"What is that?" Cyclux said.
"What smells so foul?" Ethan asked.
"Troll! Run!" Linda screamed, but the troll was very close now. He raised his club and was going to deal whoever it falls on, a heavy blow, but an elf grabbed him by the ear that minute. It felt like there was a fly pulling him by the ear, it made him drop his club, several shrubs crashing under it. He tried to get it, but the other elf started pulling him by the other ear. With very quick speed, the elves moved from the ground and straight to the troll's head, to distract him. The stench from the troll's ear was killing, but the elves tried hard to hold on. The troll was completely disoriented, it was difficult to nab the elves while they pulled on his ears, and they were too nimble. Ethan, Cyclux and Linda stopped when the stomping of the troll's feet was not advancing towards them, but continued on a spot. They walked back slowly and saw the troll galumphing around on a spot, it was difficult to see what was happening- it was dawning but it was misty still.
"We will go for its eyes... since we can't pull out its heart." One of the elves shouted to the other, but the troll's large palm was coming for him, he vanished immediately and made for its nose. The troll had been hitting itself instead, the more it tried to get the elves off its head, the more it slapped itself. The other elf joined the one hanging on the troll's nose, the troll was already reaching for them to grab them, off its nose and squeeze them to death. In one single blow, both elves went straight for its eyes, for the eye sockets; and with difficulty, the eyes were almost pulled out. It was more difficult to pluck out the troll's eyes than to pluck out a werewolf's heart, but it was enough to render the troll useless and gravely angry. It wriggled them off what was left of its eyes and started roaring very angrily. It dropped to its knees and started pounding on the ground. It felt like an earthquake was eminent. The elves sprinted towards them and they all started running again.
They came to the cliff; one of the elves was almost slipping off the edge, before Ethan pulled him back. There was a great expanse of water below the cliff, they watched as waves clashed continuously, at the sea shore and against the side of the cliff.
"That is the cult of the sea. This sea surrounds an island, that's the ocean fortress." Linda said.
"How do we get there, this place is quite lofty..." Cyclux looked over the cliff and squinted to see the island, but the mist was still evident in the air, despite the morning ray spreading over the surrounding in pale light.
Linda asked Ethan, "Can you swim?" He answered in the affirmative.
"We will jump."
"We will what?" Ethan walked over to Cyclux's side; he could still see traces of green beyond the crashing waves, beyond the shore.
"Jump," reiterated Linda.
The two elves walked in front of Ethan and Cyclux, "hang on tightly." They chorused. Ethan and Cyclux held to one elf each and then poof! They were in the air and then the sea below the next minute, each man struggling to stable himself and start swimming to the shore. The elves had taken off almost immediately they got into the sea. Ethan and Cyclux started swimming across the salt water, trying hard not to swallow water. Ethan could feel Linda's weight descend into the sea and then up again, behind them. It felt like they've been swimming for hours, but the shore wasn't in view yet, the elves were quite fast, Linda had also swam past them. There was a sudden rumbling in the sea, to Ethan's left side, it continued and was becoming heavier and closer. Cyclux knew something was coming for them, he pulled Ethan and gestured that they swim faster. The creature behind the rumbling soon emerged, swimming towards them. Ethan saw what was coming for them, but he couldn't see it well. However, he knew it's nothing like what he has seen before, his heart slammed in his chest repeatedly. It had three ugly heads and a horn protruding on each, a big, round waist and a single tail. It was swimming very fast and closing up on them, Ethan and Cyclux were not making much progress. Linda and the elves had gone ahead, Cyclux could not think of any spell he can cast inside water and the sea monster was almost upon them. Ethan felt it was futile to try to swim faster now, the sea monster was now upon them. He drew his sword and in one decisive blow, he slashed the monster across the nose on one of its head, he drew much blood, but was only enough to anger the creature, the sword was less effective in water. The monster made a long, loud screech and then hit Ethan and Cyclux with its tail, the blow hit Ethan more, he lost balance immediately. Ethan started drowning; he was going down, right to the bottom. The blow had hit him hard on one arm, which had become almost lame and with the pollen sack strung to it, it felt very heavy. He held tightly to the sword with the other arm, he could see the clear light of dawn piercing the water surface, through the sea and reflecting on the seabed. Ethan felt a rough hand pull him by the heavy arm, it was one of the elves, he pulled him up and they fought their way through, to the surface. When they got to the sea shore, Linda and the other elf were already there; Cyclux was sitting down and breathing heavily.
