Etherno

by Aaron DeMott

Onin looked up. She was in position above the dragon across from him. Onin fired a blast of lightning, and sent a mental command to the clusters of servitors high above the dragon. They released the ton of rocks they carried, which hurtled down toward the dragon.

  “Saija, Tannin, go!” Onin whispered.

  Tannin jumped up and sliced off the tip of the dragon’s tail. At the same time, Saija portaled away the dirt under the dragon’s paws. The load of rocks slammed into the dragon. Several of the jagged points disappeared in a shower of shattered ruby scales and the dragon bellowed in pain.

  “Yes!” Onin pumped his fist. They’d finally managed to injure the thing.

  Onin jumped up and pushed power to the servitors on his feet as the dragon swung its tail around. It had already pulled its feet out of the ground, and opened its mouth to bite at Tannin.

  “I’ve got it!” Amaryllis dove down and held her staff up in front of the dragon. A blast of green dragonfire enveloped her. Onin’s breath caught in his throat. It felt like forever until the stream of fire abated.

  The last wisps of flame flowed around an invisible bubble that surrounded Amaryllis. Onin let out a sigh. Her reflexes were fast to be able to get a shield up that quickly.

  Saija’s chest heaved. She bent down and leaned on her knees.

  “You okay?” Cerina asked.

  Saija looked over at her. Concern? From Cerina? That was uncharacteristic. “Yeah. I’ll be fine.” She took another deep breath. “Just used a lot of energy moving all that dirt. Not sure how, but I think the dragon is making it harder for me to open a portal near it.”

  “That’s not—Look out!” Cerina pointed behind Saija.

  The dragon’s tail swept toward them. Saija swore and dropped to the dirt. Not low enough, it was still going to hit them. She could portal out of the way, but she didn’t have enough energy left to move Cerina and Kasai as well.

  Saija glanced over her shoulder and swore again. Kasai was still unconscious. Saija grimaced and braced her hands and one foot on the ground, and held her artificial leg a few inches off the ground.

  “What are you doing? Run!” Cerina yelled.

  “It’s gonna hit Kasai!” Saija didn’t take her eyes off the dragon’s tail. It would probably hit in less than a second.

  “Stupid sleeping half-breed freak.” Cerina muttered as she slid feet first in the dirt next to Saija.

  Saija kicked out and up at the dragon’s tail. It felt like a building had fallen into her. Cerina shoved her guitar under the tail as it skimmed over her and played a high-pitched note. A visible distortion formed and shoved the dragon’s tail upward. Saija pushed harder. A sharp cracking sound came from her leg. It exploded throwing metal and plastic shards everywhere.

  Onin flew upward. The dragon had spun around and leapt at him. He generated another servitor and flung it back at the dragon. The dragon snapped at the servitor, and Onin signaled it to explode just as the dragon’s mouth closed around it.

  There was a loud bang. The dragon slowed just enough for Onin to gain some distance. He swung around in an arc. If the dragon continued to follow him, Amaryllis should be able to shoot some more ice into the gap in the dragon’s scales that the rocks had made.

  Onin spun around to face backwards. A rock hung in the air next to Amaryllis. A series of portals opened in front of the rock. A second later the rock shot through the first portal. There was a blur of motion between the portals, and a loud boom sounded.

  The dragon slipped in mid-air, and a stream of clear liquid erupted from the dragon’s back. It roared in pain—or frustration, Onin wasn’t sure which—and turned to loose another blast of fire at Amaryllis. It turned in mid-air, and its tail slammed into Onin’s legs, instantly popping the servitors covering them.

  Onin flailed in the air, attempting to regain control as he spiraled back toward the ground. He tried to generate more servitors for his feet, but nothing happened. This was a fine time to run out of energy. He applied thrust via the servitors on his hands, and managed to tumble down to the ground more or less gently.

  Onin staggered to his feet. His legs hurt all over, but nothing felt broken. Onin shook his head and looked around to see how the others were doing. Onin winced at the sight of Saija’s broken leg. Cerina looked fine. Amaryllis fired continuous ice blasts at the dragon, leading him away from Cerina, Saija, and Kasai. Onin’s breath caught in his throat. How long was Kasai going to stay unconscious?

