by Vee Bosse
But to their sudden horror, Winkle turned to see a thick and green plant that looked similar to a Venus flytrap emerging from the rubble. It bloomed to reveal a stunning red energy, glowing in the midst of a smiling Desdemona who was comfortably resting inside. “Technique de Floraison - Forêt Tropicale,” she said, with her red eyes giving way to a look of seduction that gave Winkle the chills.
“Maybe this won’t be as easy as I had hoped, my dragon companions.” Just then, Winkle gazed in horror to see that the remaining populace of Chicago suddenly turned green, followed by a disturbing transformation into plant vines themselves. She put her hand to her mouth in complete horror as the people had all been instantly turned into mindless plants, slowly creeping their way. “You...did you just kill EVERYONE?!!” Winkle screamed at Desdemona with wild fury, demanding to know what she had just done to all of her victims.
“They are now one with the Earth, in a way that no graceless radiance stone can accomplish. I have slipped my parasites into them all, and you have witnessed their transformation becoming truly complete. They will never need to experience that passionless pain of being human again.” Just as Winkle furiously prepared to command Terramae to attack, she grimaced at the sudden sensation of her brown gemstone crumbling in her palm. “T...Terramae?”
She looked down in complete fright to see that the vines themselves had all emerged from the ground below them, with massive thorns emerging and wrapping around Terramae, strangling and impaling him viciously. “No, you can’t...die.” she begged for her Earth elemental dragon to stay with her, tears jetting from her eyes. “No, no...TERRAMAE!!!” Winkle lost all hope of her dragon surviving as she felt him go limp, falling defeated to the ground below as the vines suddenly receded.
Desdemona looked on in silence, with a feeling of sadistic satisfaction overcoming her. Winkle somehow broke through her unbearable sorrow and tears to turn around and lock eyes with the evil temptress that had just slain her dragon like no one before. “My dragons...they’re screaming for retribution. Come out, Carlisle, Nova, Leviathan, Icemonger, Nimbus, Carmichael, and Sapheda!”
Winkle slammed all of the colorful gemstones down at once in a distraught fury, as Desdemona’s lustfully carefree attitude subsided at the sight of seven winged dragons appearing before her, blowing the vines that had been reaching for Winkle away. “Desdemona was your name?” she asked, pointing her finger at the one responsible for the slaying of their companion. “You’re fucking dead.”
The dragons wasted no time in beginning their measures for retribution. The water dragon Leviathan had emerged from Lake Michigan upon being summoned, and he disappeared from under the water with haste. A moment later, the eighth member of the Shadow Project watched as a massive tsunami emerged out of nowhere, threatening to engulf all of them. “Icemonger, do it!” Winkle screamed, as the ice dragon leapt into the wave, causing it to instantly freeze in place above them all. “Now, Carlisle!”
It was apparent to Desdemona that they had all practiced their elemental techniques many times before together, as their teamwork was without delay or flaw. Carlisle, the green dragon of the breeze who had delivered the team from the clutches of powerlessness some time ago flew high into the sky, gracefully flapping his wings to send a cyclonic ball of energy crashing into the massive and frozen wave below.
“Oh my,” said the red-haired temptress as she realized an endless wave of jagged ice spears were now flying directly at her, carefully carved out in an instant with Carlisle’s wind energy. But just as the spears threatened to completely pierce through her, she commanded her flytrap to enclose her once more as it swiftly burrowed itself below the rubble.
“Fucking coward! We will scour the Earth if we have to!” Winkle declared, as all of her dragons looked on with a similar lack of empathy in their eyes. They looked around to see if they could hear Desdemona moving around in the ground, but suddenly, they witnessed all of the vines below them snapping out crimson red blossoms from their trunks.
