Disclaimer: ** a pile of ashes sits on the floor** Well folks, that's
what's left of the disclaimer. Striker, I think Dart enjoyed the cookie,
matches and lighter fluid a little too much.
Dart: **waving around lighter** ^____^ Fire good!
.0 I don't think you have to worry too much about him committing suicide.
Dart's POV:
Aglis had changed little since I had last been there a hundred or so years ago. Not that I had expected it to change: with the waterway closed, it was impossible for most people to enter in any way except via Zenebatos. And with the Law City of the Winglies hovering hundreds of feet above the remote mountains of northwestern Gloriano, that route was virtually impossible to reach without the aid of wings. Even for the winglies who accompanied me, the flight up to even the lowest levels of Zenebatos had been long and strenuous. Much to Ragnarok's vast displeasure, we found the city still fully functional; Meru had entertained herself by knocking the occasional Lapto off the narrow walkways and into open space to determine whether or not they could fly. She didn't stop until I pointed out that the security laptos were probably still functional as well, and that if they caught her they would probably seal her into a very dull and boring cell.
After the chill winds that had constantly swept through Gloriano and Zenebatos, the warm, sea lavender scented air of Aglis was welcomed by all. While Meru and I waited, the rest of the winglies ranged about, staring in awe at the work of their ancestors. Humans are lucky; if we want to see our past and achievements, all we have to do is to look at our homes around us. For winglies, their accomplishments came and went thousands of years ago. Very few ever leave their seclusion and even less will ever see the great cities that are the only tangible monuments to the glory of their race in ages past.
/It's kind of sad, isn't it?/
//What's sad?//
/Winglies had it all. Not counting the power and dominion they had over the other races of the world, I almost wish that they could have kept some of their technology. Look at them// I thought, following Guraha and a wingly called Demos with my eyes. //They're winglies, and up until now they've only ever heard stories of this place//
//Wingly technology was directly related to their magic. When your father released the soul of the god of destruction, the majority of their magic went out the window. That was what allowed humans to triumph in the end. If they had kept their technology, they would have had to keep their magic, and that would mean that the races of this world would probably still be under their dominion. Things are better this way//
Guraha had seen enough. He landed softly beside Meru and retracted his wings, shaking his head in wonder. "This city has more magic woven into it than I've ever seen in one place in my entire life," he marveled. "The power that would have been required just to create it." he trailed off, still shaking his head. "It's incredible," he said finally, having come up with no other words that could possibly have described the magic of Aglis.
Meru seemed untouched by her husbands' amazement. She sat back, a small frown on her features. "Dart, what do you think happened to the monsters?"
"What?" The question caught me off guard.
"The monsters. Last time we were here they were so thick that you practically needed a drawn weapon at all times just to get from one teleporter to the next. But we haven't seen any sign of them since we arrived."
Looking around, I realized that she was right. Aside from us, the city was devoid of life. "I wonder what happened to them?"
"Maybe something scared them off," a female wingly suggested as she landed next to me. "Another monster or something like that."
"Could be." Meru shrugged, then raised her voice so that the other winglies could hear. "C'mon everybody, enough looking around! We've got a lot to do, and at the rate you slowpokes are moving, it'll be next winter before we get anything done!"
Reluctantly, one by one, the other winglies rejoined us on the platform. When Guraha was sure that everyone had returned, we started out again. It took us a while to find our way through the maze of teleporters, and more than once we found ourselves facing a dead end. The reflections from the water above and below us, softened by the tendrils of mist that rose lazily from the glass-like surface of the seawater underneath the platforms, caught in the silvery hair and garments of my companions. The resulting glow that seemed to emit from them gave me the eerie feeling that errant spirits surrounded me.
As we passed through the rooms that had held the apparatus' that had been used during the creation of the psychedelic bomb and Moot, Meru seemed to be struggling with something. I knew what was on her mind: during our short stay here she had become rather attached to the various magical 'babies' that had worked here. Images of Buckle and Ruff flickered through my mind. I knew I should have felt sad, but once again I felt a momentary lapse in emotion. But this time it felt different than before: it wasn't that I didn't care about the creatures that had spent their lives in servitude to Saven; it was more so a detachment that made things easier to bear. I grieved for them, but it didn't affect me in the moment.
