* * *
Go!
Catrin felt the queen's compulsion acutely, and it shocked her how close to the ferals the regent queen would stoop.
Fight them. Protect me with your life. Die with honor. You will be martyred, and your name will live on forever.
"Even if human beings cease to exist? No. I don't care for your bargain. I will, however, stay here with you and protect you until my dying breath. No species will cease to exist because of a decision I make."
Fool! the queen boomed. Even the choice to not make a decision is a decision, and that choice will have consequences beyond your worst fear.
Screams echoed into the chamber as dragons and demons clashed around the openings that led to this vacuous hall. When the dragon queen faced Catrin again, there was real fear in her eyes and what looked like the recognition of one of her visions, as if she now saw the future and what she saw terrified her.
You've condemned us all! You think to protect us, but no one as daft as you could possibly save us now. If there were any other way, I'd not give this to you, but now I must leave the fate of the world in your hands, and though I despise you, I love this world more than life itself. Go, fool. Prove me wrong if you can. The bones have been tossed, and my fate is sealed, but I will do my best to buy you time.
A sound like leather on stone accompanied by rhythmic clicks announced demons in the hall, and Catrin knew time had indeed run out; now she could only act on instinct. The regent queen swung her massive body around to face the threat, and her tail smashed into a stack of stones against the outer wall of the cavern, which sent the rock flying into the demons. Bones snapped as the stone crushed rows of dark beasts. More rock collected near the entrance, constricting the demons to a narrow channel.
Catrin watched as the queen erected defenses on top of the bodies of demons, using the fallen monsters as building materials. She would have aided the queen, but the mighty serpent swung her head around to meet Catrin's eyes. Go!
This time Catrin allowed the compulsion since it only told her to turn and look. Her eyes found a huge, irregularly shaped hall that wound away from the main cavern. Glittering light danced on the floor and walls of the hall beyond, beckoning to Catrin with its beauty.
You will find what you need in there, Destroyer. Know that you have received gifts due to only the most noble, Dragon Slayer. Know that your actions will be remembered by all or by none based on your choices, World Render. May your fool of a dragon, the betrayer of his own kind, find solace in the emptiness that awaits him. You two are perfect together. Now, go!
Coerced as much by the darkness in her heart as the dragon queen's compulsion, Catrin retreated into the glittering hall. As she turned the corner, she saw things she would never have dreamed existed. There was a saddle, like the one she'd made, only hers was the crudest representation of this masterpiece. Every inch glittered in what Catrin knew was dragon ore; she could feel the energy radiating from it. Looking up, Catrin saw that enormous crystals made up the ceiling, and beyond lay open sky. Light poured in from the multifaceted crystals as they somehow gathered, focused, and amplified the light. The feeling of it was overwhelming for Catrin; never before had she felt so alive, so powerful. The sounds from the great hall kept her from falling into a trance, and she quickly turned to see what other wonders awaited. She could feel complex energies around her, energies more organized and structured than anything she'd experienced before.
From her left, she felt a pull that was elegant and poised, yet there was a potency to its touch that promised wondrous power. Catrin's eyes fell on something that looked like a herald globe, only a thousand times more evolved. It was beautiful. Reaching out her hand, Catrin moved toward the clear glass that housed what looked like a spider, its red and black body perfectly preserved in what had almost certainly once been molten glass. Catrin could not imagine how such a thing was created, and she hesitated before touching it, nervous caution temporarily stifling her desperate need to feel it. Another crash from the great hall and a bellow from the regent queen got Catrin moving again. Her hand closed around the globe, and pulses of power coursed over her body, enshrouding her in a latticework of power that undulated and moved like liquid.
Knowing the saddle would be of no use with the flightless queen, Catrin drew her sword and held the spider globe high as she charged back into the main hall, determined to save the queen of the regents.
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