Azure Flame

by Silver Page

In the Darkness of the Past

Chapter 30: In the Darkness of the Past

Blood. Blood everywhere. It stained the paved streets, it turned the puddles of rain red and brackish. Corpses, mountains of them, surrounded a massive, silver scaled Dragon. It towered over the city of death, severed wings, horns, and limbs decorating the ground around him. However, despite the glorious carnage, something ruined the mood.

The silver Dragon was pinned beneath two other Dragons, one a hellish red with vivid yellow spines, the other an acid green with spines the color of rust. Their claws held onto the silver one’s limbs, and the red one’s tail was wrapped around the muzzle to prevent the silver and gold dragon from speaking or spewing its magical flames. But above even these three titans of draconic might a fourth one rose, easily twice their size. Its scales were black like obsidian, while amethyst purple spikes and spines ran down his back. Black clouds covered the sky, and the last dregs of a rain storm petered out around them.

“What have you done, Vandal?!” the black dragon demanded, spittle and flames spattering on the silver one. The red one unhappily removed his tail from the silver scaled snout, so the accused could speak.

“I did what had to be done to save our species! The Alicorns planned to declare war on us, so I took the initiative!”

“By murdering thousands of innocent civilians?! Look around you, Vandal! These are not soldiers! Females and younglings and elderly and the infirm! This was not an army! And yet you killed them all without hesitation!”

“They would have done the same to us, you blind fool! For all their talk of honor and civility, they would have crushed our eggs and murdered our mates and hatchlings the moment we let our guard down!”

“I had almost reached a peace accord, you short sighted fool! But now there can be no hope of that! War is inevitable!”

Vandal smirked up at the black dragon, then laid his head down and closed his eyes.

“Good. Now you can kill them all, my king. Now, let me die for your oh so vaunted justice.”

“…No.” that single word caused Vandal to jerk his head up and stare at his king. The other two were no less shocked.

“I will not kill you, Vandal. You will not be so lucky to die at my hands.” With unreadable speed, the king’s black claws lashed out and gripped Vandal’s wings by the base.

“By my right and authority, I Vargonos Soul-Spire, the Dragon King, Lord of the Flames, Sovereign of Sky, and Master of the Eternal Hoard, do declare you to be Traitor and hence forth banished!” His grip tightened around the wings, and Vandal gave a short cry of pain.

“Furthermore, never again shall you be seen as a Dragon, by us or any other thinking, feeling race! I take your wings, Vandal Star-Death! No, now you are Vandal Scar-Back, to be forever reminded of your shame!” With a roar, Vargonos tore the leathery appendages from the silver dragon’s back, his booming declaration echoed by a scream of agony from the pinned beast beneath him.

He threw the wings down before Vandal’s watering eyes, and began to breathe a stream of flickering purple fire over the wounded being before him. Rain water and blood crackled into steam, and the flames disintegrated the severed wings, while Vandal screeched in pure anguish as his body was broken and reformed into a smaller, more pitiful one. The two Dragons that had pinned him down earlier had leapt back as the searing magical flames consumed their former comrade, both avoiding looking at him as he writhed and howled in pain.

The flames eventually stopped, and all that was left of the once regal Dragon was a quivering, white scaled whelp with two cauterized holes on his back.

“I will not kill, traitor. No, it shall be the right of the Alicorns to claim your worthless life. And know this; even if they should all die in the war that is to come, your death will be at the hooves of those Equines you so despise. Be it the Alicorns or their progeny, you will die by those you hate.” Vargonos turned aside, his own wings unfurling.

“Come, brothers. We must return to Claw Reach. We have battles to prepare for.” With heavy flaps, he soon rose to the air, and flew off accompanied by the other two dragons.

Silence, broken only by the slow, steady dripping of fluids, and the hiss of boiling steam. With cries of pain, the shriveled Dragon pushed himself up, and began to crawl away from the wreckage he had caused hours earlier. He waded through pools of gore, the offal occasionally splashing up into his mouth and wounds. He panted from the sheer mind-numbing pain he was currently experiencing, and his thoughts were clouded with hate and dreams of revenge.

“Wrong… you’re wrong…” he hissed, pulling his ruined form through the butchery he had wrought.

“You’re wrong, my king… they will be the death of us all… can’t be trusted… you can’t be trusted… has your power and status blinded you…?” As the figure stumbled out of the corpse choked streets, he continued to mumble madly.

“Kill them all… kill them all… why can’t he see… is his crown so heavy he cannot even look up and see the truth…?”

“Vandal! Wake up!” the leader of Black Phoenix was jolted out of his dreams of the past by shouting and pounding on his door. Groaning, the miniature dragon rose from his bed. While he was silently grateful he had been stirred from his unpleasant memories, he was also annoyed someone had the gall to disturb him at night. The stone door soon flew open, and Shadow Law stomped in, two of Vandal’s guards, a Pony and a Griffon, hanging off of him, clearly having tried to stop him by attempting to pin him down under their weight. While not as powerful as the Princesses, Shadow Law was still an Alicorn, and his increased strength meant that the guards hung awkwardly off of him.

