Mummies were fun to kill(again) and there was a lot of them!

The big beast had been drawn to the desert area upon hearing the rumours of the fighting going on there for the fate of the lands.  Well, he lives in these lands, and didn't want to see them destroyed!  Hacesh had flown out to the desert taking one stop along the way to fill his belly and load up on water and had landed near the main base of the people fighting against the mummies.  Needless to say that a forty foot tall dragon had caused some concern, until he had asked what was going on and was informed of where a good place to go was to help out.

So the great dragon had flown ahead of some of the warriors and had certainly been noticed by many as he flew crashing down at the front lines crushing some mummies under him as he did.  With a grunted laugh Hacesh raised his head back and breathed in deep, he used his tongue to block off the back of his throat so that his fire breath didn't go back down his own throat, since that would be bad.  The gland in his skull that had to fuel for his fire breath pushed out the natural fuel as he breathed out and forced it out, the instant the fluid touched the air it ignited.  Hacesh sprayed the fire in a line before him passing his head from right to left setting mummies on fire as he did until he ran out of air in his lungs and was forced to stop, closing off the gland, closing his mouth to snuff any fire in it out before he was able to remove his tongue from his throat and breath normally once more.

He gave another grunted laugh as the mummies flailed about as they burned, clothes and half decayed flesh burnt very well, though it had a terrible smell to it.  Hacesh raised his right foreleg and swiped at the mummies scattering many of them before him that had shambled back closer to him now that his fire had died down and the mummies on fire had stopped spreading it while flailing around.

He would have fun with this!  Hoping that anyone close by would help keep his flanks clear as he pushed forward towards the city.

Still looking for a place to call home, Turas was not happy with this place. No food unless rotten wrapped mummies sound good. Way over populated with the things and each one wanting everything ealce dead. That all said, this place was rumored to have a great treasure. 

So here she was in her Dragon form flying over the crowds looking for something to make this trip worthwhile. She noticed a large Dragon spitting flame and stomping about. As a storm weaver she did not handle heat well and knew better than to go into or twords fire. 

Turas inside landed on the statute and layed down. She was tired of flying and her wings throbbed from the flight. Usually she walked but did not have the will to fight the mummies and she would be retreating the flight for a while.

Somewhere on the sands was a small spot of white skipping gleefully across the dunes kicking up handfuls of quartz grains. She had snuck out of Aestas when her student's back was turned and had made her way past the guards beyond the barrier. Myouga was heading towards the pyramid without a care in the world, save for returning with a bounty of new artifacts to analyze. Things had gotten slow now that people were venturing in, so that left her without much to do. She wasn't good at sitting still, so finally she made a break for it. As she traversed the Harena sands, she was singing a sprightly little tune of her own making:


When her song was finished she continued to hum, punctuating parts of the melody with explosive fireballs in tune with the rhythm. It was quite noisy, and soon more of the mummies began to shamble closer towards the unsuspecting mage. Carried away with her own shenanigans, she began to do a little dance as she waved her wand in the air imitating a conductor with his baton.

The gland that contained what he used to breath fire had refilled after a little while and Hacesh took another breath in and spewed out more fire from his mouth, roasting mummies in a large swath of the sands.  Some of the fighters had seen that he was on their side and had posted up on his flanks keeping his otherwise vulnerable sides clear as he continued moving forwards.  In all of this he scented and then saw another dragon come into the area, and he distracted for a few moments as he looked around, and spotted the other dragon on a statue.  And it was a female!  Sadly she was very small, smaller even than Hacesh in his two legged form, still, she was pretty all the same, at least him, with her blue colouring.  He reached out with his mind and speak to her telepathically, since he didn't want his voice heard by any other.  "Greetings, my lady, good to see another dragon out here today.  My name is Hacesh, please feel free to call upon me if you need help with anything."  He spoke to her, provided she didn't have any mental defences up to prevent such a communication.  And he was being nice, well, since she was pretty, and he was male and she was female, and he was a dragon, not a human.

Afterwards he went back to the fight, swiping at the mummies until a tune came to his ears and he looked about for its source to find a young woman singing and slinging spells about.  He gave a rumbled chuckle as he watched her for a time, until she stopped singing and instead hummed, and she had gained the attention of more of the mummies.  Hacesh saw what she didn't see given his height advantage and stepped closer and reached over to clear the mummies away for the time being.  He looked down to her, close enough he could speak with his rumbling voice.  "You have a lovely voice, my dear, but do please be mindful of what is around you."  He smiled gave a fang filled smile and moved away back to where he had been, now he took another deep breath.  But as he breathed out, this time he moved his tongue in his throat just a little bit to block off the fire gland and that would allow another to be open.  When he breathed this time, it was a large cone of fridge air and ice that he breathed out, freezing the mummies some of the ones closer to him having parts shatter, and slowing the rest.  That gave some of the other attacks a chance to get in close and finish them off.

