Many answers can be found by searching, and many paths from wandering. But some things can be learned only in the utmost extreme.

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Jair strode forward, slicing through Ryenzo’s accessible bulk in quick smooth slashes, back and forth, carving his way through her chest to her coiled neck. The dragon’s body melted away before him as darkflame flared up brighter than ever before, leaving ashes drifting in its wake.

Ryenzo twisted and swatted at him, but the darkflame was unrelenting. Jair purposefully restrained it to his immediate vicinity. He did not want her fully burned away. Not yet.

When he reached Raina, she fell limply into his arms, crushed into unconsciousness by Ryenzo’s suffocating coils. But she was still alive.

Ever so gently, Jair pressed Maelstrom’s tip to her shoulder, the image of her room in Ajriol’s house fixed firmly in his mind. “If there’s a price to be paid for this passage, let it come from me, not from her,” Jair murmured, but even as he spoke, he knew he’d needn’t have. Maelstrom would sooner have burned its own soul than Raina’s.

The outgoing surge of power left Jair feeling weak and dizzy. He had not realized how much of Darkflame’s consumption was fueled by the person’s own whatever it was that Maelstrom was stealing, and after coming straight from Zelura he’d never been so drained.

No matter. Whatever the fuel, whether life or soul or magic, Ryenzo had plenty for the taking.

The dragon reared back and searched the cave, ignoring the gaping hole in her neck and missing sections of her chest and forelimbs. When she found no trace of Raina, she backed away a step from Jair. “What are you doing, human? I thought you cared for the creature. Why would you destroy it?”

“Forgetting what my abilities do already, are we?” Jair took two quick steps forward and lunged, his mind fixed on the distant sea. He drove Maelstrom into Ryenzo’s chest up to the hilt and black fire poured out without restraint. “Darkflame doesn't kill, it teleports.”

Ryenzo looked down at him without comprehension. Since she’d been burned alive twice before with no ill effects, she didn’t even struggle. “You only postpone the inevitable.” She glared down at him imperiously as her immense body gradually turned to ashes. “You cannot run far enough or fast enough to escape me.”

Darkflame took her left rear leg as the huge hole in her center grew. Her chest—what little of it remained—heaved as even her ancient and powerful manabody struggled to sustain her form with more and more of it disappearing.

“I do not know what end you seek by this provocation, but I will never let you forget it. No one stands against Ryenzo Draconis who does not regret it a thousand times over!”

“Then I suppose I’m merciful.” His voice was anything but. “You only have to regret it once.”

The tip of her tail dissolved into ash, then the rest of her long snakelike neck, and finally her head with those haughty glowing eyes and their promise of death and suffering.

Flakes of black and green ash drifted in the volcano winds and Ryenzo’s lair lay empty. Magma bubbled in its eternal agitation below, untroubled as yet, but the dragon who gave the mount its name lay within its heart no longer.

Jair stumbled forward, breathing raspily in the scorched dry air. He fell to his knees and caught himself on Maelstrom before he could topple over entirely. Even if Ryenzo had fueled most of the darkflame herself, he felt exhausted on a level he’d rarely felt before.

It was several minutes before he’d recovered enough to even think, the mana from Mount Ryenzo seeping in to soothe his depleted manabody. It could do nothing for the strain on his soul, but he’d been through worse.

“Alright.” He got to his feet. “Let’s just go and check on her, shall we?”

Jair stabbed Maelstrom into his hand this time; no need to be overly dramatic about it every time. Then he nearly dropped the sword as the weapon rippled and reshaped itself in his hand.

Two small bladed protrusions extended themselves atop the center of the hilt. They wouldn’t accidentally stab into him while he was using the sword to fight with, assuming he ever needed to fight anything again, but where he could easily stab his thumb onto it if desired.

“Nice. So you do love me after all.”

Maelstrom did not respond.

Darkflame burned through him, warm and comforting, leaving peace in its wake.

