Arcus story

Chapter 8: A cave of power

Coming home - Diddy
My Gaming Life - Arensky

Arcus and Ignis had eventually gone back to the kingdom underground. Though Arcus couldn't seem to find the peaceful bliss he had before. He enjoyed his time with Ignis greatly, but his mind wandered more often than not to his own homeland. The black eyes haunted his dreams, and he couldn't help but feel like he was responsible. Would all of this have happened if he hadn't left?

He didn't even notice how Ignis opened the door until he stood right before him.
"Hey sky, you alright? I've called your name at least five times by now," they asked.
"I'm fine, just lost in thought," he smiled half-heartedly.
"You miss the upper world, don't you?" Ignis sat beside him, letting out a sigh.
"Miss is a strong word. I just feel like I should be responsible. I am the heir to the throne after all," he sighed.
"So, you want to go up there again?" he asked.
"I mean... I feel like I should. There's just this feeling in my gut that tells me it's the right thing to do," he sighed.
"Then, would you mind if we took a different route than last time?" Ignis smirked.
"I mean, sure I guess?" he looked at Ignis questioningly.
"Then follow me," he stood up and started walking.
"Race you out!" Arcus pushed past him.
They swerved around the halls, when Ignis suddenly took a left instead of the usual right. Arcus almost crashed into the wall as he attempted to follow the king. He ended up sprawled out on the floor.
"You alright klutz?" Ignis chuckled.
"Well forgive me for not knowing the way to somewhere I've never been," Arcus grumbled.
Ignis just laughed as he helped him up. His eyes gleamed with amusement.

They continued through the halls. Ignis stopped by a seemingly bare stone wall. Though before Arcus had time to question it, Ignis lifted his tail to the wall, which parted at his touch.
"After you," they smiled.
Arcus stepped inside the little cave. There was lava lining the walls in the otherwise empty cave.
"So, where are we? And how is this taking us above ground?" Arcus questioned, looking around the cave.
Ignis just chuckled before leaping up at the roof. The stone gave way, and Arcus had to jump to avoid not being hit by a small pebble heading his way. He followed Ignis up through the ground. They ended up in a tunnel. He recognized the place as soon as they made it out the hole.
"You're telling me it was THIS easy to get up here all along?" Arcus looked at Ignis with a pointed look.
"You never really asked," Ignis smirked.
Arcus just sighed before heading through the tunnel towards the crystal cave.

They went into the cave, walking side by side in silence. Unlike last time, the cave was almost entirely empty, except for the glowing crystals.
"Where is everyone?" Arcus questioned.
Suddenly, a lightning strike came flying towards them, missing Ignis by a centimeter at most. The air kingdoms crystal crackled with energy, and the usual soft blue glow was replaced by a bright purple. As soon as Ignis took a step forward, another bolt of lightning shot at him.
"Stay there," Arcus said, not turning away from the crystal.

Something was pushing him to continue forward. He moved towards the crystal carefully. Unlike when Ignis moved towards it, no lightning shot his way. It was almost as if the crystal was pulling him in. Before he could stop himself, he touched his nose to the crystal. All the energy of the crystal passed through his body. He let out a shriek of pain and panic as he watched the purple energy surround him.
"Arcus!" Ignis voice felt distant, much farther away than a moment ago.
He felt his flare stand up, and his scales felt like they were flipping over. The pain was gone, and his entire body was filling with energy. The lightning around him turned from a bright purple to an array of the rainbow colors. It surrounded him like a soft embrace. As quickly as it appeared, it vanished, leaving Arcus on the ground.

