CHAPTER 79: FIREBALLS OR BROKEN BONES

KEVIN VALESMITH

8 MONTHS AGO

There was a powerful wave emanating from Michael Eldrich’s crimson eyes. Everything in the surroundings became red; the trees, the grassy ground, the skies, and the clouds. The red pulse only lasted for only a second, and the original colors of everything went back.

“Emperor Michael Eldritch. You are under arrest for kidnapping the Alterran Princess.” I said as I went forward with my dragonoid Rius.

“Oh, I don’t think you’ll be the one arresting me.” Michael Eldritch smiled. “It should be the other way around.”

“Stop being a smartass,” I said. Then I looked at my fellow dragon knights who are surrounding Eldritch. “Knights, arrest him.”

There was no response. The dragon knights and their dragonoids are just there, standing stiff, unresponsive of my orders. I repeated the same command, and none of them moved. This is where I realized that something or everything is wrong in this scene.

Eldritch scoffed but held back a little. His crimson eyes with black sclera glowed as he glared upon me, and he softly raised her hand, pointing at me with his sassy index finger.

“Alterran Dragon Knights, hear me. Michael Eldritch commands you to kill this man.” Eldritch said with a demonic smile glued on his face.

Suddenly, all the dragon knights and dragonoids in the area made a salute to the enemy emperor. “Yes, your majesty!” They all answered.

“What the-!!!” 

“Activating Vesryn Pulse!” All the dragon knights synchronize their heartbeats with their dragonoids, now unleashing several true forms of their dragons. There are about twenty dragons in this area that gave their crimson-eyed glare at me and Rius.

“I...It can’t be…” I muttered. I made three steps back to gain a distance away from my fellow dragon knights. I want to ask why my dragon knights are following such orders from the enemy emperor until I remembered the device Cheng Du used to control dragonoids a year ago. “The Psychic Amplifier!? Why you…!?”

“Major General Kevin Valesmith, behold.” Michael Eldritch spread out his arms as he presented the dragon knights under his mind control. “This is the enhanced power of the Eye of Deus. The Psychic Amplifier. Even though he’s dead, Cheng Du’s experiments and projects made it possible to attain this power. I have attained the magic that is beyond holy and evil. I am the one true king, with the eyes of a divine being. Bow down to the presence of God.”

“Nobody’s going to bow on you!” I shouted out loud as I held my chest. “Rius! Activating Vesryn Pulse!”

In an instant, my dragonoid Rius transformed into a Warlord Dragon that is full of weapons and armor. I commanded my dragon to turn back as we have no chance in defeating twenty dragon knights all at once, not in this form.

If we’re going to fight these dragon knights, I will have to use Dragonmend on the airship S.S. Eaglecrest. We have to go back to the airship all at once!

But just before my Warlord Dragon could jump back to the advanced airship, an unforeseen event happened once again. There was a deafening and bright explosion, and metal chunks flew away from the source of the blast. Black smoke showered in the air as it revealed to me that the S.S. Eaglecrest is no more. It must’ve been sabotaged!

“It can’t be!” I cried out loud. “Is there a traitor on the airship!?”

“Do not underestimate the power of the Eye of Deus and its Psychic Amplifier, Major General,” Eldritch said as he stepped forward. “Every being in this forest is now under my control. Even the crew on your airship and all dragon knights preparing to ambush me on the back, I control them all.”

I gritted my teeth and clenched my fists. “Then why didn’t you control me? Huh? Why didn’t you control my dragon?”

“I didn’t, because I don’t want to.” Eldritch smiled. “I wanted to kill a well-known dragon knight in Alterra with his own troops.”

Suddenly, twenty dragons started to charge various and unique types of fireballs from their mouths. They all surround us and there will be no escape if they fired all those projectiles at once. 

“Graaaaaaaaaaaahhhhh!!!” The dragons roared, unleashing their attack towards my Warlord Dragon. 

In the nick of time, my Warlord Dragon deployed a gigantic shield from his back to protect me from harm. However, it only shields one side of our defense, and we suffered several injuries from sustaining fireballs from left, right and behind. My Warlord Dragon’s armor melted in just a short amount of time, and its scales and skin suffered several burns.

“Grah!” My Warlord Dragon fell down on the ground.

“Rius!” I cried. Suddenly, twenty dragon knights leaped towards me and attacked me on melee with their swords, lances, and axes. “Darn it!”

I revealed my two hatchets from my back and used it to parry and block the incoming attacks of the mind-controlled knights. I could not turn myself to the offensive as I am being overwhelmed in numbers. There’s twenty of them attacking all at once, and even if they left an opening during their attack, I couldn’t bring myself to hurt my troops. I have my honor of being a military infantry and a dragon knight, and I vowed not to leave any of my comrades behind. I could not just attack back since they are my soldiers.

