“Your fight is with me now,” Arimus declared as Dominic glanced at him with a bored expression on his face.
“I said I wanted him. Not the crippled old mentor.”
“Either way, I’ll have to do.”
“No,” Dominic said, turning to face him. “No you won’t.” Dominic disappeared before Arimus’ eyes, and before the teacher could react, the young Sage’s eidolon erupted through his back and out his stomach. Arimus grunted as his body instinctively fell, but he was determined to give James the minute he asked for.
Before he hit the brick pavement, he used the wind to push the eidolon out his body and then launch himself far away to the other side of the courtyard. The move was awkward, and he ended up crashing into the debris of the shops face first, but at least he still had his head. Arimus rose to his feet the best he could as he examined his wound. Not fatal…yet. If it wasn’t treated, he would surely bleed out. Dominic smiled at the sight.
“I could have killed you…but first I wanted to let you know how inferior you are. Last time I challenged you, you easily put me in my place…I wonder how things will turn out this time.”
Arimus forced a smile, grabbed a beam of wood still on fire from behind him, and pressed the flames against his wound. He grit his teeth as he performed the deed, threw the wood back into the pile and then pointed his eidolon toward his former student.
“I’m not done yet,” he declared. “No matter what new shiny trinkets your master may have given you, I’m still a Sage. I won’t be defeated so easily.”
“Then let’s do this,” Dominic sneered. Arimus closed his eyes and started running toward his protégé as he counted off in his head.
Thirty seconds, James…he thought to himself. No more.
While Arimus engaged Dominic in battle, James tried his best not to watch. He simply swung his powerful blade, stretching out its surface at will until it was nearly six feet long in width and length. With the extra range, he was able to take out more enemies with each swing, and he was doing it so effortlessly that all the creatures except the dragons had stopped attacking the guards and had now focused on him alone. Thrown into a manic state, they swiped at him wildly, but in his transformative state, his senses nearly exploded with information. There was no attack they could perform that would pierce his defenses. It was as simple as that.
He swung his sword with eyes closed, his white robe being the only thing he could feel brushing up against his body. One by one, they all perished under his might. And with impressive speed at the helm…before the guards of Prattle even realized it - the courtyard was empty.
Only Dominic remained on the ground.
The floor beneath James was cracked and worn, the bricks upheaved and thrown all about, but the creatures had been defeated.
“Help your King in any way you can,” James addressed the guards quickly as he began walking backwards towards Arimus and Dominic’s fight. “I have to stop this.”
The guards nodded and ran to fight against the dragons. Five of them were still in the air, still trying their best to get to Catherine and the King of Prattle. James ran towards his mentor’s battle and then suddenly stopped to wait as he saw Arimus block one of Dominic’s swings with a gust of wind. Dominic was thrown off balance and Arimus ran in to capitalize, but that was when James noticed a smile erupt on the young Sage’s face – a smile that emerged as soon as he noticed his rival’s presence. James sensed the danger immediately and sprinted forward, throwing himself between Dominic and Arimus’ assault just in time. He parried Dominic’s blade just as it narrowly missed cutting off Arimus’ head.
Arimus jumped back in surprise as Dominic chuckled to himself.
“So you saw that, huh?” Dominic said. “That is very impressive.”
“You saved my life, James,” Arimus huffed. “Thank you.”
“I’ve been toying with you the whole time,” Dominic yelled back at him. “I was just waiting for James to finish his chores.”
“Dominic,” James said. “Why are you doing this?”
“Shut your common lips,” Dominic spat at him. “You know exactly why I’m doing this! To take back what’s mine!”
“It’s not like I stole your bike or something. Catherine is a human being, with her own feelings and desires. If she chose me over you, then that’s where it has to stay.”
“Not if I kill her,” Dominic said with a smile. “I do that, and she becomes part of Zen-echelon. She becomes mine forever.”
“You’re sick,” James sneered as Dominic laughed and glared at him.
“No, James. I’m a Sage.”
A boom cracked across the sky, and James looked up to see a beam of fire fall down and engulf Dominic in its flames. It was so bright that he had to narrow his eyes. Looking back at Arimus, he could see the concern in his mentor’s eyes. Whatever this was…it wasn’t good. Not at all.
When James realized that the light had subsided, he finally looked at Dominic, and stepped back cautiously. He had transformed…and whatever level of power he had reached…it was not of this world…
James shuddered and clutched his eidolon with shaking hands. He hated feeling this way. It was very unbecoming of a Sage…
Chapter 9 – And Then There Were Four…
The largest of the dragons broke Catherine’s grip through sheer strength and immediately rocketed towards her. She tried to re-establish the grip, but he was able to dodge her attempts with little effort, despite his large frame. When it was apparent she wasn’t going to be able to kill him the same way as the others, she placed her sword in a defensive position and waited for the worst. Sure enough, he fired off two gigantic fireballs that would have hit her dead on but she used the stone’s power to grab each one with a claw made of light, and throw them away to her side. The dragon huffed and considered his options as she screamed into the air.
“If you want to kill me, you’ll have to come down here and get me!”
