The stairwell filled with noise—armor crashing, boots pounding, voices barking orders. The stone walls trembled like they might split apart. Kaelen could see their shadows spilling across the blue glow of the crystals. Too many of them. More than he could count.
His chest tightened, breath shallow. The dragon scale burned in his hands, searing like iron, but when he tried to drop it his fingers refused. It clung to him like it had been waiting.
The cloaked woman—her silver eyes fierce—snapped her hand toward him. "Do not fight it this time. Let it out."
Kaelen's head shook wildly. "I can't! If I do, I'll—"
"You'll live," she cut him short. "Or you'll burn. Choose now."
Then the guards poured into the chamber, their spears glowing with blue wards. Sparks jumped as they slammed the metal butts against the ground, voices chanting in unison. A wall of gold-and-black armor filled the entrance.
"There!" one shouted, pointing. "The dragon spawn and his witch! Take them both!"
Kaelen's heart lurched. Spawn. Always spawn. Not Kaelen, not boy, not even half-blood. Just a curse given flesh.
The first spear lunged. The ward's glow scraped across his arm, and the pain was enough to make him cry out. The fire inside surged in answer. His blood roared, his chest heaving, heat boiling out of his skin.
He lost hold.
The chamber lit up as flame burst from him, a wild torrent that whipped through the air like a storm breaking loose. Guards screamed as fire caught their cloaks and helms. Some dropped, rolling, others charged anyway, blades raised. The smell of burning leather and steel filled Kaelen's nose, sharp and choking.
He stumbled back, shaking, both hands blazing. The fire wouldn't stop. It poured from him like it had waited years to be free.
The woman darted forward, drawing a curved blade from her cloak. She moved with sharp precision, cutting down the first two guards who got close. "Focus, Kaelen! Shape it—don't let it shape you!"
But how? He had no training, no control. Fire lashed wherever his fear turned. It leapt up the walls, racing along the shelves, devouring scrolls and maps. It struck a guard's chest, burning through his armor until he crumpled, a blackened husk. Another screamed as the flame twisted around his spear and snapped it in two.
Kaelen's breaths came ragged, tears mixing with sweat on his face. "I didn't mean—"
"Then mean it!" the woman barked. She spun, slashing another guard across the throat. "Fire obeys only the will that claims it!"
But Kaelen's will was weak. Fear chewed at him, panic tearing his chest open. The fire spread wider, hotter, hungrier. It didn't care who it touched.
A jet of flame burst toward the table where the scroll lay. The woman lunged, knocking it aside just in time, but the blast caught her cloak, burning it at the edge. She hissed, batting out the flame with her bare hand. Skin blistered, her jaw clenched.
Kaelen's stomach dropped. "I—I hurt you—"
She turned, her face twisted with pain but her voice hard. "Then learn fast, boy, or you'll kill us both."
The guards kept coming. More filled the stairwell, their chants louder, wards flaring brighter. They weren't breaking, even with the flames cutting through them. One hurled a spear—it sang through the air and sank into Kaelen's shoulder.
White pain ripped through him. His body bent forward, but instead of falling, the fire screamed out of him in a wave so fierce the walls shook. The blast threw the front line of guards off their feet, slamming them into stone. The stairwell cracked with the force.
Kaelen's vision blurred. His body shook. He felt the flame slipping free of his flesh, bigger than him now, spilling into the room as if it wanted to swallow the world.
The woman tried to reach him, her hand raised. "Kaelen! Listen to me—pull it back! You're burning everything!"
But he couldn't hear her anymore. Only the fire. It roared in his ears, drowning out her voice, drowning out everything.
The heat drove the guards back, their chants breaking into curses and screams. One by one, they began to retreat up the stair, but Kaelen didn't stop. His flame chased them, a living storm, curling against the walls and licking the ceiling.
Then it turned—on her.
A stream of fire lashed from his arm, striking the woman square across the side. She cried out, spinning with the blow, crashing against the shelves. Her blade clattered across the floor.
Kaelen's breath caught. Horror struck him harder than any spear. "No—no, I didn't—"
She pushed herself up slowly, her cloak half-burned, blood trickling down her temple. Her silver eyes burned with both fury and fear.
"You fool," she rasped. "You'll bring this whole place down!"
And the stone above them groaned, cracks splintering across the ceiling. The fire was too much—the chamber couldn't hold it.
Kaelen dropped to his knees, clutching the burning scale to his chest. The heat pulsed harder, like it was alive, like it wanted more. His body shook with it. He couldn't tell where the flame ended and he began.
The last thing he saw was the woman staggering toward him, hand outstretched, as the ceiling shuddered.
Then the chamber split with a thunderous crack, stone raining down, and everything drowned in fire and falling rock.