Night Fury's Wrath

Chapter 29: Puzzle Pieces [Part 1]

-Ready for a bunch of flashbacks? 'Cuz I am! You'll get to see Myrkr's point of view for some past events. It might answer a few questions too.

In light of that, this chapter will be a big one. It's definitely a mega-chapter, so it will be split into three parts. Part one will have a lot of flashbacks, then parts two and three will be largely about Myrkr and Aurora.

Also, Vaskr's situation will be left in the dark for now. Sorry, not sorry! But I am sorry for not updating as I had planned. That's my bad. Anyway, enjoy!

-NFD

~~~

I turned and started pushing dirt over the shallow waste hole, glancing at Myrkr over my shoulder. My belly still hurt from the cramping, so I took it slow to prevent another one. "You know you didn't have to look away, right?" I warbled. "I mean, I appreciate it, but you've seen it all before. I, uh, don't really mind anymore." That was something I had forced myself to come to terms with; when it came to Myrkr, privacy shouldn't be an issue, now that he was officially my mate. To expect him to avert his eyes whenever there was a chance to see something private felt wrong. Still, he didn't turn around. "Myrkr?"

"It's awkward," he said uneasily. "I feel guilty if I watch you do your business."

I smoothed the mound of dirt and patted it with my tail before turning fully to Myrkr. " There's nothing to be guilty about."

"I know," he grumbled. "It's hard to break all of my old habits. I'll work on it." That reminded me of my promise to work on my issues. The big problems are mostly dealt with, but that didn't mean I could-

A low rumble shook the air around us. Thunder.

I looked warily at the dark clouds above. That was disconcerting. "Is that lightni-"

KRA-KOOM!

"AIEEE!" I darted to Myrkr's side for protection from the uncomfortably close lightning strike, though I knew he would offer little protection, I gravitated to him. I quickly blamed the Mate's Bond for that.

He crouched down beside my trembling body and extended a wing over me. "T-That was close," he said, his fearful voice muffled in my ringing ears. Thunder rolled overhead as lightning arced intermittently in the sky. On the bright side, that strike hadn't started a fire.

A jubilant shout cut through the thunder. "C'mon, daughter! I have a new trick to teach you!" We watched two purple lights rise into the sky, headed straight for the clouds. Typical Nana Moon.

"They're not going up there, right?" Myrkr glanced at me with rising panic. "They could die!"

Oh, right, Myrkr didn't know about this yet. I had assumed he heard about this in a story or something. Apparently, that wasn't the case.

"They'll live," I dismissed neutrally, right on cue for lightning to strike the bigger of the two lights. Myrkr gasped, watching in a mixture of awe and fear as the two Soulburners 'recharged' themselves. After the initial shock, Shadow seemed to enjoy absorbing lightning, darting into them every chance she got.

I've seen this a few times, though Vaskr had been my favorite to watch. Nana Moon flew in a wild and chaotic manner, which eventually hurt my eyes as I tried to keep my eyes on her. Vaskr, however, had always flown calmly, letting the lightning find him instead of the other way around. He had been easy to track.

I tore my gaze from the Soulburners in the sky and looked at the dirt caking my paws. My heart ached as those fond memories swam through my head, digging up the grief I had half-buried. I would never again see Vaskr flying through a thunderstorm. I'd never see his smiling face after he purged excess energy, his scales shimmering with heat. I'd never see my big brother again.