Possession ＆ Shadows – The Accalia Series Book 1 & 2

Adam Pov

I watch as Atlas takes one more look at Ava. His final look at the only beauty in this arena. Good. Let him have one last look. My face will be the last one he sees before I crush it with my claws. I could feel the sickness trying to take over my body again. Ever since the loss of Sorena, I have been drinking the lake’s water to stay ahead of the dragon sickness. I took a swig of it, letting the power of the lake fill me. I looked at Ava.

She was strong and powerful. A true queen. Same qualities as my Sorena. She would make a fine replacement, and nothing was going to sway me away from her. Not even my brother. It was finally time to show who really deserved the kingdom of Draconis and get rid of him for good. I looked at my father, released from prison, to see the fight. I will be putting him right back where he belongs as well. His suffering also had yet to begin, but first. Atlas.

Atlas Pov

When Ellis pronounced the one rule, I felt distress fill me, and I knew it was not mine. Against my judgment, I turned around and looked at Ava, who looked horrified. I couldn’t bear to see her look that way, and I forced my gaze away from her. My focus needs to be on this fight. I looked at Adam, who was pacing, staring intently at me with determination, with his eyes turning gold. My brother. How did we let it come to this?

I could tell by his look that it was. There was no going back from this point. There was no more talking him down. The memories of us laughing together as children, fighting together next to our father, and annoying our mother all played in my head in the blink of an eye. All the events that led up to this. Fate was a cruel bitch to pit us against each other this way, but if this is how it is meant to be, then it is how it will be. I could see our father standing next to Ava.

The drums played, signifying the start of our match, and before I could do anything, a portal opened up behind me as Atlas appeared, attempting to stab me with the king’s sword, but luckily, I was fast enough to dodge it. I could hear the crowd gasping. I drew my double blades, which I had gotten from the armory. Blades were forbidden in the arena, but a dragon never plays fair on the battlefield, and I knew he would use every advantage he could get. That’s why the blades I used were dipped in neon liquid at the tip of the blade. One cut into a vein, and he would be weak. One through his heart, and he is dead. He charged at me with the king’s sword, with our blades making an impact before I kicked him in the chest, sending him flying back. I was playing defense for now. Adam seemed to forget our father’s rules on the field.

Never strike first.

Always detect weak points.

Expect the unexpected.

Never unleash your dragon unless necessary. They are beasts. They will fight as such.

He practically beat those expressions into us, but Adam seemed to forget that. He fused with his dragon in a half-transition. Each blow he landed was back-to-back and hard. He was relentless. He opened another portal and stabbed me in the lower back. Ignoring the pain, I started playing offense. I had detected his weak point. He would use his powers more. That was for sure. As he advanced on me, I flipped him over, cutting him on the cheek. He dropped to the ground quickly. The neon would make him weak over time, but I needed more cuts into him for the effect to process faster. He hissed from the burn of the cut.

“NEON,” he growled, jumping up and charging at me again. Instead of dealing blows, he spent his time dodging my attacks and avoiding my blades. Each time I got close to a vein, he would portal to a different part of the arena before charging at me again. During the attack, his blade found its way into me, and I staggered back. The blade had almost reached my heart. If it reached my heart, it wouldn’t kill me, but it would weaken me tremendously. If it pierced any other species, it would kill them instantly, which is why Ava still being alive surprised us all. I ended up cutting Adam on his shoulder, which earned a growl from both him and his dragon. He portaled to another part of the arena, which annoyed me.

“Stop drawing this out, Adam. Let’s end this,” I growled at him. One thing I knew for certain was that neither of us could leave the arena until the ring of fire burned out, signifying the death of one of us, so he could not portal me to another land. This time I raced towards him, a blade in each hand. His strength was fading. I already knew his next steps. He shifted fully into his dragon, Flame, who started breathing fire towards me. I dodged the attack and kept coming. He flew towards me at lightning speed in dragon form, using his talons to slash into my face just as I attempted to plunge the sword into his chest. His scales deflected my attack, and one of my swords fell to the ground. He breathed fire on it, melting it.

