formmusebox | [For Sam] Healer & Dragon

[For Sam] Healer & Dragon

It had all gone wrong this time. In retrospect, Lio thinks maybe he'd been going too hard. He was on the brink of exhaustion, and his latest raid on livestock had been met with more resistance than it should have, almost as if someone had known he was coming.

He'd gotten away, thankfully, but not before he'd taken a number of blows -- arrows shot from crossbows with enough power that they'd pierced even through his scales. He'd ripped them out in flight and set the better part of a fallow field on fire before he'd flapped high enough to disappear into the cloud cover. That had been what saved him. It wasn't long before he couldn't keep himself aloft any longer, too much pain, too much blood lost.

Even maintaining his full draconic form is too much, and as he plunges to the Earth and tries to slow his descent with his wings, he fizzles back into his human shape, a lithe, slender man. His clothes are dark enough that the blood soaking them isn't obvious from a distance. He lands in a crumpled pile not far from a road through the woods, just off the trail in the underbrush. And that's the last thing he knows.

...

When he opens his eyes next, he's warmer than he expects to be. There's soft blankets beneath him and over him. He can smell something clean and earthy, herbal maybe, and light spills in setting the whole room in a comforting brightness and-- wait. He's in a room. The last thing he remembers is falling, and, oh.

He sits up all at once, hissing at the way his body protests the movement. Where is he? Has he been captured? Except no, if he'd been captured he'd be bound. Or dead. Maybe staked through to the ground. Not wrapped in soft blankets and tended to. "Where am I?" He asks the question mostly to himself as he blinks against his bleary vision willing it to clear, willing his eyes to focus.

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Overwhelmed is the word. His gaze turns from the mending lake and forest to look back to Galo as he speaks. Those tears are still gathering, but despite the tears, despite everything, he smiles at Galo -- really, genuinely smiles at him, bright and soft, the first time he's shown that expression to Galo. Or to anyone erally, in a very long time.

"We'll put things right. For the dragons. And the forest. And humans too." The balance will soothe them all. And Lio has never been about vengeance or turning their anger on humanity. He just wants his people to be able to live without fear, without hiding.

Lio sets a hand against his own chest. No, he won't be alone again. He can feel Galo's flame dancing intertwined with his own. "Neither will you. If you call, I will come. Always."

What a beautiful smile. He smiles back, warm and real with a softness of its own. His smile morphs into a grin. “Course you will! Because we’re partners now.” He offers the side of his fist to him.

Lio will always be there. That makes his own chest feel tight and warm. He closes his eyes against a wave of emotion. Gratitude and something else that takes that loneliness he has felt for so long and makes it a little less. “Thanks.” He opens his blue eyes and that gratitude is in his eyes.

Lio reaches out to bump his fist to Galo's. Partners, yeah. He likes that. This healer is his now. Not just that little piece of flame that burns with his own, but all of Galo. He'll protect him with his dying breath if he has to.

"I'm the one who should be thanking you." For now though, he lets his eyes sweep over the changed land around them. Balanced and in tune with its own nature once more.

"We should get back. We'll need to rest and prepare for what's coming."

Edited 2020-06-14 03:45 (UTC)

“Yeah, we have a lot to do before the Judgement.” Galo says and grabs his staff. “A lot to do.” He murmurs as the forest’s whispers fill his ears.

—-

The cloak is a jet black like the midnight sky. He stands outside the town just inside the tree line before the wood gives way to simple grassy fields and farmland. Galo turns to his companion. With the hood pulled over his head only his mouth and the bottom half of his face is visible.

“Okay, I have to go first. People have to know that a Judgment is happening. Once I’m walking you can come out and people will see the jewelry. They’ll know you’re elemental lord. Just not what type or what species. Not unless they’re fire mages.” He strongly suspects the fire mages will not fight them.

They know who he is and would see the shadow of his parents walking with the colors of judgment.

“The rest of the Circle are coming. Should get here soon. I can’t wait for them. Earth is saying it has to be now.”

The day has come. Lio has grown stronger since then, with Galo's assistance, and he's ready to see it through. Whatever may come, he's going to stand by Galo on this and they're going to face down Kray. They're going to put this right.

