A Dragon's Regret

Chapter 10: Resolution From Above

Chapter 10: Resolution From Above.

Back aboard the Enigma, the Eternal Flame Serpents watched from the bridge with bated breath as the beacon's signal grew stronger, a glimmer of hope amidst the chaos of their instruments.

Green, the lead Eternal Flame Serpent, felt a surge of relief "They've done it!" it exclaimed, its sleek form shimmering with excitement. "Prepare the weapon!" 

Red, its crimson aura reflecting on the screens, spoke with a tinge of urgency, "But we must wait for Scalie's signal to confirm they are clear!" The others nodded in agreement, the tension in the room palpable. Without that signal, the ship's weapon could consume them all. "We cannot risk firing upon our comrades," it continued, its serpentine neck weaving a worried pattern in the air. The dragon and the unicorn spirit's fate was in their hands now, and the weight of their decision was as heavy as the dragon's hunger had been before his change of heart and all this otherworldly business started.

After a tense minute, Blue, the most impatient of the Eternal Flame Serpents, spoke up, its azure aura pulsing with urgency. "We can't wait any longer!" it exclaimed. "The Great Unmaker could still adapt to the weapon, or the swarmers could dislodge the beacon!" The others exchanged worried glances, knowing that every second counted. The decision to trust in Scalie and Alicia was fraught with risk, but the potential for failure was too great to ignore. "We must act now!" Blue hissed, its voice a whip-crack in the quiet. The others murmured in reluctant agreement, their forms rustling like a storm-tossed sea. The time for patience had passed; the fate of Aquarius hung by a thread, and they had to cut it swiftly to save this world.

With heavy hearts, the Eternal Flame Serpents made their decision. 

"Yellow," Green said with a nod, and the serpent's eyes lit up with a fierce determination. "Fire upon the beacon's signal." 

The room grew quiet as Yellow's aura shimmered with conflict. The dragon and unicorn spirit were valiant souls, but the weight of the world rested on their shoulders. "God forgive us," Yellow murmured, its chest eye and tendril's eyes squeezed shut in a silent prayer.

 "Godspeed, Alicia, Scalie," Red added, its voice thick with emotion. 

Yellow's claws danced over the control panel with a grace that belied their urgency, and in response, a pulsating pillar of black light erupted from the ship's bowels. It shot through the void with the speed of a star's dying breath, a beacon of destruction that made even the most stoic serpents shiver with a mix of awe and dread. The weapon, known as the 'Nightfall Spike', was the ultimate expression of the Eternal Flame Serpents' power, a weapon of such tremendous force that it had only been used once before—to cleave an entire planet in twain. The screen on the bridge flickered with the strain of focusing the energy, the image of the Great Unmaker's obscured as the Spike homed in on the beacon's pulse. The dragon and unicorn spirit duo, still locked in a desperate race against time, had no idea that their lives now hung on the precision of a creature that had never missed its mark.

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The swarmers' panic grew frenzied as they felt the approach of the Spike, their cries of alarm piercing the air. Scalie, his eyes fixed on the rapidly diminishing gap in the stomach wall, pushed himself to his limits, Alicia clinging tightly to his neck. They had to trust in the Eternal Flame Serpents' timing, their hearts a tumult of hope and fear. The Spike grew closer, a dark spear aimed at the heart of the core, and the unicorn whispered a prayer to the ancient gods of Aquarius, her horn pulsing in rhythm with her racing pulse. The swarmers around the core grew frenzied, their movements chaotic, their loyalty to the Great Unmaker overwhelmed by the instinctual need to survive.