“Because of this blessing, I have the freedom to render the world in the image of Iblis and destroy what the devil Chrystos has created. And before I can create the world as Iblis sees fit, I will destroy all that exists! His blasphemous work must come undone so the power of Iblis might be best seen.”
The end of the world truly has come.
The shaking only intensified. Zelda thought the ground beneath their very feet might crack, leaving them to fall into the depths of Hydor. She could only imagine what the citizens in Caia and Mathos, who had no idea this might even happen, were experiencing right now. Did the quaking and vibrations of Ragnor’s rise reach them? Surely, it had to.
Could they hear the voice? She still didn’t know if Eric and Yeva did.
For a moment, without knowing anything other than her own experiences, Zelda felt profoundly alone.
“I will turn this land in the south into mine as it should be,” Ragnor said. “Long ago, I created an army of monsters that thrived in this land. Since that time, you magi have dared to encroach upon my territory. I almost feel pity that the empire wiped out your city. I wished that I had that chance. But no matter. With my true power, I shall summon a horde of beasts that will make Ifrit and Shiva look pitiful.”
Zelda gulped. Through the madness, she crawled over to Eric and Yeva, hanging on to each other for dear life. If they died, she wanted to die with her closest friend and one of the few humans who hadn’t sought to kill her. At least she wouldn’t die alone.
“I will destroy all life. Nothing shall live. I shall create a monument of fire to non-existence!”
The world has heard Ragnor’s message. It wasn’t to us. It was to everyone.
We’re all targets of Ragnor.
The shaking subsided ever so slightly, enough that the three remaining survivors could stand, though not without some difficulty and danger. At different times in the ensuing minutes, Zelda, Yeva, and Eric all fell.
“Did you all hear that?” Zelda asked.
“That demonic voice?” Yeva said.
“Unfortunately, yes,” Eric said. “I had a feeling I might not have killed what I needed to. It sounds like my feeling was accurate. For the—.”
Eric cut himself off midsentence. Zelda followed his eyes and repeated the curse Eric shouted when she saw what had risen into the sky.
Though the shaking had stopped, in the far, far distance to the south, beyond the cliff, so far that Zelda could barely make it out, a massive red dragon emerged, soaring to the heavens with its wings tucked, its tail pointed straight back, and its whole body vertical. It moved too far away to make any sound audible from where Zelda stood, and at this distance she couldn’t make out any details, but the heights to which it soared suggested only one thing.
The true form of Ragnor had awoken.
And if it had awoken from the southern area, and she could see it from there, that made for a terrible omen. Visible from the other side of the world. It truly is a massive beast. Iblis has created a monster large enough for all of humanity to see.
Or this is Iblis come to life. We are fighting a god himself.
It roared, but at this distance, its sound would not hit the hunters for quite some time, if it even had power at that point. That did nothing to quell the fear the three of them felt.
The dragon expanded its wings out, again bellowing. Zelda swore that Ragnor knew of her location, for its gaze, as far removed as it was, seemed to lock onto their general vicinity. Its wings spread so far that Zelda couldn’t imagine her body would make up a single claw, let alone anything a single foot.
Only then did it disappear out of view. Now Zelda had to hope it remained out of view for some time.
“So… now we have to figure out how to defeat that thing,” Eric said with a shrug.
He said it so simply, it almost felt like he didn’t realize what had just happened.
“How?” Zelda asked.
Eric clearly hadn’t thought that far ahead. He had only considered what he needed to do, not how he would do it. He let out a long sigh, and Zelda went back to her dreaded despair. For as much magic as she had…
Eric, though, seemed to grip something tightly in the silence. He glanced at Zelda, looked down at his hand, and handed something to her. The… essence of Ragnor?
The essence of something that controls monsters.
“I don’t know what you can do with it,” Eric said. “But Artemia could control monsters with it, and she doesn’t have an ounce of natural magic within her. But you, Zelda? You are now the most powerful mage in the world. There is no question about that. Whatever you can do with this, you can use it to defeat Ragnor.”
