"Last one to the palace has to write the report about the mission to the King!" she barked.

She didn’t even get the chance to finish her sentence. Nova, fueled by a sudden, frantic burst of energy, shot off into the distance. His paws thundered against the path of light, his expression a mask of pure, desperate determination. He respected the King immensely, but he knew the King’s idea of a "detailed report" involved hours of meticulous scribing and soul-crushing administrative precision. Nova would rather fight ten Beast Kings than spend a night at a writing desk.

Lunara froze for a heartbeat, stunned by his blatant head start. Then, a primal, draconic roar tore from her throat, vibrating through the bridge. She lunged forward, her powerful wings snapping shut and then flinging wide to catch the aetheric currents. With every massive downstroke, she closed the gap, her claws leaving faint sparks on the rainbow light.

Hearing the rhythmic thwump of heavy wings gaining on him, Nova let out a frustrated growl. He wasn’t about to lose. Channeling the innate power within him, thick, wooden tendrils erupted from his sides, weaving themselves into additional, multi-jointed appendages. They help with propelling him forward with a burst of speed.

High atop the golden ramparts, a line of sentinels in gleaming armor watched the two streaks of light blur toward the horizon. They didn’t stand at rigid attention, instead, they leaned against the battlements with the casual ease of those who had seen this race many times before.

"I bet fifty moon-coins on the Princess winning," one guard said, flipping a polished silver piece into the air. "She’s got the wings. Physics always wins in the end."

The guard next to him scoffed, pointing a gauntleted finger at the distant, frantic figure of Nova. "Nah, look at those newly grown appendages. He’s running like his life depends on it, which, considering the King’s paperwork, it basically does. I bet a hundred on the wolf."

In an instant, the stoic silence of the boundary wall was replaced by the clinking of coins and the boisterous haggling of soldiers. Betting books were pulled from belts, and wagers were scribbled down as the guards cheered for their respective favorites.

Miles ahead, the quiet life of the lower towns was suddenly shattered. A double sonic boom rippled through the air, rattling windows and sending flocks of birds scattering from the eaves of thatched houses.

Commoners and merchants alike spilled into the streets, shading their eyes against the glare. High above, the rainbow bridge vibrated with the sheer force of the pursuit. To the people below, they were merely two shimmering dots, but the sheer velocity told the story, the Princess was home, and was likely in another bet with Nova.

The spires of the Royal Palace finally pierced the horizon, shimmering like needles of diamond against the darkening sky. Nova was still leading by a hair, his wooden appendages working well. Seeing the finish line in sight, Lunara decided that "fair play" was a luxury she couldn’t afford, not with a ten-page report on the line.

She tucked her wings and took a deep, localized breath. Instead of fire, she exhaled a concentrated blast of absolute-zero frost directly onto the rainbow path ahead of Nova.

A sheet of treacherous, frictionless ice coated the bridge instantly. Nova’s paws skidded for a fraction of a second, but his instincts were sharp. With a snarl of focus, thick wooden claws erupted from his pads, hooking into the frozen surface like grappling irons. He didn’t slow down, if anything it made him push harder.

He glanced back over his shoulder, flashing a smug, toothy grin at Lunara as if to say, "Is that all you’ve got?"

But his heart sank when he saw her expression. She wasn’t frustrated, she was beaming with joy.

Nova whipped his head back around just in time to see a massive wall of ice erupting directly from the bridge, fueled by the moisture in the air she had just chilled. There was no time to pivot. He slammed head-first into the frozen barricade with a resounding thud that echoed across the sky.

The impact left Nova dazed and seeing stars, his wooden limbs splintering slightly as he tumbled. Through his blurred vision, he saw Lunara’s winged silhouette streak past him, her melodic, triumphant laughter trailing behind her like a taunt.

"Better luck next century, Nova!" she called out.

