Seraina woke up on ground covered in a thick layer of ash.
Bracing herself with one hand that sank nearly to the wrist into the soft gray ash, she slowly rose to her feet and looked around.
Gray hills of ash stretched endlessly toward the horizon. The air was filled with dust carried by the wind, while the sky was hidden behind heavy dark clouds of ash that completely blocked out the sunlight.
Across the slopes, half-buried beneath the ash, lay dozens… no, hundreds of skeletons. Some were the size of ordinary dragonkin, while others were so enormous that several dragonkin could fit inside their skulls.
Dragons.
Hundreds of dragon remains of different sizes rested beneath layers of gray ash.
And in the distance towered something Seraina at first mistook for a fortress.
A gigantic skeleton.
So colossal that its ribs pierced the sky like enormous pillars, while its skull, even half-buried in ash, was the size of a castle. Judging by the bones of its wings, entire cities could have stood upon them, and its spine resembled a mountain range.
Yet even beneath the thick ash, the skeleton remained dazzling white.
Whiter than the Tower of Light itself, which had been created from pure light.
At that moment, Seraina heard footsteps behind her.
Turning around, she saw Kael and two servants sent by the Ulman family.
Now Kael and both servants stood silently, staring into each other's eyes. The silence around them was so deep that Seraina could hear the wind rolling ash across the ground.
In the next moment, the pupils of both servants and Kael narrowed slightly, becoming dragon-like, and one of the servants lunged forward.
With every step, the sound grew louder, while ash exploded outward, forcing Seraina to shield her face with her arm and hold her breath.
A dull crash echoed from within the cloud of dust.
The air trembled slightly.
As the ash began to settle, Seraina saw the first servant rising from the ground while Kael stood behind him. But the second servant's arm had pierced deep into Kael's side up to the elbow. Kael tried to grab him, yet the servant violently ripped his arm free, tearing flesh apart before instantly leaping backward.
Dark blood dripped onto the ash. In Kael's torn side, broken ribs and a shredded lung were visible. Yet only a second later, flames engulfed the wound. Seraina watched as bones snapped back into place within the fire, while flesh began sealing itself before her eyes. The smell of burnt flesh mixed with the hot metallic scent of blood in the air.
At that moment, the first servant rushed Kael from behind, attempting to seize him. Kael sharply lowered himself onto one knee, shifted to the right, and delivered a short strike to the servant's knee. A loud crack rang out, followed by a scream of pain. The servant collapsed into the ash.
After the strike, Kael's arm bent at an unnatural angle, but flames immediately flared beneath his skin, while displaced bones visibly moved back into place through the flesh.
The second servant instantly appeared beside him and drove a sharp punch toward Kael's chest. The air around the servant's fist vibrated briefly at the moment of impact. Kael barely managed to block. The punch pierced through his wrist, shattering bone, but stopped just short of his chest. Without wasting time, Kael grabbed the servant's throat with his other hand.
His broken arm burst into flames, and the fire spread onto the servant's arm, while Kael's fingers began literally burning through the servant's neck from the inside. The man screamed in pain. His other arm suddenly swelled, muscles straining hard enough to tear apart the sleeve of his clothing, and he struck Kael across the jaw.
The blow was so powerful that Kael's jaw tore free, hanging by strips of flesh before immediately igniting. In the same instant, Kael slammed the servant into the ash, pinned his arms down with his legs, and began choking him.
That was when Seraina noticed the first servant limping toward them from behind. His face was twisted with rage, and dark veins bulged beneath the skin of his neck and arms.
"Watch out!"
Hearing her cry, Kael instantly rolled to the right, avoiding the attack. The servant's fist missed him and instead struck the second servant's head. The skull exploded apart, and the force of the impact sent ash shuddering across the ground.
Kael immediately sprang to his feet and punched the servant in the jaw, but the man managed to dodge by jerking his head back. In response, the servant swung his left fist toward Kael's face. Kael tilted his head aside, caught the servant's right arm, and tried to break it, but dark lines spread across the servant's arm like stretched metallic veins, reinforcing the flesh and holding the bones together.
The servant threw himself onto Kael. Both of them crashed into the ash again, sending another thick cloud of gray dust into the air.
Lying in the ash, they exchanged blows while struggling for the upper position. Their movements were both fast and heavy — every strike left deep craters in the ash beneath them.
After nearly half a minute of brutal fighting, the servant finally managed to pin Kael beneath him and began beating him relentlessly.
With every blow, Kael's bones cracked, while his skin glowed brighter and brighter from the flames burning inside his body. Thin tongues of fire burst from the cracks in his flesh. At that very moment, Seraina silently approached from behind and drove her dagger into the servant's neck.
The servant choked and lost balance, and Kael instantly took advantage of the opening.
He threw the servant off himself, climbed on top of him, ripped the dagger from his neck, and plunged it directly into his heart.
The servant's body twitched several times before finally going still.
Only the wind continued slowly covering him with ash.
Kael let out a heavy breath, pulled the blade free, and rose to his feet. Now Seraina could fully see the condition he was in.
The clothing around his side and wrist had been torn apart. The fabric across his chest was blackened from the blows. His gloves had burned away into rags. His jaw was still engulfed in flames, slowly rebuilding itself. His left arm was burning as well, though it had nearly finished healing. Beneath the skin of his chest, light flickered, and through the flesh she could see his ribs fusing back together. Even the air around him had grown hotter. A faint heat rose from his body, and the ash near his feet began smoldering in places.
Looking at Seraina, Kael tried to say something, but only a wet, ragged sound escaped his throat.
Realizing this, he calmly grabbed his own jaw with one hand and forced it back into place. A few seconds later, the flames disappeared, and Kael lowered his hand.
His face looked whole once again.
"Are you alright?" he asked quietly, holding out the dagger to Seraina.
"It's yours."
Seraina silently took the weapon. Her hands were still trembling, and her fingers were covered in чужой blood and gray ash.
"Why did they attack?.." she asked in a trembling voice.
Tears welled up in her eyes.
"Most likely, your brothers sent them," Kael answered calmly.
"But… I never did anything bad to them…"
Tears rolled down her cheeks, though Seraina quickly wiped them away.
Kael remained silent for several seconds.
"For them, it's more beneficial if you die here than return alive," he finally said. "I will protect you. Only by passing this trial will you be able to tell your father everything… or take revenge."
Seraina slowly nodded.