The wind whipped my face, filled with dust and the stench of sulfur.

We were still descending the mountain—our steps hurried, our hearts beating as one. Each stone rolled beneath our boots and clattered down the slope in sharp fragments. Behind me, the column of elves formed a silent, compact line—almost unreal, as if fear itself had stolen their voices.

Then, the air changed.

A rumble spread through the sky, so deep it made the bones vibrate. Not thunder—something older, heavier. The kind of sound the earth itself seems to recognize.

I looked up.

Two flashes tore through the clouds. Two colossal shapes ripping the heavens apart. Their scales cast reflections that set the entire valley ablaze: one an almost liquid azure, the other a blazing red.

I didn't need to think to know who they were.

Ka'ha'Uhala, the Dragon Princess.Sahr'Veyra, the Headmistress of the Academy.

Both in forms far larger than when we'd first met them at the Academy.

So these were their true bodies. Terrifying.

They were heading straight for the horizon, where the mist still quivered with blue portals. And there, within that distorted light, it appeared.

A roar split the sky. The Ancient Dragon of legend—one of those we'd studied in history class this very year.

Its body was a continent, its wings were storms. Each beat birthed hurricanes, and its shadow swallowed the entire valley. Plates of red-gold scales, streaked with molten veins, pulsed like living volcanoes. And its breath… its breath was a molten forge.

When its jaws opened, daylight vanished.

I froze. My heart either stopped—or beat too fast for me to feel it. Even the elves, proud as towers, crouched down, faces drained of color.

The three titans measured each other for an instant.

An instant that lasted an eternity.

Then the sky exploded.

Sahr'Veyra rose higher, her draconic form stretching until it blotted out the sun. Her roar shattered the fog, and a rain of ash began to fall. Ka'ha'Uhala followed, her trail slicing a blue line through the air, fine as a blade.

The Ancient Dragon answered with a guttural cry—an explosion of mana so dense the clouds evaporated for miles. I saw the mountain crack at its base. Even the air seemed to bend.

The first clash.

Black against Red and Azure.

The sky shattered.

Flames collided, merged, then repelled each other in a white burst so violent it tore the valley apart. The air trembled, the ground rumbled, and a shockwave struck my chest. I thought my eardrums would burst. The heat almost lifted me from the ground; the entire mountain seemed to breathe in a rasping groan.

I raised an arm to shield my face, teeth clenched, lungs burning. Above, the Ancient Dragon spewed torrents of black fire—a fire without light, dense and liquid, devouring everything it touched. Even daylight vanished around its streams—a flame that burned not air, but reality itself.

Sahr'Veyra dove first—a massive scarlet silhouette, her wings spanning the whole mountain. Her claws carved through the sky like sabers, intercepting a wave of shadow before it struck the ground. The impact whistled sharply, almost metallic, and the heat of her passage bent the pines below.

Ka'ha'Uhala turned the other way—faster, more fluid.

Her flight traced a spiral of incandescent azure, each wingbeat drawing circles of light that dispelled the dark mist. Her cry split the air—high, sharp, almost human—and a salvo of blue flames burst from her throat, shooting perfectly toward the monster's heart.

The collision shook the atmosphere. The black fire devoured the azure, but light returned just as quickly, pushing the shadow back like a tide. Between the three dragons, the sky became a furnace.

The clouds burned. The wind screamed. And I, down below, felt like I was witnessing the birth of a new world.

The Ancient Dragon roared. That roar was no longer a cry—it was a cataclysm. The air crumpled around him, the stones of the valley floated before crashing down like rain made of glass. His chest rose, and veins of lava burst beneath his split scales.

For an instant, it looked as if the sky itself bled.

Sahr'Veyra placed herself between him and the princess. Her breath seared the colossus's flank, carving a long red scar across his chest. But the Ancient did not yield.

He raised one massive paw, claws gleaming like runic blades, and with a monstrous swing, he struck. The blow crossed the distance, shaking the mountain and sweeping everything aside. The Headmistress was hurled backward, crashing into a peak several kilometers away. The explosion rattled the valley. Entire sections of rock slid down in an apocalyptic roar.

— "Headmistress…"

The word caught in my throat. I didn't even know if she could survive such a blow.

Ka'ha'Uhala screamed—a howl of rage and fear intertwined. She dove straight toward the Ancient Dragon, wings folded, an azure arrow cleaving the world. The giant shadow tried to catch her mid-flight, but she slipped under its claw, climbed along its chest, and slashed its throat open in a single motion. The monster's blood rained down, dark and thick.

The Ancient beat his wings, gasping for air, and suddenly rose. His ascent tore through the remaining clouds. The winds whirled in a continuous howl. I looked up—he was still climbing, vanishing into the mist, chased by the princess whose blue aura left a glowing trail behind her.

