The skies were open, vast, and almost silent, except for the rhythmic sound of enormous wings cutting through the air in powerful, constant movements. Strax advanced in his dragon form, his colossal body traversing the wind currents with absolute ease, as if this were his truest state. Below them, the world began to seem distant, reduced to patches of green and uneven terrain, while the surrounding blue deepened into cooler, more rarefied tones, higher than most would even dare to reach.

The wind there was not gentle.

It cut.

It pressed.

And it demanded adaptation.

Even so, Strax maintained a steady pace, unhurried but also without hesitation, adjusting the tilt of his body as needed to keep the flight comfortable enough for those above him. His eyes moved slightly, trying to perceive the state of the three who were supported by his structure, clinging between the scales and the joints of the wings, where the airflow was slightly less aggressive. "Are you okay with the altitude?" his voice echoed, deep and grave, not through ordinary sound, but through that almost instinctive communication that came with his current form. "The air gets thinner as we go higher."

There was a brief pause.

But not one of doubt.

Scarlett was the first to respond, adjusting her position slightly while maintaining her balance naturally, as if this were more comfortable than walking on solid ground. "You're overthinking it," she said, with a slightly amused tone, even as the wind pulled strands of her hair back with constant force.

Tiamat let out a small sound through her nose immediately afterward, almost a suppressed laugh, remaining completely relaxed, supported as if she were simply enjoying the ride. "We're dragons too, remember?" she added, her tone nonchalant, as if the question itself were unnecessary.

Scarlett nodded slightly, reinforcing the idea naturally. "This is practically… comfortable."

Strax let out a deep sound that resembled a laugh, his chest vibrating slightly as the surrounding air seemed to respond to the movement. "I know," he replied, without slowing his flight, his wings cutting through a stronger gust of wind without any difficulty. "But that doesn't stop me from worrying."

The answer came simply.

Directly.

And sincerely.

For a brief moment, silence returned, filled only by the sound of the wind and the steady rhythm of flight, while the landscape continued to glide slowly below them.

But then—

Something changed.

Strax realized.

It wasn't immediate.

But it was… clear.

His gaze shifted slightly, focusing on the quietest figure among the three.

Ouroboros.

She hadn't answered.

She hadn't commented.

In fact… she had barely moved.

Her body was there, still, but there was a strange absence in the way she held herself, as if she were only physically present, while her attention was somewhere else entirely.

Strax slightly reduced the intensity of his wingbeats, adjusting the airflow around them as he focused his attention more directly.

"Ouroboros," he called, his voice more focused now. "Why are you so quiet?"

No answer.

Not even an immediate movement.

The lack of reaction was… strange.

Tiamat noticed almost instantly, her gaze shifting towards her with a slight change in expression, something more attentive, less relaxed. She moved slightly, drawing close enough to lightly touch the other, her hand landing firmly on her shoulder, but not aggressively.

"Are you alright?" she asked, tilting her head slightly, trying to catch any clearer signal.

For a second—

It seemed Ouroboros was about to answer.

Her lips moved slightly.

Her eyes blinked.

But then—

Nothing.

Her gaze didn't focus on Tiamat.

It didn't focus on Strax.

It didn't focus… on anything.

And in the next instant—

She moved.

Without warning.

Without hesitation.

Without explanation.

Her body simply propelled itself backward, completely detaching itself from the secure support it had on Strax's scales, abandoning any point of balance with a sudden and definitive movement.

And then—

She fell.

The world seemed to slow down for a fraction of a second.

The wind shifted.

Her absence was immediate.

"What—?" Strax's voice came out deep, cut off mid-reaction, his eyes widening slightly as his head turned abruptly in the direction she had disappeared.

Below—

Free fall.

Ouroboros was plummeting.

Without resistance.

Without adjustment.

Without trying to stop.

Just… falling.

Strax's instinct responded before any complete thought had even formed.

"Hold on," he ordered, his voice now firmer, more direct, carrying real urgency for the first time since they had taken flight.

His wings partially retracted.

His body tilted.

And then—

He dove.

The dive was violent.

The surrounding air exploded with resistance as his colossal form cut downwards with a much greater speed than before, the wind now roaring around them with brutal intensity, pressing everything and everyone down with increasing force.

The distance between them and Ouroboros was rapidly decreasing.

But she—

She didn't react.

Her body continued its freefall, her dark hair being violently pulled upwards as the ground approached ever faster.

