Dragon's Roar - 9. Chapter 9

Mordred was thrown off balance by the unexpected explosion. Vicky took advantage of the opportunity to escape from his grip and make her way to Merlin and Sage. His quarry momentarily forgotten as Mordred's focus shifted to the direction of the explosion where his mistress and the young heir were doing battle. Figures began to appear as the hail of debris dispersed, but Mordred’s grew concerned as the red wyvern stepped forward brandishing his troublesome blade. Morgana was less than pleased with the new state of the battle. The citizens had been evacuated and now she had no choice but to face her foe's head on.

“Morgana, you have taken more than enough from us. I refuse to let you continue to do as you please.”

Morgana’s features sharpened; she eyed the blade pointed in her direction; she was growing tired of relics from the past continuing to be nothing more than thorns in her side. “Oh, dear boy, how the false ascension has bred such confidence in an otherwise insignificant pawn. You are nothing but a placeholder, a seat warmer until I, the rightful queen of darkness takes her place upon the throne.” Morgana taunted before summoning her legendary scepter; she was pleased that its reputation remained intact as Jin took a defensive stance with his eyes locked to the radiating purple orb floating atop the weapon.

“Jin, you must not face her...”

“I will not lose anything more to the darkness; the death and destruction that she caused must come to an end,” Jin shouted.

Levi struggled to his feet and offered a brief smile toward his mate. “We will face her together, she is much stronger than we had anticipated, and she caught us ill-prepared,” Levi held his spear in hand standing tall beside his mate.

“As endearing as this has been, I believe it is time for your reign to end. Your forces are diminished, your power is lacking, and you stare death in the face. Make this easy on yourself and just surrender your souls and power to me for all this will be as it should.” The subtle motion from his mistress did not go unnoticed. Mordred readied himself to end the pseudo-king, removing the disadvantage from the stage.

With a powerful flap of his wings and his great sword in hand, he charged the young king with a lethal blow in mind. Mordred could barely comprehend what was transpiring as his blade bounced off copper scales and a massive claw slammed his face into the ground.

“Your highness! Do not concern yourself with this traitorous creature. He will be receiving a death worthy of his crimes,” Vincent stated as he looked down at the dragon who had brought nothing but death and destruction since Morgana’s revival. Jin nodded in his direction as the captain of his royal guard went on the offensive. Mordred’s confidence in the situation continued to drop at the realization of the level of power the copper dragon possessed. Mordred was further thrown into disarray when Vicky emerged from the shadows, her attacks in unison with her brother, keeping Mordred off balance and on the defensive.

Morgana scowled as once again these pests continued to rise and challenge her plans. Her yellow eyes narrowed, and her soul pulsed with darkness. Levi’s spear and Jin’s blade pulsed in unison as they raised their weapons to defend against a blast of energy from Morgana’s scepter. Levi flinched when the energies collided as the damage endured during his early confrontation with Morgana still causing him pain. Morgana smiled and pressed her attack knowing she still had somewhat of an advantage.

Jin took note of his mate’s current condition. Levi, having contended with the darkness for too long on his own, began to feel the consequences of its effects, which were disrupting the flow of elements within his very being. With each shockwave of colliding energy, Levi shifted his position to take more and more of Morgana’s assault onto himself. His recent set of injuries and depletion of power gave Morgana an advantage; her power like nothing they had faced before. Levi knew Jin would catch on to what he was doing the longer this went on, but even together, they were barely able to press the empress of darkness – finding little to no chances for a decisive strike.

Jin continued to find himself in the position of being the protected and not the protector; others had suffered so that he would not. His soul cried out in frustration; he could do nothing but watch as his mate continued to move further away. What was the point of all of this, if he was always the one being saved? Why had this infernal blade been given to him when he lacked the power to do anything with it?

“You possess that which you require,” Jin blinked and stumbled back as the familiar voice echoed through his mind. “Protect your jewel, protect that which the kingdom cannot be without.” Jin’s felt his mind calm as the message became clear, relieved of what he thought were his burdens to bear, the metaphorical shackles shattered, and power rushed throughout his mind, body, and soul.

“Morgana,” Jin’s voice boomed and for a moment Morgana found herself unsettled. Looking upon the red wyvern she felt an eerily familiar presence. It was as if the king of old himself was walking towards her with that infernal blade in hand radiating a detestable power. Ethereal flames danced brightly along Jin’s arms equal to that of the burning passion and strength he felt within. Jin’s mighty stomp caused the earth around him to shatter as he dashed toward Morgana. The two dragons clashed as the shockwave could be felt throughout the kingdom.

