The dynasty's troops marched towards the All Father at a fast pace; all the knights, magicians, and well-trained soldiers had fled the front, leaving behind minor magicians and recruited soldiers.
'What the fuck?'
The forces of the dynasty were surprised to see Baham approaching at full speed.
'Attack that dragon,' ordered one of the generals.
A high-ranking officer of the army of the dynasty was aware of the situation and the plans the magicians of the court had. Yet the troops of the dynasty doubted.
'Are not the dragons our allies?'
'Hey, doesn't that dragon look weird?'
The soldiers were talking to each other.
'Soldiers, attack that dragon; it is an order!' commanded the general.
Soldiers are soldiers and follow orders, even if that order is to attack and ally. Anyway, Baham Wild Race and his appearance were frightening the troops. They were preparing to intercept the giant in his tracks.
Baham ran like a mad beast; his skinned body burned; every step was an aggony; he was losing blood at every step. He couldn't see his path clearly; there was blood in his eyes. Rather than seeing his way, he was running home by instinct.
"Larvae, must protect the larvae," he repeated in his mind as a sacred mantra.
A rain of iron spears, ice spears, and arrows clung to his body, increasing the already unbearable pain. Through his blurred sight, Baham managed to discern the human army. The idea of getting to the nest before them further increased his determination. For a moment, he didn't feel the pain; he couldn't win against the army, and he knew it, but maybe he could buy time for the larvae to escape if he made it home before the humans.
'Look out!' cried the general. A jet of fire struck him, reducing him to ashes along with a few more soldiers, before the earth magicias could protect them.
Baham charged against the army in a straight line; there was no strategy, no plan, only brute force and will. He ignored the metal and ice spears, arrows, and fire of the magicians, who attacked his already defiled body. He crossed the stone walls, trying to block his way, and continued to run like a juggernaut.
On reaching the nest, Baham was a deplorable spectacle. Reivax remained frozen, barely able to recognize the once glorious giant without his skin, his muscles exposed in the air, his body full of spears and arrows, and his legs worn down to bone stumps.
'Baham!' cried Reivax.
The giant fell to the ground. He wanted to talk; he wanted to tell Reivax that humans were on their way with an army to destroy the All Father. He wanted to tell him that the dragons had been trapped by some wretched magic. He wanted to say so many things. But all he managed was to try to breathe and die at Reivax's feet.
'Baham!' cried Reivax again, shaking the giant.
Baham didn't answer. The larvae trembled in fear. Reivax looked to the top of the All Father; his worst fears became a reality. Baham's situation made it clear, the weapons piercing his body belonged to the humans.
"How could this happen?"
For some reason, his mind traveled back thousands of years into the past, in such an ancient time that he had almost forgotten about it. In an era where dragons fought each other, an era in which they fought the giants that dominated this world, A savage and brutal era. The dragons decimated the giants, and when he was only a young dragon who had just consumed his flame, his clan rose above the others. The dragons united, and peace reigned. All clans shared a common origin: the nest.
'Peace has made us weak and naive,' said Reivax to himself.
But that didn't matter now; it wasn't the time to remember the past.
'Temma, take them to the cave; it's time.' He ordered the frightened larvae.
'Grandfather, what is it? What is going on? What happened to Uncle Baham?' asked Temma, as frightened as his brothers.
'Listen to me, everybody. Humans betrayed us. Go to the All Father, eat a life stone, and flee to the enchanted forest.' Ordered Reivax.
'Temma, don't trust humans. You and your brothers may be the last dragons in the future. You have to survive, no matter how. Go, and remember that the All Father always gives us what we need!'
'Grandpa, the eggs...'
Reivax moved his head in denial.
'But Grandpa...'
'Go!' cried Reivax.The larvae rushed to follow the road that they already knew on their way to the All Father. Unlike the first time they visited the All Father, this trip was full of uncertainty, sadness, and fear.
Reivax looked in the direction in which Baham had come. Humans would soon arrive, and he would face them. For the first time in millennia, he felt warmth in his throat.
