I was running towards Avek before Nurik had even landed.
Not even the sound of his heavy landing made it to my ears. All I could hear was the sound of my heart thrumming in my ears and my ragged breath. Excitement lightened my steps, and the burst of energy had appeared out of nowhere.
The second Avek alighted, he caught me in his arms, lifting me from the ground. I was dizzy with happiness from just the sight of him—in one piece, alive. I got even dizzier when he pressed a kiss to my lips.
At any other moment, I would’ve shrunken away from his affection. This moment was special, though. He had survived an ambush that had claimed the lives of so many people we knew. We had come so close to losing everything. If anything, this kiss was necessary. It was our reminder that we still had each other, despite it all.
When he set me down, I didn’t want to let go of him.
“I was so worried about you,” I said, my words muffled by his chest. The vibrations from his laugh pulled goosebumps out of my skin and sent tingles to the tips of my toes.
“Me too,” he said. “You don’t know how happy I was to spot Ignimitra when we were flying over.” His grip around my shoulders tightened.
I took in a deep breath, finding that he still smelled the same. Usually, the smell of him would have calmed me. But hugging him, feeling him, reminded me of just how fleeting everything was. I could have lost him so easily today.
And I wouldn’t have been able to say goodbye.
“I felt like I had lost you again,” the tears were pricking the corner of my eyes. I can’t believe I wanted to cry. Again. How pathetic was I? Wasn’t war something that I was supposed to be used to by now? One of Avek’s hands moved to the back of my neck.
He peeled me away from him, just enough to look into my eyes as he spoke.
“You didn’t lose me, Kaos.” His voice soothed me. “That won’t happen again.”
I kissed him again, just to make sure he was real.
He was.
After giving some love to Nurik, we walked over to where Solra, Irikai and a tense-looking Cuinn were standing, evidently waiting for us. A blush crept up to my cheeks when I realized that they had witnessed our entire exchange. Even the kissing.
“Avek this is—”
“Cuinn, I know,” Avek said, taking a step closer to him. Both of them wore smiles. “I forgot to thank you for helping Kaos when you did. I really appreciate it.” I froze at his words. Oh yes, they did know each other.
Avek’s tone wasn’t appreciative. If anything, it sounded like a threat?
When I looked at Solra, she seemed like she was picking up on exactly what I was thinking. She gave me a cheesy grin, enjoying this way too much for her own good. I swatted her away.
“No problem,” Cuinn’s voice was even. “I’ll always stand in for you.”
“We were just about to start looking for Cuinn’s teammates,” Solra cut in, putting an end to whatever was happening between them. As much as I was happy to see Avek, I wasn’t in the mood to watch them make snide comments to each other. People were dying.
I nodded, “We’re starting over there,” I pointed to the rubble.
Avek bobbed his head. “I haven’t seen Jules since the attack either,” he said. It seemed that everyone had someone to look for.
“Let’s find her too,” Irikai said.
We all agreed, branching off into smaller groups to sort through the destruction. The anxiety I had felt had all but faded with Avek’s appearance. There was only one person missing now, and something told me that she was fine. If anyone could survive an ambush, it would’ve been Jules.
But Cuinn’s teammates hadn’t been that lucky.
After nearly two hours we found them both, a boulder the size of a small dragon laying on them. Cuinn’s reaction was subdued, his movements cagey. But I saw what he was keeping hidden. His eyes revealed what he actually felt.
His hope had been snuffed out.
If I had found Solra and Irikai like that…
I couldn’t even bear to think about it. When you joined a team, you entered into a partnership with two other soldiers. We were to protect each other with our lives in the field. His guilt would be insurmountable in the coming hours. My heart ached for him.
A tear slipped from his eye as he and Avek carried their bodies to the growing pile. My throat tightened as I watched their backs.
BY EARLY AFTERNOON, the confusion on the mountain had become more purposeful.
Most of the missing had been recovered—except Jules, we still hadn’t found her—and the digging of the mass grave had begun. Those who survived were being cared for by the medical team, but the lack of resources made their job immensely difficult. I saw a nurse using banana leaves as gauze.
