the weight of the pact

...

The fortress was in ruins, but the silence that hung over it was worse than the screams of battle. Lyra stared at the reflection of her golden eyes in a stagnant puddle. No more traces of green. Nothing human left. She clenched her fists, the scales now covering her forearms rasping like crumpled metal.

Vaelrath watched the scene from the shadows, his colossal figure barely visible. "You can no longer hide what you are becoming," he murmured, his voice echoing like a distant rumble in Lyra's mind.

— I don't want this! she growled, spinning around, her words distorted by animal rage. A tongue of flame shot from her lips, incinerating the wall behind her. She recoiled in horror as Vaelrath growled a warning.

"Control yourself. A single spark could consume everything."

— Control? she repeated with a bitter laugh. Look at me! I can't control anything anymore!

She raised a trembling hand, and a whirlwind of golden flames erupted from her palm, reducing a pile of rubble to dust. The mark on her chest, now extending up to her neck, burned like a brand. She could feel Vaelrath's power stirring within her, ready to devour whatever remained of her soul.

Suddenly, a scream ripped through the air. Lyra froze. Human. A scream of terror, coming from the forest.

— What's... ? she started to ask.

"The villagers," Vaelrath interrupted, his nostrils flaring. "They heard the fighting. They're coming for answers."

Lyra ran to a shattered window. Below, a dozen men and women, armed with pitchforks and torches, approached, their faces twisted with fear and anger.

— Monsters! one of them cried, pointing at the fortress. They've brought the curse here!

"Stay inside," Vaelrath ordered, his wings unfurling. "They won't understand what you've become."

But Lyra was already at the door. — I won't hide.

She stepped outside, facing the crowd. The villagers recoiled at the sight of her—her golden eyes, her scales, her hands still smoking.

— It's her! whispered a woman. The creature who destroyed the neighboring village!

— No, wait… Lyra began, but a man threw a stone. She dodged it with a reflex too fast, too animal-like.

— Burn her! another screamed. Before she kills us all!

The torches flew toward her. Lyra raised her arms to protect herself, and the power exploded.

A wall of golden flames engulfed the projectiles, then spread, surrounding the terrified villagers. Lyra tried to hold back the fire, but it danced out of control, hungry for destruction.

"LET IT GO!" Vaelrath roared, soaring from the sky and unleashing a cold wind to extinguish the flames.

Too late.

When the smoke cleared, the villagers lay on the ground, unconscious but alive. All except one. A teenager, barely younger than Lyra, burned to a crisp by the flames.

She fell to her knees, unable to tear her eyes away from the body. Her hands, now completely covered in scales, trembled.

— I... I didn't mean to...

Vaelrath landed next to her, his shadow engulfing her. "Do you see now? You can no longer live among them. You are no longer one of them."

Lyra closed her eyes, feeling burning tears slide down her cheeks. — Then I am nothing.

Suddenly, a laugh echoed in the air—cold and familiar. A laugh that belonged neither to humans nor Shadows.

"Quite the opposite, Lyra Valden. You are everything... and you belong to me."

She lifted her head. At the top of the fortress, silhouetted against the blood-red moon, stood a figure. A man with silver hair, clad in ebony armor, his eyes glowing with a violet light. The creature from her visions.

Vaelrath roared, a sound filled with a terror Lyra had never heard from him. "Him... It's impossible..."

The man smiled, raising a gloved hand made of black metal. Around him, the air split open, revealing hundreds of skeletal dragons, their wings torn, their hollow eyes filled with the same violet glow.

"Welcome back, Vaelrath," he said. "You escaped death once. But this time... I will take everything. The woman, the dragon... and this world."

Lyra felt the mark on her chest explode with pain. She screamed, collapsing to the ground, while the man with violet eyes reached out to her.

"Come, Lyra. It's time to awaken the true power of the pact..."