1Chapter Eleven: Einderan vs Malchior
Einderan stared at Malchior.
Malchior stared at Einderan.
One was a fierce dragon sorcerer bent on conquest, with over a thousand years of knowledge and experience to go along with his already overwhelmingly potent physical attributes.
One was a half demon mage bent on defeating his father, with two hundred years of training by what could not be denied as one of the best mentors of the magical arts he could ask for, making up for his somewhat lacking in comparison physical abilities.
"You will die for your insolence you disrespectful demon spawn!"
"Then kill me. If you can."
For a span of about a second, there was no sound, from anywhere. Silence, dead as the grave and just as imposing.
"Kaile Aiu Lod!"
"Derta Merat Taer!"
Ice flew from Einderan's palms, flying strait towards the dragon's head. However, before it got half way there a jet of blue fire shot from the dragon's right hand, and in between them was the classic battle of magic, between fire and ice.
Steam exploded from where the two elements met, filling the air with a fog that would serve only to block the battle from the view of those below.
The half-demon charged forward, getting closer to the monster he faced. As he went, his body was slowly covered by the black aura as before, mimicking armor until his entire being was protected.
Malchior slashed down with his clawed hand, and almost went into shock when it seemed to have no effect on Einderan at all. The dragon growled, and let loose stream of fire at the sorcerer, who quickly dodged to the side. Weaving, staying close to the dragon, Einderan avoided giving his opponent the chance to hit. The two whirled, rolled, spun, forming an intricate yet deadly dance of sorts.
The half demon skimming just over Malchior's scales, while Malchior tried to singe Einderan to a crisp using his dragon fire. So far, Einderan was the more successful in that he had yet to be hit.
The son of Trigon almost didn't see it coming when Malchior's scales became a smooth surface, which exploded outwards, carrying Einderan with it. He caught himself, and put up an extra barrier to stop the fire that threatened to consume him.
Malchior began to laugh, spraying fire in every direction, finally focusing his deadly flames strait down towards the ground for a while. Einderan used this apparent lack of judgement to lunge strait towards the dragon, right over his arced neck and found himself right where he wanted to be, between the beast's wings.
With a move that would have made any whip master of Mystell proud, Einderan lashed out with both of his arms, black whips stretching out and wrapping around the base of the dragon's wings.
The sorcerer cried out in shock and pain as Einderan twisted in mid air, increasing the tension between the two whips, and standing on the dragon's back as if riding a common beast of burden. With a sudden burst of genius, the half demon flew away from the dragon, keeping the whips firm, and let his power flow through the magical weapons. Malchior screamed again as the pain hit, and he lost feeling in his wings for a moment. Einderan used this to his advantage, and swung the massive creature around in a huge circle, picking up momentum with every rotation, finally hurling the dragon strait down with all his magical might.
Einderan rocketed down after the dragon, finding it struggling to regain control, since it's ability to fly without it's wings (With magic or without) was severely limited.
However, as he came down beneath the clouds, he noticed something else. There was a massive battle going on below already. Between his sorcerers and the Titans, against...
What in the world were they?
Shadows, specters wearing cloaks, armor, and wielding both magic and blades.
Malchior regained control of his fall, and laughed, "Confused son of Trigon?"
"A little bit."
"Those are the shades of those who I have killed. When a person is consumed by dragon fire, their spirit is bound to the creature that destroyed them. They are summoned through the very flames that destroyed them. I thought your friends might be getting bored, so I gave them something to do."
"And here I was thinking you were just stupid when you started breathing fire strait down."
"With every person I defeat my army grows stronger..." Malchior told him, ignoring the insult, "I believe you will make a nice addition."
Einderan chuckled. It wasn't dark, or threatening, just a small chuckle at that statement. As if the half demon truly found the prospect funny.
"Blio Estade Mecon!" Malchior yelled, with a hint of satisfaction in his voice.
Nothing happened. Einderan glanced around, looking up, down, left, right, behind him, and finally back at Malchior, "I believe you mispronounced that spell dragon."
That is until something huge broke from the cover of the clouds, heading strait down towards him. Einderan glanced up, sighing. Giant asteroid.
Crap.
"Daetro Miasta!"
Einderan made a punching motion strait upwards, sending a great orb of red right at the giant rock that was descending, destroying it in a spectacular explosion before any damage could be done.
Malchior took his chance and fled, speeding away then upwards back above the clouds. Einderan gave chase, intent on defeating his opponent, or give his life trying. He was betting on the former.
Yet, as he entered the fog high above the ground, he found something odd. It seemed no matter how far up he went, he was always in the cloud. His bearings were shot, as it seemed nothing could give him a hint as to what was really up or down. He was lost, in a void of... bland grayness.
"Eysa Lusses ni Gian Kawl." He heard the dragon whisper, seemingly coming from everywhere. Cursing himself, the half demon figured out what a clever trap this was. Only thing is, there could be no way of telling who was trapped, as Malchior was also caught in this illusion fog, despite being the one who created it. Or was he?
