by Dreagen
“So, after all this time, you’ve all managed to make your way back,” DayKar said. “The AmaRanthine.”
“What are you talking about?” EeNox demanded. “None of this makes any sense!”
“Right you are, boy. Only the Doom Bringer was to have been resurrected. The rest of you were supposed to have remained dead!”
“You mean you knew about Rex this whole time?” ShinGaru asked.
“I’ve known a great deal more than that, you filthy ArisToky!” He powered up his flame and prepared to attack, when Rex charged forward, clearing the distance between them faster than anyone would have expected something his size could move. Rex locked his jaws around the DraGon’s neck, spun him over once, and sent him slamming into the ground.
Almost immediately, all the other remaining DraGons swooped in to aid their leader but were stopped by DayKar, who raised a single hand. “No,” he bellowed before once more regaining his composure. “Leave him to me. He is the culmination of something I set in motion long ago and vowed across the sea of time to see through.”
“What are you talking about?” said EeNox. “We’ve never met you before in our lives!”
“Not this one, no,” DayKar replied. “But I assure you, we were well acquainted in our previous one.”
Those words seemed to carry with them an unexpected weight that took everyone by surprise. DiNiya looked at her brother and the other three and could see they were just as lost as she was, while Rex just stared with burning intensity. However, it was the adults that seemed to look as if some terrible secret had just been revealed.
“Oh, let me guess—they never told you, did they? How pitiful, but then I suppose ignorance would be bliss in this case. Having to live in the shadow of who you all were would undoubtedly make for a difficult existence. Still, now the truth has been revealed and there is no undoing it, no forgetting the realization brought to light. But don’t worry—you won’t have to live with the weight of this reality. For the TyRanx is all I need to complete my mission. The rest of you are going straight back to the grave.”
With a nod to PeroDay, the other DraGon moved with blinding speed and was suddenly behind Rex, and struck him in the back of the head.
Rex immediately felt his body grow heavy as his flame seemingly vanished. PeroDay wasted no time in restraining him before turning back to DayKar. “He won’t be able to channel his flame for a period of time, but I urge you to be quick about this, brother. His power is already greater than we imagined, so we can’t be sure how long he will remain this way.”
“Very well,” DayKar replied as he slowly began to rise into the air with his body aglow with a great and powerful energy. Higher and higher he climbed, passing LemaRes and all the other DraGons.
“What’s he doing?” BaRone asked VyKia.
“Something we probably won’t live to regret letting him do if we don’t stop him now,” she replied without taking her eyes off the rising DraGon.
“Death was never something for you to defy,” DayKar said, spreading his arms out. “You have all been living on borrowed time from the moment you returned to the mortal coil.”
Everyone gazed up to the sky as all the other DraGons converged around their leader.
“I have a very bad feeling about this,” LyCora said.
“Why do I get the feeling he’s going to take another crack at all of us?” EeNox asked, backing up to join the others who had all gathered in a group.
DayKar’s whole body glowed as he angled his head directly up and began to breathe fire into a massive golden ball. All the other DraGons began breathing their own fire into it, causing it to grow in size until it nearly filled the sky. “Doom Bringer!” DayKar called over to Rex, who was being suspended in the air by PeroDay. “I want you to watch this, to know what it feels like to lose everything you hold dear while you stand by helpless to stop it.” With a malevolent smile, he turned his attention back on the others below and bared his teeth. “As for all of you: do us all a favor and stay dead this time!” With that, he let out a savage cry and launched the massive fireball down at them.
“That thing is going to destroy the entire mountain!” BaRone shouted.
“We need to get out of here,” VyKia said.
“No time! Our only hope is to stop that thing right here!”
“It’ll take everyone,” KyVina said. “But even then, there’s no guarantee!”
“Then we will die trying,” came a towering voice.
Everyone turned and saw VayRonx, VoRenna, and the rest of those who had stayed behind at the gates to regain their strength.
