Born of Fire: The Dawn of Legend (95 page)

“It’s not like your
people,
” VorTak added.

AnaSaya could hear angry and despondent growls coming from the others around her, but they seemed distant, like they were a memory rather than something happening here and now. Instead, she found herself drifting within as a feeling she had not felt in some time began to creep over her, slowly at first but soon at an overwhelming pace. She turned her head and looked at the remains of the KarVora, whose flesh had provided them with strength and sustainability. A poor flame who had been murdered in cold blood simply to lure them out into the open. It was natural for beings to die to sustain the lives of others in the wild, this she knew and understood, but there was nothing justified in this. Still, for his death to truly not be in vain, she must survive. Under no circumstance could they allow themselves to be brought down here and now. The strength flowing through them now was thanks to his flesh and blood.
No
, she told herself.
Your death will not be for nothing. I promise you that
. She suddenly felt a burning fury within herself as a desire she had experienced only once before took full control. Locking eyes with PeroDay, she ignited her flame.

PeroDay had noticed the small DyVorian fixing him with an intense look that seemed unwavering. He was preparing to call down to her when he suddenly began to feel a shortness of breath, like he had just overexerted himself. But it soon felt as if it was being pulled out of him. He gripped at his throat as his breathing turned into a high-pitched wheezing.

Stricken by his comrade’s sudden change, VorTak glided over to him and placed a hand on his back. “PeroDay,” he said, “what’s wrong with you?”

PeroDay tried to respond but was stricken with a powerful sense of panic when he realized all the air in his lungs was seeping out of him and not being replenished.

“Say something!” VorTak exclaimed in surprise. “Stop playing games, damn it!”

“What’s happening up there?” Rex asked, peering up.

“I have no idea,” EeNox replied. “But whatever it is, it’s good news for us! We should strike now, while they’re distracted!”

“We should run while we have the chance,” LyCora countered.

“No,” said Rex forcefully. “We can’t leave them to kill anyone else! We put them in the ground, here and now!”

PeroDay’s eyes began to roll back in his head as his body started to constrict in what resembled rigor mortis. “PeroDay, please!” VorTak cried. “What’s happening to you?”

PeroDay could feel his mind growing hazy from oxygen deprivation. It would not be much longer before it slipped into darkness, and not much longer after that before death claimed him.
What is this? Wait…only one power can…do this: lavender flame…damn her
. Using the last bit of strength he had, he turned to the other DraGon. “VorTak…it’s her! The laven…der…kill her…”

VorTak watched in horror as PeroDay’s whole body pulled itself back and contorted in a sickening manner, the sound of PeroDay’s armor stretching and twisting to its limits filling his ears. Slowly, he turned his head to face the five below. Immediately, his eyes locked onto AnaSaya, who aside from a raging flame was motionless, her eyes having not once left PeroDay, burning bright with an almost detached intensity. “You!” he roared down to her.

“What?” Rex asked, looking around at the others. “Who is he talking to?”

“Stop this now! Release him!”

Suddenly sensing that one of their flames was burning more furiously than any of the others, the four of them turned to AnaSaya, who seemed oblivious to everything around her.

“AnaSaya,” Rex called to her, “what’s wrong?”

“She’s got a hold of him,” LyCora said, taking a step back. “I can’t believe she has that kind of power!”

“What are you talking about?” asked Rex, walking right up to AnaSaya before suddenly feeling lightheaded when he touched her flame. “What…what the hell?”

“Stay away from her,” LyCora cried out.

“Enough,” VorTak shouted. “We don’t need you alive!” Rearing his head back, he launched it forward and shot a blast of fire from his mouth which rocketed down toward AnaSaya, who showed no sign of moving.

Quickly shaking off the dizziness he felt when he touched her, Rex charged forward and knocked her out of the way, just in time to avoid the blast, which exploded right where she had been standing. Instantly, PeroDay inhaled a mouthful of air as all feeling returned to his body and his mind regained its focus. Slowly, he began to shake off the effects of what had just taken hold of him, as the darkness from his eyes faded and the light of the world returned. It was then that he heard VorTak’s voice calling his name, distant at first but soon booming in his ear.

“PeroDay,” VorTak cried out. “Are you still with me?”

With a shaky nod, PeroDay replied, “Yes…I’m fine.”

“Fine? I would say anything but! What the hell was that just now?”

