Hello everybody! I'm so, so sorry for the lateness of this chapter! I was forced to leave my technology behind during a trip to another part of my family. But, in the meantime, I managed to write up enough of a draft to finish this chapter.
Also as a warning for everyone who knows anything about Latin, I tried using Google Translate to make certain parts of this chapter and the results are... Bad. They're just bad.
So if you guys can read Latin, I implore you to ignore the horrible, sickening spelling errors and broken Latin written in this chapter.
RoseSeraph: Perhaps. I've heard of soldiers who take on too much responsibility and unconsciously hurt themselves because of the lives they have taken. Fatalis is out, because the Commander himself stated they the New World would have felt the presence of a Black Dragon. And who knows, maybe Eclipsen will be tied to his bed this time instead of left to his own devices.
UnkownSoul: Indeed it is.
Ceoko: I'm glad you like it! And here is the chapter you've been waiting for.
Touhoufanatic: I'm glad I've done so well, and I agree wholeheartedly. Some fics I've read just don't have any substance to the story if you get what I mean.
ShadowfireAngel: Yes, but the question is how will she cope with emotions? As far as I know, monsters don't feel real emotions like we do, so I'm sure it's a shock for her.
Luine Mercury LWG: You might be right about that one. Black Dragons are shown to do irreversible damage to the environment, so who's to say the same isn't possible for living things? Also the name is coming up in the next chapter, so you better hold onto your butt!
Raime063AN: That observation was glorious. Also yeah, Eclipsen being bedridden will be quite a problem for him I imagine. Also thank you. I don't have much confidence when it comes to lots of dialogue. I'm good at actions scenes, but dialogue isn't my forte.
The Megaevolved Pony: Upside, you crying in the inside means I've written a good story! Or at least that what my highschool English teacher told me.
BlazingNova: As much as I appreciate you liking it, I apologise from the bottom of my heart about the delay. I know the feel of checking for a chapter every other hour and finding nothing.
And with the reviews responded to, Onward with the Story!
As Astera fell further into the darkness of nighttime, an eerie silence absorbed the settlement. The anxiety in Astera was plain to see, as many were restlessly staying up late into the night, with candles burning and shining out into the light despite the larger braziers and lamps having been out out by the rain. The night was colder than usual, with a chill sinking into the bones of Astera. The rain deepened the cold with it's gift of moisture, making some of the coldest areas in Astera begin to freeze.
Among the many people who were unable to sleep was Angela, who was busy writing up the report the Commander had asked for. The feather pen in her now un-armored hand feeling somewhat flimsy in comparison to some of the other pens she had packed. But a pen was a pen and the ink on the utensil continued to weave together elegant strokes of black that formed neat letters.
Angela's eyebrows furrowed as she wrote. The events of the battle flashed through her mind like a nightmare, the memories almost painful to recall thanks to their heavy outcome. She couldn't pull her mind from the fact that her friend was stuck in a hospital bed, his bones most likely being forcefully put back together through some highly advanced surgery. She sighed as she finished her sentence, lifting the pen from the paper and placing it gently into the small pen holder next to her.
She looked up and gazed around the room she, Richard, Nina and Fabien had been assigned. It looked identical to the room Eclipsen had, but it was sparse and empty in comparison. A chandelier hung from the ceiling, with small metal caps having been lowered onto the candles to put them out. Two beds sat on the right and left sides of the room, with leather woven hammocks hanging above them in a subversion of the usual bunk bed. The desk she sat at was directly next to her own chosen bed on the right side of the room. The desk itself was situated in front of a large side window that had it's curtains drawn.
Richard slept soundly in the hammock above Angela's bed, his armor having been discarded and exposing the black latex shirt and pants he wore underneath them. His cross glinted in the darkness of the room, catching what little light there was. Angela sighed again. Even if she didn't have to write up the report, sleep would probably evade her. She didn't know how Richard managed to ignore the harm that was done to Eclipsen, though she knew that deep down Richard was just was worried as everyone was.
