A light grinding echoed through the room as Susan dragged her claw over the stone floor. The mountains of boxes that once filled the center of the room had been pushed away, leaving a wide area of floor for her to draw on. By now, almost half an hour later, she had covered the entire space in a massive runic array. Almost every inch of the floor space now covered in carefully carved runes.

The rebel army was silent as she worked, the grim quiet that came from the earlier revelations still damningly present. They now watched in silence as she moved around the room.

She was on the final rune, claw moving with perfect precision as she finished carving out the name she had intended never to even think of again. Completing the last line, she moved back and looked over the hundreds of square meters of carved stone with a critical eye.

"Are you ready?" She finally broke the silence, before turning to face Cato.

He stood on the very edge of the circle, looking tiny next to even the smallest of the runes spread out in front of him. At her question his head came up to meet her gaze, and he gave another wry grin.

"Absolutely not," he shrugged, "but we don't have a choice now do we?"

"Nope."

"No," Elizabeth's voice was quiet but firm as it echoed from Susan's back. "There's always another option."

Susan paused at that, but just had to shrug and placed a hand on the floor next to the summoning circle. A twitch sent her Dragonheart into overdrive, and then the entire room was thrumming with building mana.

"I have heard of him before," Cato's voice came again, almost drowned out by the humming of the air around them. "Yet despite the circumstances, I never once considered summoning him."

His tone wasn't judgmental, but there was a tightness in his voice as he spoke.

"Don't worry. I can keep him in line," Susan said, before continuing in a murmur. "…probably."

They fell silent, watching as the mana coalesced in the center of the summoning circle. It formed the telltale outline of summoning magic, the mana concentrated further and further around it. Then, in the space between one moment and the next, Terminus appeared.

There was gasps from the watching rebels when he appeared. Scales aglow with heat and smoke drifting from his body, he landed with a gasp, knees buckling before he caught himself. His head came up with careful movements, the broken scales covering his body painting a fairly clear picture of what he had just been doing.

Susan grit her teeth at the sight, but managed to calm herself by looking down at the still glowing runes of the circle. The containment runes were still going strong, so she returned her gaze to Terminus feeling only mildly panicked.

As she watched, his head rose completely. Only for him to pause when he took in the occupants of the room.

"Ruin." His eyes narrowed, voice grim.

"Terminus."

Susan's voice was quiet as they eyed each other, movements slow and body positioned calm and unthreatening. They were still at a delicate stage in summoning, Terminus couldn't break free from the summoning circle to attack. But any movement against him would have Terminus reversing the summoning and vanishing back to whatever battle he had been involved with.

She watched as Terminus's eyes flicked back and forth for a moment, taking in the dragons behind her before returning his gaze to her. Then his head tilted and a low grin covered his face.

"Revenge, truly?" His asked, dagger-like teeth glinting in the low light of the room. "I didn't think you were the type."

"Revenge?" Susan huffed, "I have enough problems already, I don't need to make more. No, what I want is your help.

"…Whatever could the Ruin of the Atlans need help with?" He sounded genuinely curious this time, losing some of his guarded stance.

"Overthrowing an empire."

"Ah. Yes, of course," he nodded, "but what is in it for me?"

"A mad Archdragon-"

"I'm in."

"Awesome," Susan didn't even blink at his interruption, "can you promise you won't attack us?"

"For the duration of my summoning?"

"Yes."

"Agreed."

Terminus nodded, and Susan breathed out a silent breath as she saw from the corner of her eye one set of runes glow green. He was telling the truth.

She still had to force herself to reach down and scratch out one of the lines of the runic construct. The containment runes flickered out, and with her heart in her throat she watched as Terminus placed a hoof past the edge of the inner circle.

Then he was in front of her and Cato, staring at her with narrowed eyes.

"The plan?"

"There's a giant portal in the middle of the city. The two of us go through and beat up whatever is on the other side."

"Acceptable," he nodded.

