by S. E. Smith
As he stepped off the last step, the golden staircase behind him dissolved. He turned his head and watched as it disappeared back into the river of gold. He chuckled and shook his head before turning his attention back to the figures. There were eleven different ones standing, sitting or lying around the large cavern. It was hard at first to count them as they kept appearing and disappearing. Arosa and Arilla giggled as they winked at him. He bowed his head to them in return, drawing more giggles.
Come forward, an ethereal voice requested in a husky tone that echoed in his head.
Paul’s lips parted in amazement as he spun to look as a twelfth figure suddenly appeared on a platform that rose above the cavern. The figure was tall and slender, wraithlike in appearance. It stood in a shimmering doorway of gold, encompassing what appeared to be deep space behind it. He walked slowly toward the platform, following the stepping stones that appeared before him with each step he took. Small bits of gold symbiot danced around him. Some reached out to touch him while others flitted in front of him, as if curious about who he was. Crash walked next to his side looking around with obvious joy from the warmth radiating from it. Paul didn’t know how he could tell the difference but when a larger shape of symbiot in the form of a Were Cat stepped out in front of him, he knew deep down it was Crash’s other half. Sure enough, the smaller bit of symbiot rushed forward flowing into the larger section. He could feel the peace as it became whole again. He raised his hand and let it slide over the body of the huge Were Cat as he passed by it, loving the silky texture. It shivered in delight and emitted a low hum of contentment.
Paul paused at the bottom of the platform. He looked up, unsure of what the being expected of him. He started when he heard a giggle close to his ear.
Go up, Arosa said. Go, human.
Arosa, the voice said with a slight exasperation in its tone. Come forward, Paul Grove.
Paul looked at Arosa who used her hands to shoo him forward. He shook his head in amusement before turning to slowly ascend the steps. He stared into the dark gold eyes. A part of him thought they reminded him of Morian’s beautiful eyes. When he reached the top, he took a step forward before sinking down onto one knee and bowing his head in respect. Since he had never been in this position before, he figured he would take a page out of some of the old movies he liked to watch with Trisha and use a touch of old-fashion gentility.
Rise, Paul, the figure requested gliding forward until it stood just a few feet in front of him.
Paul rose and stood in the military formation of being at-ease. His hands interlocked behind his back as the figure looked down at him. Even with him being almost six and a half feet tall he had to tilt his head back to look into the creature’s eyes. Paul stared back at the form in front of him with a steady, calm look.
The creature’s lips curved and it, he wasn’t sure if it was a male or female, bowed its head. With a wave of its hand, the figure became more defined. The flowing hair, shimmering gown, and – Paul swallowed as breasts appeared, the creature was definitely feminine now. Humor glistened in her dark eyes.
*.*.*
Aikaterina studied the male standing in front of her. She had foretold of his arrival long before his planet had even formed. She had sent a touch of her own blood to the planet that would give life to his species on the rocks that she had cast into the heavens. It had taken billions of years but time was of no consequence to her kind.
Aikaterina smiled as she looked around at others of her kind. These were her children. They were enjoying a respite on the world they had come to think of as their own. Most of her kind traveled through the different star systems, looking for planets that have the potential for life. When the world was ready, they would leave a part of themselves in the hopes it would grow and nurture life. On this planet, she had found a species that gave her life in return.
Aikaterina had discovered this planet by accident. She had been on the verge of dying when she first came across the dragon-shifting race. Her energy levels drained dangerous low from her travels, she had been seeking a newly formed world where she could rejuvenate.
Instead, she had discovered this planet. She had immediately fallen in love with it and its unique inhabitants. While the Valdier had already existed, they had been a dying species as well. Their dragons and two-legged form susceptible to many different kinds of diseases. She had discovered her blood created a unique symbiotic relationship with the unusual species. She had never before found a lifeform that was compatible with the Hive’s ‘blood’, the liquid essence that made up who they were. The fire within the dragons had merged with her energy. In return, she discovered the essence from both the two-legged and four-legged forms fed her, giving her the energy she needed to not only live, but multiply.
