Ascension of the Warlock (Book 4 of the Death Incarnate Saga)

by Jr H. Lee Morgan

  “That would be great! I was intending to actually break off many pieces and reconstitute it’s magical holding properties by fusing more graphite and chemicals.”

  “Best whole.” He tossed them up and she pulled them over, sensing every minute detail and pressing them precisely back together as they once were while completing a series of microscopic spells to repair damage. All this occurred off to the side while she listened as he began speaking and showing the Stronghold.

  Daku couldn’t resist the tears that sprung as he saw all the wandering ghosts, especially the two white kings, his predecessors, but he did not know which one was his grandsire. The story though went on as his Summoner pat his head, sensing his emotions that flowed unstoppably over their link.

  Cage then stopped the final scene while pulling the top of his robe down. None saw it as he superimposed his illusion over himself. “… and then everything just stopped. Something limiting me broke. And slowly time resumed as my body underwent a change impossible to truly describe. My back burned hot as this appeared.” He slowly spun as he revealed his large mark of roses.

  “Everything went black in my eyes, but I could feel my power encompass more than fifteen miles…”

  “You jest!” Zikon spoke up. “The furthest elite warlock’s ascension was written to be almost eleven mi…”

  “He does not.” Rex Gralla defended. “You cannot see his mana, but I can and I’ve witnessed three elite ascensions. None can truly compare to who stands before us. It would take four with power equal you yours, Lord Zikon Two-legs, to be any form of threat. Many rotations have passed since any looked upon the warlock clan, but my mind is clear. He is the elite of elite.”

  “Well said hatchling.” Rumbled a new voice.

  Suddenly there appeared three mighty dragons standing upon the water side by side. Each one was the spitting image of the other. All were mighty females that made Rex Gralla seem puny by comparison. Each were rainbow colored, having scales shining a different vibrancy as Cage illusion vanished and revealed the area. Their ageless eyes glowed blue and crackled like lightning. Cage heard the crackle of electricity and knew it was no trick. These were unlike any dragon ever seen before and the power swirling around their massive bodies looked like Daku’s, only less chaotic.

  All rose to their feet except for all dragons that shook the ground as they intentionally flattened themselves. Even Rex Gralla prostrated herself. Zikon was the first to ask “Theresa?” some heads turned to the amethyst dragon trying to look as non threatening as possible while not disguising her apparent eye lit with awe. “Theresa, what are you doing? Who are they?”

  Instead the central female said “Rise hatchlings.”

  Rex Gralla exploded off the ground, anger flooding her usual calm exterior and she was so mad flames burned past her maw as she roared. “Rare Ones, what is the meaning of this?! You…”

  Calmly all three multihued dragon spoke in unison and calm as a sturdy tree in a gentle breese. Needless to say, it was disconcerting. “Time for secrecy is at an end. The enemies of old are once again threatening all life on the planet. No longer shall scale, fur and flesh be separate. Only whole will life be able to thrive. The broken ones have found a way to return and are guided by the Corrupts’ ambition. When the land turns gold the corrupted will lose control and release the broken wholly here.

  “One chance, one hope will be our champion. Bonded though they are, they are one. Light and dark they embody. At the front they will lead, how they will will come as a surprise. Reapers follow Death and will fight on the backs of scale. Death must reign so life can thrive under his blade of protection. All in his way will be lost while many at his back will be as well, but no chance will become if he is taken and forever lost.

  “Unity will bring hardship and loss, but separation will lose all worlds. Restrictions must lift for life to continue. Heed not this warning and all mortal life will be consumed to never rise again.” More voices came as above the three, eleven more identical female dragons floated above. “TIME TO UNITE! THIS IS THE ONLY WARNING FORTOLD. NO MORE SHALL COME TILL ALL IS COMPLETE… ONE WAY LIES LIFE. THE OTHER EXTENTION!”

  After that mighty statement, the eleven who appeared above were then surrounded by dragon writing and it spun while pulling them through to different worlds. The original three remained standing out on the water. The one to the right turned her electrified eyes to a slack jawed pair. “Silver and pink, stand before us.”

