Vagner/Stories
The great and terrible Vagner, King of Dragons, has met his match in the unflappable Stella. After listening to him speak bitterly of an unconcluded battle with Light, Stella convinces Vagner that closure can only come after he has helped the champion return to his human form.
Vagner: Building a town in the sky... I see... How very impertinent for dirt-crawlers.
Stella: Hello, Vagner. Are you out for a walk?
Vagner: Mind thy manners, little one. I am to be addressed with my titles. Vagner the Mighty, Vagner the All-Consuming, Vagner the Terrible!
Stella: I am not "little one." My name is Stella. This is now the fifth time I have told you.
Vagner: Thy name merits no spot in these ancient memories.
Stella: Do you have trouble remembering names? ...You ARE quite old.
Vagner: Fortune favors the bold, they say, but I say death awaits the brazen. Dost thou wish for a fiery demise?
Stella: No. That sounds highly unpleasant.
Vagner: Art thou not afeared of me?
Stella: Not particularly.
Vagner: I am the inferno! My flames consume the flesh and purge the soul. Many a warrior a traipsed to my den and paid dearly for their insolence.
Vagner: I act as tyrant, judge, and executioner! Yet thou gazest at me with unclouded eyes. Do I not cast even the slightest pall over thy heart?
Stella: I don't really feel anything... but perhaps.
Vagner: PERHAPS?!
Stella: I have very little data on dragons, including you.
Stella: I require more to form an opinion.
Vagner: I have heard enough. Thou art a fool. Even fear is no cure for stupidity. Get out of my sight.
Stella: Not before I have collected more data.
Vagner: There is no need for this "data"!
Stella: I would argue that there is.
Vagner: ...Dost thou seek to test me?
Stella: I seek to know you.
Nimbus: Hey, Alk. Look over there. I think a storm's brewing.
Alk: Ooh... Battle of the heavyweights, huh?
Nimbus: Place your bets. My money's on the 500 ton dragon.
Alk: Please... Has Stella ever backed down from ANYTHING?
Stella: You know, Light has spoken about you.
Vagner: ...About me?
Stella: Yes. He said that you were a great and powerful dragon.
Stella: Then he told the story of how he battled you for seven days and seven nights, but neither could claim victory. No one believed him though.
Vagner: "Neither" could claim victory? NEITHER?! HE would not deliver the final blow! But in sparing my life, he subjected me to a humiliation worse than death!
Vagner: Has he forgotten this?! Then I shall sear it into his skull again!
Stella: I see.
Stella: Vagner, you are an admirer of Light's.
Vagner: WHAT?!
Stella: Isn't that why you chased him to Starview?
Stella: There is a term for people like you… Ah. Fanboy.
Vagner: HALF-WIT!
Vagner: I seek only a conclusion to our battle! An end to this farce!
Stella: Then you should be working to return Light to his original form.
Stella: It is the most logical way to get what you want.
Vagner: Hah. Dost thou hope to treat with me? To talk me into aiding a champion?
Vagner: Thy quest shall fail. There is naught left of the man I once fought but a frail and empty husk.
Stella: He is not a husk. He is our champion.
Vagner: Mm... I must say, thine eyes intrigue me... Untouched as of yet by fear or doubt.
Vagner: Very well, little one. I shall play along...
Vagner: ...If only to watch cold despair run through thy veins for the first time…
Nimbus: ...We'll call it a tie.
Stella: Vagner...
Stella: Perhaps there's an issue with his memory processing...
Light thanks Vagner for his aid. The dragon, newly cognizant of the strength hidden in Stella and Alk, senses that the fate of dragons and mortals alike are beginning to shift.
Light: King of Dragons. I, the champion Light, request an audience.
Vagner: What words could an empty husk possibly have for me?
Vagner: Does it not shame thee to skulk before magnificence in such a wretched state?
Light: It is true that I have fallen. But I do not come to talk about myself.
Light: I come to thank you.
Vagner: ...To thank me?
Light: The might of the great King Vagner is more valuable than any army. You do a great service to Starview—and to me.
Vagner: Stop preening. I do not act for thy sake.
Light: I know. It seems you've grown quite fond of Stella.
Vagner: The girl? No. I am merely testing her.
Vagner: I seek one who can break the shackles laid upon us for countless years. I seek one to rewrite the Law of Ancients.
Light: The Law of Ancients...
Light: Is that the spear that goaded you into battle?
Light: A sage at the capital told me that the Ancients are guides to champions. Yet you stood before me as a foe.
Light: I do not understand why one who fought so bitterly for life would be so quick to choose death over defeat. When I spared you, you—
Vagner: Silence! As thy sage said, we dragons are the lapdogs of champions... Kept on a leash by an irksome, asinine code!
