Greetings All!
This has been a long week again. I'm looking forward to a relaxing weekend with some me time. Thinking of gaming a little, maybe stream, maybe not. Whatever I decide, it'll be relaxing.
The last time we heard from our favourite group they were in dire straits. Here's a reminder of what Zak did in in Part 44:
Magna's uncle clapped his magic-imbued hands together. They made a sound like a thunderclap. Blue and yellow lightning ripped through the air and wrapped around the knight's armor and travelled up his arms into his sword.
The magic was not his, it brought him excruciating pain. Rather he be the vessel that bring this monster's demise than fail in his duty to protect the Children!
"For the Honor of Drakenspoort!" Mortis bellowed and slashed upward at the monstrosity that loomed before him.
Sparks ran energy upward, wrapping themselves around the beast that was now the merged Aaron and Kern. The beast screamed in agony as new magic tore through its being.
What is this? This is not what I know.
Aaron felt Kern fighting the merger. She was going to be a problem if she continued to fight him. As he started debating whether to drain her of her essence or spit her out, the giant white blur was on top of him. Instead of teeth, a flash of purple destroyed part of the vision that Aaron had managed to regenerate.
Surprised, he swung a bloated arm, almost a tentacle at this point, at the beast, but it dodged.
What is that?
A sword sunk into his armpit, but he no longer had lungs, nor a heart. It wouldn’t kill him. Aaron laughed and turned to face the knight holding onto the blade. He grinned.
“Do you think that will kill me?”
“Not at all, but it gives us an in.”
“Excuse me?”
Another wave of magic hit him, but this time, instead of gliding over his mutated skin, it found its way into his very being. Kern screamed in agony, distracting him once more. The hammer landed again, this time wildly. Then purple claws slashed at anything it could reach. Too late did Aaron realise where the claws slashed there was no healing. Although he didn’t notice, someone else did.
“Uncle, you need to strengthen Derric, his claws are preventing the creature from regenerating.” Shouted Magna.
Adiran was already at his maximum, he couldn’t deviate his magic, and he could barely speak. He slowly sank to his knees before looking up to Magna.
“I have failed you again.”
Terrified, she turned from her uncle and watched the battle pitch in favour of the monstrosity. It had Mortis and Gorox in its grip and seemed to be on the verge of slamming the two of them together. The Princess didn’t know what came over her, but suddenly her terror was gone, and she knew what she had to do.
“Look after him.” She told the one-armed woman as she sprinted to the fight.
“Wait!” roared Adiran with what strength he had left.
She didn’t heed him. She knew she had to get to Mortis. She dodged around tentacles and crystals, moving as fast as she could in her state.
“Mortis!” she roared.
The knight snapped his attention to hear and bellowed, “Get out of here!”
He was then slammed into the ground before being lifted to bat Derric out of the way. Gorox was thrown at Magna, and she barely threw herself aside. Painfully getting to her feet, she once more tried to make her way to Mortis. Only he could save them now.
Derric ran to intercept her and stood length-wise to prevent her from getting closer.
Go back to Adiran.
“I need you.” She gripped his oddly shaped head and stared into his eyes. “You must listen to me. I have to get to Mortis, and I need you close.”
We will die.
“If this continues, we’ll die Derric. Trust me!”
Derric turned and indicated she should climb aboard.
Let’s go, Princess!
Derric raced between writhing tentacles and sprouting crystals, much to the amusement of Aaron.
“What is she doing?” he asked to the air.
He pulled the knight closer and tried to squeeze the life from him, but the knight stubbornly refused to give any cries of pain.
“Pathetic.” Breathed the knight. “Are you the best Endor Kai has to throw at me?”
“You don’t even know you’re dead yet.” Growled Aaron.
On the contrary, he’s well aware that he’s dead.
Kern's voice echoed in his head and Aaron was shocked. When had she learned this ability?
“Now!”
Aaron was snapped out of his musings as the blurred shape of the white beast launched himself once more. He swiped at the creature and turned his attention back to the knight. Except this time, once he focused his remaining eye, the knight was barefaced, grinning the typical undead grin.
