Post by Fainis the Sadistic Pansexual on Jul 12, 2014 1:57:28 GMT -5
Snarling in rage, Kedos slung his body low and raised a spiny forearm, catching the blast of boiling gaseous might on the blood-stained bed of nails that was his Crimson Shield. The damp spikes scattered the beam, but even with the angry column divided a dozen ways, the sea dragon was still pushed back, his claws grinding against ice as he struggled to keep his footing. Curling his lips and showing pearly white fangs in a hateful sneer, the old one extended the serrated scales on his feet, digging them into the shattered tundra and halting his slow, backwards slide. The navy drake barked in laughter and began trudging forward, parting the roaring pillar of plasma that tethered him to Charybdis. The superheated gas that slammed into his forearm wanted to combust, to bloom into an out-of-control inferno and engulf Kedos, but the brine-soaked flesh of the dragon prevented it from detonating. Though the saturated hide of the drake resisted heat damage, it could not prevent it. Like damp wood, the skin of the sea monster smouldered, charring slowly and turning black until the dark, ashy color rivaled the red splattered across the behemoth's arms. Glowering at the Demon of the Deep as he approached, slowly pushing through the ray that scorched him, the Dragon from the Depths grinned suddenly and threw her weight forward. Sliding like a mad penguin across the damaged ice, the monstrous mermaid collided with Kedos and allowed her beam to detonate against itself as it swelled and churned with backwash rather than against the dragon's padded flesh. The northern drake howled and tumbled backwards as he was swallow by a fiery blossom of smoke and plasma, his hide steaming as he fell away. Two enormous arms lurched from the smoke that hung in the air, each finding one of Kedos's shoulder as they crashed down with the weight of one gladiatorial giant apiece. Ice cratered beneath the feet of the weighty creature as his flesh split and his muscles were strained. A holler of agony escaped the ragged throat of the drake as he staggered, teetering, but refusing to fall. Not before this wretch. Not before the mindless brute. Not before anyone!
"Your tenacity is wasted, lizard," hissed Charybdis. "Even with two of you, this is a hopeless fight and you are a fool not to see that."
"Kedos would only be a fool if he gave up," gasped the wavering serpent. "He has never given in before. He will not be starting now."
Curling her nightmarish viper's face in displeasure, Charybdis spat spitefully and hoisted her arms overhead again. With a wavering shriek like a chorus of banshees, the guardian of the Dragon Palace slammed her fists down on her foe's shoulders once again! Thick glacial ice fractured and split apart as Kedos was forced to the ground, his belly pressed against the ground as his legs crumpled and broke. His left femur was splintered and his right tibia was cracked in two places. The dragon groaned in pain as he tried, and failed, to stand. His ruined legs simply would not listen to him. The grayed eyes of the dragon grew heavy and slipped down as he panted and huffed in bone-deep exhaustion. The corners of his pale eyes' window darkened and faded as unconsciousness closed in. The Storm Bringer was drifting someplace cold and quiet...
Heaving in exertion and anger, Charybdis slithered forward, lowered her massive horned head to his, and hissed into the finned ear of the downed drake.
"Exercise wisdom for once in your life and stay down, Keddy. I swear that you will not get up again if I am forced to knock you over after this."
Drooping eyes shot wide open as the Sea Goddess's words stung his damaged membranes.
--
A younger, sleeker Kedos spat in rage as he circled a freshly killed whale, his back breaking the water like a line of razor blades as he reared his head above the surface. Another drake, a slim, grinning she-dragon that shimmered in a rainbow of greens, stared back at him from behind the bobbing carcass as he glared and snarled, a curled smile dancing across her long, blood-splattered snout.
“How dare you steal a kill from Kedos!” roared the larger male, his tail slapping the water hard in a threat display. A thousand gallons of foaming seawater surged up from his flailing paddle before raining back down.
The female merely giggled. “Oh? And what will the great Kedos do about it?”
“This!” howled the arrogant young drake as he retched a cone of azure fire at the other sea serpent. She merely smirked and lashed her own spiny, finned tail, sending the belch of dragonfire back at him with a spray of ocean water. Instead of being doused, the supernaturally persistent flames clung to the wave and crashed into his snarling face, scalding his flesh with fire, steam, and boiling water. As Kedos fell back, screaming in agony as the tender skin around his eyes burned, a voice whispered into his ear.
