Blaze (The High-Born Epic) (48 page)

             
Blaze momentarily froze, and looked from side to side.

             
The element of surprise was gone, and he could see that the snipers and mechanoids atop the buildings were now aiming their weapons at him and firing.  Blaze gritted his teeth as he focused on the nearest group, and air-burned.  He appeared on the opposite building and engaged them.  The robots exploded and the giants fell before Blaze’s searing katana, and he shouted and thundered towards another group.

             
Aireon gasped when her rockets detonated, and she made a visual memory of the equipment that did it.  She had ceased firing for the moment, and was changing her position for yet another attack.  Suddenly, she saw the sky all around her fill with friction trails, and she pulled the gunship to a stop.  The High-Born had organized their gunships and were firing very near her, but were not hitting her.

             
However, she saw what they were doing.

             
They were filling the sky with bullets and would soon find her.  From high up above, she saw a glimmer, and another, and then a third one.  She saw the con-trails of missiles looping through the sky coming towards her general direction.  Aireon scowled because she knew that they would seek her out if she didn’t destroy them.  But firing on the missiles would reveal her position to the gunships.  She was caught and she knew it.  She quickly found the campsite and urged the gunship towards it, barely avoiding a speeding series of rail spikes as she rocked back and forth in the pilot’s seat.

             
She kept a close eye on the missiles as she sped just above the treetops.  Her eyes glowed as she focused her powers to camouflage the wake she would have made in the treetops.  She grunted in effort as it was much harder than she had anticipated and she checked the missiles again.  They were actually headed in the opposite direction and would be no threat now. 

             
She soon came up on the gap in the trees and she swiftly lowered the gunship to the forest floor.  As it rocked to a stop, she took several deep breaths and then lowered the door.  She sprinted out of the gunship and called to her power.  And a swift wind bore her to the top of a tree.  As a series of gusts carried her from treetop to treetop, she gazed toward the tops of the buildings. 

             
Though the tops were obscured from her, she could hear the booms of thunder and the faint screams of High-Born.

             
Spikes zipped through the air all around Blaze as he ducked the punch of a rather large High-Born sniper, and then cut him down with his flaming blade.  The other High-Born apparently did not care that their fellow soldier was also in danger from their attacks, and Blaze frowned underneath his helmet.
  They are going to kill me no matter the cost,
he thought.  His strategy of staying close to them in order to hinder their weaponry was not going to be as effective as he had thought. 

             
A large chunk of concrete splintered up and smacked into him as a large rail spike zinged close to him.  The pressure wave created from its impact was larger than most and actually flung him backwards.  As he air-burned to another building, he glanced to where he had just been and saw that it was being pummeled by a gunship more than 500 yards away.  A strange and loud rumble came from his left and he scrambled, looking to see what had caused it.  He heard it again, and this time he found it quickly.

             
Aireon was leaping from roof top to roof top of the smaller buildings with what appeared to be single steps.  All manner of High-Born weaponry was being fired at her by the ground forces.  Though she was moving exceptionally fast, an occasional spike hit her and made a powerful rumble as it ricocheted off into the distance.  As she neared the ground forces, dust, and sand and small pieces of debris were whipping up in the streets behind her.  Her eyes filled with white light as she leapt, seeming to run in mid-air with rail spikes flashing by her.

             
She leveled a powerful shout as she landed in the street and slapped her hands together just as the gust of wind overtook her and roused her beautiful hair around her.  Bullets bounced from her air-shield in droves, and she flung patches of blurry air at the small army before her.  Barricades, High-Born soldiers, and mechanoids alike were cast backwards, flipping and twisting uncontrollably.  Some bounced and skittered across the ground, and others were swept high into the sky.  Even the large pieces of equipment were sliding backwards in the face of Aireon’s glowing eyes.

             
Blaze watched, awe-struck, for several moments at her furious assault.  But he saw a flash out of the corner of his left eye, and winced as a red beam of energy hit him.  Blaze gritted his teeth and went to one knee...

             
...the pain was incomprehensible...

             
...the brightness was blinding...

             
...the agony was more than he could fathom...

             
...he could feel his armor beginning to melt...

             
...his skin seemed to boil...

             
...and then he felt...

             
...something else...

             
...it was beyond the ability of thoughts to convey...

             
...it was much like instinct...

             
...yet it was more...

              ..his...                                                                                     …fire…                                                                                                                         ...fire...

             
             ...was...                                                              ...winning...

             
                                    ...grappling with the heat of the laser...

             
                   ...absorbing it...

             
                  ...refocusing it...

             
                                                      ...turning it to his will...

                                                   ...Blaze’s eyes seethed with power...

                                                                   ...And he rose to his feet...

                                               ...he walked to the edge of the building...

             
                               ...and the red beam continued blistering him...

             
              ...he looked down into the streets at the High-Born army... 

             
              ...The blue fire surrounding him began crackling and roaring...

