Chapter 17 #2
I disabled every dragon with careful evasions and counter-attacks, but it was Pyro who went around and killed the ground-bound Water Serpents.
He didn’t leave a single one alive. His blade stabbed through armor and human flesh to cut out their hearts as if they were no friend of his. As if they weren’t brethren.
They might be demons, but today they bled and died the same way we humans did. Despite the myths, even dragons couldn’t escape death.
After I was confident we’d gotten them all, I rushed over to Luna. She threw her arms around my shoulders and held me close, crying into my neck. “I never thought—look how much you’ve grown. Look how strong you’ve become. Not a day has gone by that I haven’t thought of you, Mazikeen.”
Hugging her close, I nodded. “I’ve missed you too, Luna.”
Pyro checked the dragons scattered across the ground, ensuring each one was slain.
These were his fallen brothers, yet he didn’t appear upset to see them dead.
If anything, his expression was calm and resolute.
Had he known all along what would transpire today?
Had he been in on it from the start? Was he a traitor to his people the way Void was to his brother?
Dark hair blew across Pyro’s amber eyes as he lifted them to the sky. Two giants clashed, a violent sound exploding from the collision. Sparks and fire scattered dangerously across the darkening expanse above us. The very world seemed to shudder with their battle.
Artemis’s dragon was thinner and longer, its neck, body, and tail twice as long as Onyx’s, though not nearly as large as his. It was still large enough to strike fear into human hearts.
The light blue beast stretched its narrow wings, but they weren’t as large or as far-reaching as Onyx’s. Mere decorations by comparison. If anything, his beast moved through the sky more like a serpent than a winged thing. Which was likely what inspired the faction name.
Nowhere in our texts or drawings had I seen anything like it. It would seem that each dragon was distinctly different, and all the Rebels in Desert Roseland had been taught were how to recognize Sky Demons.
Onyx had summoned his storms and the other dragon his angry ocean. The air ignited with the feeling of mythical titans at war. The tides of change. History written in violence.
Today, a dragon king would breathe his last.
A water tornado lifted and swayed from the surface of an angry sea, reaching for Onyx, but my dragon evaded the wall of water and slammed into the blue dragon navigating bolts of lightning raining down from the sky. The assault of water wobbled and collapsed into the sea.
Moments later, tiny spindles sprang out and soared into the sky, intercepting several electric bolts. The large beasts collided again in an explosion of fire. A fierce rush of wind hurtled across the top of the mountain, nearly taking the three of us off our feet.
Pyro took my sister into his arms, shielding her body with his from the explosive wind. “He’ll kill you both if Artemis wins,” the dragon growled, eyes swinging from Luna to me. “We need to leave now if we want to find somewhere safe.”
This Water Serpent’s love for my sister was in every word and look, and I no longer questioned why he’d helped. I didn’t need to. His loyalty to my sister was enough.
Without an ounce of hesitation, I stared into worried amber eyes and smirked, never so sure of anything in my life. “Artemis won’t win.”
Luna took my hand. Tears fled her eyes in streams as claps of thunder and the heavy assault of wind came over and over again, growing more vicious with every breath. “I…I don’t know—how do I even start…”
I squeezed her hand, smiling. I placed my other hand over my heart.
The storm of both sky and sea would likely drown out my voice, but I needed her to hear me.
“I love you, Luna. I never forgot you, not for a single second. You were always my protector, even when you were gone. You were the reason I could fight, the reason I stayed alive, and now it’s my turn to protect you. ”
Onyx’s dragon cried out in anger, summoning stronger winds and lethal electricity. My hair soared around me in a vortex. The power inside me was already responding to my dragon’s call. He needed me.
Because together we were stronger.
“Take care of my sister,” I said to Pyro’s visible shock.
“Sister?” he murmured in confusion.
“Luna…” I leaned forward and pressed a kiss to her cheek before taking several steps back. “We’ll have all the time in the world after this, but right now, my dragon needs me.”
Her eyes flashed. “So it’s true. That mark, it’s a mate claim? The Sky Demons King is your…”
I touched the spot on my neck, my smile growing.
Pyro stiffened and inspected the mark before he nodded. “Luna will always be my first priority. I’ll keep her safe no matter the cost.”
I nodded in return, then twisted. Calling out to the dragon in my head, I ran full speed at the cliff and flung myself off. Onyx’s dragon was there to catch me before I went far, and we soared into the sky to fight together the way we were always meant to.