Chapter 18
The fall was different this time. Not the panicked plummet from before, but instead almost graceful. The green dragon was there, matching my speed, rising to meet me as I dropped through the sky.
I hit its back hard enough to knock the breath from my lungs, my hands scrambling for purchase on emerald scales. The dragon adjusted beneath me, powerful muscles shifting to accommodate my weight as I found my balance.
Above us, Thessarian shot forward like an arrow released from a bow, suddenly free of the extra weight that had been dragging her down. Varyth’s mist erupted around them in a protective cocoon as they streaked away from the pursuing shadow dragons.
The green dragon beneath me let out a roar that was triumph or challenge, then angled to follow.
It moved like liquid lightning, its powerful wings eating up distance with effortless grace.
We outstripped the shadow dragons, their heavier forms falling behind as my unlikely mount climbed higher into the sky.
Now that there was distance between us, now that I wouldn’t risk hitting Darian or Varyth with my wildly uncontrolled flames, I let the black fire loose.
It erupted from me like a dam bursting, cold fire streaming from my hands in a torrent of hungry darkness. The flames stretched across the sky like reaching fingers, and when they slammed into the nearest shadow dragon, the creature’s shriek of agony tore through the air.
The impact was devastating. Where my fire touched, scales blackened and crumbled. The dragon’s wing membrane tore like burning paper, and it tumbled from the sky in a spiral of smoke and dying screams.
The rush of it. The pure, destructive satisfaction, sent heat spiralling through my veins that had nothing to do with magic and everything to do with violence finally given free reign.
“Easy there, wildfire.”
The voice drifted into my mind like smoke, male and amused and completely impossible. I jerked so hard I nearly slid sideways off the dragon’s back, my hands scrambling for purchase on emerald scales.
“Don’t let go. That would be unfortunate for both of us.”
My head snapped down to stare at the dragon beneath me. Those amber eyes met mine briefly—intelligent, ancient, and definitely laughing at my shock.
The dragon rumbled, a sound that vibrated through his entire body and into my bones. Not quite a purr, not quite a growl, but something that felt distinctly like amusement.
“You can talk,” I said aloud, barely audible over the rush of wind and wings.
“I can do many things. Talking happens to be one of them.” The words carried humour, like he found my surprise entertaining rather than concerning. “Though most former humans don’t hear us clearly enough for proper conversation.”
“Most humans probably aren’t riding you bareback through a dragon fight.”
“True. They usually have better survival instincts.”
I laughed. The sound was slightly unhinged, but it was laughter nonetheless.
“Says the dragon who just let a complete stranger jump on his back mid-flight.”
“You were falling rather gracefully. It seemed rude not to catch you.” A pause, and I could swear I felt his attention shift to something behind us. “Besides, your fire is... interesting.”
I glanced back to see the remaining shadow dragons regrouping, their formation tighter now, more cautious. In the distance, I could just make out Thessarian’s golden form streaking toward the horizon, Varyth and Darian safe aboard.
The relief that crashed through me was so intense it nearly stole my breath. They’d made it. Whatever happened to me now, they’d made it.
“Touching. But perhaps we should focus on not dying before we reach safety?”
“Right.” I straightened on his back, the black fire dancing along my skin like eager serpents. “Any brilliant ideas, or are we winging it? No pun intended.”
“Oh, I like you.” The dragon’s voice was warm with approval. “Hold tight, wildfire. Let’s show them what real fire can do.”
His wings tucking close to his body as we dove toward the pursuing dragons like a green arrow shot from some god’s bow. The wind screamed past us, tearing at my hair and clothes, but I pressed myself flat against his neck and held on.
The shadow dragons scattered as we plummeted toward them, clearly not expecting such an aggressive manoeuvre. But my dragon wasn’t aiming for them.
He was aiming for the space between them.
At the last second, his wings snapped open and we pulled out of the dive in a move that should have torn us both apart. Instead, we shot upward through the centre of their formation, close enough that I could see the shocked expressions on the riders’ faces.
“Now would be good.”
I didn’t need to be told twice. The black fire poured from me in all directions—not the wild bursts from before, but more focused. More deliberate. It flowed around the green dragon like he was the eye of a storm, leaving him untouched while everything else in range became fuel for hungry shadows.
One shadow dragon simply... disappeared. Its rider had enough time to scream before both dragon and human were consumed by flames.
The second dragon managed to bank away, but not quickly enough. My fire caught its tail, racing up the length of its body like spilled oil ignited. The creature’s death throes sent it spiralling toward the earth in a comet of shadow and screaming.
“Impressive,” the dragon beneath me rumbled. “Messy, but impressive.”
“Messy gets results.” I was breathing hard, the exertion of wielding that much power leaving me shaky and drained. But alive.
“Indeed, it does.” He began a lazy turn, following the distant speck that was Thessarian’s retreating form. “I don’t suppose you’d care to explain why shadow dragons were hunting you with such enthusiasm?”
I considered lying. Considered deflecting. Considered all the half-truths I’d been telling since arriving in this realm.
Then I decided I was too tired for bullshit.
