Cage then looked down and watched Tohka giving Meeka her mana to replace what the curse extracted. While she did that he knelt and turned a struggling to breathe Brooke over, which was easy without the lower half of her body. Ulon tended to Poli, bringing he back to life. “Babe, you saved me. Thank you.” Cage kissed Brooke’s brow while healing and regenerating her ravaged body.
Her bloodied hand cupped his cheek. “I’ve missed you so much, Cage Love. At long last, the stupid woman is no more. This war is now over and we can go back to the village to rest… and make many babies, but after you get punishment for deceiving us all.” She smiled beautifully. “Be ready because I’m going to keep my legs wrapped around you till you give me new life.”
Meeka sat up and kissed Tohka for the help before they all knelt by Brooke’s glowing body. Meeka opened the inner forearm pouch and whispered before pulling out large, transparent and pliable leaves made in a pouch filled with blood and stem cells cloned from Brooke’s very own blood. Meeka was extensively prepared for any medical emergency during the two months she had time to prepare. She then got out two needles while Tohka rolled up their mate’s sleeves and began a transfusion to fill the blood while not only to keep her blood pressure up, but also as a basis to repair and regenerate bone, organ, muscle and skin. Every few minutes Meeka replaced a new blood-bag squeezing gently to keep everything moving.
“I like what you did with your hair.” He noticed. “You’re more stunning.”
Meeka blushed while taking his hand.
Watching closely was Ulon and Poli. Regenerating so much from scratch wasn’t an instant fix, but for now all was secure. Meeka took over Brooke’s care and Cage said “Ulon, tear through those walls. I’ve got prisoners as well as gift fast asleep. Watch over them while…” he then stopped a s a mental scream from Daku filled everything. “Cage! Get out of here now!”
The unknown Tiaxm that hadn’t been discovered after it fled the area after the reveal of the dragon/human alliance had grown, eating everything that moved as it made way to where the scent it first caught had come from a crack many miles from Laqura Castle. Its rapid growth from a comparable dog size now made it stand over thirty feet tall. It was small, but of the warrior class and the scent it couldn’t ignore lay in the ground, escaping through a thin fissure in the granite. For over a month it tunneled, neither eating or sleeping. Its only goal was to get to the source of the scent that drove it to act not for itself. Eventually it broke through deep underground and gave a mighty bound to cross an underground river canyon and chewed through a metal tube which kept its master asleep and drew blue blood with which the empress drank daily and kept the body alive by feeding it the bodies of slaves who died daily. When the tube lost its pressure, nothing kept it asleep. A needle larger than a house was squeezed out and healed over almost instantly.
Daku was in the middle of tearing through a warrior class Tiaxm, his eightieth, alongside a dozen dragons burning the bodies after the three clustered hearts were ripped out when he felt the ground tremble and the pungent odor somehow got stronger, fueling his rage more strongly than ever before. He and the dragons stopped and turned around to the white wall with three tunnels.
Then the tunnels widened as air was sucked in.
Widened? Daku thought and his inner eye pulled back some as unbridled fear shot through his body and made every hair and feather stand erect and ruffle. “Oh, no… that isn’t a wall at all.” He mumbled and the air came out of what he now could determine as nostrils. Taking command he shrieked “QUEEN! EVERYONE FLEE!” and thought “Cage! Get out of here now!”
But it was too late as it seemed to wake faster with the smell of its own dead fueling its frenzy. A growl rumbled through the cave and Daku barely noticed King Tate leaping fifty feet to escape through the tunnel as all around the nose, large cracks formed. The cave collapsed.
With a mighty effort the ground of the city trembled under the Tiaxm queen’s might. The ground cracked and rolled as hundreds of thousands of tons of earth rose like an anthill, but more like a mountain. Thousands were crushed by the very skyscrapers once called home. Dragons saved their prisoners or took to the sky and watched on in horror as a queen class Tiaxm ripped her way from the very ground that held her prisoner for two entire years. The city was decimated from her emergence. Mud, grime and sewage from the city covered her immense pale body. A roar ripped through the air and for over sixty miles it could be heard.
