Path of Dragons

“I have watched your progress,” said Yloa, pushing himself upright. He crossed one set of arms, while the other set met behind his back as he slithered down from the throne. He didn’t shout, but his words echoed like thunder through the throne room. “I am impressed.” His eyes went from Elijah, to Sadie, and then to Lamar. “With some more than others.”

“We’re not here to talk,” Elijah announced, his eyes flicking towards the charred bodies he suspected belonged to Brika and her group. Had they attacked, thinking they could conquer the challenge and gain the rewards? Or had they stumbled upon the Lightning Emperor, ignorant of what they were getting into? It didn’t matter. They’d made their choice to go it alone. “If you have any decency in you, you’ll go quietly.”

“Decency?” scoffed the ta’alaki. “Speak to me of decency when your people have been practically enslaved for millennia. When the oppressors fight, fang and claw, to reinstitute the status quo they miss so dearly. Tell me, Druid – do you think you would have done any differently? What if your grove was threatened? Would you not kill the aggressors? Have you not done so in the past? I sense the stink of vengeance upon you. You, as much as anyone present, should understand why I chose my path.”

Elijah nearly took a step back. It was true. He’d killed people just for setting foot on his island. At the time, he’d assumed they were all there to consume the natural treasures at its center, but he’d never really stopped to question it. Given what he now knew, he thought himself justified, but Yloa’s question still dug deep into his mind. What if the stakes were even higher? What if he had been presented with a problem similar to the one Yloa had been forced to confront?

He knew the answer, though he didn’t want to think about it. He would have fought, and with everything at his disposal. But there were some lines he’d never cross.

“I wouldn’t have doomed my entire planet. I would have killed people. Thousands, if it was necessary. But I would have drawn the line,” Elijah stated confidently.

“Ah, but what if you fail to recognize the line? What if that arbitrary line is not as clear as you think it is?” asked Yloa, the lightning in the walls flashing with every syllable. “What if, by the time you realize your folly, it is too late? I did what I did because it was necessary. The end result is regrettable, but I do not regret my actions. Nor should you when the time comes for you to make a similar choice.”

It was not a claim without teeth, for Elijah knew that, by going forward with the task before him, he would author an entire planet’s demise. If Elijah and his companions were to succeed, then Ka’arath would be lost to the abyss. But if they failed, he and every other of the Trial-takers would perish. It wasn’t a difficult choice to make.

Yet, it didn’t come without some guilt.

Before Elijah could say anything else, Sadie stepped forward. Elijah could barely sense the ethera swirling around her as she accused, “You are a self-deluded liar.”

Yloa cocked his head to the side and asked, “Am I? Do enlighten me, baby Inquisitor.”

“You are selfish.”

“Of course, as are we all.”

“A coward.”

“We all experience moments of cowardice. I am no different,” Yloa countered, spreading one set of arms. “There is no bravery without cowardice. I have pushed through my fear, ever seeking freedom for my people.”

“You are a murderer.”

“Guilty.”

“You only care for yourself. You have done everything for power, and you hide your lust for more, claiming that you only wish to save your people. Look around you – your people are all dead, dying, or doomed to anguish,” she accused, her voice strong. It echoed almost as loudly as the Lightning Emperor’s thunderous words. “You care for nothing but yourself.”

“Also true,” Yloa said. “Tell me, child – do you understand what it means to live with guilt for thousands of years? I have been imprisoned here for millennia. For a few centuries, I wallowed in guilt. I reflected on my actions, and I came to the same conclusions your quaint, little skill has shown you. Do you know what I found? An epiphany.”

“And what did that epiphany tell you?”

“That none of it matters. You do not matter. My people do not matter. In the grand scheme of the system, I do not matter. We are all pawns. Little game pieces following a set of arbitrary rules we are not privileged enough to understand,” Yloa stated. “This world, as dear to me as it once was, is a speck of nothing. I reached transcendence millennia ago, and even I am barely worthy of its notice. The system does not care about any of us, so why should I care for those beneath me? Why should I trust the almighty system that anything it says is true?”

“The abyss is evil,” Sadie said, ethera swirling even more strongly around her. Elijah knew that she was trying to absolve the Lightning Emperor, just as she’d done so in the challenge of the Umbra. “Surely you can feel that.”

“Perhaps,” Yloa acknowledged. “But evil is subjective. For all we know, the abyss is fighting a war against the oppressor that is the system. Maybe it represents the natural order. We do not know. Everything we feel, everything we see – it is governed by the system. We could be fighting on the wrong side of a war that has spanned eons. I intend to discover the truth on my own.”

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“Evil is not subjective,” Sadie stated.

“A matter of opinion, little Inquisitor. I was once hailed as a hero. Only a thousand years later, I was called a villain. Do you know how I respond to that, child?” asked Yloa.

Sadie shook her head, the ethera swirling around her coming to a screeching halt.

“I embrace the label. Villain, I am called. So villain, I shall be. The system wishes me to play a role, and so I shall. Come, little challengers,” he said, spreading all four of his arms out wide. “Slay the villain and win your trinkets. I welcome your pitiful attempts.”

Sadie stumbled backward. It was clear that her attempts had failed, and it wasn’t difficult to see why. At its most basic level, Confession only forced someone to speak the truth. If they didn’t believe they were in the wrong – not even deep down in a place they’d buried beneath a mountain of specious justifications – then there was nothing to confess. And Yloa was clearly a true believer. In his mind, his actions were justified.

