43. Chapter Forty Three #3
His usually kind eyes, now glowing fiercely, turned to me for a brief moment, and I saw the same unwavering determination I’d always known.
“Stay back,” he rumbled, his voice distorted and deeper, carrying the weight of his dragon form.
My heart pounded in my chest as I took in the sheer power radiating off him.
Part of me was terrified—terrified of what he could do, of the raw destruction he was capable of.
But another part of me was utterly captivated, unable to tear my eyes away from him.
He was beautiful in his ferocity, a force of nature made flesh.
Drake lunged at Vyper, his claws tearing through the air with devastating speed. Vyper conjured a shield, but it cracked under the sheer force of Drake’s attack, the sound of splintering magic ringing through the chamber.
“Drake, behind you!” I screamed as two Vyrmin closed in from his blind spot. He whirled, his massive tail slamming into them with bone-crushing force. They crumpled to the ground, lifeless.
He fought with a single-minded ferocity, every move precise and devastating. But even in his dragon form, I could see the toll it was taking on him. His wounds from earlier still bled, and every swing of his claws or beat of his wings seemed to cost him.
Despite his pain, he kept fighting, his gaze never straying far from me. I realized then that he wasn’t just fighting to win. He was fighting for me. To protect me. To save me.
Drake roared, the sound reverberating through the chamber like an earthquake, shaking the very walls with its sheer power.
His rage was a palpable force, an inferno consuming everything in its path as he charged at Vyper.
Flames erupted from his mouth, a torrent of blazing fury that engulfed the dark sorcerer entirely.
Vyper laughed, his mocking tone cutting through the flames as his dark magic formed a shimmering barrier around him, deflecting the searing fire. “You think fire can harm me, Dragon?” he taunted, his pale lips curling into a sneer as he raised his hand to unleash a blast of dark energy.
Drake’s massive tail whipped through the air with lethal precision, smashing into Vyper’s shield. The impact sent cracks spidering across the dark energy, and the air around them shuddered with the force of his strike.
“Your death is not just certain,” Drake snarled, his voice guttural and raw with fury. “It’s inevitable.”
The look he wore burned with an intensity that bordered on divine, his molten rage mirrored in every movement of his massive form.
His claws carved deep, jagged gouges into the stone floor as he advanced, each step echoing with the weight of his fury.
The weakened shield flickered, its dark energy splintering under the onslaught of Drake’s relentless assault.
Vyper staggered backward, his arrogant grin faltering as he hastily summoned another spell. Before he could utter a single incantation, Drake lunged. His massive body collided with Vyper, slamming him into the wall with enough force to send cracks racing through the stone like lightning bolts.
Vyper’s smile twisted into a grimace of fear as Drake’s massive clawed hand wrapped around his throat and torso.
The sorcerer’s limbs flailed as he was lifted off the ground, his magic sparking uselessly against Drake’s hardened, gleaming scales.
Drake’s grip tightened, and a deep, menacing growl rumbled in his chest like thunder.
“You thought you could touch her?” Drake’s voice was a low, venomous snarl, each word laced with unrelenting wrath.
“You thought you could harm my mate and escape unscathed?” His claws flexed, puncturing Vyper’s pale skin.
Thick, black blood oozed from the wounds, dripping to the stone floor in viscous drops.
Vyper’s lips curled into a weak grin despite the pain, his black eyes glinting with a final spark of malice.
“She… cried… like a bitch…” he rasped, his voice barely audible over the sound of Drake’s ragged breathing.
The air in the room seemed to compress, and Drake’s roar erupted, shaking loose dust and debris from the ceiling above. In a single motion, he slammed Vyper against the stone floor with earth-shattering force.
The impact sent shockwaves rippling through the chamber, fragments of stone flying outward as Drake loomed over the broken sorcerer. He pressed a clawed foot against Vyper’s chest, pinning him like a trapped insect.
“You think Azh’raim’s power makes you untouchable?” Drake hissed his voice, a molten growl that sent shivers down my spine. Flames licked at the corners of his mouth, the air around him heating with his fury. “You’re nothing. Nothing to the Gods. And now, you’re nothing to me.”
Drake’s rage surged into an inferno, flames roaring to life around him in an uncontrolled torrent of heat and light.
The fire illuminated every scale, every claw, every inch of his formidable form as he leaned closer, his voice a chilling whisper.
