SAIF

“How does this help mankind?” Rachel whispered behind him.

With a sliver of sweetness Saif shoved her voice and soul away, for now. He was not able to keep her away from him permanently. He needed to find a solution, there had to be one. Her nagging voice in the back of his mind kept surfacing when the timing was the worst.

The mountain wall opened up and in the large chamber there was a giant, circular hole in the floor. It led deep down and into the very mountain.

“This is the way,” Saif said. “Tom, come on. Bring parts of the vanguard down with you.”

Tom waved his arms and another batch of the disgusting dragon eggs were hurled right into the mountain wall, splattering on impact. The embryos were not ready to be hatched this early, they tried breathing the air, but the fight was in vain. Being forced out of their protective eggs meant certain death. But the dragon embryos still fought until the very last breath. Valiant, but in vain. Creatures and beings should know when they were meant to die. These dragons had lived for a long time. It was mankind’s time to expand.

By Tom’s instruction a few handpicked soldiers from the vanguard joined them.

Saif let the sweetness rush into his mouth, but which manifestation to fuel? By instinct he searched within his thought stream, electing which cluster he would use. He picked something suiting the task and jumped into the hole.

A surge went through his body and he stopped falling. Tom jumped in after him, using his telepathic manifestation against the walls and his body to keep afloat. The vanguard was held afloat by Tom, except for the woman who was able to fly by her own accord.

Saif reached out with his mind, but found nothing. “These mountain walls have a way of blocking me mentally. I don’t know what we will face down there.”

“We will sort it out,” Tom said.

It took several minutes for them to slowly float down the shaft. Saif’s boots hit the ground and he severed the fueling of his flight.

A giant, spacious hall, filled with decorative pillars that kept the ceiling and mountain from crashing down on itself. Groups of those stone creatures scurried away from them, along the side of the walls and behind the thick pillars. They were scared of them. Good, a smart move. Even without the mountain walls blocking him, the stone creatures’ minds were only faint. There was something inside the very mountain that hindered his manifestation.

“They are disgusting,” Simon said. The one with the acid, Saif remembered. Simon extended his palms forward, aiming and discharging two beams of thick, liquid acid. A stone creature was hit and fell to the ground, convulsing violently as the acid melted him.

“Correct,” Saif said.

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“Dust, explore the caverns and corridors,” Tom said.

Dust was tall and built slim, with a rough beard, which had gotten even dirtier during the battle. The man nodded and transformed into a cloud of smoke, before launching off into the branching corridors. Saif was also able to fuel with adrenaline, but now was not the time for it.

“Lori, explore the other side,” Tom said.

And the flying woman was off, in the direction of the other branching corridors. The mountain was large. Many chambers were to be explored. There had to be treasures, technology and weaponry. Saif chuckled on the word technology. These dragons were primitive and had lived in the same way for thousands of years. They had stagnated, they had reached the end of their evolution. They were meant to be destroyed and he was happy to give evolution a hand in that.

Noises in the distance. Saif took the lead.

A throne came into view. The biggest and fattest dragon he had ever seen was lying across the full width of it. Many kinds of food were spread around its base, with decorative gems and jewels glimmering because of the overhead lights. Two smaller dragons walked out from behind the throne. The dragons placed themselves in front of their king. Defiant to the end. Stone creatures stood on the flanks, observing what was happening but keeping their distance from both the dragons and Saif’s group.

“Your kind has come to its end,” Saif said.

The three dragons roared and their lips pulled back, revealing rows of sharp teeth.

They were not going to be understood. Primitive creatures, but thoughts they must have. Saif pulled out from his body and yes, the dragons’ minds were lit up. Being this close, even under the mountain’s suppression, made it possible for him to do his thing. He dove into the king’s mind. It was the widest and most distinct thought stream he had ever seen. The colors were off too. It shared very little with a human’s mind. He yanked thoughts out and studied them. The dragons never stopped growing as they aged and old age rarely killed them. They had lived the same way for millions of years. It confirmed his suspicions, they had stagnated. The king despised Saif and his fellow two legged beings. He pulled out and entered his own body again.

“Tom, finish them,” Saif said.

Tom extended his palms forward and tensed them into fists. The two guarding dragons’ heads crumpled, their skulls shattered and their brains splattered, making a disgusting popping sound. The two dragon corpses fell to the sides, having no chance to defend their king. Defiant to the end? Ridicules.

The king stretched his neck and bared his teeth. He roared. A roar which echoed through the hall, making the overhead lights flicker and the ceiling shake. Dust particles fell over them.

“You have vaulted your last hurdle. Tom, if you please,” Saif said.

Tom held his hands forward. The invisible force grabbed onto the sides of the king’s head, the pressure applied pushed against the skin and scales. Tom twisted his hands and the king’s head was forced into rotation. The neck snapped and the king’s corpse collapsed.

“A nice touch,” Saif said.

“You are the destruction of mankind. This is your way of saving mankind? You have changed. This is not the man I fell in love with,” Rachel said in the back of his mind. He shoved her away again.

“Tom, send down the rest of the vanguard. We have to search through the entire mountain before we leave. We have time on our side and we never know what we might find. I will return to the fleet and rest,” Saif said. “Simon, go kill some of those stone creatures.”

Simon made an excited smile. “Yes. Thank you, oh Great Saif.”

Saif turned and looked into the closest corridor, but there was nothing and nobody. The mountain shielded his mind and so he couldn’t sense anything behind that junction. Well, it cannot have been that important.