Chapter 8 #2
It was a profound, staggering revelation. Everything Leviathan had ever done to him was built on violation, theft, and absolute force. Sydney, with all the Power of the universe at her fingertips, stood at the threshold of his soul and waited for an invitation.
Garrett didn't hesitate. He opened his mind completely. “Yes,” he whispered through the quickening bond.
She crossed the threshold of his soul as naturally as taking his hand.
He expected blinding Light. He expected unbearable Power. Instead... There was warmth, compassion, laughter, coffee, books, and Texas sunshine.
He couldn’t forget those ridiculous blue tennis shoes or the scent of vanilla that would always be her scent. Or the Hope that shone brightly from her pure heart and soul. Sydney was home.
For one impossible heartbeat, he understood something words couldn't explain. Sydney hadn't entered his mind to search it. She had entered... to stand beside him.
The initial impact of their combined Magic and completing another step of the Mating Bond hit with the force of a collapsing mountain.
Garrett choked on a breath as Han’s raw, ancient Power violently collided with Sydney’s Light.
It hurt. The connection burned through his fractured nervous system, making his vision flash white.
But beneath the pain, the intention was pure.
Garrett and Sydney were the almost immortal anchors for these titanic forces, their hearts providing the deliberate, unshakable focus the elemental entities required.
Aodhan unleashed a torrent of blinding, white, and glittering gray Dragonfire that roared through Garrett’s veins.
From the edge of the threshold, Drakara answered, pouring an ocean of molten, golden Dragon Queen fire into the mix.
Where the two primordial elements met, they didn’t fight.
They seamlessly braided together, a localized sun born in the dead center of The Abyss.
The entire cavern went berserk.
The thin white and gold veins spiderwebbing across the black stone suddenly seized. Violently shuddering, they stalled and then began running in reverse. The stolen power Leviathan had siphoned into the chamber was being forcefully vacuumed back toward the center of the room.
On the far wall, the second carved black serpent sigil binding the door groaned under the sudden, massive pressure.
A deep, jagged web of cracks fractured right through the snake's head, dust pouring from the stone.
Deeper in the shadows, the primeval waters erupted into a chaotic, deafening roar, waves smashing violently against the subterranean cliffs as the physics of the room completely folded in on themselves.
Leviathan lunged forward against Carrick's faltering shield. His face twisted in outright fury. "Stop them! They are not unlocking the gate!"
The Demon Lord slammed a blade of obsidian iron against the crimson and gold barrier, his voice rising in rare panic. "They are reclaiming it!"
He was too late. A true King and Queen of the Dragon Realm were already issuing the new command. It wasn't an elaborate, multi-page incantation, but a primal, supreme code hummed directly into the fabric of Time and Space.
“Dragon King anchors,” Aodhan’s voice thundered through the spiritual plane.
“The Dragon Queen commands,” Kara answered, her golden fire flaring to the ceiling.
Fate binds. The door closes. As the Magic shifted, Garrett suddenly realized the true brilliance of Sydney’s design.
She wasn’t trying to break his physical chains yet.
She wasn’t trying to pull him out of the circle, which would have triggered Leviathan's tripwire.
Instead, she was driving her golden fire like a wedge directly between Aodhan and the unholy, artificial tether Leviathan had forged.
She was systematically replacing the corrupted trap with a natural, blessed Dragon seal.
With a deafening CRACK, the stone door deeper in the cavern ground to a permanent halt.
The glowing sigils on the walls snapped off, plunging the outer edges of the room into total darkness.
The threshold was locked and sealed from the inside by the combined authority of the Dragon King and Queen.
The threshold obeyed its rightful King and Queen.
Only when the door was completely, utterly safe did Sydney turn her blinding blue gaze toward the iron and silver links holding him up.
"Now," she gasped out, sweat slicing through the grime on her face. "Let's get you out of those chains."
