Chapter 22: The Evil Necromancer
The new pygmy soldiers, using the stealth skills taught by the Vulture Horde, snuck into the next targeted refugee camp to analyze offenses and defenses of the place. Soon after their task was done, they sent their reports to Aeolus via telepathy and told him that the camp's defenders were only weapon users and none of them can use magic. 'Good, another easy to destroy village. Get out of the village, so that I can give the humans the deadly first strike,' the disaster dragon said to them. The pygmies quietly left the camp without any of the humans spotting them. One guy almost found one of them after the pygmy tripped and fell, but luckily his female ally pulled him over to her before he was seen. Once they were all out and at a safe distance, the pygmies told Aeolus they got out. Without any dragon in the way and at risk for death, Aeolus cast a tornado on the refugee camp and sucked in the humans and objects into the vortex. Lutarn summoned thunder clouds and had the lightning bolts strike the humans dead inside the tornado.
The spring dragons and flower pygmies surrounding the outskirts of the camp blew out sleep-inducing pollen. The pollen would be pulled in by the force of the tornado and tranquilize any escaping human it came across. This would allow the other dragons to spot them out easily and kill them quickly. The leaf pygmies stayed hidden among the bushes and trees, so that their brown scales and leafy wings would camouflage be mistaken as being parts of these plants. When humans came across them, the leaf pygmies would ambush them and kill them by the throats. The wasp pygmies worked together with the honeycomb pygmies' bees and stung the refugees to death, whether by being stabbed in vital points or by allergies. The other dragons worked in the way they did best.
Later after raid was completed, the horde was successful in annihilating the entire camp. Aeolus looked at everyone and said, "Well done, Vulture Horde. Another nest of demons has been exterminated. And you recruits have done an amazing job for your first time." The former slaves felt pride in their accomplishment as beginners. "Now we will celebrate this victory by feasting on our enemies. Everyone eat to your hearts' content," he said. Then the dragons went to eat up the refugees.
After flying for an hour with wind magic boasting both Atlas's and Axle's speed, her wings started feeling worn out. The magi decided to take a break and descended below the trees to touch ground. Kylie and Danielle slide down their aunt's tail and went to stretch their legs and arms to soothe the kinks. Axle landed next to the magi and switched to human form before he sat down on the grass with his eyes close. Atlas was about to ask Axle how much farther they got until they reached the mountain, when she saw two men armed with spears walking through the woods. 'Oh crap, they must be dragon hunters,' she thought, feeling endangered from the possible that they might see the dragons and try to kill them. It would be possible to either fight them head on or take the group somewhere else, but Atlas had something else in mind and it was probably a good time to try it. She looked to Axle and asked, "Hey Axle, want to teach me how to turn into a human?" If she could learn the spell to turn herself into a human at any time, then the Atlas wouldn't need to avoid humans at all times during her journey as she would simply blend in and pass through without her dragon form attracting hostility. And if possible she would cast the same spell onto her nieces so that all three would go on by safely. And when these men see them in human forms, they would get welcomed into their settlement where the group would rest and eat.
The man answered, "It is no simple task, and just recently I have just mastered it so I can fully stain this form. And Atlas it would be easier to teach your nieces than you, for it requires a weight switching and size change. But I guess I can try to teach you three how to do it, but it will take a while for you to stain the form for more than an hour the few couple of times without flaws. By flaws; I mean wings, tails, claws, scales, or skin tone." He paused to breathe for a bit before he continued, "The only thing you have to do is imagine yourself; kind of like picture. You need precise details on the figure such as age, weight, height, length, hair color, eye color; basically everything. Then, change it to a human form in your mind with precise details as well. Then, channel energy into it and you should feel the energy channel through you. That's really about it, but it came to me like seconds nature so it might not work."
What Axle said sounded like the transformation was a bit harder than Atlas originally thought it was. For one, she imagined being in a lighter and upright bipedal body would feel awkward to her as she would be new to moving her forelegs-turned arms around and walking without a tail to balance herself. For two, since this spell required details, she needed to avoid messing it up or otherwise the humans will see through her. "Well Axle, however the spell works, I need to try it out right now or else we're going to have some trouble with these humans over there," the dragoness said, looking at the direction where the hunters are.
The sisters have listened to this conversation and Kylie asked warily, "Aunt Atwas, are these humans bad?"
