The Brotherhood of Kings

The Brotherhood of Kings

Ascension

Chapter 1

The Unbound King

There weren't always dragons in the Valley. Once, the heavenly realms and the Valley of Prime had been populated by angels, beings of light, heat, and immense radiance. These angelic entities tended the world and served the rare, gifted mortals capable of harnessing the aetheric power of the divine realms. Called Light-Bringers, Torch-Bearers, miracle workers, and more, the most common term for these empowered mortal souls was Magi or Mages.

Though dragons, the physical embodiment of magic and power, resided throughout the planes and realms, none dared enter the Valley of Prime. The angels and great spirits, the essence of mana itself, would never allow them to enter. The presence of the dragons was tolerated in every realm, from Faerie to the Underworld, but not so in the heavens, and never in the Valley of Prime.

That was, until the arrival of Loki.

Seeking the power to drive back evil wherever it festered, a group of Mages in the modern era called The Brotherhood of Kings, heroes to some, self-righteous devils to others, breached the barrier between worlds and entered the plane of pure energy and the sacred valley. Though their intentions were pure, they tangled with powers beyond their control, and they were not alone.

With them came the Great Star Dragon and the beginning of Ragnarok...

* * *

"Burn them! Sear the heavens! Rip the wings from their backs and devour their power! We will take the Valley of Prime and drink dry the Ocean of Mana! Down with false kings! The era of truth approaches! So decree's Loki Prime! So decrees the Great Star Dragon!"

Dominus rose to one knee amidst a puddle of blood. The Valley of Prime was burning. Dragonflame scorched the skies, clashing with radiant sunbeams. Angels fought with dragons for control of the realm, and Dominus could only hang his head.

His reflection stared back at him from the blood pool. Shadows encircled his eyes and his usually tan skin was pale and white. His short black hair was matted with filth and his muscular, bare chest was riddled with open, dripping wounds. What had once been pristine, white Karate bottoms with the word 'Masterson' emblazoned along the right leg were now little more than tatters, barely managing to hug his waist. Dominus' black fighting gauntlets, a gift from his father were shredded and offered little in the way of protection.

Pushing through the pain, Dominus climbed to his feet once again and tore the gloves from his hands. Against the solar winds and searing wing beats, the death mage took in his surroundings. His Arcane Aura, a giant, living darkness called the 'Shadow of Death' arced about him like a bomb shelter, staving off blast after blast of intense heat.

"Hang in there!" Dominus told his shadow, placing one hand on the quasi-material structure. "We cannot...fall!"

As Dominus shook off the last, lingering remnants of shell shock, the gravity of the situation sunk the mage's heart like an anchor.

To his left, bashed into a great ravine and scattered upon the rocks, lay the broken, battered body of Apollo, his brother in arms and fellow king. Apollo's bow was splintered into fragments, though the mighty huntsman still held the haft of the weapon in his iron grip. Even in death, the spirit brands he'd received from the wolves glowed a soft, spectral silver, arcing along his exposed back and shoulders. Apollo's short, brown hair fluttered gently despite the fierce wind raging all about him.

Dominus gritted his teeth and tears welled in his eyes.

"Tobias!" He whispered, clenching his fists. He had rarely if ever, said Apollo's true name, but such things hardly mattered now.

The mage reached out, trying to locate the nightmare energy of his companion, Scar. He found it a second later and grimaced in horror as the last of his fellow king's life force slipped from his body.

"No! Scar!" Dominus hollered. He took a few steps in the direction of his fellow mage and then stopped, hand outstretched.

There, high on a nearby cliff, chained to the rock like Prometheus of old, laid the Magi known as Scar. The one who liked to have tea in the afternoon and two fingers of scotch whiskey at night. The quiet one. The contemplative one. A good friend and a good man, gone.

Rage settled behind the death mage's eyes and wrapped itself around his heart. Eyes glowing black with mana, Dominus took a battle stance. He swept his leg behind him, preparing to access the primal light of the divine fire, and drilled his fists in front, rigid and strong. Slowly, exhaling pain and sorrow, the mage called Dominus unclenched his fists and raised his eyes to the Great Star Dragon.

"LOKI!" Dominus called.

