Black Dragon

“There weren’t always dragons in the Valley.” The man raised the trembling mug of beer, that he had received for free, to his lips and sipped. His audience waited with baited breath, “I don’t know where the first one came from, but-,” He swallowed audibly, “It killed my three best friends.” He was sitting before the central fireplace, and there wasn’t a single person in the tavern who couldn’t see his distant expression, “It came out of the shadows, black and shiny, its claws ripped Matthew apart and-” he paused to take a calming swig of beer, “It ATE Charles. Lester tried to fight it, but-” he shuddered to a halt.

Lucian somehow doubted that this man and the deceased were friends at all, and he doubted the other elements of the story even more. About the only part he credited was the minor fact that three men were dead. Lucian sat in the corner with his back to the wall. The man rambled on, and was shortly given a new beer. Slowly the crowd began to ebb away, being drawn into their own conversations about the three deaths that had rocked the small town. This left the storyteller staring into the flames - Lucian gave him credit, he certainly played the traumatized victim well.

Lucian stepped into The Nul, and for a moment allowed his sense of that alien realm to wash over him. The darkness was all encompassing, and mirrored the physical world - if you knew what to look for. The flames of the open fire, the swirling smoke and the stout stone walls all were replicated in darkness. Lucian looked towards the man, and saw him for what he was in The Nul. A stricken tree, leaves fading and falling. Hurt and troubled. Lucian frowned to himself, so something had happened. Slowly he stood, being careful not to draw attention to himself as he did. He began to wind his way through the crowd.

However, someone else beat him to it. A cloaked figure, with a dark hood and a clear outline of a sword under his cloak. As he reached the storyteller, he threw back his hood. Lucian was still in The Nul, and was looking directly at the stranger when he revealed himself. The white pure light was nearly blinding. A blade of truth in the darkness. Glancing at his neck, Lucian saw the telltale five pointed star that hung around the stranger's neck. He froze, and very carefully and slowly stepped out of The Nul, letting the swirling, screaming, darkness fade from his senses. The inquisitor might be able to detect his use of that unnatural plane. Now in the real world, the inquisitor just looked like a man with a young face and blond hair.

Lucian had stopped just far back enough to pick up the details of the inquisitor’s conversation with the storyteller, “This dragon, where did you say you encountered it again?”

“The woods outside town,” The storyteller looked the man up and down, “Are you from The Church?”

“”I am Inquisitor Leone Bauer,” Said the young man, “Please call me Leo.”

“Of course,” The storyteller had straightened anxiously, “How can I help you, Sir?”

“Leo.” The inquisitor corrected instantly, “Where exactly did this attack take place?”

“Out in the woods, by the river that feeds into The Worldlake.” The man gave the inquisitor a rough set of directions, “You shouldn’t go out there though.”

“Oh? And why is that?” Leo asked, raising a single eyebrow at the storyteller.

“Nobody can fight that thing,” The man stated confidently, “It was a nightmare.”

“Oh,” Leo smiled, “I am an expert at hunting Nightmares.”

Lucian held back a snort of laughter, but even the choked noise attracted the attention of the Inquisitor. His eyes swept towards Lucian, who immediately began wending his way through the bar to buy a drink. He could almost feel Leone Bauer's eyes on his back, and was relieved that he didn’t pursue Lucian. This was hardly a place for a fight. The bartender, who was a tall, gorgeous woman, took Lucian’s order for wine. When Lucian then turned with his drink to survey the tavern, the inquisitor was gone. The storyteller was still sitting by the fire, eyes distant. Lucian carefully scanned the room, making sure the inquisitor was really gone.

Then he stepped into The Nul and looked again. The small sea of people, each represented by an image in the seething darkness of The Nul. He looked out past and through the solid patch of darkness that signified the wall. Some distance away, slightly down the road, the shining blade of a mind that was the inquisitor waited. It was keen, aware, and Lucian knew the inquisitor was waiting to see if Lucian would follow him out. Lucian smiled to himself, and then looked up - following the lines of rooftops. He picked a point in space, then drained his wine in a few gulps. He looked at the bartender, winked, and then summoned a tiny piece of his brand new sigil into his mind.

