The Beginning of the End: A Middang3ard Series (Dragon Approved Book 11)

by Ramy Vance

  Vardis stood and stalked off as Alex tried to relax. She closed her eyes and found the voice in her again. Once she found it, she turned it outward, projecting it toward the Dark One’s ship. But that wasn’t quite right. She was imagining the ship and a physical body to connect with, yet the more she thought about the Dark One, the more her imagination warped and changed until she realized she was looking for a voice. One she’d already spoken to.

  Boundless took off to confront the vrosks and ships above. Alex could hear explosions going off. She could see them, yet at the same time, they were blending together and peeling apart. It was as if someone had thrown water on an oil painting and was rubbing it clean.

  Then it all broke apart like a stained glass mirror hit with a rock. The darkness of space receded like a wave, and what was beneath it was much deeper darkness. Alex looked down at her feet. She could see Boundless and Vardis engaging the enemy.

  Alex felt a vibration course through her head like an earthquake. She was tumbling, trying to grasp something to keep from slipping through the cracks. Insanity lay down there. She didn’t need to have it explained to her.

  The vibration subsided. Alex felt something stirring in her for a second, then it shot it out like a white light, cutting through the darkness and illuminating something at the far end of infinity. “What do you want, human?” the Dark One thundered.

  The light receded, coming back to Alex like it was on a string. “You know my name. Don’t act like you don’t.”

  “Alex.”

  “Why haven’t you killed us? If you’re strong enough to wipe out entire universes, what are you doing playing with a bunch of teenagers on flying lizards?”

  Something like a laugh emerged, and Alex was surprised that it didn’t sound malicious. The darkness grew even darker. “You have something I want, something I need. Today, we have the same goal: to keep existence from ending.”

  “How do you know the weapon is going to do that?”

  Another laugh, this one drenching everything in sludgy darkness. “I have seen its effect. It will wipe out all living matter on this plane.”

  Alex focused again, sending out another beam of light, dispelling a little bit of darkness. She could see an uncountable number of black hands drawing back. “How do I know I can trust you?”

  “Look down.”

  Alex glanced at the fight taking place below. A black wave of energy formed around the Dark One’s flagship. Without warning, the energy took the shape of a crescent and snapped across the battlefield, cutting through ships, vrosks, and nearly Jim, who wasn’t able to pull away. The attack stopped at Jim’s mech’s face.

  The Dark One laughed again, and black hands clawed at Alex. “If I wanted you dead, you would be. But that is not why I am here. I will bend this universe to my will and remake it in my image. What cannot withstand the fires of my purification will be turned to ash and abandoned. You, though… You could live through the fires. And I promise you this.”

  The darkness peeled back, showing a bony black hand dripping red and black ooze into a golden goblet. “I offer you this pact: fight beside me. I will give you an army. Fight under my wing, and I will give you the strength you’ve dreamt of.”

  Alex could have laughed at the offer, but she didn’t, and she didn’t know why. Something in her heard the Dark One and wanted to hear more. She was certain it wasn’t due to any influence from the Dark One’s mind. Deep down, she wanted more.

  Instead of answering, Alex looked at the battle raging beneath her.

  Jim had landed on an asteroid and was hanging off, firing missile after missile at the vrosks who were attempting to swarm him.

  Across from him, Gill had swooped in to provide backup. He fired a gravitational well, and Jollies infused it with electricity that electrocuted anything that was pulled into it.

  The Dark One’s voice oozed through the cracks in Alex’s brain. “They would be generals in your army. An entire realm to rule. It could be yours. Just give me the weapon.”

  Beneath Alex, Brath was flying through space, Furi ripping vrosks in half as ships fired at the dragon. He barrel-rolled and blocked the attack with his wings.

  “Give. Me. THE WEAPON!”

  It was not a shout, merely a thought that grew stronger with each word.

  Alex wasn’t going to give in. Whatever the Dark One offered, she didn’t want any of it. “No deal. I don’t give a crap about being one of your servants. But the weapon…how do I know you aren’t lying?”

