“The seas roil beneath the duel of Lleviathaln and Kraquen. Very soon, you may see their coils.” He admitted, explaining everything in such ease.
Shannon stared for a few long moments, fearful but itching to catch a glimpse of the sea serpents, but was quick to turning back to the fire wolf upon the mountains of Hokkaido’s northern tip.
Tiny explosions from her vantage were going off that shouldn’t have been there, as the great isle was being torn asunder by the washing of the undeniable tides. Enfaeri was clearly unwitting of their presence in light of his glee. He was fighting with something that was but only science fiction as far as Shannon and the rest of the world knew.
She knew the Japanese had a great love of machines and robots, as well as giant monsters, ever since she’d seen old Godzilla movies. However, it came as great surprise to see those who remained of Japan’s defenses, actually trying to fight the gargantuan hound, as she presumed was the cause for the detonations that swarmed his blazing form.
The Japanese military, as the American’s had recently discovered, had long been enmeshed in developing giant robots piloted by men to combat not only fictional monsters, but other country’s military forces in the event of any future invasion or attack. No such attack had ever come, but they were still prepared.
They had opened their top-secret vaults in the sudden face of the Dunesil Message. They had put their creations to the test against a sole Black Leaf with only the beginnings of a catastrophic failure that had ended when Shannon had become the White Leaves and stolen away the Black. Now, they were suffering an even more terrible loss, for the fire wolf consumed their tiny robots and missiles as though they were nothing.
It was like watching a great bear attacking a bee’s nest, but this bear didn’t care about getting any honey. He was bent solely on destruction. Fighter jets swarmed all about him in numerous squadrons, flying an intricate assault and unleashing a continuous barrage of missiles from all directions, but largely to no avail. Covered in explosions, Enfaeri was consumed by a great, protective inferno as he moved against the greater toys, ignoring tanks that fired high-tech ammunition at sub-sonic velocities, and various other assailants as if less than irritations by far.
Instead, he moved for the great robotic creations that walked upright like men and fired various armaments into his bulk. Some fired missiles, others were gunners, firing similar high-velocity projectiles at astounding rates, and others possessed some sort of slow-firing beam cannons, presumably mimicking sci-fi tales of photon cannons or high-powered laser-light weaponry.
Amidst it all, Enfaeri’s flesh was shredded in a vicious display of the most advanced military force anyone could have presumed to exist, but the machines were small by comparison to his great bulk. At several hundred feet in height and length, Enfaeri was more than triple the size of the largest machine, and despite his flesh being torn by the high-powered arsenals, he was largely unharmed. The only armaments that seemed to really faze him where those beam cannons, but they fired far too slowly to do any significant harm. And he consumed them, one by one, ripping them to shreds with claws and his triplicate maw beneath howls of delight.
Deh Leccend brought Shannon to a halt at the Sakhalin shores, deciding it would be unwise to take her into the midst of so much firepower. She might be struck and killed by accident. While the fires of Enfaeri could not harm her, the weapons of man certainly were a danger.
“What are you doing, Deh!?” She cried as he set her down.
“We have to help them!” She was urgent, but he shook his head.
“It is too dangerous whilst they work to assault him.” He denied her.
“You must take me to him!” She shouted.
“Not while they fire, milady!” He snapped back.
“If you die, all is most certainly lost. I cannot take you in there until he has ended his wrath upon them!” Deh Leccend was as hard edged as she’d ever seen him in that moment, and she gave up with a huff, reduced to watching helplessly as the fires of Enfaeri consumed the defenders of Hokkaido.
Japan was lost.
Chapter 25
Deh Leccend watched the destruction of Hokkaido as dispassionately as he was able anymore, trying to re-evaluate his prior assumptions in Enfaeri’s coming here. He searched and waited for any sign of an attack against the Power that was not human, but nothing showed itself. He’d expected Edelwizir, but now he couldn’t even smell the wyrm. He was about to give up on expecting the Shadow Lord to appear when a presence touched him.
