5
CASPER
The last timeI’d been in the Crescent Desert, Jasper and I were getting rid of a few dead ends since this was dragon territory. That alone was enough to make most mages spill their guts, and if they didn’t, Jasper made them.
Crescent Desert was dangerous territory. Almost no mage stepped foot in unless it was for a damned good purpose, so it was the ideal place to carry out torture—among other things.
Though, Jasper seemed to prefer the Lethal Forest because of the darkness.
Either served the same purpose, though. It just depended on our preference.
“It’s so hot,” Jasper whined, whipping off his shirt. Our robes were slung over our shoulders.
Sweat dripped down his and Fawn’s bodies as they stomped through the sand.
“Let’s cool off a bit, then.” Fawn wiggled her fingers at him, conjuring a mist of water and wind to blow around the two of them.
“Oh, fuck, you aresuch agoddess.” The cool mist enveloped Jasper, and he looked like he was about to cry tears of joy.
I chuckled, loving that she knew I loved the sun enough to not be cooled off. I hadn’t realized how useful it was to have a beautiful elemental mage at our disposal.
Fawn and Jasper didn’t have the same appreciation for the sun as I did, but I supposed that was because of my classification. The sun was where my power came from.
The scorching sun’s rays beat down on our skin, and my magic sucked it up through my vessel and turned my skin into a glowing radiator of light as we strode across the sandy biome.
We had two missions today. To retrieve the heart of a dragon, which we figured would be easier to find in the Crescent Desert, since it was their preferred territory. They roamed the Lethal Forest, but intel told us there had been none in the forest since Matthieu had spread the rage potions across the world. But we still had to visit the Lethal Forest today to find a scutterfly and remove its brain.
Scutterflies were helpful bugs that ate burnt trees to give nature the room it needed to rebuild. Finding them was a sign of finding a dragon, but with the lack of dragons in the forest, I wasn’t sure how difficult that would be.
“We should’ve brought Silas to help us find one,” I muttered, running a hand through my sweat-dampened hair. “Those seeking runes would be really helpful right about now.”
“You would think it wouldn’t be a problem, considering there are fucking monsterseverywhere.” Jasper waved his hand over the vastness of the desert. “Except for where they are supposed to be.”
“Declan had mentioned that they took up base in Blossom Grove, and there were hardly any monsters around,” Fawn mumbled, letting out a frustrated sigh. “It’s like they are seeking out mages, which I guess makes sense with Matthieu leading them.”
“Fucking Declan,” Jasper muttered.
I was with my brother on that. It was obvious that Declan harbored feelings for Fawn, but he’d backed off since we’d confronted him at the guild last time. I wouldn’t get too pissed again unless he crossed the boundary we set, and he hadn’t.
“We should’ve just gone to one of the villages being rampaged and found one that way.” The sand shifted underfoot as a thunderous roar echoed from ahead.
“No need for that.” Fawn let out a stream of air from her lips.
A giant black dragon barreled from over the horizon of the sand dunes and toward us.
“Guess there’s one here after all.” Jasper grinned, his dark wisps forming around him and Fawn like a shield.
The dragon’s piercing yellow eyes locked with mine as it reared its head back and released an ear-splitting bellow, with its wings spread wide. A gust of wind from it flapping its wings stirred sand up everywhere.
Fawn threw her hands out, sending streams of water and earth at the dragon, and her sweat-slicked blue hair lifted and spread around her like a true elemental mage.
Spirits, she was truly stunning.
She even kept her grace as she summoned sharp blades of rock and launched them at the monster while it swooped down to attack us.
“We’re so lucky,” Jasper murmured as he stared at her in awe.
I nodded like I was in a trance until we watched the dragon snap its jaws at her.
