“YOU MOTHERFUCKER!” were words the dragon heard when a human punched it right in the face. The act itself wasn’t too much of a surprise. But the fact that it felt his skull cracking upon the punch was something it had never experienced. Falling from the sky, not because of the punch but because of the sudden turn of event, the dragon snapped out of its shock swiftly. However, it soon had its stomach pierced by a powerful ray of magic, delaying its response. As it fell from the sky, it attempted to regain some control of the situation. The loss of blood as well as internal organs wasn’t an issue for the dragon because it was immortal. However, it was still bound to a mortal body, the flesh. Having a hole right in his belly meant that it was weakened while it healed. While falling, it opened its mouth toward Kamil who was chasing him down, a ball of fire was beginning to conjure inside with two strands of fire swirling around, creating a rapidly enlarging fireball that was powerful enough to level a town. However, at one point, it just vanished. The dragon, realizing that the fireball he was casting was gone, had its eyes go wide. It was overruled and it knew it immediately.
“Over….ruled? I was overruled?!” It uttered in shock.
Being overruled occurred only in the presence of an entity with much, much, higher elemental authority. As long as it could remember, this was the very first time that it was ever overruled in magic, and it had fought countless Betrayers of the Wheel.
“A mere mortal cannot have higher authority than me…, meaning …”
Its eyes had a look of understanding.
“Ahah…, how many centuries has it been? When was the last time the elementals had a leader?”
Elementals were, in general, decentralized beings. It was by design where the God of Life and Death erased their memories selectively so that they would never be able to work together. As a direct result, the elementals did not have the desire to fight, simply put. They were more of lingering and lost souls bound to an element. However, the elementals were powerful when they had a leader who had a clear goal. It realized that this was such a case. Having lost its primary means of offense, fire, the dragon had to come up with an alternative way to fight. It still had the wind elemental, thus it naturally cast wind blades except the spell didn’t even initiate. The dragon narrowed its eyes as it was still falling hopelessly. Its spell was again overruled, and the fact that the spell didn’t even start, it could be guessed that his opponent’s primary elemental was most likely wind. Either way, this left very limited choices for offense for the dragon. It still had the physical prowess and then there was the light magic.
“I, the dragon of life, am defeated nevertheless. But I shall not go down without a fight. It is my duty to fight.”
Turning around in the last seconds, the dragon made a very rough landing. Kamil made his landing softly soon after. Pointing at the dragon, he shouted.
“How dare you!” He repeated with a louder voice, taking a strong step forward. “HOW DARE YOU!”
image [https://imagizer.imageshack.com/img924/3926/hkqEvX.png]
In a sense, the scene was a bit comical since Kamil was tiny compared to the dragon. Yet, he was the one fuming.
‘Welcome, Betrayer of the Wheel’ The dragon spoke directly to his mind. ‘We meet a little early.’
The dragon didn’t plan to meet Betrayer of the Wheel this soon. The world needed to be pushed far more before the planned encounter was supposed to occur.
“I have a name,” he said while pointing at himself. “I am called Kamil Fenchel.”
‘Mortals and their names…’ The dragon clicked its tongue loudly in contempt. It looked down to check a gaping hole on its belly. It was closing in slowly. Its half-molten scales were slowly coming back to the pristine color as well. This reminded it that the timing of events was a bit too convenient.
‘Were you the one who sent those?’
“Yes, I sent them after you to lure you out.” At this point, he had his magical bow out and had it drawn, ready to fire at any moment. “I am not in the mood to talk. There are two of you, and you are going down today.”
