Chapter 45
The needle pierced through his vocal cords. He stumbled back clasping his throat, blood spilling through his fingers. He opened his mouth, but no sound came out. Only a gargle of blood pooling within.
I didn't see what happened between him and Sebille next though. I immediately launched myself into the air with my wings as three projectiles landed where the three of us were a split second ago. I caught a glimpse of Ifan coming out of his roll and launching an explosive arrow at the top of the high pillar. I also saw the Red Prince bring his shield up as a hooded lizard appeared swinging his sword at him. Before I saw anything else, I turned around and unleashed a fireball at the platform of the left as I flew to the one on the right. I ignited my chain and swung it where I was about to land. A hooded lizard appeared as the tip of my whip grazed his arm. As he stumbled backward clasping his arm, I extended my leg and landed on top of him. With him pinned under me, I inhaled and let out a freezing breath. The ice pelted the lizard's face until it was completely frozen. I lifted my foot and stomped in on his head, shattering it into a thousand of pieces.
Immediately after, I launched myself into the air. When I glanced at the pillar, I couldn't see anyone there. Either because Ifan missed or the guard was forced off and fell into the lava stream below, I couldn't be sure. Regardless, I brought my attention to the other platform I launched my fireball at earlier. Wouldn't you know it, another of the Shadow Prince's guards was on it with minor burns in his robes. I watched as he took his stance and started to motion his hand. I rolled myself to the left just as a lightning strike darted past me. When I came out of my midair roll, I motioned my hand and unleashed my Ice Fan onto him. All three ice shards landed onto him, freezing him in place. I landed next to him and immediately ignited my whip. I swung it and cleaved through the frozen body, cutting the lizard in two. Both halves fell to the ground, breaking into a dozen smaller pieces.
I looked down at the yard just in time to see the Red Prince kick another hooded guard off his sword to flop lifelessly to the ground. Behind him, the first attacker to decloak lay dead. Ifan held his crossbow in relaxed ready position and looked up at me. He pulled back the cowl and shot a thumbs up into the air. The battle was over. But when I looked at the tent, I could see the conflict was not quite resolved. I floated to the ground and retracted my wings. I joined the Red Prince and Ifan to see what lay in front of the tent.
The Shadow Prince was on his knees. His arms were slumped by his sides while his head shook erratically. Sebille emerged from behind him. A unique, blood-soaked dagger rested in her hand. We took away her weapons when we brought her before the tent to make it convincing. The dagger she held now must have been the Shadow Prince's before Sebille pounced on him. From the way the Shadow Prince was kneeling before us unable to move anything but his head, I concluded that Sebille had severed the Shadow Prince's spine, paralyzing him.
With her blood-soaked needle in her right and the blood-soaked dagger in her left, she walked in front of the paralyzed lizard with her back to us. The Shadow Prince looked up, a mixture of disbelief, fear and denial in his eyes. Sebille's hands shook. Both of her weapons were hungrier for more blood than they've consumed already. For so long she wanted vengeance. Now, it was before her, ready to be taken. She pulled her needle arm back.
I walked over and gently grabbed her arm. Instead of reactively pulling her hand away or attacking the one who grabbed her, she only frozen. I walked in front of her, still holding onto her hand. She looked up at me with her blazing eyes. From both the look in her eyes and how her arm trembled in my hand, she seethed with hatred. The pitiful lizard kneeling behind me was the source of all her suffering. The hatred she carried since her enslavement had taken full control of her. But when she looked up at me, I could see hatred wasn't the only thing that burned in her. Her frowning lips twitched, and her narrowed brows slowly eased. Her eyes now started to wet. The hatred in her started to fade away.
For so long, she was nothing but a tool. She had everything taken away from her to be morphed into an involuntary agent of death for a delusional man's crusade to control the fate of the world. She wanted to take the life of that man for so long. But now, I could see she wasn't thinking about making the man who ruined her life pay. Instead, she thought about the life that she could have had. It could have been a peaceful life. A life without violence. A life without bloodshed. A life that I had once before.
