I do not own Dragon Quest 11 or any of the characters.
Yggdrasil's Fall
Annoying. Everything had to be annoying. The Orbs had created a sickeningly pretty rainbow bridge up to Yggdrasil. One which wound and wove through the air with no rhyme or reason for well over two miles before finally reaching Yggdrasil.
"Really, now," Kai grumbled. "There's just no need of it being so long."
The others all blanched.
"Can't you just be happy there's a road there and not complain about its length?" Veronica snapped.
"It's almost three miles long," Kai said flatly. "I'll just meet you up there."
He spread his wings and took off, flying up past the many, many, many spirals and loops and bends in the rainbow bridge, reaching the same point where the bridge connected after barely three minutes of flying and landing lightly, then found a comfortable spot on the grass to wait. On his shoulder, the Sprite Bulb cooed excitedly, looking around in wonder.
"Go ahead," Kai smiled. "We've got plenty of time for you to explore."
It cried out happily, darting off, and Kai chuckled, then looked down, seeing the others walking along the bridge. As he watched them, he recalled his conversation with Jade about Heliodor's fate. She was making him soft. If he hadn't been traveling with her, he'd be more than happy to raze all of Heliodor to the ground, not settle for just its king and best knights. Heliodor owed him a slaughter, but here he was considering letting that hateful, disgusting excuse for a kingdom survive, all because she asked him to. He sighed, shaking his head. He was going soft.
Finally, after more than an hour of waiting, the others reached Yggdrasil, all breathing hard and looking worn down. Kai smirked, pushing himself up and whistling, calling the Sprite Bulb back to himself before turning and beginning to climb up the floating island Yggdrasil rested upon. At Yggdrasil's base, there was a small pond with giant lily pads forming a path to a hanging vine. They climbed up it, Kai once again smirking at how much more exhausted the others were than him due to the walk, but once they'd climbed it, they were standing among Yggdrasil's moss-covered branches. They followed them toward Yggdrasil's trunk, eventually passing through a tunnel formed from interlocking branches before reaching a sort of chamber in the center, the walls of the chamber made by the branches of the great tree. And against the far wall was a huge, glowing, golden sphere covered in green vines. As they walked closer, Kai saw that the light was from small, shining spheres of light inside of Yggdrasil's heart, and floating in the center, revolving slowly, was a sword with a golden hilt and a gleaming silver blade.
"So this is the Heart of Yggdrasil," Jade mused. "It's bigger than I thought it would be."
"It's the source of all life," Erik said. "It's not exactly gonna be small, now, is it?"
"It's so...fascinating," Sylvando breathed. "I'm sort of...scared, but...I wanna touch it."
"I wouldn't," Kai advised.
Sylvando ignored him, stepping forward and reaching out. No sooner had his fingertips made contact with the sphere, however, did a burst of electricity zap his hand, making him shout in pain and recoil.
"Told you," Kai shrugged.
"Owww!" Sylvando complained. "Well, that's not very nice! The naughty thing gave me a shock!"
"Of course it did," Kai said. "You're not the Luminary. It's defending the souls inside of it. The little lights."
"I doubt the World Tree would let any but the one who bears her mark near her holiest of holies," Robert said. "After all, only he can wield the weapon destined to dispel the darkness...the Sword of Light." He turned to David. "Now, laddie, it's time to reach into the Heart of Yggdrasil and claim your birthright. Only you can do it. Only you can save our world."
David nodded, stepping forward and reaching out to the Heart. As he did, the symbol on his hand shone, and the vines vines around the Heart unraveled, spreading to make way for him. As he stepped forward, everyone watched with rapt attention. Then, a sphere of darkness exploded into David's back, knocking him unconscious. Instantly, the vines protecting the Heart returned, and everyone spun, looking back the way they'd come. There, sneering at them all with waves of darkness rolling off of him, stood Jasper.
"Damn you, Jasper!" Erik growled. "How did you find us!?"
"He didn't find us," Kai said, drawing his Cobblestone Sword. "He's been following us this whole time."
"Very good," Jasper smirked. "That's right. My master has been watching you all. Paving the way for your arrival."
Jade and Kai charged. Jade leapt into the air, throwing a kick at Jasper's face, only for a barrier of pure darkness to block it. As Kai's sword swept in from the side, it likewise halted against the barrier. Then, with a sneer, Jasper jerked his head and the barrier pulsed, repelling them both. Both flipped, landing on their feet, and Kai raised his sword, staring at the shattered blade.
"Damn," Kai said. "I liked that sword." He tossed it aside, drawing his Dragovian King Sword instead.
"What was that?" Jade asked.
