Kaon Rising

2: Six Cubic Inches

Kaon walked into the lair ready to fight. He surveyed the arena.

High rank pupils had big lairs, he knew, but he didn’t know. The room was vaguely diamond​-​shaped, door opening at one corner and three beds at each of the others. There was a wide hole (too short to climb into) that yawned on the far left wall and through it came a shaft of pseudosunlight, already bright enough where it landed and reflected that it overwhelmed the meager light of the glass bulbs.

The beds were tiered, it seemed; the one farthest away rose up four times as tall as Kaon, and it was sculpted so that you had to fly to get up. The left bed was half as tall, and not so sculpted, and the right bed half again still.

Kaon could walk ten strides to reach the centermost bed, and the room was as wide as it was long. Smooth rock lay under them as floor, but away from the central path especially, it became scattered with toys, books, and the bones of eaten prey.

(Scattered, but nothing was piled. Pupils weren’t allowed hoards.)

Geddion sat on high, postured like a king with the tallest bed his throne. He was bigger, scales metallic gray and bright yellow and curved with obvious muscle, and he spoke with a booming growl of a voice. “Malthec la Kaon,” he intoned. “I never gave you a key.”

There were two other drakes in the room, wrestling off to the right. A lanky dark green dragon writhing underneath a third dragon who, (Kaon was secretly relieved), had those bright blue scales like Imbry had described. He in bright blue backed off when Geddion spoke, wheeling around to take in Kaon, and then he smirked. He in dark green scampered back and hopped on his bed, intent to watch the proceedings.

He didn’t recognize either of the lesser dragons, but he knew Geddion. The metallic gray drake was singular among the pupils of Devain; despite being eight years old (adolescent, for a dragon), he had reached the third elevation a year earlier than most. Some called him genius. At third level, you’d open the heart nexus, which fed the forelegs’ meridians. It meant that he wasn’t just limited to breath attacks: he could channel mana through his forelegs!

But he didn’t move from atop his bed, and it didn’t seem like he would challenge Kaon himself. He looked back to the blue​-​scaled drake.

“Kaon, is it? You best have a good reason for interrupting,” the blue dragon said.

Kaon kept his head low, like he was unsure or deferential. He wasn’t. “Oh, don’t mind me. I’m not here to interrupt.” He could see, hanging off the dragon’s neck, the golden necklace with a glowing ruby. That belonged to Imbry.

The blue dragon laughed and grinned, and turned back to look at the dark green dragon, who visibly swallowed. “Ready for round three?” he asked.

“I must say,” Geddion was starting, “I am curious what the Malthec wants. Finish it quick, you two.”

“Of course, boss.” The blue dragon leapt powerfully forward, eating five strides and landing adjacent to the bed. The dark green dragon rolled backwards, putting the bed between him and blue.

It was over about then.

Kaon watched, paying close attention to get a sense of who he was dealing with.

Blue jumped again, a powerful leap that put him all the way on top the bed, where he loomed over green. And then Kaon felt it; blue charging mana into his throat nexus, and then releasing it.

From his mouth came a straight bolt of bright electricity whose light cast a tinge over the whole room. It struck green, and he convulsed, and the he fell limp.

Giddeon saw it happen, and calmly looked up to blue. The third level dragon was such a smug moralist that Kaon had to assume the dark green drake would be okay.

“That was excessive, Welk. You do see that this Malthec clearly came to fight, don’t you?”

“I know my limits, boss, trust me on this. And if he really wants to fight, I’m not going to be so worse off missing one charge. I have three left, more than enough for this whelp.”

Pupils often talked about their Breath in terms of how much mana it took to charge a single use. Mana was much more fine grained, but at low levels it took a certain amount to cross the critical threshold and release it. Below that, it was present but basically inert.

It often took hours of basking to recover back to full mana. Kaon was unique, in that simply reabsorbing his magic mist soon let him breathe it again.

“So,” the blue dragon said, lifting his head to full height to stare down at Kaon. “What is it you come in here bothering us for?”

Kaon nodded to the necklace the blue drake wore. “I’ll be taking that from you.”

“By force?” It was Giddeon who asked.

“If I must.”

Welk grinned again, twisting his neck so that it popped. “Then let’s dance.”

