by SlyOkami
“Consider this, a royal decree. Sit your fat ass down, and shut up.” Sol hissed in command, shocking the bishop further, before returning to Erik who loomed over him. “My people…Will they be safe?”
“All citizens of the Empire, will receive our full protection.” Erik replied.
Sol nodded, “Then I pledge, I King Sol Druvia, monarch to the allied kingdom of Druvia…pledge our servitude.”
“Then let it start, rise.” Erik said, and they rose. Turning then to giving them all his back, as a Xilfir knight at the corner of the room pulled on a rope nearby.
Allowing a massive drape of cloth to fall upon the wall.
A banner, black in colour with a white and red winged Dragon drawn within, alongside words beneath it inscribed in draconic text.
“Let our conquest of Faetera…” Erik announced as he gazed upon their new flag, the text reading as, ‘The Dragon Empire’.
“Begin.”
-
* * *
Hours later
* * *
-
After tiring hours long talks of diplomacy and economics with the other leaders, Erik now collapsed into his throne, worn out from the magic he had cast earlier.
Yet, he did not let his weariness show, instead he continued to force himself into lying straight and resolved.
As his companions, and Azkel, still stood before him.
“Let’s get right to it then…” Erik mused as he at least allowed himself to lower his wings. “That core, can it contain only Dark Spirit?”
“No, it can contain any type of mana I can think of.” Azkel answered, glancing around both cautiously and awkwardly as Nerick, Kayle and Makaela held their distance from her. She eyed them, curious at what sorts of companions a dragon would have, but also very careful at how long she did so.
Finding that, eyeing Makaela for too long, gained her a rather annoying cold stare from the Dark Elf.
“Would, converting the mana within it now, cause damage to it?” Erik then asked as a group of Xilfir knights carried the heart in question into the room, resting it at the centre before leaving.
“Not…that I know of, what’s the point of this questioning? I think it’d be of more use if you just told me what you plan to do with it!” Azkel complained loudly, raising Erik’s brow as he now glared at her.
“Do not…misunderstand, our new relationship. Devil, I will tell you what you need to know, if and when I decide you need to know it.” Erik explained in a harsh tone, to which Azkel said nothing other than growing a grimace.
“I allowed you into this world, I gave you an easy escape from your father’s grasp. But that doesn’t mean I can’t change my mind, after all, I doubt Kurzan will overlook you now…” Erik mused, smirking in amusement as her shoulders slumped. “Traitor.”
“F-Fine, yes, I understand my situation…” She stuttered in reply. “And you’re right…Father will come…one day, you’ll find this world crawling with another armada from hell.”
“Let them come,” Erik chuckled, “But first, we have other things to plan for. Not only will the other kingdoms react to this founding of ours, your cousin is still…at large, and a great unknown.”
“Brazath?…I’d say more but, other than that he’s utterly off his rocker, I know nothing of that madman.” Azkel grumbled.
“Is she?” Erik asked, turning then to Kayle, who’s eyes flipped to white.
“She is telling the truth.” Kayle mused, her eyes then returning back to normal.
“Seer…” Azkel hissed in annoyance, recognising the rare power.
“One I must thank you for, don’t I?” Kayle smugly replied. “And it is not the only power I gained from that witch either…”
“Hmph, like I care.” Azkel grumbled back.
“Either way.” Erik then growled, regaining their attention. “Your role in all this is simple, I want you to prepare the core for acting as a catalyst to a tier ten spell. Are you capable of at least that?”
“Hah, simple.” Azkel chuckled, “But I will need to know what kind of spell, and a vast space for the heart to spread and grow. Tearing the core out disconnected it, as it lays now, it’s useless.”
“You will have your space, but you are not to leave the citadel, not one step outside. I will know if you do.” Erik warned, his eyes focusing into slits then as he met her own cold gaze.
“Under…stood.” Azkel sheepishly replied.
