Fall of the Last Dragon Rider - 086 - Pain Leads to Adapting

Kaen ignored Stioks and his taunts. 

He willed his eyesight to change and watched as the hallway was no longer obscured with a mist he couldn’t see through. Magical light lined the floor, walls, and ceiling. Ten feet away from him came Stioks, spinning his sword as he smiled. The light of his body was different than most. The burnt side was almost black, with just a faint outline of life within the skin that surrounded him. The other side had an orange glow that wasn’t like the light most creatures or living things had. 

Kaen could see the smile as the man moved forward, not bothering to defend himself as he approached. Knowing that Stioks had no idea that he could see, Kaen assumed a defensive stance, holding his shield out slightly and putting the blade against the edge.

A tiny chuckle came as Kaen moved backward, and Stioks started to jog. The older man moved to the far-left side of the hallway, sword out, prepared to slice downward.

When Stioks committed to his attack, leg planted and sword in motion, Kaen slammed his shield into the blade and drove his own at the startled man.

Stioks’s shield moved but not in time to block the blow. Instead, it pushed Kaen’s sword down and into his stomach. 

Moving faster than Kaen had expected, Stioks leapt backward, yanking himself free of the blade.  

Kaen continued to attack, his weapon swinging wildly, doing what he could to play the rouse that everything was nothing more than luck.

Gasps came from the man and Kaen watched Stioks back away.  The one he hated with passion, reached for a pouch and in an instant the older man held a potion and drank it all.  It didn’t look like the potion he and Pammon had, instead this one was pure black and whatever it was made of seemed to move through Stioks body and take away part of his glow.  

“Are you ready to die?” Stioks hissed as he tossed the bottle to the stone floor.

Like a charging beast, Stioks moved forward, shield and sword coming at him.  Watching the man’s body move and arm swinging, Kaen used the sight he had gained when blind to deflect and block each attack.  

A minute passed of constant blows and strikes, yet none of them found their target.

“How?” Stioks asked as he panted, moving back a few steps from Kaen. “How can you see?”

Pretending to look around the hallway and swinging his sword around, Kaen smirked.  “See? You just smell and make a lot of noise.”

“Lies!” Stioks shouted as he raced toward Kaen again.  His weapon glowed with magic and Kaen knew the only skill the man could have left. 

Stioks’s sword moved with the speed and precision only Blade Dance could have.  Had he tried to block and parry those strikes with his normal eyes it wouldn’t have happened, but following the flow of magic, his ability to stay ahead by a mere fraction was possible.

One thrust slipped by, striking his left hip, but the armor held, even if his bone felt like it had almost broke from the power behind it.

Another glow told Kaen that Stioks’s skill was over and Kaen grinned. Activating the skill he had gained while fighting at the Orc King’s castle, Kaen showed just how strong he was.

[ Blade Dance ]

He moved with a counterattack, catching Stioks off guard and landing the first hit to the man’s right arm that was still extended.  Blood flowed from the wound on his forearm.  Two more attacks got past Stioks’s defenses, piercing each quad almost enough to hit the bone.

When Stioks stumbled, Kaen’s last attack found its mark.  

The blade pierced Stioks’s armor, sliding through until it hit the armor protecting his back.

Stioks’s mouth was open, yet no sound came as Kaen drove him against the wall.

Using his shield to keep Stioks’s sword arm pinned, Kaen pressed the sword harder, trying to pierce the armor on the other side of his foe's body.

Kaen saw magic pulse inside Stioks from his lifestone and raced through the injured man’s arm toward his shield.

Jumping backward, the edge of Stioks’s shield caught Kaen as it slammed into his chest and arm. The power of that strike hurt more than Kaen had anticipated. Hess had warned him years ago that a shield slam when pressed against someone was one of the strongest attacks, and yet until that moment, Kaen never understood why.

His arm ached, and his hand throbbed. 

Stioks slid against the wall, gasping.

Kaen could see life and liquid seeping from the wound he had caused.

“Impossible… I can’t lose… I spent hours searching for your children,” Stioks said between gasps. “I wasn’t sure if I would kill them or raise them...”