  He struggled to his feet and took a few shaky steps toward Kasai. He must be even lower on energy than he had thought. Onin patted down his pockets. One energy bar left. He’d brought more… and an energy drink would help now, too. He looked around for his backpack, but didn’t see it anywhere. It had probably been lost during the fight at some point. He sighed, ate half of the last energy bar, and shoved the other half back into his pocket.

  Amaryllis flew up and to the left, narrowly avoiding the blast of dragonfire. A hissing noise and the acrid smell of burnt metal told her she hadn’t been entirely successful. She groaned inwardly. If only they had enough onicranium for a full set of armor. Oh well, the stuff was expensive, and some armor was better than none.

  She spun around and loosed a blast of ice-lighting at the dragon. As soon as it impacted on the dragon’s scales, she opened a portal and dropped through it. Amaryllis emerged on the other side of the dragon. She fired off another blast of ice and glanced over her shoulder.

  Kasai was still unconscious. Amaryllis frowned. She’d better wake up soon.

  The dragon swung his head around, eyes searching for his prey. Amaryllis frowned and flew past his nose, out in front of him. Hopefully she was enough of a distraction to keep the dragon focused on her.

  She glanced over at her staff. “You’re sure about Kasai, right?”

  As sure as I can be. Ryogin-sama paused. We’ve done everything we can. The rest is up to her.

  “All right.” Amaryllis sighed. “If—if she doesn’t wake up in time—“ Amaryllis swallowed. “I—I love you.”

  Amaryllis dodged left and shoved out with telekinesis. The dragon’s paw narrowly missed her.

  You know how I feel, and why I can’t say it. Yet. Ryogin-sama’s mental voice quivered. I promise, after your birthday…

  Amaryllis growled. Him and his virtue. It was one of the things she admired and loved about him, but… She sighed. One thing at a time. Survive the fight first.

  Something flashed behind her.

  Onin took a step back. Another flash of light surrounded Kasai, and then faded away. A wave of red color flickered through her hair, and white wings and a tail grew from her back. She blinked a few times and sat up.

  Onin blinked a few times. “Onryo?”

  “Hmm? No, it’s me, Kasai.” Kasai yawned and flexed her wings. She startled and looked over her shoulder. “Oh.”

  “So, uh, things went well?” Onin reached out to her, then stopped. “Um, I mean...”

  “Yeah, I think so.” Kasai looked over her shoulder while she extended a wing and waved her tail back and forth. “This is going to take some getting used to.”

  “Anything I can help with?” Onin winced. Yeah, that didn’t sound dorky at all. “Uh, I mean, uh—”

  “AIR!”

  Onin and Kasai both looked over at sound of Tannin yelling. The dragon had taken a step forward. Tannin lay gasping for air at the bottom of a small crater formed by the dragon’s footstep.

  Saija waved a hand. A portal formed under Tannin, and he fell through it. Another portal opened behind Saija, and Tannin dropped through it.

  “Wow.” Tannin took another breath and half sat, half fell to the ground. “If it wasn’t for my reinforce gift, you’d’ve needed a squeegee to get me off the ground. Those things are HEAVY.”

  Onin blinked a few times. “Um, sorry, I didn’t even see it step on you.”

  “That’s okay.” Tannin waved a hand dismissively. “You were busy dodging claws and morning breath of doom at the time. I’m fine.�
� He yawned. “Super tired, though.”

  “Are you sure you’re okay?” Kasai asked.

  “Yeah, I’m fine.” Tannin yawned again. “Oh, Kasai, raise your hand.”

  Kasai furrowed her brow, but raised her hand.

  Tannin high-fived her. “I’m tagging you in. I need a nap before anyone drops another building on me.”

  Kasai turned her hand around, stared at it, and blinked a few times.

  “Does anyone else hear screaming?” Cerina stood and put a hand to her ear. “Amaryllis, incoming.”

  Onin opened his mouth to ask what on Gesara she meant. Before he could say anything Amaryllis crashed into the ground in front of him and skidded to a stop, leaving a sizable rut. Her right ear was torn, several pieces of armor were missing, and blood ran down her left leg.

  “Ow,” she said.

  Kasai ran over and knelt beside her. “How badly are you hurt? Do we need to get you to a doctor?”

