Dragon Talons (Indigo Apocalypse Book I)

Chapter Twenty-Four: The Dark Knight Rises

SARAH:
I spun, my foot colliding with Khione's face. She shrieked and ice daggers flew from her palms. I spun away and used my telekinesis to block them. She screamed in rage and a powerful wind threw me into the air. I rolled, landing in a squat, and threw two ice fans. She dodged the first one, but the second sank into her right breast. She screamed in agony and melted the fan to water. It coalesced into three ice swords. She flicked her wrist thrice and the swords spun for my body. I ducked and weaved, bobbing away from the attack. I backflipped and landed on a little ledge. She jumped and landed before me. She threw out her hand and I felt her, felt her try to force me, force me forward. "You're mine whore, you're mine." "I belong to no one but myself." I said. I jumped and lashed out. Khione toppled off the ledge but landed on her feet. Her breast wound still leaked blood. "Tough being in a humanoid form isn't it, weakens you." "I wouldn't be if your bastard of a friend hadn't banished me from the human world. I'd be one of the most powerful deities in all the worlds." "Too late for that." I said. We circled each other. "There's nothing you can do, the incantation is finished, your friends will die, and the Dark Queen will rise. The only thing is will you follow her, or die?" "I'm following my best friend, my leader, who will save us, as he always does." She flung two ice shards for me. I ducked one, and blocked the other with my left forearm, the huge shard bouncing off the white indigo plating.  "They will die whore, the Dark Queen's venom is even now being pumped through their blood, in a manner of moments, they will die, and the Queen will rise." "I guess I'll just follow them till the end." I threw my left arm to the side, sending her flying with a powerful wind.
Snow swirled in front of me, and she appeared. I spun aside as she reached for me, ice claws extended. I delivered a sweeping kick and she drew back. "I'm done with you whore, if you won't follow me, you'll die." She grasped the air, and I fell back, suddenly, my lungs were empty, and as I struggled to breathe, I saw mist rise into the air. "No," I thought. "No, not possible, not possible." But clearly it was, she was drawing the air right out of my lungs, choking me. I thrashed around, trying to attack her, but she just laughed, and said, "Bet you wish you could do this, draw it back in, but you aren't strong enough. Aren't strong enough to overcome my power, not without your bastard-born of a friend, nor his mate, not even without his little reborn bitch of a friend." I frowned as I blasted ice, wind, snow at her. What did she mean, his reborn friend. The only one who was reborn was Amanda and they weren't friends. Khione just laughed, and said, "Keep trying foolish whore, you won't get anywhere." I thrashed, bucking, trying to breathe. "Useless." Khione crooned. She licked her lips. "I wanted your body, you're a rare species of dracons, an IndoDragon, half indigo, half dragon. Created from snow ice and wind, a being of supernatural powers, even amongst the dracons, an elite. But oh well, I think I'll just find a new hostess. A new whore." "Not a whore." I wanted to yell. Somehow, she read the words. "Face it Sarah, you were created to be a whore, created to bed as many beings as possible. Why do you think you get so horny all the time? Not because you're a newly made dracon, because your body can handle so much sex in a day, in a few hours. You were bread to be a whore." She threw her head back and laughed. Then, I saw a flash of flames behind her. Suddenly, she stiffened, and air rushed back in my lungs.
"You talk to much." Said a Chinese accented voice from behind Khione, then, flames licked up her body, and for a moment, I saw the agony and fear and disbelief in her face, before she crumpled to ashes. Wenzi stepped forward and held out a hand. "Need help up?" "Thanks." I gasped out as I rose. "You looked like you needed a little help." Wenzi said. We turned to see Leia flying back, her shield shrinking into it's ring. Kimopoleia scowled at us, then melted into green mist and was gone. I stepped toward her, but then there was a flash, and part of the wall caved in, and the snow queen flew in, along with Dargonue. Instantly, ice fans appeared in my hands as Wenzi drew her own fans, flames flickering over them. Huntor and Sydney appeared, hand-in-hand, eyes glowing, one golden, one blue. "Jesus." Briella swore. They stepped forward, their armor glowing with the power. "GIVE UP DARGONUE," Huntor shouted. "YOU CAN'T WIN." Sydney finished. "I'm not going back to prison. If I'm going down today, then all of you are going WITH ME." He shouted the last two words, and jumped into the air. As he landed, the mountain trembled, and the floor cracked, spilling lava everywhere. Huntor and Sydney both raised their hands, gold and blue flickering together. Dargonue lost his footing and fell into the torrent of lava that spewed forth. "SARAH HOLD ON." Wenzi shouted, and suddenly, we were flying, her wings beating hard and fast. The mountain trembled. Camille shifted and flew up, grasping Briella in her claws. Kitana swirled, shadows coalessing around her and Arachne. Then, she appeared in front of Leia and grabbed her hand. Then we were outside, flying low over the canyon of mountains. I looked up at the dark sky, and felt snow swoop around us. I raised my fans as the queen appeared. I slid my glasses on and tapped the lens, the glasses turning into a mask in a heartbeat. But then Briella appeared, slamming into the queen, and sending her flying. Camille landed on her feet, in human form, and swept her hand aside. Telekinesis slammed into the queen. Green flames appeared, and Kimopoleia appeared, a huge green blade in each hand. "That shouldn't be possible." Leia said. "Is." The goddess said before waving her hand. A blast of water rose from the sea, and slammed into Leia.
