Hello Everyone
It has been a long week and it's going to be an even longer weekend. At least there is a public holiday coming up soon, so that really helps.
The next section of Fell Dragon is a but about the history of the current Fell Dragon. The update is split in two, so please come back on Tuesday to read the conclusion.
She had had no idea how long she had been asleep. The last thing she remembered was gorging on a timeline and watching the Saith royal family crumble. With a yawn, she had detangled herself from Red-Eye. He had been sure to keep her safe and fed like he always had done in the past.
She got to her feet and stretched. Her muscles were tight, but not wasted. It had taken the two of them centuries to develop this technique, and when it finally worked, she was able to have time when she was conscious enough to plan things around her. However, it was also the reason that a new Champion had been raised so quickly to stop her.
Her intent had quickly spread amongst the rest of Red-Eye’s people. The intelligence and ability to share vital information and energy quickly spread among the rest of the Wolven. The voice in her head continued to tell her that this was wasting her time, but she had long learned to shut them up. Between the energy and the food the Wolven brought her, she found living in her cage marginally better. That was until Red-Eye had come to warn her about the Champion.
“I don’t understand.” She said as she sat on the other side of the forcefield.
After nearly destroying her arm the last time she had tested its strength, she wasn’t willing to get too close to it.
“You are gathering power. The Heavenly can sense it and they are making moves against you.”
“But I have done nothing to warrant them coming after me. Why create another Champion?”
“You are stronger and likely will want revenge.”
The Wolven was right, but she had been sleeping on and off for so many years, that she wasn’t willing to have revenge consume her. The last few decades had been some of the best of her entire life. Once she had healed, she had never been with want. The Wolven were adept at their jobs, and she hadn’t tried to escape again. She didn’t understand why the Heavenly would want to turn on her when she was nothing but a model prisoner.
“This is how it has always been. Dragons get strong and Champions fight them. Sometimes the Champion wins, sometimes the Dragons, though that is rare.” Said Red-Eye as he squatted on the other side of the door.
“Hold on, hold on. So, I’m sitting here, doing nothing, and they’re still planning on killing me?”
“The cycle of Dragon and Champion is eternal.”
“But I am not threatening anyone.”
“You will, in the future. You aren’t the first that thought they could live out their days in the cage. A Champion will come and once that happens, you’ll need to fight for your life.”
“I have done nothing wrong!” she stormed to her feet. “I don’t deserve this!”
And how will you correct this?
She hated when the voices made themselves known. She took a deep breath and asked the empty air in the room.
“How am I supposed to correct this? I am trapped in a cage.”
You eventually cleaned and stocked the training room. Use it. Get stronger.
“Getting stronger is what is causing this problem. If I show I am no threat…”
Don’t be stupid! They tricked you and threw away the key. You will see. The Heavenly won’t come close to you because they know they owe you a favour. They will throw everything they can at you to ensure that you die before using that favour. Think! You are being used!
She knew they were right. The voices were always right. However, there had to be another way to prepare herself for what was to come. Training her body wasn’t going to be enough. She turned to look at the Wolven still squatted before the entrance.
“How do you know all this?” she came to sit before him once more.
“I am a sentry. I watch for the birth of new Champions.”
“Young? Old? Male? Female?”
“Female. They don’t believe you are capable of launching a powerful attack.”
“They aren’t wrong. I can’t but you can.”
The Wolven looked confused until she said, “I want you to hunt this fledgling dragon and cut its wings before it becomes a problem."
The voices fell into silence, not believing what she had just said. The Wolven also looked at her in confusion.
“You want me to hunt a Champion? We don’t hunt Champions; we hunt food for you…”
“And now I want you to hunt these Champions.”
You can’t do that!
“Why not? If they’re going to want to kill me, they’re going to have to try harder than what they’re doing. From your memories, I have gathered that this prison isn’t within a particular time. I would assume the Wolven can travel to where they need to be. That means I can send them out to remove any challenges. The more they create against me, the more I will fight. It’s that simple.”
“I’m not as strong as a Dragon.” Red-Eye pointed to his face, in particular his missing organic eye. “You proved that.”
“Taking energy isn’t my only skill.” The Dragon held her hand forward to the Wolven. “Give me your hand.”
Red-Eye didn’t even hesitate, and she gripped his forearm tightly. She had accumulated a lot of energy from what she had eaten, but she had no way to store it. Rather than burn through it with her sleep, she would gift it to the creature before her.
“You eat that fledgling, and you return this energy to me.” She said as she force-fed energy into Red-Eye.
Realising what she was doing, Red-Eye accepted as much as he could before batting her arm away. He then howled to call the rest of his pack. She would have to spread the power between the rest of them until he could learn to yield her power.
“Clever idea.” Said the Fell Dragon as she indicated that the new Wolven also presented their paws.