The dragon heard her cry and swooped down suddenly, perching on the mountainside, and standing only a few yards away from where the Princess stood. She clutched her sword and leapt to the rock where the dragon waited, swinging at his roaring, lowered face. The dragon dodged and turned to swat at her with his tail. She leapt over it and used the stone’s power to grip his neck in the same manner like before. With her being closer in proximity, she was able to strengthen her grasp and force the dragon’s head down into the ground. She fell down towards his neck with the sword guiding her but the dragon was somehow able to twist its neck at the last second and shoot off a fireball as large as a house straight into her.
She braced against it, but the force was too powerful, sending her flying away from the dragon’s body and through the side of the castle. Her armor shattered on impact, and her sword disappeared from her hands as she rolled and skidded along the brick floor, passing a number of paintings, royal curtains and small tables.
As soon as she was able, she leapt to her feet and nearly stumbled in vertigo just as she heard the dragon roar outside.
Maybe it’s better for me that I was thrown into the castle. She thought as she tried to figure out what floor she was on. If she went out the hole in which she was thrown, the dragon would surely be waiting for her. She didn’t have the castle entrance either since it had been destroyed earlier, so what was the best course of action?
Her thoughts were interrupted as a fireball plowed through the outside wall, a few inches from her face, and into the castle interior. She winced and clutched her face from the momentary heat flash that washed over her, but then she began concentrating on the stone once more. If the dragon was going to smoke her out, there was no point in hiding.
Once her armor was back on and her sword was firmly in her hand, she ran back towards the hole in which she had been thrown, sprinting past a volley of fireballs that now exploded through the castle interior. As soon as she touched the outside, she leapt forward and aimed for the mountainside where the dragon once was.
The dragon had somehow sensed her escape and had flown in just in time to snatch her with one of his clawed feet. She wriggled against his might but it was no use as he only squeezed tighter and climbed towards the clouds. Just as the landscape below began to lose its detail and she started to lose hope, she heard the dragon bellow. It stopped climbing the skies.
She glanced up and saw two talons of light gripping its wings…violently stretching and pulling them off. She couldn’t see the attacker down below as there was too much fog, but as the dragon began to descend from the agony, her hero came into view…
It was the King of Prattle, standing in the castle’s rear, using the immense power of the stone to subdue the beast. The other four, smaller dragons were belting him with fireballs of their own, but he ignored the pain, even after his invisible shield had shattered. He focused only on the dragon that claimed Catherine.
The Princess shouted for him to protect himself but he couldn’t hear. He just kept widening his arms, stretching out his closed fists as the energy flowing from them wrapped around the large dragon even more. Finally, with a shout, he violently shot his arms to his side, and the dragon up above roared like it had been cut in two. Without its wings, it was falling to the ground below fast, and as it lost consciousness, it lost its grip on Catherine.
As she began to fall, she focused the stone’s power from her armor to her back. The armor disappeared instantly, but in its place appeared two purple, web-like butterfly wings. With her sword still in hand, she maneuvered out the way of the falling dragon just enough to fly towards its head, and with sword in hand, she decapitated it in one stroke.
Without hesitation, she flew downward like hail and took two dragons by surprise, cutting off their heads before the others realized what had happened. The remaining two stopped their attack on King Nathaniel and focused on her, but she wasn’t afraid. Based on their small stature and the energy they expended, they wouldn’t be able to weather her final blows.
She let the sword disappear and then raised the palms of both hands towards each dragon respectively. They flew at her at full speed, but once again, she released a beam of light from each hand to wrap around each dragon’s neck. With a bit of straining and a squeeze, she popped off their heads from a distance, and they crashed to the land below. She had just enough strength to float down to King Nathaniel who had just decided to sit down in exhaustion. Her wings cracked and disintegrated as soon as she landed, and she nearly sprawled into the rear castle stairs he rested on.
She collapsed by his side but then turned all her attention to him, examining his burns and seared skin. He could barely move under the pain, yet he was able to turn his head and give a short smile.
“That was reckless of you, Princess,” he whispered through charred lips. Catherine winced and cast her eyes to the ground.
“I wasn’t going to let you do it all yourself.”
“But I already told you,” the King whispered over the crackling sound of his skin. “The stone is yours. There is a secret passage, to the right, underneath the gazebo. Go there, and you will find my wife. As we speak, she is going into surgery so you may have it.”
“We all thought you were a bachelor.”
“If I was,” he smiled. “How would I be capable of such power? Remember, a King can only accomplish such feats when he has a partner carrying the stone within them. Alone, the stone is almost useless to him. You know what this means, don’t you?”
“Yes,” Catherine nodded. “The King of Zen-echelon also has a carrier.”
“Find her,” he said. “And you can end this. Of course, I’m sure he has her well hidden, and going to his Kingdom may be suicide…but…you are fortunate, Catherine. Being a female, you can use the stone’s full power since it is only you that possesses it. You can fight him directly, without worrying that he will find your partner and cut your power out from under you…”
“No, I’m still afraid,” Catherine sighed as she heard the sounds of battle coming from the distant courtyard. “Even if James’ death won’t take away my power, it will undoubtedly break my spirit…I put on a good face, that my people are all I care about…but my heart tells me differently. Is that wrong of me?”