It just reached down out of the sky before him, an undetectable thing, and then simply was. Like a finger of ice, it snapped into his senses, as it pierced easily into the doorstep of the Veil. A Wyrm had not pierced the Leaf’s Edge in so long, he’d almost forgotten what it felt like to be alerted by it. It startled him, as much as anything could, and without warning Deh scrambled to take the Lady White Leaves by hand.
“Stay Back!” Deh howled at nothing, putting himself between her and the sea.
“Deh?!” Shannon started. “What are you doing!?”
She was already upset by Hokkaido’s fate, and now his erratic behavior was beginning to confuse her. The Black Leaf’s hiss was a warning against the air and it seemed to be nothing more, but she couldn’t smell what he smelled. Within a moment, that changed.
Even she could feel a powerful, sickening presence coming into her own. It was revoltingly ancient, so old just the feel of it seemed to have a smell.
“I am the protector of the Lady Firea’csweise! Bearer of the safety of the Addl’laen’s White Leaves!” He was shouting, drawing forth his little knife and bearing it against the sudden swell of a tremendous, draining hiss.
“Last Leaf, Black, slayer of your kin! Stay Back!” He finished his warning and the air before them split, as if he’d surely scored it with that glorious blade. The hiss rose loudly as darkness crept into being through that scar. It was nothing more than a slit of shadow in the dimming of the sky, but soon, smoke, oily and stringy, leaked free, pouring a fast growing drizzle to the waters before them.
Splashing down as if sludge, and yet rolling across the surface of the waters the power of Edelwizir stilled the churning of the sea in a matter of seconds. Its stillness became complete when every last rippling wave melted into a sheet of dark glass and froze that way.
It was proven not to be a scar on the sky, but much nearer by far, judging by the nearness with which the oil touched down upon the waters at the shores.
A deep echoing chuckle then thundered out of nothingness, joining and overlapping the all-encompassing hiss. Shannon was left to cringing, flesh crawling beneath the foul presence that came to grace them. She suddenly wanted to flee, but was held spellbound and protected by Deh Leccend.
“Little Black Leaf.” A powerful voice boomed, as a pale human foot slipped into being, dropping down from the slit, to be joined by another. Strong, legs followed, garbed in traditional Japanese martial garments as into their presence descended a towering, powerful man with dark eyes beneath a dreadfully shadowed brow.
He touched down upon the glassy waters to stand firmly there before them, and cast only the tiniest of ripples, befitting of his pristine appearance. He was a beautiful man, but it was clear that he was no human by the looks of him alone. He was not all that great in size, but he was a giant somehow. The way he carried himself, the look of him, and the power within him – it all made him seem so important that he was a giant in Shannon’s eyes.
Garbed like a traditional samurai of sorts, albeit blended with Chinese variations to its style, he was also armed by a single, long handled odatchi-looking sword whose handle was blackly wrapped. All of his garments for that matter, were blackly wrought, and his long hair was as dark as night.
“I thought we put you to sleep, Edelwizir!” Deh Leccend hissed violently, a dangerous warning against the wyrm, and Shannon knew him for what he was. He certainly did feel as terrible as a dragon, dripping with shadow and sinister aura.
“You did, Little Black Leaf.” The man hissed, dangerous black eyes narrowing down on Deh, and but only flickering to Shannon, under whose whiteness he bowed lightly.
“Greetings lady White Leaves.” The great wyrm spoke politely, but suddenly, beyond him, Enfaeri wheeled about. The fire wolf had smelled his presence, and hunkered down, preparing to be acknowledged and faced in combat. The great Power let loose an unfathomable pulse of fires, burning away all of his assailants in a single frightful boom that rolled into the sky with soot and smoke and wrought ashes of the majority of the last of the Japanese defenses.
“Get out of my way, Shadow!” Deh hissed. “You cannot stand against us.”
