Dargonfire: Age of Legend

by LJ Davies

  I told him to... but, it was all so fast... I felt my racing thoughts ease as the realisation finally hit me.

  "You shouldn't have done that..." I began, but his frown shifted to a smile.

  "Do not be ridiculous, it is my duty to serve. I am just glad that... I had a chance to rectify at least some of my mistakes."

  "They were never your mistakes," I assured him, the thought of those still alive because of what he'd done firmly in mind.

  Regardless, his glowing eyes rolled and flickered.

  "Thank you, Guardian. I am glad to have met you. I do not doubt you are everything they meant you to be and more," he replied, before the last flicker of light faded and his frame slipped apart as the arcane light within him faded.

  I stepped back, pausing for a moment of respect that would never have crossed my mind the day I'd met him.

  So many of them gone... Just for me? I fixed my eyes on the tower, and spread my wings. I'm going to finish this, for all of them.

  *

  The peak of the tower was a vast, rectangular plaza lined by a squat golden rail, its floor a glistening marble etched with intricate golden patterns. Four pillars sat at each corner; their tops adorned by flaming dragon statues. Another golden plinth stood directly ahead of me, beyond which, the world fell away into a great scar of purple light and a vortex of swirling clouds.

  An eerie sensation leaked from the void while strikes of lightning forked out and struck the spires. Each flash gave an ear-splitting crack as it ripped parts of the structure back into the abyss, reducing the gleaming etherium to nothing but dust. All the while, I had to battle to keep my paws on the ground, locking my wings at my side as the forces sought to pull me forwards into the yawning void. Before I knew it, together with the marble under my paws, I was thrown into one of the pillars and flopped to the floor.

  "Your persistence is valiant," Mordrakk snapped, "almost admirable," he continued as his shadowy body materialised, "but there is nothing you can do to stop fate now."

  I lifted my head, scars burning under the intensity of his glare. I looked up, assessing every aspect of his defences. Except for a few dents and chips in his armour, it appeared to be all but impenetrable. So desperation focused my attention on the hole his initial attack had ripped in the floor. All the while he paid me no heed as he placed a forepaw upon an altar at the tower's edge.

  "How do I fare now? Has your great plan fallen into ruin?" he bellowed into the swirling storm, raising his head up as he spoke to the void itself. "And what of you, my children? What now becomes of your ridiculous plans?" he went on, glancing to each of the draconic statues adorning the surrounding pillars.

  Then he turned back, glaring at me through his narrowed eyes. I closed mine tight, and every thought, every memory of all I'd done, all I was, and all I was fighting for flashed through my mind. With one great force of will, I lifted to my paws, bringing a scowl to his less than impressed look.

  "Your determination is the only part of you that will be worth remembering," he proclaimed.

  I flared my wings and opened my eyes, ignoring the increasing pain as my armoured blades flashed to life.

  "I guess I can thank you for that," I responded.

  No words heralded the roar that parted his muzzle as he charged at me. An invisible force threw me back toward one of the pillars. One swift blast of fire escaped my muzzle. It exploded at his feet, exactly where I'd intended. More of the broken floor fell through, collapsing in a cloud of shrapnel and white fire. Mordrakk disappeared in the debris, releasing his magical grip, leaving me to fall. Despite my best effort, I was unable to stop myself from sliding down the tilted surface after him as the splinters of broken marble gave way.

  As I plummeted, I saw spinning flashes of a great chamber filled with towering columns and a high ceiling. My momentum threw me into one of them, leaving me battling to slow my descent by grabbing at it with my claws. Ultimately, I slipped to the floor with a significantly less painful thud, my eyes opening to the sight of an endless maze of columns.

  "Where are you?" Mordrakk growled, his shadow swarming through the golden columns like a ghostly tsunami.

  "To believe that any of this will achieve anything is folly, and for what? You will not leave here," he rasped, twisting back his neck, unleashing a torrent of flame, flooding the whole chamber with a great wave of heat.

