The Dreadwrym stirs

Garuda stood before Akamori for a moment. The calm in the eye of a storm. His azure and white feathering and scales contrast with the glow coming from his eyes. The icon had tried several times to enthrall him and failed. The air shifted as the fight was transitioning to violence over dominance. Akamori flexed his own aura. The radiant void magic writhed out of him as he stared Garuda down. A fleeting glance at the truth of Akamori’s soul caught the attention of The Icon. The dormant Bahumet sealed away within the spell soldier, warrior, and demi-god.

The voice that emerged from his lips wasn’t the one he knew. It belonged to another being. “What are you doing here? I am not yours to command.”

“You know why,” Garuda snarled.

Void black and purple aether radiated from Akamori’s eyes as he smirked. “Indeed. Unfortunately, I must put you down. Left uncheck, you’ll blight the land.”

With ferocious intensity, Akamori’s aura pounded back into Garuda’s, leaving neither the advantage and once again leveling the playing field. Akamori blinked several times and the draconic radiant void magic faded, leaving just his piercing blue eyes once again. Garuda noticed the change in the young human mage. The 5 meter tall icon spread its powerful wings wide. Akamori took a cautious step back.

The wings came down, and two walls of whirling blades of air magic hurled his way. Akamori fell backwards into his shadow. The wall of blades carved up the stone he’d just occupied. Thanaton punched through the scales on Garuda’s leg and a high-pitched scream of pain blew the glass out of the huts of the village. A sweep of one of its wings sent a powerful blast of air that threw Akamori sprawling and skidding across the ground until he smashed through several huts, plowing a path of destruction. He looked for shelter as stones were blasted around him by more wing slashes. The wind from each blow increased in velocity, giving him little time to escape. With a snap of feather fingers, the attacks ceased as quickly as they had begun. The entire village was now in shambles.

Akamori rose from the rubble to find Garuda still standing. The air elemental spun about on the spot, turning itself invisible and becoming the winds of death all over again. Garuda moved with speed, unmatched. In his eyes, Akamori saw his own reflection. Their eyes seemed to pierce right into his soul and speak volumes without words. You are not what you are supposed to be. This battle will never end if you continue down this path you are walking. Your purpose lies elsewhere than here. There are others who need your help.

The younger man remembered himself being held at sword point. The blade of Thanaton whispered in a voice he didn’t know, as it spoke directly in his mind. Guilt flashed through him. He’d been self indulgent and strayed from his march looking for this fight. For this problem. A problem he didn’t really have the time for. But he couldn’t leave the Sakazin prisoners to Garuda’s will. They had to be freed. Every choice had a cost, and if the cost of making this choice was not being what they expected him to be, then so be it. He wasn’t a prisoner to fate, and if he walked off the path, he’d forge his own. The wind howled behind him as the icon drew near. Akamori faced him head on. The Icon Garuda came within striking range, but paused instead. His massive wings furled in close like an attack would come next. Instead, silence reigned in the air as both warriors stared each other down.

“You think you can stand against me?”

“I’m willing,” Akamori replied confidently.

The air elemental started moving again with its spinning blades. The elemental assault was too much and quickly overwhelmed Akamori. Thanaton was torn from his grip. His personal wards collapsed and even the void transfer ability of the armor was overwhelmed, unable to phase every attack. The inky black armor took several solid hits. Some slashes, some stabs. Akamori fell to his knees, blood trickling down his arms and legs, pooling beneath him. He could feel the warmth draining slowly from those wounds.

Garuda loomed over him, a triumphant sneer on his beak. The icon inhaled deeply, his chest distending just as a dragon’s might. An ear piercing wail erupted outward, the likes of which would challenge even a Banshee. Akamori’s hand shot up, and a powerful void ward erected itself in front of him. It instantly dissolved any air magic that struck it. Akamori’s aura melted out of his body and radiated power like Garuda could only imagine. When Akamori looked Garuda in the eyes next, two baleful draconic eyes bored into Garuda with threatening intensity.

“What are you!?” The Icon cried, backing up a pace.

“The dreadwyrm Bahumet. You have disturbed my rest. Damaged my vessel. And you’re annoyingly loud. I tried to warn you and you persisted. Now I’m going to have to end you.”

Akamori’s aura split down the middle, and shaped itself into a pair of dragon wings composed of pure void magic. They flapped powerfully only once and Akamori rose into the air to face Garuda at eye level. A forceful blast of wind rushed in from behind the dragon and smashed into Akamori’s back, sending him sprawling onto his rear. His armor cracked where he impacted against the ground, but didn’t break or dent. He rolled over, ready for more. There was no fear on his face this time, though. Just determination. He felt the rage well up inside again. This was the way it was supposed to be, fighting without reservation. He allowed himself an eager grin.

“I’m going to enjoy this.” Akamori said under Bahumet’s power.

