FSE

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Chapter 40

On swift wings Arcturus and the others did fly, visiting the bloody mermaid once to discuss a few favors and borrow some equipment from Tehya. She accepted instead of throwing up a hardened wall for them to break, albeit on promises of more coin and personal help. Within the ships hold the refugees they’d agreed to take whimpered and huddled with fear, all children and those people did not wish to see perish. It was a grim reminder that even if they should succeed with Dreadflame, the pain and suffering he’d left upon this land would be felt for generations to come.

They entered a secret tunnel below the city, that networked out and into Fremra’s keep. It would be safer than the keep itself, which was a shadow of its former self. Even from this distance they could see the crackling fires, painting a grim light upon the shattered and broken stone. Masses of bodes shambled and climbed over the ramparts that once stood proud and defiant in the face of such hate. No shield lit it’s sky, no shouts rang out, the fight had all but been taken out of them. It was a chilling sight to behold.

Through the tunnels the group of dragons and mortals crept, shielded by Achaaz’s invisibility orb, it might not have helped versus any dragon they might find, but it would protect them from any undead or mercenaries looting the once proud halls.

Arcturus held to his dragon’s side, the confines of this place haunting similar to the belly of the airship where he’d first encountered the beast. The ripped up tapestries, toppled over lanterns, bodies hacked and strewn apart like a wicked painting of gore and misery. He buried the chill down his spines as guardians and Achaaz glanced in horror at their broken home, he too had faced such things before. Where you could never return to what once was.

His sight flashed to his darkened memories of racing down his troubled street, the sound of alarm bells echoing into the night. It was all too familiar, the panting breath, the racing heart, the terrible dread that whispered and teased at the mind. He prayed to the gods that this time they would not be too late, that Axton would be spared the terrible fate that befell his family.

At the final intersection before the shard room, Veledar stopped them with a raised wing. The dragon growled then hissed, his eyes turned to slits. The thought that this was all still a trick was dashed, as he confirmed that a dragon had been through here.

“Then it’s as we feared.” Arcturus said bitterly, doing a last check of his pockets and gear, “Fremra has fallen, Dreadflame waits for us within.”

Veledar turned with a harsh snort, the need for vengeance bright within his heart, “Then we shall meet him, I’ll give him the ole dwarven method, right under his tail.” The dragon lashed his tail, his voice sharp, “For Merlia.”

“And for my mother.” Achaaz snarled, her talons digging lines into the stone.

“And for her.” Arcturus nodded along with Veledar as the knight waved the guardians to their side. “Achaaz, you and the guardians wait back, let the invisibility shield you. His true sight might peel it away, but it does have a range. Follow along after we have transfixed his attention, when he believes himself safe.”

“We’ll definitely hold it.” Veledar grunted, “And make sure he never forgets.”

“Then when the beast thinks himself safe…” Alonso said, slamming his fist to his palm, “We let him have it, by talon, wing and rifle.”

“But only to stall him.” Arcturus made sure to take hold of their blood lust, feeling the temptation within his very bones start to stir.

“So, we can get the small human Axton.” Feku chimed in with a worried gulp, what courage she had flickering like a flame in the wind. Thankfully, her frightful gulp was met with a comforting rumble from Tenzin, who offered a clasp of his mighty paw upon her shoulder.

“Yes, we will snatch the boy.” Grunted the Ilbir, glancing down the hall. “That dragon won’t know what hit him. Shame, for I’d have liked to bury my claymore in his snout.”

“And what of Krotos?” Alonso asked softly, “If we fail to kill the beast, then the gryphon will perish.”

Arcturus gripped tight the hilt of his borrowed blade at the bleak reminder, another soul that Dreadflame would have snatched in his dark crusade. The paladin sighed with a heavy heart, “Then that is the hand that we have been dealt. I will try to convince him to release the gryphon, that his fight is with me, but know I will try to do everything to save him.” The last words were spoken to Veledar, the dragon only offering a weakened nod. The knight could sense the turmoil within him, that terrible fear that gnawed at him, of losing another friend, one who hadn’t been gifted his name.

“As you say.” Alonso nodded, gesturing to the armed soldiers to fan out. Some of them rolled a covered wagon, a waiting surprise for the crimson beast within, “Can’t believe Tehya let us have these.”

“Be glad you didn’t have to carry them human.” Veledar growled, padding his way into the shard’s passage.

“I doubt Nivra will be happy that’s for sure.” Arcturus said, “That price was criminal.”

“Best not look a gift minotaur in the maw, even if it was purchased with coin.”