  “You saw how easily I could destroy you all. I’ll retreat. Take it as a sign of good faith. I don’t need the weapon. Keep it. Destroy it. It matters not to me. All that matters is that Vardis not be allowed to use it.”

  Alex weighed her options. “Withdraw your troops. We’ll keep in touch.”

  Alex snapped out of the trance, nearly falling over. Chine caught her and helped her to her feet.

  A portal had opened in the blackness of space. The Dark One’s forces headed through it. Finally, all that was left was the flagship. It hung back as if it were watching the dragonriders. Then it turned and flew through the portal as well. There was a bright flash, and the portal closed.

  Boundless and Vardis flew down to the asteroid Alex and her dragon were on. “What the hell was that all about?” Jim asked. “Did they just retreat?”

  Gill leaped off his dragon, smiling widely. “Either Alex is extremely mentally intimidating, or she single-handedly brokered a peace treaty with the Dark One.”

  Alex shook her head as she stared at Earth. “Hardly. I don’t know why he left. Maybe I’m just a bad conversationalist.”

  The members of Boundless chuckled, although some of them cast dubious glances in Alex’s direction, which she mitigated with a genuine smile.

  Vardis, on the other hand, did not seem satisfied by Alex’s answer. Alex couldn’t read the alien’s body language, but she gleaned enough from his mind. He was sulking. Whatever he assumed had happened between Alex and the Dark One had upset him.

  That was enough to keep her suspicious.

  Chapter Six

  Boundless arrived back at the base within the hour. They wasted no time entering the atmosphere after their battle with the Dark One. No one had talked during the entire ride back. Alex was glad. She didn’t want to have to explain the conversation she’d had with the Dark One to the rest of the team while Vardis was near.

  Nor did Alex want to address how what the Dark One had said affected her. She had been strongly interested in his promises of power, and she still wasn’t sure if that desire had come from her or the Dark One’s manipulations. If he was such a strong telepath, could he use mind control without her realizing it?

  That train of thought made Alex feel like she was trying to run away from the truth. She knew the Dark One used technology to control the minds of his victims. By now, that was common knowledge in the war for Middang3ard.

  But the truth didn’t rest easy in Alex’s mind: she had wanted the power the Dark One had promised.

  When the dragonriders landed at the base, they were taken to the debriefing room. When the soldiers came to escort Alex and the rest of the riders to their debriefing, Vardis stepped between them. “No,” he said, “We need to talk.”

  Alex could see no traces of emotion in Vardis’ eyes, but she caught everything in his mind. It wasn’t quite anger; that was too vague. The closest comparison was the time her parents had accused her of sneaking desserts from the fridge and punished her, only to find out later that her father had forgotten he’d eaten them all.

  Anger mixed with betrayal mixed with mistrust. Alex had no idea what Vardis had to mistrust. The riders had done exactly what they said they were going to do: escort him to pick up the weapon and bring it back to Earth. The only thing Alex could think of was that Vardis wasn’t happy about the conversation she’d had with the Dark One.

  Then Vardis opened his mouth and proved her right. “Do your commanding officers know you spoke direct
ly to the Dark One? To one of the most powerful psychics in all the realms?”

  Alex tried to meet Vardis’ gaze with as much indifference as his eyes betrayed while focusing on her emotions, making sure they weren’t broadcasting as strongly as Vardis’ were. “My commanding officers are about to find out that I did because I’ll tell them, just like I did the rest of you. I don’t have any secrets from them. Do you?”

  Vardis’ emotions shut down; he was like a closed book now. “I’ve been nothing but straightforward with all of you. I hope the mishap on the moon won’t tarnish our working relationship in the future.”

  Jim and Gill had already walked away, but Alex could hear Brath muttering under his breath. “Mishap? Is that what he’s calling nearly getting us all killed?”

  Jollies said, “Everyone makes mistakes. And he said someone hacked into his defense program.”

  Couldn’t be that well-hidden if someone found it before us, Alex thought. And if they could hack into the system, why didn’t they just take the weapon?