As the larvae entered the cave, the All Father's interior was as magical as the first time. The burning rocks, of different colors, sizes, and temperatures, emitted their alluring melodies. However, for the larvae, they all sounded the same.
"Which one should I choose?" All the larvae had this question on their heads.
"The All Father always gives us what we need." Those words kept repeating in Temma's mind.
One of the larvae braved ahead to be the first. The small mouth of his elongated, pointy head opened like a funnel, covering the rock in its entirety and swallowing it in one go.
'Guh!' complained the larva. A few seconds later, he began to scream. The rock was burning him from within; his body began to burn and turned to ashes.
The larvae were frightened; they had just seen one of their brothers burn to death. Reivax had warned them that the immature larvae could die this way, but seeing it with their own eyes and facing that danger was very different.
The larvae trembled, and no one wanted to be next. Uruk armed himself with courage and advanced, separating himself from his brothers.
'I'm going to be a great dragon!' He yelled at the cave as he approached one of the rocks.
"The All Father always gives us what we need," Reivax's final words repeated in Temma's mind.
'Wait Uruk.'
'We have to be brave; I will be a dragon,' replied Uruk.
′ I know, but remember grandfather Reivax's words. The All Father always gives us what we need.′
Temma placed himself next to Uruk and examined the rocks in detail. One of them caught his attention. He perceived nothing from it; there was no melody, the rock appearance was weak, and its temperature was lower. Temma thought of his grandfather's words and, without waiting any longer, swallowed the rock. A slight feeling of discomfort invaded his throat, but it was not unbearable. After a little while of waiting, he was still alive; he was not burning. The discomfort in his throat continued but did not worsen.
'Seek a rock that doesn't sing; choose the rock that is silent; the All Father gives us what we need,' Temma said to his brothers.
The larvae followed his example. However, the youngest of the larvae began to burn even after choosing a silent rock. Of the twenty larvae that entered the cave, only eighteen survived.
'What do we do now?' asked a red larva with black lines in his throat.
As if the volcano had heard the question, a small trembling caused a segment of the cave wall to collapse, opening a new, smaller cave.
"The All Father gives us what we need." They thought at once.
'Now we go into the enchanted forest,' replied Temma, entering the small, recently opened cave.
The earth trembled again, and the cave closed after the larvae went into it.
Meanwhile, in the nest, the small earthquake made Reivax feel hopeful for the future. He had no doubt about this feeling, and he had faith that the All Father would guide the larvae.
"Here they come."
Humans were reaching the nest. Now it wasn't just the army. The magicians of the royal court, Lydia, Jude, and Melan, had joined them. The body of Baham lay next to Reivax; there was no reason for theaters and pretending.
Ice lances, metal lances, rocks, arrows, and fire magic fed by wind magic rained over Reivax's old body. The old dragon threw himself against the enemy. The stone walls protected the knights from his dull claws. The soldiers and magicians fought carefully, waiting for the moment when the dragon would cast its flames, but that moment did not come.
'This dragon is old. It probably has no flames,' Lydia observed. 'Earth magicians, bind him.'
Following her instructions, the earth magicians stopped protecting the knights. The rock at Reivax's feet came to life and trapped him, fixing him to the ground. The attacks of the magicians and knights increased on the now inmovile target.
"Not yet, not yet." Reivax thought as he endured the pain of the attacks. Every second, the humans came closer and closer to their victim.
"Now." Reivax opened his mouth. The most intense flame he had ever cast and the last of all his long life was about to evaporate his enemies.
′Malai, yell, aco ora, fo.′
′Nal canto a gaw.′
Reivax's throat exploded. While in the rear, the soldier, whom Jude held by the neck with his left hand, had dried up; his body rapidly lost its strength; he was still alive, but being only skin and bones, he was so weak that he could not even stand. Jude cut off his neck with a dagger with total indifference. The magicians of the court covered the spectacle from the sight of the soldiers and magicians facing the dragon.
