Born of Fire: The Dawn of Legend (71 page)

“Is it all starting to come back to you now, Rex?” came a deep voice. Turning, Rex saw KyGahl emerge out of the smoke, his gold flame radiating beautifully around him. “I knew it would eventually. Still, the timing could not be better for us,” he added with a malevolent grin.

“KyGahl,” DiNiya said. “What are you saying? I don’t understand!”

“Yes indeed, KyGahl,” KyVina growled as she made an effort to raise herself to her haunches. “Do explain?”

“How long I’ve waited for this day,” he continued, drawing ever closer. “For five hundred and thirty-seven years, I have been forced to watch this world grow and prosper in ways that I would have never dreamed of if left to all of you. Then again, it would have not been so, had it not been for us in the first place, for it was we who unwillingly bestowed the gift of light to a world of savage ignorance and darkness. Or rather, a gift you raped and pillaged from us!” His voice now grew shaky and laden with emotion. “Imagine my shock when I learned of my true nature, of my past and people…of who I once was and why I came to reside within this hollow husk, all the while living among insects as they scurry about their pointless lives.”

KyVina was now on her feet, glaring down at the man they had all spent their lives calling friend. Tears now streamed down KyGahl’s face as he stood in the center of the burned-out clearing, with fists clenched and eyes focused forward on Rex, who was now teetering on the brink of reality and the horrific images playing through his mind.

EeNox and ShinGaru raced to the other two girls before attempting to run over to Rex, but were stopped by PeroDay, who landed in front of them, blocking their path. “I’d rather you not interrupt my brother’s big moment,” he said as he crossed his arms in front of him. “He has been preparing for it for quite some time, after all.”

“Brother?” DiNiya gasped. “But how can that be? He’s one of us and you’re a…DraGon.” The words seemed to leave a sudden horrible taste in her mouth, like they had just turned to ash. Slowly she turned her head and set her gaze on KyGahl, who was still standing with his eyes transfixed on the young man ahead of him.

“No more running,” KyGahl cried out. “No more hiding!” He suddenly erupted in a golden torrent of light as his form seemed to shrink and dissolve into itself, while something enormous and made of his flame rose up in its place. Everyone gasped in shock as the flames withdrew and revealed a massive DraGon that dwarfed even LemaRes. “Ahh, it has been so long since I felt my flame burn within my old skin,” he said in a deep, reverberating voice.

“KyGahl!” cried BaRone as he and KySer landed next to his children. “You’re…you’re one of them? You’re a DraGon?”

“Silence,” the beast roared. “Never address me by that accursed moniker again! The SaVarian you knew as KyGahl was but a ruse. I am Grand Marshal DayKar, Templar of the Holy Order!”

“So it
is
you,” ShinGaru said. “When the other one revealed herself to be LemaRes, I immediately knew I had heard that name before. I learned of it during the course of my training. LemaRes, captain of the vanguard forces of the DraGon Knights. The very same who laid siege to EeNara ten thousand years ago, second in command only to the grand marshal himself…DayKar.”

“Very good, ShinGaru,” DayKar said with fearsome smile. “If there would be anyone to have put the pieces together, it would indeed be you.” He gave him a slight nod before returning his attention back on Rex. “Now reveal yourself, Doom Bringer, last of the TyRanx!” He immediately unleashed an onslaught of fire, which consumed Rex, his silhouette vanishing in the wave of golden fire.

“Rex!” DiNiya tried to rush forward before quickly being held back by her brother.

Rex looked up and saw an all-encompassing golden light descending upon him. He felt something calling to him from deep within, a distant cry from seemingly another place entirely. He closed his eyes and saw the burning red flame in front of him. Without giving it a second thought, he reached out with both hands and grabbed hold of it.

The others looked on in horror as their friend was seemingly burned alive right in front of their eyes.

This can’t be happening
, DiNiya thought as she stood powerless.
How can he be gone
?

“Damn it,” EeNox groaned as tears streamed down his face.

The titanic DraGon, showing no signs of stopping, pushed his flame even harder from his mouth, seemingly delighting in the brutality, when suddenly there was what looked to be a flicker of red within the golden onslaught.

DiNiya wiped her eyes and looked more intently. It happened again, and this time she knew she saw it for sure, a streak of red flame from within the fire. “Did anybody else see that?”

