Chapter 92: 92-Provocation
WHOOOM!
Aeltharion hit the ground with a thunderous sound. He snapped his wings shut at the last second. A savage gust of wind exploded outward, flattening the grass and hurling dust through the air.
Kyan had to put up a protective shield for himself and his surbodinates. The force of the dragon’s arrival nearly causes them to be flown away.
However, he didn’t have a moment to breathe out as Nytherael descended too fast.
BOOM!
When his feet touched the ground, the air erupted with a deep, bell-like boom that rolled across the forest.
Wind unfurled from the landing in invisible waves, sweeping robes, leaves, and the beasts backwards as though the wild itself inhaled sharply.
His tails carved through the sky with a sound like tearing silk and distant storms before he withdrew them.
All through his arrival, only Aeltharion, Ssoren, and Sseraphis remained unaffected. Kyan sighed and caught his breath. His protective shield had cracked and fallen off, and only with Ssoren’s reinforcement did they survive Nytherael’s arrival onto of Aeltharion’s.
Before they could regain their composure, another disturbance echoed. A shrill howl split the air as the Hadrian descended from the opposite direction. It struck the earth in sliding collision, wind whipping past hard enough to sting exposed skin.
The air cracked behind Hadrain from the speed of his descent.
KRAAASH!
His landing dragged a cyclone of dust and leaves across the forest, and the trees around the beasts finally gave out. They bent over and fell over before being blown away with the wind.
Nytherael and Aeltharion waved their hands and cleared the air of the dust from Hadrian’s arrival.
The three beasts faced off in a scary staring war. Nytherael and Aeltharion didn’t need the fairy present to tell them that Hadrian was the unknown monster that attacked their lover and stole him from them.
They barred their teeth and glared at Hadrian, hungry to tear his soul to pieces.
THOOM!
Fairy Zarathia crashed down next to Aeltharion hard enough to shake the ground. Dirt leapt into the air while a brutal gust burst outward from her body, hot a wild.
The impact came with a wet crunch of shattered stone and a roar of displaced air. Every beast present had to shield themselves.
Beasts and trees groaned as the pressure wave tore through the forest seconds after she landed. The forceful impact proved that, indeed, she was stronger than the three that arrived before her.
She dusted off her dress and raised her head with a polite softness and a kind smile on her face. "That was exhilarating," she cheered. After spending a thousand years trapped in the space between guarding against Hadrian’s return, it felt nice to let loose.
Her nine tails danced around her, free and full of life. They were the perfect shade of reddish-pink. "I missed flying," she said.
Cough... cough... except for Hadrian, who had no physical form, every other beast present broke into a coughing foot. It was hard enough to keep up with the pressure of her tails. It was crashing down on their shoulders.
In that area, even Hadrian wasn’t spared. In his spirit form, he was much weaker than Fairy Zarathia, and having her release her energy into the forest by showcasing her tails was impossible for him to bear.
Cough... cough... cough... the coughing got worse by the passing minutes. Yet Fairy Zarathia remained oblivious as she kept admiring her tails.
The moment seemed to slow down for her. She was getting a glimpse of herself after a lifetime, and she couldn’t get enough.
"Fa... Fairy," Nytherael called out, struggling to keep to his feet. Despite being a nine-tailed fox just like her, the massive difference in their strengths was obvious.
It was worse for Aeltharion, who was sick and weakened. He bent down and held his lungs, coughing so hard that he spat out blood.
Ssoren stumbled back , being caught by Kyan. He wasn’t fully healed from his previous wounds, and Fairy Zarathia’s forceful pressure was applying force on his wounds and making him weak and groan in pain.
Sseraphis was left kneeling on the ground, his head aching from the memories flooding into his head from the cleansing Ssoren did on him using the nexveil flame and their family’s venomous blood.
When Aeltharion’s blood hit the ground, a protective instinct inside his chest awakened. He snapped awake and forcefully sealed off the open crack that permitted the flood of memories, fighting the pressure in the air. He crawled over to Aeltharion and held him by the shoulders.
Aeltharion felt the hands on him and raised his head up. Their eyes locked, and Sseraphis froze, ’Its you,’ he thought, he recognized Aeltharion from the memory of dancing in the rain.
"Fair... cough... Fairy," Aeltharion struggled.
His voice Pentraeth went through to Zarathia’s ears, and she shot him a look. Noticing his struggle, her face furrowed in worry. "Why are you..." she realized thar not just Aeltharion, every beast around was having a hard time. "My bad. I do apologize," she said and retracted her tails and sealed off part of her strength to stop overwhelming the young ones.
Hadrian seized the chance to speak to Sseraphis. "Sseraphis, dear," he called out, sounding loving.
Nytherael and Aeltharion shot nasty glares. Their gazes were inches away from burning Hadrian’s soul to oblivion.
"Dear?" Aeltharion weakly asked.
"Whose your dear?" Nytherael stepped forward and stood in front of his lovers and shielding them from Hadrian evil gaze. "Even without a body, I won’t hesitate to gouge your eyes out if you keep looking at my husband.
Hadrian ignored him. "Sseraphis, you might not remember this, but they are the ones who attacked us," he cooked up on the spot. "They are the reason that I lost my physical form and the reason you can’t remember the past!" He pushed the blame to Nytherael, Aeltharion, and fairy Zarathia.
Sseraphis paused, his hands on Aeltharion’s faltered for a second. Before he could let go, Aeltharion placed his hand on his. He looked into Sseraphis’ eyes and asked, "Do you believe in your heart that I could ever hurt you?"
’No,’ the answer came immediately in his head. No hesitation or resistance as though his body, mind, and soul didn’t have a shred of doubt on the dragon.
That answer terrified Sseraphis. With his head calm and the chaos cooled over, he was back to square one with only his guts to lead him. He feared opening that crack up to see through his memories and find the truth because with two contrasting ones, it only gave him a headache.
But with his past issues of abandonment from his family and his trust issues, he couldn’t understand what Aeltharion must’ve done to earn such a clear display of trust from him.
"Don’t let his kind eyes fool you. They betrayed you and me when we least expected it and hurt us," Hadrian continued.
"Stop spouting nonsense!" Nytherael scolded, ready to pounce on the evil spirit and send it back to he’ll from where he figured the spirit came from.
"Am I spouting nonsense?" Hadrian asked.
"Yes."
"Then..." he smirked. "Swear on Sseraphis’ head that you didn’t betray him by choosing another and asking him for a divorce... that you didn’t abandon him and cause him to run mad with grief?" Hadrian challenged.
