Chapter 38 · The Weakest Dragon Courier

The city fell without making a sound.

For one impossible second, Veyra simply hung there beneath the clouds, its towers tilted toward the dark. Then the core gave a deep, metallic groan, and the entire city dropped another hundred feet.

Lio's stomach rose into her throat.

Cael's hand locked around her wrist. His other arm was wrapped around a fractured support beam, blood running from the cut above his eyebrow and disappearing into the collar of his coat.

"Do not let go," he said.

The floor beneath them cracked open.

Lio looked down. Far below, the cloud sea churned like dirty foam. Lightning flickered inside it, revealing the broken underside of Veyra—streets, foundations, and old anchor engines hanging in the void. One by one, the engines sparked and went dark.

Above them, the First Chair stood on the collapsing platform with the Seventh Seal clutched in one hand.

The seal had once been a disk of white metal, etched with seven interlocking dragons. Now black chains wrapped around it, sinking through its surface like worms beneath skin. Gold light crawled over the First Chair's body, forming a second skeleton around him. Ribs of hard radiance enclosed his chest.