The Dragon Savior of Tone: World of Tone: Book 2 (33 page)

The trees kept the lightning at bay. Rarely did a bolt reach the ground. Through the first sunset, only once had lightning struck too closely, but fortunately, it only harmed two fighters that Terra was able to easily heal. Just before first light, they stopped and dug in below a cluster of protector trees. The lightning slowed during the sun-rising. Fienna, in her dragon form, curled around Terra and they both slept fitfully. They all awoke several times as odd sounds echoed through the trees. At sunset, they again packed up and started the long trek toward the dark mountain.

The lightning became more intense as they moved forward, several large bolts managed to penetrate the tree cover. One struck an elf, killing him instantly. They stopped long enough to bury the unfortunate fighter. No one else was harmed that sunset. They again stopped just before first light; all were very tired and slept well, even with the light and sounds.

The next sunset seemed to come in a blink of an eye. They walked slowly as the loads they were carrying slowed their progress. Near first light, they came to a large clearing surrounded by protector trees. Several dead dwarfs had been found, obviously killed by lightning.

As the cloud-muted light filtered into the clearing, Terra saw a glint of metal near the center of the area. He walked over to find a pile of ashes with a piece of metal sticking out the top. He reached down to find a Solan's amulet. This was the remains of the last dark Solan. Terra decided to stop at the clearing for the sun-rising.

Terra placed the amulet in one of his bags. He carried three bags, and Fienna two. All the other fighters carried a single bag. They slowly moved toward the mountain over the next three sun-risings. Finally, they arrived at the edge of the trees well before first light. There they stopped and waited for the sun to rise.

Chapter 60 - Flight of Lightning

(A journey ends.)

- The Time of the Draman -

Terra waited for first light, he stood at the edge of the trees looking across to the dark mountain. The sun would rise in only moments. He turned to his love and put his great arms about her. They said nothing. They did not need to. Their love flowed between them through touch alone. They hugged, as time stood still for them before separating.

“How long will it take?” she asked her human.

“Not long. It's only five or six thousand dragon lengths. The flight will be short, the fight should not take much longer.”

“Come back to me.”

“I will,” he said as the sun rose above the horizon. They both began to change to their dragon forms.

As he flexed his massive wings, he looked across to his love and sent all he was to her mind. He jumped and pushed his wings down, sending his body into the dark swirling clouds of the early sun-rising. He rose higher as the trees and the sky lightning fought for control of the heavens. A massive bolt split into two branches. One struck Terra's back ridge lighting the crystalline plates traveling the length of his body. Lightning no longer harmed Terra as he had been struck before and knew how to redirect the power. The second branch was met by the tree lightning exploding into a ball of green light.

Terra flew on, ignoring the lightning strikes. As he crossed the ring of foothills, the black lake surrounding the mountain came into sight. The black water was more like a void or lack of light. It undulated similar to thick mud sliding down a slope.

As Terra flew over the black water the lightning ended. The clouds above the mountain circled about the high black peak. At the center of the swirling clouds was a dark spinning sphere. Terra approached the mountain and saw little more than a massive dark shape. He looked carefully to find the entrance that would lead to the inner sanctum of the dark one. He saw an area darker than the rest of the black mass. He concentrated his vision on the vague outline, and saw the floor and wall of a tunnel. He landed just in front of the opening and peered into the blackness before him. He moved into the tunnel on all fours. Dragons rarely walked only on two legs for their tails would drag upon the ground.

Chapter 61 - The Ninth

(A final death.)

- The Time of the Draman -

The tunnel turned left, then right, finally ending in a large black cave. A small bent figure stood behind a tiny fire at the far side of the cavernous space. As Terra moved into the cave, the figure turned toward him. He could see it was an ancient human barely able to move. He knew it was the old human wizard. Suddenly, a large black fluid limb came into view. It swept the old wizard from the floor and flung him across the cave. He struck a rocky wall and erupted in a spray of blood, flesh, and crushed bones.

“The wizard?” Terra asked as he stopped in the center of the cave.

“He no longer amused me. Have you come to replace him?” the voice from the darkness answered.

“No. I have unfortunately come to end your existence,” Terra responded.

“Well, you're quite ambitious. You plan to kill the oldest living creature on Tone.”

“You could save yourself.”

“How could I possibly do that?” the voice said with utter contempt.

“Simply help life upon Tone instead of trying to destroy it.”

“Help? No one has ever helped me. Every creature upon this world either fears or loathes me. I do nothing but return what they have attempted to do to me,” the voice said as a hideous laugh rumbled through the cave.

“So you turn my offer down?”

“Don't be a fool. You offer nothing, for no one can harm me. What can destroy darkness?”

“Light!”

Terra looked up as sadness spread across his dragon face. Upon his great breast, the small amulet began to grow brighter. Each of the stones filled with light, creating a multicolored sparkling star. As the stones grew ever so brighter, the light from each stone started to spread down its adjoining spoke. The light reached the center hub of the embedded amulet, as all eight colors combined into a single scintillating white light.

The central white light then flowed up the last spoke and lit the final stone. The ninth power had come to the world. The top stone glowed so brilliant that it lit the entire cave. The light traveled back to the center hub and then flowed back to all eight of the other stones, changing them all to white. The entire amulet now glowed with one intense color. Its light began to flow across Terra’s breast causing each scale to light like a small sun. Terra felt the warmth spread through his chest and down into his core. The light reached his great heart and slowly filled it. Each beat drove the light through Terra's massive dragon body.

