Chapter 3 #2
The Behemoth’s heads flailed, trying to rise above the green and silver mist, to get clean air.
Those wet, wounded wings flapped. The scalding steam ate through the thin webbing so they weren’t able to lift the Behemoth up but they cleared the gas.
One of the heads blasted it with wind tornados that sent the gas spiraling away. Luckily, not towards Caden.
But the Dragons were not done with their stealth attacks.
As the Behemoth lumbered towards the side of the crater again, fighting boiling waves, the Dragons stopped with stealth.
Xipil sent a ball of magma that struck the side of the crater, melting the stone and dirt, turning it into a boiling mass of molten rock.
Another ball of magma and another and another and another struck the wall until the whole thing was turned into a sliding mass of burning, liquid stone.
The Behemoth scrambled backwards even as certain heads sent bursts of air and water to cool the scalding magma, but the stone slid around the Behemoth’s feet, imprisoning it even as it burned.
The metal in the crater was suddenly crawling up the creature’s legs and onto its wings like living tentacles.
It bound the Behemoth’s wings and slowed those limbs even further as it struggled.
Go, Eldoron!
The Behemoth’s head snapped up to the cloud.
Its other heads immediately sent waves of lightning up at it, trying to strike something within the “cloud”.
But the golden lightning streaked down at the same moment, meeting the blue lightning in mid air.
There were terrific explosions! The lightning from both sides was canceled out.
Caden was blinded and blinking rapidly. For a time, everything he saw was obscured by a black box that kept appearing and disappearing in his vision.
The wind tornadoes rose up and stripped away the “cloud” cover from the Dragons.
The Behemoth let out a scream of rage from many throats as it saw its enemies.
Raziel’s red eyes blazed down at it. The Black Dragon opened its maw and sent a massive stream of red-gold hellfire streaming down on top of the Behemoth.
The Behemoth could not move quickly enough to get out of the way.
Its right wing was hit. Caden gasped as the wing literally melted away.
The Behemoth’s screams were so deafening and powerful that Caden fell to the ground and his ears rang for long moments.
When Caden had clambered back up to look over the top of the boulders again, the air was full of tornadoes.
Each of them were seeded with a ball of plasma.
These whirling funnels had all of the Dragons scattering, leaving their tight V-formation in order to avoid them.
Evren countered many of the lightning strikes, but some got through.
One neared Scylla, but it banked at the last moment and it streaked past the Blue Dragon.
Another just brushed the edge of Lana’s tail before the Turquoise Dragon snapped its tail out of the way.
Unlike in the last encounter between just Raziel and the Behemoth where the Behemoth was the only one that could constantly use magic, now all the Dragons worked together. Even unlike the last time they had faced the Behemoth, none were working alone.
Mephous dive bombed the Behemoth, using an acid breath of some sort that left the Behemoth’s skin blistered and bleeding.
The Green Dragon raked its claws over the top of one of the Behemoth’s heads as it flew dangerously low, drawing blood that streamed down its neck.
Mephous nearly got some toes bitten off, but Xipil had its back.
Xipil sent a line of magma down that struck the biting head’s throat, burning through it like butter.
The head’s eyes rolled back and the head slumped to the side.
Down and out! Mephous flew away with a throaty roar of triumph while Xipil just shook its head in amusement.
Raziel had flown in a large circle and now came in low, like a stealth bomber, red eyes narrowed to mere slits, its body suddenly wreathed in mist, hiding it from clear sight.
The Behemoth turned its acid-breather head towards that approaching dangerous “cloud” and sent out a stream of acid.
The wind-breather head “captured” that acid in one of its gale force winds that raced towards Raziel even as the Black Dragon raced towards this wall of acid.
But the remaining water was suddenly rising up from the crater’s floor.
It diluted the acid seemingly to a mild irritant--or so it seemed--by the way that Raziel cut through it without any reaction at all.
Fire gushed from the Black Dragon’s mouth and burned the nearest Behemoth head to a blackened stump.