Thunder boiled overhead, and Leia appeared, her arms braced as if she were holding something at arm's length. She threw her head back and lightning struck, a vicious blast that sent the goddess back a few paces. I felt my fans extend, felt them grow into existence. I stepped toward the Snow Queen, then saw them. Huntor and Sydney fell from the opening, their bodies going limp. "NO." Camille shouted. Kitana appeared, Arachne hiding behind a huge bolder. "GO." She shouted at Wenzi and me. "We'll take care of these two." Camille dropped in and lashed out with a vicious roundhouse. The queen ducked and returned with a dragon's wing. Camille ducked the attack and swept her palms. Telekinesis sent the queen flying into a bolder, smashing it to pieces. Camille laughed giddily, and said, "You aren't much are you you're queenliness? How sad, how very sad. You overblown Flap Dragon, you twisted twat, you weak whore-bastard." Then was sent flying from a gust of salty wind. She skidded across pebbles and grunted as she hit a rock. Camille rose, shaking out her hair. She tapped her glasses and her mask appeared, a mask of ever changing colors, pink, purple, blue, white, green. A literal rainbow mask, as was her plated armor. "Come on." Wenzi said, flapping her wings. She kicked off the ground and soared high into the air. Ice shards flew for her. Telekinesis deflected them. Lightning shot from the ground, but a wall of fire shielded her. I saw Seeka, Qudorzo, and the others flying in. I flapped my wings and breathed in deeply, then went up, not even needing to kick off. Up, breathe, up, breathe, up, breathe. I felt ice shards fly, I melted them to cold water. I ducked a flash of lightning, and swerved a bolder of ice. Huntor and Sydney tumbled together, never letting go of each other's hands. They just missed a cliff edge and fell, bodies tumbling furiously before cracking against another cliff edge. Even from this distance, we heard the sound of bodies on stone. But still, they rose, still, even from this distance, their eyes, or in his case, eye, glowed with pure power. The queen shot ice shards for them, and Sydney threw up a wall of rock. Kimopoleia's lightning shatter the stone and salty wind blew them aside. Behind it though, was nothing. Then I saw them, rising from the ground. Sydney let loose a battle cry and stomped her foot. A huge mote of lava enclosed them on all side. The lava bubbled and boiled and I saw the queen sweep her arm, sending Camille and Briella flying. Briella landed hard on her side. Camille landed hard on her elbow, and I heard a wet snap. She cried out in agony, clutching her arm.
"COME ON." Wenzi shouted, her wings flapping hard and smooth. I followed her, dodging attacks from both the queen and the goddess. We landed before the mote, finding telekinesis shielding us, telekinesis that was so strong it hurt to try to push through. "HUNTOR, SYDNEY, IT'S US." Wenzi shouted through the smoke and lava. Both their faces seemed void though, unfeeling, already lost. Sydney screamed her rage as another lightning bolt shot for their dome of telekinetic power. An ice shard slammed into my back, sending me into the shield. I bounced off and was sent flying a good twenty feet before slamming into a bolder. Sydney flung her palm, and a huge wall of lava rose and swirled into a tornado of heat, smoke, and molten rock. Thunder boiled overhead, and green lightning flashed. The tornado flew over our heads and swirled toward the queen. She flung out her arms and snow and ice swirled into existence, spiraling with the tornado until it was frozen solid. Sydney stumbled and Huntor held out his hand. She clasped it hard and bared her fangs. Huntor swayed where he stood on their little island. I clearly saw him swear under his breath. Huntor and Sydney swept their hands, lava and water rising. It swirled together and I was shocked to see it shape into a tangible stone, a stone that was, clearly, "Holy shit." I muttered. The bronze gold stone rippled over their island, multiplying faster than the eye could see. Blue lightning flashed down and sparked harmlessly off the stone. A lioness appeared on my right, and shifted into Briella. "Holy shit, did they just create—"Yes." I found myself saying. I turned to see the queen and goddess stare in disbelief and fear, saw them stare at Huntor and Sydney. They both threw their heads back and roared their outrage. Stone of bronze gold flew everywhere, sending everyone flying off the mountain side. I spun round and round until my wings caught the wind and I could float. I saw the mountain shutter violently, then implode on itself. Millions, most likely trillions of rock and stone falling in on themselves. The tallest mountain in dragon history. I looked around, spotting Wenzi holding up Briella, Qudorzo Seeka and Theia with their little army flapping in place. Though there was no sign of the queen or Kimopoleia. The rest of our indigos were on a distant shore. Kitana made eye contact with me, and stepped through shadows. She appeared by the huge mountain rubble. I saw her expertly leap over huge bolders, and I realized who was missing. Just who was missing in action. I dropped, and then, dove, Wenzi hot on my trail. We landed and shifted into our human forms.
