Laugh of Destruction (Book 3 of the Death Incarnate Saga)

by Jr H. Lee Morgan

  “I’m beginning to understand why the dragons were interfering when human mages stripped humanity of all body hair except on the head. If they had done something like give claws, would that be bad?”

  “Very much so. That would have been a biological regression instead of a progression. Evolution slowly hones a species to be the best they can. Altering genetics goes against the natural order and breaks the spirit. It is one of the hidden laws of magic.” Cage crossed his legs for added comfort. “You could give yourself claws and sharp teeth, but your mana maintains the augmentation and will not pass to the next generation.

  “But here is where our rage comes in.” Daku more seriously explained. “Humans are a rather special species. They do not have claws, sharp teeth or even thick hide or scales, but because of these weaknesses it makes you sensitive to magic. It is also theorized why your species alone can bind the life of another to yours, making them a Familiar. Your race grows in magic much faster than the dragons. It took near a billion years of evolution for their whole race to use magic. Griffins about eight hundred million. But humans are estimated to reach such levels in under nine million years from start to finish. Because of human sensitivity for magic is how warlocks came to be.

  “Warlocks are the believed human species pinnacle of evolutionary power.”

  Cage stared openly, unable to offer a retort to such a statement for a full minute. “But if that’s true, why would Twilight want me dead if I’m believed to be the ideal goal for humanity?”

  “Fear, bias, afraid of repeating history… Take your pick. Personally, I do not think they know this controversial truth. Dragons still debate if it is true or not. They are divided because it was odd how your ancestors came about. The highly aggressive nature of warlocks is what is disputed mostly… along with the ability to heal a ghost. Humans have flight or fight responses, warlocks rarely flee. The dragons believe that the change within warlocks are not part of expedited evolution, but of some yet unexplained phenomenon yet to be proven in any way as fact. They will just watch humanity’s evolution though the millennia’s to find that answer.” Daku responded. “Now, a certain group of humans about two and a half million years ago was tasked with guarding this world’s nexus about the same time as the Tiaxm doomed their race. The problem was they too had a nexus.”

  “So the Tiaxm started crawling through this Raliea’s nexus?”

  Daku’s body shook slightly as he nodded backwards. “That is precisely what I’m saying… A nexus, once established, isn’t easily turned off without endangering the world it sits on. It takes about a hundred years to turn off a sustained and active nexus, but during all those years the Tiaxm freely crossed over like hungry beasts with only one thing on its mind, to devour. Their lost spirit could no longer guide them to rest or think beyond eat and mate.

  “The only defense Raliea had rested on a collaboration of dragon, griffin and humans partnering together to keep those monsters away. Other worlds also fought while dragons Jumped there to seal the portal. But during those years of battle on this world and the close proximity to the nexus, humans began to… change. Not in appearance though. Their power, in the course of a single generation, grew to match elder dragons in power. Even those who never would have been able to cast a spell once in their lives. Because we were at war all the time, it was determined that humans with the mark you inherit will forever be known as warlocks. You cannot stop your nature as the blood of warriors flow through your veins just as my ancestors run through mine.

  “Eventually, when the nexus closed, it was only a matter of time before the warlock and griffin war came to later bind us to here and now. Any questions?”

  “Yeah, you haven’t explained the rage we felt and why you called them scouts.” Cage pointed out.

  “Those were actually my next points.” Daku finally smiled for the first time since the attack. “Since you are a warlock, me a griffin and dragons being the best our species can get in mortal bodies, we are well aware of spirits. We like them as they are the next part of life after death, but when spirits are imbalanced you can make ghosts return to spirits, but the Tiaxm lost their spirits in their quest for power and we can smell their foul odor. It is a dead spirit surrounded by a ravenous husk… and without a spirit, they must die. Our rage gives the fortitude needed to not hesitate over creatures who will never return to what they were. Without the rage, we are weak to them. We would make mistakes or not have the courage it takes to end their miserable existence.” Daku flapped his great wings a bit harder than necessary to push his anger away. “This brings us to scouts. From my ancestors’ memory, I can call upon it to see that there are three Tiaxm sizes. What we battled today were common scouts, weakest they have, but the most in number. The warrior size are the size proportional to my current one.” The complete seriousness in those blue eyes kept Cage from thinking his partner was exaggerating. “And the rarest of all are queens. You’ve never seen my largest size, but a queen can nearly reach half of it.”