“I could if I chose.” Edelwizer spoke otherwise, hesitating.
“But I have grown weary of life, Black Leaf.” He revealed.
“You could still live on, Edelwizer!” Immediately Deh pressed the wyrm as his earlier prediction proved true. “You could help us put rest to Enfaeri once again, and live on in peace!”
“Nonsense!” The dragon snapped, a terrible, thundering snort of contempt.
“I would never assist the Black Leaf, even if he was the Last of his kin! Nor even if it was the Last hope for the great mother, nor the Addl’laen!” The dragon’s voice so was bitter and defiant Shannon could almost taste and feel it.
“I would never live on in slumber again! I’ll not ever reduce myself to such a wasted shameful existence again!” He trailed off, voice echoing out over the land, shuddering beneath their feet with what could have very well been a god’s voice indeed. It suddenly seemed as though Deh Leccend’s prediction of alliance had gone back to being wrong.
“You do not have to die, Shadow!” Deh Leccend offered. “But if you stand in our way, I will appease your desires to do so!”
“Nonsense!” The dragon snorted contemptuously once again.
“I will fight Enfaeri for my own. I will die at long last in glorious combat, but if I should happen to hold him down in the process that you could perform your salvation of the great mother’s many kin, then I should be unawares of it.” He spoke, a confusing lay of tongue and plans.
Slowly, Deh Leccend caught on, but for once Shannon saw it first. The great Dragon Lord, Edelwizir, the Shadow, was too proud to assist them directly. He was also too sick of life not to end it all by facing Enfaeri in an honorable duel to the death –a duel he must not believe he could ever win. He was acknowledging the fact that he didn’t need to die in wake of the Powers’ returns, and yet he would also be on the one path that would allow him freedom from the slumbering life he’d lived for so long. He was only offering his assistance in a way that would allow him to retain his bitter dignity, and in doing so he was admitting he could only do so much against the Powers.
“You are more noble and wise than you’ve let on all these years, Shadow!” Deh Leccend offered a great bow, lowering his black eyes to the dragon’s final wishes.
“And you are folds more powerful than any Leaf I’ve seen before, but you’re still folds greater the fool, spiteful little creature.” The dragon snapped back elaborately.
“Now if you would be gone that I may face my fate.” He hissed, pointing to a place at their backsides, to the great hill from whence they’d come. Deh Leccend looked to where he pointed, for the dragon did as such for no light reason. Edelwizir, as a Dragon Lord, was capable of great foresight, and it was giving them a hint that only Deh Leccend could see.
Shannon was still in awe and lost to what was being expressed, and she would continue to be so as the once-Lord turned about casually upon the waters, fixing a hand to his great sword’s lengthy handle and lowering himself into a crouch. He was preparing to face the fire wolf, knowing full well that he was going to die. Such honor was lost on the great majority of the world beyond such creatures, and she was filled with his pride, feeling it radiating off of his flesh as Deh started pulling her away. She wished to resist and watch the battle unfold from where she was, but he was shouting at her, pulling her forcefully away.
“Come, Firea’csweise! You must give way!” He shouted insistently, plucking her off her feet and bounding away. A succession of mighty leaps brought her back to her own two feet as he wheeled about and drew forth his knife again, preparing himself for what hadn’t been seen, even by his own eyes in countless millennia. There, far below, could be seen the dark speck of Edelwizir against the glittering of fire on the waters, and he beckoned with his free hand from his low, sprawling stance. He refused to draw his blade, but bid the fire hound to come to him.
“Come! Foul Demon of futile fire! Come! Face your death, and I shall grant thee sleep again!” The great wyrm challenged, and his voice was a thunder in the heavens, a slow lazy drawl for all its forceful insistence. Shannon could only shiver beneath the foul voice of the once-wicked and sole remaining wyrm of the oldest world.
