Of Ice, Death & Monsters

Chapter 59 : For The Souls Of The Damned

A dragon is born out of desire. Out of a want and a will. They may be wyverns, drakes or any kind of classification due to such trivial physical features, but even that is under the control of the dragon.

They don’t fly because they have hollow bones and can generate enough lift and soar through the air. They do it because they wish to fly, to soar through the air and dominate reality itself.

Through this desire, is born their power, a power over the world that they can manifest through what they can imagine, and what they have trained in.

To bend, to control, and to dominate. If you were not able to do such a thing, then you couldn’t be called a dragon; you would be an equivalent of a giant lizard with wings.

Zmey would not be relegated to a giant three-headed lizard with wings. He certainly wouldn’t fail at the one job he was specifically told to do: guard the Nawia. He just wanted to have fun, but why did it have to end up like this?

“You tricked me!” The dragon’s many eyes narrowed as his three heads roared in anger.

“I knew there was something more to this than simply plain fun, Jester! I will find you, and I shall erase you from this land!”

A giggle can be heard amongst the wall of souls that was the abomination as a red and white blur streaked across the spirits. “Awww~ but you were enjoying it until now~ what changed~”

Zmey stated at the blur, one of his heads opened its mouth, and from its maw came forth a pale blue beam of Ether.

It wasn’t a form of matter that didn’t exist in this realm, but rather a concentration of spirituality that acted as the lattice of spirits, a primeval pseudo-energy that broke down the bonds and memories of souls. It eviscerated the spirits it touched, unbinding them from the abomination and casting them aside like grains of sand from the beach.

However, the blur leapt off the abomination, manifesting properly into the fox as it used the Ether of the abomination to block against his beam, dispersing it before winking back before disappearing.

“What is your plan? Your game? What is the purpose of this abomination?” Zmey growled out, trying to get an answer as he placed a claw on one of the rising waves of the monstrosity, its many bodies smushed together and glued like some child’s project gone wrong. He tried to grapple with it, pushing it back into the crevice it left in the river.

However, the many bodies carrying weapons shrieked, creating an ear piercing scream as they grabbed at its claw, trying to push back and stab at it, with shock coming across Zmey’s three faces as they were managing to resist, forcing their own fill backwards as his mind was bombarded with the memories of all the souls there at once. Usually, he wouldn’t have batted an eye at it, but something changed, something was different; he felt the pressure coming down on him.

“My game? Well, I guess now it’s hide and seek~ Maybe if you find me, I’ll tell you~”

The dragon did not want to be toyed with any longer. He raised all three of his heads and let out a bellowing roar. It wasn’t resonating with sound, but rather with his own willpower.

To all who remained, it was like a hundred thunderstorms went off all at once, constantly resounding throughout the landscape. From Matthias to Carey, every single person bent the knee, obeying the command laced within the road to simply cease, to stop doing anything other than to bow.

He poured his power within it, before even his will alone could have commanded every soul here. However, the abomination merely staggered, shaking slightly as if only perturbed. That’s when he realized what had occurred.

“You Jester… You ascended them. What ritual do you need to have an entity like this? Do you wish to battle against the gods?”

Zmey watched as the abomination began to… Fold in on itself, as if it were stacking its bodies like some kind of brick tower, getting taller and taller until it could scrape across the Heavens, gurgling in some form of admission. However, it didn’t stop there; something worse came from its compression, something much more vile: a form.

Zmey could sense it; the spirits were merging, combining? Fusing almost together, much more than they would have been in the Smorodina, and that’s when he realized it.

“The Spark of Svarog…”

A sick cackle formed from his mouths as he witnessed the abomintion take the a much more giant humanoid form, as if it were slowly acclimating to its reality, however instead of skin, it had arms and legs still holding onto weapons, books, some even had toys in their hands, and some simply held shirts and even each other as if they were lovers

“So you’ve decided to work for the Harbinger? To bring her back into reality? I should have known. Very well then, by Irina’s Command, I shall tear you apart bit by bit and restore order in her domain!”

He raised his voice and his wings, rushing towards the larvae formed from the Smorodina, its forearms gripping on the perceived shoulders of the abomination while its hind legs and tail grapple against the thighs and waist. He opened up his maws and unleashed his Ether breath once more, condensing the spiritual energy to eviscerate into three beams of light, one for each head to try and dissect the monster open.

The beast moaned in agony as its spirits were obliterated across its body. Nearly falling down before it grabbed Zmey by the throat with one hand, and grabbed his tail with the other. It tried to pull him apart like taffy, but Zmey spun around with such force that even the giant moved with their momentum, spinning in the air before landing with a thud against the mountains.

