( Nyrunth, The Magnificent – Ruler of the eastern part of the Sanmont tips mountain range.)
He turned his head at the sound. Out there was another predator, one he’d never heard before. A low rumbling groan more akin to a growl emanated from his throat as he turned on his hoard, the tinkling of gold chunks and precious gems carved from the very rock of his home resounding.
Shaking his massive bulk several more pieces of his hoard that had been pinned by his beautiful dark purple scales rained down. As the creature moved out of the main chamber of his home, he noted the half eaten Baluchitherium he’d found two days ago invading his territory. A fang filled smirk crept upon his lips as he snorted at the thing that was mere cattle to him.
Contemptuously he gripped the Baluchitherium twice the size of a rhino in his claws and brought the corpse up to his mouth and took a bite of the last of the underbelly it had. As he munched on the bite he continued out of his lair. Taking flight with his two large wings and casting shadow down a side of the mountain he’d made his home. With a rumble of a small avalanche of stones and snow he took to the air, his kinds true domain.
Nyrunth was a true dragon, a ruler of the sky and earth in equal measure. No creature was the better of a dragon save the gods themselves and only because the dragons were too lazy to overthrow them. After all they kept their tasty little followers away from their homes and those foolish enough to think they could steal from them? They ended up as light snacks for them, home delivered meals they didn’t mind in the least.
Nyrunth was almost fully grown now, at the paltry age of a one thousand and fifty years old he was barely a decade into his adulthood but strong despite his young age. He’d fought the decrepit old dragon that had made the entirety of the Sanmont tips his home and won half of it for himself to make his roost.
The mirth in that old dragon’s eyes when he admitted his defeat still stung Nyrunth’s pride. Like the old coot had just given him a part of his domain for only his own entertainment. Then again whereas Nyrunth was the size of a three story house that old bastard was the size of a castle.
Shaking his head to get rid of the thoughts that had been bothering and ruminating in his head for the past two centuries and instead he focused on the ground bellow. Searching for the predator that had made that roar from before. At the hillsides around the mountain range he spotted three small specks flitting to and fro from one another, two of which looked to be attacking the third.
Nyrynth kept himself in such a position that he could observe them without his shadow tipping them off to his presence.
One was clad in black and the other two in red but what fascinated Nyrunth was the black one. A weakling fighting desperately against the two much stronger creatures and wouldn’t give up. It was something Nyrunth could only admire about prey, the only thing he’d admire from prey. The desire to live, to survive a battle and thrive afterwards was ingrained into dragons like him and seeing similar traits in mere prey was admirable to him. That such weak creatures could display a behaviour so dragonic despite not being dragons was a topic of endless fascination in some of the more populated roosts of dragons.
Then one of the red creatures did something that enraged Nyrunth. It breathed fire, a torrent of flame burst out from the creatures mouth though not visible until it passed the hands it held slightly in front of its mouth but a dragon knew flame breath when it saw it. The ability to breathe fire was only for those with dragon blood in their veins like the lesser drakes and wyverns lucky enough to have stronger dragon blood in them than normal. For this weak little twolegged thing to dare encroach upon the domain of Dragons was an insult that couldn’t be allowed to continue any further!
Nyrunth dove down as the he watched the flames engulf the black one and toss him end over end like a boneless fish well over thirty meters only to land in a motionless heap. However Nyrunth’s nose could pick up the scent that the creature was still clinging to life, no matter how much it smelled of death. All that mattered now was to deal with the arrogant little mite that dared to breathe fire and its kin.
Right as he was about to crash on top of the two he let out his magnificent roar as the thrill of battle caused his blood to boil and rampage through his veins in excitement. The two managed to get away before Nyrunth’s bulk came crashing down were they’d been just moments ago. Sending a cloud of dust and clumps of grass and dirt flying in every direction. On closer inspection one looked stronger built than the other but the slim one had been the one who dared to breathe flames.
“You will pay for your arrogance!” Nyrunth’s deep bellowing voice thundered out and then a plume of white hot fire was spewed out of his mouth at the slim ones directions. The slim one went wide eyed before scrambling to get away from the thin near beam like column of fire that Nyrunth let out.