He punched the air and a whirlwind of force shot from his outstretched fist. As the invisible wave of energy blasted from Dominus, he called upon the magic innate within and then reached out for more. From the incomprehensible realm of the divine heavens came an influx of power and he willed it forth.

The heavenly realms, a paradise of rolling fields and summer skies, sizzled and hissed as the will of Dominus washed over it. The mage's Arcane Aura, sentient and psychoactive, coiled around him protectively. There was a soundless explosion and then, for one brief moment, silence reigned supreme.

Dominus looked to the skies and the bloated, Great Star Dragon feeding on the essence of prime magic. It gripped a titanic, crystal throne in one hand and held aloft an angel with the other, its enormous crimson wings seeming to spread across the entire realm.

"Loki!" Dominus called again, and this time, the gargantuan, scaled head of the dragon curled down to look at him. Its grin was like a continent of teeth and its breath alone was nearly hot enough to melt away the mage's shields. Two enormous eyes like solar flares stared down at him before narrowing.

"You have lost, Dominus!" The thing that used to be Loki crowed. "No longer have I a need for brotherhoods or kings! I will remake the realms in my image! No more societies built upon lies and deceit! No more falsehoods rooted in the hearts of the people! I am power! I am purpose! I am Loki Prime!"

Dominus ground his bare feet in the sacred soil. Around him the Shadow of Death faltered, blasted apart by the force of the great dragon's mere words. With each angel devoured, the heavenly realms fell to him. Soon, he would have absolute dominion over all primal, light-based magic, and with it, he could do exactly what he said.

Loki, the man Dominus had proudly called brother and rival, was lost in the transformation, consumed by the arrogance and ego of the God-Dragon he'd brought with him. Consumed, for Dominus could no longer be sure he was talking to Loki, or if Loki could even still hear him. Had they become one, or was Loki within, drowned in power, unable to reach the surface? Dominus didn't know, but he had to keep trying.

"Loki! Are you in there? Can you hear me?" Dominus called. "I have to end it! Too much depends on this! If this realm falls, the others will follow. We must maintain the balance!"

The cosmic dragon chuckled and the realm shook. Around him, streaking like pinpricks of light to the burning plains of this realm, fell the charred corpses of angels. To Dominus, they looked like shooting stars.

"Balance cries the little shadow," Loki Prime said. There was no hint of Loki's British accent or personality left. "Even now I can feel the eyes of my lessers upon me. The Creator, Dean Hammerskin, the Sanguine and their Knights. The councils of ineffective weaklings gather and their eyes stare wide in horror. I shall blind them with radiance and sear them to ash with truth, just as soon as I am done here."

The dragon held out the angel in his titan grip and Dominus saw a shock of long, black hair tumble between its claws. He recognized the green tattoo glowing with supernal power on her left arm and saw then that her body was encased in an armor of living thorns. The sight froze the blood in his veins and tightened the breath in his lungs.

It wasn't an angel. It was Domina.

Not Domina. Not Yukiko. Please, god's, not Yukiko!

As the realization of who Loki Prime held shocked Dominus, the dragon raised her high, taunting him. She lay limp in the red claws of the dragon.

"No! Domina!" Dominus yelled.

Calling upon his innate power, the smoky remains of his Arcane Aura redoubled in size, gathering matter until two huge wings shot from the back of Dominus. Black and red energy crackled from his eyes as he dug deep and then, releasing enough force to crater the plains beneath him, he burst into the air, a streak of black lightning shooting straight for his enemy.

"Let her go!" Dominus roared. He cocked back his arm, prepared to deliver a punch powerful enough to blow apart a stadium. Lightning arced along his body as he flew.

"Poor choice of words, death lord," Loki Prime said wickedly.

Despite his tremendous speed, Dominus felt pushed back by the merest stretch of the cosmic dragon's wings. The horrible creature arched his back, flexed his muscles, and then held Domina out like a plaything by her long hair. With deliberate, cruel intent, the dragon placed a curved claw against Domina's exposed abdomen. Then, with a smile that would haunt Dominus forever, Loki Prime shot a hole of pure energy through Domina's spine that blasted out of her back in a perfect beam of scarlet light.

A scream of horror peeled from Dominus' lips and his power snapped away in shock. The Dragon raised its other clawed fingers and flicked Domina in the ribs so hard that her body crumpled under the blow before flying through the air.

