The Last Dragoon

[Guinea]

Chapter 15

The sound of chains, and metal doors striking stone. The smell of mold, and dampness. Vixi finally came to, and looked around. Prison walls. A filthy floor. Blood-caked stones and nowhere to run. She clenched her fists, hurting her wrists due to shackles. There was no escape.

"Ah, I believe the traitor has awakened," said a raspy voice, "go, and fetch the mage. Let's show her what happens to terrorists in the Capital!" Vixi clenched her fists tighter, causing the bindings to cut into her flesh. Ironic, really, that it stained her hands with blood. She felt dizzy, and weak. She needed to get away.

It wasn't long until someone arrived. It was one of the Capital's Paladins, a young woman named Glitz. Vixi recognized her immediately. After saluting the gaurd, Glitz motioned towards the cell. Her arm was resting on the hilt of her sword. She glanced at Vixi for a moment, then looked back to the gaurd.

"I'm here to see Vixiana," she said, a murderous edge in her voice, "open the cell." The gaurd nodded and did so. Vixi swallowed hard. Glitz was a feirce and loyal knight. Believing she had come to execute her, Vixi prepared to summon the Old Wind to blow them away.

The unexpected. Glitz drew her sword and thrusted it through the gaurds heart. He fell lifelessly to the floor. Glitz dashed over to Vixi, raised her blade, and brought it down. Vixi's shackles were destroyed. Getting to her feet immediately, Vixi stepped away as Glitz sheathed her weapon and spoke.

"The Minister has gone mad. Once news of the Great One's death reached the Capital, he and the Elder's had everyone leave the palace. They are now locked within, using summoning magic. He means to restart the legends." She removed a pouch from her back and threw it across the floor to Vixi.

"How is that possible?" Vixi whispered, kneeling down and grabbing the pouch. Glitz's reply shocked her. "By reviving the Strange Being. The ancient god slain by the Great One." Vixi suddenly spat onto the floor. So, her encounter with the Minister wasn't a dream after all. Glitz suddenly detected footsteps and drew her sword. "I will go ahead, and clear you a path to the palace. We mustn't let them summon it." Vixi nodded. "Go," she whispered, and Glitz was gone. Vixi opened the pouch.

"I'll be damned," she whispered. It held the remaining weapons she had taken from the armory.

 

[Guinea]

Chapter 16

When the footsteps became louder, Vixi decided to close the tunnel. She pulled the pins from three grenades and rolled them down the hall, jumping back into her cell until after the explosion. She then ran to catch up with Glitz, loading the pistol as she passed by the cells of desperate prisoners.

There was a room up ahead with stairs leading out of the dungeon. Vixi burst into the room, saw only one gunner, and threw her dagger into his neck. She ran by the body and retrieved it. Archer's on the steps. Vixi dodged two arrows and raised the pistol, but her face was grazed by a stray. Just a flesh wound. The archers, however, were shot dead. She dashed up the steps in seconds and out into the palace's courtyard.

Glitz had been busy. Several knights and mages lie slaughtered, and the trail of death lead to the palace's gates. There was a strong feeling of sorrow in the air, and a dark light shown from inside the palace. Vixi reloaded the pistol. Only two shots left. She gripped her dagger tightly, praying that this nightmare would soon be over.

She entered the palace and found Glitz, leaning against a statue. She had a deep cut on her right arm and thigh, and could barely hold herself up. Vixi ran over and helped her to the floor. Glitz winced from the pain. "They're in the Minister's chamber, right? I will need a spear from the armory," Vixi whispered, turning to go, but Glitz grabbed her arm. She held out her sword. "There's no time. Please, you must hurry." Vixi nodded and took hold of the sword. She stood, saluted Glitz, and ran off towards the chamber. The doors were open.

Shadows. Whispers. The smell of decay. A small flame appeared in the center of the room, grew, and the light revealed all of the Elder's, standing in a circle around a covered corpse. They muttered spells long forbidden. The space within the circle began to distort, and the sound like a million screams rang in her ears. Vixi was about to throw her dagger when suddenly, all of the Elder's stepped inside the circle. They vanished, and the distortion ceased.

Slowly, the corpse began to rise. Vixi reddied her sword to attack, but was stopped by the voice of the Minister. She could not see him. "The old god is not yet ready to awaken. This vessel will take time to adapt, but luckily it is already gifted in the ways of magic..."