The magi answered, "I don't know, Kylie. But we need to take caution just in case." She reared up on her two hind legs and imagined herself as a Solomese woman. She decided on that form as had spent most of her life in Solomos and it would be a reminder of her birth continent. After a minute of picking out the physical details and clothes, Atlas started to transform and shrink down in size. Her reddish-orange scales turned into brown skin, medium-length black hair grew on her head, purple dragon eyes turned into black human ones, feet turned into orange shoes, and the forelegs became arms. The wings, tail, and frills disappeared. As the skeleton rearranged itself for the legs to be aligned with the spine, Atlas felt herself leaning back and fell over as she cried, "Whoa!"
The hunters stopped their tracks in response to the sound they heard. One of them asked, "Was that a woman?"
The other man said, "Sounds like it." Wanting to see if this "woman" needed any help, the men walked in the direction of the sound.
The sisters looked over their aunt's new form in amazement. Danielle said, "Wow Aunt Atwas, looks like a human!"
They were also concerned about their aunt having fallen over as Kylie asked, "Are you okay, Aunt Atwas?"
The dragon-turned-human replied, "Yeah, I'm fine. Just let me get up." She tried to get up by lifting her torso, but the sacrum felt stiff as if her body's supposed to be straight like a stick. 'Damn, I forgot that humans can bend over their hips,' she thought. She fixed that by magically changing the lower half of the body's skeletal structure so that she was able to bend. Then she got back up with success this time and stood on her two feet. But when she did, the feeling of being in human form felt strange and awkward just like she predicted. For one, she felt inclined to put her arms to the ground and walk like a quadruped animal, but then that wouldn't be human-like at all. Second, her back and behind felt funny without wings and a tail. Lastly, the world looked a bit bigger in human perspective. Atlas looked at herself and murmured, "So this is what being human feels like."
The hunters reached the group and asked, "Ma'am, we heard a scream nearby. Was that you?"
Atlas looked at these hunters in front of her and thought about how to talk to dragon-unfriendly humans. "Um, yeah. I just fell over that's all," she said. She looked down to her nieces and attempted a telepathic connection with them. She hoped it worked well in human form just as she did as a dragon. 'Kylie, Danielle, don't say anything to these humans. You need to pretend to be my slaves until I turn back into a dragon, okay? That means no calling me Aunt Atlas,' she told them.
'Yes, Aunt Atlas,' the nieces said.
She turned her attention back to the men, while continuing the telepathy. 'I mean it, don't or you'll get us all into trouble. Just call me master, alright?' she told them.
The nieces spoke the corrective response this time, 'Yes master.'
'Good!' the woman said.
One of the two hunters asked the "humans", "So what are you two doing out here in these woods? You know it's dangerous with all these dragons running loose and attacking people."
Axle walked forward to step between the group and the hunters. With a simple shrug, he said, "It's very simple; we are traveling to the mountain to the north to help out a farmer that is an old friend of hers. He needs to harvest crops for the market here soon and have a huge order, so she brought along some dragon hatchlings to also help them out. I'm just the hired hand to protect them on her journey to see her friend." Atlas watched the "man" put both his hand back behind his back as one hand slide over the hilt of a knife that was tucked in his belt behind. "I would be happy if you would go back to your business as we return back to ours journey," Axle said in the calm tone he always spoke with.
The hunter gave a short nod with a smile and said, "Oh, okay then. You all have a safe trip out there, okay." He gave them a thumbs-up and a wink for good luck.
"We will, don't you worry about it," said Atlas, who returned a smile. The hunters were turning to leave and resume their hunt, but the "woman" was not about to let them go without an important question she needed an answer to. "Wait," she said. The men stopped and looked back at the "woman" to listen to what she had to say. "Is there a place where the other humans are to the north?" she asked. She figured a short pit-stop and rest would do the group some good since Axle hasn't gotten to eat the food she got from the grocery store.
The other man answered, "Sure there is! I think it's just three miles and a half away from here."
Atlas replied, "Okay, thanks you guys."
"No problem, miss! We're just happy to help a nice lady like you," said the hunter. Then the men turned to leave as the older one said, "Come on, Bobby. Let's get back to hunting that deer."