“What is the matter, Shadow?” Vandal inquired, his tone laced with displeasure.

“I just received word from our spies in Canterlot that a young filly was brutally murdered! Murdered by your thrice damned monster!” Shadow shouted, fury in his eyes.

Vandal groaned, and rubbed his eyes with his palms. “Leave us,” he commanded, the guards looking at each other nervously before detaching from the enraged Alicorn and slinking out, closing the door behind them.

As soon as it clicked shut, Vandal sat down at his table.

“Yes, I heard from Bane what he had done. I wish it had not come to that, and I am disgusted by what he did, but it was necessary for driving Blueblood into a corner.”

“Why go through all that trouble just for some worthless Unicorn prince?!” Shadow demanded, and the white Dragon sighed.

“I had to push Blueblood like that, so he’d start looking for us. His search will draw him to me, and then I can kill him.” Vandal raised a claw to forestall the barrage of questions he knew was about to come. “The reason why, is because I saw a vision.”

Shadow Law close his mouth, questions dying on his tongue. He, like many others of the upper echelons, knew that their leader could occasionally see the future. Vandal would make plans around that, and manipulate what he could to their advantage.

“In my vision, I saw Prince Blueblood kill me.” Vandal explained.

“But… how? And if he does kill you, why drive him towards that goal?” Shadow asked, confused.

“Because you can’t easily change the future. What I saw was just a possibility, but it was the strongest of all the possible futures for me and him. Therefore, I had to take matters into my own hands. Drive him to despair. Push him to seek me out. I do this to draw the vision I saw closer to fruition. You see, the harder you try to change the future, or futures, the more you push it towards the one you’re trying to avoid. I know not why, but those are the unwritten, unspoken rules of Prophecy. Instead, actively trying to fulfill the vision allows you to change it at key points.” Vandal looked over at Shadow Law, who was committing the information to memory.

“Basically, trying to prevent the future will cause it. But, trying to make it happen allows you to twist the fates and possibly change it. Trying to make Blueblood stay away cannot work, and will result in my death. I must draw him to me so I can kill him instead, and if that means using a Grudge like Bane, then so be it.”

The young Alicorn said nothing as he digested what he had just learned.

“…I see. I do not like it, but I can understand you rationale. But!” He pointed a hoof at Vandal, anger in his eyes. “If that abomination hurts any more innocents, I will personally destroy that vile Grudge, bound to your will or not.”

Vandal and Shadow stared at each other for a long time, before the Alicorn snorted and stomped off to the door. He opened it, and stepped past the guards, who took a peek inside the room to make sure nothing, and no one, was hurt. Vandal waved them away, and they complied once more. Heaving a deep sigh, the cursed Dragon absentmindedly traced around his ruined eye socket. He’d known there would be repercussions from this within his own ranks, and had expected Shadow Law to be one of those who did not look favorably on his actions. Still, it was for a better future.

“Yet another unfortunate and unwilling Martyr to the cause,” Vandal muttered. “But Darkness will Rise, and Tyranny shall Fall…”

Part 2

Author's Note:

Here it is, the beginning of Part 2~! I should have the next chapter up around the end of the month, around Thanksgiving.
For those who want to see some reactions to Blueblood's departure and letter, then worry not for that will be included next chapter.

Also, if anyone's wants to know more about the Dragon King Vargonos, he is a character in my very first FimFic story, a one-shot called "Dragon Born."

Comments

[Mr Marshmallow]

Ooh!
Backstory!

[Frankie2]

Well...fuck. Part of me won't be surprised if Vandal puts a picture of Bouncing Ball on the wall with all the other martyrs. Blueblood would flip if he saw that. Anyway, which are we going to next? Canterlot, to see everypony's reaction to Blueblood and Azure Flame being one and the same, especially Rarity's? Or to Blueblood arriving on his first leg towards his journey of death?

[Silver Page]

5252716
It'll be a little of both.
Also, why does everyone on this site seem to read my mind with what I want to do? Stop it, I really don't want to have to invest in Tinfoil hats!

[SageBrony07]

Wow. Great chapter. I wonder what the next part is going to be like. I guess now the future is going to be twisted. Good luck with future chapters. I am so happy about this update.

[Frankie2]

5252750 YOU'RE the one that had Vandal call Bouncing Ball a martyr. What else was I suppose to think?

[Amethyst Blade]

Darkness will rise. But, without light, then there shall not be "darkness".
You blemished the dark and it will strike back at you.

[josue]

Nobody's Creeped out at the fact that bane is called a Grudge you know Japanese monster