The dragons also pounced to my knocked-down Warlord Dragon and assaulted him non-stop with their claws and mouths. These mind-controlled dragons acted like a horde of zombies feasting on a poor lonesome pray. Their claws removed off all remaining armor of my dragon, and their teeth chomped down on his flesh.

“Graaaaaahhh…” My Warlord Dragon weakly cried.

“Rius!” I shouted. Then, I tapped my chest to disable the Vesryn Pulse. My Warlord Dragon immediately turned back into an injured Rius, and now he’s too small to be chowed down by twenty dragons. 

I managed to see a one-second opening from the knight’s assaults, and I used it to jump back and escape, fetch my injured dragonoid, and flee from the battlefield. I carried the injured Rius on my right shoulder as I made a blind run in the vast forest of Sargus.

“Master… you should have left me.” Rius said. “You should have used me to buy time and escape.”

“Fool! I told you that I will never leave an ally ever again, remember!?”

“Master…” Rius weakly cried.

Zigzagging deeper towards the vast forest, I find myself not losing the enemies. Dragons started to hover around the skies, spitting out fireballs to destroy the tree canopies. They are burning the entire forest just to locate me and my dragon on their sights.

“Damn!” I panted hard as I try to run faster. Giant fireballs were fired towards the direction behind me, and I could’ve been burnt several times if only I am three seconds slower. With my feet hurt and my legs tiring out, I could feel that I’m starting to get sluggish. I know Rius is heavy, but I couldn’t just leave him to die here. I will not sacrifice him!

In our rush towards the deeper uphill part of the forest, the fireball blast became a father. It seems that the dragons have lost us, and they are just randomly burning out trees on the way to ensure that we’ll be both dead. The nearest fireball blast is about half a kilometer from here, so I think we’ll be safe for now.

I laid down the injured Rius behind a giant cinder tree to take a rest. Rius also seemed to be okay too, as he can now move his limbs that are heavily wounded. 

“Are you still broken?” I asked as I try to recover my breath in a rushed manner.

“I’m good now. Thanks, master.” Rius said as he tried to stand up. He may lumpingly walk, but that’s a lot better than not moving at all.

Suddenly, a loud voice from the skies gave a chill on our spines. 

“Kevin Valesmith! You can run! You can hide! But I will find you! I will catch you!” 

It was the voice of Michael Eldritch, and it spread out to the forest with its echo. Suddenly, the cinder tree where we’re resting blasted, and it was put to flames. The dragons have finally seen us!

“Run!” I cried out loud. 

Rius and I proceeded on the uphill slope with more trees as cover, but the dragons kept on blasting away all our hiding spot. The forest fire is now uncontrollable and it is already spreading all the way. With our limited options, we only proceeded to run straight until we hit a dead end.

We find ourselves on top of a high cliff. I don’t think anybody would survive a fall from this place since there’s nothing but darkness and sharp rocks below. It's too deep, and I don't think a superhero landing would be a good idea. We have temporarily lost the dragons, but now that we’re trapped, we don’t know what to do.

“Shit!” Rius cried. “How are we supposed to escape them?”

I went silent for three seconds, trying to compile our choices. Going forward means death, and going backward means death. It’s a shame that my Warlord Dragon is not able to fly. If I use Vesryn Pulse, the enemy would find us. I have to think of our way fast.

I have to ask Rius about our options first.

“Rius… What do you prefer? Fireballs or broken bones?”

“Master…” Rius answered with no definite choice. He’s undecided, so he asked me back. “Whatever you do, I’ll be right behind you.”

I nodded with a smile on my face, trying to give hope to my dragonoid and my friend. Then, I looked at the rocks below the cliff.

“Bones heal,” I said. 

Then I jumped towards the unknown with my dragonoid.

I don’t know how many times the rocks hit our head and body. I don’t know how many bones and ribs have been broken. The only thing that matters right now is we both stay alive. After free-falling and rolling on the mountains, we finally found ourselves out of the forest.

My eyes are blurry, and my body feels numb. My head aches, and I think my cranium is severely damaged during the fall. I can see blood running on the ground, and it probably came from my left ear.

My dragonoid Rius is slowly crawling towards me, attempting to check on my condition.

“Master…” Rius said. He’s in clear bad shape. Blood oozed from his forehead and it looks like his left arm is broken. His legs seemed dislocated so his only option is to crawl with his only right arm.

Suddenly, I heard a set of footsteps on my left.

“What a bunch of idiots. I told you that you cannot escape from me.” It was Eldritch’s voice.

Suddenly, my vision went black.