My eyes snap open. I can smell the blood of figures descending on me. I'm in a large, empty, circular pit. Ash's body is a few feet away, partially covered in sand. I see an unmoving human body with white hair further off, also covered in sand. I quickly search for any signs of Whisperclaw or the others. All I can find are the bodies of the senat woman, who was fighting Whisperclaw, her panther, and the now still dragon skeleton.
The figures are getting closer, moving faster than before. I breathe deeply, searching the air for familiar scents. It's faint, but I still pick it up: Whisperclaw and Ironvine. They seem to be in the same location. I glance up at the figures, wondering if it would be wise to kill them before they can cause any trouble. Three large ropes plop down, stopping just above the floor. I choose to let them live. Instead, I follow the smell of Whisperclaw's blood into a hall.
I dash through the hallway, veering right and eventually down a spiral staircase. My foot touches the last step, and I begin to pick up the sounds of an ongoing battle. An unnatural amount of mana surges from beneath the ground like violent gusts of wind. It reminds me of a time when I was a child. When my mother was abducted. A wave of fear crashes over me. It can't be, I think, breaking out into a sprint. I dash into the next room and slide to a stop, catching Whisperclaw in my arms.
In the middle of the room is a figure with smooth, metallic, silver skin. Embedded in their chest, abs, and torso are three shiny black orbs. As expected, it's the same as back then. I can smell the blood within the figure. That isn't Vanhiel anymore. It's something much different. Something tainted. The situation is obvious enough. Vanhiel, or what used to be Vanhiel, holds Hawk by the throat. Ironvine, Liaz, and Goldenclaw are circling him, unable to attack without hurting Hawk in the process.
"Renald…" I look down at Whisperclaw, who is still in my arms. "...What happened to your eyes?"
"Huh?" I ask, sitting her down. "Never mind. I need you to do me a favor."
"Sure, what is it?" She asks, turning back around to face Vanhiel.
"I want you to take the others and run." I'm trying to stay calm. "I don't have time to explain, but you guys can't stay here."
"Nobody is leaving, son of Black." Vanhiel's head suddenly turns towards me. "If I allowed you to leave, there would be no one to witness my ascension."
My body moves independently, faster than I could have imagined. I shift from standing next to Whisperclaw to feeling the heel of my foot slam into the Ascent Core on Vanhiel's chest. There's a loud crack, and a gust of wind explodes from the crystal and sends me flying backwards. Vanhiel roars in pain, throwing Glimmer's father away like a doll. I land on my feet next to Whisperclaw.
"I said run!" I yell, putting as much force as I can muster into my voice. "Now! Before he recovers!"
Instead of running, Goldenclaw steps up and unleashes a flurry of attacks. Cutting and stabbing all over Vanhiel with his rapier. It does nothing. All of his strikes bounce off Vanhiel's silver skin. Not even a scratch remains.
"I can't pierce his skin!" Goldenclaw calls out, still slashing and stabbing away.
"Switch with me!" Liaz and Goldenclaw trade places during one of Goldenclaw's thrusts. "This is where we should aim."
Liaz fires two shots, one from each pistol. The first shot bounces off the second, and they both bounce around the room. Both bullets move towards Vanhiel. Wait a second, I think, Vanhiel's not in the same spot anymore. I never saw him move. The bullets hit the spot where Vanhiel should have been and shatter into dust, quickly followed by a horrified scream.
Vanhiel used the split second that Goldenclaw backed off to get close to Liaz. I see his claws sticking through Liaz's chest. I scream. Everything seems to move in a blur around me. My vision clouds over with a red tint. I launch myself at Vanhiel. I can see him moving away, and I shove my fist into the crystal orb on his stomach.
"Take that, you-" An explosion of energy throws both me, Goldenclaw, and Liaz's limp body backwards.
I land hard on my back and slide into Whisperclaw. As I stand, I see Glimmer's dad reach out his hand and slice across the air.
"Vanhiel!" He yells. "This is between me and you! Leave everyone else out of it! Let the women and children go, and I might let you live!"
Where Glimmer's dad sliced through the air, a large tear of darkness rips open, and a massive skeleton steps out. It grips a large scythe made of bones. Multiple layers of black cloth cover its entire body, minus its arms and face.
"Kill! Kill!" The skeleton says in a low, ominous tone. "Kill!"
The skeleton jams the tip of its scythe into Vanhiel's third orb. He screams in pain, clawing at his face. Another energy explosion bursts from Vanhiel's forehead, turning the skeleton into dust on contact. Whisperclaw and I hold our ground against the wind gusts kicked up by the explosion, but just barely.
"We've got you now!" Goldenclaw yells. "You're not going anywhere!"
Vanhiel created a small crater around himself due to earlier explosions, separating us from Goldenclaw. He points his paws at Vanhiel, both bathed in a golden light. The air around Vanhiel quivers, and the crater sinks lower and lower into the ground. Vanhiel looks completely unfazed.
"Ren, hold on!" Whisperclaw pulls me backwards. "We're about to kill that bastard. Right now!"
Everything turns dark around me. Then I'm plummeting through the sky, directly on top of Vanhiel. I expand my wings, breaking my fall. Below me, Whisperclaw lands on Vanhiel. He shifts slightly, avoiding her claws. Ironvine runs over to Liaz's motionless body. He punches it with a fist covered in a green aura. The hole in Liaz's chest closes, and he jerks upright, takes a deep breath, and coughs up some blood.
"You will all bow to me." Vanhiel's metallic voice echoes in my brain. "Resistance is futile."
Vanhiel's wings jerk unnaturally, and the scales suddenly stand upright, like a porcupine's quills. A cluster hits me in rapid succession, starting in my stomach and ending in my right shoulder. A pain unlike anything I've ever felt shoots through my entire body. My wings fall limp, and I crash to the ground. My body shakes uncontrollably. My bones feel like they're burning. I can't move. I can't think. My vision is blurry. Everything hurts, but I try to stand up anyway.
Slowly, I remove each of the scales one by one. I can see everything happening around me in slow motion. With every scale I remove, my vision clears slightly, and the pain lifts. Liaz shoots from his position on the ground. Five, six, seven, eight. Whisperclaw reaches out to me, scales protruding from her left arm and paw.
I pull the last scale out of my chest, and my senses return to normal simultaneously. I hear Liaz's gunshot followed by Whisperclaw screaming my name. I look down at myself, and for the first time, my wounds aren't closing. My hands tremble. A feeling of helplessness creeps into my gut. No matter what I do, I can't move. My body won't listen to me. I made a mistake, dragging everyone into this impossible situation. And now, my mistake is the reason we're all about to die.