"It's a sea monster... you will be fine." Linda said as Ethan walked towards them, holding one arm.
"How did you...?"
"We knew you were in danger, I wasn't too far, I was able to disarm it before it got to Cyclux a second time and the elves came back to help." Ethan nodded slightly, as he dropped to the ground next to Cyclux. They both sat down, dripping with water, the sun was barely out. "We should start moving towards the fortress." Linda announced.
THE CULT OF THE SEA
The wall surrounding the island was exactly like the one around the fort in the woodland, but the wall served as fortification for the whole city. They had to walk round the walls until they came to the entrance of the city. There was a huge gate at the entrance instead of a portcullis; it opened once the security personnel at the entrance allow you in- like the mist towers. Their uniform was however gray and not blue. Without any ado, Linda told them what their mission was and how they had entered the island. The security men were enthusiastic and already had instructions to lead them to the cult leader once they came. The cult of the sea was about three times bigger than the cult of mist and beautiful too. The buildings were well laid out, with carefully mowed lawns. Ethan could understand Micah's sentiment.
Lucas Mistbloom was totally different from his sister; slim, tall and very much younger. He was enthusiastic about their mission and he pledged his support immediately he met them.
"My sister is evil, she should be on Cryptmaw's side already!" Lucas said. "I'm a big supporter of this cause. I don't think you know what you've been doing in Lonus, look... you are at the front pages of our newspapers. He brought out a copy of LNN: Lonus News Network. Ethan saw himself and Cyclux sitting at the banquet table, smiling, Cyrus was addressing the assembly and then he would raise his goblet at intervals- like a short video on replay. The elves were particularly happy to see it, the article attached was about their defeat of the werewolves and werecats. The article mentioned his parents briefly, who they were. If Ethan had not visit the mystic falls, he would be learning that his mother was a witch and related to the Jaydefire family on the pages of the newspaper. "The media community of Lonus has started taking the Prophesy seriously. Just yesterday, the chancellor of the ministry of magic, earth division said a new age might be dawning on us." Lucas continued, beaming with smile. "I know a secret path into dragon's island, very fast. Please excuse me for a second, I'll be back." Lucas left. Ethan just noticed a picture on the wall, two kids: a boy and a girl were running with a man in a replay, like the picture on the front page of the newspaper. Ethan walked closer; it looked like the Mistblooms; Lucas and Micah playing with their father at the sea shore.
"Here, my father's..." Lucas came in with a pair of boots, before he noticed Ethan staring at the picture. "We used to be one big family." He said quickly, Ethan noticed there was sadness in his tone. "...do you have the pants?"
"Yes," Ethan looked at the others, then said, "we met your spy, he stole it already..."
"That seems the only way to get anything from Micah.
"
"By stealing…?" Linda asked, but Lucas only laughed and avoided the question. "He's dead... your spy is dead. Micah's troll killed him." Linda watched the smile vanish from his face.
Ethan collected the boots and wore them immediately. "We have to go now."
"Yes, follow me please." Lucas said. They went round the building until they got to a lake. "The entrance is in the lake, find it, it will lead you to an underground tunnel. It leads straight to the dragon's island. You will need light and... courage." Lucas told them.
THE DRAGON'S ISLAND
The lake was shallow at first, but it became deeper as they walked into it, while the elves had started swimming, midway into the lake. They opened a small, round gate, that led into the tunnel. Walking through the underground tunnel, reminded Ethan of his first encounter with Cyclux and their journey through the secret passageway, from his father's library to the archive. The only light source in the dark tunnel was Linda's wand, the elves led the way. The journey through the tunnel was long and tiring. The sun had fully appeared above the horizon and was shining mildly, when they got to the other side. They had to swim to the oceanfront. The tunnel passed under a vast water body- a very deep and wide ocean.
What lied before them, ahead, beyond the oceanfront, was very gigantic, it looked like the ruins of a massive stone citadel, very wide.
