Paragon of Dragons Saga-2 Part-3

This is the continuation of the main story following Kiva on her journey through Aria. I have a few projects in the works. the next saga for the First Paragon is edited and ready to be typed up. I still have to decide on the image.

The Trek and Dangers of Aria

The footsteps from the store stop at its door. When Kiva peers around Xander to see who or what is standing there. She sees a stocky five-foot or so male Dwarf looking over the military caravan.

“Well, what brings ye this way Commander?” the dwarf asks in a gruff Scottish-sounding voice.

“A bit of rest and perhaps some supplies if your postmen have returned with any today Tuvrial,” Magnus replies to the dwarf as he notices there is no one else in sight besides his men. He also notices Kiva being hesitant on leaving the wagon.

As Achormia dismounts from her horse, she surveys the post and finds it odd that the only person who greeted them is Tuvrial the post leader, when she notices Kiva is still in the wagon, she arches an eyebrow finding it strange she was still sitting in it.

“Is there something wrong with the centaurain girl Commander?” Achromia asks as Magnus approaches her from behind.

“According to Xander, Kiva has an uneasy feeling from one of the buildings here,” Magnus replies. Achromia turns towards Magnus with a surprised look.

“An uneasy feeling? You don’t mean she already has the paragon foresight already do you Magnus?” she says. Magnus turns towards Achromia and nods.

“Whoever this girl Kiva is, she may be the most powerful paragon Aria has had in a long time. Even more powerful than me, I surmise. When I rode next to the wagon, I could feel some of her strength, and there is far more hidden deep within her very being,” he says.

“I thought that was our aura I felt Magnus. Though I did think it strange you would show that much with no aggressors around.” Acrhomia says as she looks at Kiva curiously.

Captain Marwind wipes some sweat from his brow as he approaches Tuvrial.

“Hello old friend, where is the misses, and other postman Tuvrial?” he asks. Tuvrial stops dead in his tracks and looks at Marwind with a blank look on his face, yet he has fury in his dark swirling eyes. Kiva’s ears suddenly perk up as her hair and fur go on end. She quickly turns in Marwind’s direction.

“GET AWAY FROM HIM! HE’S NOT WHO YOU THINK HE IS!” Kiva yells, causing everyone to look at her then in Captain Marwind’s direction. When Captain Marwind looks back towards Tuvrial he immediately has to lean back avoiding a hammer that grazes his chin drawing some blood. Marwind quickly leaps back away from Tuvrial wiping the blood from his chin. He then draws his sword named Dragoon. When Marwind lands his armor creaks, when he glares at Tuvrial he can see a sinister aura surrounding him.

“Who or what are you?” Marwind demanded as other soldiers unsheathe their weapons and ready themselves.

A loud cackling quickly fills the air and suddenly a large blueish creature bursts through the roof of the building that Kiva had the most unease from. When it swoops over the men it grabs one up in its claws. The footman struggles and screams in fear which becomes gargled as he ages before the others, and his soul is devoured by the creature. Many of the men gasp in horror as they watch one of their own have their soul consumed before them.

“IT’S AN ALMA CRIATURA! Defend yourselves!” the veteran archer from the wagon yells as he takes aim and fires at the creature. The alma criatura dodges the arrow and tosses the footman whose soul it ate too aside. It then emits a blood-curdling roar causing all to cover their ears. Especially Xander and Kiva.

“UUUUGGGHH…It feels as if my head is about to explode!” Kiva says as she struggles in blocking the roar. Xander falls to one knee from the pain plaguing his head from the roar. The horses go wild, and the ones pulling the wagon break free and run off into the neighboring forest.

“COME FOURTH MY MINIONS! AND DO MY BIDDING!” the Alma says in its deep bellowing voice after its roar.

As the caravan regains their composure after the roar, they see that Captain Marwind and Tuvrial are already locked in combat. Groaning begins to fill the air emitting from below them. A footman suddenly yelps in fear as his leg is grabbed by a sickly-looking hand protruding from the ground. The caravan watches in horror as the people from the post and other travelers emerge from the ground as walking corpses! The footman from earlier who had his soul eaten also rises as a walking corpse and begins attacking his former allies.

