Born of Fire: The Dawn of Legend (16 page)

“I’ll be here,” Rex said, not fully trusting the validity of his claim but feeling it was as good a thing to say as any.

Turning to DiNiya, ShinGaru bowed his head. “A pleasure as always, DiNiya.”

“Likewise,” she replied, lowering her head in turn.

“And thank you once again,” he added, holding up the scroll.

“Well, someone has to make sure our customers walk out of here happy if we want to stay in business,” she said playfully, jabbing her father’s side, who in turn just rolled his eyes.

With a final farewell, ShinGaru threw his hood back up and disappeared out the door. Rex was still trying to decide how he felt about the young man he had just encountered. Not being too quick to judge or trust, he decided to reserve his final judgment for a later time, if one should ever come.

BaRone looked down at the bag and took out what Rex thought was a strange purple rock about the size of a walnut.

“Oooh, wow,” exclaimed DiNiya excitedly. “Is that a fire stone?”

“It is indeed,” her father replied, turning it over in his fingers. “Looks like seven of them.”

“What’s a fire stone?” Rex asked, worried that they were growing annoyed with his insistent questions.

“It’s a stone that has been imbued with lavender flame,” explained BaRone. “The lavender flame is the flame of restoration and life. Those born of its power can use it to heal themselves and even others who are on the threshold of death. As a result, they are extremely long lived and so have no reason to produce as many offspring. Because of that, they are far fewer in numbers, when compared to those of gold, green, and blue flames.”

“Don’t all the flames heal people?” asked Rex. “I mean, DiNiya, you said I had to stay in bed all that time because mine wasn’t igniting on its own.”

“And she was right,” he said. “But unlike all the other flames, which can only heal basic injuries, the lavender flame heals almost anything. There are even legends of those who had such mastery of it that they could even drain one of their flames or strip it from them altogether.”

“That would be a terrifying thing to see done,” DiNiya said as she looked over one of the stones herself. “But there’s no scientific evidence to support that. So for now, anyway, it’s just a story.”

“True of most things in life,” he said, nodding his head. “Anyway, these stones were said to have been created by an ancient scientist from a now long-extinct tribe who had fully become one with the lavender flame. Upon the threshold of death, he spread his flame across the entire world—into the air, the oceans, and the land,” he said, holding the fire stone as he slowly turned and presented it to Rex.

Rex gently took it in his hand and looked at the purple quartz-like stone. Only when bringing it right up to his eye did he see what looked like a flicker of light within the small stone. Peering harder he saw…fire.

“All one has to do is eat one of the stones,” explained DiNiya. “The lavender flame within it will bond with theirs for up to thirty-seven hours, and boost their natural healing abilities. Or, in your case, act as a substitute for your flame because it wasn’t reacting on its own.”

“Wait, you mean you made me eat one of these?” asked Rex with what could have almost been considered revulsion.

“Of course,” she replied, surprised that he found it so strange. “Well, actually we had to grind them into a powder and burn it so you would breathe in the vapors since you were unconscious. It’s common practice for someone who was in your condition.”

Rex felt an odd sensation in the pit of his stomach. Not so much because he apparently inhaled strange rock fumes, but because he felt like he ate someone, based on the story BaRone told. Clearing his throat, he handed the fire stone back to him.

“In any case, they aren’t necessarily the easiest things to find, so it’s always good to have at least a small supply of them on hand. Just in case you find yourself on the receiving end of something a bit nastier than you expected.”

He put the stone back in the bag, with DiNiya doing the same with hers, before tying it back up and securing it to his belt. “Well, I’m going to clean the—OHH, WAIT,” he suddenly exclaimed, wide-eyed with enthusiasm. “I know someone who lives not too far that can probably do the translation of that musty old scroll I just got!”

DiNiya’s brow furrowed.

“We could ask—?”

“No,” she cut him off angrily.

“I’m just saying, she may be our only option,” he replied sympathetically.

“And I’m telling you, it is not an option,” DiNiya fired back.

Rex realized that this was the first time he ever heard malice in DiNiya’s voice, or even seen her angry, for that matter, other than minor squabbles between her and EeNox. Deciding to test the waters a bit, he asked, “Who’s this ‘she’ that’s got you all worked up?”

