Fire And Justice

Mordecai stirred from his enforced slumber, his senses clouded by a disorienting haze. Clutching his head in agony, he fought to shake off the lingering effects of the gas that had kept him imprisoned. As he struggled to regain his bearings, his gaze fell upon Visenya, standing tall and resolute, a figure bathed in an aura of power and purpose.

Her eyes, blazing with fearlessness, met his with an unyielding intensity, her presence looming over all of them with an air of defiance against the once unchallenged rulers of her world.

Mordecai’s features contorted with disdain as he locked eyes with Visenya, his expression a mask of hostility and suspicion. He rose to his feet with a grunt, his movements unsteady after two years of enforced slumber.

“Who in the Seven Hells are you?!” His hand clenched into a fist, his fingers itching to close around her throat as he advanced towards her with a menacing glare.

“Let me show you… who I am,” Visenya proclaimed, her voice cutting through the air like a blade of tempered steel. With a lightning-quick movement, she seized his wrist just as he lunged for her throat, locking eyes with him in an unbreakable gaze. Her eyes blazed like a supernova, searing through his very soul, leaving him paralyzed in their fiery grasp.

In that moment, memories of their previous reality flooded his mind, each recollection more vivid and haunting than the last. The dissonance of his existence collided with the truth she bore, shattering the illusions he had crafted for himself. With a guttural gasp, he staggered backward, his expression a maelstrom of realization and disbelief, before finally collapsing to his knees, humbled by the overwhelming weight of his revelation.

In a rush of emotion, Mordecai’s eyes swept over his slumbering companions until they settle on his mate, Sylph. Tears streak down his cheeks as he crawls to her side, his heart pounding with a mix of relief and sorrow. Tenderly, he presses kisses to her cheeks, feeling the weight of his loss dissipate in the warmth of her presence.

Memories flood his mind—the anguish of their separation, the torment of losing her, and the rest of the council who were nothing short of family to him. But now, they lie here, unharmed and whole, restored to him by this enigmatic power. As his trembling fingers brush against his unblemished face, he realizes with awe that everything is just as it was before the devastation.

He turns back to Visenya, his voice choked with emotion. “You brought them back?”

“Don’t get it twisted,” Visenya’s voice carried a steely edge. “I brought my mate back, and in the midst of that, you just so happen to get another chance. Though, many would argue that you and your entourage are far from deserving of it.”

Mordecai’s eyes caught a glimpse of her marking peeking from the top of her robe. He gestured toward the familiar symbol with a dawning realization in his eyes, and it suddenly struck him whose mark she bore.

Mordecai’s voice trembled with desperation as he spoke. “Are you here to exact your revenge? To do upon my mate the deeds I have inflicted upon yours? If so, then let the consequences fall upon me, not her. She has done no harm.”

“Your confidence in asserting your mate’s innocence is baffling, as is your solidified belief in it.” Visenya’s tone dripped with scorn as she countered his plea.

Mordecai’s voice brims with indignation as he faces Visenya, his words laced with frustration, “She is innocent! Your mate obliterated her! He obliterated them all!”

Visenya’s retort was swift and cutting,“Lucian’s plan was to incapacitate you, to mark me without interference from you or the council. He had no intention of harming any of you. He knew that once I regained my powers, he wouldn’t need to. The explosion was merely a result of the guards’ ignorance, those my father had on duty.”

Mordecai’s expression shifts as he gazes at Visenya, his eyes alight with sudden recognition. “Your father? Ah, I see it now… You’re Ezra’s spawn. That conniving dog’s blood runs thick in your veins. I scented his foul stench in this place that day, when Caden betrayed his own kind, along with that wretched bloodsucker. They conspired against us! A crime against the council! A crime punishable by death!”

“They did what needed to be done,” she retorts, her voice steady despite the weight of her words. “To prevent you and the council from eradicating another species.”

“The mages were evil,” he insists, conviction in his tone. “We couldn’t allow a unification ritual to take place. We couldn’t allow them to mate and create a demonic breed of dragons. They would wreak havoc on the world! The gods granted us sovereignty! They anointed us as guardians of this realm, and we made the decision to protect it from those malevolent creatures!”

“You lie, Mordecai,” she retorts, her voice tinged with indignation. “The gods have witnessed the council’s deeds over the centuries. Everything you’ve done was for selfish reasons, to maintain your status of superiority. You’ve destroyed lives without so much as a flinch of guilt in your hearts.”

She takes a step closer, her presence imposing. “That’s why they sent me to be the new guardian of this realm.”

Mordecai regards her with a look of incredulity, as if she were unworthy of such a title. “You? A frivolous dog?” He scoffs, his tone dripping with disdain. His words cut through the tension like a knife, igniting a spark of fury in Visenya’s eyes.

Visenya’s eyes blaze with the intensity of a raging inferno as her wolf surges to the forefront, a tempest of untamed power swirling within her gaze. “I would tread carefully if I were you,” she growls, her voice dripping with a lethal combination of authority and menace. “My wolf does not tolerate insolence lightly.”

Mordecai’s voice brims with false bravado as he defiantly meets Visenya’s gaze. “Your wolf doesn’t scare me,” he retorts, though a flicker of uncertainty dances behind his eyes.

With a surge of power, Delilah leaped outward, separating herself from Visenya’s being. With a graceful yet forceful arc, she descended upon Mordecai, wreathed in flames that danced and crackled around her fur. Her eyes blazed like twin infernos, while her fangs gleamed like molten steel in the flickering light. She hovered menacingly over Mordecai, a silent but potent threat. With every snarl, she exuded an aura of danger, her very presence demanding respect and obedience.

Mordecai’s eyes darted between Visenya and the wolf hovering over him, her fangs poised dangerously close to his throat. He was rendered utterly speechless by the display of Visenya’s unlimited power, his disbelief evident in the widening of his eyes and the slackening of his jaw.

“It would be considered suicide for a Lycan, even in their fiercest wolf form, to challenge a dragon, especially an ancient Dragon Lord such as yourself,” she declared, her tone laced with a chilling certainty. “But Delilah is no ordinary wolf. She’s a force of nature, a relentless predator born of fire and fury. If she so chooses, she will rip out your throat, and not even your healing powers can save you from that fate.”

Mordecai’s voice trembled with defeat, his words a plea for mercy. “Alright, alright! You win! Is that what you want to hear?! I submit to you! Just call off your fucking wolf!”

Visenya’s voice dripped with icy resolve, her words cutting through the tension like a sharpened blade. “Oh, this isn’t about victory. It’s about sending a message—a visceral reminder that no one can provoke the gods and evade their fury unscathed. You cower beneath my wolf, pleading for mercy you callously denied to others. You must taste the bitterness of their suffering, a torment you and your council ruthlessly unleashed upon them.“