I do not own Legend of Dragoon or any of the characters.
Ruin
Cade looked around as the light faded. He'd felt the transportation spell moving them, not teleportation so much as sealing them inside of a magic dimension that could pass through obstacles, then deposit them somewhere else, but when he looked around, he couldn't even see the Forest of Winglies. He hadn't expected to go so far.
"What are you going to do with that?" Rose asked, gesturing at the chitin armor he was still holding in his left hand by its shoulder strap.
"I dunno," Cade shrugged. "Sell it, I guess. It's worth a lot."
Rose nodded. "It looks it. She looked around at the ruin before them, eyes narrowing and lips pulling tight.
"So this is the Forbidden Land, the ruin of past glory," Dart said.
"This is where all of the Dragoons of old died, isn't it?" Cade asked, glancing at Rose.
"If I recall the story correctly, six of the seven disappeared after the battle here," Rose said. "One of them died in an earlier battle, protecting a friend."
"I see," Cade nodded. "If we find their bodies, we should give them a proper burial. Meru and I can use our magic to make a grave quickly."
"We can do that?" Meru asked.
"Once I show you how," Cade nodded. "Magic can do almost anything, as long as you know how."
Meru nodded and Rose slipped her hand into his, giving it a light squeeze to show she was grateful for him being concerned about her.
"What's wrong, Meru?" Dart asked suddenly, Cade looking over at Meru, who was hugging herself and trembling suddenly. "You're shaking."
"Cuz I...I hear the outcries of the people who died here," Meru said, looking to Cade. "Can't you hear them?"
"Yes," Cade nodded. "The deaths here left a scar that our magic is resonating with."
"From the war?" Albert asked.
"And before it," Cade said. "Meru, you can wait in the forest if you need to."
"No!" Meru said, forcing herself to calm down. "I'm okay! If I can't get past such a small thing, how will I be able to fight against the Divine Dragon? Besides, I'm mad about what Ancestor Blano did to you. I can't believe he'd do that! He's never been like that to anyone before!"
"He may not act like he hates humans, but he's one of the older Winglies," Cade said. "The older Winglies are, the deeper their hate runs. Seeing me probably just triggered the hate he's tried to bury. It's nothing to hold a grudge about."
"Nothing to hold a grudge about!?" Rose scoffed. "They would have beaten you to death!"
"But they didn't," Cade said. "Come on. We have more important things to deal with."
Rose glared at him for a moment before sighing and nodding. They all turned and walked along the path made from tangled roots that led into the ruins of Kadessa. After a short walk along a winding path between cliffs, they reached a teleporter for the same spell as Blano had sent them to the ruin with, though it was a only a short distance between two linked teleporter pads. Then, they began the task of trying to find their way through the ruin by using a complex series of platforms, walkways and teleporters that formed a wall-less maze. At several points, they were attacked by Gnomes that had infested Kadessa, short purple-skinned humanoids with pointy straw hats, whips made from some kind of bush that had been enchanted with magic to make them hard and sharp, and tan suspenders, though they all died fairly easily, having only whips and the occasional spell crystal, to fight with. Finally, after close to an hour, they finally found a teleporter that took them to a massive arena.
"Such a large open space," Miranda said, looking around.
"Indeed," Haschel agreed. "I wonder what it was for."
"Kongol feels..." he trailed off for a moment, arms crossed and an uncomfortable look on his face. "Smells like blood."
"Blood and a large space," Albert said. "It sounds like a coliseum."
"It is," Cade said, able to hear the echoes of long-silenced screams, combat, and cheering thanks to his magic, as he was sure Meru could.
"Once upon a time, it was a coliseum," Meru nodded, sitting down at the top of a broken stone pathway, now serving as a bridge from one broken platform to the next. "But it wasn't for normal fights that you won or lost. It was for matches to the death. Winglies would just enjoy matches from above...of fighters picked from among the dominated Humans, Dragons, and some Gigantos. I am the offspring of that kind of Wingly."
"You're nothing like them, Meru," Cade said, offering her his hand. "You're what the Winglies should be like. You're kind, generous, and you want the world to live peacefully between all races."
