She fixed her beady black eyes on the temple and suddenly rushed toward it, flying so fast she was little more than a dark blur. A spike of panic shot through me. Auric, Jasin, and Slade were in there, and they were no match for her. Doran flew after Nysa only seconds later, but one of his wings appeared to be injured, slowing him down. They might be able to distract her for a short time, but that was all.
“Heldor must have fallen,” Kira said.
“We need to take out Sark now!” I called to her.
“Get me close to him!”
Sark was momentarily stunned by the death of Heldor, but he quickly recovered and let out a roar of his own. He blasted us with unending fire, but I wove through his attacks, while Kira deflected them away from us. But every time I tried to get close to him, he darted away.
I reached for Auric’s magic through the bond and summoned thick clouds around us, hiding us from Sark’s gaze. He tried to burn them up with streams of fire, searching for us in the haze, and I flew past him, then swept back around. I approached him from behind as quietly as possible and drew up alongside him.
Kira launched herself off my back, using her air magic to guide her onto Sark’s crimson body. As she landed, he spun around and let out a harsh shriek, while she held on tight so she wouldn’t fall. He swiped for her with his claws, but she drew her sword and stabbed it into his back, forcing him to release another pained roar. Ice began to form around the wound, but then his entire body erupted into flames and melted the ice.
The bastard wouldn’t die, and I worried he would hurt Kira if this continued. She was immune to his fire, but not his fangs or claws. She yanked at her sword, unable to budge it from his scales, as he tried to knock her off him and slashed at her.
I flew up high then dove down toward him, pressing my wings close to my side. When I was seconds away from slamming into him, I shifted into human form, my black cloak flying behind me as I drew my swords. Flames scorched me and I covered myself with a layer of ice, but it quickly melted away. I had no air magic to guide me, but I landed on his back beside Kira, and stabbed both my swords into his thick neck.
Sark let out an unholy scream and the flames shot higher, burning me despite my own magic’s protection, but I refused to let go.
“This is for my family,” I said, as I dug my father’s twin blades deeper into Sark’s neck. Ice spread from the dual blades and across his body, consuming the flames. As his body froze, he tried to knock us off him, his wings beating at the sky and his talons reaching for us, fighting until the very end.
The last bit of life left Sark as the tips of his wings froze, and we began to plummet to the ground. Another mournful, horrible scream came from the Spirit Temple as the world rushed up at us. We were too low for me to safely turn to a dragon—we’d hit the ground before I could raise my wings.
Kira grabbed me around the waist, and I felt her magic wrap around us. We jumped off Sark’s back just before he struck the earth with a heavy thud. His body cracked into a million pieces of ice at the impact, and they all exploded outward with dirt and grass from the garden where he’d crashed. Kira and I leaped wide, her air magic guiding our landing, taking us away from the danger and safely planting us on a patch of grass nearby.
I straightened up and brushed myself off, while eyeing Kira to make sure she was all right. My clothes and magic had melted into my skin from the knee down, and now that the fight was over the pain from my burned and blackened skin became agony. None of that mattered though, because Sark was gone. The millions of pieces of ice that had once been his body melted away under the dim sunlight and sank into the earth, and the weight of my families’ deaths lifted off me. They were avenged, along with Kira’s family and friends, and everyone else who had lost their loved ones to the Black Dragon’s enforcer.
“Three Dragons defeated,” Kira said, with something like awe or disbelief in her voice as she stared at the Spirit Temple’s remains.
“The Black Dragon must be weakened now,” I said.
She took my hand and clenched it tight. “Time to face her.”
36
Kira
The second I touched Reven I realized how badly he’d been hurt by Sark’s fires. He stumbled forward anyway, but his feet and legs were so burned it must have been excruciating. Still, he shifted into his dragon form, his scales blackened in many places, and lowered himself so I could climb onto his back.
“You’re hurt,” I said, as I got on.
“We’ll worry about that later,” he said through gritted teeth.
As he took off, I placed my hands on his scales, knowing I wouldn’t be able to do enough to heal him, but hoping it would ease the pain. He flew into the open space between the columns of the Spirit Temple, where dragons fought, and magic flew.
Doran, Auric, and Slade all surrounded Nysa, who bared her fangs and hissed at them, before lashing out with ice and a swipe of her claws. If she touched them, she’d be able to use her death magic against them and drain their lives. Jasin was crumpled against a pillar, unconscious, injured, and in his human form.
Every time one of my mates got a blow in with their air or earth magic, I felt a sense of hope—before watching Nysa’s scales heal themselves almost immediately. She wasn’t immune to fire, earth, or air anymore, but the Spirit Goddess inside her made her powerful anyway. And with Doran’s water magic too, she was nearly unstoppable.
“Protect Jasin!” I told Reven, as I hopped off his back. I knew he would never listen if I told him to stand back and rest, but he might do this for me. “She still has water magic, and Jasin is weak against it!”
Reven hesitated, clearly itching to fight, but then let out a snarl and stomped over to stand guard over Jasin’s unconscious body. As he did, Slade was thrown back against one of the huge columns, bolts of ice piercing his wings. He hit the ground with a heavy thud that shook the foundation of the temple, sending debris falling from the cracked and broken ceiling.
