Chapter Six
Baby,
I compare you to a kiss from a rose on the grave,
Ooh, the more I get of you,
Stranger it feels, yeah.
Now that your rose is in bloom,
A light hits the gloom on the grave.
The final battle was going as planned. Surprisingly enough, the Divine Dragon did begin the assault on Kadessa without much convincing from either human or Dragoon. It desired to pay back the winglies for all what the flying species has done to his own kin. Releasing a devastating barrage of fireballs from it chest, hundreds of building now laid in ruin.
Thinking the beast a mere dragon, the winglies attacked in the name of Melbu Frahma, followed by three virages. The swarm charged bravely enough but the Divine Dragon wasn't here for play. Charging its central eye, the dragon released its most overwhelming attack, that of its Divine Dragon Cannon. In seconds, the winglies and virages were hit by the beam and in seconds, they were no more.
Flying high above in the cover of clouds, Zieg on Red-Eye Vigorot, smiled as he heard the chaos below him. This war would end one way or the other. His smile became a grin as a great wingly general appeared, holding a unique staff. Sending off its power at the dragon, a virage landed hard behind the great beast, tearing off one of its eight wings. The Divine Dragon repaid the virage as it came back with its serpent like neck and torn the virage's head from its shoulders in a single bite.
It was time. Each Dragoon flew down to the city with their respected dragons. Once below the first sky scraper, the Dragoons let their dragons loose on the city and then, they were on their own. It wasn't difficult to tell friend from foe, so when a wingly flew in they fought with as much magic as they could to the strange winged humans. The fighting was going smoothly; dragon against virage, Dragoon against wingly, but then, it came.
Slamming through two buildings, a creature of blocky size and proportion and a single huge arm crashed down into the fray. Under one such building, Belzec and Shirley were pinned, with Belzec holding up the roof and using his body as a shield. The super virage took careful aim at the exposed Earth Dragoon.
"Shirely, run," Belzec pleaded weakly but the ever noble woman would not leave a friend.
"Belzec!" Shirley replied, taking aim with her bow. "Your death will not be in vain."
The super virage released its explosive attack as an arrow dug deep into the eye, too little, too late. The building exploded, crushing the two poor souls in tons of stone as the super virage fell to the streets. There, it met a whirlwind covered in lightning, blasting it out of the city and plummeting to the earth below.
"Come, stick together," called the Fire Dragoon as Syuveil and Kanzas was satisfied by killing that super virage to avenge their friends deaths.
Together, the five moved on to the inner sanctum of Kadessa, sending fire, dark, wind, thunder, and ice attacks at any in their way. A blast from behind caught Damia in the wing, causing her to spiral out of control and to fall to the street. Though Kanzas found her annoying, she was still human and still his… friend. Finding the origin of the blast was easy as a super virage, the shape of a snake, wasn't difficult to find. Turning back, he dived for it, planting his fists into the beast's head.
"Kanzas! Rose cried but the martial artist would hear none of it. The beast's strength was almost unbelievable as it almost shook the Thunder Dragoon off it with a flick of its neck.
"Not bad," Kanzas paused to call forth the deep power of his Dragoon Spirit. "But I'm taking you with me."
Turning his body into a bomb, the noble Dragoon was true to his word, taking the super virage to the world of the dead with him. Rose wanted to dive down to help but the explosion caused too much shrapnel and fire. She was barely saved in time when Zieg, none too gently, snatched her wrist and yanked her far from there.
Syuveil landed lightly and turned the Water Dragoon over. The girl cried in his arms, truly scared of the unusual coldness that was entrapping her. The sight raked at the philosopher's heart but he kept a strong front for the poor girl. She didn't want to die; she didn't want to be alone. Syuveil held her, whispering gently to not be afraid and that she was not alone, he was with her. A roar from above drew his attention skywards, where Regole cried for its kindred spirit, the dead Damia. Beside the Water Dragon was Syuveil's own dragon, the Green Tusked Fyrebrand.
"Flee from here, both of you! Save your—" Syuveil's last words came out as gurgles as a sword ripped out of his chest.