As we neared the main chamber where Moot and the cygnet sphere had been kept, the quality of the air changed. It became heavier, more oppressive, and it lost its pleasant scent. The skin on the back of my neck tingled; there was magic in the air, but not like any magic I had ever felt before. It seemed almost ominous, somehow. /Something's wrong/
//I feel it too//
/What is it?/
//I'm not sure// Ragnarok paused for a moment. //It's wingly magic, but it doesn't have a master. Keep your eyes open. Things could get a little bit rough in a moment or two// I was about to ask what he meant, when Erron, the wingly who had volunteered to scout ahead, came sprinting around the corner yelling a warning.
"Get ready!"
The moment the monster came into view, I knew that Ragnarok's warning of 'a little rough' was a gross understatement. Snarling and bellowing, the creature was easily the size of a small house. Dark spines grew from its back and long jagged fins projected from its sides. A long tail, tipped by a large razor-like tail fin, lashed angrily behind the beast as it charged forward on weak looking legs. Its head could have belonged to a fish of some sort, if you ignored the huge teeth protruding from the jutting lower jaw. It was a freak of nature, a hybrid of magic and some creature that had probably been fairly nasty to begin with.
A fireball whistled past my head, so close that it singed the tips of one spike of hair, heading straight for the fish-beast. A few feet from the monster's face, however, it exploded as it struck and invisible barrier of some sort. I heard the other winglies behind me scrambling to get out of the way; following suit I dove off the platform. As I plummeted towards the water below, I closed my eyes and reached with my mind for the stone buried deep in my chest. My fall slowed, then stopped as the transformation completed itself. Flipping upright, I looked up at the walkway above me where a flash of pale blue light told me that Meru had taken the same course of action.
I flew up to join her. "What do you make of this thing?"
"It's ugly as hell."
"Other than that?"
"Not much. I don't think magic's going to be much help here." She swung her massive hammer tauntingly at the beast below us. It tried to rear up and snap at us, but it seemed that its hind legs were too weak to support its full weight on their own. "I think we're just going to have to use brute force."
Guraha, hovering a few meters away, shook out a long mace and chain and spun it experimentally once or twice. "Better make up you minds about what to do," he called, "It's gonna attack!"
He was right. Not being able to reach us with its teeth, it swung its tail at us instead, the heavy razor fin whistling through the air as it whipped toward Meru. She knocked it aside with a blow from her hammer as Guraha dove at the beast's head, mace humming menacingly in the air as he whirled it. Taking it in both hands at the last minute, he delivered a blow to the face of the beast just below its right eye. When the spiked head of the mace fell away a pulpy crater spilling dark green blood was left behind. With a movement almost too fast for the eye to follow, the monster's head swung about and caught Guraha with its horns, hurling the wingly through the air with a long bloody rent running down his side. Meru had flown around to the side of the monster; she pounded on its side, alternately dodging the beast's tail and breaking ribs.
Discarding the idea of using my cannon outright. If normal magic was useless, then the dragon energy that my cannon used would probably be less effective than my blade. Feeling my blood begin to rush with the edges of battle madness, I smiled grimly and dove steeply at the creature's head. Rolling aside at the last moment to avoid the counter thrust from the horns, I drove my sword into the base of its short neck. I twisted the blade, making the wound as large as possible, then pulled it out and drove the tip of the cannon into the wound and began to gather energy for the shot. If the barrier only protected the outside of the beast, what would happen if I pulled off a shot with the mouth of the cannon actually inside of it?
//Watch out!//
Too late. Pain shot through my side as the monster's tail drove into my side, the long, spear-shaped fin sliding through a gap in my armor and cutting into my skin. Reflexively I tore my own blade from where it was buried in the monster's neck and swung hard at the tail, cutting the fin away from the rest of the tail before the creature could make the damage worse.
With a roar that sounded more akin to a scream, the fish-beast whirled to face me, horns and teeth at the ready. Unable to move for the pain in my side, I stared at the monster that was about to destroy me. Oddly, I felt nothing but that particular detachment. Instead of being afraid, I studied the beast's face almost curiously. It roared once, flecks of blood and foam clinging to the fine dark scales that covered its face. I saw the blood running from the hole Guraha's weapon had smashed into its face. I saw the unthinking, murderous gleam in its flat, gold eyes. I watched it prepare to lunge forward in what could very well be a killing blow.
And I watched as Guraha's mace and chain wrapped around one horn, jerking the head to the side and causing the thrust to miss me by no more than six inches or so.
