From the Embers (The Born in Flames Trilogy)

by Candace Knoebel

  “Gabe, you’re okay!” I rushed into the cell. My hand shot to my nose, assaulted by stale stink and rotten magic. Blood and grime covered his once handsome features and withered body.

  “Aurora?” he forced out, wincing with his every movement. He was shriveled up in a corner, his knees brought up to his chin. Heavy shackles hung from his neck, hands, and feet. His left eye looked burned and swollen shut.

  “Come on,” I said, leaning over him. I used the key to unlock the shackles and threw his arm over my shoulder, nearly dragging him from the cell. I glanced over at Gwen, unsure of what to do with her. I made a quick decision. I had to get him out first.

  I was back up the stairs in a matter of seconds and racing towards the front of the Lyceum, ready to hand Gabe over to Fenn so I could go back for Gwen, but when I opened the door, no one was there. My jaw clenched, my pulse pounding behind my ears.

  His voice drifted towards me like toxic air. “Going somewhere?”

  I tightened my grip around Gabe. My vision tunneled on him. “Where are they?”

  “I should ask you the same thing.” His tone was neutral. “Did you really think I would let you just waltz in here after what you did to my Lyceum? Especially after being tortured by the Priests because of you?” Laughter stained his smooth voice.

  I gently laid Gabe down on the other side of the door. “This ends today.” My voice was almost unrecognizable as I growled.

  His eyes drew together in interest, but underneath his composed stare there was an undeniable amount of hatred and rage just waiting to unleash. “Oh, does it? And how, may I ask, is that possible? Because, as you may have noticed, we are bound together. It seems you and I, well, we were born to live. Forever, perhaps.” He strode towards me, uncoiling his darkness with every step. Shadows swam around his feet.

  I planted my feet wide apart and crouched, leveling my glare on him. “No, Zordon, we were born to die. At least one of us was. And I have a feeling that one is you.”

  He stopped, his head cocked to the side. “Enlighten me.”

  I opened up to my dragon Foresight again, but there was nothing to see. No attacks headed for me. Was he blocking me or was he stalling? Why wasn’t he fighting me? He was clearly stronger than me, and he knew I had the elixir.

  I played along, trying to fish out where this was headed. “Like I would tell you,” I shot off with an eye roll.

  His face twisted with rage. “If you ever want to see your friends again, you will,” he countered, his lips pressed together. “What do you need the elixir for? Even if I was mortal, you still couldn’t kill me without killing yourself.”

  He didn’t know about breaking the bond. This was the hope I needed. I reached out to Fenn, trying to sense his emotions. I didn’t sense any fear or pain.

  Zordon was bluffing me. He had to be. I played into his bluff and called out to Fenn in my mind. “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I said, putting on my best worried voice.

  A smile appeared, revealing perfect teeth. “Oh, yes you do,” he said, taking confident, intimidating steps towards me. “I know of your little meeting with Iliana. Of Roan. She has so kindly shared with you the one thing that would truly end this all, but Roan couldn’t recall the details. It’s a shame his life had to end so tragically. Being a chew toy for my Cyclops’ is not a way one wishes to go.” He plucked away an invisible tear from the corner of his eye, and then returned his hateful glare on me. “That is what will become of your friends unless you tell me how to break the bond.”

  All games had been set aside. My vision clouded with fury. My fists clenched, ready to strike. “She didn’t tell me everything, just that we needed the elixir,” I said through my teeth. My fingers trembled with anticipation.

  Fenn, hurry up!

  Zordon squinted, drilling through me with his soulless eyes. “I’m sure she told you enough. Why else would you risk your weak little neck by coming here?” He continued forward, only a mere inch away. I could see the hard lines that only stress could leave on his immortal face and felt satisfied that he too was suffering. “It certainly could not have been because you thought you could successfully administer that elixir the Priests gave you.”

  “Maybe I did. Or maybe I came to save Gabe,” I said, willing him to believe me.