Vagner: I fought tooth and claw against that code, and what for? Mercy? PITY? Dost thou fancy thyself a savior? Make no mistake. In sparing my life, thou hast destroyed ME.
Light: ...I fought only to fulfill my duty.
Vagner: Even now, as a lowly hare, thou darest to preach of duty?
Vagner: Listen well, husk. That duty no longer belongs to thee. Thou canst not—and WILT not—earn the dragons' support.
Light: Even so, I will not abandon my vision.
Light: ...Dragon, I do not require your allegience. I do not command you to fly beneath the banner of champions.
Light: I only ask that you help two young people find their path.
Vagner: Hm... Thou hast put a lot of faith in such minute vessels.
Light: I have learned that there is more than what meets the eye.
Light: ...You have already glimpsed the depth of Stella's strength. But there is still another with the power to turn the tides of fate.
Vagner: Still another? Dost thou speak of the boy?!
Vagner: What power could HE possibly possess?
Light: Who is to say?
Vagner: ...Art thou riddling with me?
Light: No. You will understand once you know him. I'd also like to hear what you make of Alk.
Vagner: ...Thou hast changed.
Light: With new form comes new perspective.
Light: ...Thank you again, Vagner. Please, keep them safe.
Vagner: ...The flow of destiny has already begun to shift.
Vagner: Very well then. Let us see what new shores await mortals and dragons alike.
After aiding Vagner in a battle against serpents, Alk (to his horror) finds himself appointed rearguard to an Ancient.
Vagner: Ah... Revealed thyselves, I see...
Vagner: Very well, imposters. I shall show thee the might of a TRUE dragon!
Light: Meep.
Alk: Whoa... The world's spinning...
Vagner: What?! Why art thou here?!
Stella: You were beating your wings with a grim look on your face. So we decided to hitch a ride on your tail.
Vagner: And thou shalt pay for thy feckless curiousity with thy lives! This place—
Alk: Hey, look, dragons. There sure are a lot.
Vagner: Wretched lizards... In giving both mind and body over to the Serpent...
Vagner: Thou hast earned DEATH!
Light: Alk! Get out of the way!
Alk: What the?! You just barbequed them!
Vagner: It matters not how many flies swarm before the flames...
Vagner: The fire shall consume them every time!
Vagner: Prominence—
Light: Vagner! Behind you!
Vagner: Snakes!
Vagner: Petty minds will resort to petty tricks. But against the great—
Light: Wait! You must not use that move heedlessly!
Vagner: I do not take orders from anyone!
Light: Prominence Blaze consumes your strength and strains your mind. That much was made clear during our battle!
Vagner: What dost thou know of self- preservation, HUSK?! No, I shall not listen to thee!
Light: Your hubris will be your downfall, Vagner!
Alk: STOOOP! What are you, an old married couple?!
Alk: I'LL take care of the rear? Okay?!
Vagner: It is beyond thee, boy.
Alk: Nuh-uh! I can take 'em! Probably. Not like we have any other choice.
Light: I will go with Alk. Vagner, Stella! Hold off the enemy here.
Stella: Vagner, will you accept my help?
Vagner: ...They are headed towards that labyrinth. Act as an extra pair of eyes, and my flames and claws shall do the rest.
Stella: Understood!
Alk: Hah!
Alk: Uh... There's no end to them… I am never stepping in during a couple's spat. Ever. Again.
Light: If you've strength enough for idle talk, you'll be fine. ...Though I once thought your levity would be the death of you.
Alk: Ohh... I still think my big mouth could very much kill me.
Alk: But not today! All hail the King of Dragons!
Vagner: Alk! Light! Get on! I will destroy them all from the skies!
Alk: Awesome!
Vagner: We are tyrants of the land, and of the air. We are the Ancients!
Vagner: Bow before us... or crumble to ash! Prominence Blaze!
Light: Did you have to fling us off like baggage?!
Vagner: Be grateful I did not send thee plunging to thy death. Never again shalt thou ride on my back.
Stella: Vagner. What were those dra— I mean, those lizards?
Vagner: Serpents... Creatures that both are and are not dragons. Oath-breakers. There are many names for them.
Vagner: They are our old foes... Bane of dragons, but irrelevant to mortals. ...Or so I had thought.
Vagner: "I can take them," was it? ...So eager to leap into the fray.
Alk: What? Me?
Vagner: Rejoice. Thou art now rearguard to an Ancient.
Alk: WHAT?! Wait, no, no, no. Earlier, that was neccessity and the adrenaline talking, but NOW—
Vagner: I shall test the strength of thy body and heart. Take care not to crack in the heat, little one.
Light: He has more mettle than you would expect.
Alk: Please... Don't raise the bar...