Authors: Candace Knoebel
I took in a deep breath and then gave her a
reassuring smile. “Thanks, Lexi. Thanks for being here with me.”
I walked past her to the wall and placed my
hand on the hexagon etched in an ancient pattern.
This must be the doorway. It had appeared from
the fire, just below Astral’s message.
My hand felt hot, and I watched as the etchings burned and sunk deeper and deeper into the
rock, opening like a door going inward and then
sideways, revealing a tiny hole. I bent down and
stared into the hole, squinting to see what was inside. A small box. On the lid were two dragons
intertwined at the neck and tail.
“That’s your father’s family crest,” said
Lexi, hovering over my shoulder. “Open it!” The discovery was exhilarating and scary as
my hands trembled in anticipation. I un-clasped
the lid and braced myself for the great pain to
come as a white light peeked out at me.
So far no pain. So I opened it all the way. Suddenly the box became as heavy as
weighted lead, falling from my hands. It crashed
onto the cavern floor as the wood splintered into
thousands of pieces and revealed an orb. The orb
shot into the air—a sphere of light hovering before me, illuminating the cave walls.
A high-pitched screeching pierced my ears
as my hands shot up to cover them. I couldn’t
make out what it was. I’m not sure I even wanted
to.
I turned to Lexi. “Do you hear that?” “Hear what?” she asked.
“The voices? I can’t make out what they’re
saying.”
“No, I don’t hear anything. Soothe?” Her
face turned back to where Soothe was, but he was
gone.
“I knew we couldn’t rely on him. Look,
either grab it or don’t, we don’t have time. Zane
is close, I can feel him. This is it…make a
choice.”
I reached out and grabbed the orb, instantly
swarmed by a multitude of heavenly voices all
combined into one. The awful screeching ceased.
A voice spoke, a woman’s voice that sounded as
heavenly as a thousand angels singing all at once.
“Two fates merged by a deceitful brother, creating Immortality’s revenge is how you came to be.
A mask of evil hides your other half’s true intentions, intentions that you must find and see.
A journey you must take, overcoming your biggest fears. Choices you must make which will bring heady tears. The all-knowing has planted the seed of a dangerous trade. The trade can’t be made or hope will fade.
Go home to find me, hidden by a mother’s love when He disappears. Or fight alone and live in fear.”
The illuminated orb slowly floated down and into my hands. I looked to Lexi, but before I could say anything, an overwhelming affliction shot throughout me as the orb floated a few inches away. I fell to the ground.
“What are you guys doing in here?” asked Logan as he came around the corner of the ledge. I twitched and moaned, unable to speak as Lexi moved to stand protectively in front of me. I couldn’t make out the words of their exchange. Suddenly the amulet lit up and seared into my chest.
“Get it off, get it off!” I shrieked while trying to pull the amulet off, but it wouldn’t budge. My chest was glowing red along with the stone, black markings were inscribed into my skin. A low growl left my lips as the dragon in me acknowledged the amulet’s power.
The cave rumbled, the crystals rattling and the ground shaking. My body shook with the earth, vibrating and making the pain worse. I bit the inside of my cheek, the coppery taste glazing my tongue.
“Oh no,” said Lexi, turning away from Logan and kneeling beside me.
I felt my insides ignite causing me to curl into myself. My bones began cracking and realigning, a scream ripped from my throat.
Lexi whispered, “Mendaro,” as the pain consumed every piece of my experience. Her spell wasn’t working, her green energy unable to penetrate what was happening to me. For the second time, I really felt as if I was dying.
Flames surged throughout my blood, but this time it wasn’t comforting. My fingers dug into the palms of my hands while my mind deliriously spun.
“Jesus, what is wrong with her?” asked Logan, taking a drag from a cigarette. I could barely make him out between the spasms of pain and bone shifting. Then I started convulsing, my body slamming against the rock floor, adding to my misery. My skin stretched over my back as something grew beneath my shoulder blades.
Lexi could only watch as I flailed uncontrollably. Her hands hesitated, reaching out to me like she was afraid, and then she plunged them forward but was hindered by an unforeseen protective barrier.