Once the humans had disappeared into the distance, the "woman" looked at herself from her arms to her legs. "Right, let's see how I can go on as a human," she said to herself. She took a few steps forward, but the way she walked was rather strange. Her feet had taken big steps and her upper body bobbing left and right depending on which foot was in the front.
The sisters watched their aunt's funny movement and were confused by this. This was not how they remembered Yukki and Henry walking. Danielle asked the male "human", "Axle, is this how humans walk?"
The "man" smiled a bit and answered, "In the beginning of their lives, they do; but after a bit of practices, they walk fine, even up running as well." Atlas stopped "walking" as Axle and the Firestars looked up at the sky to see a small drake flying overhead and circling a bit. Her shiny blue scales were reflexive to the sun as the drake land in the same cleaning near the group. "Hello there, Sirath," the "man" greeted the drake as she bowed her head to him.
Sirath spoke in a calm, regretful voice, "Lord Axle, I'm sorry for having to find you, but under an oath your father had me take in case of emergency. He had me come to deliver his soul sphere to you in case of his death, so Spinx did not get a hold of it." She reached her paw out that had a bright blue sphere in it that held water in it. Axle wrapped his hand over the sphere as Sirath held out another sphere that was a bright pink sphere with the same color of water in it. Axle's other hand wrapped around the other sphere, too. "And I'm also sorry to say your mother have met the same fate along with your eldest brother. But under your father's oath, I was to deliver the two spheres to you if they both happen to die. As for your brother's sphere, it was noted to be hidden in the family castle," the drake continued on as the man's head hang down while tears ran off his cheeks.
In a quiet sorrowful tone, Axle asked, "What of Mekarth and Jura, Sirath? What happen to them?"
The drake simply looked down and answered, "Your sister was captured by Spinx and your younger brother left the city after the attack and went into hiding. Your uncle now controls the city of Shadow Wind as the dragon lord, and the city has fallen into darkness. Your uncle was the one to kill your father with Spinx's help. I'm sorry; but right after it happened, I grabbed you father's sphere and your mother shoved her sphere in my paws and said she was going to stop them from following me."
Atlas growled in contempt for the uncle. It was a serious taboo for a dragon to kill one of their own clanmates as family was one of the most sacred values to any dragon. 'Unbelievable! I'd never thought I would hear about a dragon that would murder his own brother and then rule others with an iron claw. He's just as bad as those rotten humans,' she thought.
Sirath continued, "I must go now, I will wait for your return after your journey to Trident Mountain, as it was the last thing your father had asked you." With that, she took off to the air and flew back in the direction she came from.
Atlas looked at the lord with sympathy as she watched him pocket the two spheres. His hand fell to his side as he still looked at the ground in sadness. She knew what the man was feeling right now at this moment. Taking slow and awkward steps, she went next to the man and said, "Axle, I'm sorry about your family."
The lord simply wiped his eyes from the tears that have gathered up in his eyes as he looks up at the woman. There was sadness in his eyes, even more was fear. "There are a few things you will need to know before you follow along with me anymore. The full truth that have yet to be said to an outsider of the family or the guard; but if you wish to follow me anymore, you must know," Axle told her.
"Okay, I'm listening," said Atlas. She predicted that she might hear something tough and serious, but she was going to try not to let that dissuade her from being around the shape-shifter she vowed to protect.
"As you may have guess, I'm a dragon lord in Shadow Wind," Axle said before he took a breath. "My uncle was banished from the city of Shadow Wind by my grandpa, who soon died because of my uncle. After that my father took the rule as dragon lord and protector of Shadow Wind. My uncle tried year after year to gain the title from my father and failed to do so, but my father could not kill him." Then he turned his back to her and continued, "During the time of my father's protection, the amount of human and dragon slaves increased, and my father could do nothing about it nor could any of the other dragon lords. The dragon lord oath involves they could not interfere, kill anything that was not food nor that poses a threat, and they could not risk anyone else's life in exchange for the death of another or to save their own lives."
The woman frowned in dismay and thought, 'What the hell kind of oath is that? Who made something stupid like this and why?' She thought about how so many slaves could have been set free if not for the dragon load oath holding the father back.
Danielle asked, "Why not?" The hatchlings found it sad that the slaves were stuck as slaves with no way out.