  Amaryllis lifted a hand. Her arm shook as she pointed behind Kasai. “Dragon.”

  Onin turned to look at where Amaryllis pointed. A large blast of dragonfire headed straight at them.

  Chapter 24

  Rise of the Dragongirl

  Onin’s eyes widened and he held his arms up in front of him. He didn’t have enough energy left to generate another another servitor, and just one wasn’t going to stop that column of dragonfire.

  Movement caught Onin’s attention. He lowered his arms a fraction. Kasai stood in front of them and extended her wings.

  “No!” Onin reached out for Kasai just as the dragonfire slammed into her.

  Tears streamed down Onin’s face as the green fire seemed to stretch Kasai’s body out in front of him. Wait a moment. Her body actually was stretching out and growing larger. The green light from the dragonfire faded, and a silver-white dragon about three-quarters the size of the red dragon now stood above Onin.

  He blinked and rubbed his eyes. “Kasai?”

  The white dragon roared a challenge and lunged for the red dragon’s throat. The red dragon blinked a took a few steps backward.

  Maniacal laughter distracted Onin. Amaryllis was rolling on the ground laughing.

  “What are you laughing about?” Onin grabbed Amaryllis’ arm and shook her. “We’ve only been able to scratch that thing. It’s gonna kill her!”

  Amaryllis sat up and faced Onin. “What’s the most powerful thing in the universe?”

  “Ooo! I know!” Tannin raised his hand in the air and waved it around. “Ard is!”

  Onin and the other all turned and looked at him.

  “Somebody pinch me.” Cerina looked around, shrugged, and pinched herself on the arm. “Well, I think I’m awake, but I don’t believe it. Tannin got a correct answer.”

  Amaryllis blinked. “Yes. Well. Uh, what’s the second most powerful thing?”

  “Uh—” Tannin scratched the back of his head.

  “Careful, it’ll start smoking if you think too hard,” Cerina said.

  Tannin stuck his tongue out at her. “I’m guessing a dragon?”

  Amaryllis nodded. “Correct. Specifically an onicranium dragon, which is exponentially more powerful than other dragon types.”

  “So, what’s an onicranium dragon?” Onin asked.

  Amaryllis pointed to Kasai and smiled. Onin turned to watch.

  Kasai tore into the red dragon. Red crystal shards were flying everywhere as Kasai bit and clawed at the ruby beast. It jumped up into the air and beat its wings a few times. Kasai blurred and appeared above the red dragon. She spun in mid-air and slammed her tail across the red dragon’s face.

  A crack echoed off the factory buildings as several more ruby scales shattered from the impact. The red dragon slammed into the ground, shook it’s head and opened it’s jaw. Another blast of green dragonfire erupted from it’s mouth and washed over Kasai.

  Amaryllis chuckled. “That won’t work. Not on her.”

  “What do you mean?” Saija asked.

  Amaryllis turned to Tannin. “Tannin, what happens when you block an energy blast with your swords?”

  “Uh, they get sharper and stuff?”

  Amaryllis cocked and ear halfway back. “Close enough. Onicranium absorbs and re-emits energy. And her scales are made from it.”

  “Wait.” Onin held up a hand. “How’d she get onicranium?”

  “The Matari and Ryogin-sama gave it to her.”

  “What!” Onin jumped to his feet. “You mean that bitter drink she was complaining about? What if had killed her?”

  “She’s half dragon.” Amaryllis shrugged. “It’s good for dragons.”

  Onin rubbed his temples and turned to watch the battle. Kasai still had the upper-hand, but she was slowing down. Her scales that had seemed closer to white were now a dull grey.

  “She’s probably hungry.” Amaryllis held up her staff and pulled herself to her feet. “Moving that much mass takes a lot of energy, and the red dragon’s stopped providing a source.” She turned to address her staff. “Are you ready?”

  The staff chimed. Amaryllis nodded and held the staff out in front of her. A white portal opened in the sky above the two dragons.

  “Cerina. Could you make it so Kasai can hear me but the red dragon can’t?” Amaryllis asked.

  Cerina shrugged. “Sure.”

  “Kasai, eat this.”