That was how the first Champion in the making had been felled. It had been a young woman, a scapegoat like her, but she had no pity. This was her life, and she wasn’t prepared to give it up with a fight. However, when the Wolven returned, bloodied but triumphant, the energy had been too much for her. It wasn’t just the energy that burned through her body but the memories and intent of the creature that had been made to kill her. The rush had been too much for her and she could feel her insides burning. It would take days before she was able to fight through the pain and reach consciousness again.
She didn’t understand. This was just energy, why would it hurt so much? She had taken energy from the Wolven before, and it hadn’t hurt like this. Why would it now? This was where the voices once more bothered her.
You can’t store the energy within yourself.
Your vessel is too small.
Then it clicked for her. They were right. She had never trained her body to fight. She had no reason to. Even the strongest would crumble before her within seconds as a simple touch would steal the energy needed to kill them. She had trained to be fast, not strong.
Train! Yes, that’s the answer!
“Makes sense.”
She had returned the majority of the energy to the Wolven who had completed the mission. She had big plans for them. Grinning, she explained to them what she needed from them. All the sentries would keep an ear out for new fledgling dragons being created to stop her. It didn’t matter what timeline or universe they were a part of. The Wolven would find them and tear them apart.
Then the first Heavenly fell. While the Wolven who had managed the deed had nearly died dragging the corpse to the cage, he showed that it was possible to hunt and destroy the Heavenly as well.
“This is amazing.” Said the Fell Dragon as she kicked the corpse over. “How though?”
The pup, far younger than her could barely answer as most of his teeth were missing and he kept hacking up blood. Patience at its end, she stepped forward and lay her hands on either side of his head. The pup, knowing better than to try to defy his mistress within her cage, knelt and waited for her to end his life.
Decades had long since moved over into centuries and despite not knowing how she had managed to live this long; she had taken her time in developing her abilities. In time, it wasn’t just lifeforce that she could steal through touch, but also memories. However, this would often result in damage to her Wolven. No longer were these creatures under the spell of the cage. No, she had given them her intent, and the longer she had to fight for her survival, the more devoted they became to her.
They would die for her if she asked it of them. This one was just one of several she had already taken memories from. Each time she had done this, part of its body would break, as if it were a toy. She would simply have the creature be sent to heal, and they would return, being more augmented than they previously were. She didn’t know where the Wolven went to heal and had no idea how they became augmented, but every time they had been returned to her, metal had replaced the damaged organic pieces.
She had hoped that the Wolven had stumbled on a way to kill one of the First, a way she believed would allow her out of her cage, it was far simpler than that. The young Wolven had managed to sneak up on something that had been in the general vicinity of a fledgling. The First had put up a good fight but the claws and teeth of the Wolven had eventually consumed him, especially since she had started giving them the ability to steal energy with touch.
“Pure luck, huh? Good job.” She released the Wolven.
It groaned and slunk from the room, and she was unsure what she had taken from it. She followed and came to stand before the forcefield. She had wondered why it had flickered earlier. With the death of the Heavenly, that would make sense. However, she still wasn’t sure how to cause it to fall. It was something that the voices in her head didn’t know either. They had all said the same thing to her when she had asked. It had just opened one day, and they got to feed.
Feed, she hated that word but understood it. There were days when she was younger when she remembered how hungry she had been, locked in her rooms for days. Hungry enough to eat the crawling insects but rather waiting patiently to use their carcasses to bait the larger rats. Something she could make more of a meal of. Then there were days when her father wanted to save face. The days where she had been scrubbed till her skin was raw and was forced to sit quietly at a dinner table while those around her spoke in hushed tones.
She had been released for a reason. She felt that this was true of the previous Dragons. They were released for a reason. She had often pondered the reason. She thought back to what she had been told about the Dragon when she had been a Champion. She had been reminded over and over that it was evil and that it wanted to devour the good. She hadn’t cared. She was a prisoner and the only reason she had agreed to take on the responsibility was because she was saving someone else. Self-sacrifice, what a joke. Had she known then what she knew now, she would have left them to rot.
Then something clicked. Good and evil.
“No way it can be that simple.” She muttered.
Well? Can it? See you next week to figure it out.
For those of you who have never heard of Fell Dragon you can find Book 1 here, Book 2 here, Book 3 here, and Book 4 here, Book 5 here, Book 6 here, and Book 7 here
If you have any questions, feel free to ask me. I love discussing my books!
As the series continues, it will combine with another book series I wrote. To avoid confusion about what is happening, introductory chapters will be introduced separately so that you don't have to be lost. However, these chapters will contain spoilers. You can find these chapters here:
Races Explained
Banishment
Royal Guard
Saasha’s Direct Family
Saith Characters Recap
Human Characters Recap
Alternate Timeline Brucel
If you want to join the Reader's list, just ask or follow me for updates on this and my other stories.
Haven't read the other parts yet? Follow these handy links:
Part 10>>You are Here>>Part 12 (Tuesday)
Reader's List
