Half Breed - Part 4

[muscl4life]

HALF BREED

A story for Rowan

Part 4

Part 4

“There are three things one should know when breaking into a Dragon’s Lair. First; don’t waste your time looking for wondrous treasures because these are linked to the beast…”

Over the years I have learned that Tassler’s husky voice is not just part of his charm; most of the times his voice changed into this lower sexy tone happened when my elven bodyguard was really stressed.

“Would you stop that already?” I whispered harshly, but apparently it had no effect over him, because the elf kept repeating these rules to the void.

“Second, make sure that you have an escape route in case you get caught…”

“I told you to cut that crap!” I yelled at Tassler.

My elf partner didn’t answer; he just jumped over me, the two of us landed heavily at the rocky flooring just in time to escape from the lethal reach of the acid breath. The putrid smell of the dragon stomach’s contents soon filled the room in which we were, the heavy steps of the beast dangerously approaching our hideout.

“Third, you’ll most likely get caught!” Tassler’s mouth was right next to my ear and I could tell he was indeed really nervous.

The life of an adventuring wizard can change dramatically within a few moments.

----

The search for the Rogue Dragon’s Lair lasted for almost three whole days. I couldn’t use the teleport spell for two main reasons: because it was really dangerous trying to teleport to an unknown place, not to mention that any strong magical unbalance in the area could wake up the sleeping monster. So, with no other choice other than following the poor directions Rothgar gave us, but eventually, we have reached the burrow where his former Draconic Tablet could be hidden.

The granite mountain had been excavated with powerful claws, creating a series of tunnels that covered an enormous area; the reek of death impregnated into every single part of that dungeon.

The darkness of its sinister interior soon embraced us all. Although elves have excellent dimness vision, to our very surprise, Alistair’s body seemed to react to the frightening darkness, from his golden eyes the tranquilizer light of the day suddenly poured into the hideous hallways, revealing the marks of the fearsome tools that built the dangerous lair.

“Are you sure it’s safe to enter such a place with a giant lantern like that?” Tassler asked me as he feared four our safety, because Alistair’s new gift could easily indicate our position to eventual foes waiting in veil of the darkness. Fortunately, once he found out what he was doing, Alistair was able to change the intensity of his light spell, channeling a much softer source with no greater power than a mere torch.

Although everything indicated the beast was indeed hibernating, it didn’t make things any easier, because for our own surprise the cave was simply empty! There was not a single coin inside that deathful maze.

“I have a bad feeling about this…” Alistair whispered as we kept searching for my so desired Tablet. I could almost say that he wasn’t simply afraid, the winged lad seemed apprehensive.

The more we searched, the greater grew his apprehension, and finally there seemed to be a reasonable explanation for that mystery, through it reasonableness did not mean a good thing for our intents.

“If I needed to sleep for such long time, what would be the best place to keep my stuff?” Alistair asked naively, but his words actually triggered Tassler’s sharp senses, the elf ran through the corridors like a dog following the smell of the hunt.

Simplicity; that was the keyword we have completely ignored.

The shimmering glow of hundreds of gems, the luring view of exotic artifacts, and the richness that could turn a despicable dungeon crawler into the most respectable nobleman was kept precisely at the main chamber of the dungeon. Only then we realized that had been just the easiest part of our quest.

The vast treasure accumulated by years of pillage over innocent preys was heavily protected by the best keeper of them all: the owner itself.

The monstrous thief of the Rothgar’s Dragon Tablet had piled up every single piece of his treasure at the main chamber, the exact place where he would hibernate. The greedy beast spread its enormous serpentine figure all over the piles of gold and precious items, the long thick spiky tail circled around the pile carefully protecting the uncomfortable richness over which it chose to nest itself during his hibernation period.

The incredibly large body of the beast was covered by shining little green shards for scales, like an emerald sea. Even Alistair suddenly looked small when compared to the uncanny size of that monster; each single claw was thicker than my body, the crocodilian head joined by the long muzzle overfilled with deadly sharp teeth. From the huge nostrils we could still see the vapors of its deadly breath filling the chamber with gaseous acid, causing the environment to go barren.

My eyes filled with tears, the very air burnt its way down into the lungs, the cough was inevitable, and I had to overcome the urge of puking. I felt my knees going weak as the world spun around me. Even Tassler was barely holding himself standing; however, Alistair didn’t feel so harmed by that deadly environment. He gently carried us outside the dangerously acid chamber.

“How can we get this treasure if that beast just turned into a death room?” Tassler sighed between strong cough fits. I held onto my massive lover, feeling my stomach churning painfully. Alistair looked at both of us and I feared when his face glowed with another one of his usually insensible ideas.
“You guys will go look for the Tablet once I take the beast from there…”

“Wait… WHAT?” I tried to hold him, but he was already flowing into the chamber’s ceiling. Alistair ripped a huge stalactite from the ceiling, that thing worked as an oversized javelin, the boulder should be over 50’ long and over ten times heavier than his massive body, but it still wasn’t a sensitive way to wake up a sleeping dragon.

My winged lad flew higher, hovering over the beast for a few seconds, Alistair turned the enormous rock he ripped from the cave and turned his spear into a huge club, he looked at us and nodded before charged down against the dragon, hitting him precisely in the enormous head, with such a powerful impact that broke the rocky weapon in million s of pieces, creating a dust cloud that shielded both me and Tassler from the dragon’s view.

“HEY UP HERE GECKO!” Alistair mocked and threw another huge boulder against the stupefied lizard. The roar was just deafening, we could feel our very souls shaking with the thunderous noise of the horror the beast unleashed in our heart, but I wouldn’t chicken on Alistair now, he was risking life, against all odds to help get the key for my quest.

Alistair quickly knew how to detect and to use his many innate abilities in his favor, when the dragon tried to hit him with the powerful breath, he just flew towards him, changing his tour in the last possible minute, so the monster only spewed his nasty acid vomit onto the rocky walls.

The sound of the coins and the treasure rolling over the dragon’s body mixed with the ruffling of his wings indicated that the monster was actually trying to get airborne. We could feel the stench drenching the air as those huge wings flapped. I peeked into the chamber and saw something that sent me into horrifying fear and unexpected lust.

Alistair flew around the not so gracious beast. Fortunately, when dragons wake up from their hibernation they are really disoriented, this one was no exception to the rule, his heavy massive body struggled to balance itself in the air, landing several disastrously at the ground, and silvered winged lad used this opportunity to attack the weak spots of the apparently impenetrable fortress.

“TAKE THAT!” Alistair screamed as his sword pierced through the soft around the dragons wings, the pain he caused combined with the effort the monster used to gain flying stability forced the beast to fail once again on its attempt to reach for the inconvenient silvery fly that dared to wake up the powerful Wyrm. This time, the roar we heard was still loud but it carried pain instead of supernatural fear.

Alistair took a higher stance and then he attacked the beast once again, this time the huge mouth almost grabbed him, but he managed to slip from the teeth before they closed around him. The half-celestial punched the neck of the dragon around the throat area, almost like he knew that it was the area that controlled his dangerous breath. The green beast sneered in pain.

The humongously heavy creature rolled over its back and quickly got on two huge feet, it stood up reaching a tremendous height, faster than Alistair could notice. The massive claws closed around the muscular body of my sweet boy and I felt my heart skipping a beat. The dragon seemed to smile as he felt the overpowered prey on its paws, but unlike me or Tassler, Alistair was much bigger, so the scaly paws couldn’t engulf his massive bulk. I felt a ray of hope when I noticed that my strong lover was actually resisting to the power of the giant dragon. They were actually tied at that point, the dragon couldn’t close its claws completely but Alistair couldn’t get free at the same time.

“LET HIM GO!” I screamed jumping into the main chamber, barely noticing the effects of the acid environment. Thinking fast, I hit the dragon’s big head with a powerful energy orb; my spell gave Alistair the opportunity to break free from the beast’s grip, but it also drew his attention towards me and Tassler who were much closer to its beloved treasure. The dragon’s eyes squeezed as its enormous body moved towards me.

I felt the vulture of my escort covering my own body as he fired his crossbow at the dragon. Although Tassler’s darts hit the monster, I was pretty sure that the sleeping spell imbued on them wouldn’t work on such massive beast.

Both of us ran into the series of the corridors on that lair, but to our bad luck those were big enough to fit the monster, precisely because it had built them with the same claws with which it wanted to tear us apart.

