When he, Ramoth and Emrys had returned from the temples, Ddraig's feet had barely touched the ground before Valkor - an old friend of his - approached them in the tunnels.Â
"Your father wants to see you, Ddraig - now," he said quietly.Â
Something tightened in his chest, and he couldn't quite stop himself from taking a fleeting nervous glance at his younger brother. Ramoth's eyes were alight with something halfway between fear and anger as he fixed his gaze on Valkor. The Drake with the dull golden scales either didn't notice this or didn't give much thought to it. Instead, he kept his eyes on Ddraig. A heavy silence fell upon them.
Eventually, Ddraig spoke: "Just me," he said. It wasn't a question.
Valkor nodded grimly. Morsen was in a bad mood.
Ddraig turned to face his younger brother fully, and with a feigned air of confidence he told him: "You and Emrys go on - I'll catch up to you afterwards."
Ddraig could tell that Ramoth didn't like the situation, regardless of how familiar it was. He'd been a liar if he said he didn't feel the same.Â
Slowly, Emrys led Ramoth away and down one of the tunnels, and Ddraig stood with Valkor, watching them leave.Â
"He knows about the plan," Valkor muttered. "Morsen, that is. He knows you three are planning to leave the Eyrie."
Ddraig's blood ran cold in his veins.Â
How? How could he know? They had always been careful to never mention the plan to leave within earshot of anyone else, leaving the Eyrie and discussing it on the wing or talking in a secluded area far away.Â
"A spy?" Ddraig asked Valkor.
Ddraig shook his head in frustration and began walking in the opposite direction to where Emrys took Ramoth. Suddenly, a thought struck him, and he looked over his shoulder at Valkor.
"If things go wrong in that chamber," he said in a low, hushed tone, "take Ramoth and Emrys and get out of here. Go to the surface - Morsen would never follow them there."
Valkor's body visibility tensed.
"We're about to go to war," he replied. "Tensions are high, and you know how Morsen feels about rule-breakers."
"If I'm not back by nightfall, or if there's any other obvious sign that I'm..." Ddraig let out a shaky breath, and fought to keep his voice steady. "Just... promise me you'll get them out of here - go with them if you can."
Valkor stepped towards Ddraig, and with a steely resolve that Ddraig always admired his for having, nodded. "I promise."
                   <•°•>
Ddraig said nothing as he stood before Morsen.
His heart hammered in his chest so hard he feared it would break his ribs from the inside. But he still remained silent, not quite making eye contact.
"You are set to be king," Morsen said at last. His voice was as dark and commanding as his demeanor, making it very clear how he had remained as king for as long as he had.
Again, Ddraig did not speak.
"You have every tool at your disposal to make yourself a powerful ruler, and yet...you are more concerned with frivolous antics."
"I can see that you are not weak, Ddraig. However, your will is too easily swayed by your brother." He almost spat the last word.
Ddraig's head snapped up.
A low growl resonated from Morsen's throat. "He is a weak link. He cannot be allowed to continue influencing you. He must be culled."
No...no. This couldn't be real, he told himself. Ddraig had expected his own life to be on the line, but Ramoth? His little brother?
"You must be the one to do it."Â
Ddraig's voice was little more then a breath. "No."
"I won't kill Ramoth." His voice was louder now - not quite a shout, but still fuelled by the same fear and anger he saw in Ramoth's eyes. "He's my brother."
"That means nothing!" Morsen raised himself up to his full height and spread his wings wide in one fluid motion.
Although he was by no means small compared to Morsen, Ddraig had never felt so dwarfed by his father's stature.
"I killed more than just my brother to get to where I am!" Morsen snarled, revealing huge teeth that appeared to gleam. "Perhaps I was wrong about you. Perhaps you are weak. If you won't kill Ramoth, then I certainly will."
As Morsen turned away from him and began stomping towards the chamber's exit, Ddraig felt as though his heart had stopped beating. His mind was racing, yet he couldn't think. He was so preoccupied with trying to formulate a single solid thought that he didn't notice himself moving until, with a roar of fury, he sank his teeth deep into Morsen's leg.
In a flash of movement, Morsen spun around, yanking his leg from Ddraig's grip. Ddraig leapt back just before Morsen caught his head between his teeth, but failed to see one of Morsen's massive wings swinging towards his head until it collided. The impact sent Ddraig's head careening to the side as his vision flashed white.
Then, a searing pain, starting at his throat and ending above his spine. Ddraig struggled, thrashing wildly with his wings until he struck what he could only assume was Morsen's eye, and the pressure around his neck released.
