by Dreagen
“Hurry and get to the top, now!” NyEssa ordered. “We’ll be right behind you!”
“We can’t just leave you!” AnaSaya cried back.
“She’s right,” EeNox said. “Come with us!”
“Kill them!” one of the DraGons roared upon seeing them.
“We’ll hold them off long enough for you to get to the top safely,” NyEssa said. “Then we’ll follow you up! Now go!”
“But…we don’t know how,” LyCora said despairingly.
All of a sudden everything around them went white as their bodies became weightless. There was no sound or smell, and before any of them could even formulate a thought on their current state, everything went dark. Several seconds passed before they could once again feel the weight of their own bodies and the world come back into the light. They were instantly startled to see themselves mere meters away from the enormous beam of red flame. “Holy shit!” EeNox said in awe as he craned his head back to take in the whole thing.
“The sky,” AnaSaya said. “There’s a huge hole in it!”
Far above them a rift in the sky stretched for several dozen kilometers, which seemed to be a doorway to some other place. As to where or what that place was, none of them could say. The distant wail of something echoed from it. “What in the world was that?” EeNox asked.
“I think…it’s some form of doorway,” ShinGaru replied, rearing up on his hind legs. “Can you feel it? Flames…hundreds of them, no—thousands!”
“So that was their plan all along,” LyCora said as the gravity of the situation came crashing down on her. “They’re opening a door to their world. They’re bringing the whole of their army to EeNara!”
“Look there, it’s DayKar,” AnaSaya said.
EeNox looked at the huge DraGon, then ahead of him to the large black stone structure rising out of the tower itself. Peering in closer, he was immediately surprised by what he saw. “Hey, look! At the base of the flame! It’s them…DiNiya and Rex! Looks like you were right, LyCora!”
“I knew it!” she exclaimed enthusiastically, causing all the DraGons to turn in their direction. “Oops.”
“Kill them!” DayKar roared.
The four of them scattered as seven DraGons descended upon them, gnashing their teeth and spewing fire.
“So what now?” EeNox cried over to LyCora.
“Why are you asking me?” she called back as she ducked under one of the DraGons and shot a blast at his underbelly. The DraGon collapsed and rolled on his back, moaning, while holding his stomach.
AnaSaya was doing her best to avoid the biting jaws of another who was hot on her tail, and voraciously doing her best to close the distance between herself and the small DroMevora. Seeing that she was quickly nearing the edge, AnaSaya spun around, hooked one of the sickle claws into the DraGon’s cheeks, and launched herself up and over it. The DraGon, now furious, roared as she placed a hand on the side of her face. “Damn you!” she bellowed as she pushed off and charged after AnaSaya on her hind legs.
“Uh oh,” AnaSaya said with a chirp as she crouched down, standing her ground.
Lunging forward, the DraGon dropped back down to all fours and was practically on top of AnaSaya, when she seemingly dropped out of sight. The DraGon barely had time to halt when she felt a sharp pain rip through the armor of her underbelly and into her stomach. Curving her long neck down to look underneath her, she was alarmed to see the young DyVorian hanging upside down, hooked into her underside with her claws. “Get out from under there, you little pest,” she cried angrily, preparing to fire a blast.
“Wait,” AnaSaya protested. “You can’t!”
“Where were you about ten seconds ago?” the knight replied sarcastically.
“No, I mean if you breathe fire at me now, you’ll burn yourself too!”
“A fair point. So what would you have me do? Just stand here and let you cling to me like some parasite?”
“I wouldn’t dream of it,” she replied in a mischievous tone.
Sinking her claws in deeper, AnaSaya managed to tear off a chunk of armor and bury the end of her snout into the DraGon’s stomach, digging in deeper with her small serrated teeth before firing a ball of flame deep into the DraGon’s innards. With an ear-piercing shriek, the DraGon reared back and fell on her side as AnaSaya scampered out from underneath. With a heavy thud, the DraGon fell forward with her arms tucked underneath, clutching the burning hole in her stomach. “H…how is this…any better?” the beast coughed and sputtered as she fixed her dying eyes on AnaSaya.
