Of Dragons and Dragonslayers Part 2
In this story, you will find sadness, darkness, and death. If such things offend you, read no further. I encourage you to read Part 1 before reading this one.
Of Dragons and Dragonslayers
Part 2
Dragon's Blood
I was standing upon a cliff, looking down upon a city of humans. Walled in stone, a second, inner wall surrounding a large stone keep. The buildings are packed close along streets, some narrow, some broad. The sounds of the day grated in my ears, the babble of crowds, the barking of dogs, the wailing of infants, the shouts in the marketplace, the ring of hammer and hot metal of forges, and the wheels of carts on the cobbles. The stench rolled over me in waves, my sensitive nose twitched in disdain. Scents of manure, sweat, and the disgusting scent of unwashed human almost made me gag. I snarled, annoyed.
Sunlight slanted down from a clear sky, my black scales and armor drank it in with never-ending thirst. I think about my intentions, the gears of my dark mind turning, I smile, savoring the slaughter to come.
I had already destroyed several towns and villages at this point, raining fire from the skies and opening up the earth underneath them, along with several other choice spells. Of course, that was always after disguising myself with illusion magic, making my appearance as that of a human and infiltrating, allowing my mind to travel from one human to the next, gleaning their entire lives from their memories and all their knowledge in hopes of finding Drakasoz, the dragonslayer who murdered my family.
I had always become disgusted with their short, pathetic lives. Their hopes and aspirations, their dreams and fears, they were all so meaningless. Living from one year to the next, harvesting the world underneath them without a care for the future, destroying the very fabric of nature wherever they went. They forced out all other sentient life whenever they'd move, staking claims like they owned the world, forcing out all the other furs and dragons who only wished to live in peace, as I once did. But now, now I had darkness within me, I had performed dark rituals to see my revenge become reality.
Their sheer arrogance made me seethe with white-hot rage. My teeth gritted together, grinding as my fists clenched. How dare they? They did not own the world, they had no place in Mother Nature's heart. Yet they claimed the world as though it were theirs, so I would correct that arrogance.
My lips writhed, forming the semblance of a feral grin, like the grin of a skull. I tap my illusion magic and bend light and shadows around myself until all who saw me would only see a normal looking human of average height, build, and coloring. I went to the city, passing through the gates, the guards didn't give me a second glance, little knowing that a dragon walked among them. As I walked I let my mind wander from one weak human mind to the next, reading their memories and lives in an instant. I growled with contempt as I read through their pathetic lives, never accomplishing anything worth taking note of, all the same arrogance that seems to go with being human. I gleaned far more useful information from the guards that patrolled the streets periodically; the number of soldiers in the garrison, defensive strategies, and, surprisingly, the number of mages. Three. My eyes widened at that. I had spent too long on my mountain top, not bothering to watch the humans, and they had grown dangerous indeed while I wasn't looking. That humans would learn magic, it was a crime so intolerable I could not even begin to describe it. The guards knew almost nothing of magic so I could not get a good sense of my foes' abilities. A pity, but I would crush them all the same.
I smiled to learn that I had been right, it seems Drakasoz was indeed a nobleman, high ranking in the king's court. Rich, powerful, and influential, which explained perfectly why he had such a large city, such a well built keep, and so many mages and soldiers in his employ. I also chuckled a bit to hear that Drakasoz was away, hunting a fiend that had been destroying his farmlands and the villages that tended to them. This would make things easier.
The last thing I heard before I brought my mind back completely to myself was that Drakasoz's family was housed in the keep. I regathered my thoughts and set out for the keep at the center of the city. On the way there I decide that perhaps a more spectacular display was in order for such a large city and such a big audience. I tapped my elemental magic and set the outer walls aflame, stone burned like oiled wood, no one would escape. Screams and wails of fear and pain ring pleasantly in my ears. I tapped my changing magic after discarding my illusion and changed my form back into my original from my current anthromorphic form. My body lengthened, I fell forward onto arms that had become forelegs, and my wings emerged. I felt much better in my true form.
I took off, leaping up from the street, tearing several cobble stones up. I flew towards the keep, raining fire and lightning down upon the city. Screams and cries of pain rise upon the air, lifting my wings with dark joy. I immediately quested with my mind to find the mages, they felt my presence and recoiled, throwing up barriers around their minds. Impressive, at this distance I could not batter into their minds, no matter, I would simply go to them and hunt them down.
