It matters not,she says, as if to herself now. She fixes me inher gaze again, unwavering.For as I continue the dreams of those who made this place in ancient times, you now continue for me. You shall succeed where I failed to complete their ancient vision: my other champion wears my black ring, for now, but you will take it from her soon. She was my initial instrument in re-awakening my undead creature; you are the one who will finish it. For although she was already ripe for my convincing of our ancient Bloodwalker agenda, you shall be soon. And you will be far more powerful than my current instrument ever was; my perfect vessel, to bring my creation to its fullest wrath. Together, we shall return Bloodwalkers to the place they should have in this world. This agenda is the entire reason our ancient Ancestors created this city of knowledge you are now in. And the center most chamber of their workings—here, in this magnificent cavern. For as Bloodwalkers, we but do the will of our Ancestors, young one. And our Bloodwalker Ancestors had a very specific will they wished done. Which I shall complete—through you.
“Never!!” I snarl up at Hedda, as I seethe with a terrible energy roaring all through me.
Fight it, as you will,Hedda says knowingly now as her dark eyes glitter, deadly in the stars. The black mists around us whirl as she rakes her talons through the Void again, here yet not here.For the battle shall only make you stronger, and more able to do my will. If you wish to create the item you seek today,she glances down now at the Soulstone on the bed,then battle me now, in the stars. Earn the right to speak with our Ancestors and gather the information you need, to trap myself and my four drakes, if you are strong enough. I warn you, however: this destiny will come for you, no matter how you roar and rail against it. It is our fate, child, to do this, already written throughout the stars. It is our honor to return all Bloodwalkers to our rightful place in the world—ascendant over all things. Including even the angels themselves.
As my Ancestor Hedda ceases speaking, something inside me seethes—on fire with my highest righteousness and my deepest wrath, both. Because like hell am I going to do what Hedda wants of me; much less dothe will of some ancient Bloodwalkers who built this place, long gone to dust and ashes.
As both my inner dragons roar and gnash their teeth now, twisted so hard into my united Bloodwalker power I can barely tell which is which, I feel that oneness superpower me. Because everything inside me knows that doing something just because it’s myfateis complete bullshit in my book.
Especially if it means ending the entire world.
As a rumbling growl surges up out of my throat in both the physical world and the Void, I feel how it shakes the ground all around me. I feel how it shudders everything inside this cavern, besides the Void—even the dragon-souls that wait for us, beyond Hedda’s black veil all around.
I feel how that massive growl shudders even Hedda herself—I see her black eyes widen, as she gives an affronted snort from the Void.
Then it’s on, as I roar—hauling energy out of my drakes in a riptide.
Aesa’s Truthstone flares white-hot at my chest, as she gives me her energy as well. I feel her give me everything she’s got, as I blast a thousand megawatts of pure auric firepower right into the Void now.
I feel it as my gargantuan auric wildfire seethes all over Hedda and her black veil. My sudden fire blazes like a star being born; it explodes her black veil around me out now, like a bomb, as it roars to the endless universe.
Free at last.
A massive surge of energy fills me then, as I feel my auric dragon freed in the Void. Like stepping out into the fresh midnight air from being inside a cave for a thousand years, an enormous rush of pleasure seethes through me as I feel my true nature become unleashed.
The triumphant roars of my drakes echo mine, as our combined auric firepower goes blasting through the universe.
Pouring all over Hedda now in the stars and making her shriek.
She didn’t expect it; we surprised her with the sheer ruthlessness of our strike, as Bjorn’s rage, Ström’s passion, Mikkel’s wrath, Baldur’s faith, and my sheer defiance hammer her in a tidal wave. Aesa’s with us, as ourauric wildfire seethes all over Hedda, making her writhe in the stars in pain.
This Bloodwalker is ancient, however. Even though we blasted out her black veil around me in the stars, she unleashes a gargantuan roar now, heaving a massive auric strike from her wings as she whips her spiked tail right at us.
Shattering Aesa’s Truthstone upon my chest.
I feel it, as all of Aesa’s support is blasted away from us with that terrible strike. I scream as I feel every last bit of her energy ripped from me, like something beautiful was just ripped right out of my heart.
It’s hurled into the blackness of the universe by her most ruthless sister, Hedda. Because Hedda’s done something far worse to Aesa than shattering her silver stone, which housed the last of her power.
She’s thrust the final piece of Aesa’s everlasting soul far out into the universe. She’s banished it from this entire plane of existence as she shreds it like cheese through a grater, sieving it now through all those millions of curse-holes she once opened in me.
Destroying it in the universe—gone.
As Aesa’s soul disappears from the cosmos, I hear her last shriek of rage, wrath, and defiance. Mine echoes it on earth—but she is already gone, banished so utterly from this plane of existence by her sister that her soul will never again be found.
It’s the worst thing I could even think of doing to someone, as I stand before Hedda in utter shock. Because now I know she can’t just trap other dragon’s souls inside her most diabolical creature, the Usurper; she has the power to destroy other souls.
No part of that dragon ever coming back.
A terrible roar of mourning shakes the Void, in the wake of what Hedda has done. Because it’s something so unthinkable, so unforgivable, that the Ancestors who crowd around us are shocked inside their endless universal space.
As the most horrible keening, roaring, mourning sound comes fromevery throat, my drakes and I have to clap our hands over our ears in the physical world. Our very souls are roiled by that sound; because it’s something so awful that it dives right into my very blood and bones now, shuddering them from the inside out.
As I feel like my blood will boil right out of my body and my bones will shatter themselves apart, I suddenly note this is how it feels to be roared at by the Black Dragon. This is why that beast has the effect it does on the flesh—because its roar is the most terrible sound of all the souls trapped inside it, screaming in torment.
Its roar has the power of a hundred thousand souls or more, all roaring inside it in unison whenever it opens its mouth. They mourn in agony for the banishment of their souls from the everlasting Void.
Because, like Aesa just now, those souls will never return to our ancestral home, trapped inside the creature as they are. They are stuck there, banished there, just as much as Hedda banished Aesa just now, elsewhere.
