Chapter 38
A/N: hey everyone! Welcome back! As you can see, I am done with my classes for the semester and am now on break! Also, good news, I just accepted into my Master's program!
Now, I'm glad to see there's still a lot of interest in the story. And I'm sorry for the long wait for what's such a short chapter. I've had some writer's block for a little bit now, and frankly have been hoping the newest season would've been out by now so I could have more material to work with. But, unfortunately, it looks like we're going to have to wait a bit longer. Still, despite this chapter being shorter than what I would've liked, I hope y'all enjoy it.
Remember, I'm, just the writer, Asteria is my OC, the others belong to Gaberherdon308 and Mandalore the Survivor, and TDP belongs to Netflix, and Star Wars belongs to Disney.
To say Lord Vader was irritated was an understatement.
It had been almost a year since he saw through the lies of the jedi, since he had failed to save his wife and defeat his former master on the volcanic world of Mustafar. Finally, after so long, he'd found a lead as to where Kenobi went in the form of the padawan his former master had clearly abandoned to save himself.
And no one had been able to bring the boy to him.
He knew Trezac was no pushover, the little padawan was strong in the Force. Not as strong as himself, naturally, but still formidable in his own right. The child had been raised in a warzone after all. But still, two inquisitors should have been more than enough to bring him a half-trained, abandoned padawan.
Yet, one of his inquisitors was dead and the other was making her own attempt at a coup.
While it was annoying that the commander he'd sent was not able to get clear details of her plans, he at least was able to give consistent reports despite his lack of progress. Enough for Vader to at least piece together the events going on.
Which made the situation all the more frustrating.
The commander was right on the padawan's trail, and still he hadn't been caught.
Vader had even been able to slow the boy down for him, perhaps even incapacitated him for some time.
It had been difficult, mostly due to the distance, but Vader had found that despite Kenobi's best efforts, he hadn't completely ripped apart the force bond he had to the boy. There were still a few weak threads left. Not much, but just enough for Vader to reassert his foothold and work at reforging the bond without the boy's knowledge.
Granted it was only until a few days ago that Vader had been able to make any real progress. The former jedi had sensed that his young padawan-brother had been in some nexus of the Darkside, but, still, he could sense something powerful in the Light surrounding him. Once he had detected an opening, Vader could not resist taking it and ripping through Trezac's shields to slam down reforged anchors of their frayed bond.
Fortunately, the boy had probably been in too much pain to notice. Even then, it wasn't like he was strong enough to fight him off.
Either way, Vader would get what he wanted. The boy would thank him for it later.
Until then, he could work on making subconscious manipulations of the teenager's actions. By continuing to strengthen their bond and leaving it open, Vader could slowly gain a better foothold in the boy's mind and use it to his advantage. Eventually, his brother would realize that Vader was all he had left.
Or he would if his men had captured the padawan like he wanted.
The Lord of the Sith had essentially been able to hand over the boy on a silver platter to his men. And yet, they hadn't been able to catch him in the time it took for the source of Light to shield the padawan again. Whatever its owner was, it was powerful.
Powerful enough to keep him at bay, for now at least.
In the end, Vader always got what he wanted.
-.-
Sol Regem had never been happier to feel grass under his claws. Finally, after hours of walking under the harsh desert heat, they had finally made it across the sun-forsaken desert.
He had forgotten how unbearable the Midnight Desert was. While most would complain about the heat, the Archdragon found it tolerable. What he did not find tolerable, however, was the absence of life energy.
The gaping wound in Xadia's landscape still bled with darkness and reeked of death. And now, it seemed to be stronger than ever. Even in the light of his own arcanum, Sol Regem could sense the evil slithering around them, testing his defenses as it seemed to pry curiously at his charges.
But like always, a simple flare of his power drove it off, and the darkness cowered away like it was supposed to do. It was frustrating that it kept trying to claw at his shields, even in its weakened state. Though it kept him from being bored as he continued his trek through the desert.
Between the dark magic's irritating attempts to get revenge for the incident at the temple, Sol Regem would occasionally turn his attention back to the younglings. After several days of endless chatter, it was rather strange to be surrounded by silence.
Even his post at the border had the chatter of birds and the scurrying of lava lizards and magma toads along with whatever other wildlife appeared. And now, he could thankfully hear the soft songs of birds and a few melodaisies. The Midnight Desert had been quiet, save for the wind and the faint hissing of soulfangs underfoot.
The Archdragon chuckled to himself, slowly striding forwards away from the black sands towards the sound of running water. Sol Regem spent the past millennia on the border doing everything he could to avoid interacting with other living things and now after a few days he couldn't go a few hours without some sort of noise.