"Now, now, Princess," Jasper sneered. "Such boorish behavior hardly befits one of your station. I expected it of the vermin, but it seems you've been associating with rubbish for too long. Do you not see you are utterly powerless to stop me?"
"You held back in Gondolia," Kai noted. "Not bad."
Jasper laughed. "It was harder not to simply kill you all than anything else."
He held up a pitch black Orb, inside of which glowed a deep, dark, purple darkness. And the moment he had it over his head, the darkness inside pulsed, a wave of darkness exploding outward and passing through everyone. Agony erupted through Kai's entire body, robbing him of strength and sending him crashing to his knees, using his sword for support. The others were all worse off, collapsing to the ground entirely. However, as Kai forced himself back to his feet, David pushed himself up as well.
"Now, tremble before me!" Jasper snarled, smiling wickedly. "Tremble with gratitude! Your sacrifice shall pave the way for my ascent to glory!" He pointed toward them. "Come, Luminary! All of you, on your feet! The Tree of Life shall be your place of death!"
As the others began to struggle to their feet, Jasper drew a Platinum Sword, darkness rolling off of him in thick waves. Kai charged first, roaring and sending flames exploding toward Jasper, only for them to part around the aura protecting him. Jasper stabbed through the flames at Kai, but he spun around it, knocking the sword aside before slashing. However, this time, the moment his sword met the darkness, it pulsed, hurling him backward, though his sword was intact this time. Rab and Veronica fired a Kazammle and Kafrizzle respectively, their most powerful spells, but again, they did nothing to Jasper. Erik and Sylvando charged, but when they struck, the one dagger Erik struck with and both of Sylvando's rapiers exploded, hurling the two away from him with blade fragments cutting and piercing their flesh, even through the Dragovian Scale Armor Kai had given them. Serena began to heal them, only for Jasper's own Kazammle to explode into her, nearly killing her on the spot, though Robert immediately healed her. She didn't stir, however, and Jade, Robert, Kai, and David all charged together, and struck together, only for the aura around Jasper to once again repulse them, Jade's spear and David's sword exploding. Jasper blasted Jade with a Zammle, and she slammed into a branch of Yggdrasil and was rendered unconscious. Robert bounced off of his shoulders before flipping and landing on his feet.
As the three remaining members of the group readied themselves again, David borrowing Erik's Bastard Sword as he drew his own Bastard Sword, the one he'd been using to dual-wield on the way to Yggdrasil, and they all charged again. However, this time, Jasper struck first. And ended the battle. He raised the Orb, and in a flash of darkness, a massive wave of pure darkness magic, many times more powerful than a Kazammle, roared out of it, exploding into them. It didn't reach all the way to the others, but as it erupted into a massive explosion, it sent Kai and the others exploding to the ground hard enough to crater Yggdrasil. Kai groaned, meaning to stand, only for Jasper to hurl Kai's Dragovian King Sword, sending it stabbing into his gut and staking him to the ground. Then, as Jasper surveyed them all, all of them down for the count and severely wounded, he began to cackle.
"Can't...Can't get through...that aura," Erik groaned, struggling to move at all, much less stand. "What...What is it?"
"It's...It's a power...the like of which...we've never seen," Robert wheezed, unable to even lift his head. "Could he be...Surely not..." Then, he collapsed, losing consciousness entirely.
Kai groaned, pushing up and freeing his sword from Yggdrasil, only to collapse again, on his side this time. Jasper scoffed, walking forward calmly, toward the Heart of Yggdrasil.
As he stood before the Heart, he laughed cruelly once again. "So this is the Heart of Yggdrasil? Whosoever controls it, controls the world, or so they say." He reached out toward it.
"Not one step further, Jasper!" Hendrik's powerful voice thundered from behind him.
Jasper turned, staring at both Hendrik and King Carnelian.
"Now you see it with your own eyes, sire," Hendrik said, stepping forward, his greatsword in-hand. "He is no longer himself! The darkness has him entirely in its thrawl." He turned, pointing accusingly at Jasper. "How long he has deceived us, I do not know, but deceived us he has. Jasper is a traitor to Heliodor...and to the world!"
Jasper chuckled mockingly.
"Confess, scoundrel!" Hendrik ordered. "Just how cheaply did you sell your soul!?" He shook his head, readying his sword. "On second thought, spare me your wretched excuses! In the name and presence of His Majesty, I pronounce you guilty! Prepare to face your punishment!"
"No...use..." Kai groaned. "You can't...hurt him."
"The Dragovian!" Hendrik gasped, then shook his head.
Just as he turned back to Jasper, however, preparing to charge, a blast of darkness struck him in the back. Kai's eyes widened as Hendrik collapsed.
