"What?" Cyrus stared at it.
The snowstorm stopped blowing the wind so violently and he could finally see what the Sibyrath had transformed into. Cyrus stared in a mix of amazement and pure fear. He stepped back and his grip on his sword loosened, the black longsword fell into the snow with a soft thump.
It had become a dragon of massive size. The neck was thick and long, its body was muscular and regal, the wings stretched out wide to show all four of its wings, and its tail swished from side to side. The boy stared for a long while. He was… he was going to give up at that moment, but something stopped him. From the mouth of the cave, he saw Durthu limp out with Eloise on his back, still crying due to her broken wing and that was all the remaining motivation he needed.
Cyrus cracked his knuckles and picked up his blade from the snow and ran towards the Sibyrath. It swung a hand at him, the size of his body. He took a deep breath as he got hit and flung straight into a tree. He felt his entire left arm shatter… but he began to heal. His Regeneration kicked into overtime and the assimilation rate began to increase as he healed. As long as he could still move and hold his sword, he could still fight, and fight he would.
Now as literal God, even I find this fight preposterous. He just began climbing and yet he's about to fight a dragon? Weaker or not, a dragon is still a dragon. This fight is understandably going to be completely one-sided and unfair… but just keep looking. It gets very interesting towards the end, because even I couldn't have foreseen the result of this little squabble.
The Sibyrath, now a dragon, roared at the top of its lungs and dove for him, its maw opened wide. Cyrus managed to run out of the way and ran for its leg, stabbing at an angle. He knew reptiles, he had to kill a lot of them while surviving on Earth. He knew how scales worked and he knew that if he could attack and get underneath a scale he'd do some damage… but that didn't work here. His blade hit and slid underneath the large scale, but he didn't hit the softness of flesh. It felt as if he just tried to stab through a brick wall, and failed miserably.
He was kicked away and into the snow. He flipped backwards and stabbed his sword into the ground to stop himself from sliding any further. His arm was healing at a steady pace, he was already regaining from feeling in his fingers. He looked over at Durthu and quickly motioned for him to leave, head back into town, get help. The Orc nodded and ran off, looking back at him as he disappeared into the ethereal white of the snow.
"Just me and you now, you big bitch." Cyrus grinned.
"Why are you so cocky, boy?" The Sibyrath erupted into laughter, "You will die here!"
"I doubt it." He grinned.
He hadn't tried this before, but his eyes flashed a bright yellow and he saw the future. He saw ahead about five seconds and saw a tail swipe coming from the left. When the tail swung towards him, he jumped over it and actually used its momentum to create a gash. The Sibyrath roared out in pain and threw a bunch of snow into the air to hide itself. Cyrus sucked his teeth and looked for its shadow, when he caught a glimpse of a wing through the snow he ran forward and jumped, slicing through it with his sword. The beast roared once more and used that same wing to swipe him out of the air and into the ground. Cyrus hit the ground with a thud. His ribs felt cracked, but that wasn't important at that moment.
As he fought, Cyrus felt something welling up from deep inside himself. Information was beginning to flood his mind regarding his own Magik. He couldn't quite tell anything yet, but whatever it was he was feeling was numbing any pain he felt and he would use that to his advantage. He pulled up his Hunters Journal but could find no information on Dragons, probably because the Sibyrath was only imitating a true Dragon. He put the entire Window away and went back to fighting.
The cycle stayed the same. He would run in to find some sort of weakness and he'd instantly get swiped away. The Sibyrath hissed and actually landed a concrete hit on him, its tail hit Cyrus directly in the head and he could swear his head came off his shoulders. He dropped his sword and fell over. When he raised his hand to his head and withdrew it, blood was coating his hand. His eyes burned and he was seeing double of everything, every time he tried to move he could only fall over again. He looked up at the Dragon in front of him and he felt true fear in that moment.
