Brothers

by Viktor Zólyomi

Zack laughs out loud, and he briefly glances at the stone in his hand. The stone that's been with me all this time.

  `Your idiotic would-be wizards didn't even realize what they were tracing, Mel'!'

  `Enough! You've insulted dragon-kind for the last time!' she screams, and then she turns to the half-dragons behind her.

  `Kill him!' she commands, and the half-dragons move forward. I swiftly draw my sword, while Zack pulls out his magical weapon, that so-called Magic Gun. He fires a shot at the nearest half-dragon. Zack takes the approaching figure right between the eyes, and the half-dragon drops dead. This prompts the other half-dragons to stop in their tracks.

  `I'm warning you, Mel'...' says Zack. `I had a foul day. Don't screw with me! Walk away while you can!'

  She suddenly turns towards me and addresses me.

  `Daniel... I know we haven't spoken in a long time, but I hope you haven't forgotten me over the years...'

  `Of course not, darling... You're always on my mind...'

  `Do you still love me, Daniel?'

  Zack frowns and mutters something like `Oh brother...' under his breath, but I ignore him.

  `Of course, darling... You still mean the world to me... Despite all that you've done. I know you did it for your people, and I'm not blaming you for it.'

  `Then stay out of this, Daniel! Sheathe your sword and walk away. This is between me and Zack...'

  I sigh, and look down to the ground. I think back to the times we shared, the good times, when we were so happy together. As well as everything else. The way she betrayed me. The way she left me for dead in a dungeon full of undead. The way she tried to take my Keep in my absence. The way she continued to send her troops after I returned to the Keep. I look up, and stare into her eyes.

  She looks at me the very same way as she used to look at me when we were alone, just her and me...

  I look at my sword, and then at her once more.

  `Darling...' I tell her. `I still love you...'

  She smiles. Then I slowly continue...

  `But I'm not going to let you kill my best friend!' I tell her, and I raise my sword. `So... You walk away!'

  Zack smiles beside me.

  `You heard the man, Mel'! Piss off!'

  She looks at us with anger in her eyes, and takes a deep breath.

  `So be it! If I must... I will kill you both!' she says, and she orders her minions once more.

  `Kill them!' she screams, and she takes several steps backwards as her half-dragons attack us. Zack shoots one of them in the head, but the others approach us quickly. I cut towards the nearest one, it manages to evade my blow, but before it could attack me, I swing towards it again, and my sword chops into its body from the side at chest height, severing much of the right arm. The half-dragon screams, and I cut towards its head and put it out of its misery. Zack sticks his Magic Gun in his belt, and draws his infernal knives, Doom and Chaos. With swift movements, he cuts several times into one of the remaining half-dragons, until finally slashing its throat. The half-dragon falls to the ground. There are only two of them left.

  `Just like old times, eh, Zack?' I ask. He glances at me with a thinking expression, and then looks at one of the half-dragons. He smiles.

  `Damn fucking right!' he says, and he sheathes his knives and points his right arm towards the half-dragon. A fraction of a second later a bolt of lightning strikes out of his palm and strikes the half-dragon right square in the chest. It drops silently to the ground, its body shaking uncontrollably. It didn't even have time to scream.

  `The last one's all yours!' Zack tells me, and I charge at the final half-dragon with a battlecry.

  The half-dragon raises its sword in defense. It is a rather large sword, quite impressive looking in the half-dragon's hands. But not impressive enough!

  `My sword's bigger than yours!' I exclaim, and I knock the weapon aside with a quick movement of my sword, and thrust my weapon in its gut. It screams as I twist the sword and pull it out, then drops to the ground, silently wailing in agony.

  `I told you so...'

  I lower my sword and look at Zack with a wide, satisfied smile. We are just too good!

  But he doesn't smile. He's just staring forward, and he looks like he's about to say his favorite word...

  I turn my head in the direction he is looking at. I see Mel'. She is at least forty feet away, and her contours are blurred...

  `What the...'

  `We have a big fucking problem, Danny Boy!' says Zack, as Mel' slowly starts to grow, and her features change. A few seconds pass, and her contours become clear again, as she stands before us in her true form. As a gigantic, beautiful red dragon...