As the darkness watched, the great dragon began to shine; first, his chest, then his arms and legs. The light then traveled down his tail and into the crystalline back ridge. His eyes lit like two bright suns beaming light wherever he looked. Then his face lit and his teeth filled with light. The veins in his wings showed the light flowing into the thin wing membrane. Finally, the light spread into the strong muscles and bones that gave the dragon the power of flight.

The light filled the entire cave, leaving shadows behind the protruding rocks. The dark one laughed as Terra's heart pulsed. The light filled blood flowed throughout his great body pushing a sudden pulse of pure white light out of his body. It illuminated every part of the cave. The light was so bright that it crystallized the tips of the rocks lining the surface of the cave. The dark one’s laugh died suddenly.

“You can't kill me. I am in every crack, crevice, and even between each grain of soil below your feet. I am everywhere. I have spread throughout the world,” the voice said in a rough low, almost frightened pitch as the next pulse of Terra's heart pushed out a greater explosion of light. This intense light forced the crystallization into the soil as well as the stone surrounding him.

“Your mother once told me that you can be in all places, but you must always be in one place. This is that place, this is where your heart and spirit resides. If you die here, you die everywhere,” Terra said in a low pitying voice.

As the dark one realized what was happening, he called upon the only thing that could overwhelm the light within his essence. He called for what he thought of as his blood, the black fluid that surrounded the mountain. The blood rose up and flowed toward the cave entrance. It built to a massive wave and flooded through the opening only to meet another pulse of pure white light. The light was so intense that it became a physical force vaporizing the black blood as the two met. None of the dark one's blood survived the wave of light.

The entire inside of the cave was now a complex array of perfectly clear crystals. Even the soil sparkled like crushed sunlight. Terra's next heartbeat drove the crystallization almost to the mountain's exterior. A long, painful scream penetrated the cave as the next pulse converted the entire mountain to crystal. The light drove down to the impenetrable deep rock below the mountain, crystallizing even its indestructible surface.

Terra stretched his wings to their maximum extension and breathed in deeply as the next beat of his heart sent a light so intense that the sun itself was blotted out. The light spread the crystallization to just beyond the foothills. The dwarfs within the hill tunnels, blinded by the intense light, began to thrash about and swing their weapons. They struck the crystal walls repeatedly causing them to shatter. The tunnels began to collapse as the cracks within the crystal spread. The crystal rained down as sharp as dragon teeth, killing most of the dwarfs within the foothills. Only four to five thousand managed to escape the collapsing tunnels.

A beam of light emerged from the mountain peak and penetrated the dark sphere at the center of the cloud mass. The sphere changed into a glittering orb. The sparkling orb expanded in all directions burning away the dark clouds slowly dissipating as it spread beyond the foothills.

Terra concentrated all his remaining magic into his core for one final beat of his heart. Light exploded in all directions from the now great crystal mountain. It passed like a great wave of water over the surface of the world. The wave of light flowed over the foothills and through the trees. It passed through and over the mountains, consuming the dark clouds and their lightning. As the wave reached the coastal valleys, the fog lit from within with small glittering bursts of light.

The wave reached the great waters and filled them with light from the top of the waves to the greatest of depths. The great wave of light met on the other side of the world, creating a plume of light into the heavens, the likes of which the universe would never see again.

The passing light healed all it touched. Limbs regenerated, darkened eyes saw again, pain disappeared and even troubled minds cleared. Life once more began to spread across the world of Tone. For the Draman had given all to renew this world.

Terra lay upon the crystallized soil in his human form. He had given all he had and all he was, leaving him unable to move a single muscle. He could not even breathe, but he could think. His thoughts were of Fienna and his daughter. Terra was as close to death as a living being could be without actually passing through the dark threshold. The soil below him began to move and form around his body, lifting him up off the cave floor and covering him with the gentle warmth of the now sparkling soil. The world gave back a small bit of what Terra had given it. He felt a minute amount of his strength and magic begin to return, ever so slowly. His breath returned and his great heart beat once then twice. He could do nothing, but lay still while his body tried to recover. He ached to contact his love, but he was simply too weak.

Chapter 62 - Finding Terra

(Finding a lost love, a frantic search.)

- The First Sun-rising of the World Reborn-

The great wave of light passed through the fighters at the edge of the trees. The light staggered the living for a few moments, healing their injuries and clearing their pain. They looked upon the dark mountain, now a shining beacon that even muted the sun. All stood in awe as they tried to understand the power it took to change pure black to pure light.

Fienna had lost her mental connection to Terra as he entered the dark tunnel within the mountain. She was not going to wait an instant longer to find him. She swept her powerful wings down and drove her body into the now clear and sun-filled sky.

She swept through the sky toward the mountain until she saw the cave entrance. Fienna landed just before the now sparkling opening and moved through it without a thought.

“Terra, where are you? Terra, Terra,” Fienna bellowed as well as broadcast her thoughts with all the force her mind could generate.

“
Fienna
,” a single whispered thought returned to her mind.

She swept into the large cave and saw Terra laying on an elevated platform made of sparkling crystallized soil. The soil wrapped over his body leaving only his face exposed. She rushed and stood over her love looking down. She carefully reached down and as her hands came close to him, the sparkling soil withdrew and she wrapped her hand about his limp body. She drew him to her breast and as before gave him part of her life force. She felt him gain in strength as his mind touched hers. She felt his absolute exhaustion.