Silence swiftly found them as they worked their way through the passageway, Arcturus’ heart beating faster with every step. He strode tall, confidence exuding in each step, for their deception to succeed, the dragon had to believe they were beaten, that they came in good faith to surrender. With each stride he could feel the hunger in the back of his head, fueled no doubt by Veledar’s loss of Merlia, Fremra and potentially Krotos, a burning desire that poised his breaths, wishing to not just see dreadflame perish, but to see him suffer as painfully as possible.

“Careful now, Dreadflame might be arrogant, but I imagine he’s no fool.” Arcturus spoke slow, right at Veledar’s side, the dragon growling and leaving heavy steps upon the stone.

“No, I don’t imagine he would be. He’ll have learned his lessons against us well, I imagine he’ll not so easily give up the boy. I think he will try to kill you.”

The knight snorted, “You think I don’t realize that? How could he let me go, with an ego the size of his? My continue existence would be a threat to whatever grandiose image he has for himself.” He patted Veledar’s scales, giving the dragon a moment to pause and gift him with a critical eye, “That’s why I brought you along, to show him what a dragon is supposed to be. Strong, proud, noble and exceptionally kind when he means to be.”

Veledar rumbled at the praise with a swish of his tail.

“And I’m glad to have met you, your presence has enriched my life.”

“That you can say for us both.” Rumbled the dragon, gifting the man an affectionate nuzzle in front of them all, “You my noble knight, I can’t see my future without.”

“And should one of us perish.” He held a hand upon that crimson snout, only for it to snort and snap away.

“You speak as though we will end, let us save our words for after we survive and leave this crimson whelp in the dust. Then we can retreat to somewhere nice and warm, and we can focus on what a human-dragon baby looks like.”

He rose a brow at the dragon’s chuckle, “I don’t think biology will agree with us on that one.”

“Oh, I don’t see any harm in trying.” Veledar gestured with his neck to continued, “What I’m getting across is that I’m going to celebrate vigorously with you.”

“Then let us hope for a total victory. One where our friends all live and Dreadflame dies.”

If only things were that easy.

The final room, how soon that it did come. The shard of Bahamut, it’s enchanted halls now tarnished, the glow of hope and mystery it once possessed snatched away, dragged down to the depths of bitter despair and hopelessness.

Treasures were scattered, bodies littered the floor, long shadows hung about every feature as Arcturus stuck close to his dragon’s side. He could feel the eyes of his enemy far before he even spoke, as if they shared a bond as strong as he and Veledar.

“Ah, so you decide to come, Arcturus Lund, my nemesis.” Across the hall, looming over the shard of Bahamut, Dreadflame did sit on his haunches. Within one paw was Axon, the young mage held by the scruff of his ropes, a cloudy ribbon wrapped tight around his mouth, reducing his sounds to nothing more than muffled shouts. The dragon looked to the knight with a wicked grin, one, forge like eye brimming with cruel delight. “For a moment I thought you and your draconic traitor were going to surprise me. That you would chose the logical path, leave your precious friends to die in a misguided belief that you would best me.” The dragon chuckled and clicked his tongue in amusement, “Such was to be expected from such limited creations such as yourself.”

“We did say we were going to be here.” Arcturus announced with all the courage he could muster, not one to be kowtowed by the overpowering glare that was tossed in his direction.

“Yes, how utterly predictable. I do so enjoy your dedication to your oaths and beliefs.”

“Axton are you alright?” Veledar cut through the dragon’s boasting with a savage snarl and flare of the wings, “He best be safe and sound!”

Dreadflame chuckled, bouncing the suspended mage through the air, “Of course he’s alright, I did say that he would be.” He cooed, “Come now Axton, do speak with them.” He rolled a paw, the misty bindings gagging him fading away.

“Arcturus, I’m sorry, he forced me to show him the room!” Shouted the young mage, his voice cracking and fraught with fear, “You have to watch out he’s- “ He was cut off as the dragon rolled a paw, silencing him once again.

Dreadflame sighed, “Give them a moment and they talk your ears off. I would have trained him out of that, but lucky for him, you came to his rescue. So, as you can see, safe and sound.” His gaze narrowed as the pair took their next steps, more than halfway to him. The grand dragon rose to all fours, dropping Axton gently, snapping his jaws in their direction. “Don’t take another step, stay right there.”

“What’s the matter, growing suspicious?” Arcturus remarked, his heart threatening to leap out of his chest. If he spied their ploy it would be all over, “I came to bargain for the lives of Krotos and Axton as I said.”