Meru's healing spell hit me a few moments later. The pain in my side eased, but the fin from the tail remained. Not that it mattered. I didn't have very far to go anyhow. Guraha held tight to the handle of his mace, straining to hold the monster's head in place. The beast swung its head back and forth, but the chain wrapped about its horn restricted its movement and it couldn't lower its head, leaving its weak chest exposed.
//Do it quickly, Dart. You aren't going to get another chance// Ragnarok's tone was terse. //Quickly, now!//
Dropping my sword I extended my cannon in front of me, bracing myself behind it in much the same way as I had seen Albert or Lavitz do when they had used their spears. With a yell, I lunged forward. Much to my surprise, the tip of the cannon sank easily into the narrow chest. For a moment I felt sorry for the creature, but the fin sticking out of my side wasn't about to let me ignore what this creature would do if it survived.
The blast from the cannon tore through the monster's body, passing quite literally through one side and out the other. The beast stayed upright for a moment, swaying back and forth unsteadily on its feet. Then with a groan, it fell sideways off the platform and into the water with a sound comparable to that of a cliff collapsing into the ocean.
Exhausted, I landed on the platform and allowed myself to fall to the tiled walkway, my armor disappearing with a flash. Meru and Guraha landed next to me and crouched at my side as one by one the other winglies landed. Guraha gripped the end of the fin protruding from my side and looked at me questioningly. I winced, then braced myself. "Go for it."
I suppressed a string of curses when Guraha hauled the spike-like appendage from my side. Yes I know I've been through worse. That still doesn't change the fact that it hurts like hell.
Ragnarok's POV:
Almost immediately after we had healed Dart, the party set out again. They seemed to think that there might be more of those magic hybrids hanging around. There weren't of course, but I didn't bother to correct them. They moved faster now, their attention not being so constantly drawn to the various wonders of the city. We passed swiftly through the next section of teleporters faster; Demos claimed that there was a pattern to which portals would eventually lead to the door on the other side. We finally came to a room with a large sealed door; beyond it was the room in which the cygnet sphere and Moot had been kept.
Meru walked up to the door, brushing her fingertips across its carved and scarred surface. She shook her head. "It's still sealed by magic. We're not going to be able to get in this way."
//Like hell we're not//
/You know a way in?/ Dart sounded only mildly surprised.
//Of course. Tell them that all we have to do to break the seal is cast a spell more powerful than the one that sealed the door// I would have thought that would be obvious. In terms of magic, it was always the more potent spell that won out. While Dart repeated what I had told him I reached out and 'touched' the magic surrounding the door with my mind. The spell wasn't that powerful actually; the main problem lie in the fact that the moist air of the city had caused the gears that moved the heavy door to rust so much that the rust held the gates in stasis as much as the spell itself. Even if I did remove the spell, it would still require an enormous amount of strength to open. Oh well. One obstacle at a time.
//Dart, let me handle this//
/Why?/
//My mind might be too forceful for creating cygnet spheres, but there's nothing subtle about breaking doors open//
Meru seemed to notice the shift of consciousness. "What do you want?" She asked, not really bothering to hide the distaste in her voice.
"You were all complaining about the door, so I decided to help out a bit," I replied mildly. I wondered why she was acting so harshly towards me; it wasn't as though I had done anything especially mean to her in the last hundred years or so. There had been that fight on the Mountain of Mortal Dragon, but the thought that she would still be harboring a grudge after all this time was ridiculous.
/I wouldn't put it past her/ Dart warned. /She's not always rational about things like this/
//It's been more than a century Dart//
/That doesn't mean a thing to her, Arkie/ I snarled back a retort, but my partner just laughed. /I don't think it's possible to do that to a human and still keep them alive/ He noted, /but I'll keep it in mind in case I ever catch up to whoever is in charge of that damned cult/
Still steaming, I walked to the door and rested my hands against it. The very metal seemed to be alive with magic; whoever had worked the spell that had sealed this had known what they were doing. But time had begun to wear at the magic; the cracks that had formed in the spell over the years would make an easy target for the raw power of my own spell. Gathering my energy, I pushed tentatively against the wall of magic before throwing my entire will against it. I actually may have pushed too hard; when I looked up again not only had the wall of magic shattered, but also it seemed that the door its self had crumbled into sand. Glancing around, I saw the Guraha and his friend Maverick staring at me in something verging on awe.