“No time. Bite!”
Aaron watched in amazement as the girl jammed her wrist into the revenant’s mouth. There was a slight hesitation in the undead but then the girl screamed.
“Enhance Derric, his claws prevent it from regenerating.” Magna used her other hand to slam Mortis’ jaw onto her exposed wrist.
Her legs tightened around the tentacle that held Mortis and she squeezed her eyes shut against the pain. Mortis didn’t need to be told twice. This was the first time blood had been freely given to him. He felt it ooze over his teeth and down his parched throat. The magic ignited instantly in him.
“I’ll do more than enhance him.” Whispered the revenant, “Hold on.”
Aaron, beyond confused, watched the girl feed the undead her blood. Between that and Kern screaming in his head, he never looked behind him as a massive white shape rose behind him.
“Do it Derric!” screamed the girl.
Blue flames erupted from Mortis and travelled down the tentacles. Yet, this wasn’t the only fire that was spreading. Aaron tried to shake the pair from his tentacle, but now Mortis held onto him for dear life. A bellow behind the mutant caused him to turn and for a moment, what was left of his arrogant nature fled in terror to what stood before him.
“What the…”
Blue flames erupted from Derric’s mouth and engulfed Aaron. The sheer heat caused the mutated flesh to blister and fall from his body. He wasn’t regenerating and eventually he was screaming in agony.
Noxus had barely reached the fight in time to shroud Mortis and Magna with a shield as the flames engulfed them. Gorox tackled her to the ground to prevent her from being caught in the blast. The blast sheared clean through the tentacle that held the pair and they fell heavily to the ground.
Magna was spent. She had nothing else to give. She lay among the piles of burning goo and panted. Mortis was on his feet quickly, viewing the damage that the giant Derric was causing to the Gallopod monstrosity. He had one last trick up his sleeve. He knelt next to Magna and sat her up.
“You rest now, we’ll finish this.” He then kissed the centre of her forehead, leaving a bloody smear.
He then got to his feet and retrieved the blade that Magna had dropped when she leapt onto his back. He slow strode to where Derric, who seemed to be a dragon-wolf monstrosity pinned the mutant below him. There wasn’t much left of it, but it was screaming incoherently at the beast that held it down.
Derric’s head swung up as the knight stepped forward. Mortis muttered a spell and gently lay a hand on the beast’s snout. “Magna needs to rest. See to her wellbeing.”
The creature that Derric had now become resembled a dragon with a vulpine head. His white scales were small, smooth, and glinting because of the fire. His large yellow eyes stared at the knight, as large wings folded around his monstrous body. Derric growled before spitting the last bit of fire at the now silent mutant. He got off the creature and stepped away.
Mortis viewed the burned remains of Kern, far beyond anyone’s saving, extending out of the mutant’s remnants. “May whatever god you pray to grant you mercy for what you were forced to do here.”
He ran his hand along the edge of the blade and blue flame ran along its length. He then added the tip to the remains, and they burst into purple flame. The mutants squealed in agony, but soon it too lost strength until it remained silent, unmoving. All around Mortis, tentacles were falling to the ground and bursting into flames, while crystals shattered and crumbled to dust. There was no more life in the thing before him. It was over.
He turned back to see Noxus treating Gorox’s wounds while Derric, now shrinking, had Magna sitting up against his side. Mortis sighed and made his way back to those that gathered.
“Kern?” asked Gorox as he tried to push Noxus aside.
“I’m sorry, seems she was occupying the thing’s mind while we fought it. Distracted it enough to give us the opening we needed.”
“We failed.” Gorox sat with his head in his hands. “Two of us are dead. We can’t go back as failures.”
“You don’t go back as failures. You go back as survivors.”
So Derric's a dragon now. You gave the challenge @zakludick now it's your time to get these poor guys out of this world.
Here is an explanation of Chain Stories and here is the current Chainstory Library
Mortis Custos Parts
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