In the beast's stomach and throat, it seemed to be creating something. Cyrus held a hand out and prepared to use the ability of his cloak, maybe that could protect him, but as he watched the Sibyrath charge this more, he knew there was no hope. He dropped his hand and tried to force his body to stand so he could move. The snow was forced up and obscured his vision even more as the Sibyrath flew into the air and arched its neck backwards. Cyrus could only watch as those bright colored flames spewed from its maw and came towards him. He closed his eyes, accepting his fate.
Then it happened. In that very moment as the flames were going to engulf him, that stupid egg came from his inventory and floated in front of him. When the flames finally hit, Cyrus didn't feel himself melting. Of course, he obviously got licked by some of the flames, but he wasn't being cooked as he thought he would. When he opened his eyes, the egg was rapidly absorbing a majority of the heat and light from the fire. He stared in wonder as the hatch rate skyrocketed and got closer and closer to one hundred, until finally…
98.77%
99.81%
99.93%
99.94%
99.95%
99.96%
99.97%
99.98%
99.99%
100%
Cyrus nearly started crying as the egg grew in size and finally cracked. What came out was a small creature. It was roughly the length and thickness of his arm. It looked reptilian in nature, with only two little front legs and two wings on its back just above those legs. Its scales were white with golden flecks and patches seeming to be scattered randomly across its body. The little creature turned to face Cyrus, still absorbing the brunt of the flames being spewed, and tilted its head to the side.
"Hello, little guy." Cyrus muttered.
A Window appeared in front of Cyrus's face with a prompt on it. It told him to enter a name for his Aetheris. He stared at it for a while and decided on its name. The second the name was input, the flames stopped spewing and Cyrus looked into the sky. The Sibyrath was still there, looking down, its wings flapping to keep it in the air. Cyrus used the snow as cover to scramble away, his new little pet wrapped itself around his arm. He was panting as he grabbed his sword and used it as a crutch.
He fled into the nearby forest. He felt the ground beneath his feet shake as the Sibyrath fell from the sky and ran towards the trees, knocking over numerous trees in its way. He fled deeper into the forest, looking at the creature wrapped around his arm. He cursed and slid around a corner as he finally felt his vertigo going away. Once he could confidently move he'd face the dragon once more, or he'd attempt to at least.
"Stop running!" The Sibyrath roared.
"Stop being a dragon, cheater!" Cyrus shouted. Just speaking made his head ache.
When his Regeneration finally fixed his arm and got rid of his vertigo he made another sharp turn and ran towards the Sibyrath, still using the kicked up snow for cover. He stabbed into its scaly claw and broke it clean off. This time the Sibyrath roared louder in pain and actually stepped away… but that wouldn't do. If Cyrus's blade couldn't penetrate its scales, he'd use the claw. He stabbed it with its own claw and quickly disappeared into the snow once more, using snow and trees as cover to hide.
"This is getting annoying!" The Sibyrath growled.
"You're right." Cyrus shouted from the trees.
He was getting cold and tired now. He shivered and looked around, trying to figure out some god damn way to kill a Dragon. He licked his teeth and ran into the trees again. He used foliage to hide himself as he analyzed the Sibyrath in this form from afar. As he stared and watched, he could see something weird looking. On its neck, just under its chin, there looked to be a chunk of pulsing flesh… He squinted and grabbed his own little friend and checked over its body. His new little golden and white friend allowed him to and Cyrus found another, on its stomach. He poked it which caused his little friend to constrict around his arm.
He grinned and looked up at the Dragon. Now all he needed to do was find a way to get up to that pulsating glob of exposed flesh. He looked around and pretty much all of the trees were too short for him to climb them and reach it. He needed some way to bring it down, or at least drop its head to within his reach. He looked at the little creature he now had and scratched his head wondering what to do with it at that moment. Cyrus sucked his teeth and took off, running deeper into the forest and further away from the town.
