Page 377 of Elemental Becoming

Before we descend, I glance upward one last time.

Garrick and the other three riders still hold the line above, clashing with the Kethraki that continue to rise from the horizon like a tide of wings and shadow. Fire streaks across the sky. Dragons wheel and dive through smoke and blood and motion so fast it blurs together.

A rider atop a molten bronze dragon cuts through a cluster of Kethraki. Shards of earth erupt from her outstretched hand, impaling one of the creatures in mid-dive. Her dragon follows with a roar, unleashing a stream of fire that consumes two more in a flash of molten light.

Their bodies tumble from the sky. One crashes into the battlefield below, crushing a knot of Fellborn beneath its ruined wings. Another slams into a shattered wall, sending stone and debris in every direction.

The battle in the sky continues.

But the fighting below needs us now.

Xaroth shifts left without warning, banking hard and low. Calryx follows instantly, wings tucking as she mirrors the movement, her body tight beside his. The two dragons sweep wide in perfect formation.

I blink, startled, turning my head as we veer away from the Gorganthe. Confusion flares in my chest. I thought we were driving straight through the center. I thought we were going after it together.

But Thane doesn’t signal, look back, or explain. The order has already been given.

My breath shudders as the magics inside me remain tightly coiled, searching for somewhere to go.

Then Calryx’s voice cuts through the uncertainty.“Trust the Warlord.”

I swallow hard and do exactly that.

The flanking dragons, led by Rian, close in now, diving hard from opposite sides of the keep in perfect formation.

Flame erupts.

Twin torrents of dragonfire crash into the Gorganthe, engulfing the titan in a roaring inferno. Fire races over its immense body, swallowing the surrounding Fellborn in one searing wave of Elemental fury. The air ripples with blistering heat, and the stone walls glow orange beneath the intensity of the flames.

For one hopeful heartbeat, I think it’s enough.

Then the creature steps through the fire.

Its obsidian hide glows a dull crimson where the flames clingto it. Great fissures split across its body, exposing molten seams beneath the surface, but instead of collapsing, the cracks begin closing before my eyes.

“Calryx! It’s healing!”I shout through our bond, panic flaring through me.“Valen never mentioned anything about a Gorganthe healing itself!”

“Neither did the Guardians,”Calryx says, disbelief rippling through our bond.“I’ve never seen one do this before, Virelya.”

More dragons dive. Another torrent of fire slams into the titan, forcing it back a single step, but still it refuses to fall. Earth channelers answer next, driving massive pillars of stone upward around its legs. Some barely pierce the monster’s thick skin. The Gorganthe bellows and wrenches against them, shattering one column, then another, each impact shaking the battlefield beneath us.

Air channelers sweep their arms skyward, feeding the dragonfire until the flames burn hotter, brighter, roaring white at their core. Water channelers seize the opening, driving razor-sharp spears of ice into every glowing fracture. Steam explodes outward as fire and ice wage war across the titan’s armored hide, widening the cracks faster than they can mend.

The Gorganthe thrashes violently, its enormous arms tearing through the flames as though determined to drag the entire battlefield down with it. Another wave of dragons descends with Rowena at the head, striking from above while the others circle back into position. Fire pours into the widening fractures as the Earth channelers force fresh pillars around its legs, pinning it in place just long enough for the dragons to strike again.

This time the flames reach beneath its armor.

The monster convulses.

Then it screams.

But it isn’t one voice. It’s a chorus of anguish, rage, and torment. Countless voices layered atop one another, twisted andbroken. The sound is ancient. Endless. A thousand souls crying out at once.

The molten fissures spread across its body faster now, racing from limb to limb until its obsidian shell can no longer contain the fire burning inside it. Rian’s team unleashes five streams of fire one more time. The titan collapses inward, great slabs of blackened armor crashing to the earth as flames burst through every crack. Moments later, the screams cease altogether.

The silence that follows feels worse.

Because I know what I heard.