Light of the Dark

by N. Saraven

  Enargit slammed into the ground, missing a spear-looking, broken tree trunk only by a hair. He also managed to land on a fairly soft, clear spot, which was covered by leaves. He did not break any bones; only the air was forced out of his lungs. But even with all his luck, danger still lurked around—the ground shook under him, creaking, making the dragon feel sick.

  Enargit scrambled to his feet, although he almost lost his balance again on the rumbling ground. Then he heard the whooshing sound of another dragon’s wings. He managed to jump to the side just in time to miss the blast of ice.

  “Stay put! I’m only trying to cool you down.” The shadow heard Cameron’s growl, so he took off to face him and his rider.

  “Do you not see that we have no time for such bickering? If we cannot stop Neila soon, we all will be destroyed,” Enargit cried out, which made Indrek frown and seemingly think hard.

  “Yeah, sure … as if Neila would ever lose control …” argued Cameron angrily. “This is just another trick from you,” shouted the bright, as he charged forwards.

  Enargit avoided the attack easily.

  “Try to think with that thick head of yours, bright one! When would we EVER join forces with the Overlord?” snapped the shadow Leader as he still managed to elude every attack from Cameron.

  “Cameron,” cut in Indrek, who grasped firmly whatever he could on the other’s back to avoid falling down. “I know you don’t want to hear this, but I think he might be right.”

  “If so, then why are they coming to the rescue?!” shouted back Cameron angrily, and when he saw another opportunity, he blew out a stream of ice again at his opponent. But the other one managed to avoid it yet again.

  “Get out of here, you fools!” Enargit ordered the arriving shadow dragons, but they did not listen. The reptiles joined their Leader with Agony, Talek, and Eryn, facing Cameron and Indrek.

  “We will not let you face danger alone, my Liege,” said the youngest dragon, who had Eryn on his back, although he shook like a trembling leaf in the wind. He struggled to stay in the air, just as the wraith fought to keep his control of himself.

  “I can manage, just stay away! Stopping Neila is more important!” argued the Leader, but the others did not listen.

  “Cameron, what’s got into you?” shouted Agony at the bright, who constantly tried to freeze them.

  “He’s gone even madder than before,” rumbled Talek as he jerked the spikes of his dragon to make him change direction to avoid another attack.

  “Cameron, snap out of this! Our army needs us!” shouted Indrek too. He even clubbed the bright one’s neck with his fist, but nothing worked. Anger clouded Cameron’s mind, which drove him to try everything to rip Enargit’s throat open.

  The shadow dragons did not strike back, only eluded the enemy. Regardless, they had to make a move at one point. Enough time had passed with this silliness.

  Enargit glanced at Neila in a free moment, when Cameron was occupied by the others. Something really did not seem right.

  He could not see anybody from Indrek’s army, as if they had vanished. Some soldiers seemed to be scattered in every direction possible; meanwhile, others were swallowed by the rampaging ground.

  Then he glanced at the Overlord. He acknowledged in utter astonishment when Veilon, despite what he said earlier, suddenly teleported himself on the back of the Overlord to face Neila himself. Alone.

  The kobold mage must had gone rogue for some reason. Or mad. Maybe both …

  “In the name of the Gods, WHAT is he doing?!” gasped Enargit as he watched the paragon further.

  He forgot about Cameron, or the others, completely. He could not help himself but watch as Veilon engaged in a sword fight with Neila on the huge fire dragon’s back. Halgor tried to stop him, albeit they moved too slowly with Nighthunter, not to mention that the Immortal managed to keep them away.

  But the shadow Leader could not comprehend the happenings. It seemed that Veilon just drew his weapon, stepped to Neila, and then he fell down, as if he had nothing better to do. Nightfang dived after him immediately to catch him, although he could be injured too from the Overlord’s strikes.

  “WHAT IS GOING ON?!” shouted Enargit, almost heading to the companions himself. He had no idea what the paragon did or why, but it did not look promising.

