The silence after the island's annihilation seemed impossible. Only the sound of Strax's beating wings and the distant echo of the convulsing ocean remained. Xenovia and Kryssia, bound to their husband's scales, still felt their bodies tremble with the impact of that absolute word—Destruction.
But soon the wind shifted.
The air stirred, bringing new presences.
From the horizon, two colossal silhouettes emerged against the stormy skies. Bellatrix and Beatrice appeared in their dragon forms, enormous and majestic, their scales shining in hues that reflected thunder. On their backs, firm and sure, were Yennifer and Cristine, their battle gear torn by the wind, but their eyes fixed on Strax.
Shortly behind, a third form followed: Samira, her golden body a stark contrast to the dark clouds, immense wings gliding calmly, as if mastering the turbulence around her.
Xenovia was the first to see them, and her heart nearly sank. For a moment, it felt like a breath of relief amidst the terror. Kryssia recognized them too, and tears pricked her eyes. They were not alone.
The three dragons approached, their powerful presence ripping through the storm. Bellatrix inclined her head, her voice thundering, not a roar, but a direct order:
"Climb."
Beatrice finished firmly:
"There's no time. He won't carry anyone."
Samira, in her dragon form, merely glided nearby, her golden eyes fixed on Xenovia and Kryssia. There was softness in her gaze, but also urgency.
Strax, for his part, didn't even look back. His wings beat heavily, the demonic energy still raging around him. When he spoke, his voice rang out like the sound of an inevitable sentence:
"Go with them." He turned just enough so that his black silhouette was silhouetted against the stormy skies. "What I'm going to do now… isn't something I want you to see."
The statement fell on Xenovia and Kryssia like a red-hot iron. There was no room for argument. No room for questions. They looked at each other, hesitated only for a second—and then launched themselves.
With a precise leap, they both left the back of the black colossus and landed on Samira's scales, who met them with a slight spread of her wings, gliding to stabilize the impact. Xenovia felt Samira's body vibrate with the force of the air, but here the heat was different. It wasn't suffocating or corrosive like Strax's—it was welcoming, firm, secure.
"Hold on tight," Samira said calmly, her voice echoing on the wind.
Strax, now free, turned.
The air around them twisted. The pressure increased tenfold. Black lightning flashed across the sky, storms spread like waves of ink across the atmosphere. Each beat of their wings tore through reality as if it were fragile paper.
Xenovia, watching from afar, felt her heart nearly stop.
He wasn't just Strax anymore. He wasn't just a dragon.
This was a cataclysm.
With a deafening roar, Strax shot toward the next island, leaving behind a trail of cyclonic winds and thunder.
The silence between the women lasted a few seconds. Only the sound of the wind, the raging sea below, and the storms carried by Strax.
It was Xenovia who broke the silence, her voice choked:
"Samira… what… what happened to him?"
Before Samira could answer, Cristine leaned forward, supporting herself on Beatrice's scales. Her voice was heavy, laden with something Xenovia couldn't quite define—exhaustion, maybe sadness, maybe fear.
"It was six months."
Xenovia blinked, confused.
"...Six months? What? No... we..." she choked, trying to remember, calculate, string the days together in her mind. "For us, it was four weeks!"
Cristine nodded slowly, confirming the impossible.
"Yes. And for him..." She glanced toward Strax, now a distant blur of pure destruction advancing toward the next island. "For him, it was only a few hours."
The revelation sank like ice.
Xenovia felt her stomach churn.
"So... time is... different on each island?"
"Exactly." Cristine took a deep breath. "I only realized it myself after the second month. We were trapped in that cycle of battles and rebuilding, endless monsters... it was the only possible conclusion. The islands don't follow the same flow of time."
Kryssia, who had remained silent until then, finally spoke, her voice hard, filled with anger and despair:
"And why is he like this? Why did Strax... become like this?"
The wind blew hard, carrying ash and the smell of rough seas. Yennifer, who was on Bellatrix's scales, slowly turned her face, her gaze piercing and cold as ice.
"Because this..." she began, her voice deep, with contempt and pain mingled. "This is his mother's doing."
Everyone looked at Yennifer.
She continued, lifting her chin, her eyes fixed on the storms Strax left behind.
"There are runes everywhere. Since we arrived, they've been etched into the sky, the ground, the water. Ancient, powerful runes that shape reality. This entire place isn't just a prison. It's a training ground."
Samira tightened her wings uncomfortably.
"Training… for Strax."
Yennifer nodded, with a dark half-smile.
"And not just any training. She chose the worst possible way to train someone like him. She placed the women he loves in a cycle of endless destruction, against endless monsters, on regenerating islands, with time distorted…" Her voice dropped to a sharp whisper. "Of course he would break."
Xenovia felt her throat dry. "The worst way…?"
"Yes." Yennifer looked at her directly. "Because Strax loves more than he wants to destroy… she chose the wrong way to provoke him… It must have cost them the small relationship they'd created… after all, she doesn't know him. She didn't know his reaction… and now it's too late."
The silence that followed was suffocating.
Samira maintained her steady flight, but her golden gaze reflected concern. Kryssia clenched her fists tightly, her claws digging lightly into the dragon's scales. Xenovia only trembled, involuntary tears streaming down her face.
Far ahead, on the horizon, the thunder of Strax's roar echoed again, a sound that caused the ocean to buckle and the skies to tear into rifts of black light.
He had already reached the next island.
And nothing seemed capable of stopping him.