Chapter 142: His Arrival
The attack of thousands of Sky Serpents rained down on the Land of Dragons.
Ka-boom!
Buzz! Buzz!
Rumble!
Forests, lakes, rivers, mountains. Nothing was spared.
From their heritage one might assume they possessed only venom. But that assumption was dangerously wrong.
When the Sky Serpents were originally engineered by the dragons, they had inadvertently gained terrifying affinities for elemental powers alongside their natural venom. Wind, lightning, earth, fire. All of it weaponized and unleashed without restraint.
The situation unfolding across Dragonia was living proof of that.
"Run! Everyone run!"
"My nest! They are destroying everything!"
"Where do we go? They are coming from every direction!"
The innocent dragons who could not transform, those who walked on legs and lived in the simple cave shaped dwellings of the outer settlements, could only watch with horror as everything they had built was systematically taken apart above their heads.
"Hiss, burn it all. Leave nothing standing."
"What about the ones hiding inside the shelters?"
"Especially those."
"Sire, some of these are younglings."
"So what? Kill them all!"
The poison attacks were even more vicious than the elemental ones.
Buzz!
Like a plague, an eerily deep green miasma spread through the nests with unstoppable speed, seeping through stone and wood and every gap in every structure with the patient thoroughness of something that did not need to hurry because it was already everywhere.
"Raaagh! It burns! It burns inside!"
"Cover your mouths! Do not breathe it in!"
"Elder Mara cannot move! The miasma reached her nest!"
"Leave her! If you stay you die with her!"
"No. I will not leave her!"
The green fog swallowed the argument whole.
An old female dragon stood at the entrance of her nest, one arm pressed against the stone frame for support, watching the green tide roll toward her with the calm of someone who had already made their decision.
Behind her, Raza’s voice.
"Grandmother! We have to go!"
"Take Sima and run, Raza."
"Impossible! I am not leaving without you grandma!"
The old dragon patted his head kindly.
"Raza, Your King did not strengthen your blood so you could die in a poison cloud. Run. Grow strong. Come back and make them pay for this."
Raza stood frozen for one agonizing second.
Then he grabbed Sima’s wrist and ran.
He did not look back.
Because if he looked back he would not keep running.
Across the burning nests, the Sky Serpents moved through the destruction with the organized efficiency of Akira’s planning, elemental attacks clearing the outer structures while the miasma handled whatever the fire and lightning left standing.
"Hiss, General Akira will be pleased. Three settlements down before midday."
"How many more do we need?"
"Hehe, as many as it takes. Those are our orders."
"And what do we about the survivors?"
"Hmm, let them run. They will spread fear to their King. That’s general Akira’s goal after all."
In the distance, above the burning horizon of what had been peaceful dragon settlements only hours before, only smoke and destruction reigned.
At that time, one white and one red dragon flew and flew, tears falling freely from their eyes as they remembered their grandmother’s last warm smile.
"I am sorry, grandmother. I could not save you," Raza said in a heartbroken tone.
Sima glanced at him sideways, equally teary eyed.
"Do not blame yourself, Raza. Remember her wish. She wants to see you grow strong."
"But I was so useless against them. My attacks barely made a dent in their scales. Even after his Majesty personally blessed me, I am still weak," he replied, shaking with self loathing.
Sima appeared far more mature in this moment.
"It is only because you have not even begun your proper training yet, Raza. The Sky Serpents are all above Commander rank. How could you hope to fight them at this stage? This was not your fight. Not yet."
Raza understood every word. But the understanding hurt more, knowing how far he still had to go.
Just then, a massive Sky Serpent blocked their path, sneering down at them.
"Hiss, where are you two precious ones going? I smell rich blood essence within you boy. It is making me hungry. Come to me, precious one, hiss."
Raza instantly recovered from his grief. He remembered the lesson Commander Rai had taught during their brief training session.
Do not waste time when your life is on the line.
Flap!
He snapped his wings forward and delivered a sharp uppercut into the Serpent’s belly, simultaneously breathing violet flame from his maw.
Sizzle!
The attack should not have done anything meaningful against a Commander rank Serpent. However, the potency of the flame was something else entirely.
Sizzle. Sizzle.
The Sky Serpent suffered third degree burns, enough to melt through his scales and expose the flesh beneath.
"Hiss! It burns! It burns!"
The Sky Serpent howled in agony mid air, thrashing wildly and attempting to smother the flame. But it only spread further, crawling across his body with the patient inevitability of something that had decided it was not finished.
The Serpent died roasting in the open sky.
The whole scene stunned Sima so much that she forgot to breathe for a second.
"What just happened, Raza?"
Raza flinched and looked at his own claws. "I used the Eternal Flame I received from our King. It is still small, but fortunately it worked this time."
"Fortunately? Raza, your fire is practically inextinguishable. I have never seen anything like that," she said, still staring.
Raza sighed deeply,
"And yet I was not able to use it when they came for grandmother. Maybe I am just a coward Sima. Maybe I am not cut out to be a warrior of the Order."
"THAT’S NOT TRUE, BOY!"
The voice was not Sima’s. It was too strong, too deep, like a rumble descending from the heavens themselves.
Upon hearing it, both of their hearts started beating faster.
They looked beyond the mountains to see a massive golden dragon with purple scales arriving through the smoke filled sky, his domineering aura pressing outward ahead of him like the bow wave of something unstoppable.
"Your Majesty?" Raza’s eyelids trembled.