“As for the kind of spell…” Erik then stood up, running his claws over his own chest before suddenly plunging them into his flesh. Almost were his heart would lay, he dug inside his own body, grasping something within. Groaning and growling with pain as he did so, they could only watch with surprise as he pulled something out.
A black crystal, its spherical shape deformed as vein-like tendrils of crimson wrapped about it.
“I no longer need this…do I?” Erik whispered to himself as he gazed at the crack which lay over the draconic core.
“E-Erik!?” Makaela shouted, horrified by his actions she rushed to his side, “What are you doing!?”
“What needs to be done.” Erik said, casting a silent spell then as he passed his free palm over the wound, as slowly it began to close itself.
Makaela sighed in relief at the sight, “But your core…what do you mean you don’t need it?”
“It is not his…anymore.” Azkel then mused as she stared at the sphere, everyone then turning to stare at her. “I knew I sensed…something, about you. Hah, now I understand.”
“What do you know?” Erik asked with a chuckle, “Not that you can help.”
“No, no I can’t do anything for you…But I can warn you, you’re changing. With your core broken, and soul shattered, I can feel it…Something within you has awakened.” Azkel warned.
“The ancient wakes…” Erik then mused, “I know the legends, I know the stories. But what good are myths to me!?” He then growled, his voice shuddering the entire hall.
Causing Azkel to instinctively step back.
“My condition…aside,” Erik then threw the core to her, “The spell is a tier ten of the school of Astral magic. Your miasmic heart as the catalyst, my broken core as the conductor. Do you know what to do?”
“But of course I do! What do you take me for, an ignorant fool? Who doesn’t know basic Astral rune inscriptions and draconic patterns.” She scoffed, to which Nerick’s expression twitched, unsure what language she had just spoken in.
Although she had never switched away from common…
Erik straightened himself, grasping the now closed wound as Makaela worriedly held onto him. “Then go, get started.” He spoke in command, his tone making the Devil cringe once more.
As the Xilfir knights from before re-entered, raising the miasmic heart by the wooden platform it lay on, they ushered it out followed by Azkel. Giving Erik one last glance before she left, her eyes narrowing as they then befell the core which now lay in her hand.
The doors, closed behind them, leaving Erik alone with his companions.
As he stepped back, fully collapsing into his throne then.
“Is this…wise?” Makaela asked, staring off at the closed doors from where she stood.
“It is the best I can make of this…situation.” Erik answered wearily, sinking further into his seat. “War is coming, and not just with the other nations of Faetera…While I have Azkel under my roof, Kurzan will look this way.”
“So get rid of her, kill her, why are we shielding that creature!?” Nerick then exclaimed, brazenly approaching the throne. Albeit their new titles, neither of them saw one another less than companions still.
Erik sighed, “Because, she is useful, more so than…even she knows.”
“And that thing…what are you planning to do with it?” Makaela then asked, “Your core may have been unbound from you but…to sacrifice something so valuable into a construct of hell…”
“Right…I guess it’s time I let you in on my…theory.” He
mused, leaning forward in his throne as they came to stand around him. “The spell…It’s-”
Makaela and Nerick’s eyes widened at his answer, shock and realisation then going through them as they stood frozen before him.
Except for Kayle…
Kayle broke down, falling to her knees at the very sound, tears streaming down her eyes as she stared at his now warm smile.
B2; Chaos - Ch 58; The Prophecy - Interlude; Insanity
“So…It comes, or doesn’t!?” A voice mused, as the melody played out before it’s shadowy gaze.
The stomping of thousands of feet, followed by the bellows of bestial monstrosities and cries for battle.
The Zrosian army marched through, as beasts of all kinds prowled with.
“The final clash, the end, or is it the beginning!?” Brazath mused with a maniacal chuckle as his form took shape out of the shadows. “Haha, either way something is amiss…” A wicked grin forming along his face, stepping forth from under the forest’s edge, he gazed upon the marching beasts.
