POV: Serina
"Choose, Dragon-Keeper. Your brother, the hatchling, or your dragon. Who dies first?"
Aldric's smile was the cruelest thing I'd ever seen. Finn struggled against the knife at his throat. Little Azura cried on the ground, too young to understand why she couldn't move. And Kaelion knelt before me, forced down by ancient magic, rage and helplessness burning in his golden eyes.
I couldn't breathe. Couldn't think. The silver power inside me was screaming, but I didn't know how to use it.
Someone is going to die.
"Five seconds," Aldric said pleasantly.
Then Azura did something that broke my heart. She looked right at me with huge, terrified eyes and made a soft chirping sound. Like she was asking me to save her.
She was just a baby.
"NO!" The word exploded from my chest with a force I didn't understand.
Silver light erupted from my body like a bomb. Every guard flew backward. The knife at Finn's throat shattered. And Aldric's control spell—the one forcing Kaelion and Azura to kneel—broke.
I felt it snap like a rope pulled too tight.
Kaelion surged to his feet with a roar that shook the warehouse. Black fire wreathed his body as he shifted—not fully into dragon form, but something in between. Scales rippled across his skin. His eyes blazed molten gold. Claws extended from his fingers.
"You made," he snarled at Aldric, "a terrible mistake."
Aldric's smile finally faltered.
Kaelion moved so fast I couldn't track it. One second he was beside me, the next he had Aldric by the throat, lifting him off the ground.
"Run!" Kaelion shouted at me. "Take the hatchling and your brother and RUN!"
Guards were getting back up, raising weapons. More were pouring through the warehouse doors. At least a hundred now.
I didn't think. I just acted.
I ran to Azura first. The little dragon was trying to fly but kept tumbling, her wings too new and untested. I scooped her up—she was surprisingly light, all wings and scales—and she immediately curled against my chest, chirping frantically.
"Finn!" I screamed.
My brother scrambled to his feet and ran to me. I grabbed his hand.
"We can't leave Kaelion—" Finn started.
"He can handle himself! Move!"
We ran for the back exit. Behind us, I heard Kaelion roar and the sound of guards screaming. Black fire exploded through the warehouse. The whole building shook.
We burst outside into chaos.
The entire slum district was burning. Not from Kaelion's fire—from the magisters' attack. They were torching homes, dragging people into the streets, searching for us.
"This way!" A voice hissed from the shadows.
I spun and saw Mira—my friend, the exiled healer—gesturing frantically from an alley. Blood streaked her face and her healing robes were torn.
"What happened to you?" I gasped.
"They raided my clinic looking for you. Killed two of my patients when I wouldn't tell them anything." Her eyes were hard with anger I'd never seen before. "Come on. I know a way out."
We followed her through twisting alleys, Azura clutched against my chest and Finn's hand tight in mine. Behind us, the sounds of battle grew louder. Kaelion wasn't holding back anymore.
"Is that really him?" Mira panted as we ran. "The World-End Dragon?"
"Yes."
"And you freed him?"
"By accident!"
"Saints preserve us." But Mira didn't sound scared. She sounded... hopeful?
We emerged at the edge of the slums where broken walls led to the wild forests beyond. Freedom was right there.
Then someone stepped out of the shadows, blocking our path.
Lady Isadora. The woman who'd held Azura captive. Up close, she was even more terrifying—beautiful and cold, with magic crackling around her hands like red lightning.
"Going somewhere, thief?" she purred.
I pushed Finn behind me. Azura hissed at Isadora, showing baby fangs.
"Let us pass," I said, trying to sound brave.
Isadora laughed. "You freed my prize hatchling. Do you have any idea how much trouble I went through to steal that egg? I was going to use her blood to make myself immortal. And you just... took her."
"She's not yours!"
"Neither is that dragon mark on your chest. But here we are." Isadora's smile turned vicious. "Aldric wants you alive, but he said nothing about your brother or the healer. I think I'll kill them first. Make you watch."
She raised her hand, magic gathering into a lethal ball of red fire.
"No!" I thrust my hand out instinctively.
Silver light shot from my palm—wild, uncontrolled, pure power with no direction. It hit Isadora's spell and the two magics collided in an explosion that threw us all backward.
I hit the ground hard, ears ringing. Finn was crying somewhere. Mira was groaning. And Azura was chirping in panic against my chest.
I forced myself up and saw Isadora doing the same. She was bleeding from a cut on her head, and she looked furious.
"You little rat," she hissed. "I'm going to enjoy tearing that power out of you piece by—"
A massive shape crashed down between us.
Kaelion, in full dragon form. Huge, terrifying, covered in scales like living night. His wings blocked out the burning sky. His roar made my bones vibrate.
But he was hurt. I could see wounds all over his body, bleeding silver blood. Aldric had done that. Even with his power awakened, fighting that many magisters and guards had cost him.
"Get. Away. From. Her." Each word rumbled like thunder.
Isadora actually backed up a step. Even she wasn't stupid enough to fight a dragon alone.
But then more figures emerged from the smoke and flames. Aldric, supported by two magisters. Commander Drace with fifty armed guards. And more red-robed mages I didn't recognize.
We were surrounded.
"Enough," Aldric called out, his voice magically amplified. "Kaelion, surrender now and I promise the girl and her family will live. Keep fighting, and I'll kill them all while you watch. Again."
That last word hit Kaelion like a blade. I felt his anguish through our bond—memories of another time, another person he'd failed to save.
Lyra. He's talking about Lyra.
