Ep 99. Ludin. (2)
Unlikely stories of heroes prevailing against impossible odds often inspired grandeur dreams within children. A number of them continue to dream the same dream, imagining a day where they would one day become the hero in their childhood tales.
Unfortunately, no such miracles were occurring so far.
The grey, silver-haired figure they’d seen was no longer anywhere to be found. In her place was a giant metallic reptile, killing off at least a dozen with every swing of her arm and tail.
Countless soldiers mindlessly jabbed their weapons into the dragon’s scales, only for them to fling right off her body. The smart few began to cast fire spells and nock flaming arrows given their intruder’s metallic make, but their attacks amounted to little before her massive size.
“Where’re the elite squadrons?! Get them all in here!”
“This is all the men we have!”
In preparation for the oncoming campaign, a majority of the empire’s elites had been stationed on the western front; those that yet remained in the capital were the lucky few that had been selected for their rather lacking prowess in battle.
Of course, they were still loyal to their ruler, and valiant nonetheless. But they were nowhere near the level of strength to alter the course of battle against a dragon.
That was, except for a single individual whose hands had been entrusted with the empire’s capital.
“Now, now, move aside. I appreciate your efforts, but knowing when to retreat is just as important as knowing when to fight.”
The soldiers quickly made way, backing off in unison from Raizel as their court mage showed face. Only he alone stepped into the courtyard to meet the steel dragon’s glaring gaze while the rest began to step away from their massive enemy.
“…A rather peculiar intruder we have. Could I help you, large one?”
The mage’s voice was impeccably polite, and all the more sarcastic because of it. Raizel snorted in amusement at the man’s seemingly baseless attitude.
“Pretty confident for a human.”
“I try my best.”
“Where’s your emperor?”
“Why, I just sent him away to safety. Were you looking for an audience with his majesty?”
“…So he’s not here.”
“No. That he isn’t.”
“Ha.”
An eerie smile curved the dragon’s mouth upon hearing the court mage’s answer. Instead of pressing him further for where the emperor had gone to, Raizel instead elected to remain silent.
If the emperor wasn’t here, then she didn’t need to worry about killing him accidentally before Serenis’ arrival.
‘Though, where is she anyways? Thought she’d be right behind me…oh well.’
When their short conversation came to an end, Raizel drifted her ominous gaze towards another neighbouring tower before slamming her body into it. Soldiers that were in the way were crushed underfoot, and the tower’s spectators couldn’t so much as even scream when the mass of metal came ramming into their face; after remaining relatively stationary in the courtyard, no one had expected the dragon to move about so suddenly.
Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.
But even when the soldiers began retreating further back, the court mage merely grinned at the sight, raising his glowing staff into the air.
“And here I thought Stoneskin was an impeccable spell. It seems yours is far more durable, large one.”
Instead of an answer, Raizel’s arm dug into the tower’s crumbling rubbles with her hand. Her claws emerged with a heap of bloodied stone that were then hurled towards the grinning court mage.
His glowing staff shimmered brighter, its tip releasing glittering violet particles from the embedded gem. They then began to explode in a series of fireworks upon intercepting the stone projectiles, reducing it all to harmless dust.
But the court mage’s successful defense allowed little respite. Raizel’s claws came upon him directly thereafter, threatening to crush him underneath.
“A little more to the right, if you would...ah, I suppose this will do.”
With a brief tip of his staff, the court mage summoned a large boulder to smash into the dragon’s forearm. While the rock shattered apart without so much as leaving a scratch, it did alter the claws’ trajectory slightly – enough to make them skid past his robe and sink into one of the few remaining exits leading out of the courtyard.
The mage then began to pace across the wasted grass towards the courtyard’s opposing side, giving a curt nod towards the metal dragon.
“Slow, aren’t you? A little slower and I just might be able to step out of the way.”
“…”
Although no verbal answers came back, a giant metal limb did come swinging across the courtyard, scraping at the remaining structures in a circle at the court mage’s height. A quick duck did save his life, though the circular swing destroyed what exits that remained.
The youngling slowly turned her head, grinning at the remaining soldiers scattered near the crumbled exits. Dig as they might, there was no way they were removing the rubble in time to escape before Raizel would get to them – and the same went for the court mage.
“And where’re you gonna run to now?”
The court mage snickered at the youngling’s victorious tone. He rose back to his feet, using his staff for support.
“I wasn’t running away, per se…”
He scanned around the ruins of the crumbled palace. Most soldiers had either escaped the courtyard or died in Raizel’s rampage, leaving only a handful to shiver in fear.
When his staff swung across the air once more, a wave of cold, ominous air spread across the courtyard. The soil began to rumble and split, as did the rubbles of the ruined towers.
And soon after, skeletal hands emerged from within them. They desperately clawed at the ground, digging their way out to emerge with their torn, lifeless bodies.
“…”
Raizel winced at the sight. As far as she could see, literal corpses were moving about; most were broken and battered, with many missing a limb or two, or even a head. But they were still moving nonetheless.
And even worse, the skeletal figures began to encroach upon the living. An entire army of undead clawed their way onto the remaining soldiers, clawing and biting them to death. Resist as they may, the skeletons refused to stay down; hacking and slashing did little to stop their advance as the soldiers fell prey to moving corpses of their own allies.
When the courtyard became devoid of living except himself and his only enemy, the court mage beamed a wide grin towards the steel dragon, slamming the staff into the floor beneath.
“I can’t risk having any witnesses, you see. And they’re far more useful this way.”
Raizel quizzically lowered her gaze at the mage. Skeleton or not, these things possessed no threat to her whatsoever; in fact, the army of undead ceased their fire-imbued attacks, which had at least managed to annoy her. Now, even that was gone.
“If you mean equally useless, I agree.”
When the steel dragon returned her attention back to the court mage, he was invitingly stretching out his hand towards the metal dragon. Despite his stacked odds, the mage seemed perfectly at ease as if he was used to the occurrence.
“No, they were quite useful. They robbed you of your attention until our guardians’ arrival. That’s quite plenty.”
“…?”
“How will you fare, I wonder?”
His staff glowed brighter in its eerie violet light. A silvery hand emerged from beneath the ground before him, and he quietly whispered a single phrase, almost as if he were uttering a spell.
“Ludin.”
“…!”
Raizel smashed her limb unto the ground, right over the court mage’s head. Whatever he was trying to do, she didn’t want any of it.
But instead of soft human flesh, the dragon’s claws smashed into something metallic that had emerged from the ground beneath. Between her claws, Raizel could see a grey, dusty woman in front of the court mage, shielding them from Raizel’s claws with their bare arms.
“Be honored, large one. Not many are given the chance to see Akeia’s guardians.”
“…Guardian?”
The youngling’s angered scowl melted into a miserable, pained expression. Vicious snarls threateningly slithered out between her fangs, but Raizel’s arm was already giving away in strength.
A single, lifeless eye met the steel dragon’s gaze. The torn woman wore no expression whatsoever, nor did she speak a word; alas, the youngling didn’t need anything more to recognize who the woman was.
“…”
Soon after, a pained howl rang throughout the entire palace. But it did little to alleviate the frustration welling up within its screamer.