by SlyOkami
“What is…What are you…doing to it?” Shizuka asked, her eyes widening with horror as she sensed the sheer agony burning within the drake.
As she felt, the drake’s soul being very slowly ripped out of her body.
Being dragged out, bit by bit, and pulled into the human that kneeled beneath it.
No, not a human, Shizuka thought.
She felt nothing within the woman.
No emotion.
No thought.
No soul.
The human was empty, nothing but a vessel, as the drake’s slowly filled that void.
Ramzi chuckled, but was nowhere to be seen. “What am I doing? Well, that is a simple question, but to fully answer it would be very complicated. I’m sure you know Azkel and the Pact’s plan to summon an Arch-Devil, by this point? No matter if you don’t and I just told you, you’re not going anywhere…” His laughter reverberated throughout the room, penetrating their mind and body.
Shaking them to the core.
“Ah, how long I’ve waited to reveal my grand masterpiece to the world! Was it too much to ask to get spectators sooner!?” Ramzi asked in excitement, his voice gaining a growl as he spoke. Seemingly demonic, but to each of them it was much more familiar…
“Be honoured, lesser mortals. You are the first, and the last, to learn of my plan. Something, nobody would’ve ever guessed. Something, so grandiose, that you shall not believe my own words!” Ramzi exclaimed, as miasma suddenly rose from the corpses that lay sprawled about the room.
Dozens of them, dead bodies of what seemed like mages. Trembling albeit dead, as a dark purple smoke oozed out of them.
Thea, Ivara and Nerick watched in confusion, but Shizuka had none.
Shizuka was instead terrified by what she felt, by the energy she sensed floating about.
“Tell me, why spend so much time and effort in summoning a being that has already been defeated. When you can create something new?” Ramzi asked, his tone now maniacal as he cackled. “What need does Hell have for an Arch-Devil, a creature that has already failed it? When I, Not Ramzi…No, I shall drop the mask!”
Suddenly the walls faded, turning transparent and revealing the outside.
Each of their expressions turned to shocked awe, as they gazed at the vast space beyond the walls.
A massive waterfall descended all around their sphere, seemingly a circular hole in the ocean, reaching down to the very bottom. They lay within one of hundreds of spheres, like marbles in the space outside, floating aimlessly within the dim blue light.
“Why resummoned a failure? When I, Delirio the Black…” The being said as it appeared hovering before their sphere…
A mass of darkness.
Pitch black scales riddling its body with a carapace of dark purple running down its chest. Black plating covering its back, four legs, neck and serpentine tail as separate pieces of armour.
Giving it all the mobility it needed, alongside the resistance its kind was known for.
While more carapace protected its face, each part of it gleaming with the blue light.
As it spread its gigantic black wings, both limbs and webbing being darker than the night sky. Each wing, larger than its main body.
Its two violet eyes, reptilian in form, they gazed through the faded walls and down towards the three of them.
As it opened its jaws, revealing a collection of pitch-black fangs that too reflect off the light.
“When I, can provide something so much better!” The Black Dragon exclaimed, “A drake’s powerful soul, lying within a human’s versatile body. Something the god of death failed to provide my master with. I shall not fail though. For with this drake’s soul, and this vessel of my own making. It lays as the perfect body to summon my master into. Imagine, a Dragon’s power melded with a Devil’s. Alongside the amalgamation of other creatures, I have in my collection! Condensed into human form!”
Delirio laughed from the excitement, “This world…Would be ours. But now? Now I see vaster lands ahead! For I have been brought a Spirit Beast!”
Suddenly black chains rose from the ground, entangling themselves around Shizuka.
And then more rose, wrapping around Nerick too.
“And a Djinn! Oh, how fate smiles upon me!” Delirio exclaimed, watching in amusement as Thea helplessly slashed her weapon at the chains that tried to wrap around her too. Unable to run or fight the mass of iron that assaulted her, she was captured as well. “And you, I have no need for a second Chosen, my own is the vessel so…What to do with you I wonder?”
Thea struggled and struggled with the chains, as the metal seemingly drained her body of power. She was no match, every drop of mana she pulled on was immediately sucked out of her body before she could use it. “You won’t get away with this! Dammit!” Thea exclaimed, her voice filling with fading power.
Delirio laughed whole-heartedly at her words, “Oh? And who will stop me?” He asked in draconic, the entire sphere they lay in trembling merely from his voice. “The other surviving Dragons care not for this world, they simply wish for peace and quiet. The Fae? They know nothing, nor will they find out. Not until it is all too late. Who then? The other lesser species? Will the prideful Elves, the stubborn Dwarves, or the foolish Humans stop me? Or will it be the chaotic Dark Elves? Maybe the Bestia or Mer?” he laughed with each mentioned race, wholly entertained.
“E-Erik! He’ll stop you!” Thea exclaimed, now unable to move a finger as the chains fully engulfed her body, but her mouth and eyes.