Levi watched in awe as he witnessed his mate fight with a passion he had never witnessed before. Levi took to the sky to support his mate from above, but he found his body trembling in pain each time he attempted to gather the elements within him to unleash his magic upon Morgana. The empress of darkness smiled as she sensed Jin falter as concern over his mate began to weigh on his mind; he could feel something was wrong. Levi fought through the pain and fired streams of lightning at Morgana. Jin unleashed a wave of flames from his sword in combination with Levi; however, the two blast of magic were out of sync. With Jin worried for his mate and Levi fighting the corruption of darkness, the energies collided instead of unifying. The two dragons looked on in horror as the collision triggered an explosion of uncontrolled destruction as part of the kingdom was demolished in a mere instant.

Morgana stepped forth from the destruction amused at the failings of those who opposed her, but her glee quickly turned to astonishment as she felt a searing pain from being caught in the blast. Her fabled scepter displayed unseemly cracks throughout the orb which sat atop. She immediately reached out to the minds of Mordred and Urien; as close as she was to victory, she knew better than to press her luck as she waited years for this moment, and she would not be blinded by her pursuits.

Levi rested against Jin as Morgana regrouped with Mordred, who finally managed to escape the twins’ onslaught. Levi felt his body pulse as a hooded figure appeared beside the pair, yet he could not make out his face, but something about the figure struck Levi to his core. Their eyes met for the briefest of moments as Levi felt a darkness and pure hatred emanating from the figure, which seeped much deeper than Morgana’s. As quickly as he appeared, the three vanished into the void.

****  

Morgana reveled in the flow of darkness as she set off to recover from the battle with the drakes. Although things did not go according to plan, they worked out in her favor far better than she could have hoped. Not only were her powers greater than they had been before, but she also felt that she could abandon the need to collect the gems, which she thought to be so precious to her plan when even together they could not put an end to her. A disturbance in the flow of darkness awakened her from her slumber.

“How dare you think to approach me without being summoned; you have grown too full of yourself Mordred. I will have to remind you of your place, as without me, you would be lost to wander the realm seeking shelter from those you have betrayed. Or have you forgotten the one who made you what you are today?” Morgana taunted with venom-laced words.

“So blind you have become mistress, in your rise to power you seem to have forgotten the number one rule you bestowed upon me centuries ago.”

“You insolent hatchling, how dare you...” Morgana looked down at her outstretched claws, her beating core held between them in the grasp of Mordred who had run clean through her with his bare claws. She struggled to turn and face him, gasping at the sight of the devious smile upon her ward's face, his eyes glowing a deep purple with his pearly white teeth shining in the darkness.

“You have served me well, my mistress. Now, it is time for my plan to proceed to the next phase,” Mordred withdrew his claw from her body, the beating core pulsing in his grasp. “The sweet release of death will fuel my rise in power. It was you who bestowed the words upon me. Darkness favors those who truly seek to embrace it, not subjugate it. Your arrogance left you vulnerable, as such as, you exhausted far more power than should have been necessary in the presence of those who seek to embrace the darkness.” Mordred let out a maniacal laugh as the light faded from his mistress’ eyes as he consumed her power into his very being. “The end of an era has arrived, and with it, the true king of darkness has arrived.”

***  

“True king of darkness, what a farce,” Urien laughed. “Enjoy what you claim to be a victory, for you have no idea the true horror of darkness that I intend to unleash on this world. All who have wronged or defied me will have their souls torn from their bodies and consumed.” Urien smiled to himself, feeling very relaxed as he channeled some of the energy from Morgana’s core into his very own being. Urien laughed at the fool heartedness and ineptitude of this self-proclaimed king of darkness. He already proved himself to be reckless when the simple act of siphoning off such tremendous power went unseen and unchecked. They did have one thing in common, however, Urien agreed the end of an era had indeed arrived, but whose plan was now taking shape was certainly not Mordred's.

As Urien began to accept the darkness and appreciate its effect on him, the darkness was quite pleased with him. Of course, Urien had lots to learn including that very few could siphon the tremendous power of the darkness from any user undetected.

Even if Mordred was aware of what Urien was doing, could he stop him?