He's in his human form still -- though he's strong enough now to take whatever form he needs to, when the time comes -- and properly adorned with the jewelry that marks him as what he is. Unlike Galo, his hood is thrown back. The jewelry catches the sun, glinting like sparks about his neck and shoulders, at each wrist. And his eyes burn even brighter.

"I'll follow your lead. If there are fire mages here who know the old ways, they'll know what I am." Or at least they'll guess. "I don't think anyone else will recognize a dragon in human form."

"They don't even know you have human forms. Kray saw to that." Galo says with a sigh. He looks to the village and almost sighs again. The elements push at him. Something is happening. Something bad.

They need him to act now. "Time to start." He says and walks out of the woods. His cloak billows as the wind roars past him, voicing its outrage to anyone who knows how to listen.

Thunder rumbles, the promise of rain on the wind as he crosses the fields to the town gate. The guards on the wall freeze and their faces go bone white. He doesn't look back. It's Lio's time to follow in his wake and he trusts he'll do it.

People step out of their houses as he walks into the town. No one speaks. They watch him with fear and confusion. His heart clenches in his chest. Kray made this necessary.

When Lio walks the guards go still with horror. An elemental lord in human shape is still a lord. They hurriedly bow their heads and the people do the same. Fire mages in the crowd freeze and stare open mouthed. Far beyond them, walking ahead with the same steady pace is Galo.

He stops at the bottom of the hill leading up to Kray's residence. People gasp. He waits until Lio is standing beside him before he continues walking. He can taste the magic around the lavish house. Had Kray prepared for the Judgment he would face? Halfway up the hill Kray opens the door and steps out. Their stares connect. The man he'd once looked up to, loved in a way watched him come with an unreadable expression on his face.

Kray had always seemed massive to him like a mountain. He used to wonder if he was an elemental lord in hiding. Now it doesn't matter. It will likely never matter because he will kill him. That's the only outcome he can see ahead. "Galo." Kray says when he reaches him. His gaze snaps to Lio's face and his eyes narrow but his expression never wavers from the seeming calm he always projects. "You threw in with them, did you? I expected better from you." His tone has just enough disapproval in it that Galo almost snaps at him.

Instead he draws on the magic of his station and wraps it around himself making the day seem darker, his voice a boom of thunder. "Kray Foresight, leader of this village the world has spoken and I answered the Call. The Balance is tipping and you are the cause. I will hear your reasoning and will be the Judge that carries out the sentence. I am the Voice. Names and Titles do not matter. The Lord of Fire serves as witness to ensure this is fair."

His cloak seems to swallow the light as he speaks. The people below go silent. Galo can't keep the anger out of his tone as he continues. "If you refuse, I will carry judgment out now." He would break his own heart doing it, but he'd kill him right here and now. Kray stares at him in mild shock. "...you would..." He sighs and walks back to the house. "So be it. Come inside."

Galo looks at Lio and says in a low voice. "...Take your true shape, Lio. This is going to get ugly soon. Let the people know the truth before..." He sighs, shaking his head. "Before we do what we came here to do." It hurts. He knew it would. He waits, knowing he's stalling because for all that he charges ahead.

This is one moment he doesn't want to.

The air is tense, a current of something unseen running through it. Electricity, a powder keg waiting for a spark. And oh will they provide a spark. Lio follows silently behind Galo. He keeps his eyes forward, head up. He is lord of the dragons, a creature of fire who will not remain hidden anymore.

And he's following the voice of judgment.

He swallows back as much of his rage as he can as they approach Kray Foresight's house. Kray Foresight. It takes all the control that Lio has in him not to leap forward and destroy the man before him. But he can hear the tension in Galo's voice, and he understands how hard this is for him. He'd spare him from it if he could.

But that isn't an option.

His gaze finally leaves Kray to look at Galo. A nod. "It's time they knew." And with that he steps back, enough that he has the room for the change. HE won't fit inside the house like this, but the display is necessary.

Flame erupts around him, growing, building on itself and coalescing into his true form, a large, serpentine dragon, fire-eyed and all tooth and claw. He raises his head, looking skyward and spewing a torrent of flame straight up into the sky, a roar of pain and fury and a demand of the justice that will be done.