“VayRonx,” KyVina said, happy to see her mate back on his feet.
“Everyone prepare to counterstrike,” the alpha commanded.
Now everyone who was still above ground stood together and looked up at the terrifying sight of destruction inexorably coming down on them.
High above, Rex could feel his flame fighting to regain a hold in his body. The mere thought that he could not simply access it at will infuriated him, and he began to feel it surge its way back as a result.
PeroDay, who was still holding him, could feel him begin to stir in his grasp and quickly applied pressure in order to subdue him. “Stop that!” he ordered. “Believe me, you’re much better off up here with me than you are down there with them.”
“You won’t feel that way for long,” Rex said in a low voice.
“Huh? What are you going on about?” Before he could have even reacted, Rex reared his head back, overpowering the DraGon’s hold on him, and bit a large chunk of PeroDay’s lower jaw clean off. The DraGon howled in pain as Rex pushed off his body with his hind legs and went sailing to the ground where he landed with a heavy thud.
“No,” DayKar gasped upon seeing Rex’s escape before calling back up to the other DraGons. “We must stop the attack! Do not let it touch the ground!”
“Grand Marshal, it’s too late!” VorTak called back down. “What does it matter? Once it hits we can be rid of all of them once and for all!”
“You fool!” he bellowed. “Have you forgotten why we came here in the first place? Why it was so important that we took the TyRanx alive? Without him, all of this has been for naught! We need him alive, or our own lives will be forfeit!”
“I’m sorry, DayKar,” LemaRes said. “But he’s right. There is nothing we can do to stop it now short of sacrificing our own lives to do so!”
DayKar roared angrily before looking back down and feeling helpless as he watched all he had striven for prepare to vanish in a flash of light.
Back on the ground, Rex ran up to the others, who marveled at his powerfully muscular frame, which dwarfed even EeNox in size.
“Rex,” EeNox began. “Are you—?”
“We need to destroy that thing. Now!” Rex said in a commanding voice.
“How?” LyCora asked. “It’s too powerful for even our combined power to cancel out!”
“Then let’s kick it straight back into their teeth,” he replied with a low growl.
“Sounds good to me,” VayRonx declared as he turned his attention back to the encroaching giant ball of fire. “Everyone: on my word, send everything you have at that thing!” All those who were able gathered together and raised their hands up above them. “Now!” KaNar suddenly lit up with the hundreds of flames shooting up to the massive fireball that was now burning the tops of the mountains themselves. Their combined attacks succeeded in hitting it with great force but were quickly absorbed.
“It’s not working,” TyRoas yelled.
“Then push harder,” his older brother shouted in return.
“Everyone, give it everything you have,” VayRonx exclaimed. “Do not hold anything back! We stop this thing here and now or we die trying!” The entire village cried out furiously as their flames grew in width and power, and slowly began to halt the fireball’s decent.
“That’s it!” KyVina exclaimed.
“Don’t let up!” VayRonx added.
From high above, DayKar watched as the people of KaNar thwarted his efforts to destroy them, something that he never once thought would come as a relief for he knew it was now the only way to keep the key to his grand plan’s success from being destroyed. Much to his sense of dread, however, the ball of DraGons’ fire began to once again overtake that of those below, and was now burning its way down the rocky slopes straight towards his prize.
“Not good,” EeNox cried out. “This is not good!”
“It’s just not enough,” LyCora said, baring her teeth. “It’s too powerful!”
“It doesn’t matter,” DiNiya shouted back to her. “We still have to try!” She ran up to Rex, who regarded her with a look that seemed to almost be one of surprise, and wrapped her arms around his leg. “Take whatever you need, and use it to do as much as you can!”