Angela's eyes lingered on Richard's cross. It was a symbol of an ancient religion that had faded into obscurity, yet Richard held onto it like it was a gift from a loved one. In reality they had found it in one of the ruins that dotted the Old World along with a thick tome written in the old, almost dead language that the ancient civilization had used. Richard had taken a liking to the cross and had the book translated, which he then read over the course of a few weeks. It had changed him, in a subtle and almost unnoticeable way. Before he had read it, he expressed his worries by not sleeping, staying late into the night and staring at whatever was above him.
But afterwards, sleep took him far more easily. He carried the cross with him everywhere, having made it into a necklace. He often recited small passages from the book when he felt they were appropriate. Angela believed that he had found some measure of closure in the pages of that book, and whatever comfort it brought him she welcomed. She just wondered what exactly he had read in that book to make him change such small yet important things about himself.
She sighed once more and looked back at the sheet of paper she was writing on. There was a little more than half of the events of the night to write down, and she didn't look forward to recalling the instant that Eclipsen's bones had been brutally broken and shattered. Angela lifted a hand and pinched the bridge of her nose, trying to ward off what felt like a headache. The sound of gentle rainfall became louder for a moment, signalling that the rain was becoming more unforgiving again.
She elected to ignore the sound of the rain and removed her fingers from her face, plucking the feather pen from it's holder and dipping it in the inkwell. She placed the pen onto the paper and began to write once more. The sound of the metal tip of the pen gliding on the paper was soothing, despite the uncomfortable memories that Angela was being forced to think about.
She wrote for another three minutes, writing up another paragraph of vivid detail. She even remembered parts of the battle she couldn't quite explain, like the strange feeling that she had felt from Eclipsen while he strangled the Deviljho. It had been the same feeling of foreboding that she felt when she was around particularly dangerous Elder Dragons. Gogmazios, Dalamadur and especially Dire Maralis invoked the same feeling in her, and it was somewhat unsettling that she had gotten the same feeling from her good friend.
The sound of the leather hammock rustling pulled Angela out of her thoughts and she placed a period at the end of her sentence. She glanced over her shoulder as she placed the leather pen back into it's holder. Richard rubbed his eyes with the palms of his hands as he sat up in the hammock; a feat that wasn't easy to perform thanks to the movable nature of the leather.
"Angie? You still up?"
He asked, using the shortened version of her name. She wasn't fond of the nickname, as she found it somewhat girlish. Angela swiveled in her seat to face the bed and her friend, resting her arm on the back of the wooden chair.
"Yeah."
She said with little emotion. Richard nodded as he crawled out of the hammock and dropped to the floor, his feet landing with a thud on the wood planks. He rubbed at his right eye, seemingly trying to dispel an itch in the ocular organ. He walked over to where the desk was and stopped just short of standing next to Angela, peering over her shoulder to gaze at the report on the desk.
"Still writing that report?"
He asked as he finished scratching his eye. Angela only answered with a nod, her gaze shifting to the floor. Richard sighed as he lowered his arm, allowing the limb to go limp and make a slapping noise against his side. Angela barely noticed, her emerald eyes too focused on the masterfully crafted wood planks that made up the floorboards to noticed.
Richard's expression shifted and he took a step forward, reaching out and grabbing the report from the desk. Angela looked at him with surprise and slight offense as he carried the paper away from the desk.
"Go to bed."
He ordered, pointing half-heartedly at the bed as he did. His tone didn't come off as mean or cranky, but instead it carried the air of concern. Angela lifted herself from the chair, which brought the fact that she hadn't removed her Diablos leggings to light. She took a tiny step toward her friend before speaking quietly.
"But I-"
"I'll finish it. Go to bed."
Richard cut her off, which resulted in Angela's shoulders slumping slightly. After a second of Richard staring at her, she nodded and moved towards the bed.
Richard watched for small while as his old friend prepared for sleep before looking down at the report. He skimmed it quickly, noticing a few spelling errors that could easily be fixed with some extra ink.
He smiled. Richard still didn't know why everyone found writing reports so hard.
-Transition-
Nergigante yawned as she drew the blankets further around herself. The chill that had gripped the room was a stark and uncomfortable contrast to the warm nights that Astera usually felt. Nergigante was no stranger to the heat, but the cold was something she was un-accustomed to.
Eclipsen's absence also made the bed that much colder.