"Was that it?" Reidar burst out. "Are all archdragons really so… simple?"

"You'd be surprised," Elizabeth deadpanned.

The portal loomed. Susan looked up at it from the base with careful eyes, taking in crackling edges held in place by the golden sides. Wide enough to fit an Earth Dragon with room to spare, she couldn't help that odd feeling of seeing something properly sized for her dragon form.

The portal itself was something entirely different. It wasn't like when she compressed space or any kind of teleportation. Instead there was an almost seamless transition between this world and the next, the only sign of its existence being the near imperceptible point where the air of the both sides was held apart.

Although instead of a clear picture of the other world, all Susan could see was thick canvas. Some sort of tent had been set up around the portal on the other end, a clear sign that the people there were ready for them.

Susan just sighed, her eyes moving away from the portal to look over the intricately carved metal of the frame. Then she frowned. A thought twinged in the back of her head, something bothering her about the design.

"Ruin?"

"Yes?"

Her head turned to find Cato looking up at her from the far edge of the platform. He stood just at the top of the stairs leading down to the lower level, face shining in the magelights set up along the railings. The world stretched out behind him, the darkness of the city making it seem like the top of the ziggurat was an island on an ocean of darkness.

"Gillasbuig and the other rebel dragons have been retrieved from the mana generators, they will be here within the hour."

"That's good," Susan said softly, feeling the weight of the moment press down on her. Then her lips twisted into a frown. "Though… does this feel familiar at all?"

She waved a hand around at the top of the ziggurat.

"Of course," Cato nodded, his voice softening, "the night the Atlans fell was just like this."

Susan's memories of the event were more a haze of explosions and fury, nothing like the quiet around them. She supposed there was some similarity, though what was catching her attention wasn't the darkness or the night, it was the portal atop the…

"Well shit," she muttered, "that's a curveball I didn't need."

"Is something wrong?"

"…we'll deal with it later." She said, shaking her head.

She didn't need the threat of the Demon King stressing her out any more. It already lurked in the back of her mind as an omnipresent threat. Attacking an entire dragon army was more than enough to deal with right now.

A heavy clopping caught her attention, and she turned back to the stairs to see Terminus reaching the top of the Ziggurat. Elizabeth appeared next to Cato a moment later, and taking a peek down towards the bottom of the pyramid Susan could see the rest of the Rebels gathered at the base of the stairs.

"It is time," Terminus announced, the proclamation booming in the quiet of the night.

"But Gilleasbuig and the others still haven't arrived," Elizabeth shot back with a frown.

"Then they will be late," Terminus spoke so quickly he almost cut her off. "We must go, this planet already begins to reject us."

His words made Susan turn her head to check the corners of the roof. The flags of the Dawn Empire still flapped there, showing an image of a bronze dragon with the morning sun held aloft in one hand.

The air around them seemed to crackle, as if the universe itself seemed to realize that they were the only thing signifying the rule of the Dawn Empire over Exulum. The second they came down… something would happen and nobody wanted to know what that would be.

Every second they were on Exulum tempted fate, begging the question of just how far they could go before the magic decided they had truly stolen the planet from the Dawn Empire.

Susan shook her head, trying to refocus away from the flags and the mounting dread of the situation.

"Elizabeth, do you think you can hold the portal until the Dragons arrive?"

"Yeah, fine," Elizabeth said, finally breaking off her staring contest with Terminus. "I still don't like this plan though.

"Like it or not," Susan sighed, "Terminus and I are the only ones with even a slight chance of making it back out."

"But just going alone?"

"Enough arguing," Terminus snapped, "We go, now."

Elizabeth stuck her tongue out at him, but Susan sighed and turned towards him.

"Well, who's first?" She asked, earning a huff from Terminus.

"Allies we may be, but not friends. I will not be leaving my back to you."

"Fair enough," She shrugged.