The neck remained upright for a moment before it collapsed to the side.
Another down… only six more to go!
Caden grinned and pounded his fists on the stone.
They were winning! But as soon as he thought that, one of the lightning bolts struck Lana’s right wing.
The Turquoise Dragon screamed and spiraled down to the crater’s floor.
Lana crashed with a terrible boom! The Behemoth grinned.
But when it tried to lumber towards the Turquoise Dragon, Xipil turned the ground in between them to magma.
Eldoron paired with the Red Dragon and once more had metal tentacles crawling up the Behemoth’s body and wrapping around one of the heads that was poised to send a lightning bolt towards the downed Lana, who was wobbling onto its feet.
That tendril tightened. The lightning head jerked and its eyes widened in shock as the tendril tightened again and again and again as it cut through the head.
It slid off and toppled onto the ground followed thereafter by the stump.
Yes! Go, guys!
Mephous spiraled down again with claws outstretched to take out yet another head.
The wind-breather turned right towards the Green Dragon and prepared to send two of those terrible tornadoes right at Mephous.
But it was Iolaire’s turn. Just as the wind-breather’s mouth opened, it was sealed shut by a blast of ice.
It flailed about, trying to break the ice, but Mephous was there.
The Green Dragon’s claws closed around the frozen head and ripped it off. Blood fountained into the air.
Great work, Iolaire! Four more! You can do it!
The White Dragon twittered happily over their bond. It was proud. And Caden was proud too of Iolaire, of all of the Dragons. They were all working together. And because of that, even Lana had managed to get to its feet again.
Xipil started shooting more magma down onto the ground around the Behemoth until it was surrounded by the stuff.
Zephyra then sent a blast of scalding mist down that blinded and irritated the creature.
Dark green waves of poison flowed too so that the Behemoth was lost beneath a sea of mist and poison and fire.
The heads could not rise up above it. They were blind.
The Dragons, all except Lana, encircled the Behemoth.
All of them hovered there. Then one by one they sent their magic down upon the Behemoth.
Hellfire, ice, magma, acid, boiling water, golden lightning and more turned that patch of the crater into a blackened mass.
Caden got up on top of the boulder as the onslaught slowed then stopped.
All of them waited to see what remained when the smoke and mist cleared. It slowly did and there on the ground, instead of one mangled body were seven. Seven Dragons. Burned. Bleeding. Headless. Seemingly beyond saving.
Caden lifted off from the rock and flew up between Raziel and Iolaire. He put a hand to his mouth as he looked down upon what might be the mates of the other dragons. But they had been imprisoned and turned into the enemy.
“We had no choice,” Caden whispered.
Yes, Raziel said.
“There was no other way to get them out,” Caden continued.
No, Raziel agreed.
“Iolaire, last time the Behemoth was destroyed, you were freed. That’ll happen again, right?” Caden gestured to the fallen bodies.
Iolaire twittered softly that this seemed different. Something was wrong.
Why was there no explosion? Zephyra asked.
“Yeah, that’s weird. There was a big one last time,” Caden said. “Hence the crater. Maybe… maybe you really defeated it this time? So no explosion?”
But that didn’t sit right with Caden. He realized then that if there had been an explosion he had likely been way too close to where it would have taken place.
Yes, foolish little dragon, Raziel said with narrowed eyes.
“Uhm, yeah, okay, so not the best idea. But you could have needed me,” Caden said defensively.
Iolaire twittered its love at him.
There are only seven Dragons here, Scylla pointed out.
“Yeah… wait… only seven? There should be eight with the Behemoth!” Caden cried then all the saliva dried up in his mouth. “It’s not here! That ugly bastard is not here! I mean unless it's tiny, but no, no, its head alone… where is it?”
If it is not here then there is only one place it can be, Xipil said.
Caden’s mouth opened as he understood. “Earth. High Reach. It’s going after Valerius and the others while we’re here.”