The man looked to ground briefly before explaining more, "Each dragon lord soul is placed into a soul sphere to keep necromancers from getting their hands on the soul of the protectors. In order for that to happen, they must first die by another dragon and then must be protected until the soul is released and is forced into a glass sphere. After that, the wounds are healed on the dragon and the sphere is placed close to the body as a small amount of the soul is replace inside the body to bring the person back to life. This may sound like necromancy, but it is not, for the spell is only performed by other dragon lords and a single priest." Axle's head fell even further as he said in shame, "My soul is not in a sphere for I was not the eldest, nor was even close to my sister's strength, let alone my brother's strength."
The Firestars felt pity for the weaker brother as Atlas thought, 'Well damn, that's sucks.'
He finally turned back to Atlas and told her, "Now you know; and whatever decision you make from here on out, I will not stop you."
Seeing how everything didn't sound as bad she thought it would be, Atlas said, "I have to say your story's an interesting one, Axle. But it's not going to change my decision. I'm still sticking with you to the end. And no matter what Spinx throws at us, I'll be the one to thwart him and his men and zombies." She puffed her chest out strong and stiff as she said confidently, "Besides, I'm a dragon champion. I've been a champ in tournaments for decades straight and I ain't never lost a fight. Even when I've fought dark-type dragons."
Axle gave a small nod to Atlas and asked, "Well than, mind me asking why you are a champion dragon? I only heard champion dragons were gladiators..." The lord slowed down his speech into a brief silence as his expression turned serious.
Atlas frowned and went on to explain her blood-stained history that she wasn't proud of, "Well you see, Axle. When I was a slave, I was entered into—"
Then she got interrupted when Axle looked her dead in the eyes and asked, "You wouldn't happen to be the Firestar Atlas, would you? Because if so, well, you're a bit famous among Shadow Wind. Damn! That will give Spinx more of a reason to come for us, so we are-" A small click was heard from the distance. Suddenly, the dragon lord ran in front of the woman to shield her from an arrow aimed at her. The barbed bolt pierces his body right thought the center of his chest. Axle fell to his knees as blood started to come from his mouth.
The family looked at him in alarm and fear for his life. "Axle!" Atlas and Danielle cried at the same time, while Kylie just placed her hands to her head and let out a horrified scream.
A dark hooded man armed with a crossbow appeared from the shadows and stood in front of the wounded "man". "Damn; was hoping to hit the lady friend of yours. She will make a nice collection to my undead," the attacker said.
As the dragon lord struggled to stand, he asked, "Spinx, how did... you caught... us so fast?"
The woman looked at him and thought, 'So that's Spinx. His looks are just as sinister as his personality.' The hood on his robes kept his face from being seen as it was heavily shadowed by it blocking the light, thus giving him the eerie appearance he had.
The necromancer explained with a bit of an evil laugh, "Well it's very simple. All I did was hide my scent from you and followed you in the air on the back of a sky drake, and even passed Sirath on the way here. I had a nice 'chat' with her; she even told me where to find you."
Atlas cursed herself for not being more attentive to the air as well as she had to the ground. 'Damn it, I should have checked behind me, too!' she thought with a fist that she had instinctively clenched without notice.
Spinx threatened them, "And I would not try to do anything because there are dragons around here that are under my control. You are familiar with two of them: Lord Eve and Lord Tork." The necromancer seemed to be amused by this and saw Axle starting to get up off his knees and ripping the bolt out of his chest.
Blood spilled over the ground as the dragon lord dropped the bolt and sweat started to gather on his forehead. Axle started to heavily breathe as more blood was lost from his body, as his body start to slowly heal itself. "Atlas... if you... have a... trick left... now would... be great..." he said while breathing heavily as the two undead lords walked out from behind the shadows Spinx came from. "NOW ATLAS!" the "man" screamed on top of his lungs. The two dragon lords, both black and red-scaled dragons, had an acid red blood color drool on the ground. Their blood red eyes looked right at the group and looked ready to attack.
The woman looked at him and said, "Right, safety first!" She pictured an image of the spring cave she used to sleep on the night of the Spell and teleported her nieces and Axle to that place for safety. With them out of the way, Atlas would be free to fight Spinx and the dragon lords with no harm done to her family and friend. She figured that if she could kill the necromancer, then Axle's quest can continue peacefully without anyone hunting him down. The woman scowled at the necromancer as she transformed back into a dragon and said, "Alright you clown; it's time we get this show on the road!" She started off by engulfing herself with a blinding light aura and then casting a barrage of light lasers at him and the lords.