Walking up to the portal, she took a deep breath and let it out. A whine built in her chest, then grew to a scream as the vents on her chest opened and her wings spread. She didn't so much leap as let go, rocketing through the portal in a blast of air.

She braced for impact on the other side, but the tent was just fabric and she blew through it like it was nothing. Then she was out in the open air, looking around at a field of pyramids and ziggurats, the distance dominated by a single gargantuan tower.

And then there were the dragons. Hundreds and thousands of them spread out around her, so thick on the ground they were like a blanket. Coal black Fire Dragons, chitinous red Thunder Dragons, and mottled green Earth Dragons, a demented quilt of vast proportions. Up above Air Dragons circled in a single mass, swirling around the top of the ziggurat like a thundercloud.

A roar echoed from below, and at the sound all of the Thunder Dragons raised their heads in perfect unison. Electricity crackled along hundreds of scaled bodies, and then the world lit up in white as they let loose a collective lightning bolt.

Susan let out a scream as it hit, her flight faltering as the energy scorched through her body. The electrical channels along her body crackling as they channeled a continent's worth of power in a second.

The lightning finally cut off, leaving Susan tumbling from the sky. She felt dazed, her Dragonheart uncomfortably warm from the amount of power that had been pumped into it.

Then she caught herself, wings opening wide again to stall her fall. Her mouth opened, neck stretching out, and then she sent it all back.

The beam of energy hit a shimmering shield of energy, then punched through it to carve a glowing line through the massed ranks below. In an instant the orderly rows of dragons collapsed as they fled the vibrant retribution.

Susan cut the beam off as she felt the energy in her body normalize, hanging in the air to watch the scurrying mass below. A glance upward showed that the Air Dragons had pulled back en masse, and for a single moment Susan flew above the Dawn Empire's capital entirely uncontested.

Shouts rang out below, several of the Earth Dragons bellowing out commands. The fleeing Dragons pulled back towards them, before gathering together beneath their shells. Mana shields began to appear in the air once more, and within seconds the army had regrouped.

Then the roar of cannon fire echoed from the ziggurat below, and one of the Earth Dragons bellowed as its leg fountained red blood. More shots followed, and in seconds dozens of the Earth Dragons had collapsed to the ground roaring.

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

Susan turned to see Terminus standing at the top of the Ziggurat, looking down over the roaring masses below. Crouching low, he leapt forward and down towards the ranks of dragons.

With a deep breath, Susan followed. Sweeping in low, she accelerated towards the front ranks of dragons like a meteor.

Something twinkled in the air in front of her. Instinct had her juking to the side, and she watched as a small crystal whizzed by.

Her mouth opened to shout a warning, only for her to watch as another crystal smashed into Terminus's flank and shattered. He glanced down at where it had struck, seeming puzzled.

Then he was yanked away, shooting towards the back of the Dragon Army. A roar echoed as he struggled in the air, but the enchantment fueling his flight never wavered in its trajectory.

"Dammit," Susan roared herself, "I guess assholes think alike!"

Twisting around and avoiding another flying crystal, her neck flaps opened fully and with a scream of air she was shooting off after Terminus. One of the Earth Dragons took a swipe at the struggling Archdragon with its chugged tail, but a blast of Dragonfire from Susan made it abort the move and hunker down in its shell.

Then both of the Dragons were passing over ranks of Dragons. Speeding past the last of the hulking Earth Dragons, Susan watched as Terminus's flight began to curve downwards.

It wasn't hard to spot the landing site. An incomplete pyramid, the sides rising only halfway to leave a flat space the size of a city block in the middle. Around its base lurked a dozen heavy stone bunkers, each one glowing with magic.

Tilting her wings to catch an updraft, she rose into the air even as she watched Terminus touch down on the heavy bricks of the pyramid.

"Careful Ruin," he shouted as he quickly looked around, "it is a trap!"

