Born of Fire: The Dawn of Legend

by Dreagen

  “Get ready,” KySer called up to BaRone, who was already standing up on his back and preparing to leap.

  The DraGon, flushed with bloodlust and the thrill of the prospect of a stand-up fight, curled back her lips and revealed her numerous dagger-shaped teeth. The gap between them shrank and shrank, until it looked as if they would collide in midair, when BaRone suddenly jumped off KySer, who jarringly reared back, coming to a dead stop. Before the DraGon had a chance to react, BaRone had brought a flaming, over-the-head roundhouse kick down on her skull, driving her under KySer and causing her to collide into a tree, where she scrambled desperately to get a grip.

  BaRone, having delivered the first decisive blow, wasted no time in climbing behind her head, grabbing hold of one of her horns that protruded from the top of her skull with his right hand, and striking her at the base of her skull repeatedly. The DraGon, although somewhat disoriented by the repeated blows to the head, managed to dig her claws into the bark of the tree and stop herself from falling farther. Desperate to get her unwanted passenger off, she tried to unleash her flame to cook him alive, but to her great horror was unable to ignite it. KySer buzzed her multiple times in an effort to distract and disorient her. Using this to his continued advantage, BaRone gritted his teeth and tightened his grip around her horn, his right bicep flexing and bulging, until he snapped the horn off.

  The DraGon roared in rage and pain as she refocused all her attention on the enemy clinging to the back of her head. “Damn you,” she bellowed as pain seared down through the broken stump of her horn and into her head. “I will kill you and all who have laid eyes upon you!”

  But before she could reach back to grab him, seeing a gap in her focus, KySer shot down with great speed and drove his beak into the top of her jaw, just as BaRone drove the severed portion of the horn he was holding through the back of her head. In a moment, all the rage and fight in her eyes vanished as they rolled back in her head. Her grip on the tree disappeared, and with what could have almost been described as grace, she fell lifelessly backwards, down to the forest floor.

  BaRone pushed off her just as KySer did a fly by and landed squarely back in his previous position on his back. “Well done,” KySer said, clearing the canopy and soaring over the treetops back towards the main battle.

  “Sure,” BaRone replied. “We managed to take down one. How many of our people have they killed?” The two felt a somber drop in the pit of their stomachs as they flew back to the heart of the battle.

  LyCora and AnaSaya had been fortunate that the majority of the fighting had been behind them, meaning there was little to nothing to slow them down on their way there. LyCora was surprised to find herself having difficulty keeping pace with AnaSaya, who was continuously slowing down so she could catch up. She had been less than pleased with being paired with this strange, seemingly absentminded girl, who besides possessing an admittedly superior healing ability was probably better suited to cowering with the rest of those who were not able to put up enough of a fight. Looks like I’m on my own, as usual, she thought, glaring over to the lavender-eyed girl, who seemed too focused on the path ahead to take notice.

  AnaSaya was still feeling disheartened by LyCora’s comments from before but had chosen not to let them impede her in aiding KaNar in any way she could. This, after all, was bigger than her wounded sensibilities, and just as she’d always done, she had put them aside for the usefulness of her abilities. I will prove that I’m not useless.

  The forest, while very open, could surprisingly conceal many of its massive occupants. Something that worked against them, for no sooner did they round one of the massive trees than they found themselves jumping to either side to dodge a golden fireball that exploded against one of the large tree trunks.

  The sound of cracking wood echoed throughout the forest, triggering the girls to look back in unison and see the tree slowly come down, picking up speed as it approached the forest floor. Both girls leaped to their feet and ran to the right just as the massive redwood crashed down behind them, shaking the forest beneath it.

  “And you were worried we’d gotten the boring job,” LyCora said, looking over to AnaSaya, who frowned. Their attention was grabbed by two dark shadows that swooped low over them through the canopy under the moonlight. “We’ve got company,” she said, pointing up to a dark mass that perched itself on a branch thirty meters above them. The girls watched as a pale DraGon only slightly smaller than a TarBoranx pulled his wings back and shifted his weight on the branch. Cocking his head to the side, the DraGon peered down at them with what looked like curiosity, while the sounds of roars and battle rang out through the forest.

