The wind whipped my face, filled with dust and the stench of sulfur.
We were still descending the mountain—our steps hurried, our hearts beating as one. Each stone rolled beneath our boots and clattered down the slope in sharp fragments. Behind me, the column of elves formed a silent, compact line—almost unreal, as if fear itself had stolen their voices.
Then, the air changed.
A rumble spread through the sky, so deep it made the bones vibrate. Not thunder—something older, heavier. The kind of sound the earth itself seems to recognize.
I looked up.
Two flashes tore through the clouds. Two colossal shapes ripping the heavens apart. Their scales cast reflections that set the entire valley ablaze: one an almost liquid azure, the other a blazing red.
I didn't need to think to know who they were.
Ka'ha'Uhala, the Dragon Princess.Sahr'Veyra, the Headmistress of the Academy.
Both in forms far larger than when we'd first met them at the Academy.
