Golden Sun: The Sands of Time
Chapter 27: In The Balance
Disclaimer: What do I own? Unfortunately, not a whole lot. Nothing related to Golden Sun, with the exception of a game cartridge.
Coils of incinerating fire exploded from the Dragon's cavernous maw, spewing onto the tiny adepts below as they scattered and ran for cover.
Even as he ran, Isaac was already formulating a battle strategy. He had made thousands of them, time and time again. They had dealt with Proxian Dragons before – this time should be no different.
Except they were down two warriors. Ivan was nowhere to be found – probably still somewhere in the fortress, and Sheba was unconscious.
Leaping over a striking claw, Isaac whirled the Sol Blade over his head. It was going to take a humongous amount of effort and energy, but…
"Flint, go call Breath and Ether from Sheba." The Djinni in question nodded and zipped off.
Mentally, Isaac ticked off the number of Djinn he had released thus far in battles. Granite, Crystal, Flint, Vine, Mud –
His musing was interrupted as a clawed hand slammed the ground in front of him, throwing up huge clouds of dust. Isaac jumped back to avoid the billowing smoke.
"Bane!" He snapped. Yellow light exploded from his outstretched palm, slamming into the forearm of the dragon. As the light dissipated, there was a slightly discoloured bruise where the strike had landed.
If it bleeds, we can kill- Wha? Around the spot where the strike had landed, the forearm started to glow an ethereal purple-red, before the discoloured mark faded entirely.
Uttering a silent curse, Isaac continued his charge towards the dragon.
Something's not right… Felix took in a deep intake of breath. The humongous dragon acted seemingly without self-awareness, a trait he had seen in all humans-turned-dragons.
But somehow… This monster's almost as big as the Doom Dragon, and that took three people. Agatio was huge compared to this guy, and yet his dragon was maybe twice my size at best. Felix paused his contemplation to slash at the Dragon's legs, gashing the skin slightly. Typical of all other wounds being inflicted on the gargantuan beast, the purple-red glow covered it, then faded to reveal no visible marks.
Just then, the dragon reared back and slammed the ground, creating a massive shockwave and blowing most of the stunned Adepts backwards. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Davion fall to the sand and tuck himself into a roll to get up.
The dragon howled again, and blasts of lightning stormed forth from its nostrils, raining down on the relatively tiny figures of Picard and Mia. As the two threw themselves under various outcroppings of rock to avoid the deadly rays, Felix took advantage of the distraction to leap onto the beast's back and stab deep into the thick hide. Concentrating, Felix cast a Ragnarok spell from Excalibur, and the psynergetic sword gashed through the muscles and sinews of the gargantuan beast.
Before Felix could continue his assault, however, the Dragon reared back, blowing forth plumes of flames. That shouldn't have been a problem for Felix, except that he caught sight of a fair amount of the fiery clouds were whirling around on an impact course with him.
Uttering a curse, Felix batted away one of the fireballs with his blade and leapt off the creature's back. "Echo!" He cried as he swung his blade at the Dragon's hind leg. The golden light impacted with the beast, sending Felix staggering back.
Just then, one of the fiery clouds swept through the area Felix was in, forcing him to double over and endure the blazing heat that scorched his body.
When it had finally past, he lifted his hand and wearily cast Cure on himself.
"This guy," He muttered, glaring at the Dragon. "Is starting to seriously annoy me."
Isaac dove under a rock outcropping as twin blasts of fire rocketed out from the beast, scorching the sand around him to the point of it melting. Shaking his head, he leaned against the ancient stone, trying to catch his breath.
Just then, a Jenna landed violently next to him, bleeding heavily from several long gashes on her side.
"Jenna!" Isaac hastily raised his hand to Cure her, but a red Aura surrounded her and she shakily clambered to her feet.
"How are you holding up?" She mumbled wearily as she glared at the rampaging Dragon.
"I've been better. Seriously, that thing is self-healing everything we throw at it." Isaac rested his blade on his shoulder for a moment. "I don't know how we're going to be able to take this thing out of the fight."
Jenna was silent for a moment, ducking slightly as an errant fireball whizzed past. "Maybe… if we can hit it with a single attack powerful enough, we can take it down before it heals."
"It's as good a plan as any. So what are we looking at? Charon? Iris?"
"Both?"
Isaac snorted. "It's times like these that redefine 'drastic measures'." Before he could continue however, the ground roiled and tossed, sending the two of them sprawling.
"Wonderful." Isaac said as he spat hot sand out of his mouth. "This thing knows Venus-based spells as well."
"I'll start preparing for the summon, then-"
"No, you're not." Isaac said authoritatively. "You're in no condition to call Iris. Find Garet – he'll be able to withstand the strain better. Me and Felix can deal with Charon."
Jenna managed a weary nod before setting off.
Picard wiped off a smear of dried blood from his forehead as he crouched beside the still and bleeding form of Davion. The Elf Prince had been slammed into the ground by an errant swipe of the Dragon's tail, and Picard suspected something inside had been ruptured.
Focusing, he can Ply on Davion several times before the archer coughed and opened his eyes again.
Clambering to his feet, Davion shook his head. "Any ideas?"
Picard grimaced as he watched Garet take a direct hit to the chest from a fireball. "Not really. Spring." The Djinni flew off to tend to Garet's wounds, while Picard clenched his fist. "The only thing I think could take this down right now would be our more powerful summons – but most of us are exhausted."
Davion strung an arrow and fired it at the Dragon's left eye, more out of frustration than anything else. "In that case-" He was cut off by a yell from Jenna.
"You guys, Felix asked you to go with him to distract the Dragon. We need to prepare to summon Iris and Charon."
"Both of them?" Picard asked.