Wait, dragon sight...
Crap!
"Frustrated? Disorientated? Afraid?" The dragon jeered, yet where the voice truly came from Einderan couldn't be certain. A special property of the fog Malchior had summoned, when you speak it comes from every direction.
"You're the one hiding in a cloud." Einderan shot back, feeling quite a bit more disoriented than before as his own voice was radiated throughout the illusion.
"And you tumble about, randomly and aimlessly, desperately trying to escape."
Sly, deadly, the dragon's voice slipped through the air, making his opponent's hair stand on end. Not that you could tell, considering Einderan was surrounded entire by black armor created from his own magical aura. But still, it was an unnerving situation to be in.
He didn't notice the shadow emerging from the dimness behind him. Right up until Malchior roared and slashed down with his clawed hands.
Einderan was sent flying forward by the strike, but not much. His armor had protected his body. The sorcerer whirled, firing off energy at random, hoping to get lucky. But, almost as soon as the blow had struck, the dragon had faded back into the fog.
The half demon took a deep breath, calming himself before anything could get out of control. His mind cleared, and then it occurred to him what to do.
Mentally slapping himself (Again), Einderan closed his eyes, and mumbled, "Let my eyes see true..."
Suddenly the outline of the sorcerer's eyes became highlighted with blue light, which eventually filled in to create to solid blue shapes in the hollow where his eyes were. Then the same thing happened over the jewel on his forehead, only that oval shape was sideways.
He couldn't see, yet he could. The fog was gone, replaced by something else. But, as he looked around, he smirked. Malchior didn't notice the glowing lights over Einderan's eye though, because of the armor covering Einderan's face. As far as the dragon was concerned, the half-demon was blind as a bat.
"Hahahaha... Are you afraid yet?"
"Afraid of what?"
"Trying to put up a front are you? Trying to fight back the fear eating away at your heart? Oh you poor lost child, it almost pains me to have to kill you. Just like it almost pained me to have to betray dear sweet Raven. Almost."
However, as Malchior charged again, Einderan let the black armor fade from his face. Malchior stared in shock at the three blue oval shaped lights in the darkness, seemingly looking right at him. This didn't last long though, as the lights faded and were instantly replaced by four glaring red eyes. Not lights, eyes. Evil eyes. Vengeful eyes.
Demon eyes.
"I'll make you feel tenfold the pain that you've caused my sister."
The dragon's huge body was suddenly flung, easily and without an effort away from Einderan, as if a great invisible fist had delivered a back hand blow. Malchior grunted in pain as the force of Einderan's rage hit him with all the force of a rampaging minotaur.
Which for those of you who are wondering, happened to be quite a lot.
Stopping to calm himself before rage could take over, Einderan smirked at the area where the dragon had been knocked towards. That had felt rather satisfying. Still, he knew that he couldn't just waste his power in that manner, letting it lash out like that. It was wasteful, and if he did it too much he could seal his own doom.
But it had felt good!
Einderan scanned his surroundings, using his powers to enhance his sight again. However, upon completing his inspection, he frowned. Malchior wasn't there?
The only warning he got was a rise in heat above his head. But that was enough for him to summon up his aura to cover his head once more, and that protected him from frying in the fireball that Malchior had launched.
The half demon cursed for falling to yet another one of Malchior's tricks, and this one wasn't even magical. It didn't take a genius to stay out of the person looking for you's line of sight. That had been a very close call.
Braking through the clouds, Einderan grimaced at the bittersweet victory of getting out of the illusion. He was out, but he was still rocketing towards the ground on the front of a white hot ball of dragon fire. At least, ya it was the ground, Einderan could feel gravity pulling in that direction.
Raven looked up to see what could've been mistaken as a falling star shoot through the clouds. Instinct told her however, that it was not a falling star. And that her brother was probably in trouble.
"You can't hide forever princess..." Mael's voice taunted, his footsteps echoing loudly. The demon was almost bursting with his evil glee. Not only was Malchior going to kill Einderan, he had an army of shades at his command to deal with the others!
Oh yes they were somewhat lacking as fighters, so for now the sorcerers were having no trouble at all, but as long as Malchior was alive... They kept fighting. It was only a matter of time before the entire force of rebels was ground to oblivion by sheer attrition.
In the meantime, he was entertaining himself with the princess, savoring her terror, "Your brother isn't coming to save you this time. No one is coming to save you."
Raven tensed, then shook her head. She had other places to be, "Azarath Metreone Zinthos!"
"Gotcha!"
However, by the time Mael was there, the violet haired sorceress was already gone. Her presence was not far off however.
"RUNNING CAN'T SAVE YOU THIS TIME!"
A huge explosion lit the city in blinding white light, followed by a roar and shockwave that shook many buildings dangerously. When the smoke cleared, there was a crater in the middle of one of the streets near the center of town.