When the corpse got to its feet and the cover fell, Vixi almost dropped her sword. The feeling of sorrow intensified, and her breath caught in her throat.

"Oh... Derlex..." she whispered, shaken by the sight of him, "what have they done to you?"

 

[Guinea]

Chapter 17

The Strange Being was as old as the cosmos itself. It even had a hand in forming the star which the planet revolved. It fell to the planet a very long time ago, and met man. Such tiny, fragile creatures. The Strange Being thought of them as nothing more than dust, and so decided to wipe them away. It was the Great One who saved humanity from this creature, and now, after all the years and legends, it has returned, trapped in a shell of dust.

Derlex raised his hand and cast bolts of lightning at Vixi. She was struck, and dropped her sword. The Minister appeared between them, grabbed her sword, and teleported away. Derlex fired out more bolts. Vixi was stunned, and for a breif moment, her heart stopped inside her chest. To hades with this. It was time to kill these dastards.

The Old Wind was called, and it blew Derlex back against the wall. She summomed forth the Almighty Lance, grabbed it from the air, and threw it. It struck Derlex in the chest. The Strange Being inside of him felt pain, and like anything feral, tried to escape. Vixi wasn't having that ****, but there was little she could do with her energy drained.

Derlex opened his robe. The rifle that Vixi used against the Great One was pulled from it, and magic replaced the Mythril. Derlex fired a blinding shot at Vixi before leaping out the window. The shot missed, thank the gods, but the possessed Derlex had fled. Vixi regained her feet, and that was when the Minister reappeared.

"You pathetic little girl," he said, kicking her in the chest and teleporting away. Vixi's heart stopped for a second time, then, when it started beating again, she pulled out the pistol. She saw a slight distortion in the room, shot it, and the Minister fell. His use of teleportation was not as clever as he thought. The Minister dropped to the floor, and Vixi was upon him.

"Fool... we are about to have a god again... your struggles against its power is... it is pointless." The Minister knew the wound was fatal. And so did Vixi. "Go ahead and kill me..." he gasped, giving up. Vixi was beyond pissed off. She ejected the final bullet from the guns chamber, mounted the Minister, and caressed his face.

"Kill you?" she whispered, "Of course, Minister. But to say I'm a fool... Ohh... nay. You know the legends. You helped them take form. I was washed in the blood of the Great One," she said, tears running from her eyes, "there is no beast I cannot slay."

Vixi grasped the gun by it's barrel, and pistol-whipped the Minister to death.

 

[Guinea]

Chapter 18

Glitz finally made it to the chamber. She had lost a lot of blood. "Vixiana, is it done?!"

Vixi was still beating the Minister, and she was screaming. About how he murdered the Dragoons, and how the Elder's were just phantoms of the old god. And about the Court Mage. She blamed the virus which killed the dragons off on the Elder's, as well as the Great One's madness. Glitz had never heard such ferocity, and it stunned her.

"Vixiana, that's enough!" she shouted, and grabbed Vixi's arm. She managed to steal the gun, and knock Vixi from the Minister's corpse. "Get ahold of yourself!" she said, throwing the gun across the room.

Vixi spat, and in a flash, she ran to the window. She gazed out into the dark for a while, until she calmed herself. "Derlex has been possessed, and now he roams the Capital free. I must find him, Glitzelle. Go to the infirmary and get some potions, before you bleed to death," she whispered, and jumped.

Glitz ran to window, too late to do anything. "Damn it," she said, shaking her head. She exited the chamber, walking past the Minister's corpse and the rage Vixi unleashed upon it. Leaving the chamber shaken, she went to heal herself.

Derlex was no longer human, not after he died and the Elder's took control. He was starting to morph. The world looked so ugly to him, and so he set about its destruction. He summoned several comets from the space above, and sent them crashing down.

Vixi saw the destruction from the air. The entire Capital was before her, then suddenly, a quarter of it was gone. She hung in the air for a breif moment, and fell down towards the Strange Being. She cursed how tired she was.

The old god was awake, and it thrashed

 

[Guinea]

Chapter 19

Vixi took a deep breath, and summoned the Dragon Arts. She rushed the Strange Being, targeting its head. It was to no avail.

The old god detected her long before the comets were summoned. He had already learned of the future her particles would experience. And soon, they would be destroyed. This foolish creature.

