The Adventures of Mr. Dirge & Lady Freckles [ Part VIII ]

The Zombie General & The Black Dragon

Parts: [I] [II] [III] [IV] [V] [VI] [VII] [VIII] [IX] [X]

The sun was right over the tip of the pyramid by the time Charly and I arrived there. The rays bounced off the shiny metal walls, illuminating the greenery around it. At the bottom — on the side of the pyramid — there was an opening, an entrance. Charly stayed behind while I crossed the threshold, only to come out the other side of the pyramid but in a totally different place.

It was an island, almost identical to the one I just came from. The difference was that the colors were strange. The colors were switched, somehow. Tree leaves were purple instead of green. The tree itself was blue. The soil was a dark shade of green and the sun was red. It wasn't less bright than the yellow sun but it felt less warm somehow.

As I stepped out of the pyramid I realized a track before me. Weary, I pull out my blade and gun and start walking slowly. I was stopping every once in a while to look around — in amazement — at the colors there. I suddenly heard a voice calling out my name.

“Dirge!” I heard a voice say from behind some crimson bushes at the side of the track in front of me. Out steps a tall man, thin and sickly. He wasn't a zombie, despite his blue skin. He had long hair; not too long though, it reached just below the ears. Braided and colored bright pink, his hair bounced around as he walked towards me, with a weird swagger. He had tall thin legs and long hands that reached his knees and swung at his side clumsily as he walked. His eyes were all black and he had purple pupils that were wide open. His lips — and tongue I assume — had a blood red color. Also, It seemed like some sort of electronic device was attached to each of his fingertips, and a bigger one to his palms.

Facing me, he spoke.

“Dirge, I am Dafrod. A common friend sent me here to help you”

“A common friend?”

“Madsimov, the shaman. He fashioned these weapons attached to my hands”

“What are these? What do they do?”

“You’ll see soon enough. You wish to find the zombie General, right?”

“Yes.”

“Follow me then, his base is not too far away and I already saw your dragon lady friend on her way there.”

“Freckles? Cool, so I’m not too far behind”

“We must get going; we need to follow this path.”

He turned around and started walking. I followed him, blade still in hand. We eventually reached a huge white concrete wall, with a –relatively- small metal door. We tried to open the heavy door but it won’t budge. Dafrod told me to step back and he started tapping his fingers against each other in different patterns. He started making music. Electronic music, waves of it, ripped through the air and smashed against the metal door, waves of electric-blue twisted frequencies. The door started melting until it was now a carpet across the threshold.

We heard a big explosion from behind the wall and rushed in.

On the other side of the wall, was a great field of purple grass. In the distance, I saw Freckles. In the middle of the field, Freckles stood facing a dark haired woman; someone I have never seen before. “This woman you see standing facing Freckles in the distance” said Dafrod “Is the black dragon. She is under the control of the Zombie General”. Standing tall, Freckles transformed into her dragon form just as the other woman did the same. They quickly took to flight swirling around each other, clawing and spitting fire at each other. The other dragon was slightly bigger than Freckles. But Freckles was putting up one hell of a fight. I started running towards her only to be interrupted by a wave of zombies coming my way across the field. My blade and my bullets danced between their spines and ribs and throats and limbs. There was no time to waste. I heard a screech, up from the skies, as I saw a dragon falling. From that far down I could not yet tell which dragon it was.

The dragon smashed to the ground, not five meters away from me. And with the shattering of the ground, came the shattering of my heart.

I felt the tear held in the back of my eye. I had to put it on hold because I had to deliver instant vengeance. The black dragon landed, not too far from me. Looking at me, it spoke “She did not deserve to be a dragon anyway”. Bottling the fury inside, I extended the tenth section of my blade and stared the dragon straight in the eyes. From behind me, I heard Dafrod play a tune. My right hand, holding the blade, suddenly felt charged; as though electricity had infested both my hand and my blade.

As the dragon inhaled to spit out flames and burn me, I felt that electricity rush to my legs. It was as though I could control it and direct it to whichever part of my body I wanted the boost of energy in. I dashed forward dragging my blade behind me, as it dripped with lust for cutting down a dragon. I jumped high enough to reach its throat. I re-channeled the energy into my blade, charging all ten sections ever more. And right before the dragon could exhale, my tear dropped following it’s head.

I run towards Freckles’ body as soon as I landed. The quest she was on had claimed her life, and has caused me a loss that has instantly crushed half of my sanity. I broke down and knelt on the ground, laying my blade on one side and my gun on the other. I look at her mangled dragon body and wished she could change back to human form just so I get to see her face one last time. The pain in my heart was too much to handle.

Almost as huge as the lieutenant I had fought before, the zombie general now stood before me. After I had annihilated his ranks.

“If humans and dragons went to the same place after they died, I would be very unhappy killing you. But they don’t, so it will be my pleasure to finally get rid of you, Mr. Dirge!” The zombie general said as he reached for his blade and dashed towards me. Before I could even pick up my sword to strike him back, he cut my right-side rib-cage. Blade and gun now in hand, and bleeding from my side, I jumped backwards. I knew I could not continue the fight because I was severely injured. But right before I was about to flee, the wound at my side started healing and a tattoo appeared in its stead. A winged sword engulfed in a helix. I knew that Seriph had just sent me some help. The zombie general dashed towards me again, but this time I was ready for him. With a quick spiral dance, I spin my bullets around his path just to keep him moving in the direction I wanted. Pointing my blade towards the sky, and just as his blow was about to land, I side stepped his attack. Turning to the side, I dropped my blade swinging clockwise and cut down both his hands. I spun down to the ground and drove my blade right through both his knees. “You’re not so tough now with just a torso ey?” I taunted the zombie and dropped the tip of my blade right into his skull.

“Drige,” Dafrod said as he came in from behind me after watching the fight “I am sorry you had to lose her”. Nodding my head, I told him “Why doesn't any of this make sense?” He smiled at me as you would a child when he asks questions you cannot answer. “All I can tell you is that you need to go talk to a wizard called Zus”. Dafrod then explained that Zus was a lonesome vagabond that found magic at the bottom of the well and harnessed it into his own being. He told me that Zus was capable of connecting me to Seriph. “It is about time you three met” Dafrod said as he handed me a map and walked away “I have a feeling that everything will be alright Dirge, have some faith”.

Broken, hurt and tired, I picked up the trail marked on the map and headed in its direction. I truly had no purpose anymore and the world had already turned to shit. My only resolve was to talk to Seriph; something I thought was impossible, suddenly it became possible. Things just didn't make sense. I see Freckles’ body burn up in flames of a dragon’s death behind me as I walked away. I left a tear behind and I moved, never again to be the same person. Part of me had died and the part left had no intention of living, only the need to make sense of matters. But sense was fleeting, just like my faith in happiness.