Chapter 64-Shadow Bond
Sitedal had felt the sudden loss of one of their kind when Finca was killed but paid it no attention as Tamli suddenly left them to leave him to continue the advance on his own. Leading the forces the Compound could spare, he immediately set his sights on his brother as the two armies clashed and he left the hybrids to the scale-fliers he had brought into battle. Taking flight after Jormundur as the clouds above rumbled ominously, he followed the dragon to a shallow riverbed several feet away from the main conflict. Large pine trees bordered the gravel shoreline as the crystal clear water reflected the image above it as both siblings stopped over the area.
"Brother, I should have known you'd be second-in-charge of the clones after Arxa. Tell me, where is the feared dragoness? Did you kill her to avenge the death of the peaceful beast we knew as our mother?" Sitedal questioned as Jormundur turned around to face him directly, the dragon's muscular increase in size no doubt due to Corruption's influence as he sensed a primal darkness lingering beneath the surface of the grey dragon.
"As much as I would like to take the credit for the death of the parasite, she is still alive. She left rapidly and put me in charge, which lead to my attack on your pitiful allies," Jormundur scoffed, glaring at his sibling as Sitedal noticed a faint trace of red clouding his brother's yellow irises. "It shames me to think you've gone so low as to partner with the very beings that wish for Corruption's destruction. They fail to realize the potential the dark energy gives us, brother."
Snorting in disgust, Sitedal shook his head as the realization of how deep into the darkness Jormundur had descended into reached him. He was doing what was right by turning his back on the power Corruption offered and he hoped his brother could see that before it was too late. The darkness might have been promising peace but there was nothing it could offer that would equal the calmness Sitedal had found with Verdra and their offspring.
A sudden compressed ball of air knocked the wind from his lungs and Sitedal coughed, finding that Jormundur had taken advantage of the natural environment around them to launch a surprise attack. Throwing himself into a spin, he quickly shot off three short blasts of fear, hoping to return the favor of a sudden strike. To his dismay, Jormundur dodged the first two and sent the third back at him with a gentle tilt of the wind currents, forcing him to break his frontal assault to absorb the blast.
"Is that the best you have, brother?" Jormundur taunted as another sphere of air collided with Sitedal's chest. "I control the very air around us and you think tapping into your dark powers is enough to weaken me. We understand why you fled now . . . weakling."
Narrowing his eyes, Sitedal charged forward, ramming into his brother at the notion of being called weak. He had left Corruption's power because of the damage the dark magic had on the minds of dragons. Based upon how Jormundur was acting, he suspected there was little chance of redemption for his wind-wielding sibling anymore.
Horns scraped against hardened scales as the two dragons exchanged blows, claws ripped into fragile wing membranes as they fought at close range. Rearing back after one particular bite to Jormundur's neck, Sitedal was caught off-guard when the thick tail of his sibling smashed into his chest, painfully crushing ribs as the action knocked him from the air and he crashed into the stream below. Getting off his back, he snarled and leapt from the water, forming a protective bubble around himself with red energy as the darkness that had already consumed his brother slowly taunted at his mind to embrace its rich influence.
A savage roar split the air as Sitedal made contact and manipulated the sphere he had formed to break apart and create thick restraints around his brother's arms and legs, locking the dragon in place as he clamped down on the greyling's neck. Jormundur tried to use the wind to throw his sibling off but Sitedal only increased the pressure of his bite, quieting the corrupted scale-flier.
"Listen, I know there's still a part of you that wants to free Mother from this parasite known as Corruption. We can help each other achieve that goal, brother."
Jormundur snarled softly, trembling in rage as Sitedal continued to hold him captive. "Why would I ever dream of helping you? You turned your back on Corruption and just expect me to go along with that without questioning you."
"I understand you don't realize my reasons but trust me, Jormundur."
"Trust?" Jormundur hissed, smacking his tail into his brother's left hind leg. "I trusted you when we were growing up but that's changed now. You fail to understand the potential of the darkness and see it only as those weaklings do."
"There can be no light without dark, brother," Sitedal snapped back, twisting around so that his body now pushed against the wings of his sibling and made it so that he was the only thing keeping both of them in the air.
Letting loose, Sitedal watched as Jormundur plummeted to the ground, unable to fly as he had punctured the wings while adjusting his position to ensure the plan would go as smoothly as possible. Wings steadily beating, he heard the frantic bellows of his grey sibling and knew that, while it pained him to have to end it like he did, he was doing right by stopping Corruption's influence. Sending down a blast of fear as a precaution, he closed his eyes and counted down the seconds, only to be surprised when he did not hear the splash of water he was expecting.
Eyes opening, Sitedal watched as Jormundur broke free from his restraints and came straight for him, sending short, compressed blasts of air in his direction to weaken him. He snarled, flipping backwards as the grey form of his brother flew past, releasing a stream of red mist towards the agile dragon in hopes of slowing it down. To his surprise, Jormundur turned and countered the blast by halting it with air, allowing the dark scale-flier to come straight at him.
