Flames of freedom
The first step
Previous ChapterIt seemed as if everything had slowed down, from Stars perception he could feel the new warmth and power surging through ‘Ro'ords magic, it continued growing until all traces of his normal magic had completely faded.
All too soon time again to reassert itself, Fell Fire who had originally backed away in fear now strode forwards with a confident look on his face.
"Don't make me laugh, there haven't been any true dragon slayers for centuries. It's a lost magic for a reason, I don't know what kind of fluke that was just now but if you really expect me to believe that you’re a-" he was cut off by the sudden appearance of Ro'ord's foot colliding the side of his face sending him flying into the writing desk shattering it instantly.
After a moment, everything was still. Then Fell Fire jump from the remains of the desk all of his former cockiness gone, there was a slight cut above his right eye with a trail of blood leading down his face. This time his expression turned to anger as he drove on the offensive, jumping forward with the front hooves ablaze swinging madly me trying to do as much damage as he could.
"You know you remind me a hell of a lot of the people from my world, always preying on the weak, only ever respecting their own lives never those of others. What about your friend over there, he was your partner, one of your allies why did you betray him?" I said throwing him back already guessing at his answer.
He looked at the points where his hooves had made contact seeing me completely unharmed from his flames unnerved him.
'There's no way it could be true, my minions already mentioned his use of illusion magic that must be it, he's nothing more than a fraud.' Gaining some slight confidence in his thoughts he once again met my gaze. Then looked over to the pile of ashes with a smirk. "What you mean him" he gestured to his former companion. "He failed in his simple task, and then was stupid enough to run away. I always get the stupidest followers. He didn't even think for a second that if he looks weak it makes the guild weak. If any of those towns ponies get it in their heads that they can fight us we can have issues. So I merely dealt with the weakest link in the chain."
Suddenly the temperature in the room seemed to increase. I looked at the floor in front of me. ' This guy is no different from the scum back on earth. It's beings like him that that made home the crap world that it is, At least here I can actually do something about it'.
“that’s the wrong answer” I growled stepping my fists was shrouded with bright cyan flames. Fell looked uncertain, jumping forward I pushed him on the defensive. he side-steps the heat from my flames searing the edges of his coat slightly, proving that it’s no illusion.
Despite his efforts, I managed to catch him on his front right leg when he attempted to block, the effectiveness of the strike was multiplied by the flames. His own use of fire magic had given him resistance to fire magic that gave him more protection than most but my dragon flames cancelled out the majority of it singeing his coat where I hit and leaving a bruise.
The force of the hit sent him down to the floor where he slowly rose, his injured leg shaking slightly, his eyes hateful.
“Come on you can do better than that! Is the only way you managed to keep your guild in line through fear?” While I had distracted Fell Star lead his mother to the tunnel and out of the chamber. I smiled now that they are in the clear I won’t have to worry about hurting them. Noticing that he'd been duped, he charged forwards on the offensive.
“Let them run it doesn’t matter it won’t change her fate. they will never get past my men either way"
Slowly Fell Fire started to levitate off the ground, his horn glowing brightly. He got to about head height and shrouded his body in a shimmering orange bubble like shield that shimmered and glowed in the light.
"Doesn't matter how effective your flames are if you can't land a hit." He said as he levitated in his shield smug grin on his muzzle.
Simultaneously whilst charging the shield he began firing at me with beams of magic foregoing his fire magic. Sidestepping his attacks, I dodged the majority of his magic but a few of his attacks got lucky striking with minimal damage. Glancing at the slightly blackened sections of my coat.
'All right, enough of this' he ceased his attacks for a moment to recover his magic. I smiled. "Getting serious eh, guess I won't mess around either" the temperature in the cave suddenly skyrocketed, wisps of blue flames flowed around my feet enveloping my body in a burning shroud. The fire scorched nearby furniture and burnt away any reaming dirt and mud in my fur exposing the symbol on my shoulder that had been obscured, leaving it back to its usual pristine white.