He was suddenly in the point of space he had focused on in The Nul. This was about a foot above a straw thatched roof, and Lucian fell onto it and had to hold his balance - trying to be quiet. From the space he had shifted to, he had a clear line of sight to the inquisitor, who was kneeling behind a wagon. The village square was quiet - even during the day this was hardly a busy town. The inquisitor was watching the door of the inn, clearly still waiting to see if Lucian followed him out. Lucian sat on the thatched rooftop and waited, not particularly hiding. He was in shadow on the top of a roof, nobody would be looking for him.

He waited. And waited. After some time he realized that the inquisitor might wait hours for Lucian to appear, and follow him just to be thorough and ensure his suspicions were unfounded. So boring. Lucian rolled his eyes, and then looked out towards the dark wood. Then he slid back into The Nul, picked a space inside the outhouse of the inn and shifted into it. He walked out confidently, pushing past the man who had just used the outhouse - who stared at Lucian like he had just seen a ghost. Lucian went through the tavern, and stepped out onto the street right where he knew the inquisitor could see him. He turned, waved jauntily at the inquisitor’s hiding place and made a beckoning gesture, and then began walking out through the town.

He didn’t need to look behind him to check whether or not Leo was following him. While his mind was in The Nul, he could watch the blazing signal of the inquisitor’s mind without turning his head. Jauntily whistling, he nodded at the two guardsmen holding torches at the gate, and headed into the wood. He walked for a few minutes, trying to judge when he thought they would be both out of sight and earshot of the guardsman. He felt the inquisitor pass the guards behind him, hurrying slightly to ensure he didn’t lose Lucian in the dark. Lucian wended his way into the woods, slightly off the beaten path, and then sat on a tree stump and waited.

“Hello!” He said as Leo came close.

In response he heard the rasp of a blade, then a whispered prayer. A golden light bloomed, shining through the trees. The inquisitor was at its center, his hand and his silver pendant of the five angels raised. His drawn longsword glimmered in the sacred light. In The Nul, Lucian could see the way the darkness rippled out from the object - reflecting the unnatural light the inquisitor had summoned.

“Nice spell.” Lucian said casually.

“I do not cast spells,” the inquisitor snapped, “Filthy Nightmare.” Even when angry, the boy had a light musical voice.

“I am not a Nightmare,” Lucian snapped, then took a deep breath to calm himself, “Do you not recognize a Magi of The Circle when you see one?”

“Is that supposed to be better?” The inquisitor snarled, taking a circling few steps so that his blade was kept between Lucian and himself, “All creatures which see The Nul are blasphemers.”

“And your usage of The Nul doesn’t count because…?” Lucian let his voice trail off insultingly.

“I cannot SEE The Nul,” snapped the inquisitor, “Besides, I do not use The Nul, The Angels do so on my behalf.”

“Oh come on-” Lucian started, then stopped as the inquisitor leaped at him, blade pointed squarely at Lucian’s neck. Lucian focused on a spot in The Nul just behind the inquisitor and shifted himself into it. He was barely in time, the point of the inquisitor’s sword sinking into the space where Lucian’s neck had been a few seconds ago.

“-As I was saying.” Lucian said, and the inquisitor wheeled to him, eyes wide, “That is the letter of the law and not the spirit.” He raised a finger, “And I quote - He who looks upon and touches The Nul is damned to see the flaws of the world and is forever doomed to walk apart from his fellow man.” Lucian was talking to cover his own shock. Had he been a second slower on that shift he would be bleeding out on the forest floor. The inquisitor was fast, and he had taken exactly the steps and movements he had needed to to kill Lucian with no wasted movement. Not just fast, but good. Lucian mashed a confident smile onto his face, “The Inquisition’s attitude towards Nul manipulation is highly questionable at best, hypocritical at worst.”

The Inquisitor swept his blade into a ready position, his gleaming amulet glowing so brightly it obscured his face. “Say that again.” The young man snarled.

Lucian opened his mouth to do so, and then stuttered to a halt. A black shifting shape had come into his range within The Nul. A creature that defied his human mind’s ability to comprehend it. Oil on water. Lucian held up a hand at the inquisitor, “Wait. Stop.”

“Die Magi,” hissed the man, and came at him. Lucian felt a flare of rage, the inquisitor’s blade scythed towards his throat. Lucian didn’t bother to shift this time, instead he reached for the force sigil and used it to slam the stupid man into the ground. The inquisitor let out a choked gasp as the impact ripped the air from his lungs. He looked up at Lucian, and then tried to spring up at him.

