Page 33 of The Last Dragon

With a snap of his fingers, Cassian released his illusion. Fiery reflections burst forth around them, scattering in all directions.

Confusion immediately spread among the soldiers.

An armed troop mounted on enormous vultures set off in pursuit. They kept striking at thin air, unable to distinguish reality from the incandescent images, while the griffin gained altitude and led them away from the battlefield.

“Tariel, I need you.” He pressed a hand to his heart as his voice echoed in the elf’s mind—or at least, he hoped it did. “I need a phoenix heading in the opposite direction, toward the castle…”

He wasn’t sure he could pull it off, but Cassian possessed something few men could claim: a fierce, almost painful will to live. A raw, incandescent hope, pulsing in time with his magic.

He sensed it before he saw it.

A low rumble shook the air, and a bright blue phoenix sliced through the skies. Cassian’s eyes widened at the sight, as an echo of the past hit him square in the chest.

His mother’s voice came to him from the depths of time, soft and soothing, along with the smell of warm firewood and lilacs. She had just tucked him into bed, smoothing his hair as the first stars began to twinkle above Drakensyl. As he did every night, he asked for stories from their time.

“Mother… how do we know we’ve found a Heart of Ëlhe?”

“Legend has it that, in its purest form, it shimmers with hues of blue,” she whispered with a serene smile. “Magic, though immaterial by nature, sometimes tends to make itself visible.”

“So… is Father searching for blue magic?”

Her smile was kind as she brushed his red locks back.

“Thanks to the Philosopher’s Stone, your father is the only dragon capable of resonating with one of those. But perhaps one day, you too will be granted that ability… who knows, Aethros.”

“Is that why the elves hate us so much? Is that why their kingdom is so cold toward us?”

Her mother let out a quiet sigh, her gaze drifting toward the window and the distant mountain peaks. Her long auburn locks seemed to shimmer in the light of the wood fire.

“The elves have a hard time tolerating anyone coming close to their power, dearest. They don’t like dragons flying so close to their monopoly. They can’t conceive such vast power being shared, and they see us as a threat to their hegemony… But they aren’t the only powerful beings in this world.”

“Why can’t we just each stay on our own side? Why seek to unite?”

“Because your father does not seek war, Aethros. He seeks to achieve the Primordial Convergence, a series of profound transformations, a readjustment of the laws of life…”

“The priests say it’s a divine elevation…” murmured the young dragon as he burrowed deeper under his sheets.

“The most rigorous alchemists reject that interpretation,” she replied, kissing his forehead. “But one thing is certain: those who have come close to achieving it have left irreversible marks on the history of the world. And whoever succeeds in triggering this Convergence may hold the future of all living things in their hands.”

The army instinctively retreated. The ranks wavered, then broke under the spell’s pressure. Phineas tried to reach the creature, seeking to blacken its heart, but the phoenix ignored him. With a sweeping flap of its wings, it avoided Cassian without touching him, seemingly indifferent to his presence.

At Cassian’s command, the griffin soared higher.

In the distance, they could be seen rising toward a shapeless mass of dark clouds, dominated by the colossal silhouette of the phoenix.

Cassian quickly plunged his hand into one of his pockets and pulled out a handful of fine black powder. With a sharp motion, he flung it before him in a billowing cloud.

At that very moment, a glowing red light burst from his solar plexus. Snapping his fingers, Cassian projected his energy into the wake of the powder, which burst into flames instantly, forming a circle of fire suspended in the air. Without wasting a single second, he plunged his hands into the heart of the blaze and spread his arms wide, mimicking the motion of drawing a bow.

Magic and matter transmuted in a flash: the burning dust condensed, solidifying under the force of his will. Between his clenched palms appeared a flaming bow and a fiery arrow aimed at the phoenix.

Without a hint of hesitation, he released that arrow.

A rumble echoed through the air as it struck the creature summoned by Tariel, without harming it—quite the opposite.

“Excedo Carnem,” Cassian declared in a firm, commanding tone.

A shockwave rippled through the atmosphere, causing the earth itself to tremble. The phoenix, imbued with the dragon’s magic, underwent a metamorphosis. Before the prince and his army’s stunned eyes, the bird changed shape.