Stalking forwards with an evil grin I met his gaze, Fell backed up in surprise, his Shield hitting the cave wall. “Hey batter swing” my flames gathered around my fists the blazing intensely. Leaping forwards, I punched his Shield with full force, it cracked at the point that of impact the shield was launched backwards the cavern wall exploding.
Star moved down the tunnel as fast as he could while supporting his mother. The closer they drew to the end of the tunnel the louder the sounds of fighting became. The sight that greeted the pair was anything but comforting, despite his numerous wounds the beast that was once a stallion had mowed through several of his former guildmates. Their broken and bloodied corpses littered the main chamber, several of the wounded had Retreated behind the few still able to fight, had Switched to using ranged magic attacks to try and keep him at bay.
The handful of black horns guild members still stood looked to be at a dangerously low morale, several of them quivering in fear. The creature noticed us entering the chamber and then decided we were easier prey, moving away from the remaining enemies and hobbled towards us at a steady rate. The pain from his broken leg and numerous injuries barely seem to faze him that he moved noticeably slower than before.
'I've got to hold him off to protect mom, he won't go down easy, at least is already weakened' Star moved and put his mother in a reasonably sheltered area chamber, then sprinted back into the centre between the monster. He then began infusing magic, his horn and body began to glow faintly with this whitish aura, the desperation this of the situation forced him to summon more magic they ever had before.
The Black Horn Guild members rushing around to turn to their wounded and taking advantage of the momentary distraction to recover. The beast leered ever closer to Star while he kept pushing his magic harder and harder. 'It may not be as strong as brothers and give me strength and speed equal to that of a falling star. But it’s the only spell that I have practised, hopefully, will be enough to hold off this monster'.
Stars magical aura grew brighter and brighter beast was only a hoof step away from him now. Lunging forward for the final blow, "Meteor" Star yelled as his aura stabilised, moving far faster than he had before he dashed forwards and landing a hard uppercut to the monster's chin. His physical strength had been amplified along with the speed force of his blow causing the stallion to lift off the ground a few feet.
Taking advantage of this Star attacked again and again before he could touch the ground and Counter. Hitting as hard and fast as he could from many different angles. He continued this as long as he could until his forehoof’s ached and his horn burned from his excessive use of magic. Pausing to catch his breath the stallion fell back to the ground. He attempted to rise and failed falling back in a heap.
The remaining Black Horn members looked on in shock as the enemy who had caused such damage to their guild was equalled. Star glared at them standing protectively between his mother and the enemies. The beast rose once again, this time he looked uncertain as he swayed threatening to fall.
Once again star stepped forward sighing exhaustion threatening to overtake him. He focused his magic once again this time concentrating it in his horn. ‘I don’t have enough magic for much else, but he looks to be weak so hopefully this will be enough to down him’. Using the last dregs of his magic Star fired a beam of compressed starlight at the enemy.
The beam engulfed the monster, Star felt his magic meet resistance as he struck pushing forward until it disappeared and certified the beam going as long as he could until his magic reserves burnt out and the torrent of energy ran out. In front of him the rough-cut floor way slightly scorched, the stallion had taken the worst of the attack and lay in a heap unconscious his chest rising and falling slowly.
The remaining members of the black horn Guild stared in shock and relief at the creature. Most of their guild mates were down either unconscious or barely standing. Breathing heavily Star retreated over to his mother collecting her from the corner of the room and began making his way towards the exit of the Guildhall.
Some of the Black Horn members noticed this and those that were able to move towards the exit to prevent them from leaving. There was a slight rumbling noise and everybody turned their attention to the back of the room near the tunnel, slowly the rumbling became more intense than a thin web of cracks began to appear on the Stonewall of the cave.
Suddenly the cave walls exploded outwards showering the room with rubble and strange orange shards that dissipated as they came in contact with the floor. Fell came through next landing amongst the debris, his shield had absorbed the worst of the attack. After a second he shuffled in the pile of debris looking up at the whole in the newly created tunnel from his back .
