The Dragon Within

by SlyOkami

  Thea’s mouth lay open, but she did not respond. He was undeniably right, she was still too gullible.

  Seeing no response coming from her, Erik turned back. “Fortunately, you’re my chosen. And I have more than a few choices to arm you with.” He said, walking over and then reaching into the second barrier.

  The second weapon hovered down into his hands, much larger than the last, none of them could tell what it was until he unwrapped it. Removing the chains and then cloth, Erik turned to reveal a wide black case in his hands.

  “Hover.” He chanted, allowing the case to float before him.

  “What is that?” Nerick asked, seeing the strange grey markings that covered the case.

  “This,” Erik said as he unlocked the case and opened it, “Is an other-worldly weapon. Its origins as vague as its use, it comes from another realm entirely. Tell me, what do you see inside?” he then asked, turning the case’s contents to face them.

  “A staff.” Shizuka immediately said.

  “No that’s a spear?” Nerick then said.

  “I see a dagger.” Makaela said, unsure in her tone.

  “I…see a gunblade?” Thea added, also unsure as they all looked up at a smirking Erik.

  The drake seemingly enjoying their confused expressions. “None of you is wrong, this weapon takes the preferred shape their user desires. I know not where it is from, I know not how it was made but, this weapon will provide its user with the highest class of material and craftsmanship known to our world.” He pushed it closer to Thea, “Take it.” Erik said.

  Thea stared at the weapon before her, confused still as she looked at it. The weapon’s colours were ever changing, its shape seemingly undecided. All her mind knew was that it looked like a gunblade.

  Thea reached out towards the weapon, its shape stabilizing as she did. Its colours setting as well, as she took hold. Thea raised the weapon before her, and each of them now saw what she did.

  The weapon, just like its name, was in part a sword and in part a gun.

  Long like a rifle, but the stock was above the handle and trigger, switching the hold around the stock doubled as a hand guard due to its shield-like shape. Furthermore, the weapon had two barrels, each running along the face of a double-edged blade that lay in between them. Embedded into the blade and barely visible in between the two barrels was a long crystal, the weapon’s magical focus.

  The weapon was mostly white in colour, not painted, but the metal itself was a pure white. All but the blade edges which were as blue as the crystal focus. The handle which was wrapped in silver leather. And lastly, the barrel ends which were slightly thicker than the rest of them, they were a dark blue.

  Thea at first held the weapon like a sword, the barrels were not entirely cylindrical, they were mildly flattened towards the blade and shaped to cleave through the air with it. She slashed forwards with ease, the wind whistling past the weapon.

  She then switched to a gun’s grip, holding the handle and trigger with her right hand and the stock beneath her arm. She placed her left further up from where the stock connected with the barrels, where the handle began once more right before the blade did.

  She found that, if she raised the weapon to take aim, the stock would press down towards the handle giving her leeway to do so.

  “How does it feel?” Erik asked, inspecting the strange weapon himself.

  “It is…much lighter than my last one.” Thea noted, switching the weapon around from a gun-hold to a sword-grip and waving it around, checking its weight and balance.

  “Good, it doesn’t seem very balanced for a sword but, I’d guess it is enchanted to be so.” Erik mused, “So, all three of you are armed. Now it’s time to learn how to use them.” He then stated, walking past a slightly disappointed Shizuka and out of the room.

  Realising her own expression, Shizuka calmed herself. (“I’m not one of them, why would he give me anything? He doesn’t trust me, I don’t even trust him.”) She thought to herself, turning to follow them out.

  “Give me a moment, I must create each room first…” Erik said, closing his eyes to focus.

  “Create?” Nerick repeated in question.

  “Dragons have full mastery of the space that makes up their lairs,” Makaela explained as Erik focused, “Erik could turn these few rooms into an impregnable fortress if he wished to. His powers here are doubled, his body is constantly healed too.”

  “That’s…” Nerick found no words to react with.

  “I’ve heard about that too, House Hold magic was it?” Shizuka asked.

