Dragon Aster Trilogy

by S. J. Wist

  ‘The cure is who you carry. Give her to me, or I will take her by force.’

  “Try it!” Kas snapped back at the pluma with a snap of teeth, though he knew it would be hard to take on the Awl and protect Sybl at the same time. He felt the Threads to his heart tighten as the demon fiddled with them between its claws. But Kas was no ones puppet. He lay down with his paws before him, as if to pounce without any kind of momentum. The Awl was confused. It pulled on Kas’ Threads to kill him, but Kas evaporated into a dark mist, leaving Sybl on the ground.

  The Awl let out a low growl, as it tried to make sense of it. But it was smart and didn’t take the bait. It tried to regain the Threads it had of Kas, but they had evaporated as well.

  Kas waited till it grew just a bit more angry, before coming out of his Eminor’s spirit form and going straight with his teeth for the cat’s neck. The Awl expected an attack and jumped back and slightly into the air by its wings. It tried to grab his Threads again, but just as easily as before, Kas turned into a dark mist.

  “You are no cael. You cannot so much as grasp the spirit of a Priest.”

  The Awl was now agitated when it made a move towards Sybl. Kas met him halfway with his claws, until the Awl suddenly vanished on him. Confused, he looked around. It could only be an illusion to his eyes by manipulating the Threads. But with everything frozen, nothing vibrated in clue to where the demon was. The Awl had frozen all the Threads to its command.

  Kas went to Sybl and unsomned. He pulled her over his shoulder as she began to wake up, but before he could somn back, the pluma caught her Threads instead. He won’t kill her. It wouldn’t serve the Awl’s purpose, he tried to convince himself. But it wasn’t working as she woke from a jolt of pain and a gasp.

  There was nothing he could do but react by instinct, and he somned to stop the Awl in the direction it held her Threads. But he was predictable against nature, and the Threads to his legs, lungs and heart were cut by the bitter razor-edge of the Awl’s control on them now.

  He collapsed to the snow and ice, unable to do anything to regain control over his body.

  “Kas…?” Sybl asked as she was able to breathe again and sat up. Then she shook violently from the cold around her.

  “Sybl…you have to run.” Then the pluma cut the Threads that propelled him unconscious and against the snow.

  She looked from where Kas was to where a black, furless pluma hovered overhead; its bat-like wings beating like drums of a war front. “What the…?”

  The pluma set its full attention on Sybl as she shivered again from both its terrifying form, glowing green eyes and the cold at the same time. It landed before her and folded its wings to its sides.

  Sybl looked around, but there was nowhere to go. She went to Kas and crouched down. She tried to shake him awake, but it didn’t work. Lintrance wasn’t here to save her a second time, and Kas was now unconscious. This creature was a demon, just as she already knew in her mind.

  ‘You don’t fear death even when it stands before you. You are very foolish.’

  “I’m not scared of you!” Sybl staggered back as the demon began to expand, until its flesh and bones were stretched to the absolute limit an unliving thing could take. As she looked closer, it could almost be a dragon.

  The dragon who saved her once…

  When she backed away from Kas, it came down on her with its bloodied claws. Sybl dove and rolled out of the way. She pulled herself back to her feet and brushed the stinging snow out of her eyes. But everything had been made into a blur.

  Unable to see clearly, she stumbled back as the dark monster came at her again. Before it could strike her, something else hit it with the force of what might have been a small train to its side.

  Her sight returned, and she looked to see her rescuer who she could only pray was Cirrus, but it wasn’t. It was a unicorn that had pierced the creature in the side with its horn. Then it pulled back and slashed and kicked at the demon as if it had lost all its senses to keep itself alive.

  Kas came back around at the kyrie’s shattering cry, then looked to where it was. His Aeger kyrie was cutting the Threads that held him down with its sharp hooves and horn, while it dodged and charged the demon dragon. He never thought such a simple creature to have such a fighting determination. But it was clear it wouldn’t be able to hold off much longer, as one of the dragon’s strikes landed across its side in a fury of blood.

  He somned and went teeth-first for the demon, landing them in its neck and bringing the full force of his weight and estus energy down to try and hold it. But it only grew more enraged by his attack and whipped him across the snow of the Keol with an uncanny strength, sending his world spinning on the edge of blackness.

  Daath’s teeth went for the kyrie again as it caught its shoulder blades and forced it to the ground. It tried to lift the creature, but it remained firmly grounded and refused to be tossed anywhere, even as its flesh was ripped from its back.

  “What are you doing, Asil?”

  Sybl didn’t know who was talking to her, until she looked at the kyrie as its suffering purple eyes focused directly on her. But before she could be entirely certain, the creature disintegrated into the snow through a black pool and away from the dragon’s fury of teeth and claws. It left behind its horn that now looked like a festra.