Vixi screamed for the second time in her life, and threw the Almighty Lance. It was deflected by an invisible force. The Strange Being grabbed Vixi with the wind, and slung her to the ground.

Nothing. Just darkness. So, this was what the legendary heroes saw after failing against the old god. All Vixi could hear were the roars of the Great One. A sphere of light beckoned.

Glitz felt an earthquake, and took shelter. A blinding flash of light hit her. The comets had struck. Glitz steadied herself, and made her way through the ruined streets. She saw a nightmare looming over her. And she saw Vixi's body.

There was a legend that spoke of a Dragoon who helped kill the Strange Being. He wielded a Spear of Light. Working together with the Great One, he leapt from the moon itself to help slaughter the beast.

Vixi saw the sphere, took hold of it, and opened her eyes.

 

[Dizzi]

It's slayed??

 

[Guinea]

Chapter 20

Glitz stood frozen with fear, but soon found courage. She drew her sword and lunged, slicing at the lower part of the Strange Being's body. The sword cut through it's flesh, but the blade turned to rust in her hand. It disintegrated.

The Strange Being turned away from Vixi, paying no mind to Glitz. It was busy summoning more comets, fusing them together in space to annihilate the planet. Glitz stepped back from the monster, her mind racing. She was at a loss, and that's when Vixi finally stood.

"GLITZELLE, MOVE!" Vixi roared, the Sacred Wings reappearing on her back. She held out her left hand, which was glowing with a holy light. Vixi felt an unlimited power course through her, and before their eyes, the Spear of Light took form. It shined as beautiful as her wings. Vixi summoned the Almighty Lance next, snatched it from the air with her other hand, and jumped.

The Strange Being stopped fusing the comets. When the holy light began shining, it remembered the feel of it. The light that made it feel fear for the very first time. Vixi hung in the air for only a moment, called upon the Old Wind, and fell.

Glitz ran for cover when the Strange Being began to move. The area around the creature started vibrating, and the ground broke apart. It sent boulder after boulder hurtling through the air at Vixi. She destroyed them all.

Vixi threw both of her weapons at the same time. The Strange Being couldn't deflect them. They hit the old god with tremendous force, and it screamed. It was a sound unlike anything that could be described. Vixi summoned her weapons again, falling upon him.

And just like with the Grander Dragons from long ago, her prey was quick to perish.

 

[Guinea]

Chapter 21

Glitz was rattled. Had she suffered a concussion? Unknown. She was hurt, and the wounds were fresh. What had she just witnessed? Everything became somewhat negative in appearance for only a second, then the world snapped back.

The Strange Being was gone. The carnage from its attack remained, and so did the light in the sky. The fused comets were about to fall. Glitz stood, dropped to her knee, and stood again. She gazed at the meteor, hating it, and then saw Vixi stir.

The Sacred Wings remained shining, as did her weapons. The Old Wind circled her body. Her armor was stained with the blood of the Great One, and the Strange Being. Derlex's corpse lay before her.

Vixi stood there, radiating energy. The sky grew cloudy, and it rained. Then the earth shook again, and tornados formed. The old god had fallen. Half of the Capital was in ruin. Glitz was in shock.

Vixi glared at the meteor in the sky above her, and jumped.

 

[Guinea]

Chapter 22

Her target was the meteor. She had never jumped so high before, but even as she soared, she knew that reaching orbit would be impossible. She still couldn't even reach the clouds.

So, she decided to throw the Spear of Light. When she reached her peak ascent, she launched it with all the force she could muster. It pierced through the strormclouds, shining down light on the Capital, climbing ever higher until it impacted the meteor.

A blinding flash. When it faded, the skies were clear. Vixi turned her attention back down at the Capital. She saw only panic in the streets. Glitz was staring at her in awe. Vixi fell down before her, and dismissed the Dragon Arts.

Glitz didn't know what to say. She looked around at all the destroyed districts, at the fires spreading out of control. Vixi left her to go and help any citizens she could, and Glitz soon followed, stopping to gather supplies from the palace's infirmary.

It was a long night, but the storm put out the fire. The amount of people the Strange Being had killed was staggering. It would take a very long time for the Capital to rebuild, but now that the nightmare was over, it could recover. And eventually, it did.

The Capital knew peace for a long time. Yet, peace is a fragile thing.

~Fin~