With a puff of fire from his nostrils, Rex opened his jaws wide and fired off another blast. DiNiya held on tightly, almost burying her face in his feathered coat. She could feel all of his muscles tensing underneath as he strained to push harder, when suddenly she began to feel as if she was floating. Glancing down she saw that her feet were still firmly planted on the ground. But then what is this strange rising sensation? It was almost as if something inside of her was being lifted up and out of her and into Rex, whose power seemed to grow by the second. She began to feel dizzy, almost as if she could simply close her eyes and drift off in the warm glow emanating from…herself? DiNiya forced her eyes open as she looked down to see her whole body emitting a red glow. “What’s happening to me? Is this…my flame?” She had no time to ponder the question further, for no sooner had she seen it did she feel the intense heat from above. Now craning her head up, she saw only a brilliant golden light. Clutching Rex even more tightly, she called up to him. “Regardless of what happens, thank you for coming into my life!”
Rex glanced down at her with a glowing red eye and said, “Never say die.”
Suddenly she felt a massive surge, and this time her body actually lifted off the ground. She held on tight as gravity seemingly reversed around them, with rocks and other debris rising off the ground. She encircled her arms more tightly around his leg as he powered up with a blast of red flame.
Everyone was taken by surprise and turned to see them shrouded by crimson fury as Rex unleashed an even greater blast from his jaws.
“That’s it, Rex!” BaRone shouted proudly. “Follow the boy’s lead, everyone, and give these bastards hell!”
With that, all of KaNar poured into the streets and fired up at the massive burning orb. At first it seemed to have no effect, but soon it was stopped dead in its tracks.
“We’ve got it,” VayRonx said. “More! Give it more!”
Everyone increased their output of power, and soon the fireball’s trajectory reversed, slowly at first, but it soon picked up speed.
DayKar, who had feared all his hard work would be in vain, now furrowed his brow in concern at the sight of his own attack slowly coming back to him. “Oh, no,” he gasped.
“We’ve got him now!” KyVina shouted.
“Burn them out of the sky!” VayRonx roared.
With one final push from the whole tribe, the fireball was put into an upward momentum that showed no sign of slowing down. Above it, the DraGons went wide-eyed at the sight of their own attack burning through the sky towards them.
“N-no,” DayKar stammered as he backed up. He knew they could simply fly away, but the result of such a massive ball of flame exploding in the air would cause catastrophic effects, raining fire down for kilometers. “We cannot allow this world to fall to ruin, too, or everything truly will have been for nothing! Still…they’ll not be the death of me!” he roared angrily as he held out his hands in front of him, just as the ball collided with them. He gritted his teeth and let out an anguished growl as the flame began to sear his hands. “Damn it…no!” Harder and harder it pushed against him. “No. No!” Fire now engulfed his arms. “NO, NO, NOOO!” Then at last, it engulfed his entire body as well as the rest of the DraGons.
“Everyone concentrate on trying to cancel it out,” VoRenna shouted. “If it explodes now it will kill everything in the region!”
“You heard her,” VayRonx said. “Raise the power of your flames to full! Give it everything you have!”
The people of KaNar were now at their limit; the strain on their faces was evident. With one final unified push, their flames began to finally overtake the fireball.
“That’s it!” cried BaRone. “Look! It’s working!”
The ball began to reduce in size as the force exerted all around it compressed it down. Suddenly it began to flash brighter in its center before the light spread outward. With a deafening crack that echoed like thunder, it exploded in a brilliant flash of light that turned night into day, while what little energy they had not been able to overtake fell harmlessly as white light from the sky, like snow covering the mountains and forests in a type of ethereal glow before eventually fading.
“We did it,” VoRenna said.
“Yes,” replied VayRonx, looking down and taking in the extent of the devastation that had befallen their once peaceful home. “But it would seem it was not without cost.”
Everyone began to look around and take in the horrible sight that was the burning ruins of KaNar. Some began to sob and cry, while others just stared in solemn silence. They had managed to reduce the fireball’s destructive capabilities, but it seemed to all that the damage to their homes, and their lives, was already done.