Tassler pulled me into this small crevice at the rock wall and we stood there kneeled waiting for the beast to lose our track, which was the plan until I accidentally ruined our plan. I guess that some of Alistair’s lack of sensibility had passed to me. When I saw him in the claws of the dragon, I just didn’t care for my own safety anymore; I had to save my angel.

---

Tassler held my body against the floor and peeked into the main corridor. I could sense the beast getting closer from our location and it was indeed a terrifying feeling.

“We can’t stay here much longer, it’s coming closer now. You go and I’ll cover you…”

He said helping me to get back on my feet. He shoved me into the corridor again and I could almost feel the warmth of that hideous monster coming closer; the darkness suddenly interrupted by the glimmering light of the acid breath.

I ran to the nearest junction trying to stay out of the sight line of the beast, as soon as it turned on the end of the hallway, Tassler threw his flaming dagger, hitting precisely on its huge yellow snake eyes that glowed in the dark. The screaming almost destroyed the cave, but my sneaky friend took his timing to try his hand on doing bold insensible stunts. I gasped when Tassler climbed into the squirming beast; soon he was carved his long sword into the dragon hitting precisely the soft spot under its dangerous mouth.

The monster shook violently against the walls and barely crushed Tassler, his gracious body managed to avoid a worse fall as he mysteriously regained stability on the monster’s body. I took the opportunity to focus my magic on the beast’s claws.
Molding the rock into mood, tried to hold its wings and head, but the beast proved to be really sneaky, successfully managed to avoid all my attempts, and to my own surprise, I noticed that Tassler was the only one caught in my trap.

“Whose side are you anyway?” He shouted at me, struggling to get rid of the rocky prison I had created.

The nasty beast ceased its timing. Although it wasn’t graceful running a dragon still had other lethal resources. I watched his body glistening, and that could only mean that a spell was being cast. Unlike humanoid spellcasters, dragons can channel the magic energy without anything other than its powerful will to trigger the most powerful spells.

I felt the mystical influx changing around me, I sensed that an invisible cage was trying to force its existence into this plane; I knew that it would crush me until I was turned into pulp. I rose up my magical defense fighting back as the cage tried to conceal me. The dragon was naturally strong in spellcasting, but I could tell it wasn’t very used to resource into it.

Suddenly, the dragon’s expression changed. I felt the magical duel between us fainting. The beast roared and struggled, trying to carve the sharp claws at the rocky walls, I gasped when noticed the enormous green dragon was actually being pulled by its massive spiked tail.

“WE HAVEN’T FINISHED OUR LITTLE TALK YET!” Alistair yelled as his massive brawn managed to accomplish what I thought was impossible. He dragged the dragon against its won will back into the main chamber. Once it lost the battle to Alistair’s muscles the nasty monster simply rolled over and tried to burn him with its breath, but Al was faster, using the tail as a natural shield, he managed to save me and Tassler at once.

I rushed to free Tassler, and we both knew that we’d better outsmarting the dragon and let Alistair deal with his physical menace. Summoning the enchanted spirits of the Air element I gave both of us the temporary ability to fly, so we could move faster inside that creepy lair.

We entered in the treasure room just in time to witness something unbelievable.

Alistair flew higher and faster in circles, gaining momentum as he held the dragon by its tail, swing faster and faster, and my winged lover seemed each time stronger, using his incredible muscles to hold that simply astounding weight.

“Is he doing what I think…” Tassler didn’t have time to finish his sentence because the humongous dragon’s body soon was launched against the superior entrance sculpted at the mountain’s peak, normally used by the owner when it goes out on a hunt. Once the beast crashed against the rock, the impact simply demolished part of lair, the dragon’s body seemed a huge rock that Alistair used to enlarge the artificial outskirt of the Dragon’s Lair.

Alistair looked down at us and smirked.

“You look for the Tablet, I’ll handle with our green friend, but you guys better be real quick” He said looking straight into my shocked eyes, as his silver wings gained height.

As he heroically flew out of the lair to guarantee our safety, I felt really shallow, because although he was risking his life for me once again, all I could think of was clanging onto those monstrous arms and letting myself feast on the muscle beef of his brawn.

“Master, quick we need to locate the Tablet!” Tassler seemed to notice my obvious distraction. I shook my head trying to focus on the appropriate spell. Holding the components in my right hand, I executed the gestures for the scrying spell. The shimmering lights invoked by the spell pointed to somewhere underneath the enormous pile of gold.

“We’re gonna take ages to dig for that!” Tassler protested but I had another idea.

I produced another set of gestures, focusing my action at the treasure pile, with a final movement each coin, gem or artifact floated around us, obeying the new gravitational order I established thanks to the spell I cast.

“I never leave without preparing the Gravitation Spell”. I teased Tassler as we both kept looking for the ongoing effect of the scrying. Then, a vivid red light crossed the room, pointing directly at an old 2’ by 1’ rocky piece. I commanded the marked object to approach me, recognizing from the distance a few draconic characters.

“That’s it; we’re leaving now before the beast gets back!” Tassler said pointing to the upper entrance which had just been enlarged by Alistair’s latest feat of strength. We both flew through the passage trying to see where the Dragon and our winged massive lad were.

The deserted landscape, filled with rocky mountains and dusty plains should not be a hard place to locate a green dragon and an 8’tall winged man fighting in the air, but it turned out that we couldn’t find any sign of them, and it really scared me, because once it sensed that Alistair really meant trouble, that nasty dragon could have easily tricked my innocent boy into a sinister trap.

“Vaughn!” Tassler screamed as the enormous shadow eclipsed the light of the Four Suns above us. The scaly body of the flying menace was dangerously close from us, and we were even weaker targets when flying than we were on the ground. That hellish roar sounded so loud that I had the feeling my ears would bleed, a massive claw passed right at my left side, I barely had time to spin. The second blow, however, hit me in full, and for one second everything went quiet. I couldn’t feel anything around me, my vision showed spinning images of the approaching ground like it was actually above my head, I knew I would die if I didn’t react, but my thoughts and my body were not connected.

Something passed through me so fast that I could only see a blurring image, at the time I thought the dragon was trying to finish the job.

“GOTCHA!” Alistair said as he grabbed me, even my light body weighs amazingly heavy when in freefall, but for someone who held a dragon by the tale it should not be a great effort. I knew I would still be dizzy for the next moments, but my heart strangely calmed down.

“Vaughn! Wake up, we need you…” Alistair screamed as he maneuvered in the air with the natural instinct of those who were born with wings. The green dragons chased us more furious than ever, its acid breath blasts reached each time closer.

I shook my head, trying to focus on the current moment. I looked at Alistair’s pretty face, holding at his muscular neck with all my strength. Once I had been knocked by that blow the flying spell had lost its effects over me, I didn’t have time to cast it another time, not to mention that it wouldn’t be handy, because the dragon was flying with all its might, and although it wasn’t perfect, the beast still was a natural airborne.

The monster’s face was the expression of rage, its teeth shone with a deadly glow, the throat prepared for the next charge of acid breath.

“We were fighting down there but suddenly it just disappeared! The beast must have felt when you took the Tablet!” Alistair’s wings flapped faster as he tried to gain speed over our enormous chaser. Tassler followed us from behind, but I knew that the flying spell I cast over him would be over anytime

The beast is magically linked to its treasure, at the moment we took the Tablet it must have triggered a previously prepared teleportation to surprise eventual intruders.

“Al, you must do exactly what I say…” I slowly told the instructions into his ears, but the golden eyes grew wide of preoccupation.

“That’s too dangerous!” He shook the head violently “We have to find another solution”

“You said you trusted my life to me, well I trust mine to you now!” I said appealing to his sentimentalism, since logic wouldn’t work on the big hearted hero.

Alistair sighed, moving his massive neck as his head looked up.

“Okay then, hang on!” He yelled as we gained height vertiginously fast, our chaser roared right behind us. The wind burnt against my corneas, but I had to keep them wide open. I felt my left hand holding Alistair’s when I handled him the precious tablet.

Alistair tightened his grip over the Tablet, with a quick look exchange; my lover tossed my light body higher as he flew directly into the opposite direction.

The green beast barely paid attention to my falling figure, because it just wanted to retrieve its precious Tablet. Alistair kept flying still very close from my descending trajectory, dodging from the repeated attacks of the emerald monster. The half-celestial boy didn’t lose time by retaliating because he knew I was going to take care of that menace.

The value of each second can only be truly appreciated during freefall, as I proceeded through the incantation’s preparations, the ground just got fatally closer, but still I struggled with the magical phrases and pulled the purely white crystal from my hidden pocket, the glowing stone indicated the spell was ready to be fired.

