“Well,” Maura said, feeling a swell of righteous anger rise up within her throat, “my father can’t do anything for me because your son killed him along with everyone else I’ve ever known.”
Vahn’s steely glare faltered, and a look of profound sadness seemed to seep onto his face. It was as if he had melted before her eyes. “He will pay for what he has done,” Vahn whispered, ashen in the face of his son’s crimes. “There is no way around that. But he can be redeemed.”
As Maura opened her mouth to retort the redemption of such a monster, a deafening roar suddenly reminded her that a very real battle was unfolding before their eyes. One on which rode everything. Aleksandra rushed forward, nearly snapping Seraphina up in her trap-like jaws, but the sky blue dragon managed to slip her way back.
Valentean rushed up to attack from the side, but Aleksandra slammed down on him with one of her forelegs, pinning the white beast beneath tons of dragon flesh. Sliding her talons across the floor, she flung Valentean aside. His bulk skidded along the unnatural terrain of the chamber, coming to a shaky stop nearly one hundred meters from where Maura stood.
Kayden attacked next, diving at Aleksandra from above, but the empress-turned-dragon had grown wise to such tactics. She turned and swatted Kayden from the sky. The black dragon hit the ground hard, and Maura hated herself a bit for the sense of satisfaction such a sight brought to her heart.
Aleksandra stood tall, an apex predator, as her challengers writhed on the ground, all attempting to stand through their fatigue and the multitude of burns scattered along their scales. Valentean, Seraphina, and Kayden were weakening, yet Aleksandra remained strong. Maura cursed under her breath, realizing the true hopelessness of this battle.
“The Eye…” Nahzarro whispered, coming to the same conclusion as she. While that artifact remained intact, Aleksandra would never tire, would never weaken. The red dragon opened its massive maw, and Maura saw the red, glowing flash of flames flaring to life at the back of its throat. As it spat fire at Valentean, the spectating Maura, Nahzarro, and Vahn jumped back, feeling the searing heat of the flame as it engulfed the form of their friend and ally.
“Dammit, Nevick,” Maura cursed. “What are you doing?”
Zouka’s titanic foot slammed down upon Nevick’s torso, and he felt at least half of his ribs snap on contact. Fluid instantly welled up within his throat, and Nevick turned to spit a combination of blood and bile onto the stone. He writhed beneath Zouka, the tattered remains of his green tunic hanging loosely around his deflated body. His bare heels dug into the surface of the roof as he tried to establish some kind of traction that would enable him to wiggle away.
Deana hung helplessly above him. He reached a hand out to her, and their eyes met. Through the pain consuming his insides, the agony within his heart overrode all. Watching his love dangle there, helpless and unreachable, was the purest form of torture he had ever known. His home was decimated, his friends were dead, and now the love of his life would suffer a horrid fate at the twisted desires of a revenge-driven madman.
Weak, came the voice of his doubt. Nevick had a hard time disagreeing. To many, he was known as the strongest human being on Terra, but inside, Nevick saw himself for the weakling he truly was. His weakness had taken so much from him. And now, it would take Deana, the last thing he had left in his world. Cruel irony twisted its dagger through his heart as the Gorram general ground his heel above the shattered remains of Nevick’s torso.
Deana reached for him, tears spilling from her eyes, which cascaded down to splash against his blood-spattered cheeks. Her eyes said more than words ever could. She believed in him still. She was urging him to rise, to meet this challenge, to save her at the last minute, and do his part to bring peace to Terra once more.
But he could not.
Nevick had lost. He was utterly beaten. And his life and legacy would end here on this roof. His love would be left with no protection, no savior. That thought urged him one last time to grab on to the sides of Zouka’s enormous foot and try to push it off him. For a moment, he was able to lift it, but then the general bore down on him once more, and an audible snap filled the night sky.
It was over. He was done. With no strength and no hope left within his body and soul, Nevick admitted defeat.
