mikrokosmos

55: ONE SHALL LIVE

LYRA JADE

Jade almost fell from Light when the dragon flew higher, the glove between her teeth almost flew away as well. As soon as Light flew steadily, she quickly let go of her hold in one rein to wear her glove. Now comfortable with her hands, she held onto the reins again and instructed Light to go to the Old Forest to avoid hurting other people sleeping in the castle.

"I need to get Astra away from them, okay?" she told Light.

The bigger dragon followed them, spewing fire here and there to get their attention. Jade felt bad for the trees the dragon was burning, but they could always grow trees, especially when she knew Jenevieve could use her abilities for that.

As the chase went by, Jade could feel Light getting slower. Guilty, she tapped Light's head lightly and said, "Stop for a while. Let me see who's behind that dragon."

After gaining a good distance, Light turned around to face the bigger dragon, its red scales almost shimmering from the moonlight that hits it like a spotlight. Gathering her courage, Jade raised her chin and asked, "Who's behind there? Reveal yourself!"

She heard a laugh behind the dragon. "And what? Are you going to kill me," Then, a woman revealed herself, a challenging smirk plastered on her face. "Valentine?"

There she is, Jade thought. "Your disguise wore off, Astra," she said. "You don't look like my mother anymore."

Astra chuckled humorlessly, and shook her head. "You have got some confidence in you, Valentine. Are you expecting that your Prince will save you again?"

"Save me?" Jade scoffed. "Please. I don't need the prince right now. I know you're manipulating him."

"Me?" Astra pressed a hand on her chest. "I am not doing anything," she said as she shook her head in denial. "Perhaps you do not know the prince that well for you to believe that he loves you dearly."

Jade furrowed her eyebrows. Don't listen to her, Jade. "I know him well."

"Prince Theodore? He is just like his father. Why do you think the King has not visited the fairy he claimed to love? For sure, you think that I am manipulating him. But I assure you, I do not. The King just happens to love his Kingdom more than the woman with who he has a child." She smirked. "And you expect that your Prince loves you? Darling, he is just like his father."

Provoked, Jade raised a hand, using her power to push Astra from the dragon and send her falling down high on the ground. When she heard a thud, she told Light to descend as well.

Getting down the dragon, Jade rushed to the woman, in plans to keep her on the ground. Removing her gloves, she knelt down beside her and aimed to touch Astra's head. However, the woman's fast reflex caught both her wrists and stopped her from moving.

Jade felt her body weakening in an instant. But in this situation, she knew she should act fast before the other person gets the upper hand. So, she used her leg to kick Astra's side, causing the latter to remove her hold on her. She scrambled to her feet to catch Astra once again yet she couldn't, since Astra's debilitation has already started getting into her.

Above them, the dragons have already caught up with Light and his mother. The trainers commanded their dragons to attack the other two here and there, and whenever these dragons dodge the others' attacks, the forest gets to suffer.

As the Old Forest gets burned, Jade caught sight of two trees to her left melting down from a silvery liquid. While still trying to comprehend what happened, she heard Light's roar from above, the same silver liquid oozing from its mouth. Acid? Light is a hybrid?

Light continued to fight against the older dragons. From what Jade could see, the yougest dragon looked confused with what was happening to him; it maybe his first time discovering his other ability. But with the confusion, Jade also noticed how his mother kept protecting him, receiving the pain that the other trainers kept on throwing him.

One trainer managed to hit Light with his javelin. Almost as soon as it happened, Jade watched the youngest dragon fall on the ground behind her, Light's cries echoed in the Old Forest.

With that, Light's mother went furious.

And so was Jade.

"I have had enough of this!" she yelled, now approaching Astra.

"Wasn't that a sight to see?" Astra asked her, a confident smile plastered across her face. She was standing a few steps ahead of Jade and she wasn't even moving from her spot. "I took the mother dragon because she was strong but seeing her now all wounded because of that little black dragon, I am starting to question my choice."

Fuming with anger, Jade started raising her hand to throw Astra again. However, her peripheral caught a sharp white object going straight to her direction. Fully aware of what that was, Jade managed to dodge just in time before it hit her shoulder.

I cant believe this is happening right now.

"You are late," Astra told the boy who was walking towards her. "Oh, you brought company." She smiled sweetly, although Jade regarded it as wicked, it annoyed every bone in her body.

Jade turned around to see the newcomer, only to be greeted by Theodore and an unnamed soldier dragging both Philip and Leila with them.

"Jade!" Leila called her daughter.

"Kill them," Astra told Theodore and the soldier. "Kill them in front of her."

In her last straw, Jade knelt down on one knee and touched the ground, causing it to shake and crumble under her feet. The impact on the first few seconds looked small, but as time continued to pass and Jade started to scream in anger, the ground around her crunbled. Before they knew it, the trees were already falling down, the forest fire's already spreading across the whole forest, and the animals were all running for their lives.

"Jade, stop!" Leila cried, trying to get free from the shackles that hinders her powers to be unlesshed.

"Jade, come to your senses!" Philip yelled to his daughter, feeling more desperate.

When Jade was about to fully unleash her power through her anger, someone arrived beside her.

"You need to calm down," he told her before holding her waist and scooping her up, careful not to be touched by her hand.

"Put me down, Kieran!" Jade yelled. "My parents-" she looked back to where her parents were standing before but then saw her uncle, Jinx, touching their shoulders before disappearing.

"Are safe. We need to flee for now." Kieran said and ran away.

Jade caught a short glimpse of the Prince before they left. From afar, he saw Theodore falling on his knees before his face landed on the ground.

No. Did they kill him?!