Page 124 of Gate of Chaos


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It looped around. It was a patchy green and brown striped with bright spots of azure blue, and while it had a head, the head wasn’t on right. Its wings were green and brown but glowed with an azure lattice of magic.

“We come in peace?!” Auryn shouted at it.

It did not strike me as peaceful, reasonable, or even something that should exist.

I chirped the equivalent ofstep on it! Step on it! Use fire!

The thing homed in on us and bellowed. Its mouth was full of extremely large and not entirely dragon fangs. It smashed its wings forward. A wave ofwrongsmacked into us, and my scales screeched in pain as whatever it was dug down into my hide and tried to turn my horns to glass.

Auryn roared and ignited in a ball of light too bright to look at.

Good idea.

I ignited the tips of my scales. Akoni flapped over to one of the dense mats of plants and clawed up chunks, transmuted it into metal shards, and flung it up at the creature. The creature screamed as metal dug into its hide. It somersaulted around, whipping and moving like it had way more joints than it should have, its bones making terrible grinding and clacking noises.

Akoni flung more metal shrapnel at it and ignited the shrapnel, branding the thing from the inside.

“Helena!” Auryn shouted, “Tear a hole in the clouds!”

I made for the clouds as fast as my wings could carry my noodle body.

Auryn plunged forward, burning with light, and the creature spun on him, screaming in rage. Auryn tackled it, body on body, and tumbled it into the dirt in a rattle of bones and scales that made me scream.

The wrongness smashed my brain over and over. I plunged back to the ground.

Auryn and the thing bit and snapped and buffeted each other with their wings, but Auryn tossed it into the dirt, jumped back, and spears of searing light plunged through the hole in the clouds and speared the creature through, pinning it to the ground.

Akoni drove metal shards and fire into the creature’s body, pushing the shards through hide and bones and into the underlying tissues.

Blue-green blood welled out of the thing, hit the ground, and—

disappeared?

Auryn backed away while the creature snapped and spasmed on the three pikes that pinned it into the clay. Light poured and exuded from him, dripping onto the ground and lingering there in puddles. The creature extended its neck and tried to lap at the magical puddles, deranged eyes wide and glassy.

Slowly, we approached it for closer inspection.

It... looked like a dragon. But it wasn’t a dragon. My eyes saw a dragon, but itwasn’t.

But it had a dragon’s eyes... except only the eyeballs, the eyes themselves... there was a dragon in there, but it wasn’t...

night/day

night/day

here/not

what is up/what is down

spinning/spinning/motion/be still/still moving

dragon/human

dragon/—

HELENA. I AM HELENA OF EARTH.

HELENA.

Source: www.allfreenovel.com
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