Kaelthar and Veyrakas' expressions changed at the same time.
It wasn't that they'd never seen powerful forces.
But this kind of quake—this kind of pressure coming straight down without any room to breathe—was the first time they'd ever faced something like it.
The moment that fused lightning dragon took shape, air, light, space—even the rhythm of their own breathing—got thrown out of sync. Even standing still, a brief hitch crept into their movements.
That tiny hitch was enough.
For the first time, they looked… wrong-footed.
Veyrakas reacted first.
Blinding gold erupted from his body. The radiance no longer just clung to his surface—it expanded inward and outward at the same time.
His body began to swell and rise. Bone and muscle rebuilt inside the gold light, restructuring rapidly. In only a few breaths, the Veyrakas who'd been hovering there had become a towering golden giant.
Kaelthar instantly understood what he was doing.