"No shit, Sherlo-"

Susan's words were cut off as she felt something strike her from below. It wasn't an object, instead her vision turned white as a hissing steam surrounded her. Almost instantly her scales grew heavy with frost, and in moments her flight was failing and she was falling down towards the half pyramid.

Her Dragonheart roared with power, electricity flowing into her scales to heat them to incandescence. But the ice failed to melt, instead clinging to her skin like a heavy blanket.

She smashed down a moment later, the ice finally shattering off her into tumbling chunks that skidded away in a rough circle around her. Struggling to her feet, her head came up just in time to watch a glowing dome of mana finish forming around them.

"Well, what a pleasant surprise," a new voice echoed, "two archdragons for the price of one."

Susan turned to find the mechanical abomination standing on the far end of the platform. A skeletal mouth grinned at her, white lips of hoarfrost crackling as it spoke.

"Empress." Terminus spat, "I have been waiting for this."

"I can't say the same," she replied, "though I suppose it couldn't have happened in better circumstances. After all, it's not every so often that the two greatest threats to my empire leap into my arms like this."

One of Terminus's eyebrows raised. Behind him, one of his legs made the tiniest of moves towards the barrier. Susan twitched her tail back, and her Dragonheart began heating up.

"You have trapped yourself in with two Archdragons and call your circumstances good? I find myself almost wanting to see what mad scheme you've developed to defeat us."

Empress paused at that, the two glowing orbs that were her eyes roving over the both of them.

"Stalling, Terminus?" She finally asked, "I didn't think you had it in you. Oh well, I suppose I was doing it as well."

Terminus exploded towards her, but he was too late.

Empress ducked beneath the blade of his horn, and spoke. "Do it."

A shockwave of mana exploded from the bunkers around them. Words seared themselves onto reality, another brutal message etching itself onto their very souls.

'Empress Shall Not Fall to Dragons.'

Experience let Susan ride out the wave of causality magic, and she was unleashing her dragonfire toward the shield around them the next moment. It struck, but the dome only warped at the attack.

On the other side of the platform, Terminus leapt to his feet. Both back hooves lashed out at Empress, but at the last moment they twisted and missed. Susan watched as Terminus tumbled to the side with a growl, the stones under his feet cracking and shifting like sand.

With a scream, Susan twisted. Her Dragonfire swept across the platform, scorching the air around it. It shot towards Empress, only for her to hop over it like a jump rope.

Susan smashed her jaw shut, ending the attack before it could reach Terminus. He had already readied his own breath attack, and as she watched one of his cannon shots erupted forth towards Empress.

She sidestepped it. Despite watching it, Susan could barely comprehend how she did it.It was like the air was moving with her, or the space had warped specifically so that she could move just that little bit farther. It all meant the same thing though, their attacks meant nothing.

Then Empress's mouth opened, and a cone of frigid steam blasted forth. Susan leapt to the side, but not fast enough. The steam covered her, ice growing supernaturally fast until she was entirely encased in it.

The blast of steam only cut off when Terminus leapt back into the fray. He came at Empress from the side, head slamming forward into her side. It skidded over one of her bronze ribs, striking nothing.

Empress laughed, then caught his horn with a hand and threw him to the side. He struck the side of the shield hard enough for it to warp, then collapsed to the ground beneath.

"Now," Empress began again, her mechanical voice practically squealing with smug joy, "If you surrender yourselves I will promise to be lenient and keep your deaths short. Of course if you wish to fight…"

She stalked up to the front of Susan's icy prison, staring her in the eye with a skeletal grin.

"I will happily oblige."

From either side of her, Susan and Terminus's eyes met. The low rumble of his Dragonheart began to grow. Her eyes narrowed and an agreement was made. Nobody pissed off two Archdragons and just got away with it.

"Well?"

Susan responded by channeling every bit of her available energy to the scales on the front of her torso. They heated, then glowed, then exploded.

The ice shattered, sending Susan skidding back even as Empress was sent tumbling away.