  “How could something that big be stopped? You were five times larger than the scouts and if a queen is so large and half your greatest… she would be unstoppable right?”

  “Correct. Just slowed down. The only way to deal with a queen is for a white king and a hundred dragons working together to hold her off while the warlocks cut their way in her and burn them from the inside out. It is the only proven way to fight a queen.”

  “How many is in your memory, Daku?”

  “Four have crossed to Raliea during those hundred years before closing the portal and those queens killed sixteen white kings and many other griffins. We lost thousands upon thousands till warlocks grew strong enough to offer aid. Not even with the millennia year war with warlocks have so my kind lost so many than just those queens dealt. I cannot remember all that is within my blood without overwhelming my mind, but I do know for a fact that no Tiaxm has walked on this world in my million years of life. For six to attack today does not bode well.”

  “Why? What aren’t you telling me?” Cage said.

  Daku didn’t hesitate to tell what he speculated. “It would take a dragon no less than a thousand years to store the necessary mana to summon even one scout here. For there to be six means either it has been planned and kept secret for thousands of years and broken ancient laws or…”

  “Or someone has created a nexus, one that they can freely cross again.” Cage finished when Daku let him figure it out.

  “Precisely. This knowledge must not die with us and our strength might be required. If there is a new nexus, someone is playing with power beyond their grasp, especially since it was impossible to close a nexus on the Tiaxm home world. Cage, you did well for your first battle, but I must soon train you to reach your limit to stand any chance against them, if there are more. Rest until you are ready to fly me. We will alternate flying till we reach Twilight with all haste.” Daku finally then sighed after turning his head straight ahead. Then his flight speed doubled.

  Cage leaned back to process all that Daku had revealed. He couldn’t sleep for the impact of that knowledge weighed heavily on his mind along with the throbbing headache of too much magic and nearly dying on impact not long ago. He now understood why he felt as he had earlier, but one question nagged, why did they attack at that moment?

  “Daku, we both need a quick bath before I start flying.” Cage explained after pulling out some homemade power bars from his pocket and eating till recovered.

  “Agreed. You more than I. Much of your blood still clings.” The griffin stated and aimed for a large fat cloud beneath him. “Use magic to heat the cloud water.”

  The griffin slowly paralleled the dark cloud, allowing Cage to use magic to work a spell to condense the moisture into droplets and further into a four foot tall bubble of water flying over to the caster. While holding the shape of water he conjured a fire in the heart which rather quickly heated it till it steamed. With hot water and Daku mostly gliding, Cage stripped and walked into the hot w
ater that surrounded him. He really wanted to enjoy the comfort, but it wasn’t easy maintaining such a spell so he scrubbed all the blood and grime from his naked body before doing the same to his robe. Magic really helped wash every speck of debris from the sturdy robe till it came out as good as it had been made. Even the claw marks that stabbed him had automatically repaired. Another spell dried the fabric and he quickly dressed to keep from freezing.

  The water was murky and disgusting, but Cage smiled as he worked a cleansing spell to remove all foreign matter till it was crystal clear. It was the same spell he used with Meeka when they first began to travel together.

