Chapter 1

Quickly dashing sideways to flank Telagus, Lacey and Minet both gripped their weapons tightly, waiting for Rex to close the distance front on, ‘Surely she cannot dodge an attack from the three of us at once’ he said through their connection.

“Amusing,” Telagus said with a wide smile, watching the three assailants intently as they reached their destinations around him.

“Won’t be so amusing when I shove my sword up your…” Lacey started to curse, getting cut off mid-sentence by a gust of air striking her in the chest, staggering her slightly.

“No need for cuss words young filthy mouth,” Telagus growled, lowering his hand after pointing it at Lacey, “Your connection to each other is strong,” he continued his eyes darting to Minet and then back to Rex.

‘When he hit Lacey, I felt it as well,’ Minet said.

‘So did I, he must have noticed your flinch,’ Rex warned, “We must be careful of what strikes we take.’

‘I’ve never seen anyone throw air like a weapon,’ Lacey added in, rolling her head from side to side, trying to shake the slight dizziness away.

“As much as knowing if and how you can communicate through your Amonthrul connection would be illuminating to investigate. I have a time frame to keep,” Telagus said, drawing Rex’s, Lacey’s and Minet’s attention back to the fight.

With a quick flourish of his hand, Telagus produced a green-handled, black-bladed sword that hissed slightly when it appeared in his grasp.

‘Rex, I must shield your companions before he…’ Fafnir started to growl at the same time Telagus dashed towards Lacey at an incredible speed, quickly flicking his wrist to slash across her torso, his action being stopped an inch from her skin by a purple shield, ‘That drew way too much energy to produce without more time to prepare,’ Fafnir growled.

Rex’s next plan he thought of was to try and draw Telagus’s attention away from the women so they could prepare to assist him, gripping Azulthaël’s sword a little tighter, he leapt forwards and swung it in a wide arc towards Telagus’s back, his move coming to a stop easily with a foot to spare.

 “Surely that isn’t as fast as you can go, the great one paired with a dragon of legend, the stories I’ve heard about your exploits, I expected more,” Telagus jeered, turning his head to look over his shoulder at Rex, his black sword now over the same shoulder blocking Rex’s attack.

“Block this!” Lacey called out angrily, bringing her short sword forward quickly in a stabbing motion towards Telagus’s now exposed chest.

“Very well,” Telagus said with a smile, grabbing Lacey’s wrist, twisting it up and away from him, putting her off balance easily, as she attempted to free her wrist, Telagus brought his knee up and into her stomach.

“OOOFFF!” she exclaimed as the strike was so powerful, it caused her feet to leave the ground.

The moment Lacey registered the pain, Minet also doubled over, even Rex flinched slightly, he could hear Ulna screech as the pain also seemed to reach Marcia.

“I knew it,” Telagus exclaimed with a smile, grabbing Lacey’s forearm before her feet retouched the ground and swung her around in a circle, letting go as she crashed into Minet, making both women come to a rolling stop ten feet away from the point of their collision, “Now that they will not be a problem, we have one other annoying detail to attend to.”

Turning his attention back to Rex, Telagus flicked his sword, striking Rex’s across the blade flat, causing it to vibrate and rotate the grip slightly in Rex’s hand painfully, doing his best to ignore the throbbing sensation to keep his grip, Rex moved to the side at just the right time to dodge a lightning fast elbow aimed for his face, before Rex could react again, Telagus twisted his arm unnaturally and struck Rex with his fist on the cheek with enough power it caused him to take a step backward.

‘Block Rex!’ Fafnir roared into Rex’s mind, while he did his best to focus after the blow blurred his vision slightly, Rex brought his sword up with enough energy to deflect another strike that would have struck his chest.

“There he is,” Telagus exclaimed happily, dashing forward standing on Rex’s foot to prevent him from dodging at the same time swung his fist in an upward motion so fast it became a blur.

“Hey…” Rex exclaimed in the split second after realising he could not move away, the blow struck him under the chin, and as it connected, Telagus lifted his foot from on top of Rex’s, allowing the momentum from the strike to cause Rex to land on his back, sliding backward a few feet.

