Akamori woke with a gasp on the ground, slowly pushing him up to see a massive draconic head lower down to gaze at him. It was immense, easily the size of two large gunships wing to wing. He saw rows of razor-sharp teeth lining its mouth and instantly felt tiny. Azure scales glistened in the sunlight, the perpetual storm that had been blowing for as long as Hidros bore a colony now sputtering out. Akamori grunted while standing up, dusting off his armor, which looked a lot better for wear than it had before he’d taken that god potion stuff. He noted that it took on a metallic blue sheen. The water magic's doing?
He also felt a lot better, too. Like a million credits or a couple of gold scales or discs even. He flexed his hand and the dragon’s head loomed closer to him. Its scaled lips curling at the corners, giving it a very unsettling appearance. Primal prey reflexes screamed in his animal brain.
"Wow, you've got some chompers."
“Sooo. You survived meeting my father. Good.” The voice rumbled, giving him an approving nod. There was a pleased and almost amused note to his voice.
Something quickly grabbed the blue leviathan's attention, and it whirled away from him, pulling the wind along with it. The gust forced Akamori to plant his feet and use his void magic to increase his mass so he didn’t tumble away in the gale the dragon just created with such a simple movement. Then he saw what the dragon was looking at. Ominek’s red and violet stripped form flying quickly in retreat. Hundreds of gigantic swords and spears made of ice formed from swirling icy clouds near the massive dragon. Then hurled after the fleeing Ominek.
Akamori laughed. “That’s right, you overgrown lizard chicken. Run.”
He watched the icy weapons cut clean curving paths after Ominek who was making some rather creative uses of the teleportation spell to blink away from attacks and gain distance from the enormous dragon until he could no longer track what was happening high in orbit. The weapons continued to stream into the air for several moments, and Akamori wondered if big blue had actually gotten Ominek. He got his answer to the question when several ice weapons halted mid formation and crumbled. The dragon’s head lowered with a huffing snarl. A small rain cloud formed before it turned its attention back to Akamori.
“You’re marked by my father. As is your companions. You are his instruments. I recognize his hand at work here. I will not devour you for waking me.”
Big Blue looked skyward, towards the direction Ominek had fled.
“The scourge of Sauridius lingers in this sector. I smell the stink of his work on the surrounding soil. Slumber is no longer an option for me. With my protective shield down covering my father's power, wildlings will come here in droves. I must guard his power. Shepard them, that a new dragon wing might emerge. One free of Sauridius’ control and influence.”
Akamori felt his brows knit, “So you’re just going to sit this out? You don’t think they’ll come back for you? This is already a war. Eventually, it’s going to come back here.”
The silver and blue streaked dragon leaned close to him. It’s cool misty breath sending a faint chill down his back with each measured puff exhaled despite the armor he wore. The icy blue eyes scrutinized him, narrowing for a moment before the head pulled back slightly. When it did, Akamori let out the breath he’d been holding tensely. Feeling returning to his hand, he realized he’d been clenching the sword tight. His heart was pounding loudly in his chest. Genetic fight or flight had kicked in, but he stood his ground, overriding the instinct.
“Perhapsss.” The blue leviathan purred thoughtfully. “But I must protect my father’s power. Ensure something of his legacy endures. Your petty squabbles are meaningless to meeee.”
“For a guy who was almost someone else’s war puppet, you’re pretty flippant about it,” Akamori said dryly.
“When you’ve fought in battles and wars for as long as I have, they lose their meaning. Conflict becomes cynical. Redundant. Pointless. Cyclical. Always an additional threat. Always a new bid for power.” The dragon heavily emphasized the last word, his voice nearly purring cat like.
You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.
“So you don’t care what happens to anyone else?” Akamori said, glancing down. “If you only care about what happens to you and yours, eventually when everyone falls, they’ll come back here and no one will help you. This fight is bigger than any of us. Even you. And that's saying something.”
He was aware of the irony of mentioning relative size, given how enormous the dragon was.
The dragon’s head lowered, though this time it looked at him levelly, taking a less hostile posture with him.