  Poli and Ulon looked to one another, not believing what was said or being called upon. Still, none refused the attention of a Rare One. Together they walked around all the dumbfounded humans and out to the water and downcast their eyes in reverence any loyalty. This time the one on the left spoke. “War comes, unlike any you have seen and as you are, you will not succeed. You must be whole on the condition you sever all loyalty to your colony.” Rex Gralla and every other dragon gasped, none more so than the two being spoken to. “It has been seen, Pink One, that you shall carry the fiercest female, mated to the warlock into battle. Silver One, you shall carry the one who heals and that of the caretaker. You will need your humans when the time arrives and will be inseparable. You have been seen leading changes from the old ways and be seen as the inspiration for the union. But you must undergo change if there is any chance of success. This will be a minor decision, but yours just the same. We offer mature completion of mind and body, but warn that if you choose, you cannot ever hold the right of challenge for colony leadership. What is your decision?”

  Again Ulon and Poli looked to each other for the answer. He grunted and she literally rolled her eyes. She first opened her maw, still not meeting the greatest females of their kind. “Rare Ones, I have but one question. Will we become friends with all the Two-legs’ here?”

  “Time shall see to it.” The middle said and then the right one added “If many rotations pass before the trees change, your companionship will be beyond the bond between Summoner and Familiar.”

  “Then I agree to the offer. My ties belong to this place and I will never challenge as long as I live.” The silver beauty spoke.

  “As will I, Rare Ones.”

  In unison, the three reared back and balanced on their haunches while the water below didn’t move. All placed a hand on the two younger dragons’ head, arms crossing as they sent forth a spell that made Ulon and Poli’s body ripple in a wave from snout to the tips of their fanlike tails. Their scales began to faintly glow beneath the bright afternoon sun. It was impossible to miss as they physically began to grow. In five minutes Ulon and Poli grew with what would have taken centuries.

  Ulon became larger than a jet on Earth, just over five hundred and twenty feet in length with about double the wing width. He grew larger muscles, sharper teeth and his spikes all around had somehow become more menacing and beautiful.

  Poli was also a giantess, but nowhere near as large as her mate. She reached four hundred and sixty feet, but instead of bulky, male muscle, she retained a slender elegance in dragon terms. Her spikes were longer and sharper.

  All six hands pulled back and the middle one said “It would be best if you relocate to a lifeless area to hone your new bodies and power.”

  Cage whistled and heads turned. “Poli, Ulon, go ahead and do what they say. Take the week my mates made with Gralla too. I won’t alter the island’s and mine wards, so if you need to contact me for any reason, do so. I know how you feel. You have the look of how I do. Everything feels new and so fragile. Because you guys are now officially elders in size, I need you to go and do as they ask.”

  “You feel like me?” Ulon said carefully, worried the slightest though would hurt someone. “Then maybe you should join us?”

  “No, my place is here and I have Daku to break any spells I might screw up. I’ve missed my family and friends too much.” He grinned. “Besides, you look to be in as much trouble as me. Poli is now really looking at you?”

  Ulon looked to his mate to see her glazed gaze and how
her wings slapped her side to cool off. She hadn’t heard a thing the moment she saw how massive her mate had become. The pink dragon tapped her snout with his and the motion brought her back. “We leave for seven rotations.” Before she could answer he enveloped them both in a huge pink bubble before teleporting away, especially from prying eyes.

  “And young warlock, we have a gift you need as well. Come before us.” The left one said in a motherly tone.

  With a grin he flew up before them, unaffected or afraid, just amazed by their patterns and vibrant colors. “What are you old girls up to?”

  The right one chuckled and said “A gift. One you will need after the warmest months. We know Ceembura made a magic that taught you common human language and how words are written. On Earth, you knew many languages. We will grant you Draconian words and our writing. Your new mind can now accept it. It will be natural, but you must say another language’s name so as to separate common from ours. They do not mix these spells.”

