Born of Fire: The Dawn of Legend (20 page)

“The village tavern,” DiNiya replied.

“This is the tavern?” he asked, shocked. “But it’s so…huge!”

“Really?” she replied, looking around. “It’s a lot smaller than the ones in the cities. Why? How big are the ones where you’re from?”

“About the size of your house or smaller.”

“Well, I suppose that makes sense since there are no more DyVorians, but it would be rude to build one so small in EeNara because it would automatically mean the exclusion of the vast majority of the population.”

Rex looked around and saw that the majority of the people in the tavern were in fact DyVorians, some of which were huge sauropods as large or larger than a house.

They proceeded through the various mingling groups, towards the back where long stone tables had been carved, each one covered with an assortment of plants for the herbivores and an array of smoked meats, mainly fish but also large herd mammals raised as livestock for everyone else. In addition, there were what looked like miniature fist-sized pumpkins. “What are those?” Rex asked, pointing to a basket full of them.

“Oh, those,” DiNiya replied with a flash of delight in her eyes. “Those are spice cakes. They’re really good. Here, try one.”

She threw one to Rex, who caught it with both hands and fought not to drop it before securing a firm grasp. He looked down at the strange round pumpkin-like object, which, upon closer inspection, was not a pumpkin at all but more like hard baked dough. He gave it a sniff, which to his delight filled his nose with a sweet smell that was so thick he felt as if he had already taken a bite.

“Go on,” DiNiya insisted.

Rex shrugged and took a large bite. His mouth was instantly flooded with what he could only compare to rich cheesecake, both in taste and texture. He looked down at the open side and saw a thick, dark red creamy inside. “Oh, wow,” he said, his mouth full.

“Good, huh?” DiNiya asked, grinning.

“Yeah, it is,” he said, shoving the rest of it into his mouth and chewing happily before grabbing two more.

“Easy there,” she said, laughing. “You’ll ruin your appetite if you eat too many of them.”

Rex gave her a nod to say he understood but grabbed two others and devoured them voraciously. Then suddenly he began to feel his face heating up as a tingling sensation, which quickly turned to a burn, spread over his tongue. “Hot,” he exclaimed as he stuck it out.

“Well, of course,” she laughed. “Why do you think they’re called spice cakes?”

“Didn’t really think about.”

She filled a plate with food for the both of them and led him up to one of the upper levels of the tavern where they could see the entire cave. Rex was thrilled to see they were now at eye level with even the tallest sauropods, who frequently walked by and said hello to them in passing, often complimenting him for his work in the fields earlier that morning, much to his delight and slight embarrassment. DiNiya went up to one of the bar counters and brought back two of the metal chalices.

“Here you go,” she said happily as she sat down across from him at a little round stone table carved out of the ground.

“So…what is this exactly?” Rex asked, peering down into the mug.

“Blood wine,” she answered.

“It’s blood?” Rex asked, giving the liquid a curious look.

DiNiya chuckled. “No, not really. It’s made from a flame rose extract, the only living things of the red flame. Well…besides the TyRanx and us, of course.”

“What’s the story with them, exactly?”

DiNiya looked up with a furrowed brow. “What do you mean?”

“Well, you and ShinGaru seemed really uncomfortable when KyGahl mentioned them. I watched you tense up the moment he said the name. I take it there’s greater significance to them than just being extinct. Am I right?”

“Yes,” she said quietly, looking down at the table and then back up at him. “But it’s something that people don’t like talking about very much.”

“Why?”

“Because…”

“Because why?”

DiNiya looked at him with eyes that begged him to not press further, but Rex was not the type to back down, especially when his curiosity had been piqued.

“Since I arrived here, you have been like an open book, answering any and all of my questions without hesitation. Now I find a topic that you seem to want me to just forget about. You realize I’m not going to drop it until you tell me what I want to know?”

“And what is that?”

Rex grinned in a way that made her feel slightly unsettled. “You tell me?”

DiNiya looked at him long and hard before at last giving in with a sigh.