Lucian kept him pressed to the ground with a minor effort of will., “Stop. The Nightmare is-,”

“You are the Nightmare.” Said the inquisitor from the ground, “Why don’t you kill me as you killed those other poor fools.”

In response, Lucian simply pointed into the darkness. After a few moments, the creature revealed itself. Its chest was perhaps the breadth of two warhorses, a long and snakelike neck connected a huge lizard’s skull to that body. It was sinuous and graceful, using long limbs and multi-jointed fingers to hold itself up among the trees. A long barbed tail ended in a wicked hooked claw. The sacred light from Leo’s amulet struck its scales and reflected off the utter blackness with the sheen of a rainbow. Lucian almost thought he could see the screams of the damned in that colored play of light. Soundlessly, the creature dropped from the trees and onto the ground, perfectly catching itself like a cat. Its wings spread behind it, and some animal part of Lucian’s brain began gibbering in terror.

“Bullshit.” Lucian said at the dragon, “Dragons are not real.”

“Okay.” The inquisitor said from the ground, “You can let me up now.”

The dragon chuckled, “Look what we have here. The Priest and the Mage. The fool of wise men, and the foolish wise man.” It laughed at its own joke, and The Nul rolled out from it in waves, palpable aura of menace and power. “It has been a long time since I have feasted on such delectable morsels.”

“Silence Nightmare.” Leo swept his blade up before him, “The Angels and I defy thee.”

“Your angels cower before the might that is me.” hissed the dragon, “I was old before your Angels were born and I will be here after their death. I am what causes men to huddle in their hovels and pray to their false gods for salvation. I am the fear of the predator. I am a true dragon.”

“And you’ve identified yourself as such and claimed that label.” Lucian said, analyzing to beat back his fear, “Which I suppose gives you power, almost like how his faith gives him real control over The Nul.” He nearly gestured at the inquisitor, but he was fumbling for something in his robes, and Lucian decided to keep talking. “But you are still just a Nightmare. Just fears and thoughts and memories come alive.”

The dragon focused on Lucian with a hiss of indrawn breath. “You will die for that Magi,”

Lucian was already preparing his spell, weaving the force and fire sigil together. He carefully placed his fingertips upon one another, and a slight flare of crimson light signaled the spell’s activation. From the corner of his eye, Lucian saw the inquisitor pouring holy water across his sword and whispering a prayer, “Aw, did I hurt the inhuman thing’s feelings?” Spat Lucian, stepping away from the other man and hoping to draw the thing’s attention to him.

The dragon moved unlike anything Lucian had ever seen before. A beat of its wings and it fluidly threw itself towards the magi, liquid grace, despite its size. Lucian felt a mad grin crawl across his face and yanked his fingers apart. Crimson threads unspooled from each finger growing and twisting and forming a net which swathed the dragon as its jaws closed on the space where Lucian had been seconds before. Lucian had shifted behind the creature and, with a yank, tightened the threads that were both razor sharp and as hot as a forge around the creature.

One wing was smashed into the creature’s side. It crashed to the ground in the first ungainly movement that Lucian had seen from it. The threads made a horrible rasping noise across the thing’s scales, and it roared out a furious challenge as its eyes swiveled to find Lucian. Lucian’s grin widened as he unspooled more threads upon the creature. It thrashed and bound itself tighter, hissing in rage and pain.

“And may The Angels strike down my foes with blinding light and iron will!” roared Leo as he threw himself at the bound monster. His sword shone in The Nul with a brilliance that made Lucian feel shabby and lesser somehow. Yet, despite the fury of the enchanted steel, the sword made a ringing sound with each blow - like he was striking an anvil with his blade rather than a creature. The light from his amulet, now dangling from the two handed grip he had on his longsword, cast long black shadows through the clearing.

“Its eyes!” Lucian screamed, frustrated at the boy’s idiocy, “Aim for its eyes.”

Leo met his eyes and nodded, beginning to move around the bound creature. The Nightmare also heard him, its attention swiveled to the mage, and Lucian felt a blast of malice from The Nul. Then the Nightmare turned from him, and he felt what was almost a spell emanate from the thing. The huge creature sank into the long shadow cast by the holy light of the inquisitor. Dropping into the darkness like a crocodile slinking into the water. Lucian’s crimson threads were left sizzling upon the forest floor, and Lucian ended the spell before they began a forest fire.

