Chapter 16
Jet
The base was too quiet.
Even the wind held its breath.
We’d killed the lights an hour ago, grounded the jets, sealed the gates—waiting for an attack we were supposed to start.
But something was off. The night didn’t just feel heavy; it seemed as if it was watching us.
A low whine came from the north gate. The shepherds stationed there were restless, hackles up, eyes fixed on the tree line. A pair of crows circled above the hangar, cawing sharp warnings into the storm.
The animals always felt it first.
Nathan stood beside me, flame flickering around his hand like it couldn’t decide whether to burn or not.
He murmured to the kestrel perched on his shoulder—a creature that shouldn’t have been this calm in thunder like this.
It had attached itself to Nathan during our practice with John and hadn’t left his side since.
Nathan had even named the bird Dale in honor of Reverie's love of Step Brothers.
Zane and Zeke watched the fence line, both motionless except for the twitch of their fingers. The wolves they’d befriended days ago were pacing at the edge of the woods, uneasy. Oren had been gone twenty minutes, cloaked and invisible, scouting the ridge.
“No movement yet,” I murmured. “Either they’re smarter than we thought or—”
“—or we’ve already been found.” Oren’s voice cut through like a blade.
“There’s a relay tower up here,” he said. “Not ours. Council encryption. They’re broadcasting our coordinates through dimensional frequency.”
My stomach dropped. “You’re sure?”
A flash of lightning cracked the sky. For half a second, I saw him hovering over the ridge, lightning crawling over his arms like veins of light.
“They sold us out,” Oren said, voice low and shaking with fury. “The Dark Faction know precisely where we are.”
The shepherds at the gate started to howl.
And then the ground split open. A portal coming from underground was rare and something we hadn’t prepared for.
The first pulse hit hard enough to throw me to my knees. The air twisted, heat and cold clashing as a massive circle of violet energy ripped open across the runway.
A second fucking portal!
Mira’s voice slammed through my head like a thunderclap. “The ground opens beneath you! Brace yourselves!”
The wolves lunged forward with Zane and Zeke, their growls matching the rising roar of the breach. Ravens dove into the swirling black, vanishing into the light.
I shot into the air without thinking—what the fuck?! I’d been able to move objects, but I had never even considered lifting my entire body. Adrenaline hit, and I flew even higher. Like gravity had given up on me entirely.
Cryptfiends poured out of the rift, shrieking through broken jaws. Oren streaked across the sky beside me, fire and lightning trailing behind him in a storm of gold. Nathan teleported into the heart of the horde, flames erupting in all directions.
“Hold the line!” I shouted. “Protect Mira and block their escape!”
The moment I got close to the portal, everything faltered—the Cryptfiends’ power, the shadows they threw, even Mira’s psychic energy wavered. I didn’t understand it at first; I just knew their magic died near me.
Oren’s voice rang out. “Jet—you’re nulling them! They can’t use their abilities near you!”
I didn’t answer. Couldn’t. The realization hit too fast.
They couldn’t use power near me.
Not them.
Not even Mira.
Suddenly, I heard a roar tear through the rain. I looked down and saw Zane stagger, hands clawed, eyes molten gold. Zeke grabbed him, but his own control shattered—and in a blinding flash, the brothers exploded outward, bodies giving way to something ancient and wild.
Twin Draxons unfurled in the storm—wings splitting the clouds, scales gleaming with fire and frost.
Mira’s voice thundered through every skull on base. “I can’t hold both portals! Anchor them, or the bridge will collapse and our chance to rescue the cub with it!”
Oren shot upward again, lightning splitting the sky. I followed—the air bending around me as if the storm itself obeyed. Nathan burned through the ground forces, a living wildfire, as Mira planted herself between the two portals, psychic tendrils digging into the earth.
Every animal on base howled, screamed, or shrieked—the sound of nature itself tearing as reality began to fold.
“Mira!” I shouted, hovering above the chaos. “Pull back!”
“No!” Her voice cracked through my mind. “I will not fail!”
