Path of Dragons

The pyramid hovered in the air, suspended by nothing Elijah could sense, and glowing with aquamarine energy. Even though the clouds had parted, the sun was nowhere to be seen, and the world seemed permanently cast in shades of grey. Elijah couldn’t explain it, but then again, he didn’t need to. His innate curiosity had given way to more practical concerns – like the flock of winged monsters circling the enormous floating structure.

Thankfully, the creatures seemed disinterested in descent. Otherwise, Elijah and his companions wouldn’t have been able to enjoy the peace necessary to assess the situation.

“You really want me to just fly everyone up there?” he asked.

To that, Sadie asked, “Do you have a better idea?”

Elijah shook his head. He was the only member of the party capable of flight, which meant that the burden of reaching the floating pyramid fell on him. They’d already searched the area for other means of ingress, but even after a day, they had found nothing. Just a rubble strewn coast populated by broken towers.

If there was another way up to that pyramid, then it was entirely invisible to Elijah or the other members of his group. Perhaps if they had someone with an Explorer archetype, things would have been different. That was something Elijah had considered quite a bit over the past few weeks. Every archetype had a place in their world, and they could each become very useful in a wide variety of situations. So, he’d begun to wonder if the challenges hadn’t been designed with an eye toward forcing the people of Earth to work together and use the abilities of every archetype. That would certainly make sense, at least from a practical standpoint.

He'd seen in Easton – and to a lesser extent, elsewhere – that non-combatants were often seen as inferior to their more battle-ready peers. At times, they were exploited for the benefits they could provide, but more frequently, they were simply ignored. Perhaps the entire point of the Trial of Primacy was to force people to work with a wide variety of archetypes so that they could take those lessons back to Earth.

It could even explain why the mortality rate had been so high. It wasn’t because they weren’t strong enough. Rather, it was because of humanity’s – at least at the higher echelons of power – inability to work together for the great good. Back on Earth, Elijah had seen plenty of communities band together to ease the burden of survival. That was how humans had evolved to eventually become the planet’s dominant species. However, there were always those who thought themselves above the rest, and the addition of the system – and all the powers it granted – only widened that perceived gap. No doubt, it escalated those people’s sense of superiority to the point where they thought themselves invincible, to where they thought they didn’t need anyone else.

Elijah himself had fallen into that trap. So had people like Oscar and Benedict. But the fact remained that, without one another’s help, none of them would have survived the fight against the Immortals. There was a lesson there, though it seemed that most of the Trial-takers had failed to learn it. The moment the threat had been met, everyone had gone their separate ways.

“I’ll go with Ron. Dat can help protect Kurik,” Sadie said. Then, to Dat, she added, “Can you cover us from down here?”

Dat shook his head. “Too far, bro. Plus, I think if I attack them, they’ll come down.”

“We definitely don’t want that,” Elijah said. He threw his arms out wide, swinging them back and forth. He didn’t really need the warm-up, but it was a habit he’d developed during his training. And it wasn’t the time to abandon his well-established practices. As he warmed up and stretched, he looked up at the pyramid. There was an opening in the center of the base, which would be his target. “So, are we ready? Once we get started, things are going to get dicey in a hurry.”

Everyone proclaimed their readiness, and Elijah embraced Shape of the Sky. As he transformed, he prepared himself for the coming flight. He wasn’t so naïve as to believe that the task before him would be painless. Likely, he was about to get ripped to shreds. The only solace was that Ron was more than capable of keeping him alive, even in his vulnerable flight form.

Once he’d finished the transformation, Elijah flexed his wings and said, “Once you’re in position, I’m going hard and fast.”

“Phrasing, bro.”

If the form associated with Shape of the Sky was capable of rolling its eyes, Elijah would have done just that. As it was, he just shook his serpentine head. “Don’t get too comfortable in the gutter.”

“That’s where I live, bro,” Dat said with a nervous grin.

“Moving on,” Sadie said, grabbing hold of Elijah’s leg. Ron took hold of the other, giving Elijah a nod. After that, Sadie added, “Ready.”