  Makaela nodded, “Like most Elves, like the Fae and the Mer. Lairs are a Dragon’s House Hold magic.”

  “House…hold?” Nerick wasn’t following at all.

  Shizuka sighed, “Really? Have you any magical knowledge at all?” the bestia asked.

  Nerick shook his head, “I gained my army rank solely through mastery of arms.” seemingly proud of that feat.

  Thea coughed, “It’s true…” pity in her eyes as she glanced away.

  Shizuka and Makaela looked at him in disbelief, “Wow, didn’t even know that was possible.” Shizuka then said, “Well…uhh…House hold magic is like, a kind of magic that can only be cast by a specific group of creatures. Wood elves have their Treant summoning for example, well just like so, dragons have their Lairs.”

  “Oh, I get it.” Nerick then said, gaining himself a pat on the back from Ivara’s tail.

  “Done.” Erik abruptly said, and their surroundings were suddenly not what they just were. The corridor and rooms were completely gone and in their stead, was something much vaster.

  Thea glanced around in awe, she now stood within a vast and open area, enormous even when compared to the first room. Plain stone walls and ceiling yet the ground was dirt and grass as if they were outside. But, she also noticed that, the others were gone too.

  Erik solely stood before her, “You’ve all been separated into three different areas, and before you are copies of myself created by the Lair.”

  Nerick, Makaela and Thea stood within a copy of the same room, an Erik standing before them.

  “Here you will sweat, you will shed tears. You will bleed.” Each Erik said to the three of them, “I will crush your bones till they regrow like iron, I will shred your skin till it reforms harder than a wyvern’s hide. You’ve chosen to follow me, but I need you to be stronger than you are. I will sharpen your senses, iron out your toughness, hammer in the required mobility into your muscles’ memory. You walk into my Lair as knight, spearman and rogue. You will all walk out, changed, improved. You will walk out as champions.”

  Erik raised his hands forward, and the ground beneath them quaked. Stone structures rose from the earth, surrounding them, mossy rock forming buildings and broken-down ruins. An arena, they thought, then each of them also noticing that they had lost sight of Erik.

  “But before then, before you are ready, I must break you.” Erik said, his voice resonating throughout the area. His words, sending a cold shiver down their spine. “I hope you are prepared, because I won’t wait any longer. Watch your surroundings, listen, feel. I won’t spare moves, I won’t be holding back. For as long as this training goes on keep in mind that, I’ll be out to kill each of you.”

  “I only hope you’ll survive. It would be a shame since you’ve made it so far.” He mocked, his chuckle echoing about the raised buildings. “Your training, begins now.”

  Each of the three then felt the blood which ran through their veins, freeze solid.

  Each, felt death itself approach.

  * * *

  Shizuka suddenly found herself within a small chamber, a room with a single bed, a desk with several dozens of books and two doors. Seeing nobody around, she checked through each door finding a bathroom with magical appliances and in the other a kitchen with the same.

  “You will remain here for the remainder,” Erik suddenly said, appearing before her as she walked back into the main room from the kitchen
. Causing Shizuka to jump in fright.

  “R-Right…” She said, “I-I was hoping…” she then began.

  “Hoping for what?” Erik asked with a raised brow, still distrustful of the bestia.

  Shizuka coughed uncomfortably as she glanced away, “Nothing…” she then said, knowing she’d be asking too much.

  “Out with it now, or forget about it entirely.” Erik said, briefly waiting before turning away.

  “I…I was hoping I could at least watch miss Thea train…” Shizuka asked, causing Erik to pause in his steps.

  Erik glanced back at her, pondering for a moment. “Hm, no harm in it. Very well.” He then said, closing his eyes to focus. As he did, the wall facing the bed cracked and shuddered. Its very material changed, from stone, suddenly becoming glass. He opened his eyes and turned to face the now mirror-wall. Placing his left palm over it, “Lair vision.” he then chanted.

  The mirror then showed three separate moving images, a bird’s eye view of Makaela, Nerick and Thea side by side.

