Rosinanti_Rise of the Dragon Lord

by Kevin J. Kessler

  Come to me, Val, her voice spoke into his mind. Only Valentean knew this was not the woman he loved. Rather, it was the chaos that would aid him in returning to her side. Come to me, and this can all be ours. It wasn’t speaking of the floating fortress where Seraphina’s energy resided nor the city that they would liberate. That precious something the chaos spoke of was Terra itself. And a part of Valentean’s mind burned at the thought of it.

  “So, this is it,” Maura said. Valentean turned to see her and Nahzarro walking down the ramp to stand in the snow beside Nevick.

  “It is,” Valentean replied, sizing up the resolve of his warriors. Nevick was stoic and steadfast as ever, arms folded across his broad chest as his emerald cloak billowed behind him in the breeze. Nahzarro was grace and poise made flesh, nose pointed high, top hat immaculately placed upon his head. Maura’s jaw was clenched tight, her hands resting upon the twin Grassani daggers at her sides. In this rare moment of mental clarity, Valentean made direct eye contact with his oldest ally and gave her a small nod.

  He saw relief wash across her gaze as Maura returned the nod and moved to him, looking beyond the animus warrior at the city they were to invade. “You really never get used to seeing that flying monster, do you?” she asked, gesturing toward the immense fortress.

  “No, you do not,” Valentean replied, shaking his head.

  “The Eye,” Nahzarro added, stepping up to stand beside Maura. “I can feel its magic from here.” He pointed down at the pulsating spike atop the foreboding structure that burned periodically with crimson magic as though it were a slow yet steady heartbeat.

  “You’re sure it can’t see us yet?” Maura asked.

  “Positive,” Valentean replied. “I can feel the chaos energy flowing out from it. It stops nearly two kilometers from here.” He could sense the unease in his allies at his unnatural connection to the chaos, but it mattered not. He did not require their approval. Valentean realized the chaos was growing stronger within him once more as the promise of battle loomed.

  “Then let’s get down there and smash that thing to pieces,” Nevick said, slamming a meaty fist into his palm and glaring with resolve at their objective. The sound of the ramp raising back into the airship drew their attention, and all four of them looked back to watch Deana, seated in her chair, waving to them as the ascending steel fully eclipsed her from view. The airship’s propellers began to turn once more, and The Heart of Casid rose into the sky. Valentean watched as the vessel vanished over the mountain, returning to the Grassani fleet and awaiting their moment to strike.

  The four warriors turned and affixed their respective gazes once more upon the site of Aleksandrya. “Shall we?” Nahzarro asked as if he were inviting them into his private office for tea. Valentean’s skin began to pulsate with white energy, and he felt the consuming rush of power that accompanied transformation.

  “Let’s.”

  Connected to the power of the Skeletal Throne, Aleksandra could feel the scuttle of every insect within a four-kilometer radius of her secure capital. She counted the Karminian forces amassing beyond her walls. They were keeping their distance, which told the empress all that she needed to know. They were aware of The Eye and its awe inspiring cognitive powers. She was momentarily impressed with the newly crowned emperor McNeil. He came prepared.

  “Aurax,” she said, opening her red, shining eyes and limiting her vision to this one infinitesimal location. Her loyal one stood at attention and approached her throne with slow, measured steps, head bowed as always in deference.

  “Yes, oh High and Holy Empress?”

  “We have given the invaders long enough. Send out our forces. Tell them to show no mercy. Prisoners do not interest me.”

  “As you command, Mistress.” The demon vanished in a haze of red fog, and Aleksandra closed her eyes once more to stretch out with her awareness and visualize the battlefield.

  The Karminians stood at attention, not a single soldier so much as twitching. Their training and resolve was commendable. A flash of red flared to life in the midst of their lineup as Skirlack soldiers materialized around them. Aleksandra allowed a smile to pull upon her lips as thousands of her beasts appeared beside stunned Imperials and began to shred through their meager armaments with powerful teeth and claws. This was a tactic she had been holding in reserve, waiting for the moment she could unleash it upon an invading foe such as this. Their defensive lines were instantly broken, and her soldiers made full use of the element of surprise.

