Published via Ecency

Fell Dragon
Greeting all. It is freezing and wet here in Cape Town today. Not much happening in terms of projects. I finished a quick 3000 word order yesterday and awaiting an editor to be chosen on it so it can be wrapped up. Other than that, waiting for a client to pay for his project so I can continue creating an outline for him.

Hope all of you have had a great start to your week, because today's update will put a damper on any good moods you may have. I warned that the story starts to get dark from here, and today's post is the start of that. Enjoy all the same!

Trigger warning: Main character death ahead.

Doran woke with a pounding headache and was very surprised to find himself face down on the throne room floor. He couldn’t remember what happened. He had been enjoying lunch and then he woke up. He heard scuffling around him and voices.

“How many are under my control?”

“Likely the whole castle.”

Neither voice was one he recognized. He closed his eyes and tried to remember what happened.

“What of those two?” He heard someone scuffle closer. “They are not turning.”

“You knew there was a chance that the nanobots wouldn’t be able to control everyone.”

“No matter. With the whole castle looking for the experiment we do not need them. Kill them.”

“Not so hasty. That is…”

“I don’t care. I don’t care who wins this stupid war, all I care about is the experiment.”

“The doctor said…”

“I don’t care.”

Doran opened his eyes slowly and saw Karesh not too far from him. He too looked like he was unconscious but there was some movement happening.

“Give it another minute.” Begged the voice.

“No. Get up the both of you!”

Karesh immediately sprang to his feet. Not sure what was going on but needing to learn more Doran also got to his feet.

“See? It just needed some time.”

Doran looked up at the creature before him. It was not of any species he had ever met. Tall, grey-purple skin, with light purple hair and violet eyes that stared into his. The black bat wings were not missed.

“Where is the experiment?” It asked, flashing pearly whites.

“Dining hall.” Said Karesh.

“It is not there now. Where else could it be?”

Doran thought of the hidden door and knew where he could likely find those that had been in the dining hall. He needed to make sure that this thing didn’t get to them.

“Fled.” He said simply.

The creature snapped its attention to him and for a moment he thought he had been figured out.

“Fled? Where?”

“Hidden tunnels.” Said Karesh. “There are two from the dining room.”

“Hmm?” The creature flapped his wings in irritation and said, “Find them. Bring them all to me.”

Karesh spun on his heel and Doran followed suit. He watched as his friend moved before him. It was jerkily as if he was being controlled. Once Doran was sure they were out of the sight of the tall creature he came to stand in front of Karesh. He immediately saw the dimmed eyes of his friend and knew something was not right.

“Dungeon or stables?” Asked Karesh.

“I’ll check the dungeon.” He answered as monotone as possible.

“Good.” Then Karesh pushed past him.

Doran noticed the blood at the back of Karesh’s neck and immediately felt his own. His fingers came away slick, and he was starting to piece together what had happened. He started noticing all those around him were methodically looking for something. They were all moving in a jerking motion and had dull eyes.

“Mind controlling nanobots.” He muttered under his breath.

Then he realised who they were looking for. “Saita!”

He wanted to run, to warn them but he had to continue pretending, just until he could get what was left of the royal family to safety. He slowly made his way down to the dungeon. Saita was smart, if she were leading them this would be the place to hide until the coast was clear and she could move her family to safety. Running for the stables was too obvious. She knew it, he knew it.

“What is going on.” He muttered as he made his way down to the dungeon.
No one greeted, and no one acknowledged anyone passing them. The creature had been correct. The whole castle had been taken over. Just for Saita or was this about more? Could the Lizards have infiltrated? Thoughts flew through Doran’s mind as he moved deeper into the bowels of the castle. Once he was sure no one was in the area to hear him he sprinted to the dungeon and closed the door behind him. Locking it with the biometric scanner before he made his way to the back of the rows of white barred rooms.

The last room was bigger and always in the dark. It had never been used to host criminals but rather purposefully kept this way in case of something like this happening. He barely came within hearing distance when a beam of light narrowly missed his ear. He knew it was Saita.

“Nanobots controlling everyone above. Karesh is looking at the stables. I came here. It will not take them long to find us all if we stay here.” He said simply. “The nanobots don’t work on me, likely due to my own which are used for my eye’s upkeep.”

There was silence but eventually, Aleux stepped forward and beckoned him over. Doran was somewhat surprised by the move, but he followed. He found Saita waiting for him with Myla. Saita looked marginally annoyed while her brother and mother looked absolutely terrified.

