Bit of a short chapter comrades, but I wanted to get it out. I'll explain at the bottom.
Begin!
"And there he was, at the razors edge between creation and destruction, the Edge of Oblivion," Jaune said, his voice rising in volume and emphasis, "Staring into the eye, of Altakreth, the Void Dragon."
A crack of thunder split the swirling vortex of a sky, briefly illuminating the land around him, giving the adventurer another view of the wasteland around him. A desolate hellscape, nothing but dark mud and ash layered ground, with black ice, ash and rain hailing from the dark cloud cover, permanently enshrouding the land in eternal night. All around, the ghosts of trees lanced upwards, thick, pointed spears of barren vegetation, rising unimaginably high, some piercing the dark far above.
It went by many names. The elves called it, 'Manke i' taure tyela', 'Where the Forest Ends'. The dwarves called it 'Where Diamonds Die'. The Celestials called it 'So hwou si soop', or 'The End of Creation'. But in the common tongue, it was known by one name; 'The Edge of Oblivion.'
For it was truly the end. A small continent in the middle of the Great Sea, the Edge was almost entirely inaccessible to all. Surrounded by a perpetual storm system, the Edge of Oblivion's blasted hellscape of an environment was marked by two things. A titanic mountain range ringing the entire continent, and a great swirling vortex, a portal of immeasurable proportions directly in the center.
It only took a second, but in the blink of an eye, he appeared. Erandiel gasped, his grip on his longsword and shield tightening as the burning purple eye of Altakreth glared down at him, an all consuming madness barely contained with pure magical affinity alone.
He was titanic, at least three hundred twenty feet long from maw to tail tip, and now with his midnight black hide illuminated by the bolts of lightning raining down behind him, Erandiel could see his entire form.
Beginning with the head, Altakreth sported a set of great jaws, U shaped and lined with two rows of razor like fangs. Each tooth was like black glass, with wicked points and vicious edges, the surfaces pulsing with a deep violet hue, which appeared bright against the backdrop of his maw, from which it appears so dark no light could illuminate it.
Crowning his twenty foot head was a set of magnificent horns, each of the five protrusions measuring at least a dozen feet in length, with gentle curves, making them flow like rivers as they glowed an ethereal purple.
The dragons long neck, fifty feet of muscular scale and might, melted into the body, showing a torso of around thirty feet, with the hips some other twenty feet behind that. From his main body came a series of limbs. Great arms, some forty feet from shoulder to claw tip pawed at the earth, leaving massive prints wherever they fell. From his hips came two forty foot legs, digitigrade, capped with wide draconic feet, the three clawed appendages raking the ground, rich violet talons tearing huge rents and trenches simply by moving.
The other half of the dragon was taken up by his tail. Two hundred feet of thick scales and muscle coated bone, midnight hide glinting with the piercing gaze of the lightning. The ridge, a series of great pointed spines, each with a needle point and gentle wave, that began at his head and ran down to his tail ended at the end of his tail was instead a void of inky black, flowing like the fur at the end of a lions tail, leaving inky black tails when it moved.
A deep rumbling from Altakreths chest came a second before his gargantuan wings unfurled. A two hundred foot wingspan came from his back, and would have blotted out the sun has the warming light of the star even been visible. Instead, they cast yet another shadow over the dead lands, as he unleashed a roar that split the heavens.
An unfathomably loud noise, like a deafening shriek fused with a booming thunderclap blasted out of the dragons mouth, a visible wave from the roar slamming into Eraniel and knocking him down.
With his presence announced sufficiently, Altakreth lit up in a display of draconic strength. His glowing purple eyes glowed brighter, the harsh light making his irises and pupils indistinguishable from the rest of the organs. His scutes began glowing, his now luminous underside illuminating the ground beneath his titanic frame.
All over his body, the spaces in between his scales began glowing, just like his horned crown and spiked ridge, with an almost majestic purple hue. His teeth began to glow, as did the inside of his mouth, transforming the great yawning black abyss of his maw into a furious vortex that glowed with the light of a raging fire.
