As Bjorn and his father crash together in the skies, I feel the chaos that careens through them, seething through every part of my Bloodbond. Because Bjorn is just that powerful, able to amalgamate all our bound powers now.
As his rage thunders through all of us, unhinged.
Oggi Magnussen matches it, as his terrible black rage infects his Bloodbond as well. It spirals through them in renewed waves of caustic darkness, as Ström suddenly wings down hard from the portal, battling back Emil Beck, Lars, and Arvid with the Thorsens.
Only Baldur remains above to hold the portal. He strains, super-heated like a cosmic starburst, giving his all to hold it open alone, as I feel how he flares like a falling star, for us.
The real battle is here, however, as Bjorn and his father attack each other. It’s a fight to the death, as they crash together with talons ripping and fangs gouging. They slam gargantuan waves of magic into each other’s bodies, even as Bjorn still somehow manages to protect our King in one taloned fist.
The Black Dragon goes wild now, feeling that terrible battle of father and son. As Bjorn and Oggi fight, tearing each other apart in the skies, the Usurper goes insane. Furious jets of caustic black fire are everywhere, as the Black Dragon loses it completely, its heart-curses hammering everywhere now.
It’s all Lithava, our drakes, and I can do to avoid it. There will be no survival for any of us if we can’t get ahold of it; as Lithava rushes to itshead now, roaring at it in abandon rather than battling me anymore, I know she knows it.
Ström unites with Mikkel and even connects to Lærke’s power, to mind-roar at the last of our allies to get the fuck out. They do—flashing through Baldur’s portal as he draws hard on our entire Bloodbond to keep it open.
Lithava’s rebel Jarls and their forces flee; flying away from the battle rather than be claimed by the Black Dragon’s madness, they’ve abandoned trying to get through the portal into Harnakje, as they turn tail from this incredible devastation.
Bjorn and his father don’t even see it, however, as they battle in their mutual insanity in the skies. Ström has already gotten our Prince to Harnakje; but Bjorn never got that chance, as he continues to fight with our unconscious King in his talons, frail and wounded and human.
I roar in furious frustration now, knowing we need to get our King out of here; but we’re hamstrung, as Bjorn’s rage courses through all of us, unquenched.
Because this fire of hatred between father and son has been burning a long time. I feel the blackness that inundates Bjorn now as he’s faced with the fight of his life.
That he’s been waiting forallhis life—and now finally has the chance.
As father and son tear into each other, hammering terrible gouts of magic at each other and slamming each other in the skies, I can’t help. I have to control the creature responding most to this kinslaying madness, as the Black Dragon continues to rage and wrath everywhere.
I catapult up to Lithava’s position, getting level with the Black Dragon’s eyes as she screeches at it. I don’t roar, but spiral deep down now into my blackest place, to make a connection to my nemesis.
I know this place is vastly dangerous for me, but I also know this is where I have to go. As my inner Bone Magic seizes my brighter Blood Magic in its jaws, devouring it like a snake eats a mouse, I feel everything I am go black.
The darkness is unending, as everything inside me is swallowed by my deepest night. There is no light anywhere in this place; even the stars of my natural Bone Magic go out now, as I am taken by this darkest pit inside me.
But there is light, as I discover a resonance with the Black Dragon, hearing its annihilating thoughts pour through me with its vast insanity. A pinpoint light, ultra-condensed and shining through the darkness—it’s that blazing, cosmic Ouroboros I’ve found with my drakes.
The center of my truest heart—my focus now as I dive into darkness.
Dragon of All Souls! Jormungandr! Hear me, and be calm!
I wrangle everything I am now, pouring that pinpoint light into the darkness, and feel a connection stabilize between me and the beast. It needs an outside mind to anchor it; it cannot function with only those trapped inside its infernal darkness, listening to and feeling its innermost hell.
I am that tether, as I feel my own unity brighten inside me. Because I’ve managed to find a place inside myself that is both light and dark, accepting every part of me as I try to contain the Black Dragon now.
And stop it from rampaging, insane.
I begin to make a connection; I feel how the resonance between us strengthens, as the creature hearkens to me suddenly. But Lithava’s harrying only makes it roar again, diving back down into its own madness as Bjorn and Oggi’s battle rages.
I can’t hold it—I can’t master it—as I feel myself start to spiral, blacker than black. It’s not coming from me; it’s Bjorn, who seethes with terrible godlike white runes all over his body now, just as much as Oggi does black.
I know then that it’s the division energy pushing us from the cosmos. Whether we go white in our most towering rage or black in our deepest wrath, it is still this split dividing us.
This division, which will undo us forever—unless we can somehow unite it.
But unity is beyond us right now, as Bjorn battles his father all acrossthe skies. I feel the division ripping us apart as everything inside me dives into that innermost hell now, losing my focus.
As Bjorn’s Berserk rage rips us apart, I know our Bloodbond doesn’t have much longer. Mikkel and Lærke lose their focus on love now as they battle with Ström against Emil Beck, hammering massive drives of ultra-green acid at their surrogate father and trying to rip him down.
Even Ström’s valiant heart flickers at everything Bjorn’s pushing through us. His strangled roar holds all his pain at losing his beloved great-grandfather, his family, and his people, as he heaves up now, to fight with Bjorn against Oggi.