I circled the keep, setting the inner wall aflame to trap all within before landing in the courtyard and changing my form back to my anthromorphic form. Before me, over a score of guards assembled and charged. I laugh maniacally as they rush to me. I draw my bastard sword Frost and my flamberge Flame from their scabbards on my back and began a dance of blood and death. Blades flew at me from all sides, most I simply dodged, some I was forced to block with Frost as Flame wove through the press, tearing through armor and flesh and bone with ease.
I was locked into battle with a man in strange clothing, a mercenary from a foreign land was my guess, all the other soldiers were already dead. He wore no armor and his blade seemed to be everywhere at once, his long dark hair flying through the air, often obscuring a face most would consider handsome. I smile, impressed that a mere human could attain such skill, I decided to play with him a bit. I stepped back slightly and spoke.
"I'm assuming you are a mercenary of some kind, yes?" I ask.
The man steps back in surprise, blinking "You speak?"
I snarled, enraged. "Of course I speak, feeble human! Dragons learned speech, reason, and craft long before your race learned how to walk on two legs!"
He stood, stunned. "But, that's impossible!" he exclaimed, confused.
"Oh? Is that so? Typical human arrogance. You're so young and naïve, your entire race. You believe yourselves so superior. You drive others from their homes, destroying all that they love, but if a common predator so much as kills one of your sheep you rile at the heavens as though it's some kind of great injustice! You form hunting parties then and go out into the wilderness, killing and destroying without care to avenge the loss of a small profit in that pathetic, bleating animal. I think it's high time your race either learned their lesson, or was destroyed. Personally, I think the latter is necessary." I grinned, enjoying the look of shock on his face.
"I, I had- I thought-" He blinked, unsure of what he was saying.
I began to feel his mind and began to see that he felt much the same way, about his own race no less. I was surprised, so surprised that a little of my old self began to rise to the surface. "You feel much the same way, don't you?" I asked, in a softer voice. His eyes widened. His mouth moved, but no words came out, he didn't know what to say. "Yes, I can see it in your eyes, in your heart. What your kind does is wrong. But why do you serve a man like Drakasoz? A man who mercilessly hunts down my kind out of sheer hatred and ignorance, torturing infants and crushing eggs. How can you serve a man like this?" I ask, hoping his answer doesn't force me to kill him.
The man looked down, his long hair covering his eyes. "He pays well. I have no skills other than fighting, I am a hired blade, nothing more." He seemed so ashamed that my heart went out to him.
"What is your name youngling?"
"Asher." He says simply.
"Asher," I say, "I am going to take you out of the city. My heart is naught but darkness despite what you have seen here so briefly, if you stay you will die. You have convinced me that the human race is not beyond redemption, and you must survive so that you may teach others to think as you do. Perhaps it is possible for humans to live in harmony with this planet. You will find gold and supplies to ease your path. Go you well Asher, may we meet again." I began to weave gating magic, a gateway taking form beneath him as tendrils of light begin to obscure him from me. I also wove creation at the gate's exit, creating a pile of gold coins and supplies so that who could hopefully make a better life for himself.
"But wait, what's your name?" He calls out through the light.
"My parents named me Aliksandor. I don't know who I am anymore." I say, already the darkness that had receded so briefly begins to move back into my heart, my memories dissipating.
A brief flash of light before me catches my attention. Some trick of the mages in the keep? Perhaps, but it's gone now. "Strange, have I been asleep?" I ask myself, snarling at my carelessness. I shook my head and moved on into the keep. The front door, more of a gate, was heavy oak covered in steel plates. I cocked my head, grinning, enchantments of strength and durability too. I tapped my elemental magic and separated the gases in the air in front of the gate, leaving oxygen and hydrogen while moving away all the other gases, I created a spark and a huge explosion rocked the earth, blasting the gates inward, tearing huge chunks of stone with them. The gates halted about twenty meters into the main hall, and were then flung aside by an unseen force.
I walked in and smiled, beholding three humans, two women and a man, in long, flowing robes and standing upon a raised dias, looking down upon me with contempt. I grinned up at them. "Human mages, who would have thought?" I ask myself aloud.