Ancients, he must be going soft.
His magic stretched out around him, mapping out the environment so he could avoid tripping over a log and accidently crush his charges. They complained enough as it was.
The glowing life forces of other lifeforms practically preened against his own power and the Archdragon was pleased to sense a few dawn doves flying away from the source of water he'd been listening to. Branches moved out of his way as his crown of horns pushed through them, a soft warm breeze hitting them as he stepped into the clearing. He gave a deep exhale of relief as he lied down, his aching muscles now making their protests to his long trek rather clear.
It wouldn't hurt to rest for a bit; at least long enough to recover his energy. And, presuming his charges woke up before then, they could explain to him what exactly happened when he and Trezac left the oasis.
Speaking of the padawan, he would also need to check over the young jedi to make sure he wasn't feeling any lingering effects from the temple. He was sure that the wonderwall had burned a large portion of it away, however the youngling had been pretty out of it when he first woke up. Hopefully, the youngster would be more coherent this time, because Sol Regem did not like waiting for answers.
Taking a deep breath, the Archdragon exhaled plumes of smoke through his nostrils and between his teeth. Anger would do him little good right now. If anything, it would wake up the youngsters, and Sol Regem wanted to have at least a few more peaceful hours listening to the sounds of life.
Releasing a quiet sigh, he slowly turned his head, reaching out to sense the small stars of life nestled in his fur. The skyling mage was curled up alongside the daughter of the moon, both of their presences slowly pulsing in the familiar cadence of sleep. Given the very brief explanation he'd gotten when snatching them back from the infernal elf, it wasn't hard to presume they were tired. Like himself, they hadn't gotten much, if any, sleep over the past couple days in the desert.
The air tingled with electricity, and Sol Regem turned his attention to the source. Avazandum's son was curled around one of his spines, and, unlike the others, the hatchling was wide awake. The tiny newborn gave a chirp, clearly pleased that he got the elder's attention as he shakily rose to his tiny paws with a few more yips.
Sol Regem gave a low rumble, there might've once been a time when he had considered finding a mate, but those days were long gone now. It might've been for the best anyways, because he had no idea what Zubeia's offspring wanted. The hatchling was too young to speak, and too untrained to properly channel his life energy to communicate clearly. And, given that he had zero experience with hatchlings the only thing the elder could sense was the youngster's irritation and concern.
Was he hungry? No, he was pretty sure the Moonshadow elf had fed him earlier.
Did he have to go to relieve himself…did hatchlings even relieve themselves? It probably wasn't healthy if they didn't, but Sol Regem hadn't been paying enough attention to know for sure.
Thirsty? No, he would've used his tiny wings to at least not fall to the ground to drink from the stream.
Bored? Hopefully not. Sol Regem barely remembered what it was like to be a hatchling, let alone the ways his mother had entertained him. Anyways, if he were, Zym probably would've woken the loud human, or been playing with the adoraburrs they brought along.
Ok, so he wasn't hungry, wasn't thirst, probably didn't need to relieve himself, and he, hopefully, wasn't bored; so what was wrong?
Was he tired? It was the only thing he could think of.
"I thought I told you to rest," he chided.
The hatchling gave an indignant yap, biting on a tuft of his fur before walking closer to the notch between his wings.
So…he wasn't tired? Then what did he want?!
Sol Regem shook his head at the absurdity of the situation: he, a blind archdragon, was playing charades with essentially a newborn. And he was losing.
He could practically hear Avazandum's bellowing laugh at the thought. His old friend would've found this absolutely hilarious.
"I cannot read minds, young one," he grumbled looking back down in the hatchling's general area, "what do you want?"
This time, the tiny hatchling gave a chirp and Sol Regem followed the hatchling's heat as it approached a familiar signature nestled in his fur.
"The realization almost made Sol Regem slam his head into the nearest tree. Zym wanted him to check on the padawan—something he was already going to do—and he spent several minutes trying to make a guess on everything but what the hatchling could do to communicate his desires.
His annoyance must've not phased the hatchling because he heard the small one give a pleased yip before he bounded off. No doubt the youngster had landed somewhere unpleasant as the other human woke with a pain shout and rolled off his back. Given the sound of metal clicking, his shout must've woken the elf and caused her to unsheathe her blades. Unfortunately, Sol Regem also felt one of the backpacks fall off and heard it land on the ground, spilling its contents and causing the adoraburrs to begin squeaking wildly.
So much for a quiet break.
For all this hassle, Zubeia better get his scales waxed at least, or at least let him have a nap. He was going to need it after this trip.