To her surprise, the DraGon did not, for he only pushed harder until veins began to bulge in his neck. Then without warning, something happened that not only took everyone by surprise, but also would mark this as a night no one present would ever forget. From deep within the golden fire came the sound of a beast that could not be compared to anything alive, but it sent a surge of anxiety through everyone. For a moment, everyone watched, frozen in silence, before gasping at the sight of what appeared to be two glowing red eyes from within the golden fire.

“What is that?” LyCora asked.

There was an explosion of red flame, which completely overtook the gold and sent the DraGon reeling backwards. Everyone shielded their eyes, for the blast was blinding, almost as if the sun itself had exploded, but all knew that was not the case, for no sooner did they see red then they felt a fearsome presence that was both terrifying and familiar.

DayKar shook his head in an effort to alleviate the effects of the concussive blast, and went wide-eyed when he looked back to where Rex had been standing.

DiNiya and all the others also forced their eyes open and beheld something they never dreamed. There, surrounded by furiously pulsating red flame, was a young TyRanx.

“Who…is that?” EeNox asked, astonished.

With both a look of horror and astonishment, DayKar uttered, “Do my eyes deceive me, or have you indeed returned, bane of all DraGon born: Doom Bringer?”

The TyRanx reared his head back and let out a roar that sounded so deep and powerful that it seemed to echo from another world. Instantly, DiNiya was struck by something that made her realize exactly who he was—a burning familiarity that resonated deep within her own dormant red flame. “Rex!” she gasped.

“What?” EeNox said, turning to her in surprise.

“It can’t be!” LyCora added.

Above, LemaRes observed the frightfully menacing DyVorian with intense curiosity. “I can’t believe it’s him,” she said to herself as her brother rose up beside her and peered down.

“He’s certainly a great deal smaller than I remember,” he commented.

“Indeed. His body must grow in conjunction with his SaVarian form, just like DayKar. How very curious. Still, there he is. Alive and in the flesh!”

“Ten thousand years later, and we’re still forced to face that monster,” VorTak said as he shook his head in disbelief. “I was a fool to think anything would have changed.”

“Oh, but it will, dear brother. You must trust in that.”

Back on the ground, DayKar was looking quite pleased with himself. “PeroDay,” he called over to his brother. “See to it that none of the others interfere.”

“As you wish,” PeroDay replied, turning back to DiNiya and the others. “All right, you heard him. Stay put and you just might live a bit longer than even we intended.”

DayKar flexed his powerful muscles and spread his wings. “Now, Doom Bringer, let us see if you can at least hold your own against me in this form!” With a sudden pulse of fire, he rushed forward with a wild look in his eye, when he was suddenly struck in the side of the head by a green fireball that sent him reeling off to the side. Growling from deep within his throat, he righted himself in midair and turned in the direction of the blast, burning pain spreading across his left cheek.

“Damn it, PeroDay, I told you to watch them—” He stopped when he saw the other DraGon gasping for breath, a massive burning hole in the upper chest plate of his armor. Peering from just behind him, DayKar saw a bright auburn-furred woman with both hands outstretched in front of her, breathing heavily.

PeroDay fell backwards and hit the ground with a heavy thud, groaning in pain as he placed a hand over the hole. “Damn it,” he growled. “Brother, are you all right?”

“Better than you, it would seem,” DayKar replied dryly before turning his gaze over to the woman who had, for the moment, knocked the fight out of the other DraGon. “Hello, VyKia.”

“Do I know you?” she asked breathlessly.

“Not as well as you would have thought,” he mused.

VyKia closed her eyes for a moment before they shot back open with a look of surprise. “Your flame! I know it, but…it can’t be…”

“No, KyVina,” BaRone said as he walked up next to her and allowed her to lean against him. “It is. He’s KyGahl, or should I say DayKar, Grand Marshal of these DraGon Knights.” KyVina gave him a look of such disbelief that he feared she would pass out from shock. DayKar folded one of his enormous wings in front of him and bowed. “Grand,” BaRone scoffed. “Such a title is wasted on the likes of you!”