Anger flooded through him at the knowledge of how evil Stioks really was.  Making himself move forward, Kaen fought against the pain from Stioks’s attack.

His sword went on the offensive, ready to take his anger out on the man who had cost him so much.  Stioks’s lifestone pulsed and he was covered in a blue aura.  Every hit that Kaen landed did nothing, bounding off as if he was hitting a rock.

Grunting, Stioks ignored the onslaught of attacks and sheathed his sword, enduring the blows as he backed up a few steps.  Holding his hand out, he continued to retreat toward the vault where Kaen’s children were hiding inside. A wave of magic rushed through Stioks and Kaen felt a force of air, denser than stone slam into him and force him back.  No matter how hard he pushed against it, the spell drove him backward, down the hallway still filled with yellow gas.  He was forced past the stairs and Kaen shouted and screamed in rage as Stioks pulled another potion from a pouch, drinking it.

The once proud and confident aged man gasped for air as the potion sent power flooding through his body.  His hand fell and the pressure immediately vanished.

Stumbling backward, Stioks began to draw power from his lifestone.  It flowed from every part of the man and into his right hand as he drew the sword from its scabbard. 

Kaen saw power like nothing he had witnessed outside of the life force of Pammon flowing into Stioks’s hand and the blade. 

His arm hurt, and it still hadn’t lost the numbness, but standing where he was and waiting for whatever spell was about to come at him left Kaen with no good options.

Holding the shield up, Kaen rushed toward Stioks, watching the man shift into the middle of the hallway. More mana and magic flowed into the sword, draining the light inside the lifestone, and Stioks’s blade began to glow brighter. Time was running out, and Kaen didn’t have any options left to play.  Whatever this spell Stioks was preparing to cast was a power beyond any he had ever witnessed.  Not even the spell Selmah was casting on the top of the cave the day Pammon revealed himself, came close to the power in the sword Stioks was pointing at him.

Willing his body to run faster than he ever had, Kaen covered the distance in a moment.  His arm was struggling to respond, something inside it had been injured from that Shield Bash yet Kaen envisioned his wife and children and what would happen if he didn’t act.  Gritting through the pain, Kaen swung his weapon with every ounce of power he had left.

[ Power Slash ]

His sword slammed into Stioks’s blade, a crack and chip appearing along the edge and middle. 

Stioks’s eyes widened only after he realized that Kaen wasn’t aiming for his body, expecting whatever spell he had cast to protect him from the attack. Instead, Stioks’s sword was still pointed out, away from his body, exposed, and filled with mana.

Kaen’s blade struck with so much force that both swords cracked, and Stioks began to scream as the power finished traveling from his hand into the now fractured blade.

Hiding his head and chest as best as possible behind the dragon shield, Kaen saw the buildup and transfer of power, knowing what was about to come.

An explosion filled the tunnel, and shrapnel from the sword went flying in every direction.

Kaen felt himself knocked back, rolling along the hallway floor toward the stairs.

Time seemed impossible to measure.  Smoke choked Kaen’s lungs and his head struggled to make sense of everything around him.

Everywhere hurt. Kaen’s ears felt like Pammon had roared right into them. A hollow noise echoed within, and pain seemed to radiate from every limb in his body.

Trying to sit up, Kaen saw Stioks on the ground on his back, about twenty feet away. The man was barely moving, groaning in an agony. His sight let Kaen see that there were pieces of metal inside the Stioks’s body. Some were shallow, and a few were buried deep within.

Kaen focused enough to check out at his own situation. The armor he wore was mostly intact, but a shard of metal five inches long and almost needle like, similar to one Lord Hurem used on him before, was impaled in his left thigh.

Another long piece had pierced the forearm of his sword hand.

It was then that Kaen realized his sword was gone.

Letting go of his shield, he leaned over, grabbed the small piece of metal in his leg and yanked it out, wincing as it came free. For some reason at that moment, Kaen knew he needed to apologize to Pammon for all the times he had mocked the dragon when giving blood.

The piece in his arm was barely sticking out, and he couldn’t grab it with his gloves.