  She slowly stands on her hind legs, and spreads her wings. She opens her jaws, and lets out a roar towards us.

  `Fools!' she screams, in a thundering voice. `I've come a long way and fought demons three times on this journey. In this shape, they would have been easy prey. But I never assumed this form to fight them. I've been conserving my strength for you. And now... I will crush you! For I am Meliorath! Queen of dragon-kind, leader of the Dragon Hordes! You are no match for me!'

  She raises her head high above, and breathes a large flame to the sky, then looks down at us.

  So, it has come to this... She will try to kill us, after all that's come to pass, after all the good times we shared in the past... I can't let her kill us. Not now, that the Shadowland is an arm's reach away, if Zack is correct... I have no choice but to do whatever necessary to stop her, even if that means I must kill her.

  Would that there was another way...

  I turn towards Zack, and address him.

  `Hey, Zack... I have a question to ask...'

  Are you ready?

  Ighttur-wor, present day (16 hours after Twilightfall)

  Cursed madman! Cursed black magician!

  Yes... Especially him. Cursed black magician...

  Curse you, Zack! Why did you have to show up? I almost had my stone back from that lunatic. It wouldn't have been much longer that I get my chance to grab the stone from him and flee...

  But no. You had to come and ruin everything for me... When I get out of this magical prison, I'm going to make you pay for that!

  But as far as I can tell, you may just end up dead right here, right now.

  Yes... Meliorath has assumed her dragon form, and she is staring down Zack and Daniel. She intends to kill them. She might just succeed.

  Come to think of it, I hope she will. Those two would deserve it for what they did...

  Meanwhile, I can do what Zack likes to say. Sit back, relax, and enjoy the show. From the front row...

  She stares at them, and I can tell that soon she will attack. Daniel turns to Zack.

  `Hey, Zack... I have a question to ask...' he says.

  Zack turns towards him, and nods.

  `Are you ready?' asks Daniel with a smile.

  `I didn't hear you!'

  `I said, are you ready?' exclaims Daniel, and he swings his sword in a circle above his head.

  `I was fucking born ready!' replies Zack, and he pulls his strange weapon out of his belt.

  `Then it's time to kick some ass! Some big fucking dragon ass!'

  Daniel raises his massive sword above his head, and charges towards Meliorath with a loud war cry. She strikes towards him with one of her forelegs and simply brushes him aside. Then she turns towards Zack, who in the mean time changed his weapon into a different shape. One I have seen him use in Coldrock not long ago. A long metallic object which has a few parts that are glowing in a blue color. I remember that he used that weapon to fry several trolls with lightning. It was very effective against the trolls...

  Now he aims the weapon at Meliorath. He fires it, and a stream of lightning strikes into her chest. She begins to shake for a few seconds, but then she looks down at Zack and breathes a huge breath of flame onto him. Zack is enveloped in fire, but as the flames vanish, I can see that he is still standing there, unharmed, as if nothing had happen
ed. His magic protected him, I guess. He is still blasting Meliorath with lightning from his weapon.

  Ignoring the lightning, she steadily walks towards him and strikes at him the moment she gets in range. Zack literally flies away as she strikes him, but her claws do not injure him. He must have some serious magical protections active.

  Meliorath moves after him, but Daniel comes out of nowhere and engages her. He thrusts his sword in her left hind leg, and she cries out loud in a thundering voice. She turns towards him and knocks him down. Daniel swiftly gets back up, and cuts towards her again. He cuts into her right foreleg just as she tries to rip into him. Again, she cries out loud, but then she strikes at Daniel with both of her forelegs. Daniel somehow evades the claws of her right leg, but the claws of her left get him in the side. His armor protects him, but he literally flies away after the impact.

  She then turns back to Zack, and the wizard smiles at her, like he was just waiting for her to turn around. He pulls the trigger of his weapon, and lightning streams into her again, only this time the lightning strikes her in the head. She begins to shake once more, but after a few seconds she brushes off Zack's attack, as if the lightning was merely a minor inconvenience. She jumps next to him and stretches her neck towards him. She opens her jaws and attempts to bite Zack in half. He quickly rolls aside, barely escaping the dragon's lethal attack.

