A Deadly Bite

43.2 || The Weight of Wings

Nathan's first strike severs that last word. Fiesi dives sideways to avoid it, then brings up a spear to counter the blow while the other charges on the offence, aimed for Nathan's hip. Black fire solidifies into a shield that the spear slams into, shattered to sparks upon impact. A cold wave rushes up his arm and disintegrates before it reaches his shoulder. For once, it isn't crippling. He has a chance. Relishing in that, his flame bursts outward from his core, drenching Nathan in azure light.

Hissing, Nathan staggers back, pupils narrowing to slits and fangs bared. The fire's hue accentuates the stark white shade of his skin. Tendrils of darkness slither between his fingers, but Fiesi doesn't let himself linger. He spins. His wing snaps straight, and a blaze of feathers and muscle crashes into Nathan's side.

It sweeps him away with startling ease. Unbalanced, he's thrown across the room, momentarily limp as he rolls to a stop at the base of the marble throne. His face whips up as his fingers curl into the carpet. Messy curls frame the gaunt lines of his face and splay in front of his eyes, dangling like wild vines cast in shadow, matching to the animalistic curl of his lip and the feral glint in his eyes. His features have never wished more to name him a monster. He feels like a mosaic impression of Nathan, one with all the same shapes and colours but blurred to abstract form, warped beyond full recognition.

He springs to his feet with a snarl. Wings spread, Fiesi charges in turn.

His legs pedal as if swept by muddied water, and then his feet leave the ground. Though the sensation is no longer new, the thrill of it lurches his stomach, his insides mist and wind and smoke. He glides forward with swift ease and rockets straight into Nathan. They tackle one another, somersaulting in mid-air before Nathan's feet snag the carpet and he grounds them both, anchored like steel. Flames overtake him. They splay out in all directions, clumped roughly like smudged, wispy tentacles, radiating an icy chill and knived at their ends. Eyes of obsidian blink from within the dark blaze. The fiery strands wriggle free in the form of serpents, a razored hissing clouding the air and clawing at his ears.

Some floating bubble of air wedged in Fiesi's core expands, roughly emptying his lungs, and his own azure flames surge outward, popping and crackling noisily. But he can't fry all the snakes; too many of them flee beyond his shield, gliding effortlessly as if they truly are creatures given life. Flashes of pink and purple tap at the corners of his vision as Rosi and Xyvi wage war on them -- no doubt followed by the others -- yet Fiesi hasn't the time to assist. The epicentre of the disaster is his alone to deal with.

Nathan grins. His teeth flash, flecked with blood. A blade flickers to life in his hand, and he twists free of Fiesi's grip, then aims a vicious swing.

Fiesi's dive to avoid it isn't quite enough. The blade skims his forearm, yet the pain is akin to a sharp nail dug in, hot in its brief agony but small, contained, easy to ignore. By the time he lunges for Nathan's chest, the wound has all but faded away. Even black fire won't slow him now. That giddiness takes him again, soaring high and airy, snatching him up from the ground as he leaps.

The momentum is exhilarating, easy, but it's too much. He realises his cocky mistake too late; Nathan swerves around him so swiftly he blurs, and a gust of energy pummels his side, wafting over the back of his neck in a glacial mist. He slams into the wall.

Sharp pain lances up his spine and forks at the small of his back, spreading like a hoard of poisonous butterflies that ravage his wings. Dark curtains twitch at the edges of his vision. Handy as extra limbs are, they've soon mastered how to hurt. Gritting his teeth, he blinks the spotty darkness aside, rooting his feet on the floor, feeling Rigel's energy roar within him. Flames sear the hairs on his arms, though they don't feel searing. They're light, feathery, as if they dance some kind of healing jig atop his skin.