Castlevania: Awakening

Chapter 19

Silence – the clearing was entirely still.
The impressive and terrifying battle had finally ended along with the black shadows of the night. The stars twinkled faintly in the gray sky above; barely noticeable behind the smoky haze that shrouded the land.
Morning was beginning to dawn over this dreadful darkness.

Laevon beheld the dragon now as all traces of Zobek’s monstrosity had disappeared.
There was nothing left but this behemoth gazing upon him with its fiery eyes. Its entire being reeked of blood and destruction.
Strangely his soul felt peaceful and unafraid even in the presence of Gabriel’s worst manifestation.

Now that the worst evil had been defeated and the fear of danger had passed Laevon recalled his sister. It was as though a spell had been lifted from him and he finally stirred. Laevon’s heart quickened as he wondered if they had already run out of time.
Keeping his gaze steady upon the dragon’s infernal eyes he found his voice. "Hear me, Gabriel, for I know you can!” he cried out to him. “Please return to us. It is Laeleth. There is a spell … something evil has happened to her.” He faltered as he struggled to relate this sobering fact. “She is dying!”

The dragon’s eyes seemed to extinguish in an instant. The flames surrounding his nostrils evaporated into smoke as water extinguishes a fire. Craning his long neck around towards where the opal had fallen the beast began to move towards it.

Laevon followed the dragon’s gaze and instinctively ran towards the stone. He stooped and collected the shimmering white gem and held it briefly with a look of wonder. It was even more fascinating in the breaking light of dawn.
Turning quickly he now stood directly beneath the monstrous creature. This beast was even more dread-inducing up close. The shiny red and blue scales were dulled by heavy blood spatter, the sharpened, spear-like talons only inches from his rapidly beating heart … but Laevon still felt no fear.

Clutching the stone in one hand he realized that this gem of Fate had given Gabriel the power he had needed to overcome Zobek. It had summoned this dragon form. It surely could reverse it.
Laevon held up the magnificent relic towards the dragon’s face. In a strong and determined voice he called out, “Come back to us Gabriel! If Fate does not intend it then it is I that wills it! Relinque tenebras! Hunc perduc morte ad vitam. (Leave the darkness. Bring this death to life).” His voice rang out clearly in the heavy silence and the stone once more shone with a radiant glow from the force of his will.

All in an instant the lifeless clearing was awash with a spectrum of color that radiated out from the gem in fluid, multi-hued waves. A violent, warm wind began to swirl around the monstrous dragon and the diminutive looking man. It was a spell-binding sight as they were enveloped in the resplendent colors of the opal.
The hazy white light soon gave way to a dark cloud that the wind had wrapped around them. The thickening smoke was lit with a fiery red and regal blue – the colors of the dragon.

The vicious creature roared loudly and Laevon could not tell if it was from rage or pain. The stone vibrated in Laevon’s hands as he could hardly retain his hold of it.
He felt an overwhelming surge of heat scorching his skin, but he clenched his fingers more tightly around the surface and refused to let it fall. He bowed his head and closed his eyes tightly.
His senses became overwhelmed while the intensity of the magical storm around them continued in raging force.

When he recalled this moment later it was all as a dream – his mind was an open void of no sound, no light, and no color. And yet it was all sounds, all color, all at once.
Life, Time, Reality had ceased to exist as sentient forces.
This was the center of existence – the core of everything combined.

And then, as though it had never happened, the smoke and wind abruptly died and faded into forgetfulness.
Laevon opened his eyes slowly as his mind returned to the present. He carefully uncurled his seared fingers and gazed at the gem in his hands. Gasping slightly, his eyes widened.
Ezareth’s Bane was completely transfigured. It was no longer the milky white shade, but instead a dark red and blue tone. The colors mixed together in a swirling, ever changing shade of violet. The gem’s surface was flecked with a million lights as if the entire universe had been trapped inside of it.
Laevon’s mouth hung agape; he had never seen anything nearly so wondrous in all his life. This relic of Fate, this overwhelming, mesmerizing gemstone had absorbed the dragon’s form - it now possessed its enchanted fire.