Aeron POV 

I grabbed my battle axe that had, for some reason, been gifted to me by the lovely ruler of Werrenville before she became a murderous psychopath. Even now, knowing that the person who had half crafted the beautiful weapon had been possibly days away from being corrupted, the axe was beautiful. A graceful piece of art that would impress even the highest gods, embedded with the national crystal of Gilded Helianthia, green fluorite.

Hyperion was coming with us, but I didn't wait for him. He was either already there or would never show up. Instead, I hopped on the back of the beautiful green dragon Ari had gifted me, aptly named Agate, and flew into the night sky, gliding over to Mezalea.

We couldn't wrestle control of the Lost Empire from Evangeline, but if we got there earlier this time, then we had a chance.

Ari joined me in the skies, on the back of Luftwa, her own cyan dragon. It's a shock she managed to get out. The majority of Rivendale is surrounded by Werrenville, so there was the risk of being caught. That isn't really on my agenda.

We glided in silence, both of us knowing what would happen if Mezalea also felt into the hands of the enemy. Mezalea was everyone's number one supplier of weaponry, taking Werrenville's place after Evangeline's fall. If Evangeline had access to all the weapons in the Land Beyond, who knows what could happen. This fight may have affects on Collossus, and then what would come of the last civilisation of humans.

We touched down quite fast, climbing off our dragons and walking towards the other three.

"What's the run down?" Ari asked Aalto. "Do we have a chance?"

"We do, but we have to act fast and cut off the corruption before the queen gets here." Aalto said, her long silver hair rippling like the ocean she called home.

"Then let's get going." Darcy said, serious, for once. Mezalea held a place in his heart, despite the fact all of us hated the ruler, she gave us weapons and gave Darcy tech supplies. If he lost that, only Atura knows what could happen.

I do not know what would happen, I'll have to ask Ignius on that one, my Child.

I smiled slightly, walking a little behind the others. I don't think its happened to anyone else, but Atura's been speaking to me. I think Ignius is talking Darcy, but they just sit by a fire and chat all the time. I'm pretty sure Darcy's put his epic hairstyling skills to use and braided Ignius' hair.

Personally, she's in my head. Sure, it's hard, and annoying when those thoughts of destruction come, but having a god by your side is pretty fun. She reminds me when my waters boiling.

"OH shit-" Darcy said, looking up at the Mezalean palace. Usually, a place of grandure. Tall turrets and high ceilings. Multicoloured bands stretching the entire building, leading up to the impressive domes of stained glass.

Now, dark red tendrils wrapped around it. Luckily, despite how bad it looked, it was manageable. When the Lost Empire was taken, it was all over. The plants were destroyed, temples crushed under the weight of the tendrils. Mezalea was putting up a fight, and I'm glad of it.

Where would I get my weapons and art from?

"We may be too late-" Aalto whispered, but I ran forwards. "Aeron, no!"

I slashed at a huge tendril with my axe, hacking away at it. It hurt, destroying something natural, but we don't like this natural. This natural bad.

"Nah, let it play out, I wanna see how this ends." Hyperion said.

The tendril didn't know what had hit it, literally, they don't feel anything. They have a brain, connected to a hive mind which controls everything, but no pain receptors. Its really cool! I can hurt things without them hurting.

I felt a hand, almost ghostly on my shoulder as I had sliced it clean off. The huge tendril that was covering the majority of the palace, although it wasn't alone, vanished in a blaze of ash.

I knew it was Atura, guiding me, like a god should their champion. The others joined me, pulling out maces, swords, and staffs. Hyperion sat away, not being blessed, but being moral support, mainly for Darcy.

We all ran at individual tendrils, the only person who could actually use magic to climb the walls, me with vine lifts, starting at chopping the ones off the delicate stained glass roof.

One spindly one was wrapped around the spire at the top, reaching towards me as it noticed the unfamiliar presence. I tenderly walked around the edge.

Is this a bad time to say I'm afraid of heights.

My legs shook like mad, but I tried to maintain some semblance of balance, walking around the edge of the stained glass dome. I had to face it eventually, that I would have to climb onto the roof.

I tried hyping myself up, despite the fact that high winds were up at this altitude and the air was thin. Breathing as deeply as I could, I took a ginger step forwards, then another trying not to put all my weight on the delicately thin glass.

Blood rushed in my ears as I got closer. A crack of glass made me physically recoil as I stepped forwards, but I was in too deep to go back now.

Delicately kneeling down, I pulled out a dagger from my belt, delicately placing it under the tendril wrapped around the spire and yanking up on the dagger.

The tendril broke, the entire thing vanishing in a puff of ash. The force on the glass when I had pulled up was too much. Far too much.

The glass started to crack, and my flight or fight response kicked in, unfortunately delivering me the very sorry result of 'freeze'.

The glass cracked more. I tried to move my body, but I couldn't. No matter what I tried, I was frozen.

Breathing in the thin air and trying to maintain some control over the situation, I dived away from the area.

But the glass broke.

And I felt myself falling.

Falling... falling...

I saw myself turning in the air, like I wasn't in my own body. An arm was reaching up to some god that had failed to appear. Even my own god had failed me.

Falling... falling...

The rush of air in my ears was like a blanket, warning me up and making me uncomfortable, but I didn't want it to stop, because if it stopped, then I was surely dead.

Falling... falling...

One last look up. No god. No god will come to save me. I'm alone. Even Atura deserted me.

Falling...

Falling...

Then a strong pair of arms caught me.

I only caught one glance of my saviour before I blacked out. A short mess of bright purple hair...

Then darkness.