Path of Dragons

“Tell me,” said the four-legged amalgamation of flesh and metal as he loomed over Sadie. A huge circular saw whirred to life, its blade glistening with ethera. “Does your world know the value of technology? Mine did not. Does not. I was mocked. Derided. Exiled to the far reaches of my planet, and for what? Because I wanted to solve our problems through science. Meanwhile, those idiots fought against one another, and our doom drew ever nearer.”

“What are you going to do?” Sadie spat, glancing to her left and right. Her companions had already been caught, and everyone else but Benedict had been rendered unconscious. At present, they’d all been lashed to vertical slabs of metal. But at least Ron had managed to get a last heal off on Dat, which was the only reason the Witch Hunter wasn’t already dead.

For her part, Sadie had been dragged into the center of the room so that she could receive the full attention of the Engineer.

“This and that. I have such a lack of biological mass with which to work. No one comes here anymore,” he lamented with a sigh. His metallic legs clacked against the floor. “I don’t blame them, of course. Not after I was forced to kill so many. But then you and your little friends come in, and I just can’t believe my luck. It’s too bad you destroyed so many of my experiments. I can rebuild them, of course, but it will take time. Oh, so much time. I don’t know if it will be enough.”

“For what?” Sadie asked, trying to stall for time. She didn’t really care about the Engineer’s answer. Instead, she only wanted to keep him talking.

“To save us, of course,” he said. Then, he gestured vaguely toward the ceiling and asked, “Do you know what’s out there? It’s not just the Ravener. She is a looming threat, but even the most powerful entity to have ever existed can’t be everywhere at once. She wouldn’t care about this little planet anyway. We’re not even a snack for someone that can devour whole universes. But her underlings? They would love to consume even her crumbs.”

“The Voxx?”

“The Voxx?” he scoffed. “What do you know of the Voxx? Not those little beings the system lets through. They’re barely powerful enough to exist, much less become a threat. They are a curated danger, nothing more. I speak of the real thing. They won’t come through rifts or towers. They will descend upon this planet like a swarm of locusts and devour everything they see.”

“And you want to fight them?”

“I want to destroy them!” he announced, gesturing with his saw. “Because I know the truth. Do you want to hear it? Most don’t.”

“Uh…sure.”

“The Ravener feeds off life,” he said. “She and her minions don’t care about anything that doesn’t incorporate ethera into their being. Do you know what that means?”

Sadie didn’t answer.

The Engineer said, “In theory, if we can separate from ethera, they will leave us alone! That’s what my experiments are meant to do. Machines are the answer! Technology will see us through!”

Sadie just stared at him. He was obviously mad, but could he be right? She didn’t think so. After all, she’d seen Voxx destroying machines the same as they tried to devour people. It was more likely that the Engineer had been driven insane and latched onto an invalid and unsupported conclusion.

And besides, he was obviously a long way from removing ethera from the equation. Every machine she’d seen since coming to the Citadel of Innovation had been magical in nature. Even the electricity that had arced across the web of wires in the previous chamber had been laced with ethera. Once a planet was touched by the World Tree, perhaps there was no escaping the magical energy that seemed to suffuse everything.

Sadie was about to say as much when something flashed behind the Engineer. At first, he didn’t respond, but then he let out a roar and wheeled around. That was when Sadie saw something clinging to the ka’alaki’s back.

At first, she had no idea what she was looking at. It was scaled, like a lizard, but it was shaped more like a hunting cat. Her first thought was that Elijah had come, but this new arrival was very different than his predator form. At only around four feet long and slim, it was much smaller than Elijah’s form, and instead of black-and-russet scales, it was mostly green, with ocher highlights. No – it was something wholly different.

It bounded away, skittering up the wall and racing away from the monstrous blend of ka’alaki and machine. At the same time, the Engineer’s arm broke apart, taking the unmistakable shape of a cannon. A second later, it fired, sending a pulsating globe of ethera-laced fire at the retreating beast.

But the creature was too fast, and the discharge splattered against the concrete wall, carving a huge divot that spoke of its destructive power. The Engineer didn’t let his miss slow him down, and he fired another three balls of fire in quick succession. They all missed, though only narrowly.

Finally, the beast reached her companions, but to Sadie’s immense surprise, it didn’t attack them. Instead, it raked its claws across their bindings, slashing through them with ease before leaping away. But Sadie immediately saw the problem. There were two fireballs racing across the room; they’d been intended for the beast, but her friends were going to be caught in the line of fire.

So, she pushed through her muddled state and used Consecrated Shield. Once. Twice. Three times, all in the space of a second. So, when the fireballs hit, her allies were as protected as they could be.

It wasn’t enough.

Her shields shattered instantly, one after another and releasing a wave of intense healing that she could only hope would keep them from burning alive. The Engineer didn’t care at all, and he continued to scream wordlessly as he pelted the area in fireballs. Soon enough, the temperature had risen past the boiling point, igniting the very air itself.

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Sadie worked against it, using her abilities to shield her companions as well as herself. She knew her efforts would fall short, though. Already, her core was running dry, and if the fight went on for much longer, she would be spent.

Fortunately, the healing from her shields had driven away her allies’ unconsciousness. And given the situation, it didn’t take them long to recover their wits. At the same time, the curious beast raced past her, slicing through her bonds the same as it had with the others. Sadie knew what was coming, so just before another barrage of fireballs hit her, she used Bulwark of Faith.

As had been the case with her other shields, it was not enough. It burst like a bubble, and a moment later, she was bathed in intense flame. She screamed, but this time, she had no Miracle to bail her out. Her skin blistered, but then, a potent wave of healing descended upon her.