  He looked right through me. “You think I don’t know you, Aurora Jay Megalos? You think I can’t feel what’s in your mind? Every thought, every hope, it’s a malady I can’t seem to rid myself of. Your light, it…it taints me.” His hand wove through the air as if trying to spell the taste from his mouth.

  “Sucks to be you,” I said snidely.

  A smile twitched at the corner of his mouth. Laughter burst out of him uncontrollably. He pointed to himself. “Me? Sucks to be me?” His laughter ended abruptly, a cold smile settling on his lips.

  I stiffened when he leaned into me, pausing by my ear. He smelled of dark power and blood, and it churned the acid in my stomach. My knuckles tightened into fists at my side.

  “You might be able to lie to yourself, but you cannot lie to me, little girl. I know your secret. I know you’re scared that the darkness you feel inside of you will never leave. Scared that maybe somewhere inside that baffling pit of misplaced hope, you know you will never be rid of me. Not fully. Elixir or not, the darkness in you has become a part of you.”

  My whole body vibrated with the need to attack, to rip his tongue from his mouth, but I held strong. “You’re wrong. Every day, minute by minute, I feel my mind ridding itself of you.” I jerked back enough so he could see my eyes. “So no, I am not scared. When this is over, you will be nothing more than a stain in time. A distant, forgotten memory. I will make sure the future generations will never know who you were.”

  A cool calmness washed over him. He smiled, but the twitch in the corner of his mouth gave him away. I had struck a nerve. “Nevertheless, if you share the way to break the bond, I will help you, and then we can be rid of each other once and for all.”

  “No,” I said firmly, “I will never help you.” Fenn rounded the corner. I felt flames build up within me, and released them. Zordon stumbled backwards, covered in my flames.

  “Get Gabe!” I shouted to Lexi, pointing behind me to the door.

  Fenn, Zane, and Adam rushed to my side. “You can’t take him alone,” Zane said. I peered over my shoulder in time to see Lexi taking Gabe through a portal.

  When I turned back around, the flames were already dying off, Zordon’s laughter filling the icy battleground. “Again with the tricks,” he mocked. My fire had absorbed through his obsidian scales. He started growing, towering over my shifted form, as black fire seeped out from under his scales, melting the ice around us.

  This was it and boy was I ready for it.

  We lunged for each other, talons at the ready, coming together in a flying heap inside the walls of the Lyceum. I was sheathed in a ball of flames, throwing punches where I could. The adrenaline rushing through me fueled my every punch, empowering me with confidence.

  “You can’t win,” his voice boomed out. Dodging my right hook, his hand jutted out and wrapped around my neck. Acidic fire burned through my scales, momentarily stunning me. He used it to his advantage and slammed me into the melted ground. Spells pumped out from Fenn, Zane, and Adam, but they had no effect on Zordon's immortal power.

  Tiny cracks in the icy ground webbed out around my head and body, threatening to give way to the ocean beneath us. Zordon’s magic was winning against my own as his hand tightened around my throat, pressing me further into a watery grave of melted ice. I sucked in a deep breath right as the water covered my face.

  I sloshed under his grip, my hand beating against his chest and face, trying to break free. The frigid temperature of the water bit at my scaled skin, killing the fire within me. Every movement, every thras
h I made, stole a little more oxygen from my lungs. When my mind started to panic with the need to breathe, I reminded myself that he couldn’t kill me. Not like this. As soon as I ran out of air, he would feel it. He had to.

  I went still, calming myself from the inside out. His ironclad grip tightened even more, squeezing off my blood flow. The pounding behind my ears grew loud and slow.

  Through the glassy surface, I watched Fenn rush forward only to be thrown back into the wall. Jagged shards of ice fell around him, encasing him. Before Adam could even try, Zordon flicked his wrist, easily sending Adam into the icy wall and then to the ground, unconscious.

  Zane tried next. “You dare…boy,” was all I could make out. Death was setting in. My eyesight wavered, and the grip around my neck loosened. It was time.