The queen emerged and stood more than two miles tall and five long, by far the largest Tiaxm ever to be recorded. In her womb slept more than ten thousand scout class Tiaxm all waiting for her will to bring them into the world. Her triangular teeth were each half as large as an elder dragon is long. Her six limbs were thicker and longer than any normal skyscraper. Large blue lips parted as she gave a scream which foretold the extinction of civilization.
But all was not lost as Daku wasn’t crushed in the cavern collapse. His white body pulled itself from the rubble. Daku, the white king, leader of the griffin flock called upon his ancient power and grew. His power was stronger than any griffin before him and he infused it into his very body. If one believed the queen class Tiaxm was gigantic, Daku was mountainous. His head parted clouds, his wings stretched more than twenty miles wide and the city of Laqura Castle was completely destroyed from a single stomp. He breathed in miles of clouds and the sky cleared under his intake before going deaf as he produced a shrill roar that blew all in the air’s path away at more than six hundred miles per hour. His eyes were hundreds of feet long with a pale beak in the thousands. His fur was thicker than houses and spread wings casted a shadow over everything.
This was Daku’s full size.
This was the magnitude of the griffin king’s power that was beyond peer.
Daku’s great size noticed that the queen was sluggish and he didn’t wait to use it to his advantage. Despite his near immeasurable size, he retained a quickness no other species did. He clamped his beak down on her shoulder since she had no neck. Rivers of blue blood exploded as his razor sharp beak tore thick flesh and his claws pierced into her spiderlike abdomen and dug in.
Pain made her react, but not quickly enough for Daku to twist and pull, tipping her on her side so he could gain access to her underbelly and rip her three hearts out. The empress’s palace was crushed as the queen fell into it.
But before Daku managed to part his beak and get in for the kill, the queen’s maw clamped on his chest and placed her feet on his abdomen and flung him skyward while tearing a chunk out of him. His rage numbed the pain as his wingspan and graceful agility allowed him to flip after being kicked twenty miles away, but the air was just thick enough to support him, though the mountains were stripped of life as he flapped his mighty wings.
“Daku, keep her occupied, I know how to kill her.”
“But what about…”
“Shut up and get your huge ass here and hold her down. Nattan and the dragons can’t keep her down for long and I can’t act if they are in my way. I need all my strength to get in her and blow her up. She won’t be sluggish for long and once she lets loose all her brood will be pushed out and we’ll have a real issue on our hands. Containment is priority.”
Daku instantly knew Cage’s plan, especially from one of the many conversations on how the first nexus alliance dealt with queen class Tiaxm.
His wings beat once more and his hands gouged canyons as he lunged at her again, knocking her off balance while the five Rex’s and Ulon carrying the Tiaxm sword taken from his duel with Shakka, were all like large insects cutting their way in. But Daku put his full weight and saw a black arch appear in the queen’s throat and the tiny speck of his partner dove directly into a vein that closed up right after he was in.
Darkness enclosed Cage inside the vein of the Tiaxm and his barrier sphere was what allowed him to be carried through her unique circulatory system. He held his blade ready and gathered black fire in the palm of his hands and built it up during the fast
ride. He bounced around like he was a pinball getting paddled, but knew the fierce battle was dependant on him ending this soon. His ears then heard the triple thump of heartbeats while his magic sensed just how big each heart was but right when he was transferred to the middle one he magically stopped and yelled as he ignited an inferno inside her while cutting his sword around to cut through her tough hide.
The queen jerked and screeched loudly in pain as she writhed, tearing lines into the ruins of the city.
Rex Nattan yelled “Leave me!” as he used a powerful gust to blow all aside as his own Tiaxm blade tuned gold and hummed with every scrap of power he could use and roared as he flipped, creating a two mile wide guillotine which sliced through her upper body. Her abdomen still writhed as it was constantly attacked. Rex Nattan huffed from being out of breath and commanded “Burn her now.” And was the first to belch a golden flame. The Rex’s each followed till nearly every dragon in the area was burning every last cell of the queen and her young.
