Chapter 21
The battle raged all around me. I built up a bit of fire, burnt something, and would be empty again. I lashed out at the enemy, always driving forward. I cast a couple spells, but mostly used my superior strength and size to win through.
I had demons following behind me, as I opened the way into the Ancients battle line. More and more demons filled the gap behind me. Slowly, they spread out, and pushed the enemy away in odd directions, causing them to get in each others way.
I drew on the power of chaos, twice. I felt re-energized after each time I drew on it. I paused once, letting my escort and the demons to swarm around me; through where I was, was left as an open spot.
I paused, and rested. I had been going for a couple of hours, solid. Even dragons, with their great strength, get tired. Plus, I had been hit with spells, and clubs; stabbed, swung at with swords, and axes; hit with one or two magical weapons that had hurt me a bit; but nothing was too serious.
We had penetrated far into the enemy's line, and now we were consolidating our position. It would not do to outstrip my protection. Even ants could take down something much larger than they were, if they cooperated with each other. While I was stopped, I sank my power into the fog around us, and savagely drained it.
I think I surprised whoever was supposed to be countering me. The fog thinned, and darkness swept up to, and past where I was standing. I still had a hard time believing I was working for, and with, demons. I had fought a demon before, on Earth. Ah well. As the saying goes, politics makes strange bedfellows.
I decided to do a little spell casting, and ran through my list of spells. I had prep'd three area spells last night. It was time to really zap the enemy. I was sort of embarrassed that I had forgotten about them. I had had every intention of using them, much earlier.
First I put a shield around me. It did not touch me, but stayed a specific distance from my body. I was in a 'safe bubble' so to speak. I pumped my wings furiously and rose into the air. As soon as I had gained maybe fifty feet, spells started zapping my shield.
I was rested, and prepared to use magic myself. I roared a challenge, and cast my first major spell. It was a modified specialty spell. I energized it, and cast it. A glowing ball of energy appeared, and shot towards the enemy's line.
After it had gone far enough I cued it to explode. As it did, hundreds of smaller sparks flew out of the original ball and fell gently to the ground. They rained down on the enemy, and some had fallen on the ground.
The enemy had been startled, but now ignored the small sparks, and went back to what they were doing. That's when I tripped the next, and final part of the spell. All hell broke loose, as the small sparks exploded, killing and maiming the enemy!
Literally hundreds of the enemy were affected, either by direct contact (which meant they died), or by close proximity (which meant they were wounded). Either way, a large area had been suddenly affected.
I roared and sent my flame into the roiling mass of the enemy. The demons responded to the loss of enemies, by surging forward. I flew, and finally came to the end of the enemy troops. No more spells impacted my now almost useless shield.
I dismissed the shield, as it had served its purpose. I still had two area spells left, and a clear shot to the gate! I flew onward, leaving the battle behind. I got a reading on the enemy gate. I changed course just a bit, and flew directly towards it.
I flew out of the darkness of the demon controlled area, and into the gray fog of the enemy. I didn't try to affect it, just fly through it. No spells came at me. That puzzled me. I was sure I was going to be slammed with them, and had gotten another shield ready, not that I had cast it yet.
While I flew, I slowly recharged the area spell that I had cast so successfully a while ago. I flew onward, and noticed it was becoming more difficult to remain in the air. It seemed to be pressing in on me somehow. The further into the fog I flew, the harder it was to maintain my flying!
I hadn't realized how low I had gotten, until I saw the ground about ten feet below me. I concentrated and rose a bit, but was soon dropping again. I was also tiring from the struggle to stay in the air. Remember, dragons like to glide. We don't like to pump our wings, just to stay up.
I could feel the gate getting closer, but it was still a ways off. I'd had it. I dropped to the ground, landing. I sighed as I realized I was more tired than I had thought. I pulled energy from my chaos source, in my ring, and instantly felt better.
I lumbered into the dragon-run that ate up the distance when a dragon walked or ran on the ground. I could feel myself getting nearer to the gate.
I was getting very excited, when all of a sudden a glowing spear of light came out of nowhere, and slammed into my body! Damn, but that hurt! I saw another one coming, and dodged it. I cast the shield spell I had in reserve, and started forward again.
Now I had enemy foot soldiers coming towards me. These must be the guards for the gate! They also had a powerful magic user, here, somewhere.
I was going to have to deal with the magic user first, as my shield was getting a pounding that was degrading it much faster than normal. I gathered myself and spat dragon fire to the front, and raked it left and right before I had to pause for a breath.
That seemed to take care of most of the enemy that was close to me anyway. I lumbered forward again, and the air started clearing. The fog thinned and thinned. I took another step. One second I was in fog, the next I was in regular air, no fog.
I stumbled to a stop. There, about a mile in front of me, was the gate. It was huge. There was also a very large giant standing by the gate. I blinked in astonishment. A giant? Oh, brother!