“Arcturus Lund, descendant of the greatest dragon hunters, with no ploy up their sleeves, no plan?” Dreadflame growled, “I am not a whelp.”

A flash of purple cast over the dragon’s eye, glowing and vibrant. For a moment he shifted on paw to paw, tail flicking back and forth, planning. Then he began to chortle, tossing his head back into honest, growly laughter, “No illusions, no invisibility? No one hiding? I’m almost insulted Arcturus.” He pad forward with confidence, claws clicking on the stone, “I thought there would be a grand struggle, a last defiant strike at my scales, not this outright surrender you plant at my paws.”

“I came to bargain.” He repeated.

The dragon snorted, “Has the dragon traitor you’ve seduced dulled that edge I expected?”

“If anyone of us is a traitor it is you.” Veledar snarled, planning a paw firmly down, “I’ve seen the island of Draconis, heard the tales of what we were supposed to be, beheld the beauty of a world meant for us.” He snorted, eyes narrowed, ‘It was your father and his ilk that soured it, created every wicked story that still plagues our kind.”

To that dreadflame growled, “How deluded your horned head is, it was Arcturus’ kind that led to our suffering, our fall from grace. How they cried, the ungrateful , lesser beasts whining over their lot in life.” He snapped to Arcturus, “Nothing to add oh knight of Bahamut? Or are you letting your dragon do all the challenges?”

He met that hardened look with one of his own, determined not to shy away. “I can’t very well best the roar and demand of a dragon, can I?”

“Amusing, a dragon holds you on his leash- “

“I agree with all he’s said. I too have walked those shores, seen a world open to me that I didn’t know existed. I’ve been touched by the noble hearts of your kind, moved by their paws, shown endless possibilities. I have grown since we first met, had my soul opened to dragons when you offered nothing but destruction and death. You have sat stewing in your isolation, choking on bitterness and hate. I can see how your father is an old relic, better left to time.”

Amusement died within that orange eye as Dreadflame rose his head. For a moment his nostrils flared, a decision to blow his fire appearing and passing before his snout, “And yet here you are, surrendering to me. You concoct a moment of moral triumph where triumph doesn’t exist.”

“Then let our gryphon and boy go.” Arcturus countered, “Then we can get out of your frills.” He rose the bag of holding, practically hearing orb within whispering for it’s draconic kin as Dreadflame’s eye widened.

“You actually brought it.” He gasped, pulling his neck back. “Against all better judgement you actually brought it.”

“I did agree to it. You left me with little choice.” He maintained a neutral expression as Dreadflame laughed, wicked and awful, heralding his apparent victory.

The beast sauntered his way around the shard of Bahamut, carefully avoiding the fog that clung so close to the pool’s edge. He growled, waiting as if for an elaborate trick to reveal itself. Scaled tail flicked.

“Suspicious again?” Veledar remarked, keeping the red dragon’s attention squarely on them.

Dreadflame rumbled with laughter when whatever scheme he was waiting for failed to appear, “Truly, you bring to me what I need, not a hint of fear about you?” Up and down the knight he searched, then too to his dragon. “I’m shocked. Forgive me Arcturus, I might need a moment. You, the greatest of dragon hunter families have thrown everything away for but two lives?”

“As I said.” Arcturus held his ground, making sure Veledar was close by, “I have grown, pierced through the veil of my family’s ways. Dreadflame, I despise you with every fiber of my being, your existence perverts dragon kind, you are a regression to the old, but that won’t stop me from trying to do the best I can.” As the dragon’s rage simmered in the cusp of his frills, Arcturus took this moment to stride with Veledar around the shard, getting no objection from their draconic host.

“For someone wishing to bargain for the lives of their friends, you’re doing a poor job in convincing me. You and your dragon should be knelt before my paws, groveling and pleading that I show you the honor of my mercy.”

“You want me to beg? To grovel in the dirt?” Veledar snarled, “You can’t be serious.”

Dreadflame grinned, “I am deadly so whelp. I want to see how much this human has corrupted you, to place your own dignity for others beneath you.”

“We already came here, brought you the- “

“That doesn’t sound like groveling, does it?” Dreadflame growled, snapping his jaws, “Go on, grovel for me whelp. Plead like a prey animal for its life.” His eye bounced with glee , waiting for Veledar to comply.

The proud dragon twitched; his muzzle wrinkled in disgust. The air filled with his growls and clicks of talons upon the stone as he mulled over the decision over. Arcturus could sense every fiber of the dragon’s being screaming no, unwilling to give into such an act. To save him, the knight bowed his head, taking on a reserved, submissive tone.

