7 The Plague with No Name

Exerpt from the Darkened Chronicles - During the Darkened One's recollection, there was mention of killing a dragon. Nothing could be further from the truth. It was no dragon he fought. It was a monstrous plague, hellbent on invading all of Alta. He didn't lear of this until much later.

Instead of rotting meat, the smell of roses, lavender, jasmine, honeysuckle, and rosemary filled the air. Petals, like pieces of glistening glass, waved in the air. Enormous vines grew from the ground, drilling into the chapel with flowers covering their ashen, charcoal exterior. These vines branched outwards with medleys of red, rosy flowers casting the entire chapel in shades of crimson.

The dragon sat atop the entire cathedral, its wings curled around its frame before the creature glanced towards me. The black scales of the beast shined with a red tint from the sun overhead, and vines curved in and out of its body, from four legs to two wide wings. The same red roses bloomed from these vines, and as the creature spread its wings, I had never seen something so unnatural, so ominous…and so beautiful.

With intelligent, emerald eyes that dilated in the sun, the beast observed me. A shiver slid down my spine, but I glared towards the creature with the same unwavering will as before. The allure of this creature, the tranquility of the place contrasted the imagery Deluge used, but I understood why.

The rotting flesh came from the plant killing the dragon, and now the parasite spread throughout the creature’s flesh. Just like the hollow people who wandered the village, this dragon turned to a puppet, a shadow of its former self.

As it stared at me, a petal touched the ground, and a set of legs sprouted from its side. The petal dug itself into the ground with its six little legs. A few moments passed, and a tiny, minute flower sprouted from the ground. The same flower as the human eater of before, though far smaller.

This dragon acted as a conduit for spreading this plant. The infestation centered here, within this beast and within this chapel.

I’d have to verify with sophia later to make sure, but that could come later. Considering this plant’s potential, we needed to stomp it out before it spread any further. With curved thorns jutting from the creature’s skull, the beast rose into the air with three movements of its wings before gliding towards me, and after a tense moment, the creature landed fifteen feet away, its head tilted in curiosity.

Razor hovered near the creature before I spoke towards it,

“What are you?”

The creature pointed its head towards the chapel before I said, “Then you are this flowered tree?”

The dragon turned its head back towards me before nodding. It understood me. I continued, “Why are you here?”

The dragon used a winged arm to point towards the ground, so I said, “You want this ground?”

It shook its head before Deluge said, “Think of a grander scale.”

I blinked before I said, “You want this world?”

With a slow nod, my hair bristles across my skin. Deluge’s shoves me from my conscious while saying, “This world is mine.”

The dragon shakes its head, spreading the enthralling scent of its flowers before the creature’s tail whips behind it. With a voice like broken glass, the dragon echoes around us,

“This place is mine, and this world is not yours. It belongs to another. I will take it from her.”

I raised an eyebrow as I said, “You mean Gaia?”

“Maybe, but it does not matter. Come closer. Breath it in. Give yourself to me.”

Razor floats beside the creature before opening her palms towards it. In her full, rich voice, she said,

“I won’t let you harm him. He’s my interesting anomaly. It would be a shame for him to die here.”

A bead of cold sweat dripped from my side for a second before the dragon’s tail whipped towards Razor, but she replied in kind. Two of her orbs flew through the air before colliding with the tail. The blades slammed into the spiked tail of the dragon before the creature’s jaws open, revealing a forest of teeth and thorns.

Thorny vines line the creature’s throat as it snaps at me, but I step forward while torquing my weight through my hips and feet. I drag my arm over my head as my right arm builds power. Right as the jaws reaches me, my fist crushed into the scale plates on its nose, unleashing all of my strength.

The ground beneath me cracks as a pulse of wind radiates from my blow. The beast’s maw snapped shut before slamming into the ground with a deafening boom. The black plates spread across the dragon’s face crack and crumble. The thickness of blood and the mush of flesh pressed against my fist.

After the earth warped under the creature’s jaw, the monster shot a wing towards me before Razor moved her last remaining orb, blocking the thorny arm. After being pinned for a moment, the dragon jerked its head sideways, tearing chunks of the ground with it.

My arm jerked with the creature’s head before it opened its mouth and bit onto me. Within a second, all became darkness as the acidic burn of fire engulfed my waist. Each tooth dug into my stomach like sharpened spines before the creature chewed, ripping my organs as blood leaked from my wounds.

Thinking I’m dead, the creature rears its head upwards while tossing me into its throat. Ignoring the agony, I stand up in mid air, stabbing spikes from my palms into the roof of its mouth. The creature chomped down, pressing my legs while the sound of blades smashing into scales filled my ears. The overwhelming pressure subsided before the monster bellowed an engulfing roar that shook my bones.