Between me and the gate, was a group of fifty soldiers. I saw the power of at least two magic users. I immediately cast a spell of sleep at them. Most of the soldiers fell. However, the magic users and at least seven soldiers, were still on their feet. So was the giant, who was striding my way.
I charged the small group before me. I wanted to deal with these before the giant got to me. As soon as I was almost on them, I changed back to human form. Fire and other spells rained off my shield. I drew my sword, and it started to moan.
The training Pao gave me was firmly in my mind as I killed three soldiers with my first pass. One was a magic user! Great, the odds were getting better. I moved and danced as Pao had taught me. Soon, all but the magic user was dead. His shield was very, very good.
"Natha ambu natach?" the guy asked me.
Well, apparently we did not speak the same language. I had thought all people who used the gates had the language given them during the translation. Apparently not. I saw the giant was almost here, so I cast a web spell at it.
While I cast at the giant, the magic user cast a spell at me. My shield flared, and failed. I cast a heart attack spell at him, and while he paled, nothing more than that happened.
I looked at him closely. He was a tall-looking human male. He had a young look, but old, old eyes. I mean, his eyes seemed to convey ancient wisdom. I circled him, glancing at the giant. My webs were holding his feet and legs nicely.
I cast a small rumble spell at my opponent, and while it seemed to unbalance him a bit, he remained on his feet. I got closer to him. He cast something at me, and one of the charms on my cloak flared and failed, but stopped whatever it was that he had cast at me.
I wasn't too worried about his casting, as my cloak protected me nicely. I was slowly getting closer to him. He gestured and threw spell after spell at me. Twice my sword moved, and intercepted a spell. The man's face and eyes widened when this happened.
The giant was roaring at me, and trying to tear the spider webs off himself. I cast a sleep spell at it, and while the giant did quiet down, it didn't fall asleep. Damn, that was one tough giant!
My magical opponent was circling me as I circled him. He had a wand out, and he pointed it at me. A beam of light left the wand, and my sword moved to parry the light before I even thought about it! I was stunned by the move. So was the enemy magic user! I continued to circle him. He turned to keep me in his sight.
"Kalamd orlop fritwip bloty derp." he said to me.
"Kiss my what?" I asked him uselessly.
He cocked his head at me. I felt him send a thought to the gate, and through it. Great, he was calling for help. I had to get this thing controlled now! I leapt forward while he was slightly distracted, and my sword cut through his shield, armor, and into his body! He starred at me, stunned, and then collapsed, dead at my feet.
Well, if this was an ancient one, they weren't that tough. I panted and turned to the giant. He was looking at me calmly and I started walking towards him. At about this time, I felt the gate doing something. I paused.
The giant cocked his head as if listening. I cast a quick sealing spell at the gate. While I was still some distance away from the gate, my spell hit it. There was a clash, and my spell started to take effect!
I ran towards the gate, and around the giant. He was still calmly watching me. I finally got to the gate, and saw my spell was fraying! I quickly reinforced it, and I reached into my cloak, and pulled out my staff, after sheathing my sword.
I looked at the giant who was still entangled. I cast more webs at him, and he just lay there, watching me, not even struggling anymore. The gate's entry way (or exit, depending on your point of view) was huge.
Try as I might, I could not close the gate. I looked at the gate to see what the pattern was. All I got, was a confusing and contradicting result. I decided to hit the gate with chaos.
I gathered a good portion of my ready supply, and pointed my staff at a section where the pattern was least stable. I unleashed the chaos at it, full force. The blast knocked me backwards, and I heard the giant roar.
I was still stunned. I saw a shadow moving, and then I realized it was the giant. He was free of the webs, now. How the hell did that happen? He looked down at me.
"You are a worthy opponent, little one. I have watched you these past two days. I am sorry, but I cannot let you continue," he told me in a surprisingly gentle voice.
I was stunned. This giant was the actual enemy? I had been concentrating on the wrong people! He gestured at me, and I felt a numbness settle over me. I couldn't move! I watched as he went to stand before the gate.
He dissolved my seals easily. The easy way he did it, annoyed me, as did my failure to take care of the primary enemy. I had thought him just a big dumb giant, a brute being used by the Ancients.
He came back to me, and looked curiously at my staff. He placed it in his cloak. He removed my sword from it's attachment at the belt. Apparently he recognized that it was MY sword, and that it was dangerous for him to handle it. He kept it sheathed. He then picked me up, and carried me through the gate to the world on the other side.
We left an area that was dimly lit, to emerge into a bright sunny glade of some sort. My eyes were stunned by the change. I blinked several times, waiting for my eyes to adjust.
He set me down. I was left in such a position that I could only see the sky, and the head and shoulders of the giant. He passed into and out of my sight. Shortly, another giant was standing over me.
"So, you are the Chaos Carrier. Welcome. We have been expecting you," she said.
Edited By TeNderLoin