“I didn’t mean for you, of course,” she replied innocently, cocking her head to the side. “I just meant it would have been bad for me if you fired before I had a chance to get out of the way…really thought that would have been obvious.” To her own surprise, she did not feel the same uncontrollable pull to drain her enemy of her very life force like she had two days ago. Rather, she felt a type of control over herself the likes of which she had never before experienced.
“Damn you,” the DraGon said in a failing voice. “Damn you…for making me…die…like this…”
AnaSaya watched her laborious breathing slow then come to a stop. With a sigh, she looked down for a moment before a familiar cry of pain pulled her back into the moment. Turning, she was horrified to see a DraGon with its jaws clamped down on ShinGaru’s tail. “Oh, no, ShinGaru!” Wasting no time, she raced over to him and, using her sickle claws like meat hooks, dug them into the Dragon’s armor, climbed her way up and over to his head, then began viciously biting the brow ridge of his left eye. Letting go of her friend’s tail, the knight reared up and swung his head furiously from side to side in an attempt to shake her off. In an effort to not be tossed aside, AnaSaya sunk her claws deep into the DraGon’s face, causing him to tense up before slamming his face into the ground, creating a wide indentation where AnaSaya lay unconscious.
“You idiot!” DayKar called over. “Stop putting dents in my tower!”
“I’m sorry, my lord,” the DraGon apologized. “I just wanted—”
He was cut off by something choking him around his throat, just behind the base of his lower jaw. Glancing down, he saw the gold, scaly, and furry serpentine hide of ShinGaru wrapped around him. He gasped for air but found himself getting less with each breath. Slowly the world began to dim all around him as he felt like his head was lazily floating away.
ShinGaru was straining all the muscles in his body as hard as he could. The irony of the situation was not lost in him, for he had spent his whole life trying to find peaceful means to always resolve his problems, rarely ever resorting to acts of aggression; however, the sight of AnaSaya’s battered body lying motionless in the smashed-in surface of the tower sent a surge of rage through him unlike anything he had ever experienced. Now I understand you, Rex, he thought to himself as he contorted and twisted the whole of his form until he heard a loud snap. It was then that he felt all the fight in the DraGon vanish. Releasing his grip, he saw his adversary’s head fall limp, his tongue hanging out from beneath long dagger-like teeth and eyes devoid of any fiery glow.
DayKar watched as a second of his knights fell victim to the four young warriors who had now proven themselves a legitimate threat. Stepping away from LemaRes, he fixed the foursome with a fearsome gaze. “If you want something done right…”
With a bellowing roar, VayRonx slammed into the base of the tower alongside dozens of other warriors. Instantly they were bombarded by an array of assaults from DraGons, who rained fire down on them. “Smash your way in,” VayRonx commanded. “This is not over until the tower is ours!”
Several large cracks began to appear in the side of the tower, sending a surge of panic through the DraGons. Looking down from four levels up, PeroDay watched in horror as their stronghold shook from the power of the DyVorian army at their gates. “Damn it!” he cursed, turning his head skyward to the otherworldly sound emanating from the rift. “We’re so close!” Leaping into the air, despite not having fully reco
vered from his last battle, he raced down the length of the tower and over the army below, pounding it with powerful blasts of fire. The DyVorians shrieked in pain and anger, much to his delight. Preparing for another pass, he noticed that some of those that had come possessed more than a passing familiarity to him. “So it’s them,” he said at last, recognizing VayRonx and the others from the attack in KaNar. “I told DayKar they would come despite his warning. No matter.” Turning to the other knights, he spoke to rally them to what he hoped would be a formidable defense. “All of you on my wing, now!” Turning, they all swooped down low for another pass.
“Hey, VayRonx!” NyRo called over. “Recognize him?”
“Yes, indeed,” VayRonx replied, eyeing the large brown DraGon with a stern stare.
“I say we indulge ourselves in a little revenge,” TarFor said, raising a flaming fist.
“What do you think this is, you daft fool?” VyKia exclaimed as she pounded the side of the tower with blast after blast.
“True enough, but it’s always that much sweeter when you can strike at the face of your enemy.”
“Whatever you’re going to do, do it fast,” NyRo said, “because he’s coming back with more of his friends!”
All heads turned skyward as they were engulfed by the great shadow cast by the horde of DraGons. VayRonx and VoRenna instinctively threw up shields to protect against the DraGon’s fire.
“Here they come!” BaRone said. “NyRo, can you give me a lift?”
