Drakobitus- a Latin name consisting on the two elements Drako, meaning Dragon, and Obitus, meaning death.
Death. Kyle had to shake off the feeling a few times before he agreed to help Alex on this one. He had fought a few lunatics, psychopaths with lantern rings, stopped the world from eminent death, and even halted the odd war here and there. One thing that left him feeling cold, however, was that word. Death. He never killed to win unless he had to. He always felt like it took a chuck from himself, almost as if he felt sorry for them. Death, it's so… permanent.
Especially since Alex took this 'Drakobitus' so seriously. This spirit must make Batman seem like the funniest guy in the world.
Almost. Kyle smirked to himself, haven't met him yet. Looking around the area that surrounded him now, however, he would never have expected that something associated with death that nominally would reside.
Alex had decided to take the long way to their destination so that Kyle could get a better look at the world around him that Alex had transported himself, and his fiancée, Athena to. Kyle wasn't unused to being transported to strange universes via magic- there was a few JLA members that wouldn't blink at the thought of giving it a go, but seeing his childhood friend chanting incantations in Latin, it was just… Surreal. Not to mention weird.
Athena had decided to go solo a little earlier on to catch up with a few friends, leaving Alex to 'baby-sit' Kyle, who was laying tongue-out unconscious, and had been like this for at least another hour. When he woke up though, there was only one word he could find to describe the sights before him- Fire. The sky above him radiated an incredible crimson colour, illuminating everything below it in a smoldering red hue. The blues and purples fizzed exotic colours in the unusual light, as greens fought a never ending battle for the overall vibrancy. Every colour of the spectrum seemed to come alive, as if a 5th dimension was in play. He couldn't even think of how he could mix up any of the colours he saw before him in paint. It just wouldn't give off that incredible warmth.
"Look over there," Alex pointed, flicking the reins of a pitch black horse the two of them were riding on around his other wrist once more. Normally, Kyle would've opted immediately for the penthouse view when he was visiting another planet, but Alex couldn't fly, and well, this horse could trot at the speed of a car on the motorway. It sounded too good to miss. They also happen to be more reliable than any local taxi he knew of, if you knew the whistle to call them this is.
Following Alex's finger, Kyle widened his eyes temporarily as a large swam of Embaflais suddenly started tailing the horse that they were on, closing in on the group. "They must sense that you're here to help."
"Really? How do you know that they aren't back for a second helping of extra crispy Kyle?" Kyle asked, feeling slightly unnerved by being stalked by potentially lethal bugs- lots of potentially lethal bugs.
"Psychic powers," Alex glanced back with a bright smile, "I know that they can feel the power you have with the ring, and are giving you respect the only way they can; by dancing."
"Too bad they aren't blonds in bikinis," Kyle laughed, looking at his ring happily, "You don't have any Superman in this world, obviously."
"We have better," Alex grinned, "We have Arkillian Dragons."
"Woah," Kyle kipped, making a T with his hands, "back up the evolution train. Arkawhat?"
"Arkillian Dragons," he sighed, looking away quietly, "We are the Green Lantern of this universe."
"No way. You don't have to repeat any oaths when you go to battle, do you?"
"Not that I know of," Alex replied strangely, taking in a deep breath for the autobiography, "This world was created about a thousand years ago by a Greek philosopher named Isidore, who on stumbling through a doorway to a dimension of god like beings, had his physical body was torn to shreds. The gods took pity on him, turning him into one of them, and he ended up creating this world on the image of Europe at the time of the Roman Empire. I have been told that they were glorious days. Sapphire skies, minds that would solve world hunger, global peace- It was a heaven on 'Earth'.
"Alas, nothing gold can stay. Another god called Ambrose noticed the utopia Isidore had created, and hated him for it. Isidore was a far better god than he- and he was set on destroying it all. He sent race of creatures called the Luquahlian to attack. Millions were killed- this world knew nothing of hate or war. Determined to save them all, Isidore turned to older, more experienced gods.
"The only suggestion he got was from Ambrose, whom he never knew was potting against him the whole time- to create a super Paladin strong enough to stop them. Isidore wasn't convinced that the cost of this was necessary however, and ended up creating a clone race to the Luquahlians called the Arkillians, which would gain more and more energy through adrenaline, rather than death like the Luquahlians did. At first, the two races were equal. Then, an evolution occurred- Luquahlians became smarter, quicker… the Arkillians overwhelmed, and soon fell to few. Isidore was desperate.
"Ambrose approached Isidore again with the super Paladin idea, and this time, he gave in. Isidore merged his strongest Arkillian and a mage from Ambrose's universe together, and created the first Arkillian Dragon- Lucius Dragon.
