Chapter 19
Chapter
Nineteen
The Ascension Grounds were cloaked in a silver mist, moonlight stretching across the cobbled stone like spilled magic. The torches along the edge had long since burned low, their flickering embers barely holding back the dark.
We stood in silence, our squad cloaked in black and tension. Midnight hung thick around us as we readied ourselves for our mission. Zander had the authority to take our squad on assignments, but I doubted he was completely honest with the majors about our intent.
Kaelith, I whispered through the bond. I need you.
Her voice came instantly, coiling like smoke in my mind.
Of course you do.
I exhaled, grateful she always answered, even when she made it sound like a burden.
Thank you.
Don’t thank me until we survive this foolishness.
Her wings darkened the stars as she landed in a silent rush of wind, her purple scales glittering like storm-lit amethyst. One by one, the others descended—Hein with that regal arrogance etched into every movement, Katama slower and heavier, and the rest of our dragons following behind.
We saddled them quickly. No chatter. No bravado. Just focus.
I adjusted the leather across Kaelith’s flank, my fingers brushing the worn brass buckle that always ran too loose. She turned her head slightly, one enormous eye fixed on me.
You’ve grown quiet.
I’m focused.
You’re wounded, she corrected.
I didn’t answer. She didn’t mean physically.
Once we were all mounted, the signal came, a silent nod from Zander, and we launched into the sky, cutting through the clouds like a single breathless thought.
As we flew, the wind tearing at my hood and hair, Zander’s voice slipped softly into my mind.
I want you to be careful.
Only if you promise to be careful too.
Does that mean you will? he asked.
Unlikely, I admitted.
He chuckled through the bond, and something in my chest eased. But the moment was broken by another voice, deeper, ancient.
How much longer must we endure this? Hein’s voice echoed like distant thunder.
They are younglings, Kaelith replied with lazy amusement. It is to be expected.
Younglings? I said, surprised Hein was now a part of our mental group chat.
I believe you use the word toddler, Hein rumbled.
Oh, for fuck’s sake, Hein. Could you be more condescending? Zander snapped.
Of course I can, Hein replied. Humans are unpredictable, weak in form, and overburdened by emotion. We, however, are crafted by the ancient stars. Our strength is inherent. Our purpose eternal. Yours… debatable.
I rolled my eyes so hard I was surprised Kaelith didn’t feel it. Does he always do this?
Unfortunately, Zander answered, tone dry.
It is endearing, Kaelith added, voice laced with mirth. In the way that thunder is endearing to a tree about to be struck.
I laughed softly, even as the shadow of the Blood Isle crept closer in the distance.
The rocky outcropping jutted from the sea like a jagged fang, battered by wind and mist. We landed one by one, our dragons circling before settling on the narrow ledge. It was barely wide enough for all of them, and the tension was instant.
Katama’s wings brushed Narvea’s, prompting a deep-chested growl. Ferrula’s green dragon snapped its teeth at Jax’s blue Palisade, while Naia’s orange Swordtail hunched protectively, her tail twitching like a cat ready to strike.
But at the far end, Kaelith landed with the grace of a god, her purple scales catching the moonlight. Hein stepped aside, actually stepped aside, allowing her a full wing’s breadth of space, which the other dragons immediately noticed.
Of course he gave her the room. The others shifted uneasily, snapping at the air, tails coiling tighter.
We dismounted and scrambled over the rocks until we reached the edge, where black stone gave way to open sea. And there, beyond the foaming water, the Blood Isle rose like a bruise against the horizon.
A massive storm cloud churned above it, thick and unnatural. Not quite lightning. Not quite mist. More like the sky had been torn open and left to fester.
Riven crouched beside me. “That looks ominous.”
“Like the sky’s rotting,” Naia muttered.
Cordelle adjusted his glasses, his face pale in the low light. “That’s not a natural formation. The air’s wrong. It’s… heavy.”
Jax gave a low whistle. “Like it’s waiting.”
“Or watching,” Ferrula added.
Remy turned to Zander, his expression unreadable in the dim light. “When do you want to start?”
Zander’s eyes slid to me, silver glinting faintly. “As soon as Ashlyn is ready.”
I took a slow breath, the ocean wind cold against my face.
“She has to create the storm,” Zander continued, “before I can latch onto her magic.”
They were all watching me now. And I closed my eyes for a second to center myself, calling on my power like a siren.
The storm answered before I had control.
Wind howled above us like it had teeth, slicing across my skin as if urging me to move, to act. Rain pelted down in sheets, hammering against the stone ledge and soaking through my uniform, but I didn’t flinch. Couldn’t. Not when I needed every ounce of control to hold the magic steady.
I pushed my magic, and felt it bloom, fuller than it had been weeks ago, more obedient than wild.
But Kaelith… was still holding out. The more power I pulled, the thicker that damn barrier became between us.
Like fogged glass, I knew she was there, but something kept us separated. Something that wasn’t just mine.
Zander’s voice curled through my mind like smoke, as easy as breathing. Calm. Solid.
Are you ready?
I nodded once. Jaw tight. Muscles locked. I didn’t have the words to say yes, not when I needed everything focused on the storm, on the way the wind twisted unnaturally, funneling toward the Blood Isle like it knew where I wanted it to go.
Zander’s power met mine in the next breath, his magic like ice and lightning, sharp and precise. Where mine pulsed and surged like a living thing barely leashed, his wrapped around it, not smothering but guiding. Together they twined, braided like a chain ready to break something wide open.
“We move now!” Remy shouted over the roar, his sword already strapped across his back, hair dripping with rain, his dragon Katama snarling behind him.
I didn’t hesitate.
