Wearing Power Armor to a Magic School (157/?) WiP 1

Author’s Note: Hey everyone! Here is the Work in Progress for Chapter 157 I hope you guys enjoy! :D The revised version for Chapter 155 and Chapter 156 will be releasing tomorrow some time before the full release of Chapter 157! :D

Dragon’s Lair. Central Cavern ‘Foyer’. Local Time: 2305 Hours.

Thalmin

I felt my racing heart slowing, while the blood in my veins dipped into a gentle simmer, giving way to a mind slowly expanding beyond the confines of struggle and survival.

My warriors’ high had now thoroughly slipped beyond the horizon, and its in place, came the reckoning of a realization.

We were in the presence of a titan. A lesser god to some, and a flat-out deity to others, all owed not to its wisdom or benevolence, but its raw primal fury and an unparalleled gift in magic just short of the arts.

It was then, in the midst of another one of Emma’s turnarounds, and her stubborn unyielding — dare I say it naive — demands, that all of this finally came crashing down on me.

I was in an epic: a tale only recounted over operatic theater and festive grandeur. And I was here, not as an actor or reenactor, nor as a spiritual avatar for the heroes of old, or even the vessel for the spirits.

I… I was actively writing said playbook. My actions, my words, every step and every rebuttal — all of it — cemented into a legend to be reprised for generations to come.

My breath grew unsteady, while my eyes grew wider, as time slowed to a crawl to the wispy and echoey words of Ilunor’s warnings all those weeks ago.

“What I speak of is a true prophecy, an… inconvenient truth. The prophecy of the final confrontation.”

“I wish to know where you stand when the calls for apocalypse summon the righteous, Prince Thalmin?”

I… was in the presence of a prophecy being fulfilled, the meeting of two gods of the apocalypse, one born of ancient evils, and another of the void itself.

However, while the latter was ultimately good in nature — a beacon of what should be and a catalyst for hope of another axiom — it was the other whose nature beckoned scrutiny and skepticism.

For all of my knowledge, from legends and tales both Nexian and Lupinor, told of a great evil that lurked in the heart of these lesser leviathans; these masters of the elements that held only themselves within their unfeeling souls.

This… was only proven true in ‘Kaelthyr’s’ machinations, its wanton disregard for Emma’s safety, all in service of its own petty curiosities.

…

But it wasn’t my place yet to cast judgement.

These were uncharted waters, contested truths clashing against dogma and carefully-crafted preconceptions. 

And Emma had just opened up the floodgates to that which could turn the tide against one side or the other, a valuable asset that none could ever claim to possess, the direct testimonies from a dragon itself.

There would be no filters here, no authors or bards or historians or revisionists to muddy the waters.

This would be the tentative ‘truth’, a version of history not yet heard… all from the mouth of the leviathan in waiting.

=====

Dragon’s Lair. Central Cavern ‘Foyer’. Local Time: 2305 Hours.

Emma

Kaelthyr didn’t move, instead choosing to rest on her haunches as she regarded each and every question with a growing air of amusement.

“Your curiosity burns… bright… luminous...” The dragon once more spoke through the now-raspy throated shatorealmer. “... but beware the flame that burns brightest—”

“Are you going to answer me or not?” I interjected, putting my foot down and channeling my fears, frustrations, and every ounce of indignancy I had at the dragon. 

I knew I was playing with fire.

I understood, on an intellectual level, that this was more than a gamble.

But I also knew that it was a risk I was willing to take, especially considering the Kaelthyr’s proclivities for the ‘strongman rulebook of respect’ mentality.

“Beware the flame that burns brightest, beckons the jealous and dim.” She warned, this time… in a far more earnest light. 

“It’s in our nature to fly close to the sun, and I don’t mind my wings being singed. We’ve come a long way since beeswax-glued feathers after all.” I spoke cryptically, jokingly even, earning another confused glare from both Thalmin and Kaelthyr. Though both seemed to take the little joke in stride.

“I will assuage your most pressing concern.” The dragon began with a churr. “Taint.” She spat out that word with a menacing aura, clearly trying to sow discomfort, as if to test my resolve. However, I didn’t budge, not even as the sharp pangs of unease remained at the forefront of my mind. “You seek the truth behind my mastery over this forbidden art. You desire the methods, the means, the nature behind it, yes?”

I nodded in acknowledgement, mirroring the dragon’s earlier wordless responses, garnering a satisfied smile from the massive being. 

However, I couldn’t let an opportunity to hit back slip past me. Not especially as it related to a pertinent question which might otherwise be buried under bias and self aggrandizations. 

I needed to defuse a sojourn into ego stroking before it had a chance to start.

“I wouldn’t call it mastery, but continue.” I quickly commented, triggering a perplexed and indignant flaring of Kaelthyr’s nostrils.

“Elaborate.” Came the dragon’s expected response.

To which I could only smile slyly whilst I moved forward with my gambit.

“I’ve observed just how powerful your spellcasting goes. You’re not one to hold back, not using standard mana at least. But such was not the case with taint. You kept it low, each burst quick and punchy, as if you were capped at a certain ‘level’ so to speak.” I offered.

Kaelthyr’s eyes narrowed at that, staring daggers into my soul, as she came to regard me with a closer look courtesy of a slithering extension of her serpentine neck.

“And pray tell how would you of all creatures know what is or isn’t a mastery over taint?” She questioned accusingly.

“I’ve had personal experience with far more powerful instances of taint.” I answered, keeping it simple and vague. “With what is clearly far far less effort expended, for so so much more power than what you were able to project.”

Kaelthyr regarded that answer with a doubtful expression, as the cogs clearly started to turn in her mind.

“Hmmph.” Came her first response. “I should smite you where you stand for such… insolence." She continued, as she raised a forepaw, admiring the sharp and deadly talons on each digit. “But that wouldn’t be fun.” She managed out unnervingly.

“Nor conducive to your aims.” I calmly added. “After all, by your admission, I have to ‘fulfil’ my destiny right?”

“Hmph… hmphahahahaha…” Both Kaelthyr and the shatorealmer bellowed out in a macabre harmony. “Don’t test your importance, young matriarch. I have waited eons for an avatar of the void… I can wait eons more if you prove to be too much trouble.”

“You can… but you won’t.” I stood my ground. “We both know that.” I kept my arms crossed, and my eyes firmly locked on the dragon. “I suggest we skip the bravado, and all pretenses of posturing. We both aren’t Nexians after all.” 

That latter line prompted a scoff to emerge from the dragon’s throat, as she shook her head, her features adopting a sort of amused expression that seemed reasonably genuine.

“And yet you push for a response.” Kaelthyr leveled her eyes knowingly. “Speaking tangentially, for hopes of an answer you assume you already know.” She grinned toothily, baring her fangs in the process, giving me a look that could only mean ‘I know what you’re doing’.

“As you should.” She concluded unexpectedly, nodding in what I could only describe was a sagely head bob only a dragon could manage. “As you should. Because the truth should be interrogated. Because reality is malleable. And in this one instance… your brazen foolishness… is perhaps warranted.” She continued, before flaring both wings, causing something to change within their membranes.

Replacing thick bands of scaled sinew and skin… was an optical illusion, what I could only describe as a window into a space that shouldn't exist. It was something that the EVI could not make heads or tales of, but one that could only be described as a literal portal into a dark and twinkling night.

“To the afflicted, I may not be a true ‘master’ of taint. But to those without access to it, I am a master all the same. For I am no creature of tainted origins… but I am a being with access to all. My crystals resonate, young matriarch. And there are some which resonate into the abyssal domains where the wisps and echoes of taint lie.”