“Perhaps you’re right. For now, I must tend to this wellspring. My father’s power was not insignificant. In time, if my responsibilities allow, I may yet join you, little one. But now is not that time.”
Akamori ritually placed his sword back in its sheath. It thrummed, satisfied with the battle. Its blood lust sated for now.
“Fair enough. But I wouldn’t delay too long. This might have been a win, but it was nearly a defeat. Stay on your toes-er talons.”
The dragon chuckled, a throaty purring growl as its scaled lips curled in amusement slightly. The multiple rows of knife shaped teeth showing. It reminded him of a Hoshun deep shark’s mouth. An assembly line of teeth that never stopped.
“Indeed, Little one. Indeeeed.”
He felt a hand on his shoulder and turned to see Amara rubbing her head. The sergeant stirred on the ground, consciousness coming back to the man in a rush with a gasp.
“That was…” Amara’s gaze drifted as she stared off into the distance. She shook her head refocusing on him. “Are you ok? Things got kind of crazy back there.”
He gave her a nod, thankful she was ok too. “Yeah. We pulled it off somehow.”
He checked his armor to see if he’d only been imagining it repairing itself. It looked as fine as he’d remembered, but more than that. It took on a sleeker look, and accents of blue now highlighted the gold. The armor had adopted a smoother aesthetic now, and he could feel more of an awareness from it. He could feel his connection with it. The consciousness the armor possessed was more developed. Not fully sentient, but certainly aware of itself and him. It pulsed to him a simple greeting, and he returned the gesture.
“Your armor looks better than it did before you used it,” Amara said, regarding the Tears potion.
He glanced down, recalling when Hidros had gifted him a portion of his power. Another of the crystals imbued with power on the seal in his soul. Another light to push back at the darkness.
“Actually, I think it happened when the seal on the wellspring broke. Hidros gave me some power, and the armor must have taken some too.”
Amara nodded, glancing at her own armor, which had been a steel grey, but now it had a soft icy blue and white color on its skin. It was rounder in places, but not as much as the advanced armor he was using.
“Looks like mine did too,” she drew her pistol, and noted that it had blue runes ringing the barrel now. “Even the pistol. Look,” she pointed at the cool blue water runes that glowed along the pistol's muzzle. She gestured to his sword. “Did your sword do it, too?”
He blinked, having forgotten to even check. He drew the weapon, the metal singing evenly against the sheath as it exited. The blade thrummed in his hand. I grow! He flinched at that. It was forming more complex thoughts. Before, it had just been a raw feeling or thought or idea. Now it was building nuanced thoughts. He inspected the blade, noting that the length had grown many centimeters longer now. Its length nearly exceeded a fifth of the original length of the blade. Amara whistled at the blade. And he had to admit, it impressed him with the growth.
“That’s definitely longer than it used to be.”
The Sergeant had approached from behind them and sighed. “You guys. I can’t call you fuzzies anymore, but sometimes I still forget how new you are. Yea, Mage tech runs on magic. So if it’s fed magic from a wellspring. It grows and takes on aspects of the well. The more it’s fed, the more complex it grows.”
Akamori and Amara both just nodded, absorbing the information, then put their weapons up. Akamori’s blade in its sheath, and Amara’s pistol in the armor’s portal pocket. The Sergeant turned to walk back to the Captain and the others, but Akamori turned before leaving, looking at the gigantic dragon still watching them.
“Hey Big Blue, what’s your name, anyway?”
The dragon chuckled with amusement again, a cool mist billowing with each puff.
“Anorax,” the dragon said.
Akamori bowed his head respectfully. “Thanks for the save, Anorax.”
The dragon bowed its own head, the massive tank sized eyes closing shut as it returned the gesture in kind.
“Thank you for the save as well. Stay strong, little red.”
Akamori smirked at that, nodding approvingly. Fair was fair. “I'm Akamori. See ya around.”
He turned to trot back to catch up to the others. As he did, he didn’t catch the dragon bowing to his departure, wing curving down gracefully, sheering the top of a nearby mountaintop loose. The rockslide inaudible this far out.
“You as well, Dread Wyrm.”