  As the fire gushed around each pillar, I pressed my back against the one I was hiding behind, listening carefully to each of his ground-shaking steps amidst the hiss of red-hot metal. I collected myself once more, marking each boom and groan of toppling gold as he smashed his way through. It took me back to years of hunting, waiting patiently for prey to come right where I wanted it.

  My eyes flashed open.

  "We'll see about that," I called as I spun out from the scorched cover.

  The left side of his head sat directly between the pillars before me and I sent several blasts of fire into his molten eye. His face contorted in anger, fire and embers fleeing from his muzzle as he spun round, shattering several pillars with a swing of his vast wing, nearly bringing one down on top of me. The ground shook violently when the huge golden cylinder slammed down and his dark form strode over it effortlessly.

  "I grow tired of this," he growled.

  "Well, I wasn't planning on making you wait!" I retorted as I jumped at him.

  My claws hit the top of the pillar and my eyes locked upon the small chinks in his armour surrounding the amulet. Reaching forward with my foreclaws, I flew through the air, but before I could even get close, his invisible grip tore me away. With a simple clasping motion – there was no doubt he could crush me like a bug. Drawing upon the last of my breath I sent a bolt of fire into his chest.

  The explosion shattered and warped his armour, but the amulet remained firm. All the while, he growled, armour cooling as he willed it to reform, throwing me up into the air in a fit of rage. He opened his mouth to unleash a blast of flame. In the same instant, I fired back, glimpsing my bolt as it passed through the plume of purple flame and exploded in his throat. His shot swept me upwards like a leaf in a hurricane, melting my armour, scorching my fireproof scales and returning me to the summit.

  My whole body felt heavy, and my scales particularly felt as if they were melting, searing with a pain so fierce I simply wanted to die.

  I can’t, I made a promise.

  The hole before me exploded and dark talons clawed their way out. Mordrakk's wings flared as his head and body snaked upwards, neck and chest seared by white fire, as he let out a low hiss.

  "It’s over!" his deep, rasping voice boomed as he raised a foreclaw and seized me with his invisible grip.

  This time he threw me up into the air and released me as his flaming muzzle opened. My assent slowed and then I began to plummet toward his flaming maw. Stretching out my claws, white fire sparked into life and my wings fell flat to my side as the blades upon them burned brighter than ever before.

  Fire erupted from Mordrakk’s mouth as I fell directly toward him. The world became nothing but a swirling storm of flames, as the fire began to scorch the armour from my body and the scales from my flesh. I didn't care. I held my descent through the column of fire until I was sure I was deep inside his molten heart, and with every blade still stuck to me, I thrashed and kicked, cutting my way through the living shadow.

  In that instant, just as the pain was about to consume me and the darkness of oblivion steal my sight, there was a small flash amidst the fire. Time slowed, almost to a standstill, and the light glimmered like a star in the clearest night, a beacon of warmth and happiness amidst the darkness.

  It called out like a song.

  Surrounding it were several molten cracks, like ruptures in a scorched river bed. Reaching out with one forepaw, drawing on all my remaining strength, I surged forwards, grabbing the light in my claws.

  Gasping for breath, my scorched body fell to the mercifully cool marble. I opened my eyes and looked at my
slowly opening forepaws, discovering a golden star, its centre swiftly turning back to a blissful white gem.

  Reunited with my amulet, a burst of power surged through me, filling my veins with a new energy. I looked back to see Mordrakk shattered and broken, his armoured form destroyed by molten ripples emanating from the gaping hole in his heart. The dark dragon craned his head to sneer at me, trails of ethereal magma oozing from his wounds and muzzle.

  He said nothing as he sprang forward with all the rage and energy he had left. I clutched the amulet tightly in my claws, ducking under him as he flew clumsily overhead and skidded to a halt before the altar. I rose to my paws, and as I loosened my grip on the amulet, it sprung into the air before retaking its rightful place within my own armour’s chest plate. More of its power filled me the moment it connected, and as I focused, my body and armour began to reform as if made from liquid light. Mordrakk watched with a disgraced snarl on his scarred face as the blissful glow of my new aura shone upon him.