“Erikathyr? Hah!” Delirio bellowed in further amusement, “That foolish child has never been anything more than an unruly pawn for my master. You’ve all been nothing but a nuisance. I commend you on making it thus far, but this is as far as you make it. Two of you will be used up as sacrifices for our rise, but you…I know, I shall let you live.”
Suddenly the chains that bound each of them grew tighter, feeling as if their very lives were being squashed out of their bodies.
Barely able to breathe.
Barely able to see.
Unable, to speak.
“You will fight in my arena, entertain my guests!” Delirio said, snapping his claws as he chuckled. ”You shall await the end with them, as you struggle to survive.”
(“No…”)
Thea thought, but struggle as she might the chains bound her entirely.
(“This can’t end here!”)
No matter how much power she summoned, it was drained out, leaving her empty.
(“After…everything we’ve done! After we’ve made it this far! Is this really it? Was there never any hope to begin with?”)
She asked, not herself but someone else.
Someone she hoped was listening.
(“Tell me! I know you can hear me! Please!”)
Thea pleaded, as despair filled both her gaze and heart.
(“Is this…is this where we fail?…”)
“That is, if you survive to see it. Oh I hope you do, the more see it the merrier!” Delirio exclaimed, as darkness began to creep into her view.
As her surroundings slowly disappeared, being engulfed by shadows that quickly closed in on her.
(“Why?…”)
Thea asked, as she watched the shadows devour Nerick and Ivara.
(“Did we ever stand a chance?”)
She asked, her heart drowning in despair as the shadows devoured Shizuka.
(“Were you fooled too? Tell me…please…”) She asked, as the shadows reached her.
(“Was I a fool…to believe in you?”) She asked, the darkness then filling her sight.
* * *
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kaV_5ALfK1I
* * *
(“Erik…”)
(“Theaviss!”)
A light then suddenly filled her eyes, dispersing the darkness, but blinding her in turn.
“Have I ever disappointed you?” A voice asked, as the light faded.
Revealing a humanoid figure engulfed in gold, st
anding before her.
Blonde hair above strong shoulders that stood tall.
A draconic white tail, calmly swinging from side to side.
As Erik’s fists shook, while he gazed at Delirio.
His eyes burning with enraged flames.
His body surging with the fury of lightning.
“You dare, damage a hair on my Chosen, and her companions.” He said, his voice shaking the very air around him.
As the sphere collapsed all around them, his entrance having destroyed the barrier which held it up.
“You, of the Black Clan, dare side with demons!?” Erik bellowed, his draconic voice sending out visible sparks of lightning. “You dare, side yourself against your own kind. You dare, insult the very Nature that gave you life, with this abomination!?”
Pearly white limbs, holding a webbing of gold within. They suddenly grew out of Erik’s back.
Spreading open and wide, glistening in all their glory.
…
His wings…reared back.
Sending quakes of energy through the air.
And with a single wing beat.
The fight between a White Dragon,
And a Black Dragon…
Began!
Ch 45 - The Despair Before Resolve
Throughout unconsciousness
Within Erik’s mind
Memories rushed by as if someone had sped up time by a hundred times.
From birth, till death.
Erikathyr watched his life pass by.
The death and destruction he saw as a youngling, the war-torn Faetera he grew up around. The cries of the Spirits that surrounded him, the cries of the lesser beings that took shelter in his Lair.
Pain, despair and dread made up his early life.
As he wished he could take action, wished he could step out and do something about the hell that was the outside. But his elders denied him even that.
“It is too dangerous for you.” Some would say.
“It is none of our concern.” Some would add.
“Nature’s Spirit has not called upon us, we are therefore not needed.” All would speak, and believe those words.
All but him.
Yet, he trusted his elder’s words.
As he watched, as he grew.
They told him the war would end, and it did.
“But only because the Fae ended it.” Erikathyr would argue, and none could deny him that fact.
But deny him the truth they still would.
“The Fae follow their own rules, we have ours. Do not forget, you are Dragon.” They would say, to put him back in his place.
Making Erikathyr realise, that pride was a double-edged blade.
And even as peace filled the world, he could still hear the Spirits weep. Even as tranquillity engulfed Faetera’s surface, his kind could still hear its pain.
Then a voice filled his head.
A voice only now he remembered.
A voice, that only now he recognised.
“Do you not see their hypocrisy?” Grim said to the young Erikathyr, as the drake watched humanity tear and destroy their surroundings.
“Their words, mean nothing. They only wish to cage you, forcing you to hold back your power. These vermin that leech off your precious Nature, you know you could squash them with ease.” The God said, as its voice suddenly warped into something else’s.
“You know, to whom this world should truly belong.” A demonic voice now spoke to him. “Why hold back? Why wait for the Spirits to ask for your aid, when you could take action before it needs to? Why wait for the damage to already have been done, when you could prevent it all?”
Those words, as vile as they seemed to the drake.
He thought at the time, that they still rang true with every value he held dear.
Resolved, and tricked.
The young Erikathyr set off, leaving clan and blood behind.