She grabbed it from him, unconvinced.
“I… I don’t know. It could just—”
But she stopped when she felt an immense surge of power run through the essence into her body. It felt like her entire body wanted to explode with energy. She gasped for air as the force became so overwhelming, it choked her. She fell to her knees.
Her vision faded, and seconds later, she saw him. The figure with dark fur, yellow eyes, and a blue aura that made any defining features of his body impossible to see. Chrystos.
“Your time has come, Zelda,” he said. “What Tetra told you is true. You will have power unlike anything from before, including the crystal that you hold in your hand. But you must use this power wisely and effectively, for even someone made in the image of god can become corrupted, especially someone as powerful as you. Now, go. Fight Ragnor. Save Hydor!”
Just as quickly as Chrystos had appeared, she returned to the real world. When she caught her breath, she nervously looked to Eric and Yeva. They looked concerned but not particularly frazzled. They had seen too much at this point to be surprised by just about anything.
“I just saw Chrystos,” Zelda said. “I heard him speak to me. He said what Tetra said is true. I have to fight Ragnor.”
She gripped the crystal tightly. Having come from Ragnor, it felt evil. But then again, she knew magic wasn’t inherently evil, just like any tool of mankind wasn’t evil. Only the intent behind such a weapon could make it evil or good. Figuring out what’s good and evil, though…
She sought to tap into the crystal’s power. Just as with Indica’s essence, a flurry of images came, but they looked even blurrier than the ones she had seen in the base for the Shadows of the Empire. It’s because I only have part of Ragnor’s essence. I don’t have all of it. She had some memory of what those flashing images were, but only because of that could she guess at the various images. Had she not, she would have just seen gray, blurry, indecipherable visions.
But when she opened her eyes, the power that she had came clear to her immediately.
“I can summon my own monsters,” Zelda said. “I have to imagine them, bring them to life, but I can summon them.”
Even in the moment, as she imagined monsters of the past—behemoths, dragons, even men—she could feel her magic yearning to build them up once more and put them in the service of her command. It felt like the ultimate power, but also the one most likely to be abused.
“That may yet give us a chance,” Eric said. “We can’t build an army now, though. We have to get out of here. We have to get to Ragnor and see what it’s capable of. We have to defend Caia. We—”
He snapped his fingers as if a brilliant idea had come to him.
“What?” Yeva said, somewhat nervously.
“Can you summon dragons?” Eric said. “We can ride them to the south. It’ll be faster than horses or anything else we could get on.”
The idea of summoning such beasts worried Zelda. She knew whatever she summoned would have natural affection for her, but would it for the other humans?
Only one way to find out. Try and focus on building monsters which will serve you and Eric and Yeva.
“I can try,” Zelda said.
She didn’t even know where to start. No magi, as far as she knew, had ever possessed this power. Shiva was certainly wrong on
one count. The magi hadn’t grown weaker. They’d become more powerful, or at least Zelda had.
So she started at the place where she began to feel her power growing—whenever she saw an image in her mind of the dragons.
She imagined three dragons appearing, one for the three of them. The better to communicate with them, Zelda gave them the power to speak, just as Ifrit and Shiva had. She created a gray dragon for herself, a red and brown one for Eric, and a blue one for Yeva. She imagined their sharp tails, their majestic wings, and their horned faces forming.
She felt a surge of energy leave her body. Though she had her eyes closed, she could “see” the beings coming to life from the energy produced. Within just seconds, three dragons appeared. She opened her eyes in awe. They looked at her with wide, curious eyes.
Both sides looked at the other, unsure of how to proceed. Zelda had elemental magic prepared in case she needed to put down what she had just created.
“Dragons, I am Zelda,” she said. The moment felt awkward, as if speaking to someone who knew who she was, yet still needed introduction. They did not react in anger, and in fact seemed more afraid than angry. “I brought you into this world. I created you to help us. But we will treat you well.”
She cleared her throat. All had gone well so far. But now she had to issue the command.
