And Ruin Followed Behind Her

Chapter 14

Chapter 14

The cultists that remained after Elka butchered their ranks stared up at the massive portal, which emitted a pulse as it spun clockwise in an oblong, red oval. The blood of their comrades spread over their feet, but the glee on their faces was unmistakable. They had succeeded in their mission after who knew how many years trying or how many innocents killed.

There were a lot of disappearances during my childhood—at least a dozen I can remember off hand. I’m ashamed to say that after a while they all blended together. If somebody asked, that’s what I would tell them—there were enough disappearances that they blended together, and that’s too damn many.

I pulled Mama off the gurney and dragged her to Dad’s hanging tree. “Stay here!”

“Where are you going?”

“Back for Elka.”

I rushed back towards Elka’s body but stopped in my tracks when a giant roar escaped the portal. It curdled my blood and dropped my stomach into my knees. The ground quaked until a scaly, black head emerged from the blood-red portal, roaring upwards into Chandler.

With another tremor, the monster’s scaly foot stomped through the portal and into the park. Long, white horns pointed in the night air as its yellow, snake-like eyes blinked against the sky. It was—I rubbed my eyes to be sure—a dragon, walking right through the middle of Chandler.

The cultists kneeled at the sight of the great dragon and began to chant rhythmically. Wondrous Aziolith. We are not worthy of your greatness. Bestow on us your grace so we might be your shepherds in the new world order.

Another quake and a second front foot crashed into the human world. The dragon’s muscles rippled under the weight of each step and two dark, black wings fell to the ground on both of its leathery sides. Another ear-splitting roar and a great plume of fire escaped from Aziolith’s mouth, boiling the night air.

“What is that?” my mother asked.

“That’s a dragon, Mama,” I said, struggling to believe my own words.

Yesterday, I never would have believed magic existed, or that I descended from a long line of pixies. Today, I knew magic was real, and it had been used to open a portal straight to Hell. Any doubt I had vanished as I looked up at the enormous dragon in front of me.

“Who has summoned me, the great Aziolith?”

The cultists didn’t look up. They only chanted. Bestow on us your grace so we might be your shepherds in the new world order...

The dragon bristled at the slight of being ignored. “Yes, yes. That is all well and good, but why have you summoned me?”

Again, the cultists did not move except to chant. They trembled under their cloaks. Being in a cult seemed fun in theory, but I don’t think many were aware what kind horror they would let loose on the world. Staring at a forty-foot-tall monster rendered them useless. They chanted mindlessly. Bestow on us your grace so we might be your shepherds in the new world order.

“You!” Aziolith lifted his great claw and pointed at Duncan. “Answer my question. “Why have you summoned me?”

I took the dragon’s distraction to sneak toward Elka. She quivered at the base of the mystery spot, blood pooling under her, the color drained from her face. I stepped quietly and gingerly, using what darkness I could find to move undetected, but the bright light from the portal provided little cover. Luckily, nobody seemed to notice. Their attention was focused on the great beast in front of them.

Duncan stood, knees knocking and voice shaking. “Oh...g-great Aziolith. I am not worthy to be in your presence.”

The side of Aziolith’s mouth curled up in a sinister smile. “This is most likely true. Still, since you are the one I called upon, I demand an answer. Why have you summoned me?”

Duncan looked up at Aziolith’s great glowing eyes and then shot his gaze down at the ground. “I’m sorry, great dragon, I did not mean to make contact with your eyes. I am unworthy to be in your presence.”

The great dragon sighed. Without another word, he stabbed Duncan through the chest with one of his claws, lifted him into the air and swallowed him whole. I winced as Duncan’s agonized screams were silenced. Even though he’d been terrible to me, I took no pleasure in the death of a misguided child.

“Now,” Aziolith sneered, “is there anyone who has not pissed their pants that can explain to me what I am doing here?”

I inched forward, careful not to draw the dragon’s gaze, until I kneeled over Elka’s body.

“Come, Elka. I have to get you out of here.”

She spit blood and shook in pain. “My time is done. I have lived all I could, for as long as I could.”

“Don’t say that. You can still—”

“Don’t lie to me, Julia. Here, take these. Protection of our kind falls on you now.” She handed me the two daggers she clutched tightly in her hands. “Go find the book in my shop; the one I gave you to read. In it, there is a tale of the great battle Akta had where she defeated Aziolith. It will tell you what you need to know.”

“Don’t go. I’m so sorry I—”

She gave a shaky smile. “It is my time. We all have a time to live and a time to die. This is your time to fight. My time is over.”

“I can’t do this, Elka. It’s too hard.”

