67. The Weave #2
With a roar of pain, it opened up its bloody beak, let go of Nyra’s neck, and fell away.
Aeden dropped down Nyra’s side, his arm jarring as it snagged on the reins.
He slammed into Nyra’s side as she frantically flapped her wings to gather herself.
It was too late; the academy spire was too close for them to avoid.
They crashed into the side of it with incredible force.
Stone dislodged as Aeden let out a cry of discomfort and heard a popping noise from his shoulder.
As they fell to the ground, the griffin hit the spire just above them, unable to avoid it, the same as Nyra. The two creatures fell through the air.
The ground hurtled towards them at alarming speed as Aeden held his breath. Nyra continued to flap her wings as she fought to straighten herself up.
She was just about managing to pull her body upwards as they reached the ground, reducing the force of the impact. She turned into the ground, protecting Aeden as best she could as she bounced off the ground under a plume of smoke.
Above them, Aeden saw the griffin slamming into the ground with a thud and ear-splitting shriek.
Aeden found himself in a plume of dust and debris as he hung down from Nyra’s side. She was breathing, but she was struggling, and from what he could tell, she wasn’t conscious.
Her phoenix form had vanished and her laboured breath caused Aeden more than alarm. She was alive, though, that was all that mattered.
Aeden tried to free himself but cried out in pain. Reaching for a dagger tucked into his belt, he cut at the reins until he eventually broke free, dropping to the ground.
His shoulder stooped, and the pain was unbearable. He had dislocated it.
He reached out through the Weave, testing Nyra, testing if there was enough power for him to draw on.
There wasn’t, the Weave itself tempered and frayed beyond what it should have been.
Aeden feared that if he pushed it any further, he would risk severing it entirely, and who knew what the consequences of that would be .
Instead, he pressed his shoulder against Nyra’s side, gritted his teeth, and pushed against her as hard as he could until he heard a crunch and felt the discomfort of his shoulder popping back into place.
“ Nyra? ” he said. He could see she was breathing, but she wasn’t responsive. Blasts of magic continued to reverberate around them as the battle continued, the shrieks coming from the night sky of the warring Aer-Kin as they clashed with one another.
“You will pay with your blood!” Orion rushed through the dust cloud towards Aeden. He wasn’t armed, but he was furious, his face contorted with rage.
Aeden lifted his stronger arm to defend himself, but Orion unfurled a volley of punches at him, which he was unable to block.
His head snapped back, and he tasted iron as Orion struck him over and over again.
“Stupid boy, don’t you realise that all of this resistance is futile? I’m not averse to getting my hands a little dirty, but I must admit, you and your abomination have become more than a thorn in my side.” He punched Aeden in the stomach before pinning him up against Nyra.
“I won’t let you Dominate me,” Aeden said as he fought against Orion.
“Stupid boy,” Orion snarled, his face bloodied.
A deep cut to the top of his head meant that his usually pristine hair was now matted with blood.
“I don’t want to Dominate you now, I just want to kill you so I can leave this wretched place.
” His hands clasped around Aeden’s neck, and he squeezed tightly .
Aeden grabbed Orion’s wrists and desperately tried to ease the pressure as, through the dust, his griffin staggered towards them.
“And while I squeeze the last bit of life from your wretched body, know that he is going to destroy that phoenix of yours before the winds send word that there is one in existence.”
Aeden struggled, but with his injured shoulder, he simply didn’t have the strength to fight back.
“ Wake up, please, Nyra. I need you .”
Orion’s face contorted with vitriol and he grimaced, his hands getting tighter and tighter as they constricted around Aeden’s neck.
With a rumble, Nyra began to move, pushing Aeden into Orion, who lost balance as he stepped backwards.
Aeden dropped to his knees, coughing and gasping for breath, but he didn’t have time to waste as he staggered back to his feet. He was beaten, his body broken, but there was no way that he was going down without a fight.
“You just won’t give up,” Orion said. Grinning, he leaned down to pluck a dagger from a fallen soldier on the ground and stared towards Aeden.
Nyra roared, baring her teeth. She may not have been in her phoenix form any longer, but she was no less fierce as she bucked up into the air before slamming her feet into the ground.
With a snarl, she ran towards Orion. He braced himself for impact, but she shot straight past him.
She was running at his griffin, who was gearing up to take flight.
Sensing the opportunity, Aeden charged forwards himself, spearing Orion as he tried to catch him off balance .
Orion planted his feet but struggled against Aeden, who punched him in his side with his stronger arm.
Behind them, Nyra reached the griffin before it could take flight, and this time it was her turn to grab it around the neck as she sunk her teeth into it.
The griffin wailed as it writhed around in pain, trying in vain to loosen Nyra’s grip, but it didn’t.
Orion’s knee buckled and he let out a grimace of discomfort as Aeden pushed back even harder this time, forcing Orion back. When Orion fell backwards, his head smashed off the ground, Aeden landing on top of him.
Orion swung up with the knife and Aeden cried out as he was unable to defend his weaker arm, the blade piercing his skin as it sank into his upper arm.
Aeden pulled back his free hand to strike Orion but stopped when he saw fear in his eyes for the first time. He was desperately trying to look behind him where Nyra still fought his griffin, whose movements were now becoming laboured as its life ebbed away.
“Your bond is the same as ours. If your Weave breaks, then so do you. If your griffin dies, then so do you.”
Panic crept into Orion’s wide, gaping eyes as blood pooled into his mouth, dark black veins creeping up his neck like a parasite.
“I am nothing like?—”
With a sickening crack, Nyra bit down even harder and the griffin’s neck fell limp. She let go, and its body stooped to the ground.
Orion started to laugh. “My master will come for you” – his last breath rattled as his life faded away.
Aeden let out a roar of frustration .
What had all of this been for? For his bloodline? For Nyra?
He looked around him. The academy lay in ruin, surrounded by death.
Nyra walked slowly towards him, a heavy limp in her left leg.
“ Are you okay? ” she asked as she reached him, pressing her head towards him.
Aeden allowed the crown of her head to reach his own as he savoured the feeling of her scales against his skin.
“You did it, Nyra. You did it.”
Another screech came from their right, and Aeden’s head shot up. Sitting atop the tower of Aviara Academy was the second griffin, along with its rider, Rosheen.
She stared down at Aeden for an uncomfortable amount of time before her griffin let out another pain-filled roar.
It was a rallying cry, but Aeden couldn’t help but feel a sense of grief in its cry.
He looked at the dead griffin and Orion’s body, and he wondered if the griffins were twins just like their riders.
When the griffin jumped from the tower, Aeden readied himself. They had beaten Orion and his griffin, and if they needed to fight another, so be it.
He tried to stand, but his legs were weak. He had no energy left, no fight left, the Weave between him and Nyra already dangerously frayed.
The griffin slammed into the ground. “Get away from my brother,” Rosheen growled.
Aeden climbed up off of Orion and stepped backwards. There was no way they could fight again, but as long as he had Nyra by his side, he wouldn’t stop .
“Vaja,” Rosheen said. Her griffin shot forward, scooping up Orion’s lifeless body into its claws. Then it flapping its wings, hovering just above Aeden.
“You will pay for taking my brother’s life.”
Aeden didn’t say anything as his eyes met Rosheen’s and he was greeted with raw hatred. He braced himself for an attack.
Instead, her griffin roared and set off into the air over the academy.
“What is she doing?” Aeden asked.
“ They are leaving ,” Nyra said.
The skies filled with the remaining Aer-Kin as Rosheen led the retreat. Aeden’s tired, aching legs finally gave way, only for him to be caught by Nyra.
“ I’ve got you ,” she said.
The battle was over.