Kaelith crouched like a shadow wreathed in violet flame, wings stretched, scales shimmering with every strike of lightning above.
I scrambled onto her back the same moment Zander and Remy did theirs, Zander’s silver beast gleaming like a storm-forged blade, Remy’s light-green Catalan already airborne and bucking to fight the wind.
We launched together, three shadows against a bruised and boiling sky.
The magic in the air shifted the closer we flew.
I felt the wards first, like cold water pouring down my spine, like teeth sinking into bone and warning us back.
The air thickened. The wind turned violent.
My magic surged again, wanting to react, wanting to protect.
But before it could, Zander’s power cracked forward, a silver lance of Dark Fire cleaving through the black clouds and slamming into the boundary around the Blood Isle.
The sky didn’t scream, it blurred.
One heartbeat we were above the storm, and the next—
—we were inside it.
The mist was everywhere, as black as spilled ink and tasting of blood and old curses. I could barely see Kaelith’s wings stretching ahead of me, could barely breathe past the pressure of ancient power curling like a noose around my neck.
But we were in.
We’d breached the Blood Isle.
We flew in a tight formation, barely a dragon’s length apart, wings nearly brushing as we cut through the blinding mist. The world around us had vanished into swirling black, the air thick with dark magic and ancient curses that pulsed against my skin like a second heartbeat.
I can’t see anything, I whispered through the bond, trying to keep the tremor out of my voice.
You don’t need to, Zander replied. The dragons know where they are in the air. They feel one another. Trust them.
I nodded, though I doubted he saw it. I was thankful Kaelith was leading the way, her movements sure, even as my body sagged from the weight of spent magic. The effort to summon that storm, to anchor the lightning and lend it to Zander’s power, had drained me more than I thought.
My eyes scanned the shifting mist, but there was nothing but black and blur. No shapes. No direction. No sanctuary.
Do you have any idea where we go from here?
Not yet, Zander’s voice slipped through my thoughts again. But the others are about to strike the wards from the outside. That will buy us a window.
Before I could respond, a sound split the air, a shrieking wail so sharp it felt like it sliced across my spine. Kaelith reeled beneath me, and I had to tighten my grip on her saddle to keep from sliding.
The mist thinned just enough to reveal it.
A creature of bone-white wings and smoke-draped skin burst from the clouds above, its face a twisted void, mouth stretched in an eternal scream.
Its limbs were too long, its form shifting like it didn’t fully belong in this realm.
Black light oozed from the cracks in its chest, and its claws gleamed like glass soaked in blood.
What is that? I screamed the thought into the bond, eyes locked on the thing as it hurtled toward us.
Kaelith’s voice answered before Zander could.
It is a Blood Wraith. A creature born of death and dark magic. They once guarded a dark temple but were thought destroyed. Its touch will kill a human instantly. Even dragon flame cannot destroy it. We must leave.
Panic surged through my chest.
Zander’s voice roared in my mind. Go! Dive right—now!
Kaelith didn’t wait. She spun midair, folding her wings into a dive so steep the world tilted and vanished again. Behind us, the wraith’s shriek followed, louder now.
We were falling through the storm, fleeing the sky.
And I had a horrible feeling that thing wasn’t the only one waiting.
Kaelith’s wings snapped tight against her body as we dove, slicing through the dense black mist like a blade through silk. The howl of the storm roared in my ears, my heart pounding in rhythm with every beat of her massive wings.
The moment we cleared the lowest layer of cloud, the world below came into view, and my breath caught.
It was dead.
No trees. No grass. Not even moss clinging to the crags.
Just gray, cracked earth stretching in all directions, as though the land itself had been scorched clean of life.
Barren. Soulless. The sun couldn’t reach here, and whatever light existed bent around the darkness like it didn’t dare touch the Blood Isle.
Kaelith pulled up sharply, leveling out as we flew low over the terrain. I could feel her revulsion like an echo in my own chest.
Ahead, the jagged outline of a ruined village came into view, just shattered beams and crumbling stone walls, half-swallowed by dust and shadow. It was a ghost of what it had once been, if it had ever truly lived at all.
What happened here? I asked Kaelith, but she gave no answer, just a low growl that vibrated through my legs.
Zander’s power surged suddenly, bright and violent through the bond, and I watched as a thread of Dark Fire lanced toward the edge of the ward. The air shuddered as it struck, tearing through the invisible barrier just long enough—
And then Remy was there.
Hold on, I will use my power to get us out, he motioned with his fingers
Katama swept low beneath us and Remy reached with that eerie pull of his magic. The mist blurred and we were outside, flying through the wind and rain. The ferocity had died off since it was no longer fed by my power.
There was a roar behind us, that was unmistakably made by a dragon. It just wasn’t one of ours.
We urged our mounts to go as fast as they could but Jax’s Palisade was struggling to keep up. With his bulky armor he wasn’t made for stealth.
Remy motioned for Jax, Riven, Ferrula and Tae to fly closer to him. They all did as instructed, and a few seconds later they appeared to vanish.
Kaelith banked hard as something growled behind us, deep and unnatural. I turned just in time to see a black-scaled dragon burst from the clouds, eyes glowing red, mouth stretching wide as it let out a shriek of rage.
Kaelith didn’t hesitate. She pushed harder, wings snapping like thunder as we raced through the dying edges of the storm.
Then, with no warning, Remy appeared again, his fingers signing his instructions. Grab the saddle horn. Now.
The other dragons took up a position beside me before the world blurred.
The storm twisted around us, colors bleeding, light bending, until everything snapped back—
—and Warriath stretched before us, the familiar skyline rising on the horizon.
We were home.
But the Blood Isle had seen us. And we had overplayed our hand.