“Dreadflame, we beg of you spare the life of Axton and our gryphon Krotos. Find it in your heart for mercy, let us forge a different path that leaves behind the conflict of old.”

“Even though I’ve slain your friend?” The ancient dragon grunted, “You saw the last breath leave her pathetic body. Amusing I must admit that she had you all fooled, but you could truly put all that aside and work with me?” He paused to laugh deep in his throat, “You must take me for a fool. Arcturus, this has all been for you, this destruction, the death and the horrid misery upon these people. All of it as an example of what people like you deserve.”

The knight eyed Axton, the boy hadn’t moved from where he’d fallen, but it wouldn’t be long now. He could sense the dragon’s amusement coming to an end, eventually it would snap. As Veledar started to growl, plead and grovel next, he could sense how wrong it was to spit the very words, his entire body wishing to wretch.

To that Dreadflame sat, a chilling smirk upon his snout. “Excellent show my guests, something I’d wished but never thought I’d ever see. Arcturus Lund and this Crimson Sky, groveling for me to show mercy. I’d dreamed about it of course, but reality it is so more delicious.” He stood, fluffing his wings, letting his claws screech as they dragged across the stone, “Crimson Sky, you dare call yourself a dragon. A true dragon would not have belittled himself in such a way, lowering himself to grovel in the dirt like some sort of human. You have been so corrupted that I almost pity you, the only kindness I could grant would be to kill you.” He snapped to Arcturus with a threatening growl and swish of the tail, “And for you Arcturus, your words are sweet to hear but come far past their time. No, I won’t be freeing your gryphon this day, nor your human whelp. I want you to hear the last words of your gryphon, feel as his life finally is ripped from him, dwell in the fact that another soul you care for has been lost.”

“Don’t you care that we wished to put this to an end?” Arcturus barked, hand reaching for his shield as he felt the control over this moment slipping, “Would we not be better served as captives than corpses?”

Dreadflame cooed, “You perhaps, but only to see you writhe and twist in agony, experience the same humiliation that I was forced to endure within that orb. Dreadflame, son of the emperor brought down, and the human that faced him able to walk away with a false victory on his lips.”

He brandished his shield as Veledar pulled him close, leaving a threatening hiss upon the air. It would seem the calm was done, everything was going to come crashing down. He let his tentative demeanor fall off him, “It is a shame Dreadflame, for when I return you to that orb, not a soul will remember you other than the dragon in which I defeated for a third time. Children will mock your name for all time.”

The beast lowered it’s head, powerful muscles tensed, a hiss that would turn away armies radiated through the hall. His eye gleamed with wicked satisfaction, “Yes, let the pleasantries run away Arcturus. We shall only have the conflict between us, champion of my father and his mother. It was always to be solved like this, with wing and talon, and fire. It will rock this hall, your blood spilled upon the stone. It will be you that is remembered as a failure, your corpse strung up in an example of what happens to those that stand against the natural order of this world.”

Veledar roared, cutting through the larger dragon’s speech like a blade. “Are you going to talk us to death? Come now, show me what amounts to fury of a son of the emperor.”

“So be it whelp.” Dreadflame pulled back his head with a wicked hiss, scales along his neck starting to glow with the intensity of a forge. Orange and red crawled the length of him, as his teeth gleamed like demons in the limited light. It would seem he had no time for conflict, no crossing of talons and blades, the great dragon let forth a plume of his wretched fire, seeking to end the battle before it had even begun.

Instead of running they stood their ground, facing such destruction with the courage of the gods. Arcturus summoned a javelin of lightning to his grasp as Veledar adopted a regal pose. To some they might have looked insane, taking the brunt of such an attack head on, but that would have failed to predict the teal dragon that blinked into existence, shielding them with a hardened wall of ice.

Achaaz gave a defiant cry of her own as steam sizzled and bore the full force of an ancient dragon’s flame. She surged forward as Dreadflame’s eye widened in shock, already counting the dozens of guardians winking in all around the hall on cue, rifles and energy crossbows as the ready. Their barrels winked in the light, even a deck cannon, courtesy of the bloody mermaid was counted among their ranks.

Veledar smirked, “Not so whelp like now, am I?”

Arcturus held his weapon above his head, “Let him have it!” He ordered, his voice swiftly consumed by the thunderous roar of the guardian’s rifle and the coughing of their energy crossbows.