I reached down and grasped the edge of the hilt of the dagger in her other hand. She looked down at it before looking up at me again. I nodded my head. Her tear-filled eyes shifted between three different directions. Eventually, her grip on the dagger lessened. She let it go, allowing me to take ahold of it. She nodded to me as the tears expelled from her eyes and ran down her face. I let go of her needle hand. She backed away. Ifan came over and embraced her while the Red Prince gave her a comforting pat on the shoulder.
I turned around and looked down at the Shadow Prince. He looked up at me while coughing up a wade of blood from his throat. He tried to move but to no avail. I kneeled to his level and looked deep into his eyes. I heard the voice he once had in my head. Moments ago, that voice told me he believed himself to be the hand that guided a blind world. How he justified enslaving Sebille to murder not only dozens of her own kind, but other obstacles he perceived to be a threat to his vision.
But now, thanks to the needle he provided his slave, his voice was taken away. He would no longer sing to enslave anyone ever again. More than that, he would no longer be able to use his hands or legs to harm anyone either. But I knew that if Rivellon was to be truly be safe from his influence, I had to make sure the deed was completed myself.
I pulled my scarf from my neck and tossed it aside. The Shadow Prince's eyes widened when they rested on my amulet. I felt a fire burning it me. It wasn't a fire of anger or hatred. Nor was it the fire in my heart to unleash my flame breath. Instead, it was a fire of passion. A passion to do what needed to be done to protect people. I spoke to him.
"Like I said: some people cannot be reasoned with."
I brought up the dagger for him to see.
"It is my duty to defend people from the cruelty of those who wish to harm them."
I plunged the dagger into his chest. His eyes widened and his throat and mouth splurged more blood. I imagined it was from surprise rather than pain considering he no longer felt his body. I carved the dagger through the muscle and bone down his chest. When I was finished, I withdrew the blade and tossed it aside. Keeping my eyes locked with his, I took my hand and thrust it into the opening I carved. His head twitched as he screamed a soundless scream. I pulled my hand out and brought it up for him to see. His eyes widened in horror as his own grey heart rested in my palm for him to see. The reminder of his blood spilled from his body, pooling under his knees. He gave me a final look before his eyes hung open as his head slumped down. He remained on his knees as the last drops of his life dripped out of him.
The Shadow Prince was dead.
I sighed deeply. I stood up with the heart in my hand. I turned around to see Ifan walking up to me with a blanket in hand. I placed the heart into the blanket and wiped off most of the blood on my hand. Ifan rolled the blanket over the heart and gave it to me with an approving nod. I gave a brief grin to him. I pulled out my backpack and placed the heart into it. Afterwards, I pulled out the Deathfog device that was given to me. Ifan looked at the device with a disapproving look. I obliged his disapproval and threw the device into the stone floor, seeing it shatter into a thousand pieces. Ifan's face then turned back into an approving one. He nodded and I nodded in return. I swung my backpack over my shoulder.
I turned around to see Sebille standing before the kneeling corpse of the Shadow Prince. I decided to not interfere. She looked down at her needle and back at the corpse. For several minutes, she stood there, not uttering a word. Eventually she tuned to face me. Her eyes started to wet again. Her face exuded sadness. But they also exuded something else. Gratefulness. To me.
She rushed over and wrapped her arms around me. She started to cry. I put my arms around her. Ifan came from behind her and hugged her too. We fell to our knees, holding the elven girl between us. Our bodies swayed back and forth as Sebille buried her face into my shoulder. Nothing needed to be said. We stayed where we were for a long time. The sobs slowly faded, but we kept holding on to her. After several more minutes, Sebille pulled her head back. Ifan pulled away and I let go of Sebille. All three of us stood up. When Sebille looked up at me again, her eyes were red with her checks drenched with her tears. But she was smiling.
"Thank you," she said. I smiled back at her.
"You're welcome."
Sebille looked at Ifan. He nodded with a caring smile. She smiled back. Suddenly, she moved closer and gave a small kiss on his cheek. His eyes widened in surprised. Mine did too. But before we did anything, Sebille took Ifan's hand and reached out to take mine. She brought both of our hands together. She stepped to the side and wore a familiar teasing smile. Ifan and I shared an awkward glance before looking back at Sebille. I started to chuckle and Ifan did too. Sebille started to laugh. All my concerns for her seemed to disappear seeing her playful self return to mess with the two of us. I was truly happy for her now.
