- Thus I Sing to the Tyrants

The room was encased in a still silence between the two monsters, one - a Dragon of great power, his breath mighty across the ground, while the other hid within the shadows, a warrior in her own right. They were two souls, two minds of knowing the poor fate they now found themselves in.

One soul would fade away from this silence and cease to exist. But which?

The Dragon sat on his throne of bones and death, the silence penetrating his mind with questions and wavering thoughts. His blood boiled inside his lungs and his heartbeat like a drum. He wanted to hunt, he wanted to toy with her mind like the mad men who drove themselves to their deaths when they came to his chamber, to his home.

Suddenly, an idea formed in his mind, a fleeting thought that truly made him question the little mouse's decisions.

"I grow tired of this useless silence. Tell me, why did you come here to die?"

His words were calm, but Lia could feel the mocking and malicious intent hidden behind each word, like a mask to his face, the Dragon smiled as he relished in those words, each one pouring off his tongue like poison.

"Tell me girl, why are you here? Did you grow tired of the world? Did you wish to stake your claim in my gold?"

The Dragon tried to learn Lia's angel, so his mind twisted like a worm on a hook, trying to wrap his mind around her goal. If he knew her goal he could destroy her mind like the stone underneath his feet, cracking to bits and pieces before him under the weight of his power.

"No…you're not like those thieves."

Then his mind found the pin in the needle in the haystack, and his eyes widened with insanity, as if the idea in his words excited him.

"You came here to kill me?"

"...and what if I did?"

'Got her.'

His eyes flamed with desire as his smile twisted across his face like a vile depiction of a monster. A predator who played with his prey. It amused him, the idea that this little mouse had come to kill him.

"It is only because I have met many Hunters like you, that I know how close you walk on the line of death."

He spread his wings across the chamber, large bat wings that covered the dim light that spilled into the room, casting a shadow over the unnatural darkness that surrounded them.

"They come to me with swords and spears, axes and bows, yet nothing penetrates my armor. I am a titan before them, and soon all minds tremble before mine."

"Does it infuriate you then that mine has not?"

The Dragon laughed, a short and loud laugh that shook the ground and the pebbles on the floor, the unlit torches rattling in their sconces, metal creaking and wood falling with splinters and dust.

"I have not even tried. This little chat of ours has made me amused in many ways. It entertains me."

"Well, I'm glad I could be of some use to your little ego."

"I do have a question for you though, if you will humor me…"

The Dragon narrowed his eyes until they were small slits of fire that poured for the shadow of the light, embers in the firelight.

"Did you know that Hunter, the one who wielded his spear against my heart? The one who was caught between my teeth and whose blood I spilled before the sun?"

Lia felt her heart twist as she heard the Dragon speak, and he knew she was squirming in her place, it brought a smile to his face. He hit a mark.

"I did."

She said with a broken voice, keeping the image of Arnold standing in the golden sunlight clear in her head, her heart and mind breaking with her voice.

"A friend?"

"A comrade."

"Ah…I see. You Hunters walk the line of death, what a powerful profession. To live and feel the glory, or to die and feel the honor in your name spread like wildfire. But I wonder…"

The Dragon's voice was close now, though he was far away, his words echoed in Lia's mind like he was whispering beside her head, and it broke her inside as she heard his slithering snake-like whisper.

"...who will remember him?"

Silence descended on the room as Lia felt the shadows enveloped her in a cold grasp, some form of comfort, or morning grief. She didn't care, all that she saw through her burning eyes was the dragon's head on the ground, mocking him as she said with her own voice; "And who will remember you?"

But what came from her voice was not the sounds of defiance, nor was it the sounds of courage. It was the meek vice of a mouse who spoke for the darkness, standing before the great Dragon with dull eyes and little emotion.

"I will."

"Oh, and who might you be?"

It was a ploy by the dragon to get her name, for if he knew her name, every word he spoke, every sentence that left his mouth would hit harder. It would draw more blood.

And he relished in the idea of driving her mad until her mind broke within her.

Lia didn't care though, and as the Dragon heard her steady heartbeat, he realized something that made the smile disappear from his face. Where there were two heartbeats, there was one, and where there was one, here now heard two.

But it wasn't the same. It was different in some ways, almost as if…

They had become one.

"My name is Lia of the Endless. I am the keeper of the Darkness within the abyss, and master of all Kings Fallen. And I shall be your End."

Suddenly the smile was no longer on the Dragon's face, for the words she spoke were not of her own mind, but of another's. He could sense the man hiding within her shadow, but it wasn't as easy as he imagined.

'He's letting me see him. He's threatening me.'

It wasn't a question, the Dragon knew, the summons with her shadow was mocking his sight, as if he couldn't see him if he truly tried to hide. It made the Great Dragon's blood boil as his eyes widened with hate, the maliciousness and malice in his body and mind spiking with every word he spit from his mouth.

"Lovely titles, I'm certain. But allow me to tell you of who I am!"

His voice boomed and echoed through the chamber as he raised his bat like wings high, embracing the darkness before him as his breath sputtered with fire and death, like the monster he was. He was a god within his home, and he would prove it.

"I am the Great Dragon of the Eastern Mountains, reborn within this body as a King! I am the Death Bringer. The Poison Maker! The Keeper of secrets within the Fortress! I am the Great Slayer of the Invaders! I have existed for a millennium!"

He spat these words with such ferocious intent that it shook the very ground around them, but Lia stood against the pillar, her back to the stone as she felt the cool chill of fire run through her bones. She didn't feel the heat, nor did she smell the smoke in the air as the Dragon's breath spat out bursts of smoke and flames into the air as he spoke.

