“Alright everyone! Follow me!” Bellona called out to the prisoners to rally them. “Things are going to get much worse in the next couple of minutes. We’re heading south to get away from the fighting so stay on your feet and help the weak so they don’t fall behind!”

Iris admired Bellona taking leadership over the prisoners and bid the group farewell as they went off into the distance to get away.

“This ends with us,” Arylos told Iris with a growl. “It doesn’t matter what happens, he stops here. If he gets away, we’re done for so there’s no room for error here.”

“Which means we stop him or die trying,” Iris returned, building her determination.

Arylos bowed his head for a moment. “I’m sorry this is your life now. After this, we’re going home and doing nothing, I promise you.”

“I’ll keep you to that,” Iris said with a smile. “Can you even die?”

Arylos thought for a moment before answering. “Technically no, but this body can. And if it does, you won’t be hearing from me until I get a new body.”

“Then don’t let that happen, you big idiot,” Iris answered with an even bigger smile, trying to work up Arylos’s courage.

Oldalthur came crashing through the trees, dragging a limp wing behind him and howling in continued pain. He looked at the group and snarled.

“You fools are so invested in changing the inevitable,” Oldalthur hissed. “You cannot escape your doom. If this doesn’t happen now, it will happen later.”

“I’ve heard all that before,” Arylos snarled back with flames beginning to grow on his body. “And I’ve stopped it again and again; you are no different.”

Oldalthur roared and ran towards the duo and opened his maw and inhaled. With his exhale, streams of lightning erupted from his mouth and struck the two who just narrowly dodged the magic. Arylos punched the ground and opened a fissure in it that caught Oldalthur’s injured wing.

Iris followed up with a slice across Oldalthur’s other wing, tearing a large gash into the wing that made it useless. Oldalthur howled and moved his arm to strike Iris, but Arylos looked on as Iris disappeared in a flash of lightning and thunder and appeared several paces away, dodging the attack entirely. Arylos smiled and jumped up and with a deafening blast, punched the dragon in the face, knocking out a few fangs and pulling his sword out of the dragon's eye socket.

Iris jumped forward in a flash of light and took advantage of the stunned dragon and tried to pierce the dragon’s chest but the scales were hard as rock. Oldalthur knocked her away and she felt a crack in her chest from where Oldalthur struck her.

Iris hit the ground and the pain in her chest was intense and she felt fresh pain from cuts and bruises on her arm. Soon enough, however, she felt a pop and the pain in her chest faded to a dull ache. She then lifted her injured arm and watched as the skin slowly pulled itself back together, healing over without a scar nor any blood.

“What the hell?” she whispered under her breath.

Notice: Your body is now capable of healing itself, Helion told her. While drawing on your divine blood, you are able to heal non-lethal wounds.

“Well, that’s useful,” Iris answered and got back up to her feet. She lifted her sword high and launched herself back to the dragon in a flash of light and tried cutting into his wing, but found little purchase against the scales.

Oldalthur turned to face Iris and tried to grab her in his mouth before Iris jumped out of the way. Arylos came up beside her right then, stretching his shoulder and preparing for more action.

“A Reig is fully armoured in stone,” he told her while sheathing his sword. “That means swords are useless unless you go for exposed flesh like wings or the face.”

“Great,” Iris sighed, trying to come up with a new strategy.

Oldalthur growled and strange whispers came from his maw and a cyclone of wind surrounded the duo, buffeting them with the intense wind.

Arylos struggled to reach out his hand and the spinning air hummed as he pulled it back into a fist and punched the air. The movement sent a blast of an unseen force that dispersed the cyclone.

Oldalthur sucked in air and he sounded out his voice in a resonating force that shook the air itself. The skies then darkened and began to turn red as meteors fell from the heavens. He then continued his whispers under his breath.

Sunder

Oldalthur’s voice resonated in Iris’s mind, the word itself cutting into her like a blade.

Tear

Iris dropped Helion as the pain grew, like a blade was thrust into her gut and twisted.

Fall

Iris fell to her knees and exclaimed in pain. She looked over and saw Arylos was still standing, but obviously in pain.

Bleed

Iris grabbed her head as she felt as though her skin was being peeled off of her body, but no cut nor blood present on her body.

Oldalthur took this chance and approached the two, satisfied that they were caught in this spell.

Carve

Iris could not contain the pain anymore, internally begging for it to stop.

“Kaln sor fahrn yei feiz. Forn dahv, reiz belvir nohktr zu’neir serl”

She could hear words Oldalthur was saying, but briefly and with little understanding. It wasn’t the voice in her head, but words he was actually saying; an incantation of some sort.

Suffer

Iris felt the blades cut deep but bit through it, now aware of where it was coming from. She picked up Helion and swung it through the air, casting forth a wave of flame and energy that struck Oldalthur and the chanting ceased as he screamed in pain from the blast. Without the chanting, Iris felt relief from the cursed words.

“Well done!” Arylos called out to Iris and ran back towards Oldalthur. Iris smiled and rose to her feet again and joined Arylos in his attack.

Oldalthur corrected himself and Iris could hear the words he was saying that came just before a blast of an unseen force knocked the two of them back.

