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Various bits and scenes from my head, episode 5
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Wizard War III Twoshot I guess ;P
Was listening to this while I was writing this:
Temple of deathTaranis and Ciro were at the end of their strength. Lantea has just been too powerful. The brothers no longer saw their once beautiful sister. That thing in front of them was a horrible half demon who sold her soul to dark magic. No longer the mighty, mysterious and proud dragon. The form was a hideous bipedal mix of a dragon, human, and pure nightmare. Where Lantea's scales were once the fine blue chips, she was now clad in black and violet plates. Her claws were so long it wouldn't allow her to hold anything, even a glass of water, but the brothers had long before learned she didn't have the need it. Lantea was alive only because of her sorcery. For all the brothers knew, the demons she absorbed had taken over the body.
Worst part of it was that they were fighting their final battle. It was here where the war would end, one way or the other, and the wizards were winning. The only ones who could have prevented the defeat were the two of them. Everyone else was up in the sky, fighting for the survival of their race. But Lantea made up her mind to delay them. As he picked himself up off of the ground, Taranis tried to figure out the reason behind her madness.
Lantea made it clear on several occasions that she didn't betray her kind. Heck, it was she who slain the dreaded Dagon, avenging their father's death. But Ciro to this day had nightmares about how she did so. The furious dragoness locked herself in a battle of minds with the wizard, casting an illusion so horrible on him that the old man died of sheer fear, clawing his eyes out. Soon after her madness took over.
Their sister started summoning demons. First to use as soldiers against the masses of humans that have invaded their island. It was working for a short time, but they just kept coming back in greater numbers. When the Energy Peak fell and Phoenicia was killed, Taranis had his own problem with overreacting, but even him leveling half of the Kikan forest couldn't match to the drastic Measures employed by Lantea. She has actually fed on the demonic power she brought to the world, turning herself into the abomination she was now.
What Taranis despised the most was that it had worked, and for the time being Lantea managed to put the wizard advance to a halt. But before the dragons could regroup, she vanished and left them to fend for themselves. It took all their best efforts not to be wiped out on the first encounter. Many have died that day. Ivy, Shya, even the demon Scourge has succumbed to the exorcism of the human priests.
When the land held by the dragons was reduced to a small part of the island northeast, Lantea reappeared, or rather made it known she was still alive. It was her who left a runic writing for them to find, cira had no doubt about that being her handwriting. There were several disturbing things about it though: Lantea discovered the Wizards intended to resurrect the strongest soul dwelling in Hell to use against the Dragons in the final push. The other was the fact that the runes were written with large quantity of human blood.
Ciro deduced the wizards intended to revive none other than Desperanus. Taranis has only heard of him in the stories told by Sol'Lux, but that was enough to frighten him to the core, and that was saying something considering how much this war had hardened them all. Even Ciro was now hardly able to express anything but sarcasm.
The only place where that ritual could be accomplished though was the temple of Death. And thus, instead of waiting for their end, the dragons went on one last push. Catching the wizards by surprise, they managed to get to the ruins in what used to be dark clan's territory. While everyone else gave the Guardian and the Demigod time to make it to the temple and break the ritual, the two ran into the unexpected company.
"You want to interrupt the ritual. I can not allow that to happen. Forces are in play you do not understand. And I will not let my efforts be in vain. I have sacrificed too much for you to destroy all of my work now. Turn. Away.
Brothers." were the only words Lantea said to them before she charged straight at them.
Taranis knew Lantea was strong, but he didn't expect this. Each of her attacks was something a mortal soul was ill equipped to fight, as there was a freezing aura of fear around her, and her touch felt like death itself was patting you on the shoulder. When Ciro had the misfortune to make eye contact with those crimson glowing eyes, he was reduced to a mumbling mess on the ground for a full minute before he rejoined the fight, leaving Taranis to fight his eternal rival alone.
Looking around now, Taranis didn't know if anyone was even left alive in the area, as most of the ruins have been either vaporized by the demigod's firestorms or simply vanished with but a swing of Lantea's hand. Taranis had to admit (Not out loud of course), that he was glad to have his little brother at his side. After their mother's death, it was Ciro who inherited the mantle of the Guardian. And the powerful light of the youngest sibling was probably what kept Lantea's shadow forces from destroying them both. And right now, the brothers went on the offensive again, perfectly coordinated despite no words being spoken. Exhausted herself, Lantea failed to defend and one of Ciro's attacks severed her right arm and wing.
the hlaf demon collapsed on the ground, but she was laughing maniacally. "AAaaaah, success." she said, pointing to the sky. A giant crimson pentagram appeared below the clouds, magical energy pouring inside of ot from below where several humans stood, chanting. One of them stood out in particular, shouting from the top of his lungs: "And soon, the Mighty Dagon will be resurrected and lead us to glorious victory!" Ciro made a quizzical face: "Did no one tell them not only humans go to hell? Who knows what they'll unleash on us all!"
To their surprise, it was Lantea who spoke: "I do. Well, almost certainly. But it was a gamble I had to take. The alternative was losing the war, and - " she was cut off by a painful gasp. On closer notice, the dark magic was seeping from her wounds, and along with it was her life. conflicted, the brothers didn't know whether to feel pity or justice. But all thoughts were swayed away as something happened out in the sky.
"Dagon lives!" the loudmouth human shouted as he thrown his arms up to the sky, only to be blasted by a strong burst of fire along with the wizards performing the ritual by the gold and red dragon that was hovering where the pentagram used to be. His barrier held enough to allow him a few seconds of life, unlike his comrades. "But... We were supposed to resurrect the strongest soul in hell!" he gasped. "And I'm here." Fireheart replied before putting him out of his misery.
The elder dragon glided down and landed next to the stunned brothers. Wordlessly, Fireheart made his way to Lantea's injured husk and laid his hand on her chest, muttering some words Ciro recognized to be ancient, although he couldn't decipher the meaning. It looked like Lantea's body begun to boil, the dark shape hissing and turning into smoke as light spread in waves from Fireheart's palm. In a few seconds the monster was gone, and where it used to be was Lantea again. The old, untainted Lantea, although severely scarred, something anyone educated in the area knew would happen when demons were forcibly purged from one's body, but at least the soul was left intact. "You did well, all of you." the older dragon commended. "What? But..." ciro begun, but Lantea's finger on his liups silenced him: "Later. We still have a battle to win."
- Test