Nergigante held the blanket a little tighter. Ever since she had accepted the reality that she was developing feelings for the Hunter, thoughts like those had been ruthlessly assaulting her mind. They often made her maloncholy about Eclipsen's absence, though she knew it was only temporary.
These thoughts confused her as well. She had mated before in the wild, but it had never drawn out these feelings from her. Mating was simply a process to continue her lineage and to give her young the best chance of survival. Feelings of love and affection were temporary for her species. It was rare for Nergigante to settle and mate with another for life, as mating season happened only once every ten winters.
Though now, she found that deep down inside her instincts were disappointed that she hadn't spent her first mating season with the Hunter. Nergigante shoved that thought aside, as dwelling on the past would only bring more sad memories. She couldn't deny that she missed her family and the relatively simple life that her old body had, but hanging onto the wish to return to those times only prevented her from moving forward.
Nergigante sighed heavily and rolled over, allowing her wings to stretch out and hang over the edge of her side of the bed. She reached out and grabbed Eclipsen's pillow from his side and wrapped her arms around it, cuddling the fluffy object. It wasn't warm, but her body heat would fix that problem in a few minutes. What made the pillow valuable was the lingering scent of Eclipsen. Nergigante buried her face into the soft material, drawing in a quiet breath to take in the full extent of the Hunter's smell.
She couldn't quite describe what he smelled like, but she likened it to the smell of experience and old age. It was far from the stale smell of age that old Elder Dragons were caked in. Instead, it was more like the earthy scent of a honeysuckle filled meadow combined with the sweet smell of blood. It spoke of years of battle and bloodshed, hiding a soft layer of kindness and joy underneath.
Nergigante felt tears begin to wet her eyes as the image of Eclipsen's face faded into her mind. The pull of sleep edged it's way into the corners of Eclipsen's image, staining his mirage with a tinge of shadow.
Eventually, after a minute of focusing on the one she was infatuated with, Nergigante felt the hands of sleep pull her into a peaceful abyss.
-Transition-
At first, the darkness of sleep was all that Nergigante felt. She took comfort in the darkness, finding the drowsy and cloudy feeling of deep sleep just as cuddly as Sundancer's fur. The darkness was a like a loving mother that had wrapped it's arms around Nergigante, lulling her back into the gentle hold of peaceful dreams.
But the darkness did not stay.
It wasn't long before Nergigante awoke in a completely different place. The cloudy feeling of a dream still lingered in her mind, but what her eyes perceived was vivid and eerily real. She looked around, finding herself in a very different environment compared to the last nightmare she had.
She stood in an expanse of white, made completely of ivory marble. The floor was almost unnaturally smooth, carved to perfection by some forgotten dream craftsman. Large dried smears of blood stained a few places in the marble field, along with huge jagged gashes that looked to be from sharpened claws being dragged across the floor.
Nergigante blinked at her new surroundings, her mind taking a few seconds to realize the change in scenery. The switch between comforting darkness and blaring white and red was jarring. She quickly regained her senses when she realized someone other than herself was residing in the white plains of marble.
A figure stood straight ahead, their long black waist cloth waving in an invisible wind that Nergigante didn't feel. Just a few feet in front of the figure was a large, circular hole at least fifty feet wide and only the stars knew how deep. Nergigante spared another glance at her surroundings before her body moved on it's own.
She walked slowly forward, trying to stay at least somewhat quiet. Though the claws on her feet betrayed her by making soft tapping sounds on the white marble. As she walked, she became painfully aware of the silence that pervaded the white plains. It wasn't the solemn quiet that had fallen on Astera or the foreboding silence that had come after Eclipsen slew the Deviljho. Instead, it was like sound itself was afraid to exert it's presence.
The walk towards the figure took longer than Nergigante expected, but the exact time wasn't what she was focused on. She was instead noticing more and more about the figure as she moved.
The figure was a man, standing tall and pridefully in front of the large pit. The black cloth that streamed from his waist was in fact a tattered and bloodstained version of Eclipsen's own Death Stench Bowels. The tears in the black waist cloth revealed that underneath the man wore a torn and damaged version of Eclipsen's Girros Greaves.