/Nice going, but wouldn't it have been easier just to have opened the door?/
//All you said was that you wanted the door opened. You never said how// I pushed his mind back into control and watched as he plowed his way through the remains of the door into the room beyond. Or, as I should say, what remained of the room. Water streamed down from the shattered ceiling, splashing onto the stones of the broken walls below. The stones themselves had a scorched look to them, as though an impossibly hot fire had blasted them. The rest of the room also bore signs of an explosion: black marks on the stone floor, pieces of the walkway were missing, and a large crater was all that remained in the place where Dart's memory told me that the device named Moot at once been.
//Where was the cygnet sphere located?//
/In that indent near what's left of the far wall. Would it still be intact?/
//I'd be amazed if it was//
/Then why did we need to come here?/
//This was where all the cygnet spheres were made. Guraha and the others are going to need all the help they can get to replicate them, and it's entirely possible that if we made them anywhere else they would fail//
/I don't get it/
//I didn't really expect you to. Magic like this gets rather complicated//
A few days later Guraha and his companions produced the final fruit of their labors: four crystalline cygnets, each about the size of a child's head. Dart ran a hand over the nearest of them, feeling the chill of the smooth surface even through the thick leather of his fingerless gloves. Lifting one carefully from its holder, he held it up to the light and watched the faint purple rays of light dance about inside it. /Pretty/
//They weren't made for decorations//
Dart sat the orb down again. /I know. They're still interesting to look at though/ He sighed and glanced at the others who stood near the door. "Are they ready?"
"Any time, Dart. We're all waiting with bated breath to see whether or not our toys will blow up in your face," Warren called.
"Thanks for the re-assurement," he muttered. /How about you?/
//Whenever you are//
/What do I do?/
//Focus on the spheres. We want to seal the moon; keep that idea firmly in mind. It won't be easy; you'll probably find yourself thinking thoughts that aren't your own//
I felt him jump a little at that, but he covered it quickly. /Who's thoughts will they be?/
//Mine, of course. Just focus on the spheres Dart. I'll make sure I let you go when it's over//
Dart's POV:
I was about to ask Ragnarok what he meant by "letting me go", but before I could ask, he started.
I focused on the spheres like I was told, but it became increasingly difficult to do so. The power of the Divine Dragon flowed through my veins like a river overflowing its banks in flood season; so powerful was it that just channeling it into the cygnets sapped most of my strength. And, just as Ragnarok had promised, thoughts that weren't my own began to flit through my mind like errant birds. That was fine; they weren't quite as unsettling now that I knew that they didn't belong to me. But what I hadn't counted on where his memories.
They flashed through my mind in no particular order or sequence. One moment I was soaring above the clouds on a cold winter wind; the next I was tearing hungrily into the flesh of my first kill, taloned feet scrabbling as I did so, trying to find purchase on the blood-soaked stones; then I was on a cliff above Deningrad, watching with satisfaction as the roof of the Crystal Palace shattered and fell onto the city below. The memories flashed my head, trying to take my mind away from the cygnets. And as the power flowing through me grew and the memories became more and more vivid, I slowly became aware of the fact that they were winning. I was drowning in a sea of thought.
//Dart! Hang on! We're almost done!// Ragnarok was yelling to me, but his voice seemed both far away and painfully close at the same time.
I tried to listen, but I didn't know how much longer I could focus on the cygnets. The memories pulled at my mind, and quite suddenly my own memories began to mix with Ragnarok's. Images of my parents and friends appeared suddenly amidst thoughts filled with blood and anger, my own tendencies towards humor and mercy clashed horribly against flashes of the body-ridden battlefields of the dragon campaign.
The flow of power stopped but the memories kept coming, faster now. Images and memories from two completely different lives blended together until I couldn't distinguish mine from those of the ancient dragon whom shared my body. I opened my eyes and the world around me spun wildly out of control. I staggered forward a few steps, then fell to the floor. In my mouth I could taste blood; I must have bitten my tongue. Out of the corner of my eye I caught a glimpse of the cygnets in their holders, filled with what looked like swirling mist.
/At least something went right/ Was my last thought before the world faded into darkness.
Hmm. Arkie's mind seems to be a bit of a dangerous place, doesn't it? Remind me not to make any extended sojourns in there in the near future.
