Dragonlord

Ep 214. You’re Not From This Time, Are You? (7)

Ep 214. You’re Not From This Time, Are You? (7)

Yet another stygian fortress slowly began its descent above Partivine’s skies.

A lone individual stood above the descending fortress as the city came to view. She eerily beamed down at Partivine’s arching streets, knowing that the city was devoid of its millennium-old guardian.

‘And I thought I’d be using this one against your brother…’

Keeping the means to threaten Felicis and her city had always been a safety net: a means to escape should things ever go horribly wrong against Felicir.

But as fate would have it, the simulacrum’s use had become something else entirely.

Standing triumphantly above the city of mages, the effigy’s grin only grew wider.

“You’re not coming back, Felicis? If you don’t, I really will turn your city to dust…”

Unfortunately, what Letherien hadn’t quite realized was that Partivine was no longer just a city of mages.

Not until a streak of golden lightning purged through the fortress’ camouflage.

“…?”

The deity of creation shot a quick glance to the side. Although the weak shock was quick to fade from the fortress’ surface, she failed to understand where it came from – there weren’t any rainclouds nearby, and there certainly shouldn’t have been anyone else at this altitude.

A winged figure that entered her sight would soon prove otherwise.

From the distance, the figure quickly approached the surface where the streak of lightning had faded. Though he couldn’t make sense of the invisible fortress, he could at least see that there was something that had interrupted the bolt.

Then, the figure slowly hovered his claws over structure’s camouflage, shattering the invisible surface with nothing but brute force.

“Now, what was that about turning the city to dust?”

“…”

Dumbstruck, the deity’s effigy stood frozen in place. She stared at the winged figure that was now narrowing his eyes, flapping their wings to stay afloat above her head.

A pair of golden horns shone brilliantly underneath the sun. A pair of large, yellow-scaled wings stretched to each of his sides, with a tail of similar color reaching behind his back.

Xerun remained in the air with crossed arms, staring back at Letherien with a rather unpleased expression.

“…Dragon?”

“What else would I be?”

“Why is there…another dragon outside?”

‘Another?’

The elder dragon’s eyes visibly twitched as the deity mentioned ‘another’ dragon. He wasn’t fully understanding the situation either, but he did have a better guess than the elf below.

“Well, I am on an errand myself. However-”

With a somewhat sorry expression, the elder dragon turned his eyes towards the far right – where Ilias was likewise hovering in the air, innocently snacking on the donut lodged in her mouth.

“-She practically lives here.”

When even Theolus poked his head from Ilias’ back with a smaller crumb in his mouth, a bewildered laughter slipped out of Letherien’s lips.

“…No way.”

“Hm?”

“There’s no bloody way!! Have you all gone insane?! You all shut yourselves away the whole era, and NOW you decide to come out?!”

Despite Letherien’s burst of anger, Xerun only returned a couple nods – painfully slow ones at that.

“Is that how outsiders perceived us? It’s small wonder she wasn’t pleased to see our current state.”

Mere minutes ago, Xerun had been doubting his own hearing: a vaguely familiar voice had suddenly rung forth from nowhere, ordering the elder dragon to take flight into the air.

But when his body automatically began moving as told, Xerun quickly remembered who the sudden voice had belonged to. And given that the elf before him had mentioned seeing ‘another’ dragon, it seemed all the more likely that the individual in his mind was responsible for what was going on in this moment.

“I take it you’ve crossed paths with our lord, then.”

“…Lord?”

“Mm. That would explain things well. Full glad am I to know that my mind is still intact…though I never realized that our lord could move us from a distance.”

“What the hell are you on about? Your last lord perished centuries ago, you have none!”

“We didn’t, no. But we do now.”

Xerun’s answer did little to please the elven deity. In fact, Letherien slashed the air in frustration, vehemently denying the dragon above her.

“Lies! Your tribe lost your ruler’s heart, there’s-“

That was as far as she got before a massive red tail smashed into her side. The tail knocked her down with a crunching sound, smashing the simulacrum into the garden’s floor.

Ilias then landed on the fortress top beside Letherien’s twitching figure, gulping down her snack with an apologetic expression.

“Uh oh. Sorry, my body just…kinda moved on its own…”

Then again, she wasn’t actually that sorry.

“…Ugh.”

Letherien did attempt to push up again – only for her shattered legs to give away.

And to boot, bits of flour-like powder began seeping out of the cracked floors, pooling onto the visible ground.

Sniff. Sniff.

For a moment, Theolus poked out his snout to sniff the air behind Ilias’ back – but the hatchling soon retreated back into the red dragon’s back, covering his little snout from the repulsive scent.

“Blegh…powder!”

“Huh? Theo, what’s wrong?”

“Fire smelling powder! Eline told me that breathing fire on there makes bigger fire. She said I should never eat it.”

“…Bigger fire?”

While Ilias slowly realized the implications of the powder’s presence, Letherien smirked at the youngling as she stretched out her trembling hand. A small match soon formed in between her fingers, somehow lit aflame after a simple scratch against the air.

“I’m surprised you know what it is, dear. But it’s a little too late for that.”

Szzzzt!

“…Eh?”

At first, Letherien had thought that she was hearing the sound of her ember spreading onto all the firepowder nearby.

But when she turned her eyes, the deity could see Ilias’ bare fist around where the match had been, killing the fire within her bare grip.

“…Not a chance. I live down there, you know.”

“W-“

One second to put out the flame.

And another second to grip Letherien by her wrist before throwing the deity overboard.

After spending two whole seconds to wrap up the situation at hand, Ilias made a triumphant grin as she turned to Xerun, leisurely dusting off her hands.

“There, done! That wasn’t so hard. I was worried when lord told us a deity was here.”

“…Ilias, I believe Lord Serenis instructed us exercise caution in handling this matter.”

“But I did. I put out that fire. No harm done.”

“…Yes, but we’re directly above the city. Is this structure going to stay afloat? If it were to suddenly fall, then…”

Clunk!

As they say, words have power.

As soon as the elder dragon finished his inquiry, Ilias could feel something give away beneath her feet within the airborne fortress. The structure quickly lost its buoyancy, beginning its descent once more – this time a lot quicker.

“Why did you have to say that!!”

“It’s my fault?!”

Panicking, Ilias quickly took flight into the air from the plummeting fortress. The youngling then turned around in the air to latch onto the fortress’ side, pushing at it with every ounce of her strength in hopes of shifting its trajectory.

But even for Ilias, shoving aside a castle-sized building in the air was proving to be an impossible task.