  Daniel in the mean time is back on his feet and advancing on Meliorath. She notices him, and strikes towards him with her tail. He didn't seem to expect such an attack, as her tail knocks him off his feet. Meliorath then begins to advance on Zack, but Daniel already jumps back up and runs towards her.

  He runs between her and Zack and begins hacking at the dragon. Meliorath uses her claws to block his attacks as best she can, and she strikes towards Daniel in retaliation whenever he leaves her an opening. Daniel seems to be able to hold his ground for now, leaning or ducking out of her claws' way.

  Zack in the mean time has retreated quite a way back, and he has changed his weapon into another shape. This is also familiar. I think this is the one he used in the Great Library, the one with the farseer attached to the top. What did he call it? Sniper rifle?

  Something like that, yes.

  He looks into the farseer and aims at Meliorath's head. Then he pulls the trigger.

  A loud noise is heard and Meliorath recoils. Daniel takes advantage of the situation and lunges forth, sinking his sword deep into Meliorath's belly. She cries out in a thundering voice, and then knocks Daniel back with a swift movement of her forelegs. She takes several steps back, and stares towards Zack.

  Now I can see that Zack shot her a couple of inches to the left of her left eye. I get the feeling he was aiming for her eye, but she was moving around a lot when he shot her. It is still impressive that his shot got so close. The wound on her belly is mildly bleeding. Daniel's sword made quite a deep wound there, and knowing what that sword is capable of, it must be very painful.

  `I'm going to rip you apart, both of you!' she screams.

  `Try it!' replies Zack, and he turns his weapon into a different shape. I have seen this one as well. It is the one which he used to demolish Sil Velies. If he fires that weapon, Meliorath is finished...

  Daniel slowly approaches her with his sword raised high. She leans towards him and opens her jaws. She breathes flames towards him, and he barely manages to jump out of the way.

  At that moment, Zack raises his insanely large weapon and fires it at Meliorath. A familiar green orb is fired from the weapon straight at the dragon, and hits her in the chest. Upon impact, the orb explodes into a large green ball of fire, and Meliorath's angry cry is heard.

  *

  As the dust settles, I can see that the explosion knocked her back by a few feet, and that her scales are scorched, and she's shaking her head like she is dizzy, but other than that, she seems unharmed.

  Unbelievable...

  I have seen that weapon tear down a fortress, and Meliorath survived a shot in her chest with barely a few scorch marks on her scales?!

  She is a very, very powerful creature...

  Even Zack seems to be shocked. He expected his weapon to do more damage to her than that. He stares at her with his eyes wide, and he glances at his weapon in disbelief.

  Daniel approaches him.

  `What the Hell is this?' he asks, pointing at his weapon.

  `The... The latest SMG model... The 12000...' replies Zack, slowly, as if he was still in shock after having seen the Dragon Queen survive his attack. `Errr... this is the newest form. It's still in experimental phase.'

  `It's fucking big...'

  `Damn fucking right! Did you see that explosion?'

  `Yeah... I don't know how she's standing.'

  `She's tough. But I'll teach her!'

  Zack raises his weapon and aims at Meliorath again. She is still shaking her head, but she notices Zack's intent. She moves towards Zack, but he fires the gun before she could get close enough. Another green orb impacts into her chest and explodes into a large green fireball.

  As the dust from the explosion settles, she once again stands there shaking her head, with nothing more than some scorch marks on her scales.

  `I don't fucking believe that!' screams Zack, and he fires the gun several times in quick succession. Around five or six little green orbs impact into the Dragon Queen and blow up into a tremendous green fireball. Zack laughs, but as the dust settles, Meliorath still stands there as if she was unharmed. Except that she seems completely disoriented now, not just dizzy.

  `I'll rip you apart, you bastard!' she screams, throwing her forelegs about like she doesn't know which way Zack is.

