The driving rain currently falling on the Highlands soaked the membranes of Zirinax's wings and splattered into her bright scarlet eyes, only to be casually wiped away by her third eyelid, like a windshield wiper of sorts. She was perched in a cat-like fashion upon a rather enormous boulder, no doubt put in its place by some kind of prehistoric glacial activity. Despite the rain, she could see the goings on of a number of different camps and settlements in the lower elevations of the highlands. There was no combat today. She could only figure that the weather posed a massive disadvantage to all sides of the three-ended argument here in the Highlands.
She'd been sitting there in the open for quite a while now. Being as distinct a dragon as she is, it wouldn't be difficult for anyone that knew her or knew of her to identify her as Zirinax, the Ravager. Her blackish-red color and the vibrant runes branded into her otherwise matte scales made her stand out among her kind, and in the case of the runes, made her stand out in the low visibility of the rain. The colorful brands seemed to glow extra bright in the gloomy darkness, even to the point of softly lighting the area around her. They were a liability. They made her easy to spot, but she was not worried. It had been a long time since she was involved in conflict.. She had developed a false sense of security.
With a deep inhale, Zirinax unfolded her leathery wings from her sides and stretched them outward. With a slight shake of her body, all of the water that had pooled in the folds of her wings fell from them, leaving them empty and free to momentarily billow with the force of the gusty winds. She dug her inky claws into the boulder she was sitting on and forced her wings closed again, remaining anchored in place.. for now.
Arkaah approached the hill upon which Zirinax sat. A scout had stumbled up to her mere minutes earlier, informing her of a dragon that sat idly, as if it awaited someone. He also noted that the dragon was not completetly of one flight; her scales shifted and changed according to the lighting. As well as this, there were numerous runes that covered the lower half of her body.
It had to be Zirinax.
The ascendant appeared directly opposite the boulder atop which the dragon sat. At either side of her was an armored guard, each proudly displaying the sigil and colours of the Twilight's Hammer. They followed Arkaah in tow, seemingly unnafected by the scorching heat that she radiated. As the rain fell, the droplets bounced off her drakescale cloak (those that had not already evaporated as they neared her), that protected the ascendant from the element of water. Grinning beneath her blackened scale hood, a molten outline displayed her true facial expression. It is her.
"Ready to come home, pet? Mother wants to care for her baby. Come down, and embrace those that you are bound to serve.", spoke Arkaah, her tone changing from a gentle, soothing one to a slight sneer.
At either side of her, the Orcs that were tasked with protecting their mistress drew their elementium axes, ready for any aggression on behalf of Zirinax.
Zirinax spooked at the appearance of the ascendant and the guards at the corner of her eye. Her claws scrambled briefly on the boulder, gouging long gashes into its face from the sudden rush of panic that overwhelmed Zirinax. She turned to fully face the ascendant and the guards, scarlet eyes seeming to brighten in response to the apparent threat.
Her memory failed her as far as Arkaah's identity went. She knew the ascendant was with the Twilight's Hammer, as were her guards, but she could not remember fully the work that the ascendant had done to her. She did not remember the process by which she turned from a standard red dragon to something more.. unique. She could not remember Arkaah personally, but she could assume from the ascendant's behavior that she had a personal brush with her before. Her tone of voice worried Zirinax slightly and she instinctively spread her wings and reared her head back, making herself look a touch larger than she actually was. For her age, Zirinax was quite a small dragon.. That much had always been true, and it was true now. The gesture wasn't terribly impressive, nor was the agitated lashing of her tail or the baring of her blackened teeth.
It was warning enough that the jet of purple flame she spat at Arkaah couldn't have been surprising. It was a half-assed attempt to scare her off; it wouldn't work, of course, because that would defeat the purpose of the thread, but it was done and only a threat. "No!" she snarled, tail lashing violently enough to chip a large chunk of the boulder off and send it rolling down the hill. "You and your kind are abominations!"
Sighing, the ascendant could feel her presence char the earth beneath her. The raindrops continued to evaporate at their neared her. The air gasped for mercy as her heat warmed it. Ignoring the elements that caressed and surrounded her briefly, she returned her attention to Zirinax.
"And you are not considered an abomination to the Red Dragonflight, child? The Draqonqueen herself doesn't view you as a monstrosity?", she cackled.
Red dragonflight? Zirinax's nostrils flared in alarm. What was this ascendant talking about? She had no memory of ever belonging to the red dragonflight. She didn't recall being Sorriastrasza, she had no memory of anything before she escaped the influence of the Twilight's Hammer and the Old Gods. Those words caused another wave of panic to grip her. Did Arkaah know her? Did the ascendant know her before she became what she was? Was she involved in turning her into what she was? Though Zirinax knew very little about herself, she knew that she was not born how she was. She knew that from studying other dragons. Never in all her time since breaking free did she see a single dragon like herself - she knew she started as something else, but had no idea what.