Both creatures regrouped and looked at one another and then began to speak in a tongue offensive to Nyrunth’s ears. He growled and flicked his tail in a wide arch and when the two jumped over it he flapped his wings to send them tumbling off in the air. Another roar followed as the dragon came down upon the two with his wickedly sharp claws easily capable of sheering down bedrock. The two dodged but not without receiving some injuries but then things turned outside of Nyrunth’s predictions.
The burly one became wreathed in wind so violent he could see it and before he could act a monumental blow was delivered to the dragons side almost making the him tumble over onto his side. The pain that flared up made him groan but a swift backhand of his claws sent the burly gnat tumbling, crashing then bouncing and twirling away.
A wash of fire hit his other side as the slim gnat continued to mock him and his kindred with another torrential fire breath but this time the dragon only chuckled as fire had no effect on him. He took baths in lava after all, a little heat like that didn’t harm him in the least.
A roar empowered with mana sent a thundering shock wave of pure force into the slim one and ripped a part of his clothes as the man was pummelled into the ground from the sheer force of Nyrunth’s empowered voice. Feeling good about himself for getting rid of the pesky gnats he began to almost saunter towards the slim one as it lay there groaning in a small crater made from the dragon’s voice. Raising his hand up Nyrunth dropped the carcass of the Baluchitherium he’d been holding all this time on top of the slim one as a fitting end to the pathetic thing daring to try entering the domain of dragons.
Then Nyrunths world exploded in pain as a blow strong enough to make him reel back and almost fall onto his back crashed into the side of his head. The burly one was back. Cockroaches like it should be squashed with ones own hand to make sure they were dead. Enraged. the dragon sent a wide arcing column of fire that would include the Baluchitherium’s corpse and the slim gnat underneath.
Only for its mouth to slam shut as the burly gnat hit the underside of his jaw and forced his mouth closed. The fires with no true exit blew out between his fangs and out his nostrils as the pain staggered the dragon.
Opening its watering eyes it saw the burly one come at his eye with a large axe in his hands. A new feeling came into Nyrunth’s mind, fear. Never before had he come across gnats like these that could take several blows from him and still continue the fight. It was unthinkable.
The world slowed down to Nyrunth’s perception as the burly one came closer to his eye, his axe moving into the strike that would take his eye away. Then he felt a tap on his eyebrow and the black one he’d thought out of the fight came roaring at the burly one and tackling him out of the air. It was feral, biting and clawing at the gnat madly as if desperate for the human’s blood.
It sickened Nyrunth that he’d needed the help of something like the black thing but he was glad to keep his eye nonetheless. Turning his head to the charred drake corpse that moved as the slim gnat pushed it off, Nyrunth roared and charged at him.
The slim one began to move his hands in strange ways like trying to cast a spell without any idea on how to before a sudden pillar of earth shot from the ground straight into the dragon’s gut making him stumble and crash into the ground. Not allowing such an insulting blow to go unpunished Nyrunth turned quickly and punted the slim man with his tail sending him crashing into the hill right behind him.
The environment wasn’t ideal to fight, especially given Nyrunth’s size but if he didn’t have to worry about the burly one as well, he could manage. Right as those thoughts had run their course through the dragons mind he felt a wet thud against his side. Turning his head he saw the black one falling onto the ground, some of the black plates covering him having been peeled off and two ribs were exposed to the world to see.
Yet the creature didn’t stop as it got to his feet, staggering and shaking before taking a similar stance as the burly one had before he’d pulled out his axe. What drove the creature to cling to life when by all rights such wounds should have left it dead?
Nyrunth felt how fearless and headless of death the black two legged creature displayed so much like a dragons own. His reptilian lips curling into a grin the dragon roared in prideful glee at finding a creature so worthy to fight alongside a dragon. Nyrunth’s pride swelling to have such a subject in his lands that would aid its ruler to such a degree and injury even at the cost of its own life.
With a prideful roar once more Nyrunth charged the slim one as he staggered to his feet looking no worse for wear safe disorientation and a tiny crater were he’d impacted the ground from the previous blow. Shaking his head the slim one looked up with wide eyes and then moving his feet strangly he sank into the ground right as the dragons full force and weight came crashing down where he’d been but moments ago.
With an indignant and insulted growl Nyrunth looked around, purple gem like eyes scanning the area around him for the emerging maggot that had escaped into the ground. He swore that any two legged with even a hint of the scent he’d already submitted to memory of the two opponents would be hunted down as soon as they’d set foot in his domain again.
