DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN ANYTHING OR ANYONE IN THE SPYRO UNIVERSE. ONLY MY OCS.
Chapter 45: Axian
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"Are you sure you wish to do this? Why remain there? Come back to me here."
Axian sighed as he recalled the last time he had spoken to Shadra.
It had been a week ago, at the rebuilt citadel at Concurrent Skies. She had tried to dissuade him from overseeing the completion of the new fortress in Dante's Freezer. The fact that, for the first time in centuries, scrying magic was able to pierce the Forgotten Sea and the knowledge that humans were still in existance had unnerved her to say the least.
...
Not that he didn't share her fear, having been raised by dragons who, unlike the rest of dragonkind, actually bothered to trace their lineage back to the original Council that had almost eradicated humankind in the first place.
As the sole remaining descendant of Sarvax, one of the dragons who had originally devised the plan to eradicate all humans, the fact that his ancestor had so blatently failed made the meal he had recently eaten turn sour in his belly. Not only were there two Forgers, but now human civilization, rather a small part, was revealed to have survived. Plus there was the matter of the ape known as Geist, not to mention everything that Shadra had fallen behind schedule which was not pleasing to him at all.
Still, the reason for her falling behind had been obvious the last time he saw her. He was pleased but at the same time apprehensive. He knew that the whole reason for he and Shadra being mated was to prepare for the future.
The grublins and apes in the Dark Lands had found the remains of the Well of Souls. They had also found the crystal in which Malefor had been imprisoned.
He was dormant, but still awake. And he wanted out of the prison, whatever the cost.
After the escape of both Forgers, Axian and Shadra had been brought before Malefor and informed of a way to help Malefor escape his imprisonment that did not require a Forger. However, this method required a certain sacrifice on their part.
A sacrifice that even the two dragons, for all their loyalty to Malefor, were unsure they could bear.
The ritual with the Forgers was simple, they simply had to create a tool that, according to Malefor, had to match the 'resonance frequency' of the crystal to shatter it, freeing him. The sacrifice though, that ritual delved into what Axian and Shadra knew was closer to Blood magic and Necromancy than they were comfortable with.
In short, they needed a vessel, something with which to hold Malefor's essense, his soul. And in Malefor's mind there was only one suitable vessel: a dragon egg. And since the hatcheries for dragonkind were now located in fortress-like buildings guided by small volunteer armies, stealing an egg was impossible.
That left creating an egg of their own...
When Axian had last seen his mate there was no concealing the bulge of her abdomen that was clearly an egg taking shape. It would be another three months before the egg would be layed and another eleven months before it hatched. During those eleven months, the egg, his and Shadra's child, would be set before Malefor's crystal. Slowly, the life within the egg would be infused with Malefor's essense, replacing that of the hatchling's with his own.
The egg would hatch a normal dragonet, however, it would be a purple dragonet with Malefor's soul, his experience, his wisdom. It was unclear whether the child would retain his memories, but that point was moot. It would remain unknown until the child reached maturity. Axian snarled at himself in frustration.
(I was perfectly content to follow Malefor as long as he followed through with his word. But still... to sacrifice Shadra's egg, our child, so that he can live again? I must redouble my efforts to capture the Forgers so that it doesn't become nessessary. Maybe I should try to convince Shadra to come to me and we can forget that insane plan...)
A loud explosion from outside shook Axian from his thoughts as he growled and rose to prepare to see what was going on. Then, without warning, a second explosion echoed and he realized what was happening.
What he didn't expect was for a tower to crash through the roof and shower him in debris.
Angry at having a tower dropped on him, Axian spread his wings and with a roar leaped into the air, his sheer strength scattering debris, dust, snow and ice in all directions. As he rose, he turned his head to see what had attacked and saw, of all things, the same human who once had the nerve to shoot a cannon at him.
Daniel Foster.
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Heeding Daniel's advice, the humans with him broke and ran, abandoning the cannon and taking cover behind several rock outcroppings before Axian unleashed his icy breath upon them. However, out of the blue came hurdling several dragons to close with Axian.
Spyro was first, using fire to get Axian's attention. He was quickly followed by Cynder and Toxias who both used poison. Lastly was Growler who was firing ice needles with enough volume and speed to make Danny think of a machinegun for some reason. That got him to thinking as he withdrew to try and figure out a way he could help from the ground.
Without a word, he flipped through the Book and started examining what he could or could not do. The cannon had drained his mana reserves a bit but he had enough remaining to create a modified version of the rifle that Neal had used against Ripper.
A panzergewehr appeared in a flash before him but this rifle was notably different. For one, the barrel was a lot shorter and it had a carrying handle fitted to the side. Second, while Neal's rifle had been single shot, this one had a small five round gravity magazine fitted to the top of the bolt-action mechanism. Lastly, the stock had been cushioned to the extreme and the scope had been removed in favor of simple iron sights.