‘So be it.’ It opened its mouth to breathe fire only to find that even this ability was blocked. This ability wasn’t magic; it was the dragon’s physical ability. Not only was its magic overruled, the use of fire itself was banned. Then it felt sharp pain in its throat. Kamil had apparently fired a shot, and the arrow went right through its open mouth to the back of its head. This could have been a fatal wound if it was a mortal. A dragon was a celestial being, and “death” did not exist for the celestial and elemental planes. Death was a concept that existed only on the material plane. When it was defeated by Betrayers of the Wheel, it experienced fake death due to the fact that they were present on the material plane. Their souls would travel back to their masters to the celestial plane. This was also exactly why a dragon could be overruled in elemental magic. After all, it was not a local resident of the elemental plane. If elementals liked someone far better, even a dragon could be overruled. Kamil was supported by three dedicated wind elementals: Fionara, Ludwig, and Vass. Additionally, having stored the power of light for some time, he stood on the verge of morality and elementality. Finally, the elementals and the Gods were always at odds, meaning if elementals had the choice between Kamil and a dragon, they’d choose the former. A dragon, a God’s toy from the celestial plane, was going to be overruled if the elementals had a better choice in other words. Having lost most, if not all, of its magic-like abilities, all it had left was its physical attacks and light magic. The dragon was reluctant to use light magic because it was not meant to be utilized on the material plane. The consequences of using too much light magic on the material plane were completely unknown. Additionally, light and dark magic was rather extreme. The dragon lunged forward like wind. In spite of having a massive body, it moved like a feather. Using its long neck and powerful jaw, it intended to catch Kamil in its mouth and crush him to death. However, Kamil evaded with ease as he flew around, landing on the back of its head. Subsequently, he fired a magic arrow which entered from the back of its head to its mouth. The dragon roared in pain. It could have been the end of it if it was just an ordinary creature. What amused it more was the fact that it was seemingly no match at all. This was such a rare occurrence in its memories. It understood that this was primarily because of the fact that its magic was blocked. Was it a simple coincidence that Kamil had the full backing of fire and wind, both of which were its elements? Regardless, the dragon continued to fight him physically. It turned around and attempted to claw him which he, again, evaded with ease. After several more exchanges, it became clear to the dragon that physical attacks were meaningless. Only light magic was left under its arsenal. Five small balls of pale-yellowish light the size of a tennis ball appeared around the dragon that shot out rays of beams toward Kamil. As expected, he evaded. However, the beams were tracking him.
“I’ve never seen such magic before!” he remarked as he flew away from the dragon to get away from homing beams.
‘That is holy magic,’ a voice answered him.
“What happens if I get hit?”
There was no answer, and he wasn’t about to test it out. It took a considerable amount of flying around to finally lose the pale-yellow light beams, which gave the dragon much-needed time to recover and regain some control of the fight. Additionally, because Kamil was far away enough, it was able to cast magic once more. It cast numerous fireballs from a distance and breathed fire when he made an attempt to approach. The tide of the battle, which looked seemingly on his side, had turned.
“Damn it!”
Because the dragon was casting spells after spells, it didn’t give him enough time to pull off a big spell like the hurricane arrow. All he could do was occasional magic arrows which the dragon didn’t bother to evade. Its scales protected it from them.
“Didn’t I just puncture its belly a moment ago? How is it not dying?” he wondered aloud in the sky. “If that’s not the way, then how? Decapitation?”
His most powerful spell, the hurricane arrow, could certainly achieve this but it was a spell that took some time to prepare and fire. The dragon seemed as if it was aware of this and it was not giving him time. What he wasn’t aware of was the fact that, if he was closer to the dragon, his presence would block most of his ranged attacks. He fired back his magic arrows whilst dodging and evading barrages of attacks from the dragon. His attacks were effective but not effective enough to halt its relentless attacks.
“There has to be something I can do to alter the tide,” he grumbled while evading the dragon’s fireballs in the air. Then he recalled the moment he punched the dragon. It was an improvised action out of pure anger after seeing his brother, Faro, being in such a dire state. It wasn’t a physical punch. His fist was coated by a layer of gust which protected his hand from actually punching a dragon. He was thinking of something similar.
“How about …”
He made a quick gesture of an uppercut while imaging the uppercut right below the dragon’s jaw. Surprisingly, a large translucent greenish fist appeared out of thin air and punched the dragon’s from below right onto its jaw, accomplishing a rather nice uppercut that gave a sudden halt to its spells. Taking the full advantage of the time he was given, he pulled his magical bow deep to initiate the hurricane arrow. He aimed right at its neck.
“Hurricane arrow!” he exclaimed, at which point two strands of green and orange light intertwined together and shot toward the dragon. However, the dragon evaded rather easily.
“Damn! There has got to be a way!”
And their battle resumed, exchanging spells against one other. At one point, however, he suddenly found himself frozen in the air with several pale-yellow strands of mist creeping around him. It looked as if he was being tied by rope.
image [https://imagizer.imageshack.com/img922/6339/JYu48V.jpg]
“What…!” He tried to break free to no avail. It was a sort of magic he had never seen.
‘The dragon used a death spell…!’ He heard a voice nearby. ‘It broke the rule!’
‘They broke the rule.’
‘How dare they.’
‘They are not supposed to use that.’
‘The audacity…!’
“A death spell?!”
A wind elemental approached his ear at once. It was Vass. “An instant death spell,” he replied. “A God’s spell. Under holy magic, it’s called unlive. Under dark magic, it’s simply called death.”