  Then a huge body crashed into his back with sharp claws, which brought him back to his current situation immediately. He roared in anger and pain. He only managed to survive because of the others, who jerked Cameron off him immediately. The Leader faced the bright once again; his eyes now smouldered in anger.

  “You ice-brained dust-formation!” he shouted, obviously furious this time.

  Enargit must have had enough of this wretched argument because his eyes flared up as it became clouded by wrath. He charged forwards, forgetting about his injuries.

  He was a great warrior with much experience, so Cameron became defeated easily by him. The Leader eluded the bright’s attacks as he eyed a weak point in his defence. Then, with a calculated dive, he managed to get behind the bright and attack. He would have even caught Indrek when he crashed into the other’s back, but the Ruler knew his brother’s tactics well. So he jumped off Cameron just at the right moment, letting Enargit injure the bright.

  The shadow Leader grasped his enemy’s back firmly with his talons as he closed his strong jaws around his wing. Cameron tried to break free, but in the next moment his right wing fell down uselessly. He would have fallen if the Leader had not changed grasp to actually hold him. The other shadow dragons came to help as well, so they could put Cameron down on the shaking ground.

  “This isn’t over!” growled Cameron, when he felt the rumbling earth under his feet. Although all further bickering was cut off by an exploding group of trees nearby.

  “ENOUGH!” thundered Enargit with a voice that made the bright fall silent. He also let his powers out, almost pushing Cameron to the ground only with his majestic presence.

  However, before the Leader could continue, an enormous fireball crashed into the ground, missing them only by a thread. The force of the blast ripped out everything, blowing away trees and rocks. The companions were saved by Enargit’s keen reflexes only. He managed to create a powerful shield around them, although it was shattered by the raging forces in the end. It lasted just long enough, nonetheless.

  At the same time, it seemed that whatever kept this chaos moving just arrived too. As a result, everything became even more frantic, not to mention mind-numbing. The World’s Power burst out without the slightest control—the forces whirled and howled around like a terrible storm. Everything creaked, buzzed, rumbled, growled, and moaned in pain. The ground shook, making it impossible to stand.

  The companions obviously just got into the centre of the rampage of the World’s Power. Their minds hurt, and their bodies trembled uncontrollably. They could hardly see when a huge tree trunk pierced through the air, almost impaling them. Rocks seemed to fly around, endangering everybody.

  Enargit was coughing heavily in the dust and was having trouble seeing. He tried to make out something to know what was happening. He blinked rapidly as he looked around in the tornado of forces.

  He could see a huge clearing around them, most probably created by the strange fireball. Huge chunks of earth were ripped out, then they either exploded, or crumbled into dust by the raging powers.

  In the middle of this chaos stood the huge fireball—at least, Enargit thought it was a fireball. However, after a few moments he realised it was none other than the Overlord, with Neila on its back.

  43. Raging forces

  Neila’s mind slowly came around. As her senses started to send impulses again, she realised that she was lying on a hard ground. Through her closed eyelids, she felt light, which meant that the Sun was already high up.

  However, something was not quite in order.

  Her whole body felt numb from the continuous shaking; her mind wanted to expand, but her skull seemed to be in
the way. She was surrounded by too much force altogether, making her mind and body very uncomfortable. Yet for some reason she, as her spirit, did not feel that way, as if in that moment nothing could make her so.

  Neila took a deep breath, closed her eyes, and relaxed. She gave in to the surrounding feelings and forces, although she had no idea what they could mean. But something in her mind suggested that it would be better not to struggle. Her body felt a little bit like a prison, as if all forces inside wanted out, yet could not.

  So she let them go to flow freely as they wanted.

  Neila opened her eyes again, but nothing from her consciousness shone in them. She slowly stood up, as if she were controlled by something, or someone. She obviously was not aware of her doings, even though she looked around. Nothing sparkled in those eyes as they scouted the black stones around her.

