The Dragon's Blood (Part 104)
In which brother battles brother....
104
He was close enough to see the sockets where his brother's eyes had once been. Deep within he saw red and black flames, fire and shadow together at once. Something else danced with them, something dark and ageless, an incredible unmatched evil. This poor wretched thing wasn't it's source either. When he killed this vessel, if he could kill it, his work would almost certainly not be done.
The abomination latched onto him. He was unable to dodge it, but he was able to evade enough of the full charge to only catch a portion of the damage it could have done. It had been aiming for his throat and if it had gotten there, it would only have been a matter of applying a little pressure. Instead the wretched beast's jaws had clamped down on one wing, tearing through his membrane and taking hold of the muscle and bone within. Talons dug into the adjoining leg, raking down, cutting through scale and muscle.
Trakaan howled and lashed out, if the creature's jaws applied any more pressure, if it thought to just tear away right then, he'd be crippled and worse, falling. The jagged spikes at the end of his tail stabbed at the monster's belly, knowing it as a Dragon's one true weakness. His own talons went for those eyes, those terrible flaming orbs.
The tail did nothing, finding no weak underbelly on this Wyrm, the talons on the other hand found their target, digging in deep. He desperately reached for whatever passed for this thing's eyes, finding them soft and fragile just like real ones. With a growl he shoved that talon in as deep as he could.
The monster roared with pain and released him instantly, turning it's body away in a dive, leaving him behind twisting and turning in an uncontrolled free fall.
His momentum governed by the strength of the beast that had only just released him, he tried to angle his body correctly, to right himself, to bring himself into a controlled dive.
With the great dark city below and the monstrous foreboding clouds above, he briskly managed the feat, ages of experience aiding him. By strength of pure will he pushed himself back into position, angling his great body surely. Experience alone wasn't all that aided him though, the mere notion of all of this finally ending was in it's own way one hell of a driving force.
He shot himself down like an arrow. Clearing his head, trying to turn away the agonizing pain of the multiple wounds, he searched for the first current of air that would allow him to open his wings, to see if the wounded one could still keep him aloft.
He could feel it begin to stitch up, the membranes on his wings finding each other and rejoining hands like two lovers. It was going slowly, but it was going.
Finding that current and feeling the raw strength returning to them, he opened his wings, finding true flight again at last.
Only now did he dare search for his brother, or rather the abomination he'd become. He scanned the skyscrapers that quickly rose up at him like the giant teeth of some impossibly gigantic behemoth searching for his quarry.
As if sensing him, it answered, sending out another of it's high pitched banshee screeches. He followed that unholy sound and found it, it's red glow illuminating the glass walls of the two skyscrapers it angled between. He hissed and followed, feeling the souls inside plead for release, plead for the end to their torment.
It rapidly turned here and there, navigating the maze of steel and glass effortlessly. He followed, marveling at the agility of a creature he was almost completely certain had not left it's ancient lair for at least a century.
When they reached the tallest one, the one dubbed the Chrysler building, the glow climbed upwards, making for the the top of the building.
Seeing the trap for what it was, Trakaan flew past the enormous monolith, making to give himself a good distance from his opponent.
Hearing the taunting screams from his enemy behind him, he found his suitable perch, a building not quite the size of the one the abomination had climbed but tall enough and close enough for his purposes. Turning upwards and climbing along it's sides he reached it's summit quickly, landing deftly on the narrow space it afforded.
He howled his own challenge to the glowing demon across the way, spreading his wings to their limit, letting it see that the damage it had thought to inflict had been for nothing.
Finding the monster's outraged howls satisfying enough, he reached out to Flow, searching for his friend, lightning.
Lightning answered almost immediately.
End Part 104
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