Dracopical Isles: Rise of the Underground

Chapter 22

The arrow in Emeraldus' stomach required some major attention. Upon returning to the nest, he was luckily able to dislodge it, but the head had eroded away - seemingly by gastric juices. This confirmed his worries that the arrow had successfully pierced an organ. If left untreated for too long, this can lead to infection or significant internal bleeding - both of which can easily kill a dragon. To prevent Slim from freaking out, Emeraldus kept the news to himself. He also did what he could to dress the wound from the outside, swallow some medicine, and hope for the best.
He has to move fast now - to finish this and revive Midna before anything more can go wrong. He lets himself rest a day before heading out to search for the Alchemy nest, his undead troops following in clusters behind him. They won't be big enough to take on an entire Alchemy nest, but with more dead bodies falling, their numbers should increase in good time. Zombified dragon soldiers - what an interesting thought.
Slim can feel his stomach churning, watching his master take off. It makes his scales prickle with significant unease to imagine his former clan tearing Emeraldus apart. What will Slim do if Emeraldus perishes? He'll be all alone again. Well, at least he could take over as owner of this cavern. He could adopt Emeraldus' children and try to care for them himself. It's the least he could do for the Sorcerant as thanks.
Who would have imagined? - A Sorcerant rescuing an Alchemy, giving it another chance at life, and allowing it to have purpose. In his heart, Slim dearly thanks Emeraldus. However he can, he must repay him, even if the Sorcerant loses his life.
As if the gods above know of this day, the skies grow dim with clouds. A cold, eerie breeze carries Emeraldus further towards his destination, shortly revealing the wicked auras of the guilty clan. Soon following, their scent greets him - just moments away now until more blood shall stain the snow.
The Alchemies do not expect his first move, completely taken by surprise as one of their patrols is ambushed by arrows. From the naked branches of shrubs, Emeraldus' army attacks, picking apart the patrol with sheer aggression. While one or two of the Alchemies manage to flee, most of the group now lay dead in the cold.
Coming to land, Emeraldus nods his approval at the kill, but shortly after, glares after the fleeing dragons. "Get them. Attack all the Alchemies you find, and now."
With rattling bones, groaning war cries, and flashing weapons, the undead army obeys their master's orders. As soon as they disappear, the slain Alchemies stir, rising to their feet as skeletons from their flesh to join the numbers.

With every new patrol attacked, more and more Alchemies fall, while others make a run for it to sound the alarm. The aura of this danger grows strong fast, soon to bring battle to the nest.
Many terrified Alchemies come running to their alpha as they wail the news, their cries so loud, it echoes in every crevice.
"One at a time!" Their alpha roars, her irritated gaze sweeping the crowds. "What in all majesty of Highborn is going on?!"
"We're being attacked!!" Alchemies scream. "It's an army!!"
From his chamber, Cigoura emerges to see what all the commotion is about. He is nearly trampled as another wave of terrified Alchemies come sprinting headlong for the alpha. The startle forces him to freeze in his tracks, making the troops to his new ring walk right into him from behind. Grumbling, they express just as much alarm as their leader.
"Hey! What gives?"
"Why'd we stop?"
"What's going on out there?"
Watching another couple Alchemies flee past him, Cigoura curls his lip in concern. "It must be an attack - a very serious attack." He growls. "Nothing else would call for this much panic."
As more and more dragons pile into the alpha's chamber, the redder her face becomes. "ENOUGH!!!" She eventually bellows, rearing up and roaring at full volume, causing the nest to quake. In an instant, everyone falls silent.
Catching her breath, the alpha finally can communicate properly. "What is all this fuss about??" She demands, lowering to all fours again. "What is attacking us? An army of what? Humans??"
"Human bones!" One Alchemy responds. "Living human bones!"
To which another adds, "It's an army of human skeletons - and dragon skeletons!"
Panicked agreement ripples through the crowd. "-Alchemy skeletons!"
"What are you all yapping about?" The alpha replies with her snappy tone. "Human skeletons? Alchemy skeletons? What, are we being targeted by a lich lord??"
Before anyone else can speak, another roar echoes throughout the nest. Now standing at the entrance, Emeraldus heaves the heated breath of rage through his nostrils. Behind him, his undead army stands thirsty for more bloodshed.
He roars again, his throat alight with fire. "Come out here and fight me, you cowards! Let me see how powerful your pitiful kind really is!"
Upon hearing this voice, Cigoura's heart drops - it's that Sorcerant and he's found their nest. The two remaining troops of his former ring quickly catch on to his fear. They nudge to get moving to the alpha's chambers too where everyone else currently is. If they're unlucky enough to be caught by themselves, they won't stand a chance.
Every Alchemy falls silent in fear as their alpha begins to step down from her platform. Like curtains, the crowds part for her as she makes her way out of the chamber. With her scowling, crooked maw, she roars back out. "What is your business for attacking my Alchemies?? What bundle of dirt has gotten into your scales to target our clan? Have you not lost your mind?"
Emeraldus' brow furrows that much more to hear the voice of the Alchemy dragon alpha. His hostility is mirrored by his army as they grumble and hiss.
