A Leader's Authority

Viper-lashed branches whipped through the air—each strike driving searing agony into their very souls. Those wounded lost all balance, limbs betraying them.
The forest hunted them backward, branch by branch, as if bent on expulsion.

«Arian! Snap out of it!» Maru’s icy claws dug deep into Arian’s arm, wrenching him back from the treeline. «Your fury blinds you—you’ll drown us all!»
Blood welled from gashes on Arian’s forearm, dripping onto the soil beneath them, staining the earth like accusations.

«I’m sorry—should’ve stayed focused!» Arian’s breath hitched, his mind plunging into black silence.
Then—
A stinging slap echoed through the woods.
His cheek flushed crimson, shock jolting him back to clarity.
«Drekarön!» His voice hissed, raw but commanding. «How firm’s your grip on your fire?»

«Not perfect—» Drekarön called back, not looking up from the gashed student he staunched. «—but I control it well enough.»

«Good. You and Maru take point.» Arian commanded like a battle-hardened general. «Leo, the elf, and I hold this position—covering your advance.»
«All units—ready the counterattack!»

Then—
The world froze.
Branches halted mid-lash—glass statues in a petrified forest.
A suffocating silence fell, thick as a breath held too long.

Crack!
Earth split beneath their feet.
Roots—black as void-serpents—speared upward, lashing at throats and limbs.

Drekarön’s crimson flames had turned the earth to hellfire, his hands incinerating branches to ash.
Ice melted—churning soil into a mud-choked death-trap for the roots.

«Arian—what’s the plan?!» Drekarön’s roar tore through excruciating pain. «I can’t hold this fire much longer!»

«Hold position!» Arian’s hands plunged deep into the earth, agony wrenching a groan from his lips. «I need Laina’s exact location!»
«Leo! Advance—support them!» His voice cracked but brooked no delay. «Sayron—was it? Guard the wounded! Move!»

The battle had ended. The hostile trees vanished. Exhausted, they sat slumped on the sodden earth, the stench of smoldering wood choking the air.
Then—
Arian’s hoarse shout snapped them to attention.

«Found her!» His cry—cracked with fatigue yet ringing with triumph—
A ragged melody of hope.

But not all rejoiced.
Some seethed with resentment.
Reduced to this wretched state...
For one girl.

«Arian—out with it!» Drekarön sprang up, urgency overriding his own role in the forest’s ruin. «Where is she?»

«We don’t all go.» Arian’s sharp-eyed gaze swept the group. «I need four.»

A student surged to his feet, voice thick with accusation:
«Why gamble everyone for one girl?! We’re bleeding out here—
—while you fixate on her!
What’s she worth?!»

Maru lunged—fangs bared for the boy’s throat, seconds from drenching the earth in blood—
When Arian’s fist slammed into his chest, halting him mid-strike.

Step by deliberate step, Arian advanced.
Suffocating pressure clamped the air.
Not a soul dared breathe.
His blue eyes seethed with silent fury.

«Listen, worm.» Arian’s voice cut colder than winter steel. «You couldn’t even protect yourself. Soiled your pants in battle—yet you dare question me?»
His knuckles whitened, fist rising—not in rage, but like a judge delivering sentence.

CRUNCH.
The punch shattered the boy’s nose, blood gushing down his chin.

«From now on—» Arian’s voice boomed, drowning the boy’s whimpers,
«—let this be law:
No one—
NO ONE—
who fails to defend their own life
opens their mouth against my orders.»
He leaned inches from the bleeding face.
«Do. You. Understand.»

Suddenly, a voice long absent echoed in Arian’s mind:
«Well done, Papa! Had to show ’em who’s Alpha!»
Shadwolf had returned—Laina’s location secured.

«My thanks, son. Stay put—I’ll come for you soon.»

Silence smothered the clearing.
Not a whimper from the wounded;
Not a rustle from the trees.
Heads bowed—one by one—
Until Drekarön’s hands settled on Arian’s shoulders.

«I follow your lead.» The dragonkin’s voice rumbled low. «Without you today…»
His bared teeth weren’t quite a smile.
«…I’d have failed to shield these weaklings.»
He stood ready—
A weapon awaiting its master’s command.

Maru pressed a fist to his heart—a silent oath of fealty to their new leader.
«Listen well, all of you!» Arian’s voice cut through the stillness. «This is the true trial! We were fools not to see it sooner.»
He raised a blazing azure flame in his palm—
A shattered crown of fire.
«William warned us: ‘Stay vigilant. Guard each other. Survive.’
Meaning—
All thirty of us are shards of a single key.
The key to escape.»

With a roar, he hurled the flame skyward.
«To leave this forest—
—we save Laina!
UNDERSTOOD?!»

His cry slammed into the heavens.
Now—they moved.