Dreadflame, with the flick of a tail had his scales enshrouded in a blue shimmering field, clearly learning from their first encounter with such weapons. He was still forced to rear back, some of the bullets finding purchase in his flesh, mere thorns to a beast large as he. The cannons however delivered a different payload, not solid shot was one might expect, they instead bombarded the dragon’s head with clouds of shimmering, blinding specks, rivaling the intensity of the sun. It forced him to hiss, stumble back with his eye clenched, working just as well on sons of the emperor as it did the mighty Storm. There was their opening.

Veledar kept his distance as the crimson beast flailed, deprived utterly of his senses. He conjured lightning to his paws with a word of draconic, letting it fly and deliver it’s crackling payload all over Dreadflame’s blood red scales. It’s burst of blinding light was aided by Arcturus’ thunderbolts, striking the exact same positions to excellent effect. The larger dragon crashed backwards; his flank skewered by several sharpened spears of stone that Achaaz had launched.

Blood dribbled down the beasts wounds, copious and thick. He would not be done in so easily, not like before. Powerful muscles launched himself at the smaller dragons, tearing up stone and swatting aside a pair of guardians, leaving them as crimson stains upon the wall. His talons demanded Veledar’s blood, but it was not to be his, all he received was a blinding flash by Arcturus’ shield.

With a snarl, Veledar and Achaaz combined their strength, slamming into the disoriented dragon. They brought him down to the floor, avoiding his staggard paws, cutting through his scales and flesh with their talons. Arcturus, with a racing heart joined them, drawing his borrowed blade and letting white flames of magic billow and consume it’s steel. He slashed twice upon Dreadflame’s flank, carving thick lines as he unleashed twin blasts of holy magic, painting the ground in blood.

Before he could be swatted like a fly he retreated, ducking under Veledar’s flailing tail as though he knew precisely where it would be.

“Insects, all of you, clawing away at your betters!” Dreadflame grabbed hold of them, hurling the two dragons off of him like unruly mutts. As they tumbled to the ground with paint grunts, he rose, letting flare his bloodied and hole filled wings. This time when the rifles peppered him with bullets, his scales turned to a silvery steel, leaving them to bounce off of him. “Pathetic.” With a breath he unleashed his fire, sweeping it around the hall to counter how spread the guardians had become. Even with this to reduce their casualties, Dreadflame brought a swift end to half their number in the blink of an eye.

Then he turned to the survivors with a crazed eye, his scales radiating the dragonfear in which he’d perfected. It infected the air, had it grow hotter than the flames that now consumed the hall. Into all that beheld him it whispered madness, tendrils of fear that hoped to rob them off their senses. Arcturus carried himself to a pillar in which to shield himself, catch his rapid breath and recite his vows.

The dragonfear touched him, caressed his mind, asked that he surrender to Its caress. His mind however was a fortress in which it could not touch. It brushed off his armor like rain as he moved behind a stack of baubles and treasures, loosing a pair of lightning bolts straight at the crimson’s beasts eye. He missed and struck his snout, but it was more than enough to bring a wrinkled muzzle and pained hiss.

“The eye, the damned eye again!”

They couldn’t let up, not for an instance, they’d seen firsthand what that looked like. Arcturus shouted to those whose sanity remained, directing their attack to the exposed dragon. They bombarded him anew with shots, the cannons even losing a net of chain to ensnare him, but the dragon snapped that out of the air with a paw, reducing the steel to molten slag.

Veledar and Achaaz combined their efforts, pulling spears of stone from the floor and loosing them into Dreadflame’s flesh.

“Enough!” Dreadflame snapped, at a wave of his paw, casting aside the latest volley of stone spears. They fragmented into hundreds of various pellets, hovering on the air for a fraction of a second before turning to the dragon’s demand. At a glance he sent them on a new terrible mission, seeking out the guardians that dare stand against him. Stone pierced through what flesh it could find, slammed into armor with the force of giants, most were brought to the ground with pained gurgles, trying to grasp what had happened. They were not given the chance as he stampeded through their lines, crushing stunned guardians beneath his paws. Veledar he slammed his weight into, sending the crimson dragon careening back into the cannons, crushing them and their gunners beneath his bulk.

“Veledar!” Arcturus shouted, panic lancing through him.

“A victory short lived.” Snorted Dreadflame before he set his attention to Achaaz, the dragoness currently skewering his hide with sharpened ice. With a fluff of his wings he sent Arcturus flying back to the ground, only to leap upon the smaller ness like a lion. She tried to flee with a panicked shape of size, but he caught her tail between his jaws. With a snarl he whirled her around and brought her slamming to the stone with a terrible crack, the stone shattered from her impact.