The similarities between the man and Eclipsen were startling, as the man sported the same lions mane of ghostly white hair, almost blending into the white background he stood in. He lacked any kind of clothing in his arms and torso, expsoing his back and chest for the strange dream world to see. Nergigante couldn't see the leather strap that held the Dragonking Eyepatch around Eclipsen's eye hidden in the man's hair either.
The biggest difference that Nergigante could see was on the man's exposed body. Scars littered the man's pale flesh, mirroring Eclipsen's own battle wounds to an uncanny degree. But the scars on the man looked to have been freshly opened through battle, and small trickles of lightly colored blood dripped from the damaged tissue. Nergigante recognized a few of the scars from the night she had spent tracing them on Eclipsen's back, but the scars that she had seen healed were now torn open.
Nergigante continued her walk forward, now closer to the man by a few feet. Who was this human? Why did he mirror Eclipsen so perfectly? Where those scars reopened through battle like she thought or by something else? Too many questions danced in Nergigante's head, clouding her mind further along with the cotton like feeling of the dream world.
Nergigante shivered slightly as she grew closer to the man. She noticed another strange detail about the world she was in; there was no color. Only black, white and red painted the strange plains of white that she had been drawn into. That fact became even more real as the man turned, revealing his glowing crimson eye. It was striking at first, with the only other hints of red in the white plains being the smears of dried blood in the distance and the man's bloody wounds.
The man stared at Nergigante, his crimson eye scanning her own yellow orbs for something she couldn't begin to imagine. She felt her body unconsciously shrink before his gaze and her knees bent, lowering her into a kneeling position at the man's metal booted feet. She hadn't even recognized the action until her hands were on the white marble floor, revealing that even her scales had been stripped of color and reduced to a deep black.
"Et venerunt. Bonum."
The man's voice was strange as it rang out through the silent plains of white. It echoed before and after the words had been spoken, as if the future itself longed to hear him speak. Nergigante tore her gaze away from her now inky black scales, looking up at the man with expectation, curiosity and confusion in her eyes. The man had turned to face her fully, once again confirming that the Dragonking Eyepatch was missing.
Nergigante felt her stomach and heart lurch at the sight of the man's bloodied eyesocket, devoid of an eye and only replaced by blood that was much darker in color compared to the other open wounds on his body. The blood from his missing eye trailed down onto his cheek, just barely grazing the side of his mouth. He still bore the mustache and soul patch that Eclipsen did, but it was stained slightly by blood, muddying the pristine white it normally was.
A flittering movement to her left drew a quick glance from Nergigante and she noticed that the black waist cloth was still billowing in an absent wind.
"Sto, maioris expresserant. Volo loqui tecum."
The man spoke again, his voice slicing through the quiet environment like a sharpened blade and echoing even further like the roar of a great animal. Nergigante didn't recognize the language he spoke in, but for something deep inside her understood. Her body moved before her mind could process it again, standing slowly to meet the man's eye level. Nergigante scanned his face, trying hard to ignore the bloody mess that made up his left eye and find some sign of emotion. She found none.
Nergigante let out a shaky breath once she realized that she had been holding air in her lungs since she found herself in this place. She wanted to ask so many questions, but the one that pervaded her mind only demanded to know who the man was. The man's face shifted ever so slightly with the tiniest raising of his right eyebrow. The vivid crimson color of his eyes flickered too quickly for Nergigante to conciously notice, instead only registering as a feeling of unease. The echo of his voice bounced through the area before his lips even moved, once again reverberating through the white plains like an explosion.
"Quis ego sum, non res. Quid ego tibi hic, quod nempe sit id quod est magni momenti."
Once again, Nergigante didn't know what the man said, but for some reason it felt like she knew the meaning of them regardless of the difference in language. The man remained silent for a moment, scanning Nergigante in the same way she was observing him; looking for any trace of emotion or a reaction. It seemed that neither of them found anything, because the man then raised a hand and lifted his index finger, not even bothering to react to the stretching of his open wounds, and spoke again.
"Eclipsen hominem dixeris. Qui mos postulo vestri auxilium cito. Omnia possum destruere feci ipsum et detinebant illum ne studiis teneri omnia feci eum."