“What?! Holy magic has a death spell?!”
“Of course, after all, light and darkness are the same.”
He was told so previously when he saved Karsten from rotting to death. At that time, he didn’t quite understand the meaning of the phrase. It turned out that light and darkness were literally the same.
You’d think holy power would have resurrection and healing spells…
“I am not dead, though?!”
Vass trailed off, “That’s because …”
“What?!”
There was a lone wind elemental in front of his chest which looked like it was sucking the pale-yellow strands into it. What it was doing was taking Kamil’s place for the spell, essentially sacrificing itself in his place. Soon, the wind elemental shattered into pieces like a piece of shattered glass and its pieces were falling slowly like feathers. The strands that were binding him were gone, and he became free. Subsequently, he attempted to gather the pieces in his hands.
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“Who?!” He raised his voice in confusion and panic because he realized that there was only one elemental that was willing to sacrifice its life for him. “Fio?!” He repeated with a louder voice. “Fionara?! Sir Vass, Lord Ludwig, are you there?!” He exclaimed with panic in his voice.
‘Yes,’ they answered.
“Fuck! Why! Why, why, WHYYYY!” He cried.
As Fionara, the element, was slowly fading away after being shattered apart by the dragon’s unlive spell, he fell to his knees after landing, holding pieces of the rapidly deteriorating elemental in his hands. The pieces soon evaporated, leaving no trace at all.
“Fio…” Droplets of tears fell down from his closed eyes to his pale-yellow, blood-drained, fists that were shaking subtly. “Fio…,” he repeated weakly. “I failed to protect you once more…” His droplets of tears were turning into strange blue translucent eels, and they started to swarm around his fists. His despair soon turned into anger.
“You fucker…,” he cursed as he raised up his face, streaked with tears. “YOU FUCKER!” He stood up at once, surrounded by countless fire, water, and wind elementals. The dragon had apparently fired a barrage of fireballs while he was down, but the water elementals had neutralized them in the air even before reaching him. The dragon stood still, its attention fixed at him. Kamil did the same, glaring at him with bloodshot eyes.
“You’ve won,” the dragon said in a language he could understand.
“What?” He was confused.
“You’ve won,” it repeated. “I am defeated.”
He still didn’t understand what it meant. “I’ve yet to kill you.”
And I would love to fucking kill you by my own hands!
“Doesn’t matter. I’ve broken the rule. My soul is forfeit.”
He didn’t know what “the rule” was but he did recall elementals whispering about it. He could assume that it was about him casting a death spell on him. Taking a few deep breaths to control his swirling emotions, he asked.
“If you weren’t meant to use the spell, why did you use it?! An elemental I cared greatly about had to sacrifice itself to protect me!”
“I felt powerless. I felt insulted. It was the only spell I had that would kill you. Thus, I cast it in spite of knowing full well that I was not allowed to cast a death spell on Betrayer of the Wheel.”
This was one of the few restrictions which the Gods had placed upon the dragons because it would be too unfair. A death spell was instant and merciless. It was the ultimate spell. When a God cast it, its target would die as long as it belonged to the lower planes.
“Just because of your fucking ego…” Veins popped on his forehead. “Fio had to die…” He started drawing his bow where there were now three strands of color: green, orange, and now ocean blue. Meanwhile, the dragon made no effort to fight back. In fact, it was progressively turning into a stone, starting with its feet. Its existence was already forfeit.
“Why does the age of darkness even exist?” he asked, not expecting an answer.
“A civilization will eventually bring itself to their own destruction. There has been no exception,” the dragon replied calmly. “That itself is fine. However, in doing so, they generally end up destroying their whole world. The Age of Darkness helps them to stay on a course and thus will prolong the world’s lifespan.”
“Why don’t you let us decide how we live?” he demanded an answer with the hurricane arrow fully ready to fire at will. With three strands of colors swirling around in the shape of an arrow, it had the hue of the rainbow.
“The material plane is the Gods’ creation. They have the right to meddle in how they see fit.”
Damn…, if they put it that way…
Logically, if the Gods created the material plane and everything in it, they would have the right to meddle in. On a smaller scale, it was like how parents would attempt to meddle in their children’s life even after they came of age.
I never grew old enough to see my children come of age…
A sad fact hit him rather hard. In his previous life, he witnessed his two toddler sons perish in fire. In this life, his daughter was barely a year old.
“I hope that I get to see my children grow older this time…,” he whispered to himself as he bit his lips. When he finally let go of his new hurricane arrow, it created a circular shockwave the moment it was released from his finger, propelling toward the dragon at a breathtaking speed. There was even a sonic boom as well.