Rage swept the death mage and his cry was incomprehensible agony. Time, Dominus's specialty, slowed to a near halt. The world around them, beautiful, even in its burning, became a still picture of cascading angel feathers and dragon wings. Only Dominus and Loki Prime were unaffected.

Twisting in fury, Dominus rocketed through the air and halted to gently catch Domina in his arms before skidding across the smoking plains of the heavenly realm. No sooner had he hit the ground did his spell end and time resumed its usual march.

A roar of triumph shook the world and Dominus tore his eyes from his love for only a second, long enough to see Loki Prime's army of dragons landing victorious around him. The once-perfect sky, now red and burning, was filled with gray-black ashes and white angel wings.

"Leon," Domina whispered. His true name.

"Yukiko," Dominus said, turning back to her. Gently he dropped to his knees, cradling her small frame against his chest. "I'm here. It's alright. Everything is gonna be alright."

Yukiko smiled.

"Liar," She said weakly.

Dominus brushed the matted hair from her face and looked deep into her black eyes, sparkling faintly emerald with what remained of her magic. It was a miracle she could talk.

"I love you! This was all a mistake. We should never have come here," Dominus began, but Domina put a single bloodied finger to his lips, shushing him.

"And I, you. I don't have much time. Leon. You have to fix this," Domina said, struggling to form words through the blood pooling in her throat.

Dominus had no ability or jurisdiction over the powers of life. He could kill and resurrect, speak with the dead, summon them, and control time, but he couldn't heal. His brothers could, but they were dead.

"How? I...need more power," Dominus said, hating himself even as the words left his mouth.

Domina smiled again, her teeth red and bloody.

"I know," She said. She wrapped her arms around him and squeezed as tight as she could, which wasn't very strong at all. He could feel a strange warmth pulsing against his heart and he looked down to see Domina's supernal tattoo glowing on her arm. The magic tattoo depicted trees and thorny paths, the eyes of elves, and the horns of Minotaurs. It depicted Faerie, and slowly the tattoo was moving, transferring from her skin to his.

"No," Dominus said. His vision grew blurry with fresh tears. "Yukiko, I need you."

Domina shook her head. She was fading fast.

"Selfish," She whispered. "We need you. Do what needs to be done."

Before Dominus could stop her, the tattoo had transferred to his chest, the eyes of the glowing green piece centered over his pounding heart.

"To Dominus, I bestow...my will," Domina whispered.

"No!" Dominus shouted, but it was too late.

The rush of Arcadian power shot through him, wild, timeless, and dangerous. It surged through his muscles, reinvigorating them, and for a moment, the mage's void-black eyes shone bright and green, luminous with potential.

He heard a voice in his head and felt soft arms wrap around his shoulders. He put his hand up to feel, but there was no one there.

'Arcadius fight's with you now, Dominus,' someone said in his mind. It spoke like a world given voice, with harmonious notes of babbling brooks and the rush of spring wind through ancient trees. 'Call upon me as you do Death, and I shall answer.'

Dominus kissed Yukiko's eyes shut and tenderly laid her down in the soft, blackened fields of paradise. He could no longer feel her heartbeat. The hole in her chest, garish and charred, sparked a fire inside of him that would not quell.

"Goodnight, Yukiko," Dominus whispered. He touched the ground and dirt rose and formed a coffin around her body. "This is temporary. You'll wake up in just a minute. I promise."

With one last look at his crude handiwork, Dominus turned from the love of his life. His body pulsed with power. Black lightning crackled about the Shadow of Death and it shone with an ethereal emerald glow, swirling about Dominus like a hydra made of darkness.

High above him sat Loki Prime, consumed entirely now by the wants and wills of the Great Star Dragon. Once, the cosmic dragon had been a source of power and an ally to the aspiring mage. Loki had learned to channel and harness the dragon flame of the colossal, otherworldly ally, transmuting it through force of will into mana. Now, Dominus doubted there was anything left of Loki at all.

"The Heavenly Realms are mine!" Loki Prime crowed, clawing at the sky. He turned to his conjured draconic army, his eyes flashing with power. The cosmic dragon's jaws dripped with the starlight blood of angels. "Now, we transcend beyond any force in the universe. Now my brethren, let us drink deep of the Ocean of Mana! With me!"

