Stranger From a Strange Land (canceled)

Chapter XII: Draag'nir

When we finally reach the end of the cave, we get to a massive door. "This is scary stuff" says Carne. "Yeah, no kidding" I agree. This isn't just scary, it's terrifying. "I assume we don't need to wonder what's behind that door" I say. "Yeah, if what you saw is to be trusted" Carne says. He's shaking, no doubt he's scared out of his flesh. "Everyone ready?" I say. "Hold it" I hear someone yell. Oh shit, Aries is here. "What are you doing?" She asks. "Uhm, exploring a possible place for the beast to reside" says Carne. "I see. It's very dangerous, are you sure you want to go in there?" She asks. "Well, if it's back there, we need to take care of it" I say. "Well, don't leave me behind! I want in on the action, too!" She says, joining our group. "Where's Luna and Lilith?" I ask. "They'll be fine, I made sure they were okay before I left, so they should be fine" She says. Well, as long as they're alright. "Alright, I'm going to open it" I say, and I push the doors open with all my might. As we step inside, a massive beast rises before us upon a stone platform. "Who dares enter here?" Says a deep, menacing voice. It sends a shiver down my spine. This is Draag'nir. "We have come to challenge you!" Aries yells. Is she trying to get us killed? "You seek your own death" Draag'nir replies. "Turn back at once" he says. "We came here for a reason, and we're not just going to leave without finishing what we started" Carne says. "You people care too little. I am not doing such things of my own volition" Draag'nir replies. "It's like Claire said, then" says Carne. "The Demon Lords have enslaved you, correct?" I ask. "Indeed" he says. I don't see any enslavement collar, so it's most likely a curse. And curses are not easily broken. "Is there anyone who is capable of breaking your curse?" I ask. "Only one. I dream of the day I meet this man" he says. "Who is he?" I ask. "The hero" he says, looking me up and down, "which in this case, would be you" he says. "How do I lift this curse, then?" I ask. He glossed over me being the hero pretty easily, but I can tell he's eager. "It is not easy" he says. "You must kill me" he says. I.. need to kill him? I don't understand. "Will you let me do that?" I ask. "I'm afraid I am unable to go down without a fight" he says. I figured. That curse must be a huge burden. "I understand" I say. "Deisuke, are you sure?" Asks Carne. "This battle could very well get you killed" says Claire. "I know... I just can't let any of this gonon for any longer, I don't want to see any innocent people getting hurt for no reason" I say. "You have a good soul, human child" says Draag'nir. His black scales are scarred, and it's obvious that he's seen many battles. "I warn you, once the curse takes over, I lose all sense of reason" he says. "I will become a ruthless, merciless monster" he says. "Deisuke, take this" Carne says, handing me a sword with a carved blade. "Use it well" he says, drawing his sword. Draag'nir stands up from the platform, making it clear that we are nothing more than ants in his vision. "Forgive me for any casualty I may cause" he says, and the walls if the cave begin falling away until we're standing in an open grass field. Draag'nir's eyes go from a soft turquoise to a menacing red, and his wings beat as he lifts of the ground, letting rip a blood curdling roar. I suddenly feel much more afraid. Everyone stands behind me, poised to attack. Draag'nir dives in at a tremendous speed, and opens his snout. In the back of his throat I can see a dark blue light emit. "Move!" I yell, diving out of the way. Everyone follows suite, and we just miss getting obliterated by a massive blue fire stream that leaves a continuous crater. He's gone completely wild he circles around, preparing to dive again. Claire sends a fireball into his mouths as he's about to shoot again, and it ignites his snout in a fiery cloud of red and blue. He lands, shaking his head. I don't think it did any real damage, and Claire seems to notice that. Carne manages to get behind him with a good swing, hitting his tail and cracking one of his scales. But only cracking. This seems to cause Draag'nir the slightest amount of pain, and he instinctively sacks Carne with his tail, sending him flying into a tree and shattering his sword. Carne looks fine, but he can't fight anymore without his sword. That's already one down, three to go. Draag'nir averts his gaze to me, and prepares to hit me. I roll out of the way, just barely missing it, and Claire's watching from the side. Aries stands with her legs apart, her eyebrows are