“Better luck next time, Keddy.”
-
The coiled dragoness laughed. “How unexpected! Are you trying to court me, Kedos? I would have sworn you were tracking me down to try and take back the meal that you believe I owe you, yet here you are offering me another... you must be quite taken with me, hm?”
“Quiet yourself, you loathsome wretch,” mumbled Kedos quietly. His voice was muffled by the whale carcass that hung limp and bloody from his jaws. “You are merely the female that I find most suitable to rear my children. The legacy of Kedos must be raised strong.”
“Oh, is that so?” purred the green she-drake as she slithered closer, swimming in circles and twisting mischievously around him like a great, scaly dolphin. Her golden eyes glinted like gems in the murky water. “Tell me, oh great Addonson, do you even know me? We have only met once after all, and I do not recollect that it ended so well for you.”
“I know you well, Taigrin,” growled Kedos. “The Green Hound of the East. The Smiling Green. Your acts may be quieter than mine, but they are carried out with no less savagery. All men and drake know of me, but they fear you. A silent, dreading fear. My shadow is death and thunder upon men, but yours is cold sweat and trembling. Few drakes can boast such universal infamy. We are two of those elite.”
The female chuckled and drew close. “Well, perhaps I will consider it then,” she murmured as she accepted the kill, her muzzle brushing against his as she sank her fangs into the blubbery offering. “I will be the one who seeks you out if I decide to accept your offer, so do not bother trying to hunt me down again. You will not succeed.” Her eyes flashed as she sank beneath the waves. “Goodbye for now, Keddy.”
-
Kedos rumbled in satisfaction as he flopped down next to Taigrin, gold and jewels shifting beneath his weight as he curled around her sprawled form. She was heavily pregnant, her belly swollen and shiny, and her scales were duller than usual, but her eyes were still hard and sly like thieved pieces of gold.
“They will be here very soon, Keddy,” she yawned. Though her eyes were bright, there were tired rings of purplish flesh beneath them. The stirring chicks made sleeping difficult for her. “Only days remain.”
Kedos grinned. “And they shall be as strong as their father and as devious as their mother.”
Taigrin sneered lovingly. “Yes, well, excuse me for hoping that they take more after me than you. I would rather them be able to solve riddles than have to resort to cutting the riddle giver down.”
“You wretch,” growled Kedos with a timbre of warning on his voice. She merely curled the corners of her mouth up and and nuzzled herself deeper into the hoard that laid beneath them. Though the gold spilled over her snout and covered her jaws, it could not muffle her quiet laughing completely.
Grumbling to himself, Kedos let his crimson eyes travel down her engorged form. His gaze softened as his inspection was completed and he could not help but notice the lack of sheen to her scales. Concern prickled at the base of his brain. “You do not look well.”
“And whose fault is that?” she asked quietly into their horde of treasure, not expecting an answer.
Several thousand tons of precious metal and gems groaned in distress as Kedos rose, his back arching and his tail swinging upwards like a serrated pillar. The large grotto where the two had made their nest trembled as he lifted to his full height and plodded towards the exit- a small pool connecting to a tunnel that lead to the open sea. “I will go hunt then.”
Taigrin grunted dismissively as he slipped into the water, though once again the gold piled around her muzzle could not hide the smile that graced her lips. Kedos growled at her insistence to be so insincere, though he said nothing. She would merely brush him off once again. With a scowl, he dove beneath the surface and streaked away with a flick of his tail. He was glad to be rid of her for the moment.
It was the last time he saw her alive.
--
Scarred eyes bulged wide with rage peered up at Charybdis and remembered.
They remembered the ice in her eyes when she deduced his past.
They remembered the utter lack of sympathy or caring.
They remembered the satisfaction.
...
They remembered and they filled with hate.
...