“Because I wield shadow fire, and apparently that makes me either very valuable or very dangerous to certain parties.”
“Both, I’d imagine.” His tone thoughtful now. “Shadow fire hasn’t been seen in these skies for centuries. The old stories say it could burn through the world itself.”
“The old stories aren’t wrong.”
“No. I don’t suppose they are.” A pause, filled with the steady rhythm of wings and wind. “I’m Kaelen, by the way. Since we’re apparently being honest with each other.”
“Isara.” The name felt strange on my lips, not because it wasn’t mine, but because it had been so long since I’d introduced myself to someone without calculating how much truth I could afford to reveal. “And... thank you. For catching me. For helping.”
“Thank you for the entertainment. It’s been a dull few decades.”
The next wave hit before I had time to catch my breath.
Six shadow dragons this time, rising from below like nightmares birthed from the earth itself. Their scales absorbed light, their eyes burning with that sickly green infection that marked them as Nyxarian war beasts.
“Fuck,” I breathed, and felt Kaelen’s muscles bunch beneath me.
“Hold on, wildfire. This is going to get rough.”
The black fire answered my call like a lover, eager and hungry and absolutely devastating. It poured from my hands in twin streams of cold flame, reaching for the nearest shadow dragon with malicious intent.
The creature shrieked as my fire found it, scales blackening and crumbling like ash. But the moment the flames left my body, white-hot agony tore through my skull.
Pain erupted at the base of my neck and raked down my spine like claws dragged along bone. I gasped, nearly losing my grip on Kaelen’s scales as the sensation threatened to split me open from the inside.
“What the—”
No time. Another dragon was diving at us from above, its rider’s spear already drawn back to throw.
I shoved the pain aside—compartmentalised it the way I’d learned to compartmentalise everything else—and unleashed another torrent of shadow flame.
The dragon dissolved into screaming darkness, but the pain came again. Worse this time. Like someone had wrapped barbed wire around my spine and pulled tight, then set the whole thing on fire for good measure.
“Isara.” Kaelen’s voice cut through my mental haze. “Your magic, something’s wrong.”
“I’m fine,” I snarled through gritted teeth, already gathering the fire again. Because three more shadow dragons were closing in, and fine or not, we needed them dead.
The flames erupted from me in a blast that should have incinerated everything in a fifty-foot radius. Should have. Instead, they sputtered and flickered, reaching half the distance before guttering out like candles in a storm.
What the fuck?
I reached for the power again, felt it coiling beneath my skin like always. But when I tried to pull it forward, it resisted. Not the magic itself, but my body, like there was a barrier between the fire and my ability to wield it.
“Wildfire, stop.” Kaelen banked hard to avoid a spear that came too close to his wing membrane. “You’re burning out.”
“I said I’m fine.” But even as I shouted it, I could feel the lie.
The world was starting to tilt at the edges, going soft and blurry like I was looking at it through water.
My hands trembled where they gripped Kaelen’s scales, and there was a persistent ringing in my ears that had nothing to do with wind or altitude.
Another shadow dragon dove at us from the side. I raised my hand, felt the fire gather—
The pain exploded through my skull like a thunderclap, so intense my vision whited out. For a heartbeat I couldn’t see, couldn’t think, could only feel the agony racing through every nerve ending like liquid lightning.
The fire answered anyway. Weak, flickering, but enough to make the dragon veer away.
Not enough to kill it.
“Stop,” Kaelen’s command cracked like a whip. “Stop before you tear yourself apart.”
“Can’t.” The word came out slurred, my tongue thick and clumsy in my mouth. “They’ll—we’ll—”
A shadow dragon materialised directly in front of us, its jaws open wide enough to swallow us whole. I didn’t think. Didn’t calculate. Just reached for the fire one more time and let it loose.
The explosion of shadow flame was pathetic, a guttering burst that barely singed the creature’s scales. But the pain that followed wasn’t pathetic at all.
It was annihilation.
My spine became a column of white-hot agony, every vertebra screaming in protest as something fundamental tore inside me. The world spun violently, sky and earth trading places while my vision tunnelled down to a pinpoint of grey static.
Lightheaded didn’t begin to cover it. I felt hollow, scooped out, like someone had reached inside my chest and removed everything that made me solid. Real.
My hands loosened on Kaelen’s scales.
“No.” His voice was sharp with alarm. “Isara, hold on!”
But I couldn’t. My fingers wouldn’t obey, wouldn’t close, wouldn’t do anything except slip uselessly across emerald scales made slick with speed and altitude.
I was falling.
Again.
The sky wheeled above me in shades of grey and black, the shadow dragons circling like carrion birds. I should have been terrified. Should have been fighting, clawing for survival, doing anything except floating through the air like a leaf torn from a tree.
But all I felt was tired.
So fucking tired.
Then something closed around my body—massive, scaled, impossibly gentle. Kaelen’s claw, wrapping around my torso like a cage of emerald and ancient strength.
“I’ve got you, wildfire. Just... stay with me.”
His voice was the last thing I heard before the grey static swallowed everything whole, and the world dissolved into merciful darkness.