Like mice frozen in horror before a cat. This is exactly how we felt at the moment. The giant dragon figure took up most of the room, leaving only a small piece of space free of its body.
Now, up close, I could finally see it in all its glory. How much I wanted this cannot be expressed in words, but here is my chance.
Milky white bones replaced his entire body, there was no trace of muscle or skin, just one bone. Giant claws easily ripped open the "crystal", leaving behind smooth grooves. The dragon's head was decorated with nine horns arranged in the shape of a crown. A cloud of mana, mixed with nekros, burst out of its mouth along with its breath (why should it breathe?). The empty eye sockets glowed with a gray flame.
But in an instant, the dragon's body began to change. Strands of mana began to "grow" from his chest and began to weave around his bones. In magical vision, it was clearly visible that the source of the transformation was the very sphere that the Lich had swallowed.
In a matter of moments, the ropes entwined the bones, thereby replacing his muscles. But that was not all, as soon as the first stage ended, another release of mana occurred from the dragon's body, as a result of which scales began to appear.
Some measly ten seconds and a completely different dragon stood in front of us. I'd call it a "crystal" dragon, assuming the crystal in the name is magic.
The blue body was semi-transparent, making it possible to see the dragon's bones. New eyes "grew" in the sockets, burning with a gray flame. If before he inspired horror, now awe has also been added here.
Closing his eyes, the dragon seemed to be listening to something.
- Yes. This is exactly what I was waiting for," his voice boomed, shaking the room. After a brief moment of silence, he continued. - I hope you liked your reward. After all, you "subdued" me, and for this act there is a reward. I hope it's enough for you. Ha-ha-ha-ha," his sinister laugh was crushing. Shaking not only the hall, it seemed that the entire pyramid was about to collapse. He was so powerful.
It was at this moment that the others ran into the hall. Og, Filius, Fox, as well as two golems that were dragging the unconscious Sol and Al. Having run in, they froze, as if trying not to show themselves, but alas, the dragon had already noticed them.
Sharply opening his eyes, he looked at the intruders. The silence stretched on.
- Well, well, who do we have here? A rebel who knows nothing about this world," his gaze fell on Og, who's face fell off his face at his words. - Two parts of a single whole, destined to become one - first the unconscious Sol, and then the twitching Fox. - The changeling is a traitor who has already received what he deserved - hmm, but Al is not so simple. - And of course, many faces. What mask are you wearing now and what is it for? - only the half-goblin retained the appearance of calm, although the emophone was filled with impotent rage.
How interesting things are going here, it turns out. What is not reasonable, so with the story, that it was able to interest the lich mentalist of incredible power. But it turns out that during his lifetime he possessed even more frightening power. Is it really the Archmage Mentalist?
- That's right, young metamorph. With the exception of one small detail - well, yes, who could hide their thoughts from the archmage? "Thanks to our mutual friend, who imagined God knows what about himself, I was able to regain all the strength that I had during life," in the end the lich grinned and removed his paw from the place where the vampire's body had once been. Only a pool of blood and a few bone fragments were all that was left of Ed.
So what should we do? If Pestilence (that was the name of the dragon?) wants to kill us, then we won't even have time to squeak, it will smear us in an instant. And anyway, why would he talk to us?
"The answer is banal—boredom," the lich answered my unasked question. "Well, and a good mood, of course," another grin. - Although, why am I doing this? It's not fair that we only got to know the stories of half of you, right? We need to fix this. Ha-ha-ha," the dragon laughed when he saw Susan and Croco's reactions. - Abandoned, misunderstood and forgotten by her own family - the blow of the lash, perhaps, would have been softer. Crystal was struck like lightning. The pain and horror on her face were so unfamiliar that they caused some kind of rejection. - Bastard of an important person. Suddenly. Ha-ha-ha," only determination in emotions and a hand that gripped the hilt of the sword more tightly were the answer to his words. - Well, that's the most interesting thing. One who strives for knowledge with such tenacity that he cannot even realize himself. What could be funnier? - what is he hinting at? What can't I understand? Does this have anything to do with the fact that he called me the Devourer?