People stare in shock and horror as Galo turns to them, spreading his hands apart. "Dragons just like all other elementals are part of this world!" He calls out, "And by treating them like beasts. Hunting them like wild animals..." His eyes narrow under the hood and his voice turns cold and harsh.

"People just like you have spent years and years weeping for their elders, their children, and their friends." Silence below. Galo sucks in a breath as Lio roars. He gently places a hand on his side. He can feel eyes on him and turns his head to standing in the doorway.

He gives Lio's side one last pat and walks to the house. "I never expected this from you." Kray says when he reaches him. Galo says nothing for a moment. "You should have the moment I walked the path of Balance."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Kray says with a hint of exasperation in his tone as he steps inside and Galo follows him in. "You're killing elementals. You condoned the killing to the children of fire, Kray! The world is tipping and no healer could ever ignore that!" Kray walks to his desk and sits in the chair. "It's necessary."

Galo bites back any insult he could make and pulls back into the professional tone and stance he has to take. "Is that your reasoning?" Kray stares flatly at him. "This world has been dying for some time. Magic is not what it was. It's draining away."

"How is killing dragons the answer?" Kray raises his eyebrows at him, waiting for it to sink in. Galo's eyes widen then narrow. "Are you fucking kidding me."

"It is a simple solution."

Lio lowers his head, coiling his large, serpentine body half around Galo, a clear sign to those gathered and to Kray that this healer is his and is under his protection. Anyone who wants to do Galo harm has to go through him and a wall of fire that would make hell jealous of its fury.

But he can't keep this form if he's going to follow Kray and Galo inside, he ducks his head as Galo pats his side and shifts into a form somewhere between human and dragon, human-sized and shaped, though his horns and wings and tail remain, as do his claws, and his eyes burn. Like this he can at least follow behind the other two. He's not letting Galo go into Kray's house alone with no one to have his back.

It takes every last shred of self control he has not to lash out and snap Kray's throat out. Necessary. How dare he.

"What are you doing to me people?" He demands, the fury in his voice turning it into a low, dangerous growl.

Kray focuses on Galo. “You’ve seen the destruction they cause.” He says as if Lio hadn’t said anything at all. He spreads his hands to gesture around them. “You personally know it more than any of us.”

Galo’s face is impassive. “You’re right, I do. But no one knows why the dragon killed them. And dragons are as individual as humans. Answer him.” He says, his hands at his sides. All his usual postures and demeanor is gone for now. He has to be the earth’s voice.

Kray growls and it doesn’t sound quite right. “Answer him, Major Kray Foresight, leader of the Foresight foundation.” He had never meant to use it, but using the Voice that comes from being judgement comes out of him. It sounds like the deep echo of sounds in the deep places of the earth. Flames crackle and wind snaps within that voice.

Kray stares at him and anger flashes in the depths of his shocked eyes. But he swings his gaze to Lio and hatred burns there. A glimmer of it like a spark being struck. His fingers open and close reminiscent of claws. “We drain them in rituals. We’re working on making a gateway to a new dimension for a chosen number of people. We will leave this world to its death.”

Galo’s hands close into fists and the very earth shakes under their feet. Kray snaps his gaze to him in shock and this time Galo’s voice is the depths of water, quiet and cold, almost too still in how he shapes the words. “So, instead of trying to fix things you spill blood and build a new life on the bones of your victims?”

His magic bears out of its restraints and fills the room, more and more of it pouring out as his eyes glow. “There are better ways!”

“This is the only way! Do you think I haven’t tried anything else?” Kray fires back as his voice rises and that growl is back. Unearthly and like the creak of bellows.

When this is over, Lio will make it a point to find the dragons responsible for Galo's family's death, will find out as much as he can. Delayed or not, there should be justice if there can be. But for now, this step needs to be taken. It needs to be set right.

He meets Kray's gaze with an intensity that matches, fury and hatred that mirror Kray's. This man has hurt so many of his people, has extinguished so many flames that the world itself is darker for it. He will never forgive that.

That doesn't mean he's ready for the explanation or the new surge of raise that it raises. "You'd burn this world, ignite it on the ashes of my people to make your escape? You coward."