DiNiya had closed her eyes during the final moments and had not loosened her hold on Rex. As the sound of chaos faded from the world around her, she slowly opened them and saw silver feathers gently flowing in the breeze. Pulling away, she let go of Rex, who regarded her with silence and intense eyes. She gazed into them, seeing the very same eyes she had peered into that first night he had awoken from a nightmare. The same eyes she lulled back to sleep with the song her mother had sung to her when she was born. Despite the claws, silver feathers, and fearsome serrated teeth, she still saw the same young man, she still saw Rex.
The two stood and looked at each other for another moment before sensing several others standing around them. Looking over, DiNiya saw her brother, LyCora, AnaSaya, and ShinGaru awkwardly gazing at them.
“Is everyone all right?” EeNox asked.
“Well, we’re alive,” LyCora answered.
“What…happened to us?” he asked, tilting his head back to regard himself.
“In the midst of everything I had forgotten,” AnaSaya replied, joining him in the inspection of their new forms.
“I had known that the specter of your origins might one day yield something truly incredible,” said VayRonx. “Still, I would have never imagined anything like this.”
“What are you talking about?” ShinGaru asked.
“There are secrets which we have kept from you. Truths we chose to conceal to protect all of you. But now it would seem that the danger we had hoped was gone forever walked amongst us all along.”
“KyGahl,” DiNiya said, solemnly looking down.
“What have you been keeping from us all our lives?” LyCora asked. “Why is this happening now?”
With what felt like stones in his heart, VayRonx turned to the conspicuously silent member of the five. “Because of him.”
Everyone turned and looked at Rex, who had been watching them all from off to the side. Suddenly, he began sniffing the air, drinking in the scent of something that only seemed obvious to him. Without warning, he spun around and fixed his gaze on a DraGon crawling away on the ground a dozen meters to the left. Baring his teeth, he cleared the distance between himself and his prey before locking his jaws on the back of the DraGon’s neck, effortlessly biting through and severing the head.
He then began pulling off the armor with his jaws and tearing off huge chunks of flesh, which he swallowed whole. Everyone watched in silent horror as the once lost boy, now turned ancient pr
edator, devoured a creature that only moments ago was causing death and destruction.
Shaking herself out of her state of shock, DiNiya stepped forward and called, “Rex.” The TyRanx did not react; rather, he continued to gorge himself. Moving closer, she tried again. “Rex, please…look at me!”
“Careful, DiNiya,” her father said, putting a hand on her shoulder and halting her from moving any closer. “We don’t know if it’s still…him.”
“He helped save KaNar,” she said, pulling free of his grasp. “Besides, who else would he be?” Moving closer, she could see the large and powerful muscles undulating beneath skin and feathers. While from afar he had appeared to have the silhouette of an average large theropod, up close she could see that he was in fact built somewhat differently; his body, while adopting the normal horizontal posture of a bipedal DyVorian, could rear up to a more vertical stance, giving him an eerily alien demeanor. In addition, his arms were long and possessed dexterous hands with opposable thumbs. Still, there was something in the way he moved that was almost hypnotic. How could such a large and deadly predator move with such grace? she wondered. Unable to take her eyes off him, she did not realize that she had moved closer than she had intended and was startled when he spun around and locked eyes with her. Immediately, she felt a fearsome pressure weighing down on her. “Rex, do you recognize me? You do…don’t you?”
Rex watched the strange, small creature approaching him. He could sense its fear, its apprehension, and yet it moved ever closer. Then, slowly, he felt his normal thoughts returning and his mind began to clear, like some dense fog was lifting. He looked around at the faces surrounding him. They were a mix of fear and confusion, like the ones he remembered back on Earth. The people there had always viewed him as something out of place, alien. It was in those moments that he never felt more alone. But this place was supposed to be different. These people were supposed to be better than the ones he left behind. Why is this happening to me again? Why can’t I get away from this? It was then that it all came back to him like a wave. Everything from the fight with Allison’s father to the one with the DraGon, and… “No,” Rex said as a deep, breathy gasp escaped his throat. “Father…”