I only had one shot, but the target was not really that hard.

Alistair maneuvered faster and faster around the dragon’s head, which caused the slower flyer to go disoriented, I saw its enormous chest completely unprotected and ceased the opportunity, the crystal flew of my hands as I pronounced the activation word, the glowing bullet hit the monstrous goal precisely.

As soon as the dragon was hit, the spell worked its effects. The air around the monster immediately crystallized holding the entire body of the hideous Green menace inside a prison made out of purest and solid diamond. The immense body affected by the powerful inertia of its previous movement, describing a descending trajectory quite different from mine.

I didn’t have time to celebrate our latest victory, there was not time to cast any spell at all, if Alistair failed in catching me, that would be the end of Vaughn of Yendrill and Threshold, the hybrid son of the Mystical Elven Lady Syrill of Yendrill and the glorious Vaughn Threshold, the same half elf who had proved his right to ascend as Mage Regent by defeating the remaining Elven masters of House Yendrill, in ancient trials of magic knowledge and proficiency, sent into an nearly impossible quest to finally claim the title he already owned.

If one was to face his probable death, despair would be best word to express his feelings, but I wasn’t desperate, the moment I noticed the wings of my angel shining against the Four Suns, I just allowed my heart to sink into the tenderness of our first night.

Even if I was doomed, my thoughts about Alistair would take me into the afterlife.

I looked at the approaching figure, Alistair’s face was simply dazzling, his massive muscles cut the air to accelerate his speed, his hair flowing violently as he broke any safety limit just to save my life. Almost instinctively, I extended my hand to him, my whole body feeling the increasing effects of the acceleration, but I couldn’t wipe the smile of my lips.

I watched marveled as his massive arms reached for my tiny body, feeling his strong grip around me.

“In the silvery wings of Love you’ll safely fly”


I was safe once again, holding into the brawn of my beloved lad, Alistair’s wings flapping vigorously as he tried to slow down our speed. He groaned as he maneuvered dangerously close of the ground describing a perfect silvery parabolic trajectory, thanks to the light of the suns above us.

“I don’t know if it’s appropriate to say, but apparently you are the catch of the day!” Alistair kissed my forehead and hugged me tight against his massive torso as he took us back into the safety of the soil.

The enormous diamond that imprisoned the dragon fell at the dark waters of the lake.

“How long will it need to get escape?” Alistair asked me sounding unexpectedly worried about the same beast that tried to kill us both a few moments ago.

“Oh, don’t worry, I’m sure the spell will provide the necessary time for that nasty creature to meditate over its previous crimes…” I said in a mockery time, without revealing Alistair that this Diamond Imprisonment spell could last for entire centuries if it wasn’t broken with proper tools or dispelled.

“Emerald Lake was bad indeed, her aura was impregnated with death and dishonor; but she was just trying to protect her nest…” Alistair said in a lower voice tone as he put me down.

“Wait a minute… how you can tell that monster was a she?” Tassler asked demonstrating once again the legendary fame of his fantastic hearing.

Alistair frowned “she told me her name during our battle, couldn’t you listen?’

Tassler and I looked at each other.

“All I heard was a noise that made my bowels going weak!” The elven body guard commented grinning.

I faced my massive teenager “Al, can you speak their exotic language?”

Alistair was just as puzzled as us “What language, she was just trying to scare us from her nest, like any other mother would do.”

Suddenly I felt really puzzled.

“Wait, this dragon was supposed to be hibernating, not to mention it was a male one; at least that’s what Rothgar told me about the Wyrm which stole Dragon Tablet from his belongings…” I tried to argument with Alistair but the boy seemed pretty sure about his statement.

Tassler looked at me and then at the huge boy who had just saved us.

“Maybe it was just trying to fool you, because you were certainly kicking his or her scaly ass!” he joked, trying to light up the environment.

“Unlike most of people, I can tell when someone lies to me…” Alistair placed his huge hand on Tassler’s shoulder but he looked direct into my eyes as he handled me the tablet.

“Yes, but you didn’t actually talk with Rothgar did you?” I replied sharply.

“That’s not the point; I could sense that she was being truthful, at least about this part.” Alistair’s voice tone lowered.

“So let me get this straight…” I paused trying to rationalize his arguments.

“Although only you could understand what that beast allegedly said, you still want us to believe that the same enemy which could have killed us was being completely honest with you?”

The massive teenager took a deep breath, his golden eyes met mine. “Yes”

I couldn’t help to drench my words in the bitterness of sarcasm.

“Meanwhile, the man who not only had fought side by side with my parents but also became my wizardry mentor was just lying to me?”

“How can one tell female dragons apart from the male ones?” Tassler interfered trying to soften the increasing tension between me and the winged lad.

“You’ve said many times that a wizard does not follow any strict moral code, he just gave you an excuse to go after what you both wanted”. Alistair held my shoulders gently as he tried to convince me, although logic failed to explain his motivation. That’s when I felt that maybe my innocent boyfriend was trying to hide something from me.

As both a half-elf and a wizard, I hate when people tried to keep me in the shadows of ignorance.

“Al, if you have something to say to me, please by all means…” I spoke calmly trying to remember that my winged lover could be just over worried about my safety.

The tremendous bulk of Alistair’s chest grew even bigger when he inhaled deeply, his gaze carried the marks of preoccupation, but still the muscular lad just shook his head.

“This Tablet may not be originally Rothgar’s but now it’s yours, Vaughn, please use it wisely!” Alistair said with a grave look in his golden eyes.

His refusal actually made me relieved, because I was supposed to be working on my greatest contribution to Elven Wizardry, I couldn’t be distracted by minor details such as my lover’s bad feelings or apprehension caused by his total ignorance about the paths of an arcane manipulator.

“Well, if we’re through this pointless conversation, I shall take us back to Iridium…”

I said without looking up at Alistair’s golden eyes; if he was indeed hiding something from me, then I wouldn’t tolerate any patronizing behavior.

---

“Ah, Master Vaughn, you’ve returned from your journey, victorious as usual!” The obnoxious tone on Silkram’s voice filed me with anger; I just walked past him and headed to the patio, where Rothgar sat admiring the beautiful afternoon.

The fat cross-eyed man stood up, his moist uneven lips corked when he saw the big rocky tablet I carried under my skinny arms.

“After all these years, my Tablet had returned to me thanks to you Vaughn!” Rothgar grunted, supporting his weight on his staff as he stood up to welcome our party.

I grinned, feeling my face blushing for embarrassment because by that moment I already suspected Rothgar thanks to Alistair’s alarmist and illogical behavior.

However, before I could even open my mouth, the enormous 8’2” tall frame stood between me and the Head of Iridium, covering my view.

“Why did you lie to Vaughn?” Alistair asked harshly.

“I beg your pardon, young Alistair?” Rothgar replied seeming surprised.

“Al, what are you doing?” I said trying to move him, but it was just impossible.

“Why did you tell Vaughn a male dragon stole your Tablet but you sent us to the lair of a female one?” The silver wings of that boy were completely unfold, like he was trying to intimidate someone like Rothgar with just the beauty of his ethereal traces.

Rothgar’s expression didn’t change “You mean there was a female Dragon living in that lair?”

“Don’t you try to fool me old man, you sent us to steal the Tablet from Emerald Lake!”

Rothgar looked at me with his good eye, still dumb folded with the whole situation.

“Who told you such nonsense lie?” The fat wizard asked Alistair, his tone didn’t show indignation, I could tell he was genuinely amused with the bravery of that lad, because no one dared to talk to Rothgar in such terms.

“Apparently, he can speak draconic idiom…” Tassler appeared from behind me, also trying to move the enormous lad from that impolite cornering position Alistair had placed himself.

“Ah…the youngster has the ability to communicate with the Wyrms in their own dialect? Is this something you’ve learned or another one of your innate gifts my boy?” Rothgar asked ironically, but Alistair didn’t lift his accusation.

The Head of Iridium signaled to halt the Mage Guards that already prepared to protect their leader from any threat. Then, he took a few steps back from the massive winged muscle man.

“So you chose to give credit to the same villain creature that stole my artifact over me, the victim of its nasty crimes?”

“We were the criminals in the case and you know that! We broke into her lair and she was just trying to protect her eggs!” Alistair exploded.

“I didn’t know you were such an expert about Dragons my boy? How come you knew for sure that was a female dragon instead of a male? Did you take any lessons or is it also another innate talent?”

“Cut the small talk, Rothgar, I know what I heard…” Alistair insisted.

The fat wizard grinned, nodding his head sarcastically.

