Path of Dragons 17 - Chapter 74 - A Clear Field (Patreon)

“Stop!” Elijah shouted, planting himself in Illska’s path.

Considering he’d taken on his dragon form, she had little choice but to notice him.  She still plowed into him, her eyes wild with frustration, annoyance, and anger.  Elijah rocketed backward, struggling to catch himself with his wings.  Meanwhile, Wellspring dragged a river of vitality from the Well of Life and into his body, mending the bones she’d broken with her charge.

“I said to stop!” he shouted again, and this time, she seemed to recognize his plea for what it was. 

Finally, Illska slowed, shaking her head as if to clear the cobwebs after a concussion.  It seemed to work, and her expression lost some of its wild fervor, replacing it with a degree of confusion.

“Elijah?  What are you doing here?” she demanded, slowing to a stop.  She remained aloft, held in mid-air by her gloriously black wings.  They were made of energy, just like his humanoid wings.  However, they glistened almost as if they were made of metal, with thin strands of crystalline shimmer running through them.

Her armor matched the color, though it was mostly matte in texture.  Amidst that dull chitin-like material were whorls of a metallic sheen.  Her massive sword was coated in blood, but it had been chipped in places.  A few tiny cracks ran along the edge as well, evidence of the punishment she had put it through over the past week.

The fact that she wasn’t injured was just a testament to her durability and the strength of her armor.

“I’m trying to stop you from banging your stupid head against the wall!” Elijah growled, his wing snapping back into place.  “Are you prepared to listen?”

Her fingers tightened around the hilt of her sword, but she nodded. “Listen to what?  I thought you and your people would have evacuated the ancestral world.”

“They have,” Elijah said.  Then, he glanced in the direction of the Vengeance.  He couldn’t see that far, but he could sense a steady stream of people going through Fungee’s cave.  The root-bearers had already begun summoning a rotation of gates through which the expedition could flee back to Earth.  They’d even dragged the Vyrins through.

“Good, good,” she acknowledged, her eyes trained on the clashing wyrms.  They were dozens of miles away, which meant that they were only barely visible as specks on the horizon.  However, the effect of their ongoing battle had long since bypassed the hundred mile radius and extended at least ten times that distance.  If the fight went on much longer, it would begin to affect the whole of Orveth Kaal.

What that would mean was a mystery.

“We’ve got to get rid of those two,” Elijah said. 

“What do you think I have been doing?”

“And how’s that going for you?” he asked.

Her body quivered, both in fatigue and anger.  Elijah chose not to push her buttons anymore, instead launching into his plan.  Simple as it was, it was the only way he thought they could deal with the issue.

“I’m surprised,” Illska stated once he’d finished.

“About?”

“I thought you’d want to save her,” she answered, referring to Masasha. 

“I looked into her eyes,” Elijah countered.  “I know she’s unreachable.”

In the past, he’d thought wyrmhood was an emotional state that could be overcome.  Certainly, he believed it would be difficult, but not impossible.  Now, after seeing Masasha and the other blue wyrm, Elijah knew better.  Once someone crossed that line, they were gone. 

What that really meant, Elijah wasn’t certain.  Surely, there were wyrms out there living peacefully.  Maybe that was where someone like Masasha would end up.  But at the moment, her wildness was too new.  The emotions that had broken her mind were too fresh. 

She wouldn’t stop until everything was destroyed.

Or until someone incapacitated her.  With her power, the only reasonable way to do that was to kill her.  Elijah didn’t necessarily like the idea, but as far as he could see, there was no other viable choice.

“What?” asked Illska, seeing his change in expression.

“No choice.  I’ve been telling myself that a lot lately,” he replied.  Then, he shook his head.  “No time to dissect it, though.  The world won’t stay together indefinitely.  We need to act.”

“What about those orcs?” she asked.  “The one fighting Eyik is strong enough to help.  The others would be good distractions.”

Elijah frowned. 

It was so easy to think of the orcs as tools, but they were more than that.  Elijah had promised Ok’tarik to start treating them as equals.  And now was as good a time as any to make good on that pledge. 

“I’ve made arrangements to send them back to Agmar,” he answered.  Ok’tarik wasn’t part of that plan.  Elijah hadn’t been able to reach the warchief, as occupied as the orc was with his own battle. “They’ll retreat as soon as our people are back on Earth.”

“The Vengeance?”

“I…”

Elijah trailed off.  He hadn’t really thought about that.  With what he had planned, the odds of it surviving were quite low.  It was sturdy, but it was far from indestructible.  And without the Engineers, it would soon begin to experience a cascade of failures.  It wouldn’t be long before it fell.

“I’ll get them to put it on autopilot back towards Agmar.  It won’t make it,” Elijah said.  “But it might outrun the damage.”

Added to that was the surety that it would drag Fungee away as well. 

“Very well,” Illska said.  “Rest assured that I will do my part.  You must do yours.”

Elijah nodded.

“Just wait until the proper moment,” he said.  “With any luck, we’ll get both of them at the same time.”

“We won’t.”

“Don’t be so pessimistic,” Elijah ordered, forcing a smile. “Everything will work out.”

She shook her head.  “So long as I get to cut her head off, I will be happy,” Illska countered.  “Do what you must.  I will watch for the proper moment.”

Elijah cast Bough of the World Tree, then Wellspring, and finally Blessing of the Grove.  “Just to freshen you up,” he said as the first drops of rain splattered against her armor.  Then, he took a deep breath and shifted into the Shape of the World Serpent. 

Most of the time, he would have used Shape of Withering, but he didn’t really need stealth at the moment.  And Shape of the World Serpent was much better suited for pure travel, especially considering the rifts and the corrosive force of the void eating through Orveth Kaal’s atmosphere.

