The flames burned Jeid. The stench of Slyn's burning fur filled his nostrils. Tiny demons filled the smoke blasting from Slyn's mouth. Most of the creatures roasted in the dragonfire, screaming as they died, but a few invaded Jeid's mouth and ran down his throat. He felt them clawing inside him, moving through his gut, cutting him from within.

He roared and swiped his claws, knocking off the burning sphinx. Slyn crashed down, a ball of fire.

Jeid tried to fly, to rise higher, but pain filled his gut, and the tiny demons swarmed with him. He fell and hit the marble tiles, nearly losing his dragon magic. He leaned over and gagged, vomiting up fire and a stream of the small demons. Vaguely, he was aware of the others fighting around him. Maev flew overhead, roaring fire against sphinxes, while Dorvin raced between columns, a silver dragon lashing his claws against more of the creatures.

Where was Laira? Jeid struggled to his feet and looked from side to side, seeking her.

"Laira!" he called out. "Lai—"

Still ablaze, Slyn beat his flaming wings and crashed into Jeid.

The feathers had burned off the sphinx's wings, leaving dark membranes stretched over bones. The fur across Slyn's lion body still smoldered, falling off to reveal raw, red skin. Worst of all was Slyn's face. When shifting into a sphinx, it had bloated to three times its size. In the dragonfire, it had burst like a boil under a needle. Shreds of flesh hung loosely, revealing a skull rustling with worms. One eye was gone, burned away. Little more than the jaw remained, open wide, laughing, snapping its teeth. Those teeth closed around Jeid's neck.

The two beasts slammed against the floor, cracking tiles beneath them. Slyn dug his teeth deep, laughing even with his face burned away.

"I am the king!" the burning sphinx shrieked. "I will vanquish all. I am Lord of Requiem!" He tugged his head back with a spurt of blood, tearing a scale off Jeid's neck.

Jeid struggled to rise. His head spun. He managed to shove himself up, but Slyn's claws lashed out, cutting into Jeid's snout, knocking him back down.

"Dragonfire cannot hurt me!" the creature shouted as it burned. "The power of demons fills me!" A chunk of his face fell off like fat from a cooking roast. It slapped against the floor, but still Slyn laughed. "The power of my lord Raem will forever give me the strength to slay dragons. To—"

Slyn gasped.

The spear burst through his throat, emerging bloody and jagged.

Laira snarled as she twisted the wood, splintering it inside the sphinx's neck. The young woman stood in human form, her magic gone, but with the spear in her hands, with her bared teeth, she looked as fierce as any dragon.

"Raem is my father." She snapped the spear inside Slyn's neck. "And his darkness will vanish before the light of Requiem."