“Makes sense.” Said Saita after some time. “Upkeep nanobots are there to protect the body so I will believe you but one wrong move…”

“No need to threaten me.” Snapped Doran. “We need a plan right now.”

“Info?”

Doran explained what he had seen, and Saita absorbed it. It was when he got to the point of what the strange-looking individual was looking for that she paled considerably and there was a slight tremor in her shoulders.

“What are we going to do?” Asked Aleux.

“Well, we can’t let them take Saita.” Said Myla with determination.

“Mom…” Saita started.

“No!” She hissed. “I knew there would be a day that something would come looking for you. It was a risk we were willing to take but there is no guarantee that they will leave once they have come for what they wanted. Families stick together.”

“I need to get you out of here.” Doran rubbed at the back of his neck in irritation. “All of you.”

“And you thought you had me fooled.”

Doran’s blood ran cold as he heard the creature’s voice. He turned, ready to defend them but Saita leapt into action before he could. She moved the same way she had all those years ago at the spaceport, snarl upon her face and everything. She was hoping to catch the creature by surprise. She was wrong.

A black wing slapped her out of the way, and she slammed into the bars of the cell with a crunch and a groan. Doran made a move to get to her side, but the creature simply said. “Move and I kill the queen and whelp.”

Doran had been standing before them and if he were to move one step towards Saita, he would be exposing them. The girl pushed herself off the floor shaking her head. She gave two coughs before standing back up. The look of fury was still on her face, but she was looking for an opening now.

“My how you've grown. Despite that cut upon your face, you certainly have inherited some pleasing features.” Said the creature with a grin. “Glad we caught you before the King decided to send you into war.”

As if hearing his title Karesh stepped forward, his dimmed eyes looked from the creature to Saita, not recognising her at all. That seemed to put a damper on Saita’s resolve a little as her snarl slipped from her face and she asked. “What do you want? Did the lizards send you?”

“I care not for your petty war.” He spat as he held his hand forward. “It is time. Come.”

“No!” Shouted Myla.

“I said don’t move!” The creature pointed to Myla.

Saita leapt at him once more and this time managed to swat the hand out of the way before bringing flames to her right hand. Sneering the creature snaked his right hand forward to grab at Saita’s throat and lifted her to face him. “The potential is there. I see now why you survived so long.”

Saita gripped the hand around her throat and desperately tried to draw breathe as the creature squeezed.

“I have what I want. Dispose of the rest.” He said to Karesh.

“Now wait a minute!” Came a voice behind him. “You need to leave the royals alone! You promised!”

“The king will live. No need for the others. Do it!” The creature spat again.
Instead of concentrating on the creature holding her Saita lashed out and kicked Karesh in the head as hard as she could before landing a few more kicks at the creature’s ribs. Karesh flew one way, and the creature smashed her once more into the bars in an attempt to get her to stop squirming.

“Run.” Whispered Doran to the Queen as he leapt into the fray.

Running out of breath Saita was now gasping while digging her fingers into the hand that held her. The creature was about to turn its attention to her when Doran shoulder-charged it. It dropped the girl who fell hard with a grunt. It simply backhanded the soldier who landed with a thud behind Saita.

“I am done with this.” The creature stood tall and brought what seemed to be shadows to his hands. “If I need to destroy this castle to get what I want I will.”

He looked to Saita. “Are you going to allow me to do that?"

The girl hesitated, unsure what to do. She and Doran had been effortlessly thrown aside. She was not going to be able to protect her family if this continued. She was trying to think but pain radiated from her ribs and arm, and she could think of nothing to say, nothing to do.

“You believe me not to be serious.” The creature frowned. “Fine. Let me show you my resolve.”

It reached for Karesh and in one motion, swiftly snapped his neck. The silence that followed was deafening. It was broken by Myla’s screams.

“I will systematically go through your family one by one until you come with me.” The creature growled.

Nothing. There was nothing in Saita’s mind as she looked into the creature’s eyes. That had been an act of desperation and had not been needed. There was no reason to kill her father. He was already subservient. Saita’s breaths came in short, sharp bursts as she backed away in absolute horror. She had been unable to do anything and now everyone who had cared for her was going to die. She saw that in this thing’s eyes.

“Saita…” She heard Doran cough behind her.