"Like you can talk about how the Winglies should be," Meru said, accepting his help up. "You're proof that Winglies and Humans can coexist, and you're stronger than any of the Winglies in the forest just because you're not too prideful or ashamed to train your magic."
"The Ancestor told us this is a mere ruin, right?" Dart asked. "The sins of the past are not our sins."
"They exist only to tell us not to repeat them," Albert agreed.
Meru nodded and they all headed down into the coliseum, only for Cade to turn, walking over to one wall where there was a Human-looking skeleton with a sword impaled through his back and ancient armor, half-consumed by time, partially encasing it.
"That's not one of the Dragoons, is it?" Dart asked.
"No," Cade said. "This is Wingly Armor. And an ancient Wingly sword, too. Looks like when he fell, he had the bad luck to be impaled by his own blade." He pulled the sword free of the Wingly's back.
"You're taking the sword?" Albert asked.
"Not all of it," Cade said, focusing his magic into the blade until the tang had broken free and pulled it out, tossing it aside.
He hummed as he stared at the hilt. It was silver with no guard and a red jewel set into either side of the top, where the blade had been. he began to look around before stopping, staring at his left pauldron. That would work. He pulled it off the armor as he followed the others through the next teleporter, then began to use his magic to bend it and fuse it at the ends to the sword's hilt, making a finger guard. As he worked, he followed the others from teleporter to teleporter, each one taking them up one level of the coliseum's viewing area before they finally reached the last and were teleported away from the coliseum. Just as he finished, they walked into a rounded room with murals on the wall of what he thought were several different species, all of the murals glowing green.
"What is this?" Dart asked.
"They're...the intelligent species," Cade said. "I think. Winglies, Humans, Dragons, Gigantos, Minitos...and that thing?"
He stared at a mural with two comma-shaped marks aligned vertically on either side at the middle, then a curved line above and below each set of commas, forming two lines of symbols that made him think of a plant of some kind.
"Well, what do we do?" Dart asked. "The teleporter's not on."
"It's got to have something to do with the murals, right?" Meru guessed.
"Maybe the order of the fruit each came from?" Cade guessed. "Or, as the ancient Winglies would say, in order of intelligence."
They all looked around thoughtfully. Each mural had a teleporter under them. Cade shrugged, walking over to the plant mural first and waving to the others before activating the teleporter, only to find himself in the middle of the room a moment later. He looked back at the mural and found it was now glowing blue, rather than green.
"Well, that did...something," Cade said. "What's next in the order?"
"It should be...Gigantos," Rose said.
Dart moved to the teleporter under the picture of what looked like a really big, or maybe really fat, human, transforming into a shining green sphere and floating back to the teleporter in the center of the room, which Cade had vacated. As he did, the Gigantos mural turned blue.
"Minitos is next!" Meru said excitedly, running to it as Dart moved out of the way. Sure enough, the mural turned blue as she teleported.
"I'll do dragons," Albert volunteered.
"I'll activate the Human statue," Haschel said, walking over to it as Albert teleported.
"I'll get the Winglies," Miranda decided.
Once all of the murals had lit up blue, a massive stone pillar with a belled bottom and a green light inside began to lower, settling around the teleporter, which turned from blue to green. They all stepped into it, and it shone as they suddenly began to float. After they'd drifted up the pillar a few feet, the usual light blinded them and they were transported elsewhere. However, as they came out, Rose suddenly froze, staring at a stone spire beside them which had bright violet magic energy flowing over it. Cade leaned over the side, staring at the stone below them. It was uneven and there were several more stone spikes sticking out that looked kind of like an open rib cage. Cade took her hand and she nodded, following him to the teleporter the others had taken. It took them to a small platform with another teleporter, and that one took them to the ground. Cade shook his head. So much hassle for no reason. However, as they reached the ground, Rose froze again, eyes widening this time as she sucked in a slow breath.
"It's a dead end," Dart said, standing at the edge of their stone walkway, just before the glowing thing before them, which Cade could now see wasn't a normal kind of rock. "Let's go back."