"You have served me well, Hendrik," Carnelian said, lowering his arm and staring down his nose at Hendrik like a piece of filth.
"Y-Your Majesty..." Hendrik gasped out, barely conscious. "What is the...meaning of this?"
Carnelian strode forward in silence, but in the center of the area, darkness began to roll off of him as he began to convulse, then collapsed. In his place, a cloud of darkness continued forward before solidifying into a being with purple skin, dark purple robes, red hair in a strip running front to back on his head like a mohawk, two conical horns jutting backward from the back corners of his head and a third on his chin like a beard, and a long, gnarled, wooden staff in his right hand with a red jewel set into its head. He was tall, a full head and a half taller than Jasper, who smiled up at him confidently.
"My dear Jasper," the man's voice hissed. "It seems you have snared us a Luminary. Very impressive."
"It is...an honor to serve you, as always," Jasper said, offering his hand in a show of allegiance, then knelt. "Lord Mordegon."
"So that was it," Robert mumbled, barely conscious. "The king was...He was Mordegon all along."
"Now, Luminary," Mordegon said, stepping up over him. "You are in my power, and soon, your power will belong to me."
Mordegon chuckled darkly as he held out his staff, the sphere at the top shining with crimson light. David lifted off of the ground, floating up in front of Mordegon without stirring. Darkness raged from Mordegon's free hand, and he shouted in effort as he drove it into David's chest entirely. A blast of darkness erupted from David's back, and he began to thrash and shriek in agony, clutching at Mordegon's arm in a futile attempt to free himself from it. However, as he did, the crest on the back of his left hand turned black, then vanished. David went limp, and Mordegon ripped his hand from David's chest, freeing something from it and allowing David to collapse to the ground. As Mordegon released the object, a red sphere surrounded by brilliant blue light, the Mark of Yggdrasil appeared on the back of his own hand.
"So, this is the power of the Luminary," Mordegon mused as the red sphere floated over his hand, light spiraling around it before forming into a hovering crest with vertical, eye-shaped section containing the red sphere then a pair of wing-like sections below it and spread out to the sides. Mordegon turned toward the Heart of Yggdrasil. "The key that unlocks Yggdrasil's Heart."
He raised the crest, and the vines around the Heart unraveled and retracted, clearing his way. Mordegon stalked forward, casting aside his staff in favor of claiming the Sword of Light. The light around the sword shone blindingly, and after a moment, Mordegon rose into the air above the Heart.
"And this blade is the fabled Sword of Light," Mordegon mused, inspecting the weapon. "Not very fitting for the Lord..." he crushed the crest hovering above his hand, "of Shadows!"
The crest on his hand vanished, just as a wave of darkness surged from his sleeve to the Sword of Light. The metal of the sword began to glow cherry red, boiling and deforming in a wave spreading outward from it. Darkness cloaked the blade entirely, and as Mordegon laughed triumphantly, he waved his hand along the weapon, clearing the darkness. What it left behind was a monstrous weapon. It was the length of a greatsword, shaped like a cleaver, had a row of spikes running down its back edge, a spiked crossguard, three spikes extending off of the pommel, and an eye on the side, which began to look around the moment it appeared, its movements making a wet, slimy sound.
"The Sword of Light!" Serena gasped, everyone but Kai having managed to scrape themselves up, though all were still wounded. "What has he done!?"
"He's forged...the Sword of...Shadows," Kai forced out.
Jade hurried over to him, helping him up from the ground, only for them to stare at Mordegon as he began to rise.
"Almighty Yggdrasil, source of all life..." he paused, sneering down at the Heart before dropping, driving the Sword of Shadows down into it, "YIELD YOUR POWER TO ME!"
Light began to fly off of the Heart, and as he released the sword, the eye on the pommel shone. The magic and souls within the Heart began to flow up past the sword and into Mordegon, who cackled horribly as he began to grow. All around them, Yggdrasil died, all of its leaves withering and being ripped from the tree into a cyclone around it and around Mordegon. Then, as the last of Yggdrasil's life faded, a thick cloud of darkness enveloped Mordegon, lightning flashing inside of it. He began to rise, floating up above Yggdrasil as the darkness formed a sphere.
"Oh no!" Veronica wailed. "This can't be happening! If Yggdrasil falls, the world will..."
Kai stared up at the darkness. He could just barely make out Mordegon's form in the center, but his silhouette, illuminated in brief flashes of lightning, looked more monstrous than before. Then, he roared, the darkness clearing and a pulse of sheer power blowing away the leaves and clouds and wiping existence away from Kai.
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