Speaking of the town, Durthu had just barely managed to limp his way inside the inn where numerous other Climbers were. He dropped to his knees, holding Eloise close to his chest. He panted and looked around, his leg was so badly damaged from the frostbite he could barely even move it. Eloise was in his arms, breathing hard with tears in her eyes while her broken wing ached.
The others stared before the Dragonid behind the counter looked around like they were idiots. He spread his scaled arms and clawed hands and his eyes opened wide as if he was looking at a bunch of idiots.
"Help them! I feel that's basic common sense!" The Dragonid shouted, "Get anyone who knows how to heal and help them!"
"Ah, right!" The others nodded and ran to do as told.
Eloise was propped up first by another group of Angels. They were focusing on attempting to heal her wing, but even if they managed to, it would never feel the same as before. Another group were warming up Durthu's leg and pouring healing elixirs over it so he could regain feeling. The Dragonid walked from around the bar and looked between the two and made the smart decision to ask Durthu questions first.
"What happened to you two? Where's the other one?" He asked.
"We went to a cave… a shape shifting monster was there and attacked us. It did this to us and then… it turned into a Dragon." Durthu muttered, "Our friend stayed back to fight it…"
"... How close to the town?" A Giant asked.
"About fifteen miles that way. Hard to miss." Durthu pointed in a direction, "Why?"
"We're gonna go help him." The Dragonid barkeep stretched.
"... Take me with you." Durthu sounded resolute.
They couldn't say no to the determination on his face. The group began to gather as many Climbers as they could, as only Dragonids knew the true power of a Dragon. As the group prepared, grabbing weapons and armor and everything else, Cyrus was still busy fighting for his life. He had run so far that the plumes of smoke from the town looked tiny and his Agility had even increased by several points. At the time, he was hiding behind a tree and watching as the Sibyrath searched the forest from above. He grinned and grabbed a pretty nice sized stick. He used his sword to sharp the tip of the stick into a point and even made sure it was more cylindrical for a simple use.
He aimed and used all his might to throw the spear. He watched as it hit the Sibyrath just next to the pulsating flesh. He cursed and moved from his spot as the Sibyrath nose dived and looked up quickly, moving his head out of range. Cyrus held his little reptilian friend now.
"Alright, Meri, you got any sort of magic or like… a Window I can view?" Cyrus asked.
It tilted its head, but a Window did appear.
"Oh well, alright then." Cyrus read over the Window.
Meri.
Species: Aetheris.
Aetheris Sub-Type: Lindwyrm.
Place of Origin: Yurrisol.
Gender: Male.
Biology: A Lindwyrm species Aetheris with the attributes of light, lightning, and fire. It's rare for one to be born with multiple attributes, much less the lightning attribute. Due to these attributes, your Aetheris will have an immunity to fire and lightning attacks, absorbing it. The internal structure of your Lindwyrm Aetheris is a confusing one, its organs are compact and spread throughout its body akin to a snake, but it has the same organ makeup as a dragon. The only difference being the fact it has three sacs, one for lightning which is highly electrical and located in the center, another for light which is located on the left, and the third for flame located on the right. This structure allows for your Aetheris to swap between its three attributes easily.
Diet: This Aetheris is omnivorous by choice, primarily it feeds off of body heat or meat. The easiest way to feed your Aetheris will be to allow it to wrap around you and absorb heat.
Relationships and Affection: Your Aetheris is young and easily impressionable, it can and will reflect your own personality so be careful. Aetheris are highly affectionate and regardless of age, require some form of affection for survival (with one exception) and are highly loyal, preferring death over betraying their master. Your Aetheris is an extension of you, think of it like your child, spend time with it and learn more about it. After reaching a certain point in the relationship with your Aetheris, you may develop a sort of telepathic bond.
Habits: Aetheris habits are developed over time, as of now there are no habits to note for your Aetheris other than the fact it enjoys wrapping itself around you to get warmth and to rest. Return here later to learn more information.
