Dragons Awakening
CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE: Defeat or Victory?

Two sizzling fireballs raced toward him. Ezer snapped his head around and began fluttering his wings to gain height. Aiming for the barrage, he expelled the smoke building inside his gullet. The black cloud engulfed the projectiles. Blackened rocks plummeted toward the shore.

“You cannot defeat me.” Qwystanak roared and launched another pair of fireballs skyward.

Ezer flapped his wings, rising above the projected course. Losing patience with that arrogant attitude. Time for Inferno’s chieftain to pay his final debt. Once he finished this fight, Ezer could enjoy his reward. Tightness squeezed around his rocky heart. Centuries spent longing for his mate and offspring would end this day.

“You think he will return you to Dragonrealm?” Qwystanak roared with laughter. Fire spouted skyward to punctuate his mirthless outburst.

Using his tail as a crutch, the red dragon leveraged his overweight body into an upright position. The snaky appendage burrowed beneath the sand. The crumpled wing, limp and worthless, pressed at an awkward angle on the dragon’s left side. Along his spine, a crack gaped, revealing lighter red flesh beneath the burn lines. He slogged through the water until his feet cracked through the hardening sheet of molten rock which comprised the shore.

Light glinted to the south. Ezer craned his head toward it, cursing his useless eye.

“Knock him belly up.” Jokul’s voice inside Ezer’s mind soothed his irritation. “I’ve got a little something to cut through those cracks.”

“It is fleshy underneath,” Ezer said. “I see that on his back.”

“Penetration through the belly will kill him,” Jokul said.

“I don’t need lessons on killing dragons,” Ezer groused. After today, killing dragons will never be my concern again.

Ezer banked toward the beach. Three fiery orbs spiraled toward him. Ezer breathed smoke on them. Not soon enough. He dove toward the surface of the sea. His tail skittered across the choppy surface and Ezer pulled out of the dive.

Qwystanak laughed.

“There’s a crack in your armor, brother,” Ezer said.

The red dragon craned his neck. Ezer pumped his wings and extended his claws toward the red dragon, an enormous eagle reaching for a fish. As before, Qwystanak rolled to the side. Ezer pulled up, launching his tail toward the exposed underside. Air whistled. His enemy roared.

A fount of flame struck his right wing. Searing pain raced through the intricate webbing supporting the leathery membranes. Icy tingles chased the discomfort. Ezer stretched to full wingspan, grinding his teeth against the onslaught of chilling agony. Riding a current into the air, Ezer banked. And now to end it.

The fiery expulsion from the red’s mouth ended. Qwystanak pushed the ground with his tail. He didn’t right himself quickly enough. Air shimmered. A rain of wood shards flew from the invisible ice dragon. Qwystanak roared in pain, firing flaming cannonballs into Jokul’s forward flight pattern. Ezer opened his mouth to smother them with smoke. It will be too late to protect Jokul.

A glint of sunlight from the west sparkled off the diamond scales. Jokul hovered in the air. He had pushed himself backward while deploying his attack. Ezer recognized the maneuver, standard procedure on a follow up strike. If Qwystanak hadn’t been so obsessed with hatred, he would have known where to direct his barrage.

The air beside the glittering white dragon coalesced into a vertical golden rod. It glowed more brightly than the sun overhead, expelling heat that made the volcano seem frigid. Ezer turned from the glorious apparition.

The sound of the surf died. Wind held its breath.

Ezer opened his good eye. A dazzling winged being floated in the air above Qwystanak. His body looked human, a strange sight. When last Ezer had seen his deity, he took the form of a sleek, golden dragon. Metallic skin glistened with unnatural luminescence. A steady, rapid vibration ran through the wings holding the figure in place.

Ezer settled to the ground, which crunched beneath his paws. Pain flared up his legs and through his shoulders when he folded his wings, but he would not be deterred. He knelt on his front legs. Every movement ignited a new flurry of agony.

With his snout on the warm, black ground, he said, “My Lord, it is as you commanded.”

Jokul snorted. Ezer eyed him, but a one-eyed glare is a weak thing. The ice dragon hovered in the air near Onmisufficiency, head slightly bowed.

“You will have your reward.” The voice sounded like a majestic trumpet and beautiful harp.

On the ground, Qwystanak flinched, trying to use his tail to gain an upright position.

“Your reward awaits, Qwystanak.” Omne reached at hand toward the red dragon and his movements stopped.

“I’ve been punished forever,” the red dragon said. His growl died off in a whimper.

“You nearly destroyed my warrior race and threw Dragonrealm into chaos. For that, you believe two millennia in the core of this planet is sufficient punishment?” The words rumbled: a landslide accompanying a choir.

“It wasn’t my fault.” The red dragon’s voice quavered.

“I judge the punishment sufficient.” The whirring of wings filled the ominous pause. “Your death will end the conflict.”

“What is death?”

“Soon you will discover what no immortal being was meant to experience.” Omne’s voice crescendoed.

