The Wizard and the Green Dragon (Part 5)

This is the final part of “The Wizard and the Green Dragon”.

To read the previous part, click here.

To read the first part, click here.

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“So, you’ll simply steal the grimoire, kill the head knight and leave?”

The Wizard smiled, and it was the most sinister smile the time traveller had ever seen.

“No! You’ve destroyed this chance.”

“Such a powerful wizard as yourself can’t get in and out of the city to steal the grimoire?”

The Wizard went to him and pushed him on the ground with his foot. Standing there, pressing the guy’s chest hard, he looked down on him.

“Mockery? You don’t understand the gravity of getting me annoyed. I hate people who mess with my plans, and you did exactly that. So, my most important task, right now, is to make you regret it. And saying regret it, I’ll make sure you’ll die cursing the moment you were born. You’ve come to save this country, so I am going to thoroughly destroy it for you, and you’ll know you are the one who caused this to happen. Right now, for me, drowning you in despair is more important than seizing the Green Dragon. Do. You. Understand. Now?”

The time traveller didn’t respond. The Wizard, turned around and walked a few steps, finally standing still, gazing towards Larchwood city.

“Guys, go!” The two familiars disappear. They didn’t actually go anywhere, though. “Let’s think of a way to punish you now, shall we?” But he didn’t turn towards the time traveller.

A single gunshot. The bullet penetrated the Wizard’s head. The Wizard turned to the time traveller, and before the latter could react, the Wizard had taken the gun from his hands.

“Did I forget to tell you I am immortal? What is this? A kind of weapon?” As the Wizard was examining the thing in his hands, apparently puzzled, he turned the barrel a bit. He pointed the gun towards the city and fired it. “Oh! That’s how it works. Pretty nice!”

Then, he turned the gun towards the time traveller. He shot one bullet breaking the man’s left humerus. The next bullet broke the left femur. Then, he did the same with to the right femur. Then he tried to shoot the poor man’s right arm. He pulled the trigger, but nothing happened.

“What? That’s all this thing can do? Useless!” And he threw the gun, not far from the time traveller. “You know, you are lucky you shot me and not my boys. Had you done that, not only would I have destroyed your country, but I would be torturing you, all day long, until the threshold of death, then I’d heal you, and continue torturing you, for many, many, many years to come. By the end of today, you’d be begging me to kill you, but I’d make sure you’d live a long, long life. Did you know I can go for a year without eating, or sleeping, if I want to? Probably for more, but I haven’t tried that. I am immortal, after all. Oh, you are back already, boys?” And Galen and Dagwood appeared again.

The Wizard returned to where he was standing before when he was shot.

“Boys, these larch trees behind us look like humans, don’t they? One, seeing us from afar, will probably think there is a whole army here, won’t they?”

The time traveller couldn’t help but look at the trees. Had their shape changed a little? Did they look like they were moving a bit? It must have been the light and the wind. Right?

The Wizard crouched down to take a small rock. “Now! Let’s launch our attack!”

He threw the rock towards Larchwood. A few moments later, the city wall was crushed as if a bomb had hit it.

“What the hell just happened?”

“Maggot dear, I am a wizard. Did you forget?”

Another rock was thrown. Another “bomb” landed on the walls. The city, of course was alarmed, but the “army” at the east was too far for them to counterattack.

“We are going to destroy the city, today. We’ll level this capital. Then, we’ll help one of the nearby countries take over the whole country and demand, in return, they kill every single citizen under the age of fifty. There will be no future for this country of yours, Maggot dear. And, then, I’ll cut off your arms and legs, and leave you in the city, to live the rest of your life as a beggar, incapable of even killing yourself. Don’t you love my plan? You’ll be experiencing in your skin and bones, every single day, that this ‘glorious’ country of yours you came to ‘save’, exists no more, thanks to you. You’ll be seeing your ancestors, of sorts, dying from old age, one after the other, without offspring. By the time you finally die, there will be none of your nation left. Even if, by chance, anyone lives for longer than you, you’ll still know there is no hope. Maybe I should cut off your dick, too. Who knows? Perhaps, if I don’t, some crazy woman will fall for the likes of you, and you might give birth to a half-blooded piece of shit. Yes! Indeed, I’ll cut off your dick, too, then.”

And the Wizard threw another rock. A gunshot. The Wizard turned to look down at the time traveller, who had shot his own head. The Wizard smiled, satisfied. “Good riddance!”

“You’ve grown soft, Wizard.”

“I don’t know what you are talking about, Galen.”

“Come on! You’ve purposely left him a bullet, to kill himself.”

“And? You think he didn’t die in despair?

“I guess he did.”

“If he hadn’t killed himself, my dear, I’d have to actually do what I told him I’d do. Not only would this be a hell of a hassle, but, more importantly, do you know how long this would take to happen? At least a couple of months. I don’t want to have the Green Dragon in my possession for that long. Although there are no worldly riches and glory it can promise me to trick me, greed can take other forms, too. I can’t imagine in which way I might be vulnerable to the demonic grimoire, but I don’t intend to give it the chance to discover it and enslave me.”

“Oh! Makes sense.”

“With the maggot dead, I only have to kill the king and that knight, seize the Green Dragon, and get the hell out of here. And then, give a few years of living hell to Baskar.”

“What has the poor god done to you?”

“You must be kidding! I am just a human. How could I have seen these time paradoxes? But Baskar is a god. He should have seen those, and he should have informed me. He chose not to. You think I’ll let that slide?”

“But haven’t you accepted this task so he’d owe you a favour?”

“Yeah. And now he’ll owe me a huge one. If he says otherwise, let’s see who will regret it. If I wanted to, who do you think could destroy this universe faster? Me, or the Green Dragon?”

Galen burst into laughter.

“I think we haven’t convinced them yet that they need to risk coming out to fight us, have we, boys?”

The Wizard took another rock to throw. This time, though, the rock smashed the tower next to the execution place, at the palace, deep in the city. He threw a few more rocks, all of them landing in the city.

“Ha! You finally believe me, disgusting fool!”

“Found it?”

“Oh, yeah! The fool just used it. He must be thinking this will be the first of his super heroic deeds!”

“I bet it will be his last deed of any kind.”

“Do bet! Galen, Dagwood, keep throwing stones and destroying the city, while keeping the advancing unit away from here. If they come close enough, they’ll see the things behind us are just trees.”

And the Wizard disappeared. Fifteen minutes had barely passed when he returned, holding three things. The head of the king, the head of the knight and the Green Dragon. He threw the heads in the forest, but kept the crown.

“Now, you bastard, Baskar, I’ve got what you want. Move your ass and get us there!”