Fate of the Empires

I am enraged! Magnus was taken from us, then returned, and taken once more! Where he is now is anyone’s guess. Our team is shattered! During the fight with Magnus, Jun was hit with a fireball. The damage was severe and even though Leaia healed him, Jun has yet to wake up. We race back towards the Imperial Army base in a carriage. Jun’s head rests in Leaia’s lap. Leaia is very upset. She fights back tears so as not to look weak in front of me. “It is human to cry,” I try to comfort her, “Do not hold it in.”

“Why did he do it, Draccus?” she asks as the tears start to run, “Why did he push me out of the way? He knew I could withstand it.”

“Just because you have done it once doesn’t mean you would walk away a second time. He was trying to protect you.”

“I know…”

She runs her hand through his hair. She wipes her tears with her other hand. She really cares for him and he must feel the same, selflessly throwing himself in harm’s way to protect her. I find it peculiar that these two constantly hide the way they feel about each other when it is very obvious that they should be mates. When I took my mate, if I had been timid about my wants, Sharlleana would have gone with another. I wonder if all humans behave in this manner when choosing a mate. The mage never had trouble finding a possible mate in every woman we’ve met so far.

“We must get him to his father,” Leaia finally says, “Maybe he can help.”

“His father?” I ask quizzically.

“General Fang is Jun’s father.”

That would explain the talk we had in the training yard three nights ago. “Did Jun…forgive his father?” I ask.

“Jun confronted his father before Slade attacked us. He learned that everything he thought he knew about the General was fabricated by Ethan.”

“Why would Ethan do that?”

“He wanted Jun to kill General Fang in order to make Densetsu attack Athusia.”

“When did Jun tell you all of this?”

“At the safehouse when we were waiting for Magnus. You were outside.”

Maybe I need to start spending more time indoors. It seems I miss a lot being outside. “So General Fang is an ally then?”

“Yes.”

All of this new information is only adding fuel to the fire burning within me! Ethan is a devil and Slade is his hellhound. Both need to be put down. As soon as Jun is safely with his father Leaia and I are going to find Slade. As an Athusian I cannot punish him the way he should be. For now I am an Orrock once again. I will make him suffer like no human has ever suffered at the hands of an Orrock!

Word was sent to the base from the outer Jinsei city guards of our arrival. The gates to base open as we approach. General Fang, Lieutenant Motori, and a handful of soldiers wait for us in the courtyard. The General shouts orders at the men who rush over and help remove Jun from the carriage. “Get him to my quarters,” Fang commands.

“Thank you, General,” Leaia says as she exits the carriage.

I follow her out. “Tell me what happened,” the General says.

Leaia gives the General all the details of the attack by Slade, the abduction of Magnus and the recent battle with him. Motori walks with us towards the General’s quarters as we talk. “I am sorry for the loss of your friend,” the General consoles.

“I will have the blood of the man who did this,” I say.

“I understand,” the General says.

“Has there been any more activity here at the base?” Leaia asks.

“Nothing to report,” the Lieutenant says.

“Slade is still out there somewhere,” Leaia says.

“I assure you we are scouring the base and surrounding communities for both him and Kwon Zhang,” Motori responds.

“That leaves your defenses weak,” I say.

“No one would dare attack our base directly,” the Lieutenant says confidently.

We arrive at General Fang’s quarters in the eastern section of the base. It is unlike the rest of the base. A small garden is located right in front of it. The garden is well cared for with a path made of rocks leading up to a small building. General Fang skips the usual practice of removing footwear at the door. He is anxious to check on his son.

The inside of the Fang’s quarters are not what I would expect from a military leader. The space is separated into three rooms. The first room contains a desk with maps and plans on it. There are scrolls hanging from the walls with Densetsun calligraphy on them. Near the desk is a bookshelf lined with books from all over the world. The General must be a very educated man.

The second room is a common area with a firepit and a shrine for meditation. A very small section of this room is used for food storage and preparation. The last room in the back is for resting. There is an armor stand with the General’s personal battle armor upon it. Shelves and cupboards are very organized and simple. Nothing in his home is extravagant. Jun lays on the General’s bedroll, still unconscious. “Why won’t he wake up?” the General asks.