    Kitana was pulling at a bit of stone, using her telekinesis. Suddenly, I wished she'd brought Reina. Wished Sydney's sister was here just to help us for this, then again, she'd probably say no just for spite. We hauled away huge chunks of stone the size of houses, and I felt my heart pound in my chest. Thoughts began to coalesce around and around my brain like snow. "They've gotta be dead. No one, no one, not even indigos could survive that kind of trauma. That was an avalanche of exponential proportions, there's no way anyone could've survived it. The entire mountain fell on them, trillions upon trillions of rock, tens of thousands feet high, over the size of the Mariana Trench, with still, several, dozen thousand feet to spare. No one could live through that." I hauled away chunk after chunk, Kitana disappearing every now and then to search underneath. Theia landed by my side and stared in horror at the mountainside. Wenzi and I continued relentlessly, continued to hall away rocks, threw them into the sea far below. The mountain rubble shuttered, and I took that as a hopeful sound. Theia placed her hand on Wenzi's shoulder. Pheequa stepped to my side. Sweat flowed freely down my back, between my breasts. I never exerted myself like this, never pushed myself to my limits, not telekinetically. But now, now, I felt like I was getting there, getting to the point of no return. Then, I felt other telekinetic hands helping, felt the salty scent and soft cool sensation of Leia's, felt the cool smooth hands of Luna's, while Joy's was red-hot and felt cruel, as if her words became her telekinetic power. Felt the wild untamed claws of Camille's, felt the near feral and yet elegant claws of Briella's. Everyone had found a way across the sea, found a way to help us hall the chunks of stone away. Theia and Seeka were in the air now, every rock we pulled up, they'd hall away with their dracon strength. Qudorzo, Quedesha and Pheequa doing the same, ordering their remaining dracons into lines. Wenzi and i jumped from stone to stone, until we landed onto a ledge overlooking the chasm we'd created. Together, fire and ice, red and white, snow, and, molten, worked together. Just like in that school gym, just like the school grounds, in the cafeteria, just like in the old and new Symbol. We used our telekinesis in unison, working as one. Then, I, felt, them. I, felt, their power. Could feel the stone they had created. "THEY'RE ALIVE." I shouted, and, with Wenzi, jumped, in.
     Kitana appeared, Camille on one arm, Briella on the other, Camille still held her broken arm. "This way." I said, following the sensation. We shoved rocks aside, making our tunnel through, deeper into the rubble, until there was a huge rumble from above, and Briella swore. Suddenly, huge rocks began to fall from above. Kitana grabbed Camille and Briella. They vanished into shadows, and I shoved Wenzi forward. Stones fell, crashing into place behind us, effectively, blocking our exit. "Well," I said. "We won't be going out that way." "You both alright?" Kitana called through the rubble. "We're fine," I said. "How are you three?" "We're good." Briella shouted. "We can clear a path for you—"No," Kitana said. "Both of you go, find them, we'll come find you when we get this cleared away, hurry, they don't have much time left." Of course, Kitana, being the literal death's chosen, could sense when someone was close to death. Wenzi's palm went alight with fire. Rather than remarking we could see with our masks, I let her light the way toward Huntor and Sydney. As we drew near, I, felt, felt, and tasted telekinesis. Now, as indigo, we could taste colors, that was luculent from the beginning, blue, red, bronze, purple, silver white, so on, but this, this wasn't just your typical yellow-gold of telekinesis flitting over the tongue like a bit of sunlight. No, it, was the actual taste of telekinesis, as if it were a substance, a literal liquid swirling in my mouth like syrup. "Fuck." Wenzi swore quietly. "They have to be extremely powerful to produce that much telekinesis. We rounded a curve and saw them.
