Fight to the Death (3/6)
In mid-air, Dakka transforms into his humanoid form. Compared to his 12-year-old appearance from before, Dakka now looks like a young man – just like Haalfrin. More importantly, Dakka is definitely more handsome than him, since dragons are naturally better looking (in Dakka's eyes).
As for why Dakka chose to transform, a dragon's body is more durable and has more brute strength, but a humanoid form is better for more "delicate" operations.
And so, Dakka holds out his hands and curls his fingers in complex sigils. His entire body starts glowing red hot, and the air touching his skin starts to ignite on fire.
Dakka closes his eyes, and he sets his feet on the floor. Dragons, more than any other race, are attuned to physical reality. They say that the Dragons were born from the spirit of Dravar – Force, while the Elementals were born from the spirit of Drawyn – Material.
Because Dragons and Elementals share such a close relationship with each other, dragons are able to feel the spirits possessing every rock, river, and mountain. It's this intimate connection that gives the dragons such destructive command over the seas and mountains, and over fire.
It is said that a dragon who has grown old and learned enough can even sense everything the earth feels and feel everything the wind touches.
Using Dakka's close bond with the elementals, he feels his senses dive deeper and deeper into the earth. He hears the molecules in the rocks humming. He feels the hollow parts in the earth so accurately that a complete map of the lower levels of the Pit appears in his mind.
Only after a few moments does Dakka find what he's looking for. Through the vibrations of the ground below, Dakka gets a clear mental image of everything that moves down there. He FEELS many people scurrying about - so many, in fact, that he can't tell which is his target.
'Eh. I'll just destroy it all then. I'll start from the top of the prison and move downwards. That way, he'll have nowhere to flee to.'
Once Dakka has Haalfrin's location, he uncurls his fingers, then repositions them to form another rune. Looking down one last time, Dakka mutters while grasping the air elementals trapped in the floors below.
"Burn."
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Haalfrin had been using his spiritual sight to keep a close eye on the dragon's location while he explores the underground. Dakka hadn't moved from his spot, so the man is completely caught off guard when the entire hallway he's in abruptly ignites on fire.
Having no time to protect himself properly, Haalfrin is blown through a wall, and his smoking body struggles to move on the ground. "Uhhhh…," he groans in agony at his charred body and the clothes melted onto his skin.
Knowing their commander is in trouble, some of the mage Wills use a telekinesis spell to lift their master up and fly through the hall.
"HOW DID IT FIND US!?" one of the Wills screams out.
"Dunno!" Kaalhyme answers calmly. "Just keep moving."
He looks behind him and sees a wall of fire begin snaking around the hallways, burning everything in its path. "MOVE, MOVE!" he screams out this time.
As they're flying along, Kalastros warns Kaalhyme, "Our opponent is a dragon, which means he can see and feel the elements with his own senses. If we touch the ground, he'll be able to feel the vibrations and know where we are. However, the wind is far less easy to see with, so we should be fine as long as we don't touch the ground.
"Got it!" Kaalhyme nods. "Thank you for the warning!"
While Kalastros takes his commander to go find some healing elixirs, Kalastros has the men start tapping on the ground in various places throughout the pit to distract the dragon.
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Meanwhile, on the surface, Dakka is getting a little frustrated with this down below. He doesn't know where Haalfrin is right now, but since his Wills still seem to be active, the man must still be alive.
Dakka moves his area of control throughout the dungeon, and everything in its path is left burnt to ashes. Even the stone tiles are turning to magma in several places.
'I'll find you,' Dakka growls, 'Even if I have to ignite the entire Pit!'
He breathes in deeper, and he focuses harder on the elemental spirits down below…
…Then, the fires burn hotter, and the reach of flames expands even larger – large enough to engulf entire sections of a floor at once.
Knowing that Haalfrin has found a way to temporarily hide from him, Dakka starts from the top as he systematically burns through each floor, leaving nothing behind but complete annihilation.
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The warden and his officers around him are watching through the surveillance mirrors as the white flames engulf the Pit – starting from Floor B1 and methodically making its way down.
Everyone gulps back their cries of fear, and a dreadful silence hangs in the air like the headsman's ax.
"Sir," one of the soldiers squeaks, "What now?" It'll only be a few minutes before the fire reaches them on the bottom floor. By then…
The warden breathes in slowly, then turns to his new second in command. "How are the remaining defenses on the surface?"
"They're not looking good, sir… Well, look at this." The man pulls out a handheld mirror, which is magically connected to one of the surveillance mirrors hidden high in the air (so they can survey the landscape around the Pit).
The warden takes the mirror and sees the abject devastation on the surface, and he sucks in a breath. The entire Pit is about 4 square miles on the surface, and about 90% of it looks like a flat, charred wasteland. It's hard to tell there was once a fortress in its place.
Still, that leaves 10% of the fortress, which was lucky enough to be (mostly) unscathed.
"I see the dragon is in his human form. He'll be more vulnerable this way," the warden surmises. "I want those cannons to hit the dragon. I don't expect the dragon is going to die from this, but it might stop or distract him from killing us all."
One of the officers brightens up at this, then adds, "Sir! You told us from the reports that the Demon of the Pit possesses weapons with some form of necromancy. From the fight we saw so far, he was running out of flying weapons. He probably only came down here to get more of those. Once he's done, he should go back up. Once he goes back up, the dragon should stop incinerating everything belowground."
"Good!" the warden laughs out. If this is true at least, then there's hope for their survival!
He then turns to the rest of his men and says, "Issue a command to all the men. If the demon comes down, just present your weapons to him and surrender. Let's hope he only wants our steel and not our lives."
Everyone nods at this. After seeing the demon of the Pit go toe to toe with a dragon, none of them want to try fighting him.
For good measure, the warden announces, "There'll be a slight change of plan. Since the Demon of the Pit is above us now, and the dragon is only after him, we might be able to get out of this without attacking the dragon again."
The soldiers cock their heads to the side in confusion. "Let me explain," the warden goes on. "Once Haalfrin gets our weapons from us, he'll leave again. Plus, if we attack the dragon again, we'll risk angering the dragon; it might come after us too. So, we won't barrage it with the cannons outside unless the wall of fire gets too close to us."
"Yes sir!" the soldiers solute.
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While this is happening, Kaalhyme and the other Wills are growing frustrated. Sure, they have about 10,000 armed Wills with them, but those numbers will be meaningless with that wall of fire blocking their path. Their new vessels will burn and melt just like the ones before…
Another problem to worry about is the healing elixirs. Where did they all go? With an establishment this wealthy, there's no way convenient stuff like that isn't lying around.
Just when Kaalhyme is at his wit's end, he grabs one of the recently deceased Pit guard Wills and pulls him out of Haalfrin's soul. Due to a potential conflict of interest, all the new Pit Wills have been confined to the commander's soul, as per Kaalhyme's strict orders.
Right now, though, only a Pit officer can tell them this vital information.
"I'll never talk!" the rebellious Will spits out, "You and your Demon can die here with us!"
"Idiot!" Kaalhyme screams at the other Will, "If we don't stop that dragon, all of your remaining friends will die! Do you really want that?"
"…Fine," the officer gives in before explaining, "Only the officers carry healing elixirs on them, which they keep in space bags on their waists. In case of a prison break, the space bags are enchanted to destroy themselves if their owner dies."
"So we'll have to find the survivors," Kaalhyme grumbles as he looks below. "AND we'll have to convince them to cooperate willingly."