Kiva’s ears lower as she watches in horror as the walking corpses begin attacking the soldiers. She quickly holds her knees tight to her chest. She shivers in fear, something she has never done before. She has never been paralyzed with fear, not even when she was in the Army Rangers deploying on missions.

“This is a nightmare… that’s all it is…it has to be. This can’t be real! I’m still in the little hut by the river back in the village and I’m having a fever dream.” Kiva rambles as a couple of footmen have their souls devoured by the alma criatura.

“Kiva snap out of it! Kiva, KIVA LISTENTO ME!” When Kiva looks up, she sees Xander yelling at her as he fights and cuts down a walking corpse. She blinks a few times as she watches Xander cuts down another walking corpse as it tries to attack the wagon. After a moment of watching Xander cut down a third walking corpse trying to get the wagon, Kiva snaps out of her fear trance. As she does three walking corpses climb up on top of the wagon with her.

“Shit not good!” Kiva says as she looks around the wagon for something to fight with. When one of the walking corpses is about to lunge to attack her, she grabs one of the supply crates and swings the fifty-pound crate hitting the walking corpse square in the jaw and sending its head flying off into the distance

.…Ok I haven’t been able to swing something heavy like this for a while without hurting myself she thinks in her male voice as the second comes near her. She swings the crate sideways this time aiming for the head. When the crate connects it sends the second walking corpse its head detaches from its body and flies off.

The walking corpse’s head lands at the feet of Achromia who sets three on fire with her magic.

“Commander Magnus! We must defeat the alma criatura in order for this madness to stop!” Acromia says as she strikes a fourth one down with her magic.

Magnus blocks three walking corpses with Dragmir his shield, as he cuts down another three with a single swing of Dragonsoul his sword.

“Agreed Achromia, I’m open to suggestions you may have to achieve this,” he says as he cuts another two walking corpses down with Dragonsoul. Both Achromia and Magnus watch in horror as the alma criatura swoops down, again and again, devouring their men’s souls, adding them to its ranks.

As the battle continues to unfold Ben and John fight back-to-back trying to make sense of the situation unfolding before them.

“Is this what it was like back during the Infernal invasion Ben?” John asks as he deflects a blow from a walking corpse, followed by piercing it with his sword through the abdomen.

“If we add around another ten times as many or so, you might have a minor skirmish numbers. This is more of a sack run for resupplying resources.” Ben replies as he smashes a walking corpse with his shield and cuts the following one in half in a fluid motion from his experience and training from the previous war.

“So, what’s the plan then?” John asks.

“Keep your guard up and stay alive. We will try and give assistance to Captain Marwind” Ben says as the two fight and slowly head in Marwind’s direction. As Captain Marwind battles Tuvrial he notices tears in his eyes, indicating that he still his soul. “I will save you Tuvrial! I promise will old friend,” Marwind says as he suddenly hears a firing order given from High Commander Magnus to a group of archers.

Achromia lights the arrow tips on fire with a flick of her wrist, before the arrows fly. The alma criatura sees the counterattack and dodges nearly all the arrows, a couple impact the creature’s arm making it emit a howl of pain. Xander has created a small perimeter around the wagon with the other four passengers who were riding in it with him and Kiva.

She is the only one still in the wagon with the three bodies of the walking corpses who attacked her there, the final one she defeated by smashing it down with the crate which broke when it impacted the wagon floor spilling out the food inside. The veteran archer who was riding shotgun begins grouping up more archers and leads them in another assault against the alma criatura.

Kiva observes the battle with a chill down her spine. Even though the footmen have defended themselves well, it seems to have little effect on the situation. She watches in horror as footmen who’ve had their souls eaten rise again, and fight against their former comrades. She notices that some of the other defeated walking corpses are putting themselves back together by reattaching their limbs and rising up once more.

This can’t go on forever… eventually, everyone will tire out. Kiva thinks in her male voice as she looks around the wagon. She finds a crate with strange markings which piques her interest. As she gets closer to the crate, she kneels as the alma criatura swoops over her area and picks up two people defending her. One is the footman from earlier who mentioned he joined the military to provide for his family, the other is Xander! Both struggle in fighting the alma criatura as it has them in its clutches. Xander manages to free his sword arm. Just as the alma criatura is about to eat the footman’s soul he prays.