“Hop on,” he replied, lowering his head. BaRone leaped up onto his shoulders. NyRo crouched low, charging his flame before springing directly up into the air. In what would have only taken the time to blink twice in real time, NyRo and BaRone joined flames, concentrating them to their center of mass, before exploding up and out.
PeroDay watched as the green flame came racing directly at him, and without giving it a second thought, grabbed the knight next to him and used him as a shield. The other DraGons had no time to get clear of the wave of fire that swept through the air, canceling out their flames, causing them to collapse in the angry mob below, which wasted no time in tearing them to pieces. PeroDay could hear the young knight he was holding shrieking in terrible agony, and could feel him thrashing about wildly as his wings burnt up and his armor begin to melt into his skin. He was not a perfect shield, however, and soon PeroDay felt the armor plating on his shoulders, wingtips, and lower legs begin to burn painfully. At last the flaming onslaught ceased, and he looked up to see the extent of the damage. The knights who had been with him had fallen into a sea of horns, club tails, and serrated teeth. A far crueler fate than what had befallen the poor young knight he had reduced to a meat shield, and was now a lifeless corpse of melted armor and charred flesh. Turning him around, he stared into the empty sockets that only moments ago contained two blue eyes filled with terror. He wondered what must have been going through his mind as his body was being burned alive.
“That one’s still alive,” came a voice that interrupted his thoughts. Looking down at the horde below, he saw it now turning its attention on him. Finding himself in the sudden grip of panic, he let go of the body that had served as his only means of protection and flew upwards, back into the tower. Gripping his chest, he breathed heavily as fear coursed through his body, a crippling sensation that now caused him to crumple to the floor. He knew he would be branded a coward, a traitor to the holy order for having so selfishly sacrificed one of their own in battle to save his own life rather than facing death bravely. If my brother finds out…I will have wished to die back down, there with the others…torn apart by those savages. It was at that moment he was struck by a sudden realization. DayKar would never learn of what he did, nor would anyone else. They all died: all of them. I’m the only survivor, and it’s the survivors who live to tell the tale the way they see fit. Rising to his feet, he held out both hands, ignited them with flame, and then taking a deep breath, fired a blast directly into the center of his chest plate.
“Hah! Did you see that coward run?” TarFor boasted.
“Did you see him use one of his own to shield himself from our attack?” VoRenna replied, shaking her head.
“And they have the audacity to call us savages!”
“Hey, less talk you two, and more action,” NyRo said.
“We’re almost through,” declared VayRonx as he leaned in with all his might. At last the wall gave way, crumbling inward in a plume of dust. “We’re in!” he called back to everyone else with a roar that echoed all the way back to the very last warrior. “To the top!” The army poured into the tower and began working its way up each level, some using their flames to leap from one platform to the next.
“This is going far better than I expected,” NyRo said as he dug his claws into the side of the wall and began running up its length.
Seeing all the DraGons pouring back inside, BaRone said, “Looks like they intend to fix that.”
“We have incoming!” VayRonx shouted as he leaped up into three DraGons, stunning them, then biting through the neck of one while the other two fell below.
“Don’t let them get to the top!” said one of the DraGons. “We have to hold them here!”
“Hear that?” NyRo asked. “Looks like they’re dead set on keeping us from getting to whatever is happening up there!”
“Let them try,” VoRenna said as she spread her claws and sprang into the air, grabbing the DraGon who had given the order and tearing out his throat with her teeth.
“Now that’s the spirit!” TarFor exclaimed. “You heard VayRonx, kill everything between here and the top with wings!”
“Belay that,” came a voice from above as NyEssa descended with the other surviving Highwing, landing on the platform just above.
“I’m glad to see you made it,” said VayRonx. “But where are the others?”
NyEssa looked over to her companion who motioned with his head for her to go on. “Of those from my tribe who came, we are all that is left. The others died seeing that those children made it here safely.”
“NyEssa, I am truly sorry for your loss,” VoRenna said, bowing her head along with the others.
“They died a warrior’s death,” the alpha replied, lowering her head slightly as VayRonx came up and placed his under it. “Fighting to defend something precious to us all. Their flames will be honored forevermore.”
“NyEssa, please believe me when I say that I do not mean to downplay the pain of this tragedy,” VoRenna said, “but what about the children? Where are they now? Safe?”
