by SlyOkami
Colliding with two individual wyverns as they had been swooping down nearby, one crashing down into the dry forest to their left while another passed out from multiple strikes and fell onto the mercenaries. Men, women and horses rushing aside as to not be squashed beneath the large creature.
“This is hell!” Nerick said as he continued to watch the dozens of wyverns flying circles around them.
“Ignore the ones above! They’re just distracting you, pay attention to the hills around us! The real assaulters are hiding behind the high terrain!” Erik said, as out of nowhere a wyvern crashed down before him.
He turned, eyes wide just in time to see the creature’s massive maw, wide open before him. He stared into its blue throat, the depths of which he had no wish to visit. He watched, as it struggled to reach him.
“Master!” Makaela shouted, snapping him out of his daze as she held the created at bay, her elongated whip tied around the beast’s neck as it reached out and bit towards Erik.
Erik raised his right hand forward, ready to chat.
But he was too late as Thea leapt at the beast, grabbing its snout before pulling herself over, sword in hand. The wyvern shook its head trying to throw her off but her metal gauntlet had a good grip on its scales even as it slowly gained frost.
“Wind’s imbue!” Thea chanted, her shortsword now glowing a greenish hue as she raised it onehandedly before stabbing down into the wyvern. The blade cleanly digging in-between the creature’s eyes, as it suddenly went limp.
The wyvern died before him, Thea rolling off as it collapsed to the ground. She fell back first, groaning while rising up. “Y-You alright?” Thea asked him as he stared back at her, dirt and mud now encasing her.
“Of course I’m alright.” Erik snapped back, yet he turned to stare at the wyvern’s corpse before him. At that brief moment, while he looked into the beast’s maw…he felt something he had never felt before, a clenching of the heart while his mind went disarray.
“Master?” Makaela asked in elven as she retrieved her living weapon, hiding the whip beneath her cloak before anybody noticed its make.
Snapping Erik out of his thoughts, “Yes, yes the others.” he mumbled strangely turning to the rest of the halted army. Pillars of water and sparks of lightning filling the sky as more wyverns began to swoop down.
This wouldn’t end, he knew it wouldn’t. This flock would keep attacking until each of either side was dead, that’s how ferocious wyverns were. But there was one other creature wyverns wouldn’t dare approach.
“Thea, Makaela, Ascal. Watch my back while I chant.” Erik said as he stepped away from the rest, putting some distance between him and the army’s front while all three of them gathered around him.
“What are you going to do?” Thea asked, having lost her shortsword to the wyvern she unstrapped a spear from a nearby horse before joining them.
“Don’t question the master, just obey.” Makaela hissed at her, taking any chance to jab at the human knight.
Thea was about to respond but Erik had already begun chanting, “Form into a boundary, let not a whisper go by. Wind, conform, let not a sound enter. Wind School; Soundless Barrier!” Erik said as a torrent of wind briefly blew all around the mercenaries, forming a thin yet massive barrier between them and the outside.
Blocking all sound from entering and exiting.
“Wyvern!” Ascal exclaimed in elven as he raised his draconic long-bow, quickly drawing his arrowless weapon as a tendril of lightning formed in its place. Thea and Makaela moved to shield Erik as he focused, arms raised forwards while he searched deep within himself.
Ascal loosed the bolt of lightning, the wyvern swiftly evading the attack with a single wing beat. It passed over them, retreating over the rocky hills.
“Another!” Thea said as she turned to face wide gravel path they were marching through, a wyvern having flew around the next hill and began diving towards them. Wings spread wide open while its hind claws lay ready to grab at several of them.
She aimed her spear, digging her feet into the ground while quickly chanting. “Earthen Resolve!” the ground beneath her feet rose and engulfed her metal boots and legs, solidifying to stone, holding her where she stood. “Wind’s Imbue!” She then chanted, her spear’s tip gaining a green hue.
Thea prepared herself for the impact, still holding onto her connection with the manipulated earth, waiting for the wyvern to fly closer so she could make the ground rise up with her. Prepared to skewer the creature in the face with her steel tipped, magically imbued spear.
