Baleful Wings (Dragon's Dogma Fanfiction)

Chapter 50 : Magnitude

"That last fight would have ended a lot sooner if I weren't bound from head-to-toe," remarked Inoru, casually, as they party rested inside the Greatwall Encampment. 
Ace grimaced, but said nothing because the Sorcerer was right. Arya tended to Kairo's wounds as Ceres and Ace set up a perimeter in the chamber they resided in. 
"What are you thinking about, master?" asked Kairo, examining the Hearthstone Arisen's deeply concerned expression. Her mind was elsewhere, although she mended his injuries skillfully. 
Her thoughts revolved around one thing - she could smell the Dragon. 
Ace's hazel glare shifted to Arya, then back to his work when he saw that she remained silent. 

"Ser Arya! Urgent word from the frontlines!" Tsung came with a report on the assault of the Greatwall. "The Cassardi Arisen has arrived, with reinforcements. Salvation is regrouping their strength as we speak." 
Ace saw that Arya may have been distracted, so he spoke up in her stead. "Tell your men to retreat." In reality, he hated the idea of it since they proved to be so useful, but there was no need to further involve them in such a complex conflict.
"I've sent word to Asalam," inserted Arya, after properly applying bandage to the arrow wound on Kairo's chest. "I expect you to keep your word!"
Tsung flashed a boyish smile, "Alright, alright. No more banditry for me. I'll get us all homes and honest work in Gran Soren!" He glanced out the doorway, and with a gesture his troupe gathered on him. "We just got 150,000G richer boys!" They cheered in response. 
Ace's eyes widened, "Wait hold up you've never paid me!"
"You never asked," replied Ceres, in her freshly-assumed Arisen Accountant voice.
"If I had known being the Duke's pet would make me rich I probably would've chosen a different path," remarked Elvira, leaning against the wall with her arms folded. 
Arya scoffed in response. "There's nothing wrong with serving your country."
"You know, that bearded clown never slayed a Wyrm," replied Elvira, flicking something from under her nails. "That's the exact same lizard from 50 years ago."
"And how would you know?"
"Because I was alive when Edmun went off to slay it."
A loud crash boomed through the castle, shaking the pavement under their feet. 
"That's our cue, thanks again Arya!" Tsung waved his hand and his bandits vacated the grounds. Arya looked up, "Tis time. Are you ready?" Ace and Kairo nodded, Ceres drew her bow. Inoru hopped over to her side.
"I'll be honest, I hope you all die." Elvira gave a small wave, and treaded toward an exit.

 As they moved through the castle, the sounds of battle echoed through the corridors, leading them into every skirmish, where they ambushed Salvation dispatches and diminished their numbers. The soldiers in the hold were thankful, at least the ones that survived.
"Be careful, Arisen. I sense an immense darkness." Kairo grimaced, drawing his longbow and shuffling to the front of the group as they stepped over countless corpses. There was something here that no-one could manage to get past, judging by the increasing numbers of dead soldiers in their path. He paused at the sturdy wooden doors before him, leading to a chamber before the upper battlements, with a finger over his lips. Waiting for Arya to make direct eye contact, he slowly pointed the finger at the floor, where blood seeped from the bottom of the doorway. 
Ace kicked the door open with both hands in his pockets, "Let's get his over with already, I'm starving!" Kairo slowly facepalmed, but shook his head and readied for battle.
Two Magick Knights sat on the floor with crossed legs, as if awaiting worthy opponents. The combatants were fully armored in all black, with long lordly matching capes and Magick shields on their arms. 
"Such raw evil..!" Commented Ceres, taken aback by the intense pressure that emanated from the pair of foes. The team alternated into the room, all drawing their weapons. Standing up and turning to their challengers, the soldiers revealed their faces to be stripped of all meat and muscle - with naught but an evil glint in the eye sockets of their skulls.
"Skeleton Lords, master!" Kairo drew his longbow instantly, only having heard legends of foes of this magnitude of dark magick.
"Hold it," said Inoru, from behind everyone else. "I'll take these two." He walked forward, and the ropes around him burned to ashes before falling off his body. 
Ace looked over in disbelief, "Wait, if you could've done that all along--!"
"This is a personal vendetta," interrupted the Sorcerer. "These fiends are made with countless sacrificed souls.. They give a bad name to Magick users." Ceres and Arya squared up at his side, ready to assist, but was stopped by Inoru. "Go, I said! All of you! Your real opponent is upon us!" Hel started the fight off with two spiraling horns of frost blasted at the undead lords, and with a waving of his hand, a thick wall of ice erupted from the floor into the ceiling, separating the group from him. With no choice but to keep moving forward, Arya simply nodded, and continued through the castle.

 Fighting her way through the battlements, covered in the blood of her foes, her shield battered and her sword's edge riddled with kinks, Arya looked skyward - as if her eyes were guided there by an invisible thread. Only cracks in the stone-paved ceilings, the sunlight gleaning through like so many glowing blades, she fought to see the daylight. A swift thrust into the belly of a Salvation heathen, Ace kicking another out the window, with arrows flying through the hallway, one pinning a robed cultist to the door leading outside, Arya kicked the zealot in the chest with as much force as she could humanly generate - crushing the door and knocking the wooden remains off its hinges. 
There it was - the sunlight, blocked by a red cape soaring over the castle, guided by the luminous crimson glare of the Dragon. 
A smile played on Arya's face. This is what all this fighting and killing has been for. The moment her blade would pierce this serpent's head.

"Don't you feel it!?" The Elysion's voice echoed through the landscape. Arya's eyes turned to the cretinous man atop the highest tower of the Greatwall. "The very air dances around us!" He said, drunkenly, as wicked cackles accompanied his rantings. "The long night is come!" Storm clouds writhed about in the air, cleared only by the powerful beating of Grigori's baleful wings. "The dragon's reign at last begins!" 
"Who the hell is this guy, acting like the Dragon's commentator or something?" Ace glanced at the zealot, massively unimpressed, especially since it looked like the Elysion almost tripped off the ledge for a second. He extended his hand toward Salvation's ringleader, all five fingers pointed at him and inhaled deeply, "Boy."
Ceres chortled a little. 
"Behold, you unrepentant blasphemers! This is absolute truth!" The Elysion's one eye twinkled in utter joy as he ushered in the Dragon. "THIS. IS. SALVATIO--!!" Grigori crushed the little man under his massive talon, crashing down on the Greatwall like a child stomping an ant hill. 
"The rantings of an upjumped zealot make for tedious listening." The Dragon's voice was thunderous, yet sickeningly majestic. The beast sat atop the Greatwall, casually conversing with Shingen under the glaring eyes of his very sworn enemies - the Arisen. With a beat of his wings, the ground beneath the castle rumbled and shook violently before the castle began falling to pieces. The Arisens and their pawns struggled to evacuate the now crumbling fortress. Within moments, the floors and walls began collapsing under their feet. 
"Damn it, we gotta go!" Ace grabbed Ceres and began sprinting with Kairo toward an exit as dust and dirt filled the disintegrating hallways. The simple action of taking flight wrought utter destruction in Grigori's path.