Finale Starts

The ignorant Double Scarred Rider supports his dragon for the victory and unleashes the biggest mass murder of the Dragon Era with a single cheer. Vantage point from Patrick Darst.

Finale Starts

 

There was I, along with Elvis, Pyro and the rest of the group of racers and dragons, friends of Furia, chatting and waiting for the competitors to arrive at the finish line. It was the last event, the Endurance Course, a tie breaker that would determine the absolute winner of the Kansas Selections.

 

As only the VIP’s with our position and relation with the racers could, we had brought a small cooler with beers and ice in it and some snacks on another pack. Everyone was talking or eating or drinking, but not me. I just couldn’t eat or drink anything, not even talk except for a little while when I joined back the others, for I spent the most time walking back and forth. It was as if I had in my mind the same tension Furia had taken off with and left it in my mind.

 

Suddenly, I feel that unique tickle in my mind and immediately rush to use Furia’s vision to see how she’s doing. Exited to see Furia at the head of the pack, flying vigorously and stuff… what I actually saw and felt wasn’t very encouraging at all.

 

Come on Furia!! You can win!! Don’t give up just yet!! You can do it!!!

 

Patrick, I… It even hurts too much… I can’t push harder… I…

 

Furia wasn’t lying about the first part; I could feel the strain on her whole body and the constant waves of pain caused by every wing stroke. Still, I couldn’t call myself her rider if I didn’t ask more of her, if I didn’t believe Furia could give more of her. I had to cheer her up, I had to give Furia the strengths and support she needed right now.

 

Come on , Furia!! I didn’t come to Kansas to see you get a second place! You’ve got to win!! Hurry up, Furia!! Win!!!

 

I can’t Patrick… I just…

 

I couldn’t be gentle anymore…

 

You can’t my a*s, Furia!! What’s wrong with you!!? You have gone through far harder!! What would I say if I ever heard you saying something like that!!?

 

There was silence then… I felt my own words burning in the back of my mind. I could have gone too far. I was about to apologize when the feelings coming from Furia suddenly changed. The burning wasn’t in the back of my mind anymore, it had transformed into such rage and determination I felt a tear running down my cheek.

 

I jumped and screamed to the top of my lungs as the three silhouettes grew gradually until I could identify Furia; she was closely behind the dragon at the first place and speeding on and on, getting closer to the finish line and… finale of photography. The judges announced immediately that Furia was the winner and that’s when I start going crazy with the cheering.

 

I start to make my way towards Furia through the trophy carriers and suddenly David Bowman’s dragon roars so loud. I’ve never heard a dragon roar so loud before… could it be his last… no way. Why would someone kill David? The next I know is that Elvis is pushing me behind him, blocking a Vital Energy spear with a smoky shield. He then started to fight off this huge and muscular guy in a Vital Energy combat.

 

I have no time to even question what the hell is happening before a dozen dragons cover our aerial space and heir riders are shooting at the crowd with roaring machineguns. Suddenly, I felt a thrust at my mind, it was so strong it felt like a physical impact against my brain and made me flinch, followed by Furia’s voice…

 

Patrick, get down!! Someone is attacking everyone!!

 

What’s going on!!?... I ask her as I start to hyperventilate and get seriously scared. Not sure if it was mine or Furia’s fear, though it was more likely to be mine.

 

Just get down and stay with Elvis!! I’ll look for you!!

 

And then this masked guy appears and I hear Elvis yelling “Just remember your training, Patrick!”. The terrorist generates two long knives and I generate the Chain Blade out of panic, almost pissing on myself. I can’t think of something else other than… S**t, s**t, s**t, s**t, s**t, s**t, s**t, s**t, s**t… This was the first time I ever faced an actual enemy… this fight would probably end with one of us killing the other one. Though everyone I knew always said that I had the same dexterity as before my memory loss, I wasn’t ready for this. I simply wasn’t!! The terrorist then yells with a Mexican-or-something accent “Today you meet your match, Double Scarred Rider!!” and charges against me. I quickly dissipate the Chain Blade, it was more of a medium-long ranged weapon, and deflect the terrorist’s attack with a shield and counter with a sword. It was so instinctive; I wasn’t even thinking of what I was doing, but my sudden switch of weapon had startled the attacker and he almost failed to block my attack. I smiled and quickly thought… I got this…

 

Furia wasn’t very far away, just like thirty meters or so. Suddenly a rain of fire fell upon her and made my own skin feel dead cold.

 

Furia, are you hurt!?