“Oh yes, you’ve heard the testimony of a Green Dragon which deliberately spoke in its own language and you just happened to speak the most difficult idiom in the whole universe?” Rothgar faced Alistair, completely ignoring his frightening bulk.

“Are you telling me that I’m liar?” The winged lad sounded outraged.

“Of course not, my beautiful lad, those of your kind can ever be untruthful and in many cases, may sense when lies are being told, but that still doesn’t completely exclude the possibility of fooling a celestial one. Especially by someone experienced and sneaky as an old Dragon” Rothgar dared to touch Alistair’s powerfully muscular arm, showing that he was indeed trying to understand his preoccupation.

Alistair didn’t answer, I could tell by looking into his eyes that he got surprised to notice sincerity in Rothgar’s speech.

“But she told me…” The brave lad still felt suddenly confused.

“Did you actually see any sign of eggs or wyrmlings in that lair?”

“I know I didn’t, and I would have smelled them miles from distance!” Tassler whispered in my ear.

“No female dragon would enter hibernation right after laying her eggs, that’s just irrational; the wyrmlings are vulnerable to predators at the dawn of their lives. The nasty beast just tried to charm you into getting on her side my dear boy; it probably knew that if you were out of the way, things would get much easier.”

“He’s right…” I sighed, remembering that after Alistair threw the dragon out of the mountain he actually didn’t attack it any longer in fact he just avoided getting into physical confrontation with the Wyrm.

“How could she… it fooled me about being female?”

“It’s one among the many innate powers of the Wyrms, they can persuade their victims into doing the most improbable things, fortunately for you the enhancements of your lineage interfered with the effects of this ability, although you were convinced that you were attacking the wrong individual, you still could act against its intents”

The wings retracted as the colossal muscle boy recognized his mistake.

“It’s just silly how easily I could be convinced about the gender mismatch” The angel boy snorted really uncomfortable.

“That’s because, unlike most of creatures, all dragons look exactly alike, their sexual organs are hidden inside their bodies and only exposed when they enter mating ritual, no other beings than Wyrms themselves can immediately recognize the difference between genders.” Rothgar explained in his now usual patient and warm voice tone, definitely proving to me that he was indeed the exemplary master I remembered.

Alistair seemed convinced; his expression lost the accusation frown and regained the naivety I loved so much.

“Forgive me, Master Rothgar; I was a fool to believe in that nasty monster…” Although he had the boldness to challenge Rothgar just a few minutes ago, Alistair also had the humbleness to recognize his misjudgment about the Iridium’s Master loyalty. He kneeled before the wizard and presented his sincere apologies.

Both the tanned muscle teen and I blushed into all shades of red; Alistair stood up and slowly turned his massive back on Rothgar, looking down at me with big golden puppy eyes that he knew would charm my possible anger.

“Sorry for making a fool of myself, I just needed to protect you…” He confessed, in such a tender tone that made us even more embarrassed. Tassler poked me with his elbow and even the snob Silkram could barely disguise his grin.

“Well, thanks, but next time don’t jump into conclusions without proper evidences” I replied overcoming the urge to jump in those massive arms and kiss the cuteness of his over embarrassed face.

“Ah… to be young and in love, that’s something I really miss!” Rothgar commented touching the powerful shoulders of the boy who towered over the incredibly tall wizard by almost two whole feet.

I barely noticed that Alistair and I were actually holding hands; I don’t seem to control my own behavior when I’m close to that winged lad anymore. I just smiled back at my mentor sliding my thin finger from Alistair’s enormous paw, lifting the big rocky Tablet carved with lots of arcane symbols.
“I guess now we can finally resume to the main research huh?” Rothgar asked me with a naughty look.

“I still will get lots of golden pieces for that Tablet, fat man; you just wait until I’m done.” I replied trying to keep my sharp edgy reputation in front of the audience.

---

The sterile silence of Rothgar’s lab sometimes felt really inhospitable, especially when I knew that my winged boy waited for me outside the magically sealed room, but I had gone too far to give into such frivolous thing as relationship issues.

Taking a deep breath to dismiss the lustful thoughts that could interfere with my magic concentration I paid close attention to the Dragon Tablet.

There were many symbols similar to those overlaid in Shogal’s scrolls, but the trick to work with such tool was taking each fragment of the magical phrases and trying to fit them in every single one of the many characters of the Draconic Table, which proved to be not only a work of patience and dedication, but eventually, one simple lost the comprehension over the whole text to be transcript.

I had no further doubt that was indeed the Ultimate Transmutation Spell; what really scared me was the fact that this spell was actually just a first draft, but even so it must have caused a tremendous repercussion because a Seal Rune had been imposed over it

The effects of the Seal Rune prevent the spell to be cast, copied or even remembered by anyone neither pronounced in any understandable language, which proved to be a very effective way to halt any further development of the sealed spell.

A most interesting of detail was that the Seal had not been imposed by another wizard, but the Wyrm Council itself.

The Council is the reunion of the Elder Dragons of all Kinds; they consider themselves greatest Keepers of Arcane Magic. The powerful creatures embraced as their sacred mission to watch over the ways other creatures took their precious gift to the world. In other words, they were always sticking their big muzzles in everything that they thought would break their alleged domain over the Arcane Sciences.

I wondered what could be so nasty, so utterly selfish and dangerous that forced the whole Wyrm Council to impose a Sealing Rune on a mere draft. For all that I knew, a draft spell could just blow up in the face of the caster, it would be required a long time in order to perfect the results primarily aimed on a simple draft.

Days and nights passed unnoticed, when least expected already five days were gone.

When I finally seemed to have gone through the first third of the overlaid spell message, there was an undeniable feeling of familiarity with those arcane phrases. I dropped the pen and read what I had done so far.

“I command the essential forces of the universe to change into my will…” I barely had said those words and my spine froze.

“That’s quite similar to my father’s signature opening for a spell!” I casually said already trying to dismiss the thought of my mind.

However, the deeper I worked on the translation, the more horrified I got.

My body felt strangely energized for the thrill of the investigation. The sharpness of my eyes, already recognizing the meaning of each draconic character actually optimized the job, although the hours still slipped though my fingers as I struggled to get the mysteries of those uncanny signs unveiled before my eyes.

The coincidences between my late father’s arcane signature and the text unveiled in sealed scrolls were just piling on my head. Although I couldn’t yet understand what the exact purpose of the spell was, I’ve never seen such powerful incantation systems together, which meant that if this spell could actually work, the magical balance would be seriously affected.

When all the Wyrm Runes had been removed from the spell, my limbs were completely numb and my eyes filled with tears, but those weren’t tears from sadness neither from joy. For a freak of Fate, I was the one who lifted the Seal Rune of a Spell draft my father had created, most likely the spell which have caused his execution.

Vaughn Threshold’s spells were famous among Wizard society, all of them had been immortalized in the Arcane Towers’ libraries after the brave wizard bravely perished at the Magical War, fighting to protect his beloved wife Lady Syrill and his comrade Rothgar. Official story says that one Spell of Vaughn Threshold was lost forever during the combat

However, among wizard social circles, rumor had it that he didn’t die fighting at Syrill’s side, he actually had fought against his own wife and former allies.

Dark memories of my childhood were back to haunt my mind once again.

---

Being raised in the elf society for my whole life was not easy. I was always excluded from the rest of youngsters. I was indeed much younger, although my development was actually more pronounced, the odd-looking “half human”, but there were also other hybrids and they really had a pretty warming reception, at least when compared to the isolation treatment they gave me.

The reason for my social exclusion was no other than my father.

When I was born, my father’s middle age was long passed. He and my mother had been adventuring partners for almost 20 years, before my mother finally accepted to marry him. Syrill was most afraid of her people’s reaction. No matter how powerful or important, any Lady Elf who married a human was automatically worth of pity, because he would be a wife for the briefest time, soon to become a widow for all the eternity of her undying youth.

Meanwhile, Vaughn Senior’s greatest disappointment was watching impotent his aging body slowly taking his time with his beloved family.

Until the day mighty hero of Rhysmild suddenly decided that he would not bow under the aggressive of Father Time; there would be magical solutions to prolong his lifetime. The most obvious means were the dark arts of Necromancy, but those also had a very high price: in order to achieve immortality one would have to give away his soul.

The sunset of Threshold’s glorious trajectory was marked by apparently unceasing studies at Iridium, where he joined forces with his once pupil and now life time friend Rothgar, who had succeed him at the Leadership of the Tower, when the former master married the Regent of House Yendrill. Together they were decided to overcome their naturally ephemeral condition.

