//------------------------------// // Through My Father's Eyes // Story: My Son, My Soldier, My Hero // by That_Random_Pony //------------------------------// Energy slammed into every wall of the cube, a portion being absorbed while the rest exploded and dispersed into the air. Draco gripped his head in agony as he screamed, energy building in his body again. Nyla groaned and roared as his pain channeled into her, followed by her own spasms and explosions of energy. With another pulse, Draco roared as blue energy shout out erratically, throwing Nyla back and slamming him around as the unstable power surged throughout the room. Where... is this all... COMING... FROM?! Th...The Ashla... it's... channeling the Makti's power! I'm... gonna... explode! I can't... get rid of it all! He clenched his hands into fists and fired at the wall, yelling as the beam kept firing. Draco separated his hands to cut the beam, but the concentrated shot exploded into smaller ones that shot out from his fingertips. Another surge cut the smaller beams, and Nyla screeched as her eternal flame fired out involuntarily, burning a near-green color. The biggest surge yet ripped out of Draco's mouth as he tried screaming. It sent him to the ground as it was absorbed into the ceiling, until it cut off minutes later. Draco tried picking himself up, but fumbled onto his side and groaned. His throat felt like it was on fire. He coughed hoarsely, then spat up a glob of... something. Cracking an eye open, Draco looked around for whatever he had spit out. A burning blob of magma sizzled and crackled in front of him, which caused him to reel back and spit to the side. Unlike the burning piece of lava, plain saliva rested on the floor. W...Wha? Oh... no... Nyla grunted as her scales turned to stone, but her legs morphed to crystal, and her wings grew bigger. She roared as Rites that weren't theirs began to surface, and Draco started feeling the same. His left arm turned to magma and dripped to the floor while his right dissolved into water, gushing like a waterfall. There was a sharp crack as his tailbone was pierced by a razor sharp tail. His jaw stretched into a monstrous maw, his lips absorbing into his face as his teeth sharpened and grew. The pain was unbearable. He'd heard of Signa that had turned on their kind; how they stole Rites and forever felt the pain whenever using them. It had to be the same pain. It was like it wasn't even his body anymore. Just a mess of Rites and abilities that weren't his. He choked on a shout as his chest caved in, a small orb whirring to life where his torso opened up. With some struggling, and after throwing up a mixture of molten metal and acid, Draco found his will to scream out. Energy began concussively blasting outwards, wave after wave, shockwave after shockwave. Nyla clawed at her head as they grew out more spines from her skull, her maw thickening and her teeth growing a second row. Her tail had chunks of crystal and metal jutting out in different directions. She bit down on a chunk of rock sticking out of her leg and roared. While she thrashed and screamed, Draco grunted as he felt something building within him. It was energy, of course, but this surge felt like hundreds of different individual sources all pushing together. There was a dark energy keeping all of these overwhelming powers together... an energy he had loathed but now felt uncertainty about. It wasn't awake... no, not yet. When it smelled the beginning of what could very well decide the fate of the galaxy it would awaken. It would fight with him and help him with every bit of power it had accumulated. This was a taste. Just a small taste of the vast reserves of energy it held. "NNNNNNNNNAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!" As the Signa and unicorns went about their day, preparing for the party of their lives, they all stopped. Celestia, Luna, Cadence, and Twilight all rose their heads as their horns blinked from a minor absorption of magic. They felt rejuvenated after directing so much for the celebrations. But with it came a mounting sense of terror and awe. A massive distortion of magic flooded into the air, a mixture of hundreds of signatures that melded into one entity. Figanti was standing beside Moon as the energy washed over them, and he smirked as it began to fade. The princesses looked to him, and he simply smiled. "Now imagine this power... is only a miniscule percent of what it will be." Moon's eyes widened as he looked to the ground and tried to fathom that much raw energy. Jaqeluu and Derekosh both smiled as they looked up into the evening sky. "Do you think he felt it?" Agner managed to murmur from behind them, still dumbfounded. "Without a doubt... and he knows we'll be ready." Derekosh chuckled and glanced to his brother. "Well it certainly wouldn't be any fun without gods fighting in this battle." Draco felt... detached. Like... he wasn't just in pain before. ...another... another memory? He watched as the forests of his world burned menacing reds, the afternoon sky blotted out by smoke and fighting. There were screams in the burning trees, the screams of the dying and any warriors left. He was on a dragon, dodging beams and slashing soldiers that sprang out from the trees. Beside him was another dragon, and on its back was a Signa woman. Her metallic wings protected her from some of the stray blaster shots that passed over them, but an enormous beam shot in front of her. Before she could be consumed, her Nera'ak lurched to the side, snapped the saddle, and sent her flying over to Draco's ancestor. She screamed as her partner burned up, but Draco's counterpart yelled something to her to keep her focused. They dropped into the forest, flying just below the branches and making their way west. A small clearing littered with bodies opened up, and the two jumped down, blood splashing against their legs as their Rites surfaced. Draco saw the woman's body cover itself with vines and vegetation, her face concealed behind a leaf woven mask. His own arm came into view, diamond-like in appearance, as he charged what looked like a bunker. He knocked down the wall with ease and ran inside, crushing the bodies of soldiers that had been killed in the hall. Another large metal door stood at the end of the hall, and they could hear the wails of a child. The woman leapt forward and blasted the door apart, the two rushing in and searching frantically. In the corner was another woman, covered in her armor and blood, and they went over when the cries resounded from that corner. They gasped when the warrioress' face lifelessly hung to the side, her neck gouged and her mask torn to show her lifeless expression. In her dead arms was a baby. A tiny infant that wailed for safety. The woman picked him up, speaking to him in a silken voice that eased him slightly. A chorus of roars and growls brought their attention back to the entrance, where dozens of soldiers were funneling into. She looked to him with a hardened eye, and Draco lifted his hand towards the incoming horde. A bright flash followed a powerful wave of energy that shot out in front of them. The Arthanians were vaporized along with most of the bunker, and the two started running. He ran behind her with an energy field surrounding them as they ran through an army of the mutts. Draco saw a fort of some kind in front of a mountain, which they entered once they reached it. His brothers were there waiting. They ran into a lift while the army behind them held back the horde as it poured in. Dozens of Signa boarded a ship inside the mountain, an escort guiding him and his family inside. Taking off was rough as rounds exploded against the barriers around the ship. Nera'ak swarmed around the ship, screeching and roaring as they were torn apart and blown up from the Arthanian ships. As the past Nera'ak plummeted, the ship jumped across the stars. Draco watched as his family separated, his mother carrying him to a pod while his brothers entered similar ones. He turned and looked to the dreadnought aiming its charged weapon at their ship. His father closed his eyes and whispered softly, almost inaudible over the high-pitched hum. "Dot'it ura ot jro... jra ninjot (It's up to you... my son)"