"
how you have fallen from heaven,
O Morning Star, son of the dawn
"
Earth, 65 million years ago: Yucatán Peninsula, Mexico
The middle brother was the first to open his eyes.
With them he beheld a strange world, foreign but not unfamiliar. Not unlike the many he had seen in his long, long life. In a matter of minutes his mind was already exiting the haze of the impact, racing with thoughts too quickly to count. With the flick of a forked tongue the dragon tasted fire and brimstone in the air. A reptilian smile, cold and calculating, sliced across his visage.
All around him was the remnants of an oasis - trees uprooted from the scorched earth, what was once a lake thriving with life was now barren, the bed of soil cracked and sizzling from the rain of fiery debris. The Golden Demise's work had already begun.
With a shrill cry, he turned to his brothers, nipping at their throats to rouse them from their disorientation. The right brother hissed, nipping back at his superior. The left brother scanned the horizon. He could feel the wave of heat from the destruction warm their scales, a surge of power growing from the tips of their talons to the edge of their wings.
With a roar more akin to a cackle, they outstretched their wings, a curtain of thunderless lightning surrounding them. It was a power the dragon took great pride in, knowing that after all their travels there wasn't a being that could ever hope to rival them.
They were inevitable.
They were the planet eater.
Suddenly, the right brother's head whipped around, lips curling into a snarl. There was a presence approaching far too quickly for it to be any of the stragglers that barely clung to life from their arrival. The middle brother's eyes narrowed, rattling their tails as he strained to look through the thick cloud of smoke that filled the crater. The left brother flared his horned crests as another of his high-pitched trills echoed through the air.
Through the hazy smoke, glowing red from the embers that fluttered around him, a bright blue light shone like a beacon through the darkness.
The middle brother felt the crackle of their lightning burning up in his throat, while the other two were simply too awestruck at the sight of opposition before them. In a matter of minutes a silhouette emerged from the haze, tall and strong and so fiercely determined. Tremors shook the earth beneath them with each step the being took. But the brothers were not so easily impressed.
"Who -
- How -
- What
- dares."
The titan huffed, a hot puff of air rolling from their nostrils as jagged teeth formed a crooked sneer.
They had drawn close enough for the brothers to fully observe their form. The middle brother let out an incredulous snort.
"Dull -
- Slow -
- Weak."
Dozens of deep scars marred their scales, one of which ran over its left eye, leaving it white and cloudy. They were all jagged edges and coiled muscle, so different from their own regalia. The brothers were sleek, radiant from the glowing embers that clung to their gilded armor that crackled with electricity. They towered over the lizard before them, it was almost
"Pitiful -
- Futile -
- Comical."
And yet the creature persisted.
The lizard nipped at the air, head tilting as it released a growl. Its amber eyes narrowed, almost seeming to scrutinize the conjoined trio ahead of it.
At that the middle head could sense his left brother's impatience growing, and with good reason. There was nothing that could ever hope to challenge them. All who dared met their fate at the brothers' hand. They had relived this scene many times before, and the brothers assured themselves that they would relive it many times more. But from beneath the ashes that covered the titan came a distinctive blue light thrumming throughout their body like a distant star. Or a warning. The brothers unleashed a cacophony of cackles. If they were good at anything, it was snuffing out stars.
With three simultaneous cries the dragon galloped forward, their wings kicking the smoldering detritus beneath them into the air. The rival narrowed their eyes, readying their stance as they leaned forward. With a sharp jerk of their head, their jaw snapped open. A thundering roar unlike anything the brothers had ever heard nearly stopped them in their tracks. It was as sharp as the being it came from, seeming to cut through the very air itself. The sound rattled their bones, shaking what remained of the trees around them for miles.
Ending with a low rumble like rolling thunder in their throat, the rival smirked.
But what is thunder without lightning?
The brothers jaws unhinged, serpentine strings of yellow energy crackling through their teeth and clinging to the lizard like thorned branches. The creature doubled over, releasing a pained cry while landing heavily on one knee. In an attempt to shield themselves, the lizard shifted, curling around so that it's rocky scutes faced the dragon.
The brother's relented, saving their lightning as they pounced on the downed figure. In one swift movement - almost graceful - the right brother's maw wrapped around the lizard's arm, teeth digging in between scales. The left brother followed, pinning the other arm. They could feel the strength in the titan's muscles, a power they had not seen in recent memory. In fact, they could not recall any being that resisted for this long. Restless and irritated, the middle brother sunk his teeth into the lizard's neck. Even this creature's unarmored flesh had endured his teeth. The dragon sunk deeper, eliciting a long wail. Finally tasting the familiar iron-laden liquid on his tongue, the brother would've smiled if he could.
The lizard thrashed, their long, spiked tail whipping about like a dying snake. They looked up, desperate eyes searching the darkened sky with a look of fear that the lizard had not felt in a long, long time.
With a deep inhale and a growing whir that even startled the dragon from their adrenaline-induced stupor, the titan opened his mouth. A blueish steam poured from their maw seconds before the dragon felt a heat sting their vulnerable chest scales. In seconds the red sky was torn apart by a spire of blue light.
The middle brother's companions laughed. The fool had missed! And the dragon was but inches away from the lizard. This fight wasn't just easy, it already had a winner.
The dragon's lightning gathered in their chest, moving up their throats before dying out completely. The right brother detected a sound - no.
A song.
Through the smog was a light that rivaled even the brothers'. It was as though a sun had somehow formed right before them out of nothing. But it was no sun, as the middle brother quickly concluded. Suns didn't possess wings.
The brothers hissed as the flying sun passed right over them, its harsh light blinding them almost completely. At that same moment pointed limbs scratched at their necks, taking a scale or two along with it. The dragon released the lizard from their grasp, attention now on the new assaulter, wings readying for flight.
With an aggravated trill, the brothers flared their wings. Unexpectedly, something called back.
The middle brother's lips curled into a snarl. What could possibly come next after this nonsense? The dragon soon found his answer in the form of talons, narrowly missing his eyes. The left brother outstretched his neck, attempting to bite at the second flying creature. But it was much too fast, far faster than the dragon had ever been.
The lizard stood back up, regaining its posture from before. This time joined by the two newcomers. As the light from the second faded as it landed on the lizard's shoulder, it revealed an elegant being that almost resembled a moth. The third landed beside the titan, this one seeming to blend in with the area around them, their skin cracked and glowing like magma given wings.
The lizard-titan roared.