The Korythid reared back to slam against the shield again, but this time, I was more than ready.
I was eager to be done with the frostbeast once and for all.
Chapter 7
Everly
The Dragon stalked toward me.
Each step sent tremors shivering through the cavern floor, dislodging stalactites from the ceiling. They crashed to the ground, shattering like glass at my feet.
I took a shaky breath, trying to brace myself, to hold my ground under the full weight of his prismatic glare.
His scales gleamed like molten obsidian, each one rimmed with the faint shimmer of amethyst and starlight. Tendrils of smoke curled from his nostrils, carrying the metallic tang of burning metal and the faint scent of charred air.
Power radiated from him in suffocating waves. Each one crashing over and into me, choking me with the sheer weight. It pressed against my skin, crushing the air from my lungs until I could barely breathe.
You believe this is fate?
I gasped and grabbed the sides of my head. The words didn’t echo off the stone this time. Instead, they reverberated inside my skull, vibrating through my bones and thoughts.
It was so much worse now. So much louder.
“The Shard Mother chose me.” My voice trembled, sounding far smaller than I wanted.
The Dragon’s head dipped low. Heat rippled through the air as he exhaled. It scorched my skin and sent my hair ripping free from my braid. He parted his massive jaws, flames coiling up his throat as smoke licked over his forked tongue and teeth.
For one paralyzing heartbeat, I thought I’d gotten it all wrong. Thought this was how it ended, how I died. Eaten whole by the Dragon, or burned away for my arrogance.
Slowly, he crept closer, filling my lungs with the hot sulphuric burn of his breath. My skin was raw, my eyes dry as stones. I couldn’t blink or run or move. I was trapped under the weight of my ancestor, a monster made of flame and shadows who clearly found me lacking.
It took every ounce of restraint not to flinch as the tip of his massive snout pressed gently against my forehead. The touch was somehow cold and searing all at once.
Something broke open inside me.
Not pain, exactly.
But release. Like a dam finally breaking free.
A torrent of mana surged through my veins, wild and unrestrained, shattering every barrier I hadn’t known existed. The air itself crackled with frost and shadows, racing outward in a shockwave that met his fire and fused into something blinding… Somethingalive.
Tendrils of darkness raced beneath my skin, pouring out from my fingertips, from my eyes, from my lips.
They raced outward, springs that had been held taut for too long. And now they were free. Ice followed. Glaciers rose up from the ground, shooting out in every direction, while frost covered the stalagmites along the cavern floor.
Dragons do not bend to the whims of fate. His voice thundered, deeper now, resonating through every nerve and heartbeat.We define them.
And then the shadows consumed me entirely. The cave dissolved into nothingness. The ground vanished, and then I was falling… weightless, breathless, into a void of roaring wind and unbridled power.
Chapter 8
Draven
Rage filled my lungs, crawling through my veins like a living, breathing monster in its own right.
I raised a fist, and the Winter storm obeyed. Hail and wind swirled above the Korythid’s head, then collapsed inward in a torrent of jagged ice.
The monster screamed as icy spears hammered down into its crimson eyes and frost filled its gaping maw.