When we were finished with our giggles and smiles, we turned our attention to the Red Prince. He was taking his turn to look down at the heartless corpse of the Shadow Prince. He held his hands on his hips before he sighed deeply. Eventually, he turned around to face the rest of us. He looked at all three of us individually, keeping his gaze on Sebille the longest before he looked away for a moment. When his gaze came back to us, he composed himself to seemingly perform monologue for his audience of three.
"For the longest time, I believed that domination and control was what allowed our people to be the superior species of this world. And when I learned of my destiny to have my children start a new age of Dragons, I could think of no better way to exude my dominance in addition to the thought of becoming the sole god of this world."
He paused.
"But now, in this short span of days, my perception of the world has… changed."
He pulled out the handkerchief Sadha had given him before she was kidnapped. Stared at it.
"I never felt love growing up. Not true love. When I came of age, I satisfied my primal urges with the nearest concubine and, eventually, demon. But I've always dreamed of her. In those empty moments between ordering my armies and satisfying my royal urges, I longed to be with the woman who just seemed out of my reach. Then I finally met her. The moment I shared with her transcended any moment I had with anyone before that. When she was taken, I felt horrified. Losing my palace. Losing my throne. Losing my army. None of those compared to the horrible feeling of losing a loved one."
He looked directly at me.
"Then I was confronted by someone. Someone who had the courage to stand up not only to me, but the lizards' belief of enslavement of people who wore different skin. She changed herself to accept the help of others while she helped them in return. When I had everything taken from me, I had no one to help me. I truly felt what it was like to be a slave. To have everything about myself taken away."
He looked down at the corpse of the Shadow Prince.
"And that's why we lost our wings. We were tyrants who believed we had the right to terrorize and dominate the races of the world. To have them do things for us that our larger bodies couldn't do ourselves. In return, we gave them nothing but death and misery. All the while we failed to see that we created a reason for Rivellon to unite against us. Our undoing was indeed our fault."
He looked at his handkerchief again. His face twisted into a conflicted mess. He closed his fist around the handkerchief before he made a statement to the three of us.
"But even with everything set in motion, even with the potential threat it could bring, I can't bring myself to murder Sadha or my child."
A silence hung over the four of us. To my surprise, Sebille was the one to break it.
"If that's the case, what's going to happen once you free them from the God King?"
The Red Prince turned his head to the Shadow Prince's corpse again. He walked over and reached into one of the dead lizard's pockets. When he pulled it out, all three of us gasped when we saw what he had in his hand.
"I figured I'd teach my dragon offspring the values of the Dragon Knights."
It was a violet gem in his hand. My eyes, along with Ifan and Sebille's, darted to my amulet. We exchanged glances before we watched the Red Prince continue.
"The Knights believe in helping the people of Rivellon. As a result, the people of Rivellon would respect and help them in return. If my children learned that, perhaps that would lessen the possibility of having our kind be driven to extinction again."
When he looked up from the gem, his eyes rested on Sebille. I couldn't be sure, but I suspected he looked at her scar. A look of doubt came over him.
"But at the same time, slavery and domination are two things that have been ingrained in our people's culture for thousands of generations. Two things the Dragon Knights do not stand for. To divorce such an aspect away from our culture would surely start a civil war when we need it the least."
An uneasy, but familiar, feeling came over me. A feeling that clung to me ever since I freed the Lady Vengeance. Even when Sebille told me she saw the good in me and it didn't matter that I wore scales, I still felt this lingering feeling. A feeling that slavery was a part of me, and I could never divorce myself from it. When people saw me in the world, particularly humans and elves, I always thought they saw only the monster who took their mother, father, child or friends to be made into slaves for the Empire. No matter how much I told myself I was different, the people of the world would still see me as a lizard who valued their slaves.
The Red Prince looked at the gem again. Slowly, his doubt started fade away from his face.
"But then again, I've always said I wanted challenge in my life. Perhaps this was the challenge I was looking for. To have our Empire be reborn. Not just from physical transformation, but ideological too. To shed our selfish skin and embrace the world as it is when it's shared by other beings."
All three of us looked up at him in silence and disbelief. A moment later, the Red Prince walked up to me. He looked at me with sincerity in his ember eyes.
