“Is that so?”
Finally. Eric, however, hadn’t felt as good as he’d hoped upon hearing the voice of Ragnor. He gulped as he saw the fog begin to dissipate and the ground rumble.
“Get into the air,” he mumbled to Margol. His dragon ascended about a dozen feet, hovering. “Flee on my command.”
Then, seconds later, the face of Ragnor came over the mountains. With the massive dragon’s size, its face alone dwarfed Eric and Margol. At least it’s still scarred. It hasn’t fully healed yet.
“Oh, no, you found me,” Eric said, though he sounded a lot less sure about his position than before. “Well, let’s play anew. Come and get me!”
“Oh, you want me to come and get you?” the dragon said, followed by some laughter. “Don’t mind if I do. And don’t mind if I brought some friends. It’s only fair.”
Behind Ragnor, two sights that Eric thought impossible returned.
Over Ragnor’s left shoulder, a majestic blue dragon appeared, its skin fully healed, ice seeming to fall with ease off of its wings.
And over Ragnor’s right shoulder, a great dragon with a black hide, a single horn on its head, multi-colored chest, and thick arms rose.
No. The other two legendary dragons? Indica? Bahamut?
We have to fight all three at once?
The three dragons formed a triangle, with Ragnor’s face making the bottom point. The great, real legendary dragon let out a laugh.
“What’s the matter, Eric Garland, you don’t want to play anymore?”
Eric gulped. The time for games had ended.
“GO!”
Margol banked hard to northeast. Eric gripped tightly. The dragon soared. Behind him, all three legendary dragons bellowed.
“Kill him and all of this world!”
Eric heard all three dragons roaring in unison, with Ragnor’s by far providing the loudest volume, but Eric didn’t dare look back. He lowered his body to reduce the air drag as much as he could.
He didn’t have to turn back to hear the newly created dragons pursuing him, alone with a horde of other dragons. Though he did not turn his head, he did turn his eyes upward to see that the storm clouds had all but caught up to him, the rumbling thunder and scattering lightning making a beeline for him and his dragon.
“Come on!”
No matter how fast Margol flew, he couldn’t fly fast enough. Only when Yeva and Zelda had joined the fight would he feel any sense of hope. Right now, he had one mission—escape.
He had gotten enough of a jump on the rest of the monsters that he and Margol easily evaded the dragon’s attacks, although Indica’s blue flame came a bit too close for comfort once.
After about fifteen minutes of flying, he stole a glance back. Somehow, the situation looked even bleaker than he had thought.
With its smaller size, Indica kept up the closest pace, followed by Bahamut.
But following them was not Ragnor, but seemingly hundreds of smaller dragons. Eric didn’t bother to count how many he saw, only to note how much of the sky he could see.
Which was to say, very little of it.
Behind those smaller dragons, Ragnor flew at an easy pace, laughing and taunting Eric as they made their way to Caia. I sure hope Zelda or Yeva sees this right now.
“What’s the matter, Eric, you don’t like playing anymore?” Ragnor said. “A shame. I would have thought that you would play with more of my friends!”
Eric didn’t respond. He didn’t bother to look back again. It would only make the situation worse.
It took nearly an hour before Caia came to view in the northeast, but when he did, Eric did not bother to hide his shout for joy. He couldn’t make out any details or see Yeva, Zelda, or their summoned dragons, but he didn’t mind—they had to hide.
“Me not last long,” Margol said. “Me weak.”
“No, no, no, Margol, not now,” Eric said. “You can rest when we get to Caia. Don’t stop now!”
“Me so tired, but me fly!”
For about five more minutes, Margol lived up to its word. But then, inevitably, fatigue caught up. Eric glanced back, noticing Indica gaining ground. In just a minute or so, it would get in range to deliver a killing blow.
“Now you have no choice but to play!” Ragnor said with glee. “I knew this moment would come! I must admit, Eric, pulling me from my rest was not something I thought you would do. But your moment is short lived and my reign shall last forever.”
