The wind screamed through the towers, a mournful wail that seemed to echo the chaos unfolding outside. It clawed at the stone walls, carrying with it the acrid stench of smoke and the distant, earth-shaking roars of dragons locked in combat. Xaden led us deeper into the labyrinth of Basgiath's halls, his movements sharp and purposeful, but Violet stopped abruptly, her chest heaving as she braced a hand against the wall.

"We can't run forever from that dragon," she said, her voice strained but steady. Her storm-gray eyes flicked to mine, wide with a mix of fear and determination. "He'll tear this place apart to get to you."

I huffed, my fists curling at my sides, nails biting into my palms. The weight of her words settled over me like a shroud, heavy and suffocating. "I won't let him," I said, the words sharp, defiant.

Xaden whirled on me, his dark eyes blazing with a ferocity that made me take a step back. "You are not going out there again, Y/N," he snapped, his voice a whip-crack in the narrow corridor. "You are the one he wants, and I know damn well that every dragon in this place will die to defend you."

His words hit me like a blow, each one carving deeper into my resolve. I stiffened, my spine straightening as I met his gaze head-on. "I don't need defending from a dragon," I shot back, my voice trembling with barely contained fury. "I'm not some helpless damsel, Xaden. I can fight."

"This isn't about fighting," he growled, stepping closer, his presence looming like a storm cloud. "This is about survival. That thing out there—the Cannibal—he's not just any dragon. He's a predator, a killer. And he's marked you."

The air between us crackled with tension, the weight of his words pressing down on me. I wanted to argue, to scream that I wasn't afraid, but the truth was a bitter pill lodged in my throat. The Cannibal's emerald gaze haunted me, his voice a dark whisper in my mind: "You are mine."

Violet stepped forward, her hand brushing my arm, a silent plea for calm. "Xaden's right," she said softly, though her eyes were filled with regret. "This isn't about pride, Y/N. It's about keeping you alive. Tairn's out there risking everything to buy us time. We can't waste it."

I swallowed hard, the fight draining out of me as the reality of the situation settled in. Outside, the sky was a battlefield, the clash of dragons shaking the very foundations of Basgiath. Tairn was out there, fighting for me. And if the Cannibal won...

"What do we do?" I asked, my voice barely above a whisper.

Xaden's expression softened, just for a moment, before the mask of determination slid back into place. "We regroup. We plan. And we make sure that when the Cannibal comes for you, he's met with more than just a single dragon."

His hand brushed mine, a fleeting touch that sent a jolt of warmth through me despite the chaos. "You're not alone in this, Y/N. None of us are."

The wind howled again, a mournful cry that seemed to echo the turmoil in my chest. But as I looked at Xaden, at Violet and Rhiannon, I felt a flicker of hope. We were a team, bound by more than just duty or survival. And together, we'd face whatever came next.

Even if it meant staring down the Cannibal himself.

SCENEBREAK

airn spat blood upon the ground, the crimson splatter steaming against the cold, unyielding stone. His breaths came ragged, wet with agony, as he struggled to rise—a futile gesture against the gaping wounds that painted his side like dark wings unfurling. The air shimmered with the coppery tang of his life's essence, heavy and oppressive, as though the earth itself delighted in his suffering.

The cannibal loomed over him, a grotesque parody of triumph. His lips peeled back in a grin too wide, revealing jagged teeth smeared with the remnants of his last meal, flecked with fresh streaks of Tairn's blood. "Not so mighty now, are you, Tairn?" he crooned, his voice a sinister melody that danced through the shadows. His eyes glimmered with a predator's glee, alight with the kind of madness that revels in destruction. "No fire in you after all. None of the cruelty they sing of in the tales of the Morningstar. A shame... such stories promised more."

The weight of the cannibal's mockery pressed against Tairn's chest more heavily than his injuries, yet still, some ember of defiance flickered in his gaze, even as the world swayed and darkened around him.

Tairn's gaze, sharp despite the bruises shadowing his vision, locked onto the cannibal with defiant fury. Blood pooled between his teeth, but he spat it onto the cold, desecrated ground as if rejecting despair itself. "You... can go and fuck a demon," he growled, voice hoarse but unyielding. Even crippled by pain, his words were sharp enough to cut through the thick malice clinging to the air.

