"Shine upon me, stars of Requiem," she prayed. "This is Requiem's birth. This is Requiem's greatest hour of need."

Tears shone in her eyes to behold the evil engulfing her. She flew among only forty other dragons, perhaps the only children of Requiem in the world. Before her the demons seemed endless, covering the sky, hiding the mountainsides, hiding even the light of the stars. Did those stars still shine upon her? Alina had spent her life worshiping those heavenly lights, the Draco constellation that had always guided her way. Today she could not feel that guidance. Their light had led her here—from her tribe, to Requiem, to Bar Luan, and here to their great battle above Two Skull Mountain—but even their light could not pierce the darkness that had flown from the south.

"Please, my stars. Do not abandon your children."

A skeletal creature flew toward her like a dragon stripped of all muscle and fat, beating decrepit wings stretched with brittle old leather. Its jaws opened wide, lined with many teeth. Alina tried to burn it, but her fire washed over the dry bones harmlessly. The creature slammed into her, clattering, snapping its teeth, cutting her with its claws. She screamed, her lavender scales cracking under the onslaught. She cried for aid, but none would answer; her brother flew ahead with Laira and Maev, and the dragons of Bar Luan were battling their own demons. The creature's teeth drove into her wing, and Alina shouted out to her stars.

I've never killed before. I don't know how to fight. I—

The creature's claws grabbed her throat. Her blood poured.

I am a dragon of Requiem. Today we are all warriors.

She swiped her tail, slamming it against the skeletal beast. One of its ribs snapped, and it released her and howled. With a hoarse shout, Alina drove forward, crashing into it, and lashed her tail again and again. Its spine shattered, raining segments. Blowing smoke, she grabbed the creature's neck in her claws, twisted, and tore off its head. She tossed it down, and it slammed into another demon—this one a slimy worm the size of a whale. She roared down her fire, burning both severed head and the creature beneath it.

Alina growled, teeth bared, and stared from side to side at the flying demons. "And so, with darkness around me, I will cast my own light."

The demons flew toward her and her people. Behind her, her fellow dragons raised their flames. Demons and dragons slammed together with crashing fire and blood.