“So what have you found that might give us insight into the Black Dragon?” I ask, ready to dig in—with talons, if I have to, to get him to spill his secrets.
“I’ve found out some interesting origin information about the Dragon of All Souls, and how its spirit-energy was put together, more or less, to give it life.” Baldur dives in, gazing around at all of us before looking back at me. “As you have already discovered, the Usurper was created out of thirteen original Blood Dragons, who all donated not just their flesh, blood, and magic to the creature to give it life, but their everlasting souls. Those souls were never again able to return to the Ancestors, so long as the creature was still in existence.”
“Which is why it’s called the Dragon of All Souls.” Ström interrupts, his look piercing as he stands with his arms crossed.
“Yes and no.” Baldur looks at Ström. “Through Hedda’s more arcane writings, I’ve discovered something else. That not only did it steal souls to create the creature originally, it also stealsnew soulswhen it performs its worst killing blow upon any living being.”
“The heart curse.” I lift my eyebrows, shocked, at this new information. “That’s the Black Dragon’s final killing blow. Are you saying that anyone who gets cursed by the creature that way doesn’t return to the Void of Ancestors when they die?”
“Precisely.” Baldur holds my gaze, intense. “For inside the creature, Hedda created herownVoid, like a replica of the Void of Ancestors. Anyone who gets the heart-killing curse from the creature goes there, to the Void that exists inside the beast… rather than the actual Void we all hail from, and evermore return to.”
“Damn.” Ström’s voice is low and astounded, as Mikkel gives a dire whistle. Bjorn rumbles one of the most vicious growls I think I’ve ever heard from him, as even Lærke catches her breath in horror at what my Ancestor did to create the Black Dragon.
“That’s why I couldn’t hear the voices of the dead beneath Aesa’s lake here in Magnussen lands, only feel that diabolical pull towards death, which was still imprinted in them.” I am quiet now, horrified at what my Ancestor did. “Because in that battle, the Black Dragon had reached its fullest might… and heart-cursed everyone into its own Void, rather than the real Void—stealing them away into its darkness forever. Then creating some kind of resonance in their bones that made others who touched the bone-pile lose their souls, too. The heart-killing curse passing on… even through the dead.”
“Hedda had a special name for her creation.” Baldur nods, dire, as his eyes darken. “She named it Jörmungandr, though everyone else called it the Dragon of All Souls.”
“The serpent that destroys the world during Ragnarök, in our ancient mythology,” Bjorn rumbles as he mimics Ström, crossing his arms over his burly chest and scowling hard. “Except in this case, it’s destroying all of Blood Dragondom as it devours us into its inescapable Void once it gets strong enough.”
“And not just us.” Baldur glances at Bjorn. “Storm Dragons, Ice Dragons, demonics, angelics… anything it kills in that fashion gets added to its Void. And thus, its power.All souls. Not just all Blood Dragon souls.”
“So with every magical creature the Black Dragon takes down with its heart-curse, it gets that much stronger. Fuck.” I set my teeth, fighting a terrible darkness inside me that wants to wrath hard, vicious.
“Magical and non-magical. Even humans can feed it energy.” Baldur corrects, as he watches me, dire.
“Did Rikyava’s Ancestor intend for it to take down the world?” Lærke suddenly asks, as she watches Baldur, ferocious.
“Hedda never spoke of her overarching intentions with the creature, at least not in the scrolls I’ve evaluated so far.” Baldur shakes his head, though his eyes are terrible. “To Frankenstein a dragon like this, however, using stolen souls to power it… that is not the sigil-work of someone noble. You must remember that the original thirteen, plus Hedda and her four mates who were taken later by the beast, gave theirinformed consentto being added to the creature. I cannot imagine they were left uninformed about just what it would do once it was fully powered. Which makes me believe their Bloodwalker sect had an agenda of world-cleansing, not just world dominance. Else, why name thecreature Jörmungandr? Unless you truly desired for it totake down the world.”
“Jesus.” Mikkel’s horrified word says it all.
Silence pervades the hall now, as we all stand shocked at what my Ancestor—all our Ancestors—did, five thousand years ago. Because as it comes clear to me that my Ancestor Hedda was not the good guy after all, but the worst villain I could ever imagine, creator of a creature that could murder millions and grow stronger with every death, horror consumes me.
As I finally understand her intention was not to stop the Blood and Bone War, but to destroy all of Blood Dragondom and everything else on this planet to boot, the worst kind of soul-chilling tremor wracks me.
I can’t even speak, can’t even think, as a terrible roaring sound hammers through my very blood and bones. Because my inner dragons are furious, wrathful that someone of my bloodline could be so despicable.
And passed their blood, bones, and power down to me.
“Do you think Hedda and her mates built the creature to add themselves to it intentionally, after it had been created? To make it even more ridiculously strong in their secret agenda to destroy the world?” Ström asks now in the echoing silence. “Then they did exactly that—though everyone else was led to believe the Black Dragon Five fell trying to take it down?”
“Yes.” Baldur nods, making that chill spread all through my soul as he looks at me. “We are descended from evil—all of us. Perhaps this is why we are the ones chosen to battle the creature now. To undo the willing evil all our Ancestors created in the Black Dragon of All Souls.”
“So, how do we take it the fuck down?” I cross my arms, everything deep inside me hating that I share an ancient bloodline with that heinous bitch Hedda.
Unable to do anything about it, save for giving everything I have to stop her creation now.
“In her documents,” Baldur gets to the actual point of what he’sdiscovered, at last, “Hedda speaks of akeyto forming her creation and bringing it to its fullest power. That key is herself, her own magic—her and all her drakes. The Black Dragon is powered by the souls it steals, which add to its body and physical magic. It has no mind, however; no true direction or mastery over all its most heinous abilities until the Five arecompletelybound into its flesh. The first stage was only a partial bind of the Five into the creature—induced through five ancient rings Hedda created long ago. The second stage was committing themselves to the beast, blood, bones, and soul, allowing it to usurp them by heart-cursing all Five into the Void of the beast.”
“So my Ancestor and her drakes really did sacrifice themselves to the creature.” I’m cold to my very marrow, as something deep inside me howls. “Battling it during the War was a sham. They intentionally died to it, to give it its final power-up. They melded their blood, bones, magic, minds, and souls together inside it so they could wield it as one from within. Giving ittheirminds and intentions. Completely.”
“I assume so.” Baldur’s statement is terrible as he stares me down, frank. Because we’ve gotten to it at last—that all our Ancestors were diabolical, and willingly sacrificed themselves to become something so ultimately powerful, it could never be stopped.
As I think it through now, I suddenly remember Emil Beck’s gloating words as we faced him down in the Jarl of Copenhagen’s hall. That he and his Bloodmate Litha were pleased we had released the souls of the Black Dragon Five into the world again, from that sunken cathedral they were trapped in beneathUnhaemmerten.
To power the Black Dragon once more.
“The souls of the Five.” I glance at Bjorn. “They were imprisoned in that cathedral beneathUnhaemmerten, which the voice who’s been manipulating us from the Void tricked us into desecrating. They got loose when we broke into the altar.”