It still used the heavy .50 caliber round which was a plus but still in order to make the weapon carry-capable by one person, he had to reduce the weight.
Jumping behind a large rock, he rested the rifle on top of the crest and leveled the sights at Axian as he stopped to breathe in to release a breath of ice. Squeezing the trigger, the rifle jumped in his arm with the recoil, sending the round high and just over Axian's head but the report did the job just as well as a bullet.
Axian ducked his head, swallowed the frost with a stunned yelp and then turned an icy glare to Danny as he hastily reloaded the rifle. The distraction was enough that Spyro and Cynder managed to land fire and venom attacks across Axian's back, making him snarl in pain and fury as he attempted to turn and pursue.
Danny, having chambered a new round, fired again, this time the round struck home, splitting scales across where Spyro's flames had hit where Axian's tail and hips joined.
The evil dragon bucked in midair, feeling hot pain lance across his flanks and turned again to try and reposition himself to get a better angle of attack. However, just as he turned, he caught movement and turned in time to see Terra clear a way for Neal, Lyca, and the kids coming up from the dungeon. He smiled wickedly and started to exhale cold breath in their direction.
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Neal saw Axian starting to exhale his breath at them and immediately stopped and glanced Terra.
"Get clear!" Was all he shouted as he conjured a massive steel shell that encompassed Lyca and the kids and shielded them from the frost and Terra managed to get clear in time and launch a barrage of stone spikes upwards at Axian. Unfortunately her aim was off somewhat and aside from three piercing the membrane of his wings, the others missed.
Inside the metal shell, Neal used some of his remaining mana to create another modified .50 cal rifle (the Book having shown the blueprint to him as soon as Danny had created it), then he dispelled the shell, took aim with the rifle and fired, forcing Axian to evade as now he was being surrounded and attacked from all sides. He reloaded quickly and grimaced as Axian roared again and turned a look behind him.
"Lyca! Skylar! Get the kids out of here!" Lyca nodded and motioned for Domino and Rivet to follow while Skylar helped Frost move out of the way. Domino however looked at Neal with pleading eyes.
"We want to help!" Neal glanced at her having expected as much and shook her head.
"I know you do but right now I need the three of you out of harm's way." Domino grimaced at that and Neal suddenly feared she'd do something reckless so he thought of an idea.
"I'll tell you what, you want to help? Keep an eye on your brothers for me, Frost is still too weak and Rivet likely doesn't know how to fight yet, right? Help me by keeping them safe for me." Domino looked to her injured brother and then to her little brother who was wide-eyed with fear as Axian tried again to circle back and attack them again and then gave Neal a nod.
"Take him down... Dad."
As Domino turned and ran towards Lyca and her siblings, what she said hit home to Neal and he felt a newfound strength welling up inside him. He set the rifle aside, summoned his staff, and with a tap on the ground illuminated the crystal which made not only Axian but everyone look at him.
"Axian!" Neal's voice boomed loud enough to momentarily startle even him but he remained unfazed and leveled the staff at the evil dragon.
"I will not let you harm these children, or anyone else ever again!" Axian sneered at the declaration and turned his gaze on him.
"How will you do this, eh? Your weapons cannot hit me if I simply evade them, and I doubt your pitiful human magic could do anything-"
Neal made a pass with the staff and in his mind, he saw a vision. A hooded mage stood before a dragon he had never seen before. The mage lifted his focus, a poleaxe with the crystal embedded in the haft just above where the mage gripped it.
'You started this, dragon, now I'm finishing it!' The dragon snarled confidently.
'So sure of that are you? Look at yourself, the plague is almost run its course through you. I doubt you will last the day.' The mage coughed, and spat a thick globule of blood from his mouth before returning his glare to the dragon.
'I realize that Sarvax. Your plague will indeed be the death of me as it has been for so many others. However, if you think I will simply submit and let myself be made a slave, you are mistaken! We are humans! We bend the knee only to our gods and our king!'
The mage raised the poleaxe.
'Terras Vallen!'
A stone wall rose from behind Sarvax who grinned at what he percieved as a waste of magic until the mage flipped the focus again and intoned a different spell.
'Freist Darten!'
A series of icicles shot from the blade faster than Sarvax could react and pinned his wings to the stone wall behind him, then two more pinned his forelegs and then his hindlegs and tail until he was splayed on the wall and vulnerable, his wounds bleeding freely. Seeing the sight of his own blood apparently was too much for Sarvax, his arrogance vanishing and panic taking its place.
'Y-You fool! You can't take the cure by force! It must be willingly given!' The mage nodded then channeled more mana into the blood pool, freezing it and lifting it up, shaping it into a spear of pure crimson as he hefted it.
