Path of Dragons 16 - Chapter 36 - Surgical (Patreon)

Palikina stepped lightly, barely disturbing the pool of water gathered on the ship’s deck.  She clutched a pair of daggers, one in either hand.  Once, they might’ve been identical to one another, but she’d recently commissioned a truly remarkable blade. 

Grimstrike.  Elijah had gifted it to her.  Or rather, he’d given her the materials as well as the use of the crafters who’d made it.  The blade was almost completely black, with tiny specks of white ethera dotting the surface to look like nothing so much as a clear night sky.

Not only did it come with a significant boost to her strength and dexterity, but it was a rarity for crafted items in that it featured a trait and an active ability.  The trait was a passive increase to her most potent ability, which was called Fatality.  It increased the overall lethality by allowing her to bypass nineteen percent of her foes’ endurance.  Often, that was the difference between a killing blow and a grievous wound. 

The first time she had used Fatality was when she’d saved Elijah from the assassins, and that encounter had confirmed that she’d made the right decision in the ability’s evoltuion.  The choice had been daunting, especially considering the other options available.  It was the penultimate ability she would get as a demigod, which meant that it was meant to be one of the pillars upon which her deity class would be built.    

In addition the trait that increased the potency of Fatality, Grimstrike featured an active ability that could help her lose an enemy’s attention.  She’d yet to use Starry Night because it came with a two-week cooldown, but the Blacksmith who’d forged it had assured her that it would be a very potent ability. 

Palikina chose to trust that assessment.  After all, if a crafter didn’t know their own creation, then who would?

In her other hand, she held the comparatively mundane Kaleidiscope, which she’d received as a gift upon reaching demigod.  It wasn’t particularly powerful, but it was a family heirloom meant to signify her clan’s confidence in her path. 

And it was well-placed.

She had grown more powerful than most, and she still had some way to go before she reached the peak of the demigod realm.  More than fifty levels, which meant she could expect no small degree of growth.

Yet, she knew she wouldn’t close the gap with true monsters like Elijah.

The mere thought of him summoned another lightning strike and an instant peal of thunder.  It echoed across the battlefield, throwing the war into stark contrast. 

Palikina was well behind enemy lines, but the surrounding orcs were still spoiling for the fight.  More than a mile separated them from the Vengeance, and yet, they remained just as bloodthirsty as those on the front lines.  They growled and snorted, their muscles bulging with a need for violence.

And like an unseen shadow, Palikina walked among them.  With only a flick of her wrist, she could slaughter anyone within arm’s reach.  After all, very few of them were strong enough to stand up to even a graze from her daggers.  The more powerful among them were easy enough to avoid.

Because orcs were a lot of things, but they certainly were not attentive to their surroundings.  Even the leaders, which was one of the reasons she felt confident in her chances for success.

She only needed to remain vigilant.

That refrain echoed in her mind, a remnant of her training.  When she was found to possess a powerful stealth attunement, Palikina’s parents had sought out a qualified teacher.  And they had found Mistress Kiniq. 

A drachnid who’d somehow broken free of her vespiran minders and escaped into the Empire of Scale.  In doing so, she had saved the life of some powerful dragon, and because of that, her life was spared.

Yet, just because no one killed her didn’t mean she was accepted.  Indeed, she spent her life in the wilderness, existing as little better than a beast.  Or so they said, which was why Palikina initially refused her parents’ orders to study under the ally of the empire’s greatest enemy.

However, when she finally relented, she found that Mistress Kiniq lived no different than a drake or a serpentor.  Out of necessity, she remained separate from civilization, but she maintained a normal enough home at the base of a mountain.

There, Palikina had learned the true meaning of stealth.  She had also discovered that drachnids were no allies of vespirans.  Not by choice, at least.  Instead, they were slaves, shackled to the vespirans via powerful mind control.  Mistriss Kiniq’s escape was one such rare occurrence.

In her care, Palikina had learned as much about resilience as she had about stealth.  It was not an exaggeration to say that Mistriss Kiniq was responsible for the dragon Palikina had become.

It was too bad that Mistress Kiniq was now gone.

One day, Palikina had returned from a short stint with her parents, only to find the drachnid’s home abandoned.  There was no sign of a struggle.  Instead, it was as if Mistriss Kiniq had simply picked up and deserted the life she had struggled to build.

It wasn’t until years later that Palikina had learned the truth.  A squad of vespirans had infiltrated the Empire of Scale, and for the singular purpose of assassinating their escaped slave.

And the dragons hadn’t lifted a finger to stop them.