It then raised its right arm, the spirits on its body coalesced from its hands and fingers, forming a giant sword that completely dwarfed Zmey, swinging it down on the dragon who twisted its body mid-air, dodging it completely before wrapping his tail by the hilt, twirling his frame around to grapple the sword out and sending it flying into the air.

However, the souls disassembled themselves, transforming into several modern armaments from pistols, rifles, rocket launchers, and more, all remade from direct memory. They fired upon Zmey, pelting him with hundreds of bombardments.

He easily countered with one of his heads, turning around, matching and overpowering the meager forces with one volley of Ether, dismantling their attempts quite easily.

Meanwhile, the abomination tried again, this time drawing upon memories of science fiction. Its chest morphed into that of a circular machine, with gears, wires, and all sorts of strange mechanical oddities that don’t work together.

Zmey tilted his heads at this, grinning ear to ear before his entire figure was blasted by the energy ray.

“Ahahah…” The three-headed dragon chuckled, using his wings, he shoved them into the chest of the monster, covering the lightshow as he was completely unharmed before using his claws, shredding the souls in the abomination with his willpower.

“Save… Us…’

The monster spoke, causing Zmey to hesitate, narrowing his eyes as he stared at the forming head. He had to stop it before it ascended any further, before it could begin to overwhelm him.

He opened his maws once more, about to fire, but the abomination had already begun to evolve, manifesting great Magick as its entire body transmuted into spiritual flames, disappearing right before Zmey’s eyes as it wrapped his whole body with smothering fire, completely enveloping him.

“Fall!”

He commanded, and with his will, the abomination stuttered, glitching out of its flaming form as Zmey zoomed out of its grasp, now visibly shaken. His fears were being realized; the abomination was starting to hold the properties of every soul in it, which would mean even the elements, nature itself, it was growing to become its very own world.

If it evolved any more, it could find a way to escape and wreak havoc while absorbing more souls from those in Jawia and perhaps even in Prawia… No, there was no hypothetical. It would go far beyond and into those realms. It was trying to assemble back to the Original Spirit.

Zmey had to stop it, no matter what, but how? He thought for a moment, removing his presence from every soul in the abomination, masking his whereabouts as it searched all around for him.

Within its anger, it began to manifest a different element. Its body glowed, crackling, sparks flew off each soul before transforming into bolts of electricity, crashing around the air with its immense speed, zig-zagging across the sky of Nawia, making sure that even if it can’t see him, it could catch and bring him down!

However, such elements were beneath a dragon, especially one of Zmey’s stature. Even if it was lightning itself, he simply willed his body to evade it. Manifesting the same way as their control over gravity, his body merely rejected the notion of the lightning.

It was then he remembered. Those Chosen, the Harbinger, and the Caretakers. Right before they started truly manifesting, they had to be devoured… Well, it seemed to be growing, albeit slowly, without them, so something else was the catalyst, but they were good targets if at all. He needed to rip them out.

Zmey turned towards the lightning bolts, removing the perception filter he had placed upon them so that they could see him. Upon doing so, the electricity all bounced back, reforming into the gigantic version of the abomination as they reached out towards the dragon.

In response, Zmey rushed towards the very heart of the monstrosity, shoving his three heads inside of its almost flesh-like skin, but instead of attacking, it spoke.

“Come to me, child of rebellion and child of revenge. Come forth and unbind yourselves!”

The abomination shuddered, shaking and nearly shrieking, flames and vines emerged from its crevices as Zmey could feel the Chosen’s being brought out, dragged like stone across sandpaper as he tried to also find the missing link, whatever started this chain reaction in the first place.

But the monster didn’t want that. It grabbed the dragon once more, trying to pull it off itself as it roared in pain while it kept itself together.

“Save… Us!” It yelled out, leaping into the air before growing wings from its back, flapping them softly before soaring through the skies, slamming its body towards the mountain, squishing Zmey as the dragon gave out an echoing bellow, gnashing back as it opened its maw.

“You… Have failed...” The angelic abomination began to grow even taller, doubling the size it was, now completely towering over Zmey as if he were a small dog.

Its body wasn’t an amalgamation of wriggling limbs anymore; instead, it seemed much more uniform. Patches of grass across their skin, with rocks jutting out at odd angles. Small crevices like the blue, filled with flowing water. Above their head like a halo was a circle of grey clouds that thundered.

It raised its arms, from its right, it manifested a spear that transformed into lightning. And from its left, it manifested a hammer that transformed into fire.

The abomination took a step forward, and upon contact with the ground, its aura was felt, shifting the landscape to a grassland, transmogrifying the realm itself as it stared at Zmey, reaching out to grab him to complete its mission:

To become everything once more.