"Alright, so little buddy, wanna help me with that?" Cyrus asked, pointing over at the Sibyrath.
Meri made a sound akin to a chirp.
"Perfect, gonna take that as a yes." He nodded, "You gotta mess up its wing, put holes in it."
Meri unwrapped from his arm and flapped his little wings beside Cyrus.
"Great, let's get to work."
Cyrus and Meri got to work once more. The little Aetheris focused its attacks on the Sibyraths wings, using its own little body as a torpedo to create holes in it. Cyrus's plan made a lot of sense when fully fleshed out. He'd established earlier, in the cave, that when the Sibyrath takes enough damage it's forced to transform back into its original form. His plan? Even if he couldn't kill it as a dragon, doing enough damage to it would make this fight significantly easier and to start this process, its wings would be the biggest factor as the ability to fly was giving the Sibyrath an edge over Cyrus. The boy was a genius when it came to combat and survival, I can admit that at least, but you had to be when you come from a background like his.
The Sibyrath had spun and tried to catch Meri as he tore holes all through the membrane of its wings. Cyrus caught himself catapulting off its tail to make his own slice through its wing. When the Sibyrath finally attempted to fly, it almost instantly fell into the ground with a crash and kicked up a bunch of snow. Cyrus grinned when he realized the first step of his plan worked, he whistled for Meri who returned to his side and wrapped around his arm like a gauntlet. The Sibyrath, upon realizing the damage to its wings, roared and in a fit of rage began to spray fire everywhere without a specific target. This action resulted in all of the snow to melt away and the trees to catch flame.
"Fuck, I can't breathe…" Cyrus used his cloak to cover his mouth and nose.
Meri was relishing in the heat, taking in his fill.
"Found you." The Sibyrath was able to see him through the smoke and flames.
Cyrus's eyes went wide as he saw the Sibyrath dive at him, its maw stretched wide to eat him entirely. He was going to freak out when suddenly that trickle of information began to make sense. Even though he was openly facing his own death, he could feel a grin spread far across his face. The first piece of the puzzle was to concentrate his heart rate and blood flow. He moved to the right, putting out his blade to create a massive slit on the side of the Sibyraths mouth. The deafening roar that occurred next to his ears made him stumble and lose his focus. His focus being lost made the Magik flowing through his veins explode. His entire right arm exploded in a blast of gore and blood. He collapsed with a scream of pain.
He held his arm and clenched his jaw till his gums bled. He had to regain his focus, even if he lost an arm. Cyrus huffed and tried to regain his focus. Meri swapped to Cyrus's other arm as his right arm was gone and it wasn't regrowing. The boy got to his feet, holding his arm at the shoulder as blood coated the ground covered in ashes and melting snow. He looked down at the remains of his arm on the ground, he could see some bone chunks mixed in with the muscle and fat that sat on the ground. He looked around and saw the Sibyrath nearby, its eyes dilating when they landed on him.
"God damn it." Cyrus hissed and backed off.
His dominant hand was his right hand, if the entirety of his right arm was gone he was relatively defenseless. He slowed down his breathing and he could tell it was working, the blood leaking from his arm gained a slightly purple hue. Cyrus searched for something he could use to cut off blood flow before he passed out from the blood loss, and that's when it began. His Regeneration assimilation rate began to skyrocket and he could feel a small tingle spreading through his destroyed arm.
The Sibyrath stood and roared once more, using its body to try and rush him. Cyrus barely dodged this time. The more he moved, the more blood he lost. He could feel himself getting closer to passing out as the pool of blood around him got larger. He was starting to panic when he suddenly felt the bone in his arm begin to… protrude from the stump. The boy grinned when he felt the bone, if he could play his cards smart? His arm could regenerate before he passed out and maybe he'd be able to use the information he was beginning to understand. The grin that was plastered on his face made the Sibyrath even angrier, causing it to build fire in its flame sac.
"Dude, again?!" Cyrus shouted, running towards the rushing dragon.
