Whatever had prompted him to go through with this insane plan of his or why his cohort had total faith in him were totally oblivious to him. And just as he had suspected it worked, a drop of tear slid down his eye but he wasn't emotional. His eye was still stinging from the sweat in them.
Annik the heated dragon stopped it's paw from squishing them and let it hover above them for seconds waiting for something to happen. It did not expect what happened next, it saw them running through the desert sand and towards his egg all holding each others hands tightly like they were stuck together with glue.
Which action seemed to enraged the dragon even further, it raised its head to the sky and let out and heaven-splitting road. The air changed instantly and the sands around them transformed as if bending to the will of the pains dragon, massive sandstorm hit them sending them all falling to the ground.
Aerith groaned as he had on to both their hands in his, tighter now. "Whatever you do do let go!" He screamed at the top of his voice only to regret it a moment later, hot sand flew into his already dry mouth causing him to choke and cough up sand.
The dragon refused to attack them as long as they followed Aerith's plan. In a moment of desperation he had come up with one, remembering what Sollen the groundskeeper had sent he knew that the fallen dragon king would only have the limited time of seeing his egg. And the timer being their beating hearts, so it would at most kill two of them and since it could not let the other leave the room, it would keep one alive. But if they banded together it would be forced to leave them unharmed for the fear of killing it's only timer.
It was a very risky plan he never thought he himself would come up with. What frightened him even more was that neither Nasha nor Emilia argued. Was it because they could not come up with a better plan which would seem most logical, since no one could think in such a situation. Or was it because they had an insane level of trust in him, the former cripple.
Well, whatever it was he could not bother to dwell on that. He still had to escape a dragon who would be forced to separate them rather than to let them pass.
They continued to march forward, one step at a time they moved as one force. The sandstorm was a huge bother to them but not as it was to the dragon, it provided cover enough for them to approach. He just prayed the dragon would be too afraid to move for the fear of crushing them.
He gritted his teeth, there was nothing much he could do but to pray. He could not see where they were going, none of them could, they could only close their eyes and trust that the egg would be in that direction.
Just as Aerith was beginning to feel a semblance of safety an odd thought slipped into his mind and he trembled. "The dragon can't move the egg right?" If it could, they would have to rely on plan B.
A few seconds passed before they could begin to feel the sandstorm clear, Aerith gripped the tighter signaling them that they would soon be running for their lives again. The moment the sand storm cleared and he could see again, he pulled them into a sprint but somehow the dragon was already there standing over it's egg only a couple yards away. The sight of the egg at a distance was enough to make him feel hope.
"RUN with all you've got." He screamed as they charged forward.
Annik the fallen dragon king let a violent roar grace the tunnel walls right before pouncing on them, it's huge black claws going to split them like nuts. Seeing this Nasha grabbed Aerith by the collar and hurled both him and Emilia forward.
Aerith's eyes widened as he felt himself get sent flying through the air. "No, he wants us separated." But it was already out of his control. His body impacted the sand and his body ached all over. His breath escaped him, in his hands where both his companions were glued too were now nothing but empty air and sand. He had lost them both.
To make matters worse Annik the fallen dragon king was now standing over him and staring right down at him. He bore his rows of sharp teeth down on him as he lunged at him. "Dammit, I can't die here."
He shut his eyes unable to escape the inevitable, but the attack did not come. He opened his eyes weakly to see the dragon frozen, there were slight trembling in its body as it struggled to move.
Aerith looked to his side to see Emilia holding out both her hands at the dragon, her small frame now paler than ever. Her hands trembled as if they might snap off at any moment, he could not begin to imagine the amount of stress she was under but from the way she looked he could tell- she was dying. Blood was flowing down her nose.
He was left confounded and breathless. "Emil- you're hurting yourself."
Despite relying on her ability being his second plan, actually witnessing her do the impossible was insane. Massacring an angry mob was one thing but restraining a dragon on a whole new level for a feat.
