I Get the Sense that It Isn't Normal to have Deja Vu for -Everything-

[Hraefn]

Love it, as per usual! <3

[pajlizard]

Auugh. This is awesome! ;3;
Please more please? *flutters eyelashes*
Ohho. Male makes me chuckle, he does.

[Raptress]

((Here! Update! STOP PRODDING ME! D:
...
Hopefully I can get myself to do some more fairly soon.))



This was it. Today was the day. Today, he was of rank 90, he had completed every test thrown at him by the unforgiving or perhaps genocidal dragon trainers, and Malestryx would begin the dragon's Second Rite. Nothing would stand between him and regaining the form of an Ancient dragon, a form he sorely missed.

Nothing.. except, perhaps, Karane the Historian.

--

"...What?"

Malestryx had said it while staring dumbly at the Ancient fin-headed red. He'd said it because he couldn't believe what he'd just heard and he needed to hear it again so that he could laugh, because there was no way this dragon had just said--

"Are you deaf? I said I'm not approving you for the Ancient Rite. This is a holy trial for dragons, a test to deem them worthy of the ultimate ascension. And you are not worthy. I've heard all kinds of things about you. Whispers that you've aided the Aegis, even that you've joined them! All of that needs to be disproven before I will even consider you a candidate for the Rite. You're lucky I'm not turning you in."

"Surely, there is some mistake.. Malestryx has been nothing but exemplary, a boon to dragonkind! Surely, you are simply mistaken.. maybe confusing his name with another dragon's? Yes?" He said it while attempting a charming smile, but it's hard for 'charm' in any amount to overcome the fact that when he smiles, it invariably looks wicked.

"No. No, I'm not. You are not approved for the Rite, nor do I think you will be anytime soon."

Malestryx's draconic facade fell into a scowl and proceeded to a fangs-bared growl. "I have worked too hard to get to this point just to be turned down by-- by-- some historian dragon!" His eyes were glowing by now; he hadn't even noticed. "You will approve Malestryx for the Second Rite! You will do it now!"

Karane's own eyes widened as she saw the burning ruby eyes of the demon before her. "If I didn't know better, I might think you weren't a dragon at all!" she cried, "Get out! Get out before I get someone in here to deal with you!"

And he got out. He didn't like it, but he knew if he let himself go at the infuriating dragon that he'd be revealed for what he was and the whole charade would be over. Not only that, but he wouldn't be Ancient again. And he really wanted to be Ancient again.

--

After his rejection, he found he was rather depressed. Before, he'd kept himself going by having goals: revive ki mortys, obtain rank 90, become Ancient, etc. But now.. all of his goals were out of his hands. He felt absolutely useless. So, he turned to something he knew he was good at: killing.

Beetles. Always beetles.

The scenery had changed to the Isle of Fire and the attitude of the hunter had changed as well. Whether Malestryx actually realized it or not, he was turning his rage over being denied the Second Rite towards the beetles. The poor things never stood a chance against the enraged demon. The crushed and shattered carapaces were starting to pile up behind him, thrown there by a powerful swipe that also plucked out the eyes that would be of value. In Malestryx's case, his combat ability and accuracy tended to go up rather than down with anger.

He had two engaged now, the first a weaker giant flame beetle, two of its legs and a mandible lost to Malestryx's afterthought attacks as he focused on the second: a giant fire beetle, its carapace looking as if it could give out at any moment and its movements increasingly desperate. In a moment, its shell would lose its hardness and things would all be over for it.

Malestryx was a beetle veteran long before then; he knew the signs that told of the shell's weakening. It would appear to get slightly larger, as by losing its rigidity it expanded. This he saw now, and he reacted in a split-second with a slash of silver claws that nearly cut the beetle in three. It didn't move any more after that.

If beetles had any sort of intelligence - well, they wouldn't get anywhere near something like Malestryx, let alone angry Malestryx, in the first place - but even if they were slightly more stupid than that, they would know enough to fly the hell away when they see a stronger beetle close to rent into pieces. But beetle brains are tiny, and it stood its ground even as the demon's jaws spread. By the time the thought "Hey, mayyyybe I should try to dodge," began to cross its mind, the demon was forcing those two halves of a death trap down, his teeth crushing past the beetle's carapace and shearing through to the other side to meet their brothers.

Malestryx plucked its eyes out with his tongue before spitting them and the rest of the insect out, stuffing the eyes into his scale pack, and scanning the char for another target.

