New Eden: Live to Play, Play to Live

The air shook for a second around Astaroth, as a sizeable chunk of his mana disappeared.

Then, with a swirl of wind and bright motes of Aether, a large black dragon appeared in the sky above the open ceilinged room. As it roared mightily, making its presence known to the world, Astaroth grinned.

It might have been smaller than the actual one, but it stayed a dragon. He could feel the dragon's aura spreading across the room, some Elves shuddering to a stop.

But he wasn't interested in this battlefield. Astaroth's eyes drifted toward the iced-up portal.

"Violette! Unseal the portal. I'm going back in!"

Violette, who had been looking up at the dragon in fear of a potential new enemy, jumped in surprise at Astaroth's voice.

"On it!" she shouted back, seeing he was already walking towards it.

She snapped her head toward the foot-thick sheet of ice she had conjured and willed it to melt. She could see some Imps clawing at the barrier, but if Astaroth said unseal it, then she would.

As soon as the ice started melting, the sound of maniacal cackling started echoing in the room, with distant sounds of Jaxx screaming in rage, and painful wailing.

As the last bit melted, and the imps started disgorging out the portal, the black dragon came swooping in and spat out a torrent of acid. Wherever the acid hit, nothing remained intact for long.

The dragon dove into the portal, with Astaroth close behind.

"Don't bother closing it up again. In a minute, nothing will be left of them," he said, crossing the threshold into the demon plane.

Violette nodded, returning her attention to the fight at hand on this side. Only one ally remained stuck inside a soul space.

***

On the highest peak of the mountain, in the white dragon's soul space, Jeanne was still radiating golden healing light, as she maintained the white dragon alive. But her mana reserves were almost empty.

From an eagle's eye viewpoint, the mage that had sent them to help was currently observing the soul space, and he could see the black mist had almost reached the plateau.

He had been stuck as an observer for all this time, forced to maintain the spell on all the others. But now that this was the last one left, he finally acted.

With a ray of bright white light, the mage slammed into the top of the mountain.

The sudden arrival of a person startled Jeanne and almost lost focus on her healing spell.

But when she saw the familiar elf walk towards her, she relaxed a bit.

"You have done well. Few would have held out long as you did. But this is enough."

He leaned forward, reaching his hand lovingly toward the dragon's forehead.

"I'm sorry I couldn't come sooner, Idrizat. How terrible it is to see you in this state…"

The white dragon smiled weakly, her eyes almost closing. The pain she was feeling was incredible, but she had maintained her strong facade all this time.

Truth was, she was dying. Even with all the healing the human girl was lying on her, there was no coming back from her previous state.

She was only glad the human had kept her alive long enough for her master to come and see her in her last moments.

'Master Aravelle. You have come.'

"Shh. Don't talk yet. Let me get rid of this corruption before you say anything more."

The white dragon nodded meekly.

The mage stood, an unbridled rage in his soul. His clothes started flapping in a mystical wind as a storm kicked up around the mountain.

Already, the faint mist that was climbing the mountainside was blown away. But the massive cloud overhead remained.

"You have tormented my familiar long enough. May the hells swallow you back, and you be tormented for eternity," he said, with disconcerting calm.

But the slight trembling in his voice made it clear to Jeanne that the mage was about to erupt.

"Apocalypse grade magic; Flames of Draconia."

Jeanne felt the six words echo in her mind like the end of the world was coming. They were only words, yet the power they contained sent shivers down her body, making her shake uncontrollably.

Wisps of fire, in a myriad of colours, started appearing around the mage. So many, Jeanne lost count of them.

And then they grew. And grew.

Each wisp reached the size of a city block, filling the sky with orbs of pure destruction, before erupting altogether.

Jeanne closed her eyes as the flames washed over her and the mage, erasing everything in their path. But she felt no pain.

When she opened her eyes again, she was standing in a white space, with nothing around her other than the Elven mage standing before her.

"Where are we?" she asked, looking around.

"In a subspace. I needed to speak to you before sending you back out. Your friends need your help, so I will keep this short," the mage responded.

Jeanne d'Arc nodded her head. The mage seemed so solemn.

"Idrizat is the familiar I was most close to. And even if you couldn't save her, I thank you for giving it your all. This is why it pains me to do this."

Jeanne swallowed nervously. His words sounded like a threat, and she didn't like where this was going.

When the mage raised a hand, she jumped back a few steps. But he smiled in response to her reaction.

"I'm sorry if my words sounded threatening. It wasn't my intention. Idrizat asked me to do something for her, and I wouldn't agree to it if it wasn't her dying wish."

A white egg, dotted with blue spots, appeared in his hand, the egg the size of an ostrich egg.

"This is Idrizat's last bit of intact soul. She asked me to give it to you, as a thank you gift. It is a great honour for a mortal to get the reincarnation egg of a dragon. The dragon that will come out of this egg will contain all of its memories from its past and retain a large part of its power. Are you willing to take on this responsibility?"

Jeanne was shocked. But she maintained a sense of decorum.

The white dragon had died, and that, in itself, was to be mourned. Even if the gift was a great one, it had come at a significant cost.

"I will do my best to protect it and raise it into as powerful a being as it should have become," she replied, stepping closer to the mage and egg.

"Good. Now this may sting a bit, but bear with me."

A beam of golden light burst out of the egg, penetrating Jeanne's abdomen, a searing feeling taking hold of her. But she closed her eyes and grunted, tiding through the pain.

When it subsided, she opened her eyes, and she was no longer in the white space. Instead, she was back before the mage, who smiled at her as a tear rolled off his cheek.

"Thank your friends for me, in the next leg of your journey. We will meet again."

As he said that, time stopped for everyone in the room except the mage. He walked around, lightly tapping everyone that wasn't supposed to be present, even stepping into the demon plane, and tapping Astaroth and Jaxx.

Once he touched Phoenix, the last player present, he snapped his fingers. And they all disappeared.

"Now. Onto the bigger problem. You all gave me a chance to fix this. Let's see if I'm powerful enough to survive this ordeal…"