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“I might not be able to kill you,” she says coldly, “but I have no problem taking your powers from you.”
My upper lip curls into a slow, delicious grin. Yes, Alana. Take his powers. Take them for me.
Her smoke winds up Eldrion’s body as he fights back with all his might, his wings flaring out, roaring with fury. The shadows pulse with dark energy but Alana’s smoke keeps pulling, draining away his magic bit by bit. He’s weakening, I can sense it.
Eldrion does not fight back. Is he hoping she’ll change her mind? Or is he completely naive to how powerful she really is?
When she doesn’t stop, he gathers his shadows and hurls them towards her with a roar. “Don’t make me hurt you, Alana!”
And this is it.
This is everything I need.
The stars and planets have aligned.
I have my chance.
Without hesitation, I leap in front of Alana, spreading my wings wide, and take the full force of Eldrion’s attack. His shadow magic slams into my chest, sending me flying into the wall. I crumple to the ground as pain ricochets through my body. My eyes roll back, darkness descends, and I allow the pain to engulf me.
Everything is dark.
Pitch dark.
I am everywhere and nowhere at the same time. My body is riddled with pain but also feels lighter than it ever has before.
“I can’t leave him.” I hear Alana’s voice – a whisper that soothes and tantalises me. As it settles into the deep crevices of my body, it turns into something else.
A flicker. A crackling sensation, like embers and ashes warming the inside of my bones.
Slowly, the embers grow hotter. Flames of pain flicker to life and lick the spaces between my ribs. The sensation spreads outward, flowing through my veins, smouldering on the surface of my skin.
When it reaches my wings, I try to move but I can’t.
I feel them twitch and simmer, like slivers of tree bark being held over a fire. They curl and crackle.
It is happening.
They are changing.
I am changing.
As Alana holds me, I feel Eldrion’s shadows, his magic, flowing into me. It worked. I have what I need from him now. I have what I needed from her.
Her warmth disappears. I hear her turning on Eldrion, I feel her magic flickering in the air around me.
I open my mouth to call for her, but her name turns to a sharp, disarming gasp of air, swelling in my lungs, burning my throat. Something shifts beneath me. The sensation of solid ground slipping away from me is overwhelming. I try to beat my wings, but I can’t move them. I try to call her name again, but it does not come.
When my eyes finally flutter open, I realise I am floating. Rising.
I find Alana and watch her stagger back in shock as my body contorts and breaks and reshapes itself. I scream in agony, but as the sound bleeds into the air, it becomes not pain but triumph.
I am being reborn.
I am becoming what I was always meant to be; the creature that has been locked inside me for centuries.
A rush of pure, unadulterated power surges through me. I splay my arms, and my wings. They are black now, and large enough to block out the sun. And I know, hovering above Eldrion’s castle, that nothing can touch me now.
I am the most powerful creature in the entire land.