It is perfect for my young, she thought as she gazed at the flowing river of gold that made up her kind.
But no world is without its problems. Greed, fear, suspicion, and the desire for ultimate power lived in this world as it did on all worlds she had visited. The difference with this one was that she had bound their very existence to each other so one could not live without the other. Paul Grove’s world was another that could sustain their blood with their essence. The problem was it was still too immature to handle it.
At least, most were immature, she thought with satisfaction as she saw the hints of gold blazing in Paul’s eyes. Some are more ready than others.
Paul cleared his throat. “I mean no disrespect but my mate is in danger. You are also in danger,” he said quietly.
“Yes, I know,” Aikaterina replied, waving her hand to the other figures.
Paul looked over his shoulder and saw Arilla, Arosa and the other figures rising up and moving to a set of columns that circled the cavern. Each figure floated until they stood on one of the pillars. He frowned as he saw the small bits of symbiot rushing to plunge into the flowing river to hide. As they did, the chamber grew darker until only the glow from the twelve figures, the river, and Crash illuminated it.
He looked back at the figure in front of him. “What is happening?”
Aikaterina reached out her hand and brushed the side of Paul’s face with a sad smile. “We cannot interfere with the battle between good and evil on any planet,” she said, closing her eyes for a moment before opening them to look at him with a relieved look. “The battle above is going well. The evil cannot succeed with the combined forces of those who set aside their differences to seek peace instead of war,” she said. “But the evil coming has the power to destroy the Valdier. If Raffvin should win, he would try to turn the good energy that gives life,” she explained with a wave of her hand to the flowing river of gold, “to energy that would take it.”
“Can’t you stop it?” Paul asked knowing he was in the presence of a force unlike anything man had ever imagined.
Aikaterina shook her head. “As I said, we cannot interfere. Raffvin has already learned how to not only change the good energy but how to destroy it as well. He holds the power to destroy us,” she said sadly.
“But, if the symbiot is destroyed….” Paul’s voice faded as he looked back at the figures standing like silent sentinels over the birthing place of the symbiots. He looked back at the figure waiting for him to piece together the facts. “The Valdier will die,” he said grimly.
“Yes,” was all that Aikaterina said before she dissolved into a mist in front of him and reformed on the top pillar.
Paul looked up at her before spinning in a slow circle, looking at each figure with calm steady eyes. His family, his mate, his world rested on his shoulders. He was all that stood between Raffvin and the death of a world he had come to love.
Paul looked back up at Aikaterina with a dangerous glint in his eyes. “A brilliant man once said that ‘the only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.’ I’ll be damn if I do nothing,” he growled out feeling a cold calm settle over him.
“Edmund Burke,” Aikaterina murmured. “He was an intere
sting human,” she said before her eyes moved to a different entrance to the cavern.
Raffvin is here, she whispered before she and the others standing on the pillars turned to solid golden statues.
*.*.*
Morian paused in the entrance as she looked down at the solitary figure standing in the center of the cavern on a stone platform. She started to step down the rough stone stairway but Raffvin grabbed her by her shoulder, halting her. She looked over her shoulder in fury. Her dragon realized that she was tired of playing the helpless female.
With a low growl, she pushed back against him with enough force that he stumbled backwards. The moment his hand left her shoulder, she threw herself forward off the steps. She called forth her dragon as she fell. A burst of joy swept through her as huge white wings unfolded and opened before sweeping up and down to allow her to circle around the huge cavern. The gold on the tips of her scales gleamed brilliantly against the white. She soared over the pillars before dipping down to drag her extended claws in the river of gold, painting them. She drew up next to Paul, flapping her wings up and down as she settled next to him before folding them against her body. She turned to snarl at Raffvin who was standing at the entrance to the Hive with a sneer on his face.