Those of us who were healthy enough to move around were gathered in the crater that used to be the Administrative District’s assembly hall, arranged in neat queues as we awaited our orders. It had only been a few hours since in the attack, but already the Dragon Guard had moved into our offensive plan.
The assembly hall had been completely obliterated. It was if a giant had taken a huge hoe and tilled the land—rooting up all the grass and trees to reveal the rocky earth—then dug a shallow hole. It was hard to believed that this entire area had once been filled with lush grass.
At the perimeter of the crater were makeshift tents. Our Commanders sat in them, behind rickety folding tables. It was a wonder these supplies hadn’t been destroyed in the attack.
Every now and then, I looked up at Ignimitra. I had left her above ground. Looking at her reminded me that everything would be fine. She was my North Star in the middle of this. Solra and Irikai were ahead of me in the line, Avek and Cuinn behind.
I didn’t believe this was possible, Ignimitra’s voice floated into my consciousness.
It came as a surprise—we were so far away from each other; I didn’t expect our Fusion Bond to work. Did this mean that our bond was growing stronger?
What do you mean? I asked.
This place was so big, so…grand. I didn’t think that it could have been destroyed so…easily. At the hands of dragons, no less.
Her words struck a chord with me, our feelings melding into one. I knew exactly what she meant. The Academy was he crown jewel of Pyralis, a place so grand that no amount of explanation compared to seeing it with your own eyes. A mind-boggling amount of coin was spent yearly just to maintain this place.
And the Rebels leveled it in a single morning.
Anything is possible, angel. Good and bad.
I felt the gears turning in her mind. She had a question I could tell, but she didn’t ask it. Instead she said, I will think about this some more.
Despite our thin numbers—I was certain that there were only a few hundred soldiers here—the line moved slowly. By the time Solra, Irikai and I made it in front of the Commander, my nerves were raw from waiting so long. There was only so much I could think about to distract myself from the fact that the war was actually happening and that we were being sent into the thick of it.
Commander Ofisi looked shaken up—one of his eyes was swollen shut, a long gash snaking from just below it to his neck. Yet, his glower was deeper than I had ever seen it. He didn’t look displeased from the pain. It was the ambush that had him in such a sour mood.
“Captain Kressin,” His golden eye settled on me. Then he turned his gaze to Solra and Irikai, his eyes asking a question.
“Cadet Master Wilder,” Irikai said.
“Cadet Master Rushing.”
Commander Ofisi didn’t even try to hide his disdain as he thumbed through his book looking for their names.
“Cadets” he muttered under his breath. “Well, you’re all we have. Are any of you assigned to a team?”
I spoke up. “We’re all on the same team. Team Sigma.”
He looked over at me, a flicker of shock taking over his features. He looked at me as if I had grown a second head.
“They’re your teammates? Two cadets?” He asked, as if my sentence wasn’t clear.
I nodded. “We trust each other with our lives, sir. I would like to stay on this team.” I glanced over at Irikai and Solra, who seemed pleased that I had taken a stand for them.
I wouldn’t fall into that trap again. I almost didn’t get out of it.
The seconds it took him to decide felt like hours. Beside me, Irikai and Solra’s pleased expressions melted into worried ones. The rough patch in our friendship had been smoothed out, and I’m sure after the attack they felt the same way that I did. The three of us belonged together, come what may.
There was nobody else I wanted to be teamed up with.
“Fine,” he huffed. “Makes my job easier. Just know that your missions will match your rank,” he pointed to me. “Not theirs.”
We nodded in unison.
Commander Ofisi thumbed through another thick book. This one was laden with handwritten notes glued on to the pages. There were some loose leaves in there as well.
“You’re team lead, Kressin,” he began, handing me a piece of paper. “That paper is your ticket into the briefing.” He lowered his voice slightly. “Due to security concerns, we can’t tell you about the mission beforehand. We’ll disperse the other information at the general assembly in a few hours.”
My stomach was in knots at the thought of being unable to prepare for our mission. I understood the reason, but that didn’t make me feel any better about it. Preparation was the only way I knew how to succeed. Without it, I was as useful as dull sword.
“Until then, take these.” He reached under his desk, rustling in a box. After he produced three small vials.