Cage cut himself out, sweating heavily, but not one drop of blue blood touched his body. His upper section of his robe lay back exposing forty rings around the four flowers as from his fist belched a widespread black flame to do his part by turning her to ash with everyone else. He just happened to come out close enough to Poli where her silver fire was blown with Tohka, Brooke and Meeka burning every scrap as well.
Daku, seeing his greatest foe fall, shrunk into a more manageable size and landed on Cage’s shoulder. His chest, ribs and a gash on his neck glowed for a few moments till all the wounds he sustained in the battle were healed. Cage grinned “Now that was the battle I was looking forward to.” Cage crowed.
Daku chuckled as his tension relieved “Indeed it was. Now do you see why I never get that big?”
“Seeing is believing.” Cage chuckled as he cleaned his Ghosts Bane and sheathed it so he could use both hands to work the black fire.
By the sixth day every single Tiaxm was found and destroyed, even one who wasn’t part of the original count. The dead count was still piling, but the alliance worked together. The alliance heads stood out over the Lowt desert for the space as Rex Nattan gave his verdict to the Division Mountain colony. Beside him was King Skylar with his wife. Every dragon lay flat under the eldest’s menacing gaze. In draconian he said “No longer are you allowed to work under the guise of separation from our ancient laws. You violated knowingly the construction of a nexus, brought forth Tiaxm and caused the deaths of hundreds of thousands of sentient beings. Your Rex is dead and I hold her rings and blade.” He lifted them up for all to see. “I, as eldest, appoint my general, Barbav Aquascales to interim Rex for the next million cycles under my supervision or any Rex who will succeed me as colony guide of the Fire Mountains. Your punishment will be the reconstruction of the world you recklessly followed to near complete destruction. Your labors will not be lifted for five million. No young will be blessed to any female of the Division Mountain Colony for the next five million cycles.” There was a rumble and Rex Nattan roared and all cowered. “Silence! Your actions deserve death by my claws, but be thankful our allies agree to stop the senseless killing. You brought a queen class to our world for a pair of fools who relished power. General?”
Barbav bowed her head and Rex Nattan personally put the four gold rings over her horns and handed her the Division Mountain blade. She turned and all dragons loyal to the bearer of them felt the weight of her next words. “Return to your dens till I devise a system for which to repay the atrocities you wrought.” Each of the millions of dragons disappeared within a few minutes.
“Hey Granny!” Heads turned to Cage dragging a bound man after the last one left. Megdline and Frill came forward out of curiosity. “I’ve got a gift you’ve wanted your hands on for a while now.” Zikon appeared at his wife’s side the moment her legs began to give.
General Adair was thrown, bound and gagged at their feet.
“You!” Frill hissed and pounced on his chest, his weight pinning him as sharp teeth hissed and all his fur stood up. Now all eyes were watching this.
“Frill, no. Let me have my vengeance.” Megdline said as she recovered from the shock. She looked up. “Husband?”
“My Love, I’ve made my peace over our grandchild’s death and what this monster forced me to do to his spirit. Have your justice. I need to tend to my brother. He is in withdraw from my mother taking Tiaxm blood while she was pregnant. He is soothed by me as we share blood.”
“I will return to Twilight when I’m done with him.” Megdline stood on her toes to kiss his cheek before going over and grabbing Adair’s ears. “This is for my grandbaby and all those you brutally used in necromancy. With her power she slowly and excruciatingly ripped his head from his shoulders, making him scream for close to ten minutes before finishing the deed.
While she did her thing Rex Nattan turned his head and spoke in common. “Rex Moril, I have a proposition.”
“Go ahead.” She said from atop Xamii’s brow.