Then everything went blurry. My head pounded, preventing me from thinking rationally. I felt everything slip away. I was dying.
“Eww,” I heard Logan comment as my eyes glazed over, searing like liquid fire. “Her eyes are changing to red.”
“Just shut the hell up and GO!” screamed Lexi. As my bones moved beneath my skin, she could actually see what I felt.
Logan let out a girly scream and added, “Holy Shit! She’s a flipping alien!”
“It…hurts…help,” was all I could muster as another surge of bones cracking and fire burning waved over me. I felt the scales once again rushing up my arms. I wanted it to stop, but the dragon stirred inside me. It wanted out. It wanted to take over.
“I wasn’t prepared for this,” whispered Lexi in my ear.
The cave was still shaking, the earth shifting beneath us. My hearing was fading, the pounding behind my eyes so intense I thought my head would explode. I could make out Lexi and Logan moving back and forth, but I had no idea what they were saying. I looked up to the cave ceiling and screamed in agony as the scales finished covering my entire body. Another gut-wrenching scream left me as the skin on my back ripped apart. Wings popped out, and I rolled over on all fours, trying to give them the space they required. A rush of hot tears stung my cheeks. I pleaded and screamed for the unbearable pain to end.
And then I heard a man’s voice. It was deep and raspy. “Aurora,” it called sagely. It was faint, but it was there.
“Please,” I barely stammered out, squinting at the massive form that was standing in the distance. I reached my hand out, knowing that the person behind the voice would make the pain go away.
“Aurora, my youngling, you are reborn. You are my child,” said the raspy voice.
“It hurts,” I cried as my body grew in size. Muscles that had never been now sculpted my thighs.
“One’s birth usually doesn’t feel good,” the voice said sensibly. The form moved towards me. The cave shook with each gigantic step he took. Whoever he was, he wasn’t human. His shape was that of a dragon and it reflected off the giant crystals, creating a herd of him. “Who are you?” I asked, trying to hold back a scream as more bones shifted and aligned.
“I am the fifth brother. I am your creator,” he said soothingly.
“You’re a dragon?” I asked, my voice quivering.
He chuckled deeply. “I appear how you wish to see me. I am here to bless you, my child. You are my only hope at restoring the balance.” He moved closer, each step rattling the cave’s floor. His voice was soothing, easing the ache from the constant pain.
“Will it always hurt?” I asked, trying to gain control of my mind.
The Fate laughed, causing a few crystals to fall and crash into a thousand pieces. “Not always. You are my greatest creation yet. You are a Draconta hybrid. You are the only one to ever control the flame.”
As he bent his snout towards me, I smelled the fumes leaving his nostrils. Then he opened his mouth and roared, flames encompassing my entire body.
I heard Lexi scream as my body was lifted into the air, surrounded by a cocoon of fire. The flames licked my skin and sealed my change. Surprisingly, it didn’t hurt. Instead, it felt cleansing. And through all of it, the one face that stayed present in my mind was Zordon’s. His hollow laugh echoed through my brain as if encouraging the pain to swell deeper. But I wasn’t going to let that happen. I was of Draconta now.
“I don’t know what to do,” Lexi cried, her green glow flowing towards my body without helping in the slightest. “Astral didn’t say this would happen.”
I didn’t understand how my senses could suddenly be so acute. I was almost aware of things a moment before they happened. I was coming into my powers.
I saw Zane flash before my eyes. Danger was coming.
“The key!” I yelled as the flames died down around me, glad that my voice remained the same.
The moon was now visible through the hole in the cave ceiling. It was huge, illuminating the entire cave like a sparkling treasure. I looked back for the Fate, but he had vanished.
“We don’t have it,” Lexi shouted back. “No, I can hear it,” I confirmed, the humming rattling my eardrums. I tried to get up, the pain slowly fading away.
“Aurora, that’s imposs-”
“Looking for this?” interrupted Zane’s voice, his hand holding the third key out in front of him.