- "That's right, young devourer. The time will come and you will understand. If you live, of course," the dragon mentally answered me.
- And why do you need to tell us about this? Would you be so kind as to answer? - the half-goblin asked with respect in his voice, as well as emotions. - It's not for nothing that you do this. Something is driving you.
"Don't even try to understand me, goblin," the dragon jerked its tail, thereby demolishing one of the columns. - My actions and desires are only mine. And only I know why I do this.
I don't know what Flitwick was thinking, but it angered the dragon quite a lot. Slowly but surely, rage began to take hold of him. We need to do something.
"Let me ask," I finally found the strength to address him. Well, he won't kill me, will he? I wish I could have killed him long ago.
"And what do you want to ask, young metamorph?" — the dragon asked interestedly. Great, the seeds of interest have been planted, all that remains is to nurture them. (Although it is quite possible that the ancient dragon is simply playing with us. After all, what is it for an archmage to evoke false emotions.)
- Ed. That is, the vampire you killed. Why did he become mad?
- What makes you think that he became like this, and was not originally? – the ancient Lich asked with a narrowed eye.
"I saw him before you "kidnapped" him," he emphasized the necessary intonation. "He was absolutely healthy then." But already here, in this "crystal" castle, I had a chance to see how in just a couple of days he became a crazy, wild monster.
I fell silent. The dragon was also silent. After all, it was exactly like that, Ed was giving up literally before my eyes, as if he was being devoured by a curse. At first I thought that this was the price for "owning" this castle, but it was precisely this that kept his personality from completely disintegrating. And in light of new information that has emerged...
- I see you already understand everything. Ha-ha-ha," the dragon laughed again. -But your friends are not. Well, okay, I'm in a good mood. "I can explain," the dragon groaned like an old man and, lowering his head on his folded paws, began the story. - For many thousands of years I was in hibernation. What else can an immortal do? My sleep was pleasant and long, until one wise man disturbed it, thereby awakening me, as well as my entire army, from sleep - here it is! Apparently that's when Ed woke him up. It was not just that I felt the Mana of death from him, although it had not been on him before. I even asked if he had clashed with the draugr, but he replied that he had not. It turns out that's when he woke up the Lich. Which, apparently, was his main mistake. "At first I wanted to destroy the fool on the spot, and then fall asleep again." But I was able to learn about his plan by literally reading his thoughts in an instant. Plan to capture the star. It was then that I decided to postpone the reprisal and wait, what if his plan would work? Who would have guessed that he would pull it off? - the dragon said into the void. - But he made a mistake. This bloodsucker decided to subjugate me. ME! — his voice was filled with so much mana that we were carried back to the passage. Of course, we didn't go back. Well, him. "I couldn't stand this, so I began to destroy his personality." However, this vampire was already able to subjugate, as you call it, the "crystal" castle, and it, in turn, tried to save its new owner.
He fell silent. His story confirmed my suspicions. After all, how could an artifact drive its owner crazy if it itself tried to cure him? But as soon as the dragon read our thoughts, I realized who was to blame for Ed's madness. After all, it didn't cost him anything, so a fleeting glance and the job was done.
"Gradually my actions gained momentum. The vampire's personality was crumbling right before his eyes. It was then that you and the changeling found yourself in this castle. – falling silent again, the lich gave in to his thoughts. "Well, okay, I've been babbling with you," the dragon rumbled, rising to its paws. - You have dispelled my boredom. Now we can kill you.
As if he had pronounced a sentence on us, the dragon said. In an instant, a wild burst of mana began to emanate from him, his blue body began to shine, and Nekros began to fill the entire room.
"No, it will be too boring," everything stopped in an instant, and the pressure disappeared. "You have a minute to get out of the castle." In this minute all my subordinates will start hunting for you. - a flap of wings and a bulky carcass flies up. - Entertain me for the last time! RA!
The pyramid shook. The walls were cracking, covered in cracks, the ceiling began to crumble, and holes began to appear in the floor. Everything was falling apart right before our eyes.
