Chapter 780: Listen (Ch.781)
Then it roared back, tenfold stronger.
With a ferocity that was unmatched and one clear goal...to make an inferno out of these lands, consuming everything they touched into a sea of fire.
Neveah’s knees buckled. Her teeth were gritted so hard, she felt they would crush. Still, she didn’t falter, she couldn’t afford to.
The lava was a flood of liquid flas, and it would only keep coming. One collision had pushed it back so asure, but it was far from tad. Instead, it was even more furious now. Alive and vengeful.
Watching the wild, hungry flas. Neveah was not so certain she could suppress it, or even push it back. Magic was capable of many phenonal things, she could testify of it herself, she had experienced a good asure of it, often of her own doing.
But she did not know if this was one of it...one of those tis when magic created a solution out of a seemingly hopeless situation.
Devirld was a mysterious and indomitable existence, yet he was just a piece of what the Arcane truly was. She had learnt that as she lood over Adrienne’s broken and bleeding body, willing every ounce of magic within her veins to save her life...
She’d failed then.
And a sinking feeling churned within her that the result would not be much different this ti.
Adrienne had said Devirld was just a glimpse of the true Arcane. Neveah had not understood it till this mont, as she watched nature take up arms against an innocent people, goaded on by a long gone mastermind.
This was the true Arcane... Neveah realized. Nature forced into submission, an absolute power.
It was the kind of magic to kill for...to die for. The kind to betray one’s vows for, even if it ant turning on a court one had served loyally for decades.
It was a power that could unfailingly change the ruling race of the stronghold,
It was the kind to lose one’s mind to.
Keila... she had awakened sothing that could very well bring about the end of the dragon supremacy, and what was worse, she was more than willing to use it for that purpose.
Was it all her own arrogance? Neveah wondered. Had she been mistaken to believe she held so advantage over a force of nature this fierce?
Neveah’s heart fretted. Sothing within her was distantly grateful she had sent the Winter Wolves ho when she had, and not a mont after.
Perhaps it was selfish of her. But at least she had protected so...if not all.
The dragons were beings of fire, they would be safe regardless of what happened here on this day.
Of course, Inferno would fall. Two dozen dragons didn’t make up the fortress, the thousands of citizens of various races did.
Citizens whose fate Neveah could not guarantee.
The morning had begun on too good a note to have taken such a sour turn. Now, Neveah felt regretful for even having a good night sleep.
If she had pored over the maps for a few more hours a day ago, she might have been able to make a better judgent. Select a better location for the outer periter.
If she had flown out to inspect the volcano herself, rather than leaving it to the Infernal dragons, she might have sensed the residues of Arcane and known that today would bring with it fire and brimstone.
’Hush love. Focus. Has there been anything you were unable to do?’ Xenon’s voice cut through Neveah’s dark thoughts, firm and steady.
’Beyond magic and Arcane, the one who leads these people is you... just you, Veah. And you haven’t failed us, not once.’
His tone was completely certain, carrying all the faith she had lost in herself for just a mont.
The volcano still roared, and Neveah forced away any negative thoughts.
"I need to feel the earth." Neveah thought to him.
Xenon did not protest when she dismounted, even when that made it all the more dangerous to them to be in such proximity to the lava in human form.
She reached deeper, into the part of herself that was neither dragon, nor wolf,
But sothing more ancient.
Sothing born of nature itself.
The volcano shook again, in resistance. A warning Neveah had no intentions to heed.
Perhaps she could not stop it.
Perhaps she could not make it go away.
But what she could do, she would do without fail.
She would hold it back for as long as she possibly could, till the evacuation efforts had covered reasonable ground. Or she could co up with another solution.
Above, the infernal dragons circled the ridges, those that had not been assigned to guard the fleeing lines of people, warded off the hot rocks flying out in different directions, large enough to crush a human, and deal a good asure of hurt if a dragon was hit.
It may not have been the best idea to fight fire with fire. But dragon fire scorched the hot rocks, lting them so they rained down as ash.
The dragons above ensured Neveah and Xenon did not have to worry about the rocks flying overhead, they kept a protective periter around them from the skies.
While Neveah’s own opponent was the lava flow.
And the dragons trusted her enough to linger around the volcano. Waiting till Xenon and Neveah retreated themselves.
And because their belief in her was so absolute, Neveah believed in herself too.