“Come on, come on, come on,” Eric gritted through his teeth. He only needed about five more minutes before he’d reach Caia. But he wasn’t sure he had five more seconds. He glanced back once more to see Indica had gone above him, preparing to dive for Margol and knock him off his dragon. He grabbed his sword and, awkwardly, fired a fire spell at Indica, but the dragon dodged it with ease.
“Oh, that fiery spunk! Literally!” Ragnor bellowed, followed by a demonic laugh. “I don’t even mind having awoken now. But your time will end now. Indica!”
The dragon folded its wings and reared its head back. It began closing the gap and preparing to fire upon Eric. Eric, seeing no way out, closed his eyes. I did what I could. Zelda, Yeva, the battle is in your hands now. Good luck.
Mom. Rey. Auron. I’m coming for you.
And then he heard a loud screech.
But it had not come from his dragon. Eric opened his eyes as he saw a cascade of fire crashing into the side of Indica, knocking it off course and out of position. Eric looked left and let out a triumphant cheer.
“Yeva!” he screamed.
She let out a loud cheer as she and Luca combined for some blistering fire spells, pushing Bahamut and some of the smaller dragons away. She stayed away from Ragnor, but he had fallen back so far he posed no imminent threat.
“Hah! You brought your girlfriend! It will matter not. You can share your love in the afterlife when I take both of yours!”
But finally, Eric had a safe shot to Caia. Luca and Yeva pulled up to his and Margol’s side.
“Don’t ever make me do that again,” Eric said.
“You volunteered yourself!” Yeva said with a laugh.
“You—oh, I did,” Eric said. “Anyways, is Zelda ready?”
Yeva didn’t respond, instead pointing forward.
In the distance, Zelda rose on the back of Emera. Behind her, hundreds of dragons rose, perhaps as many smaller dragons as Ragnor had created. Suddenly, the battle felt a lot more balanced.
Ragnor had the legendary dragons. But Eric had the legendary magi by his side.
Ragnor held its monsters back as Eric and Yeva flanked Zelda, the two sides squaring off on each other. The sides almost seemed to have a perfect one to one ratio. Eric, Yeva, and Zelda. Indica, Bahamut, and Ragnor. Hundreds of dragons. Perhaps even thousands of dragons.
All over the city that had once housed most of humanity.
“You dare to stand in my way, to use my power against me, and to believe you have a shot against me?!?” Ragnor cried out. “Blasphemy! I hold the power of the god Iblis within. Nothing shall defy me.”
“That’s where you’re wrong, Ragnor!” Zelda shouted. “We have the power of Chrystos. And more importantly, we have a world to fight for. We’re not going to win by destroying what we hate, but saving what we love. We love this world for all its flaws and imperfections. We will not let you destroy it.”
“Bah!” Ragnor snorted. “Existence is nothing but misery and agony. You have brought both of those things to this world for far too long. It is time for you all to end so that I may remake this world free of all life!”
Eric glanced at Zelda’s face. She still had focus, but she had something else underlying it too.
Intense revulsion for the dragon before her. Eric couldn’t guess at what she had beneath that, but if he had to guess, he suspected everything evil she had ever encountered was placed on the face of Ragnor.
“Kill them!”
“Let’s go!” Eric shouted.
The two si
des flew at each other, the most legendary battle of the war between good and evil, the war of humanity and of the magi, having begun.
***
Zelda, having the only line of communication to the dragons she had created, telepathically communicated to them as she, Eric, and Yeva advanced. In a matter of seconds, both sides would collide and utter chaos would begin.
“You must take out the smaller dragons and not stop until they are all gone,” she said through her mind. “Ragnor may summon more. Your only focus will be on those smaller dragons. If they stop appearing, take out Indica and Bahamut. But only if no other dragons appear.”
All she got were screeches and cries of war back at her, but she knew she had their support. She reached out to Yeva with the same voice.
“I’m going to go after Ragnor. I need you and Eric to keep Indica and Bahamut off my back. Whatever you do, don’t join me in the fight. Those other two dragons will kill us if someone isn’t drawing their attention.”
Then, to her surprise, Yeva responded.
“Understood.”