An awful moan filled the air. The sound echoed from every droplet of water and shard of ice that swirled through the stormy sky like the screamed despair of a god. The murky heavens seem to ripple as the terrible noise boomed through the gales of snow and rain above, parting them and allowing an ivory cascade of snow to sprinkle down as if in mourning. Kedos bellowed so loudly that his throat was torn apart and his gullet filled with blood. The curved claws of the dragon slashed at the broken ice as he pushed against it, forcing himself to his feet. A shrill whine of pain came from the drake as he froze the marrow in his broken bones, making them stiff and ready to be stood upon, for the moment at least. The milky white eyes of the blue beast stared coldly at Charybdis as he spoke, his voice thundering from every cloud in the sky and each crack in the ice.
"You are mistaken if you believe my divinity extends only to the seas. I am not just a god of the ocean."
Six writhing tendrils of water burst from the shattered ice and slashed through the air wildly. The liquid arms twisted and flailed like the tentacles of the legendary Kraken. Each was tipped by a snapping jaw of dragon jaws, complete with jagged fangs of ice, and the scarlet red eyes of a demon- blood drawn from the battle-stained sea.
"I AM A GOD OF RAGE!"
Six sets of frozen teeth plunged at Charybdis. Four were shattered instantly by the sweep of the devil's crackling plasma wings, but two found their mark through the falling debris of their slain brethren. One buried its fangs in the left arm of the mountainous sea maiden. The other bit into her neck, twisting and tearing until it had ripped away a chunk of her jugular. While the goddess's gored throat spurted blood freely into the watery jaws that had opened it, the other- the head that had anchored itself in the titan's beefy arm- began siphoning blood as well, manually drawing it from the veins of the Sea God and into its own flaring crimson eyes. The hulking body of Charybdis began to thrash in outrage as it was drained of blood. Kedos was forced to freeze the vampiric hydra that fed off the aquatic juggernaut, tangling her in a rampart of frosty coils and glaring red eyes. The tangle of scales and fangs held off the raging leviathan for just a moment so that he could draw moisture from the air and thicken his icy armor before she broke free from her bindings and seized him in her titanic talons. Roaring as he was hauled three hundred meters in the air, Kedos lashed his spiny paddle tail and dared Charybdis to try and harm him. Meeting his dare in full, the towering mass of flesh and spite raked her terrible talons across his back and shoulders. The reinforcing of his armored proved meaningless, because the hooked claws easily stripped away the layered plates of compact ice and pierced his first dorsal fin, becoming stuck. Curling her lips, the fiend tugged harder, trying to free her claws.
Instead, she ripped away the entire dorsal fin.
Kedos shrieked in agony as his first curved shark's fin fell away, still skewered on a talon. Drawing from the water lodged between his spiny scales, the maimed warrior created a curved saber of brine that stretched from between his middle and ringer fingers. Screaming, the struggling drake stabbed upwards and buried the blade in Charybdis's jaw, slicing through her throat and tongue to sting the roof of her mouth. Blood gushed from between the fangs of the Sea Goddess as she chocked on the blade lodged in her mouth, tasting the salt of its edge and the copper of her blood. Channeled more water from between his scales, Kedos began extending the blade, looking to punch through the palate of the mermaid and pierce her brain for a killing blow...
"Your tenacity is wasted, lizard," hissed Charybdis. "Even with two of you, this is a hopeless fight and you are a fool not to see that."
"Kedos would only be a fool if he gave up," gasped the wavering serpent. "He has never given in before. He will not be starting now."
Curling her nightmarish viper's face in displeasure, Charybdis spat spitefully and hoisted her arms overhead again. With a wavering shriek like a chorus of banshees, the guardian of the Dragon Palace slammed her fists down on her foe's shoulders once again! Thick glacial ice fractured and split apart as Kedos was forced to the ground, his belly pressed against the ground as his legs crumpled and broke. His left femur was splintered and his right tibia was cracked in two places. The dragon groaned in pain as he tried, and failed, to stand. His ruined legs simply would not listen to him. The grayed eyes of the dragon grew heavy and slipped down as he panted and huffed in bone-deep exhaustion. The corners of his pale eyes' window darkened and faded as unconsciousness closed in. The Storm Bringer was drifting someplace cold and quiet...
Heaving in exertion and anger, Charybdis slithered forward, lowered her massive horned head to his, and hissed into the finned ear of the downed drake.
