CHAPTER 92: IS HE WORTH IT?

Mozrael soared forward like a comet, flames trailing her fists as she struck with everything she had.

But she hit nothing.

Her punch collided with a ghostly silhouette that dissipated in a swirl of wind.

Lynnor was already behind her, a smug grin curling her lips.

"You’re fast," she said from her higher point of view, "but not fast enough to outrun your own perception."

Mozrael twisted mid-air, swinging again. Flames danced along her limbs, crackling with the fury of someone protecting what mattered most.

But again, she struck Nothingness.

She passed through another afterimage. And this time, her ears rang violently. It felt like a bell was struck too close. She clutched her head, staggered, and dropped from the sky.

"Poor little dragon," Lynnor cooed, walking casually toward her. "You really don’t understand, do you?"

Mozrael gritted her teeth, trying to stabilize herself. Her flames flickered unnaturally.

"Why? I thought... I thought you were someone we could trust..."

Lynnor chuckled. "You’re ignorant, and you think you’re strong enough to keep him safe."

She paused, glancing briefly at Aramith’s limp body. "I know a lot about you because I was there before you were even born. You could even say I know you better than you know yourself."

"What do you gain from all this? Aramith did this to save you!"

"Ha! Him? Save me?" The air shook all around them. "I never asked for you guys to throw away anything just to look like good people. And besides, all you look like to the people around you are two very big idiots. How dumb can you be?

"Then just leave us alone!"

"Oh, you don’t get it, do you?"

She waved her hand without any flourish or warning, and the ground shrieked open in a pulse of compressed air. Mozrael’s feet found nothing, then the sky, then the brutal bark of a tree.Her body folded around it. The crack of wood and ribs was indistinguishable.

Splinters exploded. Mozrael coughed, blood spitting from her lips. Her vision bled edges of red. Yet, through the haze, she saw Lynnor draw a slender circle in the air.

With a snap, that circle crackled into razor wind, an invisible ring that tore at Mozrael’s clothes, her flesh, her spirit. She tumbled backward, clutching her side as coughs wracked her body.

"I’m not leaving you both alone. You’re interesting to mess around with. And besides, "I’m enjoying myself, Mozrael. And you? You’re not in charge of what I enjoy."

Lynnor tilted her head with a crooked smile, voice dropping to a syrupy mock whisper.

"Still clinging to that wide-eyed loyalty, Mozrael? That little flame of yours must be running on delusion. Just because some people seem good doesn’t mean they’re good." She snorted. "Besides, you’re not strong. You’re just desperate, trying to play protector when you can’t even protect yourself."

Mozrael’s breath hitched. Her body shook with rage. Her vision swam with red, and her flames flared in response, wild and crackling.

"Shut up," she growled, voice low, barely human. "You don’t know anything about me."

"Well, dream all you want but I’m the one in control here."

Lynnor raised two fingers. The air around Mozrael’s arms suddenly tightened as invisible pressure seized her wrists like shackles, dimming her flames.

"When people feel the air tremble in vibration, they sometimes see it as noise, but vibration isn’t just noise," Lynnor continued. "It’s contact. I don’t need to touch you. I just need to tune the air to your nerves....and you’ll feel it."

Mozrael screamed. The sensation was unbearable; hands grasping her from all sides, nails she couldn’t see digging into her skin. She erupted in fire, burning away the sensation, but it cost her.

Too much energy. She might lose it it this kept going on.

Lynnor tilted her head. "Oh? You can still move. Impressive."

Mozrael growled and surged forward again, aiming low this time. She swept Lynnor’s legs with a flaming arc.

But Lynnor floated, vibrating her position mid-stride and lifting above the strike like mist.

"Still just burning things, Mozrael? You’re going to have to evolve faster than that."

Then she clapped her hands together.

The air cracked with powerful force.

Mozrael was thrown sideways. No impact, no visible strike. Just a wave of force.

She rolled across the earth, coughing violently, her vision flickering. Her body screamed to rest.

"Let me help you visualize," Lynnor said. Her voice echoed unnaturally, not just from her mouth, but from everywhere.

Mozrael looked up, dazed.

All around her, Lynnor appeared again, five, six... ten copies. All flickering slightly, their edges blurred like candlelight under water.

"You’re not seeing illusions," Lynnor said sweetly. "You’re just seeing what I allow. After all, light needs to pass through air to get to you, and I can vibrate it to distort itas I please."

