Plight of the Dragon
Read Plight of the Dragon Online
Authors: Debra Kristi
Tags: #Literature & Fiction, #Science Fiction & Fantasy, #Fantasy, #Magical Realism, #Teen & Young Adult, #Science Fiction
Book 3 in the Age of the Hybrid series
A Mystic’s Carnival Story
Suggested Reading Order:
Dark Perceptions: A Mystic’s Carnival Novelette
The Moorigad Dragon: Age of the Hybrid Book One
Reap Not the Dragon: Age of the Hybrid Book Two
Plight of the Dragon: Age of the Hybrid Book Three
Moorigad (Complete Age of the Hybrid Series with extras)
Other Series by Debra Kristi:
Becoming: The Balance Bringer -
The Balance Bringer Chronicles Book One
To discover more about books by Debra Kristi, visit her book page where you can explore worlds and characters to your heart’s content:
http://www.debrakristi.com/all-books/
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Mystic’s Carnival,
you may have heard of it—the name has been whispered in quiet conversation, mentioned in folktale. Many believe it does not exist. Let me assure you, it’s as real as the air around you. If you are lucky or so in need, you may be among the few who come to know the wonder of this mysterious destination. It is not your average carnival, no, not at all. The show of twirling lights, motor rides, and funny sideshows never moves, never sleeps, and can never, ever be found unless so wished by the carnival herself. Is she a living, breathing entity? I’ll let you be the judge.
Follow now, if you will, into the story, and let our characters introduce you to the splendor of their world and the mystery that can only be found at Mystic’s Carnival.
Safe travels, weary reader~
“In all chaos there is a cosmos, in all disorder a secret order.”
—Carl Jung
1
ROYALS
Sebastian
Sebastian flailed on
the damp ground, thrashing his arms into the mud, the flames licking at his skin.
Excruciating,
his mind screamed. In reality, it merely tickled, but his brain could not comprehend the meaning—not yet, anyway.
The luminescence and sparkle provided by the trailers, signs, and wizardry wonders found in Mystic’s Magical Market, his little home and pocket of fortunetellers and wannabes within the supernatural destination known as Mystic’s Carnival, was lost to him now. There was only the chaos, and fire.
Kyra batted and slapped and hit him with her hands. It didn’t hurt. Her touch comforted, reassured Sebastian he still mattered in her world. The image of her danced before him like a moth losing survival’s fight to the fire: exquisite flickers of orange and red, death courting life’s essence. His vision impaired, bleaching a rainbow of colors from his sight, he stared through a filter of senseless heat and anger. And everything around him, absolutely everything, smelled of burning and ash.
The word
dragon
slithered around the bends and folds of his grey matter. In the earlier struggle, he and Kyra had retrieved Kyra’s dragon half, Kalrapura. They’d saved her from Marcus. From being devoured or absorbed for his malicious scheme. But in returning her to Kyra, they had failed. How in Hell’s Gates had the dragon ended up inside Sebastian?
Kyra’s words crashed back into his thoughts.
She’s in you. The dragon is inside you!
His skin charred from his fingertips toward the bend of his elbow. His back shook with spasms, then exploded in torment, slicing from his shoulders down the sides of his spine, ripping the fabric of his shirt. Massive wings, salmon-colored and torn, swung from behind him and around Kyra. They curled up then flapped out of sight, before reappearing at her side again. Sebastian tried to focus, not on the wings, but on Kyra. It was difficult. His mind swirled with emotion, and she remained unclear, washed in tones of crimson quivering with gold. What if scales started to replace his skin? Or the man he was ceased to be?
“Calm yourself.” Her steady gaze eased his physical madness, and her voice swam through his head straight to his heart, releasing the iron lock around his internal peace. She was the medicine he needed, and he would let her guide him. He knew nothing about the condition he now faced.
Pushing his arms to the side and abandoning the burn of his hands, Kyra straddled him and lowered her face close to his own. The distance between them was mere inches, and even after all they had been through, the scent of sunflowers still lingered on her skin. He remembered the sunflowers in Marcus’s apartment, the smell wafting around her at the coffee shop. She’d said she was cold, that the flowers gave her the illusion of warmth. Her physiology was probably built to balance the strength and heat a dragon radiated. Without the dragon’s fire, she was chilled. He, on the other hand, not meant to harbor such a beast, was burning to cinders.