DayKar just laughed. “As if the opinion of an animal means anything to me.” Now he turned back to Rex, who to his surprise appeared to be burning through the very ground on which he stood. All around him his flame slowly grew and burned with such intensity that the soil beneath him was blackened. However, it was a fearsome, unwavering gaze that gripped DayKar most. A look he had seen before but not for a very long time.
Those eyes
, he thought.
The last time I saw them, they almost cost me my life…along with everything else
.

VyKia, who had been reeling from the shock of learning that one of the world’s most respected scientists was an enemy in disguise, now shifted her gaze towards EeNox. A look of anger appeared on her face, and with lightning speed, she reached out and put the back of his neck in a vice grip. “Damn it, boy! I swear if you ever pull something like that again with me, I will set you ablaze where you stand. Is that understood?”

EeNox pulled himself free and shouted back. “Well, what choice did I have? You weren’t going to let us fight!”

“Of course I wasn’t! You’re children!”

“No, we’re not, and besides, when has that mattered?”

“When has it
not
?”

“Now is not the time for this,” BaRone said, putting himself between them and motioning up ahead. “We have more pressing matters to be concerned with.”

She followed his gaze and was suddenly struck by what felt like a shard of ice right up through her spine. “It can’t be,” VyKia stammered.

“I’m afraid it is,” he replied.

“But…how did he…”

“Your guess is as good as mine.”

Rex, who had been standing in silence, staring down his adversary, cocked his head to either side as his tail swayed behind him.

No one but DayKar saw him bend his legs with lightning speed before launching himself forward with jaws spread wide and teeth bared.

“Whoa,” EeNox exclaimed.

DayKar’s eyes went wide, but another DraGon appeared in front of him. “Grand Marshal, watch out!” he called back, preparing to fire a blast.

“Rex, look out!” DiNiya cried.

Rex, however, in a display of incredible brutality, burst right through the obstacle; the fire blast, being severed from its source, exploded in the DraGon’s mouth, detonating him in a lavender explosion. For a moment, no one could see Rex through the blast, until he erupted from the massive fireball seconds later, jaws open to reveal burning teeth like something out of a nightmare.

DayKar, not wasting a single precious second, put up a flame shield just as Rex’s open jaws collided with it. With a grin, DayKar began to push the shield against Rex with more force, driving him back. “Got a bit ahead of ourselves, didn’t we, TyRanx?”

Rex just scowled and let out a deep growl.

“Oh no,” DiNiya exclaimed. “Rex, get out of there!”

“No, wait,” EeNox said while pointing. “Look!”

With a sickening crack and pop, Rex completely unhinged his jaws to an almost one hundred and eighty-degree angle. DayKar reared his head back with a look of horror.

Thrusting his gaping jaws forward, Rex sank his teeth into flame as if it were flesh, and with great visible strain, they began to close.

“What the hell is he doing?” TyRoas asked, stepping up next to his older brother.

“
Eating
his way through that DraGon’s flame!” NyRo replied in disbelief.

DayKar was now feeling the pang of fear creeping over him.
How could this be happening? Even if he is the Doom Bringer reborn, his power should be nowhere near what it was!

With one final bit of pressure, Rex bit clean through the golden flame, which broke back down into normal fire, and went for the DraGon’s throat. DayKar pulled back but was too slow, for no sooner had he tried to move away did Rex clamp down onto the left side of his face, plunging his teeth painfully into his skull.

“He’s got him!” EeNox exclaimed excitedly. “Bite his fucking head off, Rex!”

DayKar cried out in pain as he whipped his long neck back and forth, up and down. Despite his best efforts, though, Rex would not let go, nor lessen his grip. Spreading his wings, DayKar shot straight up into the air before veering sharply to his right, slamming into one of the peaks.

Below, everyone scrambled to get out of the way as large boulders came crashing down, releasing a plume of dust. From it, DayKar emerged with Rex still clinging to him. The DraGon slammed him repeatedly against the wall, only to feel the TyRanx dig his hind claws into his chest and shoulder. “I admire your persistence,” DayKar said as his left eye glanced down at his unrelenting foe. “However, like you, I am not the type to yield.” With what could have been called graceful, he pushed off the wall and did a reverse arc in the air before diving at full speed towards the ground.

“Watch out,” KyVina shouted as she and many of the others threw up a flame shield of their own at the last second using their combined power.