Sinbad POV
After the voice had quietened down, Drakon and I descended the mountain little by little and began to walk towards the Lightning King's flight path, weapons in hand. The rocks beneath our feet were slick with moisture from the mist that perpetually hung in the air, and more than once I had to steady myself against the cliff face to avoid slipping. My muscles ached from the constant tension of moving without my awakened strength, every step requiring careful consideration that had once been instinctual.
Now we were staring at it, hidden behind a cluster of jagged stones that provided the only cover in this barren landscape. The Lightning King was a sight that would haunt my dreams - assuming I lived long enough to have any.
It had a white mane that flowed down its back like cascading snow, and a white beard that seemed almost regal if not for the dried blood that stained it crimson. Blue horns curved majestically from its skull. Its blue bat-like wings were spread wide, each membrane translucent enough that I could see the intricate network of veins beneath.
Blue scales covered it from head to tail, each one the size of a dinner plate and gleaming with an otherworldly sheen. Giant claws at the base of its feet dug deep furrows into the stone wherever it landed, and its giant green eyes seemed to hold an intelligence that was both ancient and malevolent.
"It's huge," I muttered, remembering what the voice had said earlier. The creature had to be at least forty meters from snout to tail, with a wingspan that could eclipse entire buildings. "It looks like it's the king of dragons."
"It might be big, but it doesn't feel like it's ascended," Drakon observed, his military training evident in how he assessed threats even in our dire circumstances. "It looks to be an awakened terror."
"A terror, huh?" I had heard stories of old man Darius, looks like I was really having an adventure of my own.
As if to demonstrate its superiority over its offspring, a few smaller dragons began to fly too close to the Lightning King's perch. Without warning, it opened up its maw - easily large enough to swallow a horse whole - and in one fell swoop bit down on them, its massive jaws crushing bones like twigs. It gulped them down as fresh blood stained the dragon's white beard, the crimson droplets falling like rain onto the stone below.
The casual cruelty of the act made my stomach turn. These weren't enemies or threats - they were its own kind, possibly even its own children, yet it devoured them without hesitation.
It looked directly at the spot where we were hiding, and dread filled me for a second. Those intelligent green eyes seemed to pierce right through our stone cover, and I could swear I saw amusement in them, as if it knew we were there but considered us too insignificant to bother with just yet.
"That thing just ate one of its own," I whispered, my voice barely audible even to myself.
"Yes, it seems like a cruel creature," Drakon said, and for once there was no arrogance in his voice, only grim recognition of what we faced.
"As would be expected from the king of dragons, just like a human king," I replied, unable to keep the bitterness from my voice as I thought of all the men sent to die in pointless wars.
"Watch your tongue, commoner," he warned, but even his rebuke lacked its usual fire. Fear, it seemed, was a great equalizer.
I began to sort out the situation from what I had talked about with Drakon, trying to make sense of this nightmare we'd found ourselves in. Firstly, only half of the one thousand soldiers Drakon had led made it to the starting point of the tower. The remaining soldiers were all killed by the baby dragons in what could only be described as a massacre. Then there was the odd time lag between when they and I had entered the tower - I had gone in before them, yet somehow arrived later. The last piece of information was that the only door to this place was guarded by the giant dragon.
That door stood like a monolithic testament to our predicament. It was carved from the same dark blue stone.
"It really does feel like we are being tested in this place, doesn't it, Drakon?"
"I told you not to call me-" he controlled himself before finishing his sentence, perhaps realizing that formal titles seemed absurd in our current predicament. "Nevermind. I have a plan. You are going to be my shield."
"Huh?" I turned to stare at him, certain I had misheard.
"In short, this is the situation," he continued with the same tone he might use to explain military tactics to his subordinates. "Before my eyes is a door guarded by a terror, but it's impossible to defeat such a monster as normal humans. So the goal isn't to defeat it, but we will use diversion. It is very likely that I am being tested to see if I have the resolution to leave someone behind as a decoy or not. In the battlefield, you often have to leave failed soldiers behind for the greater good."
What in the gods was this guy talking about? His test? Did he really think himself so important that this entire nightmarish realm was designed specifically to challenge his leadership skills?
"Aren't you being too self-serving?" I questioned, incredulous at his narcissism even in the face of death.
"I'm making you my direct subordinate despite being an expatriate," Drakon said in a threatening tone that would have been more effective if we weren't both powerless mortals hiding from a dragon. "Be honored. Don't worry though, you will be rewarded for your glorious death. Your family will be happy as well, knowing you died serving your betters."
At the mention of my family, I felt my chest grow cold. My mother's face flashed in my mind - her gentle smile as she handed me my father's blade, her final words of encouragement. The village children who looked up to me, the people who depended on me to return and help them rebuild their lives after this senseless war.
"Cut that shit out," I muttered, my hands clenching into fists. "That's why I hate militaristic shits like you."
"What? How dare you! You dare to defy your commanding officer's order!" His voice rose dangerously, and I worried he might alert the dragon to our position. "By all rights, a commoner like you should've been executed when he became an expatriate."
