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Most of life comes in shades of black. I float among the darkness that surrounds my body. I can feel it everywhere, touching me and seeping into every pore and crevice in my skin and scales. It is thick and heavy in its invasion. I can feel it everywhere and nowhere. I float in the black and feel nothing, nothing besides that one persistent twinge in my mind that constantly pesters me as of late.
For a long time now, it has been creeping into my mind just as the black does and makes me wish to listen to it. I sense that there is something out there besides the darkness and I. It wants me to go towards it, to breach its barrier and swim upwards through it. But I am so tired. No matter how long it tells me to go, I just can't bring myself to move. I don't know if I can anymore. Yet somehow, I find my body trying to move forward through the sludge.
I've never felt the need to breathe before, I’m never moving, always stationary. Now that I have this new sensation of wanting to keep up with my body, I also start to feel the need to breathe. I've never wanted something so much before. I don't remember much, but I can remember never needing something this badly. This need propels me forward for reasons unknown to me.
I reach a thick barrier that gives way under my touch, yet it only bends beneath my hand and doesn't break to let me through. I press into it, press my hands and feet into it, hoping to break it. I need to break through it, I need to breathe, to get out. I need to get out of the darkness. I must get out of the darkness. It’s hollow where I am, but it’s as if whatever lies beyond this barrier calls to me saying that it isn't.
In my desperation, something changes in my form that gives me sharp claws and horns atop my head that I use to claw and slash into the sludge. At last, I feel the barrier give way to my now hulking mass to let me fall through it. As soon as I get through, my chest expands at the demand my lungs make for me to inhale. All I find is grainy material that clogs my mouth and eyes when I try to dislodge myself from its grasp. Now I can feel my limbs fully and can tell that I’m outside of the blackness.
Although it is still dark, I no longer feel the oppressive atmosphere of the hollow surrounding me. Now I am surrounded by muddy material that is easy enough for me to move. I use my long, slender body and four long legs to press and slither my way upwards. I can sense freedom there, air and light. I press forward despite the black creeping back in and my throat screaming at me to choke.
When it seems the black might take me again, I breach the surface. I came up with a great quake in the earth and split its surface with my might. My body streaks up into the air as I use my hind legs to take one final push out of the dirt to rise above the trees, unfurling my great wings that have never felt the wind, and taking a great breath of fresh, blue air.
…
It’s not even midday when a rumble starts to shift the ground beneath my boots. It seems that I am the only one within my council that can feel it as no one else in my entourage gives it any notice. I have been walking the less traveled roads on my way back from brunch with the senior counselor to discuss pleasantries rather than politics for once. Now it would seem that these nosy council members are intent on marring this beauty morning mist with their incessant chattering. All of them vie for my attention on one matter or another; new guard rotations as the seasons grow shorter for winter preparation, funds for waterway maintenance in the town and bridges for outside or it, other things of the like.
As the head of house Salis, and thus the head of the lead council here in town, I am the one everyone from every other house comes to with their problems. I had thus forth managed to avoid their pestering for the morning, but as of late they have become more determined to interrupt my days with their questions and complaints. Now it would seem that they won't be the only thing to demand my attention today if the quakes are anything to go on.
In all my years here, I have never felt such a tremor as this. It is not a stray shifting of the dirt or hills. This is a choppy, gravely disruption of the soil that I can only assume comes from some great power beyond the city gates. It is only when after a brief couple second break in the tremors that another, stronger wave of quakes breaks the surface does everyone else realize of its existence.
I run down an alleyway and peer above a stone wall to look out at the flowing, grassy plains that surround the city, and beyond to the rolling hills that merge into mountains and forests, to try to see if I can tell what is causing the quakes. Initially I can see nothing but the trembling of the leaves in the trees and water flowing through the streams and marshland.
I can only just sense how the tremors pick up in speed and strength that seem to emanate from just beyond the forest's treeline as the tall trees shake the hardest there. I exit the gates to get a better look despite the treeline being nearly half a mile away, yet I can still see how other citizens have gathered to try to see what all of this commotion is caused by. Imagine our collective surprise at seeing one mighty tree collapse on its side, followed by two more that disappear beneath the canopy.
