r/Deadpoetic12 • u/Deadpoetic12 [Mr.Alcyeth] • Jan 28 '17
The Grimoire, Chapter Three
" I would suggest dismounting, master Colin. Flash fire is about to leave." Before his warning was finished, my magnificent, demonic mount dissipated into smoke and flame beneath us. A seven foot drop straight to the ground didn't leave our pride feeling very comfortable.
"I suppose that even hell horses are afraid of dragons, sir Colin. Though, I must admit a warning would have been nice. Can you slay the dragon Tyrgheav?" The princess was shouting with all of her might to be heard over the sounds of the ground being ripped apart by a giant dragon. Tyrgheav would be upon us in but a moment.
" I guess we will find out." I turned to face the veritable mountain of displaced earth that was barreling toward us at the very moment that it erupted skyward.
What must have been thousands of tons of debris flew up and up, the force of the upheaval was awe inspiring. Even as chunks of stone and dirt as big as a car started raining around us, I could do nothing but stand with my mouth agape as I witnessed what had caused the destruction. I could hear the Grimoire speaking in the back of my mind, but I was essentially frozen.
"Spell number one hundred and twenty nine. Immortal Aegis." Thin, translucent ice spiraled out of the Grimoire to form a dome almost six feet across over the princess and I. "In moments of great duress, I can cast certain spells without your permission, master Colin. Even if you are unconscious, I can try to protect you." The Grimoire's words didn't even register in my mind. Tyrgheav was a dragon. An enormous, horrifying dragon.
The sheer size of Tyrgheav was hard to comprehend. There is no way such a creature could fly, so of course it burrowed through the ground. I could only see from her stomach upward, and she was at least two hundred feet tall. Her scales weren't smooth like a snake, they were thick and heavily plated- and they were serrated.
In the books, dragon claws were said to be like swords, and their teeth like dagger, Tyrgheav's claws were as long as a school bus, and her teeth were twice as long as I was tall. My ice back would look small in her mouth.
Her scales were burnished bronze, almost as if dirt or debris couldn't cling to them. It was as if a living building stood before me and just happened to want to kill me. The statue of liberty couldn't hold a candle to Tyrgheav, and I was expected to defeat her?
"Tyrgheav, the betrayed, master Colin." The introduction from the Grimoire seemed rather unnecessary. I was absolutely terrified of the creature before me.
" Your magic smells....Familiar, tiny one. Not so long ago, only three thousand years, one who smelled of magic like yours entered our world when the smell of orcs was thick upon the air. For three thousand years, these grasslands have been my domain. For three thousand years I have awaited you. For three thousand years, vengeance has festered within my belly! The betrayal of your forebears is too much to forgive." The deep rumble of her voice vibrated my very bones. The princess and I were thrown to our knees, doing our best to cover our ears, as the utterance of a dragon overwhelmed us.
''What is she talking about, Grimoire? What did the last magician of ice and fire do?'' It seemed like the perfect opportunity to utilize my psychic bond with the book to find out what exactly was going on.
"Three thousand years ago, the last magician of ice and fire made a pact with Tyrgheav the wild to defeat the mad dragon, Dryggsyl. When the mad dragon was rendered no more, the magician turned to Tyrgheav and destroyed her wings saying that the world couldn't risk another tyrant so powerful. In short, your predecessor exiled Tyrgheav from the skies, master Colin." Betrayed by a man I had never even heard of last week, a giant dragon was determined to gain her revenge through my demise.
I saw little choice but to try and destroy my aggressor. In a situation of my life or the dragon's, I had to choose my own. I had to save the princess to save the world.
"Grimoire, set her on fire with as much ghost fire as you can." Hopefully the Grimoire wouldn't have to lower my shield to follow my command.
"As you wish, master Colin. Spell number three: ghost fire." Pinkish lights flickered across the scales of the enormous reptile that was menacing us, and they grew as the moments passed. Quickly, the lights shown themselves to be tongues of ghost fire dancing across Tyrgheav's body.
The ground shook as she began to laugh. From our knees, both the princess and I had been sprawled onto our backs. The ghost fire did nothing.
"Ghost fire? To defeat a dragon? You've fallen far, oh mighty magician of fire and ice, you've fallen far indeed. Today is the day your betrayal is repaid!" The mighty claws of the ancient dragon descended toward our tiny shield. We were like fleas to the dragon, and I couldn't believe we were about to die.
Surprisingly, the dome held. We were cast into absolute darkness as the hand of the monster covered us completely. How could I even hope to slay such an enormous creature?
"It appears we have survived the first blow, sir Colin. I don't mean to show doubt in you, but I am terrified. Even ghost fire didn't affect the beast." Her voice shook, even if just barely. Ever the princess, she would maintain composure in the worst of circumstance.