“They were before my time, before all our times. But the story has been passed down from generation to generation. I’ll never forget the first time I heard it. My father told me the story once when I was nine. He said evolution is a gradual process, creating and shaping life to be in balance with the forces that prompt it to change to adapt. Sometimes, though, evolution…gets ahead of itself, and life…well, takes on a life of its own, becoming something that instead of fitting seamlessly into the natural balance crashes against it.” Rex listened in silence as he watched something come over her as she spoke. Her eyes grew unfocussed, and the color drained from her face. Even her voice began to take on a cold, almost hauntingly detached tone as the tale unfolded. As he continued to listen, he felt a chill run down his spine that sent a shiver rippling through him.

“Legend tells of a night centuries before, when an ominous red glow appeared on the horizon, and the air became filled with the sound of nature coming undone…furious, nightmarish sounds that defied the natural order. That was when they came: the shadows of our nightmares, the furious right hand of chaos itself. The TyRanx. To this day, no one knows where they came from, only that they brought with them a terrible truth. That the primal fire that flows within us all could also take on the form of unbridled brutality: the red flame. So devoid of restraint, so deadly was it that everyone and everything it touched turned to ash, everything except them. Many had said any creature that was the vessel for such a deadly force of fury could not be a part of the natural order; they were apart from it….against it, a living weapon. Well…that’s what the stories say, anyway.” DiNiya looked down at her chalice as she slowly swirled the liquid inside. “What really did me in that day was seeing that which makes my father who he is quietly fall away as he told me that terrible story. In any case…that was a very long time ago. The TyRanx are all gone from the world now, back in our heads where nightmares belong, but…try as we might to forget, as long as someone like KyGahl persists on seeking out what little remains of them in the ground…as long as someone even breathes their name…we are doomed to forever remember that nightmares once stepped out of the darkest corners of our minds and into our lives. And if it happened once…”

She was gripped by a series of violent shudders that caused her to grasp the table, turning her knuckles white. Rex quickly placed a hand on her arm in an effort to calm her, which eventually succeeded, but not without serving a serious blow to his nerve.

“So if only monsters have the red flame, then why do I?” he asked.

“I don’t know,” she said, refusing to meet his gaze.

“You had a flame once, too, and with eyes likes those, it means it was red like mine, wasn’t it?”

“…Yes.”

“So what does that make us?” he demanded more aggressively.

“Rex,” she said in a soft, pleading voice.

“What
am
I?”

“Rex, please,” she said more forcefully, causing him to stop. “You’re hurting me.”

Looking down, he realized he still had his hand on her arm and was gripping so tightly that his fingers were pressing painfully into it. He quickly let go and stood up, shocked by how easily anger had slipped in and caused him to hurt her.

“I’m sorry,” he said in a shaken voice. “I…I didn’t mean to…”

Still a bit shocked herself, she gently pulled him back down. “It’s all right. I know you’re still getting over the shock of everything that’s happened to you. It’s my fault, really. I shouldn’t dump this all on you at once. Best to give what must still seem like a strange world to you in small doses.” At last she managed to meet his eyes again, allowing for a thin, yet uneasy smile to creep across her face. “Well, are you going to try it?”

“Try what? Oh, you mean this stuff,” he said, looking at the liquid sloshing around in his own chalice. “Cheers.”

“What?” DiNiya asked, looking at his chalice, then at her own.

“It’s a toast,” he explained. “You know what a toast is, right?”

She just shook her head.

“You touch your drinks together and say cheers before drinking,” he explained, wondering if he sounded as silly as he felt. To his relief, however, DiNiya seemed to find the idea amusing. She was finding all his customs a bit strange but fascinating as well. Her world did not have nearly as many customs as Earth did.
How people could live their lives with so many rules and traditions I’ll never know
, she thought to herself, amused, before she raised her chalice and said “cheers” enthusiastically as she slammed hers a little too hard into his, causing some of its contents to spill out. “Ooops,” she said with a sheepish grin. “Do we drink now?”