"Just who do you think you are??" The alpha snarls.
Taking a few steps in, Emeraldus replies. "Come to me. Let us speak, just you and I. If you can reason, then I just might leave what's left of you."
"If you want to talk, then come to me, Proud one! You expect to just prance right into my territory and have me follow orders?"
With his army behind him, Emeraldus enters the nest. The caverns are rather narrow for a dragon of his size, but he is luckily able to traverse forward without much struggle. In no time at all, he comes face to face with the crooked snarl of the Alchemy alpha.
"Speak of the damned," She growls upon seeing his face. "If I ever have seen such a brave, yet foolish Sorcerant." She is still smaller than he is, but very noticeably larger than the other Alchemies - her magic too being especially powerful.
Emeraldus curls his lip to glare at her ugly, twisted face. "So I assume you're the head Alchemy here, correct?"
"I prefer Alpha, but yes." She replies, flexing her twisted jaw. "Now answer me before I tear your limbs off!"
Emeraldus takes another hostile step forward, his glare deepening. "I think you can answer that for yourself - About my.. mate."
"Oh, so you're here because of your mate?" The alpha's expression does not change. "Listen here, Sorcerant, destroying my clan is not going to bring your mate back, and neither is it going to make me apologize. I did what I had to do, and death was the price to pay. Same as those humans had the audacity to steal my Alchemies from me, your kind is no better."
Emeraldus pauses, "What do you mean?"
"Killing your mate was more than a little personal. Before then, the miserable humans trapped and took some of my Alchemies - one being especially dear to me." The alpha looks away for a moment, snarl becoming a simple frown as if reliving a memory. "It is nothing new to lose members occasionally, but losing that one Alchemy is one thing I shall never forget." Then back at Emeraldus. "Alchemy dragons are not monogamous, so my partner and I were not so close, but that is insignificant compared to the bond shared between parent and offspring."
Emeraldus' eyes narrow in slight curiosity. What is she hinting at?
"What was so special about that Alchemy?" He dares to ask. "Were they of your blood?"
"He was to become alpha after me," The alpha continues, now with a chip of deep-seeded bitterness. "But not anymore now that he's gone, and all because of the despicable nature of hatred. Those humans had it coming, they deserved every bit of my vengeance."
Although a reasonable explanation on the surface, Emeraldus' snarl shortly returns. "Then what was your business to include me and my mate? Was it only because of our race's ancestry as rivals? If you wanted to make the humans pay, why didn't you do it yourself?"
Snarling back, the alpha Alchemy shoves her nose to his. "Would that have been wise of me? Attacking the humans myself would risk more lives than just my own. Although I cherished my son, that doesn't mean I am heartless for the rest of my clan - and would any dragon agree to assist an Alchemy, let alone an alpha? Matters had to be dealt with, with whatever was available, and force was what I had."
Emeraldus can sense that she's trying to dodge the core reason why he's there. "And so you want me to pity you?"
She may have lost one of her own, but that still doesn't excuse shedding innocent blood, and especially the blood of his precious Midna. "Why should I? And for the fact that you feel no remorse for what you did to me."
The alpha's eyes become hostile slits. "So, you still want my head? You still want to see my blood and bones paint the walls? A grieving mother against a grieving lover?"
Emeraldus takes in breath to reply, but is cut off by a strike to the face with sharp claws. Taken by surprise, he recoils with an angered yelp.
"Then let such forces determine who's going to survive to the end of this war!" A hot blast of firebreath forces Emeraldus back even further as the alpha wastes no time to batter him with ferocity.
Luckily Emeraldus is able to strike back with his own force, scoring claw marks against the alpha's face as well. With her lack of compromise, she leaves him no choice now. He aims to make her regret that decision as quickly and as brutally as possible.
The tussle echoes loudly to the ears of the Alchemies still hiding in their alpha's chamber. Luckily for them, both she and Emeraldus' fight take up all possibility of the undead army getting through to them as there is no free space for them to squeeze by.
With a bite to the hindleg, Emeraldus finally makes the alpha turn tail; Though this is certainly far from over. If anyone deserves to pay the full cost of his rage - it would be her. He attempts to catch her, cornering the alpha in a much spacier chamber, to which the fight quickly resumes. Although there's more room, a majority of the chamber's floor is covered in treasure collected and hoarded by the clan. One wrong step could get your feet poked by a sharp end.
Flying claws, teeth, and spikes batter the other with full rage, with the occasional blast of firebreath to throw off the other's coordination.
At the same time, Emeraldus' army can now proceed. With haste, they charge on in search of the remaining Alchemies - soon breaking the crowds apart like a flurry of frightened pigeons. An all out war breaks out within the nest: Alpha against Emeraldus, and undead against the Alchemies.
Aside from the limited space for this battle, one more problem arises. Eventually wrestling each other down a separate, sloping cavern, the two bodies of the master dragons break through a thin, stone wall. In an instant, heat engulfs them both with a nearly suffocating air of sulfuric gases. For a dragon, they are able to last a bit longer than most in such environments thanks to an extra set of "filtering" lungs. The immediate exposure does no harm, but staying for too long may prove fatal; though unfortunately that's not all that can endanger a life here…
Brittle earth underfoot shields a glowing pit below it, bleeding intense heat through cracks.