The details of their studies remained a mystery to me, the only thing I remember was Tassler suddenly taking me to the Elven Fortresses on the Crystal Mountains in the middle of the night, where I spent over a whole year without even hearing about my parents. When mother finally returned, I noticed right away her usual beautiful glow was gone.

She told me that my father had died fighting a dangerous enemy, that he had saved her to keep on my education, but from that day own I could almost tell that her decision to leave for the Ports was not far from being announced. I still felt silly for secret idolizing the memory of my father; I used to brag about him to every one, which probably caused my social regarding to drop even lower.

However, the unparallel elven gossip tradition was just as cruel as it was sharp and opportunist. I had barely started my studies at the House where not even as the son of the Regent I would get a warmer reception, the other apprentices were always very suspicious about me.

It started with light sarcastic innuendos, but if grew harsher steadily, as I showed my outstanding potential as a wizard, envy became my daily nemesis. It didn’t take long until one of them vomited horrible accusations about my Father’s memory.

I had been kept ignorant for way too long, so I started digging every single detail about my father’s death, and insistently trying to squeeze the truth from Tassler, the more he refused to talk about it, the more I knew something was wrong. Finally, one night my mother told me all about the death of her husband.

I could tell that unveiling the truth to me was like suffering the pain all over.

She reported the way how her beloved desperately pursued immortality, how many times did she warn him about the dangerous studies he had realized in the Arts of Transmutation; Mother feared that Father had crossed the thin line between dedication and obsession to achieve his intent. Her keen instincts proved to be true in the day Rothgar himself appeared to her, severely wounded and desperate for telling all about Vaughn’s plans.

My father had taken his search for power above Nature way too far; if he wasn’t stopped his experiences would certainly bring the Havoc and Destruction, not even the last appeal from his wife could persuade the megalomaniac Wizard to halt his dangerous journey.

From that day it didn’t take long until the Mystical Coalition, the so far unheard union between all spellcasters: Humans, elves, Dragons and even the Titans, the powerful and eternal heralds of the Gods, the ultimate link between mystical power and the Primordial Plane, where only Divine Entities dwell, the source for all magic, no matter if arcane or divine.

Syrill herself assumed the leadership of the wizardry front, even if that meant fighting against the man she had chosen to marry, and although the exact stage of development of such hideous plan were never precise, just the very idea of such peril was alarming enough to gather such heterogenic and powerful forces.

Nonetheless, Mother told me that Coalition was victorious only because of their timing, if my father had accomplished his intents not even all magical power within the Endless Planes would be able to overpower him. Fortunately, Vaughn had been defeated and his plans destroyed.

In honor of Lady Syrill’s unearthed act of altruism, the Coalition decided to keep people ignorant about the true details of the War. Despite his crimes, Vaughn Threshold was not to be dishonored as a wizard; the memory of his heroic deeds would outlive the shame of his last days. He would be always revered in his Hometown as the hero, who many times had fought for their freedom.

However, because of his unexplainable greed and megalomaniac thirst for power his own wife had to become his enemy and slayer; ultimately, in order to save Life, she had brought widowhood upon herself, and for that my mother had clearly lost the will to live. Little time had passed between the day of my mother’s revelation and her final departure to the Lost Ports where the elves would join their Creator of the Grace.

From the day I found out the truth of his death, I denied my human inheritance and the name of my Father, I was to become solely the son of Lady Syrill and her successor at the Regency of House Yendrill, no matter if I were to die trying to overcome unreasonable and prejudicial trials of worth and commitment to the Elven Nation.

---

The hot liquid wax from a nearby candle dropped several times over my hand before it actually burnt its way into my perception, the pain snapped me from the terrible remembrances I tried so hard to suppress over the years.

I was overtaken by a sudden urge to vomit, even though my stomach was completely empty. The perfect circular shape of the lab only got me even more nauseated. My own head filled with terrible thoughts.

I tried to focus on logical arguments, checking if that draft indeed meant such menace, but reading the arcane texts didn’t make me calmer, quite the contrary; even though that was indeed a draft, the Coalition had been wise to strike fast because an experienced and powerful wizard like my father was more than used in combining the key elements to forge a masterpiece spell in the smallest amount of time.

Like a pale light of hope over my dark fears, I realized that the only missing part in the draft was the activation phrase, which was a good thing after all, because that prevented the spell from working.

The grave voice of Lady Magdel filled my mind with her insistent warnings.

“I hope they help you in your mission, but if you realize that even you might fall for their lure of the scrolls, please don’t hesitate in destroying them.”

No matter how many times she tried to warn me, I had unlocked the Ultimate Transmutation Spell, even though I didn’t know that my own maniac father had drafted this legendary magic. The very feeling of unleashing such dangerous power back into the world nauseated me.

I stood up nervously, trying to burn the scrolls in the dim flame of the candles, but I soon cursed my clumsy stupidity, because that resource was useless, these scrolls were probably made with magically protected material, no mundane ways of destruction would work, the only way to destroy them would required really powerful spells that I hadn’t prepared.

Like a criminal vanishing from the crime scene, I quickly grabbed the scrolls and rolled them back into my robes, their now unleashed powerful aura felt cold against my skin, but it surely warmed my magical senses. Rushing from Rothgar’s lab I felt suddenly relieved to find Alistair patiently waiting for me, but his face was just as worried as mine.

“I really worry about you locked up in that place…” My angelical lover hugged me tight, the safety in his muscular arms might not be absolute, but it really helped me getting my thoughts together.

“We need to speak with Rothgar…” I whispered as he lowered me back to the ground.

Alistair frowned. “Is anything wrong, Vaughn?”

I faked a smile “No, but I really needed his guidance with a few wizard issues.”

The golden eyes of my lad still looked worried; he held hands with me as we moved further into the several rooms of Iridium. Since it was late in the night, many of the pupils and workers had already gone to their bedrooms, it took us quite some time until we finally located the preposterous Silkram getting back from the library.

“Ah, Master Vaughn, I didn’t expect you to come out tonight, do you want me to…”

“Just bring me Rothgar, Silkram, as fast as you can!” I harshly told him, and Rothgar’s pupil replied with a polite grin as he turned into a gaseous form.

“I will take your message to him, noble Vaughn” he said as his translucent body went through the walls.

Alistair held me tighter into his body “Vaughn, you feel like you’re in fever, shouldn’t you eat something?”

“I’ll be fine as soon as I speak with Rothgar, Al. Please try to understand me…”

The chilly night was just as blue as that glorious one when we made love, but this time, not only the lustful innocence of my muscular beloved could take my mind of such terrible reality, I had to destroy the scrolls once and for all before they would fall in the wrong hands. Fortunately, I was protected by the City’s uncanny defenses. Ironically, the same man had built the reason for my worry and relief.

Alistair took me into the patio again, we sat on the bench watching the beautiful night, although he couldn’t guess the troubles I had gone through because of my greedy stubbornness, I could feel he was just trying to comfort my sorrow, even though he knew I wouldn’t talk to him about the undeniable preoccupation that fogged the glow of my green eyes.

The sound of a chirping owl called my attention. Since we were at heavily fortified location I thought there wouldn’t be a reason for Tassler to resource to his sneaky methods, my guess was that the elf was just bored of doing nothing but waiting for me to finish my studies. Soon, Alistair and I were looking for Tassler’s stealth bulk, but since it was nearly useless, the elven bodyguard just appeared from wherever he was hiding.

“I’m not in the mood for your jokes, Tassler…” I said coldly but the look on his face suddenly seemed colder than an iceberg.

“Are you mad at someone my friend?” Alistair asked

“I might become Al. Anyway, back the day when we fought in the Dragon’s Lair we couldn’t understand anything, but the big lad assured that it was indeed a female dragon.” Tassler started with an unusual bitterness on his tone.

“Are you still worried about that incident?”.

“I’ve always bragged about having the best senses among the elves, and I would rather be dead than recognizing that my sharp eyesight or my smelling capabilities were fading with age.”

“Alistair had been charmed by the monster, it’s not that hard to imagine, the reason why you and I couldn’t be fooled is because we are elven people and we are immune to such spells...” I tried to finish that subject, because much worse problems already appeared on my way.

“What if it wasn’t trying to charm Alistair? What if it was being honest? Nasty dragons can also tell the truth when they are convinced that they cannot win…” Tassler insisted.

“Well if it was an egging Female, we would at least see her eggs and you told me that you could smell dragon’s eggs a mile away.”

