The Dragon Within

by SlyOkami

  Ivyieth immediately stepped to stand between the enemy and Thea, raising dozens of bladed vines to form a wall of spikes before her. Wide-eyed, the drake glared at the Spirit Beast coldly…she hadn’t even sensed his approach!

  And as she scanned his energy signatures with her senses, Ivyieth knew that her current state couldn’t stand a chance against this monster. Not for too long that is. “Run…” Ivyieth said, as she released the spherical cocoon and dropped it next to Thea.

  “W-What?” Thea asked in confusion as she glanced at the mess of vines that held her sister.

  “Take her and run!” Ivyieth exclaimed, raising her arms forth to which her vines responded by rushing into the Spirit Beast.

  A toxic fog of green formed around her assault of plant life, as crystal blades that grew over them all descended down upon Dearil.

  Yet…the Spirit Beast disappeared.

  Then suddenly appearing behind the wall of vines…Appearing before a paling Ivyieth, as his blazing hand slowly rose to her face. In slow motion, Ivyieth saw her doom approach.

  As she tried to step away, she tried to escape.

  But he was too fast, the flames only kept getting nearer.

  There was no escaping…Ivyieth realised, she realised she was still too weak. She had wasted her time here, instead of trying to get used to her new body as quickly as possible…And as the flame’s heat reached her skin, Ivyieth saw her entire life play before her.

  Ivyieth saw her time of death knock at her door.

  Then the crimson flames that were barely at her face, began to brighten…

  The red was overtaken by a blinding gold.

  And the Spirit Beast screamed in agony, as Erikathyr’s flames engulfed it.

  -

  * * *

  -

  Erik’s eyes turned murderous as he suddenly dashed to his left a few meters, then stepping forth as did Hayato to meet him.

  But Erik wasn’t approaching them, instead…he stood his ground and opened his mouth wide. He breathed flames, gold and bright they burst out of his maw. A ray of fire he had been building up, slowly but surely forming in his stomach throughout his entire clash with the Spirit Beast.

  Erik released that energy, sending out a breath of draconic flame that burned the very air it passed through and turning it into a black smoke.

  The flames shot at the two Spirit Beasts, suddenly taking the form of Erik’s anger, taking the shape of a massive winged dragon with maw ajar and soaring towards them.

  Hayato dashed back, grabbing hold of both Quinn and Shizuka by their shoulders, he pushed himself to move out of the blaze’s path. Quick like the wind, Hayato reappeared elsewhere and out of the attack’s way, holding Shizuka tightly so that she did not escape. “Trust in you? Hah…You were about to burn her alongside us.” He chuckled, but his laughter ended there as he noticed the draconic blaze barrel through the broken gateway and continue down the hallway.

  “You gave me a choice to decide between two of my comrades, I picked the third option that I made for myself. You on the other hand when faced with the same choice…Picked your own skin over your comrade’s.” Erik hissed as the sound of an agonized scream came back from the hallway.

  Hayato grimaced as he turned to face Erik, the Dragon’s eyes were wide and focused, a cold stare that cared not for their lives nor giving mercy.

  Erik took a step forward, “You underestimated me, Spirit Beast.” He said in a hauntingly detached tone. “The price for that, will be your life.” Erik warned, raising his sword towards them.

  “Big words, for one who won’t dare get any closer.” Hayato said with a wide grin, holding his feathers to Shizuka’s face as he held her close. “Maybe soon, we’ll get to see which one of us is stronger. But until then…I’ll leave you with this small victory. Yet…it would leave a foul taste in my mouth if I didn’t pay you back for Dearil…” Hayato’s grin widened, “We’ll be taking this one with us. Farewell, for now, Dragon.”

  Erik’s eyes focused as he clenched his sword, suddenly charging forwards right then.

  Dejal appeared behind the Spirit Beasts, forming out of the ground.

  Then Fierv from the left, in a burst of flame the canine rushed at them.

  And Voltru from above, encircling the air over them as the guardian turned into a storm, raining down lightning all around them.

  As a blaze of enraged flame charged at them, as lightning roared and rained all about them, and as the ground beneath them rose to entrap them further.