“You’re talking to the man that hid his wife for over eight years,” he tried to laugh. “I know much about secret love…but, time is short, Catherine. You must go, and do not interrupt the Sages’ battle. They can handle themselves. Trust them to take care of things.”
“Thank you for your advice,” Catherine said, standing up. “But I have one last question. All this power you’ve displayed…if in fact you do have a carrier…a wife…that means you haven’t been using your life…you’ve been using hers. If you love her so much, why would you do that?”
“Don’t worry,” he winced. “We both agreed to this, should our Kingdom ever be in grave danger. I am to use her life to the fullest, and I am to give my body in executing it. I probably could have deflected the small dragon’s attacks…but I knew my survival meant loneliness. That’s why I didn’t care what they did to me. I knew my attack on the large dragon was my last, and undoubtedly hers…”
“Sorry to question you,” Catherine said. “Or disobey. I will retrieve the stone of Prattle, but only after I’ve helped my friends. I have to do this.”
“I understand,” the King whispered as he closed his eyes. “I wouldn’t have listened…to me…either.” King Nathaniel yawned, rested his head on his chest, and stopped moving. Catherine watched him for a second and then looked around at the damaged castle, crumbling and falling into itself. The mountainside that it rested on was cracking, and the sky was somehow turning red amidst the green of the ether.
This is the end of Prattle. She realized as she focused on the stone within her. No matter how sad it was to witness a Kingdom’s fall, she had to hurry, or else the death of her Sages could very well lead to the fall of her own…
* * * * *
Dominic had transformed.
And not just a little bit. This wasn’t a simple change of clothes or a color alteration of his sword. No, it felt like he had become an entirely different being altogether. He still looked like himself in physical form, but the uncanny power surging through him nearly kicked James and Arimus off their feet. The difference in their strength was ridiculous and instantly James knew the harsh truth: his power was nothing compared to Dominic’s.
When he transformed his body, his clothes changed and to a degree, his body as well, but not much else. Yes, he was given an increase in strength, speed, agility and so forth, but it wasn’t even close to what his rival now boasted. If the King of Zen-echelon was powerful enough to give Dominic such a boost, just how strong was he?
“Jealous?” Dominic laughed as his dark red robe rustled in the wind. His eyes were pitch black and his skin was covered in tiny flames. James put on his best façade.
“Why should I be? I already have what I want: Catherine.”
Dominic sneered and pointed his unchanged eidolon at them.
“You won’t be so smug in a moment.”
“Watch yourself, James,” Arimus shouted as Dominic disappeared from view. James barely had a chance to react as Dominic’s eidolon aimed straight for his spine. He parried it and retaliated, but Dominic simply pivoted to the right and dodged, swinging his sword up at the same time.
James’ arm went flying…eidolon and all.
“Crap!” James shouted as he leapt up and grabbed it, bringing it close to his chest. Arimus instantly released several tornadoes around the courtyard, shredding everything in their path for distraction. Dominic laughed as he sprinted out of the way of each one.
Arimus kept up the assault, sending the cyclones straight toward the Sage, but Dominic just jumped upward into a tree and then high up into the sky, right over the tornadoes themselves. Arimus sucked his teeth as James placed his detached arm to his shoulder and concentrated on his Quietus regeneration. Thankfully, the
limb took hold and began to connect itself to its former tissues and muscles.
“He’s playing with us,” Arimus stated, letting the tornadoes die away. “He could have killed us both by now.”
“That’s his mistake,” James muttered as he tried moving his now attached right arm. “Especially since we should retreat while he’s off soaring like an eagle.”
“That doesn’t sound like you. Running away?”
“Are you serious?” James snapped. “Look, I’m pissed he’s stronger than us. I’m sure he loves every moment, but it doesn’t change the fact that it’s true. We need to fight him again when we’ve gotten stronger.”
“He’s coming down,” Arimus stated. “If you have an escape plan to implement, now’s the time.”
“Nothing comes to mind,” James mumbled as his right arm flailed up and down. “But I’ll think of something.”
Dominic hit the courtyard floor on one knee, the impact of his landing cracking the ground underneath them all. Arimus sighed. No point in worrying about the Kingdom’s structure now. Prattle was finished.
He readied his blade along with James while they waited for their foe to attack.
“So,” Dominic snickered. “What other tricks do you have up your –“
Dominic’s words were cut short as a fireball slammed into his side, sending him flying past the Kingdom entrance and off the side of the mountain. James and Arimus’ jaws dropped at the sight, and they looked over to the source. An exhausted Catherine was stooped over, holding her knees and laughing hysterically.
“That couldn’t have felt good,” she laughed. “Hey guys!”
“Catherine!” James shouted. “What are you doing here?”
“Well, I figured I would lend a hand. Doesn’t look like you two have this under control.”
Hail to the Queen (Sage Trilogy, Book 3) Page 15