Looking at Stioks once more, Kaen saw the man he had hunted for so long was barely moving. Each breath sounded raspy and raw as it came from down the hallway.

Kaen could see all the pieces of metal inside the Stioks, and he looked like a pincushion.

Letting go of the trickle of power in his lifestone, Kaen used his normal vision to see what the area around them looked like. A thin mist of fog and poison still hung in the air, but it was mostly gone. It was dark where he was, the explosion had destroyed the lightstones set in the wall. Pieces of the sword were lodged in the floor, walls, and ceiling.

Reaching down, Kaen grabbed the pouch on his hip and opened it. Liquid seeped out, and he quickly pulled it tight. His knife was gone, so Kaen picked up the sliver of the sword he had removed from his leg and used it to cut the strap that held the pouch on. Putting the opening into his mouth, it took some effort for his tongue and finger to open it undo the cinched section of leather. 

Warm liquid poured into his mouth, and Kaen drank deeply, trying to keep the small pieces of glass that flowed toward his lips out, straining through his teeth.

He squeezed the pouch to get as much as possible before dropping it on the floor and spitting the glass out.

He waited, wondering if he would scream silently or at all.

The metal piece in his arm began to stir, and Kaen winced as it was pushed from his skin and out the small hole it had created in his armor.

A few other small pieces in areas he hadn’t realized came out, stuck between his clothes and the dragon scales that had protected him.

The hole in his leg sealed with any issues, and for the first time in a while, Kaen realized he felt amazing.  He was tired but even the exhaustion he felt when first arriving outside was gone.

Standing, he grabbed his shield and looked at the floor. A longer piece of metal was sticking out of the stone. Bending down, he grabbed it with his gloves and yanked. It snapped off, leaving him about eight inches of metal. It wasn’t wider than half an inch but would do what he needed.

“Time to die, Stioks. The world has had enough of you.”

A rasping laugh came, followed by some choking as Kaen moved to where the man lay. Seeing him now, blood was coming out of tiny holes all over the man's body. 

The hand that had held the sword was gone, burnt off at the end about three inches above where the wrist should be.

Stepping on Stioks’s arm, which still held the shield, Kaen leaned over and looked into the man’s eyes.

“Tell me… what… do you see…” Stioks said between gasps.

Kaen sighed, angry and upset that both eyes were bleeding, peppered with metal shards.

A chuckle came as Kaen said nothing, blood spitting out of Stioks’s mouth. 

“Not the… victory… you wanted… is it… finish me… you win…”

His hand that held the metal shard trembled as he squeezed it. Stioks was right. This wasn’t the way he wanted to end this fight. He wanted the man who had killed so many, killed his father, killed his mother, to look him in the eyes as he took his last breath. Pammon deserved to know that the man who had enslaved his mother got to see the dragon rider of the egg she had snatched away be the one to get revenge.

“You’re right,” Kaen growled. “It’s not what I wanted or dreamed of, but I’ll take it. Answer me this first. Why did you choose this path?”

Stioks coughed, blood splattering everywhere, running down the outside of his lips and cheeks. His chest heaved as his lungs filled with blood. 

“Why… because I could… it’s funny… your father… asked… the same–”

Kaen shook his head as Stioks made a gurgling sound. He wasn’t going to let him finish that sentence. He couldn’t bear to hear Stioks mention his father anymore.

Leaning down to end it, a flash of light came from Stioks hand.

His body reacted for him as Kaen’s mind tried to figure out what had happened.  The shield moved between Stioks and the blast that came.  Lightning arced between the two of them and Kaen was knocked back once more.

The entire hallway glowed from the heat of whatever wand Stioks had just used.  The metal shards embedded in stones had lightning jumping between them.  On the ground Stioks’s body shook from the spell that impacted both of them point blank.  

-----

“Kaen! Wake up Kaen!”

Something warm ran down his lips.  His body ached and all feeling was gone.  He wasn’t certain if being struck by an actual bolt of lightning would feel worse.

His mouth was open and Kaen’s mind struggled with the pain of a body that had been burnt outside and within.  Every nerve was screaming in agony having just endured a magic that could have decimated an army.

