The Vitalis Chronicles: Steps of Krakador (22 page)

The dragons were easy enough to see with the naked eye now, black silhouettes growing all too fast in size for Ardin's comfort. He thought back to Cid's story.
The blue ones fear fire... red ones ice...
His brow furrowed as he thought about these dragons.
Black ones... the others are easy enough to remember.

He recalled the story about the dragons, their purple fire that set no flame, their black discharge that consumed metal.
Metal! They're afraid of electricity.

As if in confirmation, somewhere in the distance he heard thunder roll. The dragons were scarcely a mile away from him now. They were massive, with bodies larger than his home in Levanton and necks and tails to match in length. Ardin's heart hit his chin as it beat in his throat.
Let's just see if we can't cook you before you cook us then.

He imagined a storm cloud above him, sensing the crackle of raw energy in the air. His hair rose slightly as he brought his hands together. “Well,” he said to himself as he pulled his palms back. “Here goes nothing.”

The dragons saw him, or perhaps they had just been waiting to react. Ardin never knew, but one flew high as the other dove towards him. He thrust his hands towards the ground at his side, pulling a bolt of lightning out of thin air and striking the dragon flying high.

He cursed as he ducked,
Wrong dragon!
The one diving opened its mouth and let loose a black cloud broiling with purple energy. Ardin thoughtlessly surrounded himself with an invisible shield, forcing the dragon's breath to split and roll around him. He could feel the strength of it tearing at his defenses as it pulled up and circled away.

The other dragon had shied away, flying farther out before coming around for another pass. He had to hit this one to give himself some time; he didn't want to deal with both at once. He imagined the electricity forming in his palms this time, and willed it into existence like the fire he had created so many times before. The blue sparks jumped between his fingers, illuminating his darting eyes in the low light of dusk. Then the world began to skew sideways.
Not now.

The nearest dragon swung down, opening its jaw as it angled straight for him. Ardin released a blast, electricity arcing out from him in every direction as only a fragment of it leaped towards the flying lizard.

This is impossible!
Ardin dove to the ground, but the flash had been enough to startle the dragon and send it around for another pass. His hands twitched as he picked himself up, his knees threatening to buckle as his body tried to make the jump.
Come on... not now!

Ardin got up, frantic in his movements as he worked to control this new experiment with his power and his frayed body at the same time. The other dragon was coming back. He didn't know if they would descend at the same time, but he didn't want to find out what would happen to his shield if they did.

The Shadow.
The familiar burrowing in his mind that had pained him so severely once came back to aid him this time. Charsi was breaking through.
It can multiply your power. Now focus!

“
C'mon.... c'mon!” He focused on his hands, the sparks jumping furiously across them in no discernible pattern. “Holy shit, Ardin, FOCUS!”

The warmth churned in him in response to his need, forcing the sparks to the center of his palms. The dragons were closing, mouths gaping, the purple energy glowing deep from within them as the darkness grew in the distance. Ardin had no time to perfect the craft, only desperate need. He launched everything he had in him, pouring the warmth into his hands and converting it into flickering blue energy.

The bolts were unified this time, erupting like a condensed storm straight for the incoming monsters. The force of the blow was absorbed almost entirely by the first dragon, who fell from the air, nearly landing on Ardin in the process. The remainder of Ardin's blast leaped into the second dragon, knocking it off target as it spewed its purple death in impotent fury.

Ardin rolled forward to avoid being crushed, the massive body of his first target grinding into the stony ground behind him until it came to a stop at the end of a gravelly trough. The other dragon veered to the north; there was no sign of any intent to return that Ardin could read in its path.

He turned to his fallen foe. It pushed itself up, smoke rising from every crease in its scaly hide. “Looks like you're cooked.” Ardin couldn't help but smile. “That wasn't so ba–”

The tail caught Ardin in the chest, completely off guard. It was as thick as his torso was tall, and it sent him spiraling until he landed with a thud. Head spinning, Ardin jumped to his feet, willing the warmth to seek out and heal his injuries.

Focus!
The voice again, the deep knowledge and memories that were not his own. He never thought he would be grateful for Charsi's forceful presence; he had never thought she would return ,and though this was different than before, he knew it was her.
The Shadow are a bridge between the physical and the Atmosphere. Use that bridge!

He swallowed hard as he focused, expecting the monster to bear down on him at any moment. But as his vision cleared, he could see the dragon wasn't looking at him. It was looking down the hill at the refugees.

Its intent was clear to Ardin. For the first time in an encounter with the Demon's creatures, Ardin wished the hunger for his magic was stronger. Its thick wings unfolded, still smoking faintly in the last light of the evening. He had to finish it.

It took off faster than he expected, catching him so off guard that he forgot completely about using the lightning. Suddenly his whole being flexed as if it were itself a muscle, and then every part of Ardin's strange existence snapped together in unity. His hands shot out, and before he knew it, Ardin had his grip on the monster's torso with invisible hands. The dragon knew exactly where the intrusion was coming from, whipping its head around to send a burst of purple-laced blackness Ardin's way.

But Ardin pulled down so fast and so hard that the lizard's neck snapped back, sending its deadly payload wide before it slammed into the ground again. The impact sounded like a cow in full steel plate armor falling off a cliff.

Not getting cocky this time,
Ardin rebuked himself. He didn't hesitate, sending as much electric energy into the downed dragon as quickly as he could. The power was immense. He could feel the Atmosphere pouring into every part of his being, connected to every single cell. The warmth didn't just come from within, but from every part of him, and it poured back out just as furiously. The dragon writhed for a moment as its hide began to glow a faint purple. Smoke began to rise from it again before the rattle in its throat signaled its passing.