Elijah took a deep breath, exhaling with a hiss before launching himself upward with a powerful leap. He beat his great wings, catching the air and forcing himself into the sky. With his Strength, he had the ability to reach top speed – at least in terms of gaining altitude – very quickly. In only a moment, he was ascending at more than sixty miles an hour.

It wasn’t fast enough, though.

The second he’d reached an altitude of a hundred feet, the winged creatures – that looked like zombified bats crossed with ta’alaki – took notice. With a collective screech, they cut off their pattern and raced toward Elijah. When the first few drew close, Elijah banked, narrowly avoiding a set of raking claws. With one hand, Sadie slashed her sword across the creature’s torso, sending a spray of blood and rotting guts into the air. The monster fell with another shriek, but Elijah ignored it. ɽ𝐀Nȱ𝐁Еȿ

Instead, he was entirely focused on dodging the other thirty or so monsters bearing down on him. He tucked his wings close to his body and dove. The monsters swooped in, their claws finding nothing but air as they soared a handful of feet above him. After a few moments, Elijah threw his wings out wide, catching the air and turning his dive into an arcing ascension that took him past the flock of flying undead creatures.

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But there were plenty more between him and the entrance to the pyramid. Over the next few moments, Elijah raced upward, pushing himself harder than ever before. Then, he was among the monsters. They ripped into him with sharp claws and even sharper fangs, and yet, he kept going. He was larger than them, and his wings were much more powerful. So, channeling his inner lamellar ape – and the unstoppable nature of the form – he bowled through them.

As he did, Ron continuously cast one heal after another. Sadie defended as best she could, sending more than a few monsters to splatter on the ground below. Yet, there was only so much she could do from her awkward position, and so, her efforts were limited.

Elijah couldn’t focus on that, though. Instead, the entirety of his attention was firmly locked onto surviving the deadly flight. He employed a few maneuvers here and there, but the flying monsters were so numerous that he couldn’t hope to avoid them. Everywhere he turned, all he could see were flapping wings, sharp claws, and rotting flesh. So, he tucked his head and flew on.

When he finally broke through the flock of monsters, there was no solace to be had in the entrance to the pyramid. But he reached it, which gave Sadie an opportunity to use the full suite of her abilities. More importantly, when Elijah landed – or crashed, more appropriately put – the narrow corridor leading deeper into the pyramid prevented the monsters from attacking en masse.

Sadie rolled to a stop, then sprang to her feet, sword in hand. She stepped up, swinging her sword in an inelegant hack. There was no place for practiced swordsmanship in such a melee. It had been the same against the zombies. There were no clever parries. No fancy maneuvers. Just hacking and slashing a horde of monsters that possessed no driving instinct for self-preservation.

Such an onslaught came with a price, though. Even through her armor, Sadie took more than a few wounds. In the space of a couple of seconds, she was dripping with gore. She held her ground, though, and Ron switched his healing target from Elijah to the Crusader, mending her injuries.

Meanwhile, Elijah shifted out of his flight form and added a few casts of Storm’s Fury and Nature’s Rebuke to the mix. Unfortunately, his spells were a little underpowered for the current situation, and the effects were disappointing. More importantly, Sadie shouted, “Remember the plan!”

The reminder was unnecessary, and even though Elijah still didn’t like the idea of abandoning the others, he wasted no time before retreating further into the corridor. Fortunately, the slope leading up into the pyramid took him out of view after only a few moments, and he felt Essence of the Wolf kick in. That told him he was out of combat, so he shifted into the Shape of Venom, let Guise of the Unseen settle onto his scaley shoulders, then raced back the way he’d come.

Only a few seconds had passed, so the battle still raged, though it looked like Sadie had it well in hand. Elijah sprang onto the wall, then ran across the ceiling, completely unnoticed by his foes. Once outside, he continued along the base of the pyramid until he was well out of range of the undead monsters. Then, he let go, shifting into Shape of the Sky as he fell.

He remained entirely unseen by the monsters, who were in a frenzy as they tried to slaughter Sadie and Ron. Elijah wanted to contribute, but he had another task. So, he swooped down, landing only a few feet from Dat and Kurik. The pair didn’t waste time on conversation. Instead, they simply latched onto his legs, signaled they were ready, and held on tight as he threw himself back into the air.

