Chapter 57: Severance

The world below was a ruin of ash and silence. I pressed my back against the cold stone of the cliff, the dragon egg cradled tight against my chest. The wind howled, but all my senses were tuned to the battlefield—my vision sharpened by Soul Veil: Farsight Bloom, every detail burned into memory.

Lyra stood in the center of the devastation, her black scales cracked and bleeding, wings drooping. Steam curled from her nostrils with every labored breath. The Eclipse Leader faced her, sword raised, his aura a pillar of blinding light. The earth between them was glassed and scorched, a testament to the power unleashed.

I could see it in Lyra’s stance—her strength was failing. Her tail dragged, her claws dug deep furrows in the ground as she steadied herself. The fire in her chest was dimmer now, but her eyes were still fierce, defiant.

The Eclipse Leader took a step forward, his voice carrying in the unnatural quiet. “Yield, dragon. There is no shame in survival.”

Lyra’s laugh was hoarse, bitter. “You don’t want survivors. You want relics. Trophies.”

He regarded her for a moment, mask unreadable. “You fought with honor. But this is the end.”

Lyra’s body trembled, blood seeping from wounds that would not close. Still, she lifted her head, gaze meeting his. “You can burn my flesh. You can shatter my bones. But you will never break my will.”

He nodded, almost respectfully. “So be it.”

He raised his sword, light gathering at the edge—a blade that seemed to slice through the very night.

Lyra’s voice thundered across the field, not in fear but in challenge. “I am Lyra! Remember that name when your dreams turn to ash!”

She reared up, drawing a breath so deep the air shimmered with heat.

The Eclipse Leader’s aura surged. “Solar Execution: Celestial Guillotine!”

A line of pure light arced through the air, impossibly fast, impossibly bright.

Lyra’s roar shook the heavens, a sound of fury and love and loss. She unleashed a final torrent of flame—her last act of defiance.

The blade of light struck.

For a heartbeat, everything was still.

Then Lyra’s massive form was cleaved in two, the cut clean through her neck. Her head fell, eyes wide, still burning with pride. Her body crashed to the ground, sending up a cloud of steam and embers.

Across the distance, her gaze found mine. Golden. Calm. Accepting.

I pressed my fist to my mouth, fighting the scream that threatened to tear me apart.

She blinked once, slow and deliberate.

I mouthed her name. “Lyra…”

The light in her eyes faded, but her expression never changed.

The Eclipse Leader lowered his sword, stepping back as Lyra’s body began to glow from within. The wounds on her scales pulsed with fire, cracks spreading as if her very soul was preparing to burst free.

For a moment, the battlefield was silent.

Then her body erupted in a pillar of flame and light, so bright it turned night to day. The shockwave rolled over the earth, flattening everything in its path. I shielded the egg, the force battering me even from the cliff’s height.

When the light faded, there was nothing left of Lyra but a few scorched fragments and the echo of her final roar.

The Eclipse Leader stood alone, his armor scorched, his shoulders slumped with exhaustion, bleeding. He looked down at the place where Lyra had fallen, then turned away, vanishing into the mist.

I stayed frozen at the cliff’s edge, unable to move, unable to breathe.

Her last gaze haunted me—silent, accepting, unbroken.

Lyra was gone.

But the fire she left behind would never die.

To be continued