Empress caught herself on the ground, claws tearing up the stones of the pyramid as she skidded to a stop. Then the white beam of Susan's dragonfire caught her in the chest.

Empress stumbled back, chest beginning to warp under the intensity of the beam. The glowing orbs of her eyes brightened as she twisted to avoid the beam. Then they vanished, exploding into a hail of shrapnel as Terminus's empowered cannon fire struck. Her body stilled, then collapsed to the ground in a thunder of metal.

Reality shuddered. Empress's fallen form shivered, and as Susan watched a shockwave exploded forth from it. It rushed past her, and in the next moment she was looking upon the whole and healthy form of Empress.

"Well-" she stopped.

Freezing in place except for her eyes, she looked between Susan and Terminuus for a few long seconds.

"You… what did you do?"

Susan grinned at her, even as her torso desperately knitted itself back together.

"Just an object lesson in the many failings of Causality Magic," she gasped out. "Mana takes the path of least resistance. Sometimes that involves putting you back together rather than keeping you from getting hit."

Empress's eyes blazed.

"Is that so," she sneered.

She turned towards the army of dragons.

"RETAKE EXULUM," she roared, "PURGE THE REBELS."

Susan's whole body froze as she watched the distant cloud of Air Dragons. At Empress's words they dropped from their position above the portal. Diving towards the portal dozens at a time, they poured into it in a roaring tide.

"YOU-" Susan screamed, then cut off as Empress's eyes blazed.

"Well little Archdragon, you can stop at any time?"

Susan's teeth grit, staring Empress down. Her Dragonheart screamed in her ears, an ever growing whine echoing around her as her scales began to glow from the excess energy.

Then a roaring echoed in her ears and her eyes turned to the side. Terminus was still standing behind Empress, but he had turned away from her. He met her eyes, then glanced toward a point on the shield between the two of them.

Susan didn't think twice. Spinning, she opened her mouth and unleashed the full might of her dragonfire towards the wall in between her and Terminus.

Once again, it warped beneath the force of her attack, but didn't break. Then the roar of cannon fire echoed in her ear, and the shield exploded in a flash of light.

Susan moved. Leaping away from the pyramid with both wings spread wide. Catching the air, her vents opened wide to send her rocketing towards the distant ziggurat.

Skimming the top of one of the Earth Dragons, she finally came in view of the portal and felt her heart drop. The Air Dragons were gone, their army fully through the portal. The Thunder Dragons were already advancing towards the top of the Ziggurat, the first of them almost halfway up the stairs.

Susan's dragon breath hit the stair directly in front of them, carving through the steps and sending the dragons fleeing. She only stayed long enough to make sure the stairs she hit had collapsed, then she was rocketing back through the portal and into the night of Exulum.

What she found there froze her heart solid. The rebels had scattered, the dark forms of Air Dragons flying above the city and firing down with abandon. Buildings shattered beneath their attacks, screams already echoing some of them began to collapse.

In the distance, the handful of rebel dragons had been backed into one of the plazas, a dozen Air Dragons circling around them. Elizabeth was nowhere to be seen, but the screams of anger and occasional falling Air Dragon said she was still alive.

Eyes whipping around, Susan found her mind blanking. How could she stop this. There were to many people in danger, too many variables-

Just like with the werewolves.

"The Guardian Rune!" She snapped.

Her wings turned to catch the air, bringing her to a skidding stop on the top of the Ziggurat. Both hands came up immediately, sketching glowing runes in the air with feverish speed.

The battle hummed around her as she stared down at the forming runes before her. It wasn't long before the sphere of runes was almost complete, just the final details left.

That was when a roar echoed above her, and she found herself shoved to the side by a blast of air. Her head whipped to the side, finding a trio of Air Dragons bearing down on her.

The mouths opened, ready to fire. Susan's teeth grit but she didn't move. Instead she twisted to put her body between them and the runic construct. Clenching every muscle in her body, she braced herself.