But she got no chance at that, as Makaela sprinted ahead to meet the swooping beast.
Two long daggers appeared out of her sleeves as her body burst into shadows, rematerializing before the creature’s bare fangs as she spun mid-air. Makaela threw both daggers into the beast’s maw, the blades digging into the wyvern mouth’s ceiling as she dissipated into shadows once more.
The wyvern whined briefly before its body went limp, crashing down and tumbling over the ground, coming to a stop mere inches away from Thea’s spear.
Makaela reappeared next to Thea, “That is how you protect someone, Druvian.” the Xilfir whispered snidely.
Thea realised the dark elf was issuing her a challenge, but of what sort? Why was this Xilfir so deadset on outshining her? She got no time to ask or ponder, as a sudden sense of terror grew with her. As she sensed danger coming from behind her, a sense she as a human rarely ever felt.
Thea turned about to see Erik standing with arms down and hands clenched into firsts, eyes forced closed as he grimaced. A golden shine trying to escape from between his eyelids.
(“Enter the barrier.”) Thea heard the voice speak in her head.
She complied, Makaela and Ascal doing the same, having heard the same voice.
Erik took a deep breath, sensing that all three of them had stepped inside the soundless boundary. He had found it, that part that lay deep within him, the connection with his soul from which he summoned his true power against Azruxan.
The part that made him a drake.
Along with the rising growl that emanated from that part of himself, he opened his mouth wider. The wider he opened, the more effort he put behind the sound.
The ground quaked, the air itself shook, as Erik roared.
Like an erupting volcano, the bellow filled the hills and sky. Shaking wyverns off their swooping paths, scattering the flock above as each beast flew off to save itself, its natural instincts screaming at it to flee.
Erik held back, he had to else he feared he would’ve lost himself to his draconic instincts and chased after them. Wyverns didn’t get their ferocious behaviour from nothing, it was that draconic part of them that made them the fearsome beasts that they were.
His resounding roar slowly closing as did his mouth, taking another deep breath while he let go of his connection. His eyes dimming, the golden glow disappearing before he opened them back.
Erik dissipated the barely visible barrier of sound cancellation as he approached the army’s front, “They won’t be back.” he assured a confused Droy, the man eyeing Erik cautiously.
“Really? Thank the gods!” Nerick exclaimed as he went to grab a nearby steed, the agitated horses had been making everything all the more chaotic. “Those things are the ever hungry spawn of my nightmares!” he then said, glancing at Ivara on his shoulder. “Oh-Oh not you, you’re fine!” Then assuring the whining wyvern cub as it prodded his cheek with its small snout.
“Either way, we should keep moving. We’re almost at Gilded Rock.” Thea said, eyeing a frozen wyvern nearby.
“Yes, the crimson guard should. And we should be breaking off.” Erik then said, meeting Thea’s eyes briefly before glancing around. (“This attack was not an accident.”) he told her.
“Break off? But we’re not even there yet!” Droy argued, gesturing at the mountain range before them.
(“What do you mean?”) Thea thought, knowing he was listening.
(“We found them master, they’re still watching.”) Makaela also spoke, the connection seemingly binding her to the Xilfir too.
(“Who? What is going on?”) Thea asked again, looking around cautiously, knowing the dark elves were hidden somewhere around.
(“Thea, we must break away from the mercenaries. I will not reveal myself just yet.”) Erik sternly said, turning to Droy who had not been part of their silent conversation. “We’ve come far enough south, I can travel much further with a smaller group by using my magic.” He told the crimson guard officer.
Droy stared at Erik with narrow eyes, “Very well, then let me assemble my elite.”
“There will be no need, Staff Captain, my six guards and myself will be enough.” Erik said, lying about the Xilfir’s numbers. There were hundreds of them hiding about the hills.
“Six? I may be growing old mage, but I only see two.” Droy said back, as he glanced at the previously two cloaked figures. Now six. Droy stared at them briefly, his eyes widening in surprise. “When did you…”
“My people will keep your Lady Selene safe, that much I assure you. But wouldn’t it be better if we made it to Sinroz faster than…this pace? And back.” Erik said, disregarding the soldier’s baffled expression.
