And Ruin Followed Behind Her

Chapter 21

Chapter 21

I came back into consciousness with a great ringing in my ears. The sky was pitch black, and every light in the town was on. Car alarms blared in my ears, and the screams of men and women filled the air. Demons and monsters still roamed the streets and the smell of sulfur lingered, but when my eyes regained their focus, I wasn’t in Hell—at least not in the literal sense.

The light from the portal was gone, and night descended back on Chandler. The portal was closed, and with it, no more monsters could break free from Hell. However, it must not have removed the beasts that were already here, which meant Aziolith was still here, too.

It didn’t take me long to confirm that thought. As I stood, a scaly tail wrapped around my waist. I looked up to see the great dragon Aziolith grinning at me, flames shooting out of his nose. “So, pixie. It appears that I now have the upper hand in our encounter,” he said. “What to do with you now?”

His tail squeezed tightly around my waist until I couldn’t breathe. I tried to vanish, but the incredible pain coursing through my body made it impossible to concentrate. Even if I could concentrate, I no longer felt the deep connection with the magic. It must have dissipated when the portal was closed, and with it, my connection to the power that flowed from it.

“Please, stop,” was all I could muster.

Aziolith’s sharp teeth grew larger and larger as he moved me closer to his mouth. “Your ancestor sent me to Hell, little one, and you...you have set me free,” he said, laughing. “I suppose your blood debt is paid.” He let go of me and I dropped to the ground. I tried to flap my wings to break my fall, but they weren’t there.

“That was a good one,” I said, woozy.

I stood and walked toward the mystery spot. Before, being close to the spot made the hairs on my neck stand on edge, but now I felt nothing. There was no power within it. All that remained was a deep hole. My powers had come from the portal, and my ability to control them came from its massive magical power influx. Now, I had nothing. I cried.

“Please don’t cry,” Aziolith said to me. “I just hate it when beings like you cry. It looks so pathetic.”

“I miss my powers already,” I said, wiping my tears.

“Listen here, I am a massive magical beast, and I still exist. I can still breath fire. Those demons are magical too, and they still wreak havoc. Which means your powers are still there, even if they are buried deep inside of you.”

I looked down to see my daggers laying on the ground, covered in demon blood. I was covered in demon blood. Aziolith was right. The portal hadn’t destroyed them—I had destroyed them. Yes, the portal amplified my strength, but it did not swing the daggers. It did not disappear throughout the city. It did not stand up to a great dragon. I did that myself.

“There is something we must do, dragon,” I said, standing tall. “And we must do it together.”

“There is nothing I must do, little one.” Aziolith turned up his chin slightly.

“If you help me in this, I will make sure that you make it wherever you want to go, unharmed and unmolested. You have my word.”

“Heroes often make promises to powerful beings. On what authority do you make these promises?”

“I just fought a dragon and saved the world. If you don’t believe I can do anything, then what will it take?”

The dragon thought for a moment. “If you can guarantee this, then I will help you. What must we do?”

“We need to kill the demons remaining in town. You with your fire, and me with my daggers. I can’t do it alone. The magic from this place has drained and I’m not as powerful. Together we can clear this town of monsters, and then I swear you will have peace.”

The dragon nodded. “Then I will help you.”

*

LIFE IS MUCH EASIER with a dragon by your side. It’s so much easier, y’all. Demons that would have taken me months—if not years—to kill by myself, and probably would have killed me, were burned up in a second with the help of Aziolith. I cleaned up anything that he left behind with a slice here and a stab in the gut there, but he did most of the heavy lifting, eating and setting fire to one demon after another.

Often, I would run in front of the lumbering dragon to lure demons toward his mouth. Aziolith had trouble moving fast, and I knew that before long, more tanks and helicopters would come for him. The portal was closed, but the national guard still had work to do.

We cleaned up as many demons as we could find until we heard choppers cutting through the air. The national guard was close, and the attacks on Aziolith would start again.

The great dragon had performed admirably. It was time to fulfill my end of the bargain. If there were one or two demons left, the military could figure out what to do with them.

“Wait here for a moment,” I told Aziolith as we walked in front of the school back toward the mystery spot.

“Do not flee, pixie,” Aziolith said to me.

“I won’t.”

I ran inside, breaking through the front door as I went, and grabbed the book I had stored in the bottom drawer of my desk. I took one final look at my classroom. I would never be back. I would never come back to this town again, if I could help it, not after what I had seen and done. Not now that the mystery spot was gone.

I ran back outside where Aziolith was waiting for me. “I told you I wasn’t going anywhere.”

“I was prepared to chase you to the ends of the world should you have vanished.”

“Then it’s a good thing I came back,” I said, smiling. I was surprised at how much I liked this dragon. I felt more kinship to him in just a couple hours than I did to people I’d known my whole life.

We continued walking toward the mystery spot, where I picked up my bag of pixie dust. I hoped I was right that there was still some residue left in the bag. I made a promise to a dragon, and if I couldn’t fulfill it, I would be burned alive for sure.

The bag was coated in blood when I turned it inside out, but luckily there were still remnants of the dust clinging to the inside of the sack. I scraped the flecks of dust into my hand. It was time to fulfill my promise.

“Imagine where you want to go,” I told Aziolith. “Picture it in your mind’s eye. Make it real. Make it perfect. Remember every last detail. Do you have it?”

Aziolith closed his eyes. The sound of the Humvees echoed in the distance. In a few moments, they would come into view and attack Aziolith.

“Yes, I have it,” the dragon said.

“We only have one shot at this. Make it real. Reach out with your mind and let it pull you toward it.”

I rubbed the last remnants of the pixie dust on my gums. Aziolith’s blood was bitter and reeked of sulfur. “Come down here.”

Aziolith dropped his head and I touched his forehead. I saw where he wanted to take me, and we vanished from sight.