The wind was sharp that morning — colder than it should've been.
Snow drifted lazily across the desolate plains, but beneath its calm beauty, Eric could feel something… wrong.
They had been walking for hours. The mountains loomed like ghosts on the horizon, and the land was silent — too silent. Not even the distant cry of crows.
Seraphina was the first to stop.
Her wings twitched under her cloak. "We're being watched."
Eric gripped the hilt of his sword. "How far?"
She closed her eyes, listening — or rather, feeling. Her senses stretched through the frost and wind.
Then her eyes snapped open, their golden light flickering like torches. "Close. Less than a mile."
"Drakonis's scouts?"
"No," she said, voice low. "Worse."
A shiver ran through Eric's spine. "What could be worse than a dragon lord's soldiers?"
She didn't answer, only whispered a word he didn't understand — an ancient name that carried weight and dread.
"Vur'kaeth."
The ground beneath them groaned.
A moment later, the snow rippled.
Eric barely had time to react when a shape burst from the ground — a serpentine mass of blackened scales, slick with ash and magma. Its eyes burned like dying coals. Its body — no wings, no roar — just a long, monstrous coil of pure hunger.
A Wyrm of the Ash.
Seraphina's voice cut through the air. "Run!"
Eric didn't argue. They dove aside as the wyrm lunged, its jaws slamming into the frozen earth, scattering shards of ice and fire. The ground cracked beneath its weight.
Eric rolled to his feet, drawing his sword. The blade gleamed faintly, resonating with his heartbeat.
Seraphina spread her wings, their gold-tipped edges flaring with light.
"Eric! These things were created from the corpses of ancient dragons. They smell royal blood — mine!"
"Then we kill it fast before it gets backup!"
He charged forward, blade blazing with the faint embers of his bonded flame. The wyrm hissed — a sound like metal grinding stone — and slammed its tail into the ground. The shockwave threw him back.
Seraphina swooped low, channeling energy through her palms.
"Vaethra!"
A beam of radiant fire erupted from her hands, searing through the wyrm's neck — but instead of dying, it screamed and split open, molten blood pouring like tar. From the wound, two heads began to grow.
"Gods," Eric gasped, pushing himself up. "It multiplies?"
"They feed on energy!" Seraphina shouted. "Don't use pure flame!"
Eric gritted his teeth. "Then I'll use something else."
He focused, channeling through his sword the essence of his human will — not flame, not magic, but sheer intent.
The blade shimmered with white light, pulsing like a heartbeat.
He leapt forward, ducking under one of the wyrm's lunges, and drove the sword straight into the soft flesh beneath its jaw.
The wyrm screeched, twisting violently. Black blood sprayed across the snow.
"Seraphina—now!"
She unleashed a wave of frostfire, the rare cold flame of the royal bloodline — blue and gold. It spread from her hands, encasing the wyrm's wound, sealing its regeneration.
Eric tore his blade free, and together, they struck the creature's core.
The wyrm convulsed — then shattered into ash, its remains scattering like dust in the wind.
For a long moment, neither of them spoke. Only the faint sound of crackling ice filled the air.
Finally, Eric broke the silence. "Tell me that was the only one."
Seraphina turned slowly toward the horizon. Her eyes had gone cold.
"No," she whispered. "There are three more."
---
They didn't stop running until dusk.
The land grew steeper, the snow giving way to jagged stone. They took refuge in a cavern carved into the cliffside, faintly glowing from the minerals embedded in its walls.
Seraphina collapsed to her knees, wings trembling. "They were tracking us," she murmured. "That means Drakonis knows I'm alive."
Eric paced, frustration boiling in his chest. "Then he's going to send more."
"Yes. But not yet. He'll want to watch us first."
Eric stopped. "Watch?"
She nodded grimly. "Through them. The wyrms are his eyes — they carry fragments of his essence."
He clenched his fists. "Then next time, we blind him."
She looked up at him — and despite the exhaustion in her face, a faint smile curved her lips. "You sound more like a dragon every day."
He knelt beside her. "I learned from the best."
Their eyes met, and for a fleeting moment, the fear faded. He reached out, brushing a strand of silver hair from her cheek.
But before either of them could speak, a low rumble echoed through the cave — faint, distant, but unmistakable.
More wyrms.
Eric stood, drawing his sword again. "They're closing in."
Seraphina rose beside him, her aura igniting with fire and frost.
But there was something different in her eyes now — no fear, no hesitation.
"Then we stop running."
"Seraphina—"
She turned toward him, her expression fierce. "Drakonis wants to find me? Let him come. I'm done hiding in the ashes of his lies."
Eric hesitated — then nodded. "Then we fight. Together."
"Always."
---
The first wyrm burst through the cave mouth like a storm, its body glowing with molten veins. Behind it came two more, their roars shaking the mountain itself.
Eric and Seraphina stood shoulder to shoulder — human and dragon-blooded, fire and flesh united.
She raised her hands, runes blazing across her arms. "On my mark!"
Eric exhaled, feeling the rhythm of her energy syncing with his. His sword pulsed brighter.
"Now!"
The cave exploded in light.
A storm of flame and steel filled the air. Eric ducked under a tail strike, cleaving through scales, while Seraphina unleashed twin arcs of fire that curved like wings. The wyrms howled — one fell, then another. The last lunged, wrapping around them both, its jaws closing.
"Eric!"
He drove his blade straight into its eye — a blinding flash — and everything went silent.
When the dust settled, only ash remained.
Eric fell to one knee, chest heaving, blood streaking his sleeve.
Seraphina rushed to him, kneeling beside his side. "You're hurt."
"I've had worse," he muttered, smirking faintly. "At least this time, you're still here."
She pressed her forehead to his, whispering, "You fool. You can't protect me from everything."
He smiled weakly. "I'll die trying."
Her lips trembled — but she didn't cry. She only whispered, "Then I'll make sure you live long enough to regret that."
He chuckled softly, and for the first time in days, they both laughed.
Outside, the storm had stopped. The air was eerily calm.
But in the far distance, across the mountain range, a voice echoed — deep, ancient, filled with fury.
"My daughter… you defy me still."
Drakonis had found them.