Born of Fire: The Dawn of Legend (59 page)

“You don’t think I’ve tried?” he snapped back. “You don’t think I understand the severity of the situation? It’s bad enough what happened to me, to have had my mind and body twisted and used for murder, but to have innocent children almost…” He trailed off as pain and anger swelled up within him. “Believe me…I want the monster that did this brought to justice! I’ll try harder.”

“Thank you,” she said. “That is all we ask of you.”

VyKia watched the scene unfold all the while coming to a silent conclusion in her mind. Turning to BaRone, she said, “We can’t keep him locked up here forever. We are going to have to make a decision about what we are going to do with him soon.”

“And what exactly do you suggest we do with him?” BaRone replied. “We still don’t even know what happened to him. We can’t risk letting him go back out into the population if he may go berserk again.”

“I agree. That is why I feel a difficult decision may have to be made.”

BaRone looked at her for a moment but did not seem to be terribly surprised by what she was insinuating. “I figured you’d suggest that,” he said, looking back to their captive, whose short hands were fidgeting anxiously as he glanced around.

“Trust that I derive no pleasure from such notions, but I…
we
have to think of what is best for everyone.”

“And what about what is best for him?” BaRone asked, turning back to face her once again. “You think he asked for any of this?”

“Which illustrates just how tragic this all really is, but we cannot simply turn a blind eye to the potential danger he poses because of a bleeding heart.”

“Damn it, VyKia, you think I don’t know that? You think I don’t understand? Just…listen…those were my children out there, too,” he said, trying not to raise his voice. “I sent them out there—”

“No one blames you, BaRone.”

“
I
blame me, damn it!”

VayRonx glanced back, while up top the six teens listened intently as the CeraVora turned from a killer to a victim right before their eyes.

“I wish Father wouldn’t blame himself,” whispered DiNiya. “It wasn’t his fault.”

“I feel bad for him down there,” EeNox said, pointing to the CeraVora. “It sounds like he’s been through a nightmare; someone taking control of him like that…it sounds like the worse thing ever.”

Below, VayRonx stood next to VoRenna, who was carefully monitoring the CeraVora, who seemed to have fallen in some sort of catatonic state. “What’s wrong with him?” he asked as he stepped up behind them.

“I don’t know. It’s as if he just slipped away.”

“What does that mean?”

“His flame…I can’t feel it anymore.”

VayRonx looked surprised. “What? You mean he’s dead?”

VoRenna walked over and placed a hand under the CeraVora’s chest. “No, he’s still alive. In fact…this doesn’t make any sense. His heart is racing like he’s running at full tilt!”

“But how?” BaRone asked. “Look at him, he’s completely unconscious!”

“VoRenna, can you feel anything else?” VayRonx asked. “Anything at all?”

Clenching her eyes, VoRenna strained to see deep within him but found herself being blocked. “I can’t. Something is keeping me from peering in now. There is another force at work here!”

Suddenly, there was an intense blast of blue fire that shot out in every direction. VayRonx quickly put himself between it and the others to shield them from the blast. Further up, Rex and the others fell back just as the wall of fire raced past them and shot out of the opening at the top of the Spire.

“What the hell was that?!” Rex exclaimed as he jumped to his feet, offering a hand to DiNiya, who took it without taking her eyes off the direction the flame had come.

“Was that the CeraVora?” ShinGaru asked.

“It came from him, but it wasn’t his flame,” LyCora said.

They all peered back down and saw an enormous blue flame in the form of a great four-winged creature hovering just above the now completely motionless CeraVora, connected by what almost looked like a flaming umbilical cord.

“Feeble and weak, vile and unfit,” came a booming voice from the beast, filling the Spire. “All those who I now behold with my limitless gaze have been deemed unworthy long before the time of the great sleep and will be punished tenfold for every breath they have taken since the first blasphemy.”

VayRonx let out a fearsome roar. “Who are you?”

“I am a messenger for dominion incarnate. She who created light out of the darkness and gave birth to the majesty and glory of all that is.”

“Your words mean nothing to me. I’ll ask you once more: who are you?”

