Zodiac Academy 7: Heartless Sky

I roared furiously as I wheeled through the air, swinging around to meet my father in a clash of claws and hatred as I snapped my jaws and lunged for his throat, fully giving in to the power of the beast which shared my flesh.

Father bellowed a challenge right back as he rushed to meet me, beating his jade green wings hard as he came at me with the claws of his front feet extended towards me, making my eyes widen in surprise as I took in the shadow foot he had in place of the one Roxy had cut from his body.

I snarled ferociously, hating the fact that he’d clearly found a way around the loss, though I still loved the sight of the damage Roxy had done to him. He seemed more hesitant to use his new limb and I used that hesitation to my advantage as I swept left, snapping my wings in tight against my body and diving at his flank fast, my teeth locking on the spine of his wing as we collided.

Lionel roared in pain as I ripped into his wing with my powerful jaws, his blood running hot and fast across my tongue and making the beast in me bellow with thoughts of victory as we plummeted towards the ground.

His teeth sank into my rear leg as I continued to tear at his wing and I kicked out hard, my claws raking down his chest and splitting the green scales which lined his body, spilling blood which fell to the treetops beneath us just before we slammed into them.

We crashed through the canopy, his body taking the brunt of the hit as I remained on top of him and I kicked again, managing to dislodge his teeth from my skin just as we hit the ground.

A tremendous boom sounded throughout the woodland we’d landed in and several trees were sent crashing to the dirt as we continued to fight with teeth and claws and I managed to plant my feet against his side. I reared back, his wing still clamped in my jaws and a roar of pain blossomed from his lips as I tore at the limb, damn near ripping it free of his back as I used all of my strength to destroy it.

My father shifted before I could finish the task, his much smaller Fae body falling between my claws before I could crush him beneath my foot as blood poured down his back and he escaped the destruction I would have wreaked on his Dragon.

I twisted my head fast, roaring at him as he used his air magic to sweep himself away from me and I sent the full force of my Dragon fire tearing after him.

He threw his hands up with a yell of defiance, shielding himself from the power of my attack and forcing me to shift too as he threw a spear of shadow and fire racing for my heart.

I landed on my feet and threw a dome of ice up before me, blasting water at him and gritting my teeth as his attack struck my shield.

“You had so much potential, Darius,” he called bitterly. “You could have been magnificent. But you have your mother’s weak heart in you.”

“The only weaknesses I possess were gifted to me by you,” I growled, bracing against his strike again.

“I’ll soon beat those thoughts out of you, boy,” he called back as I threw a mixture of fire and ice crashing down on him from above, feeling the strength of my attack rattling against his air shield as he fought to maintain it. 

“You have nothing to hold over me anymore, Father,” I sneered. “Which means I won’t ever be taking a beating from you again. In fact, I fully intend to rip your throat out before this day is done and end this fucking war for good.”

I dropped my shields suddenly, sprinting towards him with a battle cry which turned into a roar as I shifted mid stride, leaping forward in my enormous golden Dragon form and blasting his shield with an inferno of fire.

My father’s eyes widened in alarm as he fought to hold his shield up against me and I slammed my weight down on top of it, slashing with claws and fury as I continued to fight.

His magic burned out and his shield shattered, forcing him to shift in the same breath, his jade green scales taking the brunt of my power as he slashed at me with the claws of his shadow foot.

I roared in agony as he caught me in my side, the shadows burning me from the inside out as they sank beneath my flesh and dug into the deepest recesses of my being.

I threw my weight into him, knocking him to the ground beneath me as my superior strength and size allowed me the advantage then I lunged forward, my teeth closing on his throat as blood spilled between my jaws.

Father kicked and thrashed beneath me, a shriek of pain escaping him as I shook my head, my teeth ripping through scales and skin as I fought to end this. End him. And every terrible thing he’d forced me and the people I loved to suffer through played on repeat inside my skull.

I wanted him to bleed for them, to burn for them and fucking die for them. 

I’d finally proven which of us was the stronger Fae, the better Dragon and now I would rip his conniving, vindictive skull from his neck and set the whole of Solaria free from his tyrannical reign.

But before I could lose myself in the glow of this win, a scream of fury reached my ears and a blast of power slammed into my side, enveloping me in shadow and throwing me away from my father with the force of a tornado as I smashed through the trees with a roar of pain.

I hit the ground hard, tucking my wings tight to my sides as my claws cut into the dirt and I fought to stop myself from rolling, turning to face my new opponent as Lavinia came to stand before my father’s bleeding body.

“Tut, tut, naughty boy,” she purred, raising her hands and grinning at me with bloodstained teeth as shadows pooled all around her. “I can’t let you take my king from me. Unless you’re offering to fill his role instead?”

I braced my feet in the dirt and roared at her, sending a plume of my Dragon fire blasting over her and setting the forest ablaze all around her as the shadows rose up in a cloud and shot into the treetops above me.

My fire burned out and I tipped my head back, looking up just in time to see her diving from the trees above me with a wild cry and a look of glee in her eyes.

I whipped around, trying to snap her in my jaws but she managed to shift aside, landing on my back between my wings and slamming her fists into my scales, driving spears of shadows right through me and making me bellow in agony.

I shifted fast, rolling away from her as we fell to the burning floor of the forest and throwing my hands out as I blasted her with fire magic.

She sent the shadows whipping towards me to counter my attack and the moment our power collided, I flicked my fingers and sent blades of ice flying at her back, hoping to impale her on them while her focus was on my fire.

But before the blades got close to striking her, more shadows sprang up to intercept them, hurling them aside as she laughed and cast her power at me with even more force.

I cursed as the entire weight of her control on the dark Element collided with my magic, obliterating my fire and almost striking me before I managed to throw a shield of ice up between us.

I grunted as the weight of the shadows bore down on my magic, channelling all I had into maintaining the shield while having nothing spare to use against her.

The wound on my side was bleeding heavily and I cursed as I was forced back several steps by the might of her power.

I drew on all of my strength, building everything I had into one mighty strike as I coated my fist in flames and channelled all of my power into it, relying on this one savage blast to take her out as I braced myself and prepared to drop my shield.

The moment I let it fall, the shadows slammed into me and I released the fury of my power, throwing everything I had left into the blow as I willed my flames to devour her and I was thrown away through the burning trees by the tainted power of her shadows.

I hit my back hard as I slammed into a thick trunk, pain echoing through my body from the wound my father had given me and making me curse as I fell to the ground, the last of my magic shivering in my fingertips as I found myself tapped out and bleeding on the forest floor.

“Is that all you’ve got, son of the Dragons?” Lavinia called through the trees and I hissed in pain as I forced myself to my feet again, hating the fact that she’d stood so easily against my attack and knowing in my soul that I had the shadows to thank for that. Her connection to the Shadow Realm made her power endless and with mine tapped out, I was nothing but prey waiting for her to find me.

I wanted to keep up our fight, but with my magic waning and her dark power seeming eternal, I knew I was out of luck with that.

Shadows coiled between the trees before me like snakes slithering across the undergrowth in hunt of something to devour and I spat at my feet before turning from them and taking off into the sky, shifting into my Dragon form with a roar which dared her to follow me.

If I was going to have to run from here then there were things I needed to salvage before I left.

Lavina took chase as I flew away into the sky and I snarled as I pushed myself on faster, heading for the clouds to gain some cover and hoping she’d keep chasing me into them to give Xavier a better chance to escape.

I may have been out of magic, but I had Dragon fire, wrath and claws on my side. So we’d soon find out how well she fared against that.