  She ran around the dragon as it looked for her, then made the mad choice and went for the weapon. Sybl caught it in hand and scattered out of the way as the demon’s claws hit the snow, before stopping at a breathable distance and taking a stance with the weapon in hand. It seemed to work to intimidate the monster, as it stepped back. All the names of the Eminor are in this—what is this one’s name? She panted the question to Kas from her racing thoughts that threatened to derail altogether.

  ‘Try Daath,’ Kas replied to her psi, having pulled the name of the demon from its blood that soaked his mouth, as he tried to shake its sting off.

  Sybl could almost taste the blood from his thoughts alone. Try? Now wasn’t the time to try anything. “Daath,” Sybl repeated from Kas. The dragon took another step back. Isn’t he supposed to be Damek then?

  “Clearly he lost his soul somewhere! Sybl get away from him!” Kas shook the pain out and charged for the dragon again, but a swipe of claws struck his face and the next set of them threw him back. Then they came down on his chest.

  “I know who you are, now leave us alone!” she shouted in demand.

  The demon seemed to think for a moment. ‘That was not part of our agreement.’

  “I didn’t agree to do anything for you!”

  Daath brought more force down on Kas’ ribs, even as they started to snap.

  “Stop it!”

  ‘You are in agreement, then?’

  “Yes, just stop hurting him!”

  Daath left Kas as a partially crushed ruin and went straight for her. He expanded in his estus energy, before enveloping her in it and melting into the Keol as a Rift.

  “Sybl!” Kas got back to his feet against the pain of his broken ribs, but it was too late to save her. “No! Sybl!”

  33: STARS OF PROMISES

  “That one.”

  Cirrus opened his eyes to the memory, and looked up at the stars he floated under, just between the world and the further reaches of space. He looked to where Sybl had in the past at the white-lit moon. Only in this memory it was darkened by an eclipse. Hey, I said star. I’m not big enough to carry that one back.

  “Who says it’s not a star?”

  The Texts. The simple fact it doesn’t glow by itself...

  “Well, if this moon is just a reflection, then everything is a reflection of light up here, including the stars and nothing is glowing entirely by itself or has any weight of its own.”

  Well in that case I’ll have to come back for it.

  “Don’t think I won’t hold you to it.”

  I wouldn’t have it any other way.

  Sybl’s desperate cry for help was the last thing he had heard
before it was silenced entirely. She was somewhere in the Keol under him. He could feel the monster that took her begin to consume his thoughts in turn. But his impending madness was refusing him when he needed it most. When he needed a way to save her.

  When a demon smiled, the world burned. Cirrus was left to drown the monster within him with sorrow. He didn’t want to be alive, not if he had to endure it alone. Cirrus could stop now and leave his body to become colder and die, and left adrift in the vastness of space for all eternity. Then he would be able to share his loneliness with the stars. Maybe there, he could feel her again. Maybe she was already waiting for him.

  ‘Cirrus, the storm isn’t dying down,’ Lintrance said in concern. ‘How long can you keep us breathing up here?’

  Cirrus brought his mind out of memory and looked at his cousin. I can’t feel her anymore.

  ‘She isn’t dead. Sybl can’t be dead. Even if that is Vanir’s Awl, a pluma one would answer to her first.’

  How can you be so sure? How do we know that this is a pluma? It’s in the Keol and plumas burn up in there.

  ‘I saw it when I had found Sybl before you did. It’s because I’ve been ignoring this agent of death that it has been causing nothing but one tragedy after the other. Plumas are descendants of Iynx, who were once Sentry. Iynx are soulless, but the way this one looked at me would suggest otherwise. I can’t help but think it might be something else entirely.’

  Like what? Cirrus asked by psi, not knowing how much more he could worry without bursting from it.

  ‘Sentry can’t enter the Keol. Yet this pluma can. It almost sounds like the story of Daath. An estus demon masquerading around as a pluma Awl.’

  She doesn’t have any of her former life’s memories back yet. Is it possible he’s trying to trigger her memories by tormenting her?

  ‘It’s possible. This Awl might be the only way she could have been brought here through a broken Gate. Daath was a cael. Now he’s using her to lead us to a possible watery grave. We’re the only ones left who have not sided with Yri and the Atrum.’

  So the question is why does he want us dead? Because he is answering to Vanir, or because of something else? He had enough chances to kill me.

  ‘We hold most of the Texts, but I’m willing to bet that Daath hasn’t caught up in his reading on us. Maybe he’s confused and doesn’t know exactly where our kind fits in.’

  A cael that is lost and confused. That’s all we need. Cirrus’ memory flashed back to that of Nafury and what he had emerged from the Rift as during his Trial of Somn. He remembered fearing that he would never see his Prince again.

  “Cirrus, what’s wrong? You look at me as if I’m a ghost.”

  Nothing, Cirrus had replied to his Prince, even though it was far from the truth. Nafury had emerged with the dragon form of a monstrosity. His flesh was torn in some places deep enough to expose the bone. His wings had holes that went through the webbing. His flesh was a rotten dark brown, and his face where his deep sapphire eyes once glowed were now green and held by sinking sockets.