The wing slashes began coming faster and stronger now that Garuda knew he’d been bested. Garuda moved around Akamori like a great serpent, moving its body through the water as each strike came closer and closer together. Each swing of the giant bird-like wings swept away several huts of the village, scattering them about like leaves in a stormy sea. As soon as one hut vanished, another appeared just in time to meet the next swipe of his wings. The constant barrage drove Akamori back towards the shoreline, until finally, he stumbled off the edge of the beach to plunge into the ocean waters below.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

The icon followed right after him, sweeping his mighty wings back and forth with enough speed they generated waves of their own crashing against the rocks along the coastline. Beneath him was blackness so deep not even his light could penetrate it. His feet touched down on the bottom and there was nothing but darkness surrounding him for a moment. Then suddenly, a brilliant beam of light erupted from the center of his chest outwards in all directions. It flashed blindingly bright for a second or two before dimming slightly, but still brighter than daylight. The rest of Garuda’s massive form appeared above Akamori, casting shadows in every direction.

Garuda’s voice boomed throughout the entire area, “You will pay dearly for what you have done here! You will die by my hands!”

“Hmph. Come and try.”

“You think me afraid? I am Garuda the swift!” The wings came down once again to sweep across the land like some giant scythe ripping through wheat.

“That is where we differ.” Akamori said as he stood up slowly to meet this challenge head on. “I’ve walked miles already today to find this fight. Do not mistake my patience with fear. Your anger has driven your wings faster than thought itself, and now you’ll realize that it wasn’t rage fueling them, but desperation.” He clenched his fists in front of his chest and extended them outward at arm’s length. As if throwing a punch, a blast of energy launched forward from each fist into the center of Garuda’s chest. Wards blunted the attack, discoloring.

Akamori attacked again, this time summoning Thanaton back to his grip. The long aether steel blade thrumming with power. He rushed forward to attack, his blade singing back and forth in a storm of slashes mirroring Garuda’s own attacks. Only Akamori added an extra surprise. Void magic mixed in with the air. Each attack crashed into the Icon’s impressive barrier, further discoloring and weakening it. Eventually, the ward shattered just as Akamori closed into melee range. In two swipes of his blade, the wings of Garuda crashed to the stone, shattering the landscape. The Sakazin were no more, and for that, Akamori felt deep guilt. But he eliminated the threat.

“I’d pray for your return to the cycle so that we might fight again, but you lack even a soul. Find rest in oblivion.” Akamori’s two toned voice said as he blurred forward and rammed Thanaton into the heart of the icon. Garuda gasped as blood and aether poured from the wound. Akamori closed his eyes and channeled Void and fire into the blade. Higher and higher until Garuda dissolved into ashes and then even those burned away in the black flames. A few stray motes of aether. All that remained of the icon drifted free of the carnage. His work finished, Akamori flew up and off on flaming purple dragon wings.

He landed at the edge of the Sakazin village. The void dragon aura wings billowing away into motes of unshaped aether. Ahead of him lay the wreckage of the village. As Bahumet’s conscious withdrew behind the seal, Akamori blinked himself back to awareness. Like being locked away in a dark room with no sound. When he saw the remains of his fight, he sighed. Heavy with grief, he allowed himself a moment to weep. The Sakazin had summoned Garuda out of fear of the dragons. And he’d come along and finished them off.

“Maybe I deserve to die.” He said with a dry mouth.

He’d defeated Garuda. Anazi Prime no longer had an Icon that could run free and enthrall others at will. He glanced off into the horizon wearily. The temple lay out there somewhere.

“That was a foolish detour. You’ve wasted time and resources defeating a foe you didn’t need to stop.” Astri’s voice said from everywhere all at once.

“Maybe. But if I didn’t deal with it, do you honestly think the dragons would have?” he replied.

“No.” Astri said after some silence of her own.

“Exactly. Someone has to save everyone else because Keimut sure as hell won’t.”

“The wyrm mother may not like you openly expressing displeasure with her children.”

“Then she can bill me. I’m here because of the mess they made. I’m here because they refuse to help us. I’m here. I need to be. Not because I want to be. There’s a key difference.”

He sighed, dropping to the ground, reluctantly making camp in the village’s wreckage. Most wildlife was giving him a wide berth. He may as well make camp here for the night and carry on in the morning. He unpacked his camping gear and started a small fire made of crushed kindling from a hut.

“And what is that key difference?” Astri asked again. “That you’re angry about their attitude or that you don’t care that you’ve killed them?”

“That it manipulated them into summoning in the first place. They were playing with forces they didn’t understand. Someone put them up to that. I mean, to find them and stop them.”

“You mean after you stop Sauridius from enslaving the sector?”

“Pretty much, yeah.”

“Night cousin.”

“Good night Akamori. Your companion wishes for me to express something to you.”

He grinned, knowing who it was, and what was likely to follow.

“Kick their scaley asses, sir.” Sirsir’s disembodied voice said.

He nodded as silence followed and he went to lie down even though his body felt like a super charged aether crystal.

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