A foot met his descending knee with a sharp metallic clang, stopping him mid-strike. Sparks scattered. Kelix froze, body straining against the unseen weight pressing him still.
"Too close," came a woman's voice; calm, measured, and impossibly heavy.
The haze cleared to reveal a tall, hooded figure draped in combat armor marked with a black snake insignia. Even without seeing her face, Idalia's instincts screamed danger. The air bent around the woman like gravity itself had chosen a new master.
Idalia's tail lashed. "She smells wrong," she growled, stepping closer, claws curling. "Too still. Like the air's scared to move."
Forje's head snapped up, disbelief shattering his usual steel composure. "General Soreine…? What in the Void are you doing here?"
The woman ignored him at first, her gaze sweeping the wrecked chamber, the flickering consoles, the two wounded young fighters ready to pounce. Then, quietly: "Securing what's left of this operation. You've overextended, Colonel. Your games have cost us hours we didn't have."
"Games?" Forje snarled, rising unsteadily. "I was handling—"
"Handling?" Her tone sharpened. "Look outside."
She snapped her fingers. One of the wall screens flared to life, displaying the horizon beyond the fortress—an expanse of sea dotted with shadows. The image zoomed in: sleek warships, their sails marked by a single pink petal.
Forje's expression broke. "Yae-Fae… Impossible. We've been driving them back for weeks—"
"Not anymore," Soreine said flatly. "Your island's surrounded. The clan's flagship is already in orbit over Vulkhanzhar. Command ordered full extraction." She stepped closer and gripped his shoulder, effortlessly lifting the armored man like a twig. "You're coming with me."
Kelix's presence appeared beside Idalia; he now stood beside her. His eyes narrowed and Idalia heard, "That red aura…" His voice dropped low. "Burgeon-tier. She's a rank above Forje." His lightning dimmed to a cautious hum.
But Idalia didn't dim. She bared her fangs. "You're not taking him!" she snarled, snapping open a portal in front of her hand. Her claws flashed through, reappearing behind Soreine's back—
—and hit nothing.
The portal fizzled, torn apart mid-cast. Idalia stumbled back, eyes wide. "What—?! You—broke it! You broke my portal!"
Soreine turned her head slightly, voice cool as ice. "Spatial anomalies. Juvenile-tier. Interesting, but irrelevant."
"Juvenile—?!" Idalia's frills shot upright. "Say that again, you walking tin can!"
"Ida, stop," Kelix hissed, stepping beside her, lightning pulsing faintly at his fingertips. "She's not like the others. You feel that pressure? It's like standing inside a storm that already knows where you'll run."
But Idalia was already prowling forward, her tail slashing arcs of heat into the air. "I don't care! Nobody shows up, hurts my friend, and leaves!" She slammed her claws together, portals flickering open around her like angry fireflies. "You want him? You fight me too!"
Soreine's helmeted face tilted slightly. "Fight you?" The faintest hum of energy rippled outward. "Child, you mistake mercy for permission."
You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.
The floor screamed.
Every portal Idalia had opened collapsed in on itself like paper burning from the edges. The backlash hurled her across the chamber. Kelix lunged, catching her before she could strike the wall, both of them sliding through smoke and sparks.
Idalia hissed, her claws gouging deep trenches in the metal floor. "She—she killed my portals! That's cheating!"
Kelix grit his teeth, eyes fixed on the red aura emanating from Soreine's silhouette. "No, Ida. That's Sinastral mastery. She's folding ambient mana around herself. Space can't move near her."
Forje groaned weakly as Soreine hauled him upright again. "We'll claim the trespassers, yes?" he croaked.
Soreine's gaze turned toward them—cold, assessing. "Collateral. We don't have the luxury to retrieve specimens."
"What?" Forje growled.
Idalia spat a spark at her feet. "Specimen this!"
Kelix caught her wrist before she could pounce again. "Not now, Ida."
Soreine raised one hand. A column of red light erupted around her and Forje. The air folded inward, swallowing sound and wind alike. Idalia tried to reach through with another portal—just a small one, desperate and defiant—but it shattered instantly, her claws slicing empty air.