I'm starting to have way too much fun writing this thing. If that's possible.
Remember: I love reviews!! ^-^
Dart: **waving around lighter** ^____^ Fire good!
.0 I don't think you have to worry too much about him committing suicide.
Dart's POV:
Aglis had changed little since I had last been there a hundred or so years ago. Not that I had expected it to change: with the waterway closed, it was impossible for most people to enter in any way except via Zenebatos. And with the Law City of the Winglies hovering hundreds of feet above the remote mountains of northwestern Gloriano, that route was virtually impossible to reach without the aid of wings. Even for the winglies who accompanied me, the flight up to even the lowest levels of Zenebatos had been long and strenuous. Much to Ragnarok's vast displeasure, we found the city still fully functional; Meru had entertained herself by knocking the occasional Lapto off the narrow walkways and into open space to determine whether or not they could fly. She didn't stop until I pointed out that the security laptos were probably still functional as well, and that if they caught her they would probably seal her into a very dull and boring cell.
After the chill winds that had constantly swept through Gloriano and Zenebatos, the warm, sea lavender scented air of Aglis was welcomed by all. While Meru and I waited, the rest of the winglies ranged about, staring in awe at the work of their ancestors. Humans are lucky; if we want to see our past and achievements, all we have to do is to look at our homes around us. For winglies, their accomplishments came and went thousands of years ago. Very few ever leave their seclusion and even less will ever see the great cities that are the only tangible monuments to the glory of their race in ages past.
/It's kind of sad, isn't it?/
//What's sad?//
/Winglies had it all. Not counting the power and dominion they had over the other races of the world, I almost wish that they could have kept some of their technology. Look at them// I thought, following Guraha and a wingly called Demos with my eyes. //They're winglies, and up until now they've only ever heard stories of this place//
//Wingly technology was directly related to their magic. When your father released the soul of the god of destruction, the majority of their magic went out the window. That was what allowed humans to triumph in the end. If they had kept their technology, they would have had to keep their magic, and that would mean that the races of this world would probably still be under their dominion. Things are better this way//
Guraha had seen enough. He landed softly beside Meru and retracted his wings, shaking his head in wonder. "This city has more magic woven into it than I've ever seen in one place in my entire life," he marveled. "The power that would have been required just to create it." he trailed off, still shaking his head. "It's incredible," he said finally, having come up with no other words that could possibly have described the magic of Aglis.
Meru seemed untouched by her husbands' amazement. She sat back, a small frown on her features. "Dart, what do you think happened to the monsters?"
"What?" The question caught me off guard.
"The monsters. Last time we were here they were so thick that you practically needed a drawn weapon at all times just to get from one teleporter to the next. But we haven't seen any sign of them since we arrived."
Looking around, I realized that she was right. Aside from us, the city was devoid of life. "I wonder what happened to them?"
"Maybe something scared them off," a female wingly suggested as she landed next to me. "Another monster or something like that."
"Could be." Meru shrugged, then raised her voice so that the other winglies could hear. "C'mon everybody, enough looking around! We've got a lot to do, and at the rate you slowpokes are moving, it'll be next winter before we get anything done!"
Reluctantly, one by one, the other winglies rejoined us on the platform. When Guraha was sure that everyone had returned, we started out again. It took us a while to find our way through the maze of teleporters, and more than once we found ourselves facing a dead end. The reflections from the water above and below us, softened by the tendrils of mist that rose lazily from the glass-like surface of the seawater underneath the platforms, caught in the silvery hair and garments of my companions. The resulting glow that seemed to emit from them gave me the eerie feeling that errant spirits surrounded me.
As we passed through the rooms that had held the apparatus' that had been used during the creation of the psychedelic bomb and Moot, Meru seemed to be struggling with something. I knew what was on her mind: during our short stay here she had become rather attached to the various magical 'babies' that had worked here. Images of Buckle and Ruff flickered through my mind. I knew I should have felt sad, but once again I felt a momentary lapse in emotion. But this time it felt different than before: it wasn't that I didn't care about the creatures that had spent their lives in servitude to Saven; it was more so a detachment that made things easier to bear. I grieved for them, but it didn't affect me in the moment.
