>>Drakkar
The rain had slowed to a whisper, a soft drizzle that clung to my skin and scales like a second weight. Every breath burned in my chest. My claws were slightly cracked and bleeding. Rael's blade had nicked the side of my face, and I'd returned the favor—his left pauldron hung broken, his breathing as ragged as mine.
We'd fought each other to exhaustion, locked in a storm of claws and steel that felt like it had lasted hours. Every clash echoed down the empty streets, every movement sharp and honed.
Neither of us backed down.
Neither of us could.
But then—through the haze of rain and blood—I saw something that made my world stop.
My eyes caught a flash of black scales through the clouds.
Mother.
She soared high above, a streak of power and elegance even through the battered sky. One of the massive monsters—the one shaped like a grotesque headless giraffe—was down, one of its legs twisted from her earlier assault.
And then—she struck the other giant
