Moon Chasers: Into the storm [Finished]

Chapter Twenty: The golden dragon

The dragon did not breath fire, it's breath was of destructive lightning. Electric discharges of cataclysmic power. And that thing was directed at the merry little squad. When the dragon let out the power the small bushes were immediately annihilated. Everyone jumped trying to avoid the attack but only Vix managed to avoid at least a part of it, the rest took the blow as it came. 

Jory felt it pass and felt his body suffer from it. He almost left it behind as the aftermath pain was terrible but he managed to hold on to reality and try to get to safety before another attack came. Hi muscles were tense and it was difficult for him to move, his escape was slow and he feared that he had been rendered unable to cast to most delicate and complex spells.

Eleon grabbed his shoulder and brought him along, they scattered forcing the dragon to choose who to attack. Four widespread targets were more difficult to hit than a group of four idiots standing right in front of it.

Vix aimed at the dragon still opened mouth and took her shot, her stiff muscles however had another plan for that bolt and that plan was to make it miss it's target entirely. She wanted to scream her frustration out but even her throat was stiff.

"Okay, let's give up the refined spells" Thought Jory " Intention will do the job let's just call for the energy and see what lands and how!" He shakily moved his arms in a circle in front of him before joining his fist on his chest. The movement was sloppy and not well executed but the chaos inside him subsided for the stillness of ice anyway. His mind and body was so used to the energy that it went naturally. He extended his arms the most rapidly possible given his state and cast his spell.

That's when it went a bit wrong, instead of an attack it simply made a bit of blizzard which melted quite fast in the declining afternoon heat. But the energy had not left his palm, it was still laying there dormant so Jory tried again, for the sake of it. The ice shot forward and even if it did not damage the dragon it slowed it's movement a bit. A small victory, finally.

Qa, who was still close to the dragon, was thankful that the spell did not hit him something he had been sure of all along because of their disastrous luck of the day. He still felt the tingling in his blades. That reminded him of the fight against Beorash. They had used the sword as a focal point to direct lightning inside the god's body, and what if it was also something they could do now? But What could they channel anyway.

With a loud noise both the blade hit the platted dragon and made everyone teeth and ears hurt, maybe elves had it worse than the two others. Qa took a step back, damn it is difficult to accomplish anything in this state!

Eleon left the halfling side and walked a quarter of a circle around the mechanical beast just to make sure that they were spread out enough before the creature next attack and then the elf attacked, praying that this was the last shot he had to make. The arrow went for the opening but snapped in half as the dragon moved. The next was sure to be the right one.

The dragon roared and took off in the sky once above the four adventurer it released it's attack unfortunately for it but fortunately enough for the group the electricity was wasted and only the thundering sound did effect on the fighters. The dragon went back on the ground making it shakes once again.

Vix saw what made this dragon so deadly, the furnace, because that's the only word that could apply, inside it's chest was protected by the plating but each attack forces it to open the platting to let out the heat and prevent it from overheating. Either they make it explode and the gods only now how disastrous that would be or they forces it to over heat. She ran to Jory to tell him, with his magic he could do something.

"Jory, we have until the next attack to shut it down, all we need is to make it overheat !"

"You want me to get close enough to it to just put a fire inside?"

"Or perhaps we can force it trough something else so you can have a few step back?"

Qa lifter his swords but Jory shook his head "That would be taking an immense risk I could make them fragile after that, and the last thing we need is a blade shattering in our hands!"

"Then we cover you as you do so, but decide fast it's recharging it's power and its claws are just as deadly!"

"Okay, okay! I'll do it" The halfling shook away the remnant of his muscle stiffness with a discreet healing spell, now he could hit it with a directed attack and not just try his luck blindly. "Time to show it who's boss!"

The mage ran up the the dragon's side and plunged under it's giant paw and managed to escape it's attack he then finally came to the dragon's side. The metal plating felt almost like scales,  there was something very organic to the way it was moving, almost like a breath, and the whirring and clicks of the machinery mixed with the crackling electricity gave the whole an illusion of liveliness. 

"Here goes nothing" The energy came in a surge no longer bound by the electricity weakening his body a raging inferno inhabited every part of him. concentrating in his hands which he brought forward and rested on the metal, hot to the touch, yet colder than the blaze he was emitting. The extremity of his sleeves was scorched by the cheer heat emanating from him. The dragon tried to get away but it was flanked by the three others. The heat built up inside the dragon rib cage and in a final zap of lightning the machine stopped for good. Or so they hoped.

It went limp on the ground and stopped making noise. Everyone breathed a sigh of relief and got as far as possible from the giant carcass. There was a moment when everyone believed that it was finally over but the portal was still unlit and actually nothing had changed. The sun was now close to the horizon, the evening was well in. 

Jory gathered his companions around him and cast a healing spell, just to make sure that they could withstand the night or whatever else this island was going to throw at them. They thanked him before sitting next to him. Clouds had started to gather on the horizon and they were getting thicker with each passing minutes, but nothing changed on the mountain top.

"Wasn't that a test?" asked Vix incredulous "That dragon seemed to be made of the same material the portal was made of, so they have to be linked somehow!"

"I guess as much perhaps the dragon was put here to defend the portal but defeating it did not advance us any further" whispered Jory while checking on himself 

"We didn't kill it, we only rendered it "unconscious" perhaps the test did not intend on us to use a non lethal mean to stop it" observed Eleon

"We are not destroying it while it's down" said Qa with a barely veiled threat

"It wasn't my intention" Eleon said softly

"You passed the test succesfully" said a rumbling voice "It was to prove that you were smart, strong and merciful" electricity filled the air as a persistent whirring noise came back

"What?!" Vix had jumped on her feet an arrow ready on her bow