“What do you think?” he replied, gently caressing his neck. “That little lavender flame down there managed to weave her way into me and almost ripped the life out of me!”

AnaSaya could feel the ground beneath her and someone on top of her. Slowly, she opened her eyes and peered up, where she instantly found herself staring into a pair of red ones. “Rex,” she said in a soft voice. “What…happened?”

“I was about to ask you the same thing,” he replied, standing up and lowering his head to help her to her feet. “What was all that back there?”

“What do you mean?” she replied, starting to regain her bearings. “The last thing I remember was…” She froze as the memory came rushing back without warning and the feeling of her flame seizing that DraGon’s and pulling it out of him.

“Heads up!” EeNox cried out as he saw the two DraGons bearing down on them.

Without so much as a sign of hesitation, Rex leaped into the air and collided with VorTak, who immediately sank his teeth into his thigh. Rex cried out in pain and surprise before returning the favor by plunging his into the armored neck of the DraGon.

Meanwhile, PeroDay began jabbing with his lance at ShinGaru, who was managing to dodge each strike with graceful movements.

“The TyRanx was one thing,” PeroDay said, spinning the lance over his head before bringing it down to ShinGaru, just barely missing his neck, “but an ArisToky? It’s almost too much to fathom!”

“Assuming I even know what it is you are talking about, do you really think it would be of any particular relevance to me at the moment?” ShinGaru replied.

“Just thinking aloud,” PeroDay said, raising his weapon for another strike when the tree behind him suddenly pulsed blue and bent down, slamming into his back and sending him sprawling to the ground.

Wasting no time, EeNox rushed up and clamped his jaws around the back of his neck and began pushing his teeth through his armor.

“Nice work, LyCora!” ShinGaru called over to her.

“Someone has to watch your back!” she replied as she sent more pulses of her flame into EeNara, which manifested in roots erupting from the ground and seizing PeroDay, who struggled to break free and rise to his feet. “Anytime now, EeNox!”

“I’m trying,” he replied. “His armor is too thick!”

“Release me, you heathens,” PeroDay roared, “and I promise you a quick death!”

“Now
there’s
an incentive,” LyCora said.

High above, Rex still had his teeth buried in the armor of VorTak, who was doing everything he could to shake him off. Time and time again he would ignite his flame in an effort to burn him off the TyRanx, but to his both shock and horror, Rex managed to match his flame with his own every time, forcing him to resort to cruder methods.

Arching his body downward, VorTak rocketed to the world below and veered up at the last possible moment, dragging Rex across the ground for at least a hundred meters before rising back up in the air and doing the same against the side of a rocky outcropping. Despite his unwillingness to let go, Rex was hardly finding the task of holding on to his prey an easy feat. His sides and back screamed in pain from being dragged and his neck muscles ached from steadying his jaws so as to not lose his grip. At last, he felt his teeth sink through the dense layer of armor and make contact with flesh beneath.

Sensing his armor had been compromised, VorTak panicked with a burst of speed and slammed them both into the ground, sending Rex flying off to the side, but not without taking a little something with him, for upon staggering to his feet, VorTak rubbed the back of his neck only to feel bare skin. Looking up, he saw Rex already on his feet with a large piece of his neck plating in his jaws.

“Son of a bitch!” VorTak hissed. “How dare you damage a knight’s armor?”

“You think that’s bad?” Rex replied, dropping it at his feet. “Just wait and see what I do to you when I pry the rest of that scrap metal off of you.”

VorTak wanted so desperately to tear him apart limb from limb, but immediately remembered why he and VorTak had been dispatched to begin with.
PeroDay
, he suddenly remembered when he realized he no longer heard sounds of battle coming from where he had left him. Turning away from Rex, he launched into the air and flew back the way he had come.

“Hey! Get back here!” Rex called out after him. “I’m not finished with you!” Not wasting a moment, he powered up his own flame and took off on foot after VorTak.

LyCora was now finding it increasingly difficult to keep PeroDay restrained as he continued to struggle against the roots that bound him. EeNox, on the other hand, was still trying to penetrate his thick armor to deliver the killing blow to the back of his neck. He could feel his teeth slowly sinking further and further into the dense material, but also sensed LyCora’s hold over him weakening. It was now a race. Who would gain the upper hand first?

“EeNox,” ShinGaru called out. “EeNox, please, you must listen!”