--

This was it. Today was the day. Today, he was of rank 100, he was out of patience, and today Malestryx would begin the Second Rite. And today, nothing, not even Karane the Historian, was going to stand in his way.

It was just after sunset. He was flying towards Karane's cave, fast and furious, wings taking in great scoops of air and thrusting him forward at the highest clip he could manage. The only creature's scent on the wind was the one he was after; she was still in her cave. Alone. The demon's eyes burst into a glow as he saw the cave's mouth.

The darkness had fallen quickly. When Karane heard the wing beats and turned to look out of her lair, all she could see were the two floating embers of Malestryx's eyes. At first she squinted, confused as to what it was, but then stared walleyed at the red-scrawled black dragon that landed heavily just inside the cavern. He hadn't bothered to tuck his wings, and it made him seem larger and more imposing. The eyes also accomplished that and more.

"You again? What are you do--?" Karane started, but Malestryx cut her off, his voice a dangerously-restrained low growl.

"You will approve Malestryx for the Second Rite. You will do it now."

"Absolutely not! You will leave here at once!"

Malestryx's eyes surged brighter and he stepped closer to the Ancient, wings still held out and back arched in a battle stance, his claws flexing and unflexing, leaving small ruts in the floor. He repeated himself. "You will approve Malestryx for the Second Rite--"

Karane assumed a fighting stance now herself. "Now listen here, you! I'm not going to! Definitely not now, probably not ever! Get out of here!"

Fear. Malestryx could feel it, radiating off this creature like light off a sunscope. Delicious.

He would try one last time. "Do it, dragon. Do it, or Malestryx will do it himself."

"What do you mean you'll do it yourself?" she demanded, but shook her head quickly, "It doesn't matter! I'm not approving you and that's th-- uck!"

She'd stopped very suddenly, as if she could breathe one moment and not the next. There was a frothy hissing noise from somewhere in her throat as her eyes rolled back into her head and closed. She swayed as if she'd collapse and her head began to drop, but she seemed to catch herself and regain her composure. It was instead the dragon Malestryx that slumped to the floor, falling haphazardly as if there was no longer anything holding up the body. The Ancient winced at the thud it made, and opened her eyes to look - eyes that were now ruby red.

"I suppose I should learn to lie down before I do this sort of thing...."

The voice was Karane's mostly, but there was now an unnatural edge to it, a gruffness that hadn't been there before. The Ancient body shuddered.

"Hate, hate, hate taking females...."

But sometimes, one had to do things one hated. Now in possession of the annoying Historian's body and brain, the demon began leafing through the encyclopedia of her mind, looking for what needed to be done before he was allowed to begin the Second Rite.

[Hraefn]

<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3



....


<3~!

[Vaz]

<3

[pajlizard]

*extreamly loud delighted screaming* C8

<333333333333333333333333333333

Male is my HERO forsrs.

[Litarath]

O_O

that's evil... EEEVVVILLL!!!

*holds up a holy sigil against the demon*

yay, thanks for the update *prod-prod* still more, want more!

[Raptress]

((Raugh. Not happy with this one at all, but it's been sitting on my disk for months, and I figure it'd be better to just get it posted rather than let it keep me from writing past it. Associated chat logs included because they're far more awesome than this.))

Ruby eyes scanned the sky - or at least, what passed for a sky - in the Rift.

The realm - if it even was its own realm, and not some strange part of another or something else entirely, Malestryx couldn't recall - was incredibly interesting, and somehow.. familiar. There was a vortex in the sky, as in the blight. There were even similar creatures wandering the winding pathways: rift versions of wraiths, kwellens, and vexators. The demon wondered how they'd gotten there, and furthermore which realm was actually their original home. Everything was shades of purple, blue, and black, vaguely reminiscent of his summoner, but in less a guilty sort of way than a comparison of beauty.

And the little floating sparklies for the eyes...

On the subject of sparklies now, he looked down at his incorporeal-corporeal self. He wondered if Siivyra had ever intended for the construct to be able enter a place like this just as a real dragon could. The only conclusion he had for that was that she simply made a very, very good replica of the original. It was kind of impressive if he thought about it, and he distantly pondered what might have happened to all of the mind lashers in the employ of the Aegis had he been able to get her to join it with him.

"Had you ever given any thought to joining the Withered Aegis, ki mortys?"

It had seemed such an innocent little question....