This all comes to a final when a great beast emerges from the trees, going in an upwards spiral, reaching its mighty neck high, wings outspread, and takes a pause only to let out a terrible scream of agony and solace. All hands shoot to ears as its call echoes on the hills and buildings to a near piercing level. All I can do is stare as it runs out of breath for its scream and folds back on itself to cause another great crash as it falls to the forest floor.
Within a few minutes I have rushed to the stables for my palomino steed who I find is already tacked up and waiting for me. The stable master had anticipated my arrival to get him and preemptively prepared him. He also catches me before I can ride out of the stables and asks if I would like the calvary to saddle up to support me. I give him a quick nod and push my steed into a canter through the cobblestone stress and out into the fields to go investigate the dragon.
It only takes a few minutes for him to carry me to the forest's edge at my urging for his hooves to fly faster through the plains. I halt him at the edge and pull the reins over his head, but I dont tie him down anywhere because I wouldn't want him to be trapped here if the beast were to rampage. I trust him to look after himself while I go investigate. I can already see several of the city guards coming to join me across the plains while I say goodbye to him.
I keep a dagger close to my person at all points so should things go south, I won't be completely unarmed. Upon my investigation of the crater of broken trees, I indeed find a magnificent beast at the center of the mess. It lays writhing in the dirt and leaves, seemingly not able to get up, on the side of a large crater that seems to have a large cavern at the center. The dragon, seemingly sensing my presence, drags its head across the dirt to face me. All I see in its eyes when I look at it is pain and fear.
It gives another roar at me, albeit far weaker then its first outcry. I take note of its condition, seeing it already injured and incapacitated, and decide it is safe enough to approach. I climb up the berm of dirt and debris that the crater has made to bend down near its head. Its eyes blink several times, still looking towards me but not seeming to be able to focus on me. I reach a hand out to fall down some of the stray feathers that adorn the crest of its head like a mane.
It startles and I watch as its tail moves to and fro in the mud while it shifts its wings to be able to lie flat on its side. I can see how several cuts adorn its scales and in places, seem to have patches of them ripped off entirely. What concerns me the most is how a dark purple, black ooze drips out in thick globs out of the bigger lacerations of its abdomen and out of its mouth and nostrils. I keep smoothing my hand over its head as I shift positions to now kneel next to its neck. I run my hand down the scales there and rest my hand on its shoulder, taking the time to feel how it rises and falls in strained breaths.
I see how its eyes look backwards in their sockets at me. I can see how it judges me. I can feel its recognition as it tries to sniff at me, only to be forced to cough up great amounts of the sludge. It curves its neck so its muzzle can nearly lay on my lap. It seeks comfort from me, likely because it knows what I am just as I know what it is.
I can see in the markings that run from neck to tail along its back how this dragon is of the elements. The color and glow of its scales along with the intelligence I see in its eyes tell me all I need to know. This beast is an elemental condit. But, it's one I’ve never seen or even heard of before. Its markings all point to it being not of the five; heat, cold, earth, air, and water.
It's raining now. I can't help it. Seeing one of my kin in such a state drives the sky to respond to my unspoken emotions and lightly rain water drops down on us. The rain does help to clean some of the mud and blood off of it. It still seems to hiss as the water disturbs the wounds though. I feel sorry for my lack of control at this moment. I’m sorry that my ancestry causes them more pain. I am supposed to be able to control the water that falls from the heavens. After all, I am the current descendant and living vessel for the water elementals. I am their dragon, the one to protect and give the world water and freeing rains that wash away the dirt and pain. Yet at this moment all I do is upset my kin more.
I reach from their head and cradle it in my hands so I might press my forehead to theirs. I try to pour all of my hope and compassion into them through the touch and try to calm them enough to relax into this world.
“Please…” I whisper it to them like a secret that I know they will understand. Their eyes look up to look up at mine for a breath, then they close. I feel them let their head droop down, allowing me to take more of their weight. I keep holding them close, and closer still when I feel their acceptance and their glow hollows out into a soft shimmer in the rain.
I notice that their head feels lighter now, and open my eyes to see a human before me. She is smooth and naked as a babe. I know who she is, who the dragon was, because of her distinctive markings still etched in pale calligraphy on her back. I take my own cloak off to cover her from the rain and shield her body from the eyes that will be here momentarily. The guard has arrived, I hear their boots stomp through puddles as they approach us.
