Chapter 136 - The Night Everything Burned

Chapter 136 - The Night Everything Burned
Chapter 34 - The Night Everything Burned

Lyrielle POV

The assembly hall thrummed with noise as Nyx and I stepped inside, with Maeve and Seren flanking us like shadows.

Lights shimmered across the vaulted ceiling, and students were packed shoulder to shoulder, excitement buzzing under their skin.

But something felt wrong. Too wrong.

We scanned the room together. Drayen stood near the front with Theo, Kaelen, Finnian, and Eryk. Seren’s red eyes glowed faintly in the dim light. Mae Verric waved from across the aisle.

Everyone was here. Everyone except them.

“Where are they?” Nyx whispered.

I swallowed hard. “They wouldn’t miss this. Not after… everything.”

The mate bond pulsed painfully in my chest, a hot tug like a hook under my ribs. Something was wrong.
Something was so, so wrong.

“Lyri…” Nyx said, fear cracking her voice.

Then the doors slammed open.

A violent gust of wind ripped through the hall, snuffing out the lanterns. Lightning scorched the ceiling. Blue-white sparks rained down as Kylion soared into the room, wings of stormlight flaring.

His voice boomed like thunder.

“We are under attack!”

The hall erupted into screams. My heart stopped.

Kylion landed hard in the center of the assembly circle, the storm surging off him in waves. “Katrina and Chelsea have been corrupted. The wards were breached. The Velmira twins are with them.”

Nyx screamed, raw and animal. I felt my own scream rip out of me like flesh.

Noctara and Ravek stood instantly, their eyes glowing like burning coals. Taya and Rivena shoved through the crowd. Jace and Amaris sprinted forward. Lazurien, Vymir, Druen, and King Myrion and Queen Calavira appeared like ghosts, all power, no hesitation.

Orders exploded through the hall.

“Fae marines...form up!” Lya Vyrtec bellowed.

“Mages to the northern wall! Witches to the south! Move!” Taya shouted.

“Protect the first-years! Get them below!” Rivena roared.

I couldn’t breathe. Lucen. Rhaen. Gone. Taken.

Something inside me snapped clean in half.

I grabbed Nyx’s hand. “We’re going.”

She nodded fiercely. “We are.”

Together we ran straight toward the balcony rail.

Someone screamed behind us, “Girls, NO!”

But it was already too late.

We jumped. The world dropped away.

The magic inside me exploded like a tidal wave. Silver-blue scales raced down my arms as the shift ripped through me. Nyx roared beside me, golden-violet light shooting off her skin.

We shifted mid-air. Two water dragons unfurled across the night, massive, bright, ancient, and fucking pissed right the hell off.

My wings caught the wind and I roared, the sound shaking the academy to its bones.

“Find them!” Nyx snarled through our mental link.

We dove for the ward breach.

Dark mist choked the trees. The air stank of rot and old blood. And standing in the gaping, torn-open barrier were Lucien Virell and Seraphyne, fucking crimson-eyed monsters, dripping with death.

And...Lucen and Rhaen. My heart stopped.

They were bound and gagged. Magic was choking their throats. They were unmoving.

Nyx acted before I did. She vanished in a flash of violet and gold, reappearing behind them.

“Portal jump!” she shouted.

Her magic swallowed the boys whole, yanking them into safety. Lucien’s roar shook the entire damn forest.

“You little bitch!”

He lunged at her with impossible speed. And the world became war.

I slammed into him at full dragon force, my claws sinking deep. His blood hissed on my scales like acid. Seraphyne screamed and hurled a blade of bloodfire straight at Nyx.

Drayen hit the clearing as a massive obsidian wolf, his fangs snapping for Lucien’s spine.

Kaelen barreled in right behind him as a mountain-sized bear, roaring as branches exploded under his steps.

Maeve and Finnian unleashed twin storms of ice and lightning.

Seren snapped into vampiric blur, her claws raking Seraphyne across the chest.

Mae Verric shifted in a heartbeat, her silver wolf eyes blazing. Theo was right beside her, a young wolf but ferocious as hell.

Azara erupted into demi-goddess form, her wings of flame bursting open, and her scream shaking the canopy.

Saphira and Kerra joined the fray, Saphira in lycan form, and Kerra in dryad form, hurling spell after spell.

The battlefield lit up like a burning star.

Seraphyne shrieked, “Kill the dragons! KILL THEM!”

“Try it!” Nyx snarled as she blasted her backwards with a column of boiling water.

I coiled protectively around where the portal dropped our boys, daring anything to touch them again.

Then thunder split the sky. Kylion soared above us, rising higher, and higher until he pierced the clouds.

“ENOUGH.”

He unleashed a storm so violent the world turned white. Lightning hammered the ground in a circle, forcing Lucien and Seraphyne back through the breach, screaming. Bloodfire sizzled. Rot howled.

The entire forest shook. And in that heartbeat...

Taya, Rivena, Noctara, Amaris, King Myrion, and Queen Calavira slammed their combined magic into the shattered wardline.

Silver. Gold. Earth. Moon. Fire. Storm. The barrier rose in a blinding column of color. The breach sealed with a sound like a screaming sun.

And suddenly…It was quiet.

I shifted back into my humanoid form, shaking, and panting, my throat raw from roaring. Nyx staggered toward me, covered in blood that wasn’t hers.

Drayen limped to our side. Kaelen panted heavily. Seren wiped blood from her mouth. Maeve leaned on Finnian. Mae and Theo trembled. Azara’s wings flickered. Saphira and Kerra stared wide-eyed at the sealed barrier.

We had survived. Barely. Nyx grabbed my hand, squeezing hard.

“We got our mates back, Lyri.”