Then a roar echoed, and something stuck the ziggurat behind her. Her head came around to find an Air Dragon collapsed against the sloped side of the ziggurat, insensate.

The other two were spiraling away in rough loops, looking dazed. Susan grinned as she felt a familiar weight appear, and her eyes turned inward to find Elizabeth standing on her nose.

"What happened, what's going on?" she asked, eyes wide and chest heaving as she desperately tried to catch her breath.

"More causality magic," Susan replied.

"Dang it!" Elizabeth hissed, before turning back to the glowing sphere Susan was crafting, "please tell me this will help."

"Maybe?" Susan shrugged, "it's the copy of the Guardian Rune I told you about earlier."

"Great, how do I help?"

"Well…"

She frowned. Her mouth had opened to ask for her help in powering the rune. But that only brought to mind the question of where that power was coming from. Even with the Air Dragons filling the air around her, the city screaming below, for that one long moment she pondered.

She had an idea. It was a stupid idea. But… What if there was some deeper meaning to Elizabeth's continued power? Even if she was right then she would still need more Guardians.

Unless…

"Susan?"

"I…" she couldn't finish the sentence.

She just stared down at her hands as she finished sketching the last of the runes. But instead of continuing on to sketch the faux Guardian Rune, she froze.

She should just finish the rune and be done, there was already enough destruction done to the city. This new path might be better, but High Magic often had many detrimental effects on the human body. Her hands began to shake.

"What is it?" Elizabeth asked, snapping her out of her reverie.

Her eyes flickered to Elizabeth, then away. Elizabeth's eyes narrowed.

"Tell me now."

"But you might get hurt," Susan whispered. Elizabeth's glare didn't budge.

"Then you're just going to have to trust me to handle it."

They matched gazes. Susan couldn't help the image of Hadwigis that flashed through her mind. That glorious idiot that had gotten himself killed… being a hero.

Saving people.

Another round of screams echoed from the city around her, and she felt a lump form in her throat.

"There's two parts to this magic," the words spilled from her. "The array that overcharges and expands the rune, and the rune itself. So I'm basically just making a shitty copy of the Guardian Rune and empowering it."

"Okay?"

"So what if we use the real thing?"

"Oh. OH," Elizabeth's eyes widened. "…so how dangerous is it really?"

"Insanely."

Elizabeth took a deep breath and rolled her head back and forth.

"Let's freaking do it."

Susan swallowed and nodded, reaching out to either side of the rune array. Her Dragonheart roared, mana pouring forth and into the runes. Light poured forth around her, and the battle around her stilled as the dragons caught sight of the magic.

"Now." She had to force the word out.

Elizabeth shot her a thumbs up and leapt. She fell straight into the center of the sphere of runes, then slowed. The mana of the runes latched onto her, holding her in the air as it began rushing in.

It flowed into her dress, which began to glow. The fabric warped, growing and changing until the clothes had transformed into a latticework of glowing lines that sucked up the power around them like a sponge. The pull began to increase, and Susan quickly felt a change as she stopped pushing out power and the rune began sucking it in.

In moments the pull began to grow painful, and Susan felt her Dragonheart begin to reach the very limits of what she could supply. Elizabeth was impossible to see now, the light of the runes around her too great.

She still kept up the flow of mana to her very limits, head growing woozy until she blinked and found her head pressed up against the ground. Pushing past the wooziness, she raised her head just enough to see the glowing lines grow to cannibalize the empowerment runes.

The last of the mana in the area depleted, the lines stopped growing and their light began to dim. Elizabeth appeared a moment later, falling from the center of the lines towards the ground.

Susan leapt to catch her, legs scrabbling to get her enough momentum to catch her in a raised hand. Bringing it close, she looked down to see Elizabeth now clothed in regular jeans and a t-shirt, and eyes half lidded as she looked up at the dimming lines.

"D'it werk?" She mumbled.

"No idea," Susan replied, looking up at the glowing lines as well.