By the time he shook his head clear and scrambled back to his feet, Lunara was already a shrinking dot of silver and black. The rainbow bridge began to tilt sharply downward, aiming straight for the grand courtyard of the palace. She dove with the grace of a falling star, her wings pinned back to maximize her descent, leaving a stunned Nova to realize the inkpot and parchment were officially calling his name.

Nova realized that if he played by the rules of the road, he was as good as defeated. With a desperate growl, he threw himself off the side of the rainbow bridge, abandoning the path entirely.

Gravity claimed him instantly. As he plummeted thousands of feet toward the palace courtyards, his body twisted and densified. He committed to a singular, aerodynamic purpose. His mass shifted, wood hardening into a dense, iron-like grain until he took the shape of a colossal, blunt-headed hammer. Two glowing amber dots, his eyes shone from the "face" of the mallet. By concentrating his weight into the hammer’s head, he turned himself into a living kinetic projectile, cutting through the air with terrifying speed.

Lunara, sprinting down the final stretch of the bridge, glanced back and found the path behind her empty. A split second later, a dark shadow flickered across her peripheral vision. She looked out into the open sky and saw the massive wooden hammer whistling through the air, trailing a wake of displaced wind.

"He wouldn’t," she hissed, her ears pinning back.

The rainbow path beneath her feet was arching toward its terminal point, the final Rune Pillar located at the base of the Royal Ascent. If she stayed on the track, the distance was fixed. But Nova, having turned himself into a falling anvil, was taking the shortest distance between the two points.

He was aiming directly for the landing pad at the base of the pillar. Because he had the ability to shift his trajectory mid-air.

Lunara pushed her legs to their absolute limit, her claws skidding on the light as she realized the gap was closing. Nova was going to beat her to the pillar by sheer gravitational force. He was currently on track to land a heartbeat before her paws could touch the stone.

"No she could still win" The priness thought to herself as she continued on her path.

In that final, frantic microsecond, the world seemed to freeze. The Royal Ascent was only feet away. Nova, still descending with the force of gravity acting on him, began to unwrap his hammer form. He didn’t need his whole body to land, he just needed a single touch. Like a blossoming tangle of splinted woods, his wooden tendrils whipped outward, snapping toward the rune pillar with quickness.

At the same time, Lunara’s snout was inches from the glowing stone, her lungs burning, her eyes wide with the thrill of the chase.

A violent shockwave erupted as the two forces of nature reached the terminal point at the exact same moment. Dust, frost, and splintered wood particles clouded the air, obscuring the victor. For a heartbeat, there was only the sound of heavy breathing and the settling of debris.

Then, a triumphant, melodic laugh rang out through the haze.

As the dust cleared, Nova’s expression turned from anticipation to utter horror. His wooden tendrils were frozen stiff, encased in a thick, jagged block of ice just an inch shy of the pillar’s surface. Lunara had used her frost breath at the very last millisecond to create a physical barrier between his touch and the goal.

Meanwhile, Lunara herself hadn’t relied on her reach. While Nova had been focused on his tendrils, she had flicked her long, powerful draconic tail forward. It was currently wrapped firmly around the base of the pillar like a coiled serpent.

"I touched it first," she panted,her eyes dancing with mischief.

Nova slumped into his humanoid shape, staring at the ice block that had robbed him of victory. He let out a long, defeated groan, his shoulders sagging.

"You cheated! That was a blatant foul!" Nova shouted, his humanoid form practically vibrating with indignation. He stood amidst the melting slush and splintered wood, pointing a trembling finger at Lunara.

"It’s called environmental manipulation, Nova," Lunara countered, standing tall and smoothing out her hair, making sure the flower Magnus gave her was still perfectly in place. "Now, I believe the King likes his reports in threefold. Use your best calligraphy, he hates smudges."

"You froze my reach!"

"You were about to win," she retorted with a playful glint in her eyes. "You lose. And you better write well, I want the descriptions of the battle with the Beast King to be particularly heroic on my part and how little of help you were"