  Alex put on her best fake smile, which was terrible because she hadn’t quite gotten the hang of lying to someone’s face. “I’ll find you after we finish our briefing. They’re probably going to want to hold onto that shard in the meantime.”

  Vardis nodded his assent as he bowed. “It only makes sense.”

  Alex walked away, joining the rest of Boundless as a soldier approached Vardis and guided him to another part of the base. She jogged to catch up with the soldier leading them and asked, “Would it be possible to do the debrief in the stables? Our dragons have been through a lot, and we should really take care of them first.”

  The soldier agreed to the request and told Alex he would make the arrangements. As he and the other soldier walked off, Alex and the rest of Boundless headed toward the stables.

  Alex looked over her shoulder to make sure they had left. “There was another reason I asked for a change of meeting. I needed a moment to talk to you guys away from anyone else.”

  Jollies clapped her hands and flew to Alex’s shoulder. “Secrets! My favorite.”

  “Not a secret. I’m going to let them know in the briefing. I wanted you to hear it from me first, though. When I was talking with the Dark One, he said he could make me a general. If we handed over the weapon, he said all of us would be able to rule our own realms.”

  Gill stopped walking and eyed Alex. “He offered you a deal?”

  “It was weird. At first, I thought he wanted the weapon, but he eventually said he would consider us destroying the weapon the same as giving it to him. He just wants it gone.”

  Jim pointed toward the stable, still walking. “We should keep moving. Don’t want anyone to start staring. I’m assuming you told him we’d sign up as soon as possible, right?”

  The rest of Boundless burst out laughing. Alex was glad that was how they responded. She’d been worried they’d be suspicious of her.

  Now that Alex felt more comfortable, she went into the details. “The whole thing was weird. He seemed to really want to impress on me that he could have killed us any time he wanted and that I could trust him. He said Vardis couldn’t be trusted. Didn’t say why, though.”

  Brath grunted and leaned his head back as if the whole conversation was getting on his nerves. “Great. Now the guy we’re trying to kill is messing with our heads. This is above our pay grade. Wait, do we even get paid?”

  The members of Boundless looked at each other. “Hey, that’s a good question,” Jim said. “Soldiers get paid. Shouldn’t we?”

  Gill was the only member of Boundless who looked nonplussed. “Of course we get paid. Each of us has our own account. You can access them through your HUD. But I think there are more important things to be talking about now. What did you tell him, Alex?”

  Alex shrugged as they neared the stables. “I told him I wasn’t joining his army, and that I’d keep in touch. Don’t know how yet, though. It’s not like I have him on speed dial. I didn’t give him any more information. Like I said, I wanted you guys to hear it from me before anyone else.”

  Jim put his hand on Alex’s shoulder. “Thanks. I appreciate it. I’m assuming everyone else does as well.”

  There was no disagreement, although Brath still looked annoyed at having to have the conversation to begin with. Alex could see why. Brath hated the Dark One more than anyone else in Boundless, and with good reason.

  They entered the stables and got to work draining their dragons. It was slow, gruesome work. There was a lot more than usual. The gear that had been made for their space travel had been better than a prototype, but there were obviously kinks to be worked out.

  None of the dragons were talkative, Chine in particular. They roared and groaned as their riders detached the armor and augments that had been placed on them.

  About halfway through, soldiers came in with holoscreens to project their conversation with Myrddin. Alex didn’t waste any time explaining the situation to Myrddin, talking as she took care of her dragon, occasionally stopping or wincing from the searing pain in her arms.

  Myrddin promised he’d be at the base in a few hours and thanked them for their efforts in the war. Typical businesslike wizard.

  Once the briefing was over, the soldiers excused themselves and the riders continued their maintenance. Chine’s took the longest since his body was covered in burns from the explosion he and Alex had caused.

  Alex put in a requisition with the Nest for ointments and salves for him and asked them to send a healer if they could spare one. Then she called Abby.

  Abby picked up after a few rings. “Hey, what’s up? Wasn’t expecting to hear back from you for a bit.”