I stand, still cradling her now limp from in my arms, and avoid all of their questions of the mysterious maidens identity that I carry. I don't listen as they ask me where I am to go with her, where she came from, and any other such inquiries. My eyes only leave her visage to grasp the saddle horn of my loyal steed who has stayed where I left him, and to give one knowing look over to my senior advisor who has joined the guards in their ride over here.
He nods once to me and puts a single hand onto the cavalry captain's shoulder to let him understand that I will not be available the rest of the day. At his gentle pulling on the captain's shoulder, the captain, and thus all of the men, fall silent to fall into a salute to wish me off.
…
When I wake I find myself somewhere warm and incredibly soft. It smells sweet and earthy, comfortable and safe. I attempt to move into a comfy position, only for my eyes to shoot open at the stinging pain in my chest. I grasp at the front of the shirt that now covers me and gasp.
The world is all too bright for my new eyes to take in all at once. I have to blink several times and hide my face in a cushion to shield my eyes from the light. When my eyes do dilate enough so I may look at where I am, my hearing also comes back. I hear two soft voices who correlate to two humans in the room with me.
One human, a man of tall stature and confident posture slightly curved over in worry, stands near the head of the bed where I lay. The other is smaller than him. She is female and sits on the side of my bed to run her even smaller hands along my naked torso, slathering my cuts with a muddy green paste. I also see that my wounds have healed significantly since last time I was awake.
The memory of the goo that I saw seeping out of them also brings to mind the man. I remember him kneeling by my body, whispering things to me. I hardly remember the words, only that I trusted them for some reason unknown to me. I just knew that I could trust him. Even in the rain and mud that it brought, he knelt next to me, getting his refined clothing wet and dirty. I remember his smell and his presence with me.
“Good morning sweetheart,” I hear the female say to me. My voice seems far too sore to respond still.
“You’ve been through quite the healing process these past few days. Luckily your kind heals faster than us humans. You should be on the mend soon enough.” She tells me. I look up to the man who still stands, observing us. He must see the questions I have in my eyes when I look at him, so he once again kneels to me.
“Hello miss, my name is Fashan. I found you in the woods nearby and brought you here to madam Sinora who has been taking care of you while you recover.”
“Yes, it would seem that you must have been through quite the battle to end up in the state that he found you in deary.”
I remember bits and pieces now that I am more lucid. Fashan found me in the forest after I had escaped the black. Fashan is like me, Sirona isn't. I don't know how, but I can just tell.
“Do you have a name miss?” Fashan asks me. I think about it for a moment and come up with nothing. I have enough knowledge to know what humans are, how they live and what the world is, yet I have no knowledge of myself. I don't remember my name or if I ever even had one. I shake my head no to him.
“Would you like a name?” I nod yes, “How does Ceilesta sound?” It sounds good, even better when he says it. I nod again. “Then it is decided. Welcome to the surface Ceilesta.” I like the way that sounds; the surface.
They feed me, clean me, give me fresh water to drink and heal me. They also help explain to me how they found me, where I am, what I am, or at least what they think I am. Once, when Sinora was gone to do other business, Fashan explained to me what I am.
“See here,” he says while I look in a mirror at my back where my shirt is draped past my shoulder. He points to the markings that edge their way down past my waist and up to my neck, “These are elemental traces. They only appear on the vessels chosen by the heavens who look over one of the five.” He explains to me what the five are and how they make up all of the magic and life in the world. Then he says, “But yours has no match to any of the five. You have immense elemental power in you, I can feel it, yet your power doesn't come from any of the five.”
I can feel it too. I tell him, “I know. None of those five appeal to me. I'm light, like the warmth of the sun of a child's first laugh.” I don't know how, but I just know that that is the truth. I just know it is. When I look to Fashan I see both understanding and confusion on his face.
“But there have only ever been five elementals. It has always been just the five.” I see how doubt creeps into his words as he caresses the markings on me.
“Maybe people just stopped counting when they reached five…”
It takes a while, but we both come to accept the existence of a sixth element; light. I find Fashan pondering about the possibly seventh and eighth elements also. Some magic known here cant be traced back to any of the five, yet they still exist and with my addition to the five, the others can be explained away also.