Kaon knew he would start this off with a lunge. So to the right side he dodged, throwing himself hard and then rolling for more distance. When he looked, Welk was already standing where Kaon had stood. The drake was visibly catching his breath, and clearly wouldn’t be lunging as his main means of motion.

He stepped closer to Kaon, watching closely. The black drake was glad; it gave him time to think.

Here he was fighting a dragon bigger, faster than him, with a more powerful breath (and four charges! Imbry had one), and, he hated to admit, clearly more experience fighting.

A cloud passed in front of the pseudosun. It gave him an idea.

There were four glowing bulbs in the room, each a few strides in front of a wall. He hadn’t taken two strides into the room before he had dodged sharply to the right, so Kaon now stood adjacent to where one bulb hung down from the ceiling.

He breathed out his black mist (he had already condensed it, and thus it required less focus to bring back out). It floated through the air like smoke on small unseen winds. But there was no wind; it was Kaon directing it. Moving it felt like flexing an extension of Kaon’s throat, as if it were an ethereal second tongue or lips.

When the mist (quickly becoming transparent) reached the bulb and engulfed it, the action felt like swallowing. Kaon could harden his mist, and he did, squeezing, constricting the glass also, and the bulb shattered.

The blue dragon watched all this happen. He’d almost stopped approaching when Kaon expelled the black mist; anyone with any wits would show caution against an unfamiliar breath.

Bright, bright slime dripped from the shattered remains of the tinted glance. If Kaon didn’t have the half​-​inch of magic air before each of his eyes, he’d have to look away. Giddeon and Welk certainly did. Welk had stopped approaching entirely, sidestepping around without moving closer.

Inside of the glass was a luminous ooze from the realm of light, summoned by the town’s lightbringer. It was less a living being than an autonomous outlet which released excess light, the manyfold spawn of the Radiances.

Kaon stepped on it with a squish, and then rubbed his foot, crushing and dispelling the thing. This corner of the room had become darker, except for his mist, which seemed to shine bright even as the ooze was fading.

Then Welk launched himself at Kaon’s distracted back! The blue dragon had partially circled around while he dispelled the ooze. Kaon was brought to the ground under Welk. Both of his forelegs were pinned down, one held by Welk, one beneath him. The bigger dragon was too heavy to slip away from.

Kaon glared up at the brute. Welk in turn growled, and his free foreleg was swinging at his neck, claws out. It was an attack that had to be pulled back at last moment, but Kaon wouldn’t put it past them to graze him as warning. Despite this, if it landed the spar was about over.

Kaon waited a heartbeat, and twisted his neck just so that the other dragon’s claws uselessly scraped at the unbreakable metal band around Kaon’s neck. Dragon claws, even dragonet claws, were fearsomely hard, but the metal band didn’t care. Kaon learned from many attempts.

With scoff and a single thought, the black drake sucked back in the faintly glowing mist. His annoyance was great, and with focus this darkened corner of the seemed to became clear as day.

Quickly Kaon coughed out the black mist again, the room darkening again. Still glaring, he molded the mist into a pointed blade, aimed it at Welk, and with a thought pushed it forward.

His attacker fell for the bluff, and leaped off Kaon. Welk warily eyed the blade, caution slacking as the blade​-​shaped misted quickly faded to transparency, looking like Kaon couldn’t hold it together. Welk smirked now, the moment of caution forgotten. But it had bought enough time for Kaon.

“Do not do lasting harm, Malthec. It is proscribed by Devain. You need not fight so drastically.”

(Really, his Breath was useless against other dragons, but Welk didn’t know that. Anyone with any wits showed caution against an unfamilar breath.)

“Of course,” was what Kaon muttered. He flicked an ear; it was easy to miss in the great gray dragon’s neutral tone, but Kaon knew when a dragon spoke from dismissal.

Kaon watched Welk stop backing up, now losing his fear of Kaon’s misty knife. The knife dissolved the and flowed back, loyally following its wielder as Kaon took this opportunity to force distance between him and Welk.

He was dashing obliquely toward Giddion, but mainly toward the second bulb. His mist, still in the air, floated up and engulfed the second bulb and smashed it. More luminous ooze dripped down to puddle on the ground. Kaon didn’t make the mistake to dispel it himself. That had been stupid; outside a shell, the ooze would dissolve on its own soon enough.

Just then, Welk launched himself through the air, flapping his wings once for further distance. He landed between Kaon and the next nearest bulb. Decent strategy, Kaon admited. Now he couldn’t shatter that bulb without dealing with the blue dragon, because his control frayed at more than a few strides’ distance.