"This place used to serve as the stronghold of the inhabitants of the ocean fortress. Whenever there was a war and the fortress cannot hold back the enemy, they will escape, as many as possible, through the tunnel, to the citadel here." Linda said.
"How did it become the dragon's island?" Ethan squinted to see the ruins, in the distance, for any sign of a winged beast, but there was none.
"Cryptmaw... He took over the place and killed everyone that was there. The citadel has been reduced to this ever since." Linda gestured to the rubble ahead.
"We should go..." One of the elves said.
They walked into the citadel; it used to have massive walls all around it, some of which had been reduced into rubbles here and there. The sun was beaming in the blue sky and its rays descended unrestricted on them, whatever was covering the citadel had been completely removed. Massive stones were scattered everywhere, they had to tread carefully. The place was strangely quiet and gravely, like nothing living was there. They heard a horrific screech suddenly that made all of them stop in their tracks, it shook the walls and shook all of them with fear. All of Ethan's anticipation was not adequate enough to prepare him for what he saw next. A large beast was descending; its massive wings were outstretched, blocking off the sun rays completely, as though the covering of the citadel had been replaced; it looked like its large sharp claws were coming for them, right for their heads, but it folded its claws, flew over them and landed some distance away, several large stones crumbled beneath it. Each scarlet gray scale was almost as big as a goblin, it's yellow eyes were mean and searching. It then screeched, so loud, so horrific, so terrifying; Ethan felt the very ends of Lonus will hear it; they all became sore afraid, it was spine-chilling. Ethan knew they had little or no chance against the dragon, and then there was another screech from within the walls, it was less horrific, but it made them worse.
"Are they two?" Ethan asked, clearly frightened.
"I don't know... There might be more, we are in the dragon's island." Linda said with a shaky voice, she was definitely not prepared for that.
To Ethan's utter dismay; several other less horrific screeches filled the air, loud enough to make Cyclux shake and drop to his knees. Several dragons, less massive, less frightening; matured dragonets and had started breathing fire. They all landed and surrounded them- the ground shook as they did so, every one of them covering what remained of the walls and the entrance. Migol appeared from behind the dragon, he laughed mockingly, smirking annoyingly. He had a very odd and cold appearance: bald and scarred on both cheeks. "What were you thinking... that you will come into the dragon's island and then kill the great Cryptmaw. You will then leave unscratched. really...?" He started another round of laughter and started clapping, "wonderful, wonderful... look at Cyclux, he is going to piss in his pant." He said mockingly. Another person appeared from behind the dragon, she wore a long robe, which was almost covered with fur. Her fluffy, wool-like, gray hair was loosely swaying around her shoulders.
"Lexis!" Ethan shouted.
The revelation shocked Ethan more than the horrific screeching of the dragons. Cyclux was almost paralyzed with despair; the elves were shifting uneasily, Ethan saw fear in their faces for the first time; Linda was completely confused, as much as she wanted to fight and die trying, there was something going on, she does not understand.
"Lexis..." Ethan said again.
"I am Thayatira... Lexis was just a stupid name I needed for proper disguise. Oh! It's refreshing to be back as me." She smirked and walked in her usual gracefulness but there was nothing graceful about her features. She wore the same intimidating look she had, at the volcano volt, her face was glowing. She glazed at Ethan, "your mother was stupid and so are you, you think you are gutsy but you are just stupid."
"Thayatira should be very old by now. Stop bluffing..."
"From whom did Migol learn the spell he cursed Cyclux with, how did I slow down his ageing?" She laughed. "I could only slow it down because he was cursed... poor Cyclux, but I wasn't... I can remain youthful as long as I want." She walked towards them, stopping few inches away, "an Ebron witch, I thought you were extinct already." She gave Linda a piercing look, Linda fumed. She then turned and glared at Migol. Cryptmaw's silent groans punctuated her every word.
"But you have Jonathan's baby..." Ethan said.
She lets out a long, horrible laughter that sounded like a shriek. "The Jaydefire brothers are just victims of an unfortunate circumstance... like your mother and your father."
"You killed Jonathan?"
"And his brother before him... I only said I was pregnant because you can understand the despair of a pregnant woman."