Chapter 30
The Return
LEXI JUMPED IN ANGER AND shouted, “Immoblatio,” throwing an energy ball that caught him off guard. He was too busy staring wideeyed at me to notice what she was doing.
I was on all fours in a heap on the ground. Without clothes and covered in gleaming red scales. Far more reptilian than human. I barely had time to note that my fingers had become claws.
Zane’s body flew towards the back of the cave, the echo of the slam reverberating around us. He quickly regained his footing and threw the same spell at Logan, causing him to fall face flat, unconscious but hopefully alive.
Lexi screamed. She screamed at Zane calling him every name in the book and then shouted, “Afflictum,” which he deflected as easily as he had in the forest.
Her attempt to make him focus on her instead of me failed. He ran towards me, but she was just as quick, standing in between the two of us just as the moon ray touched the orb that remained hovering over me.
“You’re too late. What’s done is done. She has the powers now, Zane, so go back to daddy and whine. Better yet, die because you know better than I do that he will not be pleased when he finds out you failed. Something I’m sure he’s used to you doing.”
I caught the paling look he gave as she struck a nerve. “But you don’t have the last key,” he replied, his tone brittle.
“Think again,” she said, pointing to the three keys that were floating towards the orb. A void had opened up behind the orb, showing a blip from the other realm. Only it wasn’t the Lyceum. A line of bookshelves as tall and as far as the eye could see hovered inside the void. Two blinding lights shot towards us and connected to the orb. It was the purest white I’d ever seen before. The Hall of Knowledge, I thought in awe. Just seeing it made me feel cleansed.
Zane growled, summoning more energy and then hurled a ball towards Lexi. She ducked in time and swiped his legs with her right foot, knocking him onto the ground.
“You won’t stop this, Zane. This is The Fates’ work.”
But he caught her off guard as he tripped her with his hands and then jumped on top of her, punching her in the face. Her head rebounded off the ground, and then she went unconscious as well.
“NOooooooo!” I yelled as flames shot from my mouth and hands. I felt the strength and the anger inside of me build. Something clicked. The old me shut off as the dragon took over, reveling in the emotions I felt.
Zane ducked, but wasn’t quick enough as the flames caught the edge of his cloak. He stumbled amongst the broken shards of crystals, rushing backwards on his bloodied hands. Then he noticed the flames as they scorched up his back. He quickly took it off, moving away from it.
I let out a large roar, the entire cave vibrating as everything I had kept pent up for the past two weeks was released.
“This fight has always been about me, not Lexi and not Logan. Now you’re going to pay.” My voice sounded different, more powerful. I leapt into the air, spreading my wings. I couldn’t control the urge to hurt him. He needed to pay for what he did to my friend.
“What?” I asked as he stood frozen in shock. “Cat got your tongue? Or shall I say dragon?”
He didn’t reply as he continued to scurry away from me. The orb was swirling now, a light shining through the portal that was opening.
I noticed Lexi waking. It looked like she was going to say something, but the portal sucked her through. She had disappeared.
“What’s going on?” asked Logan in a daze, rubbing his forehead.
Then Zane was also pulled through the portal, screaming bloody murder the whole way.
I landed, suddenly realizing the mistake I was about to make. It wasn’t like me to kill someone. And I would have gladly killed Zane in that moment.
The scales on my body began to disappear, and my wings retracted into me. My amulet was lit up, searing my chest as my body shifted back to my human form. The only problem was…I was naked. I grabbed my bookbag and quickly slid on shorts and an oversized t-shirt from the day before. Then I started to feel the pull of the portal, sucking me towards it like a massive vacuum. I could not have run from it even if I’d wanted to. It was calling me, telling me that this was it. I let go of everything, of my fears, of the island, of who I thought I was and who I may never be, and ran towards it with the hope of finding Fenn.
But of course, right as I jumped in, Logan grabbed onto my ankle in a state of idiocy. I felt myself floating through space and knew that I was porting.
“Get off of me, you idiot!” I yelled, kicking my foot into his face and accidentally knocking him out. I had to grab his arm so he wouldn’t float away. I turned my head and found myself back in the same cave.
Okay?