Arylos quickly rose to his feet and reached out with his hand. Glowing orange runes came forth from his arm and danced around in various strange patterns and circles. Similar runes surrounded Oldalthur and took the form of glowing orange spears that then pierced Oldalthur’s body. No blood nor pierced skin, but he could not move from where he was.

Arylos tightened his fist and an orange runed circle spun around his wrist. He then reached out with his other hand and prepared more runes.

Oldalthur growled words and the runes that bound him exploded, allowing him to be free. He then inhaled as fire gathered into a ball in his mouth. Arylos gasped and jumped out of the way right when the ball fired a tight beam of light that burned and detonated anything struck by it.

Iris could feel exhaustion kicking in as she struggled to catch her breath. “We’re going to have to end this soon,” she told Arylos, swaying in her stance. “Tell me you have a plan of attack.”

“I do, it’s called ‘attack’,” Arylos responded, trying to form a new strategy as well. “We’re getting close, but it won’t be easy.”

Iris thought for a moment before she had a realisation. “Wait, you said their scales are like stone, right?”

Arylos nodded and Iris jumped up with renewed determination. “I have a plan,” she told him. “I’ll distract him and get close to him. I’ll give you an opening and that’s when you hit him hard.”

Arylos was about to protest but decided against it. He gave her a nod and started running to the side to flank Oldalthur as Iris rushed towards him.

He has to say words to cast any of that magic, she talked herself through the plan. That means he’s slow, so running at him limits his options.

She gathered the flames into her arm and poured as much power as she could into the flames until they burned bright and hot. Oldalthur opened his mouth wide and started pulling in air. Iris could hear the whispering voices conjuring magic.

This is it!

She leapt forward in the form of a lightning bolt, closing the gap to just a couple of feet in front of the dragon and reached out with her arm and bright white flames erupted from her arm and bathed the dragon’s face in flames. Oldalthur howled and tried to move out of the flames but Iris followed up, pouring forth as much of the white flames as she could. Through the flames, Iris could see exactly what she was wanting.

Oldalthur’s scales were turning red hot and some parts even melting, just like the stone walls of the prison.

She pulled back her arm and the flames faded, showing a screaming dragon with melting scales. Arylos jumped in from the side and plunged his sword deep into Oldalthur’s now softened chest, piercing his heart and quickly pulling the blade out.

Oldalthur howled and reeled in pain before letting out one last gasp for air and falling to the ground. Arylos quickly jumped over and plunged his sword into Oldalthur’s softened skull and the dragon moaned and twitched before going quiet save for panting breaths as the burning sky cleared and the morning sun began to fill the air.

How the hell is it still not dead? Iris thought to herself as she fell to her knees.

Arylos left his sword in Oldalthur’s skull and came over to look the dragon in the eyes. Oldalthur then began to laugh in pained breaths.

“You cannot stop the inevitable,” Oldalthur groaned in a fading voice. “Destroy me now, I will only return. We are formless just like you, Great Father. And you will all suffer as intended because we demand it.”

Arylos growled and reached out his hand. “Yes, you will die and return to the void, and from the void you will gain a new vessel and return. An endless cycle for the eternal.”

Arylos then made a pulling motion with his hand and the air hummed and Oldalthur growled in pain. “However, your soul must return to the void,” Arylos continued as he continued the pulling motion. “Just like your father, you will instead spend an eternity in my stomach; your soul is mine to consume.”

Oldalthur called out but orange flame-like wisps of energy emitted from his body that then coalesced and gathered around Arylos’s arm, fading into his skin. The process continued as Oldalthur’s skin was eventually burned away by the energy being pulled out of him and after several agonising moments, nothing of Oldalthur was left save for a smoking skeleton.

Arylos absorbed the last of the energy and clenched his fist and closed his eyes, lost in thought. Iris gathered her strength and got back up to her feet and came over beside Arylos. Arylos then opened his eyes and saw something strange on the skeleton.

In the skull rested a small piece of silver metal that hummed. A strange device that had blue and purple lights and strange silver and copper wires coming from it. Arylos pulled the device from the skull and glared at it with an intense hatred Iris had never seen before. It was as though the device was a personal insult to Arylos and he was visibly disgusted by it.

“You fool,” Arylos whispered under his breath. “You were supposed to be better than this.”

Iris was about to ask about the device before Arylos suddenly crushed it in his hand and it exploded in sparks and metal as the humming ceased. He then dropped the device to the ground like it was an unwanted refuse.

Iris wrapped her arm around Arylos’s arm to get his attention and he turned to her, but with both hate and sorrow filling his eyes.

“Is everything alright?” she asked him, concerned for this new Arylos she was seeing.

Arylos thought for a moment while looking into Iris’s eyes before his expression eased and embraced Iris. “I’m sorry, that was personal. We’re done here,” he told her.

Iris buried her face in his chest, glad that things are starting to return to normal. “I want to go home,” she told him in a soft voice. The mental exhaustion of the past couple of days is finally catching up with her.

Arylos gasped and held Iris tighter. “Alright,” he told her. “Let’s meet back up with Bellona and go home.”

The two separated and Arylos reached for his sword and pulled it out of Oldalthur’s skull and the duo went south to reunite with the refugees, glad that the nightmare was finally over.