"Don't do it," I whispered. "Kaelion, please don't—"
"I'm sorry, little thief." His mental voice was broken. "I can't watch you die too."
"NO!"
But before Kaelion could surrender, something impossible happened.
The ground exploded.
Not with magic—with roots. Massive tree roots erupted from beneath the earth, wrapping around guards, smashing through ranks, creating chaos. The entire battlefield turned into a forest in seconds.
And standing at the edge of the new-growth trees was a woman I'd never seen before. Old, with white hair and eyes that glowed green. She wore simple robes and carried a staff that pulsed with earth magic.
"That's enough," she said calmly. Her voice wasn't loud, but everyone heard it clearly. "You've terrorized these people long enough, Aldric."
"Elder Thorne," Aldric's face went pale. "You were banished—"
"Banished for refusing to help you drain dragons, yes. I remember." She smiled coldly. "Did you really think I'd stay away forever while you murdered innocents?"
Elder Thorne slammed her staff into the ground. More roots erupted, creating a barrier between us and the magisters.
"Run, child," she called to me. "I'll hold them off. Take your dragon and flee north to the Whispering Mountains. There are others like me there—rebels who've been waiting for the Dragon-Keeper to awaken."
"But—"
"GO!"
Kaelion shifted back to human form, grabbed me with one arm and Finn with the other, and ran. Mira followed, gasping for breath. Behind us, I heard Aldric screaming orders and Elder Thorne's defiant laughter.
We ran until the burning slums disappeared behind us. Ran until my legs gave out and Kaelion had to carry me. Ran until we were deep in the dark forest, surrounded by shadows and silence.
Finally, we collapsed in a small clearing. Finn immediately fell asleep, exhausted. Mira slumped against a tree, checking her supplies. Azura curled up in my lap, finally calm.
Kaelion stood apart from us, staring back the way we'd come. Blood still dripped from his wounds.
"We're homeless now," I said quietly. "Everything we had is gone."
"You're alive," Kaelion replied. "That's what matters."
"Is it?" I looked at the baby dragon sleeping in my lap. "How many people died tonight because of me? Because I freed you?"
"Those deaths are on Aldric, not you." Kaelion's voice was hard. "He chose to burn the slums. He chose to terrorize innocents. You chose to save your brother. Never apologize for that."
I wanted to believe him. But I could still smell smoke. Still hear screams.
"What do we do now?" Finn asked sleepily, barely awake.
Kaelion finally looked at me. "We survive. We get stronger. And we find these rebels Elder Thorne mentioned." His golden eyes burned with determination. "Then we burn Aldric's empire to ashes."
Mira laughed—a broken, slightly hysterical sound. "We're really doing this? Declaring war on the most powerful mage in the continent?"
"Yes," Kaelion and I said at the same time.
We looked at each other, and I felt something shift between us through the bond. Understanding. Partnership. Maybe even trust.
"The Whispering Mountains are three weeks' travel north," Mira said, recovering herself. "Through dangerous territory. We'll need supplies, weapons—"
"We'll manage," Kaelion interrupted. "Dragons are very good at surviving."
I stroked Azura's scales gently. She chirped in her sleep, trusting and innocent.
"I won't let them hurt you again," I promised her. "Any of you."
It was a huge promise from someone who barely controlled her own power. But I meant it with everything I had.
Kaelion smiled—actually smiled—for the first time since I'd met him. "You're learning, little thief."
Then his expression changed. His head snapped toward the forest, eyes blazing.
"What—" I started.
"We're not alone."
Shapes emerged from the trees. Six of them. But they weren't guards or magisters.
They were people dressed in dark leather, weapons drawn, faces hidden by masks. And on their chests, they all wore the same symbol: a broken chain wrapped around a dragon claw.
The leader pulled off their mask.
It was Commander Drace. The man who'd been hunting us. Aldric's personal enforcer.
I scrambled back, pulling Finn close. Kaelion moved in front of us, ready to fight despite his wounds.
But Drace held up both hands, showing he was unarmed.
"Wait," he said urgently. "I'm not here to fight."
"Then why are you here?" Kaelion snarled.
Drace took a deep breath. Then he did something that shocked me to my core.
He knelt.
"I'm here to join you," he said quietly. "I'm here to help you destroy Grand Magister Aldric." He looked up, and his eyes were full of pain and rage and determination. "Because fifteen years ago, he killed my little sister using the same curse he put on your brother. And I've been waiting for someone brave enough to stand against him."
He reached into his coat and pulled out something that made my heart stop.
A glowing crystal. Pulsing with trapped magic.
Dragon magic.
"This is a fragment of the seal that held Kaelion," Drace said. "Aldric has six more. If he gathers them all and performs the ritual, he can re-seal any dragon permanently. Even one bonded to a Keeper."
Kaelion's face went white.
"He's planning to recapture you at the next blood moon," Drace continued. "That's in two weeks. And this time, he won't just seal you. He's going to drain you completely and transfer all your power into himself."
"He can't—" I started.
"He can. I've seen the ritual circle. It's already prepared." Drace looked at each of us in turn. "So here's the truth: you don't have three weeks to reach the mountains. You have two weeks to get strong enough to stop him. Because if you fail..."
He didn't finish.
He didn't need to.
If we failed, Kaelion would be sealed forever. His power would fuel Aldric for eternity. And everyone I loved would die.
Two weeks to save the world.
I looked at Finn sleeping peacefully, at baby Azura curled against me, at Mira's exhausted face, at Kaelion's determined eyes.
Two weeks.
We were so dead.