“We don’t know,” Leaia says sadly, “But he would want us to finish this with or without him.”

“Yes, you’re right,” the General nods, “Our first step should be to-”

The General is cut short by the sound of an earth-shattering explosion from somewhere in the base! The four of us rush outside. Smoke fills the sky towards the back of the base. It has to be Slade. “They’re attacking the gateway to the compound!” Lieutenant Motori exclaims in shock.

“Get the men and get back there!” the General orders.

“I want Slade,” I growl, “We are going also.”

“Yes,” Leaia agrees.

“Alright let’s go,” Motori says.

We follow the Lieutenant back towards the gate that leads to the Kodasai headquarters. We hear more explosions along the way. What is going on over there? We come around a group of buildings to find six Athusian mages attacking the Densetsun soldiers. Slade stands behind them shouting orders. “Black Flame!” Leaia shouts.

“Slade!” I roar.

Slade sees both Leaia and I. He smiles with delight. I will tear the smile off his face! Lieutenant Motori runs into battle to assist his men against the mages of the Black Flame. Slade breaks away and continues on towards the gate. I start to rip the decorative Densetsun armor off my body. “What are you doing?” Leaia asks.

“Preparing for battle!”

Once I am uninhibited by the confines of armor I draw my blade and follow the stink of Slade in the air. Leaia draws her sword and accompanies me. Some Athusians paint Orrocks as monsters. Savage beasts that eat the flesh of humans. If that is what it takes to bring Slade down, I will become that monster! There will be no quarter for anyone who gets in my way.

We head back into the compound that houses the portal to the Kodasai hideout. A Black Flame mage blocks our path just inside the main doors. Leaia steps in front of me. “I’ll handle this,” she says.

I do not know enough about magic to decipher what skill level the mage is. He is dressed similarly to the way Magnus was when we first met him. I assume that has some relevance to their ranking in the Black Flame order. He begins to speak in the ancient magic tongue and black energy forms between his hands. The dark matter grows in size as the mage prepares to throw it at us. Leaia points her sword at the mage. “Fortitude of Arus,” she says quietly as she starts moving towards him.

The mage hurls the energy blast towards Leaia! She turns her sword so that the energy hits the flat of her blade. “Absorb!” she casts as the energy reaches her.

The black energy is sucked into the blade of her sword as it hits. The mage looks stunned. Leaia continues towards him. The mage fumbles for another spell, but he is cut down by the priestess before he can collect his thoughts. Apparently not all mages are as resourceful as Magnus.

Leaia leads the way down the many corridors until we reach the backroom with the gate inside. The gate has been activated again. Infernal magic devices! I prefer normal means of travel. Where does one go in between locations when passing through that magical doorway? It’s not natural, but I don’t have much of a choice right now. I follow Leaia through the glowing green opening.

We find ourselves once again in a dark storeroom within the Kodasai base. Leaia turns to me. “If we are going to get through this we must fight as one,” she says.

“We will be unstoppable, Priestess,” I reply.

We open the door to the hallway to see a familiar Kodasai face at the other end. It is the one who greeted us when we came before. Sato. He stands with his arms crossed. He has been waiting for us. “You are not welcome here this time,” he says to us, “Leave now.”

“Where is Slade?” Leaia asks in a commanding voice.

“It was not a request,” Sato responds, “Leave!”

We don’t have time for this. I charge him. He quickly throws six shuriken at me. I don’t even attempt to evade them. They are too small to do any real damage. Three of them strike me in the chest. One in the shoulder and two hit my upper leg. I smell poison on them, but it is nothing that will affect me. As I approach the end of the hall Sato draws his short, single-edged ninja sword. He attempts an overhead attack. I catch him by the wrist and knock the sword away. I bring my other arm down hard shattering his forearm. I snap his neck to cut short the sounds of his screaming.

