On the way to the eastern site, the dragons heard an explosion from the south. Gaelia and Aldrich could feel the magic return as a wave of ether filled the air. Confident in the level of ether in the air, Gaelia attempted to contact the other dragons. She found no answer. Aldrich attempted to contact Noriko. To his surprise, she answered. He quickly linked her together with his mother.
“Aldrich?! Is that you? Where are you?”
“With mother in the sky.”
“What-“
Gaelia interjects,
“Noriko, the western anti-magic device needs to be taken out.”
“I’m aware. My people are already in their way and I’m already bringing who I can with a teleport spell.”
“Got it. Aldrich and I shall distract the god form and attack the anti-magic device from above. If we are to survive, we must bring it down and contact help from outside.”
“Understood. What about Aldrich though? Did you not think it was dangerous to bring him!”
Aldrich speaks up,
“I had requested that we assist in the fight.”
“I heard that you were gravely injured from Lady Sinclair.”
“I’ll be fine. There’s more stuff at stake.”
“I see. Be safe then.”
Noriko hangs up.
“Aldrich, contact the operations center.”
Aldrich zooms through his contact list on his UI before pulling up the operations center. With surprise, the hive operator answers.
“This is Dragon Guardian Gaelia.”
“Aldri- no, Gaelia! We lost contact with you and everyone else.”
“Where are you, operator?”
“I’m in the hive nest in the World Tree. We’ve lost contact with anyone outside, but we’ve been able to receive some orders from the Queen. Most of our aerial force was decimated from the god form, but we are still awaiting orders with the few remaining warriors here.”
“Send what you have to assist in the battle in the east. The last anti-magic device is there. We need to take it out if we’re to contact the other dragons. Once we succeed in removing the anti-magic field, contact any dragon for assistance.”
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“Understood. What about you?”
“We are distracting the god form while we head to the last device. Keep any forces away from the god form.”
“Understood, Village Ordeal out.”
Now with silence, Aldrich spoke to Gaelia,
“Noriko’s alright and the hive is still okay. I’m glad.”
Gaelia smiles, though Aldrich can not see it from his location.
“Me as well, though we are hardly done yet.”
Just as she said so, she looked away from the god form to observe the hive and the elven forces battling. Her brain felt fuzzy and parts of her body didn’t feel quite right. She looks back to the god form, but something seems off. It’s missing something.
“Mom, look out!”
In a split second they were rocked by torrents of small hands. The god form had split parts of its body and commanded them to attack Gaelia. Her wings were ripped apart as she engaged in evasive maneuvers. Distracted, she also flew into the range of the ballista turrets. These turrets, like the ones from the northern camp, were ready to fire and had teleported from the southern camp. They fired the moment Gaelia came within range. Gaelia was skewered multiple times as she struggled to fly. Aldrich, in the frantic movements, was grazed by a ballista bolt, cutting into his left arm and shoulder. The bolt also had enough to knock him off of her, sending him plummeting down.
Gaelia immediately dove for him. Multiple hands flew at her, tracking her from behind as she sped up to catch her son. Closing in on him, she readies her arms to catch him, but is hit by one of the hands, causing her to lose focus and pushing her away. Aldrich is not helpless and uses his breath to destroy bolts and hands that were attacking his mother. Gaelia recovers and again she tries, this time success, if only for a moment. The next projectile she would see was not a bolt or a small hand, but an entire arm itself.
Somehow the god form had caught up to them, despite the distance it was away from them. Then Aldrich saw it. As the god form stepped on a small stream down below, nothing happened. Much closer to him, the usual destruction can be seen, digging the ground apart, but the god form wasn’t there. He realized that the god form he saw was an illusion. The real one was much closer to them than they thought.
Gaelia dove in and pulled her son into her chest and curled up. She then charged up her body. Bright green lines glowed from beneath her scales, extending from her tail to her head. Her claws became elongated and her horns brightly lit up the night sky like the sun.
The incoming arm was obliterated as it came into contact with her, causing great pain to the god form. Gaelia straightened her body and voice casted “Fly”, letting her soar without the use of her wings. With her son in her hands, she hovered before the ballistas. The humans saw her and began to scatter, but not before she blew a fire breath at them, destroying them all. She proceeded to the anti-magic device, but stopped when her son said.
“Wait! It’s going after the dragon roost!”
Turning back around, Gaelia charged at the god form, breathing a massive wind breath at it. It moaned in pain, but continued. Its speed had drastically increased somehow, moving further and further away from Gaelia. She forcibly had to boost her speed with “Haste”, to gain on it. Why was it attacking the tree now?! She could only wonder as she blew another breath at it. It was unstoppable, but Gaelia was able to crash into its torso, holding Aldrich safely in her clutch before letting an explosive wave of wind magic blow out from her, ripping the torso of the god form. For a moment, it seems as though Gaelia could win this fight.
The god form was gravely injured and the World Tree was still a distance away. She readies another breath to finish off the god form, but it gets caught in her throat. The ether escapes through her mouth as her mind races. What happened? Her draconic outburst should have lasted longer than that! She was so close! Why did it stop! She knew her dragon heart, the heart of which new ether is created from, could last much longer than that. Then she felt it. The poison. She should have cured it. Why! It was infecting her, encroaching throughout her body, consuming it, consuming the magic within it. She was helpless. She could only cradle her son harder as she pummeled downward.