The second portal exploded outward, light swallowing everything.
For a heartbeat, I saw Mira and the two Draxon through the glare—wings spread, power colliding—and then they were gone.
We had saved the base, but only two of our Faction had made it through to Aurathia.
When the light died, silence fell hard. The rain hissed on scorched asphalt. The wolves whimpered at the tree line, tails tucked.
Oren landed hard beside me, smoke curling off him. “They’re alive,” he rasped. “I can hear them—through the portal. Every creature in this hemisphere just felt them cross.”
Nathan stared at the empty air where the portal had been, flames still licking his hands. “Then we go after them. I’m not going to be left behind this time.” The kestrel landed on his shoulder and cawed in response to his statement.
I holstered my weapon, throat raw. “We will.”
Lightning forked overhead, and it looked like the world was burning.
The hangars were gone, the sky a storm of flame and screaming wind. Mira was standing near the first portal. The light dimmed inside, but it was still open. Our brothers—Zeke and Zane—vanished into light.
And yet, I could still feel them. Not see. Feel. The bond between us humming in my chest.
Oren was right. “They’re still alive,” I said. My voice didn’t sound like my own.
“Then we follow,” Nathan snapped, repeating his earlier statement.
Oren didn’t hesitate. Lightning rippled over his shoulders as he floated above the cracked tarmac. “We don’t have a complete portal anymore. It’s raw, unstable—”
I stepped closer to the fading portal. “Then we make it stable.”
Mira’s voice whispered through my skull, “The tether remains open… if you dare.”
I didn’t think. None of us did. When family burns, you run into the fire. There is no other option.
Nathan reached out, clasping my shoulder, his skin hot enough to sear. They still echoed faintly through the bond. Oren hovered beside us, eyes bright with electricity.
“On my mark, I said.
“One,” Nathan growled.
“Two.” Oren’s hands sparked.
“Three,” Mira growled, and she dug both tentacles into the ground and opened the portal as wide as she could.
We stepped into the light.
Zeke (immediately after stepping through the portal)
Heat.
That was the first thing. It wasn’t the sunlight—it was alive, pulsing, invasive.
It crawled over my skin, as if it wanted to erase me.
When I opened my eyes, the world was red and gold, an endless horizon of volcanic peaks bleeding rivers of light. The air shimmered, thick with smoke and the metallic taste of ash.
I rolled to my side, coughing, and frost ghosted across the black sand where my hands touched it. Steam hissed up around me in angry plumes.
Zane was already standing, smoke rising from his shoulders. His eyes gleamed like molten gold, the heat loving him—claiming him. He grinned when he saw the frost. “Brother, the natives aren’t going to love that Jack Frost thing you’ve got going on.”
“Good,” I rasped, forcing myself upright. My chest ached like I’d swallowed lightning. “Might as well start as I intend to go on.” The atmosphere wasn’t that different than Berrick’s forge.
The ground beneath us thrummed—not with tremors, but with breath. The whole land was alive, and it didn’t like what it felt in me.
“What the hell is that?” I muttered to myself.
From the haze beyond the molten ridges, shadows unfurled—massive shapes with wings like stormfronts. Scales glittering, eyes molten and knowing.
Draxon.
The sight hit like a memory from another life. My blood responded, roaring in my veins—fire and frost fighting to coexist.
The largest of them landed with an earth-splitting boom, its wings folding in a cascade of sparks. Its scales burned like living bronze, and its eyes pinned us both where we stood. “Halflings.”
The voice filled my skull, deep as a cathedral bell. “You reek of mortal air and stolen flame. Speak, or burn.”
Zane straightened. “We came to find our Nexus. Reverie Hawthorne, she’s being kept in Bellona.”
“There is no Nexus in Nyberie. Only Draxon and ash.” The huge Draxon sneered in my direction. “There also is no frost Draxon in existence.”
Something inside me broke loose—a cold fury that cut through the heat.