Healing could be of the life elemental, shields and other combat magic could be of an electric elemental, many magic types could very well have their own elementals as well. Fashan often writes papers and theories on this while sitting by my bed during the day. It takes a while before I feel ready enough to go for walks outside, and even longer before I feel well enough to run or use any of my innate light magic. When I am though, Fashan takes me on tours through the city and shows me the foods and music of his town. We visit the villages outside of town and admire the waterways that run through all of the plains.
With time, I am also able to conjure balls of pure light that are warm to the touch and embed my light into objects to make them their own light sources. We grow closer the entire time he teaches me magic and about his world, while I teach him about mine. All of this is abruptly called to a stop when Fashan receives news a few weeks after my appearance.
The village next to where I was found has gotten sick. The messenger who delivered the news to Fashan told him how the villagers had grown aggressive and monotonous. Their faces turned gray and full of pustules. They attacked anything that got too close to them while they wandered aimlessly in the confines of their village. They also were seen coughing up thick globs of black goo that sizzles once it reaches the ground. Their animals have died and everything there now gives off an awful, putrid stench.
I am there when Fashan hears this. While he may not realize the implications of this news right away, I do. I lived through such a sickness when trapped in the hollow. I remember the suffocation and darkness of floating in its seas. I dread every word that the messenger says as he weaves a tale all too similar to mine. The hollow must be infecting the surface.
Fashan is outside and heading towards the stables within a minute of the messenger finishing his story. I rush down the streets with him and try to find out what his plan is. He makes sure to capture the standing guards around the city and silently orders them to follow him. He rounds up the calvary and unlike when he came to find me, he is forced to stay to debrief them on what weapons to bring and how to go about handling the villagers. No one wants the villagers to be harmed, especially Fashan.
I worry for the state of the village and fear what Fashan will find once he and his men arrive there on the ground. I imagine the many ways that this could go south. I know the horrors the hollow has within its depths. I assume we've come to the same assumption based on what we know; the pit from where I escape my turment has let the hollow seep into this world.
“Fashan!” I call out to him, “I will go scout the village from the air,” He turns his head from his horse over to me. I recognize the knowing and disapproving look he gives me. I speak before he gets the chance to, “I know you worry for me, for what I am. Do not fear for me Fashan, I know what I am doing in choosing this. I will handle the consequences for showing myself to the world.”
“I understand,” He says with a stern expression, “Go then. Do not engage and stay high enough to ride on the wind.”
“Understood”
Before I go to run off from the stables, he pulls me in by the collar of my coat and presses his forehead to mine in a now common gesture of love between us.
“Take care Ceil…” He whispers into me.
“I will,” I whisper back, letting go of him to run outside of the main gates of the city to prepare to fly.
I’ve only ever tried to do this once or twice successfully, and yet once I am standing here in the grass of my home, the stench of the hollow in the air, I find little effort is needed for my emotions and magic to take hold of me and allow the sigils on my back to glow like fire. I don't feel much for the few seconds it takes for my body to grow tall and scaled. I feel the wings rip out of my human skin and spread wide to push down on the air that surrounds me to propel me into the sky.
My claws are just as sharp as my vision which can already see the menacing fog that covers the villages. It takes only a dozen wing beats until I’m soaring high above the village. From where I glide in a circle around it, I can see the shambling villagers milling around outside looking more corpse than human. I can also see how the ground is slowly being overtaken by the hollow and its black ooze that kills all of the grass, flowers, and trees that it touches.
I follow the flow to its source and indeed find my pit overflowing with its sickness. The sludge flows down and drips out of the mound and onto the surface. Parts of it clump together in globs of mass and seem to write and move on their own accord. Some parts break off from the main flow and the balls of poison stand and crawl along the forest floor in every direction. I remember Fashan’s warning to not engage until he gets here with his men, yet I feel tempted to breathe plasma and pure light into the pit to erase the disease that festers there.
My temptation doesn't get much time to dwell on me as before long I can see Fashan within a few hundred feet from the village, over a dozen knights on horseback behind him. I go to land next to him once they’ve slowed down to a trotting pace near the gates. Once my claws make contact with the dirt, wings tucked back along my sides, I can hear how the men frighten at my presence.