“Farewell, Betrayer of the Wheel. The journey ahead of you won’t be smooth and will be filled with unexpected events,” the dragon said just as his neck was obliterated from the hurricane arrow blazing through, and its head flew up high before falling down as a stone. Then an eerie silence dominated the scene.
“.... How anticlimactic, what now?” He mused. It was only then he realized water elementals floating around him. “Water elementals?”
“We apologize for joining up late,” one of the blue translucent eels said to his ear.
“If you guys are joining up…, what about earth elementals?”
“We are here,” said a collection of low voices, at which point tiny blocky golems made of soils rose up from the ground, curing the deadland at the same time. They were the size of house cats. One of the dark brown golems walked toward him and got down on one knee.
“Elemental King, the final battle awaits,” it said formally. The deadland was slowly turning into green from where they stood.
“What about the horde of monsters? Will they disperse?”
“If past events are anything to go by, they will fight to their death. Once summoned, they have their own wills. Now that one of the controllers is gone, some will go berserk, literally speaking,” said a water elemental.
He narrowed his eyes immediately. Elsos was defending against another horde. If monsters would go berserk as said, then they may not be able to withstand the siege for too long.
“No, wait…, before that…”
He recalled Faro’s condition. If his assessment was correct, he wasn’t going to make it without potent healing magic. And he would need to be alive for magic to work.
“Elementals, locate the airship and take me there at once!” The elementals around him dispersed at once, presumably looking for the airship. He had one last brief look at the petrified dragon’s head because his body was forcefully taken away into the sky and then landed on the airship that had landed. No, it didn’t land. It crashed although it looked like it was a controlled crash. He landed in front of the crashed airship that had its front missing entirely, exposing the cockpit completely. He found Duman kneeled down in front of Faro in a corner. His brother looked dead on a quick glance. There was also a charred body by a door which he assumed was one of the adventurers. The shape of the body was a female’s, meaning it could be Amanda or Meizei or Roseline. Regardless, his priority was Faro.
“Sir Duman,” he called him out while approaching. The mission was a success, meaning everyone in the group was going to be given nobility. Of course, he wasn’t aware that Ayaan and Amanda were not on the airship. Duman reacted slowly, his eyes were dull. He looked exhausted, and his face was devoid of any life.
“Duke…,” he said with a very weak voice.
“Is Faro alive?”
His face was literally blue. Kamil grimaced at the extent of his injury. His left arm was missing entirely, and his left chest looked crashed flat.
“I am unsure,” he replied reluctantly. “Duke…, I want you to know that we …” Tears filled his eyes at once. “We…” Then he choked in tears. “We … did our best …”
Seeing Duman in such a state, he realized the kind of battle they had to endure. And it was adamantly clear that not everyone made it. Snapping out of his tunnel vision, he looked around. Only Duman was around, he realized.
“Are you two the only ones who made it? Who does that … charred body belong to?”
“Me, Roseline, and possibly Faro made it…,” he replied. “Faro saved us. If it wasn’t him, none of us … would have made it. That body is Meizei’s…”
Kamil took slow steps to approach Faro who was completely unresponsive. The cold weather was the only thing that was keeping him alive, just barely. He would have bled to death otherwise.
“Faro, can you hear me?”
As expected, there was no answer. He was unconscious. Kamil extended his hand toward him at once.
“Elementals of water, I demand you to heal my brother.”
“...Your brother?” Duman mumbled. Soon, a look of understanding took a place on his face. “I see.” He repeated with a weaker voice, “I see…”
Translucent blue eels began swarming around Faro, and his body began to glow in paint light blue.
“Elemental King, we cannot regenerate lost limbs but we can heal his crippled knee,” an eel said.
“So be it. At least he lives and won’t limp,” said Kamil candidly. To be brutally honest, it wasn’t such a bad exchange. Limping was considered an eyesore in society. Not having a left arm was, in some ways, better than limping. As a right handed boy, Faro wouldn’t experience too many issues living his daily life.
“Right…! Duke…,” Duman blurted as if he remembered something. Light returned to his eyes at once. “Roseline…, heal her as well. She’s in the back. I, I will bring her now.”
As soon as he went into the airship, Kamil could see a healthier color returning to Faro’s face and lips. While still unconscious, he coughed out some black blood.
“We are clearing out his collapsed lung,” said a water elemental.
“Lung? What is that?”
“A human has a pair in their chests. It helps you to breathe.”
