Several things happened at once.
First my body recoiled ever so slightly: . . .
A desperate attempt to flee...
And a warning from my instincts: That I would not survive the touch of this rod.
But no matter quickly I could move. . . how could I be faster than a speeding projectile?
No . . .
No I wasn't fast enough. . .
. . .
But she was
Before I could blink, she had broken free of her battle with Darnok and was hurtling towards me .
She reached me in the nick of time, wrapping me in the unbreakable binding of her arms while turning her back to face the attack.
It was a split second before the attack landed:
But for that brief, infinitesimal point in time . . .
I fought. . .
God I fought so hard. . .
I fought to free myself from her embrace— to swap places with her — anything really, that would avert what I knew would inevitably occur in the next moment.
I failed. . .
When I heard the rod pierce her body— felt her trembling as it drilled into her core— it felt as though I had been pierced by several thousand rods too.
But the worst was yet to happen.
Tonraq rushed Hera.
Hera — injured and off balance— only managed to shove me a few paces away before he knocked her down.
Then I saw him dig his fingers into the sockets of her eyes and tear.
It was a horrible metallic screech.
The entire landscape was filled with Hera's tortured scream.
I just stood there, mind and heart collapsing, as the monster mutilated her.
A long tremor shivered down Tonraqs body as he threw his head back. His expression was one of euphoria.
'Finally.' Darnok breathed as shudder arced through his spine.
there was a loud ripping noise, and his body exploded.
Dark grey scales blew out from him, coalescing into a form several thousand times his size–a massive, serpentine shape, poised for destruction.
The dragons maw curled back sinisterly over its teeth, and a vicious roar rolled out of its mouth.
Perhaps I should have felt afraid.
But I had lost track of the point where anger had replaced my fear.
I felt a strange fire burn through me – the feeling was similar but different to when I faced then flame meta.
Every atom in my body scream in delight, and the air around me hissed in excitement while vapour rose from my skin.
It started with a single spark. . . But very slowly, tongues of white hot flame began to lick my body.
But I was not the only one undergoing change. Another tremor— a
final one —heaved through Tonraqs body as he prepared to shift.
Then Hera— though anguished— struck with unmatched precision, shoving the silver bracelet she had once worn through his lips while they stretched open with glee.
Before he could take his draconic form, a screeching racket reverberated from his mouth as the artifact elongated to is true shape.
With a terrible grate, the spear tore through both ends of his skull, it's head impaling ground.
Tonraqs body trembled in futility one last time, before the light left his eyes.
"GGRRROOOOAAAUUURRRRMMMM!" Darnok cried, his beastly roar filled with a mournful rage.
His colossal body smashed onto Hera, pinning her to the ground.
Not even a dozen meters away from me, the gigantic dragon clawed . . and ripped . . and tore at the helples woman beneath him. Something hard and wet smacked onto the ground by my feet. I didnt need to look to know that it was a piece of her.
My vision turned red. I screamed, the white flames erupted from my body in one huge blast.
WHOOOM! The air rapidly expanded with heat.
The burst of hot air knocked Darnok away from Hera.
Strength flooded my limbs – the same rush of suicidal energy I'd got when I faced the flame meta.
'COME!' I screamed, stepping towards the the monstrous Darnok while clad in a hurricane of white fire.
His furious, bloodshot, reptilian eyes focused on me.
I had no idea how I was going to survive this – and frankly, I didn't care.
Darnok charged far to quickly for me to come up with a plan, his giant maw opened to swallow me whole.
Time slowed down.
My legs tensed.
There was no way for me to evade, so I leaped toward him, relying on the fire's thrust to hurl me forward.
And through the mass of fire, my arms struck out, clamping onto both of the creatures deadly jaws.
Normally, I would have snapped in half like a toothpick.. .
But not today— not while the fire roared through my veins.
Darnok howled in a strange mixture of pain and confusion. He didnt understand why I wouldnt die— didnt understand what this flame searing his maw was.
He tried to bite down hard, but still held on tenaciously.
Darnok roared again, and the ground faintly trembled.
His hind legs digging deep grooves into the earth beneath it.
My cells were ignited in fire, but for the first time since my change, I could feel the bands of muscle under my skin straining beneath the force of Darnok's jaws.
Somehow, I had forcefully held my ground, but he was still far stronger than me.
I realized that he would break away from my hold soon.
And under the extreme circumstances I actually got a relatively bad idea.
I extended my will to the flames surrounding me, and they obeyed: coalescing into a pair of fiery featherd wings at my back.
When they flapped, they released a maelstrom of rising air currents that lifted us both into the sky.
Darnok grunted uncertainly as he was pulled upwards. His massive body flailing helplessly while I urged my wings of fire to take us higher.
And then when we were high enough that he had no hope of reaching the ground. . .
All hell broke lose. So much so that I couldnt clearly remember what happened after. White fire exploded outwards, a tidal wave of flame devouring everything in sight.
I could feel Darnok thrashing as the flames raced over his colossal body.
I could sense his thoughts as his scales began to melt: his bottomless rage, his hatred for Hera. How he wanted to break every bone in her body, flay her skin of her flesh, and tear out every organ.
A mixture of rage and grief burned even hotter in my chest, and the flames screamed in response.
Burning even hotter until a darkening started at the flames core.
Then color deepened until a cold blue bled over the brilliant white.
Now it felt like my whole body was on fire. The pain was the worst pain I'd ever felt since becoming a vampire.
I was being consumed as the blue fire blazed, and the air around me superheated.
Finally, the flames reached a critical point while I surrendered to them.
It was one huge explosion that flared brightly in the dark sky —like the supernova of a blue star. The flame intensified and stormed upward in a massive blue pillar with us at it's center.
Blue fire rushed though Darnok's body— backed by a million pounds of explosive force— incinerating him down to a particulate level.
As for me. . .
The last thing I remembered before losing consciousness was Hera — injured and helples as she was viciously mauled.
'And all I did was watch. ..'
Then I was falling, smoke and fire
streaming from me— I was a comet hurtling towards the earth.
'That final explosion. . .' I thought.
'Like the finishing move of a video game . . .'
'What should I name it?'
'Let's see . . .
uhhh . . .
. ..
Brightburn!!
Yes! . . . that will do nicely . . .'
——————
Next chapter title: Xerxes