Chapter 12: The Fall of the Sky
The sky turned black before dawn.
Winds roared around the Spire of Winds, not from nature—but from something far worse.
Something ancient.
Something hungry.
Kavin stood at the highest point of the Spire, staring into the storm. His heart thudded hard against his ribs. His elemental senses screamed. Something was coming—and it wasn't an army.
It was a monster.
Riven joined him, his staff glowing dimly. "Do you feel it?"
"Yes," Kavin whispered. "And it feels like death."
Far above the clouds, the Drak'thar pierced the heavens.
A sky serpent larger than a castle, its scales pitch black and glimmering with runes of shadow. Its wings spread like thunderclouds, blotting out the stars. Eyes like coals locked onto the Spire—and it let out a shriek that shattered the clouds.
The Queen of Ashes had unleashed her first weapon.
Down below, Lyra rallied the defenders. A dozen elemental fighters and old soldiers had come to the Spire in the past week—drawn by the awakening magic. She armed them with blades charged by Riven's enchantments.
Seraphine raised frost walls around the tower's core. "Buy time. We hold. Or we all die."
Kavin descended the stairs, joined by Theron, who cracked his stone knuckles. "I'll hold the base. You take the sky."
Kavin nodded.
He closed his eyes—channeling fire into his veins, lightning down his arms, and wind beneath his feet.
He launched into the sky.
The wind screamed around him.
The Drak'thar roared in rage, sensing the Starborn approach.
They met in mid-air with a shockwave that split clouds and shook mountains. Kavin slashed with a blade of flame and wind—but the Drak'thar's shadow scales turned most of it aside.
The beast struck back with a whip of its tail, sending Kavin crashing into a floating rock spire.
He gritted his teeth, blood in his mouth. "Alright then... let's go all in."
He summoned everything.
The sky itself answered.
A storm halo flared around his body—gold and silver lightning crackling wildly. He rocketed toward the Drak'thar with god-like speed.
On the ground, the creature's shadow warped into dozens of smaller winged horrors—Wraithlings—that descended on the Spire.
Theron, glowing with stone magic, slammed the ground, creating barriers. Lyra danced through shadows, cutting down enemies with silent strikes. Seraphine froze entire groups in place with a single breath of frost.
But the defenders were outnumbered.
Lyra shouted, "Kavin! We can't hold forever!"
In the skies, Kavin landed a blow across the Drak'thar's neck—breaking scales, drawing dark ichor.
The serpent screamed—and unleashed a breath of pure shadow.
Kavin blocked it with a storm shield, barely holding.
He heard the Queen's voice in the wind.
"Even gods fall, boy."
Kavin roared, forcing the shield forward—then dove into the beast's open mouth.
Straight into the darkness.
Inside, it was a swirling void of magic and rage. Kavin reached deep inside himself—not for fire, or wind, or power—but for hope.
He whispered, "Not today."
And let his core explode.
A pillar of light pierced the clouds.
The Drak'thar screamed one last time—
—and shattered into a thousand shards of ash and energy.
Kavin fell from the sky, limp, unconscious, his body glowing faintly.
Riven caught him with a levitation spell just before he hit the ground.
Silence.
The sky was clear again.
The Spire still stood.
But barely.
Bodies were everywhere. Survivors staggered from the rubble.
Theron stood with his arm broken, but alive. Lyra knelt beside Seraphine, who had taken a wraith's blade to the side.
"She'll live," Lyra said softly. "But barely."
Riven looked at the boy in his arms.
"No longer just a warrior," he murmured.
"He's becoming a legend."
Far away, the Queen of Ashes stared into her mirror, lips pressed tight.
"So... the boy killed my dragon."
She turned to a new figure—a woman in golden robes, her eyes burning with cruel intelligence.
"Then it's time," she said.
"Wake the Unmaker."