“What’s this?” Solra asked, taking it from him.
I took mine as warily as Irikai did.
“Strength serum for your dragons,” he said nonchalantly. Immediately, alarm bells went off in my mind. “Give it to your dragons before the mission.”
The three of us shared knowing glances.
“Dismissed.”
I tucked the piece of paper away in my pocket. We walked to our dragons in silence. The moment we were cocooned by them and out of earshot, Solra’s eyes lit up.
“You guys don’t think this is…” She didn’t finish her sentence but I knew exactly what she wanted to say.
“We got rid of the research, didn’t we?” Irikai said in a low tone. “There’s no way they would’ve been able to recreate it and make it stable enough to actually work without those notes.”
I popped the cork off the vial and took a whiff. I knew that smell all too well. Beside me, Ignimitra recoiled, a wild look in her eyes.
That’s the serum they gave me!
“It’s what we think it is,” I confirmed to Solra and Irikai. “Ignimitra remembers it.”
We looked at the bottle of green liquid in our hands.
“Why would they be giving this out to the soldiers?” Irikai said, his eyebrows drawn together. Solra wore a similar look. It was crazy how much their expressions had synchronized these days.
As much as I didn’t want to believe it, I knew the answer. Betheka told had told me.
“The Headmaster’s finally getting his army of super dragons.”
But he wouldn’t get mine.
THE THREE OF US MADE the decision to throw our vials away, agreeing that nothing good could come of it. We did it as discretely as we could. Hopefully, Avek would do the same. I’d have to find some way to warn Cuinn about it without revealing how I knew what I did.
By the time we ate some of the emergency rations that had been distributed and put together enough charcoal to feed our dragons, the time for the general assembly had come. We gathered in the same crater, only this time a makeshift platform had been constructed at one end—no doubt for the Headmaster.
Even in the middle of a disaster like this, he needed to be able to look down on us as he spoke, it seemed. The fact that he had used this as an opportunity to distribute his harmful dragon enhancement serum, I knew that he had no heart. Did he even care for the people who had died?
When he took the stage, he looked better than I expected for a man who had just lost a third of his army to the enemy. He wore his best military regalia, the spiked helmet in one hand, while his other hand rested on the hilt of his massive sword.
The calmness on his face was completely different from the tumult raging within me.
“Today we triumphed in the midst of a certain defeat!” He began, his voice echoing in the emptiness of the crater. “Against all odds, we prevailed in this battle. Just as we will prevail in this war.”
The same soldiers who had just pulled their dead friends from the rubble were cheering enthusiastically at his pronouncement. What kind of spell did he have over them that allowed them to forget that so easily? I still wore my cohort mate’s blood. My lips trembled as I chanced a glance at Irikai and Solra. Fortunately, they didn’t seem convinced either.
Headmaster Archer took a few steps toward the front of the podium, his mood changing in the drop of a hat. Suddenly, anger creased his brows and his pale skin flushed so pink he looked like a soapberry.
“How dare they desecrate the Academy!” He shouted. “How dare they trespass on our land? Our comrades died protecting this great city, and we will avenge them! We will make the Rebels kneel before us for generations!”
The screams and hoots reached a fever pitch. I felt nauseous at the sound of them. This time, I did have food to lose and I absolutely did not want to puke my only meal of the day. Food was already scarce.
Satisfied with the response of the crowd, the anger on the Headmaster’s face receded to the placid look he wore earlier.
“I have identified four locations in Pyralis that will house our army for the time being. Tonight, we will relocate every survivor on this mountain to one of those locations. This task is just as important as the missions you have been assigned, and it has to be done tonight.”
The rest of the Headmaster’s speech was steeped in vitriol aimed at the Rebels. The soldiers seemed to hang on to his every word. It was hard for me to listen to him, knowing that he was trying to poison every dragon on the mountain while inciting his army to kill the Rebels. Perhaps in the same gruesome way they had done us.
When the briefing ended, we were corralled into four different groups, each group with a different relocation destination. Irikai, Solra and I managed to stick together, and I hoped that Avek ended up in this group.
Cuinn too, I guess.