Concernes for her he unknowiny activated his eye of revelation, her aura was bright red and a bit filled with small shades of discordances, and shivers of gold light. It seemed strange and put of place.
Out of curiosity he tried to look up at the dragon and what he saw dealt him a heavy blow. It was a world of black ink writing in the form of a dragon, just like the manifestation of hate Emilia had gone through only worse. Aerith started at it long and hard that he could feel his eyes grow heavier, at first he thought it was a side effect from the ability but a second later he went- blind.
Nasha noticing the dragon breaking free from whatever spell the little blood witch has it under darted forward with a burst of speed. She snatched both her master's son and his little witch, rolling out of the way before the maw of the Annik touched the ground.
The dragons movement had only slowed, both her comrades were in one way or a other incapacitated, but the sight of the huge colourful egg a few feet away gave her a bit of consolation. The dragon violently shook off whatever blood work Emilia had on it, she reacted by screaming violently and passing out while foaming on the mouth.
Nasha screamed her lungs out as she dove in headfirst just before a huge black claw dove into the space where they had been, severing both her legs. She let out a pained shriek as she plopped to the ground just barely missing the egg by a few inches, the pain she felt was indescribable, her brain could barely think. She could feel herself slowly being bathed in a puddle of her own making and the dragon was making another bike attempt at their lives.
She rolled over so quickly that they all impacted the dragons egg, the cold surface of the egg enveloped them and repelled the dragon.
Annik frozen looking down at them with a look of shock and surprise, it struggled to believe they had done it. Not given a moment more the chains retracted, pulling the dragon with it like a rag doll, the sound of chains screaming was deafening in itself. A pained main of a dragon followed causing them to shudder.
A long silence followed shortly after, in a sense it was not quiet but was filled with the sound of heaving. They were beyond spent. Sollen entered into the cage and walked over to them, taking her time as she did. When she did, she stood before them looking down at them without the slightest hint of pity.
"Your desire to live has been heard by the tower, you have passed the trial." She said in her usual empty voice. "The tower will compensate you."
Aerith did not know if he could call it a success, but he was blind, Nasha was now a cripple and Emilia was dying. He wanted to say something, or curse at her but for a reason he could not state he fell silent.
For a moment, he wondered if survival was victory at all. The air smelt of blood, burnt sant and loss. He wondered if there was any difference between them and the dragon.
The next words from the groundskeeper shocked him, it was low and subtle. "The girl child is a friend of yours?"
He replied with a loud grunt. "What about it? Come to gloat about that too?"
There was a short silence before Sollen spoke again, "She is very special, people will want her. Keep her safe, with your life."
"What the hell--" he could barely speak before he felt the same bubbly feeling as when he first appeared in the tower. But what did the groundskeeper mean by that, they had only just met or was there something about the blood witch he did not know about?
Just as they vanished into a vacuume of white light, a figure appeared out of the shadow of the groundskeeper. The figure of a tall elegant woman hidden behind a cloak and hood, on her hand is a small golden ring with a beautiful gem on it. It glowed faulty, the colour of the northern lights.
She smiled with her cherry red lips in an unnatural way before speaking. "They are the second set of people to ever beat the dragon, if she had died your work in the tower itself would have ended."
Sollen bowed her head slightly and stayed silent for a while before saying. "I will excuse myself your highness." There was no word spoken between than as the groundskeeper left slowly only holding a sardornic on her face showing rows of blackened teeth. It was greusome enough to unsettled ones stomach.
The woman place her palm on the egg while looking at the dragon staring at her, molten tears rolling down the sides of its face. "The tower is about to get very loud." She smiled and vanished into the shadow leaving behind an empty space where a lone wounded dragon stared at it's egg unable to reach it for all of eternity as it had been in the times before.
(A.N: If I get to 10 golden tickets within the next 24hrs I will release five extra chapters)