Hacesh chuckled, this was going to easily, he thought, soon enough the master of their mummies would find something to send against him to try and stop him.  He just needed to be prepared for it when it came.

Turas almost jumped at a sudden voice in her head. A literal voice in her head. Another dragon was the only part that kept her from thinking she completely lost her mind.

She looked at the large dragon not far away and tilted her head. "Hello? If you can hear my thoughts I do not mind having your help but i am ok for now. The blasted things cant climb two well." She thought back not sure if he could hear it. 

Fortunately turas could not hear the song or humming over the mowns of the mummies. Song reminds her of home and home was a very angering thought. Her sister had a sirens voice that turas could never compar to and she hated being second to anyone. 

But at the site of Hacesh spitting ice she was amazed. She never saw a dragon spit the opposites like that. Actually she never saw one breath ice. It was interesting. But he seemed to have found something else to talk to.

Hearing a rather deep and rumbling voice, Myouga turned and looked up instinctively to see who was speaking. Looking up was a natural response, seeing as she tended to be shorter than most people except for dwarves and halfings. With a grin on her face, she opened her mouth to say hello when she saw what–or who the voice came from. The next moment the air was punctuated by a surprisingly loud and drawn-out shriek as the small mage screamed at the sight of a dragon. No it wasn't because he had sharp rows of teeth, was standing close to ten times her height, had powerful sinews, a thickly scaled hide, or sharp claws. It was because he happened to be an incredibly large, winged reptile with capacity for higher thought and access to powerful elemental magic. In other words, Myouga was screaming because he reminded her of a rather unpleasant experience where she was confronted with a very upset mother dragon. Said mother dragon had pressed her to the ground to where she thought her insides would be flattened like a pancake.

Falling on her back, the little arcanist began scuttling away backwards on her hands and feet like a crab–which was both comical and odd. "AAAAAAAGHHHHH!!!!" Her impressive lung capacity for her size was only rivaled by her eccentric behavior as she only stopped screaming once her brain registered that this dragon wasn't trying to squish her like a jelly doughnut. His very polite if toothy admonishment of her conduct was a relief, and actually brought the matter to her attention. Unfortunately her screaming had drawn in much more of the undead, this time armed with weird curved sickle-swords. "…Oh, uh–thanks? Uh-oh." She really didn't think this through, but thankfully she had a solution. As the mummies were slow as molasses, Myouga stood up, shook the dust off her feet, and then proceeded to strike poses as she said aloud: "Magic Rainbow Wings—activate! Hi-yah!"

From underneath her white dress and short cloak, there was a shimmer as the wings from her enchanted armor beneath them materialized. Raising her arms high above her head she then shouted, "Up, up and awaaaay! Woooo!!" With a stretch and a flap, the wings sent her soaring into the sky out of the reach of the group of mummies which had been closing in on her. Sailing through the air there were shouts of joy as the little winged speck began to do loops up above. Then there was a yell of panic as she did a slightly-too-steep of a nosedive but managed to pull herself up before making a nasty impact on the sand. She wasn't very experienced with using the full extent of this magical winged armor's capabilities, often using it as a continuous levitation spell. But with no tall buildings clustered together she had plenty of space to fly to her heart's content.

Watching the talking dragon take out the mummies like a mage against training dummies, she was amazed. "Woooow! You can breathe ice? That's so cool! Heh heh, get it? Cool–as in freezing?" Cracking a joke as she was hovering a few meters above Hacesh, her voice would be easy to hear from down below. 

Hacesh nodded to the female dragon.  "Hm, should you change your mind later let me know."  He replied his telepathic voice friendly.  If she was content to sit and do nothing that was up to her, Hacesh would keep an eye out but otherwise ignore her until she decided to do something to help the defenders like he was.

Next he addressed the little singing mage who grinned up at him, only to suddenly give a shriek when it seemed she registered what he actually was looking down at her.  Hacesh's smiled faded and he frowned, that was never a reaction he liked to get, though sadly it happened sometimes, he knew what he was and that could scare people, still, it did hurt her feelings sometimes.  He watched her fall on her back and try to scuttle away but he didn't move so he didn't scare her further just watched and she screamed again, and for such a tiny thing she was loud.  "I mean you no harm."  Hacesh rumbled again.  She seemed to catch on that he wasn't going to harm her and come around, she stood after thanking him and wiped the dust off.

