Dagon and Sephtis flew through the air at full velocity. Nothing had happened this time when they crossed over the water, and, strangely, the world seemed so.. unnaturally still. It was something Dagon couldn't really explain. It was so calm and quiet, even the wind as it rushed past his ears was lessened in its scream.
One would take this as a good sign. But Dagon took as a sign of the worst possibility. The battle had already ended. But, with that thought, adrenaline now rushed through him. Had they lost? Or had they been victorious?
'Damnit.' Dagon cursed. He couldn't stop panicking and, the more he did, the more that anxiety began to spread through his chest, making it harder and harder to breath.
And then, the battlefield slowly came into view, and when Dagon could see the pillars of smoke coiling into the sky, his heart sank.
The fortress was destroyed and in ruin, the walls and buildings crumbling and blasted apart into heaps of rubble. Blood splatters coated the streets and the snow just outside the walls. Corpses of Dragon Kin littered the ground, though, it was not nearly as many as there had been that were alive. Meaning that most of them had been captured.
'Dagon..' Sephtis spoke weakly.
'I know… this is bad..' Dagon said as Sephtis circled around the city.
'No.. not that… it's…'
Dagon's heart erupted just then before dropping and dying, his heartbeat frozen as his body went rigid. His eyes moved beyond the walls of the fortress, and there, off in the distance on the ground, was a flicker of gold.
"No.."
'Dagon, calm down. We can't be-'
Mercury rose up around Dagon's body in an armor as he unlatched himself from Sephtis's saddle.
'Dagon!' Sephtis called, but it was too late. Dagon leapt off of Sephtis's back, soaring to the ground before slamming down in the snow. His Mercury armor began to fade as he ran, full sprint towards that flicker of golden shimmer.
When Dagon came closer, his stride slowed to a walk as a hopeless expression crossed his face. He walked up to the corpse, before dropping to his knees beside the golden dragon.
"Gena…" Dagon said weakly. "I… am so sorry… this is all my fault.."
Sephtis came to land behind Dagon, watching his rider with intent eyes.
"Dagon… there was nothing we could-"
"Just stop! Don't say anything, Sephtis." Dagon spat.
Dagon stared down at Gena's corpse. Her neck was bent at an unnatural angel, the bone shifting up as her head was craned downwards into the snow. Deep cuts and wounds covered her body, coating her golden scales a shade of deep crimson, as well as the snow about her body.
Dagon's hands dug into the blood-soaked snow. His fists began to clench as his fists sank into it, blood covering his hands.
Dagon's eyes went cold as tears welled up in them.
"Mourtas… this… is all because of Mourtas.."
"Yes, there was nothing we could've done." Sephtis spoke calmly.
"Mourtas… I will kill him.. I will snap his neck… I will tear his skull from his torso. I will leave his corpse unrecognizable. Not even black magic could save him.."
Mercury began to rise up from the ground around Dagon as the ground at his feet began to tremble, cracks splitting across the earth.
"I will kill every single last fucking human until this world is rid of them all. They are insects, pathetic, worthless pests meant to be exterminated. And all those damn traitorous Dragons that follow Mourtas's every beck and call, they will all be skewered!"
Sephtis could see that things were going down a bad path before Dagon's next action even took place. He stepped towards his rider.
"Dagon, please try to calm down… hatred and vengeance will not-"
"SHUT UP!!" Dagon roared as spikes of Mercury jutted up out of the earth all around him.
Sephtis jumped back as a spike narrowly missed his eye. 'Damnit!' Sephtis cursed, 'he's been completely engulfed in his rage… Mourtas.. was this your plan all along..?'
Little did Sephtis not Dagon know, within the pouch attached to Sephtis's saddle, the Scales of the Dragon gods… began to turn black.
— — —
Elderren gave a low growl, his body shifting. The dim light of the moon shone in through the cave entrance, the light ending just at the feet of the figure that lay beside Elderren.
"Do you sense that?" Elderren growled. "The King… is suffering."
"Yeah. I can feel it. He's being consumed in his own rage.. if he can't get a hold on his anger.. then…"
Elderren growled. "He will die."
— — —
Mourtas, sitting atop Zickarys, turned his head back towards the direction his army had come from. The soldiers below marched on with dozens upon dozens of cages filled with dragons and Kin.
Mourtas grinned.
"He's been completely consumed by his own hatred. Good. That makes it easy for me to kill him. In his blind rage, he will come running after us, and then, I will kill him with my own two hands."
"You sure you even need two hands?" Zickarys mocked.
"Never underestimate your foe, Zickarys. I thought you of all dragons would've learned that by now, having been killed by a young dragon."
"I was but a Dragling myself, Mourtas."
"Yes. Well. Don't worry… Sephtis's head is yours to take."
Zickarys growled, "his corpse is mine to dismember."
— — —
The immense magic density around Dagon began to subside and, for a brief moment, he seemed to return to normal. Sephtis wondered then if Dagon had gotten past his hatred.. but when Dagon stood and turned about, Sephtis shivered.
That shine that had been in Dagon's eyes so long ago, that same gleam of bravery and courage that Sephtis had been so drawn to before, was now gone, replaced by the dead, hollow gaze of a ghost.
"We are leaving." Dagon said, his tone bleak and monotone.
"Where are we going, exactly..?" Sephtis asked, worried.
"To kill Mourtas."