"What are you, stupid?" The Sibyrath asked as it sprayed flames.
Cyrus slid underneath it, only getting his hair singed. He huffed and his vision got blurry. The purple tinting his blood got brighter and the bone on his amputated arm rapidly regenerated back into its original stage, next was the muscle and fat which began to stretch across the regrown bone. He huffed and began to lose feeling in his legs. Cyrus dropped to his knees underneath the dragon, his vision got darker as the epiphany he was going through got louder in his mind. His head felt like it was splitting but his arm was beginning to regenerate faster as his thoughts and understanding of this concept got louder and forced its way to the front of his mind, taking priority over all else.
His breathing and control of his heart and blood flow became second nature, he felt the revealed flesh and veins on his arm become covered in skin and that skin began to get covered in hair. He regained feeling in his arm but his blurred vision got even worse as he felt like he needed to vomit. Cyrus tried to stop himself but he couldn't, and what came out wasn't normal vomit… it was purple and glowed as if it was from some other realm. He stared at this purple stuff and felt the ground beneath him shake. The sun was hitting his back through the plumes of smoke, he realized the dragon had moved out of the way. He cursed and tried to move.
Back at the town, the gathered force began to move. The Climbers began their journey to the location Durthu had said, but the Orc hadn't known that Cyrus had moved away from the original location and gone an extra ten or twenty miles from the cave. They all seemed to be following the Dragonid with the wings, not particularly Durthu. Eloise felt as if she had to come in case Cyrus was hurt, but the more she looked at this Dragonid the more she wanted to ask some questions.
The reptilian looked at her and smiled.
"You have questions about me, don't you?" The Dragonid asked.
"Oh, uh… yes." Eloise nodded.
"My name is Flolial. I'm a Draconi, different from a Dragonid." He said, "The fact we have wings sets us apart from our counterparts."
"I've never heard of Draconi." Eloise tilted her head, "How old is your kind? Where do you come from?"
"We're nomadic, rarely settling down enough to become known to the population. I'm one of the oldest, around 2,300 years old at this point and if you mean what world I come from? It's the same as the Dragons and Dragonids, called Verdanspur." Flolial smiled at the young girl.
"2,300?! In the Fathers name, you're old!" Eloise shouted in surprise.
"Dagger to the heart that is." Flolial chuckled.
"Oh my, I'm sorry!" Eloise waved her hands, "Forget I said that!"
The attack force looked around and saw plumes of smoke in the far off distance. Flolial hummed and flapped his wings, going into the sky to try and catch a better look. He narrowed his eyes and, though small, he could see the outline of a dragon. He swore and went back to the ground and looked at the gathered force of Climbers.
"We need to hurry!" Flolial exclaimed.
"Yes sir!" The Climbers shouted.
At the same exact time, Cyrus rolled out of the way of a large claw trying to crush him. He looked at his arm, flexing his hand. His head was aching and his brain was screaming at him, his veins and arteries were on the verge of exploding, and his eyes were being pumped full of something as his vision was turning shades of purple. He panted and stood as the next piece of the puzzle fit into place in his mind. He felt something flow towards his hand, it was internal but felt as if he just coated his hand in water. He grabbed his sword and held it in his right hand.
You can imagine his surprise when suddenly the black sword was coated in flames that stretched up his arm. He stared at it for a while, the flames glowed a bright purple and caused the surrounding fires to look dull. He watched as another claw came crashing towards him, but this time he swiped with his blade. The purple flames sliced through the scales like butter. Cyrus rolled out of the way and stood up, focusing this feeling into his eyes as well as his arm. He was nearly overloaded with information, but then it happened. His eyes gave him a glimpse into the future, by a mere few seconds.