"To the Luquahlians, Lucius was like Kryptonite to Superman- They didn't stand a chance when he entered battle, especially with the sword of Equity at his side. This sword seeks the greater power of the world, and kills them like a poison, but acts as a butter knife to all else. It was originally gifted by Ambrose- probably his idea of a joke, because as the Luquahlians fell, the power the sword had on the enemy fell. The scales of power were balancing. Eventually, the Luquahlians fled to hiding, with the Arkillians knocking off as many of the last ones they could, leaving the world at peace once more. But as peace was spreading across the lands, something far worse happened. The sword felt the scales tip in favor of bad, and just as Ambrose wanted it, the sword turned Lucius against his country. Poisoning their champion, so he'd kill his own people willingly- How bad did Isidore look?
"Lucius killed thousands of people with just his power alone. They were dark times, so I've been told through stories, and read in our legends. You know, he would raid villages, stealing children in their sleep, and bathe in their blood so he could get adrenaline from their innocence. Because he felt like it. He was sick. He had fire borne powers like I once had- The very element which promoted the strongest potential abilities of the mage side of the Arkillian Dragon. I never knew that there was so many ways you could burn someone without them dying. Desperate for a cure, Isidore did have one last hope,
"One thing you should remember about me from school is that I aged real fast as a child. It's an Arkillian trait- hyper generation. We age exponentially until the age of sixteen, when we're physically the strength of a man in his prime. Fast healing, high immune levels, and incredibly intelligent- the perfect defender. This all comes at a price though. Our life expectancy is thirty years if we don't get killed first. Lucius must have felt this, and realized it was time to procreate. Isidore poured all of the goodness he could into the child of the female he chose, and it worked. The first good Arkillian Dragon was born just after Lucius died from acute angina. His heart probably forgot how to work after all of those years. Ambrose noticed Isidore's ploy then, and as a last ditch effort, cursed the new born child to resurrect the horrible spirit created by the mass murder of innocents into another body. A spirit later called 'The Drakobitus', or 'The Dragon Slayer'.
"Drakobitus' throughout the generations had been slain by the fathers as a baby in hope to stop the cycle from ever happening again- and this worked fine until my father had children."
Noticing the horse they were riding slow down, as Alex's grip slackened, Kyle noticed his friend's sudden anxiety.
"Your generation?" Kyle asked softly, getting a nod in return.
"See, Arkillian Dragons can only have one child. There is just too much at stake to hand out power to more than one. There needed to be one strong defender, and then there is the life cost. My father, Desmond defied all of that however, because I had a brother which was just as powerful as I was."
"That's great!" Kyle grinned, "I never knew you had one."
"No! Not good!" Alex belted out, causing the horse to buck a little, "Remember the Drakobitus? Resurrected along side an Arkillian Dragon? That is the world's worst! My brother brought the Luquhlians out from hiding and overpowered half of my home providence at the age of five! My father has powers over learning, which makes him the most formidable Dragon ever, but didn't have enough power to even touch the Drakobitus. Not unless he had someone like Athena to amplify the power of his magic."
"That blond chick?" Kyle blurted out, turning a slight scarlet colour, "how did you land such a hot woman anyway? There is no justice, I swear."
"Don't tell her that," Alex laughed half heartedly, turning to give Kyle a serious look, "she'd probably cut you tongue out with the closest object she could lay her hands on. Honestly! I try. In this world, being blond for a woman damns you to celibacy, and for a man, it means death. There are harsh laws to kill blond boys because of the Drakobitus. They always had blond hair from the spirit's impurity bleeding the colour from their hair."
"And blond women have blond children?"
"Right," Alex sighed, looking away quietly. "I gave up the Arkillian Dragon mantle a while ago so that I could live a normal life with her. There shouldn't be any reason for a Drakobitus to reborn, I haven't had any children. There can't be. There hasn't been a Drakobitus birth since my battle with…"
"Where is the sword now? Could someone that isn't an Arka… that Dragon thing, wield it?" Kyle asked thoughtfully, thinking carefully of what Alex had told him, "If that made the first guy a Drakobitus, then surely…"
"No…" Alex froze, glazing off the track ahead of him, suddenly smacking his head really hard with his palm, "Augh! I'm so stupid without my Dragon powers! Of course it's the sword. If Phauroraland was attacked by something that could not be stopped, the only choice would be for Dad to use it!"
"Desmond?"
"Yes," Alex panicked, yanking the horse toward another direction, "Dad wielded the sword once when I was on Earth. The power nearly consumed him, and turned him into a Drakobitus. He didn't have the will power to hold back the temptation to swing to the other side like I can. Kyle, have I told you that this horse is a descendant of the old Phauroraland unicorns? This stallion could almost fly without wings if it wanted."
"A Flash horse? Wally would love this."
"Who?"
"Don't worry," Kyle grinned, forming a pair of green sunnys over his eyes with his ring, "just hit the mach one button on this baby."
"You're on."
