Night Dragon An Epic Fantasy Adventure - D.K. Holmberg Page 0,36
easily than he could if they were not something that he’d seen. It made it so that he was able to show that power, to hold onto it in a way that was real to the dragons.
“Enough,” the dragon queen roared.
With a surge of energy, the illusion shattered.
Jason had known that she was powerful, but the way she shattered his illusion with little more than a thought revealed just how powerful she was.
“I’m trying to demonstrate what we face. What the dragons face.” He recreated a Dragon Soul riding on a dragon, controlling it. Even the bone, like he’d seen before. That seemed significant.
The dragon queen reacted, pushing against him.
Jason pushed a hint of energy through it, giving enough that he could feel the power flowing from him. He maintained his connections, holding onto the power, and he pushed again, creating more of an illusion.
He felt something off within the dragon queen.
Energy built, rising up from within her. Not only from within her, but from within the dragons. By stealing that connection, he understood something that he hadn’t seen before.
The power that was within her wasn’t her power.
That was why he hadn’t been able to uncover the sense of her before.
It was power, but it was borrowed power.
It was no different than the way he connected to power.
With an understanding flowing into him, he knew what he faced.
Strangely, it wasn’t at all what he had first thought.
Jason built that energy, letting more flow, connecting to it so that he could fully understand just what he detected. Holding onto that power, he recognized something else. There was a source of it flowing near him, a source of power all around him. And that source of power seemed to fill him.
That was what he had to understand.
Jason gripped that energy, wrapping himself within it.
It was strange, but it was also distinct.
It was all too similar to what he had flowing within him.
By holding onto that power and energy, Jason recognized the dragon queen for what she was. He sent a surge of power out from him, blasting toward her.
He targeted the illusion she maintained.
When it shattered, a young woman stood before him.
9
Jason could scarcely breathe.
He stared at the woman, feeling the power within him but also recognizing something similar within her. She held onto her connection to the dragons, but she bound it within whatever strange connection she had, using it to create an illusion of power, an illusion of the dragon, and she used that in order to give off the appearance of the dragon queen.
Jason continued to hold onto power of the different dragons, and he watched the woman in front of him. She had to be about the same age as him, maybe even a year or two younger.
She had black hair, and there was something about its darkness that reminded him of the dragon she’d created in the illusion. Of course it would, though. She had likely done the same thing that Jason did when he created illusions, using something familiar in order to create a sense of reality. By holding onto an illusion that had elements of reality within it, she was better able to maintain it. Her freckled skin was pale, and it reflected some of the power that he held onto, making it appear as if it almost glowed.
“Who are you?” he asked.
She started to build an illusion again, and this time, Jason was prepared for it.
He could feel the way that she called upon the energy, using that of the mist dragons. By using them, she borrowed the same sort of energy that he had seen Lorren use. Knowing how she created the illusion allowed him to counter it more effectively.
Jason shifted the power within him, taking whatever image she created and twisting it. By holding onto that energy, twisting it away, Jason prevented her from doing anything more than what she’d already done. He continued to turn it, holding onto that power, and he waited. There was a sense of energy coming from her, but it wasn’t the kind of energy that suggested anything unusual.
“You must have known Lorren,” Jason said.
She looked down, seeming to realize that she no longer had the appearance of the dragon. “How did you do that?”
“Lorren wasn’t the only one who knew how to create illusions,” Jason said. “And unfortunately, Lorren wasn’t strong enough to be able to withstand my control over them.”
She glared at him. “Are you the one who killed him?”