Strax adjusted the angle again, his wings opening with millimeter precision to further increase his descent speed, completely ignoring the impact of the air against his own body.

Faster.

More direct.

More precise.

His eyes locked onto her.

Calculating.

Adjusting.

Determining the exact point of interception.

The wind howled all around.

But he ignored it.

All that mattered—

Was reaching her.

Before it was too late.

The air roared around as Strax plunged at absurd speed, his colossal body cutting through the wind currents like a living blade, each beat of his wings precisely tuned to reduce the distance between him and the freefalling figure. His eyes were completely fixed on Ouroboros, calculating every variation in trajectory, every minute deviation, every fraction of a second separating impact range.

She still didn't react.

She was still falling.

But, the instant he finally entered the necessary radius to reach her—

Something changed.

It wasn't gradual.

It wasn't natural.

It was abrupt.

Violent.

Ouroboros's body simply… exploded in transformation.

Not in the literal sense of destruction, but in the way the change occurred—too fast, too intense, as if something had been forced to emerge uncontrollably. Black scales cascaded, expanding across her skin as her structure grew massively in a matter of seconds, bones lengthening, wings opening in an almost chaotic movement that tore through the surrounding air with brute force.

A dragon.

Enormous.

Bigger than it should be.

And… unstable.

Strax recoiled slightly in the air out of pure reflex, adjusting his flight to avoid a direct collision with that sudden expansion, his wings opening forcefully to maintain balance as Ouroboros's new body filled the surrounding space like an overwhelming presence.

And then—

Her eyes met his.

For a single second.

A brief instant.

But intense enough to say everything.

That wasn't control.

That wasn't a choice.

There was something there.

A plea.

A silent scream.

Help.

But before any response could emerge—

Her body reacted.

Not her.

Her body.

The dragon's jaws opened abruptly, and what came out wasn't ordinary fire.

It was… black.

A dense, heavy breath, charged with an energy that seemed to consume the very air around it as it surged toward Strax with absolute violence.

His reaction was immediate.

Instinctive.

Its wings partially closed in front of its body, forming a solid barrier of white scales as it absorbed the direct impact of that attack, the black fire colliding with it with enough force to push it several meters back into the air, creating a visible distortion in the surrounding space.

The heat was unusual.

It was… wrong.

But it endured.

The impact ceased.

And when its wings opened again—

It was already moving away.

Ouroboros's black body spun in the air with a sudden movement, as if something inside it had taken complete control at that instant, its wings opening violently before flapping once—

And it shot off.

Away.

Quickly.

Without looking back.

"Ouroboros—!" Strax's voice came through, full of force, deeper, more intense, cutting through the space between them as he regained his balance in the air, his eyes still fixed on the direction she had gone from.

"What the hell happened to you?!" he questioned, even knowing there was no answer at that moment, his body already adjusting for pursuit, the tension now completely present in every movement.

But he wasn't alone.

Scarlett was the first to act.

Without hesitation.

Without a doubt.

She simply let go.

Her body launched into the void with a clean impulse, disappearing from the surface of Strax's scales as she fell a few meters before the transformation began, as intense as Ouroboros's, but… controlled.

Red scales emerged, her body expanding into an imposing draconic form, her wings opening with precision before beating forcefully, stabilizing her flight with almost immediate perfection. 𝒇𝓻𝓮𝓮𝙬𝙚𝒃𝒏𝓸𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝓬𝓸𝒎

Tiamat came right after.

Her leap was more restrained, but no less decisive, her body already transforming in the air with an almost elegant fluidity, as if that change were as natural as breathing. The golden hues enveloped her, creating a stark contrast to the distant black of Ouroboros.

Both stabilized in mid-air.

Aligned.

Ready.

Scarlett turned her head slightly toward Strax, her eyes already focused on the distant point where Ouroboros was disappearing faster and faster on the horizon.

"Let's go after her," she said, her voice firm, leaving no room for doubt, as her wings began to gain momentum.

It wasn't a plan.

It was a reaction.

And they were already in motion.

Strax didn't respond with words.

He didn't need to.

His body was already leaning again, his wings opening forcefully before flapping once, powerful enough to launch the three of them at high speed again, now no longer traveling—

But in pursuit.

The sky, once tranquil, now seemed too small to contain it.

And ahead—

Ouroboros was fleeing.

Or perhaps…

Something inside her was escaping through her.