“What is this now?” she thought to herself as they released ruby colored spores, revealing an astounding beauty in the way they all bloomed forth. Carlisle noticed the spores from high above, and he prepared his wings to send forth the wind currents needed to blow all of them away. But just as the jade dragon started the task to save Winkle and his allies below, they all gazed in shock to see the entire sum of the city’s skyscrapers become consumed in massive green vines that turned Chicago into a forest in a matter of seconds.
“This is my Deep Forest Beautification technique. This city that houses all of the souls that I have transformed into truly unified beings is now decorated appropriately. My crimson blossoms will bloom in the sky, consuming you and your dragons into my rejection!”
Desdemona appeared once again, blossoming from her plant on top of a skyscraper that had joined the rest of Chicago’s skyline in a complete forestation. She spread her arms forth with a conceited laugh, causing thousands of glowing crimson blossoms to emerge on the tops and the sides of all the buildings of the city. Winkle looked on with her dragons as the red spores turned the entire sky a shade of bright and horrific red.
“Carlisle, send her disgusting seeds in the opposite direction.” Winkle’s command was obediently carried out by her willing wind wielder, as his wings hammered down on the entire city with a hurricane-like fury, sending all of the spores blazing off into the distance at an alarming speed.
Desdemona grimaced with a look of sudden frustration as she fell back against her Venus flytrap; the swaying skyscrapers all around helpless against the glowing green storm that had made the red glow of the sky disappear with ease. “Now, everything burns! NOVA!!!” The crimson dragon raised his head against the impossible wind, furiously spitting flames that rode on the gale to consume the city, along with Desdemona’s cherished plant décor.
“No, this can’t be!” she yelled, bracing herself as her plant closed up to shield her from the massive flame storm; hell itself was now encroaching upon the abandoned city.
“This is my vengeance, for the atrocities that you have heartlessly committed against everyone here today. Burn, and rot!” Winkle allowed a smile to come back on her face as minutes later, all of the vines on the ground and the buildings had been successfully reduced to ash thanks to Nova. The dragons all turned their attention to the plant that had been protecting the temptress as they noticed that it was charred black, although its structure was seemingly strong enough to somehow keep it from completely disintegrating amongst the now blackened, burning, and smoking city.
Carlisle and Nova relaxed themselves back on the ground once more, awaiting to see if their enemy would emerge any further. Winkle was still sitting on top of the fallen Terramae, struggling to keep her tears back at the realization of losing one of her best friends forever. “Even if that plant held up, I don’t see how she could have survived that inferno. Thanks Nova, Carlisle, everyone. Terramae always loved us immensely, and he would be proud that we were able to avenge him like this.” The dragons nodded in unison at Winkle who could no longer hold her tears back. She smiled thankfully amongst their sorrow, gazing their way in silence.
“You’re all so...ungrateful!” Desdemona said from somewhere nearby, when Winkle looked down to see that her blue aqua gem was now cracking in the same way that Terramae’s had before it disappeared like dust in the wind. “Leviathan!!!” Winkle screamed, as the dragons turned around to see yet another horrific scene before their eyes. A large swamp vine had pierced clear through the blue aqua dragon right next to them in Lake Michigan, causing the water elemental to roar in pain.
Winkle watched in tears with speechlessness as Leviathan turned their way, gazing at his summoner with a look of helplessness. “Leviathan!” she said to him, as the dragon grimaced from its non-fatal wound.
“You’re all very weak. In fact, young girl, you aren’t even worthy to become one with my beautiful parasites. Behold, the Acid Rose Blossom!” Desdemona had indeed held her positi
on on the roof, somehow withstanding the heat from Nova’s hellish attack. Her Venus flytrap had bloomed once more, revealing the crimson red radiance that had remained unscathed.
Winkle turned around, looking almost like she no longer knew where she was. “Hello, red lady. You’re not...dead yet?” Just as Winkle had answered back to the temptress of the plants, she lowered her head to stare at the remaining gemstones in her hand. She then abruptly sat down on Terramae’s lifeless form, sitting cross-legged in the opposite direction of her enemy in a state of abrupt oblivion.
