Athra and his group went further towards the heart of the forest renewed after the night of rest, their steps cautious as the prince led them from one pack of prey to another. Unlike yesterday Athra was now holding himself back and rather just supporting the group from the back, letting the other three freshmen to hunt to their hearts’ content as he ensured their safety. As they went deeper and deeper in the trees, unlike what one might expect, they became more and more distanced from one another as if a large creature had destroyed everything in its path multiple times, preventing new trees from sprouting. Soon even monsters became scarce and 

Athra ordered “We are turning back, we have ventured further into the forest than I initially had planned.” No one argued, their instincts were telling them to go away from the eerily silent place they had found themselves in. The wind started to pick up at an unnaturally rapid pace as the previously sunny weather turned cloudy. An overwhelming pressure descended over the entire forest, its king had returned to his lair which the group was dangerously close to.

Athra realized the miscalculation he had made, he was scrying the entire time to ensure he did not let the group get close to the ancient dragon’s lair alas he had not considered the possibility the creature was not inside the forest when the hunt had begun. Now the suffocating aura enveloping the forest made him painfully aware of his mistake, the thunderous flapping of gigantic wings could be heard above the group.

 “Get behind me this instant, I have led us astray.” Athra spoke in a grim tone, his face solemn and riddled with regret. Seeing their leader unusually tense coupled with the unmistakable sounds of the wings and the ferocious winds was enough for them to know what was eyeing them from the sky above. As if waiting for the realization to dawn on them Brythionyx descended upon the party, unleashing his acidic breath. 

Athra reacted quickly and shielded the group by casting ‘force field’, which created a small sphere around them and kept the acid outside. Brythionyx was surprised, he knew the amount of mana needed to keep even a young dragon’s breath at bay was no small amount for mortal creatures let alone an ancient dragon such as himself. His draconic eyes, possessing the ability to see one’s connection to the threads of magical weave, quickly scanned the group to assess the individuals’ threat levels and find out who was the one who cast the spell. His gaze within moments settled on Athra, as he narrowed his eyes in surprise at the vast mana reserves the young Ira possessed. 

“A D’lora I guess, but he doesn’t seem complete yet. It’s better to destroy the potential threat now than to wait until he becomes similar to that woman.” he thought to himself while simultaneously casting the level 9 spell 'corrosive cataclysm’.

Athra had already cast foresight upon himself the moment he had sensed the imminent danger incoming so he knew what kind of spell the dragon was about to cast and immediately responded by counterspelling it by matching the mana the creature had spent on the spell. He for the first time since coming out of isolation felt as if his mana reserves were draining, the act of countering the breath of an ancient dragon indeed carried a hefty cost.

As the spell fizzled the dragon simply began to channel his mana once again to repeat the spell’s casting as he once again readied to use his mighty breath, he knew he could just brute force his way through by making the young Ira deplete his reserves. No matter how high the potential such a young mortal creature simply had no way to match an ancient dragon’s reserves and furthermore the overpowering breath of he possessed only needed a few moments to be ready to deploy again.

As Brythionyx released his breath once again Athra seeing the writing on the wall readied himself to cast another force field right after he had spent the mana to counter the spell even though he knew this would likely be the last spell he could cast for a few minutes, he was ready but the breath stopped before colliding with his spell.

“I’ll handle this from now on while you focus on gathering your strength back brother. The rest of you alert the others.” Desta commanded with a calm voice that did not let his inner turmoil leak. He knew even himself did not possess strength to challenge an ancient dragon alone and remain breathing, maybe if he had Alynna with him they could fight it to a draw allowing both sides to retreat with their lives but unfortunately his sister was not here.

“Just buy me sometime brother.” He needed to regain a lot of mana for the spell he knew he had to use, a spell that was overbearingly demanding. He wasn’t sure if the spell would work but unfortunately he had no other choice, the challenge at hand was too much to be cautious. 