Frost bled down my arms, spilling over my fingers until the sand froze solid beneath my feet.
“Then you’ve forgotten your history,” my voice deepening until it echoed with something not human.
“Because I remember the truth. I am the truth.”
The Draxon tilted its massive head, studying me. Steam curled where my ice met its heat, neither willing to yield. “You carry cold where there should be fire,” it rumbled. “An abomination of the flame.”
Zane stepped closer to me, his hand sparking with heat that didn’t burn. “He’s no abomination. He’s my brother. Zeke’s twice the Draxon any of you will ever be.” Then he flipped them off… with both hands.
The creature’s eyes narrowed, amused. And if I’m being frank, I also detected a little confusion. “Then prove it.”
The volcano behind it roared to life—rivers of molten gold spilling down its sides.
“Enter the Welcoming Flame. Survive the fire that rejects you.”
The heat surged, a living wave that rolled toward me, bright enough to blind.
I didn’t move, nor did I flinch.
Zane’s hand landed hard on my shoulder. “You can do this—” He waggled his brows, “or I’ll be the only ginger in Reverie’s bed.”
I smirked, frost billowing from my mouth as I spoke, “That will never happen. Get ready to be amazed.”
The fire hit—and I heard Zane roar my name.
Frost exploded outward, colliding with the inferno, and for one heartbeat, Nyberie froze.
Then fire swallowed everything.
I heard a voice saying, “Frost in our cradle. Ice in our bloodline. You don’t belong here.”
The world around me blurred—the cliffs, the volcano, even Zane’s shout—all dissolved into a sea of molten gold. The flame rose higher, pressing against my skin like judgment.
Then another voice cut through the inferno, low and ancient, curling through my thought like smoke. “Let me through, boy.”
Frynn.
I’d talked to him many times, but he’d never been this close to the surface. I suppose with the complete change, I'd better get used to it. “They’ll burn me alive,” I muttered through gritted teeth.
“You’re already burning,” he answered, his tone almost amused. “But you’ve forgotten—frost is just heat in reverse.”
What the fuck did that mean? The Flame struck again, a tidal wave of molten energy that should’ve erased me. Instead, Frynn roared. The sound wasn’t in my ears—it was in everything.
Then I let the change swallow me whole.
Ice bloomed outward in fractal patterns, dazzling against the fire. The Welcoming Flame hesitated, confused—then tried to consume it.
But the frost didn’t die.
It fought back.
The fire froze midair—a storm of glass and light—and I realized what Frynn was doing. He wasn’t rejecting the flame. He was teaching it balance.
Zane shouted from somewhere beyond the haze, his voice rough and fierce. “Zeke!”
Through the glow, I saw him—wings flared, his own Draxon form breaking through. Drakk was an immense shape of burning bronze and fury. His roar joined the storm, shaking Nyberie to its core.
“Hold your ground, brother,” Drakk’s voice thundered through the flames. “Show them your strength.”
I spread my wings wide, calling every shard of cold left in me. Frost split the ground, climbing like veins up the volcano’s side. “You want to see what doesn’t belong?” I growled.
Frynn laughed inside me—the sound sharp, wild, and proud. “Now you remember who you are.”
The fire surged one final time, and I didn’t fight it. I embraced it—let it mix with the frost until steam and lightning burst outward in a shockwave that tore through the clouds.
When it cleared, the flame was gone.
The volcano had gone silent.
The Draxon who had summoned the trial now bowed his massive head. “Frost-born who conquered flame,” it rumbled. “You are no longer half. You are whole.”
Zane landed beside me, smoke rising from his shoulders, eyes blazing gold. “Well,” he said, grinning. “Looks like Nyberie just got colder.”
I exhaled, steam curling from my lips. “Let’s hope it’s ready for what’s coming.”
Behind us, the ground trembled again—not from the trial, but from something answering it. Something far older than any Draxon we’d seen.
Frynn stirred inside me, his tone suddenly sharp. “They’ve felt us. The true elders. And they’re waking up.”