My voice shook with fury and love and hate and terror.

“They should never have touched them.”

And above the trembling forest, lightning still cracked in Kylion’s eyes.

This was war now. War for our mates. War for Aetheros.

War for the entire world.
___________________

Rhaen POV

Warmth hit me before consciousness did.

Hands everywhere. Arms around me. Lips brushing my face, my jaw, and my forehead.

Lyrielle. My mate. My girl. I’d know her touch, even in death.

I forced my eyes open through the dizziness, and the moment her face came into view, blotchy from crying, her silver-blue hair tangled all around me, I grabbed her and crushed her against my chest.

“You’re here,” she kept whispering, her voice shaking.

“You’re here, you’re here, Rhaen, gods, don’t you ever scare me like that again.”

“I’m right here,” I breathed into her hair. “I’m not going anywhere.”

Across the room, Nyxaria was draped over Lucen, crying into his neck while he muttered, “Stop crying, you’re getting snot on me,” even as he held her tighter.

The entire suite was packed.

Drayen with his arms folded, and his wolf eyes silver-bright. Kaelen pacing like an earthquake in bear form.
Maeve and Finnian, their hair wild from stressed magic. Seren, her fangs out and trembling. Saphira, Kerra, and Eryk glaring at us like we’d personally ruined their night. Our sister Azara glowing faintly with demi-goddess aura, pissed-off and worried. Theo curled on the couch with Rowan, both wide-eyed. Mae standing behind them gripping her shirt until her knuckles were white.

Every kid in the damn academy with a drop of our parents’ blood was here. Every one of them terrified.

When Lucen finally sat up straight, they swarmed.

Maeve hit my shoulder. “You asshole. I thought you were dead.”

Theo hugged us both at once. “I shifted. For the first time.”

Eryk folded his arms. “Next time you get kidnapped, leave a note.”

Lucen groaned. “Next time someone plots to kill us, I’ll make sure to pamphlet it first.”

The room collectively glared.

“Fine,” he muttered. “Bad joke. Whatever.”

Then Drayen stepped forward. The room went still. He looked at me. Then at Lucen. His wolf was so close to the surface that his eyes glowed silver.

“My sisters,” he said, his voice low with pride, “shifted into full water dragons… and they nearly ripped Lucien Virell apart.”

The room erupted. Saphira whooped. Kerra let out a dryad hiss. Eryk punched the air. Rowan shouted, “HELL YEAH.”

Lyrielle flushed hard, but didn’t deny it. Nyxaria’s violet-gold hair shimmered with leftover magic.

“They protected us,” I murmured, overwhelmed. “They saved us.”

Drayen wasn’t done. His voice dropped even lower, a shadow crossing his face.

“You know he’s the one who tortured our mom, right?”

Silence slammed over all of us like a falling star. Lyrielle froze. Nyxaria stiffened. Lucen’s hands curled into fists so tight they bled.

Seren whispered, “Raelith’s right hand… he did that to her.”

“Yeah,” Drayen said quietly. “That one.”

My wolf, Vareth, snarled so loud inside me that my teeth ached. Rage filled my lungs. Fire. Blood. Hatred.

I grabbed Lyrielle’s hand before I exploded. She squeezed back, her dragon Seiryn pushing power into the room, thick and icy.

Lucen’s voice broke the silence roughly. “We need to tell them.”

Eryk frowned. “Tell us what?”

Nyxaria pressed closer to Lucen. “What are you hiding?”

Lucen swallowed hard.

“Kylion told us,” he said, “that your mom might not… come back.”

Lyrielle’s breath hitched like someone stabbed her.

Nyxaria shook her head violently. “No. No, no, she just left...”

“It’s because of Chaos,” I said gently, even though my stomach twisted saying it. “She holds the full essence of it now. If her power becomes too much for this world, she may be trapped in the divine realm.”

Mae covered her mouth. Rowan grabbed her hand. Kaelen swore loudly. Seren looked sick. Finnian whispered, “Oh gods.”

Azara stepped forward, her voice trembling despite her divine strength. “Selene wouldn’t keep her unless she had to. She will fight.”

Theo sniffled. “She’s the strongest ever. She’ll come home.”

Lyrielle collapsed against me, shaking. “But if she doesn’t...”

Drayen finished for her, his voice thick. “Then the realm falls to us.”

Maeve whispered, “The heirs.”

Finnian added, “The protectors.”

Rowan’s wolf eyes shimmered. “The line between peace and extinction.”

Nyx’s lip trembled. “We’re not ready.”

Lucen tilted her chin up gently. “Then we’ll get ready.”

I pulled Lyrielle into my arms. “Your mom trained us to survive anything. We’re not letting her sacrifice be for nothing.”

Lyrielle met my eyes, and I saw the moment she gathered her courage like a blade.

“Then we stay together,” she whispered. “Always.”

“Always,” Nyx echoed.

Azara lifted her chin defiantly. “And if Lucien Virell dares come back, he dies.”

Eryk grinned darkly. “Slowly.”

Kaelen cracked his knuckles. “Painfully.”

Theo perked up. “Can I bite him?”

The whole room exhaled a strained, shaky laugh. Then Drayen extended his hand.

“For Mom,” he said.

Lyrielle grabbed it. “For our family.”

Nyxaria placed hers on top. “For Aetheros.”

Lucen added his. “For every realm she saved.”

I pressed mine over theirs.

“For each other,” I said. “We’re the second generation. The heirs. The future.”

Every hand in the room joined the pile.

And in that moment, all of us, wolf, lycan, dragon, vampire, mage, bear, dryad, and demi-goddess, were one vow.

One promise. One army.

Ready to burn the world apart for the woman who raised us.