  "You know not what you’re doing. You are nothing, for I am the Great Master, I will last for all eternity!" he exclaimed.

  "Nothing lasts forever," I replied.

  Coiling my neck, I fired every ounce of flame my re-energised body could give, right into the hole I'd ripped in his chest. This time, there was no holding back, and as he staggered, I charged, tearing at his tattered wings, crippled limbs and traumatised hide.

  The white light from my assault tore through the darkness of his body, ripping him apart, until finally all that remained was a smouldering hole through the middle of his frame. All the while he smiled wickedly, as he backed all the way up to the edge of the platform. His head quivered as he peered at me, his body like glass frozen in the midst of shattering.

  "You... are all... doomed," he riled with one last rasping breath.

  Without another word, he staggered back and plummeted into the swirling vortex. I stopped at the edge and collapsed, the molten marble solidifying as the golden fire receded from my scales.

  It's done, it's over. He's gone... It didn't feel like I imagined it would, especially as I looked up at the gathering cataclysm, where a sharp gust of wind carrying a distant voice drew my attention toward the altar.

  The four draconic figures on top of the pillars leapt into the air and bound together into the ghostly form of a spectral dragon that hovered over it, peering at me with silent curiosity.

  "There, it’s done. He's gone," I declared, rising to my paws.

  The ghostly silhouette said nothing; it simply looked down at the altar. I approached, and as I did the ghost's eyes came to rest on the amulet. Before I could do anything more, the sound of unimaginable agony echoed through the city. An impossibly dark presence began to well upwards like a bubbling froth, and a chill as fearful as my nightmares filled the air. The illusion was the first to look toward the great void as it parted, purple fire spewing from its deepest bowels.

  Its image burned my eyes and I clawed at my head as an impossibly foul voice scratched at my thoughts in an ancient tongue. Every vulpomancer that still swirled about the city instantly turned and began to flow toward the new entity, steadily increasing the new feeling of utter hopelessness. Through my cowering gaze, the ghostly draconic illusion still motioned for me to move toward the altar.

  Digging my claws into the marble, the wind tearing at my scales and my body lit up like a golden star, I reached the precipice and peered up into the abyssal heart of the Darkness itself.

  This is it... The monster behind everything, he brought it back.

  As I thought about all I'd done and all I cared for and loved to reach this point, its image was pushed from my mind. There was only one thing I could say in that moment, one overwhelming regret that consumed me.

  "Sorry..."

  I coiled back and sent blast after blast into the altar until the summit itself began to fall apart. The darkness gave an almighty scream as the void folded in on itself, shattering the abomination and sucking it back into the abyss. Lightning and flames danced about as if it were reaching out to find purchase before disappearing into the void. The calamity forced the world to tremble and the ground under my paws shook as the whole summit listed towards the void's gaping maw.

  It’s done, it’s over, there’s no more darkness, no more Guardian. Was all that surged through my mind as the world around me ended with an explosive blast of light.

  *

  My eyes opened to the sight of a golden hall, long and regal with a small pedestal at its end. It was drakaran in design, illuminated by flaming pillars of varying colour. It felt as if my body had been ripped to pieces, and yet the sensation of pain had abandoned me. The whole place felt almost lucid, a weak veil of a world that could be cut with one light sweep, but I felt no urge to tear it down.

  I sat up, looking over my scales, which were now devoid of scars and armour. Four glowing orbs circled above like hungry vultures waiting for me to die. I felt my eyes roll as I blinked, and they came close enough for me to realise what they were.

  It's just like Mordrakk said, once he's vanquished, what need do they have of me beyond reclaiming their lost power?

  Suddenly, they scattered like frightened birds, and a graceful figure strode out from the blinding light. There was no mistaking Seraphine, proudly smiling down at me.

  "It's over, he's..." I began, but she shook her head.

  "The fate of such evil matters little now."

  She lifted a foreclaw and my amulet materialised in her palm. I stared at her outstretched limb as the golden star drifted inches above her gentle grip.

