The plaza trembled under twin heat signatures—two dragons standing side by side, flames coiling around them like living serpents. Kairon's aura spat unstable arcs of fire, wild and furious; the second dragon's aura burned a deep, controlled crimson, steady and terrifying in its precision.
Lira stood behind them, shielding her eyes from the rising heat distortion.
"Kairon," she warned, "your body's already at its limit—"
He didn't answer.
His claws dug into the ground, his gaze locked on the sealed metal plate covering the Bureau's underground.
That plate was the last barrier between him and Arin.
And rage was eating him alive.
The second dragon—still nameless, still quiet, but radiating power—stepped closer. Her voice was calm, but there was urgency beneath it.
"We break through together," she said. "Your fire, my focus."
Kairon nodded, flexing trembling fingers. "On my mark."
Lira watched them with clenched fists. Please… don't kill yourselves.
Kairon inhaled, heat shaping itself under his ribs until it felt like his organs were burning.
"Three…"
The second dragon mirrored him, flames spiraling upward.
"Two…"
The plate began to hum—reacting to the massive aura signatures gathering.
"One—"
Their flames collided with the metal in a single, devastating blast.
The world lit up.
A roar of heat turned the air white-hot. The impact cratered the ground, sending shockwave ripples outward like ripples through molten glass. Lira stumbled back, covering her mouth as the asphalt liquefied beneath their feet.
Kairon gritted his teeth, pouring everything—fear, fury, desperation—into the blast.
"OPEN!"
Crimson flames spiraled over his golden ones, twisting together like two serpents wrestling.
And then—
CRRRAAACK!
The metal plate buckled.
A fissure split straight down the center, glowing red-hot.
Lira gasped. "You… you cracked it!"
But cracking wasn't opening.
They needed more.
Kairon snarled, pushing harder—fire shaking violently around him—until the second dragon grabbed his arm.
"Stop," she snapped.
He jerked, flames flaring. "We almost have it—!"
"No," she hissed. "Look."
Kairon did.
The metal was cracking, yes—
But his arms were too.
Fiery fissures split across his skin, dripping molten blood. His aura, already unstable, flared violently, on the edge of rupturing.
Lira's voice shook. "Kairon, you're hurting yourself—"
He jerked away. "Arin is down there. I don't care—!"
The second dragon slammed her palm into his chest.
A wave of controlled fire knocked him back three steps.
"Then learn to care," she said coldly. "Because if you die breaking this door, he stays down there forever."
Her words cut through his desperation.
Not enough to calm him.
But enough to steady him.
He stared at her, chest heaving, flames vibrating off him in chaotic pulses.
"Then what do you suggest?"
She raised her claws, aura condensing into a tight, spiraling shape—fire forming not a blast, but a drill.
"A dragon's flame is destructive," she said. "But when shaped, it becomes a tool. Precision, Kairon. Not just rage."
She pointed to the central crack.
"Focus yours into mine. We pierce downward instead of exploding outward."
Kairon hesitated.
Lira stepped forward. "Kairon… trust her. Just this once."
His jaw clenched.
Then he nodded.
His fire flickered, trembling—like an unstable star narrowing to a single point.
"Fine," he whispered. "Together."
The second dragon smirked.
"Good. Again."
They stepped forward.
And aimed their combined flames at the fissure.
---
Below__ Arin wakes.
Darkness.
Cold metal.
Arin blinked.
Pain stabbed behind his eyes as he slowly surfaced from unconsciousness. His throat burned. His head throbbed. A metallic taste coated his tongue.
His vision cleared.
And he realized—
He was inside a glass containment cylinder.
Suspended upright. Arms restrained. Legs too.
Glowing symbols crawled across the interior surface, forming containment runes he didn't recognize—but his draconic sense reacted violently to them.
He twisted weakly.
Nothing moved.
His breath fogged the glass.
Where…?
A sudden mechanical hum cut through the stillness.
Arin froze.
The darkness around the glass chamber lit up with faint purple lights—rows and rows of massive pillars, all humming with dormant power. Mechanical limbs moved slowly across the ceiling, like a living machine waking from a long sleep.
Arin's heart pounded.
And then he heard it.
Metal footsteps.
Heavy.
Measured.
Cold.
The Sentinel.
Its towering silhouette appeared before the tube, head cocked slightly as it scanned him.
"SUBJECT: UNBOUND DRAGON HOST."
Arin's blood turned to ice.
"SYSTEM ANALYSIS: AURA LEVELS—ESCALATING."
Arin felt it too.
Heat pulsed under his skin.
His veins glowed faint red.
He sucked in a breath—pain blooming across his ribs.
No… not now…
Draconic aura surged up through him like a rushing tide.
He twisted, pressing his forehead against the glass as panic warred with instinct.
"Stop… stop… please…"
But something deep inside was waking.
Claws tingled at his fingertips.
Fangs pressed against his teeth.
His heartbeat roared like a dragon's breath.
The Sentinel stepped closer.
"SUBJECT VITALS: UNSTABLE."
A pause.
Then:
"COMMENCING EXTRACTION SEQUENCE."
Arin's vision blurred.
Extraction…? What… what does that mean?
But before he could form the thought—
The ground vibrated.
Dust fell from the ceiling.
The purple lights flickered.
And from somewhere far above—
He heard it.
A rumbling roar.
Kairon.
Arin's chest tightened painfully.
"Kairon…!"
His aura flared harder, reacting to the call—like something inside him recognized the flame and screamed to reach it.
The containment runes glowed brighter in response, constricting him with sharp, stabbing pain.
Arin yelled, body convulsing.
He felt something tear inside him—not his flesh, but his aura.
The glass vibrated.
The runes flickered.
He couldn't stop the scream ripping out of him.
Something ancient was answering from below.
Something that should not be awake.
Far beneath Arin's containment chamber, deeper than any human-built level, a cavern of pulsating stone shuddered. The runes lining its walls—ancient, cracked, older than the Bureau's foundations—began to glow with a sickly, pulsing light.
A shape in the darkness twitched.
Massive.
Buried.
Sleeping.
Until now.
As Arin's aura flared and the Sentinel activated its extraction, the thing's sealed flesh spasmed.
An eye opened.
Not draconic.
Not human.
Something…
Hungry.
The cavern trembled as the creature inhaled—drawing in the taste of newly awakened draconic aura.
Its voice echoed soundlessly, a whisper across the stone.
Unbound…
A second eye opened, oozing with dark purple luminescence.
At last…
It moved.
The entire underground shook.
Kairon's fire merged with the second dragon's spiral.
The heat intensified until the metal plate glowed white.
"More!" she shouted.
Kairon pushed himself to the brink—every breath like swallowing flames.
The spiral drill of fire punched downward.
The crack widened.
"Almost there!" Lira yelled. "It's breaking!"
And then—
BOOM—!!
The metal plate exploded inward.
Heat and dust blasted upward in a volcanic eruption as the path to the underground finally opened.
Kairon staggered, collapsing to one knee, smoke rising from his burned arms.
Lira raced to him. "Kairon—!"
He pushed her hand away.
"I'm fine," he lied.
His vision swam. His body screamed.
But there was no time.
Through the hole, purple light pulsed deep below.
And Arin's scream echoed up the shaft.
Kairon's blood froze.
"Arin!"
Without hesitation, he jumped.
The second dragon leapt after him.
Lira cursed. "You idiots—wait for me!"
And she jumped too.
The three of them fell into the newly shattered passageway—
Toward the Sentinel.
Toward Arin.
And toward something older and hungrier than both.