.
.
Darkstalker walks through the hall of the night palace, totally empty for once in the glorious and pretentious building's life.
It is with the noises of his sole talon-steps resonating in the almost unnecessary gigantic room that the nightwing progresses forward, determined to reach his goal despite the doubt creeping inside his mind, making him question all the events that happened in his life and led to where he is today…
Despite the hall of the palace being a place he came to so often in his life, where hundreds of nightwing, having their name held high in the night kingdom, walked over, proud of themselves and thinking they were at the top of Pyrrhia, the nightwing draws no satisfaction from it.
Such a place will become what it was supposed to be, but not before something great is done to rekindle the flame…
Marching in calm and in silence, Darkstalker doesn't gaze at such a place nor does he even has one thought about it. It is like for this day, the parts of the palace that aren't right in front of him don't matter.
So the nightwing continues to walk, ignoring the still magnificent room, which progressively looses the meaning it has left as its only spectator doesn't give it the attention it deserves…
Finally, the lone black dragon arrives at the final wall.
Climbing a few steps, he opens the decorated white door and enters immediately into the incredibly long corridor, his expression and focus staying the same as he walks on the now useless carpet…
Candlesticks grace him of their periodic presence, bringing a dimmer light to him and the walls, but they aren't like they used to be.
And no matter how many doors, no matter how paintings and motifs of the night dragons Darkstalker comes close to, he remains unaffected, even when out of all the art pieces he can see, one depicts queen Vigilance, or her first daughter, or her sons, or all of her family,
or Clearsight.
The nightwing halts for a moment, turning slightly to better see the portrait of her.
Folding his back talons, Darkstalker lays down, looking more at the ground than anything else, immobile for a moment…
.
Standing up, the dragon continues his march, as if nothing ever happened, the constant sound of his steps over the noble floor partially smothering the growing doubt.
Soon, the nightwing arrives at his destination, a room hidden behind a door as prestigious as the ones of royals' quarters, or it would be if it didn't have cracks and chunks missing, or this stain of black and infectious ink.
Putting his paw over the door handle, Darkstalker sighs as he slowly turns it, which still doesn't stop a squeak from being produced, nor the object from detaching a little bit.
Pushing the door by putting his other paw directly on the wooden surface, the nightwing enters as well. Now in the abandoned room, full of unmaintained furnitures and scrolls torn apart, littering the room, he comes to the pitiful excuse of a bed and falls on it carelessly… Laying there, wings unfolded, Darkstalker tries to relax a bit…
Staring at nothing, the nightwing tries to empty his mind, to drown in the fabric until he can finally rest… But that moment doesn't come, and he is forced to confront that reality as too many minutes have passed with him inside the worthless place.
Standing up and turning to face the entrance, Darkstalker refuses to look at the ground until he leaves the room... Closing the door, he takes some time to refocus his mind and gather the will to pursue his goal, then begins to march again…
Coursing at his slower pace through the lifeless palace, the nightwing makes his way to the throne room, to the two giant doors that protect the ruler from even the fire of twenty dragons and the blows of a hundred more.
Approaching the entrance to the throne, Darkstalker ungracefully puts his paws over the titanic barrier, and pushes it with all his strength, hissing and growing angry for the first time as the heavy doors barely move despite his act.
After a few minutes, the nightwing retracts his talons and regains his stance, already tired by such a physical effort. But it doesn't matter as he can penetrate the room, his goal now closer than ever…
.
Walking toward the throne of black stone, Darkstalker shortly pays attention to the many corpses laying beside, stabbed one way or another by what was probably a dagger…
Continuing to go forward without slowing down, the nightwing doesn't look away from diamond spear being just before the ruler's seat, its blade untainted by any drop of blood when it could be.
So this is it, like I imagined, with only one thing left to do...
Sighing, the new ruler ascends the final steps, and takes the sacred weapon in his claws before pointing the pure blade at his belly with slight hesitation.
- "Today… is the day."
"The day the night and its kingdom find... the one"
"The one that shall…"
"Bring greatness back to them!"
