Chapter 10

“Plans Flawed [Gore]”

[Spike's Point of View]

It was early in the morning, the sun's upper half was only visible on the eastern horizon. Trekking over the so called “Badlands,” wasn't that bad as rumored by many ponies. The badlands consisted of barren wastelands that stretched from the Equestrian border to the first dragon inhabited mountains. Beyond that, was Draconia and fertile lands.

We reached Kieás after a three day trek through mountains, valleys and plateaus. It was a fairly, medium sized city that mostly spoke in Dra’Voltn, as stated by Maximillius. The city was located deep into the Khienect Forest. Kieás wasn't how I imagined it to be. Unlike where Maximillius’ lived, Kieás was a city where dragons resided mostly in caves and huge trees rather than in buildings. We were hiding behind a few large boulders, figuring out a way to get inside Kieás without being spotted.

“Stay low,” Max instructed. “Or else, we will be spotted and imprisoned.”

We did as we were told and stayed close to the ground. As we hid from place to place, I decided to place an invisibility spell on Silvre, the dragonesses and myself.

“Don't!” Max hissed as I was about to cast the spell. “If you cast your invisibility spell, a dragon mage hybrid may detect your spell and warn the others.”

I let my energy cease, canceling the spell that I was about to cast. Max sighed a breath of relief.

“Good. Then we - ,” then he stopped mid-sentence as he tensed up.

“Kaaijenaeitnui,” he muttered before launching fifteen metal star shards into the air. Before Silvre or I could ask what Max was doing, one of the metallic star shards seemed to get stuck in the air and… drop blood?

After the shard hit the ground, a white dragon with blue spikes appeared on the ground next to where the shard lay.

“Invisibility,” Max simply stated. “The Wind Hybrids know of our presence in Kieás and are ‘camouflaging’ with their invisibility spells. We must find your imprisoned brother and sister before we get captured as well.”

As we ran to a hideout, the golden drake formed a metal dagger in his paws. The tip disappeared as he pointed it to the left and soon, red blood spilled to the ground. As soon as he let go of the dagger, a fallen grey Wind Dragon became visible.

“How do you know where an invisible dragon is? You're not even a mage!” I asked, amazed.

“You have to know how to use your senses in a more advanced and very detailed way,” Max began to explain. “After you have learnt that, you can begin training yourself to sense almost anything,” he grunted as he summoned a silvery liquid metal wall in front of him. Three dragons landed in it and got covered in mercury, hissing as the poisonous metal started to disintegrate their scales and burn away their flesh. Max launched three metallic tacks that penetrated the three dragons. Once the tacks impacted their targets, they exploded, sending the corpses’ blood and organs to fly everywhere.

Silvre spotted a cave not too far away and signaled us to follow him. Arya and Silvre made it to the cave's entrance first, then followed by Max and me. After we made it to the cave, we realized that we were missing one dragoness : Fayfel.

“Where's Fayfel?” I asked.

“Right here, Mage,” a soft feminine voice answered as we all turned around to see who it was. A rose scale colored dragoness with red spikes that was accompanied by other Wind Dragons had Fayfel with a glowing dagger pointed into the violet dragoness’ neck.

“Surrender and give your loyalty to Lord Ephixüs,” the rose colored dragoness said as more and more invisible Wind Dragons appeared. “However, you,” she pointed at me, “You will have to escorted to the Lord's palace. It seems that he wants a word with you.”

I saw Fayfel's determined expression and then slightly turned my gaze towards the left to see Max. He slightly nodded his head and formed a small, chrome sphere with spikes that was well hidden in his right paw.

“No,” I answered. “I won't surrender that easily,” I then created a sword out of green energy from my palm. The sword was six feet long, with the edges of the blade humming with green energy. In the center of the sword's pommel was an emerald that shined with a black inscription of an “S”.

The dragoness summoned a large silver and grey bow that gleamed in the morning sun. “I was supposed to kill you after you swore loyalty but slaying you now will eliminate one problem off my claws,” she notched a bronze arrow and aimed it at me.

We both waited to see who would land the first attack. Finally, the rose colored dragoness launched an arrow at me and I deflected it off with my blade. Max threw the spiked ball that he had formed earlier with so much force, that the sphere went right through three dragons, killing them as their hearts were pulled out by the mettalic sphere.

Silvreus created lightning javelins and shot them at two dragons. Before the bolts hit the dragon and dragoness, he shouted, “Iekaphrnuikhei,” and once the bolts hit them, they imploded. Both dragons were sucked into the void and disappeared out of sight.

Arya froze dragons with her Ice Element and broke them into small ice shards once her tail smashed through her frozen victims.