I pull the metal stars out of my flesh as Leaia makes her way down the hallway. The minor wounds from the ninja’s ranged-weapons will be healed shortly. “Are you alright?” Leaia asks as she reaches me.

“I am,” I say, “He’s not.”

“It looks like we are going to be doing this the hard way.”

“Yes.”

We continue into the large room where Leaia previously fought one of the Kodasai. I smell humans in here. They are all around us. Slade’s scent is in the air also, but it is faint. He was here recently. “We are not alone,” I whisper to Leaia.

“We cannot fight blind,” Leaia whispers back, “Cover your eyes. Light of Caeleum!”

A globe of light appears in the center of the room. It is as bright as the sun! The entire room becomes visible. We are completely outnumbered. There are masked Kodasai above us and around us. They are momentarily blinded by the intensity of the light. We move. I drop my sword and leap onto one of the large support pillars that lead up to the rafters. I dig in with my claws and climb.

Leaia engages a group of the ninja on the ground. She dispatches two of them right away before the others can get their bearings. When Leaia fights, her sword becomes an extension of her body. She is one of the deadliest human warriors I’ve seen with a blade. These Kodasai don’t stand a chance against her.

I am pelted by more throwing stars as I reach the top of the support. I ignore the pain and jump up onto one of the wooden beams. The six Kodasai that are up here draw their swords. It is a long way to the ground below, but these Kodasai move with masterful balance. One attacks me from the front while another gets behind me on the beam. There is another beam a few feet away. The other four Kodasai stand on it. They pull their shuriken out with their off-hands. The Kodasai in front and behind me attack at the same time. I jump to the next beam, knocking two of the Kodasai off. They fall to their deaths. The two on the ends of the beam throw their stars at me. I take the hits. The Kodasai then come at me while the two on the other beam pull out more stars. Having left my sword below all I can do is evade the ninjas’ blades while taking hits from the throwing stars. I cannot keep this up for long.

Leaia has her own struggle. The remaining Kodasai on the ground have ganged up on her. She bides her time by keeping them at a distance. It looks as though she is trying to get them to circle her. That seems like a bad strategy, but I am sure she has a plan. Regardless, I need to get down there to help her.

The Kodasai continue their attack. I catch one of my attackers with my tail, taking his legs out from under him. He falls. One of the Kodasai from the other beam jumps over to take his place. That gives me an idea. I jump across to the other beam making sure to strike the wood with my fist as hard as I can when I land. I hear the sound of the wood crack. The shock of the hit causes the Kodasai on the beam to become unbalanced. I grab both of his arms and break them like twigs. I push him aside to make room. He screams as he falls to the ground. The other two jump over at the same time, which is what I was counting on. Before they land I leap back over to the other beam. When the Kodasai land, their combined weight snaps the damaged beam in half. Victory is mine.

I look back down to see Leaia surrounded by Kodasai. She stops moving. She holds up her sword and closes her eyes. For a moment the Kodasai are confused, but they move in. As they get close, the ball of light Leaia created goes out. The entire room becomes completely black. I hear the sounds of battle in the darkness but I can do nothing to help. My eyes adjust, but it is still too far down to see anything in the darkness. I attempt to find my way back to the pillar in order to climb down. The fighting stops. All I can smell is blood. A lot of it. What happened?

The room is illuminated once more by the magical globe. Leaia stands in the same spot only this time she is circled by Kodasai bodies. She closed her eyes to adjust to the darkness before she put the light out. The Kodasai were as blind as I was. Now we will find Slade.

I climb back down the pillar. When I reach the ground I collect my blade and start to pull out the many stars that are lodged in my scales. I feel the poison from the stars attacking my immune system. A human would have been dead after the first couple of hits. Leaia pulls out the shuriken that are stuck in my back. I have lost a lot of blood, but my rage keeps me going. I manage to pick up Slade’s trail through the smell of the dead Kodasai. “Are you injured?” I ask.

“No.”

“Then let’s continue. I have Slade’s scent. He won’t escape us.”