As we neared the main chamber where Moot and the cygnet sphere had been kept, the quality of the air changed. It became heavier, more oppressive, and it lost its pleasant scent. The skin on the back of my neck tingled; there was magic in the air, but not like any magic I had ever felt before. It seemed almost ominous, somehow. /Something's wrong/
//I feel it too//
/What is it?/
//I'm not sure// Ragnarok paused for a moment. //It's wingly magic, but it doesn't have a master. Keep your eyes open. Things could get a little bit rough in a moment or two// I was about to ask what he meant, when Erron, the wingly who had volunteered to scout ahead, came sprinting around the corner yelling a warning.
"Get ready!"
The moment the monster came into view, I knew that Ragnarok's warning of 'a little rough' was a gross understatement. Snarling and bellowing, the creature was easily the size of a small house. Dark spines grew from its back and long jagged fins projected from its sides. A long tail, tipped by a large razor-like tail fin, lashed angrily behind the beast as it charged forward on weak looking legs. Its head could have belonged to a fish of some sort, if you ignored the huge teeth protruding from the jutting lower jaw. It was a freak of nature, a hybrid of magic and some creature that had probably been fairly nasty to begin with.
A fireball whistled past my head, so close that it singed the tips of one spike of hair, heading straight for the fish-beast. A few feet from the monster's face, however, it exploded as it struck and invisible barrier of some sort. I heard the other winglies behind me scrambling to get out of the way; following suit I dove off the platform. As I plummeted towards the water below, I closed my eyes and reached with my mind for the stone buried deep in my chest. My fall slowed, then stopped as the transformation completed itself. Flipping upright, I looked up at the walkway above me where a flash of pale blue light told me that Meru had taken the same course of action.
I flew up to join her. "What do you make of this thing?"
"It's ugly as hell."
"Other than that?"
"Not much. I don't think magic's going to be much help here." She swung her massive hammer tauntingly at the beast below us. It tried to rear up and snap at us, but it seemed that its hind legs were too weak to support its full weight on their own. "I think we're just going to have to use brute force."
Guraha, hovering a few meters away, shook out a long mace and chain and spun it experimentally once or twice. "Better make up you minds about what to do," he called, "It's gonna attack!"
He was right. Not being able to reach us with its teeth, it swung its tail at us instead, the heavy razor fin whistling through the air as it whipped toward Meru. She knocked it aside with a blow from her hammer as Guraha dove at the beast's head, mace humming menacingly in the air as he whirled it. Taking it in both hands at the last minute, he delivered a blow to the face of the beast just below its right eye. When the spiked head of the mace fell away a pulpy crater spilling dark green blood was left behind. With a movement almost too fast for the eye to follow, the monster's head swung about and caught Guraha with its horns, hurling the wingly through the air with a long bloody rent running down his side. Meru had flown around to the side of the monster; she pounded on its side, alternately dodging the beast's tail and breaking ribs.
Discarding the idea of using my cannon outright. If normal magic was useless, then the dragon energy that my cannon used would probably be less effective than my blade. Feeling my blood begin to rush with the edges of battle madness, I smiled grimly and dove steeply at the creature's head. Rolling aside at the last moment to avoid the counter thrust from the horns, I drove my sword into the base of its short neck. I twisted the blade, making the wound as large as possible, then pulled it out and drove the tip of the cannon into the wound and began to gather energy for the shot. If the barrier only protected the outside of the beast, what would happen if I pulled off a shot with the mouth of the cannon actually inside of it?
//Watch out!//
Too late. Pain shot through my side as the monster's tail drove into my side, the long, spear-shaped fin sliding through a gap in my armor and cutting into my skin. Reflexively I tore my own blade from where it was buried in the monster's neck and swung hard at the tail, cutting the fin away from the rest of the tail before the creature could make the damage worse.
With a roar that sounded more akin to a scream, the fish-beast whirled to face me, horns and teeth at the ready. Unable to move for the pain in my side, I stared at the monster that was about to destroy me. Oddly, I felt nothing but that particular detachment. Instead of being afraid, I studied the beast's face almost curiously. It roared once, flecks of blood and foam clinging to the fine dark scales that covered its face. I saw the blood running from the hole Guraha's weapon had smashed into its face. I saw the unthinking, murderous gleam in its flat, gold eyes. I watched it prepare to lunge forward in what could very well be a killing blow.
And I watched as Guraha's mace and chain wrapped around one horn, jerking the head to the side and causing the thrust to miss me by no more than six inches or so.