"Wait!" Cade said, staring at the thing. "This is..."
"It's a Virage," Rose said, stepping up beside him. "And this scar...it must be the Virage that killed Kanzas."
"You say this is a Virage?" Dart asked.
"Not just a normal Virage," Cade said. "This is a Super Virage. It's far, far more powerful than a normal Virage."
"What are you talking about?" Miranda asked.
"It was a destructive weapon of ancient legend that battled through the Dragon Campaign with the Winglies, although, some still remain," Albert said.
"But it looks totally different from the one before," Meru said.
"As Cade said, it's one of their subspecies, called a Super Virage," Rose said. "From its shape, it must have had a power far beyond the one we saw. But it's not a very pretty sight to see."
"It looks like it was scarred in the final battle," Cade said.
"Let's go back," Rose said. "We need to find another way around."
"It's too late for that," Cade said, sensing the Super Virage beginning to stir. "He's already waking up."
"Shit!" Rose swore harshly, drawing her sword as her eyes narrowed.
"Looks like I'll get to test this thing out after all," Cade said, channeling magic through the handle he'd made, a teal blade made from magic particles extending from it.
"Whoa!" Meru gaped.
"Is that a Dragon Buster?" Dart asked.
"No," Cade said. "Just a blade made from Magic Energy. Lenus did the same the first time we fought her, remember?"
"Yes," Albert nodded, then readied his spear as the ground began to shake, cracks forming in the stone encasing parts of the Super Virage's body, everyone else readying their weapons as well. "It seems time's up."
Then, the stone shattered and the Virage rose, clambering to its feet and towering over them at almost the same height as a normal Virage. Its legs were heavily armored and spread to accommodate its massive size and weight, its right arm was a long, armored half-pipe-like structure with two clawed fingers in the end of it, it had a large rectangular section situated horizontally on the side facing them, what appeared to be its stomach or chest, with eleven round openings in a line along it, and the rest of it body both above and below the rectangular piece, was a dull tan scar tissue. Cade couldn't even see its head. The spikes he thought had been ribs were sticking out of the bottom on the front and were waving slightly as it stood.
"It's huge!" Meru gasped.
"Were the others this big?" Miranda asked.
"About as tall as it, but they were skinny compared to this," Cade said. "All of you need to transform right now!"
They all nodded and whoever had a Dragoon Spirit transformed instantly. Instantly, the Virage roared in rage, the sound muted and its scarred top trembling grotesquely. Then, it lunged forward, far faster than Cade had expected, and pulled its right arm back to its right, the claws folded in swinging out as everyone scattered. Then, the Virage swiped at them, Kongol barely escaping the swipe, which shattered part of the ground where they'd stood. Cade shot forward first, slashing at the Virage as he passed, his blade tearing through it and making it roar in agony. It turned, swiping after him, only for him to drop onto a path behind it, getting under the slash just as Dart and Rose both slashed it up the back. It shrieked in pain again and Cade shot forward, passing under it and splitting its underside open as Miranda fired an arrow into its back and Meru and Kongol both slammed a strike into the back of its legs at the same time as Haschel's fist exploded into the rectangular section in the front, sending it crashing to the ground. As it did, a dull hum began to vibrate inside of Cade's ears. He shook his head, watching as Albert drove his spear deep into the top of the Virage's body, before realizing he was sensing the Virage's Magic power charging rapidly. He swore, but before he could shout a warning, three fleshy, pink tentacles, each as big around as him, burst out of the ground, wrapping around him. He looked to the Virage, seeing them extending into the ground from the Virage's right shoulder. Just as he saw it, the end of the Virage's right arm crashed into him, sending him steaking through the air. He braced himself for pain and exploded through a stone pillar supporting a walkway above him, sending it crashing to the ground as he flipped, catching himself with his wings and focusing. White light shone from his hand, healing him most of the way before he grabbed his sword's hilt with both hands streaking back toward the Virage, which was shrieking and backing away from Rose, Albert, and Dart, who were all tearing into the Virage rapidly.