“A little busy here, ShinGaru,” EeNox mumbled, glancing up without loosening his grip.

“I have an idea, but I need you to trust me!”

“I swear when I get free I am going to peel the skin off you hides,” PeroDay yelled angrily.

“What are you talking about?” EeNox asked, ignoring the DraGon’s threat.

“When I say so, release him and get clear!”

“What! Are you crazy?”

“EeNox, you have to trust me!”

“Just do it!” LyCora said, now feeling the effects of the immense strain she was under. “I can’t hold him anymore!” No sooner did she say that then the roots began to snap and break off, and PeroDay managed to get his right arm up underneath him, followed shortly thereafter by his left.

“All right, fine,” EeNox said. “But whatever you’re going to do, do it fast!”

Without any hesitation, ShinGaru rushed forward and wrapped his body around PeroDay like a snake, constricting as he did so.

“You fool,” PeroDay exclaimed. “That’s your plan? No way you’ll be able to crush me in my armor!”

ShinGaru closed his eyes and gathered his flame within himself, concentrating as hard as he could before his eyes shot open and he cried out, “EeNox now!”

Not hesitating, EeNox released his grip on the DraGon’s neck, his teeth effortlessly sliding out of the deep groves they had punctured, and pushing with his legs, rolled to the side before righting himself on his feet. At the same time, LyCora released her grip on PeroDay, the roots falling away as he rose to his feet. However, before he could reach his full standing height, his body was suddenly engulfed in a powerful golden electric charge that surged through him. The air was filled with the shrill and terrible shrieking of the DraGon as his body was being cooked from the inside out.

The others watched in shock for a moment as the DraGon’s skeleton became visible before the electrical surge subsided and ShinGaru released his grip on PeroDay, who stood in place for a moment, his armor blackened and smoking, before finally collapsing to the ground where he lay motionless.  Just then the small orb on his chest plate, began to flicker before it opening and his armor was reduced to thousands of spindly organic tendrils that retracted back into it, leaving his body bear and exposed.

ShinGaru panted heavily as fatigue overtook him. Slowly, he lowered his body to the ground where he focused as hard as he could to stay conscious. LyCora and EeNox raced over to him.

“ShinGaru, are you all right?” EeNox asked as he looked him over. “Wow, that was incredible!”

“You actually managed to produce electricity!” LyCora exclaimed with uncharacteristic enthusiasm. “Only the most skilled golden flames are supposed to be able to do that!”

“Guess I just got lucky,” ShinGaru replied weakly.

“Can you stand?” EeNox asked.

“I think so,” he said, rising to his feet before the feeling in his appendages vanished and he collapsed. “Perhaps in a moment.”

“We can’t just stay here like this,” LyCora insisted.

“Why not?” EeNox asked, looking back to the still form of PeroDay. “He doesn’t look like he will be getting up anytime soon.”

“ShinGaru, is he dead?” LyCora asked.

“I don’t know,” he replied. “I gave it everything I had but am unsure if it was enough.”

“What about the other one?”

“Oh, shit, I almost forgot!” EeNox exclaimed. He had become so preoccupied with his own battle that he had forgotten that Rex was somewhere else, facing a similar foe all on his own. “Did you see which way they went?”

“Up and over there somewhere,” she said, looking to the path of destruction off to their left.

With a heavy sigh and painful push of his muscles, ShinGaru slowly rose to his feet. “We need to find him and get out of here. Can AnaSaya walk?”

EeNox glanced behind to where AnaSaya was lying in a catatonic state, motionless and seemingly unaware of what was happening around her. “If you two can drape her over my back, I can carry her.” They began walking towards her when their attention was pulled off to their left by a wailing cry as VorTak came rushing up and stopped directly above PeroDay.

Looking down at the still form of his fellow knight, VorTak let out a deep, throaty growl that put the others on edge. PeroDay’s armor had retracted on its own, meaning it had been put under an overwhelming amount of strain; something that rarely happened even at the height of the most conflicts. Slowly he lowered himself and placed a hand under PeroDay’s arm, and with a swift motion, hoisted him up and got his arm around his shoulder. “Damn it,” he said to the still and silent PeroDay as he saw the third-degree burns on his face. “I knew that arrogance would get the better of you one day.” Then looking forward, he fixed the three of them with a hateful look that spoke volumes:
When I get my claws on you
…