“I saw that coming,” Kai said. He wanted to take over, but he knew now was not the time. Despite what my father said about dragons not being calculated, Kai was more calculated than any dragon I had met. Including my father, who told me Kai was special. Not like other dragons.

I landed a powerful punch to his face, sending him flying across the arena. The one thing I knew about Adam was that his dragon was more beastly than any creature. It was more powerful than he was, and that power was focused on taking me down. Kai was ready to fight as Flame kept attacking. He was aggressive, even more so because I had deflected all his attacks. He kept creating portals, but I sensed each time where he would be coming from. My one-on-one training with Uncle Ellis was kicking in.

I aimed for Adam’s weak spots, which were unknown to our enemies, but I knew where each of Adam’s were due to us training together. Before he attempted to land another blow, I moved to Kai. The difference between Kai and other dragons is that I could still be in control while shifting to Kai, where others could not. I gave control to Kai for now. Instead of Flame attacking, he was now trying to dodge. Some of my attacks landed, clawing under one of his scales, where one of Flame’s weak points was. He crashed down to the ground. Even with his hard blows, he was getting weak from the neon cuts from earlier. It was like a slow poison working its way through his bloodstream, and he knew it.

As I advanced on him, I suddenly felt drained of energy, which took me off guard, causing Kai and I to crash into a part of the stadium while people ran to another part of the stadium. What the hell?

“Did you think you were the only one to think of neon, big brother? I had it added to the King’s Blade as a little gift for you,” Adam/Flame said in my head. It looks like I ignored what may have been the cause of my being about to die.

Always expect the unexpected.

Ava Pov

I watched in horror as Atlas and Kai dropped from the sky. He was weak. I could feel it.Property © of NôvelDrama.Org.

“You can heal him,” my wolf said.

“That would be against the rules. Atlas must win this fair,” I linked back.

“They have already both broken the rules. Fuck the rules! This fight is now a fight of strength. Atlas needs you. You are his mate. We must not let him die; otherwise, everything that has happened to him would have been for nothing. Your mother killed your sister for you to have a chance to rule with Atlas. Do not waste this chance. HEAL HIM,” she growled in my head.

I watched as Adam rose higher and higher over Atlas’ body. This was the vision I had from the house of mystery. Adam’s black dragon had a streak of color on it, and Atlas’s did not. This was it. It was now or nothing. I didn’t know what to do, but my body did. I closed my eyes and felt myself shrouding Atlas or Kai in a colorless healing cloud. Atlas and Kai looked at me with wide eyes as they realized war was happening. I had no clue how I was doing this, but I could feel energy coming back to Atlas. He was not getting back up, though. Why was he not moving? Some of the crowd was yelling to finish it while others watched on in horror. Adam advanced as I shouted for Atlas, and I knew something was up. Just before Adam landed, he mid-shifted back to his human form, sword in hand. He had a smile on his face, like he was going to taste victory. Just as he was about to decapitate Atlas/Kai, Kai rolled from the spot he was in, took his claw, and tore into Adam’s back, messing up his spine. Kai shifted back to Atlas. Atlas took the king’s sword away from him.

“I’m sorry,” he said before raising his sword. Right before he could cut off his head, he was blasted back as a wave of heat from a portal opened and two figures stepped through.

One was a girl with red hair and golden eyes. The next one to step through, I would recognize anywhere. It was Brandon. The girl’s eyes turned to Adam.

“Take him,” she commanded Brandon, and he did without hesitation, bringing Adam back through their portal. I rushed out onto the stadium grounds. I could see Jasmine, Dad, Jessica, and Samael doing the same, but they were not fast enough as she appeared behind me fast. I saw Atlas rushing towards us, but I needed him safe. I blasted him back with my power, and he crashed into the others. Before I turned around to attack, she grabbed my arm.

“It’s about time we finally had a chat,” she said, and with that, I was dragged through her portal. The last thing I heard was my family calling for me, but it was the look on Atlas’ face that struck me the most. It was the look of pure defeat.