“Why suggest this supposed faster method now then?” Droy asked, turning to stare at the mage once more.
Erik gestured at the wyverns, “Because it has just presented itself. I can enchant these beasts to listen. But I can only manage two, which would not be enough to carry all of us including you and your retinue.”
Droy’s eyes narrowed, “Madam, it is your decision.” he then said turning to Thea. “I would just remind you of what you promised misses Kayle.”
Thea found herself glancing in between them, speechless until Erik spoke once more in her mind. (“I detected mages while connected to my draconic side, they lured the flock to us. My Xilfir found them to be Sinbeni, as long as we stay with the crimson guard they’ll be in danger of more assault. I can deal with the assassins, but not with all these eyes on me.”) He solemnly told her, pushing her for a decision.
She cleared her throat, deciding to trust Erik’s words. “I’ll be fine Droy, we’ll break off from here.” she told him.
“Ah, guess we’ll be seeing you then?” said a relieved Nerick as he saddled his horse.
“Oh no, mister Nerick. You’ll be coming with.” Erik then said, causing Droy, Thea and Nerick to stare at him in confusion. “Your wyvern, Ivara was it? I have…plans for that creature, and it seems to have bonded with you quite nicely.”
Nerick found himself turning to stare at the nearest frozen wyvern, his jaw opening without a sound as he turned back to stare at Erik. “I’m…riding that?” he asked in bafflement.
“Would you prefer walking to Sinroz?” Erik asked back.
Nerick glanced back at the blue wyvern, its eyes were still moving and suddenly locked onto him. “Is that an option?…”
“Tying you to its tail is.” Erik replied, rolling his eyes in annoyance.
Ch 18 - The Last?
“Do you see them?” Asked one of the four mages, wearing ash grey cloaks and robes while wielding blade-ended staves.
“See them? I don’t even sense them! Blasted darks!” swore another, walking the edge of the thick barrier of mana that surrounded them, throwing knives and arrows covering the ground around it.
The four of them glanced about, each one watching their own direction while each tapped into the barrier around them, enforcing it. Each though was panicking, they had no idea how many were surrounding them. Then there was that surge of power followed by an ear-piercing roar, it had each mage fully on their toes.
The lead mage, the one wearing all kinds of magical amulets, rings and bracelets, suddenly slammed his staff into the ground. “The mission failed, watch, I’ll transport us back!” He nervously whispered to his colleges in a vain hope that their foes couldn’t hear. Quickly he began tracing a magic circle into the rotten earth, taking a few cloth bags out of his robes he also dropped items to feed the ritual.
He froze midway through, as the screeching of wyverns filled their ears.
Two of the winged beasts crashed down on either side of their barrier, eyes glowing a bright gold as they snarled ferociously at them. The lead mage quickened his efforts at creating the magic circle beneath himself, his hands trembling as he dropped crystals and bones.
“Sir?” One mage noticed the man’s agitation, the lead mage pitied his ignorance, all of them. Only he knew what that roar was, only he knew what monstrosity watched them.
Grimacing as he finished the circle of runes, the lead mage raised his staff before slamming it down-
The barrier shattered as dozens of golden tendrils of lightning pieced through, sparking about in chaos, hitting each mage several times before they fell to their knees paralyzed.
“N-No…” the lead mage mumbled as he stared off into the forest surrounding the clearing they lay in, sensing from where the spell was cast.
He watched as Erik stepped out of the shadows alongside Makaela, Thea and Nerick. The latter glancing around at the mages in confusion while Ivara’s reptilian eyes narrowed, locking onto the lead mage with great interest.
Erik’s expression was furious as he gazed at the lead mage, “You betray your kind, you betray your blood’s promise?” he asked in elven before suddenly blinking into existence next to the stunned spellcaster. Erik crouched down next to the would-be assassin, grabbing hold of his hood before raising it off his head, revealing the male Dark Elf beneath.