Realizing his grand leverage was permanently gone, Leviathan’s calculation dissolved into raw, vicious malice. He couldn't overpower the combined weight of the Dragon King and Queen’s Magic directly, so he did what villains always do. He targeted the catalyst. He went for Sydney.
Dissolving into a streak of black mist, the Demon Lord bypassed the central altar to strike at her flank.
Carrick intercepted him once, his crimson and gold Dragon aura flaring as he smashed his heavy fist into the shadow.
But Leviathan didn't commit to the brawl. He fractured his presence, sending a jagged, toxic lance of Dark Magic arcing through the stone floor itself, utilizing the residual pathways of his ruined mechanism to avoid the renowned Guardsman’s line of sight.
Garrett saw the dark lightning coming. He was still physically chained to the pedestal, his broken body immobile, but his spirit was entirely unbound.
He didn't make the mistake of trying to push his Mate away or shielding her by shutting her out. They were a circuit now.
“Syd!” he roared.
Sydney didn't look back. He suddenly realized that she trusted him implicitly. Bracing her glorious but filthy light-blue Converse against the vibrating stone, she threw her palms outward toward the approaching darkness.
Instantly, Garrett channeled a torrent of pure white Dragonfire down the Mating Bond, pouring the raw, kinetic heat of a Dragon King straight into her core.
Sydney caught the volatile energy, bending it seamlessly with her own brilliant golden Light, shaping the two elements into a singular, devastating beam of focused Dragon Power.
They struck Leviathan together.
It wasn't a hero saving a damsel or a savior rescuing a captive. It was the first coordinated strike of Fated Mates, a flawless synthesis of Dragon King and Dragon Queen.
The combined white-gold blast collided with Leviathan’s dark lance, vaporizing his Sorcery before slamming directly into his chest. The shockwave exploded through the chamber.
Leviathan was violently blasted backward, his dark physical form crackling with destructive light as he skidded across the fracturing obsidian floor.
He wasn't dead. They couldn’t kill him. It would upset the balance of the universe in a way it might never recover.
But the Demon Lord’s elegant composure was entirely shattered.
Bleeding dark, viscous plasma, he retreated toward the edge of the collapsing mists.
He leveled a venomous, hateful glare at them, his parting words seeding a terrifying future.
“You think closing one door changes what is coming?” Leviathan snarled, his voice echoing over the roaring water as he melted into the dark. “The seal is a temporary band-aid, Special One. The Void is already awake.”
The final resonance of their combined Magic settled into the stone. The rewritten seal took hold, locking the primeval threshold from the inside with a resounding and permanent thud. The white and gold veins vanished entirely, leaving only the steady, natural hum of the Dragon Realms behind.
Inside their minds, Han knew the exact millisecond the transition was safe.
“NOW!” the Dragon King roared.
Sydney didn't waste a heartbeat. She lunged across the boundary line, sprinting toward the central pedestal.
Beside her, Carrick moved like a thunderbolt, his massive, glowing broadsword appearing in his grip.
With a fierce, primal grunt, the Dragon Elder swung the blade, shearing through the thick iron links holding Garrett suspended.
The heavy chains shattered, clattering loudly against the obsidian floor. Without the iron to support him, Garrett’s broken body instantly dropped.
Sydney threw herself forward to catch him…
or at least give it a good, old try. He was a massive, six-foot-four Dragon Guardsman, solid muscle even after weeks of starvation, and the sheer momentum almost took them both to the floor.
Carrick stepped in instantly, his large hand gripping Garrett's uninjured shoulder to stabilize the weight.
For the first time in an eternity, Garrett’s feet touched the solid ground.
Everything stopped. The entire universe seemed to hold its breath in the quiet cavern. Garrett’s knees buckled immediately, his ruined joints unable to bear his own weight after so much time in the air. He began to slide downward, completely spent.
Sydney tightened her grip, wrapping her arms securely around his chest, anchoring him against her own body. She buried her face in his neck, holding onto him with every ounce of strength she possessed.
Garrett froze. Every muscle in his battered frame went rigid.