Meanwhile, Reivax lay on the floor, drowning in his own blood. The army was on its way to pass around, ignoring the dying dragon. With one last effort, Reivax struck them with his tail and threw them against the rocky wall of the nest, killing some and wounding others.
'Stop; he's already dead. Let us complete our mission,' ordered Lydia.
The soldiers and knights stopped stabbing the fallen dragon with their spears and walked through the rock canal on their way to the inside of the All Father.
As they entered the cave, the troops of the dynasty became mezmerized. The burning rocks were a charming spectacle. Some of the knights tried to tear some of the rocks from the walls with their swords. The metal melted at contact. The ice magic of the magicians did not quench the flames of the rocks.
'Stop playing. We have work to do,' ordered Lydia.
The magicians, knights, and soldiers were sent out of the cave to secure the area; others were sent to the nest; only the court mages remained in the cave.
'Well, well, well, dragon eggs. Can they be eaten?' asked one soldier.
They broke some of the eggs out of curiosity. Inside were the small larvae developing.
'Worms, yuk, disgusting!'
Meanwhile, in the cave, the magicians of the court were in charge of cutting diagrams on the floor and the walls of the cavern. According to Jude and the others' assessment, it would take them almost two weeks to finish all the diagrams.
Ten days later, Master Robalt and Smyrna were reunited with the remaining army of the dynasty. Panic ran through the kingdoms. It was already known that the alliance army had been decimated. The high nobility, the spies, and the royalty of each kingdom knew of the betrayal of the dynasty. But right now, they couldn't do anything about it. Without the dynasty's current plan, the eternal night and the miasma would destroy the entire continent. The only kingdom with a decent army was the dynasty. The others barely had enough to defend their borders with the help of their titled magicians.
'The life of the dragons is already exhausted. The eternal night and the miasma will come here in about four or five days. informed Esmirna.
'It doesn't matter. We will be ready much sooner than that,' said Jude.
Four days later, the troops of the dynasty and the magicians of the court were in the endless desert, right at the border with the dragon world, just where the mountain chain derived from the All Father ended. In the distance, they could already see the miasma advancing steadily and turning the world of dragons into part of the eternal night.
Jude and the others waited until the miasma was surrounding the All Father. In the nest, the miasma penetrated the corpses of Reivax and Baham, the dragons rose as undead, joining the army of the eternal night alongside their fallen brothers.
'Entela, Entela, yell feve afric, del lev acta. Ontola lev acta.′
Jude was reciting his enchantment as his left hand rested on a diagram on the volcanic rock.
′Emla ecma Klato, nom Etara, Nomyac.′
The magicians of the court recited. With their hands on different diagrams.
The miasma of the eternal night organized itself and began to enter through the crater at the top of the All Father.
The magicians continued to recite their arcane magic. The earth trembled with every repetition of the spell.
The dynasty army managed to see the All Father explode from its base, but at that very same moment, everything disappeared. They didn't even hear the sound of the explosion. The world of dragons and eternal night disappeared as if they had never existed. In front of them, there was only desert. However, as they took a step forward beyond the line where they performed the spell, they disappeared and reappeared in front of others in the opposite direction to where they walked.
The magicians at the court carefully watched Clinton, ready to attack. If he fell into the Arcane frenzy, they would eliminate him with no hesitation.
Under the mask, Clinton/Jude made a superhuman effort to control his desire to catch some soldiers, use them as a sacrifice, and kill the magicians of the court.
He stood still for several minutes.
'Are we expecting anything else?' said Clinton in a quiet voice as usual, surprising everybody.
Under his veil, Melan smiled. Clinton seemed like a very promising young man to him; if he was properly guided, at least with the years of life he had left, he could make great contributions to the dark court. The spell that he had developed using Van Vatnik's work to cut the connection between worlds was evidence of this.
'No, our mission is complete,' said Lydia, beginning the march back to the dynasty.
Clinton followed the magicians of the court, still struggling with his desire for blood and power. The tattoos that covered much of his body helped mitigate the effects of the use of arcane magic.
"If arcane magic is the problem, arcane magic is the solution," he thought as he smiled.