We move cautiously down a long corridor. It leads to a stone stairwell that spirals down. Slade went this way. I lead down the stairs to yet another hallway. I see the flicker of flames in the room ahead. The hallway opens up into a room that is even larger than the first one. In the center of the room is a circular stone platform. The room is lit by a contained fire that surrounds the platform. There is no floor in this room. Just a long drop that leads to darkness. A wooden bridge connects the platform to the hallway. As I survey the room I notice that the walls have handles and grips located in varying places. There is also a network of ropes and rope ladders hanging from the ceiling. This must be a training room.

Standing on the platform is Slade. He’s smiling again. I feel my scales shift. It’s starting. I feel the beast. Back on Orrock we have outcast warriors that live to the south in the ice and snow. They are called berserkers. These Orrocks are truly the feral monsters that humans think we all are. They have uncaged the beast that lies within us. While the berserkers are stronger and more resilient than other Orrocks, they are also uncontrollable. They are ruled by their rage. The first sign of the change is the armored scales. The scales harden and small spikes protrude up through them providing a natural armor that can also function as a weapon. The change is visible. “What’s happening to you?” Leaia asks.

“I am okay,” I answer, “I will explain later.”

I almost let this happen before when Emily’s life was threatened. If I’m not careful I could slip into the madness of rage permanently. I cannot let that happen, but this Athusian needs to die! I start across the bridge. “It’s about time,” Slade says, “I was beginning to think the Kodasai denied me the pleasure of killing you.”

I’m going to tear this human limb from limb! Leaia and I reach the edge of the platform. “You’re going to pay for what you did to Magnus,” Leaia threatens.

“Really? You couldn’t handle me when there were four of you and now there are only two. Where is Jun by the way?”

“Shut up!” Leaia shouts.

“Touchy are we?”

“You are going to die, human!” I growl.

“I have killed a great number of your kind with my bare hands, freak. What makes you think you can take me?”

“Look into my eyes and see for yourself,” I say as my claws grow in size and density.

Leaia and I spread out. Slade centers himself on the platform. “Fury of the Fire Dragon,” he casts, “Twin flame swords.”

Two magical blades of fire appear in Slade’s hands. I can’t withstand fire no matter how tough my scales get. I draw my blade. I should take more time to study my opponent, but I’m too angry! I charge him. Leaia attacks from the other side. Slade uses his previous tactics. He disappears into the shadows before we reach him. Coward! “Back to back,” Leaia says.

The two of us stand with our backs against each other. We scan the room looking for Slade. There are many shadows cast from the light of the flames. He could attack from anywhere. I smell him…from above! “Move!” I shout.

I turn and Leaia rolls out of the way as Slade leaps out of a shadow on the ceiling. His blades meet my blade, which becomes a battle of strength. He is no match for me. I push him back as Leaia rejoins the fight. Slade continues to battle as a coward. He ducks in and out of shadows taking cheap shots as they appear, but he only succeeds in infuriating me more!

Leaia manages to catch Slade on the arm while he is running from one shadow to another. He stops running. He’s angry. He attacks us head on, focusing more on Leaia. He jumps up and attacks Leaia with both flaming swords while simultaneously kicking behind him, hitting me in the chest. The technique knocks Leaia and I in opposite directions. Slade rolls into a landing and springs back up to his feet. “Breath of the Fire Dragon,” Slade crosses the flame swords, “Explosion!”

A blast of fire shoots out from the crossed swords hitting Leaia in the side! The magical strike explodes on contact. When the smoke clears Leaia is nowhere to be seen. “Leaia!!!” I roar at the top of my lungs.

“Your turn, lizard!”

You can’t cast if you can’t talk! I throw my blade at Slade. While he dodges I close the distance between us. As he springs up I strike him in the throat with my fist. One of Slade’s fire blades dissipates. He backs away from me and struggles for air. I attack. I lash out with everything I have. He evades, but is unable to counter-attack. Once he can breathe he goes back on the offensive. He strikes me with his sword, but I feel nothing. I claw at him taking some flesh off of his shoulder. I claw again. This time he spins under it and stabs me in the chest with his sword! He grins thinking he has won. I grab his shoulders and push my way up his blade until his sword is all the way through me. I grab his shoulders and drive the spikes on my forehead deep into his face!

