Ch. 136

Ch. 136
Professor Bellamy's face contorts with effort, sweat beading across his forehead despite the freezing temperatures still radiating from Walderon.
The protective bubble surrounding us flickers dangerously, hairline fractures appearing wherever falling debris strikes its translucent surface. Each impact forces the Professor to channel more power into the weakening sections, his hands trembling visibly as they trace increasingly erratic patterns through the air.
A section of the barrier flickers out completely when Walderon's tail slams against a nearby column. The column topples, crashing against our protective dome before Professor Bellamy can reinforce it. The impact sends a spiderweb of cracks racing across the entire surface, and for one terrifying moment, I'm certain the whole shield will collapse.
Professor Bellamy makes a sharp, cutting motion with his left hand while his right continues tracing stabilizing runes. The damaged section seals itself, but the effort costs him. He staggers, nearly falling to his knees before catching himself on a piece of fallen debris.
"Professor!" I move to help him, but he waves me away.
"Stay back," he warns. "My concentration..."
Coach and Walderon circle each other through the ruins of the chamber, their massive bodies leaving destruction in their wake. Coach favors his wounded side now, his movements less fluid than before. The black corruption has spread across nearly half his body, pulsing in sickly contrast to his crimson scales. Each time Walderon's ice breath comes near it, the corruption writhes and expands, as if feeding on the magical cold.
Despite his injury, Coach fights with controlled fury, each movement calculated for maximum effect. When Walderon lunges, Coach twists away at the last possible moment, using his brother's momentum against him. The blue drake crashes into a set of display cases, releasing more clouds of strange, arcane mist into the already chaotic chamber.
"The containment artifacts," the Professor murmurs, his eyes widening at the sight. "They're breaking the seals."
"What does that mean?" I demand, but the answer comes not in words but in action.
One of the swirling mist clouds touches our barrier, and the entire dome shudders as if struck by lightning. Professor Bellamy gasps in pain, blood vessels in his eyes rupturing from the strain of maintaining the spell against this new threat. The protective magic wavers, translucent sections becoming momentarily transparent before solidifying again.
Perris presses against the barrier from the inside, his normally perfect features contorted with fear. "Do something!" he shouts, though whether to Professor Bellamy or me or someone else entirely, I can't tell.
The vault shakes with renewed violence as Coach and Walderon slam into each other directly in front of our failing shield. The impact sends both massive dragons reeling backward, Coach into the wall of ancient inscriptions, Walderon into the remnants of a massive stone archway. The archway crumbles beneath the blue drake's weight, bringing down a cascade of ceiling stones that narrowly miss crushing him completely.
More of the ceiling gives way, including a section directly above our protective bubble. Bellamy's hands move frantically, reinforcing the shield as multiple impact points form across its surface. His face has gone gray with exhaustion, and his movements have become sluggish as he pushes himself beyond normal human limits.
"I can't..." he begins, then stops as a violent tremor shakes the entire chamber.
The tremor dislodges a massive column near the chamber's center. It lists precariously for a moment, ancient stone grinding against stone as it begins to topple. Time seems to slow as I track its path, realizing with cold certainty that it's falling directly toward me.
Professor Bellamy's attention is divided between too many failing sections of the barrier. He doesn't see the danger until it's too late, his eyes widening in horror as the massive stone pillar begins its inexorable descent toward where I stand frozen in shock.
"Carlisle!" Perris shouts, and then he's moving.
I don't register his intent until his body slams into mine, knocking the breath from my lungs as we both go down hard. His weight covers me completely, his arms coming up to protect my head as the column crashes against the barrier directly above us. The impact is deafening, stone fragmenting against magic in an explosion of dust and power that momentarily blinds me.
Perris's heart hammers against my chest, his breathing ragged in my ear. His body tenses, bracing for the crushing weight that will come if the barrier fails. I feel every inch where we connect—his chest pressed against mine, his legs tangled with my own, his arms cradling my head in unexpected protection. The scent of his expensive cologne mingles with dust and sweat, the combination strangely intimate in this moment of shared terror.
The barrier holds—barely. The column slides off its curved surface, crashing to the floor beside us with enough force to send tremors through the ground. Perris doesn't move immediately, his body still shielding mine as smaller debris continues to rain down around us.
When he finally lifts his head, his face is inches from mine, dust turning his platinum hair stark white and dark blood trickling from a cut on his cheek where a stone fragment must have caught him. His eyes, usually so guarded, now hold nothing but relief.
"Are you hurt?" he asks, his voice rougher than I've ever heard it.
I shake my head, not trusting myself to speak.