The first Kellso I had taken down broke off of the ranks from the rest of its group and ran towards me. Its flesh was like stone and crumbled off of its body as I drew my sword down onto its form. I stabbed it in its neck, and black, oozing tar seeped from where the blade had punctured it. The next Kellso was larger in size than the first one. Its body cracked with the movements it made. I had severed off a leg and watched as it fell in a crumpled mess of black rocks.
These types of Kellso were the dog soldiers of the real threat. The more powerful Kellso took on the shape of the beast of the pelt it wore and were far more dangerous than these. What was before me, I would describe as demons.
As I made my way into the heat of battle, Kayne was instantly by my side. "What do you think you're doing?" He shouted, bringing his sword through one of the Kellso running towards us.
"Fighting," I said as my sword went straight through a stomach.
Kayne shook his head, giving me a smirk. We fought side by side, ripping through the black bodies with ease. The dragons above us retreated to the mountains. They had not gone down into the midst of the battle, and no other dragon went up to fight them. The battle only went on for a few minutes, and after that, we were standing in victory.
"Where did you learn how to fight?" Kayne asked as people started to form into groups.
"My father." No one around me realized it, but finally admitting to myself that Alec was my father was a big deal to me.
"Danger, twoleg! There are more coming!" Naxan's panic was evident through the bond. I whipped my head in the direction of the mountains.
Baylen clasped my shoulder in his, giving me a small shake. "You're alright. You know that?"
The others couldn't feel them, so why could I?
The shadows tightened around my organs. They lashed out in hunger at the feeling of them being near. They were getting closer by the second.
"It's not over," I breathed.
Kayne gave me a look of concern. "We won. It's okay." He held onto my arm and lightly squeezed it.
I shook my head, breaking free from his grasp. "No. There's more."
"What the hell are you talking about?" Baylen looked from me to where I was looking.
"They're coming." And with those final words, more pooled out from hiding, crawling out from every direction. There were black demons as well as the mutated creatures I had seen in books. The dull-colored dragons were back with more, and the sky erupted with flames as they carried their assault down to us.
A glowing, orange light could be seen in the mountains. A raging fire that held violence. I knew it was Naxan, but other riders thought it was of their own.
I rolled away from an oncoming demon, slicing at its belly. Its body fell, but more took its place.
"Salic." A voice hissed near me. A wolf-like creature stalked around me. "The king will be pleased." The creature's words were drawled out, and they gurgled in its throat. It lunged towards me. I ducked low and stuck my sword out in front of me. The Kello's body slid down the length of the sword. I pushed the beast's body off of mine and made my way back into the battle.
"Twoleg! Watch!" Naxan shouted as I felt something slice into my shoulder. I cried out in pain, feeling the warmth of blood trickle onto my skin. Turning, I nearly didn't have time to duck as another beast came hurtling towards me.
"Salic." The demon hissed the same word as the other had done before.
"Oh, shut it!" I slashed my sword in its face while yelling. It jumped back and dodged my assaults. It gave out a high pitched laugh as I kept pushing it back. "Die!" It chanted, others joining in. "Die! Die! Die!"
"Watch out!" Someone shouted. I looked at what the riders were watching and saw a dragon falling from the sky. I jumped to the side, rolling out of the way as the dragon's body connected with the soil, crushing Kellso beasts underneath it. The white scales, which most likely shone with life long ago, were molted and unattractive. Its body was mangled with old and twisted scars.
The battle around us was unfazed as it proceeded. Kellso bodies continued to fall to the ground all around me. Black tar-like blood covered the ripped up ground. Thankfully, I didn't see any fallen riders.
As I brought down another Kellso, I took a moment to catch my breath. The numbers were beginning to dwindle in size, but there was still plenty around. My break was over as another Kellso came towards me. It screamed in agony as Baylen brought down his sword into its flesh. It withered on the ground, slashing back and forth on the ground. "Salic," Its words gurgled in its mouth.