His monstrous wings became awe inspiring light shows, like portals into the void between stars themselves. Across the jet black canvas of Altakreths wings came brilliant streaks of light, racing across his wings like comets across the night sky, mirroring the arcs of arcane power crackling across his body, purple bolts of raw magic power leapt from horn to horn, down his spine, across his body, like a series of lightning rods in a thunderstorm.
Erandiel himself was paralyzed with fear, and could only watch in horror as the laws of gravity itself began falling apart, random stones and bits of ice beginning to float, as the glowing violet claw of the Void Dragon delivered a savage uppercut.
"Did he die?" Ruby whispered, having found her way into Yangs arms. Everyone was on the edge of their seats, or at least they would have been were they in seats. It had only taken a few minutes of storytelling, around three quarters of the soon to be students had forgone sleeping in favor of listening intently to the story.
"Shhh," Yang whispered back, trying to listen to the story, "He's still going."
"But through an incredible stroke of luck," Jaune continued, "He survived, the tip of the blazing violet claw just nicking him, sending him flying."
With a sharp cry of pain, Erandiel dragged himself to his feet, and tried in vain to staunch the veritable waterfall of blood pouring from his face. His eye was gone, the dragon's claw having carved a trench from his mid chest to the top of his forehead, splitting his cheek open and destroying his right eye.
At another booming roar, Erandiel turned and ran, longsword and shield behind him in the dirt. He sprinted as fast as he possibly, could, his half-elven heritage helping somewhat, his large legs carrying him at impressive speeds for someone wearing armor.
But right on his heels was Altakreth, his footsteps shaking the land, each booming rumble almost knocking Erandiel off his feet. The whoosh of air and the slight groan of exertion from the legendary dragon was all the adventurer needed to dive for cover, as Altakreths titanic tail slammed down where he stood naught a second before.
Picking himself up, Erandiel kept running, until he reached the edge. The monstrous vortex at the center of the Edge of Oblivion was right before him, a great yawning void, two miles in diameter, forming a perfect circle around the unfathomable depths.
However, the sheet of ice, around a foot or two thick, and colored with a slight hint of black, was what allowed Erandiel to set foot on it, with the only readily visible side effects being the black ice that began creeping up his boots, as well as the roaring and violent winds suddenly picking up even more, the wind pressure whipping Erendiels cape and waistcloth around and the stinging gales almost blinding his keen elven eyes.
Deciding not to look a gift void in the abyss, he ran. His boots pounding across the ice, the rumbling footfalls of Altakreth keeping him moving. Turning back for a moment, he glimpsed the Void Dragon stepping onto the ice, which shattered under his massive bulk. Stepping back a bit, Altakreth screeched at Erandiel, unleashing a piercing scream, the volume of which not only defended Erandiel for a few seconds, but left a ringing in his ears.
At the center of the ice coated vortex was a great spire. A solid pillar of obsidian hued stone, rising straight up, stabbing through the thick, greyish black clouds like a demented lance thrust towards the sky.
Erandiel sprinted for it, and at the sound of air rushing, he looked up, and saw Altakreth gliding over him, wings partially opened, contrails of inky black void trailing from his midnight wings. He watched as the massive dragon swooped upwards, wings of night carrying him up through the clouds, giving the Edge of Oblivion a glimpse of the world above. The beast swiftly reached the apex of the spire, and landed atop its stony perch.
Altakreth looked down, blazing eyes now pinpricks from atop his roost, and roared once more, the sound and shockwave from the unnatural noise parting the clouds around the spire, letting more and more of the Edge to see the world above.
But with Altakreths fearsome bark came a far worse bite, as he soon backed up his threatening bellows with magical attacks, sending a cascade of flaming violet meteors to rain down from on high, whizzing past his roost, each zipping through the lower cloud cover and down to the vortex below.