Meru's healing spell hit me a few moments later. The pain in my side eased, but the fin from the tail remained. Not that it mattered. I didn't have very far to go anyhow. Guraha held tight to the handle of his mace, straining to hold the monster's head in place. The beast swung its head back and forth, but the chain wrapped about its horn restricted its movement and it couldn't lower its head, leaving its weak chest exposed.
//Do it quickly, Dart. You aren't going to get another chance// Ragnarok's tone was terse. //Quickly, now!//
Dropping my sword I extended my cannon in front of me, bracing myself behind it in much the same way as I had seen Albert or Lavitz do when they had used their spears. With a yell, I lunged forward. Much to my surprise, the tip of the cannon sank easily into the narrow chest. For a moment I felt sorry for the creature, but the fin sticking out of my side wasn't about to let me ignore what this creature would do if it survived.
The blast from the cannon tore through the monster's body, passing quite literally through one side and out the other. The beast stayed upright for a moment, swaying back and forth unsteadily on its feet. Then with a groan, it fell sideways off the platform and into the water with a sound comparable to that of a cliff collapsing into the ocean.
Exhausted, I landed on the platform and allowed myself to fall to the tiled walkway, my armor disappearing with a flash. Meru and Guraha landed next to me and crouched at my side as one by one the other winglies landed. Guraha gripped the end of the fin protruding from my side and looked at me questioningly. I winced, then braced myself. "Go for it."
I suppressed a string of curses when Guraha hauled the spike-like appendage from my side. Yes I know I've been through worse. That still doesn't change the fact that it hurts like hell.
Ragnarok's POV:
Almost immediately after we had healed Dart, the party set out again. They seemed to think that there might be more of those magic hybrids hanging around. There weren't of course, but I didn't bother to correct them. They moved faster now, their attention not being so constantly drawn to the various wonders of the city. We passed swiftly through the next section of teleporters faster; Demos claimed that there was a pattern to which portals would eventually lead to the door on the other side. We finally came to a room with a large sealed door; beyond it was the room in which the cygnet sphere and Moot had been kept.
Meru walked up to the door, brushing her fingertips across its carved and scarred surface. She shook her head. "It's still sealed by magic. We're not going to be able to get in this way."
//Like hell we're not//
/You know a way in?/ Dart sounded only mildly surprised.
//Of course. Tell them that all we have to do to break the seal is cast a spell more powerful than the one that sealed the door// I would have thought that would be obvious. In terms of magic, it was always the more potent spell that won out. While Dart repeated what I had told him I reached out and 'touched' the magic surrounding the door with my mind. The spell wasn't that powerful actually; the main problem lie in the fact that the moist air of the city had caused the gears that moved the heavy door to rust so much that the rust held the gates in stasis as much as the spell itself. Even if I did remove the spell, it would still require an enormous amount of strength to open. Oh well. One obstacle at a time.
//Dart, let me handle this//
/Why?/
//My mind might be too forceful for creating cygnet spheres, but there's nothing subtle about breaking doors open//
Meru seemed to notice the shift of consciousness. "What do you want?" She asked, not really bothering to hide the distaste in her voice.
"You were all complaining about the door, so I decided to help out a bit," I replied mildly. I wondered why she was acting so harshly towards me; it wasn't as though I had done anything especially mean to her in the last hundred years or so. There had been that fight on the Mountain of Mortal Dragon, but the thought that she would still be harboring a grudge after all this time was ridiculous.
/I wouldn't put it past her/ Dart warned. /She's not always rational about things like this/
//It's been more than a century Dart//
/That doesn't mean a thing to her, Arkie/ I snarled back a retort, but my partner just laughed. /I don't think it's possible to do that to a human and still keep them alive/ He noted, /but I'll keep it in mind in case I ever catch up to whoever is in charge of that damned cult/
Still steaming, I walked to the door and rested my hands against it. The very metal seemed to be alive with magic; whoever had worked the spell that had sealed this had known what they were doing. But time had begun to wear at the magic; the cracks that had formed in the spell over the years would make an easy target for the raw power of my own spell. Gathering my energy, I pushed tentatively against the wall of magic before throwing my entire will against it. I actually may have pushed too hard; when I looked up again not only had the wall of magic shattered, but also it seemed that the door its self had crumbled into sand. Glancing around, I saw the Guraha and his friend Maverick staring at me in something verging on awe.