“So, you won’t object to my advances anymore? Taste my fatal attraction then.” The plant that had badly injured Leviathan suddenly revealed its true form as a massive yellow plant that appeared to be a giant rosebud. It turned itself in the direction of the dragons, and quickly bloomed into a glowing yellow plant of incredible proportions.
The dragons watched in horror, realizing that Winkle’s mental collapse meant that if the dragons didn’t take control of the situation for themselves, their beloved friend would be killed with ease. The situation grew urgent as a red growth emerged in the middle of the giant rose which had aimed itself at its enemy as though it was a floral gun. “Disappear!” the temptress further taunted, as a massive flurry of acid sprayed out from its thorny body and its yellow protrusion in the rosebud’s center.
It was the Icemonger that leapt next to Winkle as she continued staring obliviously at the stones. The dragon roared in fury at her summoner who didn’t seem to acknowledge her lightly voiced cry, even when the force from her dragon’s call to attention threatened to blow her off of Terramae with its insane power. It was hopeless as Leviathan’s injury had completely pushed her mentally over the edge, to the point of seemingly no return. The dragons turned their attention to the acid storm coming their way, determined to protect Winkle at any cost.
It was about to consume them all when Icemonger left Winkle’s side, spitting a ball of ice out of her mouth. Ice energy erupted forth with great speed, forming itself into a massive ice barrier that was successful in stopping the acid’s advance. The ice wall melted quickly after though, creating an opportunity for the giant Acid Rose to hurl more of its toxic blood their way. “My fatale is suitable for you dragons as well. Be prepared to join your master in sweet, beautiful death!” the temptress said as her plant readied itself for a consecutive attack.
The dragons defiantly leapt forward once more though, as Nova and Carlisle teamed up once again to send a gale force of flames directly at the giant plant in the lake. It was an impressive scorching, and Desdemona grew frustrated at the sight of her plant being charred to ashes, falling back into the lake below. “You all resist me more than anyone else ever has before. I think it’s time that I consumed you, for good.” But just as she was about to summon whatever trick she had up her sleeve next, the thunder dragon of the purple gemstone flew her way, summoning two massive electricity orbs with each of its talons. “Ridiculous beast! My beautiful shell will protect me from whatever unattractive energy you are flaunting my way.”
The temptress’ flytrap enclosed around her once more at her command, in an effort to protect her from the attack that Nimbus was preparing to launch her way. But just as Desdemona thought that nothing would ever be able to reach her through the seemingly impenetrable shell, she felt a sharp pain as a brilliant bolt of lightning pierced through her, emitted from Nimbus’ brilliant purple orbs that he had conjured. The dragons turned in delight to see what their friend had done, roaring happily upon seeing that an attack finally land on their enemy.
“You...broke my heart,” she said, letting her protective flytrap fall limply to the skyscraper’s charred roof that she was still standing on top of. She gazed in horror at the smoking wound in her body, falling to her knees in a state of extreme shock. “Scandalous beast!” The dragons had indeed landed a decisive blow as they all turned their heads to Winkle, who had arranged each of her gemstones into a star pattern. For the first time in their lives, they had experienced loss. For the first time in centuries, their power was not magnified through a powerful aura wielder’s presence. But they were still frighteningly powerful, and the wound inflicted on the temptress from just a single attack was proof of that.
But just as they felt a wave of relief come over them upon realizing their own strength was as powerful as ever, the temptress clapped her hands together, and the ground shook in terror as a massive plant emerged from the ground; it relentlessly threatened to swallow Winkle and her dragons, along with several blocks of Chicago’s charred buildings. It was a horrific sight: a giant green Venus flytrap that Desdemona had grown deep in the ground under her claimed city, with massive, razor-sharp teeth numbering in the thousands that covered the outer edge of the plant’s enormous mouth. The sun was blotted out as Desdemona smiled laboriously just outside of the plant’s perimeter.