As the skirmish went on, the dragoness’ forces were starting to retreat away from Kieás. “Lieutenant Esthela,” a dragoness called out to the rose colored dragoness. “We're losing more and more dragons,” she then got killed by one of Maximillius’ exploding tacks.

“Retreat!” Esthela ordered. All dragons then vanished as she performed a teleportation spell… except one.

“Fayfel!” I yelled as I ran to her. “Are you okay?”

She muttered incoherently. I shook her once and then got slapped by Fayfel's tail on the face, drawing blood as the sharp end of her tail grazed my right cheek.

“She's been drugged!” I noted.

“True,” Max slowly answered. “Let's not waste any more time. We must save Razre and Sapphire before something happens to them. Hopefully, we'll find someone who can cure her”

We then again tried to find a way to get inside Kieás without arousing suspicion.

[Zehta, Draconia ; A Dragon Guard’s Point of View]

It was another boring and uneventful day in the Lord's palace. Many draconic guards came and went, some were stationed somewhere else and some ended their shift.

My normal routine was to wake up, go to the palace, put on my armor, station myself at the front doors of the palace and then station myself outside the Lord's chambers. At the end of the day, I leave my armor in my storage and leave the palace, ending my day by sleeping inside my small but cozy cave.

Today, it was was a normal, typical day for me. I was stationed outside of Lord Ephixüs’ chambers, minding my own business until a white dragoness with ice blue spikes suddenly ran towards the Lord's chambers. I drew out my bronze sword and pointed it at the dragoness’ direction.

“You are forbidden to enter Lord Ephixüs’ chambers,” I stated.

“B-but I have urgent news!” the white dragoness replied.

I sighed while putting away my sword. “State your business,” I said in a near monotonic voice.

“I am Ridiya Kerne, reporter of the Lord's military forces and spy,” she stated. “Now, may I enter Lord Ephixüs’ chambers?”

I knocked on the tall bronze doors and opened them slightly ajar. I stepped inside and saw no dragon on the golden throne.

“Why are you in my chambers, Prometheus?” an ancient, and deep voice filled the room.

I felt fear for a moment until I realized that I had to reply. “My Lord,” I started to say. “A dragoness by the name of Ridiya Kerne wishes to see you. Ridiya states that she has valuable information that you might wish to hear.”

“Send her in,” The Lord commanded.

I did as I was told and ushered Ridiya into The Lord's chambers. I stood by the large bronze doors while Ridiya advanced towards The Lord's golden throne. As she stopped in front of the throne, the six small orbs started to glow and float in the air. The orbs then spun around very fast and close together that soon created the silhouette of a massive dragon.

Ridiya bowed and said, “Lord Ephixüs,” as she showed her respect towards her leader. The Lord's color began appear. His silvery scales glittered in the light while his jet black spines and other set of scales gave off a look of power and leadership. Ephixüs’ height was twenty feet, he had emerald green eyes and had the royal platinum crown that signaled his authority in Draconia. The Lord was feared by many dragons because of his extensive power and magic that he wielded. What made him even more feared was that he had every Element known to dragons. He was known as “The Silver Draconic Hybrid” for having every Element's feature on his body.

Ephixüs body was unlike any other dragon's. His head was the same as any other dragon's, but his right arm was made out ice while his left arm was made of fire. His chest and legs were metallic and his wings were that of a Wind Dragon's, large and slim-like. His tail crackled with charged electricity while his feet were webbed, like those of a Water Serpent.

Ephixüs was truly a sight to behold. Even though I see him everyday as a guard, his sight still amazes me after all these decades.

“At ease,” Ephixüs commanded.

Ridiya did as she was told and stood back up. “Lord Ephixüs, I bring news to you about General Zodd and Lieutenant Esthela,” the white dragoness informed.

“Please, continue,” he said.

The draconianess messenger shifted uneasily. “Well, my Lord, General Zodd captured a fire dragon and water dragoness. I believe their names are Razre and Sapphire. Razre's Element is Fire while Sapphire's is Water.”

“Excellent,” Ephixüs smiled cruelly while he voiced out loud his thoughts. “Two down, three more to go. Soon, that prophetic dragon will have no Elements to absorb power from. Without any Elements, he cannot confront me,” he turned towards Ridiya once again. “Just what IS the purple and green dragon's name?”

“I… I-I don't really know, my Lord,” she stuttered.

Ephixüs shrugged and waved a claw at her. “No matter. We'll soon know when he is near my great presence. His corpse will be burnt in a cauldron filled with strong draconic acid once I execute him,” the massive dragon slightly chuckled. ”Anything else you need to report?”