“You heard all of that?” Elijah asked through his phone.  It was uncomfortable, keeping it in his mouth.  But he’d gotten used to it.  Still, when everything was finished, he intended to get a better option. 

Maybe a headset.

He almost laughed at the notion of a headset-wearing world serpent.  The image was just ridiculous enough that he came close to forgetting about what was coming.  And the fact that he probably wouldn’t survive.

He wanted to.

He intended to.

But Elijah was a realist, and he knew the odds were against him.  As insane as some of the situations he’d encountered had been, this was the first time where he truly thought he would die in the attempt. 

If he’d been a little less stubborn – or rational, he supposed – he would have been back in Fungee’s cave ready to return to Earth.

He wasn’t though.

Instead, he found himself slithering between rifts on his way to anger a pair of extremely powerful wyrms.  As he did, Gunnar’s voice came over his phone, saying, “I got it.  I know what I’m meant to do.”

“Did Palikina get out?” Elijah asked.  “I told her to.”

“She went back to the Vengeance.  I lost sight of her then,” Gunnar answered.  Then, he sighed. “You’re off the hook.  I know you did what you could.  Whether she actually left is up to her.”

“Mature of you.”

Gunnar didn’t answer, and Elijah dropped it.  The man wasn’t really one for banter in the best of times, and both of them had more important things to think about.  Elijah refocused on the storm in the distance, readying himself for what was coming next.

Neither of the two wyrms were particularly vulnerable.  Fortunately, they didn’t really pay any attention to their surroundings.  That meant that Elijah was free to set the stage for the coming battle.  He couldn’t build the storm to the same intensity as his first attempt, but he didn’t need to. 

Back then, he’d made the mistake of trying to make it too lethal.  Most of that effort had been wasted because he simply lacked the power to kill his enemies off.  A small shift in focus would solve that issue.  He couldn’t gain power, but he could definitely concentrate on weakening the enemies. 

To that end, he shifted into his dragon form as soon as he reached a position above the clouds.  That was when he once again used Eternal Plague, weaving his soul into the spell as it built.  When he unleashed them, his conjured hornets joined the few remaining insects within the clouds.

Next came the fungi.  Using Thorn, he spewed spores throughout the clouds.  This time, he also embraced Dictate of the World Tree, altering the spores as they manifested.  He didn’t have time for a complete overhaul, but he didn’t need that, either.  Instead, he just wanted a slight shift away from damage and into weakening effects. 

For that, he used fungal infections from Earth as a model.

In a lot of ways, it felt like déjà vu.  After all, it really hadn’t been that long since he’d summoned the original storm.  However, in many other ways, it was wholly different.  Of course, Elijah shifted into the Avatar of Storms to continuously intensify the weather event.  He mostly focused on Eternal Plague and the fungi, though. 

Once he was satisfied – or as much as he could be in an hour or two worth of work – Elijah took on the Shape of Withering and added his soul-infused Cloud of Decay to the mix.  Thankfully, because he hadn’t been forced to start from scratch, the storm was almost as powerful as the original incarnation. 

It wasn’t as volatile, though.  Nor did it feel quite as alive, largely because he neglected the Breath of Life.  Not out of choice, but because he couldn’t muster the power at the moment.

Still, he hoped it would be enough.

Back in the Avatar of Storms, Elijah took hold of his creation, wrapping it in Way of Storms and forcing it to move.  It was like trying to tow a mountain behind a bicycle.  Or at least that was how it felt at first.  After only a few minutes, he felt it shift.  Then, it was moving, one inch at a time.

The effort never became easy.  Despite being mostly made of mist, it was still incredibly heavy, both physically and ethereally.  Yet, Elijah kept at it until, at last, it came into range of the two wyrm combatants.

That was when Elijah truly felt the depth of the damage they’d done to Orveth Kaal.  The whole world shook, and on an atomic level.  And that was only the tip of the iceberg.  Gravity felt wrong, and the atmosphere sizzled with caustic air from the void.  When their battle started pulling the storm towards them, Elijah let loose.

It kept going of its own accord.

Or rather, on the heels of the spatially charged atmosphere.  Rifts cut through the clouds, slicing hornets in two, but for the most part, it made it into place intact.

Elijah followed, manipulating it to let loose with every single affliction it could inflict.  Cloud of Decay.  Hornets.  Fungi.  Lightning.  Wind.  Everything.

It descended upon the wyrms like the apocalypse he’d first intended to summon.  They ignored it, so focused were they on one another.  That would be to their detriment.  Elijah felt it almost immediately.  Streams of vitality flowing out of the wyrms, toxins flowing in.  Damage, both mundane and ethereal.  Even Cloud of Decay did its part, scorching through their souls.

Yet, Elijah held back from taking the next step.

He only had one shot, and he needed to make it work. 

Then, he saw his opening.  The wyrm that had once been Masasha faltered.  Slightly, but it was noticeable.

Elijah dove, already in the Shape of Withering.  Falling Talon activated, but he didn’t intend for that to be the extent of his attack.  Plagueburst led the way, coughed up as a phlegm-like ball of roiling death.

It hit first.

Then, Elijah slammed into the wyrm.

It was like ramming into an immovable brick wall.  Yet, Elijah was prepared.  The attack didn’t do much damage, but he’d never expected it to.  Instead, it was all about chipping the armor.  Enough minor wounds, and the wyrm would weaken enough to make a difference.

A spatial rift erupted into being, slicing through the tip of his wing.

Even as blood splattered against blue scales, Elijah prepared for a long and difficult battle.