“So, the Priestess shows her true colors,” he laughed as he snapped his fingers. Dark shadows formed around him, forming into the body of his symbiot. Only the dark shadows continued to grow and grow, dividing into more than a dozen darkened, hissing masses of energy. “You are not the only one who has learned to harness the symbiots of others,” he explained in a dark voice as he continued to stare coldly at them. His eyes flickered to where Paul stood motionless beside the huge white dragon. “I thought I killed you, human,” he said with a look of disdain.
Paul’s lips curved into a cold deadly smile before he replied. “That’s what you get for thinking, Raffvin,” Paul drawled. “I think you will find I’m not that easy to kill,” he added pulling a laser sword out and rotating it in his hand. “I’m letting you know now I’m going to kill your ass,” he said before he jerked his head toward Morian, “and she is going to help me.”
Raffvin’s snarl turned into a growl as he thrust his hand out and pointed at the large white dragon that was crouching and hissing. “Kill her!” He ordered all but one of the dark masses to attack her.
“Go,” Paul ordered to Morian who nodded and called for her symbiot to show her the quickest way out as she rose up with a powerful burst of speed.
Paul didn’t take his eyes off of Raffvin. He had to trust that Morian would be able to handle this part of their plan. His focus was solely on destroying Raffvin once and for all. He would use the male’s arrogance, greed, and madness against him. Raffvin roared out as the dark masses of symbiots followed Morian out through one of the larger tunnels leaving him and what was left alone with Paul.
“Do you think it matters that she is escaping?” Raffvin roared out in fury. “Once you are dead she is as well! Nothing can save either one of you. You are doomed.”
Paul laughed knowing the sound would drive Raffvin to the breaking point, making him reckless. “Dude, it is going to take more than the grumblings of a bag of hot air to kill me. That’s all I’m seeing,” Paul taunted. “In the words of my daughter, it’s time to tag your ass for good.”
*.*.*
Raffvin saw red at the human male’s taunting. His mind splintering into uncontrollable rage. As he lost the last bit of his control, he lost control of his dragon. It had been tortured for too long. The darkness eating away at its soul. Raffvin had turned on the female who would have been his true mate, leaving her to die a brutal death instead of fighting for her or sharing her with the other Valdier warrior named Trevon, who had also been her true mate. The female had been Vox’s aunt. Raffvin had met her when she was very young, still too young to mate. His dragon and symbiot had known the moment they had seen her that she belonged to them. But, Raffvin had wanted Morian. He wanted power, not love. When he had discovered that Rissa had mated with another Valdier he had sent word to the traitors working with him on Sarafin to have her and her mate destroyed, no matter what. He had not expected her death to have such a devastating effect on the other parts of who he was. His symbiot wanted to return to the Hive in its grief. His dragon refused to accept Morian or any other, slowly becoming mad with grief. Raffvin knew without the three parts of himself he would perish. He had worked tirelessly to find a way to force his essence to remain. He had eventually discovered that as his own blood grew darker so did the energy of his symbiot. As his dark power grew over it, he was able to force the symbiots of those weaker than him to become trapped within his making it larger, stronger until he was invincible.
Raffvin’s insane roar shook the walls of the cavern, sending loose pieces of rock crashing down. Thick molted gray wings unfolded from a body that was gaunt from its imprisonment as long, black claws dug into the stone floor. The dark mist swirled around him as the last of his symbiot formed around his body. His sharp yellow teeth snapped together as his tail flicked back and forth.
Raffvin’s elongated head turned menacingly toward the small form of the human male staring at him. He blew out a stream of dark red fire. The male jumped to the side, rolling. Raffvin was forced to turn to follow him. The last straw came when the male stood up and shook his head in disgust at him.
“Damn, you are not only one ugly son-of-a-bitch but your breath sinks almost as bad as you do,” Paul said sarcastically as he waved his hand in front of his face. “Someone has really let their hygiene go to hell.”
Raffvin, furious at being mocked, charged Paul.
*.*.*
It’s about time you stupid bastard, Paul thought balancing on his heels.