  “Why doesn’t he just attack?” AnaSaya asked.

  “Best not to give him any ideas,” LyCora fired back at her in a mortified tone.

  “As if I needed to take suggestions from the likes of you two,” the DraGon said as if somehow offended by the prospect.

  “Who are you?” LyCora demanded.

  “And why are you attacking our people?” AnaSaya followed.

  The DraGon unleashed bolts of electricity from its wings, sending the girls scrambling in opposite directions. “Do not presume to think I have to explain myself to you,” he roared angrily.

  “So, what, we’re supposed to just lie down and die while you burn our home to the ground?” LyCora called out from behind a tree.

  “If you would be so inclined,” the DraGon replied, then with lightning speed, thrust his head forward and blanketed the surrounding area in fire, driving both girls from their hiding places and sending them running frantically in all directions as they desperately tried to avoid the flames.

  “Hey, am I going crazy or are these flames actually following us?” LyCora called out to AnaSaya as she ran partly up the side of a tree and back flipped off to avoid the flames that rose up after her.

  AnaSaya, who was also having difficulty outrunning the lapping flames, said, “It’s like they’re alive!”

  The DraGon bellowed with laughter as he watched the two girls run and jump to and fro in a desperate effort to avoid being burned alive. “That’s it, girls, keep it up! You’re making this much more enjoyable than I had expected!”

  “I’m starting to think he’s some sort of sadist,” AnaSaya said as she stopped next to LyCora for a moment to catch her breath.

  “Wow, really? But the other ones seemed so nice,” LyCora replied angrily with fierce sarcasm.

  “No time to rest, ladies,” the DraGon said as the flames rose high above them like the necks of two BorMax. “The fun has just begun!”

  “Is that what this is supposed to be?” LyCora retorted.

  “I’m thoroughly enjoying myself,” he said before the towering pillars of flame came racing towards them. Both girls powered up their own flames to their max and prepared to receive the full brunt of the attack, knowing it was pointless to keep running.

  “Don’t you dare run,” LyCora said.

  “I’m not going anywhere,” AnaSaya replied before the flames were suddenly intercepted by a blast from a green fireball.

  Both the girls and the DraGon whipped their heads in the direction it had come from and saw two glowing eyes of the same color emerging out of the smoky forest.

  “Whoever you are, I think you’re going to find that getting in the way of my good time was very ill-advised,” the DraGon said as fire rose from his eyes.

  “Funny,” came the calm and stoic voice of TolNy, who was covered in fresh battle scars. He parted the flames as he spoke and emerged in full view like some ghostly apparition. “I just ran into one of your cohorts who said something similar. That was, of course, before I crushed his spine in three places.”

  There was a noticeable shift in the DraGon’s demeanor now as his voice grew low, devoid of sarcasm and wit. “Well, then, I suppose I will have to be better at keeping my promises than he was.”

  “From what I’ve seen, none of you are good at keeping promises,” TolNy replied, now clear
ly infuriating his enemy.

  “Then allow me to redeem us in your eyes.” The fire suddenly came together into the form of another DraGon to everyone’s great shock.

  “How did he do that?” AnaSaya asked in surprise. “Only a blue flame can take the shape of its wielder!”

  “I don’t think that’s changed,” LyCora replied.

  “What do you mean?”

  “This whole time we thought we’ve been fighting only one enemy, but I remember seeing two shadows when we were first attacked!”

  AnaSaya thought back to the initial explosion and how she had tucked and rolled behind a large root just as the light of the moons directly above her was darkened briefly—twice. She had suspected two assailants, but upon seeing only one DraGon, had just assumed he’d done two quick flybys.

  “Maybe I’m crazy, but I don’t think it’s been him we’ve been fighting this whole time.”

