SIXTH INTERLUDE – STRIKE & SURGE


    Patronalus inherited the wisdom of the gods with revered grace. He did not take the throne as the new Crucifire King. Instead, he sought a higher crown and calling, as King of the Gods and Prime Guardian of MagnaThora. He departed society and the musings of man.


    His first quest was clear. He knew if he cut down the dragon god that another evil entity would rise up against him in its place, just how Dracobra rose from the ashes of Plagues. It will always happen, doomed as if. Nature is about balance and cycles, revolutions, and entropy.


    Patronalus, along with the help of the legendary dragon the Dread Raphe, hunted down the god of darkness. He knew together, with their powers combined, they could defeat the dragon god. He flew south, blond hair flailing in the wind as he rode atop Raphe. There was no sensation quite like riding a dragon. When it was one of this magnitude Patronalus also felt like a flea on the back of a giant, which provided its own creature comforts. He was truly able to enjoy his time in the clouds before arriving south of the broken gate, at the Temple of Darkness in Dragon Cove.


    He used the Crucifire Sword to surround the Dread Raphe in protective fire and they fought the god dragon, only slightly larger and more terrifying than the Raphe. Before they completely destroyed the temple Dracobra fled south to the outer limits of MagnaThora. The demigod was panicking. It did not want to die. It did not want to lose. It refused to go back into the sea, which surrounded the southlands on one side. The mountains surrounded it on the other. There was one strip of land that kept going southeast, curling around and up the continent, but that also gave way to the abyss at world’s end, the great cascade.


    The fortress at the end of the world signifies where the demigod Dracobra made its final stand against Patronalus. Unpredictable lava geysers downed the Dread Raphe and Patronalus was forced to fight amongst the glowing red rivers and skies of ash. It mattered not to Patronalus, who wielded the sword of heroes.


    A clash of fire and steel against claw lit up the dark skies of the deep south. Patronalus fought the dragon and repelled everything it threw at him. Each strike was challenging. He would have to play defense until he could get a grip on the fight. Dracobra knew its fire would not burn him, but it still knocked him off his feet with its sheer force. The dragon used this to keep him disoriented. Patronalus adapted, learning how to absorb the dragon fire with the sword.


    The Paragon of Fire spun around and threw the dragon’s own fire back at it in a spray. The fire did not burn it, but it still knocked the dragon back. And that’s when Patronalus struck! He flew up under the dragon in the air and carved his sword into its gut. The blade got stuck in the dragon’s armored scales and they were off. Dracobra flew above the ash clouds.


    They flew above the clouds for some time. Preoccupied with each other as the dragon snipped at Patronalus while he formed fire daggers and used them to pry the thick scales from the dragon’s hide. The Crucifire Sword still lit, strapped to his back, generating its divine fire, filling Patronalus with power. He carved into the demigod until its soft underbelly was exposed and they began their descent. They landed somewhere in the mountains. Where? He did not know. For now…


    Patronalus awoke after the crash. Even for a new god that hurt like something awful. He looked around. The Crucifire Sword was just out of reach, intact but unlit. Patronalus tried to stand up, but the ground trembled beneath his feet. The dragon god was rising up and the caves were buckling under the immense pressure. They fell through another level and the Crucifire Sword along with them. This novel''s true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there.


    Almost live an indoor avalanche, each level they dropped gave them the moment to break through the next floor, and then the next, and the next, and so on, and so forth. Until they reached a sweeping chamber large than any arena or assembly hall. It was so big it had its own sub caves full of tunnels and rooms created by interwoven stalactites and stalagmites. Patronalus hit the hard floor and wondered if it was the core of the earth. He laughed as he got himself up. The sword was gone. He was on his own.


    The dragon shook the dust and rocks off its long body. Being this big was a burden. Being this big stuck inside caverns was perilous. Dracobra could not remember a time, since its creation, that it was not able to fly away. Its only choice was to reduce its size. As the demigods shrank Patronalus attacked!


    Without his sword he waited for the creature to shrink to a manageable size and jumped at it. Patronalus tried to summon the fire daggers, but they would not manifest. In order to wield the mystical fire, he would need to ignite the sword. That wasn’t very convenient. He would have to come up with something else. Patronalus tried to wrap his arms around the dragon’s neck, it was significantly smaller now, but by no means small enough for that. He barely avoided getting bucked off.


    Dracobra spun around like he knew something. Patronalus panicked, the implications clear. The fire was gone. There was nothing to protect him from its fury. Dracobra took a deep breath, from its wounds it glowed yellow as the fire in its belly churned.


    Patronalus held his hands up, palms out, and closed his eyes. He could still see the scene around him. He tried to sense the sword. It was buried. He shook the boulderocks on top of it. They barely budged. He tried again and they flew up between him and the dragon, shielding him from the fire. In one last push, Patronalus released the stones, sending them towards Dracobra. They missed their target. The dragon swooped in after the sword.


    The crucifire sword sat on the ground unlit, surrounded by rocks of all sizes, finally free from its boulder tomb. Both gods raced towards it. It moved on its own towards Patronalus but Dracobra was closer. It pinned the sword on the ground of the cave with its black claw. Patronalus stopped dead in his tracks, and they stared at each other.


    “You’re running out of options, puny human.”


    “And you’re never getting out of here, lord dragon.”


    “You will die down here along with me.”


    “No one is dying today.”


    Patronalus closed his eyes again, palms out. Instead of moving the rocks, the stalactites and stalagmites began to tremble. He let out an audible yelp as the strain of what he was trying to do took hold of him. Then the Paragon moved the tunnels and rooms of the chamber. He changed their size and moved them like ribbons connected to the roof and floor, through the room. The first two, at the same time, flew through the air, spinning into thin coils. They smacked against the dragon’s snout and spun around its mouth, spiraling around several times, locking it shut. Two thick stalactites fell onto the dragons wings, pinning it down, as wide stalagmites spread over the dragon, interweaving with the rest.


    Dracobra tried to alter its own size. Before it could break free the liquid stone set and lit on fire. The Crucifire Sword was back in Patronalus’ hands. It was over. The dragon demigod once guardian of the abyss and champion of darkness was defeated.


    Patronalus sealed that bottommost chamber and imprisoned Dracobra forever in the Burning Mountains. Once he put up enough safeguards in the bowels of the mountains he would relinquish the poor dark beast from such an intimate imprisonment. It would live out the rest of its life down in the depths of the Earth, heating the foundation of the Burning Mountains with its fire, fulfilling the mountain’s namesake, and melting any chance of snow for the entire continent.


    His primary opponent now defeated, the Paragon of humanity began to repair the damage down by the war. Every day lived after his duel with the dragon god would be spent knowing his power was not all in the sword. Patronalus was an ascended being and worthy of greatness. He was not just the hero that slays the beast and saves the princess. He was the savior of them all and MagnaThora’s salvation. He continued on his quest of miracles.