  Only pure Power sat in them, making her golden gaze shine like real melting gold.

  Her glance stopped at the huge creature in front of her, which regarded Neila with completely black eyes. She gave a faint smile, then started for the Overlord, who still looked at her. She was not bothered by the extreme heat emitted by the fire dragon, nor its piercing gaze which made everybody else drop theirs. They needed no words to understand each other.

  Neila took a seat on the Overlord’s wide back, who then jumped onto a crumbling tower above them—one of the still remaining, tall watchtowers of Lexénia’s stronghold.

  At first, Neila just closed her eyes, enjoying the sunlight. She took deep breaths. But with every exhale, she emitted impulses, which only made the raging forces around worse. The chaos rose even higher as she gave more freedom and strength to it.

  She sensed the howling energies around, but was not bothered by them. They rather felt natural in a way. Everything felt under her control, as if she could know of, or see anything they touched. All streams led to her, informing her about a great army, slowly marching on the ground.

  Neila could not care less about it. She felt as if nothing could disturb her calmness in that moment, filling her with peace. She closed her shining gold eyes again, turning her attention to the great dragon underneath. She could feel its every ‘heartbeat’, how its fiery magma-body swirled around, or how it emitted that incredible heat. She could see through its eyes, hear what it heard.

  They merged their minds, feeling everything as one.

  No words needed to understand each other.

  Neila draw her brightly shining sword as the Overlord gave a powerful roar. They challenged the whole world, knowing that they had every chance to win against it.

  The Immortal then slowly leaned forwards, as if it wanted to dive under from that height. It then calmly stretched its wings, gliding higher and higher towards the army in front of them. They had all the time in the world; there was no need to hurry anything.

  Neila could see everything perfectly through the World’s Power—felt everything more like it, but to her mind there was no difference. She sensed every single step on the ground as the soldiers marched forwards, or all the wings’ flaps, as the dragons circled in the sky. It became obvious that she would have no difficulties destroying them.

  Neila sat on her mount, beyond calm. She looked forwards, yet in truth she saw the least with her eyes.

  She became aware when Cameron broke off from the main army to meet with Enargit, who flew as fast as he could towards the bright. But she was not concerned about those two—she would face them in time. Especially since a few dragon-formations got close enough for her to actually notice them as danger.

  The Overlord halted, obeying Neila’s thoughts, hovering in one place. She then held out her right arm. She sheathed her sword when she saw how easily she could defeat the enemy. There would be no hand-to-hand combat.

  Neila felt the streams of power around her. It felt that she could almost touch them, so she tried to ‘twang’ one of them. She gave a faint smile when she actually felt the string. So she made a grabbing motion, which made a thick bunch of the forces flicker like lightning. She smiled again, then she grabbed them firmly and pulled hard.

  As a result, the shadow dragons were smashed together, as if a giant, invisible hand squashed them. They had no way out as the Powers held them strong. Neila clenched her fist even harder, which made the struggling bunch of dragons press together into a huge, shapeless mush.

  Neila did not care about the screams of death in the air, nor the fleeing soldiers on the ground. The rampaging Forces took care of them—even the ground became deadly, when chunks were ripped out, hitting somebody on the head, or suddenly huge cracks formed under them, swallowing anybody.

  The earth or the air—all became allies of Neila, who let them rampage as they wished, killing and destroying in the process.

  Her attention then turned to the three shadow dragons and their companions on their backs, who hovered just before her in the air. As she looked at them, somehow they made a feeling rise from deep down in her soul—as if she knew them. Yet she could not pinpoint this feeling, or from where it came. Nor did she care.

  The dragons and their riders became enemies, who needed to be destroyed.

  Halgor, Veilon, and Elnor only stared at the Overlord and Neila with utter astonishment.

  “What …?” the elven whispered hoarsely as he caught Neila’s shining gold gaze.

  It seemed as if real gold was heated in them—they knew no mercy, no recognition, no consciousness. Only raw Power.

