Wings of Fire: Flame of Vengeance

Chapter 12

Clay flapped his wings as hard as he can. He could practically feel Scarlet's breath on his tail. Scarlet snapped her jaws at the MudWing, but he dodged the attack. Clay spotted a massive volcano and headed towards it, with Scarlet hot on his tail. Clay was about to land when Scarlet suddenly gained a extra boost of speed and tackled him, sending both of them tumbling onto the rim of the volcano. Scarlet roared as she got up and swung her talons at Clay, attempting to gut him. But the MudWing was too quick and kept dodging the blows. Clay grabbed Scarlet's arm and tried to hold it back. Scarlet began to push Clay back in a attempt to shove him off the volcano. With a strained yell, Clay punched Scarlet's face hard enough to force her to back up. The SkyWing queen snarled as she spreaded her wings and opened her jaws, shooting a huge beam of fire at Clay. The MudWing spreaded his left wing and blocked the fire with it, yelping in pain from the intense burning sensation that spreaded all over his wing. With a snarl, Clay leaped out at Scarlet, but she counter-attacked by whipping the MudWing with her tail. Clay yelled as he tumbled into the volcano's crater. Landing on the rocky floor, Clay accidentally dropped the gem.
"MY GEM!" Scarlet hissed, diving straight towards the gem. Clay gasped and quickly got up, rushing towards the Animus gem. The two dragons clashed with each other, clawing for the Animus gem. Scarlet roared as she clawed the side of Clay's throat, drawing blood. Clay yelled as he immediately backed off, clutching the bleeding wound. Scarlet clamped her jaws on Clay's neck, sinking her teeth into his scales. Clay managed to rip himself from Scarlet's grasp, growling. Suddenly, the zombie-fied Kestrel appeared from the sky. She roared and rammed headfirst into Clay, throwing him into a wall. Clay's eyes widened as Kestrel prepared to strike him. Before Kestrel could land her blow, Clay slid to the right and dodged, getting up on his feet and charging Scarlet. Grabbing the gem from Scarlet once more, Clay threw it on the ground hard, shattering the Animus gem to pieces.
"NOOOOOOOOOO!!!! THAT WAS MY KEY TO DOMINATION!!!" Scarlet shrieked. With the gem destroyed, Kestrel began to kneel over, roaring. Kestrel faltered to the ground, some of the gem's energy began to slowly ebb away. With Kestrel temporarily incapacitated, Clay and Scarlet rushed each other and engaged in brutal combat. As the two dragons were fighting, Kestrel opened her eyes once again. In a stroke of luck, all her memories from her past life flooded into her mind. Kestrel lifted her head, recognizing Clay.
"C-Clay...?" Kestrel murmured.

Clay clamped his jaws on Scarlet's arm, sinking his sharp teeth into it. Blood leaked from the arm, causing Scarlet to lash out in pain and anger. Scarlet swung her arm with impressive strength, lobbing Clay into another wall. Scarlet roared, lunging at the MudWing. Before she could strike, Kestrel tackled the SkyWing queen, grappling her paws and holding Scarlet down. Scarlet yelped in shock as Kestrel furiously fought to keep her down.
"YOU... WILL NOT... HARM A SINGLE SCALE ON THAT MUDWING!!!!!" Kestrel roared. She grabbed Scarlet, sending her crashing into a wall. Clay walked towards Kestrel with a shocked expression.
"Kestrel..." Clay spoke. Kestrel turned around, facing her former student.
"Clay..." Kestrel started. But before she could finish her sentence, she saw Scarlet prepare to fire another fire blast at Clay.
"DIE, MUDWING!!!" Scarlet roared, opening her jaws and firing a massive blast of fire at Clay. Clay closed his eyes and prepared to block the blast, but widened his eyes when Kestrel suddenly embraced Clay in a protective hug, turning her back towards the fire. The blast shot Kestrel in the back, searing straight through her already damaged skin. The female SkyWing yelled in pain as the blast burned through her back. Once the fire had died out, Kestrel faltered onto the ground, slumped on her side. Clay gasped as he took hold of Kestrel's paw.
"K-Kestrel...!!" Clay stammered. Kestrel stared straight into Clay's eyes. Kestrel's face was streaming with tears
"C-Clay... I-I'm... Sorry... For... E-Everything..." Kestrel murmured, right before she disintegrated into dust. Clay's eyes watered as he watched Kestrel melt away. Kestrel may have been cruel, but Clay clearly saw she had cared about the dragonets enough to die (again) for Clay. Clay broke down in tears, lifting his head to see Scarlet spreading her wings to attack the MudWing. Sadness gave way to anger. Anger gave way to heat. Clay could feel his chest heating up. Scarlet ascended above the open section of the volcano's crater, where a giant pool of lava sat inside. Clay snarled as he opened his jaws, a bright fiery light glowed from the inside of his throat.
"I WILL RULE PYRRHIA!!! ONCE I KILL YOU AND THE DRAGONETS OF DESTINY!!!" Scarlet shrieked, diving towards the MudWing one last time. Clay had enough. Opening his jaws wider, Clay expelled a huge blast of fire, shooting it at Scarlet's left wing. Scarlet yelped in pain as she swerved madly out of control. The SkyWing screamed as she smacked into the ground, bouncing painfullu off the edge and helplessly plummeting into the lava below. Scarlet re-submerged, unleashing a hellish, ear-splitting shriek of agony as she melted away in the lava. Her entire body was reduced to bloody, melted flesh and bones. Soon, the only remnants of Scarlet were her petrified skeleton. Slowly, Scarlet's remains sunk into the lava until the former queen was completely out of sight. Clay vomited from witnessing the gruesome death, the whole ordeal nearly making him pass out. After a minute Clay finally spreaded his wings and flew off towards his friends.