He didn't hesitate in swiveling around to bite again at Morsen. His teeth gripped Morsen's snout, but the hold didn't last long before the larger drake shook off Ddraig.
Before he could do anything else, Ddraig was shoved bodily to the side and crashed against the ground. He tried to scramble back to his feet, but a pressure - right where his head connected to his neck - pinned him in place. He glared upwards at Morsen's face as thick, hot blood dripped from his snout.
"You fight well, Ddraig," he growled, panting slightly. "But not well enough."
Panic gripped Ddraig once more, drowning out all the rage he had felt moments before, as Morsen shifted his talons further up Ddraig's head.
"I'll kill you," Ddraig hissed as the metallic taste of blood filled his mouth. "I'd sooner die than let you kill Ramoth."
Morsen drove his talons into Ddraig's skull, right over his eye, and pulled downwards quickly and with little effort. The pain was immeasurable, but it didn't last long before Ddraig's world went dark.
                   <•°•>
Ramoth couldn't move. His entire body ignored every instinct that told him to run and flee the sight before him.
His brother's body lay at Morsen's feet, with one eye all but gauged out from the wound trailing down his face. Morsen stared at Ramoth as he stood in the chamber's entrance, and his lips curled into something like a sneer.
Finally, his legs moved, and Ramoth began trying to back away, but Morsen was faster as he lunged forward. He reached out with his talons, raking them down the right side of Ramoth's face. Ramoth screeched in agony as the pain exploded like an inferno.
He expected to feel Morsen's teeth around his neck, tearing out his throat, but nothing happened. Through his good eye, he could see Valkor dragging his claws along Morsen's wing as his teeth struggled to find purchase in his thick hide.
Ramoth didn't know when Valkor arrived, or how. All he knew, in that moment, was the blazing pain on his face and his brother's corpse on the other side of the chamber.
His thoughts were interrupted, however, when a pair of familiar blue-and-yellow eyes appeared in front of him, and a voice spoke to him.
"We have to leave. Now." Emrys began pushing Ramoth out of the chamber as quickly as either of them could move, away from where Valkor kept Morsen locked in battle. "Go, go!"
Numbly, Ramoth obliged, following Emrys as she led him through the winding tunnels. Eventually, they approached an opening to the wide open sky, and they stopped.
"We have to fly, Ramoth. We need to leave. I don't know what happened in there, but we can't stay."
Ramoth still didn't move as he stared into the middle distance, and Emrys persisted.
"Ramoth!" She pushed him towards the ledge as a deafening roar came from the tunnel behind them.
"What about Valkor?" Ramoth asked slowly. He tried to ignore the fact that he wouldn't even be asking that if he hadn't rushed headlong towards the chamber.
"He'll know where to meet us."
Emrys all but shoved Ramoth off the ledge to get him into flight, and followed right beside him.
The mere fact that he was able to keep himself steady enough to fly came as something of a miracle to Ramoth. The burning marks down his face made it nearly impossible for him to even remember his own name.
They flew on in silence for some time. Neither of them said anything as they entered the same temple they had left earlier that day. Even as the light faded outside they sat together in silence while Emrys tenderly cleaned the three harsh gashes over Ramoth's eye. Ramoth didn't want to talk about any of it, and Emrys didn't want to pry. The next time either of them said a word was when Valkor, bloodied, bruised and limping heavily, found them in the temple halls. He said he'd take them to the surface, but that he wouldn't be able to stay with them for long, since his mate was still at the Eyrie and he couldn't leave her behind.
He led them outside and they once again took to the skies, traveling farther and farther until they came across a deep, wide cave in the ground. They landed beside it, and Valkor instructed Ramoth and Emrys.
"You need to go through here," he said. "And whatever you do, don't look back. Once you reach the surface, find somewhere to live, and live well. If you're struggling to find a sanctuary, find Rodan - he's a creature who is just as part of the molten earth as it is of him. Some call him the Fire Demon; you'll know him when you see him. Tell him you're Ddraig's brother, and he can help you."
He didn't let them say another word before he took off, back towards the Eyrie.
After a long moment, Ramoth and Emrys began their slow descent into the cavern, eventually emerging on the surface.
The gojira on the surface were less than welcoming to them, and after many restless days of aimless travel over oceans and land alike, they eventually found the Fire Demon Rodan in his volcano. Ramoth briefly recounted what he knew of Ddraig's death when Rodan asked, and with a sorrowful nod, he directed them to a mountain range up north, where the newly-evolved humans and gojira alike couldn't reach them.