Once Rex came to a stop, his vision became blurry once more and he could taste blood in his mouth, it did not take him long to realise the blow made his teeth crash together, severing off a small piece of flesh from the tip of his tongue.

‘This has gone on long enough!’ Fafnir growled loudly, before Rex could do anything to prevent him, Fafnir leapt from Rex, entering the battlefield with a loud roar.

“Finally,” Telagus sighed, a smile creeping onto his lips, “Your host is tough, I’ll give him that, but it was you I wanted to see.”

“Very well servant, I am here, if you kneel before us and I will grant you a swift death,” Fafnir growled, smoke starting to plume from the corners of his mouth as he snarled, his gaze bearing down onto Telagus, who stood defiant.

“I will never kneel to anyone ever again!” Telagus roared, losing the calm composure he had previously, quickly closing his eyes and taking in a deep breath a second later in an attempt to prevent anger from overtaking his thoughts.

“Very well, slow and painful it is then,” Fafnir growled happily, inhaling deeply before opening his mouth to allow green flames to pour out, swallowing Telagus.

“No!” Rector yelled, reaching his hand out when he saw Fafnir engulf his wife’s body in dragon fire, he knew it would destroy Telagus, but also his wife as well.

Once Fafnir stopped his cone of flames, a large cloud of black smoke floated away, revealing charred blackened sand and dirt, with Telagus still standing before them, smiling.

“You will have to do better than that old one,” he said with an evil smile, beginning to chant quietly while twisting his fingers around each other slowly, producing green glowing threads in his palms.

Roaring angrily, Fafnir charged at Telagus with his teeth bared, ready to devour him whole.

With only a foot gap between them, Telagus looked up with a triumphant smile and opened his hands, throwing the spell at Fafnir, as he did so, the green threads he had created opened like a net.

Fafnir’s eyes widened when he realised what Telagus had created and began to open his wings to attempt to change direction, knowing it was too late when he struck the spell, as he did, the net began to devour him, realising what was happening, he flicked his large tail around toward Telagus, striking him squarely on the collar bone before it too was devoured by the spell.

Looking down at where Fafnir had struck him, he noticed the skin behind the shirt was broken, smiling when no blood came from the wound.

“Where have you sent him?” Rex roared as he shook his head once more to clear his vision, seeing Fafnir’s tail disappear into the net.

“Out of the way, I thought he would have put up much more of the fight than he did, his power must be limited because of how weak his host is,” Telagus replied with a smile, walking toward Rex.

‘Fafnir, can you hear me?’ Rex asked in the usual way they spoke, after he got no reply, he asked once more.

 “Now the real work can begin,” Telagus said, closing the gap between them quickly.

Dashing to the side, Rex noticed Telagus was no longer using his sword to strike him, only with fists and feet, after blocking and dodging more attacks against him, Rex decided to try his advantage by having a weapon, quickly flicking his sword out.

Just as Rex was sure this blow would land, Telagus once more twisted unnaturally, bending himself out of harm’s way, clutching Rex’s wrist as he moved, as he did, he turned his body against Rex’s and using that motion, forced Rex off his feet, sending him crashing into the ground, flat on his back.

Before Rex could get back onto his feet, Telagus pounced on him, pressing three fingers against his forehead, at the same time starting to chant, instantly causing Rex to feel like this skull was going to explode.

“AAAHHH!!” he screamed as Telagus continued, even somehow being able to continue through Rex’s thrashing and strikes, and the moment the chanting stopped, Rex’s body went limp and his vision darkened.

“Wake up young destroyer.”

Once Rex opened his eyes, he looked around quickly to gauge his surroundings, seeing Telagus standing a few feet away from him with a blank expression written across the face of the body he was using.

“Over here.”

Looking over to where the voice came from, Rex saw a tall slender person looking down at him, as he sat up, he noticed the person resembled the same body type as Azulthaël, but this person’s entire body was charred like he had been severely burnt, with whole patches of skin being missing completely showing sinewy threads, his skin also sported red glowing cracks covering the remaining burnt skin over his body from head to toe.

“There we go.”

“Telagus?” he asked recognising the voice.

“In the flesh, well, almost.”