It was as if armageddon had descended upon Erandiel, who frantically dodged flaming purple comets, each impact smashing through the ice with no resistance, opening up great stretches of the vortex, the black tinged ice crumbling away into the void below.
With a final leap, Erandiel jumped from the ice to the spire, grabbing hold of small footholds, little black spikes measuring about a foot long each, clinging on for dear life as the rest of the ice fell into the dark.
He waited, hands wrapped around the spikes, holding onto his only lifeline with a death grip that would make a python jealous, for the barrage to stop. Once Altakreths onslaught had ceased, he began to climb, slowly making his way up the spire, the dizzying heights of the peak barely appearing any nearer, even after an hour of climbing.
What did appear, about an hour in and a mile up, was Altakreth. Diving down out of the thick, swirling clouds, his giant frame swooped down, violet flames spilling from his jaws and black darkness trailing from his wings as he bore down on Erandiel.
With an undignified yelp, the renowned adventurer threw himself as far to the side as he could, managing to throw himself just out of the dragons line of sight. And not s moment too soon, as purple fire blasted his previous position, the half second, fly-by roasting entirely melting the stone spikes off the spire,
An audible crunching and scraping noise made itself known as Altakreth himself began holding onto the black stone pillar, claws and talons digging into the surface to give purchase, while the void dragons grip cracked the spire, sending a spiderweb of lines wherever they fell.
Now moving with an incredible pace, Erandiel raced Altakreth up the spire, pitting his speed and nimbleness against his opponents unrelenting stamina and strength.
"It took him five hours," Jaune said, having attracted about ninety percent of the room to his story, "Five hours of climbing and dodging to reach the spire. Every foot of progress Erandiel made, Altakreth made ten, only keeping ahead of the dragon because of its sheer weight, dragging it down nine feet with each movement."
"Once he breached the cloud layer, which had reformed in the absence of the meteor storm, Erandiel could see the top. He had lost Altakreth some ten minutes ago, and could no longer even hear the beast." Ruby looked around, seeing everyone listening. Even Weiss and Blake, the girl who had defende Ruby against Weiss, the latter of which having put her book down to come listen.
"Above the clouds was only more wasteland," The knight said, "High above the black blanket was a grey ceiling, where the dull grey ash clouds turned into a storm of unholy proportions. A huge, almost jagged hurricane swirled far above, tendrils of lightning illuminating the storm momentarily."
"Just as Erandiel reached the top, just as his left hand reached the ledge…" Jaune paused, "BAM!"
It only was a split second. A flash of purple light, an intense heat, suddenly his left arm was gone. Adrenaline suppressing the pain, Erandiel quickly grabbed the ledge with his remaining arm, hauling his body up, and collapsing at the top.
Shakily, after a few minutes of wallowing in excruciating pain, he picked himself up. He booming sound of Altakreth nearing the top was getting louder and closer. Now on his feet, Erandiel had long since given up on stopping the steady flow of blood from his ruined eye, his arm no longer a concern, seeing how the wound had been cauterized.
A deep groan of exertion rumbled the pillar, as the massive black and purple paw of Altakreth reached up out of the clouds, and slammed down atop the flat apex of the spire. The perfectly flat surface of spire was about sixty feet in diameter, probably just enough to fit Altakreth.
The obsidian colored stone cracked and gave way partially as the monstrous void dragon heaved itself up onto the flat plane. He glared at Erandiel, blazing purple eyes burning with the fury of a thousand dying stars in the night. Altakreth reared back, sitting up on his two rear legs, and roared, spreading his wings with a flourish that sent inky darkness into the air.
At the dragons rage, the world began falling apart, cracks spiderwebing across the platform, wind swirling faster, debris floating in defiance of gravity, black ice, rain and ash flying upwards, purple mist wafting off the glowing dragons purple highlights, mixing with the thick black darkness trailing from its wings.