    Huntor and Sydney knelt, both their arms raised above their heads. The little space was no bigger than a good bedroom in the Symbol. The scene reminded me of that ancient Greek person, Atlas, at least, ha ha, I think that's how his name was spelled. Anyway, I remember it, remember him, his punishment from the gods, to stand and hold up the sky for eternity. I swore, very creatively. Huntor looked up at me, and I swear his eye actually made contact with mine. "GET OUT OF HERE." He yelled. The rubble above trembled viciously. "NO." I yelled. "Not without you." Wenzi said. "We don't have much time." Sydney snapped. "We won't survive." Huntor said, his voice cracking just a bit. "The venom did it's work, we'll die either way. The Dark Queen will rise soon. Open a portal while you can, get the hell out of here before that happens. Get to the Lower Plains." "NO." I shouted. "I'm not leaving you Huntor." "You don't have a choice." They both said. The mountain shuttered again, thrice now, and I realized it wasn't them trying to hold up the mountain above them. "Holy shit." Wenzi said as she came to the same conclusion. "You mean to tell me, that, that, that—" The mountain shuttered once more. "Ωλασφεμιες, σκυλα σκυλα σκυλα, ωλασφεμισο Σ σκυλα." I had no idea what that meant, but I got the general picture. Still, "I can't." I said, my voice breaking into sobs. "You're my best friend, both of you are, I can't leave you." "You'll have to." Huntor gave me his wolfish grin. "We can't hold this for long." Sydney looked up at me, and her gold eyes showed affection, true undaunted, fearless affection, as if all those weeks under continued torture caused a new rock to melt into something greater, as if she was becoming more of someone fit for Huntor. "I love you." They both said together, their voices entwining into a single stream of vocal power. Then, together, they shouted, "GO, RUN." Telekinetic power surged, and forced us to back track down the tunnel. The mountain shuttered violently, and i heard their scream of rage and agony. I sobbed openly, grasping Wenzi's hand for an anchor and to hold on to not get lost. When we returned to the cave in, Kitana saw the truth in our masked faces, and her own purple eyes teared up. Then we heard it. The steady thump, and crackle, as if something huge was shoving it's way through the rubble high, high above. "We run." Wenzi said, her voice filled with tears. "Now." Kitana grabbed our hands, and Camille and Briella grabbed her arms. Darkness swirled around us, and i felt air constrict in my lungs, then we were above, and on the shore. I saw the dracons take flight, but as they landed, eyes filled with questions, Wenzi and I shook our heads. "No." Seeka whispered. "NO." Theia threw herself at the mountain. "Where are they? I'll bring them back myself." But as she started flapping her wings, there was a roar from in the rubble, and the highest point of the mountain exploded, and, something, gigantic, crawled out.
    We all watched, shock and horror in our faces as something huge, extremely huge, crawled from the rubble. Diamond black, bulbous in shape, huge stones crumbling off it's pitch black body, and with many legs, the huge spider moved across the chunks of stone unsteadily, it's many legs trembling slightly. Then, it threw it's head back, and shrieked, a loud, horrifying sound that made my very bones shutter and melt, until I was on my knees. I saw Wenzi, Seeka, and Theia, saw that they were the only one's standing, them, Camille, Briella, and Kitana, and, strangely, Joy. Everyone else, were on their knees. "We've gotta get out of here." Quedesha said. "Now." But no one moved, we all stared, transfixed, petrified, stupefied, staring with horrified fascination up at the Dark Queen. The huge beast stumbled a few more steps, then, she threw her head back and shrieked once more. "As if calling something to her." Wenzi muttered. "Come my children." Said a soft female voice. I spun around, and saw her. Arachne was staring across the water, not up toward the mountain rubble. She slowly, very, slowly, turned back around. Her dark pitch black eyes were depthless, filled with a void. "Come, my children." Then the creature shrieked again, and I realized Arachne was translating what it was saying. She took a staggering step toward the mountain, as if compelled. Her bare arms began to darken with an exoskeleton, her hair swayed menacingly—"Shit." Kitana swore. She reached for Arachne, but the girl moved, faster than the eye could see. She spun and grabbed Kitana by the throat. She flexed her wrist, as if preparing to twist. Flames engulfed her wrist and she let Kitana go. She opened her mouth to scream, but there was a rush of salty air, and I realized Leia had drew the air from her lungs, a trick Khione used on me. She fell to her knees, and I saw the depthless dark ebb away from her gaze, leaving it mortal. Fear was there, fear and desperation. "Kill me." She mouthed. "Kill me now, before she does it again." Kitana looked at Wenzi, and they both shook their heads. "We need to portal out of here." Seeka said. "Kitana, can you—" Kitana nodded and said, "Everyone grasp hands, now, or grab something of someone else." I took Leia's hand, as Joy took the other. Luna took Joy's free hand, and grabbed Seeka's. Another shriek from above, and I saw them, saw the huge ebony force, they flew over mountains, they ran over them, covering them like ants at a picnic. Kitana took Arachne's hand, and said to Wenzi, "Keep that bracelet on her. It keeps her here." With a nod, Wenzi brightened the glowing flames a little. Then, Kitana asked, "Where are we headed?" I planted the image in her mind and she nodded, "Everyone hold on, this will be uncomfortable." Then, we were disappearing into shadows, leaving our dead friends, the leader of the indigo, the Dio Indaco, and his mate, behind. As the Dark Queen, rose.