Ep 99. Ludin. (2)
Unlikely stories of heroes prevailing against impossible odds often inspired dreams of grandeur within children. A number of them tio dream the same dream, imagining a day where they would one day bee the hero in their childhood tales.
Unfortunately, no such miracles were so far.
The grey, silver-haired figure they’d seen was no longer ao be found. In her pce was a giaallic reptile, killing off at least a dozen with every swing of her arm and tail.
tless soldiers mindlessly jabbed their ons into the dragon’s scales, only for them to fling right off her body. The smart few began to cast fire spells and nock fming arrows given their intruder’s metallic make, but their attacks amouo little before her massive size.
“Where’re the elite squadrons?! Get them all in here!”
“This is all the men we have!”
In preparation for the oning campaign, a majority of the empire’s elites had been stationed on the western front; those that yet remained in the capital were the lucky few that had beeed for their rather g prowess in battle.
Of course, they were still loyal to their ruler, and valiant heless. But they were nowhere he level of strength to alter the course of battle against a dragon.
That was, except for a single individual whose hands had beerusted with the empire’s capital.
“Now, now, move aside. I appreciate your efforts, but knowing when to retreat is just as important as knowing when to fight.”
The soldiers quickly made way, bag off in unison from Raizel as their court mage showed. Only he aloepped into the courtyard to meet the steel dragon’s gring gaze while the rest began to step away from their massive enemy.
“…A rather peculiar intruder we have. Could I help ye one?”
The mage’s voice was impeccably polite, and all the more sarcastic because of it. Raizel snorted in amusement at the man’s seemingly baseless attitude.
“Pretty fident for a human.”
“I try my best.”
“Where’s your emperor?”
“Why, I just sent him away to safety. Were you looking for an audieh his majesty?”
“…So he’s not here.”
“No. That he isn’t.”
“Ha.”
An eerie smile curved the dragon’s mouth upon hearing the court mage’s answer. Instead of pressing him further for where the emperor had goo, Raizel instead elected to remain silent.
If the emperor wasn’t here, then she didn’t o worry about killing him actally before Serenis’ arrival.
‘Though, where is she anyways? Thought she’d be right behind me…oh well.’
When their short versation came to an end, Raizel drifted her ominous gaze towards another neighb tower before smming her body into it. Soldiers that were in the way were crushed underfoot, and the tower’s spectators couldn’t so much as even scream when the mass of metal came ramming into their face; after remainiively stationary in the courtyard, no one had expected the dragon to move about so suddenly.
But evehe soldiers begareating further back, the court mage merely gri the sight, raising his glowing staff into the air.
“And here I thought Stoneskin was an impeccable spell. It seems yours is far more durable, rge one.”
Instead of an answer, Raizel’s arm dug into the tower’s crumbling rubbles with her hand. Her cws emerged with a heap of bloodied stohat were then hurled towards the grinning court mage.
His glowing staff shimmered brighter, its tip releasing glittering violet particles from the embedded gem. They then began to explode in a series of fireworks upon intercepting the stone projectiles, redug it all to harmless dust.
But the court mage’s successful defense allowed little respite. Raizel’s cws came upon him directly thereafter, threatening to crush him underh.
“A little more to the right, if you would...ah, I suppose this will do.”
With a brief tip of his staff, the court mage summoned a rge boulder to smash into the dragon’s forearm. While the rock shattered apart without so much as leaving a scratch, it did alter the cws’ trajectory slightly – enough to make them skid past his robe and sink into one of the few remainis leading out of the courtyard.
The mage then began to pace across the wasted grass towards the courtyard’s opposing side, giving a curt nod towards the metal dragon.
“Slow, aren’t you? A little slower and I just might be able to step out of the way.”
“…”
Although no verbal answers came back, a giaal limb did e swinging across the courtyard, scraping at the remaining structures in a circle at the court mage’s height. A quick duck did save his life, though the circur swiroyed what exits that remained.
The youngling slowly turned her head, grinning at the remaining soldiers scattered he crumbled exits. Dig as they might, there was no way they were removing the rubble in time to escape before Raizel would get to them – and the same went for the court mage.
“And where’re you gonna run to now?”
The court mage snickered at the youngling’s victorious tone. He rose back to his feet, using his staff for support.
“I wasn’t running aer se…”
He sed around the ruins of the crumbled pace. Most soldiers had either escaped the courtyard or died in Raizel’s rampage, leaving only a handful to shiver in fear.
When his staff swung across the air once more, a wave of cold, ominous air spread across the courtyard. The soil began to rumble and split, as did the rubbles of the ruiowers.
And soon after, skeletal hands emerged from withihey desperately cwed at the ground, digging their way out to emerge with their torn, lifeless bodies.
“…”
Raizel wi the sight. As far as she could see, literal corpses were moving about; most were broken and battered, with many missing a limb or two, or even a head. But they were still moving heless.
And even worse, the skeletal figures began to encroach upon the living. Aire army of undead cwed their way onto the remaining soldiers, g and biting them to death. Resist as they may, the skeletons refused to stay down; hag and sshing did little to stop their advance as the soldiers fell prey to moving corpses of their own allies.
When the courtyard became devoid of living except himself and his only enemy, the court mage beamed a wide grin towards the steel dragon, smming the staff into the floor beh.
“I ’t risk having any witnesses, you see. And they’re far more useful this way.”
Raizel quizzically lowered her gaze at the mage. Skeleton or not, these things possessed no threat to her whatsoever; in fact, the army of undead ceased their fire-imbued attacks, which had at least mao annoy her. Now, even that was gone.
“If you mean equally useless, I agree.”
Wheeel dragourned her attention back to the court mage, he was invitingly stretg out his hand towards the metal dragoe his stacked odds, the mage seemed perfectly at ease as if he was used to the occurrence.
“No, they were quite useful. They robbed you of your attention until uardians’ arrival. That’s quite plenty.”
“…?”
“How will you fare, I wonder?”
His staff glowed brighter in its eerie violet light. A silvery hand emerged from beh the ground before him, and he quietly whispered a single phrase, almost as if he were uttering a spell.
“Ludin.”
“…!”
Raizel smashed her limb unto the ground, right over the court mage’s head. Whatever he was trying to do, she didn’t want any of it.
But instead of soft human flesh, the dragon’s cws smashed into somethiallic that had emerged from the grouh. Between her cws, Raizel could see a grey, dusty woman in front of the court mage, shielding them from Raizel’s cws with their bare arms.
“Be honored, rge one. Not many are given the ce to see Akeia’s guardians.”
“…Guardian?”
The youngling’s angered selted into a miserable, pained expression. Vicious snarls threateningly slithered out between her fangs, but Raizel’s arm was already beginning to give way.
A single, lifeless eye met the steel dragon’s gaze. The torn woman wore no expression whatsoever, nor did she speak a word; as, the youngling didn’t need anything more tnize who the woman was.
“…”
Soon after, a pained h throughout the entire pace. But it did little to alleviate the frustration welling up within its screamer.
Praybird