"Clown?!" Spinx laugh at the word as both the dragon lords were impaled by light lasers, protecting their master. Soon after one lord cast a spell that dispelled the magi's light aura, the other casts a Seal spell in the area. "Honey, these two are already dead and feel no pain, and they can't be destroyed that easily by a little spell like that," the necromancer mocked her. "Oh, and you're trap here now. That seal spell keeps you from teleporting yourself out or flying out until this one here is destroyed," he explained smugly while pointing to Lord Eve. "And I guess you don't know lord dragons are powerful by themselves and hard to even kill," Spinx said as he drew his sword and swung in the air as a river of bones came from the ground and head straight for Atlas. "And no one can help you now!" he yelled.
Then Atlas dodged to the side to avoid the bones and roared, "Hah, I don't need anybody's help! I could go on until you and these bozos of yours are destroyed." Then she cast a fire beam spell at Spinx. She wasn't sure how tough her enemies were, but the magi has survived tough a lot of times. She wasn't going to let this be any different from all her previous fights.
At the spring cave, Danielle went over to Axle and looked up at his wound. "Are yew going to be okay, Axle?" she asked in concern.
The dragon lord leaned against the wall and slide down as blood started soaked his shirt. He swallowed hard as he seemed to grow weaker. "No, I'm afraid Spinx poisoned the bolt. And unless I get some source of energy, I will black out and being bleed to death," Axle said as he breathed harder. "There are some things you can do; if you can find some moss and maybe bring some water, I can slow my bleeding down," he groaned in pain.
"Oh no!" Danielle cried in worry. She wondered how she was going to find these two things if she didn't know where they are.
Kylie saw the hot spring nearby and pointed to it, "Look! I found water!"
The whiptail saw the spring too and became happy. "Yay! Water!" she shouted as she bounced up and down. She looked up back at the man and said, "Come on, Axle. Wet's go get some water." She bounded her way over to it.
The man struggled to push himself up off the ground and brace himself against the wall as he slowly walked over to the hot spring. He sat down at the edge and slides his white dress shirt over his body and looked at the arrow wound for a bit. Then he gripped one end of a sleeve with one hand and then bit the collar of the shirt. He removed the knife he had and cut the sleeve from the shirt before doing the same with the other sleeve. He turned one into a small square and put it into the water. Then he squeezed it almost dry and went to wash the blood from his chest. He turned the other sleeve into two strips by running his blade down the sleeve on both sides. With his wound cleaned and everything ready, the man placed the back of the knife in his mouth to hold onto as he placed the patch over the wound. Then with a quick hand, he tied the strips over it and tightens it up. "That will slow the bleeding, but not forever," Axle said under his heavy breath as he looked into the hot springs before diving in. The hatchlings watched him swim after a catfish. With one quick motion, he stabbed the fish right thought the head as the splash scared all the fish away from the source. The catfish flared around, but was out match by Axle's speed and he yanked the prey from the water on the ground. He cut a small part from the fish and ate it. Then he slides the 95% fish over to the hatchlings as his white magic healed more of his wound. The sisters looked at the whiskered fish's peculiar appearance. Danielle giggled at how funny the fish's face looked. "Well, that's better than nothing and it's energy will keep me alive now. You two have the rest, I can get more here in a bit so I can eat," Axle said he leaned against the wall again.
Danielle sniffed the catch as Kylie looked at it curiously. Then the whiptail licked it and got a mild sweet taste from it. Finding it delicious, Danielle started eating it. Seeing how the whiptail liked it, Kylie decided to bite into the fish as well. But doing so, gave her a muddy taste on her tongue. The balloon hatchling spat out the morsel and said, "Yuck!"
The whiptail swallowed her piece and exclaimed, "Mmm, this is yummy!"
Then suddenly, the dragon lord pushed himself off the wall and stood up. He spoke in an agitated tone, "Damn idiot, she's going to get herself killed by the two lords. You two stay here; I'll go get Atlas back before something happen." He walked over to the edge of the cave and told the sisters, "I promise that Atlas will come back alive."
"Okay!" they both said, thinking that he really would do it. Then he changed into a dragon and flew off away from the spring cave.
Spinx swung his sword up as a bone wall protected him this time from the fire beam. The bones slowly turned black and then to ash as the beam ended. "You should have asked your 'boyfriend' who these two are and what they are capable of," the necromancer laughed at Atlas.
