Night Fury's Wrath

Chapter 69: Rekindled Legend

-Okay, I'm not sure what the heck happened to this chapter. I pressed "publish" on Wednesday and it went through like normal. Then, I noticed an unusual lack of notifications and came back to check on it, only to find that it was never released. So... sorry about that delay. Hopefully, it will actually release this time.

Enjoy!

-NFD

~~~

"Are you alright?!"

"Oh, please, a little boom like that won't hurt me," a second garbled voice replied flippantly. "I am the god of dragons, remember?"

My head pounded like two mountains were repeatedly dropping onto my skull tops-first—I was surprised that my head hadn't split in two yet. Worse, my body was boiling; not quite painful, but not comfortable in the slightest. That, coupled with my increasingly apparent weakness, was alarming.

"That wasn't a 'little boom,'" the first voice scolded. "I told you to leave! Instead, you stayed and put my granddaughter at risk!"

"What do you take me for, Dad, a mortal? I am fine—we are fine. I should be more worried about you; that was Soulmagic, and you are a soul!"

"And my stubborn daughter's avatar. I have my methods."

I pulled in a shaky breath of superheated air, making me cough weakly. Everything was too fuzzy, making it hard to recall why I felt this way.

"Brother!"

"Shadow, no! Stop right now before you get hurt!"

Something solid thumped into my shoulder and left foreleg, quickly followed by something rubbing against my pounding head. I forced my eyes open little by little, struggling to focus them on whatever was in front of me at the moment. Shadow...? Is that-?

"No, no, NO!" The same small voice shouted just as the solid object rubbing departed. "Brother!"

"Shadow, stop!" A feminine voice growled, almost drowned out by an angry yell. "He is extremely hot right now! You could've gotten—"

A long, shrill shriek cut through the air, only amplifying itself as it echoed and stabbed into my ears, drowning everything out and making my ears hurt on top of the rest of my discomforts. Mercifully, it stopped, and the presence returned to my head, leaving my ears ringing faintly.

"Damnit," the first voice moaned. "Do not do that again, Sæloon. I don't think my ears can take any more abuse." I agreed wholeheartedly.

"She could've been burned!"

"She's a Soulburner and the daughter of a god. Frankly, I highly doubt a little heat will hurt her."

"But it could've!"

"And it didn't, so... Oh, he's waking up!"

The identities of the three voices were obvious now, even to my muddled mind; Moon, Von, and Shadow. I couldn't recall why they were here, let alone why I was here, though. My thoughts were too muddled, and my short-term memory was practically nonexistent. My vision, however, was clearing up, helpfully showing me a familiar cave coated in more crystal than I remembered, and three pairs of eyes staring hopefully into my half-open ones.

My deity's head tilted. "How do you feel?"

Instead of answering her question, I swallowed against my dry throat and asked my own. "What... happened?" I rasped. "Why are all of you staring at me?"