Ardin stood there a moment, disbelieving that he had actually killed a dragon. Something that had cost the lives of so many to accomplish in the past was done with his own bare hands.
Perhaps godhood isn't out of the question.
In the distance, towards the sea, something illuminated purple in a brief rolling flash. Ardin spun to face it, squinting into the darkness.

“
Oh no...” Without thinking he made the jump into the metaphysical and launched himself from the hilltop.
How could I be so stupid?

The sensation of flying was lost in the mists of the Atmosphere. He knew where he was headed, though he no longer knew how. The feeling of losing himself to this shapeless existence was revolting, but he had no choice. He could move much faster this way. He didn't know how he was so certain this was true, but he had long since stopped doubting his intuition. All around and before him the Atmosphere was arcing, curling and curving back around and into him. He had never seen anything so mesmerizing.

The purple fire looked like lightning in its own right in this form. He was close already, but not close enough. He pushed onward, forcing himself to move faster. The purple lightning was very close now; he made the jump back to find himself in the midst of chaos. Refugees ran in every direction, screaming as the dragon burned them alive.

Ardin launched a bolt of his own lightning at the dragon, but it dropped low, letting the distant clouds above absorb the energy. It was moving faster than it had before; enraged or elated, Ardin couldn't tell, but it swooped down on him faster than he could react.

He put up his shield as the black flames laced in lightning struck him dead on. The dragon didn't continue past this time, however. It slowed, using its massive wings to pump the air back and hover just over him. The fire didn't stop coming.

He could feel his protection dissolving under the onslaught; it was like no energy he had ever tried to defend against, and even with his amazing new connection to the Atmosphere, he struggled to keep it at bay. His arms began to shake with the effort, and every attempt to bolster his defense left it temporarily weakened further. He was only losing ground now.

The dragon landed, the fire continuing to broil out of it behind every last ounce of its malice. The roar of it was deafening. The monster approached his shield, closing the distance until the fire was pouring down directly above him. He was losing his grip.

The dragon's claws appeared through the glowing darkness, penetrating the violent black and purple as easily as cool water. The talons on the claws weren't overly long, but they were thick. And strong, Ardin realized as they began to press in. He could feel them breaking through, the holes only growing with the monstrous pressure. Ardin breathed heavily, preparing to release his protection and make the jump when he heard a lout metallic whang.

The dragon stopped its fire long enough to look back over its shoulder as a thunderous clap resonated across the water.

Paul Donovan!
The name jumped into Ardin's head with a flash of hope.
Now if this guy stays distracted a second longer...

But the dragon whipped back around before he could move. Its anger was palpable as it put everything it had into Ardin's small invisible dome. He could visibly see the shield rippling in the air now as its last strength was put to the test, and then it failed.

The dragon's full weight came hurtling down at Ardin in the absence of the protective covering. Without thinking he made the jump, suddenly grateful for the wild discomfort it brought along with it. He floated off to the side until he felt the distance between himself and the dragon's power grow. He jumped back to the physical only to find it flying off towards the ships.

A flash appeared out on the water, followed by another, and then another at a different point farther south. The surprisingly satisfying sound of the shots rolled through seconds later. Ardin smiled to himself as two of the rounds hit the slow-flying dragon.

That'll teach you.
But then Cid's story came back to him. The horror of the onyx dragons lay only partially in their black fire. Their greatest weapon was to multiply in battle.

The revelation of their peril came to Ardin too late as the dragon swooped down on one of the smaller ships off the coast. It looked like it was choking as it descended, its long neck convulsing like a cat forcing out a hairball. And then it coughed.

A giant glob of what looked like thick black tar wobbled in the air as if in suspension. The time it took to fall felt an eternity to Ardin. The glob struck dead on, landing on the bow of the small ship. Ardin couldn't see much more than that until it started to writhe with purple energy. There were men, trying to scrape at it with something, to push it off the ship, but their tools began to burn and suddenly they were dying too.

“
No...” Ardin said as he watched helplessly. “This isn't possible.”

The steel ship was slowly consumed by the writhing energy until it had collapsed to half its size. Then, slowly, the center rose in a tall arc. The tar tore free as the arc straightened into a neck, the head of the monster screaming as it ripped itself free of its housing. The few ships nearby that had guns on them began to pour their rounds into the monster, no longer as concerned with the safety of the crew as they were with their own.

But every strike from the weapons only seemed to make the dragon stronger, make it move faster to free itself. Suddenly it was free, flapping its clumsy wings wildly until they caught purchase in the air and pulled it free from the wreckage.

Hevetican appeared at Ardin's elbow. “You have to kill them! Like you killed the other!”

Ardin thought back to the trap the dragon had laid for him, to how close he had come to dying already. He looked at Hevetican, trying to think of some excuse, to bring the old man's expectations back to reality, but the expression on his face stopped Ardin short. He was obviously aware of how impossible the task was, and he was beginning to despair.

“
I can see it in you!” Hevetican pled. “You have become one. Finally, you have become one.”

The world twitched to Ardin, however. He had to fight to keep his body from doing the same.
Not quite...

“
I swore I'd never let anyone die under my watch again...” Ardin couldn't look away, not without placating Hevetican's fears. But that oath was impossible to keep; he had already failed in it even today. His force of strength from a moment before was leaving him, his body quivering and threatening worse. He grabbed his sword, drawing it as if it might steady his hand. There was no other reason to do so.