Dragon Tide Chronicles 2: Dialadect Resurgence

Chapter 9: Zero

Chapter 9:  Zero

I groan, my head feeling like it is spinning violently. I wait for the dizziness to die down, and then I look around at my surroundings, the darkness too deep to make anything out.

“Well, Danica, how nice of you to… drop by.” Signas’s voice rings out from the dark. I whip my head wildly to look for him, but wherever he is, he’s hidden by the darkness.

“Light,” He calls out, and a great rush of flame erupts, a great line of pillars are illuminated by braziers attached to them, one by one they light up until they illuminate a great golden throne, above it on the wall is an Alexandian Sun. And seated on that throne…

“Signas…!” I gasp. “What are you doing here, why am I down here?”

He looks down at me, a cold gaze devoid of emotion lands on me. “Oh, you had a little accident and you fell. That accident may have been aided by me. But that’s beside the point.”

A chair appears in front of me, out of nowhere.

Signas stares at me, and I at him.

“Well, sit. It’s rather annoying talking to someone who’s distracted by discomfort.”

I don’t move a muscle. From the dark depths of his eyehole, I can see his dark blue eye almost twitch in annoyance.

“I said, sit.” When I refuse to do as he says, he snaps his fingers, and a loud ringing noise vibrates throughout the room. When it stops, I find myself sitting in the chair, and quite unable to get back up.

“Good girl, Danica, you might just make a good pet dog.”

I snarl in irritation. “Bite me. How the hell did you just do that?”

“Ever heard of magic, Danica? That’s a clue for you. As fun as it is to taunt you,” He says in a clearly bored voice, “There is a reason for my little visit. Do you know where we are?”

I stare up at him. “If I had to guess, it’s the rumored temple the dwarves told me MIGHT exist.”

Signas pretends to clap his hands. “Why yes. This is one of the ‘Tombs of Alexandi’, but to be honest, you won’t find much of a body here. This place has different uses than the standard tomb. You may be asking in your head, ‘Why do you ask?’, I’ll tell you.”

He stands up, and slowly starts walking down towards me.

“In your fight against Light, you were clearly outmatched. All hope was lost. Then suddenly, Haven’s Cloud, your keido appeared. The battle swiftly turned, and you slew the 7th member of the Covenant. In your battle with Alexander, it spoke to you, directed you against his dark rage. It could be said that it merely was helping you.

In that same general topic, when you fought Ramok, you didn’t really fight him, did you?” His dark blue eye narrows, the light of the braziers flicker ominously against his mask.

“What are you getting at? Are you suggesting that I’m weak?” I try my best not to look directly into his eye, a feeling of unease is growing within me.

“Instead of you using your own power to fight him, your darkness rose up and took control, didn’t it? It fought in your place, but claimed you were working together.” He chuckles lightly for a brief moment, before appearing right in front of me, his eye narrows into a deadly glare.

“That. Is. A. Lie.”

“All this time, you’ve been under the impression that you’ve commanded power of your own, yet the only power that is truly yours is your war fairy powers over earth, and even those would be useless against us.

The Keido, Haven’s Cloud, was originally the Keido of Alexandi. In order to unlock the power of Kedio, one must break their limit, a physical, divine, and arcane barrier set within their soul. You have not done so.”

“But how would I-“

“Have acquired the power of Keido, wielded Haven’s Cloud? You didn’t. Hidden within your soul, Alexandi hoped that it would trigger when you would most need it, or if the power of another Keido threatened your life. So when Light activated his Keido, he unknowingly unleashed that blade.”

He disappears, and does not reappear.

“True wielders of the Keido do not need to weave the words of magic in order to summon their Keido, it is an incantation to merely increase the focus of the power. For example.”

A sword presses against my throat, and I look down to see a black blade pressing close to my skin.

“Soulbane, Reaper of Souls. And my Keido, also one of Alexandi’s two swords.” An immense spiritual presence dominates the room, and it takes me a moment to realize it is coming from the sword. Its aura feels as though it hungers to devour life without remorse, desiring nothing but its enemy’s blood.

Signas removes the blade, and chuckles. I turn to face him, anger setting in.

“That’s fine, insult me all you want! But that does not explain why you are here! Why I am here!” I yell.

“Oh that? You’ve not caught on to it yet? This sword is not for show and tell. But I’m afraid there’s no need for me to use such a precise instrument of death on someone as unworthy as you.” His sword begins to change to the color of steel, and its power fades away until he holds a normal sword.

“I’m here to determine your true worth. I only let you live after you killed Light because I was curious to see if you would continue to develop. You failed my expectations. And so now I’m offering you one more chance to prove you are truly capable of being the chosen one of the gods.”

He stows his sword away.

Huh? Why would he put his sword away?

“Danica Crown, fight me, and prove to me just how much worth you have. If you truly deserve to be called the champion of the gods, then survive and flee. Draw your sword, do not lower it for even a mere moment.

In the beginning of our lives, we are full of light, and the beauty of life blossoms. Our hearts are filled with hope, and we hold our heads high. Once we have grown, darkness seeps in through every crack, life presses down and we buckle under the strain. All becomes meaningless and never ending, all eventually being eclipsed by despair and death, another life snuffed out. My name is Signas, in the old tongue it means ‘Zero’. Zero is another way of saying ‘nothingness’. Despair… is the path to Zero.”

A dark aura surrounds him. “I am the 1st member of the Covenant, the Despair of Alexandi as his last breath was exhaled into this world. And so shall it be that your despair will join and become one with mine in the end.”

The lights go out, and the darkness wraps around us, beginning to swirl in a violent vortex, fading away to reveal that we are now floating high above Feltatus, clouds gracefully floating below, and the ocean sparkling like a sea of diamonds.

Ironically, the beauty of the day was about to be marred by the ugly affairs of battle.

“And my weapon of choice to end your life… will be your own sword.” He opens his hand, and Haven’s Cloud appears, and he quickly grabs hold of it.

Im-impossible! That… that… is MY sword! How can he wield it?!