'So I've been told. The cure must be willingly given and accepted. Thus the master-servant bond is created. It is blood magic pure and simple. However, consider this my message to you and all dragonkind, we humans would rather perish than submit! Congratulate yourself Sarvax while you still can, for you may have brought humanity to its knees, but you failed to subjugate us!' The mage glanced at the trapped dragon and smiled as he realized Sarvax was coming to the realization of the consequences of his actions.
'There are those in far flung areas who will never know the plague's touch, and there are those who, somehow, will be naturally immune to it. These will be the embers that will rekindle humanity's flame. You will never exterminate or enslave us. Not that you or I will live to see this occur.'
The mage broke into another coughing fit which subsided after a moment but left his hand, chin, and front of his robe bloody. After recovering, he grimaced before another fit took hold and cast the blood spear forward with no hint of the strength he possessed. The lance moved slowly, almost lazily, giving Sarvax the illusion it would fall far short of doing any harm, yet it pierced Sarvax's heart with ease. Sarvax's eyes widened in shock and pain, he opened his maw and gave out one gasping rattle before falling silent, his head slumping to the side and the spikes that held him dissolving as the mage who cast the spell passed into the void...
Neal blinked as the vision faded and saw his staff glowing a muted blue color. He hefted it much the same way he saw the mage do and then intoned the very same spell.
"Freist Darten!"
Darts of ice shot forth seemingly out of nowhere, completely surprising Axian and as he tried to dodge, one of the spears caught his right wing in the joint, breaking it and sending him plummeting towards the ground. He crashed hard in the ruins of the tower and skidded across the ground until another wall stopped him and he lay there in a stunned, inglorious heap.
Neal released the magic and sighed, allowing the power to fade back into the focus and glanced at Terra who nodded, sensing his intent to have Axian answer for what he had done.
"Growler! Toxis! Take Axian into custody!"
The two dragons descended but before they reached the ground, Axian rose, froth roiling from his maw, his face contorted with absolute, unbridled rage and indignation.
"I will not be defeated! Not by the likes of you! You humans were a problem back when my ancestor, Sarvax, helped devise the plan to eradicate every last one of you and you are a problem now!" Neal froze, suddenly understanding what Axian had just said. Axian continued however, frost and ice beginning to build over his scales as he prepared to unleash a full-power Ice Fury.
"I am Axian, last descendant of Councilor Sarvax, and last of his bloodline! You humans are beneath me! You dragons who would ally with them, befriend them, mate with them! You are all TRAITORS to your race! Malefor will return, and with his return, humanity will finally be reduced to ash as it should have been all those centuries ago!"
Then, at that moment, a flash of magic momentarily blinded the group and Neal faintly saw Bianca amongst a group of apes. Geist was at the forefront and in his hand... was the Astral Sword.
Geist strode towards Axian and grimaced as Axian saw the blade and fear registered on his muzzle.
"Axian, I am Known as Geist, but I have another name. I am the youngest son of Gaul, the Ape King, and I share his name. You and Malefor have trod upon us for the last time, and now, with this blade, we shall end you!"
Geist, Gaul, threw the sword at Axian and pierced his chest , sinking effortlessly into the dragon's body to the hilt.
To Neal's horror, it was exactly as Eve had described it. The sword easily glided through the scales and bone, slicing Axian's heart in half as the blade passed through almost as if it was guided to it. Worse however, was how the light in Axian's eye started to grow dim, but suddenly the entire eye went jet black.
Axian's head jerked back, his entire body going rigid, and a scream the likes of which Neal had never heard, or thought possible for a living creature to make, erupted from Axian's maw. The scream was one of absolute dispair, fear, anguish, pain, and hopelessness and despite himself, he suddenly began to feel sorrow at what he was witnessing.
Then, the body fell to the side and was silent, but black fog began bubbling up from the wound around the sword as if something inside was being burned. Then, every single scale on Axian's body cracked as if it were made of fine glass. Blood oozed up from in between the scales and the body seemed to decay and shrivel up right before their eyes.
Within moments, Axian was little more than a bag of scales and bones, seemingly mummified in the span of seconds, the sword still protruding from his chest and glowing ominously as if somehow pleased with itself.
The display was so grotesque that even Gaul backed away in fear, cursing himself for a fool and demanding answers from Goro and Bianca who were just as horrified as everyone else. One by one the dragons descended into the ruins but none went near Axian for fear the sword might actually have a mind of its own and seek to slay them. Neal cradled Domino, Rivet and had a comforting hand on Frost, his eyes locked on the remains.
Axian's body was dead, that much was certain. What Neal, and everyone else, had just witnessed, was the undeniable death of Axian's soul...