Suddenly she sprouted wings and Hacesh's eyed widened a little in curiosity, well, that was different!  Where had they come from?  He couldn't see the armour she was wearing under her dress, so he was guessing they came from her body, which meant that he had little idea as to what she was.  He watched her fly around, his head moving this way and that following her, it was rather comical looking, like a cat following a moth in the air.  He cringed a little when it looked like she might crash into the sands but she pulled up out of the drive just time and went back sailing into the air again.  She didn't look too practised at flying, he wondered if she would want his help in learning how if he shifted down to his two legged size.  Maybe later, for now he needed to stay big since it was easier to deal with the mummies.

He breathed out his ice breath and that caught her attention and he chuckled at her joke.  "Indeed I can, fire and ice, my kind are rare so it's not likely you have seen many dragons that can do both."  He replied.  "I am Hacesh, and you have very pretty wings, little one."  He commented.  "Perhaps another time I can help you learn to fly a little better?"  He asked, he want it to sound mean, he was being nice in his offer of help, she could probably learn on her own through instinct, but lessons never hurt.  Of course he was still working off the assumption that she had the wings naturally, not from some armour she was wearing.

The big dragon looked back to the mummies who were now moving faster and were armed now that their master sensed a threat out in the sands.  But Hacesh felt a surge of power in the area, and it was a sickening power, necromancy at it strongest.  Hacesh's attention went out into the sands as he tensed and a deep rumbling growl escaped his throat, something wasn't right, more so than the mummies.  Not far from him the sand burst upwards as a great clawed arm came forth, all of bone, and the living dragon snarled as a long dead dragon of bone roared itself back to life and clawed its way out of the sand.  The skeletal dragon stood the same height as Hacesh, and was possibly one of his own ancestors from times long, long gone to be buried out here in the desert.

The skeletal dragon gave a piercing roar and Hacesh replied in kind with his own roar and his wings spread out wide like his undead kin did.  The fighters around Hacesh scattered, seeing what was coming, as the skeletal dragon and living dragon charged each other, fire and ice would be no use to the undead dragon of bone, there was nothing to freeze and dragon bones wouldn't burn.  No, Hacesh would have to tear it apart and that would probably not be easy.  Both dragon collided with each other, rising up on hind legs and using their for legs to grapple with each other, snapping at each other trying to bite.  Hacesh was trying to get a grip so he could tear the dragon's head off, while the skeleton was just trying to tear Hacesh's throat out, knowing its master could then raise Hacesh as a mummified dragon afterwards.  Hacesh knew this as well, and that was something that just would not happen!

The fight was on, the two greats beasts locked in combat, ignoring everything else but the other as they roared and snarled and snapped at each other.

[OOC:  Mhahaha, have fun :P]

Now that scream was loud and if she was not already looking that whay she would have. "What did you do to the thing?" She thought back. She half wondered if he squished one of the people helping him or something. Nothing act like a kid and moth she turned and started noticing that the mummies were climbing the statute she would reach over to one dig her claws into their skin and lift them off and let them go. 

She only stopped when the ground started to rumble and a creature of bone came from the sand. She sat unmoving as the two large dragons challenged eatchother. Instinct said run and most of her was ready to just that, when a shinny object in the throat of the creature of bone cault her attention. 

The will to have a new treasure in her hoard was stronger than the will to run. Despite her wings throbbing and refuseing to move, Turas took to the air. Like lightning she flew the blue in her wings moving with electric energy as she gained hight and started to circle the two at war. Always looking for her chance to dive in and take what she wanted. Like fire and ice not effecting a dragon of bone, electricity also was useless agenst a beast without nerves. 

Every time she dove it seamd that she would get trampled or bit so she returned to her safe distance and hovered. Than a thought struck her as she watched them. If Hacesh got a chance to bring the moving bones down it would be easier for her to get what she desired. So she desided to become an anoying distraction. 

With a downward strike of her wings lighting shot forth and struck the back bones. She would move and repeat until she annoyed the thing enough to go for her.

"Whoaaa, that's awesome! I didn't know dragons could use more than one element! Well…also mages usually tend to use only one area of magic that they're best at so maybe it's not so different." She grinned and wiggled when he complimented the wings of her magical armor. "Awww~ Thank you! I think they're pretty too! I guess you figured out I'm not a very good pilot. It's kind of tricky moving in directions I'm not used to. Well at least I won't run into anyone if I crash here–haha! I'd love to take lessons if you're offering!" Putting her hands on her hips she beamed a confident smile.

Suddenly the sands started to rumble, and the little mage looked in awe as it began to sink while something else arose. It was truly a monumental sight–terrifying and amazing at the same time. A massive dragon skeleton emerged from below, buried for who knows how long. The bones were perfectly clean so either there were some very thorough decomposers in the desert or it had been dead for a very long time. There was a lot of magic being pumped into that pile of bones, and it was pretty overwhelming. She was already keeping a good distance once she saw what had crawled up to the surface, and the big dragon who had talked to her earlier began to tussle with the skeleton. This was a bit of a pickle. It was basically a bone golem, and since it had no flesh or nerves fire and ice weren't much use. It'd take a whole lotta fire to char any of it, but that wouldn't be worth the magic to conjure it. The dead dragon had a distinct advantage by being dead, but then another dragon entered the fray.

