B4 Ch52: Meet The Mythic Crew (Patreon)

Desperately, Arthur activated his mental shields along with his area of effect to try to help his friends. To the side, he saw Cressida try to do the same with her mana shield, but the moment it went up it was snuffed out like a candle flame. Her power was Rare.

Beside him, Brixaby roared in frustration and pain. The mental shields were barely holding up. They felt as thin as eggshells, and it would take only the lightest additional pressure to crush them.

We need to head back to the door. This is too much...

But Cressida, Horatio, Marion and the hatchling dragon were all flat on the ground, either passed out or close to it.

The bare gaze of a distant Scourge-God was too much for them. And it was close to breaking Arthur.

Then those red pair of eyes were joined by another and another and another. Until there were seven pairs looking at him.

He didn't know why the pressure hadn't increased -- that should be more than enough to kill him. It didn't make sense.

Until a voice he had never hoped to hear again said, "I see rumors of your demise were exaggerated."

Lung Bei, King Elizar's Mythic dragon stood near him. Or seemingly so. Her long body was as semi-transparent as a ghost and she carried a sense of distance around her, though she did seem closer than the Scourge-Gods.

She stared down at Arthur and Brixaby with unblinking slit-pupiled eyes.

Arthur tried to reply, but it came out as a gurgle. He tasted iron in his mouth. Blood.

From beyond hissed seven unified voices that threatened to tear the skin from Arthur's bones.

"They are ours. Our feast. Our cards."

Lung Bei sent a derisive look over her shoulder and flicked her tail. "Silence, creatures."

And abruptly, through a working of her nullification magic, their voices were gone.

The pressure on Arthur lessened enough for him to inhale a shuddering breath. Brixaby did too and leapt to his feet only to sweep his wings forward in a bow. “Mythic.”

Behind, the rest of his retinue stirred, but they were still clearly suffering from the pressure -- Lung Bei had only reduced it, not eliminated it. As Rares they had less resistance.

Marion reached over and grabbed the little dragon from Cressida's slack arms, holding her close.

Lung Bei looked less than impressed. "You have run away from your responsibilities, and right into the claws of the Scourge-Gods."

"I didn't run away," Arthur gasped, which was a flat out lie. So, he padded it with the truth. "We were seeking something to destroy the scourgelings--help the hive."

"You foolish children went to a kingdom which has turned against dragon and then into the Dark Heart, the domain of the scourgelings, thinking you could find weapons to use against them." Every word was angrier and angrier, and Arthur was certain he would soon feel his own cards being locked away again... but for now, he still had them.

That gave him courage. Getting his breath back, he said, "What the hives are doing is not working. There are more and more eruptions -- am I supposed to just sit back and let it happen?"

"Lung Bei," said another voice, from just off to the side. "I thought your ridiculous kingdom forbade pairs of cards."

Arthur glanced and saw, past Lung Bei were four other pairs of eyes, and the size and shape told him they were other dragons.

The new speaker stepped closer and resolved into a semi-transparent pale pink dragon. Her body shape was closer to Sams's or Joy's than Lung Bei's, though she was easily three times the size of Sams and had living crystal growing from out past her elbows and knees in spikes. Her back ridges had been made of flashing crystal, and a circlet of gems surrounded her head.

Long Bei was shaped unlike any dragon Arthur had seen. Her head was the same width as her long neck and pointed with two swept back horns. The rest of her was shake-like with sharp narrow wings in the middle of her back.

"Yes," Lung-Bei whisper-hissed. "These two have long been a pain in my tail."

"Mm." The pink swept a bored look over them. Then she paused and thrust her head forward to look closely at Marion's little Silver who had peaked her head out. "That is an Origin hatchling."

Suddenly, Arthur felt the pointed attention of all the Mythics on him. It was nearly as bad as the Scourge-Gods and he once again, briefly, felt at a loss for air until Lung Bei made a noise of disgust and the pressure eased.

But now another dragon had come closer. It was an elderly orange with a clearly broken back. He dragged himself close on two strong forelegs, while his back legs and tail trailed behind him. All of his attention was on the Silver.

"An Origin hatchling? Impossible..." he breathed then trailed off as he stared.

"Not all the Origin eggs have been found," said the pink. "But how did that Rare come across it?"

"I found the egg," Arthur gasped. No reason to tell them about Soledad's hatchling and possibly put him in danger.

"In this Dark Heart? Which level?" the orange barked. "Oh, Lung Bei, let up on him and allow him to speak. Crystal, help her."

Abruptly, the pressure lessened by a few more degrees. Arthur stood fully and noticed that Brixaby and the rest of his retinue were recovering.

"I found it in the first challenge," Arthur said.

One of the other, still hidden dragons, made an annoyed growl. "Another Dark Heart that's about to erupt, if it's already spitting out rewards like that..."

"Did you go back in time?" the orange asked.

"Yes. Or I think so. Was that real?"

"It is the only way I can think how you returned with an egg that was created of the first dragons, and some of the most powerful."

"It is only a Rare," Lung Bei snapped. "And a hatchling."

"I hatched as a Common," Crystal said to her. "Your starting power does not matter, only what you do with it."

Now Arthur could properly breathe and had answered some questions, he felt like he deserved a couple answers of his own. "What is this place?"