“I normally would, if they were above the ground, it was harder to smell them once they were buried over 6 feet in the soil underneath tons of gold and precious items.” Tassler grinned as he unveiled the object he carried. It was a large egg, judging by the aspect and the coloration; it indeed belonged to a Green Dragon.

“There were dozens like these, that dragon buried her own eggs underneath the treasure, that’s why we couldn’t see them inside the lair” Tassler handed his found to my huge lover, who suddenly looked really pissed.

“What the hell is going on?” He screamed, breaking the whispering etiquette the late hour claimed. I felt my hear racing inside my chest.

“Alistair, we don’t have time for a scene, even if that was not the Dragon Rothgar indicated, the Draconic Tablet was there, and right now, I really need to speak with Rothgar, he is the only one who can help us, so I think we should give him the benefit of the doubt, maybe he didn’t…”

“Do you need my assistance, young Vaughn?” Rothgar said coming from behind the pillars, his heavy bulk figure supporting the weight on the huge staff.

Tassler and Alistair exchanged looks, but they remained quiet as I approached my former Master.

“Rothgar, I have terrible news, this thing I uncovered is much too dangerous, and we have to destroy it together…”

“Why would you do such thing, my student?” Rothgar asked me, for a moment his crossed eyes seemed to focus totally on my worried expression.

I sighed. “This is the Ultimate Transmutation Spell was drafted by my father…”

Tassler went livid as he heard my low voice tone, Alistair’s expression seemed even more worried, even though I was sure he didn’t know the actual danger we were in.

“Why yes, my pupil, I’ve always been aware of that. Did you forget that I was your father’s helper when he worked on this spell?” Rothgar said in a casual tone that took me completely by surprise.

“Master, this was the quickmatch for the Magical War that killed my father. This spell was sealed by the Wyrm Council but now I’ve unleashed this terrible menace once again.”

My voice sounded like a fearing congregation member confessing his sins to the priest, but Rothgar didn’t seem so worried.

“Vaughn of Threshold, you are just pursuing your own way into overcoming your Father’s grandeur” The fat old man’s voice filled my ears with a warm breath.

“What? No, I can’t do this, this spell destroyed my family and it wasn’t even finished!” I yelled, stepping back from that suddenly frightening figure.

“Unlocking the Ultimate Spell was your greatest feat, my boy. You’ve just outsmarted those nasty lizards that tried to halt the achievement of true knowledge” Rothgar smiled as he heavily walked closer to me.

“Rothgar, what are you saying? You were the one who first noticed the danger of these scrolls; you were the one who alerted my mother!” I found myself screaming at the top of my lungs, refusing to believe in the words of my mentor.

“Vaughn, if you want, we can leave now…” Alistair stood at my side His deep voice tone and his puffed massive chest trying to protect my noticeably shocked figure.

The fat crossed-eyed man nodded his head.

“I know what I’ve done in the past, boy, and I’ve lived to regret my betrayal!”

“What are you talking about, old man?” Tassler exploded.

“I was just a young, na?ve wizard, when your father told me about the probabilities of the Spell he was working, I was marveled, but at some point I was completely taken aback because of the probabilities, that’s when my fear and lack of better instruction leaded me to betray my own master…” Rothgar sounded so sincere that for the first time I doubted of his mental sanity.

Suddenly, I felt really nauseated; the urge to vomit was almost unbearable.

I stepped back, trying to pull Alistair and Tassler with me.

“It was you! You manipulated me into unlocking this damn thing! You lied to me!”

“You don’t understand the glory of your own Father, Vaughn. He wanted to overcome the limits imposed by nature, that’s why a true wizard lives for, and the rightful quest of every wizard is to have all the time for his studies. Elves were lucky to have a much longer time, but even them can’t study and develop themselves forever!”

“It’s useless trying. The spell in incomplete, no one will ever be able to cast it!”

Rothgar tried to approach us once again, but I just ran away from him. “My father was insane and so are you! This spell cannot be performed, the Planes could be shredded in the process, and the activation phrase is lost” I yelled.

The other wizard suddenly became furious, heavily pounding his staff at the ground.

“Vaughn, it’s your obligation to the memory of your father to complete his work! When he died he took the activation phrase with him so the Council could never fully Seal the Spell. I know why he did such thing my boy; he wanted to give this to you as his legacy for you!”

“What are you talking about?” I busted, overcome by my own curiosity.

“This is the gift to conquer the Regency of House Yendrill, finish your Father’s spell, and become the most powerful wizard ever, rule the House of your mother and prove the stupid and narrow minded elves that you are better because you are the son of Vaughn Threshold!” His eyes popped out of his head; that was the image of madness.

“We are leaving now!” Tassler said reaching for his sword, in which he was followed by my brave lover.

A thunderous noise echoed at the patio. Rothgar’s face was taken by raging fury.

“You weak hearted fools, you have broken the spirit of the Threshold heir, it’s his mission to join the two Houses together and to rule over the Wizards as the unquestionable king!” Rothgar seemed so twisted in his delusions that even his voice sounded different.

The several members of the Mage Guard gathered around us. Alistair and Tassler covered my flanks, leaving my fragile body in the middle.

“Let him go, your maniac!” Alistair screamed loud and his voice could suddenly bring some comfort to my fears.

Rothgar’s angry face smoothened as he started floating over the ground, joined by all his mage Guards, including the nasty Silkram.

“The way I see it, my boy, you have no choice other than fulfilling the destiny your father legated you! Uncover the Activation Phrase and finish my glorious spell!” The fat man yelled and the Guards assumed offensive position.

“You… are not Rothgar…” I thought I had whispered but he seemed to have heard me.

“In the name of the beloved elven muses, the monster is back…” Tassler chanted as he noticed the crossed eyes of the wizard becoming normal and fading into a glowing green shade, just like mine.

“You are DEAD!” I screamed as I fired a powerful spell which I had been saving for an occasion of extreme peril. The massive energy wave consumed the bodies of several acolytes, but there were still too many of them, including Silkram, who just mocked me, waving his long finger.

Rothgar’s body was also unharmed, it seemed like it had a powerful protection aura.

“That’s what I wanted you to think my boy. Once Rothgar betrayed me I had not other choice but forging my own death, because the narrow minded would never let me accomplish my studies in the little lifetime I still had…”

Alistair tried to charge at our main enemy, but he felt my hand holding his arm.

“You fooled your own wife! The Lady parted much sooner because of your sinful acts!” Tassler screamed.

The possessed Rothgar laughed. “You could never accept that she chose my love over your ridiculous elven poems and songs. Syrill was a great wizard and she would never bed a ridiculous little thief like you.”

I’ve always thought Tassler took his job of guarding me a bit too far, but then I understood that he wanted to do such thing for the memory of the Lady of his heart.

Tassler roared and jumped to the nearest walls, quickly climbing his way to attack our enemies. He took the first acolyte down, but he was severely hit by several energy orbs at the same time. Fortunately, Tassler’s uncanny reflexes kept him alive; he ended up back at the ground, closer to the shadows where he would be more protected.

“This is MY SON, and even your fool attempt to be his father figure cannot deny the fact he’s going to complete my path, and claim the power that is rightful his!” The man yelled, and I could feel my heart sinking.

“What did you do with Rothgar?” I whispered.

“The only way of outsmarting those enemies was letting them believe they had taken me down, when in reality I used the last arcane powers of my decaying body to transport my mind and soul into the body of my fat pupil. Sure this spell was an improvisation and we ended up sharing the same body, but my superior intellect prevailed!” My dement father grinned.

“So, for all these years it had been you teaching me at Iridium?” I felt disgusted.

His look softened.

“Yes, my beloved boy, even though you could never know I have been at your side, helping in your training, making sure you would be brave enough to accept the preposterous quest House Yendrill would set to you. All along I had been helping you to locate the Scrolls I had created, and you proved your value each time, you’ve never disappointed me!”

“Get away from him, damned one!” Alistair stood in front of me, and I could feel a powerful aura emanating from his massive body. It felt like the sun would rise in the middle of the night.

Rothgar’s possessed body twisted in pain, with one sudden movement of its hand he finally seemed to cancel whatever power Alistair was using against him but the fat bulk landed heavily at the soil. The Iridium acolytes assured that their leader was safe from any menace from us, not even the 20’ high fall seemed to disturb that monstrous freak..

“Oh yes, the winged boyfriend of my son” He murmured.

“I never thought you would dare to exorcise my presence from this cursed body, but I guess I can’t ignore the menace you represent any longer!” The fat fingers snapped and suddenly the weather became cold.