  They were surrounded, but only for a brief moment until Hayato released his winds.

  The ground that rose was shredded, Fierv was sent flying back and Voltru’s cloud form was dissipated entirely. In their stead lay a hurricane of wind, a whirling of blades of air into which Erik dove sword first.

  Slashing his way through Erik charged into the whirlwind, “Shizuka!” he exclaimed, as the winds dispersed…

  But there was nothing, there was nobody around him…

  They were gone.

  The last thing he had seen, being Shizuka’s form, her hand outstretched towards him.

  “No…” Erik whispered as the air around him settled, before suddenly trembling, as mana in the form of light oozed out of his body. “This…doesn’t end here…” He hissed, as he saw the rest of his comrades rush into the hall.

  Ivyieth used her vines to carry Kayle still, and with them was Thea followed by Ivara and Nerick who dragged behind him a charred black Dearil. Coming in last was Makaela and her captains, alongside hundreds of tired and injured Dreadblade knights and rebels.

  Erik turned to face them, his expression one of raw rage.

  “How far have we prepared?” He asked Ascal, the Xilfir freezing as the Dragon’s gaze fell upon him.

  “W-We were almost ready but…it will take a few more days to get everything sorted now…” Ascal responded tentatively in elven.

  “Not good enough! Rest up and prepare your things, we leave tomorrow!” Erik exclaimed, turning to stare at where the Spirit Beasts stood last.

  “Leave? To where?…” Thea asked as she looked around, “Where is Shizuka?”

  Erik’s hand clenched around his sword, “They took her…but we’re going after them… It is time we go on the offensive. We leave tomorrow, we leave for Lahihr…If they’re not there then Abu Katra…It doesn’t matter, we’ll scour the entirety of Faetera and further if we have to…Nobody!…Nobody!-”

  -

  * * *

  -

  Quinn took a deep breath of relief, shuddering as she sat down on the strangely dim grass. Everything around them was dim actually, the land, the sky and the wisps of multicoloured spheres of light that hovered about.

  They were in the Spirit Realm, a dimension parallel to that of the living…and the place they had escaped into to avoid the Dragon’s wrath. A wrath…a sense of burning rage that still lingered around where the rift Hayato had opened to escape through, which had just closed.

  “That…That is not what we signed up for…” Quinn said in between hurried breaths, glancing up as Hayato forced Shizuka down to her knees with his power over air.

  “Hah…that was exhilarating, that is what that was.” He corrected with a wide grin, casting a quick chant and summoning a set of magical chains made of ever-flowing winds to restrict Shizuka with.

  “Brother, you’re crazy. We lost Dearil!” Quinn argued with wide eyes full of frustration, standing up to face her brother.

  “Huh?” Hayato sighed as he turned to face her, his detached smile making her pale. “You mean to say you’re not up for this, Quinn? Do you wish to return home? I can continue on my own you know, and for the sake of our people…I will not fail like Dearil did back there.” He warned, his cold eyes set upon her.

  “N-No I…I’m sorry, you’re right…Sacrifices need to be made…” Quinn responded nervously, glancing away from his frigid glare.

  “Of course, I am, master chose me to lead this expedition after a
ll!” Hayato said in response, chuckling coldly as his sister backed off.

  “Hah…fucking idiots…” Shizuka mused as she listened to their conversation, briefly struggling with the magical chains having proved pointless.

  Hayato turned to her, his cold glare returning to him, as he met her calm eyes. “Now now, that’s no way to speak to your captors.” He hissed, as the air around her suddenly became heavy.

  But Shizuka still resisted, “You…You said that on your world, Dragons were hunted to extinction? Right?…But you yourself never actually faced one until now, have you?…Haha…Idiots, the lot of you…” she said in amusement, gaining herself a fearful look from Quinn as Hayato’s cold and thin smile widened.

  “Perhaps…you would be so kind as to…clue these ‘Idiots’ in on just why you remain so calm? So…loyal.” Hayato asked, as he crouched down before her. “He’ll never find us here, not even you…You might as well be dead to him here.”