"Quit it with that expatriate bullshit," I interrupted, my own voice gaining heat. "That's enough. Do you know how many thousands of people died because of militaristic shits like you? Fathers, sons, brothers - all thrown away for the glory of nobles who never set foot on a battlefield themselves. I will not accept working under anyone like that."
"Hmph, you're a damn expatriate after all," he spat with disgust. "I won't rely on a low commoner like you. I'll do it myself, as I should have from the beginning."
With that declaration, he rose up from our hiding spot and ran out into the open, his sword gleaming in the strange light of this realm.
That's when I heard it - a weird noise that wasn't the mysterious voice that had been announcing my kills. This was coming from inside the walls themselves, a rhythmic sound that seemed almost familiar. The intervals between the sounds... it reminded me of something from my life at sea.
Waves? No, it was water. Underground water moving through channels carved in the stone.
That's it! If I could use that knowledge, maybe there was another way through this trial that didn't involve either of us dying as a distraction.
Drakon POV
I ran as fast as my unawakened legs could carry me, my military training the only thing keeping me moving in a straight line toward my objective. The door seemed impossibly far away, but I had to reach it. I was a noble of Parthevia, heir to a proud military lineage. Failure was not an option.
Suddenly, water blew out from a crack in the cliff face, a geyser of scalding liquid that I barely dodged by throwing myself to the side. The water hit the ground where I had been standing with enough force to crack stone.
Damn these geysers! They kept getting in the way, erupting without warning from hidden channels in the rock. I couldn't figure out where the next one would emerge, making every step a gamble with my life.
Then a baby dragon suddenly appeared in front of me, its smaller size making it faster and more maneuverable than its massive parent. I lunged forward without hesitation, my blade cutting through its neck in a clean stroke that sent its head tumbling away from its body. The familiar weight of my sword felt wrong in my hands without the enhanced strength of my awakened core, but muscle memory guided my movements.
And these damn baby dragons wouldn't stop coming after me. Every few seconds, another would dive down from the sky or emerge from some hidden cave, forcing me to dodge and weave while maintaining my desperate sprint toward the door. I should try to avoid them whenever possible - fighting would only slow me down and drain what little energy I had left.
That's right. Now that my troops were gone, scattered and dead across this nightmare realm, I had to do it myself. For Parthevia, for His Majesty, and for the princess. I would succeed where ten thousand others had failed, because I was Dragul nobility, bred for greatness.
Suddenly, the Dragon King turned to look at me from its perch high above. Those massive green eyes locked onto my running form, and I felt like an insect beneath a magnifying glass. It opened its maw wide, and I could see lightning crackling between its fangs like trapped thunderstorms. A flare of blue electricity escaped from its mouth, a beam of pure destructive energy that lit up the entire cavern.
I threw myself into a roll, the lightning passing mere inches over my back. I could feel the heat of it through my armor, and when I looked behind me, I saw scorched earth and the still-smoking bodies of baby dragons that had been caught in the blast. The stone itself had been turned to glass where the lightning struck.
Damn! If I got hit by that, I would be vaporized instantly, nothing left but ash and memory. But if I could just survive this trial and reach the door, then victory would be mine. I would be the first to pass this test, the hero who succeeded where even a saint had failed.
I didn't know how I had managed it - perhaps the gods themselves were guiding my steps - but I was now standing directly in front of the massive door. Up close, I could see details that had been invisible from a distance. Six large holes were carved into the door's surface, each one perfectly round and about the size of my chest.
"Door, open for me!" I yelled triumphantly, my voice echoing off the stone walls. This had to be it - the moment of my triumph. "Open! I command you!"
But the door remained stubbornly closed, as immovable as a mountain. No grinding of ancient mechanisms, no rumble of stone moving aside. Just silence and my own labored breathing.
Panic began to flood through me like ice water in my veins. I pounded my fist against the door's surface, feeling nothing but solid, unyielding stone. "Come on, open! I passed your test! I reached you alive! Now open!"
The sound of my fists hitting stone seemed pathetically small in the vast space of the cavern. Behind me, I could hear the Dragon King's attention turning my way, the scrape of massive claws against stone as it shifted its position.
The Dragon King's head slowly turned, one of its giant eyes focusing on me with the intensity of a searchlight. In that gaze, I saw my death approaching with the inevitability of sunrise.
No way! This couldn't be how it ended. I had sworn to accomplish this mission, sworn on my family name and my honor as a soldier. I was supposed to be the hero of this story, the noble commander who succeeded through courage and determination.
I'm... I'm supposed to be special. I'm supposed to matter.
The Dragon King opened its maw slowly, deliberately, savoring the moment before my destruction. Lightning began to crackle between its teeth, building up to a blast that would reduce me to nothing. All I could do was stare at my approaching doom, frozen by the terrible majesty of the creature before me.
I don't want to die like this...
I don't want to die forgotten and alone...
I don't want to die!
"You idiot!"
A yell cut through my despair - oh, it was that commoner, that expatriate low born. Then the world exploded in light, and everything went white
A/N: Send stones or I'll haunt your nightmares like a certain steed