Dawn

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fM0MpRxp1jI

The silver door closes, and Dawn stands alone.

She sits and waits as he approaches. An army of mechanical legionnaires and cutthroats faces her. The dragon leads them like a spearhead, striding up to her with equal parts righteous anger and sadistic anticipation, sporting a mocking grin. With a heaving clunk of metal and gears, the steel behemoth that was Carabas soars down and perches at his right side, Elaina reluctantly at his left.

Dawn tilts her head in mild curiosity. Nothing can hurt her anymore.

A moment of silence passes as Dawn and Lysander stare at each other for a minute.

"So, you came back to die with your lover."

"No. That's not him anymore. He's been dead for a long time. No, I came for you."

His grin fades slightly. "Pathetic. Kill her, but save her head. She has useful parts to her."

Carabas lunges forward to impale her on his blade - only to find himself stopped, ensnared by a field of telekinesis. She gently pushes him aside.

Lysander bares fangs. "Do you think you can save yourself forever with your magic tricks?"

"Not particularly. My life's been forfeit for years."

He snarls, his patience tested. He thrusts his lightning claw forward to smite his enemy. An explosion of blue and white energy ripples across the deck.

Dawn stands unharmed, smiling slightly. "You'll have to try harder than that."

Lysander takes a step back, visibly unnerved. "What is this...?"

"I've already decided my fate isn't in your claws. Or the Oneiromancer's. I won't be beholden to your rules any longer." Her horn begins to glow silver.

He takes a step backward. "What are you playing at? Are you just here to mock me? Pointless!" he spits. "It's only a matter of time before we tear your friends limb from bloody limb. The Egg will be mine, as will its secrets. The Echoes will be submitted to the might of a true dragon!"

"You've never been a true dragon. You were always a lowly worm, Lysander. A pretender. And as for the Egg..." Her smile turns into a soft laugh as her horn continues to glow, crackling with grey-white flame.

Lysander's scowl starts to fall as the gears in his head begin to tick over. As a horrible thought strikes him, he freezes. "WHERE-?!"

She casts the spell.

The Vindicator is engulfed in silver light. One minute it is sitting amidst the boiling sea, the next, it is plummeting in a freefall through smoke and flame, plunging downward in a nosedive. Dawn laughs. "Somewhere far away! Somewhere you or the Oneiromancer will never reach it. Outside of reality, and beyond."

Across the deck, panic begins to ensue as the Vindicator continues to freefall into the exploding volcano. Some crewmates take flight, or cast spells. Elaina takes one look at the burning world around her and vanishes into the astral plane, to return to her true master. In a fit of fear and rage, Lysander lunges at Dawn - and keeps going. Her pristine phantom form just stares and laughs. "It's gone. All gone. My friends are safe from you. You've lost everything, Lysander."

Lost for words, he looks up in a panic, seeing the Fortune sailing off amidst the thunderstorm.

"Checkmate."

And with that, she disappears, leaving Lysander truly alone on the deck, bellowing in abject rage and fear as his warship hurtles to its demise...