The first hunter appeared at the chamber entrance—black tactical gear, silver-lined visor, a crossbow that hummed with electromagnetic energy. Maya felt the wrongness of the weapon like acid on her skin, but instead of recoiling, she found herself calculating angles and vulnerabilities with a predator's instinct.
"Seven dragons," the hunter announced into his comm unit, his voice mechanically distorted. "Confirmed light dragon manifestation. Requesting immediate backup."
"Too late for that," Maya said softly, and let her human form finally dissolve completely.
The transformation was nothing like the gradual awakening she'd experienced upstairs. This was instantaneous, reality bending around her as flesh became scale, bone became wing, and her consciousness expanded into something vast a