"Not gonna happen," Dominus said.

His voice boomed across the beautiful realm and echoed with unimaginable authority. Each of the dragons halted, as though scolded by a superior and Loki Prime snarled in fury, wheeling on the small, insignificant figure standing on the burning plains far below.

For a moment, while the heavens burned, Loki Prime could only tremble with rage. Then, inexplicably, he began to laugh.

"How can a mere mortal, even one such as yourself, hope to stand before a God?" Loki Prime laughed. With a wave of his giant, clawed hand his draconic army took to the skies, flying past Dominus to the shining ocean of pure, manifested possibility in the distance.

Dominus didn't answer. Instead, he raised his head to the skies and watched the bloated dragons' blast past before returning his condemning eyes to the Great Star Dragon.

"Death, will you stand with me?" Dominus asked quietly.

An uncharacteristically chill breeze floated down from the heavens and rustled Dominus's hair. He felt skeletal hands grip his heart and knew that the Reaper was with him.

'Until the end,' Came Death's answer, same as always, and Dominus nodded grimly.

In a rush of black feathers and swirling darkness, the specter of the end manifested next to Dominus, a towering skeletal figure with empty, hollow eyes set within a leering, yellow skull. Taller than any mortal man, Death brandished its signature scythe and buried the spiked haft deep into the burning plains.

"Hmm," Loki Prime rumbled. "That won't stop me. I am beyond Death now!"

Death said nothing. The Specter turned its cracking neck and looked down at Dominus, his summoner.

"Do it," Death whispered, his disembodied voice carried on a tide of wailing souls.

Dominus closed his eyes for a moment. In the darkness behind his eyelids, waiting like a memory, arms outstretched and reaching for him, was Domina. Tears poured from his closed eyes.

'I'm with you,' Yukiko said. 'We're with you.'

A green light, brighter than anything Dominus could imagine and ancient beyond belief burst forth from his eyes. It blew apart the vision before Dominus could utter a thought and the death mage's eyes flew open. The light poured forth from him, shooting into the ashen skies and solidified into a slender, armored, magnificent entity. It spread rainbow wings and then was at Dominus's left side in an instant.

"Dominus," the Fae said, its voice a smooth merger of masculine and feminine divinity.

The Fae was tall, unreasonably beautiful, and covered from head to toe in thorny, seductive natural armor made of bark and vines. Its eyes glowed with soft golden light and it smirked softly as it looked down on its summoner.

"Fae," Dominus said and bowed his head.

The entity from Faerie extended its arms and a golden spear with a gleaming steel head manifested in its grasp. Faster than the eye could follow, it spun the wicked weapon in a perfect twirling rotation before setting into a ready combat stance, the spear pointed up at Loki Prime.

Dominus breathed deep. His heart hurt from loss but there was power raging inside of him like never before. He could feel it spilling from his eyes.

His Aura, a living, connected part of him practically writhed, tense and pregnant with more mana than either of them had ever experienced. Domina's magic, so similar to his own, seemed to nearly double his control over the Hourglass of Time. Serenity swept the death mage as he transcended his understanding of the universe.

His Aura calmed and trembled about him. A sense of timelessness swept the trio.

The Fae and Death looked at each other and nodded.

"Now he understands," Death said.

"That dreams can be a reality," The Fae agreed, smiling.

"Time is an illusion. Whatever I will, will be," Dominus said.

He looked at his hands as though they were the most dangerous weapons he'd ever seen, then back up at Loki Prime.

The Great Star Dragon laughed and then, with a tremendous beat of his mighty wings, shot into the air. He moved like a rocket encased in starfire. The Dragons body bled it. He breathed pure energy now. Save for the somewhat physical shell of his winged, reptilian body, there was no difference between him and mana. Loki Prime was becoming pure power.

"You could summon every Avatar from every realm! It means nothing to me! I am the future!" Loki Prime cackled, trembling with excitement.

Dominus looked away, into the eyes of The Fae and then Death. Both nodded and took a step back. The death mage gathered his mana and his Arcane Aura fell across him, slathering him in dark ooze before solidifying into a solid-black three-piece suit with a striking aquamarine tie.