  "The darkness has passed, and with it, the twilight of ages falls into the night," she explained, looking about the golden hall.

  "So fades the Age of Legend and comes the age of mortal kind, its dawn ablaze with dragonfire," she continued, and my head slumped.

  Is this it? Are they safe, have I saved them? I made no effort to ask, yet she seemed to know.

  "What of you, Guardian?" she asked.

  I had to fight back tears as I thought about what I'd done, the promise I'd failed to keep.

  "You will be remembered," she added as she pressed the sole of her right forepaw to the floor.

  The second her claw-tips struck the flat surface, there was a spark of light and a pool of gold spread across it. It took a moment for me to realise that the pool was settling, and as it did so, an image appeared. I could see my reflection and more: a vast darkness, rain pouring down upon the sea of gloom, snow and muddy grass. A storm flashed and rumbled, while a radiant pillar of sunlight broke through the gloomy cover like a sword. The image was how I'd imagined Apollo had once seen things as my perspective darted about like a moth, before it finally settled.

  I saw a battle-torn cluster of armoured dragons, griffins and hippogriffs, all of them scarred, broken and covered by mud. I picked out faces from among the group – Halfbeak, Soaren, even the Cartographer. I saw two of the Elders, one of which was Vulkaine, yet it wasn't to the old dragon that my eyes were drawn, but to the girl that jumped down from his back.

  Tarwin had always wondered about the world, and I suppose now she had that dream fulfilled. From the armoured group of soldiers beside her emerged another familiar face. Zephyra seemed as battered and broken as the rest of her troops, and that look of sadness still filled her eyes as the new Sovereign peered into the sky with a hint of hope and admiration.

  "You will be remembered as a hero and a legend," Seraphine went on as the light beamed across their faces and a victorious cheer spread through them all like wildfire.

  Even so, I noticed several of those I'd picked out were hesitant to join the rest of the victorious crowd, urging me to look up at Seraphine.

  "Can you show me?" I asked desperately.

  She didn't have to look into my thoughts to know who I was talking about.

  The image shifted before settling upon two more recognisable faces. A relieved breath escaped my muzzle at the sight of Neera and Ember standing on a
ruined rooftop. Regardless of the cheering crowds, neither joined in; instead, they looked to one another solemnly, forcing my heart to sink.

  I glanced up at Seraphine, hardly daring move my head as she nodded at the final image settling into place, this time far from all others. The platform of Mordrakk's crucible had turned to rubble, strewn across the rainswept wasteland. One sight stood out amidst the dust and settling carnage, a lone blue gem amidst a sea of mottled grey and dirty brown as the sunlight shone down from where her last hope had disappeared into the void.

  Risha's eyes bore no joy or happiness. They boasted nothing but a fleeting hope as the light of both a flickering purple and burning white star reflected briefly within them. I reached out, but the image fell from my claws like water, and when it settled, I felt that hole inside my heart sink deeper.

  "No, I won't be remembered like that," I gasped, shaking my head.

  Seraphine glanced at me curiously.

  "Then what, Guardian?"

  "Remember me as a dragon. A friend, and no more, I was no more," I begged.

  She considered my words as if they were the most important things to meet her ears in the last millennium.

  "You truly were those things, and more," she added respectfully.

  I thought about that, about all my friends Tarwin, Ember, Boltock, Neera and finally Risha.

  "I wish I could be there; I should be with them."

  "And if you could, what would you do?" she asked as she plucked fiery light from my amulet’s core as she'd done in her realm.

  My gaze finally managed to meet hers, and for a moment, she looked as far from the gods as I'd always wanted to be.

  "I would tell them all how right they always were and how much I care for them. I would tell Risha how I’ve always felt and I..."

  I trailed off as the thought blossomed, the image like a hopeful portrait upon the shrivelled canvas of my mind.

  Seraphine smiled as a fiery light flashed in her outstretched foreclaw and her grip closed about the amulet. Finally, my muzzle quivered and one lonely sentence escaped.