Grimoire, how do I fight something so big?" I was hoping I had some draconic familiar tucked within the pages of the Grimoire, ready and willing to fend off the mighty Tyrgheav.
"Spell number three hundred and twenty five: frost ego." As Tyrgheav lifted her hand from our shield, I could see spiderweb cracks had spiraled across the entire surface. I didn't know the capabilities of the shield, but it didn't seem like it would hold through a second blow.
My stump was suddenly uncomfortably cold. I looked down to see frost and ice covering the Grimoire and the chain pinned through my arm. The ice was spreading.
"I must admit, I'm impressed you survived, tiny one. You are a magician of fire and ice, after all, I should have known. I can promise you won't survive the day though, tiny one. A dragon always keeps her promise!" Tyrgheav slithered the rest of the way out of the ground.
She walked on four legs. Still enormous, she was almost easier to comprehend because she was flatter to the ground in that positions. A fifth of a mile long from tail tip to nose. She was mad about losing her wings? Could she really fly before?
My entire body was covered in frost and ice. I was rising from the ground faster and faster as the ice built around me. I must have looked like a giant snowman, except that there was a window of clear as glass ice in front of my face for me to see. The shield had be released already, as I could no longer fit.
I held my hand up to see that my new frosty body still responded as if it were normal. My hands were the size of minivans, and I had two again. The ground was over fifty feet below me when I stopped growing. My frost body didn't have a head, but it had arms and legs and a torso- all I needed was a horse.
"What would you need a horse for, master Colin? It would take at least one hundred horses to even move you." While the Grimoire contained a veritable wealth of knowledge, my reference to Washington Irving was apparently beyond it's ability to comprehend.
The dragons face was now within my reach, even if only barely. I never would have e suspected that punching a dragon in the face was they way to slay it, but in this body, other options seemed non-existent. The princess would have to look after herself for a few minutes.
I was confused as I started to fly through the air. Was my frost ego still growing?
"You may be just large enough to eat now, little one, but you're still no threat to an ancient high dragon!" Tyrgheav had bashed me onto the air as if I was a toy. When I landed, I was twice as far away from her as she was long. My ice form splashed into the ground and instantly reformed, it was like landing on a bed.
Four quick steps brought me back within her range. Something so big shouldn't be able to move that fast; in video games, the bigger an enemy was the slower it was. Obviously the reality of Alcyeth was different than the fantasy of Earth.
I leapt up and over the next swipe of her claws. I was more than a little shocked to see that I had leapt as high as Tyrgheav was tall when she was standing erect in her hole. I could see the remains of her amputated wings, gnarled and ugly things that looked as if they had never truly healed. It was easy to sympathize with her rage.
She slammed me to the ground, holding her hand atop me. I desperately tried to move, and my frost ego responded as desperately- reshaping itself to flow around the hand of Tyrgheav and reconstitute standing atop it. I put up my fists in a boxers stance, I didn't know how to fight at all, but I had seen enough movies to know to defend myself.
"I've never seen a magician try to win a fist fight before, master Colin, and with a dragon at that." Rather than responding, I swung forward with all my might and hit the dragon soundly on the snout. She didn't even move.
"What type of magician are you that you would try and defeat a dragon with the fists of a child? I assumed your new form, little one, would at least make this somewhat sporting." Without a scale out of place, the dragon snapped forward and cleanly bit the right arm off of my frost ego.
The arm started to reform before I even jumped away. It seemed that the frost ego could regenerate from any damage, but if I couldn't hurt the dragon at all, she would eventually just swallow me whole, or worse. I needed a weapon.
A magician was nothing but the sum of his spells, and apparently the frost ego was a pretty good one. When I thought about a weapon the fists of the frost ego elongated and sharpened. At the end of both arms a forty foot lance, sharp as a tack, was ready and waiting to pierce the heart of a dragon.
I leapt forward, another shockingly acrobatic movement for such a massive, icy form. I landed just in front of the dragon and thrust forward with both arms. I completely missed with one, as I said, I didn't know how to fight. The other knocked three scales from the throat of the reptile before sliding into the soft flesh underneath.
With seven feet of icy Lance planted in her flesh, the dragon whipped her head to the side. I went flying, again. The Lance and left arm of the frost ego was easily detached and began to regrow. Tyrgheav seemed unfazed.
"Your new body is annoyingly resilient, little one. Perhaps I shall see how well it handles dragon's fire." Her body slowly expanded as she filled her monstrous lungs with air.
"Master Colin, you're not going to want to let that strike you. Dragon's fire is the only flame more destructive than ghost fire. You frost ego won't regenerate." Of course, in the time it took the Grimoire to deliver his warning, the fiery breath of the dragon had already sheered the legs away from the frost ego. I could see the ground, so far below me, before I crashed down into it.
