The Obelisk

-Chapter 98-

Claws scraped against the stone ground. The Wyvern stepped forwards, glaring down at the Five carnivores with his yellow eyes glinting in the moonlight.

Forest looked up at the rippling bronze scales. “W—who are you?” he yelled.

“Wouldn’t you like to know,” The dragon snapped. Spines trailed down his neck and back, bristling under the dark sky. He climbed forward and straightened, holding his head high.

“What do you want?” Nyx asked.

He bared his teeth slightly. “You know what I want,” he snarled. “I’m going to prove Peeri wrong!”

Forest blinked at him. “Peeri?” He asked. “You know her?”

“I knew her,” He hissed.

“Knew?” Nyx echoed softly, stepping back.

The Wyvern didn’t answer for a long moment. Forest gazed up at him. “Is she— dead?”

“None of that matters!” A tail lashed sideways as the dragon reared up, his eyes filling with unreadable emotion. “She’s gone now, and she deserved it! And now I can do whatever I want without her worrying over my shoulder or yelling at me for—” He stopped, his expression burning with anger. He took another step forward. “You’re the last threat I need to deal with, and then I’ll be free.”

Forest took a small pace back. Crimson and Spark snarled quietly, claws digging into the ground.

Clouds had started to gather overhead. Forest looked down, feeling the rune stir in his bag.

“Jethezzar?” he whispered. “Is that your name?”

There was a pause. “How do you know that?” The dragon asked.

“You were mentioned. The Terror birds had allied with you.”

“I am no longer allied with them,” Jethezzar yelled. “I don’t need them. I don’t need anyone.”

The ground got more shadowed as the sky thickened with clouds. Jethezzar looked up at the sky and then to Forest, his eyes blaring into the Rock Drakes’.

Then the rune began to glow. The Wyverns eyes widened, and Forest reached in and pulled it out as it throbbed brightly at him.

“You have it,” Jethezzar said suddenly. “You have the rune!”

Forest doubled back in panic as Jethezzar came towards him. “No!” Crimson roared, jumping in front of Forest. Spark and Rust came up on his other side, with Nyx at their tails.

“It exists,” The Wyvern was saying. “You actually found it. Give it to me,” he hissed.

“You can’t have it!” Forest said as the rune grew brighter and the grey clouds stirred overhead.

“I have to,” Jethezzar said. “It should belong to me, not you. I’ve waited years for this, and I can’t give up now! Give me that rune!”

At the same moment he lunged forwards. The Five fell back and thunder rumbled as the Wyvern aimed for Forest. Forest scrambled backwards before crashing onto his side against the ground. The rune fell from his claws and skidded across the stone ahead of him. Jethezzar stepped over him and reached.

“Wait— Don’t!” Forest yelled.

He picked up the rune and stared down at it with a look of triumph.

Thunder crackled.

Then suddenly Jethezzars expression changed. He stopped smiling and his pupils shrank. Forest struggled upwards, the others standing behind him.

The clouds were moving. Wind flew around the Wyvern and he looked up, his eyes widening in horror at the cyclone of clouds as the storm circled and circled, before reaching down from the sky towards Jethezzar.

Forest tried to move forward against the wind, but it was too strong for him to take a step or see the Wyvern in front of him. “Let go!” He cried.

Jethezzar only had a moment to look over at Forest, his eyes full of fear, before the clouds swallowed him up.