I rushed into the battle just as Auric was tackled by my mother, her talons tearing into his scaled back, making him cry out. Ice formed around his body, holding him in place, and she opened her mouth to drain his life. I drew my sword and rushed her with a yell, desperate to save my mate, but she slapped me with her tail and sent me flying, along with my sword.
As I hit the ground, Doran slammed into Nysa’s body, knocking her into a pillar. It snapped under her weight and part of the roof caved in on her. But I knew she’d be back up soon.
All of my dragons were injured. I felt their pain through the bond, and there was nothing I could do about it. The Black Dragon was too strong for us to defeat—but I had to try anyway.
Doran flowed into his human form and bent down to pick up my sword. His hazel eyes met mine as he gripped it tight. “There’s only one of her mates left now.”
I realized at that instant what he was about to do and panic gripped my throat. “Don’t do this! There has to be another way!”
“We both know there isn’t. I love you, Kira.”
“Father, no!” I yelled as he stabbed the sword into his chest. Fire spread across his body instantly, engulfing him completely. I rushed toward him and made it to my father’s side seconds after he hit the ground, but by then it was already too late.
Through the fire I cradled Doran’s head in my hands, tears leaking down my face, as the light left his eyes. I’d once hated and feared him, and then I’d doubted him, and then I’d grown to love him. He knew I would never be able to kill him, even after he seemingly betrayed us, and he’d given his own life so we would have a chance.
As the fire vanished, I buried my head in my father’s chest, letting myself sob, my hands covered in his blood. Nysa screamed behind me, her voice filled with pain as she reared up out of the debris. I could only imagine how bad it must hurt to feel every single one of your mates’ deaths. I wished with every breath that it hadn’t come to this—or that I didn’t have to defeat my own mother now.
Enva’s wor
ds came back to me and I wondered if it was true that Nysa, deep down, didn’t want to fight me and just wanted this all to end. She hadn’t attacked me so far, and she hadn’t killed my mates. Maybe it was true. Maybe I could find a way to break through to her and convince her to stop.
I pressed a kiss to my father’s burnt forehead and whispered, “I love you too.” Then I pulled my sword from his chest and turned to face my mother.
Nysa stomped out of the rubble and shook it off, her tail whipping about her and her wings raised. Shadows clung to her black scales and her eyes glowed like the shades outside. She looked like she was about to tear the entire world down.
I moved in front of her, my sword at my side, and yelled, “Mother!”
She gazed down at me like I was an insignificant bug in her path, one that she could stomp at any moment. “You,” she said, putting so much venom in the word it burned me.
“I don’t want to fight you, mother, and I don’t think you want to fight me either. Neither one of us has to die today.”
“You’re wrong,” she said, yet she didn’t move to attack me.
Hope surged inside me and I stepped forward. “Free the Spirit Goddess and we can work together to defeat her. With the Gods’ help, we can split her into Life and Death, and send Death back to the Realm of the Dead.”
She dipped her head low, her sharp fangs glistening as they drew near. “You killed my mates,” she hissed. “And now I shall do the same to yours.”
She brought one of her huge clawed feet down on me, pinning me to the ground with her talons. As she loomed over me, she opened her mouth wide and began to drain my life—along with my mates’ through our bond. Inky blackness squirmed up from my throat and into her, making me weak. With my life being sucked out of me I couldn’t move, couldn’t breathe, couldn’t fight—I was going to die at the hands of my own mother.
Suddenly a wave as tall as the temple crashed into her, knocking her off me. Reven stumbled toward her in his dragon form, assaulting her with non-stop water, giving me a chance to recover. I drew in a deep breath as I got to my feet and reached for my life magic, letting it restore me.
There was no reasoning with Nysa. Whatever goodness that had once been inside of her was gone, lost to the corruption that had taken hold of her. It was time to save her from what she’d become.
I summoned all of the elements at once, causing my body to rise up into the air while fire and water swirled around me and huge chunks of the temple’s marble lifted to my side. Lightning danced in my hair. Lava gathered at my fingertips. Fog spread through the temple.
My mates moved behind me, facing Nysa down, each one battered and broken but still fighting. They gathered their magic and reached through the bond that linked us all to fortify it.
My connection with my mates gave me strength. The blessings of the Gods gave me power. Love and compassion gave me purpose. I collected all of that inside me, and then I released it at her, hitting her with every element. My mates joined in, blasting her from every side, making her arch her wings and scream. Fire and ice, earth and wind, lightning and lava, steam and storm—it all converged on her in one final push.
I reached out with my air magic and grabbed hold of my sword while Nysa’s body tried to heal the damage we inflicted on her. All four elements inside my blade leaped to my command and the sword flew through the air, hitting Nysa in the heart. It buried deep into her chest, and every element spread out from it, washing over her one by one.
She reared up and I prepared to strike again, worried it wouldn’t be enough—but then her body changed. She resumed her human form, so small and unassuming compared to the dragon she’d once been, and then collapsed.