Jair stood upon another mountain, dead stone surrounded by sand, a mountain where no dragon lived for it was too close to the water.

Just below the horizon, far out at sea, a mighty green dragon thrashed amid the waves, clawing and snapping desperately to get free.

Jair chuckled coldly. So he wasn’t too late. Any time Jair fell into the water, he died within seconds, but Ryenzo was made of sterner stuff.

With a mighty splash, the dragon burst up from the sea in a shower of droplets, and for a moment it looked as though Ryenzo would escape her fate.

But… no.

Hundreds of mouths and tentacles and claws and grasping tendrils of indescribable nature held the dragon, and hundreds more jumped at her from the water below.

Seascourge, in all its horrifying glory. The one force on Neptus whose dominance could not be contested by all the world’s powers combined.

Though she beat her wings furiously, her rise slowed, then stopped. For a long moment she hovered, flapping madly against the taut seascourge limbs that held her. Whatever creature or creatures had such long and powerful appendages, their grip was inexorable.

Ryenzo slowly lost ground. First her feet touched the water's roiling surface, then she was drawn back in up to her knees. Her tail thrashed wildly and turned the water to a froth, but it did her no good. More latched on by the second. There was no uniformity among the seascourge. Some were dark against the glint of her scales, others glowed white or purple.

Ryenzo roared as she clawed at them. Her tail trailed long eel-like thin seascourge like hungry streamers. Long coils of sinuous flesh with countless tiny beaks wormed their way between scales to plant their barbs in her belly and twist their way deeper. Bulbous things suckered themselves onto her legs and hung there glowing faintly.

Some vaguely resembled creatures that made sense, only with too many tentacles and mouths and eyes. Others were simply teeth and tongues with more teeth, or a collection of thorny bubbles that twisted into and out of one another and left bleeding gashes in their wake as they rolled across the dragon’s massive side before slipping back into the sea with a satisfied slurp of its thorns.

She clawed at them, trying to tear herself free. Some would release and flee, some would dig in deeper, others seemed not even to be aware of the fact that they'd been torn in two and each part continued happily nibbling away.

It was a wild frenzy, a silent cacophony of color and texture as monsters surged up and joined in or broke off and disappeared. Many only stayed long enough to tear a mouthful free and dive back into the water and out of sight. Some latched on, burrowed their mouths within mouths deep into her flesh, then lay quiescent.

Most were more aggressive. A swarm of something flat-carapaced crawled slowly across her scales leaving them bleached and brittle and perforated with countless tiny holes. Several slick knotted masses embedded themselves in clusters just beneath her jaw and above her eye, twisted blobs of translucent muscle that glowed eagerly as they drew on the dragon’s excessive strength like sinister external hearts throbbing in uneven syncopation.

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Something pale and slender, like a thirty-legged spider with a leech's maw where its stomach should be, skittered up to her neck and clamped on. All its barbed legs dug in and its thin body immediately began to inflate as it drew out her venomous blood. When she clawed at it, its body split around her claws like water that rejoined as soon as she'd passed through without pausing in its feast.

Despite her colossal size and tireless efforts, gradually Ryenzo slid back into the water until it closed over her head and left only the frenzied ripples to show where she had been.

For a moment, Jair thought it was over.

Then Ryenzo lunged upward again, biting off the glowing, writhing things that had latched onto her body by the dozen. She broke free of the surface, wings torn and straining. She rose further, higher than before. More and more of the seascourge were torn off and thrown down as she clawed frantically at herself, leaving great bloody gashes across her own body in the process. She'd just started to relax, her desperate flight slowing, wings tilting to catch the wind, when the trailing tendrils back to the water snapped taut and flexed in sickening unison.

Ryenzo's flight came to an abrupt halt and she was wrenched from the sky. The massive dragon slammed into the water so hard and fast the crack echoed across the water and the wind of it ruffled Jair's hair and robe even from this far away. A scream of fury turned to helpless gurgling as she was dragged under.