  A rock fell out of the portal. Kasai flew up and snapped her jaws shut around the rock.

  Amaryllis stumbled and Onin reached out to steady her.

  “What was in that rock?”

  Amaryllis lowered herself slowly to the ground. “Uranium.”

  “Uranium!” Onin took a step backward. “Are you trying to kill her?”

  “Watch.” Amaryllis pointed to Kasai.

  Her scales grew whiter and almost seemed to glow. She attacked the red dragon with renewed vigor.

  “People are carbon based.” Amaryllis pointed to her own arm. “We take in carbon arranged in different proteins and process it for energy. Dragons are silicon-based. They are powered by an internal fusion reaction.

  “I’m assuming that Kasai’s reactor never started. It probably wasn’t working properly until Ryogin-sama corrected her DNA. That should power her up enough to win the fight.”

  Onin frowned. “And what about after the fight?”

  Amaryllis smiled. “The onicranium will store the unused energy while she’s resting. In her next fight she’ll be scary-strong.”

  An explosion ripped through the air and Onin jumped. One of the red dragon’s wings lay shattered on the grown a few yards away from it. Kasai was on top of the red dragon, her jaws clamped around its neck. She tore at its back with her claws. Ruby shards flew everywhere.

  The red dragon twisted around and raked its claws over Kasai’s belly. Sparks flew and a high-pitched screeching sound filled the air. Onin clamped his hands over his ears. The red dragon’s claws were ground down, and there wasn’t so much as a scratch on Kasai’s scales.

  The advantage in armor went to Kasai, but the red dragon was larger and more graceful. Onin pursed his lips and picked at a fingernail. Kasai had only been a dragon for what, a few minutes? The red dragon had learned to fight in that form.

  Onin turned to the others. “Is there anything we can do to help her?”

  “I’m a little immobile over here.” Saija held up a piece of her broken leg and waved it in the air.

  “Sorry.” Amaryllis’ ears drooped to the side. “I’m just about completely out of energy.”

  “Oh, that reminds me!” Onin dug in his pocket and pulled out the half of an energy bar. “Here.”

  Kasai bit at the red dragon’s throat again. He twisted somehow and shoved up with his hindquarters, and Kasai felt herself spinning through the air and away from the red dragon. She landed hard on her back. She took a shaky breath. Before she could exhale the red dragon was on her again, biting at her neck.

  Her armored scales protected her from any puncture wounds
from his teeth, but it felt like her throat was being crushed. The red dragon bit down harder, his jaws on either side of her neck crushing her own scales into her throat.

  Kasai flailed her legs, trying to dig into the ground or anything to throw the red dragon off from her. The red dragon held her down, using his greater mass to keep her from rolling over. She started to panic, then froze as a thought hit her.

  Wait a minute. I’m a telekinetic, not just a dragon.

  Kasai lifted a paw and leaned into her gift. The red dragon rose into the air, his teeth screeching as he was pulled off from Kasai. He flailed his head around in every direction, presumably in an attempt to find what had grabbed him. Kasai held him aloft while she rolled over onto her feet. She coughed a few times, then leaned into her gift to slam the red dragon into the ground as hard as she could.

  The red dragon rose to his feet. A clear fluid leaked from his back and neck and dripped to the ground. He gathered his feet underneath himself, took a breath, and shoved up to stand on wobbling feet.

  “Why do you defend them, child?” The dragon took a step forward and stumbled slightly to the side. “These pitiful creatures hate and fear you. Come with me, join the dragons, and you’ll never be looked down on again.”

  Kasai heard a bark of laughter from behind her. She looked back over her shoulder.

  Tannin rolled on the ground, laughing. “Oh, please! ‘Come, join me, even though I’ve been trying to kill you.’ That’s a line right out of a bad movie. Kasai’s not dumb enough to fall for that!”

  Kasai snorted. Tannin’s impression of the dragon’s pompous tone was pretty good. And he was right. She had no desire to run off with someone just because he looked like she did at the moment. She just wanted to be normal.

  A scuffling noise interrupted her introspection. She whipped her head around to face the red dragon. He had taken a few more steps to the side and opened his mouth. Green dragonfire formed in the back of his throat. Every muscle in Kasai’s body tensed. He wasn’t aiming at her.