Explosions sounded from somewhere deep in the bowels of the ship. They were growing increasingly louder as The Heart of Casid rose from the smoldering crash site, once more taking to the sky. Michael was sure the ship would break apart before it had reached optimal height, but to his amazement, she held together.
“I can’t believe…this is…working,” he spat through the gut-wrenching pain in his midsection.
Mitchell’s weakening, wheezing breaths were growing more ragged. Yet still he opened his mouth to try and speak before coughing a fresh burst of blood onto the already gore-soaked console.
“Don’t talk,” Michael said, trying to use his concern and grief at his brother’s dwindling time to mask his own pain and keep himself attuned to the task at hand.
The airship had risen high enough, and Mitchell raised a shaking hand toward the lever that would activate the rear propeller and push them toward their final target. Michael watched as his brother’s slippery crimson fingers wrapped weakly around the handle. He pulled, but he had not the strength left in his body to budge the instrument.
Michael shifted in his seat, grimacing through the agony of his own wounds as he laid his hand atop his brothers. “Let’s do this.”
“I’m…so…proud…of—” Mitchell choked out before another coughing fit silenced him. Michael felt hot tears mixing with the crimson mask of blood along his face as his brother choked through what was to be their final farewell. Michael responded by tightening his hold around Mitchell’s hand, swallowing a sob that was pushing at his heart, and pulled with all of his might.
The Heart of Casid kicked into gear, throwing the brothers back in their seats and causing Michael to cry out in pain. Their destination was set. Nothing could stop them now. Even if one of the many Aleksandryan airships still doing battle with Grassani forces all around them managed to shoot them down, they had enough momentum that they would still smash into The Eye, taking the greatest weapon of the enemy with them.
As Aleksandra’s fortress rapidly approached, Michael felt a gasp of terror burst through his resolve. What awaited him on the other side? Would Mitchell be there? Would Casid? Could he truly go home again? A sight below tore his attention from such thoughts—three figures, one prone on the roof beneath a massive behemoth and a smaller person in the monster’s grip.
“Nevick and Deana,” Michael said, turning to Mitchell. But when he looked over, his brother lay slumped in his chair. He moved no more. Michael’s lips trembled as he silently said goodbye one last time.
“Save me a seat, Mitchell. I’ll be joining you in a minute.”
Turning his attention back to the viewport, Michael watched as the glowing, red spike of The Eye grew larger and larger before them. He took a long, slow inhalation of oxygen and held it in his lungs, savoring his last breath.
Deana had felt helpless many times since the day of her ill-fated wedding. Whenever her condition made it so she could not perform simple everyday tasks, there was a feeling of helpless frustration that bit at her. Nothing, though, had compared to this. She dangled above the ground, utterly immobile, her useless legs wafting back and forth. She stared down, trying to will Nevick to rise, trying to urge him to be the hero she desperately needed, that the world desperately needed. But in his eyes, she saw heartbreaking surrender. He was beaten, and he knew it.
“Fool!” Zouka spat down at Nevick, a glob of saliva and mucus splashing grossly against his chest. “Now at the end do you see the complete folly of your life. You believed yourself to be special, that you had a purpose, that vengeance was your right. But now you see the only vengeance that shall be sated tonight is mine!”
Deana would have to watch him die, and then who knows what
would happen once she was the sole remaining focus of Zouka’s mindless revenge. She would bear it, though, with the honor that her beloved showed through life. She would not cry, would not scream. She would never give this inhuman monster that satisfaction. She gazed down at her betrothed for what she feared would be the last time, when a steadily building roar began to fill her ears.
Zouka heard it as well. The Gorram general looked up in alarm at the same time as Deana, and together, they gasped at the sight before them. The Heart of Casid, smoking, on fire, barely holding together, was rocketing toward them at terminal velocity.
Mitchell and Michael! her mind screamed in momentary joy. They must have survived. But then, rational thought took hold, and she realized what was about to happen. She stared down at Nevick frantically as though through sheer will alone he could somehow avert this inevitable fate. But he stared at the sky, utterly dumbfounded and more helpless than ever. This was going to happen, and nothing could stop it.
