Threshold of Annihilation (The Firebird Chronicles #3) - T.A. White Page 0,116

the bombs.

It impacted the ground with a dull roar, the shock wave hitting a second later.

If Graydon and the rest hadn’t raised a ki shield they would have been knocked to the ground.

A nearly transparent wall of gold formed between the prone figures on the ground and the blast seconds before it reached them.

Wren flew past Graydon, his ki bursting out of him to destroy the second of the bombs. His actions weren’t as flashy as Graydon’s, but they were precise.

“Stay focused. There’s no guarantee there won’t be another attack,” Graydon ordered before peeling off and heading for Kira.

*

Kira hit the ground hard, Devon right beside her.

Kira lay still, processing the fact she wasn't dead or being digested in a lu-ong's stomach.

Devon groaned.

"You alive?" she asked.

"Somehow."

Kira pushed herself up to sitting, trying to figure out what happened. She remembered kicking away the waveboard in preparation for the crash. Then the gleam of teeth as they were swallowed. Afterward, there was only darkness and the feeling of being dipped in an electric hot bath akin to what she felt from the Mea'Ave.

She had no idea how it was possible, but it was clear the lu-ong and the Mea’Ave were linked in some inextricable way. She simply didn't know how.

By rights, even if the lu-ong had leapt out with the intention of catching them, they should still be dead.

Their bones should have shattered when the lu-ong swallowed them. Kira was very clear on their possibility of surviving, despite what she'd told Devon and Jin.

Honestly, she considered the fact she was still breathing a bit of a miracle.

All she remembered in the seconds the lu-ong's mouth had closed around them was ki wrapping around her like a blanket, somehow cushioning her from damage.

Even her muscles and bones felt better than they had before. An invisible energy filling her up to the brim.

She clenched and unclenched her hands, catching sparkles darting in and out of her vision.

"What happened?" Devon reached up to touch a spot on the side of his neck. His helmet unfolded, revealing his face.

Kira shook her head, still occupied with the way ki seemed to be rising out of her armor in tiny flares before sinking back in.

Devon's gaze fell to her hands as a small exclamation left him. "That's manifestation."

“What is that?” Kira asked.

Devon reached over, his hand hovering over the tiny flares. “It’s when your ki communes with the universe.”

“That’s quite the poetic description,” Kira said.

As was her habit when things felt out of control, she retreated to sarcasm.

Devon didn’t take offense. “You’re like a pot boiling over, but instead of the water spilling, it is putting on a brilliant light show. We simply don’t have the eyes to see except in rare circumstances.”

“Kind of like what you get with the aurora borealis,” Kira said, thinking she understood. “How is this possible if I’m wearing this?”

Kira raised her wrist with the inhibitor.

Devon touched it lightly. “The inhibitor doesn’t drain your ki. It simply puts a wall between you and it. The potential is always there whether you can touch it or not.”

His explanation was similar to what the Tuann healers had given her. The inhibitor didn’t stop her from using ki. Rather it was like slowly opening a faucet.

At first, the flow of ki was like a trickle, the opening gradually widening as she grew stronger, healing the ki channels she’d nearly destroyed through her misuse.

A massive shadow fell over them before Kira could ask any other questions, the sense of being watched unmistakable. She stiffened, afraid to turn her head and see what was waiting.

Seeing her expression, the awe on Devon's face faded.

His hand moved slowly to his waist.

Kira shook her head once. "Don't."

Any blade he drew would be useless anyway.

Inch by excruciating inch, Kira lifted her gaze until she was staring up at the giant lu-ong behind them. Its body half-submerged in the lake, small mounds of its serpentine form visible in places.

The lu-ong's eyes were wise and knowing as he waited for her gaze to reach his.

He had a scar along one side of his jaw and over his snout. His whiskers almost made him seem like a wizened old man with a mustache and beard. The color of dawn, they were the longest Kira had ever seen on a lu-ong, almost brushing the water. Against the black of his body they were even more vivid.

His mane was sleeked back, indicating he was at ease. If it had been flared, they likely wouldn't have lived through