Sure, the vespirans played at stealth, but they had still been detected.  However, the dragons chose not to repel the small-scale invasion, instead waiting until after the wasps accomplished their goal.  Only after Mistriss Kiniq was dead did the empire’s forces destroy them.

Palikina hated the empire for that.

At one point, she managed to convince herself that those sentries had acted alone, but it eventually became clear that they’d had the support of everyone that mattered. 

And Mistriss Kiniq was the one who’d suffered.  It went past unfairness to tread the territory of pure evil.  After all, the drachnid had never done anything to them.  In fact, she had done everything they’d asked of her. 

She’d still died, proving that dragons were not to be bargained with.  They were Palikina’s people, but she still loathed them in a way that she could never share with anyone else. 

But in Elijah she saw a kindred spirit.  He had seen the dirty underside of the empire.  He had been on the receiving end of their unfair practices.  They had tried to kill him. 

Maybe he would understand Palikina.  Perhaps he would join her when the time came to take revenge on those who’d killed Mistress Kiniq.   

For now, he was busy conducting a cataclysm of elemental damage, delivered through the medium of a storm.  It was localized to the Vengeance, but it spread across most of the surrounding fleet.  Looking up, Palikina couldn’t even see the edge of the roiling blanket of dark clouds.

With every passing second, they discharged hundreds of bolts of lightning.  The vast majority hit nothing of consequences.  Some scorched harmlessly across ships’ decks or destroyed masts.  Others struck orcs, frying the least powerful among them and annoying the strongest. 

Wind whipped across the decks, and more than a few orcs found themselves tumbling over railings.  Unfortunately, there were more ships beneath them, preventing a long, deadly fall.

Palikina kept going, weaving her way through the crowd of orcs until she reached her destination. 

The ship was larger than any other she’d encountered, but it was far from unique.  The pyramid standing at the center marked it as one of the shamans’ ships, and now that she’d drawn close enough, she could see the chanting creatures ringing each stepped level. 

At the top was the leader, identifiable by his scaled headdress and elaborate, skull-topped staff. 

That was her target.

Palikina vaulted over the railing and sailed across open air until her feet thudded into the pyramid ship.  The deck was empty, so her way remained unimpeded as she headed toward the first step.

Up close, the shamans were noticeably smaller than their more combat-oriented brethren, and to the point where they almost looked like a different race altogether.  Or as if their evolutionary path had diverged sometime in recent history. 

Whatever the case, they were far too occupied by their wild gyrations and guttural chants to pay her any mind.  Briefly, she wondered if they would notice her even if she dropped Veil of Light and Shadow. 

Maybe.

She wouldn’t find out, and she maintained her stealth ability as she climbed the steps.  Periodically, Palikina was forced to duck under an outstretched limb or dodge a stomping foot, but that was nothing new.  Her reflexes were quicker than just about anyone else’s – at least in her experience.

Soon enough, she reached the flat top of the pyramid.  There, the domains were the strongest.  Thankfully, Palikina had come prepared.  Not only did Veil of Light and Shadow shield her from such things, but the ring on her left index finger worked to exempt her from hostile domains as well. 

Not completely.

Her ethera still felt incredibly sluggish.

But the ring, combined with her master-tier soul worked to counter any effects.  There was no way she could have expressed any of her skills outwardly, but so long as she kept everything inside, she was at least functional. 

In that way, all her work in the cultivation chambers had come in handy.  She’d just advanced a few months before, making her soul the strongest aspect of her cultivation, and by two tiers. 

In the case of her mind, by three.

That had always lagged behind, and according to Mistress Kiniq, it was because she never resisted her base nature.  Keeping to the shadows did wonders for her stealth abilities, but the lack of challenge meant that her mind was never forced to stretch its capabilities.

Palikina always meant to work more diligently toward advancing, but she tended to put it off every time she made that vow. 

She climbed to the surface and got a better look at the leader.  He was even more grotesque than she’d initially imagined, with stringy limbs and deep, ritual scarring across his bare chest.  His voice was shrill and warbling as he chanted something Palikina couldn’t understand.

Circling, she kept her eye on the creature.  Her daggers were light in her hands.  The ethera in her body remained sluggish, but she pushed through it.  Once she was behind the shaman, she moved forward.  Just one step, light and silent. 

He didn’t stop his mad chant.

She took another step, her feet never making a sound.  Then another, her muscles tensing.

She could smell him.  Sweat.  Musky body odor.  The unmistakable stench of a carnivore.  Something else that might’ve once been blood but had dried into an entirely different scent.

Another step.

She could see his rippling muscles, his rough grey skin.  The puckered scars that looked like they’d come from claws.  But they were too evenly spaced for the wounds to have been inflicted by an animal. 