Blood poured from my ears and eyes after the sound passed. Leg bones jutted from thighs, and vines from the dragon’s throat crawled up, digging into my chest. Despite this hellish agony, I grinned wide. I had fought harder battles. Anguish poured into my mind from every angle, yet I met the pain. I conquered it.

The bones of my leg snapped into place before my sight and my hearing returned. I stabbed my feet into the gums of the creature before pushing my legs down with all the might in my body. The creature’s mouth crushes from both above and below, but I grit my teeth until they crack as I push my legs down and lift my shoulders up.

The skin on my back split as the mouth of the monster creeped open. The muscles of my legs and back screamed for release, but I ignored their howling. Tendons snapped and reformed under my skin as the creature fought against my strength. We fought a war of wills, and my will was a wall of iron.

Bones in my feet and hands broke. Sweat poured over my eyes, blurring my vision. My mind numbed before I slowly, but surely, pressed the monster’s mouth open. Liquid fire pumped through my chest as the vines began squirming inside, but Deluge regenerated each ruptured organ and ripped artery.

After several minutes of struggle, my legs locked as the monster’s maw snapped. The dragon pumped a liquid from the vines of its throat into my chest before I jerked my arm from the roof of the dragon’s jaw.

I ripped and tore the vines with my left arm before a flood of red erupted from the dragon’s throat. The creature gagged, launching me from the beast’s throat. I landed on my back, the sky spinning for a second before I wiped my eyes.

Gazing towards the dragon, Razor had reformed. Her hulking body, immense and deadly. The once human form turned floating spheres, each growing swords quicker than they could stab the dragon. They lined up, making a scorpion of blunt blue, like denim. The dull yellow daggers of before turned to claymore sized swords that impaled the dragon.

Two spheres of navy blue gouged open the sides of the black dragon’s chest, exposing its entrails. Her head orb grew yellow spikes from itself while launching the spines into the monster’s insides. Razor’s motherly voice roared with outrage as she howled, fierce as a storm at sea.

The dragon scrambled for its escape, but Razor’s hulking frame pinned the creature down as the organs of the creature sliced deep into its body. After a few more seconds of the carnage, the dragon’s eyes dulled before the creature limbs loses all tension. As the head lands on the ground, a rumble crosses the earth before the beast’s echoing cries die down into silence.

After she decapitated the creature, Razor continued digging through the monster’s insides before I shouted,

“Razor, I’m over here.”

She turned towards me before gliding along the air, noiseless and slithering like a snake. She grabbed me between two of her orbs before lifting me into the air and saying, “Thank Gaia you’re alive.”

With my voice choking from being squashed by her paws, I say, “Please let me down.”

She sets me down with a slow and smooth motion as she says, “Ah, I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to hurt you…I thought you had died.”

I shook my head before saying, “I think I could have won, though killing the monster from the inside would have been difficult to say the least.”

Covered in a bright, blue glow, Razor transformed back into her human form before she hugged me against her while saying, “I’m just glad you’re still here.”

Razor’s body bended as she hugged me, and in total contrast with the hardness of Aether, Razor’s softness relaxed me. We sat there for a moment before she released me while saying,

“Ah, yes. I shouldn’t be so close to you for so long. I’m sure it makes you uncomfortable.”

I grinned before saying, “It’s no problem. Thank you for getting me out of its mouth. It would-“

A sudden, sharp pain dug through my chest before I fell to my knees. Razor placed a hand on my shoulder while saying,

“Are you alright? Did the battle tire you out?”

I gasped for a moment before saying, “No. The creature…It pumped something into my chest. It is pain.”

After a gurgling sound wriggled from my chest, something spread through my chest like magma. My muscle burned like I marinated my flesh in salt and poison for several hours. Deluge said in my mind,

“Whatever infected that dragon is trying to infect you. I’m holding it back, but it’s strong.”

I winced as I said with my voice straining and hoarse, “I can tell. It feels like it.”

I turned towards the chapel before I stood with a hand on my chest. I grabbed a wick from a pouch on my side along with a match before I saying, “Razor. Get me a pile of dry pine straw. We need to burn all of this.”

She turned towards the forest before glancing towards me and saying, “But, you’re hurt. We need-”

I cut her off as I said, “Deluge is handling it. We need to handle that thing first.”

As I say so, pods form over the flowers on each branch before they start swelling. Razor stood paralyzed, so I shouted my words like thunder,

“Burn it. Now.”

Razor raised a hand towards me for a moment before she lowered it and glided towards the forest. Instead of standing there and whining, I walked towards the chapel with slow, weary steps. My toes dragged against the earth while slamming into the ground at the end of each stride. Each breath expanded my chest, and the misery of before evolved into anguish as I said to Deluge,

“There’s only one way to stop this Deluge.”

He replied, “I can stop this, I just need time. Whatever your thinking, stop thinking it.”

I shook my head before saying, “We don’t have time. I'm going to rip it out."