A ragged scream ripped from his mouth when my golden ones harshly pulled at his forearms, burning a path off him. The magic snapped back to our respective cores, breaking the bond we’d formed.
Crazy eyes, filled with utter shock and horror, glared at me. “How did you do that?!” Raithian snapped. “Only a true Devenish Wizard can undo that type of vow.” His breathing seemed to accelerate as he hovered a few paces closer to me. “Who are you, Braxton?”
And there it was, the question that haunted him ever since the first time he experienced my magic.
“I did it with the power my family gave me,” I answered as the burns over my forearms healed effortlessly, his turning bright red in turn.
“Your family?” he asked, confused by my words, but something in his eyes said that deep down he already knew the truth. “Why do you feel familiar to me?”
“Surrender now, Raithian, and I might let you die without suffering, which is more than you deserve considering what you did to my father.”
A sphere of bright green energy hurled towards me, but I whirled in the air, sending a gold one to intercept it. The two collided between us, the explosion pushing us away from each other.
Laughter erupted from him, though it was laced with anger and disgust. “You will need to be more specific, Braxton. I have delivered plenty of miserable men to their death.”
“You have. But none of their children had the power my parents gifted to me.”
“The power gifted to you?!” he raged and shot again, four spheres of pure electricity dashing towards my head.
Thrusting both hands, my magic expanded before me like a wave, disintegrating his attack the instant it crashed against my invisible wall.
“Youwillhelp me find that portal and conquer the Mirror World, or I will watch you burn as I drain you of magic!!” Raithian raged, his patience waning.
“I’d like to see you try!” I barked back, but before I knew it, he crashed into me, sending us both in a spiral through the air. Our bodies collided against the fiery sand, and we wrestled on it until he pinned me to the ground.
“Argh!”
Sizzling echoed in my ears when the burning sand clung to my back and arms, the searing pain briefly blinding me. My eyes snapped open again when Raithian’s hands captured my face, immediately feeling his frantic pull on my magic.
He was trying to drain me.
Dragon strength coursed through my muscles the next second, and a roar ripped out of my throat. I gripped him by the arms and yanked him off me, throwing him like a rag doll several yards away.
“Aaah!” His scream echoed when the sand stuck to his exposed skin, fueled by both pain and fury. “What in the Four Cursed Dragons are you?!” he raged, conjuring his staff, and scrambling to his feet.
I marched towards him, the burns vanishing from my back and arms with each step, like they had never happened. His, however, began to spread over his neck and cheek.
“I am your end!” I declared with my glowing, slitted Dragon Eye boring into him.
Shock gripped his expression, but he thrust the staff forwards, shooting flames to my chest.
A whip of pure golden light burst out of my hand, gripping the wooden handle, and jerking his weapon away, its flames almost missing me. Almost. The fire licked my skin, but scales rushed over my bicep before his attack could burn me, protecting me from the heat.
“What kind of dark power is that?!” the Warlock King demanded in disbelief.
I couldn’t help but smirk. “One you will never be able to conquer. One my father gifted to me.”
“Your father?” he questioned, sending his own green rope slashing the air in my direction.
Letting go of the whip, I summoned my sword at the same time, and as the crystal pieces connected to my essence, I spun on my heel. The blade cut through his light rope as though it were tangible. Magic slicing through magic.
“Your father…” Raithian repeated, but it was no longer a question.
The staggered expression he regarded me with as I wielded my father’s sword, said a memory long buried in his mind had cracked open, finally intertwining with the present.
“This cannot be,” he breathed, blinking at the ground while I let the sword vanish once more. “I killed the Harbinger myself!” His thundering words were fueled by a renewed kind of hate.
Before I could react, he blasted me backwards with a move I didn’t see coming. My form once again crashed over the scorching sand, but I no longer felt the pain. Anticipating the impact, scales projected from my pores, swiftly forming a shield that molded to me, protecting me.