Ignis stared at him as he touched the ground. Wonder and confusion swirled around in his eyes. Arcus sprung upwards, doing a loop in the air. The power inside him fueled energy he'd never felt before.
"A-Arcus, your flare and your nose," Ignis stuttered, barely managing to get the words out.
He lifted his tail. Instead of the short pale blue flare, his back was covered by a long, flowing flare in an array of rainbow colors. He freaked out for a moment, landing on the ground again. He twirled around, checking every area of his body he could see. His scales looked almost like an armor, shiny and seemingly harder than before, and he could notice a color change of his nose in the corner of his eye. Ignis was at his side in a moment. Their eyes were shining with amazement, and Arcus thought he could see a faint blush covering their cheeks for a moment.
"Are you alright?" he asked, walking around him to find any injury.
"I'm fine. But what in the world was that?" Arcus asked, glancing at the crystal.
"That was you awakening your powersss," a voice softly hissed from a hidden corner in the cave. A serpent-like figure moved out into the light. His irises almost glowed purple against his black eye "whites". Ignis visibly stiffened at the sight of the serpent-like dragon. He took a step to stand ever so slightly in front of Arcus.
"Venero," Ignis growled.
"Oh, you remember me? How kind of you," he hissed slyly.
"You know who this is?" Arcus turned to the orange dragon.
"Met him once or twice. He used to gather herbs around my groups hang-out spot. He's not a good guy," he explained, still glaring at the dark purple dragon.
"Oh, but ignore all of that, "Sky". I've been dying to finally meet you face to face," he smiled at the blue dragon, cringing slightly at the nickname.
"Meet me?" he looked at the purple dragon with a head tilt.
"Yes you, prince Arcus Nebula of the air kingdom," he bowed his head politely, making Ignis growl.
"And what do you want with me?" Arcus asked, stiffening as the other dragon moved forward.
"To take my rightful place beside you of course," he chuckled.
"What?!" Ignis and Arcus exclaimed at the same time.

"Let me explain dear," he smiled coldly.
"A long time ago, back when you were just an egg and I was just a year old, our parents made a promise for us to marry and rule together. Of course, they expected you to be a female by then. But when you hatched and turned out to be male, Fulgur called off the agreement.
Of course, my parents argued against it, saying that your gender shouldn't change anything.
But of course, Fulgur raged at this, and they were executed shortly after. And so, I moved in with my uncle, who had been exiled long ago, and we vowed to keep this agreement and avenge my parents. He raised me while experimenting with herbs and trying to find different remedies. He could cure basically anything, before he developed the venom. He didn't have any test subjects, so he tested it on me. Once he saw the results of my immunity to the venom, he tried it on himself. Though unlike me, he didn't take control of the venom and went crazy as the venom developed inside him, leaving him on his deathbed. I did find a cure, but he was too weak by the time it worked. So, here I am."
Arcus looked at him, a mixture of sympathy and rage inside his chest.

"You're the one who caused all of this? The sickness, the weather and the crystal, it was all you?" he whimpered.
"Oh no no no. I only spread the sickness, the weather and the crystal was something else," he smiled, waving his head in a nonchalant motion.
"You killed my parents?" his question faded away into a whisper.
"Were they really your parents? They abandoned you, didn't they? They forced you away as soon as they found out," he slithered closer.
"I- I..." Arcus didn't know what to say. He was standing face to face with a murderer, yet something inside him praised the venomous dragon. Part of him agreed. His parents hadn't tried to help him, so why should he care that they were gone?

He didn't even realize the venomous dragon was right in front of the other two before he heard Ignis hiss loudly. The fire dragon was acting as a barrier between him and Venero. He fondly realized the fire dragon had placed his tail on his back.
"What am I even thinking? He's still a mass murderer, and he took down so many innocent air dragons," he shook his head lightly.

He looked up to find Venero curling up, preparing to launch at the fire dragon. Arcus eyes widened, andlaunch at the fire dragon. Arcus eyes widened, and he closed his eyes as the memory of his sick father doing the same twirled around his mind, taking over his vision. A loud woosh, followed by a thud could be heard as something slammed into the stone of the cave. He opened his eyes slowly, expecting Ignis to be the one on the ground, but instead it was Venero, who was getting up from beside a wall on the other side of the cave. Not even Ignis themselves looked like they knew what just happened.
"Impressive Arcus dear. You just awakened your powers, yet you can already send me flying across this cave," he smirked, not even wincing as he got up.
"I did that?" he looked between Ignis and Venero.
"Who else in here has control of the air," Venero chuckled.
Arcus just stared at him, overcome with confusion.
"Oh, this is just too good. You really know nothing of the power you inherited," he laughed.
"The power I inherited?" he tilted his head.

Ignis seemed to tense up as everything dawned on him.
"Don't listen to a word he says. Terra, Nympha and I will explain everything later," he hissed out, glancing at Arcus.
"Think about it Arcus. They've hidden this from you ever since your parents died. It's been almost a year now, hasn't it? How can you be sure they'll tell you now?" Venero hissed, appearing behind them.
Ignis spun around, hissing loudly at the venomous dragon. Though Arcus couldn't seem to find the will to do the same.
"Come find me if you have any questions. I'll be hanging around where the sun never sets," he smirked, before disappearing out of the cave in a puff of purple smoke.