"We humans discovered magic over a century ago, you are no match for us!" One of the women declares.
I laugh, throwing my head back and cackling madly. "Dragons discovered magic well over seven thousand years ago foolish humans. I have delved deep into its mysteries, you have barely scratched the surface." I grin, "If I had to guess, I'd say you only know one or two divisions of magic. Am I wrong?"
"There are only four-" the other woman pipes up, but I cut her off.
"There are SEVENTEEN schools of magic my dear children. You are playing with forces you cannot begin to imagine, let alone comprehend. You humans, your conceit knows no bounds." I say with disgust.
"How dare you?" The first woman demanded. "You, a filthy, uncivilized animal dare judge us?"
"Uncivilized? Me? Maybe, but only after you invaded my home and slaughtered my family. Enough of this. I am eager to test the mettle of human mages." I say, tapping my elemental magic and letting loose a violent storm of wind, ice, and lightning. It strikes and invisible barrier and dissolves completely, the humans smile smugly at me. "I wouldn't get too overconfident yet, after all, elemental is the easiest to dispel." I say as they weave a fabric of primal magic, much like elemental but tainted with chaos. They unleash their sorcery, relinquishing all control of it after sending it out at me. I snarl at their carelessness, did they not know that you had to keep tight control of your magic lest it go wild and destroy you and everything around you? Apparently not I thought as I shunted the wave of power aside with a mere flick of my power.
I unleash a wave of chaos magic, the miasmic tides dance and writhe, dissolving everything they touch. The chaos magic hits the same barrier, but instead of dispelling it writhes and pushes against the shield. At the initial impact, the first woman is thrown back as her flesh dissolves, her bones crumbing to dust as the tendrils of chaos touch her, breaking through her part of the shield of spirit magic. Within seconds, all that remains of her is a pile of dust on the floor where she stood.
The second woman and the man turned away from one another and went back to back, shrinking the shield so that it would be easier to hold against my attack. I adjust my magic accordingly, weaving illusion with shadow element and launching the attack at the remaining woman. She collapsed, dead, killed by a nightmare of unimaginable horror. I wove death and spirit magic together and devoured her soul, taking in all her knowledge and memories and power. I smile, her power is so feeble, but in her memories I see that the man was, in fact, her master, and a far stronger mage than the other two combined. I look at him, he looks at me.
"You are an abomination." He says simply.
"Your race is the abomination, heretics of evolution, destroyers and devours of the mother that birthed you, the very planet itself. Your arrogance has blinded you for too long, let me tear the Veil away for you, so that you may see clearly for the first, and last time." I smile as his eyes widen. Before he can react I tap my gating magic and tear a rent in the fabric of reality, allowing us to see into another plane. The other end of the tear is a red and orange landscape, a blackened ruin in a pale imitation of the world around us. Ceaseless wind batters the landscape, waves of heat pour through the Rent. Dark shapes move and writhe in the shadows, glowing eyes fix on us. "The demons of Hell rarely get to taste living flesh, they'll savor you for a long time, but first," I tapped my binding magic and bound his body and soul, stopping him from using any magic. I walk over to him, pick him up and throw him into the gate. "Enjoy your last seconds, soon you will feel naught but pain for eternity." I shout after him, smiling as I weave binding and gating magic together, mending the tear in the Veil that separates the planes of existence.
I sigh with satisfaction and move on. From the minds of cowering servants I find where Drakasoz's family was staying. When I found the door I pause, two soldiers stand in the way. They are both huge men, rippling with muscle as they draw their weapons, one with a two handed claymore and the other with a pair of heavy cutlasses. I wove elemental magic into a pillar of flame and flung it at them. The magic disappeared. They smile menacingly.
"Odd, I look forward to learning what caused that." I say.
"We're not talking, and you'll be too busy dying to care." The man with the claymore says.
"That so? Pity." I say, before lunging forward, swinging Flame in a wide arch while keeping Frost close to my body. The man with the cutlasses counters first, catching Flame with both blades. I smile as he howls, his wrists snapping from the force of the blow. I swing Frost forward to take off his head but the man with the claymore moves with surprising speed to stop me. I reverse the motion and sweep around with Flame. A high screech pierced the air as Flame sheared through the inferior blade, continuing the stroke to take off his head. I swiftly stab forward with Frost, stabbing the first man through the heart.
