Kier's POV
The moment my hand touched Vash'thar's skull, I realized I'd made a terrible mistake.
His soul didn't flow into me like water. It crashed into me like a tsunami.
FINALLY, his voice roared through my mind, so loud I thought my head would split open. FREEDOM—
Then he felt what I was. What my soul really was.
Wait. No. You're not strong enough. You can't—STOP—
Too late.
My broken soul had been starving my entire life. And now it found a feast.
It reached out like a thousand hungry mouths and started pulling. Not gently stealing fragments like I usually did. This was violent. Desperate. My soul was trying to devour a god to fill the holes inside me.
Pain exploded through every nerve in my body. It felt like being struck by lightning while drowning in fire while freezing to death all at once.
Vash'thar's memories flooded into me:
Flying through storm clouds, lightning dancing between my claws—
Burning a city that refused to pay tribute, their screams like music—
Three centuries of war against the first Dragonsouled, watching my children die—
Betrayal—captured by someone I trusted—
Chains. Machines. The first needle piercing my scales—
Eight hundred years of torture. Eight hundred years of being slowly eaten alive while staying conscious. Eight hundred years of begging for death—
"STOP!" I screamed out loud. "It's too much! You're too—"
I warned you! His voice in my mind was panicking now. You're too small! Your soul can't hold me! We'll both—
The machines around us started screaming. Alarms blared so loud my ears rang. Red lights flashed everywhere.
CRITICAL CONTAINMENT BREACH. SOUL TRANSFER DETECTED. LOCKDOWN INITIATED.
Metal walls slammed down over the exits. The floor vibrated. Somewhere above us, I heard running feet. Guards. Lots of them.
But I couldn't stop. My soul and Vash'thar's were tangled together now, pulling at each other like two drowning people fighting over a life raft. If I let go, the soul trap would kill me. If I kept pulling, I might rip us both apart.
Listen to me! Vash'thar's voice cut through the chaos. Stop fighting! Stop trying to consume me!
"I can't! My soul won't stop—"
Then don't consume. MERGE. Let our souls tangle together instead of one eating the other. It's the only way we both survive!
"That's impossible! Souls don't merge! One always destroys—"
THEN WE DIE TOGETHER!
His roar shook the entire cavern. Chunks of rock fell from the ceiling. The machines sparked and exploded, spraying green liquid everywhere.
I made a choice. Instead of pulling his soul into mine, I opened myself completely. Let him in. All of him.
It felt like my chest was splitting open. My back arched. My mouth opened in a scream that turned into a roar—a sound no human throat should make.
Scales erupted across my arms. Black like storm clouds, edged in gold. My fingers stretched, bones cracking and reforming into claws. My shoulder blades exploded with pain as something huge and heavy tore through my skin.
Wings.
I had wings.
What are you? Vash'thar's voice was filled with shock. You're human but also— Your mother's blood is activating. You're transforming. You're becoming—
"I don't care what I'm becoming!" My voice came out wrong—deeper, echoing, layered with a growl underneath. "Just help me not die!"
Too late for that. But his tone changed. Less panicked. More focused. Feel that? We're not consuming each other. We're weaving together. Your human soul is wrapping around my dragon soul like... like two threads twisted into one rope.
He was right. I could feel it happening. His memories were becoming my memories. His emotions were bleeding into mine. His ancient rage at being tortured mixed with my desperate need to save Riven. His guilt over the cities he'd burned mixed with my guilt over the souls I'd stolen.
We were becoming something new. Something neither of us understood.
The cavern door exploded inward. Guards poured through—at least twenty of them, wearing armor that glowed with magic. Their eyes shone gold. Dragonsouled. Not human. Dragons wearing human bodies.
"The hybrid is attempting soul-theft!" one of them shouted. "Kill it before the merge completes!"
They raised their hands. Fire and lightning gathered in their palms.
Fly, Vash'thar's voice was calm now. Like he'd made peace with something. Use my wings. I'll guide you.
"I don't know how—"
You don't have to know. I know. Just trust me.
The guards unleashed their attack. Fire and lightning filled the cavern, aimed straight at me.
My wings—Vash'thar's wings—spread wide and PUSHED. The force of it launched me into the air so fast my stomach lurched. The attacks passed beneath me, scorching the floor where I'd been standing.
I was flying. Actually flying.
Bank left! Vash'thar commanded. My body obeyed before my brain understood. Now dive toward the door—faster—FASTER—
We shot through the mass of guards like an arrow. They scattered, shouting. I felt claws—my claws—rake across someone's armor. Felt the satisfaction of Vash'thar's predator instincts as we drew blood.
No! I thought desperately. I don't want to kill them!
They're trying to kill YOU!
I don't care! I'm not a murderer!
Too late, little hybrid. His voice was bitter. The moment you touched me, you became a killer. That's what devouring souls means. That's what I am. And now it's what you are too.
"I don't accept that!" I screamed out loud.
We burst through the door into the corridor. More guards ahead. Behind. Everywhere.
Then prove me wrong, Vash'thar said quietly. But do it while flying, because we're out of time.
My chest suddenly exploded with pain. The black cracks—the ones that had been killing me—flared bright gold. But instead of spreading, they started closing. Sealing up.
Your soul was degrading because it was incomplete, Vash'thar explained as we flew down the corridor, barely avoiding lightning bolts. But my soul is filling the gaps. We're healing each other. You give me a body to inhabit. I give you the missing pieces of your soul.
"But I can feel you in my head! You're not gone! You're still—"
Conscious. Aware. Trapped inside you. He laughed, and it sounded half-mad. I asked for death. Instead I got reincarnation as a criminal's passenger. The universe has a sick sense of humor.
We burst out of the Keep's lower levels into a massive hall. And standing at the center, surrounded by guards, was someone I recognized.
Riven.
But his eyes were glowing gold. Dragon eyes.
"I'm sorry, Kier," he said, and he actually sounded sad. "I didn't think you'd make it this far. The trap should have killed you. The guards should have stopped you. But you actually did it. You merged with him."
"You knew?" My voice shook. "You knew about the trap?"
"I designed it." He spread his hands. "I've been preparing you for eighteen years. Every soul you stole made yours stronger. Every crime I taught you made you desperate enough to take risks. I needed you broken enough to devour a god. Because only a soul that's already consumed dragon essence can hold what comes next."
Behind him, guards were wheeling something out. A massive crystalline container filled with glowing energy. Not liquid. Pure soul essence.
No, Vash'thar whispered in horror. That's Khal'vyrax. The Dragon Emperor. They've been keeping him in stasis too.
"You're going to consume the Emperor," Riven said, walking closer. "Willingly or not. With Vash'thar already inside you, you're strong enough now. And when the Emperor takes over your body, I'll finally be free of my mission. Three thousand years of servitude, finished."
The container began opening. The soul-energy inside pulsed like a heartbeat.
"Riven, please," I begged. "You said you cared about me. You said—"
"I do care. That's why I made sure you'd survive the process." His smile was gentle and horrible at once. "The girl I raised will die. But you'll live forever as part of him. Isn't that better than dying in six months?"
The Emperor's soul essence reached toward me like a living thing. Hungry. Aware. Ancient beyond comprehension.
And inside my head, Vash'thar started laughing—a broken, despairing sound.
You freed me from torture, he said. Just in time to be enslaved again. Well done, little hybrid. Well done.
The Emperor's soul touched my skin, and everything went white.