The beast unleashed a blast of flame that sent VayRonx slamming back into the wall with a thud so powerful that it shook the entire Spire.

“VayRonx!” VoRenna cried out.

The alpha rose to his feet with a look of restrained fury in his eyes. Rearing back, he let out another mighty roar and burst into green flame. “The hard way it is, then!” he said before charging forward with his jaws spread wide.

“No, wait,” VoRenna tried calling out to him. “That won’t work!”

VayRonx leaped off the ground, straight at his opponent with furious intent, only to have his entire body suddenly stop dead in midair, as if it was being gripped from deep within, right down to the tiniest molecule. The more he strained against the unseen force that held him, the stronger it grew.

“What just happened?” Rex asked.

“It’s like something is holding him,” DiNiya said.

“There’s a ring between him and that thing,” LyCora replied.

“What are you talking about?” asked Rex, looking perplexed. “There’s nothing there!”

Back below, BaRone pulled his right fist back, then punched forward, shooting a green fireball, only to have it be absorbed harmlessly into the flaming creature. The beast turned its attention to the rest of them and sent them all to the ground writhing in agony with the same unseen power holding VayRonx.

Rex focused his eyes to the point where they began to hurt, trying to see what LyCora was describing, or anything for that matter. “Wait…I see something.” To his great surprise, the transparent image of a large ring shape came into focus.

“I still can’t see a damn thing,” EeNox said, crouching next to Rex.

“And there’s something else,” Rex said with a look of horror on his face. The ring had become much clearer to him now, and with it were all the flaming tendrils that were emerging from it and ensnaring VayRonx. “That thing is killing him! We have to do something!”

VayRonx was pulled forward closer to the beast, locking its eyes with his. “Always in such a hurry to die,” it said. “Such will be the undoing of all DyVorians.” The creature was suddenly knocked off guard by a blast of red flame to its head. The ring vanished, as did the tendrils that held VayRonx and the others in their deadly grip.

“Wha…what happened?” BaRone asked as he and the others staggered to their feet.

“Look up there,” VyKia said, pointing to the top of the Spire.

Following her gaze, the creature looked up and saw the six youths staring down. All their faces burned with intensity, but one burned more furiously than the rest: the boy with the glowing red eyes.

“You!” it said, regarding Rex.

“Great, so now we got its attention,” said LyCora. “What now?”

“Hadn’t thought that far ahead yet,” Rex replied.

“Really? Because now would be a great time to start!”

The creature shot up before any of them had a chance to flinch and stopped just in front of them. “It would seem you have saved me the trouble of hunting you down myself.” With lightning speed, it shot forward and grabbed DiNiya in its claws, then broke through the upper wall of the Spire and rose up in the night sky.

“DiNiya!” Rex yelled as he and the others took off after her. They reached the edge of the entrance and stared up at the blue flaming creature slowly circling overhead.

“How curious it is to see you all as such feeble animals,” it said, staring down at all of them. “How the mighty have fallen. Still, even destructive power can come from humble beginnings. Something you taught us all too well, long ago.”

“What’s it talking about?” asked EeNox, not taking his eyes off his sister.

“I don’t know and I don’t care,” Rex said before yelling up to their foe. “Let her go!”

“Silence,” it roared as it shot a blast, sending him all the way back into the far wall of the Spire.

“Whoa,” EeNox exclaimed. “Rex, are you all right?”

There was no response from inside, causing their worry to set in deeper.

“We need to get my mother and the others,” LyCora said frantically. “We’re not strong enough to fight something like this on our own!”

“They did not exactly hold their own either,” ShinGaru replied.

“We have to do
something
,” EeNox said angrily. “That thing has my sister!”

“What the hell do you want me to do?” LyCora shot back, frustrated.

“That thing is made of a blue flame! Can’t you control it in some way?”

“If my mother wasn’t strong enough to, what makes you think I am? Besides, even if I could get him to release DiNiya, she’d have nowhere to go but straight down!”

“She’s right, EeNox,” chimed in AnaSaya. “It’s the reason why it took her and flew out of here in the first place. A hostage it knows we won’t risk harming, putting her in a position where we’re more likely to do her harm than good if we make any attempt to save her.”

