The Crown's Fire - Chapter 48

Chapter 48: The Spirit’s Power
While he was still in control, Ezekiel took his time to burn away all of his enemies.

[Damn you two!] Vulcan bellowed.

The dragon’s soul was burning in fury at their actions. Whenever it would try to take control and breathe fire at anyone it passed, Tarah would command it to stop. As such, Vulcan always ended up breathing out smoke.

Meanwhile, Tarah couldn’t help but smile and chuckle whenever Vulcan would curse her name. Her strong desire to help Ezekiel and save innocent lives from its fire greatly helped her overcome her fear of heights.

In fact, she didn’t even notice it before, but now, she rode the dragon with confidence and ease without worrying about whether or not she could fall off.

It was such an overwhelming feeling of victory that she found herself enjoying her flight together with the prince. Burning the monsters Devon created was satisfying to watch. But just before she could further revel in such thoughts, she quickly shook her head to clear her thoughts while reminding herself not to think too badly or negatively of Devon.

‘I’m sorry, Levi…’ she inwardly winced. She just knew that she almost made a mistake in her head for almost thinking that she was burning Devon alive using Vulcan’s fire.

Turning her attention back to the present, she noticed something that immediately made her raise her brow.

[Wait…] Tarah whispered to Ezekiel, stopping him from burning a group of Helion’s soldiers that were attacking soldiers from Bethel…

They were humans like her, while some were good elvins and fairies. She knew that those soldiers didn’t want to fight in this war. However, Devon held their families hostage, preventing them from simply choosing to be killed rather than supporting Devon in his battles.

[What’s wrong?] Ezekiel asked.

[We don’t need to burn them. We just need them to stop fighting,] she insisted. [They’re innocent. Devon’s just forcing them to fight for his side. I believe they are from the kingdom of Bethel.]

[So what?] Vulcan grumbled in annoyance. [Let’s just burn them all and save them from their misery!]

Tarah’s face darkened as she retorted, “You just don’t know that you weren’t created by the heavens to destroy. Your kind was created to save lives. You’re a golden dragon, one of a kind. The most powerful of your kind. You breathe not just fire…”

In truth, the golden dragon also had the power to spit each of the elements its kind could use such as fire from Sun dragons, lightning from Sky dragons, water from Ocean dragons, lava from earth dragons, and even hallucinogenic gas from Moon dragons. That was why Devon was desperate to have its power.

“That’s right,” Tarah added, her eyes glowing at the thought. “We can use the hallucinogenic gas, Your Highness.”

[Let’s do that!] Ezekiel remarked as it ready itself to spit the gas but to her dismay, nothing came out. In response, Vulcan’s loud and mocking laughter roared inside their bond.

[What a dumb dragonrider,] the dragon mocked. [Do you think that being my dragonrider already gave you full authority over me?]

‘Did I miss something?’ Tarah thought with a frown. Then, after a careful analysis, her eyes widened in realization. “Right, there are two souls within you now. His Highness and Vulcan…” Her expression darkened as she growled, “You’re letting Ezekiel be in control of the hallucinogenic gas!”

That was it., Things made sense that way. There was probably a split also over the control of powers. And currently, the prince had no control over hallucinogenic gas.

[Your Highness, how did you manage to get a grip on Vulcan’s power over fire?] she asked.

[I… I’m not sure. But upon seeing how Helion’s soldiers were succeeding in subduing all my soldiers, I… I just thought that I should burn them all,] Ezekiel explained. [It was then that I saw some sparkling stones in different colors before me and I grabbed them, absorbing them somehow. After that, I was able to spit fire whenever I was in control.]

“How many sparkling stones have you collected since you shifted then?” Tarah further asked.

[Three so far. The red, black, and blue stones,] the prince answered. [I’ve been using the red one to spit fire.]

“Can you try spitting something using the black and blue ones?” she requested.

[Alright.]

At her request, Ezekiel began spitting out lightning, which was then followed by water without much effort.

“I see… Try collecting more of those stones, Your Highness,” she stated. “Those stones are Vulcan spirit powers, and I believe they got scattered since two souls, yours and Vulcan, are currently trying to command the spirit.”

As a dragonrider, the authority she held over the dragon only extended to simply being able to ride, tame, and control it and its destructive nature. She basically had no power to command it to attack and use its powers against others. In essence, her power was limited to simply withholding it from using its power to wreak chaos and havoc.

Back to the situation at hand, Tarah inwardly cursed at the fact that she didn’t have a way to find out what Vulcan’s soul had currently managed to get a hold of from its spirit at this point. If she ever asked Ezekiel to back down and let Vulcan take control, the damn dragon would immediately attack the innocent before she inevitably had to command it to stop.

[I’m not sure. I still can’t get a hang of some of its powers…] Ezekiel confessed after some time. He probably couldn’t get more of those stones that symbolized the spirit’s power.

Tarah bit her inner lip as she thought of something to help him. “Are you able to somehow see Vulcan’s past through his soul? If he’s trying to merge its soul with yours and overpower you, then there’s a possibility that you two could be able to see each other’s past,” she suggested. “Do you think you can do that? It may help you find the power of its spirit.”

In fact, there could be something in Vulcan’s past that could help the prince if some of the stones they were trying to find hadn’t appeared. Perhaps that could help them gain some progress.

Returning to the present, however, Tarah was already getting frustrated at seeing Bethel’s soldiers getting hurt. Even worse, if the Ebodian soldiers would not try to subdue them, then Ezekiel’s soldiers would be the ones getting hurt instead.

[This is frustrating,] Ezekiel grunted.

At the same time, the dragon started spitting water before freezing the lower parts of Bethel soldiers so that they wouldn’t be able to move and attack. That was the best they could do for them. For now, it was up to the Ebodian soldiers if they would spare them or not.

[My men wouldn’t harm them if they yield.] Ezekiel muttered.

That was the best they could do for now. It would’ve been nice if they could use hallucinogenic gas to have them all fall to sleep and avoid this damn battle while Ezekiel burned away all of the monsters and direct followers of Devon, but that wasn’t possible at the moment.

Everything seemed to be going smoothly, but after a while, Tarah felt like everything around her was spinning. And right then, everything turned pitch black.

[Tarah!]