He normally didn’t badger his opponents, but then, his opponents didn’t normally turn into fire breathing dragons. In the reports he read, he came across a medical one that had proved very interesting. It would appear Raffvin had received a significant injury when he was young while in his dragon form. While his symbiot was able to heal his two-legged form, it had not been able to completely heal the wound to the back of his upper thigh. Several scales were missing. It was near a main artery. Perhaps it was time to start draining some of the black blood out of him.
Paul charged straight at Raffvin when the dragon came at him. He knew it would be the last thing that Raffvin would expect. Moving with the grace born of decades of training, Paul ducked the breath of fire aimed at him, twisting at the last moment to jump up on a large boulder as Raffvin moved past him and flipped over the huge gray dragon’s back slicing with his laser sword as he went. He landed with one hand and one knee on the ground and rolled backwards up under the dragon’s tail as it swung around at him coming up on the same side as he had begun.
He ducked again as the dragon twisted trying to find him. Paul’s smaller size was an advantage as he was able to move quickly. He sliced, opening foot long cuts as he went. Raffvin, bleeding heavily from the wounds he was receiving, launched himself up off the ground breathing a ring of fire as he went. Paul rolled under a section of rock as a burst of superheated fire scorched the ground where he had been.
I think I have his attention now, Paul thought, hoping the battle wouldn’t take too long.
He was worried about Morian. If the black symbiot caught up with her before she was able to get outside, she would never be able to survive. Paul pushed out of the shelter he had and turned as another blast hit him. He had knelt down and pulled up the shield that Ha’ven had given him. The flames pulsed around him but never broke through it. He waited until Raffvin broke off before he took off at a run for the far cliff.
“Halt human!” Raffvin’s dark voice growled out. “Perhaps you need to see my true power!” He snarled before he pointed his finger at one of the golden statues standing on a pillar. “Destroy it!” His shrilled order echoed through the room.
Paul turned in horror as the black symbiot shot out at one of the pillars. The golden
form withered, screaming in agony as the black bands wrapped around it. The river of gold rose up as a low hum of distress filled the room. Grief filled Paul as the golden statue suddenly exploded. An unholy wail built until he knelt and covered his ears as the sound rose before fading to an eerie silence. The huge room dimmed as each of the golden statues and the river of gold reacted to the loss of one of their own.
Paul rose in anger. “Raffvin, you will kill us all if you continue,” he shouted stepping out from behind the boulder he had hidden behind. “You will die as well.”
Raffvin’s insane laugh bounced off the walls and ceiling. “If this world dies then I will find another. I have the power to conquer any world. Would you like to see, human?” He asked before he order the black symbiot to attack the statue of Aikaterina.
Paul had to lead the bastard away from the Hive. He took off running across the uneven ground, calling to his dragon. Jumping up on a small rock, he launched himself into the air, shifting. He blew a wave of dark blue flame in front of the black bands as they wound toward the pillar with the beautiful goddess. The bands split, shooting in different directions towards the other statues. Wails of pain rose again as they wrapped around the golden figures. Paul watched as Arilla and Arosa withered and cried out to him.
He wanted to go to them but a larger band was trying to get to Aikaterina again. He knew he could not save them all. He could only hope the smaller bands would give him time to save those he could. He felt the thump against his chest as the ruby crystal moved. Reaching down with his left claw, he jerked the chain from around his slender neck, clutching it tightly in his palm. He needed to wrap it around Aikaterina.
He curved around the ceiling of the cavern as he flew toward the front of it again. His back legs pushed off the ceiling as Raffvin, back in his dragon form breathed a stream of hot red flames at him. He twirled as it flashed by him. He was almost to the front platform where Aikaterina stood perched when he felt a piercing pain as Raffvin tackled him from behind, digging his claws into his back flank. Paul rolled as he grabbed at Raffvin’s neck, angling it away from him with his free claw as the dragon tried to breathe fire at him again. They fought furiously, falling in a spiral before crashing into the hard surface of the floor. Raffvin was on top of Paul as they slid across the uneven surface coming to land against the bottom steps of the platform.