But now was hardly the time for such thoughts!

Within Malestryx's scalepack at this very moment was his Rune of Ascension. The many trials of his Second Rite were over almost a day ago; he only waited so that those he called friends could watch the show. He knew by now that these ascension-thingies were events to dragons.

And many trials there had been, even in addition to the ones actually required by the Rite. The one that immediately sprang to mind was the Silithus dragon's near revealing of the demon's nature. An unintentional soft growl started in his throat at that thought, the claws on one hand scraping whatever the Rift's ground was as it clenched. Malestryx hated that dragon for that. There were other ways to confront him than just outright calling him out in the dragon's clearing. Silithus had taken it back after Malestryx had made a favorable enough impression on him, but still. The thoughts were in their heads now.

Another of the trials had been starting the rite in the first place, but at least that one should have no further consequence. Controlling a mind gives one free reign over memories. If he'd done his job well, Karane should hardly even remember him at all, other than having a manufactured memory of having happily sent the demon on his way towards the Council of Ancients.

Eventually, Malestryx was able to sense the awakening of Vhazshyn, and thus Hrajiel, the two he had really been waiting for the most. With a cast of Recall and a puff of purple dust in a realm that needed no more purple, he was in Dralk and headed for the portal to Chiconis.

He practically soared above the clearing where he tended to meet them, the field near the beach where Hraefn and Hrajiel kept their lairs. Landing ever-so-lightly, he nearly pranced as he looked around for anyone else.

The first sighted was Vhazshyn as she greeted him after emerging from Hrajiel's lair. Exuberantly, he told her of his triumph over the Second Rite, and, after Vhazshyn had finished bouncing in celebratory glee, told her that he had wanted to see if his friends wished to watch the actual Ascension. He'd learned by then that Ascensions were a fairly big event for dragons.

Lying in the mouth of her lair, Hraefn had been watching them having made no attempt to make her presence known. Neither of them seemed to notice at first, but some nagging sense of Malestryx's finally got his attention, and Hraefn revealed herself after Vhazshyn had identified her scent.

Malestryx hadn't been making any attempt to keep up his cover during his conversation with Vhazshyn since she already knew what he was, so he was initially a bit uneasy when Hraefn showed, since she did not. It didn't last long however; he was on the verge of becoming Ancient again and that sort of excitement was not about to be repressed for long. After a bit more chitchat, Malestryx was ready to start the show.

Grinning and giggling, he drew the Rune of Ascension from his scalepack and with a shout of 'Here goes nothing!', he activated it. The sky above him faded to red to the sound of his happy, though a bit deranged, laughter. He felt a warmth build within - a warmth of power - and that was when the iconic pillar of light suddenly beamed into that red sky. Immediately after, that warmth built to heat then from heat into pain into searing agony. A draconic scream tore through his throat and built into an other worldly screech at the pain, his black draconian form visible to his audience from within the beam of light, writhing. Then the pillar faded, leaving a still adult Malestryx swaying on his feet for half a second, his already half-lidded eyes falling shut as he collapsed to the ground.

He had been knocked out, though Vhazshyn and Hraefn had revived him easily enough. Whatever had happened had drained nearly all of the strength out of him, almost as if it had been a purifying force of some kind. Some essences of blight that Hraefn gave him had restored some of his energy though, giving him enough to drag himself to the Dead Pool to recover.

The demon hardly even bothered to land, letting his heavy construct fall onto one of the ledges overlooking the Pool with a loud thud. It hurt, but he didn't care. The exhaustion was worse, and he was content with finally not having to move. The ruby scrawls over his form hummed into life dully as the nearby blight swept over his scales, and he murred softly at its caress. His eyes fell shut, though that red glow could still be seen under the lids.

Denied. He had been denied Ancienthood. Again.

..But not for long. No. Malestryx was done playing by these dragons' rules. If this Drulkar wasn't going to grant him what he's earned - earned! - then Malestryx was going to take it.

Take it. Because it was his.

[pajlizard]

Update!

Yay!

8'D

*insert large amounts of happy here*

And PFFF, Sii, this is awesome~
As awesome as Slee is toothy. So there! >8U

Eheh.. Read the logs. Male giggling. Giggling? Ohmy.

[Litarath]

so that's how he did it, heh, interesting ^-^
Good work, Vyra, now you just need to get to putting up how Siivyra was revived *prod-prod, poke-poke*