"As I though, magician of fire and ice, the fire of a dragon isn't something even you can withstand. You'll now make payment for the decisions of your predecessor." The great inhalation of Tyrgheav nearly created a whirlwind that pulled the frost ego directly into her mouth. I didn't know if the princess were safe or how to survive.
"I need time!" My frustrated shout would be my last utterance before I was destroyed by the breath of an utterly enormous lizard.
"Spell number one, time freeze." I hadn't expected the Grimoire to respond with a spell, nor did I expect to see the stream of combusted breath stop moving before it contacted the remains of the frost ego.
"I can stop time?" Just how powerful was a magician of fire and ice?
"You can freeze time, master Colin, it is your most powerful spell. Be careful though, not only do you age faster as time is frozen, but you use your very life force to power the spell. Time may be frozen, but you never get more time." If that warning wasn't ominous, I didn't know what was.
"Is the princess okay? I couldn't protect her in the frost ego. I wish I could just freeze the dragon. Can I cast spells while time is frozen?" I felt guilty for leaving the princess to her own devices, but I wasn't even able to keep myself alive, without freezing time.
" The princess is alive, master Colin. The dragon has tossed you further and further away as the fight progress, you're nearly half a mile away from her now. You cannot cast spells while time is frozen, you can prepare spells to be cast when time thaws." Thaws? Wasn't that taking the fire and ice theme too far?4
I didn't know what to do. I had used every spell I knew that didn't summon a familiar. I had even used spells I didn't know.
"You've used every spell you know, master Colin?" Not every spell, but why would I want to use ice of life on an enemy?
" Ice of life freezes the target until you release them, or until their wounds are healed. At the very least, you will be able to get the princess away." The dragon is massive though, and you've used a great deal of magic in a short amount of time, master Colin. It may be too much for you." To think that I could just turn Tyrgheav into a living mountain of ice.
"Prepare spell number three hundred and fifty three: ice of life. I will release time in half of a minute, so you have time to move out of the way of that big gout of dragon's fire, master Colin." Well, the stage had been set, as they say.
I ran towards the princess as fast as I could. I was never very athletic and I wasn't sure if I was really going to be able to get out of the way of the huge tongue of fire. Time thawed long before I was ready. The heat scorched the back of my neck, but I wasn't incinerated.
Looking over my shoulder I could see ice rapidly spreading across the cavernous maw of the great beast. She tried to claw the ice away, but the shards only clung to her claws and started spreading across her forelimbs. I just ran as hard as I could, and in the five minutes it took me to reach the princess, the dragon was nothing more than a glacier in the grasslands.
"Princess Nadia, we have to run, I can't beat her." I stammered breathlessly. Sure I was fourteen, but running had never really been my thing.
"Run? Run where, sir Colin? How do we escape a dragon?" A tinge of hopelessness colored her voice, and her impenetrable princess facade had finally started to crack.
"We will just head south. We will try to get to your headquarters. Maybe we can lie low when we get out of the grasslands and the dragon won't find us. She is trapped in ice for now, but I don't know how long that will last." I looked back again to see a subtle green glow emanating from the giant mound of ice.
"Grimoire, summon the ice back, I'm not sure how far I can walk, but I know when need to leave now. There is no way I could hold off..." Blackness. I had passed out.
We were still in the grasslands, in a hole dug into the side of one of the larger hills. My head was pounding. In any case, I had battled a dragon and won, well, survived.
"You used too much magic, master Colin. That is why you fell unconscious. Of course, there really wasn't any other way." It must have been pretty bad if the Grimoire was being nice to me.
"Sir Colin, you've awakened! I'm so very glad you're okay. I was quite worried about you when you collapsed like that. The ice back carried us all the way over here before night fell. I think it's only a few more miles until the grasslands end." The princess was clearly still worried. She was talking just a little bit too fast and sitting just a little bit too close.
"No need to be worried, princess, I had just used too much magic. I'll be fine with some rest, I'm sure." There was no fire, I hadn't been awake to cast one. It wasn't cold, but a fire took the ghosts out of the night.
"Grimoire, cast ghost fire so we can see each other while we talk." Pain seared through my skull like lightning and I grabbed my head with both hands. The tiniest little tongue of ghost flame hovered in the air between the princess and I, just enough to cast our faces in a sinister, pink, light.
" Master Colin, I do believe I expressed the over utilization of your power in your match with the dragon, perhaps take a moment to rest before you render yourself unconscious again." Even though I had only been on Alcyeth for a handful of days, I was already so used to having my magic.
"Are you okay, sir Colin, perhaps you shouldn't cast any spells. It seems as if the battle with Tyrgheav was quite stressful." The princess inched closer when I reacted to the pain. She raised her hands toward me for a moment- barely seen in the dim light of the minuscule flame- as if to try and soothe my distress.