Flags held high, drums beating a rhythm to the march.
“War, madness, despair…Insanity begins now!” He exclaimed, laughing in amusement as he watched the town ahead burn and fall beneath the Zrosian might. “The prophecy…Balance fades away! And the prophecy shall be fulfilled…This realm will be-Ours!?” He cackled, a sound unlike any sort of joy, a sound incorporating his very instability.
“Hah…Haha!” His eyes, wide as he watched the fires of battle devour away at homes, moving then to envelope the fields nearby.
“When the heart’s twin breaks, all beware!
For only its twin can resist the change…As chaos twists and turns the mind!- Awakening what is locked inside.” Brazath chanted, yet it sounded nothing like a spell.
“The Ancient wakes, the Ancient roars! Haha!- All is done, all is gone…
Run you might, but you cannot. It has wings, so there is no running at all.
Hide you might! You cannot! Its eyes too keen! Its senses too strong! There is no hiding at all! Hahaha~” Laughter, it filled his surroundings as miasma oozed off his mixed body, with every moment his very tone and expression twisting and changing.
“For when the Ancient wakes, for when it’s true blood boils…Monsters beware! The end!- Is nigh and comes for all…”
Its form then shattering, dissipating into the fog of corruption that now suddenly enveloped the forest…Slowly then, enveloping the fields…
Devouring the flames.
Covering the town…
And then as well, the Zrosian army beyond.
B2; Chaos - Ch 58; The Prophecy - Part 1; Relationships?
Erik slammed aside another book, grabbing a new one from the surrounding library which filled the large room’s walls. Yet already most of the books were stacked in a mountain where he sat the last read, pacing around it now to move back to the table at the room’s centre, a map of the continent lying before him.
Glancing off his read momentarily, he looked the map over, multiple thoughts running through his head as he switched from one to the other. Back and forth his gaze went, as the night only continued to get older.
His weary eyes, forced to remain open, as from time to time he’d silently chant a short spell beneath his breath.
A revitalizing light then spreading across his face, allowing his expression to harden and refocus once again.
Albeit the redness in his eyes only continued to get worse.
As the hours passed whilst he paced, stacking the mountain of books higher, even moving something over the map here and there.
To Makaela as she entered the room, it was a disheartening sight.
Even more so as he seemed to not even notice her, “Erik?” Speaking his name, she noticed his shoulders rise suddenly in surprise.
As he turned around to face her, blood-shot eyes opened wide.
“Huh? Oh, it’s you Makaela…” He mused, relaxing then as he returned to multitasking his thoughts. “I was just going over the books I ordered up from the Abu Katra library, just through the oldest of them and some Zrosian ones, which are surprisingly rare.” He said, moving another flag over the war map around, the same one he had just moved earlier.
Makaela sighed, “It’s been five days Erik, you haven’t slept for five days.”
Erik chuckled, “Who needs sleep when a whole nation is marching to your door? No, I need more information…” He said, lowering his book then onto the table as he glanced over the stack nearby.
“Is it?…” Makaela mused, moving to stand by him then.
“It’s getting worse, by the day it’s just getting worse.” Erik whispered, “And all I’m finding is the same two things over and over, the prophecy of the ancient, and the lie spun about my past…It’s like…It’s like someone destroyed all records of it. And I know there were other Dragons in the past who turned…I know there were.” Erik grumbled, leaning onto the table then as his gaze froze upon the map before him.
Makaela looked him over, his decaying scales falling off for the newly grown black, his deteriorating blue eyes turning a dark red surrounding by black, his darkening hair, his now half crimson half golden wings.
But what she saw, wasn’t all either.
She felt it, she felt the change occurring within him.
Makaela sensed a dark energy collecting where his core once lay, pooling into his chest. She sensed what once was the soul of a mighty dragon of fire and light…slowly but surely, becoming something else.
“Then maybe you shouldn’t be searching for answers within the records held by a kingdom who survived upon lies and deceit?” She offered.
