Ivy League Illusion, Part 9
Inner Dragons
Need an earlier part?
In contrast to the darkness of Nidhoggson’s scales, the dragon blocking my path had blood-red scales. Its eyes burned as if they were lit by the fires of Hell. Its slowly opening mouth was filled with enormous fangs. Its claws gleamed in the red glow like well-sharpened swords.
Since we were in my own mind, I wasn’t sure if a creature like this could harm me or if it was just an illusion set there to frighten me away. I wanted to run screaming from it, but if I did that, I’d have no way to recover my memories.
The dragon eyed me suspiciously. I forced myself to take a step forward. The dragon emitted a deafening roar and tensed its muscles as if it intended to spring at me. I took a step back, and it relaxed, though its eyes remained focused on me.
The dragon might be more than an illusion, but I didn’t think it was an autonomous being like Nidhoggson, either. If it had been, I would surely have felt it before now. But the question of what it was could wait until later. How I could get around it was crucial.
I didn’t want to call on Nidhoggson for help because I feared that he’d take notice of what I was trying to do. That meant I had to rely on the small number of runes that I already knew. The best option I could think of was the Helm of Awe, the combination of the runes Algiz and Isa that was supposed to be the best protection in runic magic, or so said Nidhoggson, anyway. I was in better shape than I had been the only other time I’d tried to use it, so maybe it would work this time.
I needed eight Algiz runes radiating out from a common center, each crossed by one or more instances of Isa. Drawing something that complex in the air would be tricky. I had to forget the dragon lying in wait and focus all my attention on the runes.
As I drew, I felt some kind of muscle memory kick in. I had done this before, many times. In fact, it was so familiar that I added flourishes to it without even thinking. I added a circle near the center, crossed each instance of Algiz with three of Isa instead of just one, and enclosed the Helm in a circle. I thought I was done, but my finger kept moving, so I let it. I circled the Helm with a Celtic knot pattern as if combining both my forms of magic. I activated the combination, and a glow enclosed me like a forcefield.
I could feel my own magic, but I had a hard time sensing the dragon’s, which meant I had no idea whether the shield around me was strong enough to prevent it from tearing me to pieces. But if I didn’t try, I was doomed to be possessed by Nidhoggson at best, killed by the vampires and their allies at worst.
Rather than stepping forward cautiously, I went all in, breaking into a run and trying to make it around the dragon and to the door.
The beast roared again and lunged in my direction. It moved too fast for me to be able to outrun it, colliding with the aura created by the Helm and sending me flying. I hit the ground—or what my mind was interpreting as ground, anyway—but I was still alive. I’d count that as a win. Actually, I didn’t have a scratch on me, and the Helm’s protection was still active
The dragon roared again and barraged me with fire. I felt a little warmer, but the Helm absorbed almost the entire blast. However, I could feel the strain on it. It couldn’t take hits like that indefinitely.
I ran for the door while the dragon was still spraying fire. It didn’t immediately aim at my new position.
I grabbed the door handle. It wouldn’t budge. The door was locked.
My heart pounded as I positioned myself right next to the door but facing outward, toward the dragon. I had a good idea that the same combination of runes I’d used to reveal the door might also unlock it, but the Helm of Awe was hellishly tricky to maintain. There was no way I could try to add additional runes on top of that. But there might be another way to get in.
As the dragon turned to face me, I jumped back and forth between standing right in front of the door and standing to one side. When the dragon hurled its fiery breath at me again, it aimed wide. The Helm of Awe shuddered but held.
The door, unprotected by any such magic, looked charred, and smoke rose from it.
I followed the same strategy again, and the door was completely blackened. But the Helm was beginning to fail. I did what I could to push more power into it. I didn’t have time to redraw the whole thing.
The third blast of dragon fire reduced the door to ashes, and I ran through the doorway.
Though the dragon’s roar echoed in my ears, I found myself in a completely different place. It looked like an old library, filled with antique bookcases, rows of them that seemed to stretch out into infinity. Each of them was crammed with books. No doubt, this was a visual representation of my memories. All I had to do was—
“Don’t touch anything!” yelled an all too familiar voice. I looked to my left and saw an image of Nidhoggson jumping out from between two rows. He looked as my body had when he changed it—basically human in shape, but covered with black scales and equipped with fangs and claws.
“The only way to reach those memories is to kill me,” he said slowly. “And you can’t kill me without killing yourself.”
Ivy League Illusion is related to the Different Dragons series. (The action falls after the end of the third book.)
Everywhere and Nowhere: Explore Fantastic Worlds is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.
(Subscribers receive a certain number of free ebooks, depending on which tier they select. See https://billhiatt.substack.com/about for details.)