“Be good Marcus protect your mother and your siblings… You’re the man of the homestead now…” he says closing his eyes. Suddenly an arrow hits the alma criatura in the eye causing blood to run down its cheek and howls out in pain. When Xander and the footman look to see who fired the arrow they see the noble footman already notching up another arrow. Using the brief distraction to his advantage Xander swings his sword and cuts the alma criatura’s arm off holding the footman. As the footman falls another five arrows hit the alma two in the shoulder, two in the side of its neck, and one in its belly. The arrows are from the group being led by the veteran archer. The footman rushes to the other who fell to check on him, and the alma criatura grips Xander tighter with its remaining claw. It howls in pain and then looks down at Xander.

“Your soul will heal my body you miserable wretch!” the alma criatura says as it opens its mouth wide revealing its razor-sharp teeth. Xander’s aura begins to glow, and his soul is about to release from his body. The alma criatura is hit in its good eye by a glass orb that shatters upon impact releasing an orange liquid that covers half the creature’s face. This causes the alma criatura to drop Xander and franticly try and remove the foreign substance from its being.

After landing heroically on one knee Xander looks up to see who threw the orb and he sees Kiva in a pitcher-like stance, she throws another orb as if it was a fastball at the creature. When the second orb impacts the shattering of the glass catches the attention of Achromia and Magnus. When the two look up and see what’s happening, they see Kiva throwing the orbs, the two leaders nod to one another and Achromia takes flight with her magic. The alma criatura in a fit of rage which also enrages the walking corpses swoops down and grabs Kiva gripping her tight while releasing a roar of pure rage.

Kiva grunts as the creature grips her tighter. When she looks back, she sees the soldiers and Xander getting smaller and begin struggling with the walking corpses. She can also see that Magnus has cleared a path to the struggling archers and footmen, the sounds of battle still ring in her ears as she goes higher. Ben and John made it to Captain Marwind and Tuvrial, the pair protect him from the horde of walking corpses beginning to surround them. Out of the corner of her eye, Kiva sees Achromia in hot pursuit chasing her and the alma criatura. Kiva struggles to release an arm.

What is she trying to do now? Achromia thinks as she watches Kiva struggle and free an arm. She quickly notices a glint in Kiva’s hand. What is she waiting for? Throw the mana grenade. Achromia thinks. At around two hundred feet in the air the alma criatura stops and turns its attention to Kiva and opens its mouth big and wide revealing even more rows of razor-sharp teeth.

“Your soul is mine!” the alma roars.

“In your dreams you DAMNED MONSTER!” Kiva yells back as she throws the mana grenade into the creature’s mouth.

The glass shatters and the orange liquid coats the inside of the alma criatura’s mouth causing it to let go of Kiva as it choked on the liquid sloshing around in its throat. Once Kiva falls free from the creature’s grip and Achromia gets within range she unleashes a large fire spell that ignites all the orange liquid on the surface of the creature, including the liquid down its throat. Making the alma criatura burn inside and out. This causes the alma criatura to yowl out in anguish that echoes over the battlefield.

“You will burn for your miss deeds!” Achromia says before she quickly dives after Kiva who plummets quickly towards the ground. As Kiva falls, she tries to take a stance to brace herself for impact like she was taught back in her Army Ranger training, not noticing that Achromia is already tailing her and quickly gaining. When Kiva is around fifteen feet from the ground she takes in a deep breath and braces for impact. When she’s around a foot from the ground about to land face first she suddenly stops falling.

“What the hell? Why did I stop?” Kiva exclaims as she looks around confused.

“You stopped because I cast levitate on you paragon,” Achromia says above Kiva making her look up and release a breath of relief.

“Thank god, I wasn’t Looking forward to becoming street pizza,” Kiva says as she thanks Achromia.“Street pizza? What is street pizza “ Achromia queries Kiva.

“Let’s just say it’s not something you want to happen to yourself. And it can hurt a lot.” Kiva replies

As Achromia lands beside Kiva they hear a high-pitched screeching and a thunderous thud around ten or so from them. When they turn and see what it is, they see the alma criatura burn away becoming ash.