The impact of Jormundur's charge into him stole his breath and Sitedal squirmed as they fell towards the ground. He couldn't move but he could still use his tail to batter away at the larger dragon, although his sibling quickly figured it out and wrapped his own tail around his brother's to prevent anymore damage. A blast of compressed air straight into his neck caught him unprepared and Sitedal coughed right as they struck the hard earth around the river bank.
Darkness threatened to overtake him but Sitedal fought to keep his eyes open as breathing grew labored the more he lay immobile from the force of the collision. He saw that Jormundur had escaped without damage from the corner of his eye and he snarled weakly, attracting the greyling's attention.
"You survived the fall," Jormundur remarked coldly as he advanced, forming another wind sphere in his open maw. "Such a shame that this is the last time we will ever see face-to-face again, brother."
Closing his eyes, Sitedal waited for the final strike that would kill him. He hadn't been strong enough to break Corruption's hold on Jormundur. The darkness was just too strong; there was no hope . . .
"Stand down, Jormundur." The sharp rasp of a dragon he never thought he would hear defending him startled Sitedal as he opened his eyes to see Arxa land in front of him, shielding him from the blast that would have killed him.
Apparently the sudden intrusion startled Jormundur as well for the grey dragon retreated a step, bowing his head in submission. Glancing at the dragoness before him as he rose onto his feet, Sitedal silently wondered what Arxa would do and why she entered into their conflict.
"Raise your head," Arxa hissed as she stepped forward, moving around to stand opposite both dragons. "There is little need for such foolishness, wind-wielder. I will not have one of Narssia's sons thinking themselves any less worthy of the strength of the darkness."
"B-but Great One . . ." Jormundur pleaded as Sitedal sensed another presence within Arxa, one that warmed his heart as it meant Narssia had not been fully destroyed by the dark spirit yet.
"Quiet, weakling," the dark essence snarled as Jormundur lowered his head, glancing away from either of them. Turning her attention to Sitedal, Arxa softened her fierce tone, "I trust you sense Narssia, fear-monger. We are united on this cause and I cannot force her to be silent forever . . ."
Caught off guard by the statement, Sitedal snarled, "Are you . . . actually admitting you've been wrong to silence her? When did you change your mind?"
"There were certain circumstances that allowed me to see beyond the rage that I only knew for so long," Arxa admitted as Sitedal sensed the presence of two concealed yet strong flickers of life energy near her.
Silently wondering if one of the clones had been responsible for the act, Sitedal watched as Jormundur extended his wings and took to the air, sending down powerful gusts to test them. Snarling, he braved the fierce gale, retaliating with a Fear Shriek as he saw Arxa narrow her eyes before letting free a stream of ice at the greyling's wings. The numbing counter-strike by the black dragoness tapered the mighty air current and Sitedal used the few seconds the distraction provided to join his brother in the air, noticing the thin veins of frost slowly creeping over the wind-wielder's leathery appendages.
"Brother, listen to reason. Arxa is making peace with our mother and I know you can escape from the darkness that has consumed you," Sitedal pleaded as he stared directly into the dark topaz irises that had once been so bright and full of life before Corruption's magic entered into their lives.
Hissing, Jormundur drew back, eyes narrowing in rage. "No matter what the parasite tells you, it will never change. Darkness is all it knows . . ." He paused, closing his eyes as he added quietly, "and it's all I know now."
Hearing his brother admit the very thing they were fighting over nearly crushed Sitedal as he stared in shock at Jormundur, unsure of what to do now with the knowledge he had received. The grey dragon seemed to fall silent but Sitedal knew better as Arxa hissed softly, fanning out her wings as he suddenly sensed a darkness fill the air, its very essence the evil power he had swore he would never use.
"What is he doing?" Sitedal asked Arxa silently, figuring she would know best about the ways of the dark magic as she had been spawned from it herself.
'Channeling its magic, my son.' The response that he was met with wasn't from Arxa but from the very voice he was fighting to try and save, his own mother. 'He has discovered abilities most alike to the dark dragons of ages long past. Those of our race that dared to use the most forbidden of powers, like Corruption, to achieve victory.'
"How do you know about such things?" Sitedal questioned as he felt the weight of the darkness threatening to overwhelm him even as Jormundur continued to remain near motionless with only a flap of his wings every while to stay in the sky.
'Vanz told me much during our partnership but I learned from Arxa as well, when I could manage to tolerate her ancient knowledge. It is from this that I learned how to survive when Jormundur and I went to the past and I was free of Corruption for some time . . .' Narssia trailed off, lost in her own thoughts as Sitedal contemplated what he had heard, blinking when he noticed Jormundur had reopened his eyes.
The normally topaz irises of his sibling had changed into blood red and Sitedal trembled, doing his best to starve off the darkness that drifted all around him. A shrill snarl rippled from Arxa's throat as Jormundur glared at them with disinterest.
"How dare you twist Corruption's own magic against me?" Arxa growled as Jormundur focused his attention on her. "You know nothing of its properties, hatchling!"
Blood red eyes narrowed as Jormundur hissed softly, "Corruption trusts my judgement, not yours. You can't even silence your host!"
