"Another serpent?" Rowan Mercer scoffed as Sauron's massive coils surged toward him. "The last one I dealt with was bigger than this."
He expanded again, giant magic layering over his dragon form until he dwarfed Sauron's transformed body. A colossal claw swept down from the sky, catching the serpent mid-lunge and smashing it back into the earth.
If Sauron had opened with everything he had, the fight might have been troublesome. But after enduring repeated blasts of purifying light, his strength was already in tatters. He was barely fighting at half capacity.
Compared to the great serpents Rowan had faced before, this one was dangerous, but not terrifying.
Dragonfire roared from Rowan's jaws, a tri-colored inferno that engulfed the battlefield. Iron-rich sand ripped itself from the ground, twisting into massive chains that wrapped around Sauron's head and neck. Lightning followed, volts cascading through Rowan's claws as purple thunder fell in sync with the descending light.
Sauron fought back with everything he had. Darkness writhed and surged, his body twisting violently as he tried to coil around Rowan and crush him.
It was useless.
Like an eagle tearing apart a venomous snake, Rowan ripped Sauron's serpent form to pieces. Fire, lightning, and radiance reduced it to nothing.
"I will return!" Sauron's voice echoed as his physical form disintegrated. His spirit rose, stripped of flesh but not yet destroyed.
Maiar did not perish so easily. Their bodies were vessels, nothing more. Given time, Sauron could rebuild himself.
"Not this time," Rowan said coldly.
He reverted to human form and pulled out a nested sealing construct he had prepared long ago. Arcane symbols flared as he invoked a containment spell from another world.
"No!" Sauron realized too late what was happening. Deprived of strength and caught off guard, his spirit was dragged screaming into the seal.
Rowan closed it with a sharp gesture.
"A Maiar soul," he murmured. "That might be useful someday."
Something glinted on the ground where Sauron had fallen.
A ring.
The moment Rowan picked it up and slipped it onto his finger, whispers crawled into his mind.
Follow me. I will grant you endless life, endless knowledge, endless power. You will stand above kings… above gods.
The voice slithered through his thoughts, probing for weakness.
Across countless worlds, eyes opened.
Rowan's true self awakened. So did every one of his other incarnations.
"Get out."
The command thundered across realities. Soul-force poured into this body in a sudden torrent, multiplying its spiritual strength several times over. The invading will was torn out by the roots.
Rowan inhaled sharply, clarity snapping back into place.
"Seal."
He layered enchantment after enchantment over the ring, severing its connection completely.
Only then did he examine it properly.
"A ring infused with Morgoth's power," he muttered. "This shouldn't even exist yet."
History had already been bent beyond recognition. And this ring bore Morgoth's mark far more clearly than Sauron's.
He slid it back onto his finger, thoughtful rather than tempted.
"That was close," he admitted. "But I gained something from it."
For an instant, all his other selves had answered his call without hesitation. If he could learn to control that resonance, he could draw strength across worlds at will.
A trump card, growing stronger the more he grew.
Satisfied for now, Rowan dismissed the sealing array and turned back toward the others.
Lúthien, Galadriel, and the Grey Elves were staring at him in stunned silence. The battle had unfolded too quickly, too violently, for them to process.
"It's over," Rowan said, waving a hand. "We can move on."
Galadriel grabbed his arm, eyes blazing with disbelief. "You turned into a dragon. Since when can you do that?"
Rowan chuckled. "Remember the dragon we killed before? I studied it. Borrowed a little of its nature. Improved the design."
That answer only left them with more questions.