“Fear not soldiers! This dragon is a friend, not foe. Tell me Ceil, what have you seen?” he turns and asks me. I take another look at the men as I can still feel their apprehension of me, they are heavily armed after all. Fashan gives me a nod and I start to make a crude sketch in the dirt with my paw. I draw a square for the village and a circle nearby as a stand in for the pit. I then claw in a river of sludge that overtakes half of the village, just as I had seen, and brush half or the square away to represent this.
The men look on as I draw and seem to quiet more at seeing my intelligence and ability to communicate. Fashan is studying my drawing and I am right to trust that he will understand it. He gives me a nod and strokes a hand along the spine on the tip of my muzzle when I lean down to him. He then turns and addresses his men to create a perimeter around the village, making sure to stay outside of the wooden fences, and to make sure no infected thing wanders too far. He also warns not to touch the poison under any circumstances.
I do something that has implicates for him to do something that we have never discussed before; I lay down and nudge him towards me. He gets the hint and goes to stand next to my shoulders, grabbing onto my feathery crest with one hand. I look back at him, and him at me, and give him a nod. He seems hesitant, but surrenders himself and pulls himself up and onto my back. Once I feel him safely stop me, I stand and wait.
I trust and respect him enough to let him guide me along just as one would do to a horse. Once I feel him squeeze his legs into my sides and clutch onto my mane, I go to take off forward into a gallop. It takes a few paces for me to get enough speed to get enough wind under my wings to take off. I make sure to keep Fasan in mind while I ascend and be careful not to roll or bank at an angle where he would likely fall off.
Once we have gotten enough speed and height, I start to head towards the hollows center with Fashan right next to me. His presence is comforting to me and incredible to me who I can see looking up at us in awe. Their leader is riding a dragon right above their heads, going off to save their lands. That is the only moment I allow myself to feel pride in as we now approach the pit faster.
I circle once to let Fashan get a good look at what we’re dealing with before banking off and flying lower in the canopy to pursue some of the sludge monsters. Once they are in sight, I use my great lungs to breathe in air, and out pure, radiant light. The worms burn and sizzle into nothing at my brilliant light. All that they leave is the trail in the leaves where they once were.
I had only ever had a hunch that my light could be a solution to the poison, but now with confirmation that it can destroy it, I feel empowered into action. We glide through the forest and hunt down all that is disease. I feel in perfect harmony with him as we both work to cleanse the area of all filth. I fly and breathe light, evaporating any monster within my radius, and Fashan uses the balls of light I had once used as a little trick to push back monsters that slither too close. Once flying, he directs me to hoards of monsters that he sees by pulling slightly on one side of my mane to get my attention on them. We are a perfect team as we work to destroy the filth.
I find that after a while Fashan has led me to circle back to the village as land in its center. I do as he asks and step us down by the well at the center of the village. The sickly villages turn to us and start to shuffle over making choking, growling noises from deep in their throats. Such noises do not sound like that of the surface world. These villagers are now undoubtedly infected by the hollows' poison.
Fashan shifts on my back and pulls my attention to a man who has wandered too close to us and allows me to jump back from him. He meets my eye and gives me a knowing look. Deep down, I don't know how, but I just know that I can heal them. I concentrate and focus on my hatred of the hollow and of my love for the surface. I love the light, the birds, the trees, everything about it. I hate the blackness and suffocating feeling the hollow emits. I escaped from it once, I will not let it chase me to infect this world.
Raising my wings into the air, I find the will to center all of my light into the tips of my wings that touch tips high above me creating an arc of light that channels from my center and the sun in the sky. Fashan is forced to close his eyes as my blinding light that radiates from my wings and spreads out to my center. Slowly, I feel the hollow retreat from the village. Then all at once, I raise up on my hind legs, keeping my wings touching, and force the hollow away.
My light becomes truly blinding and explodes far out beyond the village. I chased the hollow out of the village and its inhabitants. With that, I allow myself to collapse down onto all four legs and join the villagers who lay on the ground dazed. Fashan is still safely upon my back, but now leaps off to go check the nearest villager. It seems he also gave his men the all clear to come within the fences as they too swarm the village to tend to the people here.