A look of fear was etched into his muzzle as he stared into the black depths of the newly created tunnel. At the end of it there was a slight blue light that seems to be getting brighter, then Ro'ord came out of the tunnel his fists ablaze with cyan flames that burn fiercely heating up the whole room. Fell Fire stared at him trembling.
"N-no it's impossible, how can a member of the Dragon Scale Guild be here.!" I walked towards him with an evil grin and piercing glare.
"I got no idea what you're talking about pal, I'm just here to stop you from causing any more pain"
he looked surprised and stood up smiling again "You know; you should really look more into who’s emblems you steal. That one on your shoulders the symbol of an ancient wizard’s guild. Been around since before nightmare moon was sealed." He looked around the room noting the state of the Guildhall and his cronies.
"You may not be an official Guild wizard but your magic is still impressive. I can't have any pony around here rival me." He stood up glancing at the unconscious monster a few feet away, he lit his horn thinning tendrils of magic towards the stallion. His magic seized the faintly glowing gemstones around the creatures left foreleg pulling the magic out of them. The purplish glow left the shards leaving them dim in the normal state.
The faint glow also left the stallion's eyes, his chest stopped rising and he lay still. Fell Fire's horn was glowing more brightly the small scuffs and bruises were slowly healing, as his body was enveloped in a light orange aura. The rest of the black horn Guild members looked on quietly for a moment then began cheering, happy that the enemies killed so many of them was now gone.
The celebration was short lived however as soon he had drained the magic from the stallion he directed the tendrils towards them seizing anypony nearby quickly draining all of the magic from them through the enchanted weapons that they carried.
The jubilation turned to screaming as those who remained all rush for the exit running from the orange magic tendrils.
A couple of them using what little magic remained to break through the entrance of the guildhall widening the doorway so that others can escape out the supposed leaders reach. Those that had successfully escaped sat at the edge of the clearing peering in through the damage entrance to see what happened next.
Those that were lucky enough to escape having their magic stolen lay where they fell, a handful of them barely breathing. Fell Fire stood strong once again most all his injuries were healed. His eyes had a light orange glow to them from the stolen magic. Star had also retreated with his mother had stayed noticeably closer to the entrance.
"My fire magic may be ineffective against you, but this much raw magic energy-" his speech was cut off, which might have something to do with my flaming fist ploughing into the side of his muzzle. Unlike before he wasn't affected by the force of the blow and stood firm.
"How dare you they trusted you with their loyalty. Their lives! They may have been petty thugs and criminals leeching off innocent ponies, but you are the worst kind of scum."
He scowled striking back with a magic occurring hoof, catching me by surprise as it hit. I took a step back as his horn charged, he fired a powerful beam of magic that hit directly on my chest. the beam ripped apart Natsu's vest that I was wearing. Tearing and burning the fabric leaving a ragged hole. the fur of my chest mostly escaped harm only slightly singed. the spot that he struck ached numbly, there will definitely be bruising.
The Force of the spell pushed me back several feet I looked up to see Fell's evil grinning face " Ha so it looks like my magic can affect you, I guess I’ve just got to amp it up a bit!" He smirked this time charging both his four hooves and horn brightly. Likewise, I fueled the blaze on my fists increasing the intensity and heat of the flames.
Once again we jumped into action each trying to gain the upper hand over the other. "That was pretty foul smelling magic. The likes of which that should have remained sealed in the books after they were created. " I said whilst pushing forward with a right hook which he sidestepped. Switching tactics I kicked at him shredding my left leg in flames.
He unexpectedly caught my kick with his left foreleg the orange magic surrounding it dimmed trying to protect his hoof from the flames. My flames burned all the brighter burning away his magic in a split-second he noticed this and struck forward with his right hoof attacking my side whilst trying to gore me with his horn.
