One passes my peripheral, a lion–bear hybrid, bones jutting from its back. Its unnatural roar splits the air. Behind it, a serpent-headed gator slithers past, jaws wide with hunger.
They slaughter the witches. Horrid cracks echo through the dark from the bones snapping like dry twigs.
Magic retaliates; inky tendrils lash across the floors, ensnaring the beasts and breaking their limbs. Black fire erupts, igniting the temple’s tapestries and blanketing the room in a thick smoke.
Then, amid the chaos, Nora's blade finds its target again.
It descends but never lands.
A burst of iridescent silver erupts from my chest, blasting Nora backwards. Immediately, the shadow of a massive wing rips out of my chest. Talons as long as my body follow. Her scales shimmer in the faint light, and then smoke pours from a newly opened maw.
The dragon emerges, materializing over me. Its stomach shields me. Its massive wings can split the temple walls, and its body turns solid above me, silvery and smoking.
My eyes track the silver glow running beneath her scales, from her under belly, up to her throat, and then to the curve of her jaw
Then her mouth opens.
Fire pours out as a wave of blinding heat that engulfs the entire side of the temple where Nora landed. Stone cracks, screams vanish, and ashes rise.
She turns her massive head and lowers it to me. She gently nudges my broken body with her nose, her warm breath encasing my body. I cry out, not in fear but from the pain of my injuries.
Hello, child.
The voice isn’t mine, but I know it. I’ve always known it. New tears flood my eyes as my soul recognizes hers.
I am yours, just as you are mine. You are no longer alone.
Her silver eyes are like reflections of my own. They flick to the chains binding my limbs. Displeasure sickens my stomach, and a rumbling growl causes the stone beneath me to quake. She lowers her head again, delicate despite her size, and bites through the metal, one link at a time.
Once I’m free, she nudges me again, urging me to stand.
“I…I might pass out,” I warn, dragging my legs over the altar’s edge. The world sways, and my knees buckle.
Concern fills me, and the sweet taste of affection coats my tongue. They are her emotions, but they aren’t mine, I realize. Still, fresh tears fill my eyes after feeling such emotions bestowed upon me.
She cares for me.
Someone cares for me, someone will save me.
Before I can hit the ground, one of her leathery wings wrap around me. She lifts me, guiding my battered frame along the curve of her wing until I slide onto her spine.
Sit between my largest spikes.
With my strength leaving me, I crawl forward and slump between the ridges. I melt there. My fingers weakly grip two smaller spines. It’s all I can manage at this point.
Head down, eyes closed.
I am all too happy to listen.
Vyraxis crashes upward, her skull smashing through the temple roof. Rubble rains down over me. Dust coats my shoulder as I cling weakly to her spikes.
My heartbeat echoes in my ears as my vision blackens, flickers back, and then fades again.
Outside, the world burns and buildings collapse. Beasts run wild. Witches lie strewn across the ground like dolls in ash.
I did this.
But I don’t know how to undo it.