Then pain tore through his side as a blast of molten earth and jagged sharp rocks blasted out of the ground and ripped past his pristine dark purple scales and marred the flesh beneath. A roar of pain ripped through him and then he unleashed his draconic heritage upon the emerging slim maggot as it came from the ground, thinking it hidden behind the spike it had sent up.
A costic flame of midnight black that would corrode the very metal around a knight while burning the man alive was sprayed on the spot the slim maggot had been just a moment before. Searing the earth and making sure it would take centuries for the spot to ever grow anything even remotely resembling life.
Nyrunth smiled maliciously as he saw the slim bug hadn’t escaped unharmed as the man now sported horrid burns he was desperately patting away from his own boiling left arm. Fury flashed in the nuisances eyes and with a roar he jumped forwards only for the very earth to follow after his feet. A tidal wave of near liquid earth crashed onto the dragon, dragging him deeper under the earth as he desperately scrambled for purchase in the thick liquid soup of earth he found himself in.
Then his legs hit bedrock and the dragon coiled, straining his own muscles and biting his tongue from the pain flaring up in his side as he readied himself. He wouldn’t succumb to pain, it was beneath a dragon to admit to ever feeling pain and what he felt now would be inflicted a thousand fold back.
Then like a hyper tensed spring the dragon rocketed up, utilising the last of what he had built up in another black costic breath to melt if not vaporise the very earth in his way. Then like the lord of these lands emerging from his own domain he burst forth from the earth. An explosion of fire, force and chunks of rock and earth exploding outwards from were he emerged like a bomb had gone off. And the dragon himself? Roaring in triumphant fury as his wings unfurled and he took to the air.
His piercing purple eyes scanning the ground for the dazed slim two-legged gnat that had dared to wound this lord. He saw him, staggering as now he looked battered and tired having almost stood atop the very place Nyrunth had burst forth from.
Angling his wings he turned into a dive headed straight for the slim creature, every intention to end the thing before it could dare any more insults and blasphemy to a member of this worlds true rulers.
Only to see the black creature hurled into the slim one to get him out of the way before the crash was used to amplify the blow the burly one delivered to Nyrunths injured side. The dragon twisted and twirled as he tore up the ground with his jagged spinal spikes and majestic horns. Groaning as his right wing’s humerus fractured with the twists his body had been forced into by the titanic impact.
He looked up from the ground to see the burly man pop something in his mouth and the right arm torn to bloody strips began to heal before the dragons very eyes. He seemed to swell in power, his presence more tangible on the world around him as a sadistic grin spread around his lips as tornados of wind sprang to life around his fists. Bits of debris being sucked up and somehow Nyrunth knew instinctually that it was making whatever that power was stronger.
These things were demons, alien filth not fit to grace any world were dragons as noble as him held dominion. So visceral was his growing hate for the things that the burly abomination before him flinched when their eyes met for he must have seen what Nyrunth thought of him. He was nothing, less than nothing. A gnat, an irritating speck of dust in his eye. An irritant he’d spend every ounce of his very being to scour from the face of the world he so rightfully owned with the rest of his kin.
The burly thing promptly began to run away. Growling in frustration Nyrunth strained his tired muscles to bend to his titanic and indomitable will. Only for him to almost go slack jawed as the very corpse he’d so imperiously tossed at one of the abominations came charging into the burly one with the black creature ridding atop it. It’s black plated hide riddled with deep gashes and small missing chunks yet it moved like it didn’t bother it at all. Like pain was simply something it fuelled into its matching hate for the abominations as Nyrunth himself felt.
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A creature with necromantic abilities so clear as day to see gave Nyrunth awe for himself for a moment. For a creature so tied to death as to be looked upon as the vilest of traitors and scum felt his rule so benevolent it would go to such lengths to protect him and his domain without any provocation or order to do so.
Nyrunth decided that this creature would be granted the honour of his presence and a visit to his hoard for a single minor treasure as a gift and reward for such devoted service right then and there. Before he realized the abomination he’d first fought against had taken a similar pill and was healing before his eyes.