“A beast to the south threatens the world. We cannot save what we need to on foot. We need your speed and your wings. Let us ride you to the south. Let us mount your back as you soar through the skies of Hydor.”
“Zelda,” the gray one said. Except, it had not really spoken. It spoke telepathically, much as Ragnor had.
The voice sounded feminine and soft but also unrefined.
“I Emera. I help. I fly. You ride.”
The imperfect speech brought a smile to Zelda’s face. Zelda suspected she would need quite a bit more practice to get the dragons exactly as she wanted with proper communication. But she’d gotten off to the right start. They wanted to help her, not kill her.
“Me Margol,” Eric’s dragon said.
“Luca,” Yeva’s dragon announced.
Zelda looked with that confident smile to Yeva and Eric, who just looked dumbstruck.
“Emera, Margol, Luca, we first need to go to Caia to evacuate the citizens within to the north,” Zelda said. She glanced at Eric to confirm the order, which he did, his jaw still slack in shock. It might have ultimately proved fruitless, but if Ragnor went for Caia first, they might have enough time to plot their counterstrike and save Mathos from the same destruction. “I will show you how to get there.”
“Yes, we fly, you guide. Yes.”
Emera had spoken with such enthusiasm that Zelda felt like the dragon had the mentality of a puppy, blissfully unaware of the danger it would soon head into. I’m almost envious.
“Then let’s go!” Eric shouted, trying to break free of his shock. “If we run into any danger on the way, Margol, dragons, can you attack?”
“Fire! Fire! Fire!” Luca shouted.
“I’ll take that as a yes,” Eric said.
Zelda, Eric, and Yeva all walked up to the dragons, which lowered their heads to allow the three to mount them. At first, Zelda felt unsure of the best position. Behind the wings? By the wings? Ahead? Arms around the neck?
“Eric?” she asked. “How do you ride these things?”
“If I knew, I’d already be in the sky,” he said. “My best guess is like a horse. Get as close as you can to its center of gravity, but not without sacrificing something to hold on to. We’ll get some reins made when we get to Caia, time permitting, but for this journey, I’d just hold on to the neck.”
Zelda didn’t feel especially assuaged. She remembered the nervous feeling from having Tetra lift her up with her wind power, and now, a dragon would carry her to a much, much greater height?
The odds of this working seemed remote, to say the least. But if she could’ve seen Ragnor from this far away…
“Such power,” Eric said. “Zelda, I’m glad you’re here.”
Such power, indeed. Too much power. Artemia had too much of it.
How easy it is to see this power corrupting. How easy it is to create an army of perfect soldiers and monsters to replace the flawed beings which we are.
Can’t let it happen.
“Agreed,” she said. “But Eric. If we kill Ragnor. We can’t use this power again. It’s too much. I don’t want to become like Artemia or the emperor.”
Eric, his legs already swung over the dragon’s neck, started to speak before catching himself. He didn’t know what to say. Zelda could tell he hadn’t expected her to say that.
“We’ll talk about that when we finish this fight,” Eric said. “I promise. But for right now, we need it.”
Zelda nodded. She had no intentions of giving up her power as long as the true Ragnor reigned over the world.
She just questioned if, should they succeed in stopping Ragnor, she would be so willing to give up her power at that time. It was easy to give up something she’d only tasted once. It was much harder when she’d acquired a craving for it.
CHAPTER 21: ERIC
Eric looked to his left. Yeva had gotten onto her dragon, Luca, but with some struggle as she tried to get her legs all the way over. Zelda mounted hers with relative ease, though she had some discomfort on her face. Not because of the dragon, though.
“OK, Margol, are you ready?” Eric asked, leaning forward. He didn’t feel great about his first ride, but he wanted to at least portray confidence to the two girls. “I want you to fly as fast as you can to the south. Don’t let us fall, though.”
