The Selection: Bride Of The Dark Dragon

LARA

The golden dragon gave us the distraction we so desperately needed. I watched her from the corner of my eye, amazed by how powerful she was. Even in the dragon form she still was magnificent and elegant. Before I met Primrose Darmerion Derwood, I had no idea that something like this was even possible. She was spectacular!

I couldn’t concentrate on her the whole time though as the guards were approaching. They weren’t extremely confident thanks to all the distractions. And that played to my advantage. I summoned a huge wave of light and knocked them down again. All of them this time. In fact, the wave was so powerful that they couldn’t even get up back to their feet anymore. I could feel the power circulating through my veins and it felt good.

But then a loud roar distracted me and I was not sure what was going on. I quickly looked around and saw that the golden dragon was pinned to the ground. A huge red one was on top of it, digging its claws and teeth in her, yet the scream that emerged from Primrose did not seem physical at all. It was like her soul was shouting from pain for some reason. And I couldn’t figure out why.

More warriors arrived and I didn’t know how to tackle them. Demir also did not look like he was able to even hold himself standing anymore. The regeneration process was definitely taking longer than I hoped. But soon we all heard a terrible shrieking mixed with roaring and growling from the golden dragon, making everyone in the battlefield freeze. I still had my eyes on the soldiers that arrived just now when I heard Demir swearing under his breath.

“Ryker!” there was so much pain in his voice that I couldn’t help but look around once again. And when I saw a hanged figure on the wall, recognizing the second in command of the gerdian emperor. My heart clenched painfully at the realization of what was happening before my eyes.

How could they? What was wrong with them?! What kind of creature was this cruel?! The golden dragon was shifting slowly, together with the red one on top of her. And I recognized Xanders red hair at once.

It sunk into my brain – Ryker was dead. Primrose just lost him and she will never get him back again. This was terrible. This was something I never wished to know the feeling of. This was when the soldiers decided to attack me once again. Fireballs and pulsars flew in my direction and I came to an angry conclusion that I had enough. I closed my eyes and felt the power inside of me. It almost felt physical as if I could touch it, experience it. It was more than I ever accumulated. And when I opened my eyes, I let it all out…

The light was everywhere it consumed everything… I had never seen anything like it before. But I loved that feeling… After all, it felt so natural to me. As if… I was born to do this.

When the light dissipated, I saw the damage that I managed to do. As no one was standing in a radius of at least two thousand feet. On the wall and under it our enemies were lying and most of them were not moving. However, there was a recoil too, as I suddenly experienced overwhelming dizinnes. I was not used to all that yet…

I couldn’t see Prim anymore, they probably took her away somewhere. And my legs felt extremely weak. In fact, they were so weak that I almost fell down when two hands caught me just in time and I glanced back at Demir. He still did not look too good himself and I rushed to stand on my own, leaning over the stone wall instead and thinking hectically of what to do next.

“Where now?” I asked my soulmate and he was about to respond to me when someone landed just opposite of us, spreading wings. And then another person, and another, and another… There was a least a whole squadron of the Warriors of Light! I saw all of those who enjoyed drinking my b***d recently. Bria landed right in front of me with a furious expression on his face. She looked so different now with all that anger that I didn’t even recognize her at once.

“Going somewhere, Laura?” She sneered and for the first time, I found my best friend not that pretty after all.

“Go away, Bria,” I said firmly while clenching my fists, “All of this is none of your business!”

“On the contrary,” The girl got out sword and prepared for a fight, “I have orders concerning you from the leader of the citadel of light! Orders that I can’t ignore. And it is to get you dead or alive. I choose dead.”

I looked at her slightly surprised. The current leader of the Citadel of Light was Gideon. And there was no way that he could give out an order like that. Moreover, he was probably still sleeping peacefully in my wardrobe room. Sideria was supposed to keep him there for a while.

“Is there a new leader already?” I raised my eyebrow, “Gideon would never give an order like that!”

“Do you seriously think that he truly loves you?” She said spitefully and narrowed her eyes at me, “He will find better when you are dead!”

“Be our guest,” Demir chuckled and I was happy to hear some strength in his voice again, “just let us leave and have you happy life with him! We wish you both all the best.”

My former friend gritted her teeth and said coldly to other people who I considered my friends once, “Kill them both!”

They all hesitated, though. I guess Bria didn’t have as much power as she imagined. So she charged at me first, probably in the hope that others will follow. I knew I would have to hit her heart and was ready for it, when Fabian appeared right in front of me with his arms spread, covering me from his sister.

“Bria! Are you out of your mind?!” He gritted through his teeth, “She is a seraph! The one who is destined to save us all! And you’re trying to kill her out of petty jealousy and revenge?! You need to stop that nonsense and remember who you are!”