This time, Elijah didn’t go straight at the entrance. Instead, he soared to the south, building speed as he circled around. Finally, once he’d reached an appropriate velocity, he turned back toward the entrance and made a beeline toward the mass of attacking monsters.

He barreled through the first few layers, his superior Constitution and the speed of his charge turning him into a scaley missile. He tore through them, head-first as he tried to keep Dat and Kurik from feeling the brunt of the impact. He only made it a few more layers – out of dozens – before his momentum petered out.

Elijah tried to flap his wings, but by that point, there was no more room.

That was when the creatures latched on and started ripping him to pieces.

He growled, giving as good as he got, but with Dat and Kurik clinging to his legs, he only had his jaws for weapons. Fortunately, his two passengers were ready for the halt, and they climbed up his legs, across his back, and leaped into the fray.

For a mundane person, such a maneuver would have been a death sentence. However, because both were Dexterity-based in their attribute allocation, they had the coordination to use the writhing mass of undead monsters as stepping stones to their destination.

The moment they were free, Elijah dove.

It took him a moment to get through the gathering of undead enemies, and when he broke free, his rainbow-colored scales were obscured by dark, red blood. Feeling the weight of his numerous injuries, Elijah dove, and a handful of the monsters broke free to follow.

But how could so few threaten him? Undead were dangerous, mostly due to their unending numbers. But when that advantage lessened, Elijah was more than a match for a dozen or more.

Even in what amounted to a non-combat form meant for travel.

He swooped around, banking sharply and reversing direction. He was on his foes in only a second, ripping into them with his claws and teeth. They didn’t stand a chance, and in only a few moments, they were falling rapidly to the ground below.

Now that he was free, Elijah beat his powerful wings and climbed to the upper slope of the pyramid. Once he landed, he shifted into his human form, casting three instances of Nature’s Bloom. Then, he used Soothe. His wounds mended, though he knew they wouldn’t completely heal for a few minutes. He didn’t have time to wait, so he shifted into Shape of Venom, then raced across the pyramid, embracing Guise of the Unseen when he reached the bottom of the slope.

Using his ability to cling to any surface, Elijah didn’t hesitate to cross the lip. Then, after flipping upside down, he ran toward the opening, which was still under assault by a hundred or more of the undead monsters.

Elijah ran, skittering across the plane until, at last, he reached his destination. Once the monsters were in range, Elijah leaped into battle, using Envenom with every bite. However, his natural weapons in that form weren’t limited to his fangs. His claws were lethal as well, and he used them to good effect, ripping into the creatures with the ferociousness of an angry badger.

He lost track of time as he tried to inflict as much damage as possible before the creatures realized he was there. As he swept through the mass, he leaped from one shifting back to another. With Envenom, it didn’t matter where he bit his foes. So long as he injected his venom, the damage would be done. However, with his claws, he targeted delicate wing joints, hoping to foul the monsters’ ability to fly.

Minutes passed, and slowly, the number of monsters was whittled down to nothing. Once there were only a few left, Elijah leaped away, shifted into Shape of the Sky, then flew through the entrance. As he passed the threshold, he shifted into his human form. Hitting the ground, he rolled to a stop.

A second later, one of Ron’s healing spells hit him. It was only at that moment that he realized just how much damage he’d taken during the battle. The Shape of Venom was powerful, but it was not incredibly durable. As a result, every attack leveled against him had ripped through his scales, and at present, his flesh hung off him in ragged strips.

In a way, he suspected he looked a lot like one of the undead.

After augmenting Ron’s healing with his own spells, Elijah pushed himself to his feet and took aim at the remaining monsters. However, the combination of his companions had already finished the final foe. Sadie was covered in blood, with strips of rotting flesh hanging from the seams in her armor.

But everyone else seemed unhurt.

“Well, that’s step one, I guess,” he said. Then, he glanced at the sloped ramp leading into the pyramid’s interior. He could feel the deathly energy billowing down the tunnel from above. To himself, he muttered, “That’s not ominous at all.”

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