He left her, bloodied and trembling, unable to even stand. His head pulled back as he admired his victory, only for Arcturus to bring his blade down upon the tip of his tail.

“For Bahamut!” He roared in defiance, letting the smite blast apart the dragon’s flesh to the bone. Not enough to kill the beast, but more than enough to draw his attention with a pained snarl.

“And so, the mosquito nips at me.” Dreadflame padded away, revealing the pool of blood beneath Achaaz’s snout. “Too late I imagine though. Your forces dwindle Arcturus, their strength fades, you’ve led them all to their deaths.”

He was right, Arcturus bit his lip, counting the still living guardians on one hand. Even now he spied Alonso, trying to pull a statue currently pinning his husband. Veledar was slowly getting to his paws, shaking his head from the pain that flickered through him. Though he hated to admit it, it might be the time to cut their loses and retreat. He summoned lightning to his hands, briefly aware that Axton was missing. He smirked, Feku had done as she’d been asked.

“But you’re just a man Arcturus, it has been enjoyable, this romp, but in the end this is where it would end.” He rose his head back, taking a deep breath, only for his victory to deprived by the cough of an energy crossbow on stun. “You wretch!” Dreadflame roared, plucking a harp from the various treasures and hurling at where it had come from. It shattered into hundreds of pieces.

“Suppose I must get my paws dirty.” Dreadflame growled, racing towards Arcturus on powerful paws.

Arcturus rose his shield and let his blinding do the trick, giving him enough breathing room to retreat. Even still, he felt the air of Dreadflame’s talons upon his neck. He put what he could between he and the oversized dragon. Treasure crashed and slammed him in a violent cacophony where his doom was promised with every fractured breath. At every step, Dreadflame’s breath was around him, getting closer, promising to put him in the ground.

“What’s the matter Arcturus, where’s all the blather and courage? Now you scurry away like a mouse!” He swooped around a pillar, only for Arcturus to greet him with a flash of the shield. The dragon roared and batted at the air, giving the human enough time to increase the distance between them.

He slipped into the mass of tangled treasure, fires and bodies, calming his breaths as Dreadflame lashed and hissed at the air as if he’d been stung. Everything so far was going close to the plan, his only regret was the guardian deaths. He certainly had the dragons attention, he just hoped that Achaaz was scurrying away with Feku and the others, Dreadflame hadn’t realized that the teal dragoness he’d slammed was simply an illusion.

“How annoying that little trick of yours is.” He snapped his jaws, head raised as he took in the dim light, nostrils flaring as they tried to seek out Arcturus’ scent, “But you only delay the inevitable my human. Many have tried to slay me before you did, each of them failing one after the other.” His next stride came with a tentative swish of the tail, “That’s all your victory was, a sliver of luck, one that you shall never get again.”

For a time, they played the deadly game of cat and mouse, the great dragon never quite finding the allusive human. He stomped and tossed bodies aside in his desperate search, but each moment he neared, he’d fail. It wasn’t long before he snarled, lashing his tail.

“Dragon caught your tongue Arcturus? I know that you’re here, I can smell you. That pungent aroma of fear that you try to hide, telling yourself that you’re brave.” He grinned as he dragged his talons against the stone with an ear-piercing screech, “But how could I expect nothing less from you. You’re a cut above the rest of your kind I’ll give you that, fighting for every scrap of life.” With a victorious hiss he plucked the cover in which Arcturus was hiding, causing the paladin to scamper away, the dragon’s flames licking at his heels.

Arcturus dove for cover, shield behind him as the runes of his armor flared to life. Resistance for fire he’d been told from his gnomish blacksmith, but he didn’t think they’d be pushed this far. As it was, with flames coiling around his shield, the runes shown with the bright of numerous suns. He sweat, knuckles white as he clutched tight his shield, not wanting to see what should happen if the armor had to bear the full brunt of Dreadflame’s fury. He couldn’t help but wonder if he’d held out long enough, had Feku and Achaaz escaped? He’d not received the signal that they were clear.

He risked his safety when things grew quite, the only sound the thudding of his heart in his ears. He found Veledar, still stirring where Dreadflame had left him, but out of the great dragon’s attentions. Flames had all but consumed the shard’s hall, igniting what it could. Ancient tomes shriveled to nothing, sculptures melted by the angry tendrils, scrolls burst to nothing, never to be seen again. He bit his tongue as it stretched his soul to see such a marvelous place reduced to this, painted in grim red-orange flames, with a devil horned dragon looming overhead with pride in his chest.