Lucian and Leo met one another’s gaze for a moment. Then they crossed the clearing and stood back to back without speaking. The forest was eerily silent. After a moment, Leo spoke “Okay, where did it go?”

“It’s a predator.” Lucian’s said, “We bloodied its nose. It’s backed off to find a new angle of attack.”

Lucian could feel Leo nodding, “Or easier prey,” he added, then started, “The village!” And Leo immediately began sprinting towards the township. Lucian twisted, tried to catch his arm and stop his foolishness in its tracks. He was fractionally too late, and almost felt the moment the dragon decided to strike. Lucian instantly shifted three feet straight backwards, intent on evading the strike he knew was coming. Once again the mad grin settled across Lucian’s face. So, he would face the thing alone. So be it.

Then he waited. And waited. The forest was empty and silent. Lucian frowned, then reached through The Nul and shifted three times in quick succession, ending back at the gate to the small town. Both of the guardsman were dead, ripped apart ruthlessly and brutally. A few more shifts from Lucian took him through the suddenly deserted town, and back to the main square and the inn. It was a scene of devastation. The front of the inn had been smashed in, and its content, including many corpses of patrons, was scattered in the mud of the square.

The dragon was waiting for Lucian. From the shadows of the smashed and broken inn it tossed the bartender out onto the mud. She landed heavily, and as she struggled to stand Lucian looked past her and into the inn. The dragon swam into view, out of the shadows of the inn. It literally came forth from the shadows, the remainder of its mass kept somewhere out of sight in the darkness. In The Nul? The hairs on Lucian's neck stood on end as he considered that.

“What now Magi?” Hissed the dragon, “Will you save these innocent villagers? Or face me?”

Lucian snorted, “I’ll be fighting you.”

Lucian’s tone seemed to throw the thing off, “You have no desire to help your countryman? No urge to save this poor defenseless woman?”

Lucian stared at the dragon for a second, then looked down at the woman. Her eyes were blank and empty with terror, and the way she was crawling made Lucian think multiple bones were broken, “Look, Thing.” He addressed the dragon insolently, “I have killed many times and for many reasons. I will kill again. You are not talking to some easily distracted coward, desperate to preserve and protect.” He raised a negligent hand and waved it at the woman, “I will not lose sleep over your decision to kill this woman.” He shrugged and laughed a little, “I mean, completely independent of anything else, this was your choice and your actions. Not mine.”

The dragon slipped from the shadows completely, like a crocodile emerging from the water. It seemed to be considering. Leo puffed into the square, having run through the forest and town to reach this point, he looked over the devastation and carnage with horror. “You have made your choice then,” snarled the dragon at Lucian, and its tail coiled.

Lucian was waiting for the split second its attention turned from him to its supposed victim. It’s serrated blade of a tail struck towards the woman’s back. Lucian shifted next to the dragon, placed his hand lightly on the things opalescent scales, and summoned the force sigil to mind with as much power and will as he could muster. There was a thunderous crack, and the dragon was hurled from him at a right angle. It’s back half struck the remaining wall of the tavern, and it was sent spinning into the square, its wings and limbs desperately flailing as it tried to regain control of itself.

Lucian took a deep and centering breath. Then he gestured, and in The Nul eight thin tendrils of fire and bladed force extended from his back. They spiraled around him, lengthening and stretching and finally becoming a real networked lattice of crimson razor wire surrounding him. He stepped out of the inn and onto firm ground, “I am Archmage Lucian of The Circle of Magi,” he said, “You said before that you are the reason men fear the dark. I think you misunderstand. We have pushed the things like you to the dark edges of the map where all you have to feast upon is witless weaklings. We are mankind. And this is our world.” As he spoke he saw Leo reach the woman and haul her unceremoniously onto one shoulder. Then the dragon regained itself, and in a swift twisting motion came straight for the Archmage.

Lucian shifted to avoid its onslaught, and then sent his bladed tendrils out to ricochet off the thing’s iron hard scales. He sent one tendril towards its eyes, but the dragon twisted away from him, using the momentum from the movement to send its tail scything towards him in a vicious arc. Lucian redirected all of his tendrils to wrap around the tail, gripping and slowing it, and barely halting its momentum before it ripped his squishy meat body apart. The dragon twisted its head around on its neck to try to snap at him. Lucian gave the beast his best mad grin and then threw the dragon up by the tail and then in a brutal arc brought it back down onto the already shattered inn behind them. It splintered through the ceiling and support beams of the building and into the solid earth beneath them. The inn then gave a final dying and creeping moan before collapsing on top of the beast.