  I rolled to my left using every bit of the remaining strength I had to break his hold. I jumped to my feet and threw balls of flames from my hands while running backwards to put as much distance between us as possible. I wanted to stop, to claw at my throat and gasp for air, but there was no time for that. Not unless I wanted one of my loved ones to die.

  When I reached Fenn, I turned my fire to the ice surrounding him and then pulled him around the corner of the hallway. When I looked back, Zordon was advancing on Zane who had been knocked unconscious. I shoved Adam, trying to wake him, but he wouldn’t budge.

  “Wake up,” I whispered sharply. He stirred and then jumped up, his healing in overdrive. I grabbed his ankle to stop him. “One of us needs to distract him.”

  He nodded and darted around the corner, not giving me the option to volunteer. “You won’t win, Zordon,” he shouted, every muscle in his body taut with anger.

  Zordon froze in his steps. When he turned, his gaze was alert, his lips a harsh line. “And what are you going to do about it?” he countered, sending a ball of black fire towards Fenn.

  I jumped towards him, moving him out of the way, and absorbed the fire into my being. Fenn rolled and was back on his feet and by my side in a heartbeat.

  “Is this your best? This is what I am paired against? A bunch of insolent children?” Zordon yelled out.

  Fenn leaned into me. “The only way we can do this is if we bind him somehow. We need something strong, a magic older than us. Something he can’t easily free himself from,” Fenn said.

  Zane and Adam began to stir. He was right. We needed something stronger, something…

  “We can use the blessing from Mizu!” I said.

  He nodded, and then we both tapped into the earth’s energy, using the blessing Mizu had given us. Green energy surrounded us as the earth quivered beneath our feet.

  Amusement flickered across Zordon’s face. “Not this again.”

  “Orbus Rootarus,” Zane shouted, his red energy plunging straight into the cracked ice. The green energy that surrounded both Fenn and me followed Zane’s energy deep into the frozen earth. A loud vibration filled the Lyceum.

  Zordon’s dark eyes disappeared into slits. “All this power you could have, and you choose to use the earth as your element,” he said to Zane. Adam lifted his hands into the air, creating a swirling vortex. He pushed it towards Zordon. Zordon grabbed it and threw it back at Adam.

  “Adam!” Fenn yelled as the vortex carried him out of the crumbling Lyceum.

  “Your power is built on lies and hate. It isn’t real!” Zane yelled at Zordon, his neck thick and the veins bulging.

  Zordon’s nose flared, his mouth pinching into a scowl. “I’ll show you real power.” Smoking black energy poured out from his palms, growing into an unavoidable cloud in the shape of a hand. It surged towards us.

  “Protectio!” I shouted, giving the bubble of protection every ounce of my effort. It grew and grew, wrapping around the three of us and absorbing the black fog as its momentary darkness enshrouded us.

  “Move forward!” I shouted to Fenn and Zane, dead set on taking Zordon down. The ground continued to shake, splitting the ice around us as the spell Zane had cast began to take hold. Tiny roots sprang up between the cracks, growing at a fierce rate.

  More black energy poured from Zordon’s hands. The hand squeezed around my protection spell, sucking every last bit of energy that I had inside me.

  Pain ripped through me. I fought to send power into the earth spell while also fighting against his dark magic that desperately tried to break me down. I honed in on my energy, sensing its depletion, and tried to steady my thoughts and outflow of power.

  But I couldn’t stop it.

  The protection spell buckled under his strength as the hand closed in on the three of us, pulling every bit of magic we had. In a last-ditch effort, I took a bold step forward, refusing to bend to Zordon’s power.

  Zordon glared at me through the fog that surrounded him. His arms and neck flexed as he pushed his magic harder, causing my knees to give way. I caught myself with my hand, using the healing power from my amulet to help me stand back up.

  Bodies made of smoke and fog rose up from the ground, forming into skeletons under his command. What had risen was covered in ragged armor. There were too many for me to count, too many for us to take on alone.

