The Eternal War: The Dragon's Valkyrie

The Dragon's Valkyrie

All her life, Saidy had only know the weight of the sword. However, as she stood before the great dragon Parius, she knew something far greater—a love that would guide her back to her brother.

Yrden had betrayed her and used her to bring the world to his mercy—a mercy the world did not yet know. Parius now offered her redemption for that, and a real chance to be with her brother once more. She need only survive one last trial to become Parius's Valkyrie.

She stood before him, shoulders squared, jaw clenched tight with the determination of doing just that. She stood before Parius as she'd always stood when faced with death—as The Redhaired Demoness.

"Then let us bear a pact made in blood," the dragon spoke. "Should you awake from The Trials of Blood, you will wash your armor in my blood as well so it may be protected from all dragon fire as you will be."

Parius lifted his claw to his chest and peeled back the carapace that shielded his underbelly. Saidy walked underneath him as the thick, dark blood dripped down. It covered her face, and the scent of it filled her nose. She let the memory that came with it wash over her this time.

No longer would she let it haunt her. There was too much at risk now, and she knew this scent would never fade until she'd slain Yrden. The red liquid then found its way into her mouth. It was like drinking iron and fire, and after the first swallow, Saidy felt her body seize.

Every nerve in her was lit aflame. Her legs collapsed from under her, and her vision went dark. The blood tore through her body. She felt herself melt away under its flames.

Her last thought was that she'd already failed. The blood had claimed her life instead.

The pain dulled away, and she felt herself floating on water. It was a familiar feeling, like she'd floated upon this very darkness once before.

A golden eye opened—a dragon's eye—the size of a mountain. The memory of her time spent here flooded back into her mind. However, this time she saw the body the eye belonged too. The sun glinted off its midnight scales. The dragon was much larger than Parius, and nearly blotted out the sun. She felt ice creep through her body as the eye turned to something else.

Saidy turned and saw Tallenheim floating before her. It seemed like she could reach out and hold the azure marble with streaks of white and green in the palm of her hand.

The darkness shifted beneath her. Terrors of inexplicable numbers writhed on the moon. She recognized one of them from the cave where she found the first half of The Black Heart.

Everything blurred together after that, and a red moon lit her vision next. The moon shifted into the red glowing eye of a demon with spines extruding from its shoulders and a lady with hair laced with stars beside it.

Each vision that flashed before her stole more warmth from her blood. Her breath quickened with the beating of her heart. Yrden was what came next, eclipsed by decaying army. The city of Lockshi'Ria burned, people screamed, the streets ran full with blood and bodies.

Was this the future she made possible by giving Yrden the Heart? The vision faded back into darkness once more.

"Do you like it?" a voice sounding of a thousand children's voices whispered into her ear.

Saidy jerked around but only a blackness existed.

"With only a single act you've brought three evils the means to destroy Tallenheim," it spoke again over her shoulder.

Saidy, again, whipped around, drawing her swords this time. "Who are you?" she yelled.

"A very good question, indeed. Yes... Who. Are. You?"