Chapitre 38: The King’s Emergence

Mourtas looked down on the dragons below him, trying desperately to defend against his attack.

"How disappointing." He spoke. "I'm really not even trying."

"Indeed. I desire for a worthy foe.. it has been so long.." Zickarys hummed.

"Yes, I know. I'm starting to miss Ayden." Mourtas sighed. "Life has been boring as of late." Then he looked up suddenly. "Oh?"

At that moment, Sephtis plummeted out of the sky, rushing down on Zickarys and crashing into him with a thunderous impact as he let out a tremendous bellow. But Zickarys was much larger than Sephtis, and that was just the simple fact of it.

Zickarys flung out his wings and raked his talons along Sephtis's chest before spinning and slamming the dragon to the ground below his black claws. Sephtis was now pinned to the earth, his head being pressed into the dirt. The floating island they had landed on trembled, momentarily being pushed downwards before hovering back to level.

"Sephtis.." Zickarys hissed, "Damn snake. I'll enjoy tearing out your heart."

"Wait." Mourtas called out just as Zickarys was about to plunge his talons into Sephtis's ribs. "We can still use him." He turned to face Gena, Ellira and Bella.

"Bow down to me." Mourtas roared. "Serve me and tell me where Dagon is, and I will let Sephtis go. If you refuse me, I will kill this dragon. This is your last chance, because after him, I will kill you all."

*Damnit…* Bella spoke to Ellira telepathically. *What do we do? We can't just let that dragon die, even if he is a snake..*

*Yes, and you had indeed been mistaken about him leaving us. He had kept cool and made a move before any of us, even if it failed.* Ellira spoke.

*Then… what should we do? We can't stop him.. he is too strong.*

"Ellira," Gena spoke, "how fast are you?"

"Not fast enough. Zickarys will remove Sephtis's heart before I can reach them."

"Damnit.."

"We can't just bow down to him.. he will use dark magic to enforce a binding." Bella growled. "This is bad.."

"Well? Have you come to a decision or not?" Mourtas spoke.

"No decision will be made." Came a voice, and as soon as it came, spikes of mercury exploded from the ground. Most of them grazed past Zickarys and he jumped into the air, but one of them had managed to skewer the dragon's wing, tearing the webbing. Sephtis jumped to his feet and bolted away from Zickarys over to the others.

"Well, I can't say I had expected you to come willingly. Though, you are your father's son. I should have expected as much." Mourtas said with a grin.

Atop a floating landmass a ways off was Dagon. His horn and eyes gave off a green light that shone through the darkness around them all.

"You won't be taking or killing anyone. If you don't leave, you'll be the one who is dead." Dagon said.

"Ha. I highly doubt it, boy. You may have gotten a power up recently, but you are nowhere near my power level. Don't let the blessing of Phenor get to your head."

"Oh, it hasn't." Dagon said. "But I do know I am king. And I won't back down from any threat."

Mourtas laughed at this. "Ignorance is bliss they say. You truly are quite insolent, just like your father, a stubborn bastard he was."

"If he is a bastard then that would make you one too, right, uncle?" Dagon said.

Mourtas went quiet. "Huh. So you know then? Rich. Looks like I'll have to kill yet another member of my family."

"What? You feel guilty?"

"Don't insult me. I could care less about the lives of others. They mean nothing compared to the importance of my destiny."

"Your destiny? For what? To be the tyrant ruler of Seryad?"

"Not a Tyrant. A true god." Mourtas clenched his fist. "I will become a god, and I shall recreate the world in my own image. I shall make it so none can die unless I see fit to their death, a world without death or decay and rot. This is why the deaths of those like you do not matter. I'll simply bring you back if I see fit."

"You honestly think that is even possible?" Dagon asked, astonished by Mourtas's plans.

"It does not concern you. Whether you think it is plausible or not doesn't matter. Nor does it bother me. I will reach my goals, no matter what. I will bring her back. But, first, I need the Egg of Chaos." Mourtas glared at Dagon. "And you know where it is. And you have a scale. So, you are going to do as I say.. or I will make your life a living hell."

"Sorry, but I bow down to no one." Dagon spoke, Mercury shifting around his arm and forming into a blade. "Especially not some false god."

Mourtas suddenly burst into rage. "WHAT DID YOU NUST CALL ME-" he and Zickarys rushed forward, but they suddenly halted, shifting to the side as Dagon swung his blade downwards, resulting in a wave of mercury exploding forward and cutting a deep gash into the earth before it began to flow back to Dagon and coil around his body, forming an armor over him.

Dagon looked down at his hand, flexing his fingers and moving his armor coated body as the mercury covered over his head, creating a helmet while a blade formed from the stump of his missing arm.

"Impressive." Mourtas called out. "What even is that? I thought your aspect was nature, not earth. How do you use metal?"

"Does it matter?" Dagon asked.

"I guess not."

"It does." Zickarys growled. "That metal stenches of corruption. It is toxic."

"Oh, I see. So it is mercury. So this ability is due to your dragon's poison aspect. How intriguing."

"Sephtis!" Dagon called. In turn, Sephtis flew over the trees to Dagon's side.

"How did you get so much control over your spells so suddenly?" Sephtis asked as mercury began to cling to his scales and form a set of armor.

"I will explain it later. For now," he hopped onto Sephtis's saddle. "We need to focus on defeating him."

"Defeating me?" Mourtas asked as the shadows around him intensified and Zickarys spread his wings wide, blotting out the sky. "Haha, good luck with that. Come then! Give me a challenge!"