  `You want some more, huh?!' screams Zack, and he fires his weapon again. This time he fires it about ten times in quick succession, and a flurry of green explosions follow as the green orbs hit the Dragon Queen. As the dust settles, Meliorath stands there in one piece, with mere scorch marks on her scales.

  `I don't fucking believe that...' says Zack. Meliorath takes a step towards him, but then she falls forwards to the ground. She groans, sounding angry. It seems she got so disoriented that she couldn't stand still any more.

  `Yeah, finally!' exclaims Zack, smiling.

  `Do you think she's finished?' asks Daniel, with a sad expression on his face. Zack nods with a smile, but then he looks down at the weapon in his hand and the smile vanishes from his face.

  `Oh fuck!' he exclaims.

  `What?' asks Daniel, and he looks at the weapon, too. The entire weapon is glowing reddishly now...

  `It's gonna blow...'

  `What?! Must you blow up everything you touch?!'

  `I told you, it's still in experimental phase. I guess I shouldn't fire so many rounds so fast...'

  `You guess?! What are we going to...'

  Suddenly, Meliorath begins to slowly arise from the ground. She stands up and violently shakes her head. Then, she cries out angrily in a thundering voice, and looks down at Zack and Daniel.

  `Your puny weapon can't harm me, you little maggot!' she screams. Then Daniel glances at the glowing weapon in Zack's hands.

  He grabs it, and pretty much rips it out of Zack's hands.

  `Here, have it as souvenir!' exclaims Daniel, and he tosses the weapon towards Meliorath. She opens her jaws and seems like she's about to catch the weapon between her teeth, but before she could snap her jaws shut, the weapon explodes.

  A tremendous shockwave pushes Daniel and Zack at least thirty feet backwards, and Meliorath is also tossed back, literally sent flying. She lands on her back about fifteen feet away.

  Zack shakes his head and slowly stands up.

  `I think I gotta work a little bit more on that shit...'

  `You don't say...' replies Daniel, as he, too, gets up from the ground.

  They look towards Meliorath, and witness as she slowly arises from the ground. This last explosion took its toll on her. Countless scales were literally ripped off her body, and she is mildly bleeding in
at least a dozen places. The tip of one of the horns on her head seems to have broken off.

  `It's not over, Zack... It has only just begun...' she tells them, at a much weaker, but still thundering voice than before. Perhaps this is how dragons whisper...

  `You know what, Zack... I've got a plan this time! From here on, we do this the old fashioned way.' says Daniel.

  `The old fashioned way?' asks Zack, sounding absent minded.

  Daniel takes his sword in two hands, and looks at him.

  `Yeah. You stick to casting spells, I stick to swinging my sword!'

  Zack nods, and Daniel turns towards Meliorath.

  `Get ready, darling! I'm coming for you!'

  *

  He swings his sword in a circle above his head, and then he runs towards the Dragon Queen. She opens her jaws wide and breathes flames towards him. Suddenly, a transparent sphere inscribed with glowing runes appears around Daniel, and he runs straight through the fire, unharmed. Zack smiles in the back with satisfaction.

  Daniel swings his sword and hacks towards Meliorath with a loud warcry. His sword cuts deep into her face, easily penetrating the thick scales. She pulls her head back, then roars angrily towards Daniel, and strikes towards him with her left foreleg. He ducks from the attack, but as he stands up and prepares to attack, she succeeds to strike him with her right foreleg. The force of the impact sends him flying, and he lands around thirty feet away.

  Zack then points at her with both arms, and fires a multitude of colorful magic missiles at her. The missiles strike her unerringly, and she cries out a loud wail full of anger. Amidst the flurry of magic projectiles, she begins to run towards Zack. As she gets within striking reach, Zack stops to shower her with those colorful magic missiles, and instead points at the ground around her. Dozens of black tentacles arise from the ground and wrap themselves around the legs of Meliorath. Seconds later, the tentacles trap her completely. She looks down at the tentacles, and roars in anger.

  Zack takes several steps backwards to maintain some distance from her, and then starts shooting some kind of reddishly glowing magic projectiles at her, one by one. After each impact, Meliorath cries out. She sounds like she is having considerable pain.