Zelda didn’t have time to turn and give an acknowledging smile. She didn’t really have time for anything but war.
The dragons on the other side had but seconds before colliding. Zelda tightened her hands around the neck of Emera. For all who have perished. For Chrystos. I fight.
“Let’s go!” she shrieked as fire broke out everywhere.
Emera zigged and zagged, snaked around, and slithered her way through the walls of dragon and fire that came. Behind her, complete disorder broke out as dragons of different sizes, colors, and power went to war. The sound of fire became as ubiquitous as screeches and bellows.
She made her way past the blue flame of Indica, which ended as Yeva sped ahead and took her on. Bahamut never even got a shot at her, having to dodge the fireball Eric had shot with his sword.
Soon, she came to Ragnor, hovering near the back, watching the battle with great interest.
“Ahh, the embodiment of a god has come to face me,” Ragnor said. “I suppose you are the only worthy adversary in this field for me.”
“Save it, Ragnor!” Zelda shouted. “I have the powers of all three dragons! I’m going to win this battle and send you back to the depths of hell!”
Ragnor shot a wall of flame, which she and Emera easily dodged. She veered to the side of Ragnor’s face from which she had fired her first explosive spell, leaving scars that still remained. She leaned back and prepared a powerful lightning spell.
As she shot it, time seemed to slow once more. She focused all of her fury upon that spell, all of the power from Bahamut’s, Indica’s and even Ragnor’s essences flowing into the bolts of lightning. The battle behind her all but slowed to a pause, and the magic moved at Ragnor with ferocious speed. The world had stilled around her.
Except, that is, for Ragnor itself.
Despite the beating wings of the dragon that Zelda sat upon all but stopped, Ragnor dodged the magic with such ease it looked like Zelda had gotten stuck in time. Ragnor laughed as the world around them came back to a normal speed.
“You caught me off-guard once, but you won’t do that again! You are not the only one with power to slow time, child.”
Zelda grimaced but tried not to get frustrated. The battle would continue for a long, long time, possibly beyond this day.
She banked Emera hard downward as Ragnor launched another spell of fire at her. She felt her stomach lurch up into her throat, but what had once caused her to scream in sheer terror didn’t even produce a sound.
When she turned around to face Ragnor, it had settled on the ground, standing on its hind legs. In this position, it looked impossibly large, blocking her view of the entire rest of the battle.
No matter. She would find a way to win. She narrowed her eyes and had Emera charge forth for her to get into range.
Ragnor began beating its wings, creating winds that soon had Zelda and Emera unable to move forward.
“Come… on!” Zelda said, her cheeks pushed back by the winds.
Out of pure instinct to advance, she launched a fire spell, but she had to duck when the very flames that she had created got pushed back.
“Hahaha, what’s the matter, child?” Ragnor said as storm clouds reached the battlefield. It gave Zelda an idea. “You are the most powerful mage in the world, and yet you cannot even defeat simple wind? Pathetic. I had—”
Zelda let out a loud grunt as she used Bahamut’s power to manipulate the very world around her. She reached her hand out and had a lightning bolt rip down from the clouds above her, colliding with Ragnor’s right wing. The dragon let out a loud groan as it stumbled back, its wind disappearing immediately.
“Go! Go! Go!”
Emera charged forth, its wings tucked back to increase its speed. Just as Ragnor regained its balance, Zelda unleashed a torrent of multi-elemental spells, her ice, electricity, fire, and wind spells combining for a vicious attack upon Ragnor’s chest. The force knocked the great dragon backward as Zelda and Emera advanced.
The spells knocked Ragnor to the ground. Emera flew up and banked around, coming in for another pass. Within seconds, Ragnor had flipped over and flew up to meet the mage.
“You are a true manifestation of a god,” he said. “I enjoy fighting an opponent worthy of my time. But your end has come. Zelda! You will join your mother in the fires of hell!”
***
This is pure insanity.
Eric flew at Bahamut with no plan other than distracting the dragon before him. Ahead of him, Zelda sought out Ragnor, the only one capable of winning that fight, while beneath him, Yeva took on Indica, the fastest and perhaps, therefore, the most dangerous of the legendary dragons.