“You will feel every ounce of the pain you inflicted on her. And then you’ll feel mine. ”
His claws plunged into Vyper’s side, twisting with merciless precision.
The sorcerer’s guttural scream echoed through the study, his body convulsing as black blood sprayed across the room.
Drake’s form seemed larger than life, his presence eclipsing everything else as he tore through Vyper’s wards.
The magic fractured under his unrelenting assault, each strike a physical embodiment of his need for retribution.
Everyone was standing back as Drake unleashed everything and more on the sorcerer, no one wanting to stand in his way.
“You deserve no mercy,” Drake growled, his voice vibrating with the intensity of his anger.
“Now, you’ll know what it feels like to be powerless.
” With one final, devastating strike, Drake drove his claws into Vyper’s chest. The room seemed to still as his talons wrapped around the sorcerer’s heart.
With a savage pull, he tore it free, severing Vyper’s connection to the Vessel.
The artifact dimmed, its pulsating glow flickering like a dying ember as Vyper’s final cry strangled in his throat.
The silence that followed was deafening.
Drake stood over Vyper’s lifeless body, his expression still burning, his chest heaving with each ragged breath.
His claws, slick with blood, hung at his sides, and the faint glow of the Vessel finally extinguished, leaving the room bathed only in the flickering torchlight.
The room fell eerily silent for a moment, our collective tension easing as we watched Vyper’s lifeless body bleed out onto the cold, cracked stone floor.
My chest heaved, my heart pounding in my ears as if it had already sensed the malevolence still lingering in the room.
Then, a sound—a low, rumbling laugh—shattered the stillness, and I turned sharply toward the mirror.
Its surface, once a twisted haze of darkness, now glowed faintly, and Azh’raim’s shadowy face emerged like a nightmare realized. His glowing red eyes locked onto mine, his serpentine grin stretching too wide for comfort.
“You killed my thrall,” he spoke, his voice deliberate, every word weighted with malice. “A wealth of souls sacrificed to me, no longer available. What will you give in its place?”
Before I could react, an invisible force yanked me from my body, and I was plunged into a blinding whirlwind of light and shadow. The abyss swallowed my scream, and when the chaos subsided, I found myself standing in a desolate plain, hellish and unyielding.
The air was oppressive, hot, and thick as if even breathing was a sin here.
Ahead loomed a grotesque throne made of bleached skulls, their hollow sockets staring into oblivion.
Perched atop it was Azh’raim, his presence an overwhelming wave of power and menace.
He was no longer in a shadow form, but now a form my mortal mind could comprehend.
He was a devastatingly handsome man with cropped black hair, slicked half back, wearing a tight white suit.
His crimson eyes glittered with sadistic amusement as he leaned forward, resting his chin on his clawed hand.
“The Seer,” he drawled, his voice a caress and a blade all at once.
“Do you know how much trouble you’ve caused me, my dear?
All those sacrifices, all that energy, and you’ve snuffed it out like a candle,” he chuckled, the sound rattling my very bones.
“Balance must be restored.” He stood and flicked his cane as he tapped his way down the hill of skulls toward me.
“What do you mean?” I whispered, my voice trembling. The weight of his gaze bore down on me, making me feel small and insignificant. His unnaturally sharp features were beautiful. Devilishly so.
Azh’raim’s grin widened. “You took from me, Seer. So I will take from you. But I am a generous God. I’ll let you choose what I take.”
His hand flicked lazily, and suddenly, I wasn’t alone. Around me, my companions appeared frozen like statues. Drake, Fen, Julian, Avod, and Felix stood motionless, their eyes wide and unseeing. My heart dropped into my stomach.
“Strike down one of your friends in my name,” Azh’raim purred, his voice oozing with malice.
“Offer their soul to me, and your debt is settled. Or…” His grin turned predatory, his gaze locking onto mine.
“Promise me the soul of your firstborn with your dragon. Such potential in a child born of a bond. That, too, would suffice.”
“No,” I choked out, my chest tightening. “I… I can’t…” My memory flashed back to the Mirror Room. The little red-headed boy.
“Oh, but you must,” he said, leaning back on his throne. “Go ahead. Choose. Who will it be?”
My gaze darted frantically between my friends, my mind racing. I couldn’t choose. I couldn’t kill any of them. Tears blurred my vision as I shook my head. “I won’t. I won’t do it!”