“What?” Zouka shrieked in shock. But before the Gorram could so much as twitch, the ship sailed over them and smashed with reckless abandon into the glowing, red spike of The Eye.
Deana’s eyes shut involuntarily at the massive explosion, and her eardrums felt ready to burst at its tremendous sound. A shock wave rolled over them, but Zouka’s strength coupled with their distance from the blast’s epicenter allowed him to remain standing in place.
“No!” the general shouted as The Eye erupted, its glow dying as it fell to pieces.
Deana screamed in anguish and grief, but the incredible noise swallowed her bellow of sorrow. As the titanic explosion died, reality hit her with the full force of its cruelty. They were gone. Her friends were no more. And it was once more the fault of this hideous monster.
Zouka snarled and bellowed in the face of his failure to protect The Eye, obviously realizing that now, no matter who won the battle raging within the palace walls, either Valentean or Aleksandra would claim his life. She watched this thought spread horror along his face, and then she watched that dread turn to bursting rage. “You’ll pay!” he screamed down at Nevick, raising his foot for one last blow that would take the last remaining human being that Deana loved.
She thrashed in the giant’s grasp, and her right arm managed to slip free. “No!” she shrieked in horror and rage. “No more! Not one more!” She grasped the creature with her free hand, and as the force of her fury and hatred reached its zenith, she felt the magic within her spark to life. The familiar humming tingle trembled beneath her flesh, but something felt different. Whereas before, the gentle light of her healing energy felt like a warm glow flowing freely out of her, this magic felt cold and final, and rather than flow out, it was pulling inward.
Zouka gasped in shock, his foot slamming down beside Nevick as he staggered in momentary weakness. Deana could feel something else now, something harsh and frigid pulled from the Gorram’s body into her own. Zouka raised one arm as if to strike at her, but Deana clamped her grip down with renewed ferocity, and the monster’s body went stiff and rigid.
He could not move, could not twitch, could not so much as open his fingers to drop her. Only his eyes spoke in that moment, meeting hers within the scorching inferno of her mindless anger. His eyeballs danced from side to side, terror electrifying his frozen form. He was petrified in every sense of the word.
Good, Deana thought as the magic continued to flow. She felt Zouka’s body tremble around her, saw the desperation in his eyes growing more frantic as his skin began to whiten.
He was now deathly pale with dark purple veins running beneath his flesh. Whereas Deana felt revitalized, felt stronger than ever before, felt hot blood running through her, contrasting with the chilling, frigid magic that sapped the life from this hated fiend.
Zouka’s muscles began to deflate as though they were melting, his skin hanging loose around enormous bones. Deana stared at the monster, unblinking, as around them the flaming mess of airship and stone stretched into the night sky.
Somewhere within that devastation lay what remained of the bodies of two men she called brothers. In their name and in the name of her home itself, she needed to see the moment this monster’s life left his eyes.
She did not have long to wait as Zouka’s arm began to droop, and soon she felt stone beneath her feet. The creature fell to its knees, and…Deana’s breath stopped short.
She felt stone beneath her feet. Gasping in amazement, Deana locked her knees beneath her as Zouka’s fingers released their hold. She stood on strong, steady legs for the first time in what felt like eternity. This should have been a joyous experience, yet all she felt was grief and anger.
The great final words of the legendary General Zouka, the ultimate weapon of the Gorram, was naught more than a timid, frightened gurgle. He fell away, and Deana released her hold on his arm, rocking on her feet as the magic faded within her body. In the wake of this power’s rush, she stood for a moment awash between the chill of the night air and the heat of the flames that burned behind her.
“Deana…” came a voice that was so familiar it might have been her own. She looked down at Nevick’s prone body as he gaped up at her, and suddenly the weight of the world returned.