Suddenly the pain vanished.  The liquid that he had been given had healed everything in a moment.

“Kaen! We’re here!”

Blinking a few times, tears fell and Kaen saw standing over him his father-in-law.  

“Lord Hurem?”

“Yes! Come! Stand up!”

A pair of hands grabbed him and Kaen found himself standing.  His eyes saw the hallway was torn apart, stones missing from both sides of the walls.  The section that had been near his father’s vault were gone.  Next to Lord Hurem was Herb.

“Herb?”

“We’re ok, and so are your children,” Herb replied, motioning to the women with both babies that were slowly moving over the debris and into the dark hallway.

Callie was holding a lightstone, providing what Lady Hurem and Sulenda needed to ensure they didn’t trip on the stones.

Behind them and to the side was charred remains of a corpse.  A small section of black dragon armor still wrapped around burnt flesh.

Glancing down, Kaen saw that his chest piece and leggings were basically destroyed.  A few places still connected but most of the armor had born the blast, protecting him while sacrificing itself.

Allowing himself to smile, Kaen felt concern coming through their bond.

It’s finished… Stioks is dead… Your mother has been avenged.

Kaen felt across the space and searched for Pammon and some feeling or sensation. 

An overwhelming sense of satisfaction came, followed by primal rage.

It is my turn to end this.

-----

Pammon knew Stioks was dead not just because he felt it from his rider or because Kaen had told him. 

When the man was gone, Taerar turned sharply in the sky and flew straight toward him.

You shall die! I shall rip your throat apart!

Pammon thrummed as the dragon half his size raced toward him.   It had struggled as it flew south, putting as much distance as it could from where Stioks and Kaen had been.

The armor the welp wore hid his natural scales, and Pammon felt sorry for the dragon. Taerar had been forced to be bound to a crazed man who desired nothing but his own gains. 

Kaen’s statement about avenging his mother felt like a mountain had been lifted off his back. Pammon now flew unhindered by a hurt that that never fully healed until this moment.  With Stioks dead, an anger that had fought to often consume him vanished.

The dragon that was still half a minute away from him, was unfortunate. If Pammon’s mother hadn’t managed to escape with his egg and leave him for Kaen to find, his life would be like Taerar’s. 

Never knowing love. 

Not knowing joy. 

Not having a family.

The massive bronze dragon knew what he had to do was pity.  All the anger he had felt for Taerar disappeared when Stioks’s life was snuffed out.

Killing Tharnok had been painful. Having to end the life of a mentor and father figure was harder than he had ever told Kaen.  It was a bond that he longed for and would fight to ensure his children never missed out on. 

Today would be different. He would rid the world of a dragon that would be a plague on the name of dragons if allowed to live.

Come Taerar, let me end your suffering.

The young dragon roared, and flame began to form in its mouth. Red fire washed over Pammon, splashing harmlessly off the bronze scales.

Grinning, Pammon waited until Taerar was a few seconds away.

The fire he unleashed wasn’t red. 

The color that came from his mouth wasn’t orange or even white.

What came from inside him was a flame that was only possible when they had a rider like Kaen.

Blue flames came out of his mouth, and Taerar flew into them, unaware of what he was about to experience. 

The young dragon tried to roar in agony, but the fire burnt his scales and melted away the armor Stioks had promised would protect him. His flesh in midair was stripped from his bones, and as he fell under Pammon, the flames didn’t stop.

Rolling like Glynnis had taught him, Pammon turned and chased the corpse. The dragon before him was gone, Taerar’s head had been vaporized in a moment.

A blue ball of fire plummeted to the ground, and behind it, the one that had created it gave chase.

Pammon roared, his voice echoing across the bowl of mountains, announcing who he was and that he was the victor. It carried for miles as it echoed off the stone, and if anyone had been outside, they would have stared in wonder at the falling blue star of fire.

-----

Pammon finished chewing, leaving the still burning and smoldering corpse to put itself out in a few days. He swallowed the heart and leaped into the air, heading back to where Kaen was.

It is done. We have won this war.

Through their bond, both of them felt relief from the other. 

It felt like their whole life had led up to this moment.

They had finished their promise.