Her vision was getting blurry around the edges, and she could no longer think. What was she going to do? How was she going to save everyone? She had to do something.

“Oh no, you don’t!” Snarled the creature as he reached for her right arm.

Then there was heat followed by darkness with tearing pain in her arm. Then nothing.

“Where the hell did they go!” Asked one of the doctor’s assistants from behind the winged creature.

He couldn’t even answer. He had been holding onto Saita’s arm when a void had opened and swallowed her, the soldier, Queen and Prince. Then they were gone. He looked at his bloodied fingers and realised that the blood was not his. He growled and muttered. “Stupid fool!”

“Excuse me?”

“Search the castle. Infect as many as possible with the nanobots. Find them. It must have been a technique we didn’t know about. Go! Now!” He shouted.

“Yes...sir…”

Soon he was left alone with the corpse at his feet. He stared at the dead eyes and pushed the guilt from his mind. “All of this could have been avoided if she had just come with me. But look, now you are dead, and I have nothing to show for it.”

He kicked the corpse. He would never get to her now. He knew that technique, it was his. He had used it to come to this time. How had she been able to use it? The doctor assured him that she would need to see a technique to be able to do it.

“You were wrong, Doctor.” He growled. “There is no way of knowing where they will end up now. Damn it!”

Doran nursed his aching head as he sat up. He had seen the flash of light and had been momentarily blinded but now that his vision had cleared, he had no idea where he was. The room looked identical to what they had just been in but this one was dust-covered and stank of abandonment.

It was the screaming that made him come to his senses. He turned and saw Myla kneeling on the ground with Aleux cradling her.

Karesh!

He looked around and saw no body, no mysterious alien, but in the dim light he could make out Saita leaning against the bars. She was sobbing quietly, or at least he thought it was quiet because Myla’s screams were deafening. He got to his feet and went to Myla. He pulled her to her feet and shook her once.

“Stop.” He ordered swiftly.

She was distraught but eventually, a few more shakes got her to calm down enough to reduce her to tears only.

“Okay, it’s okay.” He said as he hugged her. “We’ll figure this out.”

Silence followed for a while before Aleux asked. “Where are we?”

“We haven’t left.” Whispered Saita. “This is still the dungeon.”

“Bull shit! Where are they?” Demanded Aleux.

“I don’t know. I don’t know what I did.” Saita rubbed at her nose and sniffed noisily. “But this is the dungeon.”

“I don’t think she is wrong.” Said Doran as he released Myla. “It looks like the dungeon but one that hasn’t been cleaned in years.”

“I’m going to look ahead.” Said Saita.

“Saita!” Shouted Myla.

The girl flinched and slowly turned. She had been crying, that much was evident.

“Come here.”

This time she listened but she could not look her mother in the eye.
“You did your best.” Said the Queen softly as she kissed the top of her head.

“No.” Hissed Saita. “My best would have seen us all safe and Father...and Father…”

“We cannot stay here.” Said Doran. “Aleux, stay with your mother. I will go with Saita to see where we are.”

Saita turned and followed Doran from the room. It became apparent very quickly that they had never moved from where they had been. They were indeed still in the dungeon. The castle’s dungeon but was severely in disrepair and the only life was vermin.

“What was that?” Asked Saita as she fell in step with Doran.

“I don’t know. I have never seen one of his kind before.”

They found the exit and were shocked to find the door barely hanging on with obvious scorch marks on it. Saita looked outside and said, “The outer level doesn’t look too much better. The castle seems to have been abandoned.”

“What did you do Saita? I haven’t seen you use that technique before.”

“I was scared, and he kept looking at me and then... here.” She finished.
“I am going to look a further down the hall. Stay here.”

Saita was only too happy to comply as she leaned against the door frame. She hurt and breathing was difficult with her hurt ribs. She looked around the hall, noticing the light coming from the other side, the opposite side of where Doran had come from.

“Doran!” She harshly whispered.

She knew she had gotten his attention when she heard him stop moving.

“Light.” She simply said as she pushed away from the doorframe. “People?”

“Shh!” Doran made his way past her. “Stay.”

She didn’t listen as she dogged his footsteps. It didn’t take them long to hear voices drifting towards them.

“Massive explosion...swear it came...have to check.” That was all they were able to catch.

Doran grabbed Saita’s arm and pulled her after him as he rushed back towards the dungeon. He was quick and silent, Saita, not that much. The light flicked up towards them as they vanished down towards the dungeon.
“Who goes there!” Called someone.