My magic vanished and I hit the floor, then took off running toward her. The hilt of my sword protruded from her chest, but she still managed to cling to life, even as black blood seeped onto the cracked marble. I kneeled over her, and her eyes met mine.
“You don’t know what you’ve done.” Her voice was a gravely whisper laced with pain.
“I’m sorry,” I said, my throat closing with emotion. “I wish it didn’t have to end like this.”
“When I die, she’ll be released.” My mother coughed up blood, turned to the side, and spat it on the floor. “I’m the only thing holding her back, even now. When I let go, there will be no stopping her.”
I couldn’t help but rest my hand upon her head, touching the hair that looked so much like my own. “Rest now. You’ve held her long enough. The Gods will help us.”
“The Gods.” She let out a bitter laugh. “The Gods lie.”
I didn’t know what to say to that, so I simply stroked her head as the life drained out of her. I sensed my mates moving behind me, but they gave us space.
“Forgive me, Kira,” my mother said, her voice weakening. “It was the only way.”
Her eyes fluttered shut, and with one last gasp, she was gone.
37
Kira
The black blood pooling on the ground beneath Nysa began to move. At first it was only a few drops darting across the floor, small enough to make me think it was a trick of the light. But then more blood joined it in a flowing line, before converging in the center of the temple. I backed away from Nysa's body slowly as it was drained, and the puddle before me grew and grew. It lifted up and began to take form, becoming a massive dragon that filled the temple with inky darkness.
“Get ready,” I told my mates, who were all in their human forms now.
They spread out around the Spirit Goddess as her body dripped black blood. She raised her head and let out a terrifying roar that shook the world.
One by one the Gods appeared. The volcanic Fire God, made of lava and ash. The stormy Air God. The sparkling, crystalized Earth God. And finally, the fluid Water God.
The Spirit Goddess swung her head around, taking in the temple and her Gods. “After centuries of imprisonment I am finally free.”
Power seeped from her body with every bit of dark blood that dripped down her limbs. Revulsion, dread, and a sense of wrongness made me bend over and gag. It was like touching the bone cage, but a thousand times worse. My instincts screamed at me that this was unnatural, that I needed to get away from it as quickly as possible, but I couldn’t run from this. I had to face her.
“You must split the two halves of the Spirit Goddess,” I told the Gods, trying not to gag again. “Hurry!”
“No,” the Fire God said, with a finality in his voice that made me tremble.
“No?” Reven asked.
“We have no wish for her to be separated again,” the Fire God said. “Like this, she is whole.”
“She's been corrupted,” Auric said. “There’s barely any life left in her, only death.”
“She is our mate,” the Earth God said, his voice a deep rumble.
“But you said you would help us separate the Life and Death sides of her,” Jasin said.
“We needed you to defeat the Dragons so that our Goddess would be freed,” the Water God said.
“You lied to us,” Slade said.
“We are the Gods, and you are meant to serve us,” the Air God said. “This is why we chose you.”
The Spirit Goddess loomed over us, making me feel small and insignificant. “It's time for the Gods to return to power. We've been forgotten for too long, but we shall be worshipped again.” She snarled at us. “Now kneel.”
Nysa was right—the Gods had lied to us. We'd made a mistake by trusting them. They were just as corrupted as the Spirit Goddess was, just as Nysa's mates had been corrupted too. But unlike Nysa and her Dragons, there was no way to kill a God. They’d created us and gave us a small fraction of their powers. We didn't stand a chance against them.
There was only one thing for me to do.
“We will never kneel,” I said.
“Then you will die.” The Spirit Goddess wrapped one of her claws around me and lifted me into the air. “We no longer need the Dragons.”
At the Spirit Goddess’s touch, the revulsion became so strong I thought I might pass out, but I pushed through it. “Do it now!” I yelled at my Dragons.
My mates each formed a ring around the Gods using their elements. Doran had given them a quick lesson in how to imprison the Gods, and though it would be more effective in the temples, this would hold them temporarily. As the fire danced around Jasin, he yelled, “Water God, I bind you in fire!” Auric imprisoned the Earth God at the same moment, the wind whipping his hair around, while Slade and Reven did the same to the Air and Fire Gods.
With the Gods imprisoned, the Spirit Goddess was weakened. But instead of fighting her, I drew her into me. It was like the opposite of healing my mates. For them, I gave up some of my life magic and my energy. Now I grabbed hold of the life and death magic that surrounded me and sucked it in. I drained the Spirit Goddess, like the Black Dragon had drained the lives of my soldiers.
Her body broke apart into black blood, which streamed into my mouth, my eyes, my nose, my ears. Her essence blasted me so strong my arms flew to my sides, my body buffeted by the nonstop stream of magic that coursed through me. I hovered in the air as every last drop of that disgusting blood filled me.
In the distance I heard yelling and saw magic flying, but nothing could hurt me now. Anything that dared to injure me I healed instantly. Not even the other Gods could stand against me now.
“Stop, Kira!” Jasin yelled.
Her Elemental Dragons: The Complete Series Page 62