furrowed, and her arms raised high in the air. A blue circle forms around her as the wind begins swirling like a tornado. A cloud of dust arises in the air, clouding view of everything. It's a smokescreen. "Deisuke! Hit him!" She yells, and Draag'nir comes flying through the clouds. He lets rip a massive blue fireball, and Aries disappears behind the heat. When the fire clears, Aries is nowhere to be seen. She's dead, isn't she? Gone. There's no way anyone could survive that. I feel a boiling hatred burn inside me, a flame hotter than the sun burning for revenge. When the smoke clears, Aries' body lay unmoving in the crater, her forehead covered in blood, and her skin scorched. She isn't breathing. I begin to breath heavily. I feel immense power running though my veins, and as Draag'nir attempts to strike me down, I jump onto his back with a deep slash on the side of his torso. He lets out a roar of pain as his blood slowly drips over the yellow-stained scales. His tail lashes fruitlessly in an attempt to hit me, and he flails in distress. I rise my sword into the air, and strike down. The blade digs down into his back, and he screeches like a dinasaur on it's final breath. He lifts into the air, and I lose my balance, falling off. I grab onto one of his talons, and slowly climb my way up his body. Once I'm up again, I grip the sword's hilt like a lifeline, jostling it around, and causing Draag'nir even more pain. That's right. Feel the pain. I rip the sword out of his back, and he throws he to the side. I just barely manage to grab onto his wing, but it's beating makes it hard to stay on top. I dig my sword into his wings, slicing down and back into his body. He screeches once more, and loses height as he fruitlessly flaps in an attempt to stay airborne. He topples to the ground, and I begin falling off. I grab my sword, but it begins slicing through Draag'nir's scales, drawing more blood out of the cut. The sword drags down to his throat as he lets out one final screech before collapsing to the ground with me, the sword still lodged in his neck. After the dust settles, he's just barely breathing, and the sinister red glow has gone from his eyes. I remember Aries, and immediately run over to her body. Each step I take fills me with dread. The faint hope that she might have survived disappears more and more the closer I get. She lay still in the crater, unbreathing. I kneel down beside her. Every second that passes as I sit by her side feels like an eternity. I run my fingers down her silky hair, and grip her hand. But it's already too late, she's gone. "Aries..." I mutter under my breath. "You idiot..." I say. "Deisuke... I'm so sorry" Claire says, walking up behind me. "Don't be" I say. We may not have known each other for more than three months, and Aries could be clumsy sometimes.. but she was a good person. A beautiful goddess. She never deserved this. And it's all my fault. I should never have let her enter the cave with us. "She's gone, isn't she..." Carne says. "There's nothing we can do..." Claire says, a wobble creeping into her voice. She's crying. And pretty soon I notice that I am too, and so is Carne. Aries was special. And things will never be the same without her. "I'm... Sorry... Child.." Draag'nir struggles. I turn to him. He lay there, the sword still lodged in his neck, and his own blood staining his scales in a deep scarlet as it drips out of his wounds. This isn't his fault. "This... It isn't your fault.." I say, my voice wobbly with grief. "Please... Accept my.. deepest apologies.." he says. "No" I say. "You don't have to apologize for anything" I say. "But I have... Caused the death... Of your beloved... Companion" he says. "It wasn't your fault" I say, standing up and approaching him. "It was the fault of those who made you do this. And I promise you, I will make them pay for doing all of this, and they will regret it with every fibre of their being. I will tear them limb from limb, and remind them of the horrible screams and pain they had caused to others so that they are haunted by those memories for the rest of eternity, even in hell" I say. "Deisuke... You sound scary" says Claire. "I know" I say. "But I'm not just going to let them walk away from this like nothing ever happened" I say. "Well, bud, just know that the rest of us will stand beside you, no matter what you choose to do" Carne says, patting my shoulder. I look at Claire, and she hugs me tightly. "Me too" she says. "I, too, shall pledge my allegiance to you, dear hero" says Draag'nir. I place my hand on his head, and a tremendous energy flows through us. I close my eyes, and I