  “Oh, no, my dear,” TolNy interjected as the large spikes on the end of his tail became covered in fire. “You’re not crazy at all.” He whipped around with blinding speed, driving his spikes into the golden flaming DraGon and pushing out another made of blue flame, which quickly vanished, revealing one made of flesh and blood beneath.

  “There really was a second,” AnaSaya exclaimed.

  “I knew it,” LyCora added.

  “Apparently these two were not confident in their ability to survive an upfront fight,” TolNy explained as the blue-flamed DraGon rose to his feet and growled menacingly at the old StyNovora, who seemed undeterred by the threat display. “So they combined their strengths to make you feel as if you were fighting one extremely powerful opponent. A rather clever strategy, albeit cowardly.”

  “You seem to have a bold tongue, DyVorian,” the blue-flamed DraGon hissed. “I’ll take great pleasure in ripping it out.”

  “Now there you go again,” TolNy mused. “Making promises you can’t keep.” Both DraGons let out savage cries before charging towards him.

  “Look out,” AnaSaya cried, but no sooner had the words escaped her lips than she found herself dropping instinctively as the two DraGons were sent flying over her head and crashing into several large trees. The girls glanced back and saw the flame diminishing from TolNy’s tail as he brought it straight back to its resting position, balanced off the ground behind him. “I didn’t even see him move,” she said, awestruck. “Did you?”

  LyCora glanced over at her with a bewildered expression and said in flat voice, “No…I missed it myself.”

  “Girls, I would suggest getting behind me much sooner than later,” TolNy said. He flexed the muscles in his tail, and it began to sway behind him.

  As if on cue, the two DraGons rocketed forward in a burst of gold and blue on a direct course for the three of them. The two girls jumped to either side of TolNy, and all of them together fired blast after blast of flame at the oncoming attackers, who dodged and weaved to avoid them.

  “Damn it, they’re too quick!” AnaSaya exclaimed.

  “So shoot quicker,” LyCora replied as she took a deep breath and began rapidly throwing fist-size balls of fire, which succeeded in blowing holes in the trunks of the trees but still failed to hit their designated targets.

  The body of the DraGon, which was almost on top of them, became completely engulfed in flame and burned right through every tree between them.

  TolNy stopped firing to engulf his body with his own flame. “Quickly, feed your flames into mine!”

  “What?” LyCora asked with a look of confusion. “What are you going—?”

  “Just do it!” he bellowed.

  Both girls looked at each other then jumped back, raising their hands up in front of them. With a noticeable push, fire flowed from them into TolNy, whose own flame now churned with green, blue, and lavender. The DraGons were forty meters away and approaching rapidly. Both girls glanced over and saw that they no longer had time to run, and they met each other’s eyes with looks that betrayed their courage with a shared notion of defeat.

  TolNy let out a mighty, bellowing call that felt like it shook the very world around them. All his muscles tightened and doubled in size as he sent out an enormous blast of fire that was so bright it momentarily turned night into day. Both LyCora and AnaSaya turned away and shielded their eyes as they felt the massive release of raw energy fill their bodies and make them feel as if they were floating above the ground. It was a power so great that it both terrified and struck them with a sense of awe. Some thirty seconds or so later, they could see the blinding flash of light diminish then disappear from behind their closed eyelids, prompting them to venture a glance. At first they saw only each other staring back. Upon scanning their surroundings, however, which were now so quiet that it would have been hard for anyone to believe they were under attack, did they finally see the full extent of TolNy’s last-ditch attempt to save their lives.

  Standing no more than ten meters in front of them, the old warrior breathed heavily, his sides slowly expanding outward then collapsing back in. Ahead of him, where there had once been forest, was now a burnt expanse covered with acrid smoke that stretched twenty meters across and went back at least a hundred. Both girls slowly rose to their feet and took tentative steps up to his side.

  “The forest,” AnaSaya said in a subdued voice. “It…it’s hurt.”

  “What did we do?” LyCora stammered as she gazed out at the horrific scene before them.

