"Hara O'Ans," He stated, his voice dripping with disdain. This doesn't seem like it will end well, Hara thought.
"You must be Thestus."
"Lord of Flame, the Great Wyvern, Father of the Horde...Yes, I have been many things, Thestus the first among them." Hara watched him carefully, taking in the sight before him. Thestus did not show his age as readily as his desert-bound sister. Broad-shouldered and heavily muscled, he stood a head taller than Hara. His unruly, black mane showed streaks of grey as it tumbled towards his waist and, like his sister, he was adorned with jewels, including a peculiar diamond upon his chest, which looked to Hara to have lightning seemingly trapped within. Eyes of molten red narrowed in his direction.
"You spoke with my dear sister," Thestus boomed. It was a statement, not a question. "I take it you have come to claim the full realization of your Gift."
"Err..." Hara hesitated. What exactly was this gift, he thought. He hadn't been exactly clear on that to begin with. The thought had slipped his mind in the frantic search for a way to contact his comrades. He decided that truth would be the best course of action.
"I'm not here for that. The Gift...I just want to get back to my friends," he said, hoping to pacify the rage he could sense was brewing behind the clenched jaw.
"Don't play games with me, boy," Thestus growled, spitting out the epithet. "I can feel Eidnar's touch on your soul. And the only time my children ever returned to me was to collect on what they thought was owed them. Your people left centuries ago, and I thought I could die in peace. Now you have returned, as your lot invariable did, needy and entitled."
"I'm not sure I understand, Thestus." Hara began, but was interrupted.
"DON'T LIE TO ME, CHILD," Thestus roared and Hara barely had time to draw his blade and meet the razor sharp sword that had been fractions of a second from sinking into his neck. Despite his age and size, Thestus was blindingly fast and Hara had to rely solely on instinct to block his attacks. The Vector HUD was useless to him, seemingly malfunctioning at such a critical time, but Hara had always considered his instinct to be superior to any real-time analysis that the suit had provided. His rise through the Academy had been, in large part, due to his fighting prowess. And yet, even with his natural ability and years of training, he found himself hard-pressed to keep up. Finally, a chance - he locked his blade with his opponents on an overhead swing and swept Thestus' right leg out from under him. Thestus bellowed and, as he dropped to his knee, released his blade, grabbed Hara's torso, and with tremendous strength, hurled him over his head. Hara had barely enough time to register what had happened when he found himself face down, several yards down the side of the mountain.
"You fight well, Hara. Better than your last relative who came up to challenge me." Thestus rearmed himself and pointed the blade down in Hara's direction. "You may yet acquit yourself with honor. Come and end my misery."
"No," Hara replied, getting to his feet and planting the blade in the dirt. "I'm being honest with you Thestus, I have no idea what this is about. I just want to go find my friends. And I could use your help."
"For eons I have tended the Flame. I willingly ignited the spark in lowly men that made them into worshiped heroes. I brought forth this very mountain, adding my own brushstroke to the masterpiece of my father. I did everything I could to help your petulant people as he would have wanted. I provided safe haven, kept enemies at bay...I had to even kill my own sister to ensure your survival." As he spoke, the diamond on his chest seemed to glow even brighter. The sky started to darken and thunder rumbled. Hara reached for his blade and he thought he felt the ground itself shake in response to the call of the heavens.
"Despite all my service to you and your people, they left me, me and my siblings. Left us to die with this world that we had sworn to guide, to care, all for you. And now you have returned and I will not be left behind again, Hara O'Ans. Today this farce of an existence ends. I will not let you leave, I will not help your kind any longer. Your people were born of Agraea. You will kill me and you leave it to die, as your people have. And if you fail, I will ensure that your corpse joins those of your forefathers in feeding this great mountain."
Thestus rose into the sky and the rain started falling in earnest. Hara tore to blade from the ground and raced up the mountain side, but Thestus had disappeared. And then he heard it, a deafening roar that shook him to his very bones, a sound that he felt within the fiber of his being. Lightning struck the stone ahead of him and, momentarily surprised, he fell to his knees. He heard, rather than felt, the gust of great wingbeats behind him. Heaving himself to his feet, turning, blade held aloft, he beheld his foe. Obsidian scales, a gaping maw, the size of the lander with red eyes of malice. A diamond of pure lightning etched upon his chest. The Great Wyvern had come for the kill.
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