Onyx soared low across the field again the other way. His wings stretched wide like a living storm cloud, casting a shadow that swallowed the camp whole. Nova was glowing gold, her silver-blonde hair fell around her, not affected by the wind.
She rode the air as if gravity had surrendered to her will.
No rider had ever done this. Not even the oldest, boldest warriors of Redmoon. No one had ever seen this.
They all knew this was history, and they were watching it unfold.
No one moved. No one breathed.
Below, Hyran and Aeron felt the surge before they saw it—raw, radiant, ancient. They looked at one another, eyes wide with knowing, and shouted in unison—
"Channel into her!"
Without hesitation mages moved their hands towards her, with more joining from other packs —channeling everything into Nova. Jax's body pulsed sapphire and gold before he was aware what was happening. Fin's pulsed brighter overpowering them all.
Onyx soared straight upward—vertical, piercing the heavens like an arrow.
There was a loud thunderclap as if from the gods. Nova held out her hand and from the heavens, light descended. Not just light, but power. A white beam stronger than the sun landing onto her hand.
"Holy shit." Jax said, his jaw dropping.
Then, an arrow formed on her palm. The gold pulsed, alive, born of her will, her ancestors, her people.
No one breathed. The beam of light stopped.
She notched the arrow.
Aimed.
Then, she fired.
The arrow went hundreds of feet, further than possible, so fast it was a blur. Gold magic tailed behind it.
All enemies forces and dark mages froze, staring. No one could look away.
It hit in the center of the void that had been growing larger, sending a shockwave backwards. The void let out an unnatural shriek and stopped growing. Then, screams of terror from dark mages and corrupted beasts trying to claw their way through.
Too late.
Onyx soared over the battlefield in a wide, sweeping arc—his wings slicing through the sky like blades. Nova stood atop his head, unmoving.
Another beam of light came down, landing on Nova's palm, and a second arrow formed.
She notched it. Aimed.
Then, she fired.
The second golden arrow ripped through the sky with a gold tail behind it. But this one fractured into a thousand streams before impact, forming a brilliant, celestial net that snapped over the gaping void.
Anything that touched the gold net disintegrated. Beasts howled in agony, their blackened forms disintegrating in gold fire. Dark mages burst like ink in sunlight, their screams strangled by divine light.
The armies below had fallen silent—every eye fixed on a little queen. Fin swallowed, unsure how to process what he just witnessed.
Xeon commented in his mind.
Xeon: Gods, I see it now. Those arrows. Her instincts. All of it. That's your power and not hers. You're channeling your instincts to her. Mindlink is down, so that's all she's going on.
Fin: How is she following my lead? That would have not been my instinct or crossed my mind!
Fin huffed, shaking his head.
Fin: You're not at all alarmed by any of this? Nova on a dragon's head, in middle of a battle?
Xeon: I don't like it. She's following someone's lead. If not you, then who? The Redmoon Heir? And at the rate they are coming, everyone here would be killed.
Fin: My instinct is to get her out of this now. Into a portal back to Shadowclaw.
Xeon: I sense another innate force in you. Instinct, even if you don't see it yet.
Fin didn't answer. He knew in his core that Xeon was right, but it didn't make this any easier. His Nova was in danger and he didn't like it.
But she was necessary. They were up against forces that they didn't understand.