Growling with indignation of such a cheep trick being used in an honourable fight for dominance Nyrunth struck with his tail. The sharp blade tip that grew from the end of his tail like a seventeenth talon cut through the hastily raised stone barrier and sent the thing tumbling along the ground. Only for the earth itself to form a fist and give a vicious right hook into Nyrunths jaw and send him crashing down against the ground. The blow almost able to dislocate his jaw with its force.
Roaring he charged four steps before launching himself into the air and strafing the ground with his normal fire breath instead of channelling his inherent magic into it like he’d done twice now.
The slim man somehow managed to take a portion of his own flames to create a swirling orb of fire around himself as a guard but once it dissipated the telling sings of burns and singing hair told the story it had been at a cost to the man. Then as Nyrunth came soaring back with the intent of using his sharp claws to tear the man into shreds he noticed the black creature fighting a distance behind the slim man. Its whipping strikes so much like the burly abominations own but with a grace the other couldn’t quite match. Yet despite the higher skill level and the myriad of abilities and skills that the black creature put on display in its fight with the man, he was just that faster and stronger than it.
The black creature was fighting through multiple wounds that would make many a human have to retire from a fight if not lay on the ground in outright agony. Its sheer tenacity and will to live coupled with clear skill and creative uses of its own abilities so much like a dragon’s own unyielding nature to anything but their own kind. But this black creature even dared to show such utter defiance to death itself as it continued to leave one shallow cut that quickly healed after another on the burly abomination it fought.
Yet despite it’s desperate fight it was clear that the abomination would inevitably wear it down and end it’s magnificent struggle for life in the end. The difference between the two though some might consider slight was just enough to create that monumental gab between the two that left the black creature so hopelessly unmatched.
Despite the lumbering mass of dead flesh and bone that the Baluchitherium zombie was, serving as both lesser attacker, platform to launch attacks from and mount all in one. Its claws were cracked as the burly one gained a slight metallic sheen to his body after managing three breaths worth of time to concentrate.
Then Nyrunth’s eyes snapped to his own target and his claws extended as he goughed out a chunk of earth and left a deep cut on the slim one’s thigh. The thing hissing in pain even as he forced the earth to surge like a battering ram into Nyrunths unwounded side and sending the dragon rolling like a log along the ground from the momentous blow.
Shakily he mustered up the strength to continue, unwilling to prove an unworthy ruler while his valiant subject fought on with such desperate need to protect its sovereign. With a back hand of his front claw he shattered another lesser earthen fist coming towards his neck, flapped his powerful wing to create the gust necessary to distract the slim creature from the whipping strike of his tail following in its wake.
Cutting deeply through the slim ones robes and almost spilling his foul guts upon the ground had it not been for the struggling gnat holding in his guts and searing the wound shut before the wondrous healing of the pill he’d eaten took hold and left not even a scar. It was only in those few precious seconds that Nyrunth had seen the weakness of whatever medicine or drug the abomination had taken. It would heal any injury suffered yes but only after a bit of time and able to close such cuts had to be done as well but also for how long could such a wondrous effect last really?
Narrowing his eyes as he finally got the measure of his opponent and noting the look of dawning horrific realization that he had done just that, that grew upon the slim ones face gave Nyrunth a sweet sense of satisfaction. Then as the dragon roared and began his loping charge once again, feeling how he wanted his claws to rend flesh from bone, to crush the very bones of this gnat before him that disaster struck.
The ground acting as if it was made up of dozens of men throwing thick ropes upon the dragons frame and pulling him down against the ground once again. Then as the stubborn strength was forcefully shaken, more with blows to the joints had forced the dragon down to lie on the ground did large parts of bedrock rise up to form thick bars to hold him down. The humiliation burning through Nyrunth’s pride but getting a dark sort of satisfaction on seeing the price such an act had cost the slim bastard now tiredly smiling in triumph.
Then he saw the black creature come bounding over the hill, no bouncing over the hill at what must have been a titanic blow had sent it hurtling with exposed ribs and barely holding flesh to keep its guts still inside as evidence of the damage the blow had caused. Slamming into the back of the slim intruder only for that same intruder to howl in righteous agony as the black creatures claws sank into his flesh and his sweet life blood was sucked in greedily by the creatures claws accelerating its healing with the potency of the interlopers tainted blood.
The wound so open to the world filling up just enough so that what had been healed could sustain the creatures desperate fighting only mere moments more as all cards seemed stacked against it.