It was getting pretty crowded in this area of the desert, and with the three of them having at each other there wasn't any safe path for Myouga to get close. She wanted to help, but fireballs and lightning would be the equivalent of a pea shooter pipe firing pellets at a suit of armor. Running through her ideas, eventually she came to the most logical and reasonable solution for this situation. In life, the arcanist learned that to most problems there was one simple answer–when in doubt, blow it up! Doing what she did best, Myouga began channeling her magic, making her eyes glow a vivid viridian green. With an impish smile, she pointed her wand in the direction of the skeletal dragon's rib cage and shouted at the top of her lungs: "FIRE IN THE HOLE!"

The next second followed with an earth-shattering explosion, sending bits of bone fragments everywhere. It wasn't quite enough to blast the whole thing apart, but its spinal column was most certainly impacted. At least two vertebrate were toast, and it would disrupt any proper movement the thing would try until it regained its balance. Preparing for an encore, she began zipping around in the air looking for her next spot to hit. "Hmmm…now what should I take out next! Oh, I know! Hey ya big lug–break a leg!" She yelled, sending another explosion spell at the ball joint of the bone dragon's hip.

Nothing!  She looked up at me and started to scream!"  Hacesh replied back to the female dragon on the statue when she asked what he had done to the small screaming woman.

Hacesh chuckled at the little flyer's remarks.  "The ice and fire for me are natural, not magical, but I can use other elements through magical means.  And I wouldn't have said it if I wasn't willing to teach you."  Hacesh replied with a nod, she was awfully excitable, at least to him anyway, but he found that a more admirable quality over someone who was sometimes too grounded in their thinking.

But soon after the fight was on between the two huge dragons, one of the living the other undead, and their strength was comparable indeed, neither seemed to be making a lot of gain over the other.  Both dragons snarled and growled as they grappled, forelegs up and pushing back against each other trying to put the other off balance.  But then Hacesh's eyes caught the smaller female darting around them, looking like she was trying to distract the skeletal dragon, at least that's what he thought since he hadn't seen the bauble that she was actually trying to get.

Her actions did distract him enough, since now he was making sure she didn't get hurt that the undead dragon managed to shove him back long enough to get its claws free and rake Hacesh's chest.  Hacesh roared as the scales and flesh on his chest were gashed open by the bone claws of his undead kin, blood flowed out, the cuts were deep.  Hacesh's attention went full to the undead dragon, who was so far ignoring the lightning from the smaller dragon, and Hacesh managed to grab hold of its arm and twist.

About the same time, the first explosion went off from the little winged mage that took the bone dragon's spine and shattered parts of it, Hacesh could feel some of the bone fragments, now like shrapnel, caught into his already open wound.  The bone beast roared, not in pain which it could not feel but annoyance as it was having a hard time staying more of less upright.  Hacesh pressed his advantage and shattered the arm of the dragon that he held just as the second explosion went off and crippled the skeleton's hip.  Now it was totally off balance which allowed Hacesh to take a form hold of the undead dragon's head and slam it to the ground.

He used one back leg to step on the beast's neck to hold it there and then used his other leg to stomp on the skull repeatedly, roaring as he did in his own frustration and pain as blood continued to run down his chest to the sands below.  Hacesh kept at it until there was a cracking nose and the thing's jaw came half off and after a few more stomps the skull shattered and the rest of the otherwise flailing body went still.  Hacesh now had bone fragments in his foot as well, but that was fine, he stepped away from his undead kin a few paces and huffed, obviously tired from the fight, it had been sometime since he had fought something his own size.  He glanced down at his chest which was still bleeding, and he carefully picked out the bone fragments that he could find.

Now he had a problem, he couldn't shift down to his smaller self until these wounds, at the least, stopped bleeding.  Since any wounds he gained from either form carried over to his other form and would be a comparable amount of damage.  So a chest wound this bad on this form wasn't life threatening unless he got some kind of major infection.  But if he was to shift to his smaller self the wound would be more severe and he could bleed for a long time and lose more blood.  As it was, Hacesh snorted as he focused his magic and the wounds started to visibly slow in their bleeding, but he hadn't got all the bone fragments yet and didn't want to close the wounds around them, Gods knew what kind of infection they might give him.  "Is everyone alright?"  He asked both of them while he sat back on his haunches and kept trying to pick out bone, which was hard with claws his size and how sharp they were, he'd end up making more smaller wounds while he worked.