The Virage shrieked, turning suddenly and extending its fingers in time to slap Dart, sending him bouncing away just as its tentacles caught both Meru and Kongol, who were both hit on the back swing. Then, Haschel's charged blast of Lightning Magic exploded against it, making it shriek in pain and stagger away. As it stepped forward to swipe at Albert, Albert shot into the air and Cade dropped past the Virage, splitting it down the front. It roared, then stomped, the ground shaking violently and suddenly a crash sounded from above them. They all looked up just in time to see massive chunks of debris falling toward them. Everyone shouted in surprise, beginning to dodge around them besides Kongol, who got tagged in the back before anyone but Cade had realized what happened, and went down hard. Cade looked down and saw the now completely shattered and crumbling chitin armor he'd left behind. He shouted in annoyance as the last of the debris landed and flew low, grabbing his chitin cuirass by the shoulder strap, focusing magic into it.
"Fine, then, you might as have it since you broke it!" Cade shouted, hurling the cuirass at it as it shone a bright, blinding white.
Then, just as it hit the Virage in the scar tissue on top of its body, the cuirass erupted into an enormous fireball that completely engulfed the Virage, which shrieked in agony as it did. As the fire faded, the holes along the Virage's front suddenly began to light up with white-blue light one at a time, quickly growing brighter. Rose swore harshly and shot downward, dark purple Darkness Magic streaming along her blade, only for the Virage's tentacles to burst out of the ground, wrapping around her. Then, Cade shot under her, slashing the tentacles off below her, freeing her and she shot forward, slashing the Virage in an upward arc and set off a massive explosion of Darkness Magic, only for the hum of the Virage's Magic energy to rapidly grow to a high, shrieking crescendo that made everyone cover their ears, besides Albert, who was quickly casting Rose Storm on them. As the holes began to shine, desperation flooded Cade.
"Just die already!" Cade shouted, silver light shining from Cade's left hand's extended index and middle finger tips.
He swiped his hand down, then diagonally up and out to his left, then across to his right, then again again diagonally up and left. A bright silver light flashed from a tiny point just above the rectangular piece of the Virage's body before shrinking and growing brighter, then vanishing.
"What was-" Dart began.
An enormous explosion of shining, silver magic energy erupted from the point that had shone a moment before, the massive sphere of Magic expanding quickly, yet slowly for an explosion as flashes of light shot upward from the bottom of the explosion. Then, the sphere erupted into a blinding light as it exploded. In total, the spell lasted about five seconds, and when the light faded and they all lowered their hands from where they'd shielded their eyes, the Virage was simply gone, as was an enormous section of the wall behind where it had been, and any path there. Cade grimaced as most of the others stared between the damage or Cade and Rose let out a long, low whistle.
"Oh my God!" Meru finally said. "That was awesome!"
"Jeez, no wonder they didn't want me having this book," he said, holding a hand to where he'd stuffed it inside his cuirass when they reached Kadessa.
"What the hell kind of spell was that?" Dart asked.
"A fucking exhausting one," Cade said, landing and letting his wings and magic blade both fade, wiping sweat from his brow and pulling the book out of his armor both o keep it from getting soaked with his sweat and also to be able to breathe easier.
The others landed around him just as a pillar above the new damage broke free and fell, crashing down on the walkway in front of them and the other end on the section of pathway they needed to take on the far side of Cade's destruction, forming a bridge.
"Very convenient," Haschel said as they all transformed back.
"Are you alright?" Rose asked.
Cade waved a hand dismissively. "I'll be fine. Just not using magic for a bit."
He sighed, holding his magic sword's hilt in his left hand alongside the book, which was resting against his forearm, then drew his normal sword in his right hand.
"Why do Virage keep waking up in response to us?" Dart asked.
"Does this mean they are not just reacting to Shana?" Rose asked.
Dart's head fell instantly, worry filling his features. "Shana." He shook his head. "I still don't know anything about the mystery surrounding Shana." After a moment, he took a deep breath before nodding. "There is no choice for us but to continue forward. Let's go."
Everyone nodded and walked after him, Cade bringing up the rear so that if they had to fight anything weak enough to be little more than an annoyance, he could let the others handle it.
Leave a review.
