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~Vorzyr~

Screams echoed hauntingly through the mountain range.

Desperate cries of terror and pain, of helplessness.

Even as I was spinning out, white lightning from the interloper burning through me, the calls belonging to Nyx were unmistakable.

But they weren’t for himself.

They were for Kai.

I’d seen that attacking force send him careening off the mountain a split-second before I’d been blasted hundreds of feet away.

Adrenaline surged, tearing through me, and slamming into panic, knowing I had mere seconds to break from the white lightning making me spin out. It was compromising my ability to come to a stop and take back control of my movements.

I looked out through the chaos of it all to see that Nyx wouldn’t be able to help Kai.

He was injured, crawling through the snow, struggling just to do that, and a trail of blood followed in his wake.

It was down to me only.

Frustration, outrage, and terror for those I cared about deeply thundered through me like a living, breathing entity. It called to my primal side, triggering it in a major way.

It was something that would normally have been colossally destructive.

But in this moment, with what needed to be done, it took on another form.

The ferocious need to protect my new family at all costs.

To do whatever it took.

As I tapped into the primal urge to do so, my red magical flame erupted, bursting through me in a heady rush, one so powerful that the glow was violent and wild. It came along with that same feeling of dominance that had taken me over when I’d cut through the Celestial infection that had hurt Kai.

And then I felt it tear into the white lightning assaulting me, a rush of my red flame basically disintegrating it within split seconds.

That was all I needed to regain control.

In the next moment, I was able to stop spinning out, and I came to a jarring stop.

The moment I broke free, a dragon roar tore from my throat.

Kai!

I tracked his scent and soared in that direction.

And then I caught sight of him hurtling off the mountain and headed for some jagged rocks at the bottom of the valley below.

He was clearly unconscious, so he couldn’t employ his magic to stop the brutal descent.

Thankfully, his leather trench coat was providing some wind resistance, slowing down the fall somewhat.

I hurtled forward with all the speed at my disposal, my wings cutting through the air and the distance, while Nyx’s pained and panicked cries for Kai rang out hauntingly all around me, intensifying every moment, pushing me on all the more.

Finally, I was within reach, just as he was about ten feet from hitting the jagged rocks and being crushed and impaled to shit.

I snagged him around his waist with my right claw, curling it carefully to keep from crushing him. My power was such that it could break the motherfucking earth into pieces, so I always had to be mindful when interacting with non-dragon forms. Especially with Kai in this state, unable to use his magic to safeguard against my might.