“Damn it!” Doran continued to pull Saita after him. “We will have to go through the tunnels.”

Aleux seemed to have had the same idea as he was already trying to pry the door open as they arrived. With Doran’s help, they pulled the door open and just managed to close the door as they heard footsteps entering the room.

“I swear I heard something.” Came one voice.

“Well, you didn’t imagine it. Look, blood, fresh too.”

“Urgh, this means so much paperwork! Can’t you just pretend that you didn’t see it?”

“Nope. Take a sample and let’s get back up.”

Those waiting in the hidden corridor sat with bated breath until their voices stopped and the sound of moving feet left the room.

“Now what?” Asked Aleux.

Doran rubbed at his head which still ached. “We need to get somewhere safe.”

“And where exactly is safe?” Snapped Saita suddenly. “We don’t even know where we are.”

“No fighting, please.” Begged Myla. “Can we... just rest a few minutes, please?”

“Of course.” Doran stood up. “Let’s get closer to the dining room then see what we can find.”

He gently pulled Myla up and led the way. He heard a pained grunt from Saita as she used the wall to help her get to her feet. She looked pale but he couldn’t be concerned about her right now.

“Saita?” Myla spun and looked towards where she thought her daughter was in the dark.

“Let’s move before they do bring back up.” She whispered from the dark. “I’ll bring up the rear.”

Doran nodded his head and took the front. They moved through the corridor by touch alone and found that the door towards the dining room was blocked off but the one to the stables was still open. It was there that they were shocked by what they saw. A city, literally on the doorstep of the castle.

“This is a case of when and not where.” Whispered Aleux. “Saita, you can time travel?”

Saita grimaced at the setting sun, more confused than ever at what was happening. “This is wrong. This place feels wrong.”

She remained in the corridor, not willing to exit the place that was familiar to her. Doran looked around and frowned, he could almost hear his father triumphantly exclaiming that he had been right all along. Time travel but how?
He wiped at his face and recoiled in disgust as something cold and slimy touched his face. He pulled his hand back and noticed blood on his hand. He didn’t remember injuring his hand. He wiped his hand on his pants to find the source but there was none.

“Saita.” He barked. “Come here.”

“I’m fine right here.” She muttered.

“Now.”

Myla turned to see what the problem was, and the colour drained from her face as Saita stepped into the light. Her right arm hung limply at her side with blood dripping from the fingertips. Her face was ashen and coated in sweat.
“I’m fine.” She muttered as she inclined her head back to the hidden corridor. “We cannot stand out in the open like this.”

“The blood is yours.” Said Doran.

“My father is dead.” She stated simply. “It’s a broken arm, nothing more. We need to get back inside and make a plan.”

“You need to be treated.” Said Doran.

“There is nothing that can be done.” Hissed Saita. “Please come back in here.”

Eventually, everyone complied with her wishes, and they pulled the door closed. This time Saita led, and she had her brother by her side as she did. Myla grabbed Doran’s arm to make him hang back.

“We cannot let her roam in that state, she needs to…” Started Doran.

“Doran I’m pregnant.” Said Myla softly so as not to let her children hear.

Stunned, Doran could only flap his mouth open and closed a few times before saying. “Are you sure?”

“I only told Karesh this morning.”

“So, this is why I didn’t see him for three days after he returned.” He tried to joke.

“This is no time to joke. Saita is likely hiding a compound fracture and God knows what time travel could have done to the pregnancy.” She then added with obvious pain in her voice. “My husband is dead.”

“What do you want me to do?”

“Find help.” She whispered. “If this is a different time then we must be here. We must be able to appeal for help.”

“And if that thing killed us all and is ruling?”

“Then we are dead anyway, but I cannot lose more today.”

Doran nodded his head. “I will leave tonight under the cover of the darkness.”

Originally the plan was to not update beyond them time traveling, but then I thought I'd add another bit in where the family realised they had left their timeline. I have been wanting to write a decent time travel book for a while and this seemed to be the best time to do it.

PS I'm working on the multiverse theory and not abiding by any time travel laws, this is just meant to be fun.

Sorry to those of you that were Karesh fans, please don't flip your tables. The story still continues 400 odd pages and this is the least of what is in store for these characters.

On that note, if you want to be added or removed from the reader's list please feel free to message me and I will do what you wish. You can also follow me to see that work I do with @zakludick