“It can’t be worse than the burning core.” Qwystanak’s voice weakened.

“Death can offer relief, Qwystanak, Chieftain of Inferno. You will not replace it so.”

The ground trembled beneath Ezer’s feet at the potent vehemence in Omne’s words. The wooden shards embedded in Qwystanak’s underbelly plunged further into the bloody chest. Air whooshed when a spike punctured lungs. The metallic corpse lay still.

Ezer stared at his brother but felt nothing. Shouldn’t he mourn? Or perhaps rejoice that this trial had ended? Justice had taken its sweet time to be served, and Ezer had suffered much during that span.

“Now to reward my chieftains.” Omne glowed brighter, hovering nearer to Jokul, who alighted with a crunch onto the steaming shore.

Ezer stood up and cocked his head in order to view Jokul and his god with his functioning eye.

“I want nothing,” Jokul said. The growl in his voice bordered on blasphemy. Ezer’s muscles stiffened, sending pain arcing through his cuts.

“You wish your immortality to end?”

“I said nothing of the sort.” Jokul ducked his head beneath the feet of the golden diety.

“Your very existence is my gift, Chieftain of Clan Crystalline. If I withdraw my favor, you will end.”

Jokul flapped the ends of his wings, wobbling slightly as the air siphoned through the tear in the left membrane. His clawed feet lifted from the ground and then resettled.

“You have earned a pardon and a return Dragonrealm.” All Ezer ever wanted.

“I will stay here.” Jokul lowered his head, almost a sign of reverence.

The glowing figure stared at Jokul until the dragon’s silvery gaze dropped toward the ground.

Crunching footsteps behind Ezer. He whirled his massive head, tensing to face a new threat. The boy approached, stepping gingerly on the crust of hardening lava. His bronze skin, coated in perspiration, glistened in the fading sunlight. Pale green eyes stared at the manifestation fluttering above the ruined carcass of their enemy.

“Young human,” Omne said. “My gift was not wasted on you.”

“Who are you?” Akolo’s voice broke.

“I have many names, child.” Omne dimmed and fluttered closer to the ground. “Some on this planet would call me God.”

“God doesn’t exist.”

A tinkling melody rolled over them - the deity’s laughter. The musical sound encouraged Ezer to smile, but dragon faces weren’t made for smiling.

“Then I am not here, whisperer.” After a pause during which the golden figure glowed warmly while staring into Akolo’s face.

The boy continued to stare upward, craning his neck. “My mother should never have died.”

“Human die. Only their souls are immortal.” Omne fixed his molten gaze on Jokul. “If you stay, Chieftain, how will you coexist with the humans? Other dragonkind exiled here were destroyed centuries ago.”

“There is a mountain,” Jokul said, keeping his eyes lowered. “The people there honor me.”

“You who rebels at worshiping me, seeks the worship of these humans.”

Jokul’s head shot up. The air in front of him froze into a pane of ice. “I ask nothing of them. They don’t risk their lives or fight my battles.”

“Stow your indignation.” The golden light dimmed before brightening even more. “You have fulfilled your obligation to me. I will grant your request.”

“I will not thank you for it.” Jokul dipped onto one knee, muzzle resting on the ground. “As you say, I earned it.”

Ezer roared. Even though his muscles screamed, he stepped toward Jokul, summoning a blast of poisonous smoke. Omnisufficency raised a hand toward the black dragon. Smoke dissipated.

“Do not feel offended on my behalf, Ezerhaydn, Chieftain of Metallica.” The voice, a symphonic concert, soothed Ezer’s frayed senses. “The feelings of my creation cannot alter who I am.”

“Omne,” he bowed his muzzle to the ground, “I have obeyed your will.”

“With a little help.” The boy stared at Ezer, eyebrows raised.

“Your service has saved your planet.” Omne stretched his hand toward the boy. A glittering trail of light touched his chest, and Akolo placed his hand over it.

Ezer ducked his head toward the human. “You were destined to aid us, whisperer. Tell the seer I thank her.”

“We have names.” The boy snapped his hands onto his hips, reminding Ezer of the seer’s famous pose.

“Your participation exceeds any expression of gratitude I could offer.” Ezer ducked his head slightly toward the boy, whose mouth turned up in a crooked grin.

“Best apology ever, Ezerhaydn.”

“Enjoy your world, Akolo. Tell -” Ezer snorted, “Zi Yan I’m glad her vision proved false.”

Akolo lifted his hand in a common gesture for greetings among humans. “Enjoy your family reunion.”

Ezer felt the touch of the boy’s mind on his, and he opened the link. Maybe you will be allowed to see it with me.

The golden glow increased, bathing Ezer’s face in delicious warmth. Akolo stumbled backward and covered his head with his arms.

The golden circle beckoned. Ezer walked into the inviting luminescence. The heat absorbed every ache. When he opened his eyes, glorious light blinded him. Another step blanketed him in perfect peace. He floated toward the blur of mountains.

And finally home.