/Nice going, but wouldn't it have been easier just to have opened the door?/
//All you said was that you wanted the door opened. You never said how// I pushed his mind back into control and watched as he plowed his way through the remains of the door into the room beyond. Or, as I should say, what remained of the room. Water streamed down from the shattered ceiling, splashing onto the stones of the broken walls below. The stones themselves had a scorched look to them, as though an impossibly hot fire had blasted them. The rest of the room also bore signs of an explosion: black marks on the stone floor, pieces of the walkway were missing, and a large crater was all that remained in the place where Dart's memory told me that the device named Moot at once been.
//Where was the cygnet sphere located?//
/In that indent near what's left of the far wall. Would it still be intact?/
//I'd be amazed if it was//
/Then why did we need to come here?/
//This was where all the cygnet spheres were made. Guraha and the others are going to need all the help they can get to replicate them, and it's entirely possible that if we made them anywhere else they would fail//
/I don't get it/
//I didn't really expect you to. Magic like this gets rather complicated//
A few days later Guraha and his companions produced the final fruit of their labors: four crystalline cygnets, each about the size of a child's head. Dart ran a hand over the nearest of them, feeling the chill of the smooth surface even through the thick leather of his fingerless gloves. Lifting one carefully from its holder, he held it up to the light and watched the faint purple rays of light dance about inside it. /Pretty/
//They weren't made for decorations//
Dart sat the orb down again. /I know. They're still interesting to look at though/ He sighed and glanced at the others who stood near the door. "Are they ready?"
"Any time, Dart. We're all waiting with bated breath to see whether or not our toys will blow up in your face," Warren called.
"Thanks for the re-assurement," he muttered. /How about you?/
//Whenever you are//
/What do I do?/
//Focus on the spheres. We want to seal the moon; keep that idea firmly in mind. It won't be easy; you'll probably find yourself thinking thoughts that aren't your own//
I felt him jump a little at that, but he covered it quickly. /Who's thoughts will they be?/
//Mine, of course. Just focus on the spheres Dart. I'll make sure I let you go when it's over//
Dart's POV:
I was about to ask Ragnarok what he meant by "letting me go", but before I could ask, he started.
I focused on the spheres like I was told, but it became increasingly difficult to do so. The power of the Divine Dragon flowed through my veins like a river overflowing its banks in flood season; so powerful was it that just channeling it into the cygnets sapped most of my strength. And, just as Ragnarok had promised, thoughts that weren't my own began to flit through my mind like errant birds. That was fine; they weren't quite as unsettling now that I knew that they didn't belong to me. But what I hadn't counted on where his memories.
They flashed through my mind in no particular order or sequence. One moment I was soaring above the clouds on a cold winter wind; the next I was tearing hungrily into the flesh of my first kill, taloned feet scrabbling as I did so, trying to find purchase on the blood-soaked stones; then I was on a cliff above Deningrad, watching with satisfaction as the roof of the Crystal Palace shattered and fell onto the city below. The memories flashed my head, trying to take my mind away from the cygnets. And as the power flowing through me grew and the memories became more and more vivid, I slowly became aware of the fact that they were winning. I was drowning in a sea of thought.
//Dart! Hang on! We're almost done!// Ragnarok was yelling to me, but his voice seemed both far away and painfully close at the same time.
I tried to listen, but I didn't know how much longer I could focus on the cygnets. The memories pulled at my mind, and quite suddenly my own memories began to mix with Ragnarok's. Images of my parents and friends appeared suddenly amidst thoughts filled with blood and anger, my own tendencies towards humor and mercy clashed horribly against flashes of the body-ridden battlefields of the dragon campaign.
The flow of power stopped but the memories kept coming, faster now. Images and memories from two completely different lives blended together until I couldn't distinguish mine from those of the ancient dragon whom shared my body. I opened my eyes and the world around me spun wildly out of control. I staggered forward a few steps, then fell to the floor. In my mouth I could taste blood; I must have bitten my tongue. Out of the corner of my eye I caught a glimpse of the cygnets in their holders, filled with what looked like swirling mist.
/At least something went right/ Was my last thought before the world faded into darkness.
Hmm. Arkie's mind seems to be a bit of a dangerous place, doesn't it? Remind me not to make any extended sojourns in there in the near future.
I'm starting to have way too much fun writing this thing. If that's possible.
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