One comes up to me to see how I am, or to just gape at my otherworldly body. I give him only a moment's glance before standing once more and lumbering over to Fashan who is helping a woman who is recovering from the hollow sit up. Her eyes come back into focus and immediately land on me. She stares in awe and clutches Fashans sleeve. She then uses her other hand to reach out to me. It seems that I am still giving off a residual glow from my exertion to save them.
I indulge her and go to press my muzzle into her outstretched hand. But then a tremoring starts to run through the ground. It seems like both Fashan and I recognize the sound. I pull up and crane my head toward the forest where once again, we feel the quakes emanating from. Without looking away, I offer Fashan my arm for him to step on to climb onto my back once more. He takes it and resumes his perch on top of me.
He is more accustomed to flying with me now, so I waste no time with a running start and simply shoot straight up using my powerful wings to propel us alone. I silently urge him to hang onto me tighter as I am now expecting a real fight to start at the familiar presence I sense coming from within the pit.
…
We hover in the air next to the hole in the canopy above the pit. Like before, when Ceil rose, I again felt the tremors and how the trees seemed to be filled with anticipation at what's to come next. We wait for only a couple of moments before being forced back by a torrent of black smoke and mist that erupts from the pit. My eyes take a second to adjust to the darkness that has now turned day to night within an instant. When I am able to see again, I truly wish I wasn't able to see at all.
Raising from the pit, just as Ceil had, a large, smokey figure slithers its imposing frame out of the hole and into the sky. It has no wings, a too long body, and completely black skin. It stretches and moves in ways even us dragons shouldn't be able to.
I’ve only ever heard of its name referred to as the boogeyman. In texts of old it is said to be the bringer of calamity and destruction. The books describe it exactly as I now see it. There is no doubt in my mind of what this is, of who this is. This demon of old is Balor.
It curls around itself and uses long spear-like claws to release itself from the tendrils of sludge that keep it tethered to the pit. Once its head is torn from the tendrils, it releases a cry all too similar to the cry Ceil let out, only this beast's cry of pure hatred and malice. It then seems to lay nonexistent eyes on Ceil as its head mechanically turns towards us. The overwhelming dread its gaze alone causes cannot be overstated. All hair stands on end and gooseflesh overtakes my skin at its gaze. Then all too quickly, it is upon us.
Ceil is forced to twist backwards lest the beast clamp its jaws around her neck. Her legs come up and kick his belly to propel him upwards and push him off balance. We use the downwards momentum to gain speed and rush towards Balor who has circled back and is heading us off towards the village. We head right towards each other head on, but at the last second Ceil tilts us to the side and runs her claws down the length of Balor’s side, tearing into his black flesh.
Balor bleeds black and screams out in rage. He has no wings to fly, yet his supernatural agility lets him twist to catch Ceil’s tail and yank her back. She too screams out but all I see in her eyes is fear. She goes to claw at Balor’s face with a hind leg and gets several deep slices on him, yet he doesn't let go. She fails and the two lock with each other, both trying to get the other to let go. Claws, maws, and manes tangle to latch onto each other, trying to do as much damage as possible to the other.
An imposing hand comes towards me, but at the last second Ceil raises a wing up between us and pushes me off of her back unintentionally when trying to block Balor from me. I freefall and look up to Ceil to see her unlatch her teeth from Balor’s back to look down at me. She screams and in slow motion, she tries to kick off of Balor to reach me.
She is afraid. I see fear in her eyes when they lock onto mine. She fears for me and she fears Balor and of what he can do; what he is doing. Bright red and black blood mix and freefall with me creating a horrible mosaic above me as I watch the titans fight. Ceil is losing. I don't want her to lose. I can't let her lose.
It's been a while since I’ve taken such a risk, yet as I fall closer and closer to my death, I decide that this outcome isn't what I want. I draw from the water in the air and close my eyes to accept what I am about to do. With great pain, I let my skin tear from my bones and let out scales and horns from within. In my downward spiral I lean back to become fully vertical, gaining speed and velocity only to let my wings unfurl and save me at the last second.
My momentum lets me glide down then up and join the fight. Ceil has refocused her attention to Balor who has forgotten his grip on her tail to grip a wing within his maw. Ceil cannot last much longer like this. Her wings will give out soon enough even without Balor breaking them. I hear the grinding of bones and blood rains on me as I race to them.
