War sounded different when it reached innocent people.
Not glorious.
Not heroic.
Just—
terrifying.
The first boulder hit before sunrise.
The impact shook the entire refugee camp, crushing tents beneath burning debris as screams tore through the frozen air.
Then came the second.
And the third.
The Water King hadn't come to reclaim control.
He had come to destroy us.
"MOVE!" I shouted.
My wings burst outward behind me as I launched into the air, grabbing two children seconds before flaming rubble crashed where they had been standing.
Heat slammed against my skin.
Smoke filled the air immediately.
Chaos followed.
Everywhere.
People running.
Crying.
Soldiers flooding into the camp from every direction in blue-and-silver armor.
The elderly.
The wounded.
The children we had rescued—
all trapped in the middle of it.
My stomach twisted violently.
This wasn't what I wanted.
Gods—
this wasn't what any of us wanted.
Another flaming projectile tore through the sky.
"MUIR!" I yelled.
Ice exploded upward instantly.
Massive.
Towering.
A jagged wall surged from the frozen earth, thick enough to stop the incoming boulder moments before impact shattered against it in an explosion of snow and steam.
"Get everyone behind the barriers!" Muir shouted.
People moved immediately.
Some crying.
Some carrying injured loved ones.
Some simply too terrified to do anything but follow orders.
I landed hard beside an older woman struggling to move fast enough and caught her before she fell.
"You're okay," I told her quickly.
A lie.
Nothing about this was okay.
The wall behind us shattered.
Another boulder slammed through it.
Ice burst outward across the battlefield.
Then another projectile followed.
And another.
The Water Kingdom soldiers weren't slowing.
They were trying to overwhelm us through sheer force.
Willow roared as pillars erupted violently from the frozen ground, thick blocks interlocking together into a reinforced wall stronger than a stone slab.
Muir joined her instantly, pushing ice into the structure.
For a moment—
it held.
Then the machine came.
I froze for half a second as massive iron wheels rolled through the snow beyond the battlefield.
Steam hissed violently from its sides.
And at the front—
a rotating drill large enough to tear through fortifications spun with a deafening metallic scream.
"What is that thing?" one of the air tribe warriors shouted.
The machine slammed into Willow's wall.
The earth barrier cracked instantly.
Again.
Again.
Again.
Until it burst apart completely.
Soldiers flooded through the opening immediately.
Willow swore viciously.
I didn't have time to react.
A guard rushed me from the side.
I twisted—
caught his wrist—
and slammed him into the frozen ground hard enough to crack the ice beneath him.
Another came.
Then another.
Steel rang against steel as I blocked one strike and drove my knee into another soldier's chest.
Everything blurred together.
Fire.
Snow.
Blood.
Screams.
The world had become movement.
And somewhere within all of it—
Raiden moved like death itself.
He hadn't raised barriers.
Hadn't defended.
He cut through soldiers instead.
Shadows ripped men apart before they could even reach him. Lightning cracked through the battlefield in sharp controlled bursts while darkness swallowed entire groups whole.
And gods—
the terrifying part was how calm he looked doing it.
Like this was natural to him.
Like destruction was where he belonged.
Part of me hated it.
Another part—
understood it.
"LEFT SIDE!" Revik shouted.
I spun instantly.
A soldier lunged toward one of the healer tents.
I launched forward and caught him mid-strike, claws ripping free instinctively as I threw him backward into another advancing guard.
Bodies hit the ground hard.
The healer tent behind me shook from another nearby explosion.
Inside—
children screamed.
My chest tightened painfully.
No.
No more.
I looked around the battlefield.
Really looked.
And for the first time—
I saw it fully.
The camp was collapsing.
Fire spreading across tents.
Bodies littering the snow.
People fighting desperately to buy time.
This wasn't defense anymore.
It was survival.
And it was only getting worse.
I didn't want this.
Didn't want the bloodshed.
But the Water King had forced it onto all of us anyway.
Something inside me snapped tight.
Decision.
I shifted.
Power exploded through my body instantly.
Bones cracked.
Wings expanded.
Scales erupted across my skin in blinding white light.
Gasps echoed across the battlefield as my dragon form tore fully into existence above the ruined camp.
Massive.
Radiant.
Terrible.
The Primal Dragon.
The battlefield froze for half a second.
Even the soldiers stopped.
I inhaled sharply—
then unleashed power.
Energy erupted outward from me in a massive shockwave of light and elemental force that tore across the battlefield like a storm unleashed.
Fire extinguished instantly.
Snow exploded outward.
Soldiers were thrown backward across the camp as the sheer force shattered weapons and knocked siege equipment sideways.
Even the massive drill machine groaned violently beneath the impact.
Silence followed.
Not complete.
But enough.
I shifted back immediately.
Human again.
Hovering above the battlefield with my wings spread wide behind me.
Smoke curled around me.
Snow drifted through the ruined camp.
And every eye—
every single eye—
was on me.
Good.
I took a breath.
Then spoke.
"This is what your king has done!"
My voice carried across the battlefield effortlessly.
Enhanced by power.
By fury.
By truth.
Around me, soldiers hesitated.
Some still raised weapons.
Others looked uncertain now.
Good.
"You were told the refugees were corrupted!" I shouted. "You were told we were the threat!"
I pointed toward the shattered camp beneath us.
"The threat is the man who sent an army against innocent children!"
Murmurs spread.
I felt it immediately.
The shift.
Small.
But real.
"The threat is the king who trafficked innocent people through his own docks!"
More hesitation.
More uncertainty.
The harbor minister's records flashed through my mind.
Names.
Shipments.
Children listed like cargo.
My stomach twisted.
"He allowed children to die while he sat in luxury behind palace walls!"
I could see it now.
The doubt.
The fear beginning to crack.
Some soldiers lowered weapons slightly.
Others exchanged uncertain glances.
"The Water Kingdom deserves better than a coward hiding behind lies!"
My wings spread wider instinctively.
"You deserve better!"
The thread pulsed violently.
Not darkness.
Not chaos.
Pride.
From the people behind me.
From the tribes.
From him.
I felt Raiden watching from somewhere below.
Felt his attention like a storm pressing against my skin.
"The nations were never meant to destroy one another!" I continued. "We were meant to stand together!"
The battlefield had gone almost completely silent now.
No one moved.
No one breathed.
And I realized—
they were listening.
Actually listening.
Hope surged through me so suddenly it hurt.
Maybe—
maybe this could stop.
Maybe—
Pain exploded through my chest.
I gasped.
The world jerked violently sideways.
For a second—
I didn't understand.
Then I looked down.
An arrow protruded from my chest.
Buried deep.
Blood spread instantly across my clothes.
Warm.
Too warm.
The breath left my lungs in a broken sound.
Around me—
everything shattered.
Screaming.
Chaos.
Someone yelling.
The battlefield erupted again.
My wings faltered.
The sky tilted sharply.
And the last thing I heard—
was someone screaming my name.
The last thing I felt—
was a familiar body catching me before I hit the ground.
Raiden.
Of course ... It was .....