Chp.40: Divine intervention
Fridya flew without looking back, rushing at every single survivor she could find. Around her the world seemed to literally fall apart as the dragon unleashed all kinds of natural catastrophes. The only reason Fridya hadn't already been torn to shreds was because the monster was directing its attacks against the queen, and therefore only the 'last effects' of the beast's unusual power could reach her. Rogue waves, earthquakes, firestorms: they were happening all around her, but when they reached her they were weak enough for her to dodge them.
She had spent her time tracking down the few survivors. They were some of the strongest soldiers, who had been able to withstand the series of catastrophes, and a few lucky ones who had found themselves far enough from the source of that disaster or had found a hiding place that had held up to that moment. She had given them portable gates every time she found them to allow them to escape. Well, not every time actually: very often she had been faced with fairies barely still alive, with wounds or abrasions so serious that they would soon have killed them, and who had begged her to put an end to their suffering. Fridya knew she wouldn't be able to take them away and find a healer in time, so she planted her sword in their heads and spared them further agony.
Ultimately, she was unable to track down any other survivors. She couldn't see other fairies in flight, and anyone on the ground would surely have died by now from the fire or the rogue waves, or from the falling debris and rubble caused by the earthquakes and the winds stronger than a hurricane. By now, she could consider her mission over. So she sought out her queen, to advise her that they could leave.
She knew exactly where to look: the huge one hundred and twenty meters long dragon was not exactly invisible in the sky. She looked around the monster and saw Tytania teleport behind the creature and call the relic back into her hands. It seemed that she was the only one still alive and that all the royal guards were already deceased. Fridya wished that they died as quickly as possible, without suffering. But suddenly, Tytania was grabbed by something. The dragon was controlling the water present in the cracks on the ground as if they were tentacles or ropes. Fridya froze as she saw the queen completely immobilized and the monster flying in front of her gaping the mouth, ready to erupt another torrent of flames.
Fridya flew as quickly as possible to the queen. Maybe if she could reach her she could do something, anything… but she knew she would never have gotten there in time. But then she saw the relic move like a bolt of lightning and cut off the tentacles of water, and for a moment hope resurfaced within her; but soon after, that hope was dashed when she saw the queen fall to the ground spitting blood and freezing.
Fridya's heart skipped a beat. It was too late: the queen had run out of time to use the relic. Now she was dying. Fridya couldn't stop tears from forming in her eyes, and she prayed to the gods that this wasn't really happening, and that Tytania was just pretending to deceive the dragon… but she knew that hers was only a vain hope. She knew she had to go away quickly, but she hadn't the strength to use one of the portable gates and leave the queen's body there. Go where, then? She had heard the dragon's horrific last words, her promise to hunt down any remaining faeries, and she knew there was no way she could escape the famous overdeveloped sense of smell of the dragons. The portable gates were almost finished and she and all the other fairies had never been further to Karbraland Great Forest, and therefore they couldn't use them to escape from there. The dragon would have tracked them down and catch up with them before the sun went down. Even if she and the other survivors also used the last portable gates to continuously escape from one part of the forest to an other, the dragon would always have catched up with them in a short time, until the portable gates ran out and they would have had no more chance to escape.
It was over. That was their doom. Fridya dropped and collapsed on one of the rubble, no longer having the strength to fly. The hot ash that had settled there burned her legs, but she didn't mind. It seemed to her that she had completely lost sensibility. She watched the dragon, waiting for the moment when the monster would have came to her and incinerate her.
But suddenly, a miracle happened. In the true sense of the word.
A strange light appeared in the sky. A glow similar to the sun, but different at the same time. Clouds began to swirl around it, as if the sky were a lake and the light was a hole that had just created an eddy. The clouds rotated slowly at first, then faster and faster, until they were just streaks of white whirling across the sky. Seeing that light, Fridya suddenly felt different: it was as if a strange warmth was pervading her, the same warmth that a child felt when their mother embraced them because they had had a nightmare. And then, it happened.
The light grew brighter, so much so that the sky appeared to turn white, and then an arrow emerged from it. An arrow that seemed to be made of light; it wasn't an object imbued with light magic like the relic, but a real tool created only with light. Its shape was fuzzy and looking at it was like looking at something immersed in running water. It was white, but at the same time it emitted different colors, just like light did. The arrow descended from the sky with incredible speed, far faster than any other arrow could, leaving a trail of color similar to a rainbow in its wake.
Neytiri noticed that strange phenomenon, and something in her instinct advised her to dodge that arrow, but she didn't have time: the weapon of light was so fast that not even a dragon's wings could beat it. Neytiri only managed to move far enough to keep the arrow from hitting her head; instead, it hit her right shoulder.
As the weapon struck, Neytiri let out a roar, and this time it was a true roar of pain. Her scales split like toothpicks and fell in every direction, followed by a huge gush of blood. The arrow of light penetrated her flesh for a time, and then it exploded in a hot blaze. The explosion was so powerful that the scapula and part of the rib cage split and most of the muscles and tendons were severed. When the strong light faded it was finally possible to see the result: Neytiri now had a huge bleeding hole in place of her right shoulder and her right paw was hanging on her side unable to move. The hole was so large and deep that it was possible to see the lungs, the heart and the other internal organs pulsing inside the dragon's body. They were partially damaged, but not too much: the numerous layers of flesh and muscle had protected them from the worst of the explosion.
