Both Sephtis and Gena's horn cracked against the ceiling as they leapt to their feet in alarm.
"Dagon… why did you…?" Gena began, but she could not weave the proper words together.
Blood was gushing from Dagon's severed arm, spilling in puddles of crimson upon the stone.
He had made a blade of mercury shoot out from the wall, cutting away his arm below the shoulder. Now, his severed limb lay motionless upon the ground, the black metal still wound around it.
The blade of mercury lost its density now that the spell was over and it began to spill in liquid form down the wall, mixing into the blood.
Dagon grinned madly.
"Are you.. alright..?" Sephtis asked, shocked.
Dagon groaned in pain, clutching the stump of his severed limb which bled profusely.
"I am fine, and I have a plan." He said through clenched teeth as sweat beaded on his brow.
"A.. plan?" Gena asked.
"Yup. If they want us so badly.. then they can have us. Sephtis, I need you to Shift to me, and give me a lot of magic. I need all of it."
"For what reason?"
Gena approached Dagon, her talon ignited in golden flames.
"Hold still." She spoke, "this will hurt."
"Not as much as the current wound." He growled. "And the reason, Sephtis, is because I'm going to set a trap for them. Whoever the hell it is.. if they want to fight, I'll fight them. I'll kill them. All of them. They have hurt so many of the innocent.. my father.. the dragons.. The kingdoms need to be brought down for their sins."
Gena's talons pressed against Dagon's wound, burning the skin and sealing it. Wincing, Dagon removed some cloth and, when Gena was done, he wrapped the wound tightly and tied it.
"How do you use sensory magic?" Dagon asked.
"Sensory magic?" Sephtis asked, "Well, it's based on your element. For you you'd have to use mercury or venom in some solid form. Once you create it you have to focus your essence into it, make it an extension of yourself, and through that you can sense the presence of other beings that come near it."
"That's it?"
"Yes? Dagon, what are you doing?"
"You'll find out."
— — —
About seven hours later, at sunrise of the next day, a massive, burly dragon soared through the air, a wave of drakes following closely behind it. Upon the center of the massive dragon's chest was a black stone (the one Mourtas had held before, the tracking stone).
The dragon was the same one from the chamber that had devoured the soldier who had tried to feed it. It was at least double the size of Zickarys, but it wasn't an ordinary dragon. It was a different species known as a King Drake. Drakes are a subspecies of dragons that have no real emotion or consciousness, they act purely on instinct. They reside in mountains and nowadays they act as the basic soldiers of the kingdoms.
A King Drake is a massive alpha species of drake. It had the raw strength to compete with dragons, though, it has no magical capabilities.
This particular King Drake was larger than most and had managed to wreak havoc through Annagon after breaking through the wall. It had after been captured and enslaved. It was thus named Barash, which, in the Davoric (dragonic) language meant "behemoth".
The ground rumbled under Barash's weight as the beast landed upon the snow before a cave entrance hidden between two large stone crags. The beast gave a guttural growl and nodded. About half of all the drakes began to move forward, filing in to the cave one by one. Each of them moved around a pointed metal spike protruding from the ground, some sniffing it, then moving on, unaffected by the Mercury's poison.
— — —
High above the clouds, Dagon grinned upon Sephtis's back, Gena hovering by beside them.
"It seems they played right into my hand." His horn illuminated and he clenched his fist.
"Die."
— — —
One of the drakes led the others forward until it came upon a severed limb laying in a puddle of blood upon the ground. The beast tilted its head, sniffing the arm. It growled, the spikes upon its back shifting upwards like hackles. It turned its long, narrow snout to face the other drakes a gave a slight growl.
And then the roof began to shift.
The drakes looked up, and in that instant massive spikes of mercury dropped down on all of them, skewering and crushing them in an explosion of flesh and bone.
From outside the cave, the drakes and Barash backed away in surprise as massive spikes of mercury exploded through the cave and out the top of the stone, sending massive cracks splitting through the rock and ground.
Barash's talons slipped on something upon the ground that began to burn. It looked down to see green liquid coated along the ice. It began to change color, and the moment the last spike jutted out, a spark ran through the rocks and the acid burst into green flames, engulfing Barash and the drakes all at once. The flames hissed as they melted the snow and exploded upwards. The roars and howls of agony could be heard across the entire tundra as the beasts burned away.
Sephtis and Gena crashed to the ground a ways off from the burning drakes.
"Wow. That worked better than I would have expected." Gena spoke.
"I'm impressed. Yet again, your magical skills and tactics have shown their worth." Sephtis growled, "but it is not over. That is a King Drake, it won't be that easy.
Dagon watched as a massive figure strode through the flickering waves of fire before emerging from it. The massive creature had a huge chest, massive arms and a small head with a short, pudgy snout that exposed each of its disfigured, pointed teeth. It's eyes were disproportionately small and it had horns like a bull. Massive wings were spread out at its side and two tails whipped about behind it, each ending in a large spike.
The creature breathed in, then let out a tremendous bellow that shook the mountains and sent waves of vibration through the air.