“It is concerning the new nexus. As before, nearby human interaction will result in the rise of new warlocks. It cannot be move and must be closed. The dampening field is powerful, but will weaken in sixty cycles. It is somehow degrading the diamond pyramid. I have yet to find a way to replicate this field and until a century passes and is closed for good, it would be beneficial to have new warlocks chosen. The other Rex’s and Kings have agreed to allow your tribe only to stay within the affected area where you may stand a chance if something occurs. Utala and Utala alone have proven themselves to be the only sentient beings with the correct mentality and fortitude to understand what it means to become warlock, as you’ve come to see what one is like through Cage Two-legs. You will be the only humans allowed in the area so those not ready to understand the responsibility won’t endanger others.”
“Truly? You realize that the Utala will also be able to bond with my flock.” Daku said.
“Indeed, and it will protect them till your numbers are no longer considered endangered.” Rex Gralla informed. “Ties you have with the Utala. Past mistakes will not be repeated. Cage Two-legs will watch over all warlocks as his promise to me still is in effect. His honor is proven to us all now. This is a request only. We hope all agree so further danger isn’t brought again to our world.”
“Speaking of that.” Cage inserted himself right in. “I also studied the workings of the nexus and discovered a way to close every pathway. It will destroy every open nexus with enough force to be considered a small nova. Since all other worlds are swarmed with Tiaxm we’ll rid the universe of their problems once and for all. With it closed we can create a new nexus that is safe for anyone to travel to any world without risking certain death if you can’t survive teleporting. It is the primary drawback your people have had to live with since closing all nexus planets is suicide.”
“You believe it is possible to do such?”
“There has never been a warlock with my power that can understand what I did. It won’t be easy, but if we send a blast of power focused by Nattan and myself and any with our equal or greater power, as only our bodies can withstand such raw energy, using every caster on the planet and about ten billion extra dragons from Valagax, we can make a backlash at the moment we close our nexus and end what has slowed your colonization of the universe. My asking price is that when it’s done in a hundred years I get to choose a planet of my own to have some fun with. It will be a war world any can come to, to blow off some steam and find a good fight. Only when its agreed will I hand over my calculations so you can verify my figures and see for yourself that it can be done.”
Rex Nattan was speechless like everyone else before finally saying “If it is verified I will personally see to it you get this war world or make it myself if I must. I will send an emissary to Valagax this very rotation and submit this proposal. If it is verified as possible, there are two slightly stronger than I and four with equal powers. If the Grand Rex has it in his hands, he most willingly will me
et your price or expand on it.”
“Then here.” Cage snapped his fingers and three ten foot tall books appeared in front of the golden Rex. “One for you, Gralla and this can go to the Grand Rex. I need to go home and carry out the rest of the sentence my women have in store. I hope it continues as all I’ve been doing is having the greatest sex of my life.”
“And I also have news.” Daku reported as he nearly pranced. “Metali and Metalu are both carrying the first of my cubs, twins each!”
***
Tohka sat on her front porch of her vacation tree home where once stood the empress’s palace, breastfeeding her first baby girl of now three months while she watched Daku teaching his four new cubs how to fly for the first time. She smiled as her people enjoyed interacting with the dragons by the nexus. It gave off little power, but in the months since her arrival she had been reclassified as a lesser third class sorceress and a barely noticeable bruise started darkening between her shoulder blades. She knew her warlock mark would take three years to fully form, unlike her daughter’s who had one proudly showing.
She sat up as footsteps approached and she turned, her grin growing in anticipation. “Well, Loves, tell me?”
Brooke and Meeka held each other tightly while crying happily as Cage came up behind grinning with Ananna sitting and giggling on his wide shoulders.
Meeka giggled and bounced on the balls of her feet. “Twins! I’m carrying twins. Both boys.”
“And I’m carrying another daughter.” Brooke couldn’t smile any harder. “Meeka and I got pregnant the same day. How fortunate. In eight and a half months we will have three more babies in the family. How is our new daughter behaving?”
Empress's Endgame (Book 5 and final of the Death Incanate Saga) Page 50