  “Hey,” Alex said awkwardly. “I just… I was wondering if you had any more information about the shard I sent you?”

  Abby took a second to answer. Alex thought she could hear the disappointment in the girl’s voice. “Oh. Well, actually, no. We are still looking into it. Is that all you—”

  “Actually, I wanted to know if you wanted to hang out with the team next time you can get some leave. Figured you’re probably getting tired of hanging out at the old folks’ home.”

  “Yeah! That would be great. I can get a few days off soon. I’ll message you, okay?”

  “Sounds good. I’ll talk to you later.”

  “Gotcha. Stay safe.”

  Abby hung up, and Alex sighed. She was glad she’d said why she meant to call. It was hard enough to make friends. Even harder to let someone know you wanted to be friends.

  When Alex looked around the stables, they were empty. Chine was sleeping, as were the rest of the dragons. Maybe it was time for her to get some sleep too.

  Alex was outside the barracks, looking at the stars. She and Jollies were bunking in one that was currently unused. Jollies had already gone to sleep. Alex couldn’t sleep, though. She could only watch the stars.

  During the mission, before everything had turned into an utter crap show, Alex had recorded some footage to send to her dad. She pulled up her HUD and watched the videos. They were breathtaking.

  Alex wondered how there could be so much beauty in the universe, and the only reason she was seeing any of it was because of this damn war. If it weren’t for the Dark One, she’d still be blind.

  That thought made Alex sick to her stomach. She felt like in some perverse way, she owed her sight to the Dark One. It wasn’t like she’d done anything to earn it. She’d just been good at a video game—one that only existed because of the Dark One.

  Something moved in the darkness and Alex was on her feet, scythe drawn. “Who's there?”

  Vardis stepped out of the shadows. “The feeling doesn’t go away, you know,” he whispered.

  Alex’s lip curled without her even thinking about it. “What are you talking about?”

  “Owing him. For making your life anything but unremarkable.”

  Alex felt like kicking herself. She should have known to guard her thoughts. To be fair, though, she wasn�
��t certain what guarding her thoughts would look like. “I’m assuming you can relate?”

  Vardis didn’t walk much farther out from the shadows. “For some of us, there was no life before our war with the Dark One.”

  Hatred, pure and hot, radiated from Vardis as he spoke. “Some of us were born into violence, into this…constant battle for existence. We would be nothing without the Dark One. What would my life be if I had grown up on a world like this with a family that loved me? If I had been given the luxury of hope?”

  The hate coming off Vardis was hitting Alex like a wave of heat. It was almost enough to suffocate her. She tried to push back against it, but she had nothing to counter Vardis’ feelings. All she could do was make sure she wasn’t overrun by them. “I don’t owe him anything,” Alex said. “I don’t owe anyone anything.”

  “Is that so? Myrddin? Your parents? None of them?”

  Alex shook her head as she folded her arms. “I didn’t ask for help. Didn’t ask to be born. They gave what they wanted, and I worked for what I got. Yeah, I got help. That’s not the same as being in someone’s debt.”

  Vardis looked toward the stars as if he’d grown bored with the conversation. “That’s an interesting way to look at things. What did you and the Dark One discuss?”

  “You know, just catching up and—”

  Before Alex could finish speaking, she felt the air around her heat up. Vardis was in front of her, nearly nose to nose. She screamed and stumbled back, feeling more than just hatred coming off the alien. Pure energy was radiating from him as if he were merely a vessel for some intense power.

  Alex scrambled to her feet and stood glaring into Vardis’ dark eyes, which never stopped watching her. “What the hell—”

  Vardis raised his hand, silencing Alex. “Do not lie to me, human.”

  Anger flashed across Alex’s face, and her skin unexpectedly burst into flames, the draconic energy activating in her.

  Vardis stepped back, caught off-guard by Alex resisting his intimidation.

  The flames quickly burned out, but the fire was still in Alex’s eyes. “I don’t report to you,” Alex growled. “I suggest you go back to your room.”