I stand over their bodies, weaving spirit and death again to trap and devour their souls. They had drunk dragon's blood. How strange they had survived, the sheer gall. I growled with rage, that they dare do such a thing. I could only guess that Drakasoz and all his other hunters and maybe even his dogs had done the same. The fight had ended within three seconds and I had the knowledge I wanted, so much for their arrogant boasts.
I stood before the door, my tail swishing excitedly. I opened the door and strode into the room. It was a lavishly decorated suite. Fine furnishings, art, and colorful carpet adorned the room. A woman stood before me, holding a crossbow aimed at my heart, my black, black heart. I smiled menacingly at her before stepping toward her. Her finger depressed the trigger and the crossbow thudded as it launched the deadly bolt at me, which shattered on my armor. I laughed darkly at her before launching binding magic to bind her arms and legs and suspend her about a foot in the air, almost bringing her to my eye-level.
She seemed to be rather average, slim build, and fine clothes. Her face was inches from mine, she spit at me but I used a bit of spirit magic and flung it back in her face. I chuckled, looking in her eyes, disgust and defiance. "You humans always look so disgusted at the sight of me, little realizing that you are the ugly ones." I said, laughing.
"You're naught but a shameless murderer-" She starts but I cut her off.
"Oh please madam. Your husband murdered my family, my infant siblings too. Mayhaps you can tell me why." I said, feeling into her mind, riffling through her memories. Ah her it is. "So, a dragon killed his father. That's it?" I ask, amused.
"You worthless piece of shit-"
I tap my elemental magic and shove a wad of air into her mouth, silencing her. "Now now, let us keep civil tongues." I mocked her, "So your husband has killed hundreds of dragons, and that is all he has to justify it?" I release the gag to hear her answer.
"You and your filthy kind DESERVE death and an eternity in hell!" She screamed, she seemed to share her husband's blind madness. "You should burn in hell for all that you are! All of you, and those filthy half-breeds too!"
"I'm assuming you are referring to the furs? Half-breeds? They existed long before your kind did, they have nothing to do with you and your weak and pathetic species, human. And they are far more intelligent, tolerant, understanding, and compassionate than your kind." I said, staring her straight in the eye.
"You-" I stuff the air gag back in her mouth.
"I grow tired of your ignorant and bigoted words woman." I said, questing out with my mind and zeroing in on her children. I smile with bloodlust as I feel them, cowering in the next room. I kick down the thick door, the mother jerks, trying to scream through the gag as the children shriek in terror. An older son, about twelve and three other children, two girls and one boy seeming to be less than eight years of age. I bound them with magic and drag them out into the main room, the mother screamed and threw herself about, trying to break bonds that might as well have been stone. I laugh as they cower before me.
"It's strange, this looks exactly how my baby brothers and sisters did as your husband killed them. But fear not, despite how much I wish too, my old self is rising up again and is preventing me from torturing them and you to death as your husband did my poor baby siblings. I'll just have to be satisfied with killing them I suppose." I said in a conversational tone as I drew Flame, he thrummed in my hand, eager for the blood of these children. I felt something resisting, deep in my heart, but it was weak and could not stop me. I beheaded the children one by one. The mother shrieked and wept, sagging in her bonds. I walked to her as the task was finished.
"Now you know how I felt. Now you know the evil that you call 'husband' for what he truly is. I am naught but a mirror now, reflecting what I see back at those who look. So now you see him, and what he's done. Now, you die." She looked up at me, tears streaming down her eyes, she had broken completely. I swing Flame in a wide arch and take her head off in one clean stroke. Blood splashed my armor and Flame seemed to drink in the pain and death, almost vibrating in my hand.
I wove binding, gating, and illusion magic in a very special spell. "Drakasoz, the time has come. Your family lies dead and your city is in ruins. I have taken from you everything you took from me, except one thing. Your life belongs to me, and I intend to collect on this debt....
"I'M COMING FOR YOU DRAKASOZ!"
The story, at least this part of it, will continue and conclude with Part 3