  “There will be a two hour break every day in the afternoon, you may meet with each of them as they replenish their stomachs then.” Erik explained, “Other than that, this is where you’ll stay.”

  “What about him?…” Shizuka then asked vaguely.

  “Him?” Erik repeated, knowing who she was speaking of. “My Lair’s location is unknown even to my xilfir, nothing can be traced within, not even your curse mark. He may though, track you to the ship. But there, he will have to fight his way through the xilfir guarding it, even then he’ll have to hijack my portal…And even then…Let Him come, you think vampires have a reason to be proud of their power? I’ll show the overgrown winged rodent what Pride and Power mean.”

  Erik turned to face Shizuka, noticing her trying to hide her fear. Not of him, but of what hunted her. “Mark my words, assassin. I may be weak in body, but you are my chosen’s property now. And what is hers, is also mine…”

  Shizuka glanced up to meet his gaze, just in time to see a fierce golden light surge through his eyes.

  “And what is mine…well…Have you heard of what happens to those that steal from dragons?” Erik asked.

  Shizuka shook her head.

  He smiled, “Exactly.”

  Ch 28 - Training, Day 1

  Makaela retreated to the shadows, keeping to corners and alleyways within the ruined city the Lair had summoned around her. Her senses stretched thin, watching for all movement, listening for the smallest sound. Sensing for the tiniest perceivable change in her surroundings.

  Her right hand clenched around her whip’s handle, her left ready to throw a dagger.

  She felt ready, she thought she was ready for anything Erik could send her way.

  She was dreadfully wrong.

  Makaela suddenly felt a cold chill from behind her, she turned around, unleashing her whip upon whatever creature Erik might have created. She watched as her draconic whip lashed out at the apparition, green flames engulfing it yet…Both weapon and magic passed right through the creature.

  It was a spectre, an ethereal being, a dark spirit with the makings of a humanoid form. Faceless, with claws all too long to be practical for anything but weapons. Without feet or legs either, instead, it hovered as its lower body lay a tattered ghostly cloth.

  Makaela immediately tried to retreat, only to be faced with another.

  The two dark ethereal creatures lashed out at her, their claws taking physical form to tear her body apart.

  She evaded both attacks, her movements quick and body highly athletic.

  Makaela passed under one spectre and climbed the ruined wall behind it, turning around she found herself face to face with them once more as they flew up at her. She flipped backwards, evading another slash. Taking the few moments as she flew through the air to strap her whip and grab her knives.

  “Light School; Minor Enhance!” She chanted, each of the six throwing knives she held suddenly gaining a dim white glow.

  Makaela landed on her feet and facing the two incoming spectres, their blade-long claws lunging at her again. She leaned back and let herself fall, evading the claws as they slashed above her.

  She then threw her enhanced knives.

  The spectres hissed in pain as the knives melted through their ethereal bodies, slowly they dissipated, the light transferring from the knives and into the spectres themselves. Disintegrating them, killing them.

  Makaela stood back up, watching the dark creatures melt away before her. Yet no relief filled her eyes, (“Is he underestimating me?”) she thought while glancing around from her new elevation.

  That thought was immediately cut short, and her expression hardened.

  Makaela saw as suddenly, several dozen spectres rose from the buildings around her, passing through the walls and ceilings, rising up into the air to surround her. Almost a hundred, she counted before they all suddenly dove back down into the ruined city.

  She did not hear them, she did not see them. But her other senses were going mad as she felt them approach. The coldness which darkness brought with, the chill which their element oozed. She sensed it.

  And there was more of them than she had knives to throw.

  Makaela slid to the left as a spectre ascended from the ground beneath her, spinning with its claws wide, intent on ripping her to shreds. She ran, Makaela dashed over the roof. She leapt from building to ruined wall, sliding beneath claws and flipping over rising shadows. Pushing her athletic capabilities to their very limit.

  But she couldn’t run forever.