  “The two of you did nothing,” he said as if sensing what it was they were both feeling. “The burden is mine alone to carry,” TolNy spoke up without so much as glancing at either one of them. Instead, he continued to stare in front of himself as if awaiting some confirmation that would justify the level of destruction he had perpetrated. Suddenly he collapsed and began breathing more laboriously.

  “TolNy, what’s wrong?” AnaSaya asked frantically.

  “I think I may have overdone it with that last attack. My body is barely holding itself together.”

  “I can heal you!”

  “I’m afraid this is a bit out of your league.”

  “I have to try!”

  “No time.”

  “Wha…what do you mean?”

  “AnaSaya,” LyCora said in a tone that instinctively told her they were not out of danger just yet.

  She stood up and turned to join the other girl, who was staring straight ahead at the decimated path of the blast, which had now almost completely cleared of smoke.

  “No,” AnaSaya whispered as she broke into a cold sweat.

  Standing on either side of the blast zone, just out of its reach, were both DraGons. The two of them seemed frozen in place, stunned. Both girls were wondering how they had miraculously managed to avoid the blast when they noticed their sides next to the scorched ground were badly charred and looked to be incapable of use.

  “You…son of a…bitch,” the pale DraGon stammered as he tried to fight through the noticeable shock he was suffering.

  “I’m going to r-rip out all f-four of those spikes,” said the other with a stutter. “Jam one in each eye, shove the third down your throat, and use the fourth to carve your heart out!” With that, he charged forward but found it difficult to keep balance as his entire right side was engulfed in pain.

  Seeing this, LyCora shot a blast that hit him squarely in his right knee, causing him to buckle and fall. The DraGon screamed in agony while LyCora wasted no time in following up her first attack. She dropped to one knee and placed both open hands on the ground. Seconds later, tree roots erupted from the soil beneath the wounded DraGon and ensnared him.

  “What are you doing?” AnaSaya asked as she watched the DraGon gasp for breath.

  “What’s it look like, you fool?” LyCora fired angrily without breaking her concentration.

  “VayMon, no!” the other DraGon called out as he shook off the shock and ran towards his comrade.

  “Oh, shit,” LyCora said as her eyes went wide at the sight of the enraged, wounded DraGon coming
for her. “AnaSaya, take him out!”

  “What?” AnaSaya cried out as she looked from LyCora to the DraGon, who was now blind with the single-minded focus of killing the young blue flame.

  “Kill him!”

  “Wha…I c-can’t!” AnaSaya stammered.

  “Damn it, you have to! I can’t use my flame to attack without letting go of this one,” she said, turning back to the DraGon she had trapped only a meter away from her face. The beast gasped for air while still trying to get her with a single outstretched hand.

  “You don’t understand,” AnaSaya insisted. “I…I just can’t!” Her emotions were swirling tumultuously within her. She had always been taught to never take the life of another aside from hunting to live for fear of the true nature of her flame overtaking her. It was a dark secret that only her mother and she knew. If she willed herself to kill, she feared it would be unlocking something she would never again be able to restrain. It was for this reason that she now found herself incapable of doing what she needed to, and realized that her mother had been right in begging her not to follow the others into battle. Mother. I’m so sorry for not listening.

  The DraGon was now nearly upon LyCora, who looked genuinely terrified, tears falling from her eyes. “Damn it, AnaSaya! Please!” But it was too late, before AnaSaya could have even replied the DraGon opened it jaws wide and brought them down on the girl, who closed her eyes at the last second. This is it, she thought, when suddenly there was a flash of light…

  Opening her eyes, LyCora saw the DraGon she had ensnared still trapped and glaring down at her with the one eye he could angle in his bound position. Looking over, she saw AnaSaya staring behind her. It was then LyCora glanced back and saw TolNy, smoke rising from his body as he shakily rose to his feet. Ahead, the other DraGon who was crippled and broken against the base of a tree twitched as he tried to move with his now broken back. TolNy, despite being in incredible pain, limped his way over to his enemy, where he stood over him.

  “Y…you,” the half-dead beast said in a raspy, barely audible voice. “You won’t win…in the end. We…we are but…the beginning. We will claim…that which has always been ours.”