Perhaps if they’d met the ta’alaki Lightning Emperor during the guilty phase to which he’d alluded, things might have turned out differently. However, it was clear that he was long past questioning himself. As a result, a fight was inevitable.

Maybe it always had been.

Never was that clearer than when a bolt of lightning lanced down from the ceiling and hit Sadie directly in the chest. Her personal shield exploded into a thousand ethereal shards. She flew backward, and even as Elijah leaped to catch her, two heals enveloped Sadie’s body. He caught her in his arms, then landed a second later.

“I’m okay,” she muttered, pulling herself away.

Even as she said that, another bolt of lightning erupted from Yloa’s outstretched hand. This one tore across the intervening distance, targeting Ron. Clearly, the Lightning Emperor understood the most important rule of fighting a group – kill or disrupt the Healer first.

Fortunately, Lamar was ready for the attempt. He dashed in front of the bolt of lightning, slammed his tower shield into the ground, and activated some sort of ability. Yloa’s spell hit that shield and exploded, splashing electricity in every direction. Lamar skidded backward a foot or two, but he took the hit with characteristic stoicism.

More importantly, only a moment later, that same spell reflected from his shield, tore across the floor, then slammed into Yloa.

“Give me the sword, bro.”

Elijah looked up to see Dat standing over him. His first instinct was to argue, but as Yloa cast another lightning bolt at the group – which Lamar blocked – he knew he didn’t have time. So, he reached into his Ghoul-Hide Satchel, grabbed the pieces of Yloa’s Bane, including the Keystone Ring, then handed them over to Dat. The Witch Hunter assembled the pieces expertly, then disappeared from view.

And unlike was usually the case, Elijah couldn’t feel anything of Dat’s presence. Even when he focused everything on One with Nature, the man was entirely invisible. A second later, Elijah realized that he must have passed a threshold and gained an evolution.

Even as that thought passed through Elijah’s mind, Yloa let out a primal roar, spread all four arms out wide, and gathered an immense amount of ethera. Elijah shouted, “He’s casting something big!”

As the words left his mouth, he cast Healing Rain. The spell completed just before the ceiling came alive with arcing lightning. It gathered for a second before a barrage of electricity lanced down. Where it hit, the tiles on the floor exploded into charred dust. Lamar raised his tower shield, creating a dome of ethera around the bulk of the group. And when the lightning hit, it miraculously held.

Elijah and Sadie were outside that area, though.

Sadie used a shield on Elijah, then refreshed her own. At the same time, Elijah initiated a shift into Shape of Thorn. If there was any way he was going to survive the onslaught, then it was with the extra durability that came with the form.

Sadie’s shield held against the first wave of lightning, which allowed Elijah to complete the transformation. It shattered only a moment after he took on the Shape of Thorn, and it was just in time, because he was hit by a barrage of lightning only a second later.

One bolt after another slammed into him, and he could feel his body practically melting beneath the onslaught. Fortunately, Ron and the Healer from Lamar’s group were hard at work casting spells to keep him and Sadie alive.

The storm of lightning ended after ten seconds, but in that time, Ron and the other Healer had been forced to output a truly stupendous amount of ethera. It had kept everyone alive, but it was not sustainable. On top of that, Elijah knew that the dome-shield Lamar had erected was not something he could repeat indefinitely. It had a significant cooldown, which meant that if Yloa summoned another lightning storm, it would spell their doom.

But they were all alive for now, and the group answered the storm with a host of ranged attacks. The one-armed Derek summoned a giant fireball that he threw at the Lightning Emperor, while Sadie conjured a Blade of the Avenger. Kurik and Helen fired their bows, and another Mage tossed out a frozen spear. Benedict cast his invisible curses, while Escobar let out a string of fireballs with every yapping bark. The two-headed imp charged the Lightning Emperor, spitting twin pillars of black flames that twined around one another.

The barrage of attacks slammed into Yloa.

Or they would have, but he summoned four whips of lightning – reminding Elijah of his Domain of Lightning – which he spun in a protective circle. In a feat of pure Dexterity, the Lightning Emperor slapped the oncoming bombardment aside, one spell at a time. It was a truly awe-inspiring display of ability.

“Impressive! You are –”

Yloa’s booming voice cut off mid-sentence when Dat suddenly appeared behind him. A glittering blade erupted from the Lightning Emperor’s chest, splattering milky white blood onto the floor.

The imposing ta’alaki screamed as ethera swirled all around him. When it coalesced, the energy had become so dense that it was visible to the naked eye. It presented as a blue mist, but when Elijah looked upon it, he couldn’t help but flinch. He could feel the power of it as it contracted around Yloa, squeezing so tightly that it seeped into the Lightning Emperor’s pores.

Then, it was gone. Yloa withered, somehow looking smaller and less imposing.

It was such a distinct change that it took Elijah a moment to notice two extremely troubling things. First, the sword was gone, and the wound it had inflicted was gone. Second, Dat had collapsed, completely unmoving. Via One with Nature, Elijah felt the barest hint of life within the Witch Hunter, but it was so slight that it nearly escaped his notice.

Dat was as close to death as was possible without completely succumbing. And as Yloa straightened, Elijah saw fury in the Lightning Emperor’s eyes.

He whipped around, screaming, “You dare use such a cursed weapon on me?! I will make you pay, foul insect!”

Then, he raised his hands, ready to sever Dat’s tenuous connection on life.

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