Lexi came running over to me and pulled me into a bear hug. “Welcome home,” she said.
My body roared to life, screaming for my conscious mind to catch up with the change. I knew in my core that this was home. I had finally found myself.
I looked around and noticed Zane, in the corner, bound in some sort of magical trance and looking defeated.
“Aurora,” spoke a familiar deep voice. I turned and came face-to-face with my father. Chapter 31
Home Again
HE EXTENDED HIS ARMS WITH a twinkle in his sparkling lavender eyes. I ran, not thinking twice about hugging a complete stranger. Finally things fell into place for me; finally I found the missing pieces to my puzzle. My mind flooded with childhood memories.
“I remember everything,” I admitted excitedly. My Oraculus was lying in front of me, closed. I quickly grabbed it and shoved it into my bookbag that was next to me.
My father cleared his throat and then said, “Astral’s anxiously waiting for us. I’ve missed you, little flame.” He leaned in and kissed my forehead. It felt so natural, so right. I closed my eyes and savored the moment I’d waited for so long. I wanted to freeze time.
“I want to meet, well, reunite with him. I need to actually. I have so many questions about what I’m capable of. I feel different…stronger,” I said excitedly, flexing my fists and reveling in the muscle tone that had replaced my previously lanky stature. There was an unfamiliar urge there as well. The urge to fly. Something lived inside of me, an entity striving to break free. My dragon side.
My dad smiled and said, “I agree. We all have questions about what you’re truly capable of. It’s something your mother and I have waited a long time to see.”
My mother…where was she?
“Where is she?” I asked, pushing off him to look around. He stood an inch taller than I, dusting off his robes. “I need to see her too. This isn’t a true reunion without her.”
His eyes frowned a little. “She’s been with her family ever since we left you with Astral. I can’t turn her back into a human with a war on the brink. She needs to fight alongside her family. It’s her duty as heir to the throne.” I felt the sadness I saw on his face, and my heart skipped a beat with knowing that I would now be able to build a relationship with my dad. “We will open a port at Astral’s so you can talk to her.” He tilted up my chin to stare into my eyes. “So don’t worry.” He winked, but something in the way his eyes shadowed told me he was hiding something. I let it go for the moment. I had so many things to worry about.
“What are we going to do about Logan?” I turned to Lexi. She was still kneeling next to him, keeping him under some sort of sleeping spell. Her fingers were absentmindedly playing with his hair.
“I, um…I haven’t quite figured that out yet,” she said on the edge of a nervous giggle. “I…uh, I think until we decide what we’re going to do with Zane, we should keep him here.” Her eyes darted over to my father and then shot to the ground. “Zane has seen him, and I don’t think it’s wise to send Logan back unprotected.” She looked up with a slight nod as if willing us to agree.
Obviously I would agree with her. I knew her situation with the marriage arrangement, and I knew she really liked Logan. I had promised myself that if I made it home, I would have her back no matter what.
My father’s eyes rolled to the ceiling as he let out a sigh. Lexi started to say something, but my father’s hand shot out, silencing her. Then he bridged his nose with his fingers and walked over to where Zane sat. I followed him. My father stared at Zane for a moment as if deciding, weighing the pros and cons.
“Zordon will be expecting him back, which creates a problem. We need to figure out what to do with him,” I announced. I was taking charge. This was a new, vaguely familiar side of me. A confident side. I liked it. I had missed it.
“Well…” Lexi let hang.
“Well, Alexis, then you’re responsible for him and his actions. Though I don’t think your mother,” my father turned to face her, tipping his head forward, “or Brohm for that matter will be happy about this.” He finished his scolding, sounding just like a dad would sound. I smiled at that thought. Then I looked over and shared a secret smile with Lexi as we laughed on the inside. It was amazing the way some friendships are forged.
“Sounds like a fair deal to me,” she chimed, jumping to her feet. “About this whole Brohm thing, couldn’t you just put a good word in to my mother? I really think it’s unnecessary that my marriage be planned for me. I’m completely capable of making my own life-changing decisions.” She glanced down at Logan, confusion clouding her eyes.