  Clean hot water had Cage multitask when he conjured his flight board. Daku saw him gliding beside him and immediately began to shrink to the size of a kitten and flit over like an acrobatic sparrow and land with a deep, relaxing sigh on his partner’s shoulder. Cage drew the water close and Daku reached for the liquid and began to groom himself. He moved quick since his partner’s abilities to pass magic made the spell lose its power. For five minutes the griffin groomed himself until his coat once again gleamed like diamonds. “Thank you, but now I must rest. Fly southwest as fast as you can sustain. Let me know when you tire.” Daku then grabbed the fabric and crawled down Cage’s robe before hiding within a pocket and curled up.

  “Rest easy, My Friend.” Cage said and ended the water spell to see it rain down to the ocean below. To increase speed and end the constant wind-chill he created another knife-edged forward barrier before leaning a bit forward and shooting in the same direction at well over two hundred miles per hour. To help sustain the speed he relied a bit on his diamonds.

  Another hour passed as Cage flew straight across the Jamma Ocean, high above the water with little else to do which became rather boring. When his worried mind could not bear the isolation any further he conjured a small sight mirror to look over the damage in Vin’re. The arena was devastated and the muddy snow was soaked red in some places. Several mages were burning every scrap of the blue blood Tiaxm so that nothing remained with jets of flame shooting like flamethrowers from their palms or guided flames to burn the thick hides. Nearly a hundred bodies were lined and covered with cloaks or capes. Other mages were still healing the wounded, but Cage noticed some people had injuries from likely getting too close to Daku when he grew large. The games were over thanks to those things and the fun was forgotten.

  He tried searching for his teacher, but she wasn’t in Vin’re anymore as her image wasn’t recognizable, as what happens when she is within Twilight’s protection. Tate was in his castle along with everyone else he knew.

  But then he changed the image and both his women were already on the docks with the tribe so he altered the spell to speak. “I’m glad to see you both alive. How are you?”

  Meeka, Brooke and all Utala stopped to look to a floating orb. The priestess exclaimed “Cage Love!” and then dropped to her knees right along with Meeka. Both their eyes began to mist as they took hold of each other and stare at the orb. “We feared the worst!” Brooke sounded choked up and her reaction proved he was in really bad shape before. “How are you?”

  “Better. Daku told me what happened and wanted to say sorry for directing his anger at you.”

  “Are you coming back?” Meeka asked as they found the strength to stand again and wipe the tears threatening to fall. “Are you coming for us?”

  “No, right now you are both safer going home. There are things I cannot fully explain right now, but just know I’ll be home just as soon as I’m able. I’ll check in periodically and let you know I’m well. Was anyone hurt? What did I miss after I skewered the pale bastards?”

  Brooke patted Meeka’s hand and smiled weakly before responding. “We all made it out unharmed, Love. Others were not so fortunate. The chaos took many lives and we helped where we could. You sound tired so I’ll be brief. The Winter Tournament is over… as only a fool would continue it.”

  “I resent that!” Cage chuckled, thinking of the bandit attack in Kote.

  It made the priestess and other smile knowingly. “Nevertheless, it is canceled. There have been no other appearances of those monsters and the mages and every healer in Vin’re is tending the injured. King Tate wanted me to say he hopes you are well and wants to know what those things are as soon as possible. Daku seemed to know what they were.”

  “He does, but it is a long, involved story. What else, I cannot maintain the spell much longer?”

  She shook her head. “We used the prize money we won to buy supplies to sail home. Is this your wish for us, Cage Love?”

  “Yes, it is. Be careful and stay warm. I’ll come home soon. I love you both.”

  “And we you.” Meeka said hoarsely. “Be safe.”

  “None who stand in my way will live to regret otherwise.” His words made his loves truly smile, but as he canceled the spell, the last image was of them both shedding a tear.

  Feeling more at ease that his family is safe, Cage flew on.

  Small bumps in the distance gave Cage’s half asleep mental state the jolt it needed to burn off the cobwebs. He knew Daku woke him for a reason and that reason was they reached the start of the Blind Mountains. It was the middle of the afternoon of the day after the attack. Cage remembered flying far faster than his Familiar till nearly dawn and could barely form a complete sentence when his partner took over, completely refreshed. A mild headache lingered behind Cage’s eyes, but they made impressive time. Cage marveled at the almost snow blanketed scene as the winter did little to take away from the landscape. “Beautiful!”