Slade loses all concentration and his fire sword disappears like the other one. He stumbles back holding his face. Blood runs into his one good eye, but he still sees me coming at him. He drops into a shadow, but not before I grab his arm. Slade starts to appear out of a shadow across the room, but I still have hold of his arm. Suddenly the struggle ends and I stumble back. I am holding part of his arm. The shadow gate must have closed on him, severing the arm I grabbed. I look over to see Slade attending to what remains of his left arm. He puts the end of it into the fire to stop the bleeding.

I toss the lower part of his arm aside. Slade glares at me with renewed determination. He pulls out a dagger with his right arm and rushes me. He dives passed me and slashes at the back of my leg. I drop. He hit something vital! Slade kneels over me and sticks his dagger to my neck. “You are the last…of your team…lizard,” Slade still has a hard time speaking, “At least you can…die with that satisfaction.”

What was once clear is now a blur. I am losing myself to it…it may save my life, but there is no coming back. Without the others what does it matter? I surrender myself to the rage! Everything goes dark…

My eyes open to find a stranger on top me with a blade to my throat. I do not know him, but clearly he is a threat! I dig into his wrist with my fangs. He struggles to break free. I reach up and claw into his already bloodied face with both hands. I stand, picking my attacker up into the air. I seem to be very wounded, but it won’t stop me. I slowly crush his throat with my grip. Wait. He has something to say. Let’s hear it. I release his throat. “Even if you…kill me,” he says, “You can’t stop what has…already started.”

I pull him close. “I don’t know who you are or why we are fighting, but know that your flesh will be devoured so that I can make your strength my own,” I lick some blood from his face.

Yes, there it is. The fear in his eye. That is what I delight in! I laugh in his face before slamming his body into the ground. Hmm…he’s still breathing. I pick him up again. “You are making this harder than it has to be.”

I slam him over my knee crushing his spine. Ah, the smell of death! But wait. There is another scent in here. Another human. A woman! I toss the mangled body of my attacker aside and proceed towards the new aroma. I reach the edge of the platform and peer over the fire to find a warrior woman hanging on to the stone. She looks up at me. “Draccus!” she exclaims.

Draccus? Why does that sound familiar? That must be the name of her friend that I just killed. Maybe she will prove a more interesting challenge. I think I will help her up. I clear the fire out of this section of the platform and lower my tail down for her to grab hold of. She takes it and I lift her up. “Thank you,” she says.

Hmm…this one is not afraid of me. I like that! She looks over at the body of the other. “Is he dead?” she asks.

“Most certainly,” I grin exposing my fangs.

“Good, justice is done.”

Justice? What is that? This one is a very peculiar specimen. Does she not sense her impending death? I take in her scent once more. There is something else about this one. Something beyond human. She will be a challenge. I’m going to enjoy this! She looks at me…in the eyes. “Draccus are you okay?” she asks.

She’s calling me Draccus? Is that my name? How would she know? I don’t know her. This is a trick to catch me off guard. Nice try! I swing at her. She avoids the hit and moves back. “You’re not fooling me, human! I’m going to kill you like I did your friend!”

“Draccus, what are you talking about? It’s me, Leaia.”

Leaia. That sounds familiar too. There is a connection there…no! Human lies! I will not be deceived! I attack her again. She does not fight back. She merely avoids being hit. “If you don’t fight me you will die!”

“I don’t know what has happened to you, but I am not going to fight you Draccus!”

“Stop calling me that!”

“This is not you!”

I knock her flat with a tail strike to her legs. I stand over her. She still shows no sign of fear. You are strong, human, but I will break you! I pick her up by her chest armor. “This is me, human! And your compassion is not going to change that nor will it save your life!”

“You may kill me, Draccus, but not before I make you see the truth.”

