Mission

The synergy between the crow and dragon was awkward, and incomplete, but improving like an orchestra with brand-new players slowly discovering a shared rhythm.

Gradually, the tide shifted. The Thunderbirds, panting from their combined attacks, found themselves forced closer together. Their arcs of lightning grew fewer, the sparks not quite as bright. 

Nix and Ashvara hovered a short distance away from each other, wings beating steadily as they caught their breath from the grueling second phase of the fight. They were battered and fatigued. 

Nix's scales bore scorch marks and shallow cuts, and patches of his once-pristine wings had torn edges that fluttered in the breeze. Ashvara, the Infernal Sun Crow, had lost some of its glossy black feathers, revealing raw patches of skin scorched by lightning.