  “I am shadow, I am darkness, I am that looming chill.” Makaela chanted as her eyes glowed a fierce gold, evading attacks left and right as she did. “My dagger is silent like the wind, and my arrow truer than the sun’s light. Lord, one who I would call master, lend me your strength! For I am your blade!” she exclaimed, as she danced with the spectres that would cut her to pieces with the smallest misstep. Their claws passing mere inches away from her skin, as she bent, flipped and rolled aside.

  “Draconic School; Custom Cast; Darklight Whirlwind!” Makaela finished her chant, and suddenly a whirlwind of darkness burst out from her body. Dark winds, glowing as if made of light yet giving out no shine, it spun and spun with Makaela at its centre.

  Each spectre within her immediate surroundings was torn to shreds, each piece of ethereal flesh then dissipating with the wind.

  Makaela stood within the whirling darkness, waving her hands around, and with each movement the wind copied it. A wave of her left hand sent darklight blades of wind down one way, tearing through several spectres before the dark creatures could even react.

  Makaela smiled, a wickedly thin smile before she suddenly moved forwards. With the whirlwind engulfing her body, Makaela rushed through the spectres, devouring them wholly within her dark magic as she moved past.

  It was a massacre, as she moved through the dark creatures like death itself. The thrill as she evaded their claws, the rush as she met them with her winds, the sound they made as she tore them apart.

  Makaela enjoyed every moment of it, she hadn’t been matched so equally in strength in a long time. She enjoyed it so much that, she even ignored the cuts and bruises the built up over her body, Makaela wasn’t able to evade every single attack.

  And that was her downfall.

  Makaela felt her body slowly stiffen, her movements lagging behind her thoughts. Until she suddenly stopped, standing still, unable to move. Her body wouldn’t respond, not a finger, not even her eyelids.

  Makaela felt frozen, but not like ice. She felt a coldness fill her, but no numbness followed.

  All she could move were her eyes, and through them, she noticed the dark ethereal chains that suddenly bound her. Appearing out of every wound on her body, the chains were held by the spectres as they surrounded her.

  She watched, as the largest of the spectres rose from the ground before her. Claws at the ready and raised up towards her chin. Makaela saw a dark smile form over t
he spectre’s faceless guise, she knew its meaning from song, a spectre’s smile meant someone was going to die.

  The spectre slowly raised its left claw back, taking its time, as if enjoying her confusion, her following fear and the inescapable acceptance that came last. Makaela did not close her eyes, she couldn’t, she could only watch as the spectre’s dark claws descended upon her.

  The claws stopped a mere inch away from her chest, the sharp points teasing her skin.

  “I must say, you’ve done better than I expected you to.” Erik said, as he suddenly formed out of the spectre before her. “You lasted longer than the other two, which was expected, but you still died.”

  Makaela then felt control of her body return to her, as the ethereal chains that bound her dissipated with the spectres. She fell to her knees, gasping for breath. “T-There was…too many.” She said.

  “Indeed there was, this first lesson was to show you just how strong you really are. That you really aren’t strong at all.” Erik explained, “Were you equipped with even mid-tier magic spells and the mana supply to sustain them. You could’ve taken each spectre out from afar. But you aren’t, which is why I chose spectres to face you in the first place.”

  Makaela having recovered herself stood up to face him, finding two spectres hovering beside him, immobile.

  “You successfully struck first,” Erik continued, ”but failed to recognise that not everything can be damaged physically. You successfully changed to the appropriate response, making use of magical attacks and the corresponding element. Light is indeed most powerful against shadow. Yet, you couldn’t sustain those attacks to the number of spectres that surrounded you. So as expected, you made use of your longest spell with the greatest destructive capabilities.”

  Makaela was confused at first, she thought he was out to kill them, and she had fought her hardest just cause of that…she then realised that was the exact response he wanted. Why he said he was out to kill them.

  Yet she couldn’t confirm any of it, the drake was in full-on lecture mode.

  “You found yourself capable of destroying the spectres with ease, but lost yourself to the excitement. You could’ve taken minimal damage, you could’ve survived this encounter. But your mind was too drowned in the bloodlust.” Erik said with a raised brow, disapproval in his eyes.