When the fires faded, she blinked and saw that Elijah had finally arrived. More, Ron had recovered his sparkly wand and was aiming it in her direction. There was a subtle difference between the way their respective heals felt, and she could tell that she’d been subjected to both variants. Indeed – that was the only reason she had survived.

Which infuriated the Engineer.

He erupted into a corona of flames that enveloped his whole body. His metallic legs glowed with red heat, and his serpentine torso erupted into black veins.

Then, he stumbled.

Elijah pointed his staff at the figure, conjuring a swarm of tiny insects that immediately descended upon the monster. From the other side of the room, Benedict’s ethera stirred, and he cast one spell after another. They were invisible, but even Sadie could feel their potency as they settled onto the Engineer.

Dat added a glowing barrage of crossbow bolts to the mix, but even as they thudded into the fiery Engineer’s chest, Sadie could tell that they weren’t doing much good. As strong as the Witch Hunter could be, his power was very situational. Still, just because the circumstances weren’t optimal didn’t mean that he was going to just sit it out.

Sadie rushed forward, drawing her sidearm. It was just a dagger, meant to pierce openings in armor, but the Engineer had taken her sword, so it was all she had available. She leaped, trusting that Ron would keep her from burning to death, and buried her dagger into the Engineer’s chest.

It bit deep, plunging up to the hilt precisely where the ka’alaki’s heart should have been. But he showed no signs of slowing down as he grabbed her with one molten hand and crushed her upper arm. She cried out as she felt the bones break.

But then, Elijah – in the familiar ape-lizard form – crashed into the creature. The immense Strength behind the charge staggered the Engineer, and he released Sadie. As the two grappled, Sadie crashed to the floor in a clatter of metal. When she threw herself upright, her arm hung limp, but she had no intention of retreat.

Not when she finally saw the Sword of Morning a few feet behind her foe.

She dove between the creature’s spindly-by-comparison legs, rolling across the room and coming to a stop with the fingers of her good hand closing around the hilt. As she rose, she cast Consecrated Shield on Elijah, hoping that it would help him survive even a moment longer. It settled onto him, and miraculously, it held for a few moments before bursting.

By that point, Sadie had closed the gap. The intense heat was enough to blister her skin, but Ron’s spells worked overtime to heal them almost as quickly as they appeared. Sadie couldn’t worry about that as she formed a very simple plan, then executed it.

Her sword whistled through the air, connecting with one of the Engineer’s segmented legs. She’d meant to hit the joint, but the creature’s erratic movements fouled her aim. However, she was surprised to see that the blade opened a wide gash in the metal. That spurred her forward, and she hacked at it again.

That first attack had gotten the Engineer’s attention, though, and she was forced to duck beneath a backhanded blow that would have sent her flying across the room. As it happened, she narrowly avoided that fate, but the ka’alaki still clipped her. She went spinning to the ground, and he followed up with a spearing stomp that impaled her thigh on one of his legs.

She cried out, swinging her sword on instinct, but she didn’t have the leverage to put much power behind the blow. Still, the blade carved a deep grove in the metal – which should not have been possible. Taking an instant to look a little closer, Sadie focused on the surface of the metal beneath the corona of flames. And she saw splotches of corrosion.

Flicking her eyes upward, Sadie couldn’t ignore the black veins that had continued to spread cross the Engineer’s torso. Originally, she’d thought they were part of the skill that had summoned the cloak of fire, but now, she thought differently.

Even so, Elijah was clearly losing his own struggle. But he was successful in occupying the creature. Every couple of seconds, a barrage of crossbow bolts hammered into the Engineer’s chest, and even Kurik had found his bow and added his own projectiles to the bombardment. And to Sadie’s surprise, she saw that the once-ineffective attacks had begun to extract a toll.

All that flitted through her mind as she made her choice.

She used Blade of the Avenger.

An enormous sword erupted from the ground, but the Engineer flinched away at the swirl of ethera. So, the blade that should have ended the fight only managed to slice through two of the creature’s legs. They flopped free, sending him stumbling to the side. That loss of balance gave Elijah the upper hand, and he used it to pummel the Engineer to the ground.

Sadie summoned a second Blade of the Avenger, but this one was far more effective than the last. It hit her foe in the shoulder, very nearly separating an arm. Pale blood splashed on the floor, and the creature cried out as its flames guttered.

Elijah grabbed two of his remaining arms, forcing them out wide. It hammered its lone remaining fist into the Druid’s durable side, cracking scales with each blow. But he ignored it. Instead, he struck like a crocodile, clamping his powerful jaws around the Engineer’s serpentine head. The creature screamed, his attacks reaching a new level of fury.

But Elijah didn’t let go.

Sadie added her third and final Blade of the Avenger, cutting through his lone free arm. She would have gone for the stomach or chest, but with the blade’s size, that would have gotten Elijah too. So, she opted for something less lethal but hopefully just as impactful.

Elijah let out a low growl, and Sadie saw the muscles of his jaw tremble. Then, suddenly, the Engineer’s skull gave way. It burst like an overripe melon, erupting into an explosion of blood, skull, flesh, and brains.

And just like that, the fires winked out.

But Elijah didn’t stop. He hammered the creature a few more times, slamming his fists into the corpse before letting out a triumphant roar. Only then did he seem to come back to his senses and look around.

He shifted back to his human form, and Sadie was shocked to see that he was entirely hairless. In fact, even his clothes had disappeared, revealing the scarred skin beneath. Oddly, the first thought that crossed her mind was that she was grateful that his armored pants remained. Following that came a wave of embarrassment that quickly faded in the wake of the pain racing through her body.

Elijah raced to her side, already casting spells.

As she felt her consciousness slipping – had she lost that much blood? – she said, “You look terrible. I hope those scars aren’t permanent.”

Then, she passed out, letting the peace of unconsciousness overwhelm her.

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