“Be not afraid.” Deh Leccend cast over his shoulder for her, but Shannon wasn’t afraid. She was excited. Despite the vile feel of the great shadow’s voice, she wished to see this. The nobility of Edelwizir was admirable, and she liked him, despite what he so obviously was. She knew his redemption, as surely as Deh Leccend now knew it.
Enfaeri heard the challenge to combat, and he rose up from his hunched crouch, extending his frame in full poise as he loosed a terrible howl. His flames rose up like a bolt to the blackened heavens, joining his ode to the moon. He then lowered his jaws as his voice echoed across the sea, and passed by the onlookers before dwindling to nothing. A violent snort of hatred and ungodly power followed momentarily. But by the time the sounds passed, Enfaeri had started forth, hesitating only a moment before he bounded, plunging into the raging waters. Bound after bound, he burned the sea to no more than steam, and set it to roiling and writhing beneath him once again. The distance was great, and it was a long charge. But Edelwizir remained as he was throughout.
Edelwizir didn’t move, and neither did the glass of his kept waters. Not even the tiniest ripple disturbed his dojo.
“When it is time, Firea’csweise, you must lay your hand upon him!” Deh Leccend shouted as the combat drew nigh. He then dropped into a crouch as the fire wolf crossed the last of the waters, ruining their dragon-wrought complacency.
Even at his size, Enfaeri couldn’t have parted the Seas of Okhotsk and Japan from the tip of Hokkaido to Sakhalin whilst forcing a swell ahead of himself. The great seas of the world were simply too deep, even for him, and beneath the wrath of the Powers, Lleviathan and Kraqen, he stood even less chance of surviving a charge through a sea. However, Enfaeri’s power was so incredibly vast, he shoved a tide ahead of his lunges and parted the waters with plenty to spare.
Edelwizir was solid, poised and waiting, and his waters stood still and deep.
Shannon’s eyes widened as the Power drew nigh. It was a showdown, and it only came more swiftly with the mounting tsunami before the demon. The wall of water grew and grew, driving against the ancient Shadow until all at once, he was arrived and lunging upon the dragon. Edelwizir waited until his last possible moment before exploding into action.
His great sword was ripped from its scabbard, rising up in a single mighty stroke, but the hound was still not close enough to be struck. Instead, the dragon took over the fire wolf’s tsunami. In a mighty upheaval, all of his complacent waters surged ahead, rising up to consumed the incoming wave. A thunder of water and power coughed into in the earth beneath her feet, throwing Shannon to her knees as she watched the Power disappear behind a wall of water greater than anything she’d imagined possible, not even after movies with fantastic special effects.
The waters of Edelwizir’s stroke heaved back and overcame the fire wolf, and for a moment only the light of Enfaeri could be seen beyond the wall. It swept over him, and went crashing down, snuffing out his fires in a thunderous burst of steam. Shannon gasped wildly as his light died. Impossible. The Power’s power couldn’t to be snuffed out at all, she’d thought. But sure enough, the fires had
vanished. Enfaeri came crashing through the wave, as a mass of smoke and cinders, and he sounded as if he was coughing and sputtering, as though a man inhaling blistering smoke.
The fire hound seemed to have lost something of his strength and purpose. He seemed staggered by it, but still pounded down upon what should have been a little figure. The land shuddered. Edelwizir was gone.
The Power snarled, an awful gurgling growl, and its head lifted in a snap. Shannon realized the demon had been tricked at about the same time as the demon had. All at once, the heavens crackled with lightning, thundering and booming as the great Shadow simply appeared. He just was, just as a god should, and even looked the part oriental humans had made dragons out to be.
Unfathomably long and serpentine, bearing only shadows as wings, Edelwizir’s coils sprang into being all about the fire wolf’s massive bulk. The Shadow was easily the superior in size, black as ink, and instantly was he constricting in about every aspect of the demon’s frame. He latched on with his mighty claws, and his screeching voice was a thunder all its own, filled with a wrath not even the Power had expected.
E.L.F. - White Leaves Page 34