"Exercise wisdom for once in your life and stay down, Keddy. I swear that you will not get up again if I am forced to knock you over after this."
Drooping eyes shot wide open as the Sea Goddess's words stung his damaged membranes.
--
A younger, sleeker Kedos spat in rage as he circled a freshly killed whale, his back breaking the water like a line of razor blades as he reared his head above the surface. Another drake, a slim, grinning she-dragon that shimmered in a rainbow of greens, stared back at him from behind the bobbing carcass as he glared and snarled, a curled smile dancing across her long, blood-splattered snout.
“How dare you steal a kill from Kedos!” roared the larger male, his tail slapping the water hard in a threat display. A thousand gallons of foaming seawater surged up from his flailing paddle before raining back down.
The female merely giggled. “Oh? And what will the great Kedos do about it?”
“This!” howled the arrogant young drake as he retched a cone of azure fire at the other sea serpent. She merely smirked and lashed her own spiny, finned tail, sending the belch of dragonfire back at him with a spray of ocean water. Instead of being doused, the supernaturally persistent flames clung to the wave and crashed into his snarling face, scalding his flesh with fire, steam, and boiling water. As Kedos fell back, screaming in agony as the tender skin around his eyes burned, a voice whispered into his ear.
“Better luck next time, Keddy.”
-
The coiled dragoness laughed. “How unexpected! Are you trying to court me, Kedos? I would have sworn you were tracking me down to try and take back the meal that you believe I owe you, yet here you are offering me another... you must be quite taken with me, hm?”
“Quiet yourself, you loathsome wretch,” mumbled Kedos quietly. His voice was muffled by the whale carcass that hung limp and bloody from his jaws. “You are merely the female that I find most suitable to rear my children. The legacy of Kedos must be raised strong.”
“Oh, is that so?” purred the green she-drake as she slithered closer, swimming in circles and twisting mischievously around him like a great, scaly dolphin. Her golden eyes glinted like gems in the murky water. “Tell me, oh great Addonson, do you even know me? We have only met once after all, and I do not recollect that it ended so well for you.”
“I know you well, Taigrin,” growled Kedos. “The Green Hound of the East. The Smiling Green. Your acts may be quieter than mine, but they are carried out with no less savagery. All men and drake know of me, but they fear you. A silent, dreading fear. My shadow is death and thunder upon men, but yours is cold sweat and trembling. Few drakes can boast such universal infamy. We are two of those elite.”
The female chuckled and drew close. “Well, perhaps I will consider it then,” she murmured as she accepted the kill, her muzzle brushing against his as she sank her fangs into the blubbery offering. “I will be the one who seeks you out if I decide to accept your offer, so do not bother trying to hunt me down again. You will not succeed.” Her eyes flashed as she sank beneath the waves. “Goodbye for now, Keddy.”
-
Kedos rumbled in satisfaction as he flopped down next to Taigrin, gold and jewels shifting beneath his weight as he curled around her sprawled form. She was heavily pregnant, her belly swollen and shiny, and her scales were duller than usual, but her eyes were still hard and sly like thieved pieces of gold.
“They will be here very soon, Keddy,” she yawned. Though her eyes were bright, there were tired rings of purplish flesh beneath them. The stirring chicks made sleeping difficult for her. “Only days remain.”
Kedos grinned. “And they shall be as strong as their father and as devious as their mother.”
Taigrin sneered lovingly. “Yes, well, excuse me for hoping that they take more after me than you. I would rather them be able to solve riddles than have to resort to cutting the riddle giver down.”
“You wretch,” growled Kedos with a timbre of warning on his voice. She merely curled the corners of her mouth up and and nuzzled herself deeper into the hoard that laid beneath them. Though the gold spilled over her snout and covered her jaws, it could not muffle her quiet laughing completely.
Grumbling to himself, Kedos let his crimson eyes travel down her engorged form. His gaze softened as his inspection was completed and he could not help but notice the lack of sheen to her scales. Concern prickled at the base of his brain. “You do not look well.”
“And whose fault is that?” she asked quietly into their horde of treasure, not expecting an answer.
