Dragon Unleashed (Book 1 of the Dragon Mage Saga)

Destiny Unleashed

Evil throbbed within Darla, burning like electrified water in her veins. She could feel it-hot and rancid and scathing. It slithered inside of her, like slimy worms, filling her with an empty void. And the worst part was the heat.

            Oh, god, that horrifying heat. It felt like a million matches were lit within her skin. It wasn’t like any ordinary fire. There were no sharp pinpricks of flames. This fire…it was a whole volcano engulfing her.

            Darla could sense the fire nearing and nearing, growing hotter and hotter. From inside the core of the Earth…she could see it now, a molten infernal blazing through the crust and erupting, destroying every piece of land and living being on the planet. Every daydreaming toddler, couple in conflict or love, every lost soul-all burnt to a crisp.

            Along with her.

            She could feel the ground trembling underneath her. The fire was nearing, a deathly torrent ready to obliterate Earth.

            Laurel’s ominous words echoed through her brain.

            “I’m magic, Darla, and so are you,” she had whispered, her dark eyes piercing into Darla’s scowl ravenously.

            Oh, Laurel-she wasn’t quite the mastermind she imagined herself to be. If Laurel was everything and anything, magic personified, the greatest dragon to ever walk Pharix…Darla had to be too. She was the second coming of the Dragon Mage. Every lick, every splotch, every thread of magic and enchantment that ebbed throughout Laurel was inside of her.

            If Laurel could open a portal to another dimension, so could she. She had to. Maybe she didn’t have enough training, but Darla was strong. She couldn’t have been tortured by visions of monsters for years and not rise from the ashes as a warrior.

            She closed her eyes shut. The fire would be here any seconds, ready to rip through the ground and swallow her whole. This needed to be fast.

            Oh, please, magic within me…unleash yourself, protect me. This is my duty as guardian of Pharix. Please, please…

            The magic-the raging golden fire-that dwelled within her flickered with an electric spark that sent shivers down Darla’s spine. Before, she had only known the good enclosed in her powers-but there was a completely other side. The evil side. The side that Laurel utilized-wickedness and sin and pain.

            Power. Pure, untainted, invincible power.

            It was there, always inside of her. Brilliant, dark, and deadly. She felt her mind entwine itself into the magic, felt its threads work its way through her.      

            Monsters, demons, devils…all right here, all right now.

            Darkness and light, fire and ice

            Magic with so many sides

            It burns, it blazes, it shines

            “Now!” Darla screamed, pulling on all the delicate threads of magic as if she was plucking a forest rose.

            As if it was that simple…

            The magic exploded around her in a whirlwind of shining golden light. It wasn’t radiant, and it wasn’t beautiful.

            It wasn’t evil either.