He can feel the magic rolling off Galo, and his own rises to join it, flashing like lightning on a distantly gathering storm. This world is not beyond saving. The flame that burns inside him is proof enough of that, the way Galo's forest reacts to its healer, the way he could feel it as they restored balance. This world is sick, but it is not beyond saving.

Anger twists Kray’s face as he looks between them. Then his face relaxes but Galo can feel something building in the air. “It is true as they say. Blood breeds true.” Galo blinks and his building magic pauses. Kray sighs and turns away from them.

Galo tenses and Kray’s words shatter his magic like a hammer to glass. “You’re just like your parents. Ever bit as short-sighted and stubborn.”

“What.”

“Especially your mother. She was quite loud about how things could still get fixed. She knew you would become a healer. You were a reason she didn’t see the wisdom in my words...” He shakes his head but Galo isn’t paying attention. His mind keeps playing the words over and over, trying to wrap his head around what he’s hearing.

“You,”

“I should have killed you when I took care of them. I will correct that now.” Everything stopped. He no longer heard anything but the creaking sound from his nightmares as something vast is suddenly before them and flames rip out obliterating the building with white hot dragon fire.

It all becomes clear in a rush of horror. Here is the dragon who killed Galo's family, right in front of them. Kray Foresight, the monster who has tortured and murdered so many of Lio's people, is one of them. A dragon.

"No."

It's a raw, whisper of sound and he can feel the power and heat building. Lio reacts in that split second before fire bursts. He throws himself in front of Galo, wrapping his wings around the mage even as he begins to shift his form, curling around Galo to protect him from the sudden surge of fire.

This human is his, and he will not see him hurt.

The flame smashes into Lio in a torrent of hate fueled fire. Galo throws his arms up to shield his own face within Lio’s coils but the shock still has him. The fire clears and the building is nothing but ashes. The ground is blackened by the fire and he finally gets a look at Kray.

As dragons go he is vast, as big as a mountain. His body seems to stretch off into the distance and as he watches the dragon gets larger as the restraints Kray must have been beholden to fall away. His wings block the sky and as he opens his mouth all he can see is fire in the depths as if he were staring into the fire of the earth itself.

“You’re a-“ Kray’s blazing red eyes fix on him like spotlights shining on a stage. “Yes, I share this loathesome affliction. Once I was just the fire of the earth but then I became this.” His lip curls revealing sharp white teeth. “Dragons are but slaves to their instincts. Slaves to the Will of Fire. They are destined to die! All your brothers and sisters cry out because they know this. They know that you can not save them. No Voice will protect you!”

His voice is a thunderous sound and Galo swears as he pulls on his magic and builds a ward to protect the townsfolk staring in shock. Kray lifts his head and his voice carries. “I will save humanity! I will be their savor! This mud ball has been a waste for eons!”

This monster is a dragon. One of them. It's still ringing in Lio's head and every last cell in his body recoils from the idea of it, that it could be one of their own kind responsible for so much pain, so many of their deaths.

But he knows Galo is feeling this far more acutely than he is, to find out that Kray is a dragon, that Kray is responsible for killing his parents.

Lio is still coiled protectively around Galo, and he snarls at the larger dragon. "You're destroying this world. Humanity and dragons need each other." The elements need balance. This world needs to be in harmony. This world needs people like Galo to put it right.

His wings flare and he rises up. "Voice or no, I'll protect him. And my people." And this whole town. The fury in him is rising so quickly that it threatens to choke him as he launches himself at Kray.

The ward snaps into place at the same time Galo realizes what he has to do here. As Kray charges are Lio the world feels like it slows down. It isn’t. He is just seeing the way forward. “Lio! Don’t kill him!”

The balance has to be maintained. Killing Kray would lose more fire the world can’t afford to lose. The earth cracks to his left and a staff made of smooth obsidian stone rises to his waiting hand. Fire wraps around him as the chains holding his magic fall away.

It over takes the black robe, forming the cowl as the blistering heat of the deep places of the earth hammers out, forming a great circle. Kray roars and rakes his claws at Lio. Galo speaks, his voice the heat of the magma. The snap of camp fire sparks. Forest fires and flames ablaze.

