'Don't die! You can't die before I arrive—'
When Draven appeared at the palace, he mistakenly thought he was in the wrong place.
Fire and devastation.
It was as if he had returned to the scenes of wars against the human race from thousands of years ago. Back then, Agartha was yet to be founded and the continent had been ravaged by wars between human kingdoms. There was no safe place. Cities burned, and towns were constantly ravaged by battles, leaving ruins behind.
Draven himself was but a wanderer fighting against the human armies who destroyed whatever settlement stood their way, protecting the supernatural beings who were running away from their original homes.
At this moment, the destroyed city walls and burning houses from the past overlapped with the sight of devastation before him. Broken walls and pillars lay about, and part of the palace had collapsed into scorched rubbles, as if they were smashed apart by an extremely strong explosion from the inside. Fire was quickly spreading towards the rest of the palace.
'Ember! Is she safe?' He could not find his mate outside the palace walls. His blood grew icy cold. 'Could she be inside? Is Morph inside as well?'
A tall wall of fire surrounded that broken part of the palace, and Draven could not see even with his eyesight what was happening beyond those flames. Something was blocking both his eyesight and magic from sensing what's happening inside.
Draven hurried over, intending to rush through the wall of fire—
Bang!
His sturdy body passed through the initial layers of flames, but somewhere within, he slammed against a firm solid wall, one so strong it did not even tremble under his strength. One had to know that a Dragon's body, even in his human force, was a force that could destroy mountains.
He tried to attack it once more, wrapping his magic around his fist, but the barrier remained unmovable. He spread his senses around, looking for a way to enter, but realized that the solid barrier was in the form of a dome.
'The source of the explosion came from inside. I need to know what's going on!'
Since he could not directly enter, he disappeared from the wall of fire and appeared on the highest remnant spire of the palace from where he could see the entire palace grounds.
Rumble!
Above his head, thick bolts of lightning flashed, followed by claps of thunder. The dark sky above the palace was raging with strong wind and thunder, as if something had provoked the heavens from unleashing its anger.
The raging flames, coupled with the bolts of lightning and the strong wind, made him unable to see anything clearly. Still, his eyesight was able to catch images of those inside the barrier.
At the center of the ruined palace, amidst what looked like the remains of the garden, he caught sight of his mate.
'She's safe, but…'
His relief was short-lived.
The source of the power that caused this devastation and triggered the anger of the heavens was no one else but Ember.
At this moment, his mate didn't look like herself. No, she didn't even look human.
She looked like a fire incarnate, floating above the scorched ground like an immortal, tongues of red flames intimately worshiping her from all directions. The large flames behind her had taken the shape of a furious phoenix, its threatening wings formed from blazing fire.
Extremely arrogant and domineering, as if she did not mind the destruction around her, reminding Draven of her reincarnated past.
The Deity of Fire.
And at this moment, that deity was unleashing her anger against the world.
Even from afar, Draven could feel her emotions. It was as if she would stop at nothing but destroying everything in her path. He didn't know what provoked her, but no matter what, her rampage was bound to cause her problems in the aftermath.
He knew that Ember would regret this once she was in her right frame of mind.
Through the bond, he could feel that strongest change in her powers and her emotions. He knew things were bound to worsen as time went on. He needed to stop this madness and calm her down.
'But where is Morph?'
Other than Ember, the reason he hurried back to the palace was because he found out that the stupid eagle did the most stupid thing he had ever done to date.
'Who told you to intervene with destiny?!'
From the sky, Draven tried to break the barrier once more, casting magic spells and even using the brute force of his body, but nothing worked against the energy barrier surrounding the garden premises.
In the end, Draven had to land on the ground at the boundary of that barrier. All his powers did was disperse the wall of fire outside the barrier, allowing him to see more of the situation inside.
Ember was not alone. However, she was the only one who was not injured.
He found some injured female beasts captured by ropes made of flames, being strangled in the air. Only then did he notice Morpheus lying on the ground. Someone seemed to be kneeling beside him, but Draven's sole attention was on Morpheus' chest.
His gaze then found a dagger stabbed over his heart.
'No! No, no, no—' His fists slammed against the barrier once more. He had no time to waste. Maybe it was not yet too late.
He had to destroy this barrier, stop Ember and save Morpheus!
'Why?! Why won't it break?!'
This wasn't the case with the barrier casted by Thala Grimsbane. Back then, his energy was being constantly devoured by the fake divine weapon she stabbed him with.
He was using his full strength now! Why couldn't he break this barrier?
He tried again and again, and after he somewhat regained his calm did he realize it wasn't that his strength was lacking. Against the powers of his mate, it was as if his attacks were dissipating on their own.
'What is this? Why can't I use my power?'
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