“Yup,” Rex replied, raising his to his mouth and letting the warm fluid run down his throat. He sat for a moment, allowing for the taste to fully set in, when suddenly his eyes began to glow a faint red as flame emanated from his body.
What is this sensation?
he wondered. It was like he was running while remaining seated. He could feel all his emotions swelling up inside of him but not to the point where any one of them came to the forefront. It was unlike anything he had ever experienced—a type of high that felt like it came from deep within. He looked at DiNiya and saw her smiling.

“Do you like it?” she asked in a tone that sounded oddly seductive.

“Yeah…I do,” he said as a feeling of confidence swept over him. “I feel…really good, actually.” He locked eyes with her and felt himself standing up without moving. His body almost felt the way it did when he fought TyRoas: strong and without limits, but also different somehow. He indeed felt the same driving force within him, but it was not fueled by fear or anger like it had been the two previous times. Rather, it was like a desire…a hunger. DiNiya seemed to have the same ravenous look in her eyes. Her lips parted slightly and a tiny, barely audible gasp escaped. Rex’s breathing became heavier as his chest heaved with each intake of air. His muscles tightened, and for a brief moment he felt as if he would leap up out of his chair—and then DiNiya broke out laughing like she did the first time she took him to the shop.

“Strong stuff, isn’t it?” she said, raising her chalice and taking another sip.

Rex sat motionless and silent for a moment, feeling like he had just snapped out of a trance. “Uh…yeah,” he said, unsure of himself and what just happened. “What um…what’s in this, exactly?”

“Don’t worry,” she said, placing a hand on his arm. “It was that powerful for me too when I first had it.”

“Yes, but what is it?” he asked more insistently as he began to feel more like himself. “I mean, I felt…”

“Good,” she said, completing his sentence. “Really good, right?”

Rex did not know why he felt so embarrassed by admitting it, but still he responded, “Yes.”

“Blood wine is a natural stimulant. It resonates with your internal flame, giving it a sort of…boost.”

“That’s not all it boosts,” he mumbled, glancing down.

DiNiya smiled and took another sip. “Yes, well, it does…enhance a person’s…confidence a bit.” She watched him for a moment with an amused expression before teasing, “Can’t handle it?”

Rex gave her a cross look before downing the entire chalice and slamming it down on the table. He did his best to look unfazed, but the reality was that he felt like he was flying in his seat and could effortlessly pick up the largest sauropod in the room.

“Blood wine isn’t something people drink all the time,” she explained as she nursed hers a bit longer. “It’s more of a treat, really. Although I’m told people drink it like water during the trials.”

“I’m surprised they give it to people our age,” Rex said as he gazed out at the festive scene below.

“Normally they don’t, except for special occasions,” she said with a sly grin. “But I told the barkeep it was to celebrate your arrival.”

“And he went for that?”

“I may have promised him a deal on a certain item he has been eyeing at the shop for a while. After hours, of course.”

“Of course,” Rex repeated, smiling as he found himself liking this mischievous side of her. “So what are these trials you mentioned?”

“The Alpha Trials. They’re held every two hundred years on Grand Heights, which is home to the Highwing Tribe.”

“What do you win?”

“Recognition.” Rex cocked his head. “You know how VayRonx is the alpha of the KaNar, right?” Rex nodded. “Well, every tribe has an alpha, and the trials are where their resolve is put to the test.”

“So it’s a combat tournament?”

“No, but there are exhibition matches for fun. It’s really more a test for the mind. You see, for someone to be deemed worthy of the rank of alpha, they must prove themselves to be a wise and well-rounded intellect.”

“Intellect? There’s not a written test, is there?”

DiNiya laughed before taking another sip of wine. “The trials our designed to test the individual’s ability to make quick, decisive choices that in a real situation could mean the difference between life or death.”

“So how does the appointment to alpha work exactly? Does the winner get appointed a tribe without a leader?”

“It’s not really a matter of winning or losing, but in the rare instance where there is a tribe that is without an alpha, they will produce a candidate, sometimes two or more, that they feel have the potential for leadership. The one who does the best is then given the rank of alpha and moved immediately into a position of leadership.”

“And if their tribe still has an alpha?”

“Then they will inherit the rank once the current alpha dies or relinquishes their position.”