My arms are turned to wings and legs turned powerful and tipped with claws which I use to grasp Balor by the back and wretch him from Ceil. I spin and fling him away from Ceil as I rush back to her. She is slowly falling while trying her best to stay midair. I grab her under the wings and help glide her to the ground. I don't have time to care for her or to even see what type of injuries she has when she collapses to the ground as Balor comes screaming and flying back at us.
I raise up and meet him in the sky to grapple with him. I don't know how I could defeat him the way he is. He has no wings to tear off and only four legs that don't see to help him other than to tear into us. Going for his head only does so much, so I decide that the only way to defeat him is to destroy him. I will have to tear him to pieces and burn what's left if I want to save the town.
My weight and size give me an advantage over his slim form, yet his flexibility lets him bite and claw at my wings and belly. I go about tearing off chunks of him and spitting out the pieces while he tries to do the same to me. There isn't much to be done for either of us. We lock together just as Ceil had before.
We come away from each other after falling too close to the ground where neither of us want to be. I have deep gashes in my belly and hind legs while Balor is missing most of his back and leg. I can just barely stay flying, but I have no choice but to.
I take a moment and look to Ceil who is curled on the ground watching us. We take each other in for a moment and I can see how her tail is mangled and bent out of shape with her front legs being torn significantly. She bends her head, seemingly in acceptance, and then cranes her neck up to let out a mighty roar.
She draws both of our attention and before either of us can move, She has risen up and taken flight, coming straight for Balor. I fly towards her, wanting to help, yet I am forced back by the blinding light that is building up from within her core. I can't see what she is doing, yet I know in my heart what she has decided.
I roar at her to try to beseech her to come back, to not do what I think she is. When my sight comes back, I can see how her light has encased her entire form and Balor and her are once again on a collision course for each other. This time, instead of dodging him, she goes straight for him and they crash together in a mass of light and dark.
They fall and at first Balor is on top of her, then she somehow manages to kick him off balance and curl around his form to wrap around his back and pin him under her as they fall towards the ground. No, not just the ground, straight towards the pit.
Realization strikes me then and I go to race above the treeline towards them. I am just in time to hear her determined scream at him and his shrieking, and see as their locked forms fall into the earth. Right before the impact, I am forced to look away as Ceil’s light becomes too much to bear and I am forced to turn away from my beloved.
After a final shake of the ground, I plummet down from my vantage point and fall down next to her. My emotions allow me to shed my wings and tail within an instant to run to Ceil who is only identifiable by her diamond glow. The forest has receded far beyond the pit now and past the crater theri impact made. It is dead and ashen colored as I run through it to reach her light.
I find her human body lying in the dort like the first time we met, yet this time, no matter how much I press my ear to her chest, I can't find a heartbeat. My own heart seems to stop as the reality of her limp from and cold skin set in. I raise my head to the heavens and yell out my frustrations at this cruel fate. A downpour opens from the sky and lets heavy drops of water rain down on us.
I put her down from my arms and lay her on her back. I am not ready to give her up! I scream towards the gods and let out every curse and healing charm I know into her. My hands press into her chest, willing my magic to make her wonderful heart beat once more. I wasted so much time with her, I'm not ready to say goodbye.
Even as my assault of magic continues, I can see in my perihilar how Balor lays dead and dissolving, plugging the pit, and how every remnant of the hollow evaporates with him. Grass grows around her body, flowers bloom and rain falls as my own tears fall. She never wakes, even as my magic runs dry and my voice grows hoarse from screaming for her.
Our legend ends just like that. It almost seems unfair how our lives were so easily forgotten within the next few decades. Now all that remains of us besides the legends turned myths is the forest my magic grew for her in my haste. It is always misting there and rains frequently. The fruits are said to have healing properties and any flower or blade of grass removed for it will immediately wither once beyond the forest's borders.
It is also said that if one were to crawl through the wall of thorns at the center of the enchanted forest, you would find two things. There is said to be a great crater filled with black obsidian and sand. It's the only place in the whole forest that doesnt bloom. There is also a statue beside it depicting a great dragon standing with its tail and a wing curled protectively around a girl who sits in flowing gowns overlooking the forest and all the magic and mystery within it.