“No safer than us, I fear,” she lamented, meeting her eyes.
“We were trying to figure out a way to the platform atop the tower when we were attacked. We sent them on ahead while we held off the guards.”
“You sent them alone?” VyKia asked in surprise.
“Believe me, it was one of the most difficult things I have ever had to do, but we had no choice. It did, however, bring something to light.”
“And that would be?” VayRonx asked.
“How they get from the top inner level to the platform itself.”
“It’s some sort of device that allows for near instant transport from one place to another,” said the other Highwing. “I don’t pretend to fully understand it myself, but the four of them used it to get to the top.”
“Will it work for the rest of us?” TarFor asked anxiously.
NyEssa nodded. “I believe so. DraGons use it, many of us are no bigger than any of them, and so I don’t see why not.”
“That’s good,” VayRonx said. “But I still need to know what those four found themselves in the middle of when they got to the top. What exactly is up there?”
DayKar grabbed ShinGaru by the neck and began slamming him repeatedly into the ground. The large DraGon was now beside himself with rage. All those he was surrounded by had failed him in one capacity or another, and now that he was on the eve of what was supposed to be his finest hour, he found himself once again being forced to ta
ke matters into his own hands, fighting to achieve that which he desired most. Nothing ever came easy in life. He had learned that the hard way so many times during the course of his, but not as much as he did when he first came to EeNara: the wilderness, backwater planet where he faced opposition at every turn. Forced to fight a war against a race of overpowered animals just so he could at last spend the rest of his life with the one he loved. A laughable thought, now that she lay dead no more than ten meters away from him after having survived all the horrors this world could throw at them, then sleeping for a hundred centuries. No “this time around, things would be different” he had told himself every day for his seemingly endless existence. It was the thought that kept hope alive in his heart as he walked amongst the enemy, moving through their lives unnoticed and hiding in plain sight. How many times he had wanted to tear free from his alien prison and feel the sun against his wings.
Now was that day, that moment, and he was not about to hold back. Not this time, not ever again. Give them an ounce of mercy and they will rip your beating heart out of your chest. Oh, how he had learned that lesson the hard way, having lost so many that he had cared for in the war against the DyVorians. Even now, in the midst of his vengeful assault on those who had followed him from that bygone era, his ears ringing with their pain-laden cries of anger, he could still hear those of his comrades from so very long ago, their voices echoing out of the past through his mind as he remembered seeing them being mercilessly torn to pieces right in front of his eyes.
Then there was the Doom Bringer, a towering form seemingly larger than life, a monstrous blasphemy of the natural order, an unholy beast whose sole purpose was to burn the Nova Queen off her perch atop all creation. It was the dogma decreed to all DraGons, the faithful created in her image and born to carry out her will until her pure white flame consumed all there is and ushers them into her kingdom. Only something so impure and evil could hope to taint her purity, to kill god.
He remembered the day he laid eyes on the Doom Bringer for the first time. It was something that left a deep scar and made it so he could never know a night’s rest free of nightmares. Seeing such a beast made all his courage, all his strength and will, fall away and be replaced with complete and total despair. He was prey to this beast, which knew not the feelings of mere mortals, but only the hunger for death and destruction. A monster that was the master of fear of any living thing it laid its wicked eyes upon. Now that very same titan of terror, that abomination to all that he deemed good and holy, had been reduced to a mere impudent child, ignorant of his own true power and nature. A child who was currently serving as a tool to restore the very dynasty he had nearly destroyed in a past life. It was ironic how things turned out. He would even go so far as to find it amusing, although those who were the keepers of his people’s faith would never admit to such a thing. So what did that say about him? Could he, the young hopeful knight who had sacrificed seemingly everything so he could be with the beautiful blue flame he had fallen in love with, be losing his faith? Could anyone blame him in light of all that had befallen him, now that the very same blue flame’s blood pooled cold upon the floor? The very thought was like a talon piercing his heart, prompting him to tighten his grip around the creature now trapped in his hand as he proceeded to squeeze the life out of him. “If I am to be denied all my dreams, then I will at least take some degree of comfort and pleasure from destroying any and all sense you all have ever had of a future! Today is when history will look back and recognize that it was I who brought about your extinction!”