  Daku stole a glance to the one behind his shoulder. “It is as I remember, if not larger over the past thousand years. Better eat something, we will likely be escorted soon.”

  “By who?” Cage said as he pulled out a sack of strawberries and started munching.

  “We shall find out soon enough. You are a fool to have allow me to sleep so long.”

  “Hey, you were the one who said we needed to get here as soon as possible. And your wing was almost completely ripped off. You needed the rest. All I had to do was stand and fly. You rely on your wings. I’ll be good as new after I eat and take a leak.”

  “Fair enough.” Daku responded, but seemed grateful to have an equal who cared the same for one another. And they did make remarkable time.

  A full stomach and empty bladder did the trick for Cage and he walked up Daku’s thick neck and sat down right atop his furry head to look at the land’s beauty.

  It wasn’t long until a faint glint in the sky gained their attention at the same time. Both of their sharp eyes caught it rising higher and higher from the peak of one of the growing mountains. The glint split into a pair, one bright pink and the other a sterling silver. The objects grew the closer they came until it was clear what was approaching.

  DRAGONS!!! Cage’s mind shouted while his throat actually squeaked off the audible yell. Actual fucking dragons! He thought. Everyone was right they are completely… Amazing! Rin was right, their scales are like gemstones. Yep, wyverns certainly couldn’t hold a candle to these guys. Those wyvern are like babies to full grown adults. Cage laughed.

  Daku’s flight slowed to a glide and Cage scanned every aspect of the behemoths.

  Both the pink and silver dragons were utterly magnificent to behold. The larger pink one led the silver over sparse cloudbanks. The dragons had a wingspan double the length of their powerful reptilian bodies. The wing membranes were like leather with thick veins pumping hot red blood around from what could only be a huge heart to support such a circulatory system. Scales lined only the forward part of the wing, but each downward flap was like pumping gigantic sails off the greatest ship imaginable. The dragons were thickly muscled, but not overly so with brightly shining scales patterned from snout to the tip of their tails. Four thick limbs lazily tucked to the mansion size center. The claws were thick as mature oak and curved longer than any man. A row of spikes jutted down the spine and the center of their back held th
e largest ones before shortening along the tail which ended in a finlike fan which would be needed for flight. The head of each dragon were as one would expect, like some giant Tyrannosaurus Rex with rows of huge, curved teeth slightly overlapping the bottom jaw, but on the backside of their skull were four ivory spikes, each as large as the one in the middle of its back. At each powerful jaw muscle jutted another spike and for a moment, Cage saw beneath its jaw, finding an underside plated with bone like a turtle’s white belly, but with a colored, ivory shine. Every inch of the dragons were a piece of living art that belonged captured in picture for all time. They were the epitome of fearsome beauty and for any to bear witness to them was to look upon animal perfection.

  The only thing keeping Cage from anticipating a fight were the huge reptilian eyes. They were warm, inviting and intelligent. No hostility was hidden in them and Cage immediately felt at ease.

  Soon Cage felt a tingle of magic growing and figured his teacher was right, to lift over eight hundred tons of flesh, muscle and bone, magic was required and bodies that big was sure to be able to create plenty.

  The rose petal dragon opened its mouth as it and the silver one glided away gently to circle and fly to either side of the relaxed Daku. Its voice was completely inhuman, like a reptilian avalanche booming loudly over the chilly wind “We welcome you white king Daku. The Rex’s’ from five colonies are waiting with the two-legs. We fly with you, Old One.” To Cage’s surprise, the pink dragon was clearly male with a four hundred foot length. The silent silver was a dozen yards shorter and the more sleek and the sensual movements gave the assumption of a graceful female, but a lethal one to be sure. Her spikes were also shorter, but sharper like needles.