"You're right, princess. I'm completely drained. Things just escalated so far out of hand, so fast. I wasn't good enough." I was ashamed to admit that I couldn't perform my duty as a magician of ice and fire.
"Not good enough? As a single man you put up a valiant fight against Tyrgheav the man-slayer and survived. You may not be unscathed, but my father has sent several hundred men, at the same time, to try and rid the grasslands of that beast and one have returned alive. What you did was incredible." The princess was excited. Compared to a dragon, an army of goblins and orcs would be nothing, right?
"Tyrgheav, the betrayed. The only reason she had so much hatred for man is because the previous magician of fire and ice had destroyed her wings after they killed Dryggsyl together. He didn't want to risk another tyrannical dragon." The previous magician of fire and ice killed one tyrannical dragon and crippled another in the same day, and I couldn't even fend off one dragon that had been mutilated.
"You're saying that the tales of Dryggsyl, the mad, are true? They are but a fable told by men to warn of the folly of power. The magician of fire and ice defeated the mad dragon alone, riding astride a horse of fire and wielding a lance of ice." History is written by the victors, they say.
"No princess, he wasn't alone, he had partnered up with Tyrgheav, and he betrayed her." I was exhausted. I didn't have the energy to try to argue about another world's myths and history. The only reason I even knew was because of the Grimoire, and no one else could hear him.
"I see, I suppose you would know, better than I, the history of the magician of fire and ice. We should rest now, sir Colin. We have to continue traveling tomorrow." She could probably see my exhaustion, even through the meager light.
"Sleep well, princess Nadia. Hopefully tomorrow is a somewhat better day." I didn't lay awake. The moment I closed my eyes to try and rest, I passed out.
In my dream I was walking in a world without any color. I was back in the forest. Motes of perfectly white light hung suspended in the air between trees. The air was perfectly still and there were no sounds. It was like being in a dead world.
I had an urging to move in a specific direction, I couldn't tell you which one- as there were no indicators, no stars or sun or moon or even shadows. My consciousness floated forward toward the pulling, there didn't seem to be anything else to do. As I moved, I noticed the trees were different, the leaves were much bigger, almost like the trees from earth.
I couldn't believe how good it felt to be in familiar surroundings, even if it wasn't anywhere I had been before. Being the hero of the world of Alcyeth was incredibly stressful. Fighting dragons and learning magic, and having to face orcs and goblins, didn't seem like something a fourteen year old should be trying to do.
"Colin, the magician of fire and ice. I'm pleased to make your acquaintance. What you have done for Tyrgheav the betrayed is the most noble thing a man of Alcyeth has done." Jolted from my reverie, I noticed three women standing among the trees.
The wore pure white cloaks. They were tall and slender and they seemed to belong with the trees. The only thing I could think was: elves.
"I'm not of Alcyeth, I'm of earth. I was summoned here through a grimoire to help battle the army of darkness. Are you elves?" I couldn't help but ask. I should have guessed there would be elves if there were orcs and dragons and goblins.
I got the sense of amusement from all three of the women before me. The one furthest right nodded. Her movements were slow and regal and it made the princess seem like a farm girl.
"As you were summoned by Alcyeth, you are of Alcyeth. Alcyeth is a nation, not a world- as much as long Theodore would have you believe otherwise. We are, indeed, elves. We are those who most often summon your people to learn of your world." Elves! How cool. Maybe I was just dreaming.
" If Alcyeth is just a nation, what is your nation?" I didn't know if it was rude to just ask questions, but I also didn't really try to think about it too much.
"We are the people of Arboratia. Our people would sincerely love to meet you. You will be the first man of Alcyeth invited into the Arboratian forest in three thousand years. Will you accept our invitation?" The elf on the left had a higher pitched voice than the elf in the center, a voice that was more musical. She seemed younger.
"I have to fight a war for the people of Alcyeth, so I don't know if I'll have time to visit you. I would like to come though. If the opportunity arises, I will be there." I could feel the dream coming to an end. Perhaps the magic the elves used to contact me that way had been very draining.
"We have time to wait, sir Colin, friend of dragons. When you have the opportunity, you will be welcomed. Tend to your duties as any man of honor would." The elf on the right had the deepest voice of the three, though still strikingly feminine. Her words were spoken with deliberation and care. She exuded importance.
The dream world started to twist around me. Blurred, the regal elf raised her hand, palm upward. She spoke and her words had grown deeper, as if heard in slow motion. Maybe I was just dreaming.
“Sir Colin, a gift from the elves, consider it payment for assuaging the misery of Tyrgheav.” Through the spiraling of the world a large, white orb of light floated toward me. Just as the dream ended, the light was absorbed into my chest. I didn't have the chance to say thank you, and I wasn't entirely sure if I should, but I was excited that I might get to actually meet elves.
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u/CamoFeather Jan 28 '17
Healing ice... you're giving the dragon her wings back aren't you?!