Several thousand tons of precious metal and gems groaned in distress as Kedos rose, his back arching and his tail swinging upwards like a serrated pillar. The large grotto where the two had made their nest trembled as he lifted to his full height and plodded towards the exit- a small pool connecting to a tunnel that lead to the open sea. “I will go hunt then.”
Taigrin grunted dismissively as he slipped into the water, though once again the gold piled around her muzzle could not hide the smile that graced her lips. Kedos growled at her insistence to be so insincere, though he said nothing. She would merely brush him off once again. With a scowl, he dove beneath the surface and streaked away with a flick of his tail. He was glad to be rid of her for the moment.
It was the last time he saw her alive.
--
Scarred eyes bulged wide with rage peered up at Charybdis and remembered.
They remembered the ice in her eyes when she deduced his past.
They remembered the utter lack of sympathy or caring.
They remembered the satisfaction.
...
They remembered and they filled with hate.
...
An awful moan filled the air. The sound echoed from every droplet of water and shard of ice that swirled through the stormy sky like the screamed despair of a god. The murky heavens seem to ripple as the terrible noise boomed through the gales of snow and rain above, parting them and allowing an ivory cascade of snow to sprinkle down as if in mourning. Kedos bellowed so loudly that his throat was torn apart and his gullet filled with blood. The curved claws of the dragon slashed at the broken ice as he pushed against it, forcing himself to his feet. A shrill whine of pain came from the drake as he froze the marrow in his broken bones, making them stiff and ready to be stood upon, for the moment at least. The milky white eyes of the blue beast stared coldly at Charybdis as he spoke, his voice thundering from every cloud in the sky and each crack in the ice.
"You are mistaken if you believe my divinity extends only to the seas. I am not just a god of the ocean."
Six writhing tendrils of water burst from the shattered ice and slashed through the air wildly. The liquid arms twisted and flailed like the tentacles of the legendary Kraken. Each was tipped by a snapping jaw of dragon jaws, complete with jagged fangs of ice, and the scarlet red eyes of a demon- blood drawn from the battle-stained sea.
"I AM A GOD OF RAGE!"
Six sets of frozen teeth plunged at Charybdis. Four were shattered instantly by the sweep of the devil's crackling plasma wings, but two found their mark through the falling debris of their slain brethren. One buried its fangs in the left arm of the mountainous sea maiden. The other bit into her neck, twisting and tearing until it had ripped away a chunk of her jugular. While the goddess's gored throat spurted blood freely into the watery jaws that had opened it, the other- the head that had anchored itself in the titan's beefy arm- began siphoning blood as well, manually drawing it from the veins of the Sea God and into its own flaring crimson eyes. The hulking body of Charybdis began to thrash in outrage as it was drained of blood. Kedos was forced to freeze the vampiric hydra that fed off the aquatic juggernaut, tangling her in a rampart of frosty coils and glaring red eyes. The tangle of scales and fangs held off the raging leviathan for just a moment so that he could draw moisture from the air and thicken his icy armor before she broke free from her bindings and seized him in her titanic talons. Roaring as he was hauled three hundred meters in the air, Kedos lashed his spiny paddle tail and dared Charybdis to try and harm him. Meeting his dare in full, the towering mass of flesh and spite raked her terrible talons across his back and shoulders. The reinforcing of his armored proved meaningless, because the hooked claws easily stripped away the layered plates of compact ice and pierced his first dorsal fin, becoming stuck. Curling her lips, the fiend tugged harder, trying to free her claws.
Instead, she ripped away the entire dorsal fin.
Kedos shrieked in agony as his first curved shark's fin fell away, still skewered on a talon. Drawing from the water lodged between his spiny scales, the maimed warrior created a curved saber of brine that stretched from between his middle and ringer fingers. Screaming, the struggling drake stabbed upwards and buried the blade in Charybdis's jaw, slicing through her throat and tongue to sting the roof of her mouth. Blood gushed from between the fangs of the Sea Goddess as she chocked on the blade lodged in her mouth, tasting the salt of its edge and the copper of her blood. Channeled more water from between his scales, Kedos began extending the blade, looking to punch through the palate of the mermaid and pierce her brain for a killing blow...
