The energy was swiftly leaving me, and Vyper was seriously injured from all his attacks.
“Choose!” Raithian demanded.
The sound of Vyper’s wing bone snapping sliced through my heart; its cracking sound only surpassed by his roar of agony. A second later something massive crashed against the Warlock King, freeing Vyper.
Luna.
She rammed him off the ground with her head, sending him soaring towards the lava moat, until he landed near the edge. Luna rushed to her son, using her connection to begin healing his wounds and wing.
The chilling numbness began to spread over my chest and arms, but I focused on bringing Kingston lower. Thankfully, he was just a few feet from the ground now, so I let him go. Still, a grunt of pain left him as his form collapsed onto the packed earth. He was awakening.
My mouth open to call on him, ask if he was okay, tell him to get away, but something caught in my throat, making me cough. Its warm, metallic taste enveloped my tongue. Blood. Glancing down, I gripped the spear, trying to use my magic against it but only soft strands of power poured out of me. I was drained.
Being impaled hadn’t killed me yet, but it was well on its way. Desperation awoke inside me, and I pulled at it with whatever strength was left in me.
No one came to help. No one could, they were all fighting for their own lives.
I was not going to die like this. Raithian wasn’t dead yet, and I hadn’t saved Caelisium. My death would not be in vain. I refused to accept it.
Spitting a mouthful of blood, I gathered what magic was still there, and held the handle as close to my stomach as I could, sending it all into it. The handle melted under my touch, sending half of it to crash below me.
“Aaah!” The scream ripped from me when I began kicking the wall behind me, pushing myself off the spear instead. With each kick darkness closed around me, but I refused to fucking give up.
I crashed harshly onto the ground a moment later, writhing on the dirt from the agony. My trembling hand covered the gaping hole in my stomach, calling on my healing to take over. As I turned on my back, my gaze lifting to the sky to find two possessed Dragons falling to their deaths against the mountain, one of their bodies ripped open from Draco’s horns.
Venom jolted in the air when another Dragon sliced through his back with sharp claws. His form whirled swiftly, a lightning bolt bursting from him and frying his enemy until he crashed too.
Blood still seeped down my sides even though my healing had finally begun. My father’s ability had answered my call, but without Devenish magic to enhance it…
“Please, Sky Gods, help me…”
Fluttering memories captured my mind suddenly, and I realized it was true that our life flashed before our eyes when we were dying… Except, the images and voices flashing in my head weren’t what I expected.
"The legends of old considered Dragons our gods,” Evie’s voice echoed. “The Celestials… They retired to the secret corners of Caelisium, to a place none of us has ever found…”
Four Dragons. Four Dragons. Four Dragons. Four Dragons.
The vision of the massive snow-covered mountain slammed against my consciousness. The same mountain where I found the Truth Teller.
“Do not forget to feel…” Her voice boomed in my mind like it had that day—right before I was captured by Fire, Water, Earth, and Ice.
“The Sky Gods,” I croaked, realization hitting me sharply.
“Find us…” an unknown being whispered into my mind and using the last ounces of strength in my core, I pushed myself off the ground, managing to stand among the deadly chaos.
“This is not over!” Raithian raged, his words slipping through blood-stained teeth from Luna’s attack. He limped towards me, hurling a massive ball of fire my way.
Unable to do anything else, I jumped out of the way, disappearing into a cloud of golden fog until I collapsed inside a Dragon lair.
Crystal’s cave.
The fog had transported me all the way back to the Hidden Kingdom. I guessed even though my magic was dangerously depleted, it was still there, protecting me.
“My king!” Crystal rushed over the moment she found me crumbled near the wall, coughing blood.
“Help me…”
Her forehead lowered to me, carefully touching my form, and our Dragon essences connected. Instantly, energy burst into me, the wound finally beginning to close under my quivering hand. She was healing me.
Standing, I jumped onto her neck. “Take me to the Celestials, now!”
Something inside told me Crystal knew the white mountain’s secret, since she was the only one who could travel there.
Her horns glowed blue with the urgency of my command, and a flurry of snowflakes formed out of thin air. When the portal opened, an arctic breeze blew through the cavern from the Icelands, making me shiver. Cleaning my blood-stained hands on my pants, I gripped her white scales tightly.
Suddenly, I was no longer looking at the inside of her lair. I was staring at the magnificent white mountain—the Sky Gods’ secret resting place.
We crossed into the Icelands, directly exiting in front of the mountain’s large base, and a sliver of golden magic left my chest, apparently responding to a silent call. The golden wisp lifted swiftly, dancing in the cold wind like a flying leaf until it touched the frozen rock base. As it did, it disintegrated—no—it merged with the throbbing power that began oozing out in waves, washing over me.
The energy engulfed my being, scanning me, and beginning to restore my magical essence until a golden wave spread out of me in response, swathing the mountain. It was an exchange of energy similar to what I experienced with the Dragons, except this was made of pure magic.
The magic of the Sky Gods.
When the energy dissipated, it revealed a large entrance that hadn’t been there a moment ago.
Respectfully, Crystal bowed her head before entering the cavern, and a gasp escaped my throat at the enormity of the space. My emotions mixed with Crystal’s, thanking her for saving me from death. She bowed at me too once I dismounted, her emotions conveying how honored she was to have helped me. As she left, the entrance closed behind her.
With each step into the cavern, the golden energy that permeated the air seeped into me, rebuilding my strength, and replenishing my Devenish magic by simply being there. The fluttering specs also illuminated the path ahead, uncovering the most incredible sight.
Four magnificent mountains extended within the cavern, but I knew they weren’t really mountains.
They were sleeping Dragon Gods.
36
My skin prickled from the power travelling into me in this place, but I walked farther inside it, only stopping when I was closer to the four mountains that conveyed each Gods’ essence.
“Ignis, God of Fire. Aqua, God of Water. Terra, God of the Earth. And Glacies, God of Ice,” I called to them, my voice echoing in the space. “I need your help to end this war. Please help me save Caelisium.”
My plea bounced against every corner and nook in the cavern, finally returning to me, unanswered.
“My name is Braxton, son of Keira Devenish and Khayden Skystorm—the Harbinger of Justice. I am the rightful King of Caelisium, and I need your help to save my realm from Raithian’s hateful rampage.”
Nothing.
What was I missing?