Elemental Heir | ✔️

Chapter 7

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The world as I knew it fell away from beneath my feet as I watched Dristan's body begin to glow. A strange, golden light radiated from his chest and began to devour him whole until I could no longer see him at all. Only a massive ball of liquid gold.

The orb grew rapidly, its mass transforming from the size of a man, to the size of a house, in mere seconds. If I had blinked, I would've missed it. And when the light vanished...

There stood a dragon.

I might have screamed as I watched in stunned horror, but I could not longer hear anything save for a loud ringing in my ears.

No, it couldn't be! The dragons were dead! No one had seen one in over fifty years! I scrambled backward, scraping my hands on the rough forest floor and tearing my dress on the thorns at my sides.

The dragon stood taller than a house. It's scales were awash with stunning shades of ebony and silver. Two glistening, black horns crowned the beast's head. They curved elegantly over its skull and toward its spiny back, each as long as my arm.

And it's wings, oh gods, it's massive, membranous wings.... Black as night. The sunlight illuminated them from behind, highlighting each vein and muscle, rendering them nearly translucent and making it possible to see the intricate swirls of deep purple and red within the webbing.

Each wing was tipped with a curved talon. They spread wide as it unfurled its spiked tail. The curved claws on its feet were each as thick as my thumb and twice as long.

I clamped my hands over my ears as its narrow, wicked maw opened in a deafening roar, its razor sharp teeth gleaming in the midday sun. Swarms of birds erupted from the trees above, fleeing into the skies. The soldiers began to scream as they beheld the beast.

The Bakru fled into the tree line, their tiny faces alight with humor and glee. The dragon's slitted eyes seemed to twinkle with delight as it watched the men fall to their knees, some fainting and others flat out running away in horror.

"Cowards!" The Captain shouted. "Stand and fight, damn you, or die without honor!" He pulled the strung bow from his back and knocked an arrow, firing it straight at the dragon's chest.

Panic flared in my gut as I watched, somehow distantly aware that it was Dristan he was firing at, but my fears were quickly extinguished as I watched the arrow bounce off of the scaly armor in pieces. 

Other soldiers began to fire, the petrified expressions on their faces growing more intense as each arrow bounced harmlessly off of the beast's armored body.