  “Sweet. Instant translation… I’m ready.” The three pointed a huge claw from their index fingers as if they were one mind. He saw the very tips swirling with an invisible mana and just before they touched his head he said “Mandarin!” and gasped as information slammed and replaced the original words and writing just like what happened to English and Raliea’s common. It took ten seconds of pain he controlled before opening his eyes.

  The three Rare Ones vanished by then as if they weren’t there.

  Shrugging, he flipped around and flew back down to everyone. He glanced at Daku and spoke in Chinese and the griffin replied “Yes, it worked.” It sounded Chinese.

  “Now let me finish my story before they so rudely interrupted.” Jaws dropped as he so easily brushed off what just happened. He wasn’t interrupted as he threw up another illusion and finished.

  Chapter 13

  “And after I popped the lid and all the ghosts left, I summoned Daku as I was supposed to do. I know you all saw me. I could see it in your faces. We spent a short time chatting and picked up this nifty trinket before coming back.” He tapped the pale blade sticking out just behind his hip. “That is the rest of the story.”

  The ensuing silence wasn’t long lasting as Zikon, most powerful sorcerer in Twilight rounded on the bright orange Rex and that of his purple Familiar. “Now that he is done, care to tell me what those dragons were? You called them Rare Ones, but I’ve never seen any dragon identical to another, have eyes like lightning or have such odd scales of no singular color. Even their voices were indistinguishable. Who and what were they?”

  A hand suddenly draped around his shoulder. “Don’t get your panties in a bunch, Grandpa. Think of those dragons as the equivalent of a human prophet. Gralla, I take it those first three ladies were those who permanently reside on this world and the other eleven came from around the universe?”

  “Correct. Never in all Draconian history have all Rare Ones gathered and spoke of one voice. For them to do so cannot be ignored.”

  “That, and their prophecy that I and Daku are supposedly the crux to their plan this coming Fall and how they just told you to stop separating yourselves and work with we humans for a coming war they cannot see past, unless I and my people lead the way. I am darkness, Daku is light while Utala mean Reapers. Seems like you guys have a lot to figure out, but remember, I don’t want to be interrupted for a week. You and Grandpa have quite a bit to figure out and unless there is an emergency I would like it if I can be with my family. I’ve been gone long enough and need a little R&R. You guys need to work together” He looked between mage and dragon leaders. “and find out who the corrupt are and just how they plan on using the Tiaxm. We all have a good idea Vika is behind all of it, but best not rule out all possibilities. We all know how power hungry that insane woman is and what she wants just by her record of constant war with Emroc.”

  Zikon didn’t shrug the warlock off, but found a sense of camaraderie that knew no fear in the face of ominous predictions. The sorcerer said “Agreed… Rex Gralla, perhaps we should return to our peoples and warn of this looming danger. I will speak to the three councils immediately and send an envoy to your colony when we reach a decision.”

  “So shall I, if my colony agrees before yours. We hold our Rare Ones in highest esteem and those words will not be taken lightly. If this is only way and needs of all of them together, no Rex can deny them. The soonest rotation we make will be of most value. We recorded all that has happened and no longer need to linger…” Rex Gralla slightly shifted her unblinking gaze and used the most basic movement spell to deliver the diamond. “It is functional dense carbon again. The cleanly used slicing spell was simple to repair. Use as willed.”

  Cage hefted the weighty gemstone and sensed the diamond still empty of mana and not containing even the most secretive spells. It twinkled as it absorbed a thimbleful of mana and contained it perfectly. A stomp had him redirect attention to the Rex readying for departure. Zikon had started walking to Theresa saying “We are going to have a long discussion on why you never told me of those prophet dragons.” Light purple eyes regarded her partner in stony silence.

  “You guys aren’t leaving yet, there are two things left unfinished.” Cage said and they stopped. “Gralla, the one who called you a hatchling. I thought you were the oldest dragon on Raliea?”