The sea roiled as waves crashed into each other, then the water gradually calmed as every part of the dragon disappeared from sight.

The third time Ryenzo broke the surface, Jair recognized what must be happening. They were playing with their food. Letting her out and reeling her back, over and over, always on that tether of flesh that twisted and writhed and clung. Many of the smaller slender trailing seascourge bodies were long and snakelike, but not actually anchored to anything. As the dragon was allowed to rise a little farther each time, more and more of them were revealed to be simply holding on, not connected to anything else.

Three translucent tentacles remained firmly in place, twisted around the base of her wings and tail, and these extended all the way from her distant rising form to the bottom of the ocean. They were relaxed at the moment, draped inoffensively and trailing limply behind as Ryenzo twisted and flapped higher and higher, shuddering and still clawing at herself.

Jair saw the moment she started believing she’d broken free, the faintest shift in her body language, and in the same instant those three tentacles snapped taut and dragged her down. Her struggling body splashed into the water with a resounding crack, as easily as if the monsters of the deep were plucking a leaf from a branch.

The seascourge kept her fighting the whole time, but at no point was there any doubt in Jair’s mind as to who was in control. They allowed just that first glimmer of hope for escape before they dragged their prey relentlessly back into the depths.

Each time she rose higher, only to be hurled down even more violently than the last.

With every attempted escape, Ryenzo’s body emerged from the water a little more ragged; more scales broken and crumbled away, more chunks missing from her tail; more clinging seascourge eagerly lapping at her every cut and scratch, the crawling and grasping mass covering a little more of her massive body.

Each time her echoing shrieks grew more desperate, her thrashing more frenzied and less controlled.

The seascourge were eating her alive one piece at a time. And Ryenzo had a lot of pieces.

Her slow destruction even echoed through Maelstrom’s soul. Jair could feel it, some tiny distant connection forged through lifetimes of adversity and repeated applications of Darkflame, that ever so slowly came apart and disappeared one piece at a time. Like an echo of those tearing mouths that cut Ryenzo soul-deep and hollowed her out even faster than her body was destroyed.

This time, there would be no rebirth; could never be again.

Jair stood on the distant mountaintop and watched the whole thing play out without remorse. She'd had her chance to make peace, and she'd gleefully thrown it away. Ryenzo's mad vendetta had caused so much pain for so long, no punishment would be too much.

It was also a fascinating scene to watch unfold.

Nothing else lasted nearly so long after touching tainted water, so it was also a rare chance to watch the incredibly varied methodology of the endlessly-hungry monsters who shared the seas. Burning or draining, strangling or slicing, burrowing or melting, biting and more biting... what he was witnessing, few if any others had ever seen before.

Jair knew from the stories he’d heard that even dragons avoided the sea, but until now it had always seemed more of a mutual ‘we’ll take our land, you keep the water, no need to fight.’ He’d never expected to watch a true apex predator—a creature whole countries placated or avoided—being toyed with like a sandfish on a string. Not just any dragon, but an ancient matriarch whose territory had been uncontested for longer than Veor had been a settled kingdom.

It was a dramatic and thorough demonstration of the seascourge’s absolute supremacy. No wonder Reskas was about to give up their coasts and withdraw. Something that can kill with a look the moment you're in eye contact was one thing. But for as many of the seascourge as he'd seen Ryenzo tear free and hurl away, none of them had stopped moving.

If even a draconis matriarch couldn't kill them, what hope did one little country stand? At best, they gave up and swam away, but most came back with a vengeance for a second go at this unusual prey that'd been so nicely gifted to them.

The dragon’s lingering shriek when she next emerged was no longer one of anger or desperation but sheer keening agony. She struggled to hold even her head above the water, wings emerging erratically in frantic jerks.