…And his eyes burned bright as his fire became white and fumed so fast that it seemed to not move at all.  And he stepped forward, leveling his hand at them.  White hot light erupted from his palm, and crashed down into the High-Born. 

             
A large piece of equipment was instantly cut in two as the beam tore through it and the pavement as though they had no more substance than a cloud.  Blaze shouted as he slowly swept his hand up and down the street.  It was so hot that mechanoids melted and the High-Born turned to ash even before the heat lance struck them.  As it moved across the pavement, it sheared off pieces of equipment leaving behind partially melted sections that had red-hot edges.  He turned his attention to another part of the army and began scalding it as yet another red beam hit him.

             
On the ground below, Aireon had to shield her eyes when the second beam hit Blaze.  Bright rays shined down into the city, and there seemed to be only a great point of shimmering light atop the building where he had been standing.  She watched as many of the mechanoids turned their attention from her and began firing at the glowing point high above them.  And she took advantage of that, sprinting towards them while dragging a gust of wind with her.

             
Explosions rattled around her and she focused her air-shield to protect herself from the pressure waves they created.  She flung her hands skyward and more than a dozen mechanoids were sent flying high into the air, and she stepped forward, throwing patches of blurry air.  High-Born grunts were pulverized and tanks rattled into sight as their cloaks failed.  Aireon dropped to one knee, and snatched her hands to the ground.  Mechanoids rained down out of the sky at odd angles, almost seeming to be magnetized as they were drawn into several tanks, detonating on impact.

             
She looked around and saw that the entire High-Born force on this street was now defeated, and she watched as a beam of white light hit the central military compound.  Her eyes opened wide as it rapidly made its way through the brick, steel, and mortar and cut completely through the building and burnt through the pavement on the backside.

             
The High-Born surrounding the central compound began shouting and running in the face of the collapsing building.  It had been cut at an angle and began sliding towards ground, slowly breaking apart as large chunks of it fell down onto the army around it.  Two tanks were covered in a wash of rubble, but many of the soldiers and mechanoids were able to outpace the artificial avalanche, racing just ahead of the cloud of debris and ash.

             
Blaze could see and feel the rail spikes hitting the outer part of the sphere of light and fire around him, but they all melted and splattered across his armor.  He turned his attention to one of the larger buildings on the opposite corner of the plaza, and focused the heat lance on the skyscraper there.  It struck with devastating effect and a powerful rumble.  Glass, steel, and mortar shattered on the upper stories as the entire top half was sheared in two.

             
A horrible boom echoed throughout the entire city as it began falling toward the ground where another large force of High-Born was waiting.  As the building fell, bouncing and skittering down itself, Blaze leveled his palm towards yet another skyscraper.  It too shattered and began crumbling towards the ground, and he blasted yet a fourth building just across the street from him.  Just as he was about to finish off that building, he saw a missile streak in the distance and destroy one of the lasers feeding him.  His heat lance lost half of its power, and he had to slow his cutting so that he could get the entire top half, but another missile seemingly streaked out of mid-air and destroyed the first laser as well.

             
Aireon saw the sudden decrease in light and the High-Born lasers in ruins.  She could hear thunderous booms on the other side of the plaza, and she felt the earth trembling beneath her as the buildings crumbled onto the High-Born.  She looked into the sky at whatever had been cunning enough to realize what had happened, but she could not see anything.  The screams of the High-Born being buried were drowned out by the awful cacophony of the collapsing buildings, but Blaze had been successful in destroying more than half of the army opposing them, and she had already taken care of a quarter of it.  She looked at the fourth building that he had hit and it was ready to fall, but was still holding strong.

             
She poured her power into her voice and shouted, “Blaze!”

             
Thunder popped and a flash of fire flared in front of her, and there he stood, armor scalding.

             
“Get me up there!” she shouted, pointing to the building on which he had been standing.

             
He doused his flames and stepped towards her, but stopped.

             
“Don’t worry about burning me,” she shouted as a cloud of dust and debris from the falling buildings began approaching them.  “My air-shield will protect me.”

             
Blaze grabbed her and they boomed out of view as the cloud rolled over where they had just been...

             
...And they appeared on the building top.  She wasted no time and began spinning around, raising and lowering her arms as if she were painting a picture.  Gusts of wind began whipping all around them, and Blaze turned to guard her back as she seemed focused on the building across the street.  She gritted her teeth and grimaced as she reached towards it, closing her fists tightly and shaking them.  The building began rattling and a tremendous cry echoed up to them as the High-Born on the ground below it realized they were doomed.

             
Loud groans came from the building and it shook.  Chunks began falling here and there, and Aireon was bellowing in anguish and determination, shaking from the effort.  The building rattled and Aireon threw back her head as she snatched with her arms.  Glass and mortar flew as the steel beams snapped, and she went to one knee.  She looked up and saw that the building was falling down onto the rest of the High-Born.