Chapter 3 - The Golden Queen’s Retribution
The red monster descended upon Lyra with the speed of a falling meteor. The air pressure alone cracked the stone flooring of the arena, and the searing heat of Cassian’s breath scorched the surrounding spectator stands.
Lyra stood completely still, her golden eyes locked onto the charging beast. Just as Cassian’s massive claws reached for her throat, she moved.
It wasn't human speed; it was the terrifying, fluid grace of an ancient god of war. She sidestepped his lunge with effortless precision, her hand shooting out to grab Cassian by his thick, razor-sharp scaled horn. With a sudden, explosive rotation of her hips and an infusion of raw golden kinetic energy, Lyra flipped the three-ton dragon-beast completely over her shoulder, slamming him into the arena floor with a bone-crushing impact that reverberated through the entire mountain.
The stadium erupted into absolute chaos. Nobles screamed and scrambled for the exits, while the imperial guards hesitated, paralyzed by the sheer, overwhelming majesty of her aura.
Cassian reverted to his human form, spitting blood onto the dirt, staring up at Lyra with eyes wide with terror and humiliation. "What... what are you? That’s not normal dragon fire... that’s... that’s..."
"That is the bloodline you tried to bury," Lyra said, her voice ringing out with a cold, sovereign authority that commanded the entire amphitheater.
She stepped forward, placing the heel of her boot firmly onto Cassian’s chest. She didn't kill him; death was too merciful for a traitor. Instead, with a sharp flick of her fingers, she channeled a pulse of golden energy directly into his chest, permanently sealing his dragon core and stripping him of every ounce of his borrowed power. He shrieked as his scales turned to ash, reduced to a common mortal in a single heartbeat.
Lyra turned her gaze upward, locking eyes with the high emperor sitting paralyzed on the golden throne high above.
"Father," Lyra called out, her voice dripping with dangerous sarcasm. "You said a dragon who cannot breathe fire deserves to become ash. Care to test whose ashes will litter this floor tonight?"
Emperor Valerius shook with furious rage, pulling a heavy, rune-carved royal scepter from his belt. "Traitorous wretch! I am your emperor! High Priestess Vespera! Activate the blood-seals of the citadel! Burn her to the ground!"
High Priestess Vespera began chanting an ancient, forbidden incantation, holding up a glowing crystal skull designed to siphon the life force of any rebellious dragon. The sky above the coliseum darkened into an ominous, swirling vortex of black clouds and purple lightning.
Lyra didn't flinch. She threw her head back and let out a roar—not a human cry, but the primal, earth-shattering bellow of the true primordial progenitor of all dragons. The golden blood coursing through her veins burst through her skin in a blinding aura of light that pierced the dark clouds, shattering Vespera’s crystal skull into a billion sparkling fragments.
The high priestess collapsed, screaming as her dark magic backfired, turning her into a pillar of salt-like ash.
May you like
The coup had begun, and the false rulers were falling like dominoes.
---
