Curled up on the floor with a bloodied tongue and bruised ego, Timur Demyan seethed with rage. Though his lust for her had gone long unanswered, he no longer cared if Lily lived anymore. His eyes glowed a sickly green light as he extended his arm toward her with his fist clenched. He let out a shriek, fully expecting a beam of light to incinerate her body upon contact.

Nothing happened.

Timur opened his palm and stared at it incredulously. Confused, he clenched his fist again and aimed it at her, attempting to concentrate all of his powers.

His rage exploded, but again nothing happened. Scrambling to his feet, he sprang forward and grabbed her by the neck. Timur summoned his strength once again, but he could feel himself growing weak.

Lily let out another shriek, a sound so piercing that several of the priests staggered with their hands over their ears. One of them pulled his hands away to find his palms covered in blood. Timur was thankful that his immortality rendered him immune to the effects that his priests were experiencing.

He squeezed Lily’s throat, but it felt solid as steel. Her pupils had glazed over, and she appeared to be in some type of trance. His hands had begun to ache from the effort when a loud crashing sound could be heard from below their feet.

What’s happening to the portal?

Lily screeched a third time, and the room shook as if struck by an earthquake. Timur lost his balance, and fell to the floor. Large pieces of rubble crashed down from the ceiling, shattering the marble floor below.

Then, without warning, a massive crater exploded out of the floor near the fireplace. A horrified look fell upon Timur’s face as he recognized the face of the beast that stood before them.

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

“Demon!” One of the priests screamed in terror and took off in a dead run.

Their eyes locked, and Timur could immediately decipher the pure hatred in the beast’s eyes. It was in that flicker of a moment that he remembered the cause of her intense malice.

The nest.

The dragon whipped her head forward and charged. Forgetting his powers had somehow become disabled, he stood in place to face the threat, forming a fist that no longer pulsed with energy.

The impact knocked the wind out of him, and an intense pain surged from a large gash in his chest. Blood spurting from his mouth, he stood just in time to receive another major blow from behind, throwing him across the room. He felt a crunch in his arm accompanied by an excruciating pain.

Timur was unaccustomed to pain of this magnitude. Over the past five centuries, he had been able to suppress any instances of pain because it was typically so fleeting. Usually an aura of light would surround him within seconds and heal any of his wounds.

Where is my aura?

Outmatched for the first time in hundreds of years, he scrambled to his feet and took off in a dead run for the exit. He could hear the dragon in hot pursuit, crashing through the narrow corridor behind him.

The massive front doors of the Temple still stood ajar from the earlier massacre he had ordered his priests to carry out. He barreled out the door. To his surprise, Lily had somehow gotten to the steps of the Temple first. He had no time to react before she stabbed him through the chest with the shattered remains of Excalibur.

This pain was the most unbearable yet. The blade protruding from his chest felt hot as fire. An ache in his lower back began to throb, and his knees strained to remain standing. His breathing shallowed, and he wheezed for air as he staggered and fell down the steps.

Lying on his back, he stared at the back of his hands in confusion. Veins were protruding from beneath the skin and patches of melanoma were rapidly forming. With another gasp, he felt the presence of the Leviathan withdrawing from him. A dark cloud formed at the foot of the stairs, and Timur could only utter three dying words…

“But… why, Master?”

A pair of red eyes formed inside the cloud, and the brooding voice of the Leviathan cut him to the core. “Thine commission hath expired,” the beast seethed. “I hath found thine successor. Thou art no longer of any use to me.”

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