“Yes, my Lord,” Ridiya replied. “Lieutenant Esthela ordered me to inform you about their whereabouts.”

“I could care less,” Ephixüs rolled his eyes. “Continue.”

“She is at the outskirts of Kieás, a city that is one-tenth of the size of the capital. She also encountered… complications.”

“Complications?” Ephixüs raised a silvery, scaly brow. “Did one of her fighters start a rebellion again, or did - ”

“No, my Lord,” Ridiya interjected with a slight hint of fear. “Lieutenant Esthela encountered… the green and purple drake you mention of.”

At the mention of this, Ephixüs stood up from his throne and started bombarding the white dragoness with questions.

“Was he captured? Does my Lieutenant know his name? Is he held as a prisoner?”

“Your Excellency,” the messenger said. “Lieutenant Esthela's forces… they have been, um…”

“Yes?” Ephixüs smiled cruelly.

“Her forces are all dead!” Ridiya informed quickly while slightly trembling.

Ephixüs' sickly smile was replaced with a terrible and furious glare.

“WHAT?” he bellowed. “All of the hundred dragons are dead!?” he started to come closer to Ridiya, who trembled in great fear. As he came closer to her, he began to shrink from twenty feet to six feet, the same size of the dragoness.

“How dare you inform me of this shit!” he yelled at her face. “I don't want to know my losses! I want to only know my victories!” he pressed his right, index claw to her neck and wrapped his tail around her torso. “Remember this, Ridiya, for this is the only warning you will ever receive,” he growled in a low tone on her ear frill.

“The next time you give me bad news, I will personally have my fun with you before you are thrown in the dungeons and tortured by my guards,” he emphasized “fun,” which sent a violent shiver down the dragoness' spine. Ephixüs began to squeeze her slowly while letting his right claw fall down to his right side.

The Lord seemed to be amused by the dragoness' attempts at freeing herself from the Lord's tail. She was struggling and was losing air. I then did what I normally wouldn't do…

Attempt to save somedragon.

I began to think of a way to get her out of Lord Ephixüs' grasp. Then, unexpectedly, a dragon servant came to me and informed me that His Highness' meal was done. I then quickly went to inform Lord Ephixüs.

“My Lord!” I got Ephixüs' attention and he stopped squeezing her.

“Yes, what is it?” he grumbled.

“Your Highness, your meal has been prepared,” I announced. Ephixüs released Ridiya and threw her forcefully to the white tile marble floor. The impact made a small crater on the tile floor while also causing the dragoness to spit out blood.

“Let that be a reminder, Ridiya,” he walked past the fallen messenger and slammed the huge bronze doors once he exited.

I walked towards Ridiya and grimaced as I saw the dragoness' blood being spilled from her maw. ”Are you okay?” I asked, unsure if the white dragoness was even alive.

A small grunt, followed by spitting came from the dragoness, signifying that Ridiya was barely alive. I helped her get to her feet. “Why did you save me?” she asked between ragged breaths.

“I… I don't know,” I replied. Truly, I didn't know what made me save this messenger.

She was about to say something but Ridiya coughed up blood and started to wheeze. “Come on, I'll help you go to the Infirmary,” I said as I proceeded to help her go there.

I was outside the white dragoness' room, peering through the window every so often to see if Ridiya was still alive. A green, horizontal laser was pointed at the dragoness' feet. It slowly started to ascend until it passed over her head. The laser then turned off and an image was projected on the glass window for me to see.

“Oh, Tartarus…” I mumbled as I read the description of Ridiya's condition. I slid my index claw to the left and saw a very detailed description on Ridiya's condition. The report stated that the white dragoness had damaged scales, fractured hips, broken ribs and fractured legs. Her breathing was ragged, she had lost a quite amount of blood and her Element's energy was way below average.

I swiped left again and saw her status. The statistics stated that her body temperature was starting to decrease and that her blood pressure was slowly decreasing, signifying that Ridiya was dying. Suddenly, an alarm sounded throughout the infirmary and the screen turned red and displayed, “Warning! Low health!”

Three dragons and dragoness doctors rushed to the messenger's room. One drake stopped by the screen and reseted the screen, ending the blaring of the alarm.

“What's happening?” I asked the drake who reseted the screen back to its previous state.

The drake pushed his glasses more closely to his eyes and replied, “It seems your friend, Ridiya, is losing energy faster and faster. If this continues, she will die,” he concluded.

After the drake announced this, I began to feel dread. “Thanks,” I murmured and the doctor went inside Ridiya's room, preparing to give her surgery. I hoped that Ridiya would survive throughout the whole operation.

Author's Note

New chapter released, new events. Like, comment, and tell me any errors that I have made, for I have not revised this.