  She continued to watch with fascinated glee, feeling the empowering rush of the chaos brought upon by warfare.

  Sophie, I will finish what we began together, she thought, imagining how her handmaiden and Pontifex would have rejoiced at their nearing of the endgame. Memories of Sophie were causing a swell of grief to rise within her chest. As she bit back upon it, a flaming rush of warning exploded into the back of her mind. She tore her consciousness away from the battlefield and maneuvered her perceptions in the exact opposite direction toward the mountain range that framed her empire.

  Soaring at her city like a descending predator was the Shogai, transformed into his white dragon body, eyes fixed upon her fortress. Astride atop the mighty lizard’s back sat Maura, the new king of Grassan, and the warrior of Casid. Aleksandra spat a curse. The Karminian assault had been nothing more than a diversion, and she had sent the majority of her forces out to meet it.

  She was irritated but more at the audacity of such a plot. Did Valentean truly believe that drawing out her army could have any impact on this conflict? She was mightier than any army could hope to be. She snarled as the dragon opened its mouth, firing off a beam of destructive white light, not at the fortress itself but at The Eye.

  Aleksandra erupted to her feet and leapt to the far balcony, disconnecting from The Eye’s power and glaring through the crimson slits of her narrow eyes as the attack drew near. Flinging her arms into the air, the empress threw a red-tinted force field around the upper reaches of her fortress. The beam struck her spell with all of its world-ending strength, and as the glare emanating from the spot where the two titanic forces had collided subsided, the fortress and The Eye were completely unscathed.

  “My turn,” Aleksandra hissed, pointing with two fingers at the dragon and letting fly a devastatingly powerful bolt of crimson lightning. Her spell struck its intended target, shattering Valentean’s transformation and sending him along with his allies plummeting toward the ground of Aleksandrya.

  The empress watched them fall, their smoking bodies flailing. She knew, of course, that this would not be enough to fully conquer her foes, so she gripped the balcony, preparing to leap into the fray and finish them off once and for all. They would pay for this horrid infraction with their lives.

  A smashing crash resounded throughout the throne room, and Aleksandra spun, already knowing what unwelcome sight awaited her. A thick bolt of blue lightning bashed into her sternum, tossing the mighty empress off her balcony. As she fell through the stillness of night, she saw Seraphina, eyes aglow with the Harbinger’s sacrilegious energy as she prepared another attack.

  Seraphina had been able to sense Valentean’s advance in the wind far before Aleksandra had seen him coming. As Aleksandra leapt from her throne, Seraphina knew the time had come. She continued to exhale the chilling frost that marked her power, feeling the gears slow to a crawl as Aleksandra fired her lightning out into the night.

  The gears shuddered three times before freezing completely solid. Instantly, Seraphina’s body filled with the blue light of order, and its azure explosion of light formed along her eyes. She thrust out with the full force of her renewed energy, shattering the frosted muzzle and the chains that bound her to the floor. Once more energized, Seraphina’s body floated up into the air as the order bunched together in her chest.

  As Aleksandra turned at the commotion, Seraphina let loose with a burst of blue lightning that struck her demented sister in the center of her chest. The sorceress let out an
anguished cry as the bolt tossed her from the balcony. The order was flowing like a raging river throughout Seraphina’s wounded body, repairing the burns and scars that Aleksandra’s chaos had left upon her. Her sister cried out in rage and hurtled back into the throne room, quivering with anger as red light poured from her body, casting the entire chamber in crimson.

  “I have underestimated you, Harbinger,” the zealot who she had once called her sister hissed through clenched teeth. “I shan’t make that mistake again!”

  Seraphina bit back the swell of fear that attempted to close upon her heart. Aleksandra was mighty and at full strength. Seraphina had no idea how long she could hold her sister at bay, but she had to try. Val was counting on her. Terra was counting on her.

  “Aurax,” Aleksandra bellowed into the air, her eyes never leaving those of her younger sister. A burst of red fog deposited the demonic minion in the presence of his mistress. He looked taken aback, panicked by these events.

  It seemed odd to Seraphina to see the normally stoic, steadfast cleric so overcome with the moment. It gave her hope.