She was emotionless, and the Dragon could feel it, he could sense it. It was like a poison that he smelled from afar, a stench that he hated so deeply.

Courage. Calm. Quiet.

Emotionlessness.

He was nothing in her eyes, and it enraged him as he reared his head back, his titles falling to the floor and dissipating in the air like his fire, useless against her. She didn't care about his pride; she didn't care about his arrogance.

She felt nothing, and he was enraged by it. His feet stomped to the floor as he brought his head low, smelling her scent in the air for now he knew where she was.

"How dare a mere mouse like you stand before me with such courage. How dare a mere mouse like you think they are worth anything in my eyes! I will tear you to pieces!"

"Then do it."

His eyes shot open with wide fury as her cool and calm words echoed through the chamber, silencing him despite how much he wanted to speak, to yell, to rage.

She was nothing in his eyes, yet he was nothing in hers and that enraged him beyond the fire burning in his chest, beyond the armies he had slaughtered and pillaged with blood and flesh in his teeth. He was nothing to her, and she was nothing to him.

They were equals, and he hated that word.

"Then step out from behind that pillar. Remove yourself from the darkness and come before me. Step into the light!!"

He didn't expect her to listen, he didn't expect his words to reach her emotionless and still beating heart, but the sound of a foot landing on the stone was vivid in his eyes, and suddenly the rage was gone. The darkness and its cool grasp let her go, it chilled his bones, as he watched the dim light spill from the window over her face.

As he watched her step from behind the pills, in full view, his mind wavered, a chill ran down his spine.

'Am I…am I afraid? Me? Afraid?'

He couldn't turn his face to show any signs of anger, he couldn't feel any rage boiling in his chest like the fire that filled his lungs full of smoke and ash.

'I can't be afraid…I can't.'

Her eyes were a mirror to his own, a crimson flame burning to his ember red. He felt his feet move as he stepped down from his throne of blood and bones, slowly approaching as his head lowered to the ground, snaking and slithering towards her as the dust and air parted in his way.

He was a breath away now, and if she took a spear, she could reach him. But he kept still, his voice a whisper to her delicate ears. He felt his heart beating like a drum, and he saw her for who she really was.

"You're either very brave to step before me, or you're simply a fool."

Lia's lips parted to form a sinister smile, a smile that mirrored his own when it tore apart his face, a smile that she had seen in her dreams and her mind. The smile of her demon in disguise.

Before the Dragon knew it, he was smiling too as his eye met Lia's, two sinister smiles in the darkness that sowed lines of white teeth both sharp and ready for blood. They both were.

"Just who are you, little mouse?"

"...I am Lia of the Endless."

There was only them, and only one another before each other.

"I am Tyrannus, the Tyrant of Malice."

***

The workers toiled and toiled away with their hands and their minds, pulling strings and rope, chains from the ground to the sky as the world around them began to fall into darkness. The sun was setting, and in an hour, they would be in darkness.

So, they toiled away with the job at hand, fires lit and light dotting the land as the last of the sun began to set beyond the far mountains painting the world above them in red, orange, yellow and pink.

It was soon. They all knew the time was near.

"How much longer do you think?"

Gilbert asked as he watched the large archway covered in a curtain of darkness and shadow, soon to envelope them all in the night's grasp.

Beside him, Lance and Rian stood on either side, their own eyes panning against the horizon of shadows drawing closer and closer with each passing second.

"I don't know. Lia said she wouldn't be long but…"

Rian looked to Gilbert, hoping for reassurance but found none in the man's lonely and cold eyes.

"Maybe she got lost? Is that possible?"

"No. Even if she went through every corridor and room, past every tunnel and bridge, she would have run into the main hall by now."

Lance turned to them with a look of worry in his eyes, a feeling of fear overcoming him as he watched the two men discuss the events of Lia's possible death.

"Maybe it's just taking longer than we expected? After all, this is a dragon we're dealing with. It's not like she can wave a flag and start running."

Rian nodded, but inside Lance could see in his eyes that the man was starting to lose hope, clutching the long metal and mechanical arm Lia had gifted him. A gift from the Leprechaun.

Its red ruby design spread across the metal that bent and shifted like a real arm, but one with sharp claws and the strength of a bull. He smiled as his eyes passed over the beautiful work of craftsmanship, hoping that the woman who gifted him this was alive in there somewhere.

"Has that man still not left yet?"

Rian turned to see Gilbert watching the village in the distance, his eyes narrowing as their eyes passed over the caravan in the distance.

"What's taking him so long, it's been hours."

"I don't know. He should have everyone by now. I hope nothing is wrong."

Just as Rian said that his eyes noticed a small figure running in the distance, recognizing the man as Lukali, his friend as he knelt before them out of breath.

"Lukali, what's gotten into you? What's going on?"

"The…The horses, they won't move…they're too scared. Something spooked them."

Gilbert gestured to the world of darkness spreading around him like a mist of shadows that crossed the meadows and waving blades of grass, flowers that blew in the wind.

"What could they be afraid of out here? There's nothing but darkness, fire and…"

Then it hit him, as the chill of the night ran down his spine, the shadows smiling as he realized the fear and nervousness that was pounding his heart with pain and worry.

His mind raced, his heartbeat, and the shadows of the night mocked him as they smiled, his eyes widening as the black and empty archway of the main entrance appeared behind him from the shadows. He could hear it now, his heart could sense it and so could the others as he turned to the army before him, hiding within the grass.

"Everybody, get down!"

But it was too late, for even as his face and voice reached the people before him, the darkness was chased away by the blinding light that tore through the shadows, the silence, and the meadows. All that was in place of it, was the sound of a roar above all roars, that shook the ground and the souls of mortals.

It was too late, for fire tore through the sky that night.