1948 Setting the Bait (Part 2)

"You have to be more specific." Zoreth replied with a mocking giggle that made the men clench their weapons harder and sent shivers down Lith's spine. "We crossed all the borders from the Desert to here."

To a casual observer, her tone seemed playful, but he knew her enough to notice the hidden threat and feel the power building up inside of her.

"Thanks, ma'am. That's more than enough for me. The details are a matter for the Constable, not me." At his signal, the soldiers surrounded the group and the mages started chanting.

"If you resist the arrest, we'll be forced to put you down. It's in your interest to cooperate with the investigation and answer our questions."

The captain wasn't stupid. Someone declaring their crimes at the city guards was already odd, but having no fear while surrounded was ominous.

'Either they are insane or more dangerous than their appearance lets out.' He thought.

"I have a counteroffer, captain." Zoreth's eyes flared with black mana that made the temperature drop several degrees. "You and your dogs go back to your master with the tail between your legs and tell them that I demand an audience with the Council."

"The city council doesn't meet on the whims of a criminal. Stand down immediately or face the consequences." The captain pretended to parlay but he gave the mages the signal to attack to kill.

Explaining to the mayor why he had to kill instead of capture a group of mages would have been bad, but it still beat being dead.

A volley of tier four speel darted from the mages to the criminals in a multi-colored arc of elemental energy. Ten tier five spells would have leveled the entire city block and the foreigners had chosen uptown as their destination.

If something happened to the luxurious villas, the mages would lose their jobs and probably their lives. Hence they had conjured solely spells that they could control with surgical precision and deadly efficiency.

Zoreth replied by unleashing a shockwave of black mana that canceled the spells and sent the entire crowd flat on the ground.

"I'm not talking about the city council, you fool. I want to speak with the Awakened Council!" A black and white aura burst out of her body, pushing guards and citizens of Maraka away as she shapeshifted into her real form.

The Dragon Fear that she emitted spread like wildfire, infecting even those who were still inside their houses, oblivious of the outside commotion. Her aura grew in size along with her body, flooding the plaza and seeping inside the protecting arrays of the mansions.

Now that her Abomination, troll, and human life force were one step away from fully merging, Zoreth's Shadow Dragon form stood over 35 meters (115') tall. She was covered in black scales as big and thick as a tower shield that turned from solid to ethereal non-stop, as if they were shifting in and out of reality.

Despite the bright sun shining over her massive body, Zoreth looked like a living shadow that light could make flicker but not chase away. On the contrary, the black of her body grew deeper as it sucked sunlight and heat.

"Go back to your masters, little man." Her giant muzzle came down, stopping millimeters away from the prone figure of the captain of the city guards. "Go and tell them that if I don't get what I want, I'll bestow Dragon magic on regular people and their secrets will be worth nothing!"

Now that she was so close, Lith could notice that Zoreth was still stuck at four eyes and all of them shone with a weird yellow light instead of the usual white of the Abominations.

'Whatever the source of the yellow light is, that's not elemental energy.' He thought. 'I wonder if her eyes and mine are so different because her human life force's evolution is stunted by the failed merging of her different energies, or if Zoreth simply took another evolutionary path.'

'I think the answer is both.' Solus replied. 'Even back when you were still a Wyrmling and had three life forces, you already had seven eyes and they shone with yellow light as well.

'They changed color only once you achieved mastery over the elements and your body could withstand their power. In Zoreth's case, four eyes are all she'll ever get and their potential is still untapped.'

'Any idea what her powers might be?' Lith asked while sharing with Solus the analysis of the Eyes of Menadion.

'None.' She inwardly shook her head. 'The Eyes can scan all forms of energy but they provide no explanation. If her evolution is incomplete as you say, our only chance to understand the difference between you two is seeing her going all out.' ᴘᴀɴᴅᴀ-ɴᴏᴠᴇʟ

'Which is unlikely.' Lith replied with a telepathic sigh. 'Unless we fight a Guardian, there's not much that can corner someone as powerful as Bytra.'

'She's almost reached the height of a white-cored Dragon.' Solus pointed out. 'From what we have seen from Vareen, Eldritches have a power and durability on par with the white cored Awakened thanks to their energy body

'Yet they lack mass and rely on Chaos to deal damage. Zoreth, instead, has now both her powers as an Eldritch and a physical prowess superior to a bright violet Dragon. Your analysis is an understatement.'

As they spoke via their mind link, Xenagrosh's aura had started to swirl, reaching for the sky. Black massive clouds had assembled, turning the day as black as the night. Gusts of powerful wind sent people tumbling along the streets, emptying the plaza.

"Have I made myself clear, little man?" Zoreth voice was a low snarl, yet it echoed throughout the city block and beyond.

The captain nodded, incapable of speaking or taking his eyes off the hypnotic gaze of the Shadow Dragon. Staring death in the eyes was terrifying but there was also beauty in it.

The captain wondered how it felt to wield such power and hoped that whoever those Awakened were, they wouldn't show up. He wanted to be the first in line to receive the gift of Dragon magic.

"Good. Then tell your soldiers and your master to stay away from us. My wife doesn't like when I kill people for petty reasons so if you force me to put a dent in her smile I might as well turn this whole city into a crater!"

Her final word was accompanied by a roar that made the ground tremble.

Even array-protected households shook and the chandeliers on the ceiling swung wildly while small objects fell off the furniture and broke. A violet blast of Origin Flames erupted from her mouth and moved toward the sky, resembling a huge snake.

Once it exploded, it blew away the black clouds and sunlight returned.

Yet its warmth was of no comfort as the citizens of Maraka were covered in a cold sweat. Even those too far to hear Zoreth's words or be affected by her Dragon aura had witnessed her power.

Something in the main plaza had darkened the sky and then it had cleansed it with fire. Religion wasn't a thing in Verendi either, but many fell to their knees and prayed to the Great Mother to spare their lives.