  “Go!” Aleksandra exclaimed, pointing toward the balcony. The demon nodded and vanished, leaving the two surviving members of the Kackritta royal family facing off against one another alone.

  “Aleksandra, it’s not too late,” Seraphina said, making one last effort to reach the rational, kind, and caring individual who had once stood by her side.

  “That’s where you are wrong, Seraphina,” Aleksandra spat. “It is far too late for a great many things. Like forgiveness. Like mercy!” Aleksandra thrust a hand forward, two fingers pointed at her sister like a weapon.

  Seraphina pointed back in kind, and the area between them came alive with sparking and crackling streams of blue and red lightning. The twin spells slammed into one another, entering into a chaotic stalemate.

  Bolts of stray energy ricocheted off the grappling hexes, upending grass and dirt, carving deep gashes through the hexagonal tiles of the floor near Aleksandra’s throne. Seraphina was shocked at her ability to withstand her sister’s attack. She was not gaining any ground, but just the mere thought of holding Aleksandra’s might back would have at one time been unthinkable.

  The Ice Queen knew what she was fighting for now more so than ever. She battled for the sake of her people, for her home, her world, and the man she loved. She could not fail. She could never fall. She was Seraphina Kackritta, heir to a dynasty stretching back a millennium. The legacy of her family was one forged in chaos upon the bones of the Rosinanti race. Now, with one act of defiance, she would retake her home and start to work at cleaning her family’s sordid past. Standing before her, though, was the single greatest obstacle she could ever face.

  Aleksandra’s lips were drawn back in a snarl, her eyes narrowed in concentration. Seraphina noticed glowing cracks along the flesh beside her sister’s eyes that pulsed with the blood-colored hue of chaos. She would not be intimidated, though.

  Aleksandra’s concentration suddenly broke, and she smirked at Seraphina, no discernible effort on her face as she casually held back her sister’s spell. The lightning cascading from her fingertips suddenly tripled in size and strength, easily shredding through Seraphina’s sapphire beam and blowing the Spirit of Order back across the room.

  Seraphina’s blue-clad body smacked into the ground several times before she rolled to a stop beside the small lake that sat unnaturally within the throne room.

  “You see your folly now, whelp,” Aleksandra mocked, casually walking forward, her fingers crackling with ruby jolts. “Surrender now, and I won’t torture you before you die.”

  Seraphina felt the crushing hopelessness of her situation with alarming suddenness. How could she combat something this strong? Even with her experience working for her, even feeling this monumental boost in power, Aleksandra was on a whole other level. Still though, she had to persevere, had to power on. She could not give up. She would not.

  Blue light erupted along her eyes once more, and Seraphina summoned twin streams of liquid from the lake, which crisscrossed around her body. With a scream of battle, she leapt forward and engaged in the fight of her life.

  XXV: First Line of Defense

  The dazzling shard of Aleksandra’s chaotic hatred drilled into Valentean’s titanic dragon body, and an explosion tore out, dissolving the powerful magic that kept him anchored in this shell of scales and alabaster energy.

  A sound like that of glass breaking erupted through Valentean’s ears, and instantly, he was once more in the body of a human. He had managed to turn at the last possible moment, absorbing the impact with his stomach to shield the trio who had been riding upon his back. The chaos in his blood roared in objection to his noble action.

  As he fell, Valentean could still feel the hateful arcs of electric rage sparking within his body, and it lit the fires of his anger once more. This was the first taste of that now familiar spell since it had nearly ended his life in Kahntran just a few short months ago. The re-emergence of its particular brand of pain aroused memories of the countless times over the years this lightning had been utilized to fell him. Valentean swore to himself that this would be the last time.

  Off to his left, he saw Nahzarro grab a screaming and flailing Maura, uttering an incantation that preceded a dull, yellow light that slowed their fall into a steady glide. Nevick had regained control of his own momentum and had energized one of his thick arms until it engorged to twice its normal size. He dug his fingers through the stone of a nearby building and dragged a long gash down its side as it slowed him until he could safely leap onto the ground below.