The dragoness growled defiantly at the necromancer, "They're nobody you need to know!" There was no way on earth she was ever going to let that vile man touch her nieces.
"I already feel bored of you, I feel like carving now," Spinx said as the two dragon lords both started to cast chain magic from their wide arrange of spells. The chains came from all side and angles, hoping to snare the magi with it cold metal, but then she cast a powerful wind barrier to blow them back away. Even though, she was wearing armor, Atlas wasn't going to take any chances getting hit. Then she counterattacked by casting swift wind blades at the lords, which tore into their decayed flesh a bit. She knew they would not feel any pain, but that doesn't mean the unfeeling weren't immune to damage. Atlas could cast as many wind blades as she wanted to cut her enemies up. She would tear them through flesh one layer at a time until she would reach the bone. When she gets to the bone, then she would go to destroy it so that she would disable a body part the bone was connected to. That was going to be one of her strategy plans; slice and dice them and then cripple and weaken them. Spinx shook his head as if he pitied her and said, "Sad really, it will be a lot more to even stop them."
Lord Eve copied Atlas's spell and sent them right back at her, but with more power. The magi was barely holding on to protecting herself with the wind barrier. 'Damn, such power. So that's what being a dragon lord is like. If their magic is that strong, then I got to try to finish them off as quickly as possible, no matter how tough that may be,' she thought with her teeth bared. She thought about killing off Eve first just in case things go bad. Then she channeled her wind barrier into a tornado beam mixed with wind blades and launched it at her foe. But while she did that, some chains broke out of the ground and grabbed her limbs, tail, and neck. "Wha?!" Atlas muttered in surprise, for she had not been aware of the spell cast by Tork. As she struggled to break free of the chains that were trying to pull her to the ground, Spinx had cast a full barrage of bone river spell right at her. He even blocked her way by raising a wall behind her and another to the left of her.
The magi hastily tried to find an idea on what to do as the attack came closer and closer. She decided to go defensive by casting an earth wall spell. The slab of hardened soil rose from the ground and took the full blow of the bone river. The earth wall cracked and broke into pieces. Then Atlas used her earth magic to open up a hole underneath her and bring her underground. This wasn't an attempt at escape seeing as how she couldn't leave the battle, but rather to hide and attack from the unseen. The magi cast fire on the chains and had them trail all the back to Tork. She saw the bright warm glow from the edge of the hole, indicating that the lord's body got lit on fire. But the light soon dimmed as a splash of water was heard.
"Flood that hole with water,"Spinx was heard saying. Atlas saw water coming down into the hole from the surface. The necromancer walked over to the edge and grinned down menacingly at her. "You're very much out-matched here, dragon. If you tell me now where you sent Axle, I might let you live," he bargained.
The magi growled defiantly and yelled, "Never! I'll die before I let you harm him." As the water reached her nose, Atlas used her earth magic to create space in the form of a tunnel, so that the water level would drop. As she did that, a few more bone rivers came down at her and hit her with a harsh blow. She was lucky, her armor had guarded against the attack, otherwise it would have been a lot worse. The magi collapsed, feeling dazed and hurt as well as seeing stars. 'Damn...' she thought.
A few seconds later, the water had risen higher back to the level it was before she had created space in the hole. Now Atlas had recovered a bit and had seen the water. While trying to hold her focus against the throbbing pain, she thought about creating more space; but then that wouldn't stop Eve from pouring more water into the hole to persist in trying to drown her. Atlas thought about some ideas on how she could get free of the chains binding her. She could change into her human form and then try to get out of the chains' way before they bind onto her again; or she could use her wind barrier to blow off the chains. She was about to with the second option until she remembered she could teleport. Although she was unable to teleport herself out of the fight, she could probably still teleport anywhere in the battlefield. She decided to give this one a shot by picturing the surface land above her and then trying to warp there. Atlas was now back on the surface and free of the chains. Spinx got a bit furious with her and made a hum-like growl.
The magi glared at the necromancer and growled, "That really hurts! Let's see if you like this!" She summoned a volley of wind blades and cast them at all three of her foes. Spinx cut across his right shoulder as he groaned in pain. Most of the wind blades sliced the undead dragons from their backs to their sides as they protected their master with their bodies.
