Call of the Dragon

The Marshal

I could hear footsteps behind me. A moment later I felt a hand on my shoulder. It wasn't warm, must have been one of my Sylvari brethren. Whoever it was gripped tighter and shuttered. A deep breath later the mystery man spoke, revealing who it was.

"We...we can do this. Get up and show him you're still strong, Rhys." Alwyn. He was never really brave, hearing these words from him was oddly calming. Alwyn took one more deep breath, then he let his hand slowly and gracefully slide off my now relaxed shoulder.

I raised my head slowly and hesitantly. I knew when my head was up again that I'd be faced with...him. Less than a few yards in front of me was Trahearne. His face was twisted in pain now. Suddenly he tried to speak again, at the same time he lifted his arm up to me.

"Ple...please come here..." His words were drawn out and painful to listen to. Any one of the breaths he took could have been his last.

I hesitantly walked over to his outstretched hand. I lifted my gloved hand to his. He strained himself a bit more to touch my palm. The words he said next I will never forget.

"Rhys...I know how to reach the dragon...After you defeat it in its domain...I fear what you must do next. I believe you must kill me to kill Mordremoth." His tone was softer, but no less gravely. His voice had gained some of its old command, but I was reluctant to listen to the blighted Marshal.

A gentle voice spoke up from behind me. "Trahearne...I..." He stopped himself from saying anything more. He turned to the crowd behind us. "Listen, everyone! I know this is heartbreaking. I know it hurts to see our beloved Marshal like this. Broken and in pain, but he's still fighting, and we should be too. For him. We will fight the jungle dragon in his mind, and we will win." Cheers erupted from the gathered troops. I would have been cheering too if I hadn't turned around to see Trahearne again.

A single tear dropped to the floor. This time, it wasn't mine. It was Trahearne's. He stared at Soul. I believe it was clear to everyone that Trahearne wanted things to go back to normal at this moment. He wanted to change how this had played out. And....I did too.

What happened next will always be a blur because it happened like a blur. We got...teleported into Mordremoth's domain. What I believe was his mind. I think that the explanation for how it happened is that Trahearne had a powerful connection to Mordremoth's mind, and Trahearne himself was powerful, considering he's a firstborn and a necromancer.

Before anyone could prepare for a fight, we were faced with a corrupted Canach. His shield was rotted and his face was warped. He spoke of how Canach was meant to serve the dragon and how he had no other choice. Our Canach disagreed and fought as valiantly as he could.

This blighted Canach was strong, but we were stronger. He wasn't easy but we killed him eventually. After that fight, I realized that the only ones with us were Sylvari. No Charr, no Asura, and no humans.

The next obstacle was a blighted version of the Pale Tree. Her plant dress was wilted and rotted from fake dragons corruption. She spoke of Sylvari being a race of slaves, how we were nothing without Mordremoth. How we couldn't kill Mordremoth.

It was painful to do, but we killed Mordremoth's fake version of the Pale Tree as we had the fake version of Canach. Once she was dead we were taken to an arena. A floating island of corruption.

We were faced with the real Mordremoth. He looked more like a weird monster than an Elder Dragon. Much like the blighted Pale Tree, Mordremoth talked about how we were all slaves, and about how we can't win this because you can't kill an Elder Dragon.

Rage took Soul over and he suddenly shouted at Mordremoth. "We killed Zhaitan. You're next! Everyone, charge!" Cai, being herself, was the first to charge. Alwyn followed, then Light, Islwyn charged in while shouting something, Canach charged into battle behind him. Eugeo went in with his new staff, Soul followed him. Ren, then Wynn. Isaac hesitated but followed his brother. Zack didn't charge but he set up in the corner of the arena, ready to snipe. I was the last to engage with the large beast.