“I see…”
When Duman carried Roseline to him, he cast healing on her as well. Her deep cut wounds on her back closed fast, leaving no scar.
“Uhhhhh,” she moaned and regained consciousness in Duman’s arms. Opening her eyes slowly, she looked around.
“What… happened? What…?”
Duman explained what happened after she passed out, and she broke down in tears upon learning that Amanda sacrificed herself to earn them time.
“My condolences,” Kamil said solemnly with his eyes downcast.
“It’s just the two of us and Faro,” Duman said with sagged shoulders. “I don’t think I will ever recover from this…”
“I was utterly useless…,” she lamented, droplets of tears flowing through her cheeks and looking over Meizei’s charred body. “I was supposed to be the healer… Did I even heal anyone…”
She didn’t, but that was besides the point.
“You did what you could. You know that,” Duman responded after approaching her and patting her back gently. She was already too exhausted to be of any help when they encountered the dragon. It was truly none of her faults. Meanwhile, Kamil could only watch them drown in despair. He wasn’t feeling particularly sad in fact. Looking at the bigger picture, the mission was a success. At the expense of a few people, tens of thousands, if not more, would survive.
“Heroes indeed,” he whispered to himself.
And it wasn’t as if he hadn’t lost anything, either. He lost Fionara and had his brother almost dead.
I hope that Fionara will finally be reborn somewhere better.
He wasn’t sure how reincarnation for elementals worked, however. Whatever the case, the immediate concern was over. The North had been secured. He would need to deal with the last remnant of the hordes still. Given how powerful his magic had become, he didn’t consider it a big issue. In fact, he could defeat the second dragon relatively easily, he felt. Heaving a long sigh, he looked up and found the heavily clouded sky slowly clearing up. Rays of sunshine were piercing through the clouded sky already.
…………….
……………………
…………………………….
A heavily cracked wind elemental was floating in darkness. It was Fionara or what was left of her. There was no judgment scale appearing. Instead, two spheres of light appeared from a short distance. One of the spheres was shining like the sun. The other was glimmering like a blackhole where one could see only the rim of the sphere shining with its inner being pitch black.
“You’ve come back here awfully too soon,” said the blackhole-like sphere. The glowing rim vibrated just so slightly whenever it spoke. Its voice was masculine.
“But it was expected, given your deteriorated state,” said the shining sphere of light. Its voice was feminine.
“You were never qualified to be an elemental either way. You shall go back to the material plane. You shall start anew,” said the blackhole sphere.
“On a positive note, the minor curse will be with you no more,” added the shining sphere. “Consider it as compensation for your unjust demise.”
Fionara was dismissed by a death spell which the dragon was not supposed to cast in the first place. Under normal circumstances, an elemental would not be reincarnated. Once it died, it was gone. However, since she was killed by a cheat, she was allowed to restart. The wind elemental vanished slowly. In about ten seconds, it was gone. Then another small sphere of pale-yellow light appeared in its place.
“You’ve broken the rule of engagement. Therefore, your soul is forfeit. You shall be erased,” said the black sphere.
“If you have any statements to make, do it now,” said the shining sphere.
“I know what I’ve done. I shall take my punishment willingly. Pray tell, however. The Betrayer of the Wheel was strange.” It was the dragon’s voice.
“Elaborate,” demanded the black sphere curtly.
“A mortal crossed the boundary. I’ve seen elementals crossing the boundary but not vice versa.”
The boundary it spoke of was the border between the material and elemental plane. Elementals frequented the material plane because it was where their fragmented memories belonged. They were also attracted to intense pure emotions which were something they lost upon ascending as elementals. Now, the rule of this world was that those from higher planes were able to enter lower planes at will. In other words, a living mortal from the material plane entering the elemental plane was not heard of. A mortal could enter the elemental plane only as an ascended elemental from the Gods’ judgment.
“The Betrayer of the Wheel did not cross the boundary,” explained the black sphere. “Even though you may have felt that he did, given his absurdly high support from elementals.”
“It was my gut feeling that he will cross the boundary soon,” insisted the dragon. “The elementals want a king.”
“We will not deny the possibility,” said the shining sphere. “But we do not meddle outside of slated events.”
“Even if it could alter the very structure you’ve worked so hard to maintain?”
“It does not matter,” said the black sphere. “We simply observe.”
“I see. If you, the creators of the world, have no problem, then it is not my place.”
“Be gone,” declared the black sphere at which point the small ball of light popped simply, spreading tiny particles of shining light across in immediate vicinity.