His hair, stringy, limp, and wet, clung to the back of his neck, shining with moisture and oil.  Palikina took her stance.  The one Mistress Kiriq had taught her.  Then, without further delay, she struck.

Grimstrike flashed forward, cutting into the shaman’s back like the creature was a mere mortal.  He wasn’t.  Obviously.  Instead, he was a high demigod.  Perhaps even a low deity, though Palikina doubted that much. 

She followed up with the other dagger, burying it between his ribs before he had a chance to react.  The next attack came so quickly that the orc still didn’t have a chance to react.  Grimstrike’s blade entered beneath the shaman’s armpit at an upward angle.  When she ripped the dagger free, it came with a shower of deep red blood.

The next three attacks turned the orc’s back into minced meat. 

Finally, the shaman tried to wheel around, only to find Grimstrike buried in his throat.  He let out a low gurgle right before Palikina slammed her other dagger into his forehead. 

That last strike did the trick, rewarding her with a small surge of experience.

Definitely a demigod.

She ripped the blade away, then resumed Veil of Light and Shadow.

It was just in time, too.

The second it closed in around her, something thudded into the surface of the pyramid. 

It was an orc, but unlike any Palikina had ever seen.  In only a second, she recognized that he was a true deity, and one approaching the peak of that realm.  He was a warrior, but a nobler sort than the typical orc chief.  He carried a carved ivory spear that practically glowed with ethera.

She didn’t need more than a second to know that she was in trouble – a reality verified when the orc chieftan turned his eyes upon her.

“I see you, little dragon,” he said in his guttural yet oddly civilized tone.

Palikina didn’t hesitate.  She turned and ran, adopting Seven Steps of Light to speed her along her way.  With that ability active, she could move so quickly that she appeared to teleport.  It was a short duration, but it was usually enough to let her escape any situation.

A shadow fell over her.

She jerked to the left just in time to avoid a falling spear.  The orc chieftan slammed into the stone surface of the pyramid, causing a small, localized earthquake.  Stone exploded outward as the entire structure cracked in a thousand different directions. 

Palikina didn’t stick around to see the rest of the damage.  Instead, she pushed herself to top speed, dashing across the ship, then leaping to the next one.  Her feet barely touched the decks as she attempted to escape.

But the orc chieftan had no intention of allowing it.

He followed.

And against all odds, he began to gain ground.

Seven Steps of Light was never meant for long travel.  It didn’t have an activation time.  Instead, it drained progressively more ethera with every active second.  Palikina didn’t dare let it fall away, though.  Not when her ethera drained past the halfway mark.  Not when it dipped below ten percent.

Not even when it began to sputter.

By that point, she’d reached the edge of the Vengeance, where she saw a massive battle in progress.  Hundreds of dragons waged war against millions of orcs, with a cataclysmic storm as backdrop.  In the distance, she saw a massive tendril wrapped around an orc.  It squeezed, and the thing turned to mush. 

Lightning struck.  As luck would have it, the orc caught up to her at that very moment. 

He took the blast in the chest.

Palikina was just close enough that the shockwave sent her tumbling across the deck.  For his part, the orc barely even moved.  Instead, he just stood there and looked down at his scorched chest.  A black scar branched out from his sternum, discoloring his grey skin in an oddly symmetrical pattern.

Palikina knew she’d found her opportunity.

She activated Starry Night.

Instantly, the world turned dark.  Pinpricks of light exploded into existence all around her, then descended upon her enemies, blinding them.  Fortunately, it even worked on the chieftan, if only briefly.

Palikina dove over the edge, then took on her dragon form.  Tucking her wings, she guided her descent between the ships below and into open air.  She snapped out her wings, then glided under the Vengeance.

A roar of anger followed her.

But the orc clearly didn’t know where she’d gone.

So, she landed along the underside of the mountainous ship, finally letting herself acknowledge her fear.  As she clung to the rocky surface, her heart thudded against her chest.

But she had escaped.

Now, she just needed to force herself to do it all again.  After all, there were a lot of shamans out there, and the more she killed, the weaker the domain would be.

Another roar echoed across the battlefield above, telling her that the chieftan was occupied.  She would never get a better chance to continue her mission.

Still, it took a shameful few seconds to force herself to move.

Palikina was no stranger to fear.  She lived with it every day.  Mostly, she was frightened of attention, but there were other layers that she didn’t want to consider.  So, she was well-versed in pushing past it for the greater good.  Taking a deep breath, she did just that. 

One wasn’t sufficient.  Nether was two.  But by the third, she felt calmer.  By the fifth, she’d worked herself up to moving. 

And so, she released her grip on the underside of the Vengeance, then fell into a glide toward the next pyramid ship.