  The smoky fingers closed around my body, squeezing and constricting me. I bit down on my cheek, the metallic taste of blood gushing into my mouth.

  “Attack,” Zordon bellowed, his form growing taller and taller with his power. The dead advanced on us, dragging smoking axes in their hands. With his mind, Fenn willed me to stand. I turned my head just enough to see him squirming against the hand closed around him.

  With a final thrust of power from our blessing, the thick roots burst through the ice, separating the ice between the risen dead and us. The surprise burst of earth energy overpowered the black magic. As vines and roots wrapped around the bodies of the dead, they vanished into dark wisps. The structure around us began to collapse, scattering ice everywhere.

  I looked past Fenn at Zane. His eyes were closed in concentration, his energy steadily pouring into the ground. He connected his energy to the blessing, and used it to push the roots towards Zordon. New tendrils shot up around his feet, wrapping and pulling him down.

  Zordon struggled against them, letting up on the smoky hand to focus his magic on burning the roots. With the release of the hand, Fenn and I joined in, willing the roots to grow. But we still weren’t strong enough to completely overthrow Zordon.

  The roots swirling up around his legs started to decay from his power, pulsing out through his pores. He threw his head back, laughing like a madman. “You fools!” he shouted, his voice sounding even deeper and darker.

  He slammed his fist into the ice, and a blast of energy followed, breaking up what little ice remained around us. We struggled to find something to hold on to, but there was nothing. Only water.

  He was going to win.

  The panic gushing through my veins was colder than the water sloshing around me. I struggled to find Fenn and Zane, but all I saw were blocks of ice and water.

  My mind froze up with the fear that they had drowned…the fear that Zordon had stolen them from me. I called out to Fenn in my head, only to find nothing. Silence.

  As I bobbed in the water, trying to find solid ground, a dark power from an outside source found me and spread throughout me. It felt like Zordon’s magic, only darker. A thought, an image, brushed my mind. A dark-skinned male with an arm wrapped lovingly around Irisi.

  Na’shir? The man nodded in the image, and sent me another thrust of power. The minute I tapped into his magic, the roots ferociously shot up, wrapping around Zordon’s entire being. I used my fists, commanding the roots to tighten.

  “Is that all you’ve got?” Zordon shouted, his eyes bulging as he feverishly yanked at the roots.

  I pulled myself up onto the small glacier that held Zordon. Na’shir pushed his m
agic into me, whispering ancient words into my mind.

  I rushed for Zordon who fought against the vines. For every handful he ripped away, another few bunches shot up, wrapping and pulling on him until he was on his knees. No matter what he did, it didn’t seem to be enough to combat against the magic.

  Maybe what Iliana had said about Zordon growing weaker from bending too many to his will was true because in that moment, he didn’t seem so untouchable.

  He looked up at me, a flicker of fear in his eyes. “You can’t—”

  I smirked and cut him off. “I can.”

  I punched him square in the nose, my fist surrounded by Na’shir’s toxic green magic. His head flailed back against the ice. The vial was already in my hands and open when he came back up shouting. I poured a little of the elixir into his mouth and slammed it shut. With every last drop of my energy, I pinched his nose together and held his mouth shut, waiting for him to swallow.

  As the liquid drained down his throat, I recognized the look in his eyes. Pure fear. We were truly one and the same now. Both mortal. Both dead set on killing each other.

  “Looks like you were wrong, Zordon,” I whispered in his ear. “You would never have made a good Fate. You took too many against their will, and it has left you weak. You would have withered into nothing. Would have been something like what you are now…a mere mortal.”

  He snapped at me, ferociously biting the air as I leapt up and flew to find Fenn and Zane. They stood on a floating piece of ice, watching in amazement and pride.

  The moment the elixir took full effect, Zordon’s scales retracted. He shrunk back to his normal size, and the vines, having completed their duty, rushed back into the earth as if they never were. The water around us began to freeze back over. It must have been enchanted.

  A soft, broken voice spoke from behind us. “What have you done?” Gwenevere cried out.