“You forget your ways and my teachings.” Erik hissed as he grabbed the elf’s face with one hand, “I can smell the blood of your own brethren, the stench is all over you. You’ve killed brothers, you’ve killed sisters.” His eyes meeting the rogue Xilfir’s through his fingers.
They glowed fiercely, the golden light turning into flames as they tendrilled back and around his head.
“I beg not for forgiveness from a monster.” The rogue Xilfir spoke back in defiance. ”Your teachings brought us only hate from the other people. You promised glory, you promised safety and a higher meaning. You only brought us despair.” He spat, hatred within his tone.
The flames that covered Erik’s eyes suddenly dissipated, revealing his deep blues. “So instead of strengthening your resolve and fighting through the hardship, you gave in to the pressure, you became this abomination you are now?”
“There are many like him, master…” Makaela added, looking away as she stood by the other two, not daring to look at the rogue. Her expression full of disgust.
“Is there now?” Erik said in sarcastic amusement, “Then let this one be the first to be purged.” he hissed, “I absolve you of your sins, for the pain you are about to feel is like nothing you’ve ever imagined. Dark Arts; Black Script; Flame of Agony.” as his hand suddenly became engulfed in a pitch-black blaze.
The dark flames engulfed the Xilfir’s body, as he shook and squirmed about, screaming at the top of his lungs as the ethereal flames penetrated his body and burned him, yet not. The fire was like any other vicious flame on his skin, but it did no damage, the blaze even touching his bones and organs yet not leaving a single burn as it filled him with agony.
Erik stood up and away from the shrieking elf, ignoring him entirely while approaching the nearest underling. Hood already removed from having fallen, this one was a human? No, from looking more closely Erik recognised the furry and long ears. This one was a half-beast, half feline from the looks of it.
The woman stared at her agonized companion, eyes wide in fear as she trembled. Her face paling as she came under Erik’s gaze.
“He will die, slowly, painfully. Now you have two choices, die through a method much more horrifying than his own, or I shall let you die quickly and painlessly.” Erik told the Beast-woman, “Which would you prefer?” he asked, staring the terrified mage straight in the eyes.
She did not respond, the ear-piercing sh
rieks numbing her mind.
“You would rather die quickly and painlessly, no?” Erik urged on, crouching before her to stop her from seeing the squirming Elf. She weakly nodded, “Good.” Erik said as he snapped his fingers before her eyes.
The shrieking ended, followed by the sound of choking and bubbling. The woman glanced at the other two, seeing Xilfir standing above them, blades sunk down into her companion’s throats. Her eyes wandered back to meet Erik’s as a golden gleam filled them, “Your choice saved the other two, yet that one still agonizes.” he said before standing out of the way.
Showing her that the lead mage was still alive, squirming still from the pain but some cloth was shoved down his mouth, his shrieking turned into muffled screams.
“Do you wish for his pain to end? Do you wish to not suffer like he has?” Erik asked as he stood above her, “What I want from you is simple. Answer my questions, truthfully, and you will not.”
The woman nodded again, this time more nervously than before. Her shocked mind catching up to her current situation.
“First question.” Erik said, as suddenly the flames covering the rogue Xilfir dissipated, leaving the elf laying there in trembling relief. “Who are you.”
She glanced up at him, still trembling, her short ginger hair and furry feline ears full of dry dirt, her green eyes wide and skin pale. Yet this one showed no mercy, not a drop of pity in his eyes as he solemnly gazed down at her. “S-Shizuka.” She stuttered her name out, freezing entirely as the two wyverns suddenly loomed over her, nuzzling their snouts into Erik’s palms.
“I care not for your name, Bestia.” Erik said harshly, “Who do you work for, who contracted you.” Suddenly the lead mage began screaming once more, black flames relighting themselves all over his body.
Shizuka tried to crawl away, but her body was still numb and paralyzed from the neck down. “I-I’m from t-the dark sorcerers guild!” she responded in agitation, glancing between the two fierce beasts as they allowed this man to pet them, and her agonized superior.