The world froze.
She wasn't just a girl anymore. She was ethereal, Primal.
Wings stretched wide, white as snow and vast enough to darken the battlefield. Each beat made the air tremble, shaking even my bones. Her scales caught the moonlight, gleaming irridecent-white, each scale flawless, unbroken. Her body was lean and strong, built for the sky, every movement precise and terrifying in its beauty.
Horns arched back from her head like a crown, pale and gleaming. Her eyes burned violet—unnatural, impossible, a color that belonged to no nation, no bloodline. It was the color of the Gods.
The legends had spoken of her kind. The first dragon. The balance of the world. A story so old we all called it myth. Yet here she was, hanging above the earth, godlike and terrible, every soldier below struck silent by the sight of her.
Then she opened her jaws, and violet fire poured out.
The battlefield erupted. Trenches alight in violet light. Her flame split the earth where armies had stood seconds earlier. Men scattered in panic, their shouts drowned beneath the roar of her wrath. The heat bit even from this height, searing the air in my lungs.
She couldn't stop.
Every blast shook her body, tore at her wings. She convulsed midair, fire spilling from her throat again and again. She wasn't commanding it. The dragon was taking control.
She stiffened then the ground cracked under her fury, violet flames devouring wood, stone, and steel alike.
I should have been afraid. Instead, I was caught between awe and dread. This was no weapon any king could control. This was balance itself, reborn in white scales, violet fire and a wrath that has been waiting a thousand years to wake.
A roar answered from the horizon.
Green wings cut the clouds apart as Willow descended, her scales gleaming like polished emerald. She came fast, sharp, merciless, as I remembered her. We had clashed before, and she had never hesitated. She was ruthless, clever, relentless, stubborn just like the element she wields. She should have struck.
Instead, she slowed. Her eyes locked on the white dragon, and for the first time, I saw Willow falter.
She shifted midair, her dragon form collapsing into armor and silk. She landed on the ridge with practiced ease, her voice ringing sharp as steel.
"Retreat!"
Her soldiers obeyed, trained to follow without question. Engines were abandoned, ropes left to burn, lines broken in chaos. The Earthlin army pulled back into the night.
I frowned. Willow never yielded ground without reason. She had seen what I had seen. She knew.
The Primal had returned.
The world would come for her.
But I had no time to unravel Willow's games.
The girl—no, the dragon—convulsed again. Her fire burst outward, carving another molten scar into the ground. The battlefield glowed like a forge. Then came her scream, high and raw, pain tearing through the sound.
Her wings faltered. Her body buckled.
And she fell.
"No!" The scream ripped from me before I could stop it.
I dove. Lightning raced across my wings, the storm inside me breaking free as I pushed faster, faster. Smoke stung my eyes, heat clawed at my skin, but I didn't care. The ground surged closer, violet fire still burning trenches into it.
She shrank as she plummeted, scales dissolving, wings folding, claws twisting back into fragile hands. By the time I reached her, she was human again. Small. Broken. Barely breathing.
I caught her against my chest, wings flaring wide as we hit the ground in a burst of dust and heat. Pain shot up my tail and spine as the ground tore scale from muscle, but I didn't let her go. Not for a second.
When i stood I was man again holding the frail little mouse in my arms
Her hair fell across my arm in silver strands, singed at the tips. Her skin was pale, her lips nearly blue. Her breath came shallow, ragged, too faint.
"No, not you too." I muttered, clutching her tighter. "Not now."
"Not when i finally have my answer!"
The battlefield around us was ruin, glowing with violet scars. Soldiers had fled, engines lay shattered, but I barely saw any of it. All I could see was her.
I gathered her in my arms and carried her into the sky.
⸻
The palace walls loomed ahead, their wards flickering weakly. The gates opened without challenge when they saw my wings, but the guards stared as if they'd see a monster. Perhaps they had.
I landed hard on the stone, shifting back even as my knees hit the ground. She stayed cradled in my arms, too light, too fragile.
"HEALERS NOW!" I shouted.
Healers rushed forward, robes flaring, hands glowing. One gasped at the sight of her wounds. Another barked orders.
"This injury is quite exstensive, im not sure what we can do." someone said.
"No," I growled. "You will heal her or it's your life i will take." The word came raw, rough, more a promise than a threat. My steps quickened as I forced my way down the corridor. My breath came shallow. My chest ached, not from battle but from the thought of losing her.
Her head lolled against me, damp hair sticking to her cheek. She looked already half gone. My panic grew sharper with every faltering breath she took.
"Stay," I whispered, the word torn out before I could stop it. "Stay with me."
For a heartbeat, something inside me cracked. A heat, fierce and unfamiliar, bloomed in my chest, pulling tight toward her. It felt like a thread snapping taut, like my very blood reaching for hers. Then it was gone, leaving me raw, trembling, furious at my own weakness.
The healers pulled her from my arms. My hands resisted, tightening until I forced them to release. The emptiness that followed was unbearable.
Revik appeared at the end of the hall, his golden eyes sharp. "What happened?"
"I saw it," I said, my voice flat, hiding the panic still clawing at me. "She shifted- she is the primal dragon."
His jaw tightened. For a flicker of a moment, I thought I saw awe in his expression. Then it vanished. "Then it's true. The Primal walks again. You know what that means. We have a target on our back now. Every kingdom will come."
I stared after the healers as they carried her away, her silver-white hair trailing limp over the stretcher. She looked breakable. She looked mortal. Nothing like the god who had burned the battlefield to ash.
"They can try," I said. My hands still trembled. "But they'll have to kill me first."
Lightning hummed under my skin, hungry, waiting.
"Looks like you've got some frustration to work out," Revik said with a wolffish grin.
I shot him a look sharp enough to cut. He only shrugged.
"We managed to capture an Earthlin soldier. Figured you'd want the honors."
My mouth twitched, though it wasn't a smile. I didn't answer. The lightning pooling at my fingertips said enough.
I turned and strode toward the dungeons.
Whatever answers waited for me there, I intended to beat them out of someone.