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CHAPTER START---
"Three heartbeats, three scents," the Dragon mutters while moving its head, waking like a cat from deep sleep. With each word, the ground and air around them shift and tremble, as if trying to cower away from a living force of nature.
In front of it, Osian stands, sword in hand, cloaked in his white flames. But for the first time, the flames of the strongest Fire Mage in the world feel like that of a candle against a hurricane. Especially as the Dragon lay within the barrier, half battered and broken, it stretched its long neck up to look down on the human without moving the rest of its body.
But even in its critical condition, the man feels naked and helpless in front of it. Osian opens his mouth to speak, but the Dragon cuts him off as its eyes carefully study him and his Magic.
"Save your human lies. I smell them, I hear their hearts. But my work is more important that leaving my Ritual to eat three mere humans, leave me be. Send your descendants in a few centuries, I shall gladly leave my barrier then and consume them…" the Dragon lies on the ground and closes its eyes, leaving the three Wizards surprised.
Osian remains perfectly still, but sends a Telepathic message to his son. 'Teleport away, get to the surface and call in—'
'Do not leave,' the Dragon's voice enters their telepathic connection, booming in their minds. It sends a splitting headache through their minds, disrupting their Magics.
Both men hold their heads as their brains feel as if they're pressing against the inside of their skulls.
"How?!" Osian yells as Rixian quietly winces from behind cover.
"Jyin the Acid Flood is a great mage, even among Dragons!" the Dragon boasts, raising its head and opening its eyes to stare down at Osian. "Humans are only good for food and entertainment, so, entertain me."
Osian grits his teeth, pushing through the pain and rising to look up at the Dragon. "I am King Osian Moyer, Wizard Saint, Wizard, not a court jester."
Jyin laughs deeply at that, throwing his head back and fully enjoying the bold statement. "A human king? There are no human kings, you little things cannot ascend like us! What can you rule with your pathetic forces? And what of this other silly title, Wizard Saint? What is that?"
"You don't know what a Wizard Saint is?"
"I have been here since the Dragon King Festival. When that began I came here. I would have joined the second day, but I was already gravely injured from a battle that has yet to happen…"
"Yet to happen? Dragon King Festival?"
"You do now know of the greatest event this world has even had the honor of hosting, yet you believe I am ignorant?" Jyin lowers its head to lay in front of Osian, with the Barrier between them. "The great war between the human sympathizing fools led by Igneel, and the proper Draconic Council that represents the sane. It was glorious, but interrupted as we were about to wipe them out on the first day. I came here soon after to prepare this ritual that would eventually give me the power to kill those three."
"What three?"
"The anomalies!" Jyin growls, shaking the ground around them. "Has it been so long that they are lost to history? What has become of them? It should only have been a few centuries at best, those two should still be alive and well."
"Two? You said three."
"What do you know of Zeref?"
Osian swallows dryly, sheathing his blade to show his interest in the conversation, not that Jyin cares. "The Dark Mage Zeref, king of Evil Wizards."
"Evil Wizards? That soft hearted whelp? Ha! History has turned against him! I hope it has been just as unkind to Ingeel as his treacherous followers!"
"We know Zeref as evil because of his creations, like this Barrier you're using."
"What's so evil about this Barrier. I modified this to better suit me. But only the life of Dragons holds value, converting all else to fuel is as evil as the sun rising. What year is it, with the X Calender?"
"X773."
Jyin grumbles. "And I am already away, after a mere four hundred years…how vexing. But that must mean my Death Magic has spread to those few pathetic human settlements on Ishgar and beyond, for you to be here. Consuming the Magic Energy from the Barrier should be just enough to kill them…"
"Kill who?"
"Argh! Are you slow even for a human! The three!" Jyin opens his eyes to glare at Osian, exhaling grey acid mist at the Barrier between them, melting the stone floor on his side.
"The three kings, the Anomalies of this world. This entire damned plan was to gather the Magic Energy needed to kill them. Zeref, he'll be the first I kill, his Magic Energy will be useful to crush the others."
"Zeref has been dead for a long time," Osian says, and the Dragon laughs in his face.
"You humans truly are foolish if you believe such nonsense!" he continues laughing. "That wretched thing will persist until I kill him, for he is forbidden from any death that doesn't come from my claws. So says I, Jyin! King of the Acid Dragons!"
"King?"
"Yes, but unlike you humans we earn the title. But Zeref is alive, I refuse to believe he's dead, others a third of the reasons I made this plan will be worthless."
"What of the other two?"
"Acnologia, King of Dragons, although I suppose that title is somewhat outdated. After all, if he was still that, this Barrier would not need to keep my essence isolated."
"Acnologia and Zeref are the two most famous beings of Magic in history, what makes them anomalies?"
"Because they are exceptional, obviously," Jyin scoffs at the question. "Along with the third, but he may not be here yet. That one, the man who I encountered alongside my brethren at the behest of a heinous Dragon enslaving Magic.
We were forced to fight, and serve a human. My mate and I both entered the gate, and before long, we saw that heinous blue Spell descending. She was struck, then her body and the Spell crashed into me, leaving me in this battered state. I collected all the information I could about that wretched human as I lay there, waiting for the battle to be over. And I swore, the next time I see him, I'll kill that damned Oberon!"
"Oberon?!" Osian immediately gets another splitting headache as he tries to telepathically communicate with Rixan once more, leaving both men still unable to use their Magics beyond the basics.