And then everything stopped. Silence. No wings, no sound. Only the soft rain of ash falling warm upon the mountain.

I felt the world hold its breath.

Then the sky split open.

A rift of light tore across the clouds from one end of the horizon to the other. A blue radiance burst forth—brighter than a hundred suns. And in its wake, an immense shadow—the Ancient Dragon—falling.

He was roaring. A cry of pure fury. His wings ignited as he plummeted, fragments of black fire scattering like a rain of ink.

Ka'ha'Uhala was clinging to his throat, her fangs buried deep in the flesh. Filaments of azure coursed along her neck, pulsing like living lightning. She pulled, tore, roared—a queen turned hurricane.

But the monster still refused to die. Even wounded, he reared, trying to shake her off, and his dark breath engulfed the sky. A jet of absolute shadow, so dense it erased even the light of the flames.

I saw the princess vanish into the black torrent.

Her cry faded.

The Ancient Dragon spread what remained of his wings and rose once more. Thunder followed him, clouds gathering to form a massive vortex. Higher he climbed, until his silhouette melted into the haze.

I thought she was gone.

But a sharp sound pierced the storm—a whistle. Then another. Two streaks of vivid red cut through the clouds.

Sahr'Veyra.

The Headmistress shot forward, wings tight, like a comet of flame. The whole sky seemed to bend beneath her return. Her roar shattered the mist, revealing the Ancient Dragon's massive form—eyes blazing, still searching for the princess in his shadow.

Then she dove.

She struck the colossus at the base of the neck, slicing him open in a flurry of claws. Her red fire burst beneath his scales and exploded outward. The Ancient twisted, roared, struggled—but already Ka'ha'Uhala reappeared, drenched, burned, but alive.

She charged straight at him, the azure of her breath gleaming like a thousand spears. Sahr'Veyra joined her, spiraling around the colossus in a blazing helix. The two dragons closed in, like celestial pincers—their fires merged into a storm of red and blue.

The Ancient tried to flee upward, but the two forces converged. An explosion lit up the sky. I saw the princess leap onto his head, slide down his neck, and sink her fangs beneath his jaw. At the same moment, Sahr'Veyra brought down her wings like twin blades, slicing through the membranes of his.

The creature screamed.

Its roar tore through the heavens, shattering the glass of the world. It rose one last time, trying to escape, but its broken wings folded. It toppled—heavily—into a thunder that echoed through every valley.

The fall lasted an eternity. Its burning body pierced the clouds, trailing smoke and black fire. Each second, its scream drowned out the wind. Then it hit the ground.

The impact shook the planet. A wall of dust surged skyward, engulfing mountain and valley alike. I threw myself to the ground, arms over my head, lungs crushed by the shock.

For several seconds, there was nothing but sound—a deep, endless rumble, like the heart of the world beating too hard.

Then silence.

I thought it was dead. But amid the chaos of flame and ash, its body moved. A golden light pulsed beneath its cracked skin, and I saw the scales fold inward, the wings dissolve, the beast collapsing into itself. A human silhouette formed at the center of the crater, standing—still smoking.

Sahr'Veyra and Ka'ha'Uhala hovered above for a moment, then slowly descended. Their bodies shrank as well, reshaping within the burning mist until they returned to their human forms. Three dragons—three beings of legend—now incarnate in mortal flesh.

They faced each other. No words passed their lips, but the mountain trembled beneath the weight of their gazes. And then, without a sound, they moved.

The clash was sharp, metallic, muffled by dust. A flash of red, a gleam of blue, a streak of black. The fight resumed—on the ground this time. More restrained, yet more terrible. Each strike raised fountains of ash, each breath bent the dead trees around the crater.

I stood still, watching them for a moment. It was beautiful. Inhuman, but beautiful. And then a thought struck me: We have no place here.

Fear bit at the base of my neck—not fear of death, but of uselessness. These beings fought on another plane. What we could do was not to fight—only to survive.

I tightened my grip on Lyseria. The wood vibrated, warm.

— "Enough," I whispered.

Shaliel turned toward me, still frozen by the sight.

— "What…?"

— "We move."

I took a breath, my tone hardening.

— "We have to regroup with the others—no matter what."

She hesitated, glanced one last time at the battlefield, then slowly nodded. Behind her, the other elves began to move, as if waking from a dream.

I cast one final look toward the plain. In the distance, the fight still raged—shapes tangled in dust, bursts of light, dull explosions.

The earth was still trembling, but the sound was already fading.

— "Let's keep going," I said simply.

I turned my back on the field of monsters. The Azure wind wrapped around us—warm, almost gentle—carrying behind it the echo of their roars. Step by step, we resumed our descent, while behind us, the dragons continued to settle their scores in a world that was no longer ours.

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