Dominus straightened the tie and then, with a guttural shout, dropped into a variant Masterson Karate stance. As his back heel came down, now encased in sleek, dark alligator-skin boots, he clenched his right fist and channeled his mana.

"Death, make me Deathless! Time, make me Timeless! My Avatars, COME UNTO ME!" Dominus roared.

There was a sudden flash of light as the death mage's words took effect and then, as his will burst into reality, he exploded into power, blasting apart the celestial plains he had been standing on. A rippling sphere of force burst out from Dominus's being and spread away from him like a nuclear shockwave.

The dragons roared in pain as the spell blew the Valley of Prime to pieces and the air was filled with the tremendous flapping of heavy wings. In one instant, the landscape of the Heavenly Realms had been drastically altered. There was nothing left to land on. No ocean for the dragon army to drink dry.

With a wave of his hand, Loki Prime cleared the ash and dust choking the skies and glared down at Dominus. What he saw though, was much more than a mere mortal.

Dominus, if he could still be called that, stood now at nearly ten feet tall, a rippling mass of shimmering green muscle armored in reaper bones. He wore a hood over his leering skull visage and his eyes pulsed with shimmering, golden stardust. Two enormous black wings, his Arcane Aura, flapped languidly, bearing the transformed Magi in the air easily. Death's scythe and The Fae's spear circled him in slow orbit.

Gone was the man. Before the Great Star Dragon hovered something else. Something empowered, ancient, and angry.

"The vessel Loki has memories of this exalted form. You call it 'Death Incarnate,' do you not?" The Prime Dragon taunted.

It brought its arms in front of it and began to gather power. Between the dragon's clawed fingers, a star exploded into being, radiant, deadly, and growing larger by the second.

"You may have absorbed the might of the Death Realm and the Fae realm, but you are still nothing to me, Dominus. You hold no lordship over me. I can destroy and recreate this world a dozen times over. You are nothing! Even empowered by the Avatars of the Realms, you are nothing but a Magi, a mere mortal. I am a God," Loki Prime said.

As the star grew larger in the grasp of the twisted cosmic dragon, Dominus lowered his head and nodded. The darkness of his magical aura spread from his wings to his head and formed a black crown with six points. The foremost three glowed with mystic light, purple, green, and gold respectively, while the back three remained dark.

"My name is Dominus," Death Incarnate said. His voice was the power and authority of inevitability and thunder cracked the skies in response. "Unleash your wrath. Before we are done, you will understand that my name means lord."

Dominus flexed his powerful aura and darkness swept the heavens, blanketing the ashen world of light and radiance in a perpetual void. In seconds, half the plane was encased in the power of the death mage.

"I am Dominus! The King of Kings, and I oppose you, tyrant!" the Death Mage hollered.

His words carried across the realm and echoed throughout all of reality. The Great Star Dragon bristled with fury. His army loosed horrific jets of dragon flame into the skies, burning back the oppressive darkness of Dominus, but he would not budge. He was transformed and set to his path, no matter what it took.

He had to stand strong. For Yukiko, who took the name Domina when she thought Dominus was dead. For Apollo, who never faltered, even in the face of defeat. For Scar, who fought harder than any of them, a dragon unto himself, the Magi of Nightmares. And for Loki, their angel of retribution, who lost himself to hubris.

Dominus could not falter. His will would not allow it.

"You dare!" Loki Prime hissed.

The star in his hands pulsed wickedly and he raised it above his serpent head, crimson eyes blazing in furious slits. The Great Star Dragon's maw peeled back into a horrible smile and he began to laugh maniacally.

"Then burn, King of Kings! I will turn your world to ash and sit upon it as a throne! Die, worthless Magi! DIE!"

Roaring, the malformed Dragon launched the star, which shot across the plane straight for Dominus. The thing crackled with pure mana, unstable and explosive. Where it struck annihilation followed and Dominus knew that when it reached him it would go supernova. The star erased the world as it flew, cutting through the very fabric of creation that held the mystical heavens together. It was an attack like no other and Dominus knew then what he had to do.

"I have to take us back," Dominus whispered, his voice joined by a dozen sighing souls.

Within, he felt the cool grasp of Death and felt the Reaper's cold breath against his ear.

