Koen scuffs. “As you will regret what you have done.”
Their arms flail with a violent rhythm as they clash, each desperately trying to avoid the other's sharp daggers. The sounds of their arms colliding with one another is mixed in with their breaths, filled with a desire to end each other's lives. Each lunge, each groan, makes my heart beat erratically.
I can end this.I can stop this.
Klayra cries out in agony, flinching when Koen stabs her thigh with a dagger and yanks it out swiftly. Her blood, a vivid red, spatters onto the gravel as Koen kicks her leg, causing her tolose her footing and crash to the ground. Particles of white dirt cling to her teal hair, and Koen presses his foot against her chest. Despite her attempts to rise, he holds her down with the weight of his boot.
“Had enough?”
She snatches the blade that was hidden in the dirt, driving it fiercely into Koen’s leg. The sharp pain jolts him, providing her the opportunity to shove him aside.
“Koen!” I scream out.
“Blood for blood!” Klayra wails. “And I will grant her the same death as my brother’s!” Her eyes blaze with such an intense, fiery determination that it feels as though she might combust. She is consumed by the sheer rage coursing through her veins. She won’t stop until my ashes float in the air like her brother.
“Get away from him!” I cry out, my eyes blurring.
I can end this. Damn it,I can burn them all.
Yet, Octavian remains on the sidelines with a blade poised in his grip, listening to the chaos unfold. He doesn’t fight. Meanwhile, Ivker charges with relentless speed, rushing around Koen and setting his sights on Florian. Reacting swiftly, Florian kicks his sword into the air, the blade spinning like a flash of silver lightning. He catches it just in time, the metal clashing as he intercepts Ivker’s blade, preventing it from slicing into his neck.
“Are you sure you want to do this, friend?” Florian’s eyes begin to ignite a blazing red. “You do knowwhatandwho I am.To kill a King is treason.”
“You are forbidden to shift inside the castle walls,dragon shifter.” Ivker’s lip rises in disgust. “I must have her life if it means to protect us all. To think I once called you a friend, and now you will protect the one that will put forth a blazing fire to the Realms, killing us all! How foolish can you be? You are no King!”
Florian’s grip tightens around the hilt as both their eyes are mere inches away from their swords. The heat of their breaths fog the shimmering blades as they tremble, neither of them daring to move.
“You are wrong about her! Let me prove it.” Florian flicks the blade upward, delivering a punch to his nose, before launching a kick to push him away by the chest. Blood gushes over Ivker’s lips and down his chin. “You all have been deceived!”
As I take a few hesitant steps backwards, my eyes widen as I watch the brothers fight against them over me. A familiar scent rushes through me. Offire. Ofash. Ofa floral aroma.
What is this feeling that soars inside of me?
I can burn these people to ash, yet I allow the brothers to fight for me.
How have I let the Serene of Seattle disappear from me? This is unlike me.
This is not me. I fight my own battles.
But it’s the moment Klayra's blade cuts across Koen's cheek, and I watch him stumble to the ground for a split moment, and that’s when the fire ignites within me.
She shouldn’t have done that.
My fingers curl into fists as my veins rise from my skin.The stones on my arm glow, pulsing like a heartbeat and burning fiercely throughout my body. My fingertips start to tingle, as if tiny electric currents are pricking my skin, growing hotter by the second.
Within a blink of an eye after Florian is thrown to the ground, Ivker twists on his heels and thrusts his sword into Koen’s back.
I gasp. My heartbeat freezes. “No!” My eyes burn as I reach out towards him, stumbling over a broken log. “Take me! Don’t kill him!”
Koen arches his back violently as Ivker rips the sword out with a brutal force that sends his blood spraying across the dirt. Hisbody collapses to the side, agonizingly slow, as if the universe itself wants to prolong my torment, forcing me to witness every excruciating moment of his life draining away before my eyes.
This cannot be happening.
A guttural scream rips from my throat, vibrating through the air as my ears become suffocated in silence. I stare at Ivker and Klayra who stand over his body, Ivker taking the sword in hand to finish the job. My eyes sting with fire, tears poised on the brink of a downpour. My head throbs with an intense, radiating heat, veins bulging and straining against my temples, pulsing with fury down to my heaving chest.
“Get away from him!” The raging scream bellows from the depths of my soul.My very being.
“Koen!” Florian grunts, holding his bloody rib as he tries to stand but falls to the ground.