“Me won’t!” Margol said. Eric tried not to laugh. It wasn’t just the poor wording—it was the almost childlike enthusiasm with which the dragon spoke. For all of his hunts and the dangers the dragons possessed, Eric never would’ve imagined that the dragons Zelda summoned would have such simple minds.
But maybe that spoke as much to Zelda’s inexperience with this kind of magic as it did any actual indication of the magic. Ragnor seemed too well-spoken and serious about its goals.
Beneath Eric, Margol sucked in a deep breath before unleashing a triumphant bellow. It didn’t sound at all like a baby dragon’s roar. It sounded as mature and deep as it got. The contrast just made Eric shake his head.
Any movement on his part, though, ended when Margol flapped his wings and lifted up to the sky. Eric’s legs clamped down around the dragon’s spine, he leaned forward, and his arms wrapped so tightly around the dragon’s neck his biceps started to flare. He’d never been higher than the top floor of the guild, and now he’d already surpassed that within seconds.
His stomach lurched. Don’t look down. Don’t look down. Don’t— He couldn’t help himself as he looked down, seeing the ground beneath him fade faster with every passing second. He looked to his left. Yeva screamed. Zelda didn’t make any sound, but the white in her hands and tension in her arms spoke to the degree of her anxiety.
“No fall! No fall!” Luca said, screaming it into their minds. “No die! No die!”
Yeva still screamed. Eric could now see clouds coming into his vision. His stomach pressed hard within. He and the two girls needed to stop. They needed a moment to recover.
“Margol!” Eric said. “Stay in place.”
I hope this doesn’t make it worse.
Margol hovered, a gentle flapping of the wings keeping him in place. Eric and the dragon didn’t remain perfectly still, but rather than the kind of climb that felt like a violent thrust to the sky, it felt more like the gentle waves of the beach. He bobbed more than he moved.
Still, when all he saw near his feet were clouds, blue sky, and the scales of Margol, he couldn’t help but gulp.
He sought to suppress his heartbeat, lowering it from full-blown panic to battle levels. At this height—he could not say, but he had gotten high enough that the casualties of the battle had turned into mere specks on the ground—he could see quite a ways.
Eric laughed. He did so partially to deflect the nerves, but also just in sheer admiration of what he could now do and where he could go. Anything and anywhere.
“Isn’t this amazing?” he shouted.
The look Yeva shot suggested anything but. Eric, though, just laughed harder, though again in part to cope.
“I think I’m getting it,” Zelda said. “But I don’t think I’ll ever have it mastered. You seem in control.”
“Do I?” Eric said, shaking his head furiously. “No. We only elevated and already I feel like a nervous wreck. But what a thrill! We can go anywhere within hours on this dragon! We can command the skies! We may have lost the seas when we beat Indica, but we still have control of the air.”
Zelda shrugged, but it looked like a shoulder shudder for how quickly it happened and how close she stayed to the dragon. A sudden shake from Emera made Zelda hang on even tighter to her dragon, though the gray-colored beast quickly gathered itself, returning to stability.
“Let’s start making our way south,” Eric said. “But we’ll go slow to start. Margol! Emera! Luca! Start flying south, but do not go fast.”
“Me go slow,” Margol said. “Me know.”
I’m never going to get used to that.
The dragons began their flight to south. Eric, despite his requests, felt pretty sure the dragons did not move that slowly. He looked down and saw trees blurring, birds falling behind, and the sea to the south come into distant view. He had developed a small level of comfort, but he still would’ve preferred to feel something stable beneath his combat boots.
Zelda and Yeva felt the same way, for now even Zelda let out gasps of nerves, looking on the edge of hyperventilating.
“Margol, can you please slow down?” Eric said.
“Me cannot slow more. Me slow as can be. Me crash if slower.”
Eric reached into his knowledge of dragons. He really never had seen a dragon move that slow in the air. It either hovered in place or moved at a pretty good speed in the air. It rarely, if ever, crawled in the air like a human might on the ground.
So be it, then. They’d have to get used to the air, the speed, and the loss of control.
Legends of the War (War of the Magi Book 3) Page 28