“It begins.” He walks towards the great circle and his steps melt the stone that used to be the courtyard before Kray’s house. He could throw himself into this fight. But that isn’t his role. His voice rises in a chant that hadn’t been uttered in his life time, the earth guiding him as storm clouds gather up above. The wind roars and the forest beyond the town winds great limbs over the ward. Water pulls itself into a great dome and still he walks.

Kray doesn’t notice. He only has eyes for the dragon he seeks to over power. The haunting strangeness beyond him is nothing.

Lio hears Galo's voice, and it's only because it is Galo's voice that he listens at all. Dragons don't kill without reason. It's something he prides himself on, but oh does he have a few reasons to want to see Kray Foresight dead. But no, fine. Galo is right.

He growls something like an answer and focuses on the larger dragon in front of him. If nothing else he can draw Kray's wrath and attention to keep it from Galo and the humans who have not yet fled.

The sound of wind and a voice that is Galo's but not rises around him. Lio can feel the power rising in the air, but he can't focus on that. Instead he streaks towards Kray, roaring fire at the other dragon to try to drive him back.

Kray charges right into Lio’s flames with a roar that sounds like volcano’s eruption. The fire bites at him but he angles his body to crash into Lio’s. “I am humanity’s savior!” He bellows as the chant builds on itself. Below, Galo is halfway to the circle.

A trail of fire spills out in front of him in a clear path to the circle. Delicate words carve themselves into the ground so old but only readable by the air. Kray streams fire as he continues. “My flames are stronger than yours! My draconic power is greater than the Lord of Fire! Do you really want humanity to end? This is the only way forward!”

Galo’s staff hits the edge of the circle and a chime rings through the air, building on itself as it echoes back and returns. Chime after chime fills the air as the elements twist together at the center of the circle. He steps over the line and circle blazes to life as the words flow and reappear around the edge.

Lio risks a glance down to see Galo, to make sure that he's still safe. But that's as much as he can spare with Kray coming for him, and keeping Kray's attention is the most important thing he has to do.

"We'll see who's stronger." And maybe Kray's fire is stronger. The gods only know what he's done in draining so many of the other dragons of their fire. Has it affected him? What is he capable of? Lio doesn't know if he'll survive this fight, but that doesn't matter. If he can buy Galo enough time, that's all he needs to do.

"This isn't forward. This is murder!" And Kray is the real monster at the end of this fairy tail.

He's struck full on by the larger dragon, roaring out his frustration as he tumbles in the air before righting himself before he strikes ground and launching back at Kray. "I won't let you condemn this world!"

Kray streaks down like a blazing comet intent on getting a savage blow with the force of his body.

It never happens.

A web of wind and water wraps around him and binds him in place. The circle of fire blazes with light as Galo steps up the chains, the hood of his robe doing nothing to hide the determination of his face. “Kray Foresight, ancient dragon from before the present era, murderer of countless healers and mages, dragons, and elementals. Your judgement is at hand.”

He walks onto the air as if it were just more ground. It’s clear from the blaze of his eyes, it’s not Galo speaking anymore. His voice makes the earth shake beneath them. “You have proven you will only misuse the gifts given to you. For what you have done and what you could do the balance is addressed as thus,”

He rams the staff down and ancient words and lines spread out to form a vast blazing circle in the air. Lio in one small circle, himself at the heart, Kray in another. A smaller fourth circle. “Long it has been since such a thing must happen. But happen it must. Your judgement is a mortal, powerless, human life.”

Spears of light erupt from all directions and rip through Kray tearing the fire out of him. He is reduced to the man they always saw.

The fire blazes away in the fourth circle as Kray screams. The Voice that is Galo watches him as his hood is ripped back away from his face. His eyes are twin blazes of ruby red fire. “Dragons must be restored. The damage you did must be addressed as well.” The fire around Galo and the staff flows out away from him.

It is the staff that speaks this time in a soft voice. ‘Are you sure, young healer?’ Galo grins and nods. “Yeah. Best way to address this. Don’t you think?”

‘This too it has been a long time since such has happened.’ Galo looks at Lio as Kray is sent down to the earth still pinned by spears of light. “There’s too few dragons. He was an old dragon. There’s enough here to address the damage and address that too. But we need your permission.”