  Valentean felt mana building within his own chest and flooded his body with its glow. His eyes sparked to life with the chaotic shine of red, and he performed a graceful flip, landing on the street in a crouch, unscathed save for the plumes of smoke that still rose from his flesh in the wake of Aleksandra’s attack.

  “Is everyone okay?” Nevick asked.

  “We’re fine,” Maura responded as she and Nahzarro slowly glided to their feet.

  “We should get moving,” Valentean stated, not wanting to waste time mincing words.

  “I guess it was too much to hope that we could have destroyed The Eye so easily,” Nahzarro said, shaking his head in disappointment.

  “We all knew this first run was likely to fail. Now we have to soldier on,” Valentean replied as an explosion rocked the upper reaches of Aleksandrya, drawing The Rosintai’s gaze. Aleksandra soared from her palace’s balcony, her body crackling with blue lightning. “Sera!”

  Valentean’s heart soared as he sensed the woman he loved, fully empowered and at the ready. The sparking dot that was Aleksandra flew back in from whence she came, and Valentean could sense the powers of order and chaos engaged in a climactic, magical duel.

  “We have to get up there!” Maura cried out.

  Valentean nodded, bracing himself for a leaping bound that would begin his ascent to rejoin his lost love. But before he could, the air around them came alive with a red haze that deposited over one hundred drooling, snarling Skirlack demons in their midst. The standard grunt soldiers, the quadruped hounds, and even two of the hulking behemoths surrounded them on all sides but made no move to advance. The air in front of Valentean shimmered and deposited Aurax.

  “Welcome, Shogai,” the demon cleric cried out, filling the large space with his baritone voice. “On behalf of Her Holy Majesty, Empress Aleksandra Kackritta of the never-ending Empire of Aleksandrya, I welcome you to our empire of faith.”

  “Get out of my way, Aurax,” Valentean snarled at the smirking demon.

  Aurax raised a hand to brush a thin strand of dark hair from his face. “It warms my heart to see you finally arrive for this, the foretold day of judgment.”

  “The only one being judged today will be you and that witch you bow to,” Maura exclaimed, stepping up to stand on Valentean’s right.

  “My dear Maura,” Aurax crooned as his yellow eyes locked onto h
er with oozing disdain. “I daresay that the thought of your death delights me almost as much as that of your heathenous Shogai.”

  “That’s enough,” Nahzarro spat, stepping alongside Maura.

  Valentean saw the king’s hand move toward his right pocket where he knew there rested the vial that could cleave Aurax from this realm. Valentean met the Mage Smith’s gaze and gave a slight, almost imperceivable shake of his head. It would not do to unleash something so vital to their plan in a moment of emotional fury. They had to wait until the time was right, as there would be no second chance.

  “This seems like an awful lot of talking,” Nevick said, rotating his thick neck as he stepped forward on Valentean’s left.

  “Well,” Aurax said, gazing down the line, taking a moment to meet each of them eye to eye. “This will be a momentous evening indeed. All four of you, ripe for the picking.”

  “Nevick was right,” Maura said, drawing her blades, one in each hand, and spinning them impatiently. “This is a lot of talk.”

  Nahzarro unfurled his whips beside her, igniting them with a snap-hiss of crackling electricity. Nevick pounded one massive fist into his palm and cracked his knuckles audibly.

  Valentean’s eyes came to life with the crimson fire of chaos as flames danced along his upturned palms. He turned to glance at Maura and Nahzarro. They were focused on Aurax, and Valentean could see the iron will to end this once and for all in their intense glares. He moved his attention to Nevick, whose muscles were inflating slowly as emerald mana shone along his bulging veins. Nevick looked sidelong at Valentean and gave a curt nod. They were ready.

  “Come on, Aurax,” Valentean taunted. “Either let’s get down to business or get out of our way.” Before the demon could answer, Valentean flung an arm forward, sending a flaming ball of fury on a collision course with Aurax’s face. It, of course, phased harmlessly through the demon’s incorporeal flesh and seared into the chest of a Skirlack soldier behind him. The creature fell back, dead on impact. Before it could hit the ground, Valentean, Nevick, Maura, and Nahzarro charged, each in a separate direction. Valentean leapt through Aurax’s body, arms whirling with the might of chaos as he dove into battle.