My brother's declaration echoed through my mind. I am sorry. I had hoped to train you more before this day... I will fight for your sake, but if I die as predicted, I will give you all that you need to know in the days to come. All the abilities you can unlock and what you need to do to unlock them... even the alpha state. Worried, I sent him a message of security, focusing on an image of me nuzzling him gently, then of me in my current state. I am ready. I said simply, knowing it was not enough; no words could some up our bond, farewell, and battle fury. Roaring a challenge to Drago's dragons behind the front lines, I taunted them, forcing them to come up to me instead of towards where the main battle was to occur. Evaluating each dragon's level of skill, armor, and loyalty to the challenger, I constantly sent Valstram information about the enemy. It seemed that most of the dragons had been conscripted and would therefore be easily swayed once he gave the command. The ones on the front lines, however, were extremely loyal and would be far easier to fight than to turn. Valstram agreed and gave the command through me, turning all but a few dozen against Drago's army. I gave them their orders, and they swiftly turned to attack Drago's human army on ships. The remaining dragons attacked me with all the force of a great typhoon, inadvertently driving me higher and higher into the clouds. This was a benefit to me, as I could easily expand my lungs to accomadate the thin air. As they flew higher, on the other hand, they found it hard to breathe, forcing the challenger to loosen and then completely abandon his hold on them. Giving them orders to attack the dragons at the front line from behind, I could sense the challenger was beginning to see me as more of a threat than I anticipated he would at this stage.
Knowing I had a connection to Valstram, he bellowed, I will approach him at the Valley Gorge to the East of Ferrinsgoph. Any interference will be terminated after one warning. Translating the message quickly from Duel to ordinary Dragontongue, I told my brother that the challenger would meet him at the easiest emergence point and any interference would not be tolerated. We suspected those would be the terms, as they were the most basic form of a challenge that could be taken. This was the limit of humans' understanding of our ways, so a dragon with no free will could not possibly arrange a more elegant challenge. I continued to watch the battle from above, only engaging when I was needed.
When Valstram finally emerged with the rest of our thunder, including Valka and Cloud Jumper, I swiftly dove to the front line, laying waste to the ships before they could interfere with the battle. I saw Drago look up in confusion as I could sense he recognized my fighting style and varying types of fires. He was shocked, still believing me to be rotting in one of his cells or dead. I was able ignore him, instead focusing on destroying his armadas to make sure he could not escape. Without the chains restraining him, his master called, and the challenger emerged from the abnormally deep water just beyond the shoreline. I am fire and ice... I am beauty and devastation... I am death... I... AM... HASHIM!
Shocked, I paused my destructive path. Hashim was the name of the Great Destroyer, the one who killed all but a couple dozen night furies. Narrowly avoiding a net, I jerked back into battle mode, destroying the remainder of front line war ships. Emerald and his partner seemed to be surprised that there was another bewilderbeast, yet that was the entire point of this battle. Without a challenger, Drago and his men would never have stood a chance against our dragon army. As it was, reports streamed in from the back as wave after wave of ships was decimated. Ordering all dragons away from the duel, I flew in between them to reestablish the rules and nature of the challenge: to the death, no interference, final decision. Banking away, I watched them from a distance, still concerned that the dark prophecy would come to pass.
I think you all know the tale of the ensuing duel. At first Valstram seemed to get the upper hand, clipping Hashim on his lower jaw and pierced several plates of his scale armor - Bewilderbeasts have layers upon layers of scales. I was busy fighting at the back of Drago's armada with the rest of our thunder when, horrified, I watched as Valka made Cloudjumper try to interfere. This broke the rhythm of the battle and violated the terms of agreement. Fortunately, Hashim just let him off with a warning, tagging Cloudjumper's tail with an icy blast. It all went downhill from there. Caught off guard by the interference, Valstram could not seem to find his rhythm again, and Hashim knocked him over and skewered both hearts with his tusks. Right before he died, just as promised, my sweet brother transferred everything that I would ever need to know about my bewilderbeast side into a file in my mind where I could only access parts of the information when I was ready.
Devastated, I allowed myself a few seconds to mourn before I had to change into a half-form, human battle form with stormcutter wings in this case. Otherwise, I risked coming under the control of Hashim. All I wanted to do in that moment was to fly as high as I could and dive-bomb Hashim until he shattered into millions, no billions, of pieces on the ground. Then, I would incinerate his remains, preventing a proper burial. I knew that could never happen, though. If I did that, I would become supreme alpha, which would lead to all-out war between various factions. Snapped out of my thoughts, I felt Hashim's massive alpha presence catapulting toward my mind. Bracing myself, my entire mind city shook from the citadel at the center to the mazes in the outer corridors to the outer spherical structure protecting my mind. Hashim hit my mind with all the force he could muster, driving past my outer sphere and into the booby-trapped corridors. Taking a deep breath, I set up even more booby traps, took down a few, and allowed the walls to start shifting to make it harder for Hashim to get into the next level of security: the maze. Very few who attacked my mind emerged again, much less with their sanity. Most were trapped in my maze or corridors and had been incinerated by now. There were a few minds still lingering though, especially in the maze. Even I had difficulty finding my way through sometimes. After what seemed like days, Hashim finally gave up. Before he exited, though, he shot a devastating blow up and over all of my protections. I rushed back to the shores, slowing down the attack so I could be over land when it hit the main part of my mind.
I barely made it to land before the attack hit, causing me to stumble and fall on my face, not the best thing when the ground is covered in sharp rocks. Shaking the bits off my face, I collected myself and got up, realizing that I must have blacked out. Emerald was no longer here, and there was an air of great loss among the humans. They were coming up with a plan - albeit poorly conceived - to strike back at Drago and get "their" dragons back. Curious, I transformed into a more graceful form: human body with stormcutter wings.
"Valka, other humans. What is the plan you seek?"