Soon, Emeraldus kicks the alpha off of him and just to the edge of one of the gas-leaking crevices, her weight, along with his, creating more cracks on the floor. With both minds deeply engrossed in killing the other, they do not stop at all in reaction. Shortly, more and more gas is pumped outward and through connecting channels in the mountain until a noticeable plume rises from its peak. Eerie groans rattle the earth as pressure builds, and bubbling heat starts to leak through the walls.
Although subtle, it reaches the notice of Slim far away. Through the sharing of connected mountains, he can sense something - deep below the earth, lava veins are starting to pick up speed. Pausing, he feels the rumbling through the soles of his feet and a clutch of fear returns to his heart. Emeraldus must be in the nest now, and it's entirely underground, but another memory is trying so desperately to get his attention. Concerning the pounding in his chest, it can't be good.
Slim runs outside to take flight, instinct completely taking over him and telling him to get to high ground. There, in the distance, he sees it - a smoking mountain peak. Being a great distance away, it is nearly hidden amongst the others in the range, with only a smokey, black fountain cloud to give itself away. A few more heartbeats and finally Slim remembers - his clan nests in a dormant volcano.
Oh no.
Something inside him is screaming now. He must find Emeraldus. Without a second thought, he takes off like a hornet defending its nest. Adrenaline driving him at incredible speeds, he makes a direct route towards the smoking mountain.
How much time he took to return to the old nest is uncertain, but upon arrival, he startles many Alchemies fleeing for their lives outside - some practically knocked out of the air with his hurry.
"Whoa hey, watch it!!" Some snap, though luckily none are able to get a good look at who had passed them by.
Slim makes a clumsy landing in the entryway and has his four feet take over in carrying himself onward. Using his senses, he searches desperately for the aura of his master. His attention is so deeply rooted that he completely misses avoiding another fleeing Alchemy ring in his way.
Smack!
Slim falls head over heels after tackling right into the lead Alchemy. Wheezing the air back into his lungs, the lead Alchemy coughs his reply, "Son of a..!"
The ring pauses to stare at the two, hearts nearly stopping at what they see. Slim gets up with only a bruise, ready to keep running when his eyes meet with those of his former ring leader!
Cigoura, though still out of breath, takes in a pathetic gasp in shock. Trying to speak, he can only wheeze incoherent gibberish as he watches Slim immediately take off again. Once out of sight, Cigoura now wrestles with his feet to stand up.
"Wha..! Wha… in all the..!" He continues to gasp. "Was that..!? … Did you all see..!?"
The rest of his ring only stare wide-eyed. For a moment longer, none of them respond to their leader's shock. Then finally comes a single sentence. "Why if I'll be slain and served as a Sorcerant's dinner, it's Slim!!"
To which finally breaks the staring silence.
"Wait.. but I thought you said he's dead!"
Then all turn to Cigoura.
Mouth still agape, Cigoura remains flabbergasted. Switching his eyes between his ring and in the direction Slim ran off, his thoughts struggle to reline with his tongue.
"I… I.." Then finally something takes hold. Slitted eyes turning back in Slim's direction, Cigoura curls his lip. "No.. no this cannot be happening! That's it.. he's mine!" Then taking off after him.
Without looking back, Slim continues on. Eventually he finds the guts to call out. "Boss! Boss, where are you!?"
Shortly after, the echoing roars of the two battling dragons come to him in response. He takes off in that direction. Moments later, Slim skids to a halt at a drop off. Not too far below, he sees them. Emeraldus and the alpha are covered in cuts and scrapes, breaking the floor into smaller and smaller platforms.
Taking another scratch to the face, Emeraldus pauses at the sound of a familiar voice. "Boss!! Boss you gotta stop!!"
Hearing it too, the alpha freezes. Looking up, her eyes widen in disbelief. "Wha..!? What is this..!?"
Emeraldus soon joins her surprise, "Slim!?"
"Boss!! The place is gonna blow! You gotta stop!! You gotta get out of there!!" Slim repeats himself.
For a moment, both Emeraldus and the Alpha exchange a wide-eyed glance just before Slim suddenly disappears back where he came. Grabbing him from behind, Cigoura throws him to the ground by his tail, completely taking the slinky Alchemy by surprise. Slim isn't given time to react as claws grip at his throat.
Cigoura's snarl shouts above him, "How dare you show your face in our clan again! I thought I told you a lesson!"
Thinking fast, Slim spits fire in his face to get the elder Alchemy off of him. Once free, he takes off headlong in the other direction, though soon with Cigoura at his tail again.
Shortly following, Emeraldus receives another scratch from the alpha.
"You dirty, no good son of a lowlife! Not only did you attack my clan, but you also had the audacity to take one of mine as your own! How dare you! HOW DARE YOU!!"
Recoiling backwards, Emeraldus causes another chink of floor to break away as she proceeds.
"As crucial as it may be to abandon the nest, I must now be certain that you do not survive!"