Baylen gave the creature an odd look before finishing it off. He turned his gaze to me. I shrugged my shoulders. "I don't know. They've been saying that to me this entire time. It might be some kind of curse word in their weird language."
Baylen shook his head. "It's a last name."
"Oh?"
"Slow twoleg! Look!" Naxan's voice rang violently in my head. The world above me became dark as an object blotted out the sunlight. The next thing I knew, long talons wrapped around my body and grabbed me from the ground. I screamed as they tightened around me, piercing into my flesh.
A thunderous shriek vibrated the air, drowning out my own screams of pain. I felt his call through the bond. Anger was the first thing that rushed swiftly through my body, but not of my own. The power behind his roar nearly deafened my senses. I was fading away, but that could be from the exhaustion of battle.
"Valairex!" Someone shouted from below me. Something collided with the dragon, and my body swung roughly around in the air. Talons dug deeper into my flesh, and I cried out in pain. Involuntary tears dripped down my face at the burning sensation pulsing through my shoulder. Another mighty roar rang out into the air. I tried focusing on a pinpoint to keep myself grounded, but the jarring intensity of the dragon's talons clutching my arm and the world spinning around me was almost enough to make me heave up my stomach's contents.
The dragon's grip loosened, and I managed to break free from its grip. My fall to the ground was short, but I landed hard on my back, and the air was knocked from my lungs. My ears rang, muffling the sounds of the battle around me. I couldn't focus, my vision blurring, which swirled with dizzying colours.
Above me, I could see Naxan fighting viciously with the dragon. Or so I thought I could. My dragon was a blob, blurred at the edges and morphed into something unrecognizable. Red and black swirled together against the blue sky above. Slowly collecting myself, I was able to focus my eyesight momentarily. The fighting was all tooth and claw.
Groaning with nausea, I propped myself on my elbows, clutching the grass tightly between my fingers. I crawled onto my hands and knees, heaving a deep breath as pain lanced my shoulder. Silently crying out, my mouth was left open in a silent scream as tears slid down my lashes and onto the stained grass underneath me. My eyes detected green, red, and black, but my vision was rushing in and out between hazy and clear that nothing made sense to my brain.
I collapsed back and willed the wounds on my body to heal. My powers were becoming dimmer as my conscious state of mind was threatening to succumb to darkness. I grappled with this feeling and pushed myself to get up. My wounds were healing themselves as I stood from where I lay. Before me, I could see the group of riders watching in awe as the two dragons fought above us.
Kayne came over to me, checking me over with worry in his eyes. "Are you okay?"
I nodded my head wordlessly, looking around the clearing to see that the remaining Kellso were also watching the dragons fight. "They're distracted." My voice didn't sound right to my ears. I felt light-headed as I ran up to the first Kellso, cutting off its head with a wobbly stance. That was it to break everyone's trance, and the battle resumed between rider and demon.
The ground trembled as the dragons landed on the ground with their combined weight. I moved away from their fighting, not risking the imminent danger of being crushed by the two dragons. Naxan snapped his jaws dangerously close to the other's face, barely missing its scales. Naxan had never been in a fight like this before. This was a fight based on pure instinct.
The last of the demons were slain, but the two dragons still fought before me. The dragon's snapping jaws nearly bit down onto Naxan's front leg, but he moved with the grace of shadows and quickly dodged the assault. I could see the rage written in his expression as he attacked the red dragon. Its scales looked like a faded rust colour. There was no life left in them. Naxan, on the other hand, was anything but lifeless. He was the manifestation of beauty cloaked in a starless night sky. He moved with the grace of shadows and with the fear of darkness. His body rippled with power, the scales absorbing all light around him. This dragon, my dragon, was the epitome of finding beauty in death.