He looks out over the world then to Lio’s face. “I’m the healer your people need...if you’ll have me.”

Lio is braced for the blow, and he is not ready for what comes in its place. His wings flare to bring himself up short as he watches Kray bound up in water and air. Then hears that Voice, speaking with Galo's mouth, but not the gentle, human healer that he met. The Voice is ancient, coming from somewhere deep within creation itself.

He watches the fire be torn from Kray, watches it roil in the fourth circle.

Lio can barely breathe as he watches, even more so when Galo finally speaks to him in his own voice. There's a flicker of relief as he sheds his full dragon form into his hybrid form, smaller and more human shaped, but wings still keeping him aloft. He chances moving closer to Galo to hear him.

He's... Ah. One hand settles at his own chest, where he can still feel the flame that Galo gifted him earlier. "You were already mine, Galo Thymos. But yes, I'll have you. My people will have you. We'll welcome you as one of our own."

Galo smiles and it lights up his eyes.

'Then Galo Thymos...your time as a human is setting.'

He grins. "Let's do it. Galo Thymos has always had a burning soul! We're just making sure everyone knows it!" The stone staff hits the circle with a bell like chime. All of the lines pulse as his pact tattoos unwind and touch the circle, adding more lines glowing their unique color. Only Lio's remains as he crosses his arms.

The fourth circle and his connect, the flames pouring into him in a blazing torrent. His human form shatters leaving a blue inferno in its place. It spins together into a long winding serpentine shape. He shakes himself once, his mane rippling with fire. His pact tattoos wind over him, adding new colors to the edges of his scales until he looks like the sky when dusk is falling.

Galo exhales flames and they slide through the lines to the opening circle. Flames condense into round eggs gleaming like the sun rise and sun set. The eggs float as the circle fades away. He flies forward and wraps himself around them, descending slowly. His horns look a lot like his old staff. A necklace that looks suspiciously like said staff in wooden beads form is wrapped around his neck. "Okay! This is different."

Lio's wings flare open, drawing him back a couple feet as those changes begin, watching in rapt and undisguised awe as that fire pours in, as Galo's entire form changes. His eyes widen now, and he takes in the sight of him.

Beautiful, really. Lio can't look away from the colors of his scales.

And then he sees the eggs.

Still in his half-human form, Lio makes his way down to where Galo is descending as well. "Galo?" He approaches. "Are you okay? What are..." Those. The eggs. What are those.

Lio realizes Kray is still nearby, and they will need to do something about him. For the moment that can wait. The Voice that had spoken through Galo stripped the other man of his power, after all. Judgment has been passed.

“I’m fine! Feels weird but I’ll get used to it.” Galo rumbles as they finally land. Kray is staring at him but Galo ignores him, shifting his body to keep the eggs safe.

The Voice of the world ebbs but not without the answer he needs to tell Lio. “Once I became a dragon, world mixed the fire present and created these eggs. I didn’t get a say but I’m not complaining.”

He gently lays his hand against the top most egg and moves it gently to nestle among the others. “I barely remember mom but, I’ll do my best to teach them about their grandma and all that stuff.” He lifts his head and notices the town have gathered near his ward’s edge in open shock and awe.

Kray is still bound and the judgment passed. He peers at them warily, shifting his bulk so the eggs are protected and says, “Gonna leave Kray to these people and go back to the forest. Sound good?”

He made his pact with his forest and even bigger and an elemental he will keep it. He spots other members of the Burning Circle coming out into the open, working on his ward. “We’ll leave the rest to the captain.”

Lio approaches, taking a slow walk around Galo, taking him in in his new form, his new shape. Oh it really does suit him, doesn't it? The newest dragon to join their flock. And those eggs, Lio reaches a hand out towards them before drawing it back.

He looks up to offer Galo a faint smile. "I'm sure you'll be a good father," he murmurs quietly, for Galo's ears only. Not for Kray. Not for the gathering crowd at all.

His gaze snaps to Kray at the mention of the other man, eyes narrowed. No longer a dragon. Powerless and laid bare for what he's done. "Yes. Let's go. Justice has been done here." It's astounding in a way. This is the moment everything changes. His people... they can start learning to live again. "I'm ready."

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