Imagine dragon

Dragon deez. Of course.

It launched a stone pillar like a dart. The weight of the monolith came crashing down in a gust of dust. He deflected it with ease. For good measure, he split it down the middle and ran through the crack. The leap the man managed took it by surprise. Its swipes were a blur, and its talons tore lighting from stone when the beast missed its mark. Speed did not matter, not when he could slow the flow of time. With ease, the man dodged and stuck his mighty spear forward. The embers of the blade shone on its dark features. Not a single cut was inflicted in the barrage of thrusts. The dragon locked eyes with its bane. The man's head almost cracked open. Ancient hisses and few words he could make sense of, such as “death” and “obliterate”, a wail like that of the banshee threatened to liquefy his insides. He rose a palm above the ground as he screamed, venting the spell from his body. “Flesh to stone,” the man said stretching his palm towards the dragon. It shrieked as its face flaked with gray stone. A red mist engulfed the dragon’s face. His wound was no more. It tore a piece of the cave’s ceiling and hurdled it at him. “Stone to dust”, he whispered and the rock exploded into a fine powder, burying him up to his knees. The dragon flapped his black wings. The shockwave inched him back only for a moment. He stood tall in the current with murderous intent in his blue eyes. Stone cracked with each bat of the fleshy wings. He reached out into the void and gained strength. He stretched his arms out as if to cradle the beast within his palms. The man squeezed with unprecedented bloodlust. The mighty beast crashed to the ground under the wizard’s iron grip. Its spine crackled and its fingers curled as it felt a wrath, unlike any other. 

“Enough!” The shout broke the man’s will and landed him on his back. The dragon rose on its hind legs. It closed its yellow eyes and vanished. The wizard froze in place trying to pinpoint its location.

“Come from the shadows. Let us end this.”

“What are you?”

He spun his glowing spear sending burning embers rising into the ancient tomb. They rose and rose revealing an architecture so beautiful his mind had trouble making sense of those shapes and colors. 

“I am your demise.”

“That is yet to be seen. What are you? A demon? A lich?”

“They say dragons are all-knowing.”

“No. Tell me.”

“It does not matter what I am. You’re the last of your kind. I’ve killed you all.”

“I sense it. You speak the truth. But you are not whole. Something has been taken from you. A piece is missing…”

“Gather your strength.”

“How are you able to draw such power from the Stream? No human has gained that right since the dawn of time. Who is your master? Tell me who has -”

“I serve no one but myself.”

“The gift bestowed upon you, the knowledge to wield it; it's impossible... Yet I sense it.”

He walked the streets of the magnificent city of pearl and ivory and jade. The tall towers and strong archways were in contrast to the delicate spirals and bright, multicolored tapestries. He kept his body tense and his mind dipped in the Stream.

“What is it you are searching for? That which is missing? You will not find it here.”

“I’ll find it in your heart once I tear it from you.”

“If it’s the treasure you seek take it. It’s yours, all of it.”

“Silence.”

“You carry a wound. I’ve never sensed such emptiness. Not even an echo lingers inside.”

He reached a massive twenty-foot golden door. With his mind, he pried it open, the screeching of metal infusing life into the dead city. The man walked into a room teaming with energy. All manner of technical wonders, ancient and new, were at his disposal.

“Power…”

“Yes. Power.”

“It has taken me a hundred years to grasp all within this room.”

“I can steal it in seconds and draw upon it at will once life will drain from you.”

“Your vessel cannot contain it. It will kill you.”

As it said that the dragon materialized above the wizard. A beam of crackling red energy bore a hole around the wizard. He stood tall, shielded by sorcerous powers. The wizard leaped and grabbed it by the foot. He brought the beast crashing down on the mirror floor. The dragon stabbed his talons into to wizard. Thinking it had the upper hand it dug inside the wizard’s guts, laughing triumphantly as it gazed upon its prey. 

The man’s body was shattered into a million pieces, like fruit flies. They swarmed inside the snout of the great beast. Like acid they dissolved the dragon from within, making flesh rise such as ash in the wind. Tremors took hold of the ancient benign, and power surged as a furnace out of it and into the Stream. The wizard resumed his usual appearance. The effort took its toll. He lacked the strength to rise off the ground. Glancing at the pile of bones he smiled, winded by the spell. Luck was on his side that day. He never pulled off that particular sorcery no matter how many times he tried. Silence fell upon the halls of the inner city. The vast knowledge within the ancient dragon stirred inside him. He was stronger than ever before. He sensed others through the flowing stream, even more powerful than the dragon he bested. The wizard called upon the mighty flow once more. He felt another who would rise to power just as he did, a thousand years from now. He learned there was no need to leave that place. Others will come. Until the day of reckoning, he would enjoy the dragon’s horde. Its power and knowledge would suffice.