“I’m not sure what you’re making to do with these bulbs, but let’s just have a nice, simple fight. Or what, are you too afraid of your chances without pulling tricks?”

Kaon could see Giddeon frowning. Was he worried about the bulbs? Dragonets surely broke them frequently enough, surely the mentors wouldn’t cast them in that much trouble over it?

Welk still wasn’t approaching Kaon. Wary of the knife he couldn’t see? Good. Kaon gathered his mist in front of him, and smiled.

The smile disappeared when Welk opened his mouth. He must have been showing off earlier; it seemed Welk could charge up a breath attack in a second.

Lightning was splitting the air, shooting straight at Kaon. It came so fast he didn’t even grasp what was happened until it was over. He was lucky he’d been forming the knife in front of him again; perhaps his mist had reacted to his worry, or maybe it was just chance, but it had formed a sort of protective plate in front of him, shielding him from the lightning.

His own mist now crackled like a storm cloud. Aftershocks of the lightning? Warily he drew it back into himself, but no shock came. He grinned, shedding his fear of Welk. He could counter him.

“A perfect shield?” Giddeon was saying. “A rare technique for a second level dragon, let alone from one so lowly ranked.”

Kaon dashed again, hoping to slip around Welk while he was distracted. He must have been really distracted, because he took a moment to notice that Kaon was moving, and he was slowly throwing out a leg to trip him.

Kaon easily leapt up, and sailed over the blue dragon. He effortlessly leapt higher, farther than even he expected. His claw flew out and shattered another bulb, plunging them into deeper darkness, and he laughed.

“Didn’t realize you were so quick, Malthec,” Welk growled. “You were holding back.” The blue brute gave him a look of challenge he hadn’t up till now.

Kaon only laughed again.

“Let’s finish this.”

Kaon might’ve read something familiar in how Welk’s muscles tensed, or maybe he just felt the mana gathering, or maybe it was just fate whispering in his ear, but he dodged to the side again, and easily.

Welk had charged up another lighting, and it crackled uselesly against the wall, missing him entirely.

It gave Kaon an idea.

Welk taunted. “You’re a lucky little worm, aren’t you?” As he spoke he lunged once more, forcing Kaon to hop back.

Kaon started running across the room, three forths of which had been plunged into comfortable shadow, and he stopped in front of the massive sculpted outgrowth of stone that supported Giddeon’s bed.

Welk was slowly pacing back towards him again, which, because of how they were positioned, meant walking toward’s Giddeon too.

Kaon stepped toward Welk. It took effort and will not to grin. If this worked…

He absorbed into himself the single cubic inch of magic mist that he normal kept in front of his eyes to augment his sight. He wanted every inch available to him for this next gambit.

(Normally the world looked blurry without the magic lenses. But here in the darkness, all was clear.)

Kaon took another step forward, and Welk had stopped, brow knit in confusion.

The black dragon opened his mouth, and breathed out all of his darkness.

Six cubic inches of it that fanned out in front of his opponent, only before his eyes, clouding his sight.

It gave him the chance to jump back, lined up right in front of Giddeon.

The six cubic inches of mist were fading now, becoming transparent. Welk saw the the black cloud fade, and grinned. He looked up, directly at Giddeon, and opened his mouth.

Kaon knew a few things you could do with six cubic inches.

The inside of Welk’s mouth began to glow, his Breath rapidly charging up. (It seemed slower now.)

Kaon had become intimately familiar with the uses and limitations of six cubic inches.

Giddeon spoke up. “Welk, what are you—”

And Kaon hated being written off or underestimated.

Welk fired his lightning breath, and Giddeon yelled like a dragonling, and Kaon laughed.

Six cubic inches of light​-​refracting air just in front of Welk’s eyes were enough to throw his aim fatally off.

Kaon walked forward, sauntering right up to Welk. He swung a foreleg upward at the dragon’s head, making him lean up and out of the way, revealing his neck.

Kaon swiped his other foreleg out, grabbing the golden necklace and ripping it off with a satisfying clasp​-​snap.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Welk’s foot coming up to kick right his face.

And then it froze in its tracks, hanging there in the air.

Kaon would have blinked, and might have laughed, but he was frozen too.

Everyone in the room was.