"Oh you like my leech spell do you, it was forbidden away by the princesses long ago but a partner of mine managed to recover it. It's how I made those enchanted weapons. Though it's taken a while to steal all the magic from these pitiful ponies that didn't pay up, they barely had enough strength for a single charge." growling I spun around quickly wrapping my tails together they burned with cyan fire.
"You shouldn't have said that pal, now I'm going to destroy you. Fire dragon tail strike!" With a yell, all nine of my flaming tails hit him in the centre of his chest like a giant mace. He went flying to the other side of the room hitting the wall loudly causing several cracks. He stood up a large red burn across the centre of his chest while his magic feebly tried to heal the wound. He stared at me his eyes bloodshot panting slightly. He had taken a lot of his magic just cushion the force of the blow. The magic left his hooves and his aura completely disappointed all of his magic was concentrated in his horn.
His eyes were desperate and crazed as he lowered his said menacingly. "Why won't you just DIE!" A small sphere gathered at the end of his horn, the orange light flowing into it as it slowly grew larger. I stood my ground "Trying to finish this with one attack eh, well then let's see which one of us is left standing."
Inhaling deeply pulling a disproportionate amount of air into my lungs than should be possible for my size. He leant forward firing the ball of charged energy, a massive beam of magical power came pouring from his horn, headed in my direction. "Fire Dragon Roar!" a massive torrent of flames came pouring from my mouth. Accompanied by the loud roaring bellow of an angerd monster.
When the two attacks met for moment it seemed that they were equally matched.
Then slowly fell Fire's beam was pushed back from the force of the unrelenting flames. The longer the struggle continued the faster it pushed back until as they hit Fell Fire, he was forced backwards into the hole in the cave for a few seconds there was silence and then a massive explosion of blue light with small wisps of flames leapt out of the entrance. There was a low rumbling sound as cracks Lansing through the stone as the already destabilised stone gave way.
The room started shaking his bits of timber and stone began to fall from the roof. Towards the whole "Now you won't be able to hurt anybody, enjoy your tomb scum."
I walked slowly out of the Guildhall as it collapsed. The building was now nothing more than a pile of rubble next to the cliff.
Turning to the few remaining Black horn Guild members who had managed to get all of their wounded out in time there were many hushed whispers coming from the group. "That's insane-- I didn't think that guild had any strong wizards-- ah- a real Dragonslayer" their murmuring silence that I moved closer. "Okay listen up, now you've seen the way dark guilds operate, your master cared nothing for you other than what you could do for him."
They will look down at their hooves in shame some with tears in their eyes and looks of anger. One by one they all took off their enhancer items and threw them to the ground in a pile. A swift click of my claws sent the pile up in a blaze causing several of them jump backwards. "Now the way I see it you guys got a couple of choices, you either go your separate ways and either join respectable guilds and learn some real magic to get proper jobs. Or you help this town that you've taken so much from and try to earn their forgiveness and maybe do a little bit of good"
"Ro'ord come quickly she is in bad shape." Star's voice echoed across clearing looking over I saw that Jasmine was on the floor breathing heavily and covered in a cold sweat. Changing back to my bipedal form then transformed into my giant form. 'Damn I hate using this spell, takes up too much magic and am already tired out, no choice.'
"All right everybody if you're coming to help the town hop on if not, clear out of here."
Picking up Jasmine and Star with one of my tails dropping on my back. I also grabbed the six or so former Black horn members as well as any wounded that step forward. I gladly notice the majority of the group had decided to repay their sins. Then taking off towards the town at a sprint clearing large portions of trees between each leap.
"Sorry this is the most comfortable of rides but time is of the essence. And- Ouch hay watch the ear" the assortment of ponies had been haphazardly deposited on my back and clung to my fur to stay
in place. One of them who had not been securely in position was thrown off on the first leap. He hung off my ear terrified, Much to my annoyance.
After a few minutes travelled town came at a sight in the distance.
Author's Note
so it seems I'm in need of a new editor. thanks Jack for all the help. anyway if you guys know anybody that might be interested let me know.