Deana’s lip trembled as she made eye contact with the man whom she loved, and she burst into tears, the grief over all they had lost intermingling with a pulsation of joy at being able to finally stand under her own power once more. She fell to his side, enjoying the dull ache of her knees smacking into the stone.
Tears washed out from Nevick’s eyes as he sobbed. She reached down and cradled her beloved in her arms, crying along with him as she felt the once more familiar glow of her healing magic begin to flow out of her and into him.
XXXI: Balance
Seraphina’s titanic scaled body smacked hard into the ground, upending grass and stone with her tremendous landing. Finding her four strong legs beneath her once more, the blue dragon quaked as she stood back to her full height. A series of puncture wounds leaked ebony blood from her side, which spilled out onto the floor—the result of a massive bite from Aleksandra that had nearly ripped her in two.
A well-timed burst of dark energy from Kayden’s mouth had saved her from a grizzly demise. The aid offered by the black dragon had filled Seraphina with a sense of renewed hope at the promise of Kayden’s redemption. Of course, for any repentance to be made, they would first have to survive the battle at hand—a prospect that was seeming less likely by the second.
Valentean was charging the massive red dragon, attacking low in an attempt to slash up at Aleksandra’s throat. Seraphina’s scaled face was not capable of twisting into the grimace of dread that she felt within as Aleksandra bent out of the way with speed that belied her immense size. A burst of flame erupted from her mouth, slamming into Valentean and exploding along his flesh.
The white dragon fell off to the side, his alabaster scales scorched with black burns that bubbled and oozed. Seraphina had to fight the desire to run to the side of her love. Valentean would be fine; he just needed a moment to regroup and let the incredible healing abilities that they all shared begin to knit his wounds together.
In the meantime, Kayden had leapt back into the fray, moving with the grace of a feline, a whirling swish of black and purple. His speed and power while transformed far exceeded both Seraphina and Valentean, but even Kayden was no match for Aleksandra’s power. A mighty flap of her broadly spread wings threw Kayden off balance. A steady stream of fire flew from the crimson monster’s mouth, engulfing him with murderous intention.
Through the continuous inferno, Seraphina could barely make out the sight of Kayden’s black scales flailing and thrashing in a desperate attempt to alleviate what must have been horrid agony. Seraphina would not allow Kayden’s life to end here like this. Jumping at Aleksandra’s face, the blue dragon let loose a beam of destructive energy, striking her sister in one glowing red eye.
Aleksandra recoiled, thrashing her head in a blind rage.
Seraphina felt a sense of sad satisfaction when she saw the eye had swollen closed, oozing black blood. Aleksandra’s lips pulled back into an enraged snarl, baring her sword-like fangs as flying globs of saliva rocketed through them with every forceful exhalation.
Seraphina took an involuntary step back, feeling terror build within her chest. She stopped herself from further retreat, making a silent internal vow to stand her ground and not shrink from this challenge. Movement at her side drew the blue dragon’s attention. Valentean was up once more and stood beside her as he always had, ready to meet this challenge together. At her left, Kayden appeared, scales smoking from Aleksandra’s assault. The three of them tensed, eyeing their mighty foe. Aleksandra let out a roar of challenge that threatened to liquefy Seraphina’s entire skeleton, but the Ice Queen held her composure, standing in the literal space between light and darkness, ready to meet her sister head-on in a final pass that would make or break this battle.
The three of them charged, taloned feet upending ground with every massive bound. Aleksandra made no move to meet them. Instead, she brought her huge wings inward, covering her entire front as the leathery appendages began to pulsate with chaos energy. Before Seraphina could alter her course, Aleksandra thrust her wings outward, summoning a massive burst of flame and crimson power that swept over the incoming dragons like a wave. That much energy slamming into her at once threw Seraphina back, the power of the attack eating into her scales and boiling her blood. The pain was horrid, and she shrieked despite herself, her thunderous voice a shrill cry of agony. The world tinted in red light, and the sound of glass breaking exploded through her head. Seraphina smacked hard into the ground and rolled.
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