Behind her, Valdris roared—not in pain, but in defiance . He spread his broken wings and flew into the closing throat of the Serpent’s Maw, wedging himself between its fleshy walls. The Gorge convulsed. The portal flickered.
Two Keystones locked into place. Valdris’s breathing eased.
Her infantry formed a shield wall— The Unbroken Circle —a technique learned from the Fallen King’s tomb. As the first wyrm lunged, they pivoted as one, deflecting its maw into a second wyrm. The collision shattered both their crystals in a spray of black ichor. Call Of Dragons Dragon Trail 28-3
“That’s suicide.”
“The Trail is collapsing!” Kaelen screamed, clutching the now-stable Keystones. “We have to leave him!” Behind her, Valdris roared—not in pain, but in defiance
Elara looked up. Through the mists of the Gorge, she saw them: . Not ordinary drakes. These were shard-wyrms—twisted, serpentine creatures with crystalline growths bursting through their skulls. They didn’t roar. They screamed in harmonic frequencies that made reality splinter.
“I’m not severing anything,” Elara whispered. She drew her dragonbone blade and signaled the legion. The portal flickered
“Focus fire on the central thorax!” she shouted. “The crystal there is their anchor!”
Elara looked at Valdris. The Great Drake lowered his massive head, his snout brushing her chest. “You held the line. That is enough, little one. Now go. I will hold the Maw open.”
“Sing back,” she commanded her remaining mages. “The Hymn of Unbroken Stone. NOW.”
Elara dove through last, landing on cold stone in the real world. Behind her, the Dragon Trail 28-3 sigil on her gauntlet shattered into gray dust.