We fly! To the sky, children of Requiem!"
As she ran, she grabbed a sword from a fallen soldier, drew it, and swung the blade. Around her, living soldiers of Requiem swung their own blades. One Tiran fell into the chasm. Adia ran and barreled into another, shoving him into the darkness.
"Find the sky!" Adia shouted, leaped from tunnel into chasm, and shifted into a dragon.
Wings sprouted from her back with a thud. White scales clanked across her. Fangs sprouted from her mouth. She tossed back her head and howled, blowing blue fire. It had been so long since she had shifted, so long since she had felt air under her wings, flames in her gullet, the magic of starlight in her veins.
Beneath her, the falling Tirans shifted into phoenixes and soared toward her. Behind her, Vir Requis were leaping from the tunnel, shifting into dragons, and soaring. Adia soared with them. She flew up the chasm, following the path of the Starlit Demon, and shot toward a night sky strewn with firebirds. More tunnels gaped open along the chasm's walls, and hundreds of Vir Requis were leaping from them, turning into dragons, and soaring after her.
Adia shot past layers of rock, soil, and frost, and finally burst out from the underground. The ruins of Nova Vita spread below her, walls and columns fallen. Thousands of phoenixes flew above her. Hundreds of dragons soared around her. The Starlit Demon howled in the sky, a great slug of stone that flew with no wings. It crushed phoenixes between its teeth, and its belly bulged with their flame, a furnace in the sky like a sun.
"Rise, dragons of Requiem!" Adia cried. "Into the sky!"
Phoenixes came swooping toward her, crackling and raising sparks. More flew below. If death flowed underground, and death burned above, she would lead her people to die in the sky. The Starlit Demon could not consume all their enemies; its jaws bit many, but too many phoenixes flew. This creature of the underworld would not be their savior.
But maybe, Adia dared to hope… maybe in this chaos, a few dragons could escape. Maybe as the Starlit Demon devoured their enemies, some of her people could flee into the mountains, the forests, the southern swamps.
But I will stay, she thought. I will stay until they are all fled or burned. I will die in the sky of my home under the light of my stars.
Phoenixes dived toward her, lashing their talons. Adia shot between them, soaring through their wings of fire. The flames crackled against her, and she screamed but drove past them. More flew above. Around her, hundreds of dragons were rising.
"Fly to all directions of the wind!" she cried. "Fly to the mountains and forests. Flee into the wilderness, dragons of Requiem!"
Adia saw a group of young dragons, mere children barely old enough to fly, soaring into the air. They wailed, sparks left their throats, and their wings fluttered like the wings of hummingbirds. A crackling phoenix, thrice their size, began swooping toward them. Its howl tore the air and the young dragons wailed.
Narrowing her eyes, Adia surged. She flew straight up, roaring. She shot around the young dragons, spread her wings wide, and raised her front claws. The swooping phoenix crashed against her, and Adia screamed. The flames bathed her scales.
"Fly, children!" she shouted as the phoenix claws tore at her shoulders. "Fly north to the mountains."
She slammed her tail against the phoenix, but it was like clubbing a forest fire. Smoke filled her nostrils and she could barely see. She pulled her wings close, tumbled, and flew again. Welts covered her belly, where she had no scales to protect her. The scales on her back felt like stones in an oven, and lacerations covered her shoulders. She looked around madly, seeking the children, but could not see them, only countless firebirds. Had the young ones escaped?
The phoenix that had attacked her screeched above. It swooped, a comet of spinning fire. Adia closed her eyes, fearing the fire would melt them, and raised her claws. She prayed, ready to die.
A shadow fell upon her. A howl thudded in her ears. When she opened her eyes, Adia saw the Starlit Demon crash into the phoenixes above.
Stars, the size of him, she thought. She was a powerful dragon, her wings wide and her tail long, but beneath the Starlit Demon, she felt like a fish swimming under a ship. Flames crashed around the demon as dozens of phoenixes attacked it,