The more she thought about it, the closer she came to grabbing onto those memories that were just out of reach. She could almost remember things from her adolescence. Dragons that seemed familiar to her in some way, she visualized them, but could not identify them.. It freaked her out a little bit, so she decided to play stupid. Leaping off the boulder and landing to the side of it, still away from Arkaah, she kept her wings poised in such a way that would make it easy for her to fly off if the moment called for it. "What are you talking about?" she growled, the runes branded into her body glowing a touch brighter with her increasing anger and frustration. Careful, now..
Arkaah dropped to the floor, landing upon her bottom. Slowly, the pouring rain slowed, and then it stopped. Removing her cloak and putting it onto the floor beside her, she placed her elementium gauntleted hands upon the ground. Within seconds, the grass just burned away, as the ashes were carried off by the desolate wind. Lowly, she chanted words in a language known to few. Terran. The earth slightly heaved and twisted around her hands, before she locked her burning graze upon Zirinax. Trails of jutting earth shot from her hands, through the ground towards the dragon, as what looked like earthen claws were formed from the earth just before the abomination.
Reaching out of the heaving earth, the earthen claws made for Zirinax's forelegs.
Though instinct told Zirinax to get up and fly, curiosity told her to stay. There was a growing sense of foreboding deep inside her when the ascendant dropped to the ground and began to quietly chant, but she ignored it and watched, nostrils flaring nervously and a pair of smoke trails seeping from both of them. She did, however, move when she saw the earthen claws rush toward her. With an alarmed screech, she leapt to the side in time to avoid having her forelegs caught in the claws, but they did manage to clamp onto one of her hind legs - she'd jumped to the side, not back or forward. Its grip was hard enough to yank her out of her motion and cause her to crash down on the earth with an alarmed and enraged roar.
Digging her claws into the soggy earth, she tried clawing her way onto her feet. The earth's grip was far too strong for even a dragon to break though, so despite her efforts to yank herself free, she remained trapped. The soggy ground did not hold her up well so she eventually slipped, falling onto her side and partially crushing one wing. "Realease me!" she screeched, thrashing fiercely and spitting fire in damn near every direction. "Release me at once, you foul abomination! I will not go back!"
"Speaks the abomination herself! The bastard child of Alexstrasza!", she giggled, pressing down harder upon the desolate earth. Slowly, the claw that gripped Zirinax receeded towards where it came from, but with its earthen hold not breaking. It was pulling her into the ground.
"Submit! Beg for mercy and I will tell the spirits of earth to free you!", she roared manically.
"You shut up!" she roared, continuing to struggle against the grip of the earthen claw. She could feel herself being pulled slowly to the ground, even into it. Oh hell no. Her efforts redoubled. She turned to Arkaah and spat another tongue of purple fire at her, but this one far more intent on doing damage - this time she actually made the effort to make the fire reach the ascendant and possibly make contact with her, potentially figuring if the ascendant died, the rocky hand would release her captured limb. Immediately after, the ice blue runes branded into her scales seemed to be extinguished, in a sense; they went dim, and just after this happened, there was an explosion of raw arcane energy from within Zirinax's body. It was like a mage's Arcane Explosion magnified to obscenity. "I will not beg for anything from you, monster!"
Arkaah lept to her feet, but stumbled backwards as the ball of flame hit her. Stumbling back further from the arcane eruption, she still managed to stand firmly upon the dying soil. Looking upon Zirinax as the dust settled, her earthen claw had crumbled away. What a pity.
Laughing hysterically again, she looked upon the malformed red with contempt. "Quite powerful, aren't you? Yet, why do you shy in the face of the truth?", she giggled.
"Come. Assault me with your flames. See that you make no progress against a being made of fire and magma.", she paused for a second, looking at the guards at either side of her. She could see droplets of sweat trickle from their foreheads. They're weak.
"Or, try your luck with these two. They might be easier prey.".
No, Arkaah was right. Fire did not work against her. Zirinax could see that. Though she was often brash and didn't think before acting, the dragon gave this problem a thought. She did leap up when freed, shaking her hind leg free of the broken earth, but she decided not to flee. It would probably be the death of her, but the goading from the ascendant was too much for her to let go. Nostrils flaring, the corrupted dragon gave the problem some thought and decided to take advantage of the experimentation that had been done to her. Though she did not know the extent of it, she knew that she possessed some abilities normal red dragons did not. For example, if the fire did not work, she would turn to the opposite: ice.
The blue runes branded into her flesh had steadily begun to come back to life again after the explosion of arcane energy, but she didn't wait for them to return to normal before she snuffed them out again. Immediately following was a breath attack consisting of ice and subzero air. It was a nice gesture, and powerful, too, but it did not come naturally to the corrupted red, so it was not quite as powerful as her flame would be, and even if it hit Arkaah it wouldn't be a killing blow by any means - it might do damage, but not enough to put her completely out of commission. Still, it was a good exercise for her, and a good point of reference for Arkaah where work needed still to be done.
"They are weak," she growled, slinking sideways in a wide circle around the ascendant. "They are not worth my time."