Nergigante had a hard time wrapping her head around the combination of the foreign language and the echoes that came before and after the man spoke, but her soul seemed to understand fully. This person was an enigma, but Nergigante was invested in what he had to say. The man then lowered his raised hand and offered it. Nergigante responded by reaching out and taking his hand out of courtesy. The man's expression didn't change even slightly as he raised his other arm and pointed towards the deep pit that was behind him.
"Tempus est ad me, ut dimittas eum, et ad eum lux de me. Qui autem irascatur Dominus, ad primum. Sed omne ibi est opus ad facere. Deinde, ut se perdidit. Vos postulo ut dirigeret viam eius egredietur de labore suo. Et omne quod illi tenuit, omne passus est culpam suam, et omnem animam suam in iniustitia quam operatus fuerit, dimittentur ei et vera luceant potential mos."
Finally, Nergigante's body found the will to do more than just stand idly while the man talked. Her lips opened and an echo rang out before her own voice met the air. The sound that came out of her mouth repeated the same query that had been plaguing her mind.
"Who are you?"
She asked, her confusion and slight desperation audible in the single word she had uttered. The man turned his head and looked at her once more before offering his left hand. Nergigante glanced at the appendage for a moment before taking it, allowing the man to gently shake both of her hands in a friendly motion.
"Like I said, it does not matter. All that matters is that you be there for him."
Nergigante knew who the man was referring to; Eclipsen. It was already obvious from the mention of his name in the words of that strange language and combined with Nergigante's eery ability to understand the unknown words.
"How?"
She asked, her voice cracking partly thanks to it being her second time using it and the anxiety that was creeping into her. Why did she need to be there for Eclipsen? How did this man know so much? The man shook her hands gently once more, placing a thumb on the back of her knuckles in a reassuring manner.
"Do what you have already decided to do. Uphold the ideals and goals he has given you. Follow in his footsteps and guide his way. When he wakes he will be different. But you, O Black Arrow, will cut the way to his future."
Nergigante opened her mouth to ask another question, but before her voice could leave her throat a wall of heat smacked into both of them. Nergigante recoiled at the sudden heat in her face while the man simply looked over his shoulder at the large pit. He let go of Nergigante's hands and turned, facing the large marble abyss with a brave posture.
Nergigante quickly shook away the shock of the heat colliding with her face, watching in disbelief as the man took a few steps toward the edge of the pit. He glanced down the large circular hole before taking a step back, turning to address the Elder Dragon one more time.
"Our time is up, Black Arrow. Remember, all you need to do is move forward. Prove that you are a hero."
Nergigante could only watch as a hue of red climbed up the walls of the marble pit along with a wall of even hotter air. Small smoldering ashes floated up out of the pit, giving the air a familiar scent. Memories of the last nightmare she had flashed back into Nergigante's mind, along with the image of the giant dragon bound by hooks and nails.
The man simply faced the pit and extended his arms, forcing some of the accumulated blood from his wounds to drip and hit the marble ground. The sheer heat from the pit then made the droplets of crimson sizzle and burn as they met the white floor. The man opened his mouth and let out a quiet sigh before he spoke once more, his voice echoing even louder than before.
"Venit porro, Qui Deum! Vestra procella odio consumat hoc vas pudor! Sit reliqua vulnera sanari per lumen spei! I offer you my life, so that the future can exist!"
Nergigante lifted her arms to shield her face and body from the scalding hot wind that was pouring out of the pit, watching as more embers flew into the white sky. Smoke billowed out and began to stain the sky black, the image of the dark miasma once again invoking the memory of that dragon in Nergigante's head.
A roar came screaming out of the pit, making the air vibrate in it's wake. It was the same roar as the dragon in the nightmare. Nergigante forgot about her wellbeing as she reached out for the man, hoping to pull him away before something horrible happened.
Before she could grab and pull the man away, the dragon erupted from the pit. It's claws anchored it to the side of the pit and held it upright as it reared it's head into the sky, letting out a vicious and ear bursting howl. Nergigante recoiled as the sound tore hell through her head, making her stumble backwards as a result of the assault her eardums were enduring.
Then, just as abruptly, the roar ended. Nergigante looked up just in time to see the maw of the very familiar dragon open like a vice and come crashing down on the man, eating him whole.
A horrible sound rang out as the dream turned nightmare ended.