feel the liberating power flow through us. Then, something breaks. Like a restraint, shattering to bits. Draag'nir opens his eyes. I lift my hand off of his head, and he stands up. The wounds on his body have seemingly disappeared. He spreads his wings wide, and lets out a shriek of victory that echoes through the land like a ghostly wind. "I owe you a great debt, child. If you ever need my help, speak these words, and I shall heed your call. I will never leave your side, hero" he says, bowing his head. "I appreciate your companionship" I say. He teaches me the whisper, and it's in the long lost dragon language, something that very few people on this earth have ever mastered. The language had thought to have been lost, extinct with the dragons, but as long as Draag'nir remains, dragons won't disappear completely. "Now" I say, turning around. "Let us say a proper farewell"

We all kneel before Aries' grave, which has been adorned with beautiful flowers. Everyone from the city has laid tribute to Aries, and now the rest of us sit in silence. We're all crying, even Carne. Lilith grips my sleeve, and Luna digs her face into my arm, sobbing. The silence is overwhelming. A wind passes the area as Draag'nir's wings send leaves flying upon his landing. "I truly wish there was anything that I could do for your fallen comrade" he says. "It's okay" I whisper. "I was never intending to kill anyone" he says. "So.. it was you?" Lilith asks. "Indeed, though I was under a curse at the time. Tradition means that you have full permission to hate me with all your being, though even if it didn't, I would still accept your resentment" he says. "You... are alright with me hating you?" Lilith asks. "Indeed. I am fully deserving of your hatred" he says. "I... Don't hate you... I hate whoever did this" she says. "You have my deepest gratitude" he says. Luna is still sobbing into my sleeve. "Draag'nir... I promise you we will find the people who did this to you" I say. "I shall assist you in any way that I can" he says. We stand up, and prepare to go back to the village, but I realise something. Someone's watching us. "We know you're here" say. Nothing. I feel a presence to my right, and I glare in that direction. "Step out" I say. To my utter surprise, a terrified looking elf steps out of the bush, throwing his bow to the side. "What are you doing?" Yells another from a tree. "He's... he's too powerful for us..." He says. "You dare ambush us at a time when we mourn the death of a fallen comrade?" I ask. "Yes, but-"
"Just how cowardly can you be?" I ask. "You dare call our highest ranking bow batallion cowardly?" Yells the one from the tree, and three more step out from the bush. "What would you call such an under-handed tactic, then?" I ask. "It's no underhanded tactic! It is ingenious Strategy!" He yells, walking up to me. I grab him by the collar, lifting him off the ground. The other elves lift their bows. "I wouldn't" says Draag'nir, and they all drop the bows as their faces fill with terror. "I have just lost someone very dear to me, and I have a lot of hatred inside me right now. I would advise against testing my patience, because it may very well be the end of you" I say, dropping him. "Why, you-"
"Why don't you stop it right there, Charlé" says a menacing voice. A very important-looking elf steps out from the shrubbery. "Please, Sir Deisuke, ignore the insolence of my first ranged betallion commander. He is but a fool in your presence" he says. His decency is beyond anything I've ever seen, no doubt he's a high ranking elf. "Please, allow me to introduce myself. My name is Valoriil Elsinius. I am the king of the high elf kingdom that once ruled this world" he says. "You... Are the king of the great Tanir kingdom?" I query. "Indeed. Let me begin by expressing my deepest apologies for your comrade. Had she been one of ours, the entire kingdom would be mourning. If there is anything we can assist you with, then we'd be happy to oblige" he says. "Thank you..." I say. "For now, the best we can offer for your fallen goddess is to construct a memorial in the capital of the city" he says. "Wait, how did you know she was a goddess?" I ask. "Has Claire not told you that I am a visionary?" He queries. She did. "But isn't the city overgrown?" I ask. "Not since you freed Draag'nir from his curse. Come, we have much to discuss in my castle. We shall begin the construction of Aries' memorial immediately" he says. My cheeks are stained with tears, and so are everyone else's, but I can't help but feel a sense of immense comfort around Valoriil. I feel safe, and I know Aries will be fine. She has to be.