“As soon as you entered my tower, my demons went really hungry. So I think it’s a suitable time to feed them don’t you think?” He said mischievously.

The flapping of wings grew closer. I noticed three dark figures appearing next to my father’s side. Each one was around 10’ tall and incredibly muscular, their black bat wings shimmered in dark light, the purple shade of their flimsy skin increased the massiveness of their muscles, long horns of different sizes and formats adorned their fearsome faces, the jaws were overdeveloped and filled with huge teeth . They were just as intensely hideous as Alistair was beautiful, but their muscles were indeed so massive, so powerfully built that I feared that Alistair wouldn’t be able to fight three of these monsters.

“Tender meat, fresh blood, it’s all for you to feast my hatred demons” The hellish creatures sniffed the air, one of them looked at my lad with a nasty smile that showed the putrid interior of its smelling mouth.

Alistair couldn’t resist, seeing the natural enemies of his race, my winged lover roared in fury, charging against the even bigger and more muscular abyssal fiends.

Heaven and Hell clashed above our heads, their combat was incredibly violent, even though Alistair was very strong, those three demons were rather smart and they knew how to use their own infernal abilities to weaken their alleged prey.

I focused on my best spell to vanquish with the demons, but as I was getting ready to cast, something hit me from above. Then, my hands went heavier and numb; I couldn’t even lift them to cast the spell to aid Alistair. I noticed Silkram’s hand glowing in a green light.

“This is something I like to call Trapspell, Master Vaughn. All your previously prepared spells are blocked for the rest of the hour…” Silkram bowed up from the air.

I could feel that my spells were blocked, there was no way I could help Alistair with my magic. No matter how bravely he fought, the demons were too old and too strong for my angel lad, soon their paws were piercing Alistair’s muscular armor and he screamed as those dire claws shredded his face.

“STOP THAT! LET HIM GO!” I screamed at the top of my lungs, looking directly at the body my tormented father possessed, but the fat bulking figure just grinned back at me.

“Will you cooperate with me, my son?” He looked to the demons and they held Alistair as one of them inserted his claws into his abdominal cavity, twisting them to create even more pain to my poor boyfriend.

“What do you want from me? It’s you who created the spell, why don’t you come up with the activation phrase?”

“Do you think I liked sharing this nasty body? I’ve been trying to unlock the Scrolls but the Council had done a terrific job, but you already proved to be better than me, my boy.” He said waving to his demonic henchmen to bring Alistair closer to my view.

Seeing that beauty harmed and bleeding pierced through my bravery. Although Alistair resisted surrendering, those three demons seemed to have overpowered him.

“All I want is for you to complete my spell, so I can fulfill my destiny!”

“You can’t do that, Vaughn… please remember Lady Magdel’s warning!” Alistair gasped as the demons plunged their claws deeper on his flesh.

“Once you complete the spell, the power will be mine to remodel this world at our pleasure, my son! A world where you will not be excluded, a world where your mother will be still at my side, a world where the Threshold will rule, we will be free to establish our new order!” His ideas reeked at megalomania, that was the twisted spirit of a diseased man which had been kept alive all these years for the hunger of his soul.

“If I give you the phrase, will you let them both go?” I asked seriously.

“But of course, I have no intention to play with them…”

“No Vaughn, don’t do it! You can’t give in!” The sound of his voice was strong once again. I could feel his muscles tightening as he flexed them to break free.

With two movements, Al got rid of their grip, his muscles looked somehow harder, he had triggered another ability of him, because I could tell his powers were refreshed. The fight started once again, and this time three demons were attacking with all their might, yet, Alistair managed to block and counter attack each single time.

Then something weird happened. I had the impression Alistair was actually roaring, but from his mouth a silvery fire exploded, his powerful chest inflated and produced brilliant flames that miraculously seemed to harm the bodies which were made from hellfire. The demons cried in pain as Alistair punched them; his hands were stronger than the mightiest sword in the word.

Three powerful demons fought against him but my winged lover grew more powerful at each movement. His defense was precise, his attacks were pounding the enemies, the silvery flames of his unexpected breath burnt the eyes and the hands of the enemies. Soon, the huge bodies were throw at Rothgar’s feet as Alistair reached for my side.

Alistair motioned to pick me and fly me over that place, but something actually stopped him.

“I must admit that you are quite the opponent my boy, but I have dealt with stronger foes before…” The words of my father sounded grave, his hands glowed in dark light.

“Alistair…” I looked at him and noticed that his skin was becoming darker, the miasma produced on Rothgar’s hand infected his massive body and suddenly the boy couldn’t breath. His veins were growing red, Alistair fallen at my side, gasping for air.

“Vaughn, you left me no choice. Join me or watch your beloved die, while I’ll use Tassler’s body as my new host. In his nasty elven body I’ll make sure he’ll have the suffering of an eternal lifetime. The enemy dared me as the Mage Guards threw Tassler’s unconscious body at my feet.

I stared at Alistair; his golden eyes were losing the glow, as the death spread over his body, his tanned skin slowly fading into an undead grey. I reached inside my robe and showed the scrolls, immediately the hands on the possessed body of Rothgar softened the deadly miasma for a while.

“Yes, my boy, this is our destiny, you cannot escape Fate!”

I didn’t say a word. Looking at the draft but I couldn’t silence the many different voices in my mind, the pleadings of Lady Magdel, the advise of my mother, the many love declarations Alistair gave me even if unspoken.

The enemies were powerful magicians and I was incapacitated of using my spells, the fighters were defeated because their magical defense is much weaker than mine.

That was my battle, I had to win or die fighting. The symbols of the Ultimate Spell revealed themselves into my eyes, I noticed what was the intent of the incantations, and only then I noticed why all kinds of magical beings united to forbid its usage.

The phrases at the scroll suddenly filled my mind. My father had tried to create the most powerful Transmutation Spell in order to change his body into something so powerful that not even time would be able to rule him. The form he used to achieve such power was rather interesting and dangerous.

The spell path was almost ready but still the magical influx was unbalanced, it could just destroy the whole Plane if I miscalculated. But then, if I just gave that kind of power for that monstrous bodiless soul, the very existence would be at his mercy.

“Vaughn… I trust my life to you…” Alistair managed to say as hi now cold hand touched my feet.

“…leave your future choices to your heart instead of your mind”

Suddenly my path was clear in front of me. That might not be the way one had ever thought, that could mean sacrifice everything I believed so far, but at that point this was the fairest price I had to pay.

The words pronounced by my mouth had tremendous power, at each new phrase the whole cosmos seemed to twirl in agony. The winds blew stronger; the very reason for day and night was fading.

I understood that Lady Magdel’s omens were right from the beginning.

In my journey to Regency I brought disgrace and perils to the world, my greed for power made me blind. My mind’s logical choices had taken me for the selfish path.

Now my heart should take me through another path that hopefully would be the solution.

Alistair looked up at my focused body as I finally chanted the activation phrase, however I changed the incantation phrases as I pronounced them, that brought the fury of my father’s spirit, but then it was too late, as the spell started its effects, not even he could stop it anymore.

I broke my promise to Lady Magdel.

I had attended my father’s spirit insane wish and finished the Ultimate Spell.

However, I took my destiny in my own hands.

I had fooled the trust my father had upon me, the trust that he had created me with such ambition that power itself would mean my life and my solely purpose in life.

My heart took the lead through this path, but my heart is just as hungry for love as my mind is hungry for power, from this guidance a new spell was born as soon as I pronounced the phrases.

I cast the Ultimate Transmutation Spell upon myself.

Casting this new spell directly from the scrolls would make sure to destroy any remains of the magical phrases, and I would make sure no one would ever try to search after such great menace anymore, because the power would forever protected within me.

My father would use that power to become immortal and to change the universe at his will, but I reached for something beyond this primary object. May the gods be merciful on me.

I had just invoked the power of the 10,000 Titans upon myself.

Their mere existence was doomed now, the Titans, would vanquish from this plan and their essential might would be transferred to my body. With that, I was to absorb all their power and all their glory.

Universe Powers shifted at my will, I could feel the mystic forces being rearranged, and the effects of the spell were immediate.

The Master of Iridium and his Mage Guard watched in disbelief as a tremendous energy Vortex opened in front of their surprised eyes. Not even their combined spells would do anything against me now; my body became the vessel for all the power within this existence.

As they attacked me with powerful spells, my body changed, it absorbed the magic and changed it into myself. My body grew stronger and more powerful with the energy. I stood immobilized as they simply fed my sudden hunger for more power.

