Wolves of Time - Secrets of The Dragon King v2

Grunting, the dragon brood pulled themselves up from the void. Hearing Wraithart yelling out, Tye, Talon, and Skylar looked around to see their father clawing at himself, his crimson blood pooling around him. It glistened in the darkness surrounding them before it trailed off out of sight moving away from Wraithart. Helping themselves into a standing position, the three Princes looked at each other then again at their father. He screamed in agony, his body swirling with the void that began to seep into his skin. The void itself transformed into various blades, razors, and other piercing weapons, cutting into Wraithart's flesh to make him bleed faster.

“N-no! I'm sorry! Please, g-give me more time!” He pleaded with an unknown entity, Tye, Talon, and Skylar all looking around at the darkness before forming orbs of fire in their palms that they used for light. Still, the only thing they could see beyond themselves was darkness. The light of the fire in their hands quickly burned away with a searing pain in each of their palms, the void trying its best to remove the light they still held.

“What is it father? What is wrong with you!?” Talon asked, inching closer to the screaming male in front of him. He drew back, coming around to see his father's face. The King's flesh had been ripped away, leaving only muscle tissue, and bone visible. Falling to the floor again, the prince crawled backwards away from Wraithart, all the while holding his mouth to keep himself from retching. Wraithart yelled out in agony again before spewing black bile that turned to acid beneath him, that melted away the skin on his hands, and legs. The smell of the rotting flesh in turn made Talon vomit, he held his stomach, trying to cover his nose.

“What is it Talon?! What has happened to father?!” Skylar demanded, coming around to Wraithart's face again, his flesh had been completely eaten away, going as far down as his chest, his pulsing heart had turned black with rot, and the skin still left over his writhing remains had turned ashen. Covering his own mouth, he drew back as well, motioning for Tye to stay away. Seconds after the motion, Wraithart projectile vomited acid so forceful that it pierced through the void, a voice faintly being heard in the distance none of them could quite place.

Fail me... You will be next... Trapped in the Darkness..., gather them for me... Revive my flesh...

The voice trailed off while Wraithart's face, and body returned to normal. He huffed, wiping away the bile that covered his face, and chest before looking up to see his sons peering down at him in disgust. Pulling himself up from the floor, breathless, and sweating, the king's hair had matted, slinging sweat in all directions while he turned all around in search of the voice they all had heard. Tye, Talon, and Skylar watched while their father bounded off into the void space. Each turned to the other, unsure of what to do next until they heard Wraithart yell out yet again.

“Stop, we can't...” Talon cleaned himself up, motioning Tye from going after Wraithart's screams.

“Father is unwell...” Tye groaned, looking over to Talon who shook his head. Skylar thought on it more, mulling over what the voice they heard had said. Still lingering in his mind, the voice was somehow familiar to him, but in other ways it had been completely different from anyone he'd ever heard before.

“Father has snapped... Was all this really worth it...? S-should we help him...?” Talon retorted seeing Wraithart coming back moments later. His demeanor changed, he had become calm again with his aura cloaked around him that pulsed in waves of red, violets, and the ebony of the void around them. The Dragon King's eyes glowed crimson with his fists tightly clenched. Inching closer to his three son's, his voice booming throughout the emptiness.

“Join me... Unleash the darkness, and awaken the madness within... Join me... Collect the remaining deity and destroy... Let me live once more...” he choked out, his voice splitting. A lower demonic pitch engulfed his normal vocals while he began to manipulate the darkness into binding stings of glowing silver. Creating a collar, one each for his son's that stood before him, he thrust them around their necks before any could refuse. Instantaneously, Tye, Talon, and Skylar became tainted by the void, their souls, like Ace's, and his own turned black.

They all nodded to Wraithart after succumbing to their dark hearts, pooling their elements together to open a mirror to the outside world beyond the void space. Searching for Ace, tracing the darkness within her body, she was found confined on Earth. She was bound to a bed, and sedated, the sight before them made Wraithart livid. Each of them held the others hand, forming a circle with their bodies. This formation unlocked the bindings that held Ace while she slept until Wraithart flared his majestic wings, followed in turn by each of his sons.

“LET THE DARKNESS CONSUME YOU!”

Their resounding voices contaminated with the void transcended space, and time to reach her. Opening her eyes, Ace moved ever-so-slightly, taking a step away from the bed that she had been bound to. It burned away in a blaze of black, and cobalt flames. Nodding in response to her brothers, and father though she could not see them, she made to move her hand into her pocket to take up the tag that contained Chronos.

Peering through the void veil in front of them, they could see the tag Chronos was held within had been restored. This told Wraithart that Richard had returned to Earth, and had only grown stronger. He realized that he would have to let Ace go, and that his brood would have to do everything they could to get the tag back from Ace, lest they find themselves in a corner again. Though that realization meant nothing to the Dragon King, for he had other plans in mind. Reaching out his hand to Ace, she mirrored his movements, her aura flaring up violently to match Wraithart's enabling her to reach the void.

Raising her hand that held Chronos into the darkness, Wraithart smiled at his victory. Meeting her hand with his, he felt the last tag in his grasp. It pulsed between his fingers, making his burst out into a violent maniacal laughter that echoed throughout the void. Ace's hand fell back out of reach, the void closing back to separate them. He had won, Wraithart had taken all of the tags for himself with no resistance. Holding Chronos with the others, he showed the completed set of Deities to his sons. Laughing out with their father, they empowered themselves only to find that Chronos' tag glowed faintly while the Drakian Gods around his tag were summoned forth.

The gods bowed before the Dragon King, save for Chronos, who remained within his tag. Demanding that he be summoned, the king and his sons combined their auras to force him out to join the others. This, however wasn't so, instead Chronos' tag merely fell apart, turning to ash in Wraithart's fingers. Shocked at the discovery, the tag was a forged look-a-like. Wraithart realizing this, he fumed, blasting the deities around him with fire hotter than hell itself. Their tags glowed, threatening to be burnt to cinders, they retreated into their confined spaces to save themselves.

“They will pay! So close... We can not fail again!” The king growled out, his wings flared out to their fullest width. He flexed his body harder, the veins that snaked along his flesh bulged beneath his skin, throbbing with his anger. “It's time to make use of you girl... Destroy them! You WILL obey me!” Wraithart yelled out, his aura flaring again creating a vacuum within the void. Tye, Talon, and Skylar held their ground, using their own wings to shield themselves. Barely able to move, the three dragon princes watched through gaps in their wings while Wraithart began his ploy to completely take over Ace.