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Chapter Five
“Fear not death for the hour of your doom is set and none may escape it.”
—Volunga Saga
“Soooo…”
Kai staunchly ignored the dreaded conversational opening as Ere and Sorin pulled up alongside his stallion.
He’d managed to avoid his fellow travelers for the better part of the day. They hadn’t even stopped to rest or eat. He didn’t know whether the donkey carried food in the supply bags, and he didn’t particularly care. He could endure great lengths of time without nourishment.
He was an earth dragon, after all.
He drew strength from solid ground. Soil, rocks, trees. They all contained energy that he could harness, even in his weak human form.
In water, he also excelled, though not a master of the medium like dragons born to it. It was the sky—thin air—that enervated him the most. There was nothing to hold on to. Nothing to gain leverage with.
Ironically, in his dragon form, he had wings, which he kept mostly tucked to his body like a turtle’s shell. He rarely had to use them.
Like the ostrich and the dodo, they weren’t for flying. They weren’t large enough to provide the lift his enormous heft needed. They didn’t really flap either. In addition, the wings themselves were mighty weights, thick and scaled with steely, arching bones that radiated from the nexus like the ribs of an umbrella.
His wings were his weapon and shield. The sharp talons at the end of each rib could be used to slash and stab. His fighting style in dragon form was what led to his partiality for the axe in human form.
Swinging the long axe was like using his wings, and wielding a chained axe was like using his thorned tail as a dragon. They were by far his preferred weapons, though he loved all manner of armaments.
Best of all, his wings could encase his entire body and make him nigh impenetrable. When they enclosed him, he could blend seamlessly into his surroundings like a chameleon. He wasn’t invisible though, merely a mirage that tricked the eye.
He used this trick often when trying to avoid the rambunctious Rai in bygone days. He wished he had that ability now.
But no such luck. It was only a matter of time that Ere caught up with and cornered him into conversation.
Just like old times.
Kai staunchly ignored an aching pang somewhere in the vicinity of his chest.
“How come you never reached out to me in all this time?” Ere asked after his initial conversational foray met with utter silence and disinterest from Kai’s quarter.
“I mean, this was my third visit to the Celestial Realm. Couldn’t you sense my presence before?”
“Why should I?” Kai couldn’t help muttering.
Why did Rai’s new incarnation assume they had any sort of connection? They’d known each other eons ago. And even then, they’d been Beasts.
They still were.
Just because Erebu seemed to have discovered his “humanity” with family, friends, and a phoenix mate, didn’t mean Kai would have changed.
One had toliveto change. And Kai had never truly lived.
Nor did he have any strong desire to.
“We’re brothers,” Ere persisted, speaking with both logic and some sort of emotion that Kai couldn’t identify. He’d never been good with emotions, only basic, instinctive needs.
“We shared an indestructible bond when we were created together in the beginning. You, me, and Sai. Don’t you remember?”
“I remember you being a bane,” Kai grunted.
He kneed his stallion to go faster, trying to pull ahead again, put some distance between him and…company.