Darkstalker plunges the spear of perfect ice into his scales, opening his flesh and bringing more blood to the floor. Pain and suffering start immediately, forcing the dragon's body to bend, to fold his four talons and lay down more and more…
But the nightwing's belly doesn't touch the ground, the nightwing having enough will to not totally collapse.
Regaining control of his own mind, Darkstalker knows what there is to do. Casting a quick glance at the spear he stabbed himself with, he catches his breath before pulling it out.
The king of the night can't stop himself from screaming this time, and falls to the ground, crying in pain…
As the unmerciful feeling becomes bearable, Darkstalker slowly calms himself, his breathing slowing down as he can think again.
A few minutes later, the nightwing can stand up once again, his wound having been closed by a growing white crystal radiating power…
.
- "What do we have here...? Happy with yourself Darkstalker?"
It is with horror that the nightwing realizes his fear has become reality, Vigilance is now in the throne room with him. And having a halberd in her talons, she is ready to fight and to put an end to him.
Trying to do a battle stance, the new ruler knows he is no match for her in this state. But still, he refuses to give up, and musters all his will and hatred against the old queen of his tribe.
Pointing the sacred spear tainted by his blood, Darkstalker only gets a laugh from the still imposing dragoness.
"Do you really think you can still win? Do you really believe there is still hope in your life, my little arrogant dragonet…" Says Vigilance looking straight into him, grinning.
"Look at yourself, barely standing on four, so pathetic…"
Vigilance closes the distance between them until it is only half of what it was before.
The nightwing thinks about the situation, but doesn't take any action, his state forbidding him to act unless he truly needs to, and he himself better than to use his precious energy recklessly.
But still, he tighten his grip on the mystical weapon, ready to pierce the ex queen's body should she decide to jump at him directly...
"When will you understand that it is over? You have no one, and my subjects still prefer a queen to a disgraceful, male pretender like you." Says the dragoness with an air of malice under the guise of superiority Darkstalker knows so well.
Vigilance takes a big step forward, daring him to do anything that could really stop her, but he doesn't move, still trying recovering the strength he so desperately needs…
"See, you can't do anything to stop me, you don't have the strength to do so, and you know it!"
The enemy of Darkstalker starts to walk again, getting closer and closer with her weapon so she can finally strike him down…
"You are alone and powerless… Maybe, if in the past, you showed less restrain, you wouldn't be without the glorious you desired today." Says the dragoness feeling fear as she remembers and imagines such a past.
"But in the end, you are nothing but a coward, a weak minded dragon like all animi are. We queens of Pyrrhia don't let others dictate our way, we forge our future and the history of the world…" With all her confidence immediately returning, she contemplates bringing him into misery and breaking every parts of him as she gets dangerously closer...
"And that is why the royal blood will always be above everything else, even above the ones that could be gods!"
Finishing her sentence, Vigilance jumps to the side and swings her halberd into the new ruler of the night.
Anger takes over Darkstalker's mind as he blocks the attack with the sacred spear, holding desperately against the opponent he would never accept to bow to… Despite the pain, the exhaustion, the loneliness, he'll never fall down before her without a fight.
- "I. Will. Never. Submit. To. You!"
Being pushed away, Vigilance stays surprised for a moment, wondering how such a now lowly dragon could stand against her…
- "No matter, you will be defeated, and your resistance only increases the amount of pain and suffering you will receive before we end you and everything you stand for."
Regaining her stance, Vigilance then breathes fire in front of Darkstalker who is engulfed by the flames, too slowed down by his recent wound to dodge the infernal cone.
Screaming in pain, the nightwing has to suffer for an agonizing minute before his scales can start to cool down, reduced almost to ashes like the wings he used to protect his body, his head, his ears and his eyes…
Folding his wings to see again, the new king only gets to watch one of his worst enemy for a second before she slams her halberd into his neck, opening his flesh and putting him down.
With a loud impact, Darkstalker's body crashes into the ground, breaking some bones against the tainted stone under the watch of his smiling enemy...