  Neila then held up her arm, which made Veilon startle awake from his frozen state. It became obvious that if they did nothing, they would become just like those poor shadow dragons—a bloody meat-pulp.

  Whatever they thought about what Neila could do, or how powerful she might be, they were never even close to the truth. And the truth seemed to be that they could feel more than lucky if they worked together in perfect harmony and still managed to survive the encounter with her.

  Cold sweat started to bead on Veilon’s forehead at this thought. He did not want to admit it, but the future had changed. Nothing should have happened the way it did—Neila should have attacked Nightfort, Enargit should have been just by her side, and Cameron should have made sure that Indrek could escape safely.

  However, everything happened differently.

  He was wrong.

  “Get away!” he screamed to the others, then with a word Veilon teleported himself directly on to the Overlord’s back.

  The kobold was almost blown away by the immense heat—his feet were burning, even through his thick boots. His lungs felt dry beyond imagination, making him cough, almost choke. Sweat streamed into his eyes, blinding him.

  Overall he could hardly bear the extreme surroundings. Darkness started to crawl upon him, but he resisted it. The last thing he wanted to do was faint in a situation like this. He restrained every urge of his body, concentrating on the task at hand.

  The dark mage looked up. Neila showed her back to him, as if she were not concerned by his presence at all. The Chaos she created seemed calmer around her for some reason, but still was enough to make the Powers go wild.

  Veilon felt the Forces in his mind, tormenting his senses. It became clear that he could use no magic whatever. In truth, it was a pure miracle that he could teleport himself there in the first place.

  Every mage gained their forces from the World’s Power, but those were under Neila’s control now—boiling and rampaging. So even just thinking about using magic could be deadly for him.

  Veilon had never felt so useless before. Magic gave him the meaning of his life, even though he was not a stranger to wielding a sword either. Yet that never became his true passion; he never actually spent that much time learning the techniques. However, at the moment he had nothing else. Neila took the only thing away that he might have had a chance with.

  The Ruler gulped, although he swallowed nothing—his throat became dry in the heat. He panted heavily as he drew his magical sword out. He managed to get Neila’s attention, al
though when the golden gaze turned to him, he wished he had not. His palms were sweaty and slippery on the hilt.

  Veilon watched with a throbbing heart as she slowly stood up, then also drew her brightly shining sword. She said nothing; her moves seemed to be controlled by something. She took only a quick look at the opposing kobold, then charged forwards with terrible accuracy.

  The Overlord paid no attention to the forming battle on his wide back whatsoever. Its job became to keep the other shadow dragons away.

  The paragon Ruler managed to deflect Neila’s first blow just in time. But he had no chance, which he knew perfectly. She always was better with the sword, and given the choking circumstances, he had absolutely no possibility to win this. He just wanted to give time to the others to escape to form another plan.

  However, he could not do so.

  Neila, as a great swords-maiden should, defeated her opponent with the second strike. She easily dodged Veilon’s faint attempt to injure her leg, then he left his left side open. The kobold obviously realised his mistake, and now he tried to defend, but his movements became too slow in the heat. She charged forwards again immediately, stepping closer to the wide-eyed paragon as she dipped her sword deep into his side.

  Veilon dropped his sword; his gaze became filled with pain as he tried to look for some recognition in that staring golden gaze. She did not even blink as she stepped right before him, still holding the hilt. He felt the blood streaming away, dripping to the Overlord’s hot back, hissing and smoking.

  Neila seemed to take no notice of this. Veilon could be anybody, for all she knew. She obviously had no awareness of any kind about her doings.

  Only a few short moments had passed, but to Veilon they seemed like an eternity. Somewhere from the distance he heard Halgor’s and Elnor’s desperate cries. He felt his blood fly away, making him feel weaker and weaker. He tried to say something, but he could not form the words, or any other kind of voice, for that matter. As a last, desperate try, he held up his shaking right hand, just to touch her face one more time.