Raven uncovered her face as the blast subsided, and ran to the edge of the crater, ignoring the heat.
Einderan got up, holding his head and stumbling around a bit, "Note to self, dragonfire, bad."
"Are you alright?" Raven asked as Einderan climbed out of the hole to stand beside her.
"I'm fine, you might want to get out of here before-"
"Hello sweet Raven."
The older of the siblings sighed, "Nevermind."
Malchior landed on a large building, looking down upon them with malicious eyes, "I hope I didn't hurt you too bad demon spawn."
Einderan scoffed, "Hurt me? You didn't even scratch me."
"Perhaps I can assist with that problem?"
Mael appeared on the building across from the one Malchior was on, also looking down on them.
"Hmmm, this is very interesting demon. We both have business with them, and here we are all in the same spot. Shall we finish them together?"
"Yes, that sounds like a great idea." Mael replied, gathering red energy around his hands and smiling at Einderan, "You have no idea how long I've waited for this 'Prince' Einderan."
"Oh I believe I do. Since the day I made a fool out of you about two hundred and sixty years ago."
"It matters not, let's kill them now!"
Yet, as the two charged their powers to fire their spells, a sound started to pierce the air. A high pitched, almost electric kind of hum (Think: Intro to the Metallica song King Nothing.)
"What is that?"
The demon and the dragon were very confused by this noise, but Raven and Einderan weren't. Well, Raven was a little bit, but she had heard this kind of noise before.)
"Took him long enough." Einderan muttered with a smile.
"Is that who I think it is?"
A dark figure appeared walking through the smoke and debris of the city. It was clear that it was holding an instrument, and was playing as it was walking. This was the source of the sound.
Then he was illuminated by the flames left over from the explosion. A face that made Mael freeze.
Kirk Shepard, though that name really didn't count right then. At that moment, he was to be called Rocker.
"Kirk?" Raven asked, flabbergasted, then looked at Einderan.
"Yes, I let him out and gave him one of the instruments he plays."
Rocker glanced over and flashed a smile to them. Using his guitar, he told them,
"Sorry about the wait."
"What took you so long?" Einderan asked.
"Traffic was horrible. Cars piled up for miles. Plus you left me on that stupid island WITH NO WAY TO GET OFF!"
Einderan flinched as the power swept over him. He was glad that the guitarist was on their side, "Alright, alright, I get it. I had to deal with this ugly beast over here."
"What? Insolent swine!" Malchior growled.
"Whoa, that's a big lizard."
"On that note, I believe you have some business with the other ugly beast over there." Einderan said, motioning to the other building. Rocker looked up, and narrowed his eyes when he saw Mael.
As a sadistic smile crossed his face, the guitarist told them, "My pleasure."
Einderan nodded, then turned to his sister, "Help him, he may need it. I have a fight to finish."
Mael, deeming this situation unfavorable, teleported away very quickly. Raven ran over to Rocker, grabbed onto his arm, and the two teleported after him.
"As interesting as that was... Kaet Intil!"
Einderan was slammed into a street lamp several blocks away as the magic hit him, as a burning sensation spread across his body.
It suddenly occurred to him, that perhaps he didn't have enough power to win. Not as it was anyway. After all, Malchior had been tossing him around pretty good so far. A thousand years more experience and knowledge was giving him an edge, not to mention that he was a dragon. And a sorcerer. And...
Man, these odds suck.
Einderan got up, debating something. Then with a confident smirk he tossed back the hood of his cloak and let all of his armor fade into nothingness.
Malchior flew over and landed in front of him, only just fitting in the street, "What's this? Giving up son of Trigon?"
The sorcerer popped his neck, then replied, "You wish. I was saving this for someone else, but I guess a test run wouldn't hurt. I'll show you my true power, you'll be the first actually. Don't you feel special?"
"I'm all warm and fuzzy inside." Malchior replied, sarcasm flowing like a river.
"That's good, you won't be feeling anything in a minute," Einderan told him, putting his arms at his sides and taking a deep breath. He gathered his powers, bringing a whirlwind around him. As he made the final preparations, he said, "The die is cast."
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Hey hey hey, it's Professor Curly, back again with some more curly updates!
You know what, that sounds almost as good there as it does in Crazy Taxi. Who knew?
Anyway, chapter eleven. Next chapter:
Einderan goes all out!
Rocker shows Mael why you shouldn't go around handing out demonic guitars!
Raven sings again! Well, maybe... dunno yet.
The rest of the Titans show up and do their thing! Sometime...
Oh ya, how did you like the combat part of this? I mean, I can't really tell how it came out... It's something I'm trying to get down. So, how did you like the beginning of the Malchior/Einderan fight? And don't worry, critizism is welcome. I won't cry... much.
RAVEN'S COMEBACK OF THE CHAPTER!
"I would rip your head off, but there isn't anything important there."
God bless,
Professor Curly-
Nice...