DiNiya spun around with lightning speed and looked as if she was going to shoot flame out of her flaring nostrils; instead, she stormed off and disappeared out back. Rex felt awkward. He had only been trying to lighten the mood a bit by being what he thought was funny, but he managed to upset the only real friend he had here. He could not help but think of all the times he had found himself in this exact situation back on Earth. “The more things change…”

“Don’t take it personally,” BaRone said as he patted him on the shoulder. “Even our good-natured DiNiya has her own sordid history. It’s not something she likes discussing, so I wouldn’t press the issue with her if I were you.”

“So noted,” Rex replied in a flat voice.

He spent the rest of the day trying to stay out of DiNiya’s way while helping out where he could. She did not seem particularly mad at home, rather lost in intense thought. In the end, it turned out to be rather informative in more ways than one. He learned that this world was filled with all sorts of hidden wonders and that he had not lost his touch of rubbing people the wrong way.
Then again, it is not so bad
, he thought.
After all, I did make it almost the entire day without stoking the fires.

The void was filled with the usual thick mist. Cool was its touch as it penetrated Rex to his very core. He walked through the haze while trying to mentally prepare himself to see the monster that he knew was lurking somewhere in the darkness, just out of sight. He moved as quietly as he could, listening for any hint of another presence. Finally, he stopped and looked around, but he saw only more mist and shadow. Continuing his search for a sign of life, he felt another presence with him. He turned quickly and saw two glowing silver eyes staring back at him from a distance.

“Hello?” he called out. “You’re the one from before, right?”

The two eyes moved silently closer, almost as if they were floating, before a figure stepped out of the gloom.

“Yes,” said EliCia. “It is still I.”

“It’s time you explained a few things to me,” he said in an eerily cool and detached voice as he circled her like a predator slowly closing in on its prey. “For starters, what is this place? Oh, and spare me any cryptically ambiguous answers. I want the truth.”

“Rex, this is a place of your own making,” she replied. “Something that exists only within you.”

“Within me? You mean like a dream?”

“Not a dream, but rather the space behind a locked door.”

“What door?” he asked, still scanning for the larger set of eyes.

“The one in the darkest corner of your mind. This is a place of your own making, a world of shadow.”

“Why would I make something like that?”

“Why indeed?” she replied as she slowly circled him in turn.

“Enough with the double talk. I want to know just what is happening to me. Who am I exactly? Why is it I can remember most of my life before, but not the most important pieces?”

She stopped circling and gazed down at him. “What pieces would those be, and what makes you think they are of any more significance than that which you can remember?”

“Shouldn’t you know?” he countered. “After all, you claim to have always been there, right? So you tell me. I obviously had a home back there…but with whom? I’m asking, who did I leave behind?”

There was a long silence, and Rex began to wonder if he had been too forceful and angered her. However, his worry subsided when she at last spoke.

“No one,” she said calmly.

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, when you left that world behind, there was no one there who loved you, no one who would miss you.”

“I see,” he said, feeling crestfallen. “No one to care that I’m gone?”

“Do not trouble yourself with such thoughts, Rex,” she said, sounding more reassuring. “You have found a better world with people who already care for you. You will have so many opportunities to meet others who will stand with you in the light. You can have everything you never had back on Earth: a life of acceptance. I know your heart, Rex, that is why I know it is what you have longed for as long as you can remember.”

Rex nodded silently. “Yes…you’re right. All I can remember dreaming of since I was old enough to care was to be treated like everyone else—to not be excluded, not be looked at strangely, not be alone. But that was never an option for me, was it? They could never accept me like this,” he said, spreading his arms slightly to add emphasis to his appearance. “To them I was a freak, or worse yet, a monster.”

“Rex, you—”

“But that’s all right with me. Even had I been able, no…even had they offered me acceptance, I would have thrown it right back in their faces along with a little something extra to ruin their day!”

“I do not understand. Isn’t acceptance what you want, what you’ve always wanted?”

“Acceptance, yes, but from humanity? I’d have been less offended if they tried to kill me. For them to have regarded me as one of them would have meant that I was no different than them in their eyes. That they saw me as the very same lowly, self-destructive aberration!” He shook his head. “No…better to be deemed a monster, for the word itself means something apart from the natural order, and to be considered apart from what they consider natural is a step in the right direction and means my existence isn’t a total loss. Now, after years of mediocrity, I find myself in this world: a dream come true.”

“So why are you still troubled?”