Her eye twitched wildly, half-covered by a tangled network of thick branching tendrils already growing in beneath the eyelid and probing deeper still. Unnatural bulges visibly rippled beneath the dragon’s flayed flesh where her scales had been torn or melted away.

The water bubbled and writhed as more and more seascourge joined the feast.

Though she thrashed madly, her wings no longer had enough substance left to lift her. Too many holes had been melted through, the skin flaps hanging loose and tattered. Ryenzo could only flail helplessly, half submerged, until the mass of hungry monsters closed over her for good.

She let out one last gurgling whimper, quickly stifled by a group of enterprising eel-type seascourge who dove straight down her throat to choke her even as she drowned.

Cruel to the last.

Then the last flickering remnant of Ryenzo’s soul disappeared, leaving a profound calm in its place.

The once-untouchable dragon ceased to struggle and slipped beneath the surface without another sound.

It was over.

Jair summoned Maelstrom to depart the nameless mountain by the sea, and in the same instant, a glint of purple flashed upon the distant water.

Something hurled itself out of the ocean and directly at his face. Despite the vast distances involved, it crossed the space before he could even register what he’d seen, before Maelstrom even finished appearing in his hand.

Something sharp, white-glowing and wriggling speared straight into his eye, through the skull, out the back of his head, and spread out from there faster than thought. It had his head in a thousand-fingered grasp in the split second between sight and comprehension.

He barely registered the initial impact before he was dragged off his feet, the distant water suddenly rushing closer at deadly speed.

Even as his thumb moved toward Maelstrom’s new personal hilt-blade, the thing through his skull continued to spread faster than lightning. Some of its tendrils grew around the side of his head, slipped around his ear and reached for his other eye. Others circled his neck and crawled down his spine.

… and at the same time, his manabody burned away as clutching teeth gripped at his soul, trying to find purchase.

Nope.

He stabbed his thumb into Maelstrom’s hilt and willed Darkflame take him away. For a moment the seascourge fought for dominance of his body and soul, the darkflame unable to take hold wherever its touch lingered.

In an absolute panic Jair pushed and twisted like never before, wrenching body from soul until what the seascourge held was no longer worth holding.

Something tore. He was vaguely aware of things falling, a collapsing feeling of separation and emptiness, and then he was gone. Darkflame surged over him in a flash of green and black fire, leaving only ashes and the scattered contents of his soulspace for his would-be killer.

The first place he’d thought of was the top of Mount Ryenzo so that’s where he reappeared.

Jair collapsed to the ground, gasping for air and trembling from relief.

His manabody had been fully destroyed. His soul felt slimy and his skull throbbed where the seascourge tendril had driven through it. His body didn’t feel entirely real. But he was alive, and he was far far away from any treacherous water.

He quickly checked himself all over to make sure none of the seascourge had come along for the ride, and found no trace of the vile creature. A few small rips in his soul where it’d taken a quick nibble, but they’d heal within a year or two.

Shuddering all over, he lay where he’d fallen, feeling ill.

That had been way too close.

He knew better than to gloat, but after everything, he knew he’d never have a moment’s peace if he hadn’t confirmed it for himself. Despite knowing he may have sacrificed a few slivers of his soul to do so, the relief of watching Ryenzo finally disappear for good brought a satisfaction he had no wish to forego.

Jair took deep trembling breaths, then steadier as he calmed and settled his body and mind.

He still had Maelstrom. That alone made up for any number of deficits in the rest of his capabilities.

Manabodies could be rebuilt. Souls healed. He’d survived worse, rebuilt from less. None of it mattered compared to what he’d accomplished.

If this was the price he paid for final victory, it was well worth the cost.

Ryenzo Draconis would never trouble them again.

He glanced around, finally taking in where he was. This mountaintop wasn’t where he wanted to be.

“Darkflame,” he murmured, the image of Raina’s study fixed in his mind. A brush of his thumb across Maelstrom’s provided point and black fire raced through him.

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