Siblings of Corruption - Chapter 2
#5 of Siblings of Corruption
Siblings of Corruption Chapter Two - Corrupted Nightmare
What the hell...? Sitting upright a moment, Night looked around the dark guest room, curious to find what had woken him up from his slumber. It was soon obvious what it was after a moment, hearing a loud scream from down the hall. That kid, Xale must be awake... Maybe I should go check up on him. The dark blue dragon then got himself up off the hard floor and stretched out his body and wings, feeling the sores along his back from carrying the gold dragon the day before. I wonder if what the doc says is true... But how would a dragon even survive by being impaled by dark crystals?
As he walked up to the door, Night heard another yell and cringed. ...That doesn't sound fun, not at all. I wonder how long I've even been out. Couldn't have been long.
Night slowly opened the door and poked his head out into the small hallway to make sure the little girl wasn't guarding his room. Thankfully, the small mole was no where in sight. Whew, glad I don't have to worry about that. Kids are such a pain sometimes. He began to walk down the short hall and opened the door to the ER slowly, making sure he didn't hit the mole inside. As he entered the room, Night didn't see Zaran right away and looked at the weak form of Xale on the table. There were several patches of blood all over the dragon's body. Night guessed it was from the crystals that had already pulled from his flesh. Looking at the boy's face, Night gave a look of concern at the squinting eyes of him. As Night took another step forward, he soon jumped as a sudden scream of pain left his maw.
"Calm down! It's okay!" Night said, really unsure of what to even do at this point.
"When did you get in here?! Can't you see I'm busy?!"
"Huh?" Looking to the side of the table, Night soon noticed the doctor in a bloody white suit with a pair of what looked like tongs, holding onto a small purple shard. "Well that explains the yelling."
"The bugger won't go to sleep. I've tried to put him down, but his body's rejecting my drugs. He told me just to do it while he was awake, so here we are."
Letting out a sigh, Night looked back at the golden drake and soon noticed that he was staring back. He was panting and sweat soaked his scales along with blood, Night really began to feel bad for the guy. "You gonna live there, bud?"
He watched as the dragon gave his best attempt at a smile before closing his eyes again, Zaran continuing his work. After a moment, he inhaled deep and panted briefly. "...I think so, just got to go through hell to do it first."
Night showed a smile of his own, sitting on the ground next to the makeshift bed. "Well, you're lucky from what I hear. By the way, in case you didn't catch it before when we talked, I'm Night."
After another painful yell, the drake seemingly glared at Night, though he didn't think he was really angered. "...We talked before? I don't remember that..."
"Don't worry if you don't remember our small chat, you were pretty messed up."
A small growl escaped Xale's lips as he tried to remember, but his mind was still in a thick fog, but it only seemed to increase as he felt the doctor pulling out another shard.
Night noticed the look in Xale's face and gave a worried look. It was obvious that he was not getting anything to kill the pain. "Hey Zaran, you say nothing worked to knock him out?"
The mole let out an annoyed grunt. "I wouldn't have said it if it were not true!"
"How about heat? Would that help ease the pain?"
The doctor poked his head around and looked at Night. "...I would think not, but it might be worth a shot. Come over here, then."
With a nod, the dark blue dragon walked over to behind Xale and looked at the half-exposed shard in the back of his thigh. He began to channel some of his magic through him, feeling the light burning sensation through his veins. Leaning forward a bit, Night then blew out a gentle stream of fire just above the wound.
Xale let out a small gasp at first, but soon he calmed down. Night kept his eyes on the damaged area, a little shocked as the results. The area of scales at first had turned a little red, but it wasn't long before they turned to their normal golden color. What the hell? Is it even doing anything? As Night turned up the heat a little bit, he watched as Zaran began to pull on the black shard there. Night had to admit, even with it being so small, even he could feel the small draining effects it possessed.
This time, Xale didn't scream at all. In fact, he seemed strangely quiet. All the same, Night continued to help Zaran with his treatment for a while, occasionally stopping to breath some fresh air and letting Xale cool down. Each time he applied the magic, the effect remained the same each time. With each shard, Night increased his power just to see how much Xale could take. Xale never complained once about how hot it was, so Night figured he was fine.
After a short while, Zaran had been inspecting the dragon for any more shards, searching high and low. He started on Xale's left side and went around the back to the right, before making his way back to the head and stopping suddenly. "...There's just one left, but this is going to be the worst one."