The dragons were shocked that the wound that Nimbus had given her was not enough to stop her from summoning her ultimate attack, and they desperately looked around at the plant’s closing mouth wall that was now about to swallow the ground and Winkle for digestion. They thought about flying above and out of its mouth before it completely enclosed them, but abandoning their chosen summoner to be ruthlessly eaten was not even a remote option. “This rejection, this heartless betrayal...I will drag you all below for this!!” The massive flytrap slammed its mouth shut, trapping them all inside while Desdemona reeled from her wound. She cackled in bitter hostility, angry that her advances had been rejected like she had never imagined before.
“Now, go down,” she whispered affectionately, as the ground quaked once again from the plant’s descent. Inside of the pitch-black enclosing they were all stuck in, the white dragon Sapheda summoned an astounding orb of white energy that drove the darkness completely away. Winkle collected all the gemstones in her hand once more, still sitting in silence as the dragons realized that the plant was now lowering them all into the ground below for eventual digestion.
A sense of panic overtook them, as they launched their assaults on the sealed walls of the massive flytrap in an effort to break Winkle free. Nova spat out a series of terrifying fireballs against it, while Icemonger sent hundreds of jagged ice spears its way as well. Carlisle slashed his talons through the air, which seemed to create a wind current that could cut through anything it came into contact with, while Nimbus launched several bolts of lightning into the wall in tandem. It was all to no avail though, as each of their attacks was indefinitely stalled upon reaching the impenetrable barrier that was the giant flytrap’s mouth wall.
“Terramae,” The dragons heard their summoner’s words below as they turned from their desperate attacks to see the ghost-like figure of Terramae floating in front of Winkle. She sobbed inconsolably, as the spirit of her fallen dragon had indeed appeared in front of her. She noticed the sparkling remnants of the earthen gemstone that had crumbled away as its dust somehow collected itself in the air at the command of Terramae’s spirit energy. “After everything we have been though, how...how could it end like this!?” Winkle yelled at him in despair, as the other dragon’s eyes grew wide in sadness at their friends’ sudden reappearance.
But just as she reached out to touch the dragon’s smiling image before her, the dragon reformed his aura from the projection of his likeness into a message shaped in plain English: ‘REJECT MY DEATH.’ Her eyes grew wide as she stared at their words, the aura then collecting itself into a ball to shoot inside of her in an instant. The despair that came with knowing that one of her lifelong friends was gone forever was instantly replaced with the true knowledge that he would continue to remain by her side. She could feel Terramae’s spirit resonating with her own, as his energy flowed through her like blood, revitalizing her life force with a passion.
Suddenly, Terramae’s real body turned into thousands of particles of glowing brown Earth energy, merging themselves with her aura as well. “I’ve been selfish...I was a fool to think that he was actually gone forever. I
made a commitment to kill that bitch out there, and I somehow forgot that I had other friends who needed me. You guys.” Winkle looked up at all her dragons, smiling at them in thankfulness. “I think it’s time we broke out of this place, and ended this fight.”
Desdemona stood above on the outside, waiting for the plant to fully disappear below the ground along with her opponents. “You will be a succulent meal for my beloved plants. Good-bye, my love.” But just as she was ready to descend from her skyscraper and round up more slaves to control, she looked down in shock to see a massive explosion of black and white energy erupt from her giant flytrap. It pierced though its walls with ease as Winkle and all her dragons flew out of the new opening with a fury, with the dragon summoner proudly standing on the back of the red dragon Nova.
“I’ve realized a few things. Simply put, I’m ending this fight, right now,” Winkle declared, which received a defiant cackle from the temptress in turn.
Winkle gazed at Desdemona with a look of steady focus as her dragons flapped their wings in the sky with resolve. The temptress’ cackle slowly developed into a hearty laugh, when suddenly, her exuberance faded into a flurry of tears. She seemed to let herself fall forward in defeat, sobbing at the idea that someone could have completely refused her ultimate form of seduction towards her fatal attractions.
