I kept walking toward her, each step steady, deliberate.
Her aura flared in response, pressure rolling off her in waves, as if warning me to stop. But it didn't deter me. Not even a little.
So she acted.
The fiery quills hovering around her tails snapped inward, converging into a spinning, spiraling disk of blue flame. A heartbeat later, it detonated outward, unleashing a torrent of fire that roared like a living beast, flooding the air in front of her.
The flames poured out in a stream, a deadly flamethrower that scorched the earth black as it surged straight toward me. Trees cracked and hissed as their bark seared under the heat, the ground itself bubbling in places.
But I didn't move. I didn't even flinch.
WHOOSH!
The inferno swallowed me whole.
The flames connected, heat licking against my skin, the air warping as the torrent pressed down with crushing force. Ariel pushed harder, the fire thickening, her intent clear—she was trying to burn me to ash where I stood.