Night stepped up and began to look where the Mole was pointing, letting out a growl himself from the shard's position. "...How the hell did you get one right in your forehead?" Looking down at Xale's face, he noticed the he had his eyes closed and looked like he was in major discomfort. "Well, let's just get this last one out of you so you can rest." He said with a smile, leaning in close again. He began to blow a decent sized flame to help the pain, but after just a second, Xale began to make a strange sound. Night instantly stopped. "Hey, you alrigh-"
Before he could even see it coming, Xale released the biggest flame Night had ever seen from his mouth, and blasted him right in the chest, pushing him into the door with massive pressure. He felt like he was burning from the inside out, holding back a scream of his own as the fire held him in place for a few moments. Just as the heat was too hot to handle, he felt as the pressure suddenly died down and he fell onto the ground on his side with a grunt.
Zaran was scurrying around Night, trying desperately to put out the flames around the door. He soon ran to the back of the room and came back within moments with a hose, spraying the doorframe and finally killing the flames just as Night was finally making his way onto his feet.
"...Ah, what the hell was that?" Night said, shaking his head. He looked back over at Xale, to see that he was passed out again. He was too weak to do anything before, but then shoots something like that?! There's something strange about this guy, that's for sure...
Zaran was mumbling something about any dragon he takes in finds a way to destroy his house, but Night only ignored it and continued to stare at the golden dragon, feeling the major burns in his chest. "...I'll take care of it, doc. Don't worry about it, just get the last shard out of his head before I get blasted again."
"Where the hell have you been?! You're lucky I don't cut you up into tiny little pieces for breaking that! Zafore's going to KILL me!"
Lenai was in a panic. She had just destroyed an entire village of Entira, a small town full of Dragonflies, and retrieved a powerful silver crystal that they guarded. They, of course, were no match to her, but it seemed like the idiot Apes that her Master gave to her as minions were just enough to drive her over the edge. Not only did they 'destroy' it, but they knocked over a series of treasures lined up in the hallways of Zafore's castle.
As the silver dragoness glared at the bigger Ape that was carrying the treasure, Lenai began to feel her dark magic flowing through her, noticing a purple hue leaving her body the angrier she got. "You are worthless! I would just fry you and eat you myself if I didn't think Master Zafore would want to do the honors! If he needed this for the upcoming war, I will see to it personally that you are taken care of!"
She was about to continue with her threats, but the Ape seemed to get the picture and was quick to run away, along with the few spectators that there was. She always hated the Apes. The Bugs were no better, but it was sometimes a challenge to scare the Apes away. Looking back over at the destruction that was caused, she knew that Zafore wouldn't be too upset about the decorations. Hell, that stuff was replaced daily thanks to the idiots around the place. What really worried her was the crystal. She was sent specifically for it, killed almost a thousand of those annoying Dragonflies, and yet her mission was ruined by the hands of her own comrade.
Well, I'll have to face the music sometime or another, I might as well do it now.
She slowly made her way the 500 feet to her Master's lair, letting out a long sigh as she stared at the door. With a deep breath, she began to push on it, and slowly stepped into his chambers. She looked up at his throne and was not surprised to see him asleep on it. He never left his throne, not unless anything required his attention specifically, which was rare. He always did his planning from there and pretty much issued all orders from inside his chambers.
As Lenai walked up to the throne, she made sure that she was in a full bow before even attempting to awaken the sleeping beast. "...Master, please wake up. I have bad news on the account of my mission."
At first, Lenai thought that he was still asleep, but she knew better. He would wake up if there was a pin drop in the room. It wouldn't have surprised her if even her entering the room didn't arouse him, and he just be playing possum. She then watched as he turned his head and gave a glare at her, slowly sitting up. "And what 'Bad News' do you have to deliver?"
Staring up at the large dragon, Lenai tried her best to maintain her posture. "You see, I had the crystal in my possession, but here in the halls of your castle, one of the petty Apes dropped it and destroyed it, my lord." Now she began to feel nervous. After the cat was out of the bag, there was no telling what he would do. Rarely did she get hit from him, but that was never out of the realm of possibility.
"So it was destroyed here?" He asked, in a calm voice. That truly surprised Lenai.
"...Yes, Master. Just outside of your room, in fact."
"Then do not fret. In my walls, my word is done. Take me to the damage and I shall repair it. You have still done your job well, though it disappoints me that you would trust something so delicate in the arms of those fools."
Lenai felt like she was just punched in the gut. She did know better, but she was already tired from her training and was only looking out for herself. I guess that was a bad move on my part, but he says he can fix it, so I-
"However, your honesty will be rewarded. You have shown you are truly loyal to me. After I repair this crystal, you will go to your room and await further instructions."