Mozrael closed her eyes.

Let instinct guide you. Gebreth’s voice flowed through her mind. Aramith was somewhere nearby. Unconscious. Maybe worse.

She roared and let go. Flames burst from her body, forcing the illusions back.

But then she suddenly felt the heat.

Her own fire ignited behind her. A perfect replica, same hue, same crackle. It lashed her back and knocked her forward into another burst of air.

"That one was my favorite," Lynnor giggled. "I just wiggled the air fast enough. If you do it right... even fire believes it’s real. Fire is just air that vibrates at jsut the right frequency. I can create fire with vibrating air," she said with glee

Mozrael hit the ground hard.

Pain lanced through her side. Her ribs cracked. But she still forced herself to stand.

"Why?" she spat, blood on her lips. "Why are you doing this?!"

Lynnor’s expression sobered for just a breath.

Then the smile returned.

"Because this world doesn’t need your kind," she said. "You burn too easily. You feel too deeply. And you follow after idiots who throw everything away for nothing."

She raised both arms.

The wind shook, then it screamed.

A dome of vibrating air snapped into place around them. The atmosphere inside twisted and bent, warping vision, muting sound, and isolating them from the world.

"You feel like this is unfair, right?" Lynnor said, stepping closer. "That I’m too strong. That you were just trying to protect him. That none of this makes sense."

She drew closer, her voice now vibrating on low frequencies that rattled Mozrael’s bones.

"But deep down, you know the truth. You could have walked away. But you chose this."

Mozrael staggered backward.

"You feel like you’re doing the right thing? And oh, I was just pretending so I won’t have to deal with any questions. I heard all your father said. How you abandoned your crippled sister when she needed you the most."

Mozrael felt fear and hurt.

"You decided to leave her to suffer while you escaped problems with a doomed soul."

Lynnor raised her hand again.

Dozens of small points of wind formed. They were like bullets shaped from air, each one spinning with such intensity they glowed.

"And now you’ll pay the price."

She fired.

Mozrael raised her arms. The shots struck her flames, and some burned away; others pierced through. One tore through her shoulder. She screamed again.

Lynnor walked toward her slowly.

"You can’t protect anyone like this. You’re weak. Soft. Not like me."

Mozrael collapsed to one knee.

Inside her, the fire dimmed.

Aramith’s voice replayed in her mind.

"You’ve always been stronger than me, Mozrael. I don’t have control over my power like you do, but I still have hope that one day I’ll be able to. And it’s all because you believe I can do it."

Mozrael gritted her teeth.

He’s worth it.

She stood again, this time dragging her flames into herself. They wrapped her like armor—not to attack, but to endure.

Lynnor fired again.

This time, the bullets melted on contact.

"I’m not here to beat you," Mozrael said, her voice low and steady. "I’m here to keep trouble away. That’s enough."

She dashed forward. Her body now moving with instinct. Lynnor prepared to dodge, but Mozrael vanished mid-stride.

The real Mozrael emerged from the shadows behind her, using the heat distortions like Lynnor’s own illusions to mask her final move.

Her fist collided with Lynnor’s stomach, and flames burst point-blank.

Lynnor flew backward, tumbling through her own dome. It collapsed on impact.

She coughed, hitting the dirt, steam rising from her chest.

She stood slowly, cracked her neck... and smiled.

"Well," she muttered, licking the blood from her lip. "Guess you are a little more interesting than I thought."

Mozrael dropped to one knee again, exhausted. But her flames still burned.

She was still alive, still standing, and in control.

The air cracked.

Mozrael rocketed toward Lynnor, her body wreathed in spiraling fire, her feet tearing shallow craters into the ground as she lunged with devastating force. Every pulse of her power singed the trees nearby, and the blue fire surrounding her wings roared as if in anguish, reacting to the fury in her heart.

But Lynnor didn’t move. She simply breathed in, and the moment Mozrael reached her—

WHOOM.

A column of wind burst up from beneath Lynnor, sending Mozrael hurtling backwards mid-strike. She flipped in the air, wings struggling to stabilize her, claws grew at her fingertips, dragging against a tree trunk before she crashed into the dirt.

"You’ve gotten faster," Lynnor said calmly, not even ruffled. "But speed without control is still just noise."