Then, as quickly as it had come, the light in the sky faded. The clouds ceased to swirl continuously and reverted to normal clouds, although the air was stirred for a few minutes after that event.
Neytiri growled in pain, but even more out of anger and in a way fear too. She had never been hurt this much, not since she had obtained her first domain. Her survival instinct kicked in, warning her that this time her life was in serious danger. Very quickly, she directed the mana in her body to the wound in her shoulder, creating numerous magical wards to protect her. After that she tried to start regenerating the damaged body part, but she discovered that the explosion of light had left a lot of very small residues that continued to corrode her flesh from the inside. She would have had to remove them all before she could regenerate, and that would have probably taken a few hours. That certainly wouldn't have killed her, but it would have exposed her to possible future attacks. The dragon activated all her senses to the max to be able to perceive every possible enemy. Suddenly, a strange smell caught her attention. She had smelled it before… it was familiar…
Fridya had her eyes wide open like two cups and her mouth open in amazement. Almost mechanically she united her hands and thanked the gods. That was undoubtedly divine intervention! The gods hadn't completely abandoned them! Suddenly, hope returned to her heart, followed by the will to fight. The battle wasn't over again! She got up from the rubble and took off again, rushing towards the queen's body taking advantage of the dragon's distraction.
As she'd guessed, Tytania had already expired and her body was cold. Fridya could do nothing but hope that the gods would have welcomed her into their realm and make sure her sacrifice wasn't in vain. Though somewhat reluctantly, she grabbed the relic that lay on the ground beside the queen.
A strange feeling took possession of her; suddenly, her whole body felt warm and all fatigue seemed to vanish. Fridya knew that this was only due to the effect of the relic, but nevertheless she felt ecstatic and had the impulse to never let go of the spear. However, the common sense got the better of her: she knew she didn't have much time and that she had to finish the fight quickly. Thanks to the intervention of the gods, the dragon was now seriously injured: it was her chance to eliminate that monster!
She flew upward, hovering over Neytiri. She could clearly see the dragon's heart through the deep wound. If she could strike and destroy it, she could stop that beast once and for all. Of course, that was easier said than done: she had no guarantee that the relic would have been able to break through all the magical protections that the dragon had cast. But she had to try: since that monster had no intention of stopping until she had exterminated all the fairies, the only solution was to kill her, and that could be her only chance. She raised her spear, ready to throw it.
But as she was about to launch her attack, a strange light appeared out of nowhere and headed towards Neytiri. Fridya recognized it: it was the light of a nullifying rune! She turned to where it had come from, but she couldn't see anyone. Who had thrown it? The light from the rune struck the magical wards and dispelled them, and then struck full on the dragon's heart.
Neytiri let out a sob and her eyes widened in fear and surprise as she felt her mana core being cleared of mana. Suddenly, her whole body rebelled against her. Dragons were creatures that normally couldn't have existed: they were too large for their bodies not to be crushed by their own enormous weight, and no circulatory and respiratory systems would ever have been powerful enough to support them. The only reason they managed to survive despite their size was the mana in their bodies, which lightened their enormous mass and allowed blood to circulate more easily and lungs to channel much more air. But without mana, these processes had no way to function.
Suddenly, Neytiri was no longer able to keep airborne and fell to the ground with a thunderous crash, creating a crater beneath her and generating an earthquake that shook half of the Karbraland Great Forest. After that she was no longer able to move: her bones, her muscles, even her internal organs were being crushed by her own weight. Also, she felt like she couldn't breathe anymore and her heart started pounding as if it was trying to pump blood, but she could feel that her veins and arteries were stopping to work properly.
Fortunately, a large amount of mana was still present in her blood. The centuries of time in which her mana core in her heart had been continuously bathed in her blood had left a lot of residue in that precious red liquid. Neytiri manipulated all those residues and used them to reactivate her vital functions. Finally, her lungs returned to function, her blood circulated again, and her body felt a little less heavy. Every second that passed she was recovering more and more quickly: the dragons' mana core was an extremely efficient organ and it could gather mana very fast. While she wouldn't have regained her full power for a while, she would soon have been able to stand up and fly again.
But Neytiri didn't have all this time. Since whatever mana she had left had to be used to keep her massive body stable, there was now nothing to protect her deep wound and her exposed heart. Fridya understood that this was her chance. She hurled the relic and struck it at full force into the dragon's heart, tearing it apart and shattering the mana core.
Neytiri spat blood as she felt one of her most important organ being destroyed. She used the mana in her blood to try to regenerate it, but rebuilding a heart the size of a small house wasn't a quick process. Fridya also wouldn't have left her time to do it: every time the heart was about to rebuild, she destroyed it using the relic. Neytiri fought for her life for at least ten minutes, and then she gave in: her body, deprived of its heart and continually emptied of the little mana it had left in an attempt to repair it, was no longer able to stay alive. The dragon collapsed completely on the ground and she didn't move again.
Fridya waited for another couple of minutes to make sure the monster was really dead, then she let go of the relic, feeling all the tiredness hit her again. She flew to the ground and there she sat exhausted, looking at Neytiri's dead body and feeling some satisfaction. The queen of the sky had fallen, just like that.