But ti was running out.
The force of the second collision rocked Neveah down to her bones, and rattled her teeth. In that mont, she imagined she was a lone rock,in the midst of a vast ocean, with fiery waves crashing into her from all sides.
Each crash threatened to split the rock into a thousand pieces, yet it stood. At this mont, the rock was her.
The difference... she was not alone.
The heat swelled, no longer just external. It churned beneath her skin, poisoning her lungs and coiling around her spine.
Neveah blinked, her vision blurring for a mont, from a blend of the fus, and the overwhelming surge of sothing else.
She could feel Devirld pulse within her, like an echo to her own heartbeat.
The earth beneath her feet cracked from the force of the magic pouring out of her, the sound like bones snapping under the weight of sothing indomitable.
Neveah dropped to one knee, not from weakness, but instinct. She pressed her palm to the trembling ground. Her magic flickered to the surface, responding like an extension of her own soul.
’What are you trying to beco, Veah?’ it seed to ask.
’What will you give up to stop this?’
The lava surged forward again, closer than before. She could feel its heat licking at her fingertips. A breath too long and it would devour everything behind her, Xenon, the retreating citizens, the fortress she had given everything to protect.
She closed her eyes.
This ti, she didn’t intend to control or dominate.
She listened...to the earth, and the magic pulsing through her.
A soft thrum answered, a mory that wasn’t hers flashed through her mind. A language without words rang in her head.
A spell? A chant? A tune? She wasn’t certain.
The mountain had once been peaceful. A vessel, not a weapon. But sothing had pried it open, twisted its core, whispered rage into its veins. The Arcane. Keila’s doing. Her betrayal echoed in every tremor.
Neveah gritted her teeth, tears springing to her eyes. From pain, from the sheer imnsity of the force pressing in on her soul. She couldn’t overpower this. But maybe she could remind it of what it once was.
"I see you," she whispered, voice trembling. "You are not just destruction. You are warmth, shelter. You are nature, you are the earth. You are peace...fiery and beautiful."
The volcano shuddered again, but sothing changed in its rhythm. A hitch, like a breath caught mid-sob. Neveah pressed harder, digging deeper, pouring her magic into the connection with the earth like water into cracked stone.
She felt it respond to her touch. She may not have been all of the Arcane, but she was so of it... and it knew that.
Xenon stepped closer, hovering just behind her, his presence a silent promise. "Whatever you’re doing," he said softly, "don’t stop."
She wouldn’t. She couldn’t.
Neveah opened her palms, magic pouring from her in invisible waves, so much she felt hollowed out, raw. She wove her mories and emotions into it: the love that ward her heart and tad her darkness, Xenon’s slow drawl and his adoring gaze, Jian’s mismatched orbs glinting with a rare smile, Kaideon’s proud grin, Estelle’s warm hug and effortless smiles, Even Adrienne’s smile before it faded forever.
And the mountain listened.
The lava slowed. Not stilled. Not tad. But slowed.
Just enough.
Neveah gasped, collapsing forward onto her hands, fingers buried in the scorched soil. She felt as though her body had been torn open and filled with light, then stitched shut with fire. It hurt. But it worked.
Above, the infernal dragons roared in triumph. The hot rocks still flew, but fewer, scattered.
"Veah!" Xenon knelt beside her, catching her before she fully fell. His hands were warm, steadying.
She shook her head faintly. "Not ," she whispered hoarsely. "The Arcane...
His brows furrowed, but he said nothing. Just held her as the ridge quieted, the worst of the lava turning sluggish and smoking as it t the scorched earth she’d cooled with ancient magic.
But the danger wasn’t gone.
Neveah forced her head up, eyes burning. "We need to move. I can’t do that again. Not without... not without giving up sothing inside
I may never get back."
Xenon nodded. "Then we won’t ask it of you again."
She tried to rise, and he helped her. The dragons began to descend, forming a tighter guard, understanding that this was their last chance to prepare Inferno before the volcano decided whether it would give rcy, or unleash hell.
As she mounted, her legs shaking, Neveah glanced back once more at the simring ridge.
This ti, the lava did not chase.
But deep within the mountain, she felt sothing shift.
Not hatred.
Not rage.
Curiosity.
The Arcane had heard her.
And she wasn’t sure if that was a good thing.
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