  A monster, just like the one he had seen in the memories of Sybl’s mind. One able to take the soul of his Prince. You scared me. Are you in pain? The question Cirrus regretted asking, as he touched Nafury’s face with both his hands and his aeri energy to try and heal him. But he would never heal again.

  But exactly when was his soul lost? Cirrus closed his eyes tighter in thought.

  ‘Cirrus?’

  An image of the destruction of the Fay Wall passed through his mind. They had all lost their minds for a while after its collapse and the death it brought. The Aeger was to blame for the attack. They were after him.

  ‘What?’

  The attack on the Fay Wall. They wanted Nafury.

  ‘But why? As a cael wouldn’t he terrify them off?’

  Not if he was infected with the Aeger. I’m willing to bet that the same way he has been taunting me and triggering the Aeger to drive me mad, it also had the same effect on the plumas. The last place the Prince left a mark of his blood was on the Fay Wall, after scratching it from his anger at me from our fight. They must have picked up on his scent and thought he was behind it.

  ‘But we didn’t raid the Canyon for months before it all happened.’

  No, we didn’t. But Simera did. He also did so after he bled Nafury with a whip. The blood didn’t come off the walls in the room, and there’s a chance Nafury’s Aeger blood didn’t come off our King, either. Simera could have spread it through the Canyon.

  ‘Ever get the feeling Simera is missing on purpose?’

  This Awl is somehow Nafury’s somn. The Eminor of Daath. The Prophecy from Serena said that her son would be the one to lead the Caelestis back to Aster. Asil’s here. If this is Daath we’re dealing with, the Aeger would have a feast on his estus energy and easily drive him mad before anything else.

  ‘So what’s the plan? Kill the Prince cael and save the Princess? And we have never seen the full extent of Nafury’s power. He always held back.’

  The pendant in Cirrus’ hand moved as the monster did, towards Mer City. But that didn’t catch his senses as much as the Keol did. You see that?

  ‘What?’

  The Keol is frozen.

  ‘Wha…?’ Lintrance asked as he looked into Cirrus’ psi for what he sensed. ‘Ice…how…?’

  Nafury, Cirrus said in certainty. That’s his power right there.

  ‘And the Atrum owns Mer City now, and all the Gates—’ Lintrance stopped thinking there as the same thought went through his and Cirrus’ mind at the same time.

  He’s going to try and bring her back. Cirrus turned and aimed his sights back for the ocean, as the storm continued to rage over it.

  ‘Don’t be crazy! That static will tear you apart!’

  You remember that game you used to scold us for when we were kids?

  ‘No, we are not—Cirrus!’ But it was too late as the dragon unsomned and then fell for the ocean, sending a fury of opposing bolts at him. He twisted and spun out of their paths by inches, his only warning to their burning strikes was the spark they made just before they darted at him.

  Lintrance had no choice but to unsomn and follow his air supply.

  Cirrus avoided all the Threads that he could. The estus and aeri static channeled their wrath towards his way as thin streaks of lightning. Nafury.

  “I saw her Cirrus—I saw the Caelestis! She was so beautiful but so sad.”

  I see her now too. Cirrus missed a Thread ignite before him, and it sent a paralyzing surge of pain through his body. Lintrance dove faster and caught him, setting his focus straight again as the water approached and they took back to their dragon forms.

  Cirrus pulled his power of air upwards enough to slow their fall into its fastest safe dive, before they entered the water side by side.

  34: GIFT OF FLOWERS

  Sybl opened her eyes to find herself surrounded by darkness, until a faint light caught her attention. For a moment, she thought she was dead, until a beautiful voice sounded from afar, coaxing her towards it. She got up and began to walk across the cold floor, until another voice who sounded like her own brought her to a stop.

  “Erebus it’s perfect!” Asil said as she took the delicate pink life form from her twin. Her white, wispy spirit form solidified to touch and hold the flower.

  “I was completely appalled by my first sight of it, hence how I knew you would be busy just short of eternity trying to understand why you love it.”

  Sybl looked to the other spirit as his blue eyes were like her own. But he looked so much like Kas.

  “It’s so beautiful. What is it?”

  “Earth calls it a flower,” the look-alike Kas explained.

  “What does it do?”

  “They use it to cure illnesses and plant them around to heal their spirits.”

  “Why couldn’t they just ask their Eminor or Ancient to do that for them?”

  “They do not have spirits to guard their souls as
we do, Asil.”

  “Why would Hino take away their spirits guards?”

  “Mother?” Erebus asked as he looked to Asteria as she approached them and stopped at the sight of the flower.

  Sybl looked at the spirit as it became as solid as a Sylvan could be. She looked nothing short of an angel from how her aura glowed a bright white light around her body. Her long, white hair and perfect complexion stood over the two other spirits with a stature of dignity and uncontested beauty.

  “They still have spirit guards, my children. They just do not have as many as they need.”