The drake burned villages and towns, laid waste to cities and kingdoms. Nobody could stop him, the same rules that once bound him from taking action now bound the rest from doing so. And the lesser races stood little chance, their magic weak compared to his own, their armour and weapons like leaves and twigs compared to his body.
Their numbers?
All the easier for him to target and destroy.
Destroy.
The Destroyer they called him.
Tales of his rise marked the end of an age, and the beginning of a new one. The Destroyer’s Age, most called it, as Humans, Elves, Dwarves and Bestia fought simply to survive his onslaught.
But Guardian, and the Guardian’s Age, some others named it.
The Fae rejoicing at his actions upon the lesser beings, even some Dragons agreeing with his methods, albeit not lifting a single finger themselves.
They watched him,
Those who called him Destroyer, saw a conqueror, dead set on making the world his.
Those who called him Guardian, saw a hero, breaking off from the laws that bound his kind to set the world straight.
They watched, as Erikathyr brought the lesser races to their knees, the young drake looming over them as they lay cornered.
Terrified,
Trembling,
At the brink of despair.
Erikathyr remembered, as his Xilfir Dominion lay at its strongest.
As the Human, Elven, Dwarven and Bestia kingdoms lay at their weakest.
He could’ve destroyed them. He could’ve driven each race into extinction.
But, he did not. Or at least, he did not wish to.
It was year 732, of the 5th age. The Druvian Empire had fallen, the Zrosian tribes were scattered as the Xilfir hunted them down.
And unbeknownst to Erikathyr, the voice had returned. Yet this time it had a body, and the voice itself was different.
Etheria, the first Xilfir to be born and not created out of another Elf. She had climbed the Dominion’s ranks, seemingly a prideful warrior on the outside, but was instead a poisonous demon within. This Xilfir, this Demoness, reached Erikathyr’s ears.
And once there she whispered of greater achievements to be had.
She whispered of greater power to be gained.
And through her trickery, through her seduction. Hell itself broke into Erikathyr’s mind.
His memories from here on were foggy, fading in and out.
But what he saw, he did not recognise one bit.
The beast the lesser beings saw him as were the eyes of whom Erik was watching through now.
The hunger, the bloodlust that filled him. He felt it but did not recognise it as his own.
Alone he had returned to Druvia, leaving his Xilfir Dominion within Etheria’s clutches.
He felt maddened with rage, unable to control himself as Hell warped his mind and body. The remnants of Man, Elf and Dwarf he had left behind on purpose, hoping that the fear of his existence would force them to rebuild under his image.
Those remnants, were instead met with his now bestial self.
Whereas before he would leave the young alive, whereas he would take each injured and sick out of their misery. Now, he cared not for either. Death and destruction were his sustenance, as the voices in his head willed him forwards, sating for more.
What was once to be remembered throughout history, as Erikathyr, Conqueror, Destroyer of the foolish and Guardian of nature.
He would now be remembered otherwise.
As Erikathyr,
Monster,
Demon,
Destroyer of the weak.
His death playing out last, blurred and barely audible. Erik was only able to make out Alan casting his sacrificial death magic, destroying both of their bodies, and selling both of their souls.
Leaving him in utter darkness as his recollection ended.
Leaving him, drowning in both despair and rage.
Erik felt guilty for being so foolish, for listening to Hell’s whispers. And although he only just regained those memories, he still held h
imself responsible for everything.
For listening in the first place.
For disregarding his elder’s warnings.
For thinking so lowly of the other races, who although were nowhere as singularly powerful as his kind…It was fact that they were the ones to thrive in the end, and not Erik’s people.
And as he fell deeper into his own sorrow, a thought came to him.
That just maybe, that was why Nature never rose against the lesser races…
They might not be as powerful as Dragons, or as sustaining to the world’s life as the Fae.
But they were in the end, the most resourceful.
And if Erik had never lifted a finger, together they would have thrived still.
It would have been the Elves who kept the rest on the wiser path.
It would have been the Dwarves who progressed, through their creativity.
The Bestia who reminded the others of the nature around them, and how to care for it.
The Mer who would have kept the seas cleansed and the beasts of the deep tame.
And it would have been Humans, who would’ve led them all against Hell’s demons, through their resolve and capability to create bonds.
Each, was an integral part of the other’s lifeline.
Each, just as the Dragons and the Fae, just as the Spirit Beasts once were.
Each race was part of that Nature he should have been protecting.
Making Erik realise, just how foolish both him, the Fae, and his kind had been.
“So, you’ve finally figured it out.” Asked a booming voice that filled the darkness. “Faetera does not wish to be protected by the lesser likes of you, nature only wishes for you to protect yourselves.”
“Who…Who are you?” Erik weakly asked.
The voice was ever changing, its tone and pitch never the same for long.
“I am neither who, nor what. I am everything, everyone. The Fox and his people call me the Avatar, but I am simply a creator. I make, I do not own nor control. But the Fox thinks I should hold your hand and show you the way. Yet, what would you ever learn from that? You have your own mind, your own heart and body. Make your own mistakes, your own choices. That is why I create, not to watch you suffer as most think, but to watch you exist.” The voice explained.