Sword King

Elmond stood at the top of one of the few spires left standing within the now ruined kingdom. The light of the sun shimmered across his armor plates as he held his blade before him, the tip placed against the stone below his feet.

"Are you certain of this?" Gähnir called out from atop Shiratt's back. He and his dragon slowly drifted across the sky, the dim light of dawn painting the clouds with a gentle glow of orange and pink.

"Of course I am. I'll be quite alright, and if I happen to fall, Goyle can catch me from below. Good luck actually knocking me off though!" Elmond smiled.

Goyle was at the base of the spire, sitting with his tail coiled about his legs.

Elmond had proposed he'd like to fight without Goyle. If he could prove he was a strong enough fighter on his own, it would only further prove how strong he'd be with a dragon.

"Alright.." Gähnir said. 'If I kill him on accident I suppose it really would prove nothing. Shiratt, go easy on him.'

Shirat gave a snort, then, just as Elmond lifted his sword, the dragon shot upwards into the air before taking a sharp turn and rushing towards Elmond, hissing as cold mist rolled from his jaws. Shiratt glided just over Elmond's head, spikes of ice exploding from the stone wherever the mist touched.

Gähnir stared back at the spire afterwards, assuming that Elmond had already been met with a cold, frigid demise. But, to his surprise, the human had cut clean through the ice, deflecting the attack, simply by holding out his sword with one arm.

"Is that really all?" Elmond called out. "Shall we take turns then?" He raised his weapon above his head, and as he did, the Drakeagen began to glow a blinding light. Waves of energy shot out from Elmond, sending clouds of mist and snow into the air before he brought the blade over his shoulder and, with only one hand, swung it in a downwards arc, stopping the blade just short of the ground.

A sudden blast wave of a torrential energy exploded through the sky, creating violent burst of wind as it hurtled towards Shiratt and Gänhir, who rolled to the side as it passed by them. The blast-wave slowly dissipated into the distance and Shiratt hovered high above Elmond.

'He's stronger than I thought, I'll give 'em that.' Gänhir thought. 'I guess I'll have to put him to the test then. Shiratt, Shift.'

'Finally, not holding back.' Shiratt hissed irritably.

Gähnir's Drakeagen stone began to glow as Shiratt Shifted to him and he raised his axe into the air. Particles of ice and frost began to group up and condense in the sky above Elmond's head, clumping together until they formed a massive chunk of ice that only got bigger and bigger.

"Oh-hoh." Elmond said, looking up as he held his sword over his shoulder. "Impressive."

"I hope you can survive this. If you can't, then I am sorry." Gänhir called out, "but I will not refrain anymore."

"Good, I never wanted you to refrain in the first place." Elmond grinned.

Gänhir's eyes narrowed. He found Elmond's boundless confidence to be irritating. Yet, he couldn't help but wish Dagon had even close to that much confidence in himself.

Gänhir lowered his axe, and the massive glacier of ice above, refracting the light of the rising sun as it drifted down, came plummeting towards Elmond.

The human raised his sword with both hands now clasped on the hilt, and the glacier struck, a resounding "CRACK" echoing across the landscape as his blade embedded itself into the glacier. A moment later, a blinding silvery light shone from within the layers of crystalline ice as cracks appeared across it. The spire itself began to crumble and fall away, but the glacier was crumbling to shards of shimmering frost as well.

"KOOM!"

A massive explosion came then, sending out a shockwave as a pillar of blinding light shot out the top of the glacier and into the sky, splitting open the clouds as the chunk of ice shattered into a cloud of shimmering light.

Elmond, waves of silvery energy rolling up from his body, lowered his sword and held it out at his side before slashing it through the air in horizontal strike, the blast wave emitting from it rupturing through the air before crashing into Shiratt and Gänhir, who had no time to move.

The two tumbled through the air, hurtling downwards before Shiratt just barely regained balance and flattened out, skimming across the ground below, sending up clouds of snow.

~~~~

Dagon came to in a dimly lit cell. A single torch hung from the wall, sending shadows dancing across the cracked and decrepit stone. The chains holding him to the wall reflected the firelight in scarlet shimmers.

About his throat was a black necklace, nails piercing into his flesh and binding it to his body so he couldn't take it off. He could only assume it was to negate his magic.

His metal arm was gone, as was all of his gear. Everything, including his Drakeagen, was gone.

He pulled at the chains binding him down, the clinking sound echoing deftly through the stone halls as he struggled, but to no avail.

"Damnit…" he cursed under his breath. Then he heard the sound of someone else breathing heavily.

"Who's there..?" He called out, his voice echoing.

"Dagon…? Is that… you..?" Came a voice in return. It was Bella.

"Bella… you're alive..?" Dagon asked softly.

"Yeah.. barely."

There was a moment of still silence before her voice came again. "Where were you..?" She asked. "We needed you.. we waited."

Dagon's eyes fell, guilt consuming him. "I know… I'm sorry. When I reached the Serrated shores.. there was some kind of Leviathan there. It attacked me and Sephtis, and I was almost killed. Liorria, the Dragon Goddess, saved my life."

"A.. Leviathan..?"

He nodded, but then remembered she couldn't even see him. She seemed to be in the cell next to his.

"Yeah." Dagon answered simply.

"I'm guessing.. you saw then..?" She asked, "when you came back…"

Dagon's eyes narrowed. "Let's not talk about it…" he said weakly, the image of Gena's corpse flashing across his mind.

"You know… that was the most impulsive thing I've ever seen you do."

"What..?" Dagon asked, confused.

"Rushing in to kill Mourtas. You were so consumed by your rage you almost killed us all."

"I can barely even remember it.." Dagon said in return.

"Well… it's probably better that way."

Then came the sound of a heavy, metallic crash, followed by the clanging of footsteps. Dagon and Bella went silent, staring impatiently towards the hallway just outside the bars of their cells.

"Clank" "clank" "clank"

Then came into view a soldier clad in thick plates of black metal armor, black Drakeagen stones embedded into it. Keys hung from his belt, jangling against his body as he walked.

He stopped right at Dagon's cell, turning and staring in.

"That's enough chit-chat." The soldier spoke. "I grow tired of your worthless chatter."

Dagon spat at the ground towards him. "Fuck off! Let me out of here and I'll-"

The door to the cell suddenly swung open.

'It wasn't locked..?' Dagon thought in surprise, but that thought was quickly whisked away as the guard strode up to him and swiftly thrust out his hand, crashing Dagon's head into the stone wall behind him, returning him to the darkness of sleep.