At this point, Spinx started to laugh now, almost as if he enjoys the pain that was inflicted on him. "It was fun game we had, but now it time to stop this little game of ours," he said as the seal started to get smaller at fast rate. It went passed the necromancer and the lords in mere seconds until it was centered around Atlas. The magi watched in alarm as she was unable to do anything about this. Lord Eve let the magic chains rise from the ground and pull the dragoness down as Spinx cast a bone walls around Atlas, encasing her in a box.
"What the hell?!" Atlas said as she struggled to free herself of the chains.
The necromancer simply smiled as he turned and started to walk away. Pretty soon, a small snap of twigs as heard in the distance. Spinx laughed again and yelled in the air, "Next time our game happens again, dragon; it won't be with Axle so close to save you."
"Axle? Axle's here?"
the magi asked. She wondered how the white dragon managed to get here this quick. She thought she had put him in the spring cave for safety and she thought that place was far away. But if he can get here soon, that means... 'Ah crap, we're close to Windfall,' she thought. Great, she was back in the land of hybrids. It was bad enough they had Spinx chasing after them; now her nieces were at risk of danger from these freakish dragon-killers. The magi hoped she wouldn't encounter any of them during the journey to Trident Mountain.
Spinx summoned a drake to carry him away in the air faster than a dragon as the lords became one with the ground again. Atlas yelled after him, "Hey where you going? I'm not even done yet!" As she tried to break free of the chains again, the seal spell disappeared. By then, Spinx was gone. She stopped struggling, when she smelled Axle's scent and said, "Axle? Is that you?"
The magi heard a facepalm as Axle said, "It's best if you don't teleport me next time in a hot spring on top of a mountain."
"Huh? Why?" asked Atlas, wondering what was wrong with teleporting him to the spring cave.
The magi turned her head around and saw the dragon lord getting closer to her and saying, "Lord Tork doing I guess." Axle sliced the top of the bone box off with a sword and said, "And next time you want to risk you're life, think first about who's affected by your death, and I mean the two hatchlings. You're their family; I'm not."
These words made the Atlas feel ashamed of herself as she thought, 'Damn he's right; what was I thinking? I'm their only family left and if I die, who's going to take care of them?' She had been so confident in her many victories that she thought that the end of the fight against Spinx would be no different. But then the enclosed seal spell combined with the bone box and chains proved to be a possible ensured death. If Spinx had stayed around to continue the fight, it might have been all over for Atlas. She may be dragon champion, but there was always going to be a first loss for her in the future. With all these thoughts in mind, the magi vowed to be more careful next time.
Axle smashed the shield into the chains and slowly started to snap them apart. "You have enough to get out in human form now if you wish," he said as he leaned against a bone wall, which fell with his weight as he lands on top of it. "Ow!"
The magi replied, "Thanks Axle." She turned into her human form and the chains dropped to the ground around her. She walked over the man and looked down at him, "So how are you feeling Axle? Are my nieces still at the hot spring cave?" She hissed through her teeth after feeling the throbbing pain from her back and head.
As Axle sat up and looked at Atlas, he said, "Ya, they are still in the hot springs place. And how I feel on the other hand, exhausted from all the running I did to get here. My legs feel like jelly because of that."
The woman felt a bit bad about the state of the dragon lord's legs and said, "Eh, sorry I had you running like that."
The man came to his feet and said, "What about you? Seeing how you fought Spinx and two lords and came out a bit fine there, minus the fact you were chain to the ground."
As Atlas got the awkward feel of trying to make her hand reach either the throbbing back or head, she replied, "Bad... Spinx got me good with that bones spell he sent at me. Now my head and my back are hurting like crazy."
Axle gave her an expression of pity before saying, "Come on, let's get back to the cave before something else bad happens."
Atlas gave a short nod and said, "Right!" She teleported both herself and him back to the spring cave.
Author's Note: I couldn't figure out how to reword this sentence from draco's post: The two Dragon lords, both a Black red scaled dragons. as a acid red blood color drool on the ground. Anyway, I'm thinking about doing some revisions to the past chapters to keep in near canon with the Dragon Cave encyclopedia before I do my next chapter.
UPDATE: I fixed the spelling and grammar errors in this chapter.
Spinx, Juna, Mekarth, Dracul, Sirath, Eve, and Tork (c) Lorddraco8967