'Dangerous, young Masterson. There will be consequences,'

Dominus nodded, his skeletal, hollow eyes trained on the incoming supernova.

"I know. I accept them," Dominus said.

Death went quiet. As with The Fae, he could feel their power joined with his, adding not just energy, but much-needed control. Dominus drew deep and then punched the air, calling on his most impressive power. As the attack concluded, the world around him slowed and then stopped entirely. The Death Mage grunted with effort as his spell took effect. He held the grasp of time firmly in his fist.

The Great Star Dragon was slowed, but not frozen in time. Dominus switched his stance and brought his fist close to his chest. As he did he felt as though he tugged the very hourglass of time. The Magi envisioned a golden chain, tied to an enormous, cosmic hourglass. When he pulled with all of his might, the hourglass spun and the sands of time shifted. Then slowly, one trickle at a time, they began to reverse. Reality spun and Dominus screamed with the effort of sustaining the chain, his multi-toned voice lost in the maelstrom of time.

The Great Star Dragon known as Loki Prime writhed and then, unable to maintain their grip, twisted into the maelstrom, vanishing to the annals of reality. The heavenly realms blended like an image on a record before blurring into so much light and sound. Dominus held the invisible chain for as long as he could, until his muscles burned and every bone in his body felt like it was going to break with the strain. When he could manage no longer, he let go and collided with his new reality.

* * *

One week earlier:

Top of the Masterson Hotel

Empire Suite

Detroit, Michigan

7:05 PM

Dominus bolted straight up in his throne of bones and looked around, his eyes wild and his Arcane Aura manifested and aggressive. It arched over his shoulders like a blanket of tar, ready to smother and defend. His Death-Incarnate form was gone, as was the presence of Domina's power within him. He looked down and found that he was wearing a white three-piece suit with a blood-red tie.

He was in his cousin, Sultana's hotel, in the suite he leased year-round. Seated in a semi-circle around him, in thrones made of ivory, demon-flesh, and faerie-wood respectively, were the Brotherhood of Kings, his cabal of Magi, and coven of miracle workers.

The gold throne across from him was empty.

Domina, Apollo, and Scar each looked at him curiously.

"What? What's wrong?" Apollo asked. He rose, reached for his bow, and studied the windows of the tall hotel, searching for any intruders.

Dominus could feel Scar's power reaching out for him, breaching the outermost barriers of his psyche. The Magi of Nightmares took a reading of Dominus's aura and frowned.

"His mind is...fractured. I see a...dragon," Scar said, also rising. He wore a dark blue jacket and carried a smoking pipe in his left hand.

Domina rose as well, her arm out to ward off the others. She stared deep into Dominus's eyes, nodding gently. She approached cautiously, and the Arcane Aura allowed her close. With eyes full of tranquility, she took his hands in hers.

"Leon," Domina said, drawing his eyes to her. She felt the tremble of adrenaline rocketing through his veins and felt the sweat on his palms. "You did it again, didn't you?"

"Yukiko," Dominus began, shaking his head. "I had to. Where's Loki?"

Domina opened her mouth to answer but at that moment, the door to the enormous, luxury suite swung open. There, leaning against the doorframe, a bottle of Guinness in hand, was Loki.

Loki wore a blue punk-rock vest slathered in patches, a tattered black-band shirt, black jeans with holes in the knees, and steel-toed boots. A leather strap across his chest led to a sheath on his back where rested a genuine greatsword he lovingly referred to as Ragna-Rock. The punk rock Magi ran a hand through his short blonde hair and grinned at the group.

He winked at Domina as he strode into the room.

"Hey, Yukiko," He called.

Loki took one look around the room, at the collection of tense mages.

"What the fuck is going on here?" He asked. "I was just running late. Stopped to get this."

He held up his beer.

In one terrible motion, the animate aura of Dominus lashed at Loki like a wave, stopping just inches from the light mage. It trembled with rage and animosity that Dominus echoed.

The death mage turned and pointed a finger at Loki. The skin withered away like burning parchment paper until only a skeletal finger remained.

Loki drew his sword and took a step back, uncertain of what had come over his fellow Magi.

Dominus drew in a breath and exhaled shakily.

"It was you!" He said. "How?! HOW COULD YOU?"