  “Not even close am I to Torruque. She is eldest of all my kind and wisest of all Rare Ones. She is, on this world’s cycle schedule around the star, a billion and a half cycles of age. The second eldest is High Rex of Valagax and he is near nine hundred million. I” she placed a clawed hand over her pearl white breast. “am sixteen thousand, four hundred and thirty ninth eldest. Rex Nattan is three thousand cycles older, just to be better understood.”

  Cage filed that information away with a grin and began to disrobe. Zikon raised an eyebrow as he asked “And why are you undressing?”

  Cage grinned and dropped his clothes and sword into the sand to say “Time to make fun of all the doubters. I’m back and my ass is waiting for payment.” Many laughed as his black eyes turned on Megdline’s. “Oooh, Graaannnyyy!!!”

  The sorceress’s eyes were priceless as they nearly popped from their sockets. Then they resigned to their fate as she sighed, cheeks reddening scarlet. She mumbled “Thought he was playing with words.”

  “You know I don’t do that.” He grinned more as Frill choked from laughing too hard. Megdline swatted the Maine Coon’s furry backside, making him only laugh harder.

  Megdline rolled her eyes. “Better get on with this.” She said and approached, puckered her lips and pressed them quickly on his rock solid posterior. Meanwhile, Zikon watched this while his amethyst jewel twinkled atop his white oak staff. The sorceress pulled back quickly and said “I’ll not underestimate you again, Dimwit, but if you fail my expectations you must kiss mine.”

  “Don’t set the bar too high.” He quipped.

  “Oh I haven’t, just to the closest star system to ours, about sixty four light years.” She returned evilly and turned around to say “Husband, I’m staying here for a few weeks. Tell our family I’m not going anywhere till I can wrap my mind around what is happening.”

  “Fine, My Love. I will keep you regularly informed personally.”

  “Damn, Gralla!” Cage yelled as he jumped almost clear out of his skin as hot, leathery dragon lips hit his entire backside and knocked him forward. “What was that for?” He said as he flipped back to his feet.

  The Rex looked smug, catching the warlock off guard for once. She gave a great shrug with her massive shoulders and wings, but the tribe had already known what was to happen and half were rolling on the ground laughing, none more vehemently than Shorty. “Return you would, I did not believe. Older, stronger and wiser had not succeeded. My doubts of return also force me to kiss your posterior.”

  Six more Utala quickly came up to pay for not believing and those few were surprising as they were all elders. Only Elder Shania had no doubt.

&n
bsp; “Okay, we’re all done!” Cage said as he scooped up his robe and rolled it around Ghosts Bane before tucking it under an arm while palming the diamond. With a sudden though the pulled out his journal and tossed it saying “Gralla, here are my notes if you want to go over them. When you’re done I’d like it back though.”

  “I give thanks…Two soldiers will remain until Poli and Ulon return.” Rex Gralla commented as the book disappeared in her great palm right before she surrounded herself in fiery light and vanished, going straight to the Blind Mountains colony.

  “If you need anything,” Zikon said as he climbed up and stood confidently on Theresa’s head. “do not hesitate to ask of us.” And they too vanished.

  Chief Moril approached the former chieftain now turned protector and said “Cage, we wished to hold a celebration for your return, but we all know you would rather be alone and with those you love. If any of us had survived what you had, we would want the same. As chief, I order you to not help the village for the week. Be with your mates and have fun. And you better make sure to give them babies now that you believe you can. Rena and Sean both want more brothers and sisters and our people want to see the beautiful babies you will make with them.”

  “Do not worry. He will have no choice but to give us babies, even if we must tie him down and mount his lance for every hour of the day for all of eternity.” Brooke said boldly.

  “Kinky.” Cage grinned. “But I want more kids too, lots more. If Sean and Rena are any indication on how great raising them is, well the tribe is going to have more children just as soon as possible.”

  “Then you will leave and do your duty.” Moril said and looked to the family. “Rena, I want to see you around noon, but the rest of you had better not let anyone see your faces for the next six days. We will all reflect on what the very colorful dragons’ have said about the coming war after a week has passed and decide on what must be done later.”