Battle Of Superiors

"Very well, then," Marienne's voice resonated with a wicked satisfaction, each word laced with a dark intent.

In an unanticipated turn of events, Lucian burst through the walls in his colossal dragon form. With a swift motion, he snatched Visenya in his claw and soared into the boundless night sky, determined to take her far from anyone she could endanger. However, this only further infuriated Marienne.

Summoning every ounce of her strength, she broke out of his inviolable grasp and unleashed an inferno of flames, shaping them into the form of a three-headed dragon. The fiery beast roared with furious intensity as it engulfed Marienne, encasing her in its searing embrace.

The first dragon head struck with lightning speed, its razor-sharp claws leaving deep gashes on Lucian's side. Pain surged through his body, but he had no intention of retaliating. "I won't fight you, Visenya!" He desperately pleaded through their link, but he was still unable to get through to her.

The second dragon head followed suit, its jaws snapping with bone-chilling ferocity. It sank its teeth into Lucian’s wing, tearing through flesh and sinew. He roared in agony, still refusing to give up on her. Visenya was somewhere in there, buried beneath all this rage and hostility.

With a mighty roar, the third dragon head summoned all its strength and whipped its tail around, striking Lucian with incredible force. He was sent soaring across the sky, crashing into a towering mountain with a bone-shattering impact. The mountain quivered, dislodging rocks and triggering an avalanche that cascaded down its slopes.

Before Lucian could even begin to shake himself out of the rubble, Visenya hurtled towards him like a blazing comet, colliding with him in a thunderous crash. The once serene sky now vibrated with tension, crackling with the electricity of her fury.

Lucian endured the onslaught, his body battered by the force of her wrath, but he remains motionless, refusing to fight back, his love for her overpowering any instinct to defend himself. Each collision against the mountains leaves its brutal mark, a testament to the destructive power of Visenya's rage. The impact reverberates through the landscape, causing the earth to shake and crumble around him.

He struggled to crawl out of the ruins of fragmented rock and debris, his body severely injured… his wounds slow to heal. He gazed up with his large, golden dragon orbs and cast them on Visenya in all her wondrous glory. There she was, suspended in the air above, a magnificent silhouette forming around her.

A radiant, fiery glow enveloped her body, transforming into the shape of a majestic Phoenix that shimmered with iridescent colors. Its wings spread wide, as if embracing her in a protective manner. Its feathers glowed with a kaleidoscope of hues, mimicking the light of the setting sun.

She raised her hand towards him, effortlessly lifting his foreboding dragon form off the ground until he was at her level. "Submit," she commanded. With the closure of her hand, he slowly morphed back into his natural form.

Lucian roared in torment, his bones and ligaments shifting against his will, until he was hovering before her, his face etched in affliction. Marienne drew closer, her eyes burning into his very soul.

"Who's superior now?" Her tone was laced with derision.

"Visenya," his voice trembled with a pain that went beyond the physical—a pain that echoed from the depths of his shattered heart. "I'm sorry, Visenya... I'm sorry for everything."

"Oh, shut it!" Marienne condemned. "It's too late for your hollow apologies!"

"No..." He asserted. "It's not too late to tell you that I was wrong to treat you the way I did. It's not too late to tell you that you never deserved any of that. I should have been a better man for you, a better mate. I never deserved you, I still don't, and I never will. You're perfect and beautiful in every way, the kindest, most gentle soul I've ever known, and I mishandled you when I should have treated you like the most valuable treasure in the world, because that’s what you are."

Visenya's brown eyes flickered, a sign that his words had pierced through the barriers that Marienne had put in place. With a flutter of her eyelids and a slight shake of her head, Marienne pushed Visenya back to the deepest and darkest corners of her consciousness.

"You don't actually believe him?" Marienne scolded Visenya, her voice filled with disdain. "He lies to you! I won't allow you to be fooled by his treachery again! This is why you need me; you're weak! And this is why he must die!”

Her hand hovered over his marking, meticulously drawing the energy of his life force towards her fingertips as she greedily sucked the literal life out of him. Black veins snaked across his chest and up to his neck, his struggle for one last breath evident.

"Visenya," he gasped, his voice barely audible. "I mean… every word..."

"Bullshit!" Marienne raged, her anger intensifying as she extracted even more of his life force, relishing in the sound of his writhing agony. "You'll say anything to save your neck!"

"No…” he declared, sorrow tinged with his weakening voice. “If my death brings her even an ounce of peace... then... I will gladly lay down my life right here... right now... for her… but just so she knows..."

Harnessing the waning remnants of his fading strength, he reached out and placed his trembling hand on Visenya's chest, over the very mark that entwined their beings and bound them in both the physical and spiritual realms.

A surge of energy jolted through her, instantly connecting her to Lucian's consciousness and unveiling a series of vivid, dream-like memories. In an instant, she was thrust back in time, experiencing Lucian's past through his own eyes, feeling his emotions, and understanding his thoughts.

It was as if she had entered a hidden vault within his heart, where he had kept his true feelings for her locked away for so many years. If this was to be his last act in this world, there was nothing else he would have wanted more than to show her how he truly and deeply felt for her.