A statement proven all to true as the burly one came swinging in with tornado wreathed fists and sending the creature hurtling back with the clear sound of broken bones. The last of the hitherto appearing unlimited healing that wondrous drug the two had taken finally running out for the slim one as his wounds sealed just enough to allow him to stand. As hacking coughs expelling black phlegm and blood as what must have been the last of some foul taint left by the creature as a spiteful farewell to what had moments before been near helpless prey.
Now more clear than ever that Nyrunth and the creature should have switched opponents as it was much more suited to dealing with the slim one than the dragon had. And with the dragon keeping the burly one at bay he could have held out long enough for the creature to finish its opponent and come to its lords aid in the end.
Such an ideal solution not taken left a bitter taste of distasteful defeat in Nyrunth’s mouth only for it to be kindled with awe as the black creature staggered to its feet once more. Its breath coming ragged as new plates grew out to cover and seal wounds now healing at a visible rate but at such a slow rate that only a dragons advanced vision could pick it up at all.
Nyrunth was awed by the sheer bullheadedness that drove the creature to cling to life so desperately when if it had angled its body at just the right moment it could have only suffered a quick and painless death if only it gave up. Its will and sheer tenacity so worthy of being one of his own kin that made Nyrunth feel that perhaps this was the hand of one of his draconic ancestors, playing his hand to save a worthy lord from an untimely journey to the lofty halls of the eternal roost.
That at least in spirit this black horror embraced by entropy and death itself so viscerally with its now unleashed presence, was in spirit at least, his kin. Perhaps a dragon so twisted by injustice done to itself or had watched such happen to others that it had twisted itself to forever serve as the loyal hunting dog of the ancients of his race. The ones so old, venerable and powerful that they were more than gods themselves and had carved the lofty halls of the eternal roost into the bedrock of reality itself.
And even if that wasn’t true and the fate these two now might face, still would allow Nyrunth a place of pride and highest of honours in the eternal roost. For he, unlike so many before him had been such a worthy lord as to inspire such fierce loyalty and protectiveness from a wretched subject that other lords would show disdainful indifference at best. For it to fight so damn fiercely for its lord as to disregard its own safety only went to show how those under his benevolent rule thrived and bettered themselves under his nurturing gaze.
How even now as the creature gulped in ragged breaths of much needed air, it stood defiant till the end. Then right as the burly one, covered in shallow cuts and wounds now no longer healing after that wonder drug had worn off, was about to strike he was bulled over by a charging horror of putrid undead Baluchitherium.
Not letting the opportunity pass it by the black creature snapped forwards intent of ending the slim one before any other unnatural abilities or spells could be cast only for the target to suddenly dodge with the slimmest of margins for error allowed. Then right as if made of rubber that same dodge somehow moved backwards to deliver a counter so brutal that the black ones arm dangled uselessly afterwards.
Nyrunth scrambled and fought against his bonds as the black creature landed flatly right before his snout. The strength that had driven it so ruthlessly onward leaving it as its last desperate gambit had failed it. Then he saw it for what it truly was, a dark elf of some sort with armoured plates that grew from his very skin in attempts to seal off the wounds he’d suffered and keep him in the fight for just that little bit more.
Then deep purple eyes met a single greyish red one and understanding flitted between the two. They wouldn’t win but perhaps if Nyrunth embraced the pact he somehow knew he could make with this strange elf they might have vengeance and spit in the face of the two intruders now staying well away from the two and conversing in some infernal tongue or another.
The corpse raised by the elf a broken mess of flesh and bone tossed to the side after its skull and spine had been smashed to pieces and the unlife given left it. Nyrunth smiled his fang filled maw and then dug deep into himself for the strength he needed to buy time for their pact to take its full course.
The two interlopers stared in horrid and awed fascination as Nyrunth broke free of the rocky bonds that had held him just moments ago. Standing tall and proud once more as any dragon should when facing their oncoming foes or even death itself. He would not yield to these strange abominations who’s powers were so much like a mage’s yet performed so differently and their remarkable resilience not meant for people of such a low stage in their development.
“You demons will not taint my lands any longer!” He roared at the pair who looked shocked he could speak in his state. All the while he felt the elf move to his wounded side. Faking an exhausted stumble he made the two think he’d crushed the elf turning to his wounded side as he fell on top of him.
