Sephtis looked down at Dagon as the boy stood perpetually still.
*He is consumed in his own rage..* Sephtis thought, recalling how Dagon had acted after learning the truth of the war. *The drive to avenge his father and his kind is overwhelming him. His magical essence is just growing and growing with his rage..* Sephtis felt a knot growing in his chest. *Even my own emotions are being affected by his.*
Sephtis dropped to the ground a few feet away from Dagon, whilst Gena stayed airborne.
"Dagon. It's me." Sephtis spoke, "You need to get a grip of your own emotions, or else everything your father worked towards will come to be fruitless and wasted."
Dagon gave no response, no recognition whatsoever of Septhtis's existence.
"You don't want to become like Mourtas.. do you?" Sephtis knew it was a risk to poke at Dagon like that, it could possibly enrage him more, but on the other hand the idea of turning out like the man who killed his father could snap him out of his state.
Dagon turned towards Sephtis. The mercury surrounding his body began to violently thrash about.
*That's it! It's working!* "Do you want your own power to consume you? To lose everything you stand for? To lose who you are?"
The Mercury began to contort, spikes thrashing out of it.
"Do you want to fail your father?"
Finally, the substance froze, then dropped away to the ground, leaving Dagon standing in the snow. At the same time, the Mercury about Sephtis dropped away like a snake shedding it's skin.
Dagon stared blankly at Sephtis, a single tear rolling down his cheek, and then he collapsed, unconscious.
— — —
Dagon lay adrift in a deep sleep. He had a sense of wind brushing over his skin, but other than that he could really feel nothing. Somehow, he was conscious of the fact he was dreaming. It was all so vivid and surreal.
He stood atop a snow coated mountain, treading upon a path carved into the rock. The blizzard wind ripped through the mountain, howling as it flew through its crevices and crags.
Beyond, Dagon saw a woman garbed in thick white cloth walking along the pathway. He could barely make out her features, as the thrashing wind made the snow fly in waves, making the visibility drop immensely.
Dagon reached out with his hand, only to find that it was missing, severed at the shoulder.
He then tried to call out to her, outstretching his other hand, but nothing came out. His mouth opened and his lips and tongue formed the words he intended to say, but nothing came from it.
Dagon began to run after her, but with every step he took the path began to stretch out, expanding and growing longer and longer as the girl grew further and further away. And so he just stopped, watching her as she walked away.
"Who… are you..?" Came a voice then a moment later.
Dagon spun about, only to see the girl he'd been trying to talk to was now standing behind him, and that he was now at the mouth of a cave entrance.
He opened his mouth to speak, but, yet again, no words could leave his mouth.
The he heard a hiss behind.
He turned about as a glistening, silvery dragon rose up out of the cave, cold blue eyes locked onto him with malice.
"Leave!"
And then the mountain shook, the storm became even more violent, and he felt the world fall away beneath his feet as he fell into a seemingly endless spiral, descending down and down into the depths of darkness.
— — —
When Dagon woke, he found that he was surrounded on all sides by immense walls of stone that seemed to up and up as far as he could see. A few feet away from him was a pile of wood that cracked and popped as the flames consumed it, turning the bark black with ash.
Sephtis was laying down beside him, his body curled up and his head resting on his talons.
Gena was nowhere to be seen.
Dagon tried to move, but sharp pain shot through his whole body. He looked down and saw that green ivy and leaves had been wrapped about his frame, covering all of the wounds he'd been gifted by the drake…
*Wait.. what.. happened?* He suddenly realized a fragment of his memory had gone missing. It felt like there was just a complete puzzle, but someone had taken the last piece straight from the center of the picture.
"So, you are finally awake." Sephtis grumbled, a single eye lazily opening and watching Dagon.
"What happened? Where are we..?"
"We are hidden within the main section of the Iron Scales, near the forest." Sephtis answered. "As for what happened.."
"Well?"
"When the Drake attacked you, you lost control. We went through what is called an Escalation."
"Escalation?"
"Yes. It is when one or both of the members of a Kinship are under dire circumstances and their emotions rise, resulting in the generation of magic and a burst of energy. You were overwhelmed by your emotions and you magic took control of you." Sephtis lifted his head, "An armor of mercury coated both me and you, and your power increased exponentially. On the bright side, you didn't hurt me or Gena, and now you are able to learn stronger magic."
"I lost control… like Mourtas…" Dagon spoke sadly, disappointed in himself.
"Well, not necessarily like Mourtas. He allowed it to happen and accepts it, he is corrupted. With you it was just a burst of emotion and magical energy that you could not yet handle. An Escalation is considered a breaking point and it should always happen at least once or twice in the lifetime of a Kinship. It breaks down the barrier between the two vessels and allows for a stronger bond as well as greater growth."
Dagon was silent. The fact that he had lost control bothered him extremely. And his mind also wondered back to the dream he'd had… who was that girl..? And that dragon… why did he see them? And why did it seem so real?
"Is there something wrong?"
"I… I had a dream."
"Oh? You mean the usual night terrors? Or something else?" Sephtis asked.
"No… it was… strange.."