Ezra returned to reality with a clear mind.
The room was silent as every combatant in the room stared at him in shock. They had felt the wave of energy and knew that something had happened.
Nobody moved. Until he transformed.
Ezra felt a searing pain course through his body, starting at the base of his skull and spreading like wildfire. His vision blurred, and he could barely see the expressions of those around him.
His enemies, once so confident, now backed away in terror. He clenched his fists as his bones began to shift and elongate. A scream of agony was torn from his throat as two sharp horns erupted from his forehead.
His skin rippled and cracked, revealing jade green scales that rapidly spread across his arms, each one catching the dim light and reflecting it with a metallic sheen.
His nails lengthened into razor-sharp claws that gleamed menacingly. He could feel the raw power coursing through them, ready to be unleashed.
Whoomph!
From his back, two massive wings burst forth, sending gusts of wind throughout the chamber. The force of their emergence knocked over anything not bolted down, and the sudden rush of air brought with it a sense of dread.
The wings unfurled to their full span, dark and leathery, with an iridescent sheen that hinted at the speed contained within.
A long, sinuous tail sprouted from the base of his spine, coiling and uncoiling as if testing its newfound strength. Ezra swayed, trying to balance the weight of his new appendages, his body now a blend of human and dragon.
His senses heightened, he could hear the fearful whispers of Malachi's minions and smell the acrid scent of their sweat.
It was time.
Drawing in a deep breath, he roared, a sound that echoed with a primal fury. Instead of fire, an almost invisible wave of darkness surged from his mouth and spread out in all directions.
As the wave passed Olivia, the red chains around her body rattled, cracked and fell away. The chains dissolved into vitality.
When the wave got to X, his boots fell apart and dissolved into vitality. His mask cracked but before it could dissolve, he quickly laid a hand on it and began pumping it full of vitality.
When the wave got to Gen, X's chains around her neck also shattered into vitality, taking with it the neon purple sunblock jacket X had given her, leaving her with her leather jacket.
As it got to Malachi and his two lackeys, their trench coats shredded themselves and dissolved into vitality. Their giant monster wolves shuddered and whined in pain. The most wounded one gave a mournful howl before dissolving into vitality.
When the wave got to the protective black zone, it wavered, chunks of it dissolving into vitality. The remaining chunks knitted themselves close.
The vitality hung in the air, before streaming back to Ezra who absorbed it, the scales on his arm glowing an ethereal green.
The transformation complete, Ezra stood taller. His eyes, now golden and slit like a dragon's, scanned the room. The vampires who had once stood against him now cowered, their strength and resolve shaken.
Ezra took a slow step forward. He flexed his wings, feeling the air move beneath them, and his tail swayed with a life of its own.
"Who among you," he said, his voice a guttural growl, "dares to challenge me now?"
The silence that followed was absolute.
No one moved, no one spoke.
The fear in the room was almost like a living, breathing entity that fed off the terror of those present. Ezra could feel it, taste it, and he reveled in it.
This was his moment, his ascension. The dragon within him had awakened, and there was no force in the world that could stand against it.
Ezra grinned in anticipation as the glow of his scales faded away. We fight…we survive…and we destroy.
The final battle for the fourteenth page had just begun and for once, Ezra had the upper hand.
**********
With a flex of his hand, spikes of solid darkness bathed the room. The lone surviving giant wolf didn't dodge fast enough and was quickly skewered in the middle of the room.
Ezra could feel the dragon, Valaren, wrapped in chains and raging in his gut. Unlike the ropes which connected him, Gen and Olivia, the chain was a conduit for power and it was giving him more than he could use. Valaren wanted to be free. It wanted to roar, to tear and to destroy.
Ezra lowered its head, breathed deeply and exhaled, steam erupting from his mouth. Unfortunately for the dragon, Ezra only had a word to say to it.
"Submit." Ezra whispered and disappeared from view in a burst of speed!
The place where Ezra had been standing shattered in an explosion of raw power, the ground cracking and splintering outward in a spiderweb of destruction. Dust and debris hung in the air, swirling in the wake of his sudden acceleration.
There was a scream as one of Malachi's minions suddenly found herself missing her legs. Ezra materialized behind her, his claws dripping with blood. He hung, suspended in the air like a feather.
With a powerful beat of a single wing, he turned instantly and disappeared from view. There was a muffled flash as the lady disintegrated into paste.
Thwip!
An arrow skittered along the surface of Ezra's scales as he raised a hand to block it. He turned to see the second minion holding a bow. An arrow made of light was glowing in her hands.
Thwip! Thwip!
Two arrows raced towards Ezra.
Whip!
Ezra's tail moved so fast, all vampires present had trouble tracking it as it pierced the minion in the heart. The lady dropped dead immediately.
Ezra placed a talon on the body and the masterless vitality began flowing into him. He inhaled deeply, feeling the energy permeate every inch of his body.
Yes. This was what it meant to have power. Now, where's Y?