NOIR:- A Wings of Fire Fanfiction

Chapter 21

A dragon stood at a table, scanning over his notes. The procedure should work, hopefully.

The only thing he really was worried about was if it didn't.

They only had one shot at this, and it was a huge gamble at that. I mean, it wasn't every day that you got brainwashed by an evil nightmare dragon to create a monster.

Now, you're probably wondering, who was the name of this unfortunate victim?

His name, was Terra. A MudWing born of a red egg, and well, an odd obsession with books. Also alchemy. Alchemy and anything with chemicals and potions was his true, real obsession.

Ironically, his obsession was what got him into this mess.

Terra was pulled out of his worried daydream by a tap on the shoulder. "Alchemist" the larger dragon addressed him, and Terra turned around with a start. He could feel the enchantment that Darkstalker had put on him kicking in, making him into the "Alchemist" once again.

"Yes, my lord?" he responded, the words flowing out of his mouth without his consent. His muscles were stiff as iron, and he couldn't move at all.

"The prisoner I talked to you about is here." Darkstalker said, flicking his tail to the doorway that led to the lower parts of the cave that they were staying in.

Terra nodded, and Darkstalker added with a hint of malice. "Make sure that it's done right, or you will pay, handsomely."

He left the room without another word.

As Darkstalker got away from earshot distance from Terra, the MudWing could feel his muscles loosening up, and the control spell that Darkstalker had cast slowly losing its grip. It apparently only had control whenever Terra was in close proximity to the animus, but Darkstalker threatened constantly to up the range of the spell.

He heard a small pop, and something appeared on the desk he was at. A potted plant, so to say. The flower had mesmerizing blue leaves, and it seemed to shift shapes in front of his eyes. The shapeshifter lily. he mused, running a talon over the delicate petals.

He picked it up and walked into the room Darkstalker had referenced to. Upon entering, he shuddered with fright. A dragon was chained up against the wall, and judging from the state he was in, he hadn't eaten for days, maybe weeks.

The dragon looked up at Terra with a forlorn gaze. His eyes had a hollow look to them, as if a part of this dragon died when he was captured.

Terra felt immense guilt and regret for this dragon, and he set the lily down on a table in the corner. He approached the dragon hesitantly, holding out a talon. The dragon snarled and lashed out, struggling against his bonds. "Hey, it's okay" Terra said, holding up his talons in surrender. "I'm going to break you out. We're leaving this place."

The dragon gave a confused look, and it a moment, Terra could see a glimmer of hope in his eyes. This was what his purpose was, to help others, not chain them up and experiment on them.

Terra worked on the dragon's chains, gentle talons meeting iron manacles. Soon, the dragon was free, and he rubbed his wrists. Without a word, he looked about the room mutely, and Terra could tell the prisoner was unable to talk. Possibly an enchantment? Terra watched the dragon's movements with careful attention, trying to see if the prisoner had been enchanted to be unable to talk, or unfortunately more than that.

His thoughts and fears unfortunately became reality when Darkstalker entered the room, finding Terra and his prisoner planning to escape.

"I'm gone for ONE SECOND, and I come back to this?" Darkstalker snarled, looking distrustfully at Terra.

"Tell you what. I told you you were going to pay, and you will." Darkstalker said, approaching Terra, who was unable to move unless told to, and running a talon over the MudWing's throat.

"Let's take away something you will want for the rest of your life." Darkstalker sneered, and Terra trembled with fear. His heart was beating in his chest, and he wanted to fly far away. Away from this, away from all of it.

Darkstalker's eyes flashed with a murderous glint, and Terra could tell he had a terrifying idea. Terra tried to cry out, but it was if his snout was tied shut. Darkstalker reached up to the MudWing's throat, and with two cuts, sliced an X straight onto Terra's throat, cutting straight through the MudWing's vocal cords. Blood blossomed everywhere, but before the wound could kill him, Darkstalker tapped his forehead gently. "Heal, but don't heal this dragon's voice. Snakes cannot talk, they only bite and kill." The cuts scabbed over, and in a few moments became a scar, but the MudWing's vocal cords never did, leaving the poor dragon mute.

Terra's voice screamed out for him to yell, or at least do something, but he couldn't talk. The cuts left him unable to talk. He blinked back tears of pain, and sorrow for what he would have to do.

"Now, do your job." Darkstalker said, and he pointed to the prisoner. Terra gulped and trembled with fear, but he did as he was told. 

Talons that were not his own chained back up the prisoner, and then his body got to work on making a monster. Darkstalker watched silently, and Terra guessed the he was making sure the job was done right. 

The MudWing alchemist mixed the formula, adding plants he had never seen on this continent before, at least, only from pictures from long ago. Soon, he had perfected the formula, and he presented it to his master. Darkstalker smiled, and took it gingerly into his talons. Being normal size for the time being, he looked oddly normal. That wasn't the case though. This dragon was a killer.

Darkstalker pulled a syringe off the table where the formula had been mixed, and filled it all the way. The wicked four inch needle would go right into the small of ones back, and after many days of agonizing pain, if the patient survived, they would be a shapeshifter.

The prisoner's eyes grew wide and he backed to the wall. Terra wanted to do something as he watched this horrid act, but his muscles were stiff as iron, unmoving.

"Turn around." Darkstalker said to the prisoner, and Terra watched in horror as the dragon was forced to obey Darkstalker's commands. Darkstalker leaned his head in right beside the prisoner's ear, and then calmly said, "You are no longer Lupus. Instead, I will call you Prophet."

Darkstalker thrust the needle right into the small of Lupus's back, injecting the fluid straight into his body. Lupus struggled and squirmed, but Darkstalker held him down, making sure every drop was injected into the prisoner. Once done, Darkstalker pulled out the needle, chaining Lupus back up to the wall. 

"Monitor him. If anything happens, come to me." Darkstalker said, and Terra nodded warily. Lupus looked back up at the pair with a dead look in his eye, and Terra  noticed with a shock that his eye seemed to shift colors, as if the serum was already taking effect.

Lupus thrashed and gasped out in pain, clearly under the starting effects of the serum. Darkstalker smiled, and pulled out a small box. "Almost forgot something." He said, and he opened the box, revealing a black sphere, about the size of an eyeball. "I can't have my Prophet without two eyes."

Darkstalker grabbed Lupus by the throat and thrust the eye into Lupus's empty eye socket. He released the hybrid, and Lupus gasped for air, catching his breath. The hybrid blinked his eyes a couple of times , and the new eye glowed with a blue hue. Lupus stared right into Terra's eyes, and he hissed, throwing himself at the MudWing, but thankfully the chains stopped him. "Easy." Darkstalker snapped, and Lupus, or Prophet as his "new name" was, stopped, and went limp in the chains. Terra's breathing calmed itself, but he was still in shock.

What kind of monster had he just created?