Lamia stood atop the largest dragon, his dark cloak whipping violently in the storming winds. Thunder cracked behind him as his crimson eyes locked on Asher. A twisted smile stretched across his face.
He descended slowly, the dragon's wings cutting through the smoke-filled air like blades, landing with a deafening BOOM that shook the very earth. Embers scattered. The ground beneath his beast cracked open.
From the folds of his cloak, Lamia pulled out the Book of Shadows, its cover made of human skin, veins pulsing. He opened it with a deliberate slowness, and his voice echoed in a sinister chant. The language was unholy, unnatural—something only the dead or damned could understand.
Suddenly, the dragons snapped to attention. Their eyes glowed molten gold.
Then, they struck.
A blast of searing fire tore through the sky toward them.
Jeremy stepped forward, raising his sword.
But before he could move an inch, an invisible force ripped it from his grip. The blade spun violently through the air and stabbed itself into a stone pillar far behind him, out of reach.
Jeremy's eyes widened. "No—!"
"Asher," Lamia sneered. "Time to die."
The dragons reared their heads back, then released a column of flame brighter and hotter than the sun.
Asher froze.
But Ezekiel didn't. His body moved before his mind did.
He sprinted forward, shoving Asher aside with every ounce of strength he had.
FWOOOOOSH!!!
The fire hit him directly. The sound was horrifying—like meat being thrown into an industrial furnace. Ezekiel's scream was lost in the roar of the flames.
His body caught fire instantly, skin peeling off in ribbons. Then his flesh turned black, muscles dissolving, bones cracking and crumbling into dust. The heat was so intense the very earth beneath him melted.
Ash.
That was all that remained.
"No… NOOOOO!!!"
Asher dropped to his knees, gripping the ground, screaming so loud it shattered the moment. His throat tore. His face twisted in agony. "Why does this keep happening?! Why him?!"
The fire still danced across the wreckage of the tunnel, crackling softly like a cruel reminder of all that had been lost. Smoke curled in the cold wind, carrying with it the burnt scent of flesh… of memories.
Asher knelt in the dirt, his hands trembling.
Asher's blood-stained fingers clutched Ezekiel's broken chain necklace—the only thing left of him.
His breath hitched.
And then he broke.
"Ezekiel..." his voice cracked, and his entire body curled in on itself as the sobs tore out of his throat.
His voice was hoarse.
"You idiot…" he whispered, biting down the scream in his throat. "You stupid, beautiful idiot… why did you protect me? Why did you always put me first?"
He gripped the soil with his fingers, nails tearing into the earth like he could somehow reach Ezekiel through it. Like if he just dug deep enough, he could pull him back.
"I didn't even say goodbye."
Tears streamed down his face, dripping into the mud.
Lamia cackled above them, tilting his head mockingly.
"You're never getting him again," he spat. "This time... he's vanished. Forever."
Asher's tears kept hitting the blackened soil. His fists clenched so hard his nails tore his palms open.
Blood dripped.
"Get up," Jeremy urged, voice trembling. "We have to fight—" he was slowly loosing it, he was torn apart by Zeke untimely death once again, one which was final.
But Asher collapsed again, his body heaving with silent cries. The loss was too much.
Lamia stepped forward, disgust curling his lip. "Was this really the so-called divine being? What a pathetic bitch."
Then he raised his hand.
Invisible tendrils of dark energy, like shadowy barbed wire, coiled around Asher's neck, wrists, ankles. They lifted him into the air. He began to scream.
The shadows pulled harder—tightening, slicing into his skin. Blood sprayed from the tears in his flesh. Bones cracked. His jaw dislocated as he gasped for breath.
Jeremy spun around, wild-eyed.
He remembered Hayley's last words:
"Protect Asher at all costs…"
Rage boiled in him.
"YOU SON OF A BITCH!!" Jeremy bellowed. "COME AFTER ME INSTEAD, YOU COWARD!"
Lamia stopped.
He raised an eyebrow.
"Gladly."
He pointed. The dragons snapped their heads toward Jeremy. Their throats began to glow.
RRRROOOAAAARRRR!!!
Three streams of flame—blistering, thick, hungry—charged straight at him.
Jeremy braced for impact.
But something shifted.
A wind—violent, sharp as broken glass—howled out of nowhere.
It wasn't ordinary wind. It was magic.
Asher's hands were outstretched. His eyes glowed white.
The flames turned back, twisting, slamming sideways into the trees and setting the sky ablaze.
Jeremy turned, stunned.
"Asher?" he whispered. "Is that… you?"
Asher stood now. Bleeding, wounded, trembling—but standing.
The air around him rippled like a storm trapped inside a man.
He looked at Lamia, and for the first time, there was no pain in his eyes.
Only fury.
"You took him from me," Asher growled, voice layered with something otherworldly. "You didn't even care why. You just… did it."
He stepped forward.
Lamia tilted his head. "You still don't get it," he said.
"I don't need to," Asher answered.
And then—
The dragons attacked.
Three beams of fire. Three directions. No mercy.
Asher roared, raising his arms, and unleashed everything.
The wind exploded outward like a cannon blast. Trees snapped. The earth cracked. The dragons faltered, their flames snuffed out mid-air by the force of the divine gale.
But Asher didn't stop there.
He charged.
His feet left the ground, propelled by sheer power, and he slammed his fist into the first dragon's snout. A shockwave burst from the impact. The beast recoiled, screaming, scales cracking.
The second lunged. Asher spun mid-air, delivered a brutal kick to its eye, and it shrieked, slamming into the ground.
The third opened its jaws.
Too slow.
Asher raised his hand and crushed the air—its throat closed. The dragon choked, gasped, then crashed into a nearby cliff, sending boulders raining.
Lamia watched it all.
His smile never faded.
Even as the dragons faltered, even as Asher rose like a god of wrath… Lamia whispered a single word from the Book of Shadows.
And suddenly—
The battlefield shifted again.