- All to me! - Og yelled, taking out another bird-shaped figure. Throwing it away, he ran to the side. In an instant, she turned into a huge bird, hollow from the inside. - Get inside!
Without asking anything, we instantly ran into it. As soon as we all got inside, the bird began to take off, actively flapping its wings, helped in this by the mana that was absorbed by its body.
It took us literally ten seconds to do everything. After another ten we were above the castle, in the sky. Our transport began to change. Two engines "appeared" from the back of it and immediately began to work, pushing us forward.
The speed increased with every second. Here we are already above the city, and now beyond its borders. We had already sighed calmly, but...
"The minute is up," the dragon roared. - Fall on your face.
I watched in shock as from the dragon that had been hovering above the collapsing pyramid all this time, a simply incredible-sized tornado of death mana burst out in our direction. The moment he caught up with us, he destroyed our transport, breaking off its wings and partially destroying its body, lowering it from heaven to earth.
The sky and earth changed places, we were flying head over heels to the bottom. While still in flight, the half-goblin cast several spells that should have helped us, but the death mana scattered around prevented him from doing so. Only on the fifth attempt, before our "landing," did he manage to cast a spell, but it didn't help us much.
The blow was incredibly strong. My eyes grew dark, my head began to spin, my ears began to ring, I think I heard a crunching sound in my limbs.
But it was too early for us to relax, so through the pain (my arm had already begun to recover), I opened my eyes and sat down, looking around the space where we found ourselves. My face froze.
A giant nest filled with eggs. This is where we fell. Judging by the size and color of the eggs (light blue, with a frosty pattern), this nest belonged to wyverns. The remains of the golem pierced the head of the only living individual that was here.
Oh, this is my chance. I quickly ran up to the body of the ice wyvern, conjured a flask, and collected its blood there. I'll need this.
Having finished, with a fleeting impulse, he began to raise his companions. It turned out to be much easier than I expected. Everyone was nearby, and only I was unlucky enough to break something, everyone else was more or less intact.
- Is everyone okay? – asked Flitwick.
Everyone nodded. Sol and Al were still unconscious, but they were being carried by another golem.
- Then we need to quickly...
- R-ah! — the roar of dozens of wyverns shook the skies. Turning around, we noticed a whole flock of celestial predators flying straight at us. They all just physically oozed anger.
- Let's run! — the Fox's panicked cry became the trigger. The race with death has begun.
We ran like never before. A whole flock of ice wyverns flew after us, and draugr began to rise from the ground, trying to block our path.
While running, I entered invis and, armed with a dagger, organized a harvest. The changed body helped me. All the draugr that interfered with us and were not noticed by the others fell from my dagger. I have never had such practice before.
In this run I used prana and psi like never before, and invis was my salvation. Even though I couldn't change my shape in Invis, pumping me up with prana works wonders.
I stabbed, threw, knocked over. He ran over heads, cut the dead with their own weapon (glory to Psi). With the help of psi, he launched the weapons of the dead at the wyverns, and even managed to shoot down a couple. But this was not enough.
We were being pressed on all fronts. Behind are wyverns, on the other sides are the dead. There is no end to them. New wounds appeared on the bodies of my companions every now and then. Even I, under the visa, almost lost my hand. That draugr's swing was too wide.
Everything merged into a continuous line. Injections, dodging, pulling someone out from under blows using psi. Saving yourself and others. And all this without the slightest respite.
It seemed like there was no end to our running, but an arched passage loomed in front of us. Just like that, on the move, together with the voice that carried the wounded, we passed the curtain.
Only at the last moment did I hear the dragon's roar. And no, it wasn't Pestilence, it was the roar of another dragon, filled with pain and suffering. For some reason, a giant ice tree appeared before my eyes, which was located under the dome. Why is that?
Soft snow, star line, and full moon. Nature is beautiful, and enjoying it is even more beautiful. Lying on my back I admired this splendor.
"Ha ha ha," uncontrollable laughter burst out of my throat unnoticed by me. I survived!
Well hello Greenland. You have no idea how bored I was.
But it was incredibly interesting!