Dragon Aster Trilogy

44: FIRE TAIL



Cirrus followed the Phoenix right back out of the Keol, catching its right wing with his claws and teeth. He tore away as much away as he could before he was forced to let go. He could take the creature’s heat for only as many moments as it could endure his coldness.

It was enough to send it back to the ground, as the Packs charged at the Phoenix and began to take turns taking it apart piece by piece. But the creature quickly healed and floated back up, as its size alone threatened to crush its attackers.

He looked back as Kenshe ran towards him, dropping off Sybl who he carried on his back.

“Bring her back!” Kenshe barked at him.

Cirrus pulled her into his somn, as he felt the Phoenix’s gaze focus on him. He knew that he had to get it away from the fight, and with Sybl, he now had its full attention. He took to the air, and dodged to the side as the serpent spat out a flare. It exploded next to him like a small bomb. He continued to fly up and the enraged serpent pursued, close enough to make his tail feel like it was on fire. The only thing colder than Aragmoth and the deepest of the Eternal Waters, was the furthest reaches of space. So he would bring the small sun there with the hope that the iceless void could contain it.

As they broke through the atmosphere, Cirrus could feel the cold of space threaten to paralyze him, as the Phoenix was neither suffocating or freezing regardless of how high he flew. You asked me to bring down the moon, not take up the sun.

Sybl forced him to unsomn when they had the lead, and he instinctively pulled her next to him.

Sybl! He looked at her with nothing short of panic. She didn’t look bothered by the cold, as her dark blue eyes glowed brightly. It’ll kill us—its flames are too much!

“We’re going to have to destroy it the hard way.”

Cirrus tried to calm down, but it was taking all of himself to do it. He pressed his forehead against hers, absorbing her courage and certainty. The Sylvan energy within her was more than the past or the future. It was the power to make their own Fate. They didn’t have to run from it anymore.

“It cut through the Sylvan Aur and our hearts once. It’s time to return the favor.”

With his next breath, he pulled her into his somn. Cirrus looked at his wings as they turned blue from the Sylvan Aur that she had contained in her body.

“I got you,” she said calmly within him. She was conscious in his own somn, and Cirrus could feel her pull on his wings. If he didn’t listen, they were going to die as he didn’t know how much higher he could fly before becoming exhausted—or out of air.

He glanced behind him at the Phoenix and its flames of hate that refused to suffocate. With his mind made up, Cirrus made a last flight-sprint to get a higher lead.

Then he flipped backwards, and fell straight towards the heart of their enemy.