Why? Why him? Why her? Why now? Zikee let the magic flow unrestricted as she dashed through the forest, breaking through every tree and stone and bush in her path. He couldn’t have him. She wouldn’t. Would she? The questions gave Zikee no sense of peace even as she could see her house looming ahead, a wave of crimson fire bathing the area in warm light.
“Silver!”
Her scream carried all the weight of her hatred. Her anger. Her pride. How long had she waited for this moment? And yet when it came from her lips, there was something else boiling inside of her. Something she cursed herself for letting fester for so long. For bothering to allow such weakness to grow within.
When she saw the creature standing atop her burning home, she didn’t just see the face of the dragon she’d been dreaming of eviscerating ever since Elena died. No. His form had already taken on the shape of her halfling ally. Zikee froze.
The green scales had been burned away, revealing the sections of silvery skin that laid underneath. Zikee could still see pieces of green flesh hanging off her face, which the dragon pulled off without much effort. Nor did she bother to look in the human’s direction, her gaze cast down into something else just below her.
When she followed Ty’s gaze, Zikee felt her body cease into action. She dove through flames, collapsing onto the scorched grass.
“Andiz! Andiz!”
The man was in a heap of dirt, his body unresponsive as he laid partially charred and bruised. Zikee’s hands trembled as she tried to touch him, the soft features she’d grown to know nonexistent.
“Gentle wing?”
When she reached what was left of his face, she found the skin crisp to the touch.
Was this her curse? Her punishment? First Elenor and now Andiz. Would it never cease? Was this truly the fate the spirits wanted for her? Zikee pulled her hand away, finding the hilt of her sword once again as she rose to her feet. In all the time she’d taken to check on her husband, not once had the halfling above moved to attack her.
In fact, it was only when Zikee looked up that her eyes finally met Ty’s.
“Silver,” she said. “Ty. It was you. It’s always been you.”
The halfling’s gaze was vacant and unreadable, a thousand-yard stare that she’d never seen on the halfling’s face before. She’d only ever seen her smiling.
“You should have killed me when we met, Big One. It would have been easier.”
Zikee stiffened, her sword flashing as she moved. It clashed through the brick of her ceiling as Ty leapt away, avoiding the attack completely.
How many times had she seen it? The expansion of wings on her back. The tail elongating. Her body growing into a massive tower of reptilian flesh. Zikee had seen Ty transform multiple times alongside her. And yet now that she was seeing that giant dragon trained against her rather than an enemy, she felt the terrible feeling rising in her chest.
She pushed it aside as she raised her sword at the ready.
“Monster. Demon! For Elanor. For Andiz! I will kill you!”
Ty opened her jaws in a booming roar that seemed to shake the very foundations of the house. Through Zikee’s bones. It was a roar she recognized all too well, chasing away any doubts that this was the same creature she’d been hunting for so long. This was the Silver Dragon without a shadow of a doubt. She’d found her target. Her goal. The only reason she had to keep going.
So why did that terrible feeling only grow inside her?
“Don’t hold back.”
Zikee was surprised to hear the words from Ty’s throat, though she didn’t have much time to process them. It was only seconds later she had to move to avoid being roasted by a fiery rain big enough to engulf her house whole. Flames burned away the garden she and Andiz had worked so hard to cultivate, but the home itself seemed to be holding for the time being.
Zikee widened her stance. Now wasn’t the time to think. Only act. She leapt up to meet Ty in the air. Given the halfling’s wings, it wasn’t a place Zikee had the advantage.
While it took magic and timing to meet her foe up close, Ty was an especially slippery dragon. She knew as much from the few times she’d seen her in action. She could fly over a town with ease or break direction in the air to avoid anything that came her way. And given the unlimited fire burning within, she had no shortage of easy ways to attack even from afar.
Zikee cursed as Ty flew past another sword strike, the giant of a dragon managing to spin in midair to smack her down with her claws.
“You’re still holding back!” Ty roared. “Why are you hesitating? You wanted to kill me, didn’t you?”
Zikee shook off the hit despite the blood she could feel running down her back. She went in again only to be smack through the window of her home.
“Did she mean that little to you?”
Zikee tried to shake off the hit, crashing through the entrance to face her foe again.
She could see it. The way Elenor’s body had gone limp. The light draining from her eyes. The fear on her face. She could see it all playing out in the back of her mind. As if she’d ever forget the sight of her wife dying in her arms. It fueled every waking moment of her life. Gave her strength. Courage!
So why did that terrible feeling cease to go away inside? After smacking her away again, Ty’s jaws opened in a vicious roar, fire burning into the air.
“I killed her!” Ty screamed. “Easily! If you want to kill me, then remember that! Hate me! Despise me!”
Zikee could feel her vision begin to blur, her body covered in gashes from Ty’s claws. Yet even then the feeling did not go away.
“Stop hesitating!” Ty screamed. “It’s the only way you’ll ever be free.”
Zikee squeezed her sword hard enough to dig her nails into her own palms.
In the end, she knew it didn’t matter. Why her? Why now? What would knowing any of that change? What would letting herself get killed here ever change? She knew what she had to do today. And so did Ty. As she looked up to meet the reptilian’s gaze, she could see that much in the almost pleading gaze she gave her.
“You have to kill me. No one else can.”
Zikee found her footing again.
She was right. Vivica was dead. The founders were dead. Project Ranger was all but destroyed, more than likely by both their hands. Now there was only the Silver Dragon left to deal with. She was all that was left. And they both knew it.
“Finish this!” Ty screamed into the air.
Zikee bit her lip, finding that terrible feeling growing so much that it was impossible to ignore. Or to not realize what it was. She lifted her sword as she let the magic flow through her, pouring it all into her body. As much as it could possibly take even if it meant rupturing her insides in the process.
“Ty,” she said. “Silver. If you truly crave an end so badly, I will give it to you.”
Ty opened her jaws to burn a swathe of flame towards her. Zikee only shut her eyes against it, her body lowered in concentration as she felt the years of dragon hunting take over her muscles. The flames hit her skin only a moment, Zikee’s eyes snapping open as she felt the all too familiar sensation of contact.
She didn’t know who to blame for it all. Silver? The founders? None of it truly mattered. It only took a single swing of her blade, oylian steel gliding through both scales and flesh alike as she moved forward.
When she finally stopped, it was to the smell of blood on her sword. As her gaze fell backwards, she saw the hole she’d carved through her friend’s chest.