“Move out of my way brother!” She hissed and for a seconds there I thought that she was even ready to hurt him. It was horrible… it felt like she wasn’t the person I knew for years at all.

“I’m a warrior of light! And of the highest rank!” He reminded her, “Much higher than you! You will not be giving me orders! If anything, you will be listening to me! Lara is off-limits!”

Bria lowered her sword but I noticed how hard she was clenching the hilt. If she had at least the slightest opportunity, she would kill me on the spot. And that was shocking. Of course Bria was always not the most tranquil person in the world but it was hard to imagine that killing me would be so easy for her. Maybe it was all a lie for her too and for her I was never the best friend that she was for me. But we still spent our childhood together, we studied together, we trained together… What exactly happened to her?

“Why are you protecting her?!” the girl demanded from Fabian an explanation and judging by the faces of the others, I knew that my and Demir’s destiny may depend on his answer.

“Can’t you feel it, sister?” He asked her instead, “The White Archipelago is dying. The light inside of us is dying too. We are no longer Warriors of Light… We haven’t been Warriors of Light for a while”

“Speak for yourself!” Bria spat, “I feel more powerful than ever!”

“After you drunk b***d from your best friend?” He asked with some kind of sadness in his voice, “Did you forget the rules of the Warriors of Light? We don’t harm people who mean no harm to us!”

“Only that she means harm to us!” Bria snorted, lifting her chin high, “She can’t even play her role and charge the Citadel of Light! What use do we have of her?!”

“And is that a reason enough for you to kill a person now?” Fabian reasoned with her but something was telling me that it was too late. Something in Bria was broken and it couldn’t be fixed.

I turned to look at Demir while they were talking and also searched discreetly for possible escape routes. The gerdian was shuddering slightly, it was still too much for him, too soon. Although his leg looked much better.

“What the chaos is going on here?!” We heard a roar from another side and I gasped when I saw a fireball flying into my face.

It all happened within a second… Demir appeared before me, pressing me hard against his chest and covering me from the attack. I felt it when the fireball hit him and his whole body shuddered from the impact. Yet we supported each other and remain to stand.

I opened my eyes and saw Xander and his warriors approaching from the other side of the wall. Now we were officially cornered. There was no escape…

I tried to move Demir behind me but he refused as if his legs were stuck, standing firm and ready to die protecting me. This was immensely sweet but so not what I wanted now.

Xanderawarded us both with a deminishing gaze and chuckled darkly.

“I knew that women could not be trusted,” He smirked, “No matter how many times your brother… oh, pardon me, your future husband told me that he could control you, I just knew that you will try something like this. I warned him that if you do it – your punishment would be death! Add now here we are…”

“We had an agreement,” Fabian tried to reason with the self-crowned emperor as well, “just let us take the lady of Seraphim back to the White Archipelago and she will never bother you ever again. We will give you our word.”

“I already had one word from your leader,” Xander burst out laughing and that laugh was cold and ugly, as if it wasn’t human at all, “I don’t need anything from you! I don’t even remember your name…”

He tried to diminish everyone around him and I knew why Primrose hated him from the very beginning, even when he was not a traitor.

“You will not touch her!” Demir announced and I felt how he tried to summon dark magic, it was coming to him willingly as if it missed him a lot. But I knew that one wrong move and he would simply fall down, because there was no way he was ready for this now.

“Red Dragons!” Xander Rust lifted up his hand, “Prepare to destroy them! Any last words, Demir?”

From the corner of my eye, i saw how Bria and the rest of the warriors of light were stepping back to a safe distance, leaving us alone. Only Fabian stayed where he was and judging by how he looked at me – his plan was to grab me and fly away. But I couldn’t let him do it…

I was still standing behind Demir’s back when I simply felt what I had to do. I leaned all over his back and hugged him, entwining my arms under his in a very tight hug, that probably reminded more of a grip. I felt the light inside of me again, it loved me just as much as Demir’s darkness loved him. I closed my eyes, trusting that feeling, giving myself away to it. That was probably what I should have done from the very beginning…

The red Dragons send their fire at us but when I opened my eyes again, six wings made of pure light appeared from my back, growing in different directions, but acting as a whole. I felt my eyes full of light magic and when I spread my wings for the first time, they created a recoil of such magnitude that all the fire that flew right into us dissipated.

“Lara,” Demir whispered my name and I felt how he was bleeding from his new wound.

“Everything is going to be fine,” I promised to him, “Just trust me, all right?!”

“Always,” he exhaled and I pushed us from the ground and into the sky…