From such a closer range, the dragons deafening roar became painful, sharp needles of red hot agony stabbing into Erandiels ears, until they simply gave up, and a muted rumbling and dull ringing was all he could hear.
Altakreth paused, cracking his gaping jaws open, the interior of which began glowing brighter and brighter, accompanied by a deep humming, a bassy, echoing drone that set Erandiels nerves on edge.
Letting his instincts guide him, the adventurer dove to the ground, narrowly avoiding a huge beam of white and purple energy that obliterated the ground where he stood, carving a hole a dozen feet in depth, fading swiftly as steam billowed from the dragons mouth.
Erandiel saw Altakreth rear up again, mouth aglow and deep hum vibrating his chest. He knew this was, it, the end of the line. Here he was, more than half dead, down and arm and an eye, up two deaf ears, bleeding out atop the spire of the Edge of Oblivion.
"Erandiel…" The half-elf adventurer looked around, as the echoey voice returned, "My faithful servant."
He tried to speak, but considering he had been essentially deafened, Erandiel had no idea what he was really saying, while the glow of Altakreths maw only got brighter and brighter.
"You have proven yourself to me…" The voice said again, as Erandiel felt power rush into his body, steadily flowing and condensing in his remaining arm, "You will not survive this...but I'm sure you already knew that. The end is inevitable."
"Death waits for no man…" He whispered to himself, only a microsecond passing before the reply.
"Correct." It spoke, "I wait for no man."
Erandiel watched as Altakreth attacked, the purple energy beam blasting forth from his mouth. Using the power gifted to him, Erandiel retaliated, firing a beam of black and green energy from his right palm. The two attacks collided, pushing against each other in a stunning lightshow. But the raw might of the Void Dragon was winning, and the epicenter of the collision was slowly shifted toward Erandiel.
In a final, valiant act of defiance and desperation, Erandiel pushed all the energy and power he had into the attack, even sacrificing his own to power his final move. Unprepared for the sudden assault, Altakreths blazing eyes widened in shock as the green and black energy beam raced toward him.
"Erandiels blow pushed through the purple energy, and slammed into Altakreth, the raw necrotic power and strength of his patron, Kelemvor, God of Death, was enough to overpower the might of the dragon, the attack rending his soul from his body, killing the beast." Jaune continued, nearing the end of his tale, "The body hung for a moment, as the eyes dimmed and the glow died out, before the corpse of the dragon fell, all the way down the spire, with darkness trailing form his stilled wings, down into the swirling vortex below."
"Suddenly, the sky cleared, the wind died, and while the storm halted and dissipated, Erandiel dropped," Drawing a hushed gasp from the audience, "first down to one knee, then two, and then to the floor as his strength failed him one last time."
"Slowly, his breathing stilled, his heart stopped, and his eyes shut themselves." Jaune spoke, "The last thing he saw, was a clear night sky, and a single comet racing across the dark."
"This was the end of his story," The knight spoke, seeing saddened looks in the eyes of a few listeners, "he was honored as a legendary hero, known for his final, defiant attack, the Soulpiercer."
"Erandiel, known now as the Void Slayer had won despite his death." The blonde said, the slightly somber look of his audience motivating him to finish. "With the death of Altakreth, the Edge of Oblivion was at peace. The skies cleared, the storms stopped, and the sun shone upon the Dark Continent once more."
"The end." He finished, letting out an exhausted yet satisfied sigh as the two hours of storytelling came to an end. His audience, now seeming much more tired than they had been a few seconds before, gave him a quiet round of applause, and a few thanked him, before heading back to their bedrolls and going to sleep.
All, save for the wraith watching through the window.
Well lookie here, seems I've stopped the whole '2 month wait between chapters' thing for now. I wanted to get this out on halloween, but my Venom Snake costume took more time than I thought it would, but It was abso-fucking-lutley worth it.
But I would have made this chapter go right up to the initiation, but I felt it ended on a really good point for a smaller, almost stand alone chapter, so here it is.
Please review, let me know what you think!
-Athk0r3