"Where is Jessica? If anything is wrong-"
"Migol has been taking care of her and we didn't touch the baby, oh... the fetus." Lexis smirked, she then turned to the elves, "elves are also part of your great army, I guess you will be plucking out a dragon's heart. This is not the first time your kind has died by a dragon's fire." She sneered. One of the elves charged at her immediately, aiming for her heart, he was very swift but Lexis sent him flying by a wave of the hand, he ended under the claws of one of the dragonets, pinned to the ground.
"Why didn't you just kill us at Jonathan's house or at the volcano volts?" Cyclux shouted dejectedly, he was standing up now.
"Because, my dear Cyclux, you will not be here with everything I need. All the weapons gathered from all the seven lands, a warlock and an Ebron witch..." She paused and then continued when she was sure her words had the effect she wanted. Cyclux's face whitened and Linda's brow furrowed. "The only useless things here are the elves and of course, Ethan- without his weapons and the witch also, without her wand."
Linda angrily stretched her wand at her that minute, but a great blow hit her, twice stronger than Micah's, she passed out, her wand flying in another direction. Ethan held his sword tightly in one hand and the shield in the other, he wanted to charge, but Lexis appeared before him in an eye blink. It felt like a déjà vu, like a replay of what happened in Micah's office. "I don't want to kill you. I allow Cryptmaw finish off the men, and then when the warlock is dead, I can have his heart and the control of all dragons. Only few of these dragonets razed down a village at the frozen wastelands, I wonder what they will do to two men." She vanished immediately and appeared beside Cryptmaw, who lets out another loud screech and a spine-chilling shriek filled the air from the dragons. They started moving towards them and encircling them, releasing the elf that had been pinned down. Ethan saw gushes of smoke from their nostrils; each step of a dragon shook the ground and gave a heavy, loud thwack, as the claws touched the ground
. Ethan knew they would turn into ashes at any minute, as they were completely covered by the huge creatures.
"lemanne vaneza lipro gaveosa!" Cyclux squealed.
All the dragons bowed, screeched very loud and backed off. Cryptmaw was raged and he charged at them, releasing a mouthful of fire, Ethan moved forward quickly and shielded them; he held his shield and raised the sword in defense and it sucked Cryptmaw’s fire. Lexis watched from a distance. Migol appeared with Jessica next to her. Ethan’s heart started beating faster, his stomach dropped; he saw Jessica struggling to free herself from Migol’s grip, but she was bound. The elves came back together, and started to upset and distract Cryptmaw; but unlike the troll, he shook them off easily. He roared angrily at the other dragons, but none of them responded, they awaited Cyclux’s next command. Linda stirred and staggered to her feet, but her wand was nowhere to be found. Cryptmaw kept shaking off the elves and almost grabbed one; he was releasing gushes of fire as he did so.
"Jessica…! Jessica…!" Ethan shouted to Cyclux.
Linda moved towards Lexis, away from Ethan and Cryptmaw, looking for her wand.
"Looking for this…?" Lexis waved her wand to her. She stood her ground and glared at her. "Aren’t you useless without your wand… witch…?" Lexis moved quickly towards her and gave her a blinding slap; she fell to the ground.
Cyclux approached Migol very quickly, a new kind of power surging through him. Migol held Jessica still; using her as a human shield.
"Stop... Stop, I'll kill her..." He said, he was afraid, afraid of Cyclux. Cyclux kept moving towards him, he wasn't listening to him, he wanted him pleading for his life; but a strong billow hit him from the side and swept him off his feet. Lexis was now upon him, she was holding Linda's wand, Linda was moaning at the other end, lying on the ground. With Lexis taking care of Cyclux, Migol could carry out his plan; he dragged Jessica to the middle, very close to Cryptmaw, where he can easily breath fire on her. Ethan did not see him, Cryptmaw's size made it difficult to see behind him and he never relented from breathing fire either; thanks to the elves, he would have grabbed him in his massive claws. He felt useless against the dragon, his weapons only protected him, it was difficult to move near him. Cryptmaw soon noticed Jessica moaning and crawling behind, he turned quickly, his tail hit Ethan in the solar plexus and he fell. He breathed fire as soon as he turned, Jessica tried so hard to crawl to safety but she could not, the fire was coming for her.
Dragon and Prophesy Page 15