Chapter 40: Rage
Gravity pulled him downward with ruthless force, and just when he thought it was the end—
CRASH!
Axelius slammed into the thick canopy of a massive tree, the branches snapping beneath his weight, each one slowing his fall with a sharp, bone-rattling jolt. "Guh—ahh!" he groaned, the air punched out of his lungs as branch after branch cracked under him, sending splinters and leaves flying. Finally, his stomach collided with a particularly thick branch, the impact hard enough to make him cough out blood.
"Haaah...haaah...damn...it..." Axelius gasped, his hands instinctively clutching the branch as he dangled there, his feet swaying in the empty air below. His fingers trembled, his muscles aching with the effort to hold on. But he did. With a grunt of determination, he pulled himself up, crawling onto the thick wood and collapsing onto it, breathing heavily.
Blood smeared his lips, his hair was disheveled, and his body throbbed with pain, but he was alive. For now. He leaned back against the trunk, coughing a bit more blood onto his sleeve. His yellow eyes were sharp and furious as he looked up, watching the wyverns circling the mansion like vultures.
"Why..." Axelius spat blood onto the leaves beside him, eyes narrowing. "Why dare you make me bleed like this?!"
Axelius stood on the thick branch, shadows coiling around his body like living tendrils. His eyes blazed with molten gold, his fists clenched so tightly that his knuckles turned white. The wyverns circled above the mansion, their screeches echoing through the forest, and Axelius’s patience finally snapped.
"AAAHHH! YOU FUCKING WYVERNS!" he roared, his voice shaking the leaves around him.
Rage boiled in his veins, spilling out through the black aura that seeped from his skin. It coiled upward, spiraling around his body, thickening the air with dark energy. The tattoo on his back shimmered, pulsing in rhythm with his fury.