  Shizuka chuckled, “You have…no clue, do you? No clue of the beast you poked awake. You think Erik is just another Dragon…it just shows how little you really know. You can run…You can hide all you fucking want. Hide wherever you think is safe, but nowhere is truly safe, and he’s coming. You can’t escape…Why? Why your face is asking me right now…” she laughed.

  Shizuka laughed as Hayato’s annoyance grew further, rising up suddenly to then kick her aside. “Why? Huh? Why can’t we escape?” He asked with a frustrated grimace.

  Shizuka yelped in pain, but even as she lay on the ground she continued to chuckle, turning over to look him in the eye with her own resolved gaze.

  “Because nobody…Nobody steals from a Dragon, much less lives to tell the tale.”

  Ch 54 - A Dragon’s Armoury

  Eleven hours later

  Midnight

  Erik stood before several piles of slayer equipment, each placed in accordance to colour and make. “Is this all?” He asked Pyra who had retrieved the equipment he had asked for.

  “Yes, this is every piece we managed to recover from the Sin Wyrms we fought.” Pyra answered whilst standing at attention with her knights, a frightened expression about them as they tried to keep up a serious one. Erik was highly annoyed at the moment, all of them could easily see it, and nobody dared frustrate him further.

  “Good, stand by.” He said coldly, leaving them to stand at attention as he himself moved to stand surrounded by the piles of equipment. Taking a deep breath, as he raised his hands aside, then suddenly clenching them into fists.

  “To the long lost these words I direct, to the long fallen and dead I speak to. Heed me, for permission is all I ask for. Dragons of before, Spirits of now, I purge these pieces of your being from the curses set upon them. I free your bodies from enslavement, but ask for them to be used just a little longer.” Erik chanted, his draconic voice shaking the very air around him as a dim gold light oozed out of his body.

  Tendrils from the light delved into each pile, the gold suddenly flaring brightly and taking on whatever colour the pile held. The light’s brightness dimmed as it grew, taking shape, and like illusions a dozen Draconic figures now hovered around Erik.

  “You need not ask, Erikathyr, for we have been watching.” Spoke a dark blue Dragon with bright silver eyes, “We judge your cause as just, your actions as acceptable. If our claws and fangs, our hide and bones…are to be used in any way here in the realm of the living, then be it battle, be it war for the safeguard of Faetera!” It exclaimed, and the rest of the spirits nodded in agreement.

  Erik nodded back, then moved to kneel…

  But a White Dragon raised its ethereal claw at him, one he recognised. “You need not bow, brother. You are Dragon now, we are equals.” He said.

  “Ziethei…” Erik spoke his elder brother’s name, then rising to meet his gaze head on. His mouth opened, by no words came. He had so much to say, so much to ask yet…

  Ziethei shook his head, “Let there be words between us later, once we are both of the same form. But now, Erikathyr, you have a role to play and destiny waits for no one. I wish you safety on your journey to come, brother, I wish that the Spirits all watch over you.”

  Erik nodded, and watched in silence as the souls of the fallen Dragons dissipated. Leaving him alone again with his Dreadblades. “The Spirits watch me already brother…But not a move they shall make, not a move they have ever made.” Erik mused, turning to face Pyra and her handful of knights behind him. “Destiny waits for no one, and Deities only serve themselves. Remember that well.” He said coldly, before starting to walk towards the hall’s large doorway.

  “Gather the officers, we’ll divvy out the equipment as planned!” Pyra shouted in command, sending three of her knights off while the rest stood with her, watching Erik leave.

  The three chosen messengers waiting for him to exit the hall, before they rushed down the corridor themselves to complete their orders. The three knights rushing past Makaela, Ivyieth and Ascal who waited for Erik outside.

  “How are they?” Erik asked Makaela as he came to stand before them.

  “Thea is resting alongside Kayle, I placed Zentha and her best to watch over them.” Makaela reported in, but then changing her tone from that of an underling, “So, what now? We lost all the siege equipment we stole off the convoy and so much damn resources I’d cry if I actually counted it all…” to her usual overly friendly tone.

