Kaleb POV
The ship bucked like a beast in its death throes, alarms blaring, Sasha screaming through the comms in broken static.
"WARNING. External override. Hull breach imminent. Emergency protocols failing. CRASH TRAJECTORY LOCKED. We've been hacked! I've lost control!"
"Sasha! Sasha, reroute all auxiliary power to the shields!" Kaleb barked, gripping the navigation console.
"Suck my circuits, wolf-boy. We're going down." She snarked angrily.
Kaleb snarled, teeth elongating. Rhiannan was behind him, strapped into the co pilot seat, knuckles white, stars on her neck dimming. She screamed, "What the fuck is happening!?"
"Hold on, goddess," Kaleb growled. "I've got you."
Arwen POV
Arwen staggered down the corridor as the floor tilted violently beneath him. Metal screamed, lights flickered, and something exploded two doors back.
He cursed and slammed into the cockpit just as Kaleb gritted out, "Brace!"
Rhiannan's eyes met his. Terror. Fury. Trust. He lunged forward towards her, his fingertips grazing hers as he flew through the air.
Then the world ended in fire, and the sounds of screeching and ripping metal.
Rhiannan POV
The impact was hell. Glass shattered. Metal tore. The seat ripped free and flung her like a rag doll. She felt herself slam into something hard, and she groaned weakly, trying to right herself. Her head was woozy and dark and she winced with the pain. She couldn't hold on, and fell unconscious.
Ground Zero
The ship lay like a wounded beast in a crater of smoking trees and molten earth. Flames flickered along the hull. The scent of ozone and blood painted the air.
Rhiannan's body lay limp in the wreckage, twisted and broken, stars flickering faintly along her neck. Her breathing was shallow.
Kaleb crawled from the twisted metal, coughing smoke. He saw her. He ran.
"*RHI!*"
He fell to his knees, magic already pouring from his palms as he touched her.
Arwen limped out next, gash over his eye, shoulder dislocated. He caught sight of her body and froze.
"No. No, no, no, no!!!" He screamed to the gods.
"Help me!" Kaleb barked.
Before they could even begin, the shadows came.
The forest howled.
And then the monsters emerged.
Slithering, clawed beasts made of smoke and hate. Red eyes. Rotted teeth. Hissing like death. Surrounding them quickly.
Arwen roared, blade drawn, charging forward and slicing through the nearest.l monster, and heads rolled as he fought like a savage wild beast.
Kaleb stood, forming a protective circle of flame around Rhiannan.
"We are not losing her!" He yelled as Arwen nodded.
They fought like madmen. Claws and steel. Fire and blood. Everything they had they threw at the monsters.
Rhiannan's body convulsed once. Her eyes flickered. She groaned weakly as she tried to sit up, falling over unconscious instead.
Then.....
Elisha POV
A roar tore the heavens apart.
A shadow eclipsed the moon.
Elisha in his massive golden dragon form, descended like judgment itself.....wings spanning the sky, scales burning gold, his roar shaking the bones of the earth.
He landed with such force the crater deepened.
His eyes locked on her.
*Her.*
Lying in the dirt. Bleeding. Surrounded by shadows.
A sound left his throat that was part dragon, part man. Pure devastation.
He took one step forward, sucking in her scent.....
And she vanished.
Gone. Like wind.
The shadows collapsed into dust.
And in the silence that followed, a cold laughter echoed across the smoking trees.
"Too slow, Dragon King."
Elisha's roar shook the stars as he wailed a dragon song of mourning, the sound echoing for miles.
Kaleb fell to his knees howling.
Arwen screamed her name as he cursed the Gods. "WHYYY!?" He roared.
All that remained of Rhiannan was a smear of blood, a fading warmth... and the wreckage of three broken hearts.