"Ordinarily, I'd agree it would be overkill, but with things as they are now…" She was distracted by another screeching roar from the overgrown beast as cast another Venus spell, causing gaping fissures to snake all over the ground.
"Agh!" Picard dropped and rolled, narrowly making it to safety from the yawning chasm that appeared where he had been standing. However, he was now separated from Jenna and Davion.
He was about to clamber to his feet when he heard a frantic cry from Mia.
Her muscles straining, Mia clung on with one arm a vice-like grip to the rocky ledge that she was currently hanging from. Below her yawned an endless abyss that had cracked open from the Dragon's powerful spell.
Her other hand clutched Sheba's right wrist as the rest of the golden-haired mage dangled in midair, the arm strength of the Mercury Adept being the only thing preventing her unconscious friend from falling to her death.
Too bad that she didn't have much idea how to remove herself from this predicament. As it was, the ledge had shifted along with the ground, leaving her several feet lower than she had originally started. She was simply grateful for the moment that it hadn't crumbled.
At that moment, Picard's head came into view. "Mia?" He called.
"Oh, thank Mercury." She mumbled. Raising her head, she called out, "Over here!"
Picard quickly scrambled over as the Dragon gave another earth-shaking roar in the distance. Finally reaching the edge of where his feet could find safe purchase, he growled helplessly. He was still two full meters away from Mia, far too great a distance for him to reach her.
And still the battle raged on.
"Oh, you are kidding me." Isaac growled as weaved through the rocky outcroppings, using them as cover as lightning rained down around him. "Jupiter Psynergy too? I'd expect to see Mercury, except his base element is opposed to it. Seriously, how did this jerk pull it off?"
(Wouldn't know.)
"Huh? Oh, Ether. How's Sheba faring?"
(Mia was taking care of her when I left.)
(Are we going to do anything?) Breath asked worriedly.
"You two get ready." Isaac said grimly. "I'm going to need you soon."
Garet shook his head. "Do you know how much Iris is going to drain me? If this doesn't work, I'm out for pretty much the remainder of the fight."
Jenna nodded unhappily. "I know, but it's a risk Isaac thinks is worth taking. We have to hit this thing with a powerful enough strike before it can regenerate itself again."
Garet rolled his eyes. "All right. How many Djinn do you have released?"
"Um, Shine, Cannon, Kindle, Reflux, and Coal. That's five."
"Flash, Core, Torch… One more needed. Forge!"
Crimson light bathed the both of them, and Garet nodded. "Ready. Where's Picard and Mia?"
(They're tied up at the moment, but they asked us to come help.) Dew spoke up. From behind him, Eddy, Spring, and Shade nodded in agreement.
Garet smiled slightly. " Okay. Let's go."
Isaac crouched behind a rock, with Felix perched on top playing lookout. Since Isaac was going to be the channel point for the summon, it would be in his best interests not to get targeted by the dragon while doing so.
"Here goes nothing." Isaac said softly. Closing his eyes, he began to focus.
"I summon the boatman of the river of the dead, the one who treads the barrier between life and death, he who wields darkness as his personal blade! Charon! Come forth!"
"I summon the goddess of the rainbows, she who leads souls to paradise and baths the world in unending light. Servant of the Everlasting, lend us your power! Iris!"
The ground directly under the rampaging beast began to darken, finally turning into black as pitch. The dark substance began to roil and surge, flooding up around the Dragon's limbs. However, as the surprised creature tried to rear back, away from the sludge, the skies began to brighten.
Rays of burning light fell from the sky, swirling around lazily as they descended lower and lower, towards the struggling Dragon far below. As they fell, the coalesced, solidifying into orbs of burning fire.
At the same instant as the dark tide surged up once more to completely envelope the Dragon, Iris' spell slammed into the Dragon, creating a massive explosion that billowed forth from the area. Isaac staggered back from the intense heat, raising his scarf in an attempt to protect his face from the howling winds caused by the fiery blast.
And then, above the raging gale, above the gurgling of the darkness, above the roar of the flames, came a scream. Rearing it's head back, the obsidian creature gave a howl of agony to the empty desert air.
Then, slowly, the creature's haunches slumped, and it staggered.
Isaac leaned wearily on Felix for support as he watched the creature's head dip, then rise again as it fought to stay on it's feet.
Finally, the creature gave a low growl as it's legs gave way beneath it, and it collapsed.
"I think they defeated it." Picard said, glancing up. "Hang on, Mia. I'll go get the others to help."
"I don't have much choice, do I?" She said through gritted teeth. Her arm muscles were starting to feel like they were made of water, but her duty towards her friend kept her hand securely locked in place.
Picard stood and dashed off towards the others.
Davion took several cautious steps towards the corpse of the gigantic creature. It's mouth hung open slackly, resembling a gaping cavern that one could simply walk up into.
"We still don't know enough." Davion said softly. "Who was this person? What is his relationship to the Karan?"
Narrowing his eyes, he was about to take another step forward, when he heard Picard's call. "Davion!"
Turning around, he aspied the Mercury Adept clambering over several rock formations on the ground and jogging towards him. "We need everyone's help. Mia's-" He was then cut off by a look of alarm on his face, as his attention was diverted to something behind Davion.
The elf prince took a moment to assess the possibilities, and then sighed. "It's still alive, isn't it."
The resounding screech from behind him answered his statement.
Her arm muscles strained to breaking point, Mia managed something akin to a growl as she wriggled her arms in a futile effort to restore blood circulation to them.
She could feel her strength giving way by the second.
"Is this… is this really the end?" Mia's eyes closed and she swallowed hard. Of all the ways to go… Swallowed up by the earth.
She glanced down towards Sheba. Her friend looked so pale – so vulnerable.
"I'm sorry, Sheba. I can't… I can't hold on… any longer."
Then she let go, and the blackness rushed up to meet them.
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