The blinding, toxic purple light from the ring suddenly gave one final, violent pulse and then snapped out. The chaotic crimson in his eyes receded like a crashing wave, the obsidian scales dissolving back beneath his skin as quickly as they had appeared.
Draven blinked, his gaze slowly focusing on my terrified face in the dim starlight. He let out a long, heavy yawn, casually stretching his massive arms as if he hadn't just looked like a herald of the apocalypse.
"Why are you shouting, little bird?" he grumbled, his voice rough and thick with sleep. "I was merely taking a nap. You're loud enough to wake the dead."
"A nap?!" I threw my hands up in sheer disbelief, my heart still hammering a frantic rhythm against my ribs. "Your ring was glowing, you had scales creeping up your face, and your eyes were literally bleeding red! You have a limit, Draven! You can't just keep suppressing a literal demon inside your soul without it breaking you!"