“Damn it,” he yelled as he punched the wall next to him.

It was at that moment the entire Spire began to shake. Everyone looked at ShinGaru in surprise. “Trust me, I wish,” he replied, giving them a curious look.

In a burst of brilliant red fire, Rex charged out of the Spire and leapt through the air, landing on the fiery beast, which roared furiously as it tried to shake him off. Rex held firm, however, and began slamming his head against it.

“He’s crazy,” LyCora said. “He’s absolutely out of his mind!”

“If he’s able to save DiNiya,” EeNox exclaimed. “He can be fucking insane for all I care!”

The creature was flying wildly through the air, doing everything it could to send Rex falling to his demise. DiNiya strained to turn herself in the grip of the beast’s claws to see what was happening. Down below on the ground her father and the others emerged from the Spire’s main entrance and gazed up at the battle waging high above.

“VayRonx is that…
Rex
up there?” VoRenna asked.

“It has to be,” he replied. “It wouldn’t be DiNiya.”

Rex now dug his claws in the back of his foe, which despite being made of flame, felt as hard as stone.

“Unhand me!” it exclaimed as it spun furiously and shot straight up before again flipping back down and racing into the side of the mountain, creating a deep gouge before pushing off and slamming into another. “I swear I will crush you into the ground and smear your insides all over this wretched land!” With a sudden sharp right bank, he barely missed the Spire but successfully gave the other four teens a good scare.

“It’s too dangerous to stay up here,” EeNox said. “We need to get to the ground!”

“Come on, we can take the inner stairs back down,” ShinGaru said as he led them back inside.

Back in the sky, the battle unfolding looked less like a fight and more like a bull trying to shake free an annoyingly persistent insect. DiNiya, who had been trying to reposition herself in her captive’s grip so she could see what was happening above her, finally managed to get herself turned around, where she for the first time got a good look at the struggle that was taking place just above her. “Rex,” she called up. “You need to get off before you get yourself killed!”

Rex ignored her, now fully engorged with rage that burned both inside and out. Despite this, the fact that he was fighting a creature of such a fantastical nature still brought out the very same anger that he had felt burdened with every time he had been pushed, shoved, or made fun of by a bully.
Then again, what made this thing so different?
With a strong pulse of his flame and push from his arms, he forced his way down into the creature’s body.

“Did he just go inside?” AnaSaya gasped.

“We need to get to the ground,” LyCora insisted.

The four of them took off down the inner stairwell, while the battle raged on in the skies above. DiNiya could no longer see Rex but could feel her captor’s grip loosening and tightening as it struggled to stay airborne.
What is this thing?
she wondered.
How could it be made of a flame
? She was surprised to find herself contemplating such things, given her current predicament. She decided to put the pursuit of answers to her burning questions on hold and try to figure a way out of this herself.
Maybe if I can somehow…no, I can’t, and I know it
. Try as she might, she knew she could not lie to herself. She wanted to try to use her flame, hoping that this dire situation could somehow act as a catalyst to awaken it.
I have to at least try
.

She closed her eyes and focused her energy to the core of her stomach. She had remembered feeling that to be the source of her flame the times it had manifested itself when she was younger. She tried to remember how it felt, the release, the power. Suddenly she felt something.
Is this it? Am I doing it? No…it’s not me. It’s coming from
…She opened her eyes and looked to see a red glow growing from within the creature. “Rex?”

Down below her brother and the others emerged from the Spire where they found her father and the other adults who seemed rather surprised to see them.

“You’re probably wondering what we’re doing here,” EeNox stated to his father, knowing they were probably in for worse than wear.

“I am, but that will have to wait,” BaRone answered, looking them over. “Where’s your sister?” he asked.

“Up there,” he said, pointing to the escalating scene in the sky.

“What?”

“Something is happening up there,” VoRenna said. “I can feel it.”

“Feel what, exactly?” VyKia asked.

“Another power.”

“Whose?” VayRonx asked.

“I think it’s Rex,” she said, stepping forward. “LyCora, I need your help. I am going to attempt to hold that thing. When I do, I want you to disrupt its flow of energy long enough for Rex and DiNiya to get free.”