"I wanted to thank you for standing up to me. If you hadn't, then I would have remained the same arrogant noble who might have let his ego and lust for power consume him to share the same fate as Braccus Rex."
He looked over at Ifan and Sebille.
"It's been an honor traveling alongside all of you. Even when I wasn't the politest person, you've chosen to keep me around and help me when I needed help. I won't forget that, and I'll do what I can to repay you. I don't know when it will happen, but you have my world I will do right by you."
He brought his gaze back to me.
"And whatever happens from here on, I truly believe you'll do incredible things for this world, Divine or not."
He presented the gem to me.
"For the trials yet to come."
He took my hand and placed the gem into it, closing my fingers over it. He gave a deep nod to me and took a step back. For a moment, I stood in silence, bewildered by the Red Prince's speech. Just a week ago, he was an arrogant idiot who had the audacity to declare me his slave. But now, this lizard was an entirely different man. Someone who knew how others felt when they were hurt. Someone who respected others' beliefs. Someone who believed that I would do good despite our different beliefs.
"Thank you," I said.
"You're welcome," he replied with a bob of his head.
I looked down at the gem in my hand. I took notice of the electrical radiating into my palm. I felt a wave of anticipation come over me. I took ahold of my amulet.
"For the trails yet to come," I said.
Everyone gathered around me but kept a good distance away. I took a deep breath and slowly moved the violet gem toward the last slot in my amulet. Like before, I felt the gems radiated with energy as the new one closed the distance. When the violet gem was pulled from my hand into the slot, I felt the energy surge into my heart like last time. The electrical energy wedged itself between the fire and ice in my heart, causing me to fall to one knee again. I exhaled a small stream of lightening from my mouth that dissipated into a floating cloud of electrified steam. The cloud floated and sparked in midair for nearly five seconds before disappearing. All the while, the three elements revolved around my heart until I gasped when the elements found equilibrium once again. I looked at my amulet to see all three gems glowing in unison while I felt the elements in my heart ready to be unleashed at my command. I stood up and looked at the others to see their intrigued faces. But Sebille seemed to be the one to be most intrigued.
"Anything else?" Sebille asked.
I raised my brow. But a second later, I knew what she meant.
"You mean, do I have an extra power similar to my wings?" I asked.
"Yes," Sebille tilted her head looking down at my full amulet. "I mean, one would expect all slots of something magical being filled would mean something very powerful being unlocked."
I closed my eyes and felt my body over.
"I don't feel anything else," I said opening my eyes. "Just the Source I have in my body along with the elements the gems have imbued into my heart."
"Hmmm," Ifan brought his finger to his lips and pondered. "Perhaps there might be something more that'll unlock whatever else is in that amulet. If there's anything else in that amulet that is."
"Maybe," I said. My thoughts lingered on possible things. But I eventually put those thoughts aside when my mind returned to the current situation.
"Regardless, we've a monster to slay and a mirror for our Prince to look into. I think it's time we get to it, don't you think?"
The Red Prince's eyes flickered with a brief sense of urgency.
"Most certainly," he said looking over at Ifan and Sebille.
"No time to waste then," Sebille said. Ifan gave her daggers back and she turned around to the archway leading out. One by one, we followed her with me being the last. Before I left, I looked at the corpse of the Shadow Prince one last time. I heard the song play in my head, but I felt no anger or shame anymore. I would never sing the song again, and neither would he. He was dead and my best friend was finally free from his influence. Now it was time I set my sights on freeing Rivellon from the Voidwoken. I turned around and followed the others out of the temple on our way to our next destination.
Author's Note:
Violet Gem:
+ 3 Areomancy
Innate Abilities:
-Thunderous Roar (From the Draconic Skills mod)
-?
I apologize for not having this out by Saturday like I promised. It turned out to be a lot more than I could handle in a single day. I needed to make this the best it could be. But here it is now. Better late than never.
Though I heard it was an unnecessary cash grab, I would like to thank Rambo: Last Blood for inspiring me to give the Shadow Prince a worthy fate.
As always, thank you for reading my story and a review goes a long way. See you next chapter and remember to stay home and wash your hands.
P.S. If you're confused about seeing myself reviewing my own story in the review section, that's actually my mother reviewing my story. Thank you for reading my story, mom. I love you. :)