Lucian was breathing hard. Expending that much energy so quickly made him feel nauseous. The writhing darkness of The Nul clawed at the edges of his vision, and he knew he was risking unconsciousness if he continued like this for much longer. The wreckage of the inn was smoldering but still. Leo sidled up next to him, eyes flicking between the wreckage and the magi as though he could not decide who was the bigger threat. Lucian raised a finger and summoned the fire sigil into his mind. A flicker of crimson light appeared a inch above his fingertip. With a casual flick, he sent it across to the pile of debris. In an instant the remains of the inn were blazing as though they had been burning for hours. The two men looked at the bonfire for a moment.

“Is it dead?” Leo asked quietly.

“Don’t ask tha-,” Lucian began. Then the world spun around him, and a line of pain flashed across him, terminating in a terrible pain in his right leg. He landed in a heap, and it took him a second to realize. He had made a deep shadow behind him with his fire. He craned his head, and sure enough saw the dragon emerge from the darkness cast by the crimson bonfire. It’s eyes glittered with fury, and it stalked towards Lucian. Lucian tried to stand, and as he attempted to use his right leg was abruptly forced from The Nul, his body screaming in agony and demanding his attention. Looking down he could see the spike of bone protruding from his leg.

“Not going to chase me from your home?” The dragon taunted, “All you humans are the same. Such high and mighty fleshbags. To stupid to see the cage The Angels have constructed around you.” It loomed over the magi, jaws wide, “Goodbye, Lucian.” And the mage heard the slight edge of respect in the use of his name.

Leo’s boots struck the creature in the small of the jaw. Driving its head to one side. Leo landed like a cat, and twisted with his sword in a two handed thrust. This time he did what Lucian had asked and the point of his blade sank into the creature’s eye. It screamed and reared backwards, slipping on the wreckage and blood-soaked mud. It regained its footing in an instant, and for a moment the inquisitor and the beast stared at one another.

Lucian staggered past Leo, avoiding putting any weight on his shattered leg. The memory of the dragon looming over him had awoken another memory in him. One from when he had been a boy, from before he had seen The Nul. He pointed at the dragon, and remembered the flaming building. Remembered the screams, not just of the people who had hurt him, but also the other innocents who had lived there. Remembered an eight year old boy, standing in the snow, staring in wonder at the horror he had wrought.

With an effort of will he forced his mind into The Nul, ignoring the sickening pain in his leg. The darkness of that alien realm swamped him. Claimed him. He became a living conduit for it. He summoned the sigil that he had designed himself. The sigil that let him shift his body wherever he wanted to go. The sigil that gave him his freedom - The space sigil. “I will never be helpless again,” he snarled. Then he put all of the pain and hate and fear of that boy into a single spell.

Lucian ripped a tiny hole in space.

Lucian passed out instantly, but Leo saw what happened. There was no scream, no time for any reaction at all. The dragon folded in on itself, crushed beyond recognition. No blood spiraled outward, no sound escaped. For a second even light was drawn into that tiny hole. When it was over, a huge crater had been bored into the earth. Its edge terminated a few centimeters from Leo’s foot, and the inquisitor knew if he had been inside that radius he would simply be gone. Gone as the dragon was gone. Gone as hundreds of tons of earth were gone. There was silence and the roar of the flames, back to a clean orange now that Lucian was unconscious.

Leo looked down at the mage. He looked somehow shriveled now. The memory of that eight year old boy’s pain had been broadcast to everyone. Leo had been raised in a monastery. He had hated his upbringing, but as he looked down at the magi, he realized it could have been much worse. He had had food and a place to sleep. He had never been abused by those who should have protected him. He had never needed to protect himself at age eight. He bent, and carefully slung the mage over one shoulder. He was breathing, thank The Angels. Leo carried him off into the village. Surely there must be a healer somewhere.

In the center of the crater, too small for the eye to see, was a tiny pitch black pearl. When the light of the fire struck the pearl, it reflected the light back in a strange rainbow pattern. Oil on water