Achromia points at the burning alma criatura and asks, “Street pizza?”

“Badly burned street pizza…” Kiva replies.

As the two watch the alma criatura burn away they are surrounded by the walking corpses. Just before they attack the corpses begin falling to the ground and their groans slowly begin to quiet. Only to be followed by the thudding as their bodies hit the ground in a domino effect, once on the ground they close their eyes one last time. As this happens the eaten souls rise and fade into the sky released from their torment. A couple who belonged to the footmen who were eaten give the ladies a salute before moving on. The priests from the caravan say a small blessing to offer the souls safe passage into the afterlife.

The duel between Marwind and Tuvrial concluded when Marwind knocked the dwarf out with a hard blow to the head. Kiva and Achromia are approached by the five from the wagon, Xander and Magnus. Kiva turns to Magnus with an annoyed look on her face.

“Please tell me something like this isn’t an everyday occurrence,” she says.“I can assure you things like this do not happen every day. But I must say you have impressed me with your battle sense. Also, where did you learn to throw like that? It was an amazing feat I have never seen anyone throw in such a manner before.” Magnus says as many behind him nod. Kiva’s ears lower and her cheeks turn a slight red from bashfulness.

“Well umm… you see from where I’m from we have a game called baseball and I was a pitcher for my friends…” she explains.

The group looks at each other in confusion and murmur, “Baseball?” a couple of soldiers say. “Pitcher, what is that?” Another pair say as Captain Marwind, along with Ben and John approach them.

“Commander Magnus… apparently the situation is a little worse than expected…” Marwind says grimly.

Worse… how can the situation be worse than expected? Kiva thinks in her male voice as she looks at Marwind.

“Explain Captain, how is it worse?” Magnus asks.

Captain Marwind explains that Tuvrial woke up a couple of minutes after knocking him out and that the band known as The Children of the Night, had kidnapped his wife. Mind-controlled him and her, and with a warlock in their mists summoned the alma criatura. All for the purpose of feeding on the travelers coming through the post. And that this has been going on for three months.

“How could someone be so vile and do such things?” Xander asks.

“Evil people big guy…” Kiva replies as her hand’s ball into fists.

“The Children of the Night… that’s a little more troubling than I care to admit. They have never been this bold before.” Magnus says as he strokes his graying beard with his gauntlet. Kiva turns towards Magnus and notices that he and Achromia have a slight look of concern on their faces.

“Who are these Children of the Night?” she asks. Magnus turns towards her and explains,

“They are a loosely organized group of vampires thousands of years old. But they have never been so bold or ever plotted something of this nature before. Something has changed.” Magnus replies and Kiva has a look of bewilderment on her face when she hears the word vampire.

“Vampires?! Tha-that’s uh is just great!” she says in disbelief.

In a cave several miles north of the outpost is where the Children of the Night hide in the shadows. Vurial’s wife Melga under a similar spell, serves the vampires goblets of blood from the post’s first daily prey. They have her topless and wearing nothing but a tattered loincloth from the waist down. After serving the band’s leader his goblet and he turns away to look at a mirror to speak into, he slaps her rump.

“Milady I have regretful news. The scouts watching the outpost just reported in via mana crystals. They say that the alma criatura was defeated,” he says.

“Defeated by whom minion?” the female warlock demanded to know in a harsh tone. As the transmission continues the mirror’s mouth mimics mouth movement to an extent. Its eyes and triangular gem in the middle of its forehead glow red.

“It seems that High Commander Magnus Dreyer’s forces unexpectedly entered the post and during the battle, his second in command Achromia along with an unfamiliar centaurain female killed the alma criatura,” the vampire leader replies.

“An unfamiliar centaurain female? Was she clothed in red and had light brown hair?” the warlock questions.

“Yes Milady…” the leader replies.

“Interesting very interesting keep me informed with her movements,” she replies, and the transmission abruptly ends.

“Well, it seems the prey from my vision from a year ago has finally shown itself.” the warlock says followed by maniacal laughter that echoes throughout her cavern hideaway.

Saga-2 concluded

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