She touches her hand to my forehead. Ah! My mind is flooded with thoughts…memories…humans…I can’t focus. I lose my grip on her and back away. I grab my head and shake it to make the visions go away, but they won’t! “What have you done to me?!”

“Those are your memories, Draccus.”

“Lies! I have no human friends! I have no friends at all. Only the rage to keep me company!”

She approaches me. “I am your friend.”

I swing wildly. I catch her in the face knocking her back. “Shut up!”

I need to get away from this witch! She doesn’t fight fair. I have to run! I have to get these humans out of my head! I flee the room. I run down dark hallways. Voices continue to fill my head. “I’m grateful you are with us, Draccus,” one voice says.

“Are you going to start naming the stars as we humans do?” I hear the voice of the woman.

“I never would’ve thought of you as the fatherly type, Draccus, but you didn’t do half bad…for a being a giant lizard,” I hear another voice.

Fatherly type? Stop! I slam my head into one of the stone walls in an attempt to drive these thoughts and false memories from my head! They won’t leave! “Promise me! Promise me you’ll come back!” I hear the voice of a human child.

“I promise you…I promise you I will return,” I hear my own voice.

A promise? Yes…I made a promise…no, no it’s a lie! Isn’t it? Why would I make a promise to a human? Emily. Yes, that is the name of the child. I made you a promise that I would come back. I must come back!

No! You can’t come back, Draccus! You gave yourself to me! I own you! The beast is your master, not the other way around. There is no return.

I have to. My friends are depending on me. Emily is depending on me. I will not let them down! You will not beat me!

But I have already. You were too weak to defeat your adversary so you called on me. You called the rage. No Orrock returns from the madness! And no Orrock ever will.

I…am not an Orrock! I have learned what it means to be human. I have learned compassion, fear, humility…love. Humans can change where Orrocks will not. I have changed. You are right, no Orrock will ever return from the madness, but I am not bound by the restraints of my bloodline anymore. I am free!

Don’t think I am gone forever…you are still an Orrock…and I will be back when you least expect it…one day when you are too weak to save yourself again…I will be there…waiting…

I look around to find myself back in the large room where we battled the Kodasai. I hear footsteps approaching from one of the halls. It is Leaia. “Leaia,” I say bracing myself against one of the wooden pillars.

“Draccus, is it you?” Leaia asks.

“Yes, it is I,” I answer, “Thank you for bringing me back.”

I sink to the floor. My wounds need some time to regenerate. I have no strength. “What happened to you?” Leaia asks as she kneels beside me.

“It is what Orrocks call the madness. It is brought out by severe rage. The ones that submit to it never return and become outcasts in Orrockian society. If you hadn’t used your magic I would still be enslaved to it. I am sorry I didn’t warn you.”

“Don’t apologize.”

“I must. I should not have been so weak. I thought you were dead and I feared Slade would finish me as well.”

“You were not weak, Draccus. We all give in to our anger and we all have the potential to become monsters. Now you know the cost and I know you won’t let it happen again.”

“Your wisdom is truly divine, Priestess.”

“Can you make it back to the gateway?”

“Yes, if you’ll help me.”

Leaia helps me up and together we head back to the storeroom with the gateway inside. We step through the gateway together. She sets me down on the other side. The sounds of battle can be heard outside. I try to stand, but I fall back down. “You’re injured,” Leaia says, “Let me-”

“There is no time. Go help the soldiers. It won’t take me long to heal and I will join you.”

“Are you sure?”

“Go,” I say weakly.

Leaia nods. She looks back at me before leaving the room. I let out a sigh. I can feel my injuries already starting to bind themselves. I will have to acquire another weapon having lost mine in the fight against Slade. Ethan’s cohorts will not see victory in Densetsu. Slade may have been right when he said we cannot stop what has already begun, but I would give my life to try.

As strength returns I stand up with a renewed vigor. I make my way outside where I find a Densetsun sword lying next to its dead owner. I will honor this fallen warrior by slaying his enemies with his sword. Many will die by this blade. Today, I fight for the fallen. I fight for Emily. And I fight for my friends.