Lystari’s head swiveled back and forth on her serpentine neck as she tried to pinpoint the exact location of the pulling sensation. She was so close! Where was it coming from?
Aha! She felt it. She bounded over and began searching frantically. It was almost unbearable. Her skin itched and shivered. Where was it, where wasit, wherewasit?
The area was empty. Lystari’s intuition screamed otherwise. It had to be here! She placed one of her forepaws on the frozen ground. A shudder ran up her body. Her frustration gave way to excitement. It was in the ground!
She took a few paces backward and let out a slow, controlled breath of fire to thaw the ground. She didn’t want to damage whatever was underneath. The snow evaporated and the earth softened. Lystari began to dig. The dirt came up in clumps that wedged themselves between her sharp talons. Dragons weren’t made for digging. With a screech of annoyance, Lystari shook her forepaws free and continued, ignoring the pain as they cracked and bled.
After what seemed like an eternity, the earth gave way to reveal the treasure lying beneath. A piercing white light burst forth from the ground, making Lystari close her eyes and look away. Steeling herself, she turned back to face it.
It was the most beautiful thing she had ever seen. It was a perfect sphere about the size of an elf’s head. A myriad of light and color swirled beneath its surface, radiating a white glow.
For a moment, Lystari was stunned by its beauty, but her possessive greed quickly resurfaced. It was hers! She felt the power that lay within the strange object, calling out to her own. Soon she would not just be the queen of dragons, but the queen of all the races! Even Nargaz would be humbled before her majesty. She imagined him groveling her feet. Ah yes, the image was sweet!
Lystari reached for the orb, seizing it with her talons and pulling it free. Its glow ran up her forelegs and over her body, bathing her in light. It was the most incredible sensation she had ever known. She threw back her head and gave a cry of triumph that shook the air. The power!
Lystari’s victory was short-lived. She began to feel a burning sensation all over her body. Although dragons enjoyed heat, this was uncomfortable. Not wanting to relinquish her treasure, she clung to the orb, waiting for the feeling to subside. The burning intensified. Lystari cursed as she found herself dropping the orb. It rolled back into the hole she had pulled it from. The burning did not stop.
Steam was starting to rise from her scales. She felt just as she imagined her victims did when she attacked them with her fiery breath. It was agony. She rubbed at her forelegs and rolled in the snow, but the heat would not dissipate.
Driven mad by the increasing pain, Lystari uttered a frantic screech and pushed off the ground into the air. Perhaps if she could get to a high enough altitude, she would cool off. Part of her considered flying off to plunge herself into the icy sea, but that would be the death of a creature of air and fire.
She beat her wings as hard as she could to accelerate her ascent. Once she got cooled off, she would return for the orb. She hoped no one else would stumble across it while she was gone.
As Lystari rose through the air, some light from the orb followed in a white streak. She didn’t notice it at first, so intense was her pain, but when she caught a glimpse of it over her shoulder, she felt a chill of fear. What was this magic?
The burning continued. Lystari’s scales were beginning to melt, but she was more concerned about the light that followed her. She flew as fast as she could, trying to escape it, but it continued its pursuit without wavering.
Higher and higher she flew, higher than she had ever flown before, until her breath came in ragged gasps. Although the air around her was frigid, Lystari felt no cooler. Her scales were giving off sparks that flew across the sky, remaining suspended in place as twinkles of light. Her wings ached from the strain. Still, the streak of light from the orb followed her.
Not knowing what else to do, Lystari flew as high and fast as she could with the streak of light following in her wake. Her scales were starting to split open now. Tongues of flame licked out from the cracks.
What was happening? How had this all gone so wrong? She let out a pain-racked sob.
As she flew, the cracks in her skin widened, engulfing her in flame. The streak of light following her slowed and began to solidify, becoming a large, glowing, silver sphere. But Lystari no longer cared about what was happening behind her. The heat inside her, which was already unbearable, increased its intensity, building to an excruciating crescendo…
Lystari uttered one last cry of agony that rang across the heavens before her body exploded, bursting into a ball of flame. Her last thoughts were of Nargaz.
Light Chasers (The World of Lasniniar Book 0) Page 10