 

S**t! Not too much yet; I can still fight. Now keep it to yourself, Patrick, and don’t die!

 

Don’t you die either!

 

Just a few eternal moments of fighting later, I feel my neck is burning. I grunt and reach Furia to see if she’s ok, but at the second I touch her mind, the pain grows even further and means nothing else other than that my dragon is in serious danger.

 

Furia!!! Hang on!! I’m coming to help you!!!

 

At what Furia answered sharply.

 

Patrick, no!! Keep yourself alive!! You won’t heal me if you die!!!

 

-F**k!!-… I yelled before withdrawing to my mind.

 

Furia needed my help, but I couldn’t do anything before defeating my opponent, who managed to keep himself away from my blade amazing and annoyingly well. I had to help Furia as quickly as possible, but I as well had to trust her. Just keep fighting… You’ll heal Furia later… Just defeat this guy and get to heal Furia… F**k!! What the hell am I missing to defeat this guy!! I’m supposedly strong enough to break through most Vital Energy defenses!! I’m still too weak… I miss the will to kill… D****t, I can’t let my fear kill Furia!!

 

But I continued fighting without winning the slightest edge over my opponent. At a moment, the terrorist blocked one of my attacks and jumped away from me to yell “BAIL OUT!!!!”. His black dragon quickly picked him off the ground and the swarm of shooters and other attackers flew away, leaving behind a tail of chaos, pain and death, out of which I had only a single concern…

 

Furia! I’m on my way now!!

 

The smell of burnt flesh grew stronger with every step I took. Furia was lying on a puddle of her own blood with her eyes half open and looking lost, barely conscious. Her right side was completely burnt black from her face to the shoulder, along with the wing and part of her arm. Her neck was pierced in multiple places on both sides, source of a torrential bleeding. Furia’s blood loss was so severe that with everyone of her heartbeats, the torrent of blood raised momentarily.

 

I continued running over Furia’s blood, splashing it up with each step and landed next to her neck, proceeding immediately to block one of the holes with both hands. Suddenly I heard Furia speaking to me…

 

I won, Patrick… you saw me, right? I’ll race for the United States…

 

Without wasting a single second, I directed the Vital Energy to my hands, like I had learned to under Elvis’s tutoring, and released it toward Furia. The dark red smoke flowed from my arms and dissipated toward Furia, slowly weakening her bleeding, closing her wounds and reconstructing the membrane of her wings. The black on her scales started to fly off with the soft breeze like ultra-thin carbon layers as I yelled…

 

-I did see you, Furia! You are going to tell me everything about it later! Just don’t die!!

 

Elvis, Pyro and other D.D.I. agents and dragons arrived around Furia and me and the first one walked next to me as he said…

 

-I’m ready to fuel you at any second, Patrick.

 

I nodded and concentrated on keeping the flow alive. Eventually, my strength started to fade and I told Elvis, with a tired airy voice…

 

-Elvis…

 

And suddenly, my knees collapsed. I ended up leaning against Furia, my legs buried in dark coagulated blood. Elvis approached and held on position, so I wouldn’t fall to the side and kill the flow. He started saying…

 

-Today you earned your scars, little brother. Now you know what you have gone through.

 

My respiration started to fail, I was then resting on Elvis’s arms, my vision had become blurry and I could only know the flow was still alive because it was getting worse. I wanted it to stop, I was getting scared and felt my nerves sharping and about to break into panic. But above all, I wanted Furia to be ok, that’s the only reason I was tolerating this semi-conscious parade of twisted blurred feelings and sensations and weakness.

 

And in the moment everything turned to black… That was when I started to see.

 

Images of a past life drifting away in the shadows that were so strangely familiar. I saw an egg breaking on my bed… I saw the sky closer than ever and I wasn’t on a plane. I remembered running from the police and someone told me “You didn’t know a thing about dragons, and you raised yours like a proper rider”. I saw that same someone dying holding my hand after he said “Thank you… for giving me the opportunity to live”. I saw a man who was on the ground and I held a dark red smoky sword that pierced his chest; and I exclaimed “You don’t f*****g mess with my dragon!!!”.

 

Then I remembered saying “Turn Legends or turn Forgotten…” and then I heard Furia’s last words… “We’ll do it together”.

 

Afterwards… there was just a twisted combination of pain and happiness as I revived every wound, every psychological hit and every second I had spent with Furia. I remembered a mixture of war, vengeance and suffering that composed at a whole the last part of my life.