Sitedal risked a glance at Arxa to see she was trembling, a low snarl rising from her throat as ice crystals formed around her maw. Returning his focus to his brother, he noticed the greyling had become disinterested again but the amount of darkness clouding the space continued to grow in intensity.
Roaring, Arxa rushed forward, slamming into Jormundur as she used every element she had available to weak him or even kill him. Despite missing a foreleg, Jormundur retaliated fairly well and managed to avoid most of her strikes. Twisting around her, he clamped his teeth around her neck and hurled both of them into the ground, easing off her throat to place his remaining front taloned limb down on her exposed neck.
Terror scraped at him but Sitedal couldn't force himself to move, his body acting as though he was immobilized in place by his own element. His own brother was stronger then the dragoness who had raised them both but the strength wasn't strictly from the greyling alone. Corruption, Sitedal suspected, had indeed turned in favor of Jormundur to allow him to achieve what he had just done.
Realizing he had to do something, Sitedal pressed his wings tight against his body and fell, angling himself so that he would charge straight into Jormundur. The impact felt to him like he had crashed into a massive stone but despite his best effort, it barely moved the wind-wielder and he was thrown back into a nearby tree by a strong breeze.
"Now I can repay the favor for killing our father and for Raxmon's death. You will never roam this earth again," Jormundur taunted as he pressed into her neck, drawing little streams of blood as Arxa's attempts to loosen his hold grew feeble and weak.
Black spots dancing before his eyes, Sitedal tried to snarl in protest but could barely remain conscious, blood squirting from his left forepaw in massive amounts and in numerous places. He could hardly move his head, his neck and back throbbing in protest at any moment. Even in his condition, he couldn't let Arxa die as that would kill Narssia as well.
"Mother," he whispered softly as consciousness fled from him and he dropped limply onto the forest floor . . .
Uria tore through clone after clone but for every one he defeated, ten more would ambush him with their eyes wide and their movements erratic. He wondered why Amia would put so much time into a project that was doomed to fail from the start but figured he would probably never find out the answer. Taking a second to collect himself, he stared down twenty clones as they rushed for him, some human and others dragon but every face reflecting the same expression. While they were alive, their only purpose was to slaughter and kill and destroy everything with a possible relation or connection to Tamli.
That was their goal, the reason for why they were created, Uria realized as his eyes glanced up at the darkening sky, feeling the first raindrop hit the tip of his snout. If there was any good way to die, it had to be fighting for those who would make the world a better place, he mused as he bared his teeth and toppled the first copies with a swing from his mighty tail, their broken bodies dropping onto the crimson-stained grass as more and more descended upon him, the wave seeming to have no end in sight . . .
It was a comfort to Narssia to not be in direct control as Jormundur continued to press down on her throat but she also wondered what would happen if her body was killed. Would she die along with it or could there be another way she might be able to escape?
'Sitedal can't help us,' Arxa wheezed as Narssia felt a brief twinge of pain reach her, the sensation bringing her focus back to their current situation. 'Uria is dying as we speak. After everything I've done to hurt those around you . . . Maybe this is how it should end . . .'
'There's still hope, Arxa. You could reason with him . . . You know Corruption better . . .' Narssia knew the plea was weak but she couldn't afford to give up after everything that had happened.
Jormundur's low snarl resounded in their mind and Narssia sighed, realizing slowly that he was already too far gone to be reasoned with, leaving the only option open to them being to kill him. She didn't want to see her own children hurt but nothing was going to work to restore her grey son to the way he had once been. The darkness had no limits and, from how Arxa had talked, those she would have fought for herself were dying before their time.
When Arxa finally replied, it was hesitant and sluggish, leaving Narssia wondering how much more the dark spirit could take before it was too much. 'I can't keep fighting him. I'm sorry, little one.'
'You tried,' she whispered in return, readying herself for the moment it would all end and the pain and guilt would go away . . .
Jormundur stared down at his captive, noticing that she had stopped fighting him and simply lay there, awaiting her death. He was almost appalled by how easy it had been to force her into a position that allowed him to end her life with a break of the neck. Lifting his talons away, he bent down and gently grabbed her neck, feeling no resistence on her part.
"Put her down." The rasped growl startled Jormundur and he narrowed his eyes, turning his head slightly to see, from the corner of his vision, the blind dragon Geer landing behind him, the blue scale-flier's scales covered with scratches and bite marks.
"What could a useless little runt do to me?" Jormundur scoffed, dropping Arxa onto the ground so he could fully face Geer.
Geer snorted, letting a brief flicker of electricity loose from his nostrils as he flared his wings. "We shall see."
Using his natural element to his advantage, Jormundur uprooted trees and threw them at the blind dragon, hoping to throw him off-guard. No matter what he tried, Geer avoided everything and even shocked him several times with jolts of electricity. Snarling, the grey dragon leapt in for the kill only to find his throat clamped onto by a powerful set of jaws a second later.
"No one hurts a former bonded dragon," Geer rumbled softly, almost mournful for what he was about to do before jerking his head back and snapping apart Jormundur's neck in one fluid motion . . .