The cannibal laughed, a guttural, bone-deep sound that scraped against the ears like rusted steel. He tilted his head as though inspecting a prize that amused him. "A smart mouth, I'll give you that," he purred, eyes glinting like blackened embers. "But it won't save you. Or your precious rider."

He stepped closer, his voice dropping into something low and venomous, like a serpent hissing secrets into the dark. "I want Y/N L/N," he growled, the name curling off his tongue with cruel reverence. "And she'll be mine. My chosen."

He ran his cracked, bloodstained tongue across his lips, savoring some obscene thought. "I bet she tastes just as sweet as she smells," he mocked. "Young Riarson can't have her—not that the fool would know what to do with her."

The wind turned bitter, whispering across the battlefield like the breath of unseen specters. Thunder rumbled far in the distance, as though even the heavens recoiled at the cannibal's blasphemy.

Tairn's blood ignited into fire beneath his skin. His wounds screamed for rest, but fury drowned out the pain. He pushed up on one elbow, eyes gleaming with ancient defiance. "She's no one's chosen," he snarled through clenched teeth, the ember of vengeance crackling in his voice. "Least of all yours."

A spark lit the air—faint at first, but pulsing with rising intensity. The sky churned, clouds spiraling like ink spilled across a divine canvas. The earth trembled beneath them, fissures splintering through the blood-streaked ground.

The cannibal's grin faltered for the first time, his instincts prickling as though brushing against the edge of something cosmic.

"You think I'm cruel?" Tairn spat, rising further despite the agony twisting his body. "Wait until you meet her wrath."

Far in the distance, an electric pulse rippled across the horizon, a whisper of Y/N's presence stirring the world to attention.

And with it came the unmistakable promise of retribution.

The monstrous cannibal jerked his head back with a sudden, repulsive motion, revealing his gruesome visage which was eerily illuminated by the erratic, flickering embers of the fire that danced within the abyss of his gaping mouth. It was as though the very essence of the underworld itself was ablaze in the pit of his stomach, casting a ghastly glow upon his nightmarish countenance. His voice, thick with an oily, sneering contempt, each syllable delivered with a calmness that bore a stark contrast to the viciousness it conveyed, hissed through the air like a serpent's whisper, "You consider yourself quite fortunate to still draw breath, Tairn."

In a dramatic display of his fiery prowess, the cannibal abruptly released a deafening burst of flame from his gaping maw. The air around them crackled and sizzled with the intense heat and the blinding brilliance of the blaze, as though he had summoned forth the very fires of hell to serve his malicious intent. The flaming tendrils stretched out, reaching for Sgayel Makun with a voracious hunger, moving through the space between them like a living, malevolent force.

Sgayel Makun, his body already scarred by the unbearable torment, bellowed a roar of agony in response. Despite his grievous condition, he attempted to shield himself with what little strength remained. His dagger-like tail, a vibrant blue and a clear indicator of his draconic lineage, thrashed about wildly, the sharp, crystalline edges of the tail blades glinting menacingly in the distorted light cast by the inferno. Yet, his actions were a desperate and futile attempt to combat the relentless onslaught of the fiery assault. The flames adhered to him like a ravenous predator, devouring his flesh and leaving the air around him thick with the acrid stench of burning meat and charred oxygen.

The cannibal's gaze remained locked onto his victim, his eyes gleaming with an unsettling blend of sadistic pleasure and unfathomable madness. His twisted smile grew wider as he reveled in the sight of Sgayel's suffering, the corners of his mouth stretching into a grotesque grimace that seemed almost to split his face in two. He bellowed out a final parting shot, "Our next encounter will be all too soon, and I shall look forward to feasting upon your despair," the words spilling from his lips like a poison that left a trail of venom in the air.

With a swift and surprising agility that defied the cumbersome nature of his monstrous frame, the cannibal turned and retreated into the enveloping shadows, his departure marked by a guttural, resonating growl that echoed through the cavernous space, reverberating off the ancient stones as if the very darkness itself had swallowed him whole. The growl grew fainter and fainter, until it was but a memory in the ears of those who had bore witness to his hellish departure.