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We rotate at the same time, searching the sea of madness, though it’s hard to miss. There’s a bronze cage behind the many lines of Vexamen Breed soldiers. It’s the size of a small building with bright amber eyes glowing from between its bars. And it’s opening, unlatching locks from the bottom.
“It’s a Dralutheran! Get DaiSzek out of here!” Warrose’s thunderous voice sends a shockwave down my spine as my eyes widen toward Dessin.
What does that mean?
To my dismay, Dessin’s face loses color, and he’s suddenly searching the battlefield for DaiSzek, shouting his name. Tendons and veins bulge along his neck. His head twists and turns as he tries to locate our boy.
“What’s a Dralutheran?!” I ask in a shriek.
We’ve never worried about DaiSzek with another creature before. I’ve seen him dominate the most fearsome of creatures. Even when he was a pup, he defeated a night dawper that stalked me near the Red Oaks! And he was a freaking pup!
“Dralutherans are just as rare as a RottWeilen nowadays!” Warrose finally reaches me with a bloodstained hand on my shoulder. “They’re reptilian leviathans that only hunt apex predators! Nearly indestructible skin, and extremely intelligent.”
And in this instant, a creature steps out of the colossal cage opening. It’s a petrifying blend of a basilisk and a wingless dragon with seaweed green scales that glimmer to a shade of amethyst against the light of fire. Its short but powerful legs move with the speediness of a spider, reminding me of the claws and stance a crocodile has. And it sniffs the air through the slits of its stubby snout, flexing its purple tongue over those spiked teeth as it catches the whiff it’s looking for.
The only other apex predator in this land.
DaiSzek.
The gigantic creature sets its amber eyes on a target and doesn’t hesitate to blast through the lines of soldiers to get to it. The earth rumbles under my feet, vibrations quaking my innards and thrumming hard against my beating heart.
I finally spot Dessin sprinting through walls of opponents, cutting them down as he screams, “DaiSzek, NO!!!!”
Our boy is a mere fifty feet away, tearing apart a loaded cannon as he comes to a screeching stop, locking his sight on the Dralutheran. Those RottWeilen eyes flash to a blazing ruby red. Upper lip curling back to reveal his mountainous teeth. And he crouches low before bolting in that direction.
Dessin roars over the noise, begging DaiSzek to stop, to come back, to retreat.
But DaiSzek flies like a stallion, frothing at the mouth to protect us all from this new antagonist. Nothing on earth could stop him from meeting this challenge.
“It is what killed the last dragon,” the spirit of the elven queen, Knightingale, whispers to me.
My stomach convulses with doom. DaiSzek leaps and soars over the cinders and rubble, conquering his obstacles with ease. What can I do? How can I stop this?
I swivel to Warrose, gyrating his whip around us. “Cover me while I do this.”
“Do what?” he asks without missing a beat.
I tilt my face to the sky, conjuring that feeling that consumed me as I rode DaiSzek’s back into battle. I connect with it the way I would reach out and hold Dessin’s hand, using the void as a crutch to stabilize myself. It’s a tangible entity, warm and thrumming in my lungs and soul. Its lava spurting through my bloodstream, filling my brain with an electrical charge.
And I breathe life into the image I create in my mind.
My enemies burning.
The Dralutheran engulfed in flames.
A mere second away from a collision, DaiSzek unhinges his jaw to roar; an ear-splitting sound devastates the battlefield as a pummel of fire eats up the air surrounding the Dralutheran, taking out units of the Breed along the way. Those seaweed-colored scales heat up like glowing coals, turning red before brightening to coral with flecks of embers popping from its tough skin.
Endorphins fill me up from impact. Power. Elation. Seamless destruction.
But as I observe the great flames, my stomach takes a dip. The Dralutheran is only momentarily occupied by the bright lights and scorching heat around its body. It swats at the infernos like that combustion is an unwanted pest. And after the initial beat of surprise, the beast huffs, lunging forward to clip DaiSzek in the side with a scaley claw.
I cry out while DaiSzek flips to the side, looking so small compared to the gargantuan beast. But he doesn’t stay down for long. He attacks without hesitation, using his teeth to snap at the ankles, the places near the gut where vital organs subside.
DaiSzek tries everything to no avail.
“I can’t watch this,” Dessin grunts, rushing to my side.
I shake my head back and forth, as if the motion will make this all go away. I was accepting of this way before I knew DaiSzek had a true competitor. Where did they find this thing? What are its weaknesses?