The gentle manner in which the elf climbed into his wound and began to make his way deeper into his very chest oddly reassured the dragon. For it showed the elf had respect for his sovereigns sacrifice in protecting his lands.
Then tapping into the well that allowed him to break his bonds he funnelled it into his lungs and breathed in deep. Then letting out a conflagration of such magnitude that if this fight had happened upon a beach it would be turned to glass in the heat of his last blow.
The two ran back and tried to get away as Nyrunth whipped his head this way and that catching a huge swath of land in his fire all in an attempt to end these infernal creatures and send them back to whatever pit that had spawned them.
Then as the last of the fire left his mouth he watched as ground parted and the two stood there. Ragged and dishevelled as they must have spent some of the last dregs of their strange powers to protect themselves. The two just stared at Nyrunth as if stunned by his majestic last stand.
“What kind of creature are you?” The slim one asked, now clearly too tired to continue the fight against the dragon standing tall and proud before them. Rearing to go for another fight for all to see.
“I am a dragon little abomination and the ruler of these lands.” Nyrunth snarled right back as his deep purple orbs narrowed at the slim one. He flinched like the dragon had just pierced his very soul with his gaze.
The burly one gaped before roaring with laughter. A deep laughter from his gut that continued and echoed through the lands. “You are no dragon but a mere winged lizard! You don’t have the power of a dragon radiating from you but that of a larger than average beast with delusions of grandeur!” He roared in mocking laughter but the slim one didn’t seem to share the sentiment or thought.
Nyrunth’s eyes blazed with fury at the insult and let his ire be known with a rumbling growl that he felt emanated from his entire body. His blood boiling at the sheer gal of such an ant daring to mock a lord of the sky and land both. The apex of all creatures that walked, flew, skittered or even slithered upon this world. “Then you die first.” He rumbled before springing into action.
As he flapped his wing the fracture in his right wing’s humerus became a full on break and he roared in pain but powered through it as the slight air time it had given him sent him down upon the two bastards that had dared to push a lord like him to such dire straights as to form that pact with the elf even now making his way through is chest cavity on his way to his heart.
The two had jumped back and a hard blow to the side of Nyrunths jaw from the burly one, his axe biting deep into the jaw bone. With spiteful contempt the dragon whipped his head and sent the burly man crashing back down against the ground.
The slim one didn’t waste what little energy he had left to try and bring Nyrunth down. Instead to save his burly compatriot from the descending claw that even now threatened to bisect if not leave the burly one a smashed pulp before pulled out of the way. The angry hiss from Nyrunth made the two back away from him in panic as they finally realized just what they faced.
Then as if his strength had been but a dream he felt his lower half collapse down to the ground while only by locking his forelimbs did he stay upright. Nyrunth now knew his wounds would kill him in the end, already his blood even now was seeping from the wound in his side draining him of what little strength he could muster.
But he wouldn’t go without the world knowing of his majesty and might. The magic usually used to bring forth his caustic black breath moved into his lungs and his final act in this world was made. A roar of such power it sent a shock wave of sound blasting from him as he roared up to the heavens, hoping that his ancestors and kin resting within the halls of the Eternal roost would look down and would have witnessed his last glory.
Before fangs sank into his heart and he fell down upon the ground as he felt the potency of his ancient blood sucked away. Given freely to a subject so worthy of its lords mercy and respect for the service it had provided. The energy of his blood he felt flow down the elves throat and how it suffused him to such a degree as if to have granted him a part of a dragons divinity.
Then as his heavy lids slowly closed, the two hated enemies still and well out of his striking range the last he saw. His soul leaving his mortal coil and right as he feared that the elf would overstep his bounds and take more than what had been granted he felt it. A warm and safe embrace upon his very soul. What he would naturally loose and had been given as he’d loose it anyway used partly to form a protective embrace to gird him through the skies on his journey to the eternal roost.
He felt pride for his relatively short life compared to other dragons and knew his ancestors smiled upon him, already having readied a place of honour and glory within those hallowed halls. The warm protective layer smoothing his journey the last gift of a subject so loyal to its benevolent lord that even after the battle had forced such an outcome it still wished to protect his majestic lord till the very end.