Of course, that left him with the one they called the king of kings. I guess if I’m going to become the greatest dragon hunter there ever is…
He charged, firing a blast of fire from his sword. Bahamut, though, curled one of its wings in and easily deflected the spell. In fact, it actually reflected the spell at Eric, who had to have Margol dive just to avoid the blast.
“I’m not going to try that one again,” he mumbled to himself.
But he knew he just might have to. He didn’t have much of a say in the matter.
Bahamut remained in place as Eric advanced. The dragon seemed content to let Eric come forward.
Too content.
The tail…
At the last second, Eric broke off the charge, dodging the deadly spear of Bahamut’s tail by inches.
“Close one, Margol!” Eric shouted.
“Me scared! But me fight!”
“We’re all scared.”
Eric brought the dragon around and hovered about two dozen feet before Bahamut, which remained in place, watching with almost complete disinterest. Eric tried to embed his sword with electricity and fired a spell. While Bahamut could not reflect it as it had the fire, it dodged the spell with relative ease.
So Eric tried an ice spell, But this one Bahamut reflected back, and again Eric had to maneuver Margol out of the way. He looked at the legendary dragon, which taunted Eric by remaining in place, refusing to engage any further.
“Come on!” Eric yelled.
The dragon just snorted.
“You’re a coward!” Eric yelled. “I can see why you take after Ragnor, you know. It’s the real king of kings.”
But the Bahamut clone still did not move. It’s not the real Bahamut. It won’t feel insulted by what I say. I can’t goad it into anything.
Eric stole a second to look down at Yeva, Luca, and Indica. They engaged in an aerial dogfight, an actual fight that looked like two monsters circling each other, staring each other down without any actual action.
“You fight like a rat,” Eric spat, but again, Bahamut did not move.
So long as this battle remained one on one, Bahamut would have the upper hand, Eric knew that. He could not pull Yeva away. He certainly could not pull Zelda away. As long as the dragons behind
him had to fight Ragnor’s dragons, he couldn’t pull them away either.
So it’s just us, then. You. Me. Margol.
Wait…
“Margol, I want you to do something that’s going to seem crazy, but I need you to do it,” Eric said.
“Me do whatever you say, master.”
Eric leaned forward and whispered his plan, his eyes on Bahamut the whole time. The dragon seemed content to let Eric sit there, knowing it would win any battle it took on. Eric’s plan depended entirely on its arrogant passivity.
“Me do that?!?”
Eric had to admit the plan didn’t seem like the most sane move, but at least it involved skills he’d used in the past.
“Yes, Margol, you do that. I don’t know if it will work, but I know what won’t work. Everything we’ve done so far and anything else I can think of.”
Margol snorted, the smoke coming out of its nose with ease.
“Me do that. Me do that!”
Eric smiled at his dragon’s willingness to execute his plan, even if it seemed likely that one of them would, at best, suffer some serious wounds in the process.
He had Margol back up perhaps two dozen feet, the better to give him a runway to Bahamut. Still, the legendary dragon did not move. Eric did notice it glancing at Indica and Yeva, but it made no move when Eric stayed in place.
“You ready, Margol?”
“Me ready! Me honored with you, Eric!”
“Don’t get the eulogies ready just yet, Margol,” Eric said with a chuckle. “OK, let’s go!”
Margol roared, rose above five feet, and charged at Bahamut, prepared to execute Eric’s last gasp for a plan.
***
“I know where my mother lies, Ragnor!” Zelda screamed. “And it’s not with Iblis! She is too strong of a woman to ever join your master!”
“Hahaha! Oh, child, the things you do not know.”
No. It can’t be. There’s no way. Mama was good.
“Let me show you something, girl. Let me get inside your mind and show you the truth.”
Zelda could feel the spirit of Ragnor creeping into her brain, and she tried to resist it. She sought control of her mind. With a gasp, she ordered Emera to keep her distance as she fought for control.
Legends of the War (War of the Magi Book 3) Page 36