Her smile dropped. “It is always hard, and it is never the right time. I spent a hundred years protecting pixie folk, only to die today. That was my charge. This is yours. If you cannot defeat this evil, then nothing can.”

“I can’t. I can’t—”

“Then we are all doomed.”

With that, the last of her breath left her and the light faded from her eyes. I shook her awake, but her limp body weighed heavily in my arms.

“No...no! Don’t leave me,” I stammered like a baby, babbling through my panicked tears. “I can’t do this. You don’t understand, I can’t.”

I wanted to cry there on Elka’s chest forever, but I couldn’t, lest I alert the great dragon and the cultists to my presence. It was time to pull myself together. Sniffling, I dug through Elka’s pockets until I found the keys to her shop, then turned to flee, her daggers clutched tightly in my arm.

Aziolith sighed again as the cultists stayed silent in fear. “Perhaps you do not understand how this works,” he said. “I am the great dragon Aziolith. You have summoned me, I assume for a reason, and now I would like to know what it is. Your silence is both rude and infuriating.”

Finally, Tom Allen walked toward the dragon. He was a black haired, slick talking, city councilor with a golden smile that could charm the pants off any voter he came across. Hell, Mama voted for him repeatedly, even though he never showed anything but contempt for her, because at least he was the devil she knew. He ran against an outright racist that wanted to desegregate the school and run all the black people out of town.

At least Tom Allen’s racism bubbled below the surface, so he was elected over and over in overwhelming fashion. If the voters knew he planned to unleash Hell on Earth, perhaps that would have been enough to kick him out of office. I don’t know, though. Even given these new facts, they might have still voted for him.

“Great dragon Aziolith,” Tom Allen said. “We, the Cult of the Bloody Dagger, have worked long to bring you back to the world, so that you might take your rightful place as ruler of this land, and bestow your countenance upon us.”

Aziolith chuckled. “My countenance? Those are very fancy words, but I need you to speak in much smaller ones. What do you mean by countenance? And be very clear and deliberate, or I will devour you as I devoured your friend.”

Tom Allen gulped. “Why...I mean your treasure, Aziolith. Everybody knows you hoarded the most amazing collection of magical artifacts in all of history. Those who know of your greatness have searched for it, but to no avail. Even the pixie that slayed you had no idea where your treasure was hidden.”

Aziolith cleared his throat. “So, you have freed me from Hell, so that I can take over the world and give you money? Is that right?”

Tom Allen shifted his eyes from left to right. “Yes, well, when you put it like that it sounds a bit silly, doesn’t it?”

The dragon nodded. “Yes, it sounds a bit silly. You have the power of a dragon at your command, and you would use it to make yourself richer. There must be an easier way to make money.”

“And to collect power,” Tom Allen added. “We would also like power.”

“Ah yes, and you wish to gain power.” The great dragon sighed. “I am so disappointed in you.” With another great quake Aziolith lumbered forward until its spiked tail whipped out of the portal.

Tom Allen rushed after the dragon. “Now, see here,” he shouted. “We have worked to free you for a century and have finally done so. That, at least, is worthy of some compensation, for services rendered. We demand–”

Aziolith swung back around. His great yellow eyes narrowed and turned a dark maroon. “You dare demand from me, human? Have you any idea what I’ve gone through, brooding in Hell, waiting for my moment to return to Earth, eager to meet those who would rescue me? The thought of returning to Earth was all consuming, and now, after waiting thousands of years, I find those who freed me utterly lacking. This is not the great army I expected, but a pathetic, sniveling group of vermin unworthy of my time. Have you any idea how disappointing that is for me?”

Tom Allen gulped. “Given that as it may be, we have suffered long, and lost much to return you to the world, with the expectation of reward once we did...”

“And who, may I ask, offered you this reward?”

“Well...you did.”

“I did no such thing!” the dragon bellowed. “You have been deceived, and now you will know the true power of the dragon Aziolith, destroyer of men and monster alike, and doom to all those who cross my path!”

I ran away from the mystery spot back toward my mother. Aziolith unhinged his jaw and spewed fire from his nose so bright that it evaporated poor Tom Allen in an instant. Then, he turned his breath on the rest of the cultists, who drew guns to return fire.

Their bullets bounced off the dragon’s hide as his breath set them ablaze. They screamed and rolled helplessly on the ground to put out the fire, but it was no use. The fire from the dragon’s belly was too powerful. I like to think that in their last moments, their last words were “Aw, hell.”

No sooner did Aziolith close his mouth then a great rumble came from the other side of the portal. Dozens of bright red demons, clad in human flesh armor and wielding great, obsidian swords, rushed through the portal and scattered in every direction.