"You have stepped to the doorway of the realm of the Mythics, foolish boy," Lung Bei told him. "Using a cursed Dark Heart of all things!" She looked angry enough to spit.

"To defeat a Dark Heart nowadays is an extraordinary feat," the orange murmured. "These are not simply foolish children, Lung Bei. To get this close to a core means they have defeated the traps and tricks of dozens, perhaps hundreds, of challenges."

Arthur was not going to tell them they bypassed all of that using a dungeoneer card. But his attention was caught on one word. "Traps?"

"You don't think we made these things?" Another Mythic joined them. He was a younger blue and had a rather peaceful expression on his face. "The Scourge-Gods have long learned to bait them with cards and rewards, with levels which become progressively harder and harder until by the end they are virtually impossible." He gave Arthur a long look -- one which told him he knew he'd cheated somehow. "When entire groups of hopefuls, or strong solo delvers are wiped out, what do you think happens to their cards?"

Brixaby answered. "They are returned back to the heart."

"Yes," Lung Bei said. "And thus, the Dark Heart grows stronger until it once more erupts and takes down the city which has grown around it. I like to think of it as the scourgeling way of farming."

"Except scourgelings know no bounds and are wiping away human habitations far more quickly than they can be built back up, and killing the land behind it," the orange added, blandly.

That made a certain amount of sense. Arthur had suspected a certain level of chicanery when the general had flaunted the Master of Cards. If Arthur had taken it, the guard announcing the scourgeling attack would have seen it. Then Arthur's life could have very well ended.

If he didn't have access to Brixaby's Call of The Heart, he would have never found his way through those scourgeling tunnels, much less find eggs that had been hidden.

Arthur had only gotten out of that challenge by cheating.

His attention was pulled back when the pink dragon spoke.

"That is all beside the point. If I am not mistaken, we have Mythic candidates in front of us, with an Origin hatchling in his retinue. And they have blundered onto the doorstep of a Scourge-God."

The still hidden dragon scoffed again. "A purple as a Mythic candidate. We truly are in dark times."

Arthur exchanged glances with Brixaby. Mythic candidates? 

"They are hardly candidates," Lung Bei said. "With a pair of Legendries between them."

"I'm about to add another to my deck," Arthur said. All the visible dragons swung their heads to him. "Uh, if I can get to the core."

"If," Crystal snorted. "Young purple, you did not choose a confident one."

Brixaby had been somewhat subdued -- at least for himself -- in the presence of the Mythics. Now he bristled at her words. "Arthur is cunning and perfect in all the ways you will never know. He got himself and the rest of his retinue here on the strength of utility cards. Do not underestimate him. Or me," he growled, buzzing up to her eye level.

She snorted, sending him flipping back in the air.

"What say you?" the orange asked. "Do we risk this chance?"

"Aye," Crystal said.

"Yes," said the blue.

The orange nodded to indicate his vote.

After a pause the hidden dragon sighed and said. "Whatever."

Only Lung Bei was quiet. She stared hard at Arthur.

"I told you before that you would only have one chance, and now I am on the verge of giving you another. But I don't think you understand what gift this is."

"Then tell me," Arthur said. "We only meant to challenge the Dark Heart and gain its rewards. Not... Scourge-Gods."

"The Scourge-Gods have poisoned this heart -- all hearts -- and made them nearly impossible to accomplish," Lung Bei said. "We can hold their influence off of you, but for only this level. Complete it, and you will gain your reward -- I assume that is the next Legendary card in your deck?"

Arthur nodded.

"Good, I would do this for nothing less. Understand this will cost us power, and thus, the power for the world. Make your reward count and do great things with it."

Crystal lowered her head. "What she means is to complete your decks -- together-- and ascend to Mythic."

"You may have noticed, but we and our riders are outnumbered," the blue added.

Arthur hesitated. This challenge they'd just set before him was more than he had ever thought he could accomplish. Was it too much?

Brixaby, of course, said. "Yes, naturally. My card will make finding the other Legendries quite easy."

"There are two more conditions," Lung Bei said.

The other Mythics groaned.

"What's that?" Arthur asked warily.

"The first is that you return to Wolf Moon Hive and take your place as leader. My Kingdom cannot afford to have a hive faulter in these times."

Which meant Whitaker was likely driving it to the ground. Not a surprise.

"What is the second condition?" Arthur asked.

"That you send one of your retinue to me -- the Origin rider. I sense that the former Prince Marion has three-of-a-kind healing in his heart. He will do everything he can to heal his father's mind."

Arthur shot a glance at Marion who had by now sat back up to his knees, cradling this Silver dragon. Meeting his gaze, Marion nodded.

Arthur looked back at Lung Bei. "Surely, he already has the best healers in the land."

"You know the specific overlapping powers of three-of-a-kind," Lung Bei said dryly. "Yes, or no?"

Arthur hesitated. Marion had already agreed, but he was the one responsible for his friend. "Whether he succeeds or not, he and his dragon will be returned whole and healthy to me. He won't be punished."

"Of course," she said impatiently. "And in return I will extend you royal amnesty for your... many transgressions. But Arthur, you must succeed. You must find that card."

Her last words were unexpectedly anxious, and Arthur was reminded again that there were five Mythics and seven Scourge-Gods.

"I agree," he said.

The world was washed in white. The last of the terrible pressure eased. And suddenly, Arthur and his retinue were again standing somewhere else entirely.