"Tell me, Dragling… do you fear me?"
Dagon stared up at the monster before him. If he was being honest, he did fear it. He knew, at any moment, it could kill him with virtually no effort. So why not be honest.
"Yes. I do." Dagon said firmly. Why would he lie, it would be obvious and it would likely aggravate the leviathan. Leginoss was a Leviathan God, if he lied to it, it would likely seal his fate.
Leginoss hissed, it's fins shifting. "And yet you stand before me, keeping thine eyes interlocked with my own. I commend your bravery, Dragling… but, I regret to tell you…" Leginoss hissed venomously, "I wish the dragonic races the worst of all endings."
Dagon's eyes widened as the leviathan's body began to constrict around him as it's head came barreling down at him. Dagon dropped to the ground and rose his hands, creating a spherical ball of mercury around his body just as Leginoss's fangs crashed into the walls, leaving indentations. The force of the leviathan's constricting strength causing the walls of the mercury sphere to begin denting inwards. Soon, Dagon would be crushed to death.
'Damnit!' Dagon cursed as he struggled, pushing his arms against the walls that closed in on him, focusing on doing all he could to keep the mercury solid and strong. It took all he had just to keep it from breaking in entirely, much less resist the force being applied to it.
'Sephtis…' Dagon thought, 'WHERE ARE YOU?!'
— — —
Sephtis could feel his wings burning in pain as he struggled just to stay airborne. He made hardly any progress at all in terms of finding his way, he felt as though he'd only been going round and round in tight circles, hobbling through the air as his wings threatened to give out.
The harsh winds and bitter cold storm tore at Sephtis's body, as though they were trying to tear his wings from their sockets and leave him to plummet into the black water below. The dragon heaved with effort as he gasped for air with every stroke of his wings, his lungs burning from the exhaustion, feeling as though it was going to explode.
Everything hurt, and everything was cold, so very cold. When Sephtis's wings were finally about to give out, when he was about to fall to his doom below as the brutal winds tore through him, the clouds seemed to part open as a brilliant light shone down on Sephtis, the winds lessening as he was able to fly easier now, not that it mattered as he began to drop out of the air.
Massive talons outstretched, catching Sephtis as he fell. He looked up weakly at his savior. It was a brilliant, divine, and regal white dragon looking down at him as it held him safe from the storm.
"Ease your mind now, young dragon. You have no need to fear thine end."
— — —
"Gaaahhhh!" Dagon groaned, gritting his teeth as he struggled against the force of the walls pressing in around him. The force caused his metal arm to start making grinding sounds as it was pressed into his socket, the metal digging into his flesh.
"You give a good fight, Dragling, but you have no hope of surviving against one such as myself." Dagon heard Leginoss hiss.
Dagon's entire body began to shiver uncontrollably from the effort of pushing back against the leviathan, but it was no use. 'Damn!' He thought, 'if I have any hope of surviving, I have to take up the offensive!'
He willed spikes of mercury to shoot out from the sphere he had imprisoned himself in. He could hear the spikes as they slammed into the leviathan's scales. There was a resistance at first, but Dagon used all of his will power to make the spikes push through, and then they broke the scales and plunged into Leginoss's flesh.
A loud hiss came from the serpent then as it gave a roar, uncoiling from the sphere and plunging into the water. Dagon lowered the walls, looking for Leginoss, but he could only see the writhing water below and a glimpse of scales. Dagon wasted no time and forged onward, extending his Mercury bridge and running for dear life as fast as he could away from the leviathan.
"There is no hope for you, Dragling!" Came the hiss of Leginoss as the serpent barreled through the water below Dagon. "The bindings of fate will not hold strong enough to save you here! This is my domain!"
Then the leviathan erupted out of the water, it's jaws open wide as it launched towards Dagon, who, in turn, momentarily stopped and focused a sturdy, thick wall of mercury before the leviathan's path. With a thunderous impact, the serpent's head crashed into the wall, denting it inwards. Dagon began his sprint once more as, dazed, Leginoss slithered over the wall and across the bridge, his talons clasping onto the mercury as it thundered after Dagon.
Dagon knew he wasn't fast enough to outpace the serpent, and if he kept his current path, he would certainly die. So, he ran straight for the next pillar, and just as Leginoss came up behind him, jaws of needle-teeth extended towards Dagon, he stopped casting magic and leapt. As he flew through the air, time seemed to slow. He had leapt at such an angle so he would reach around the side of the pillar and, hopefully, be able to grasp hold of a sturdy enough rock or impression to stop his fall as Leginoss slams into the pillar.
But of course, nothing goes quite as planned.
As Dagon reached out desperately towards the pillar, he could see he had leapt too far, and there was no way he'd reach. He held out his metal hand, which flowed with magical energy as a small ledge of mercury extended. Dagon's hand clasped onto the ledge, his fingers sinking into the handholds he had forged into it. When he had stopped his fall, his body swinging madly from the ledge, it felt almost as though his whole arm would be torn from his shoulder from the force of the fall.
And then Dagon realized his stupidity. How did he expect such a pillar to stop such a massive monster as Leginoss? The leviathan crashed headfirst into the pillar, which exploded into hundreds of tiny bits of rubble that reigned down from the air and splashed into the water.
Leginoss slithered over the broken pillar, dropping into the water before circling around below Dagon. Dagon's mind raced madly at that moment, what could he do to get out of the situation he'd put himself in? Create another bridge of Mercury? Now, he wouldn't be able to clamber onto it in time, and there weren't any more pillars close enough for him to run to, and there was no sight of any solid land in sight, though his sight was limited due to the darkness of the storm.
"This is your end, little Dragling… fate cannot save you." Leginoss hissed.
Dagon looked down, eyes wide, as the leviathan's body began to rise up from the waves below his dangling body.
"You are no king."