough blood to be sufficient to draw power from it. The larger the creature, the more blood essence I can pull to us. A general rule though, is that any average to large size humanoid will provide 3 points of blood essence. As you killed five men, I was able to pull 15 points of blood essence into you. I could tell you felt it course through your body. The power, the raw emotion, that was the blood essence! Plus, you also have a further 10 which I had saved for you to use, I would have had more, but I spent a large portion of it keeping you alive when we first joined.”
What he was telling me was both simple, and bizarre at the same time. It was surreal to imagine that blood held some sort of magical energy that seemed to provide dragons with
enormous amounts of power. And what did he mean by 10 points? Why was it metered?
“Well, what can I do with the blood essence?”
“You cannot do anything with them, as you are no dragon. You do, however, hold the soul of one.”
Raskorian reached out one of his massive clawed limbs and touched the ground directly in front of me. I felt a slight surge of power flow around me, and when Raskorian removed his claw, there was a glowing circle where his claw had just been. I could feel an urge from something inside me, pulling me towards the circle of power.
“Step into the circle, and you will see what power lies within your grasp.”
I needed no other encouragement, as I walked forward, and stepped into the circle. The second I did, I felt a sucking sensation from my body, and to my surprise, blood began to seep from my body. It flowed down my body and pooled on the floor. More and more blood seeped out of me, and I knew it was far more than my actual body could hold, so I assumed this was the blood that had been absorbed from the fight. As the blood left me and pooled on the floor, I felt a sudden urge to try and pull the blood back into my body. I didn’t feel as If I was weaker, just that I felt, somehow less.
After about 10 seconds, the blood stopped flowing out of me, and now a large pool of blood completely covered the ground beneath my feet, to the border of the circle in all directions. The blood then began to glow, and then shot towards the center of the circle, and rose up in the air. I watched in fascination, as the blood coalesced into a dense sphere, the size of my two fists. I reached out to touch it, but before I could, I saw Raskorian, reach out, and touch the orb with one sharp talon. The orb of blood pulsed once, and then shot back to me. I let out a sigh of relief, as I felt the blood flow back into my body, I felt whole again.