Naxan ended the other dragon's life by shoving it to the ground and clamping his jaws tightly around its throat. He released the dragon, its head falling with a tremble that I felt in my feet. Naxan raised his head to the sky and let out a terrible cry that sent people onto their knees, covering their ears. I was the only one who was not frightened of this display. He was truly magnificent in every sense of the word.
His cries echoed throughout the mountains. The air was silently still around me as the riders watched the dragon. "We are dead," Baylen said from beside me, slowly dragging me backward away from the obsidian dragon.
Naxan growled ferociously at seeing Baylen holding onto my arm. The killing look in his eyes had not been left from his previous fight. He was still riled up and ready to keep fighting if he had to.
I sent Naxan a weak smile. "How are you doing?"
"How the hell are you smiling at your own death right now?" Baylen tugged my arm again, dragging me further back with him. Riders around us were backing up as well behind us.
"You idiots! Nobody move!" Hames's softly yelled. Naxan's head perked up and looked over at Hames. I could see him visibly pale at having the dragon focus on him.
Everyone was still around me. I couldn't even hear them breathe.
"Twoleg hurt?" Naxan asked, his nose twitching in my direction. Most of my wounds had closed up, leaving nothing but a patch of sticky blood in its place.
"I'll be okay." I gave him a reassuring smile.
"You've got to be kidding me," Baylen whispered by my ear. "Why are you smiling?"
"Shut it, you twit!" Hames smacked Baylen's head from behind. "Get your dragons to rally against this thing."
Naxan growled at being called a thing. "I am dragon." He bared his teeth and flared his wings out, stretching them their full length. I'm sure to others he looked intimidating, but to me, he was beautiful.
Naxan's cold, blue eyes scanned over the crowd of people. "Tiny twolegs." He said with distaste.
A screech rang through the air as Nypae flew in front of Naxan. His eyes looked at her with a bored expression. She flared out her wings and raised her head, snapping her jaws in his face. He growled at her, turning to size her up. Rypht landed beside Nypae, also flaring herself up to look bigger. Other dragons joined their ranks, circling the shadow dragon.
"Tell your dragons to back off!" I yelled, worried about what would become of Naxan.
Hames glared at me. "Stay out of this, girl."
I turned to Baylen and Kayne. "I'm serious. Tell them to back off. He's not going to hurt anyone."
"You clearly don't understand what a Valairex dragon is." Baylen shook his head, looking away to watch the dragons.
Before I could say anything else, Naxan let out a guttural roar that had the dragons pressing back, snapping their jaws and snarling in anger. Power radiated from Naxan as he bared his maw at the dragons that circled him. A thick cloud of gloom wreathed around him, and it spread out so everyone around could feel it. I could feel its assault, but it did not affect me. The energy that swelled around him felt ancient, dark, and cold. It felt like death.
One by one, the dragons bowed their heads. Snapping and struggling with the assault that was being placed upon them. The dragons recoiled and retreated slowly backward. He had asserted his dominance over every single dragon before him, and he knew it. He puffed out his chest, spread out his wings, and called into the sky. The sun even seemed to shrink back at the Valairex's onslaught.
He turned to me, eyes glimmering with pleasureful satisfaction. I smiled at the magnificent dragon, barely containing my pride.
"You're kidding me," Baylen whispered aggressively. "You realize we're doomed, right?"
I turned to look at him, shaking my head in wonder. "He's the least of your worries." Starting to raise the sleeve of my shirt, I began to roll it up past my elbow. Baylen watched me with curious eyes, and then realization started to pour onto his face.
"No," Baylen started, amazement in his voice. He watched as I pulled the sleeve of my shirt up to my shoulder to show them the arm that bore my rider's mark. Black lines circled the circumference of my arm just above my elbow, and above that, a sword rested in the middle of dragon wings that bore the colour my bonded.
Hames guffawed menacingly, glaring with a hardened stare. "Why do you have that on your arm?"
Cocking my head to the side, I answered his silly question. "Because that's my dragon."