  Erik didn’t notice her change of attitude, his cold blank eyes only glancing over her as he continued to walk past them. “The siege equipment doesn’t matter, the resources we can refill on while we wipe Lahihr off the map. As for equipment for the soldiers…” Erik stopped in his tracks, turning to look at Ascal. “Gather the best and brightest we have, the distinguished of either Dreadblade or Rebel who have not been chosen to join the Dragon Knights.”

  “Uh, sure I’ll do just that but…” Ascal said as he faltered under the Dragon’s frigid gaze, “To where and why?”

  A wicked grin suddenly grew over Erik as his eyes widened with what was unmistakably madness. “To the armoury, of course.” He said simply, then turning around to continue walking off.

  “Armoury? He doesn’t…mean…” Ascal mumbled as each of them stared after him frozen in surprise.

  “Makaela, come.” Erik called on her as he reached a tightly locked doorway, bars of black metal forming a gate ahead of the stone doors, doors which were etched in bright blue glowing runes.

  “Just…do as he says.” Makaela whispered her brother before she walked over to Erik, and Ivyieth curiously followed her. “Erik what are you-” Makaela was going to ask, but he left her no time as he loudly pushed the doors open. The black bars disappearing at his touch and the runes suddenly flaring a bright gold as the doors opened.

  Revealing the massive corridor Erik called his armoury.

  “What am I doing? Simple really, my lair was invaded with ease, and with just as much ease a guest under MY roof was abducted. I shall NOT let that stand. And there is absolutely NO point in keeping these treasures unused if they aren’t even SAFE!” Erik stated with clear hate in his tone, mana leaking out with every burst of rage that came with his words. Raising his hands forward and open wide, two objects suddenly flew out of separate halls and into a hand each.

  A silver chain of metal, like a necklace.

  And a bright teal gem shaped like a six-pointed star.

  “This,” Erik said as he held up the chain, “Is a Binding Amulet, it will bind any gem to your soul. If it is stolen from you, the chain and the gem will turn to ash and become useless…” then raising the gem towards the chain, “The gem in question will be this. Its last, now deceased owner, called it a Lode Stone. It empowers the spiritual capabilities of the creature it is in spiritual contact with. Seeing as we’ll be facing Spirit Beasts who greatly outmatch even your kind in Spiritual quality and control…I thought this would suit you well for the battle to come.”

  Erik touched the gem to the chain and the hoops of s
ilver suddenly stuck to the crystal, melding into it and becoming a single item. He handed the amulet to Makaela, who silently took it in her hands.

  She felt nothing, she sensed nothing from the gem, if only something strange from the chain…But when she put it around her neck it was like a whole new world had opened up before her eyes. Her senses were overshadowed by a whole new feeling, a feeling she attributed to what must have made Shizuka lose her mind during her first moments on Sinroz land.

  Makaela felt it all.

  Ivyieth’s curiosity nearby.

  Ascal’s agitation.

  Pyra’s resolve.

  Zentha’s sorrow.

  Thea’s hatred.

  Nerick’s guilt.

  And…right before her…burning just as bright as the sun.

  Was Erik’s blinding rage.

  So much information suddenly barraged her that for a moment, she thought she was going to pass out. But Makaela held steady, focusing on her other senses, the emotions she literally felt like heat radiating into her mind slowly began to dim out. Until finally the sense was nothing more than a minor feeling at the back of her mind, a minor annoyance as long as she didn’t focus on it.

  “That…that was…” Makaela had no words to explain what she had just witnessed, never before had she felt something so vividly through any sense. Something so strong that it seemed even more real than her eye-sight itself.

  “That was the range of your third eye growing in power.” Erik said before turning away, “Now I should probably pick a few things for Thea…Nerick doesn’t need anything else and…” He mused before glancing back at Ivyieth who stood staring at him, very clearly wanting something too. “Take…your pick.” He tentatively told her, and the drake’s frown immediately changed into a joyful grin as she ran off down the hall.

  “Speaking of Thea…” Makaela suddenly said as she watched Ivyieth run off, “I think you’re wrong Erik, I can’t let it wait any longer…I have to face her.” She said with a bitter tone.