Cyrus witnessed a tail coming towards him, and when it truly happened he jumped into the air. The purple in his vision was finally starting to clear up, his splitting migraine was going away, and his body felt lighter. He laughed to himself, finally grasping the concepts of this whole "magic" thing. He got the final puzzle piece and learned how to use this power and conjure it. He held out his left hand and what formed was a small piece of metal, about the size of a bullet but with the shape of a thick arrow tip. He shot it towards the dragon and watched as its scales shattered on its tail.
"What is this?!" The Sibyrath roared.
Cyrus grinned, "I'm not answering that."
"I'll make sure your corpse is a mere stain on my cave floor!" The Sibyrath shouted.
"Yeah, whatever." Cyrus sighed.
The boy motioned to Meri, who unwrapped from his arm and began to charge something in his little throat. There was a glow coming from his neck and a crackle echoed from his mouth. Lighting blasted towards the Sibyrath, who tried to dodge out of the way, but to do so, it lowered its head. Cyrus grinned and used this chance, this one in a million chance, to jump forward. While he was in the air, the Sibyrath roared and sent a claw at him.
Cyrus realized he couldn't dodge, so instead he used his sword as a way to rush forward faster. A claw took out a chunk of his side, causing blood to gush from his mouth, ribs, and stomach. He grit his blood stained teeth and drove his sword into the pulsating flesh on the dragon's throat. He drove his sword in as far as he could and his eardrums burst at the sound of the dragon's roar… but he'd done it. The Sibyrath transformed back into its base form, a sword buried in its throat. He used his sword, still buried in the beast's throat, as a crutch.
The shout that left his throat was guttural, primal even, as he looked at the sky.
At the same time, the attack force was getting closer. The smoke and flames surrounded the forest, melted snow and bubbling dirt caused the terrain to become a hazard, but they pressed on. All those who were sensitive to Magik felt a sudden shift in the air as Cyrus was absorbing the surrounding energy in the air. Eloise looked around confusingly, flames surrounded her and the smell of burnt wood invaded her nostrils.
Flolial touched the flames calmly and hummed, feeling the pathetic heat and realizing that Durthu had told the truth. This was no real danger, he knew what a true Dragons flame felt like and this? This was not it.
"Pathetically cold…" Flolial licked his teeth, "Find him–"
There was suddenly a loud roar that caused the ground beneath them to shake. Upon looking up, Durthu saw the Sibyraths head appear only for it to lower once more. There was silence before a louder roar echoed and the group of Climbers all looked at Flolial for orders. The Draconi pointed to the origin and directed them to surge forth and help him. Durthu and Eloise were at the forefront, running faster than everyone else… but nobody was truly prepared for the sight they'd stumble upon.
Surrounded by fire and ash, sword coated in purple flames, blood pouring from his mouth and a hole the size of a child in his side, was Cyrus. The boy shouted atop the corpse of the Sibyrath, his head facing the sky. That alone was breathtaking, but then Eloise noticed the small reptilian flying beside him. Flolial stopped beside the other two, staring at the sight in front of him. He was going to say something and approach, but the flames that coated the boy's sword and arm made him falter. Even from that distance, he could feel the heat that his fire radiated.
"Amazing…" Flolial murmured.
"Cyrus?" Eloise called out to her comrade.
"Eloise? Durthu?" Cyrus turned and looked at them, a smile spread across his face, "You guys are fine… thank god."
"What the… where's the beast?!" A Climber shouted, on guard.
"Right… there." Durthu pointed at the corpse Cyrus was standing on.
"What is that thing?" Another pointed at the reptilian.
"This is Meri. Meri is my friend. I'm gonna… uh…" Cyrus suddenly collapsed.
He had over exerted himself, for a first time wielder of Magik, he'd gone overboard. He collapsed as his wounds closed themselves up. Meri looked around and the little Lindwyrm let out a chirp and quickly hid inside of his cloak. The little creature was shy and seemed scared of the new people. Eloise and Durthu rushed forward, catching Cyrus before he could fall and hit the ground. The surrounding Climbers all murmured and whispered as they took in their environment.