"You've heard of this one?!" Jyin tries to sit up, but stops as he's putting too much weight on his crippled limbs.
"Uh, he's from a story. About the king of the fairies, and his queen."
"No, the one I speak of is real. The Cosmic Fairy King, the most powerful Wizard on Ishgar. The Thrice Divine…although Semi-Thrice Divine would be more accurate," Jyin chuckles bitterly. "That absurd existence of a human, killing scores of my kind, terrifying us to our cores. A human, covered in stars. He is real, but if you don't know of him, he is yet to appear in your history."
'He can't be talking about our Oberon, right?' Osian wonders. 'But there isn't another person famous or powerful with that name…I've never met anyone else with that name at all. But, none of this is making sense. Maybe Oberon has an ancient ancestor with the same name and Magic?
Whatever, this Dragon doesn't realize humans expanded beyond the core of Ishgar. He thinks his Ritual spread across half the world, he's vastly overestimating himself. I just need to keep him here.'
He shakes the doubt away and focuses on stalling and collecting information, just until they can teleport away. "And if he's so powerful, will you be able to beat him?"
"When the ritual breaks, the most powerful of them shall descend to me. He will be the first to die, then I shall be the strongest entity, and even Zeref and Oberon will fall to me."
"Then what?" Osian asks.
"Then I do as I was born to. Be the change I wish for in the world, become the extinction of humanity…"
The Wizard froze at that, knowing this couldn't end well, but still shocked that it was said so casually, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.
As Osian and Rixian's Magics are almost recovered, they feel a pain in their heads again, bringing them to their knees for a moment.
"Come out," Jyin commands, looking over to where Rixian and Oberon are. "I can hear the fear in your beating hearts, entertain me and I may keep you as my pets."
As much as they hate it, all the Wizards knew they really only had one good choice here, keep talking until the Dragon's timing fails and they recover Rixian's Teleportation Magic, warp to the Barrier where they'll be hidden and report this before calling in Etherion.
When Rixian leaves cover, massaging his temple, the Dragon is amused at the sight, carefully inspecting his appearance and equipment.
But when Oberon leaves cover, the ground rumbles as Jyin hops onto his four crippled limbs as if he was stung by the floor, broken and battered wings painfully extend to appear even more intimidating than the sleeping Dragon moments ago.
"Hair like the stars," Jyin grumbles while glaring at Oberon. "And boundless Magic Energy that cannot be sensed…Oberon!"
"Wait! No I'm not!" Oberon yells, raising his hands in surrender, trying to stall.
"You can't fool me!" Jyin's Magic Energy builds, causing his grey scales to become a matte black by the second. "My blood and soul will never forget that pain you caused me, what you took from me, the Dragons you killed on that day!"
"I've never done that!"
"Not this you," Jyin calms himself for a moment, drinking in the boy's features. "This you is young, a fraction of a fraction of a fraction of what you will become. So I'll kill you here and now!"
Jyin raises his head and releases a deafening roar, shattering the Barrier and completing the ritual. All the Death Magic from the oceans and surrounding lands rushes through the air, down the mineshafts and into this chamber, forming a thick black wall with the density of mist as it rushes past.
It blocks the three Wizards from seeing what's going on, and moments later, as it's cleared, they see the last bits of it being absorbed by the Dragon. His body, now made of solid matter, black crystals, jagged and hard, with two glowing grey eyes.
All the damage to his limbs, wings, face, and body, seemingly filled in by the new material, allows him to spread his heavy crystal wings with ease as another deafening roar erupts from his throat.
Oberon raises a Barrier to block himself and his allies, and they're sent to the end of the Magnolia sized cavern from the middle, bashing through rocks and boulders until they hit the far wall, but Oberon's Barrier doesn't shatter, protecting them.
'Weaker than Acnologia, a lot weaker!' Oberon thinks as Osian and Rixian kneel beside him.
"Go," Osian says. "We'll catch up."
"Hurry," Rixian says.
Oberon looks at the men while Jyin takes a precious few seconds to adjust to his new body and power. "I can't leave you to die here."
"We aren't what he wants, lead him away, now! Fly!" Osian's words cut through Oberon's panic and fear, helping him force down his emotions as he rockets straight upward.
The moment he shatters the sound barrier inside the cave, Jyin's head snaps upward and he takes off after the boy, following him all the way to the top of the tunnel where neither of them stop to enter the connected tunnels, instead they both simply punch through the base of the mountain, carving a direct path to the sky.
At the base of a cavern, Rixian and Osian are standing, leaning against a wall as they watch all the rubble and debris fall to fill the pit they're in.
"Anomalies…yeah, I think we're out of our league with them, dad," Rixian says as he faces the wall, drawing his gun and cycling the right bullet into the chamber.
Osian looks around at their feet, taking a single black crystal scale and pocketing it for study, as Rixian carves a hole in the wall with a pre-prepared Magic Bullet. "On the bright side, humanity may have one on our side."
"Assuming he doesn't get eaten today," Rixian says as they both step into the tunnel he made, avoiding being crushed until their active Magics are back online…
CHAPTER END---
Discord: discord .gg /eHuxNeZfyS [Come chat with me]
pat.reon: Keanu_Eugene [Read ahead & support me]
You.tube: @KeanuEugene [Giving away all my writing knowledge]