Gasps and terrified screams tear through the arena like an untamable wave. The chaos around me only amplifies as every single person tilts their head to the sky.
We’re all seeing the same thing. Seeing it…but having animpossibletime believing it.
Some of the guards sprint for the tunnels as the most glorious beast descends from the heavens with scales the color of fire.
Nyxa…is a fucking dragon.
My heart forgets how to beat. It soars, doubling in speed, pounding so hard I can feel it in my skull.
“Hello, Fire Wielder,”she purrs into my mind, and my mouth drops because how is this possible? How is this real?
All this time…
She lands with a bone-shaking thud, one that rattles the entire earth. She’shuge. Massive and the most beautiful thing I have ever seen. Steam hisses from her nostrils as she bares her razor-sharp teeth, teeth that are far bigger than I am.
Her red scales shimmer as the sunlight melts into them. A living breathing tapestry of reds and oranges and golds.
She is destruction incarnate.
She is life reborn.
Nyxa will cleanse the earth.
Her chest expands, and fire erupts from her mouth, her claws digging into the soil as she creates a blast that devours everything inits path. The guards don’t even have time to scream before they’re incinerated, leaving nothing but ash to scatter in the light wind.
She turns her head, those burning eyes locking onto me. And I can feel it—feelher—the bond slipping into place like a key in a lock, an overwhelming, undeniable force that will anchor her to meforever.
“Are you sure?”I ask as the deepest sense of belonging floods my veins.“Nyxa, I won’t live as long as you. Bonding with me…you’ll shorten your lifespan by centuries.”
“I have lived long enough on my own.”Her voice is a delicate whisper in my mind. Elegant and beautiful, just as she is.“And I do not wish to be on my own ever again.”
The bond locks into place, and damn, it feels powerful. My hands catch fire, my ability to command the element is back, and I grin.
“Not only are we bound by flame,”Nyxa says,“we are now bound to each other. We are one.”
I nod at her, feeling my power,herpower, flooding my system. I turn to Ryjax, and his eyes are huge, his sword barely gripped in his hand, and the same can be said about Theo and Char.
“Nyxa,” I tell Jax, and he blinks in understanding. “I think it’s time we end this. Don’t you?”
“I still can’t command the shadows or the light,” he pants, eyes falling on the countless innocents being slaughtered by the royal guards.
“Then stand back,” I say, and the closest guard to me bursts into flames, then the guard beside him.
Nausea stabs at my stomach as I listen to them scream, succumbing to the deathIcaused, the tortureIinflicted.
“They deserve it,”Nyxa growls just before releasing a blaze of her own, scorching the earth and all who stand within range.
Blood-curdling screams, but then more palace guards, almost as if those who had fled had merely gone in search of reinforcements.
“We can’t save them all!” Ryjax yells, watching in horror as more blood is spilled.
No.No, this cannot be happening. Happening because ofme.So much death. So much destruction. All because ofme.
“He’s right, Fire Wielder. We must go. Live to fight another day. I could burn this entire arena to the ground, but even the innocents would die.”
“If we get out of here, there’s a good chance my father will call off the attack,” Ryjax says. “It’s you he wants dead. Not them.”
I nod, needing to believe he’s telling the truth. Needing to believe that if we go…if we escape, then we wouldn’t be leaving these people to die.
