Chapter 4: The Blood Dragon
1169 Words
The Blood Dragon stepped into the moonlit cavern with the slow confidence of a creature that feared nothing.
Its scales were as black as obsidian, fractured by glowing crimson veins that pulsed like a heartbeat beneath its hide. Every breath it exhaled carried sparks of scarlet fire that hissed against the damp stone floor. Behind it stood three cloaked figures, their faces hidden beneath deep crimson hoods embroidered with silver runes.
The cavern fell silent.
Even the freed Shadow Wolves lowered their heads and whimpered.
Lira tightened her grip around the Crystal Heart hanging from her neck. Beside her, Kael instinctively moved closer. Their shoulders brushed for the briefest moment before they stepped apart, neither acknowledging the gesture.
The ancient Moon Dragon spread its enormous wings.
"You should not have come here, Varyth."
The Blood Dragon smiled, revealing rows of razor-sharp teeth.
"I go wherever destiny leads me."
"So you choose war."
"I choose freedom."
His crimson eyes settled on Lira and Kael.
"They carry what belongs to me."
Kael stepped forward, flames dancing across his hands.
"The Crystal Heart chose us."
"No."
Varyth chuckled.
"It merely borrowed you."
The three cloaked strangers raised their staffs simultaneously.
Dark magic flooded the cavern.
The walls trembled.
The underground lake churned violently.
Without warning, black chains erupted from the water and shot toward the Moon Dragon.
"Move!" Kael shouted.
The ancient dragon leaped into the air, but one chain wrapped around its wing while another coiled tightly around its neck.
The runes burned with crimson light.
The Moon Dragon roared, shaking the mountain itself.
Lira had never heard pain like that before.
"It's draining his magic," she whispered.
Rowan's words from years ago echoed in her memory.
Blood magic never takes... it steals.
The cloaked witches weren't attacking.
They were feeding.
---
"Kael!"
He didn't wait for another word.
With a deafening roar, he shifted.
Golden fire exploded around him.
Massive wings burst from his back, scattering embers across the cavern as bronze scales raced over his skin. Within seconds, the young dragon stood where the man had been.
Smaller than Varyth.
Much younger.
But no less determined.
He launched himself into the air, breathing a torrent of blazing fire toward the crimson chains.
The flames struck.
Nothing happened.
Varyth laughed.
"Royal dragonfire."
He sounded almost nostalgic.
"I haven't seen that in centuries."
The Blood Dragon inhaled deeply before releasing a stream of crimson fire.
The two blasts collided.
Gold.
Red.
The explosion shattered crystal pillars throughout the cavern.
Kael was thrown backward, crashing through a wall of stone.
"Kael!"
Lira started toward him, but the magical bond around their wrists suddenly tightened.
He groaned somewhere beneath the rubble.
"I'm alive..."
She sighed in relief.
"Barely."
"I've had worse."
She rolled her eyes.
"You're impossible."
"And you're worried."
"I am not."
"You sound worried."
"I sound annoyed."
"Same thing."
Despite everything happening around them...
He laughed.
She couldn't understand how.
---
The Moon Dragon struggled against the enchanted chains.
"Lira..."
Its voice echoed inside her mind.
"The Crystal Heart."
She looked down at the glowing crystal.
"What about it?"
"It was never created..."
"It was divided."
Confusion crossed her face.
"What do you mean?"
The dragon's silver eyes met hers.
"Long ago..."
"There was only one dragon."
Lira stared.
"One?"
"The First Dragon."
The cavern seemed to grow colder as the ancient dragon continued.
"When darkness threatened the world, the First Dragon sacrificed its heart to seal it away."
"The heart shattered into two pieces."
"One became fire."
"The other became moonlight."
Lira instinctively touched the glowing crystal.
"Those pieces..."
The dragon nodded.
"They have finally found each other again."
Her heart skipped.
She slowly turned toward Kael.
His crystal glowed with the same light.
The pieces were calling to one another.
---
Varyth watched with growing interest.
"So..."
"The prophecy is true."
The Blood Dragon folded his wings.
"I was beginning to believe it was only a fairy tale."
One of the cloaked figures stepped forward.
"My lord."
"They must not unite the Heart."
"I know."
His smile vanished.
"Kill them."
The three cloaked witches attacked simultaneously.
Bolts of crimson magic raced across the cavern.
Lira raised a shimmering barrier just before the spells struck.
The impact sent her sliding backward.
Kael burst from the rubble in human form, tackling one of the attackers before another spell could be cast.
Steel clashed against enchanted staffs.
Magic exploded in every direction.
The freed Shadow Wolves joined the battle, leaping between the witches and the wounded Moon Dragon.
One wolf was struck by dark magic and collapsed.
Another dragged it to safety.
"They're protecting us," Lira whispered.
"They've chosen a side."
---
Kael ducked beneath another spell and drove his shoulder into a cloaked witch.
The hood slipped back.
His eyes widened.
"...Impossible."
The witch couldn't have been older than twenty.
Fear filled her eyes.
Not hatred.
Not cruelty.
Fear.
She whispered apologetically.
"I'm sorry."
Then the crimson rune carved into her neck ignited.
Her expression twisted into agony.
She screamed.
Dark magic erupted from her body against her own will.
Kael froze.
"She's being controlled."
The realization hit Lira instantly.
"The runes!"
"They aren't followers."
"They're prisoners."
Varyth sighed dramatically.
"I truly dislike explaining things."
He raised one claw.
The young witch immediately collapsed unconscious.
"I saved her."
He looked almost offended.
"You would have killed her."
"You enslaved her!" Lira shouted.
"I offered purpose."
"You stole her choice."
His smile disappeared.
"Choice is a luxury."
---
The Moon Dragon roared one final time.
Silver light erupted from its body.
The enchanted chains shattered.
The force of the explosion knocked everyone off their feet.
Varyth slid backward several yards before digging his claws into the stone.
The ancient dragon landed heavily between Lira and Kael.
"You cannot defeat him today."
Lira's voice shook.
"Then what do we do?"
"You survive."
The Moon Dragon lifted its head toward the cavern ceiling.
"There is another path."
With a sweep of its tail, a hidden tunnel opened behind them.
"Leave."
Kael hesitated.
"We can't leave you."
"You must."
The dragon smiled sadly.
"The world has waited five hundred years."
"It can wait a few moments longer."
Varyth spread his wings.
"I will find them."
"I know," the Moon Dragon replied.
"But not tonight."
The dragon inhaled deeply.
Its entire body began glowing silver.
Lira's eyes widened.
"Kael..."
"What is it?"
"It's going to collapse the cavern."
The Moon Dragon looked at them one last time.
"Guard the Heart."
"Trust one another."
"And when the time comes..."
"It will not be your strength that saves this world."
"It will be your love."
The cavern erupted in blinding silver light.
Kael grabbed Lira's hand.
Together they sprinted toward the hidden tunnel as stone crashed down behind them.
The last thing either of them heard before the entrance collapsed was Varyth's furious roar shaking the mountain.
Neither of them noticed that their intertwined hands continued holding each other long after they reached safety beneath the moonlit sky.
- Writer