Rex looked up and fixed her with an angry glare. “Because I’m still not treated like everyone else, nor am I made to feel completely included, nor am I free from stares that make me feel like I’m trapped in a cage! No, not even in this most perfect world am I one of them!”

“Rex, that is not true and you know it.”

“What I know is that these damn eyes make people more afraid of me here than they ever did back in the hellhole of a world I came from, and that the people you say care about me have to lie about who I am and where I come from!” He snorted flame from his nostrils while furrowing his brow. “Sad thing is that maybe they have a good reason to. It’s not as if I would know one way or the other. Seems like everyone has a better idea of who I am than I do.”

“Rex…I wish there was something I could say to make all your pain and anger simply go away…but I cannot. Try as I might, I seem to fail every time.”

“Don’t beat yourself up over it,” he said, staring off into space. “For better or worse, it’s the life I’ve come to know…always alone.”

EliCia settled down in front of him, closer than she had ever come, and stood a good thirty centimeters taller than him. He could sense her good-natured intentions, as if they were somehow flowing into him, or rather were already a part of him. He felt more at ease, as if a sense of warmth and comfort was soothing his troubled mind.

“I know that you are terribly frightened right now. So much is happening to you all at once, and it seems almost too much to bear. Am I right?”

“Yes,” he replied, stifling a sudden shudder.

“It is understandable; however, this does not have to be cause for fear and anger. You can choose to view this as a wonderful opportunity, Rex, a chance to start over. A chance for a happy life.”

“A happy…life?” He allowed the words to settle in his mind as he analyzed what that would entail for him. It was then that he saw a shadowy mass creeping up silently behind her. He knew instantly that it was the same creature that haunted this dark place, and he felt the pull of fear and fury in his chest and the burning in his veins.

“Rex, the answers you seek will come to you, but only in time,” she said as she maneuvered herself between him and the beast that remained just out of sight.

“Time,” Rex repeated angrily. “Now why should I give it time when I am talking to someone right now who apparently has the answers I seek? Why should I do things your way? Maybe I need to be a bit more persuasive.” Rex took a step towards her and immediately sensed something rise up behind him as well as within. Another step, and the void’s other presence could be felt more strongly. “Letting others get in the way of what you want is a bad habit,” he said as his body slowly ignited in red flame. “Once you start, you’ll find yourself always being disappointed, never getting what you want out of life. Still, when you’re me…people are easily removed.”

“Rex, listen to yourself! Don’t you see, the more you tell yourself you can never be a part of people’s lives, that you can never trust them, that you must always take from them to obtain anything of your own, the more like them you become!” Rex suddenly stopped his progression forward, and the titanic figure behind him, thinly outlined in red, disappeared. “The life you led back on Earth was truly unfortunate, but it’s behind you now. Move forward and look to those who would be your family. Trust in them. Do not condemn yourself to the darkness of your heart, Rex. Seek out the light of others.”

EliCia’s entire demeanor changed as she spoke with cold, detached resolution. “The answers you seek weigh heavily with a power you are not yet fully prepared to comprehend. Only when you are truly ready will they reveal themselves to you. Until then, you will remain in the shadows of your own mind, your own prison. You do not realize the gravity of the questions you ask, the weight of their answers. I know that it is difficult, and perhaps unfair to you, but this is the way it must be for the time being. You have already begun walking the path. Do not stop now or you will never discover the answers to your questions or the secrets you keep within yourself. Trust me, Rex.”

“Trust you?” he repeated. “I don’t know who or even what you are.”

“You have only forgotten, but like with everything else, you will remember when you are ready to.”

Rex stared at her long and hard, before curling his lips up into a snarl. “You speak of trust, but that kind of talk sounds hollow coming from a hypocrite like you, don’t you think?” EliCia cocked her head to the side, unclear what he was insinuating. “After all, I’m not the only one here hiding in something else’s shadow.”

Rex watched as the mass behind her shifted and rose up, as she closed her eyes and receded back into the shadows where it resided. Rex felt as if all the heat in the air had suddenly been sucked out, and he was crippled by an icy grip. He was barely able to move as his breath grew shorter and more labored.

“When you feel him draw near, who you choose to be is your choice, and yours alone,” came EliCia’s disembodied voice.

“What’s happening?” he gasped as the air in his lungs grew so cold that it felt like they were burning.