“Do you still draw breath Arcturus?” Dreadflame snarled, striding through his flames, letting them caress his paws, embers fluttering past his snout like flies. “I do hope you’ve not shrugged off the mortal coil.” When no response came the dragon’s tail twitched, disbelieving such a remark, “Or have I finally rid this place of you, snuffed out the Lund line after all this time?” He cocked his head as Arcturus slunk to another bit of cover, “Aha!” With a gesture of his paw he flung a bolt of stone, slamming into the earth and shattering it to hundreds of pieces.

That was close, he pressed himself tight to a pillar of stone, fragments of the bolt laying at his feet. Any slower and he’d have been at the center of that, pulverized to nothing more than a spot of dark red.

“How joyous, father grants me good favor, to ensure our fun is not yet done! I’d hate for this to be over so soon!” Dreadflame cackled, eating up the superior position he found himself, “Do tell me, did you actually love this dragon over here? Did he fill the hole in your life that I ripped right out? Fill me in, did you invade his thoughts or did he to you? I want to know how far this perversion of yours goes.” Claws screeched as he curled around a pillar, a wicked smile on his snout, “Do you think cowering from me shall save you? That I shall give up the chase? Arcturus, I will never let you go, I will always be there to lick upon your heels. Even if you take the cowards way out and flee, I shall haunt your thoughts, corrupt every good moment you have.”

That’s right, keep on talking. Arcturus whispered to himself, eying how the great beast gloat and brimmed with arrogance. It was now or never; it wouldn’t be long before Dreadflame bounded down the hall in search of himself and stumble upon Achaaz and the others escaping. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath to calm the screaming of his nerves. There, among the galloping of his heart was the steady pounding of his dragons. It was calm, collected, and already working on the next part of the plan. He focused upon that calm, finding it connecting with, improving his own resolve. When he strode out to face down Dreadflame, he felt as large as a dragon himself.

“Oi, Dreadflame, I would like a word.”

“Ah there you are. Finally done running from me?”

“I was never running, I’m no coward.” He readied his shield, tapping the tarnished steel that had endured the flames. “I am Arcturus Lund, champion of Bahamut. I defend the weak and defenseless from wretched things like you.” He summoned his spear of lightning to his hand, it crackled with promise. “Wretched things that only destroy, eat, spread misery in their wake. You are an insult to what dragons can be, what they should be. You should be fearing me!”

Dreadflame stood tall with amused grin on his snout, eyes, confident and deadly locked upon his movements, “Is there a point to this Arcturus? Are you dictating to me your obituary? The words that I should put on your tombstone?”

“It’s time for dragons like you to go, be forgotten to history.” He clenched tight his weapon with grim determination.

“And who’s going to make me go, you?” Dreadflame flicked his tail with a laugh, “You, Arcturus, alone with but a shining stick and shield?”

It was the human’s turn to smirk, “But that’s your mistake…I’m not alone.”

Dreadflame scoffed, looking to where Veledar had fallen, the dragon was missing. “What?” His frills flared as he snapped to where Achaaz would have been trembling in her blood, she too was missing, not a trace of her scaled hide. His head pulled back, disbelief hanging about him as emerald coils began to trace Arcturus’ form.

“The ground of what you seized slips through your paws, you lose again. I have the better dragon on my side.”

With a roar, Veledar sprung through the air, twice his usual size. He rivaled that of Dreadflame himself, landing upon the great dragon’s back in a flurry of talon. Scales ripped, blood splattered the ground as he rode Dreadflame’s pained writhing to the stone. Sharpened teeth sank through his neck, creating the opening they needed.

Arcturus sprung across the hall, his size increasing with every stride. His dragons magic flowed from himself to the knight, making sure that by the time he was closing in Dreadflame he was as tall as a giant. With Bahamut’s name on his lips he brought his sparkling spear straight into the beast’s hide, exploding sections in a mass of crimson gore. He avoided the reprisal of snapping teeth and heavy paws, letting Veledar meet the dragon and keep him occupied as they writhed across the stone.

It came in a blur as they worked, Paladin and dragon as they matched wits with the legendary beast son of the Emperor. The hall was fraught with their shouts and clangs of steel. Lights came with sparks from spell or lightning spear as they forced the would be god to spill his blood upon the ground. Days of anguish and his victories were undone, the dragon and rider duo making him pay for every soul that he’d snuffed out in his dark conquest. When he tried to meet them he was met with their precision, where one needed the other they were there to answer in kind.