“Drain my reserve your highness.” Ledros spoke surprising the people around, his voice had no hint of hesitation despite the potentially self harming nature of his offer. He had thought about it extensively and knew that this was the best course to follow for everyone’s survival, he couldn’t let the potential of permanently damaging his mana reserve prevent him from seeing the bigger picture.

“Drain mine as well my lord.” Thalia’s voice left her throat but it was not as certain as Ledros’ after all she was an heir of an illustrious family unlike Ledros which meant she had a duty to ensure her family’s best interest was always the biggest consideration and the fact that there was a risk of her becoming magically crippled was definitely not to her family’s advantage. She knew she could follow the orders of the crown prince and leave to guarantee her family’s future prosperity but she couldn’t leave Athra to die here, her heart would not let her.

“Are you two sure?” Athra asked, wasting no time as he had none to spare. He could see his brother utilizing his mana to shield them from breaths and spells while swinging his scythe as he flew around the enormous creature’s head, more specifically its eyes, even one of which was larger than Desta himself in size.

The two young Ira nodded positively upon which Athra immediately began to drain their mana to refill his own reserves. Feeling the painful process begin and swiftly losing their balance Thalia and Ledros faltered, only managing to not collapse on the ground due to the support from Thalon and Tyrian respectively.The two it would seem had no intention to follow suit, which made sense as both were planning on using their mana to try to teleport others away if the need arose. The process took no longer than a minute, at the end of which, the drained Ira passed out from exhaustion due to running out of mana.

Athra quickly glanced at the duo with gratitude in his eyes, a look that would fill Thalia with joy, if only she were awake. His gaze quickly turned towards his brother to try to gauge how much time he had to do what he needed to do, the more time he had to prepare the more likely the chances of success were. He could tell that his brother really was doing his best and pacing the fight in a manner that didn’t let the dragon to simply follow the route it did when confronting Athra and quickly drain the mana reserves of its opponent.

Athra started chanting the words for the spell of his own creation as he started to wave his hands around in a careful manner to draw the image of the arcane sigil he had finished last night, he did not dare waste mana by eliminating elements of casting. He needed all the mana he had in his reserves to be spent on the spell itself, he needed to carefully manipulate the intricate threads unlike the usual forceful and overpowering method most Ira used for speed and ease. 

Hearing the faint chanting of arcane words, Brythionyx’s gaze quickly landed on Athra for a moment. His eyes widened with shock upon witnessing such intricate weaving of arcane threads, as well as the glimpse he had caught of the potential magnitude of the spell. This moment of shock was all Desta needed to regain some of the momentum he had lost in the prior minute, causing enough annoyance to Brythionyx and making the dragon's focus switch back to himself.

Desta could start to feel the magnitude of the spell being cast behind him as his senses could pick up on the changes upon the arcane fabric encompassing the world even if in a much smaller scale than what his opponent could feel, it was enough for him to put all his trust in his brother like he did many times before and fight without any restraints. He had one objective in mind, buy as much time as possible. With a predatory smile on his face he let go of all his restraints, an aura that was while smaller than the dragon’s matched its overbearing nature burst forth around him. It was clear that he demanded the dragon’s undivided attention until he no longer could fight and Brythionyx obliged his demand, eyes squarely locked on Desta the creature's spells, bites and breath targeted Desta alone. For the following minutes ‘The Reaper’ and ‘King of the Forest’ danced a deadly dance with each other, teeth and scythe collided just as their spells did. Tyrian and Thalon watched in awe as they witnessed the capabilities of a D’lora nearing his prime as a spellsword.

After minutes of deadlock, Desta’s strength started to wane, and his overwhelming pressure slowly but surely faded. However he had bought enough time for Athra to complete his cast.

“I beckon power, bold and grand, stolen from Lumina herself,” was the translation of the arcane words which only the dragon could understand, right before the tapestry of arcane threads tore open in front of its eyes, leaving the dragon bewildered. Athra had audaciously taken his first step into heresy of the highest order, upon the taking of this action the die was cast for the future of all of Ira and further down the ages the entirety of Lumina’s creation. Although that future would be another story to be told.