Rex’s eyes shot open and were immediately greeted by the sight of the now familiar rock ceiling of his room. His heart pounded in his chest, and he placed a hand over it in some benign effort to slow it down. Closing his eyes, he tried to slow his breathing. After a few minutes, he began to calm down. “What was that all about?” he whispered before turning to his left and seeing DiNiya’s face staring back at him with silver-white glowing eyes, unblinking and transfixed on his.

Rex jumped back and accidentally slammed the back of his head against the wall, triggering a jarring flash of images to rush through his mind. He could see the erratic and unclear image of something large biting and clawing at him viciously. The disjointed mental images were interspersed with the haunting silver glowing eyes that seemed to be drawing nearer to him, to the point where they were right in front of him, staring into his very mind. Rex yelled incoherently, causing a blast of red flame to shoot out of him. Hearing a girl scream, he opened his eyes and saw DiNiya lying on the ground, looking up at him with a stunned expression.

“Wha…what happened?” he asked, bewildered, but before she could answer, they heard the sound of running feet in the hall. Seconds later, EeNox and BaRone came running in.

“What’s wrong?” shouted EeNox. “We heard you scream, DiNiya!”

“As did I,” said VayRonx, his enormous head appearing at the window, pushing it open.

EeNox looked at his sister on the floor then back up at Rex. “What did you do to her?”

“Nothing,” Rex replied, unsure of the legitimacy of his words. “I mean, I just woke up and she…”

“I was coming back from getting some water downstairs,” DiNiya suddenly spoke up. “I thought I heard noises coming from Rex’s room, so I peeked in to see if he was all right. He must have been having a nightmare because he was groaning in his sleep. I went to wake him and startled him because he jumped up and accidentally scared me in the process. That’s why I screamed.”

“Are you sure that’s what happened?” her brother asked, eyeing Rex suspiciously.

“Yes, I’m sure,” she fired back angrily.

“All right,” he conceded, putting his hands up. “I’m just saying maybe in his sleep he might have lashed out and hurt you.”

Rex felt put off by such an accusation, but he also knew he was in no position to argue against it. He was still unclear as to what had just happened.

“Don’t you dare accuse him of something like that!” DiNiya said in a furious tone. “I don’t know what you have against him, but he has never given you or me or anyone cause to think he would hurt any of us!”

“Do I need to bring up the whole thing with TyRoas again?” EeNox asked.

“Do I need to bring up the whole thing of you trying to nurse from a pregnant OroGon in your sleep?” she retaliated.

“THAT WAS ONE TIME!”

“People don’t forget.”

“All right, all right,” said BaRone, raising his hands to silence them both. “If DiNiya says it was an accident, then it was an accident.”

EeNox was noticeably irritated and above all else confused as to why his father was refusing to consider all the possibilities.

“Groaning in your sleep, were you, Rex?” BaRone asked. “Well, I suppose you’re at that age when you’d be having those dreams, eh?” he added with a wink. Rex turned red and looked down, not saying a word. “Anyway, everyone seems to be fine, so I think I’ll go back to bed. Come on, son.”

“EeNox,” called VayRonx from the window. “Did you really nurse from an OroGon?” EeNox stormed off angrily, while DiNiya did her best to suppress her laughter. “Something I said?” VayRonx asked.

“I wouldn’t worry about it,” she said with a smile.

“Fair enough. Goodnight.” He turned and walked away from the window, disappearing into the night.

“Don’t stay up too late you two,” BaRone said with a smile as he closed the door behind him.

They both waited until they could no longer hear his footsteps outside before saying anything.

“I, uhh,” Rex stammered. “I’m sorry for scaring you like that. I hope I didn’t hurt you.”

“I’m all right,” she replied. “But…I would like to know what’s going on.”

“What do you mean? You just said you heard me having a nightmare and woke me up.”

“I just told them that so they wouldn’t worry and leave. The truth is…I don’t remember coming in here at all.”

Rex had assumed that the flash of disjointed images had been part of his experience in the shadowy world of his mind, and that DiNiya really had just startled him out of his slumber.

“What was the last thing you do remember?” he asked her nervously.

“Just climbing into bed and closing my eyes,” she explained. “Why, do you know something?”

Rex hesitated at first, but DiNiya pressed him until he told her the whole story of how he awoke to see her lying next to him in his bed with haunting eyes that glowed silver. He left out the parts about the dark void he frequently found himself visiting in his head, as well as the other images that he had seen when he hit his head. DiNiya listened in silence and continued to sit without saying a word for a moment after he was finished.