“Hah, I wish it was that simple…Even Druvia’s records, public, kingdom and church…Even the collective adventurer’s guild records. Guess how far they all go.” Erik mused, rising then to meet her gaze. “The end of the 4th age, my first rise, is as far as everything goes. Nobody has anything beyond…Nobody except…” He then grabbed hold of a scroll which lay wide open upon the table, “Me.”
“What is that?” Makaela asked, as she looked over the writing but found that she couldn’t read a single word.
“Draconic script,” Erik answered, “not that we Dragons write or read…It was invented by one of my kind long ago, before even I was born. We rarely make use of it, if anything, this and two other pieces of indestructible parchment are the only ones I know of that hold these characters. I found this many centuries ago, and held onto it…”
“And what does it say then?” Makaela urged on.
“The prophecy of the ancient, is the title, it speaks of what I believe to be my ailment but…to no detail at all.” Erik sighed as he put it aside, “Nothing more than the ravings of a mad dragon, speaking of doom and horror.” He glanced down at his own hands then, “I’m growing weaker Makaela, with each passing day I feel the control over my own magic faltering…”
Makaela watched over him, his grimace filled with pain, his faltering gaze as his hands clenched into fists around the table’s edge.
“Everything is coming back around full circle,” Erik mused, “I find myself asking, can I actually fight off fate? Can I truly shrug off my defeat as it keeps on looming over my back? It is the reason Grim brought me back in the first place…I know that now, I’ve known it for a while…To lose, that is the purpose of my return!”
There was no rage in his gaze as he spoke those words, no fury which Makaela felt should have followed them. She only saw sorrow.
For the very first time ever, she saw through his tough borders and walls, right through the scaly armour he wore.
Makaela for the first time, saw fear within Erik’s eyes.
“You know…” She spoke softly in elven then, turning to rest her back along the table as her gaze wandered off. “Do you remember, the first time we met? I do, it was like a God had descended before me…Amongst the chaos of our surroundings, a deity had come down and set his own laws. No matter what plans anybody else had, no mat
ter what impossible odds moved against us…While everyone else was planning for the end of Druvia, to grab all the titles and riches, and run…You appeared, and did what we thought was going to be impossible. Erik, you slew a Devil King.”
She let those words hang through the following silence, allowing them to sink in through several quiet moments. “You broke me, when you told me the truth, that you were no almighty god returned to show my people the way…I was lost, yet somehow even after being betrayed…Somehow I found my way back in you.” Makaela sighed, turning back around to meet his own wandering eyes as they stared down at the table’s surface.
“I’ve watched you for this long, Erik, I know who you really are and this…this here is not it.” Makaela then sternly said in common, grasping him by the collar as she forcefully raised him to meet her gaze. His own eyes going wide with surprise.
“You’re a conqueror who put his foot down upon every king and queen throughout the civilized lands. You’re a nightmare to each and every hero and adventurer. You are no God, you aren’t any sort of immortal. Yet that only makes your story so much more incredible. Erikathyr, the destroyer of the weak, guardian of nature’s spirits, Devil slayer, Dragon slayer…White Red Dragon, master of the arcane arts, Emperor of The Dragon Empire and…”
Her eyes resolved, as she smiled.
Makaela stepped around, cornering him between herself and the table…as she then leaned in.
“The man I love.” Whispering those last words before her lips met his, pushing the entirety of her body upon him as he instinctively held her.
For long moments, they remained intertwined, grasping onto one another as their lips pressed into the other’s.
As Makaela’s tongue ruled supreme within, acrobatically leading his around and about, also later grabbing his arms. Leading his hands then through a quick tour around her own body before she released his lips. Her eyes, almost glistening as they met his wide and weary gaze.
Moving in closer, she whispered into his ear. “I’m done holding back.”
A cold shiver crawled up Erik’s spine then, followed by a warmth beneath his belt as it was Makaela’s turn to wander with her hands.