"No! Get back here!" she roared, her voice reverberating through the collapsing chamber.
The light vanished. Silence returned, heavy and electric.
Smoke drifted between them. Idalia stood trembling, teeth bared, foot thumping in frustrated rhythm. "She stole him. I almost had him!"
Kelix stared at the scorched floor where Soreine had stood.
"No. You almost died." His tone was grim, analytical. "That wasn't a fight we could win."
"Then we get stronger!" Idalia snapped, chest heaving. "Next time she shows up, I'll bite through that smug armor and make her eat her own gravity!"
A faint smile flickered across Kelix's lips, weary but proud. "That's the spirit," he murmured. "Just… maybe wait until you can bend her aura first."
Idalia huffed, but her eyes blazed with determination as she looked toward the horizon where the distant hum of engines grew louder, heralding a new war that had just begun. Her thoughts drifted back to her Pride's skirmish with the Phantom Carnotaurs. Her [Spatial Sight] skimmed the seas, then the skies. There were two opposing forces preparing to wage war against each other.
"Kelix, you fine?" she whispered. She noticed how his appearance had returned to normal. No horns. No antlers. The orange fire that had once surged around him lessened into a yellow haze. Idalia mused if that transformation was some form of [Rage]?
Kelix didn't answer right away. His gaze was fixed on the empty area where Forje and that hooded woman—Soreine, once stood. He had his fists clenched until the orange glow disappeared entirely. "She stopped me like I was nothing."
Idalia exhaled, tail twitching with residual fury. "And she took him. Just like that."
"Not just took him," Kelix muttered. "Extracted him. Military-style. That wasn't rescue—it was evacuation." He looked toward the ceiling as a low rumble vibrated through the chamber. Dust drifted from the rafters. "They're not done here."
The two rushed toward a shattered window slit, the faint shimmer of open sea visible through the smoke. On the horizon, the sky was alive with motion—dark shapes cutting across the clouds. Airships, dozens of them, their hulls gleaming in the firelight. Each bore the same symbol: a single pink petal painted on black sailcloth.
On the other side of the sky: another fleet of those ships, but with a black snake insignia.
"What do they mean, Kelix? The symbols."
"Yae-Fae. Void Viper Army," Kelix murmured, frowning. "Both trouble."
"Real danger?" Idalia asked.
"Too real." Kelix's jaw tightened. "If what that woman said is true, this entire island's about to turn into a battlefield."
Idalia's claws curled against the stone windowsill. "Then we can't stay here."
"No," he agreed, eyes trailing elsewhere as flashes of magenta lightning flickered far out at sea. "But we can't run blind, either. Forje was working on something—something big enough that both the Void Viper Army and the Yae-Fae want it. Whatever it is, it's the reason we're still breathing."
"How did you survive Forje's shot?"
"Lightning." Of course, Kelix's response was blunt. The hole from the blast seemed to be closed up as though he had been lashed with a scalding burn mark on his chest.
Idalia looked back at the ruined machinery, the cracked floor, and the lingering smell of Forje's strange energy. A chill rippled through her scales. "Anyway, we need to find out what it was. Before they do." Above them, the sky roared. She saw one warship breaking formation and descending toward the island. Its silhouette passed over the shattered dome, bathing them in pink light.
Kelix turned toward her, sparks crawling back across his skin. "Ready?"
Idalia smirked, though her eyes were still wet. "Always."
Yet… Despite the arrival of an armada announcing a new skirmish, her [Spatial Sight] caught a familiar presence on one of the ships. Idalia's heart jumped with excitement and recognition. "K-Kelix! Let's hop onto that one!"
"Excuse me?"
one bonus side-story chapter focused on a different character. This gives me time to plan it ahead, build it properly, and let you all vote on who gets the spotlight.
1. Quantumoon
2. Alpha Pawail
3. Solrift
4. Bloombark
5. Kelix
6. Vestella
Tiamare
Cast your vote!
For next month's side story, who should steal Ida's spotlight?