The wizard clothes which were always baggy around my slender half elf body soon were filled with a tremendous bulk, I took deep breaths as I felt my enlarging limbs growing more muscular, the power within my body felt warmer as I changed into something that I feared would be too great even on my wildest dreams of grandeur.

I looked up at the enemies who insisted in their foolish attempts, my body only grew stronger as my muscles augmented absorbing the power of their spells, changing from the little skinny wizard into something gloriously muscular, bigger and more muscular than the brawniest ogre or the wildest barbarian.

The spirit of my father seemed hopelessly.

“What have you done? You changed the beauty of my creation, you’ve maculated the sacred purity of this spell!” Rothgar’s body launched a final attack against me, the 6’7” tall and enormously heavy body flew at me with such a speed that it could destroy a house.

I held him with one hand, my now strong fingers pressing firmly at his fat neck.

My body kept on growing, I could hear the ripping of my dark clothes, they were so tight now I could devise every single muscle, they were growing in different and concomitant spasms. I felt that muscles were getting so strong that their power actually belonged to the Titans themselves.

The figure of my engorging and strengthening body became each time more respectful and fearsome as the vortex kept feeding my transformation, the muscles bulged and soon they were getting free of my wizard’s clothes, the feet enlarged and pressed my toes against my boots, my chest filled with new layers of muscle and I felt they fought for more space, my narrow shoulders widened as the transmutation took place, my arms grew thicker and stronger, even Rothgar’s weight felt lighter as I kept growing stronger.

“Your memory was never touched in honor of my mother, and in her honor I don’t want you to inhabit this plane anymore, leave this body and follow your own path. My father is dead for a long time and you’re not worth of his glorious memory!” My voice grew deeper and stronger as my eyes glowed.

Rothgar’s body twisted, I felt the dire presence being expelled from his body and I eased my grip on his throat, gently putting him back. Meanwhile, the dark fog that left his eyes was vanished as I moved my hands, consuming its ghostly presence in the essential power of my transformation.

Vaughn Threshold’s own wife had tried to kill him once.

Vaughn Threshold’s own son managed to put a rest into his twisted existence, I finally destroyed the last vestige of madness that caused his ruin, and for that I was happy.

Magic Power corrupted and destroyed our family for too long.

As I my body still expanded further I watched as the Mage Guard vanished from my presence, the followers of my father’s ideas were too afraid of my growing figure to challenge me. Silkram was shocked at the sight of my body and vanished in blue fog.

Rothgar’s crossed eyed vision never seemed so beautiful to me. I wish I could hug him, but the vortex feeding my body felt so intense that I could not move because of my still growing muscles. The old wizard was free from years of slavery, but he couldn’t thank me right now.

“Young Vaughn, what disgrace have you brought upon yourself!” He asked still very weak.

“I did what had to be done, old master! I don’t care for the price I had to pay, the Titans are disappearing from this existence, but at least their power is safe within me now, no one will ever use it to change the Universe!” I said crossing my arms at my growing chest.

Rothgar looked at Alistair, fortunately he was safe from the miasma as soon as my transformation begun, the magical field of the spell which inflicted him was dispelled with a thought of mine, which proved that my physique was growing but my mystic power also increased exponentially.

The winged lad was coming to his senses, he jumped to his feet when he thought we were still in battle.

“Stay away from him you monster!” Alistair grabbed Rothgar by his collar and lifted him from the ground, but before he would do anything stupid he felt a strong hand, now just as big and powerful as his own massive paw, squeezing his shoulder gently.

“Let him go, my love! I’ve vanquished the menace once and for all!” For the first time I could say something looking at Alistair’s from a much nearer position, and those golden globes had never looked so tender before.

“Vaughn? What have happened to you?” He asked hugging me tightly. Now, our massive muscular chests pressed hard against each other, our muscles felt really strong and powerful once they rubbed. I kissed him savoring his eager tongue.

“Alistair, whatever comes from now on, it’s only because of my choice. I’ve chosen this path, but I’ve chosen this with my heart” I said feeling my muscles still augmenting. The winged lad nodded, he seemed more understanding that I could ever imagined.

The vortex which had started my transformation had ceased, apparently the changes would take less scandalous manifestations.
However, Rothgar broke our momentary happiness.

“I’m afraid this is not over, my dear Vaughn. Whatever changes you’ve done to the spell, you still used its main source, and you’re draining the power of the Ten thousand Titans, which means this is far from over…”

“What do you mean Rothgar?” Alistair asked still getting used to see my humongous nearly naked figure, my muscles kept on growing and the thick veins bulging with more blood and more power into them.

“The Coalition had been broken. Titans are being drained into your body, and the way I see it, soon there will be retaliation.” Rothgar nodded his head.

“I’m ready for defending my choice, noble friend” I hit my own massive chest.

“Vaughn…” Alistair moaned as we both noticed that my muscles grew so much denser, so much more massive and powerful that although I was still over one foot shorter than my lover, my body was nearly twice heavier than his own powerful bulk.

“I think my growth is still far from ending, beloved” I warned him.

“Indeed, you’ll have the power of 10,000 Titans in your body Vaughn, may the Gods be merciful on us…” Rothgar gulped repeating my very thought of moments ago.

For the first time I truly felt that I had done my own choices, and this filled my still growing massive chest with joy.

To be continued

[redkage]

I just love a sappy muscle growth ending to a chapter of a great story, don't you?

NOw I can't wait to see all the trouble those two will have to deal with, and how
Vaughn will muscle his way out of it.

[Mad Dog]

Awesome! Waiting eagerly for more!

[thufirhawat]

More, more more! Definitely more!

That's such an incredible power you have, muscl4life...when I read your sentences (and I believe it does the same to other people too), I precisely 'watch' the scene as it is described...that can only mean one thing : your writing is near perfection...

I also like the way you manage time. Sometimes you tell us something, and then you come back in time to explain what has happened previously to lead to that situation ; I would call that "flashbacks-like".

My only regret is still the lack of figures...from time to time you mention Al's height or weight...but that's not enough for me...am I that weird...?
The muscle growth ending was totally unexpected, you thrilled us to the end (I love that)!

I really look forward to read next part(s?).

Not to mention that you write a part very quickly. You're prolific!!!
Thanks and take care, man, you rock!

[recipe113]

Great story. Looking forward to the next part.

[fillups44]

Really dense and well thought out magical world. The raid of the Dragon's cave was well done and the building to the final growth scene was great as well. I'm enough of a sappy romantic to have enjoyed the final muscle hug as well.

Thanks for a great story!

[muscl4life]

Originally Posted by fillups44

Really dense and well thought out magical world. The raid of the Dragon's cave was well done and the building to the final growth scene was great as well. I'm enough of a sappy romantic to have enjoyed the final muscle hug as well.

Thanks for a great story!

I'm really enjoying writing this tale, now that the foundations are firm, i can go further into merging the fantasy world setting into muscle growth without losing the main sotryline.

As for all the comments and suggestions, I'm really thankful for your kindness, and for those who like my passion for figures well stay tuned for the next part.

Cheers

[Mad Dog]

Will do! :3

[nypup2train]

Originally Posted by thufirhawat

That's such an incredible power you have, muscl4life...when I read your sentences (and I believe it does the same to other people too), I precisely 'watch' the scene as it is described...that can only mean one thing : your writing is near perfection...

...So we can then, presumably, assume that "perfection" in writing is defined as "Almost like watching it, as if in a window, or played out inside a small cabinet into the side of which a viewing-portal has been provided?"

I suppose musclegrowth.org isn't exactly the place to launch into Diatribe #27 -

["Kids Today!" Series #13]: Why Books Can Be More Than Just-Add-Pictures Television

...But at least quit insulting Bruno!

(Mostly) Just kidding. And thanks for another excellent chapter in this series, B! I've been enjoying following it so far.

-Pup

[muscl4life]

Originally Posted by nypup2train

...So we can then, presumably, assume that "perfection" in writing is defined as "Almost like watching it, as if in a window, or played out inside a small cabinet into the side of which a viewing-portal has been provided?"

I suppose musclegrowth.org isn't exactly the place to launch into Diatribe #27 -

["Kids Today!" Series #13]: Why Books Can Be More Than Just-Add-Pictures Television

...But at least quit insulting Bruno!

(Mostly) Just kidding. And thanks for another excellent chapter in this series, B! I've been enjoying following it so far.

-Pup

I am not sure I understood the Kids Today reference but I'm glad you're enjoying this story. I've taken a few days off to the Easter Hollidays but now I'm back to the writing pad and will try to deliver Part 5 asap.

Cheers