My breaths came more frantically as I turned down another path and the sight of the eastern hills came into view. I spotted my herd there, pulling off their clothes as they prepared for the shift, though some of them were pointing to the sky, clearly having caught sight of Darius, perhaps my father too. The echo of two roars filled the air and as I started running up the nearest hill, I threw a look back over my shoulder to search the sky for them.
Father was chasing Darius through the clouds, their wing tips carving through the white as my brother pulled up hard and disappeared into the heavens.
The enormous jade beast that was my father followed with fire pouring from his lungs and my heart beat wildly as he disappeared into the clouds too and their silhouettes were lit up in a blaze of orange firelight.
“Sofia!” I yelled, turning to look for her as I ran toward my herd, waving a hand to try and capture their attention.
I couldn’t spot her among them, but Tyler turned, his shirt in his hand and his brown hair messed up from pulling it off.
“Xavier?” he balked, his blue eyes widening in surprise as the rest of my herd spotted me tearing toward them.
“Mr Acrux?” Professor Clippard gasped, jogging down the hill a little to meet me. “What in Solaria are you do-” His voice was cut off as a torrent of fire carved through the clouds above and my father’s monstrous head broke through them, his jaws wide as he burned my professor alive, his wail dying almost instantly as his blackened body crumpled into an ashy pile.
Screams broke out and terror made my heart nearly burst as I forced my legs to keep moving towards my herd.
Father dove from the clouds, his gaze set on me as his jaws widened once more, a furious hate in his gaze that made my stomach lurch. I threw out my hands with a yell of anger, a vortex of fire and water twisting away from me in an impossibly powerful blast that slammed into his face, knocking him off course with a roar of fury.
He was so low, I fell to the ground to avoid the swing of his tail as he sailed over me, but I forced myself back to my feet instantly, racing toward the Pegasuses up on the hill.
Darius plummeted from the clouds, sending a stream of fire towards our father which lit up the whole world in a deep red glow. He forced Father away from us, giving us another chance to run as I made it to the herd.
“Follow me! Lionel has come to kill you all!” I cried as Tyler stared at me in wide eyed shock before he shifted into his large silver form with a neigh that commanded everyone to listen.
They all shifted fast while I frantically looked between them all. I still couldn’t spot Sofia, but she had to be here, where else would she be?
I grabbed Tyler’s clothes in my fist, snatching a handful of his mane and swinging my leg over his back before he could stop me. He reared up in anger, but I locked my knees around his sides, refusing to let go.
“I’ll throw the stardust over the herd the second we get past the boundary,” I barked and he whinnied furiously, but didn’t try and throw me off again.
Tyler cantered forward and took off into the sky as everyone around me flapped their wings, chasing his tail as he flew as fast as he could towards the outer boundary.
A roar of anger told me my father had seen us, but I didn’t look back even when a fireball went flying overhead, tumbling down to the ground and blasting a hole in the grassy mounds of Terra House.
My heart jerked as I looked around at the herd, desperate to find Sofia there but I still couldn’t spot her.
Students were screaming on campus now, running for cover and looking up at us in shock as we flew overhead.
We tore over the boundary so fast that I was nearly knocked from Tyler’s back with the force of the magic which rushed over me.
“Fly above the herd!” I barked at Tyler and he did as I commanded, twisting around and soaring over the Pegasuses as I tossed stardust over them, willing it to take them to The Burrows, and they disappeared in the glittering air with neighs that begged us to follow.
But as the last of them were transported away to safety, I knew for certain that Sofia hadn’t been among them.
“Where is she?!” I cried, yanking on Tyler’s mane to force his head around and I found panic shining in his eyes.
He twisted back towards the boundary and I held on tight as he flew back through it and I took in the furious battle taking place between my brother and father in the sky. Darius outpaced him again and again, but there were deep claw marks along his side and his leg was charred with the mark of a burn. Lionel wasn’t fairing much better, his snout bleeding and his tail cut to ribbons, but neither seemed to be slowing down.