On Sapphire Wings and Jade Scales

Chapter 32.2: Temple of Lightning

"NO!" The boy yelled, springing up the steps. On the last step he slipped, hitting the cold, hard floor.

The left side of his face pulsed with pain. It didn't matter. "Why now?"

He heard his parents' faint yells from below and felt the man in green brush past him. Tomas sprang up and ran alongside the man, desperately looking around the temple's top floor.

Thunder, rain, and wind thrashed wildly around them. The final floor was shaped like a circle with a tall, thin spire piercing the skies at its center. A solid turquoise fence lined the circle.

"Where are they?"

Ari's screeches echoed from the other side of the spire. Tomas ran faster, feeling the wind sting his face. The man in green disappeared behind the spire ahead of him.

"Why aren't the yellow dragons following us?"

Tomas finally reached the other side of the spire, where the incense smell mixed with that of smoke. He wiped his face with his sleeve, as the rain clouded his sight.

"Tommy!" Eila yelled as she sprinted at him.

After crashing into each other, Tomas sighed with relief. However, Eila quickly whipped her head around, her eyes wide and fixed on the sight ahead of them. Her shaking hands on Tomas's shoulders betrayed her fear, and she had a frozen expression.

The Nether Oracle stood in front of a disappearing cloud of red smoke, his face twisted with anger. He waved his staff wildly in the pouring rain, with blasts of purple light shooting off its crystal. In the air, Ari danced around the clouds, looking like a blue blur flying around the magical blasts. She screeched at the vile Oracle; her eyes wild with fury as she opened her mouth. A blast of flame sped past her bared fangs towards the Oracle. The sorcerer stepped to the side in one smooth move as the flame crashed into the spire.

The twins exchanged glances when Tomas noticed Eila's shoulder. A black spot tainted her sweater, and the smell coming off it reminded him of burnt paper in a fireplace.

"Eila, your shoulder—" Tomas croaked.

Eila glanced at the burn. "I'll be ok, it doesn't hurt much." She grabbed Tomas's arm and pointed to Ari in the sky, speaking quickly. "Right now, we've got to help Ari somehow. She... she protected me when the Nether Oracle showed up from a portal. You see her fighting up there but... the Oracle hit her tail. The blast that hit her got my shoulder too, but I-I'm worried she'll get even more hurt a-and we need to help her!"

Tomas nodded, observing Ari and the Nether Oracle fighting. "What can we do though?" he asked in a low voice.

More importantly, where was Mister Green? Tomas followed him behind the spire, he was sure of it.

Eila held out her camera, grasping it firmly in her hands. "I have an idea. You got anything that could distract that guy? We can help Ari get a hit if we can get the Oracle to stop dodging her fire. What do you think?"

Tomas put a finger to his chin. "That's a good one! What do I have..."

He fumbled through his backpack, its contents soggy from the rain. He grabbed the handle of his mini bug net. "This could work somehow."

With little time to spare, the twins sprang toward the Nether Oracle. Eila ran at him head on, her camera poised up and ready to shoot. Tomas ran to the Oracle's left, holding the net close to his chest. With a snap, the Oracle flinched as the camera flashed white.

"You wicked, little vermin!" the Oracle cursed. "Must you interrupt my every move with irritating distractions? If only you understood--"

Once close enough, Tomas swung his net and hit the Oracle's right hand. It's grip on the staff loosened as Ari roared. The furious dragon inhaled, puffing out her chest and firing another flaming blast.