Lenai tucked her head down so Zafore couldn't see her smile. "...Yes, Master. I shall take you to the shattered gem immediately."
"Don't move so fast there, lad. You lost a lot of blood and your throat has just recovered from the fire you blew earlier."
"You don't understand, I've got to do something! If not, someone may be dead!"
Night turned the corner and looked at Zaran and Xale standing right in front of the door leading outside, the doctor's arms spread wide to block the dragon's path. "Look, Xale. You're not gonna help anyone in that condition. Doc's right, you need to rest up. You couldn't talk for hours after that blast."
"But... my sister..."
Zaran slapped the gold dragon's cheek, making Xale's eyes go wide. "For one, not listening to your doctor is a foolish mistake! For two, I'm sure your sister is fine. I may not know the story behind it, but if she's a stubborn as you, then there's no way she would be dead."
Night looked at the rage on Xale's face, but it soon calmed. "Hey Xale, you mentioned your sister before, what is her name?"
"...It's Lenai."
Zaran jumped instantly the name left his mouth. "You're kidding, right?!"
Looking at the Mole confused, Xale shook his head. "...No. Am I missing something?"
"...What's got you so worried, Doc?" Night asked, wanting to know what had the Mole all upset himself.
"Lenai is what most of the towns around have called 'The Corrupted Nightmare'. She's a powerful young dragon that the new Dark Master had obtained in the past couple of years. I think-"
"Wait, YEARS?!" Xale looked at the other two in shock. "How long was I trapped?! I... remember the day the planet was split apart and I was stupid and tried to fly under a huge piece of rock..."
Now it was Night's turn to look confused. "...That was at the end of Malefor's rein. You've been trapped for just about two and a half years."
Xale took a step back. "...How is that even possible?"
Night glared at the Mole. "You're asking me? How could I explain that if you can't?!"
Xale noticed his chance and took it. With all his might, he jumped ahead and above the Mole, plowing through the door and landing on the steps just outside, but felt feint and stumbled onto his side, sliding down a few steps.
Night and Zaran were quick to rush outside, but there were other Moles already staring at the scene. With a grunt, Night forced Xale onto his back, since he seemed too weak to do anything anyway, and carried him back inside. The last this Night wanted was attention right now. "Look, kid. Even if your sister was now Zafore's pet, what the hell would you do about it right now?! You can hardly even walk!"
"...Shut up and put me down! I have to go!"
"You're really gonna keep fighting this? Fine, I don't care if you get yourself killed. I warned you. Good luck even getting off my back without my help."
"...I'm... On your back?"
Night let out a laugh. "You don't even know where you're at?! Come on, man! What makes you think you can save her like this?" He heard the dragon on his back give a loud sigh as they walked into the guest room. Night figured that Xale would need the comfort more than he would. "Look, I'll tell you what. If you stay here until you recover, I'll help you find your sister. If she means that much to you, then it would be better off having someone on your side to go into a place like Zafore's Lair. All I ask in return is that you explain what the hell kind of magic you did a few hours ago."
Xale felt Night setting him down on what felt like a layer of straw on the ground and began to think back on the recent events. "...I don't know. I've never been able to use magic before."
"Are you serious? There's no way that you blew a blast that big for your first time. You sure you're not a fire dragon?"
The gold dragon gave a weak nod. "Defiantly not. Hell, the only time I think I came close to using magic was just before I was buried under the rocks. It was... weird though. Different from the feeling I got when you used your magic on me."
Night sat down next to Xale and crossed his front paws, trying to understand what he meant. "When I used my magic? Did you feel the heat from my fire at all?"
He gave another nod. "Yeah, but it was different. At first, it burned a little just in the spot where you were at. Then it seemed to grow and take over my whole body... I really can't explain it. The more you did, the hotter the burning felt throughout me. After a while, I couldn't even feel you guys anymore, just the building pressure of your magic inside me."
Night really had no idea what to say. He wasn't sure what was going on himself, but he had a theory. "...Maybe you absorb magic. I mean, that could explain why you survived so long under all that dark crystal. Your magic could have been countering against the crystals power... Or you could have possibly adapted to the environment around you and your body basically turned into a dark crystal." Either way, both guesses were a shot in the dark, and it didn't seem to sit well with Xale either. "Look, don't worry about that for now. You need some sleep, and so do I."
Xale didn't do or say anything for a moment, but then gave another nod while turning to look back at Night. "...Just remind me not to do anything stupid. I think I'm going to be the one to kill me at some point just because of how ignorant I am."