Chapter 4 - THE TRIAL OF BLOOD AND FLAME
The violet lightning slammed into Ellen with the force of a falling boulder. She screamed as white-hot pain tore through her veins, dragging her consciousness toward a dark, swirling abyss.
Across the chamber, Roan dropped to one knee, his imperial blade slipping from his numb fingers. The purple energy was draining his vitality, seeking to sever the newly forged spiritual link between him, Ellen, and the dragon.
No, Ellen thought desperately, fighting the crushing darkness. I survived two years of loneliness in these ruins. I won't lose this now.
Instinctively, she pressed her palm flat against Oren’s front leg, right over the glowing spiral scale.
The dragon roared—a sound of pure, primordial fury that shattered the temple's remaining stained-glass windows. Golden fire erupted from Ellen's hand, surging into the scale. The dragon’s entire body lit up like a sun. The golden light met the violet lightning mid-air, creating a blinding shockwave that detonated across the courtyard.
Malakor stumbled backward, his staff cracking down the middle. "Impossible! The bond is too unstable—it shouldn't answer a peasant!"
"She is no mere peasant," Oren's voice boomed directly into Malakor's mind, heavy with divine wrath. "She is the heart that remembered when your kind forgot."
With a sweep of his massive wings, Oren unleashed a hurricane-force gale that swept the courtyard clean, scattering the remaining assassins like dry leaves. Malakor cursed, clutching his splintered staff, before dissolving into a cloud of violet smoke and fleeing into the mountain mist.
Silence rushed back into the Sunken Temple, broken only by the crackle of residual flames and the heavy breathing of the exhausted humans.
Roan rose slowly, leaning heavily on his sword. He looked across the room at Ellen, who was sliding down Oren’s leg, gasping for breath. The emperor walked over, extending a gloved hand to help her up.
Ellen hesitated, then took it. For the first time, there was no arrogance in his grip—only mutual awe.
"You saved us," Roan said quietly.
"We saved each other," Ellen corrected, her voice steady.
May you like
Oren lowered his great head until his golden eyes were level with them both. "The battle tonight was merely a shadow, little ones. Malakor seeks to claim the Sunken Heart at the capital. If he reaches the ancient gates before the two of you unite your blood fully, the seal will break permanently, and the ancient chaos will return."
Roan’s expression hardened into grim resolve. "Then we ride for the capital at first light. Together."