Movement caught her eye, and she turned to see another squadron of Air Dragons flying down in formation towards them. A glance towards the portal showed the red scale of the Thunder Dragons appearing at the top of the other Ziggurat.

One last glance upward let her see the lines dim to almost nothing. Her heart sunk at the realization that not only had she endangered Elizabeth, it had all been for nothing. A pained keen escaped her as she struggled to her feet and turned to meet their charge.

Clutching Elizabeth to her chest, she readied herself.

-

Rubble rained around Cato as he charged towards the crumbling building. A stray shot by one of the Air Dragons had collapsed the front of the building. And as he watched the rest began to crumble under its own weight.

Skidding to a stop in front of it, he raised both arms and screamed out the syllables of his spell. His heart thundered as a torrent of mana passed through it, and before him the brickwork began to reassemble itself.

It was only halfway done when he felt his mana run dry, and he collapsed to his knees in the empty street. The building groaned as it resettled, but his repair held.

He granted himself a few precious seconds to catch his breath, and then he was struggling to his feet and charging towards the next building in danger of collapse.

The screams of pain and terror filled the night around him like a symphony of death. Heavy wings flapped above and they fell silent, their fear of dragons overpowering even their distress. Then it passed and the screams began anew.

Cato cursed the Empire of Dawn for the thousandth time. Were their normal atrocities not enough? Could they not simply kill the rebels and be done with it? What compelled them to ravage one of their own cities? Retribution, madness, black hearted amusement?

Something landed behind him, the impact shaking the earth beneath his feet. Stumbling to a stop, he turned and felt his heart drop out of his chest.

"Governor Cato," the Air Dragon rumbled, "you have abandoned your post."

"I have no time for this!" Cato screamed back, "these people are in danger."

"That is immaterial. I have orders."

"…so you do," Cato shook his head, "but I have a conscience. So I stay here."

"An admittance of treason. That simplifies things," the Air Dragon rumbled.

It took a heavy step back and crouched. Air rushed into its chest, lungs expanding to grotesque size as they readied for another blast of air.

Cato's mana surged, walls forming around him to contain the blast. Somewhere in his mind he knew he was going to die doing this, but the rest of him held firm to the knowledge that there were buildings filled with civilians behind him.

A worthy trade, he supposed. One black hearted governor in return for a hundred lives, even the most foolish merchant would make it.

His breathing calmed, despite the mana tearing through his chest. His eyes met the Air Dragons, then closed in anticipation.

Something slammed past him, a wave of mana so absolute and forceful it felt like a thousand Archdragons had passed by. Light followed, and his eyes snapped open to see the top of the ziggurat lit up by a glowing sphere brighter than the sun.

His jaw fell open in shock as he stared at the light. It was beautiful, impossibly serene despite the raw power. Then the mana began to change, something forming within it.

You couldn't gather this much mana in one place without it becoming something more. Not true intelligence, but as Cato stared into it, he felt it begin to look back.

It resonated within him. With the determination that burnt in his chest, the sense of honor that calmed his mind. They called to it.

And it responded.

"Not another damn problem," the Air Dragon rumbled, breaking the silence.

It still stood a hundred paces in front of him, chest slowly deflating as it gaped at the distant light. Eyes blinking, it finally turned away and back to Cato.

"Let's finish things here first."

Cato didn't hear it speak. His ears were buzzing, heart thrumming as deep within him a connection was forged. In the distance, the light atop the ziggurat flashed in time with his bond.

A glowing rune erupted into existence beneath him, scorching the paving stones with its intensity. Light rose up from it, surrounding Cato. Tears sprung in his eyes as he took in the wonder of what he was seeing.

For so long he had struggled to do the right thing. And now this spell had decided to reward him for it.

It thrummed within him, as if… speaking. Thoughts coalesced in his mind, knowledge of the power he now wielded. How to use it. How to save others with it.

Then something else came. A question. The question.

Asking him…

Asking him…

What he wanted to wear?

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