They were in perfect synchronization as they danced their deadly song, slamming Dreadflame’s snout with shield, stabbing at his hide with spear, and tearing his flanks apart with talon and teeth. In these moments it was hard for Arcturus to tell exactly where he was. At one moment he was stabbing dreadflame through his paw, slamming the beast’s snout with his shield, only to be snarling and biting through his limbs in the next breath. It was a most bizarre experience to have no semblance of self, existing in a state as though they were not two separate beings, but one single entity laying out their fury upon the wicked.

Dreadflame was beaten, bruised, broken and sent careening to the floor more than once, blood oozing from every inch of his scales. His limbs quivered and trembled, muscles exposed as he pushed himself to the limits to hold on. His snout was carved open, he’d lost a finger on a paw, his wings had been sliced to ribbons, but still, he would not yield.

“I will not be undone by insects!” Dreadflame’s roar came after his claws scraped uselessly off Veledar’s breastplate. “When you are nothing but a man and whelp!”

With a flick of his tail came a surge of power, pulsating upon the air. It blew out fires, sent icy fingers down spines as it built to a terrifying crescendo. With a radiant flare it caressed Dreadflame’s scales, bathing Arcturus and Veledar as they lined up their final blows. Veledar had gone for the throat, Arcturus calling upon his gauntlets to jab the spear right through Dreadflame’s blackened heart.

Victory that would have been was snatched from them, as what magic enhanced them sputtered and died. Arcturus’ weapon snuffed out as he reduced in size, leaving him to taste nothing but air as Veledar, similarly reduced, joined him.

Dreadflame grinned with a throaty chuckle, “Without your tricks, your spells, you are nothing.” He revealed his bloody teeth, ‘I am an ancient dragon of no equal, and you are nothing.”

He swatted Arcturus with terrifying sped for one as wounded as he. The tip of his paw met contact with the knight’s shield as he tried to block it.

With a crack the protection shattered under such tremendous strength as the man was lifted up and off the ground. His arm was pulled from it’s socked with a pop as pain lanced through him. Through the air he sailed at least three meters back, his belly rising and falling, hardly a moment to comprehend at what had happened. He came crashing down in his next breath, one foot caught, but not ready for such force it buckled and snapped like a twig. Arcturus slammed with a clang to the stone, his head only saved by the held in which he wore. Even still the impact thrust stars to his vision, rattled his entire being as he tumbled to a stop.

He knew then his body was broken beyond fighting, as the taste of blood dribbled down his mouth. Every breath was as if knives had sunk into his lungs, sending sparks into his vision with every intake of air. His ears were ringing. As the world seemed to spin before him, he lay, broken and beaten, watching on, helpless as Dreadflame leaped upon Veledar.

“Arcturus!” The crimson dragon had exclaimed, before getting slammed below the grand dragon’s bulk. He was no match for the enraged beast they’d unleashed, swiftly crushed beneath his bulk until he was gasping for breath. He clawed in desperation to the paws of what held him.

Dreadflame drooled as he hissed in delicious glee, pressing further down until the dragon’s ribs below him began to snap one by one. “So, it ends, our little bout whelp, brought to heel by your better. Fight to the bitter end, resist, I want to see the life fade from your eyes.”

Scales rubbed and scaped the stone as Veledar tried to thrash and break free, but it was of no use, the dragon above was too strong. He called to Arcturus with what breath he had, but it came fractured and weak.

The man couldn’t answer as he rose a trembling hand, grimacing how slathered in his own blood that it was.

“If you live Arcturus, I want you to watch.” Said Dreadflame, “I want to you to witness another of your loved ones be taken from this world, all because of your failures.”

Arcturus wanted to scream, to shout, to do anything other than lay there and die. There he was, helpless, frozen, just as small as he’d been the night he held his son dying in his grasp. The beast that he loved, watching him fight to the bitter end, snarling, thrashing, unwilling to give up in the face of his doom, he couldn’t either. There had to be something he could do, something he could try, he couldn’t just let himself fade, watching his loved one perish. That’s when, in the corner of his eye he caught a shimmer of light of the flames, reflecting off the shard of Bahamut’s surface. Of course.

He groaned as his fingers, weary as they were, found purchase in the weathered stone beneath him. Pain was a terrible shadow that followed with every arduous inch that he dragged his broken body. It stabbed at every joint, threatened to make him cry out, but he pushed that all down, along with the serenade of snarls and defiant growls that came from his beloved’s snout. Gritting his teeth, he wouldn’t give in, never yield, both of them fighting to the bitter end.

“That’s it young one.” Dreadflame cooed, “Slip away, embrace the end.”

“Please.” Arcturus’ mind screamed as he dragged himself into the shard’s shimmering surface, letting in envelop him with a splash.