The sword was quickly removed, causing the unfortunate Dragoon to spew out a glob of blood. His muscles couldn't support him as he fell on top of his friend. He, too, began feeling the cold embrace of death, death that he feared above all else. He saw Mayfil, a hell he didn't want to go and unlike Damia, he was alone.
"So you came for me. What a shame. I thought Dragoons were more powerful than that," a deep voice spoke behind the fallen Wind Dragoon.
It wasn't difficult for Syuveil to know who the speaker was. As a humming began, that of winglies wings, Syuveil prayed that Zieg or Rose would succeed in avenging him. He cursed himself for permitting Melbu Frahma to sneak up behind him with the Dragon Buster. Life wasn't fair he learned and death was equally as cruel. Soon, the Wind Dragoon saw and heard no more.
Melbu took to the sky, confronted by two very large and powerful dragons. Both Regole and Fyrebrand charged to destroy the powerful wingly. Melbu growled at the powerful creatures and didn't want to use the Crystal Sphere's energy, since he's been taxing its magic too much recently. But as the dragons were about to attack with their terrifying assault, they left him with little choice. As they shot their attacks, Melbu summoned forth the power of the crystal and teleported them both far, far away.
"Melbu Frahma!" a man cried.
The great wingly warlord snorted at the Dragoon heading his way. His power has been weakened without the crystal and this one dare to attack him? Shooting a deadly spell, designed to circle and ensnare all it touches, Zieg managed to dodge it and continue his charge. The Dragoon was indeed skilled but Melbu held the Dragon Buster. In a split second, Zieg went on the offensive, slashing wildly so the wingly had to guess his next strike. By being crazed and attacking, Melbu was force to use his sword to defend. As the battle progressed, the wingly knew he was no match in close combat. He was a wizard, not a swordsman. Before he could break free, he felt a strange sensation in his gut… pain.
"How… dare… you…" Melbu cursed with a sneer, releasing his diabolical spell.
As Zieg sword burst through the wingly's chest and out his back, he noticed his error. Instantly, the wingly dictator was ready to destroy any who stood before him and that included any brave enough to kill him. Zieg howled in shock as his arm began to turn to stone along with the rest of his body.
"What have you done?" Zieg whispered at the evil man.
"To your… very core… in my eternal curse," Melbu sneered weakly as they tumbled to the platform below.
"Zieg!" Rose yelled, reaching out for the man she loved.
The platform began to crack and the poor soul's body was nearing a complete petrifaction. Rose reached Zieg but was too late as even when she touched his hand, it was turning to stone.
"Let go… save yourself," the Dragoon begged as his lips shut forever in a case of stone.
She wouldn't hear it but her grasp slipped from his fingers as the platform fell. All around her, Kadessa was crumpling and if it wasn't for Zieg's final words, she would've stayed and died. But to do that though, she would have all of her friends who died here for the future, would have died in vain.
"Zieg!" she cried out futilely then closed her eyes and fled.
One week pass:
She wouldn't return to Vellweb, more that she couldn't return. It wasn't fair that all the Dragoons perished and not she. But she accepted her fate, though she never stopped crying after leaving Kadessa with Michael. As far as she knew, she and Michael were the last ones alive from the Dragon Campaign.
She still felt Zieg was alive and that made her feel even more insane. The more she thought of Zieg, the more she hurt but if she didn't think of him, that's when his smile and eyes would appear in her mind the most. She wished he was still alive; her light in her gloomy heart but it wasn't to be.
She wiped the tears from her eyes and gazed around. She was surrounded. A female wingly fluttered out of the shadows and handed Rose a tissue, which the female warrior none too kindly slapped away. The act almost sent the wingly force into action but the female leader waved it away.
"Darlin' don't be afraid of—"
"You're a Frahma!" Rose snapped with a promise of death in her eyes.
"Yes honey but you gotta let me explain. Truly, it is a matter of all the species coming to an end," she replied kindly.
Rose glanced from side to side and though they were winglies, none seemed to desire battle. That, in itself, was strange enough, let alone what this wingly said. Total annihilation? If Melbu had one more card to play, she wanted to know. If Zieg died for no reason… she shook that thought away. She wouldn't have it.
"Talk to me."