Arkaah saw that Zirinax was doing. Thrusting her right hand forward, she unleashed a torrent of flame at the oncoming icy spell. Instantly, the icicles turned into water, and that into steam and water vapour. Calling upon the spirits of water and air, she moved her arms forward, forcing a wave of damp air at the dragon, hoping at the very least it would either make the creature topple backwards, or just annoy it. She didn't want to harm Zirinax, and Arkaah's dominion over fire and earth was much stronger than over water and air. All that she wanted to do was just play with the dragon.
"You are weak, whelp!", she grinned, "Let us.. improve you.".
The wave of damp air was forceful enough to catch in Ziri's wings and push her off the ground briefly. Not wanting to abandon the fight so early, she shut her wings tight again and allowed herself to fall back to earth, severely annoyed at worst. The dampness of the air was brushed out of her eyes by her third eyelid and she decided to hell with it, she's bigger than Arkaah, there's no reason for her to be fooling around like this. "No," she snapped, teeth bared. "Die!" And with that, she charged, ground shaking beneath her feet, head low and jaws opened wide, ready to take a bite or a scratch or whatever she could. Upon reaching Arkaah she would start an assault, swinging with her front paws and snapping angrily with her teeth, hoping to make contact with her at some point.
Just what the ascendant had wanted. Quickly, she dropped to one knee, and placed both hands upon the earth at either side of her. Within moments, the ground beneath her gave way, as Arkaah dissapeared into it.
At either side, the orcs stared on in disbelief. Raising their weapons, they blindly charged at Zirinax, hoping to in some way harm the dragon.
Zirinax was a little perplexed too. Sliding to an abrupt stop where Arkaah had disappeared into the ground, she paused and then turned her attention to the pair of orcs who suddenly went on the attack. They were weak, though. She knew they couldn't possibly think they'd win a fight with her.. With a snarl, she set upon the one toward the left first, slashing at him with a huge paw across his front and following it up immediately with a white-hot jet of purple flame. She turned this flame on the second orc a moment afterward, careful not to let him get too close with his weaponry.. Her scales were not that thick compared to most dragons, and she had no desire to see them pierced by the pathetic mortal weaponry the orcs brandished at her.
Whilst the orcs distracted Zirinax, the earth opened up behind the dragon. Leaping out, Arkaah drew her glaive, and launched herself so that she would land upon the malformed creature's back. Calling upon the spirit of air to grant her extra assistance in her flight, she landed sorely just below her head, with her spiked boots digging into the scales on her upper back. Quickly throwing her left hand forward, her gauntlet securely clasped onto Zirinax's left horn, the sharpened parts cutting into it and securing their grip. Holding her bladed glaive to the back of her neck, Arkaah grinned, but the dragon obviously couldn't see her facial expression.
She heard the earth's crumbling behind her but did not react fast enough. The first orc was dispatched but the second was only severely wounded, but she had other problems at the moment. Feeling the ascendant land heavily on the back of her neck, Zirinax reared her head up in alarm and immediately unfurled her wings, buffetting the second orc with them unintentionally. The dragon could not feel the gauntlet grasp her horn because of the lack of nerve endings, but she felt the weight when she turned her head slightly to see the shape of Arkaah there. She wasn't flexible enough to see the blade against the back of her neck, and while her scales were a bit thinner than most, they were not so thin as to allow her to feel the blade against her. The back of her neck was a serious blind spot. Like a horse, Zirinax had monocular vision: she could see just about everywhere but directly in front of and directly behind her without turning her head. All she knew was that there was an unfriendly Ascendant laying against the back of her neck, holding onto one of her horns and telling her to submit.
She would not.
With a roar of defiance, Zirinax surged forward, leaping a great distance and ending the leap in a buck that would make the most seasoned of rodeo bulls envious, and then a sudden, pitching rear. The idea of allowing herself to simply fall backwards onto Arkaah was a tempting one, but she was not entirely confident she could get away with exposing her belly regardless of where the ascendant was.. So she didn't. Instead, she leapt forward again, this time throwing her wings open and letting the wind catch her and lift her into the skies. It's a shame she didn't come with a seat belt, really. Corkscrews were first on the list of aerial stunts to dislodge Arkaah from her neck.
It worked. Although she had gripped into the dragon's horn, her footing wasn't secure enough. As she was thrown, her grasp upon the horn didn't loosen, as the thing was snapped right in half. Landing sorely upon the ground face first, she dropped what remained of the Zirinax's horn, and rolled around to face her, whilst still sitting upon her backside.
Zirinax felt the weight suddenly fall off her neck. There was a dull snap when her horn broke and she knew exactly what happened when it did, but vanity was not something she possessed enough of to care. She came back to the ground once Arkaah had been unseated, landing some ways away, still with the vicious snarl on her face. Even though she'd gotten free of the ascendant, she didn't seize the opportunity to get away. No, she wanted the kill. She offered no response to Arkaah but charged her again, quickly closing the gap between them with toothy maw agape and claws reaching for her molten flesh.
Arkaah called to the spirits of earth, as slabs of earth shot out of the ground. As she quickly erected a wall between her and the dragon, she placed her hands upon the floor once more, being consumed by it again. By the time Zirinax had smashed through it, the ascendant would have completely vanished.
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Plunderstorm is here. Why no player housing or solo mode?
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