Born of Fire: The Dawn of Legend

by Dreagen

  “How much more?” she asked in a soft voice.

  “That depends entirely on you, DiNiya,” DayKar replied, looking down at her.

  “Why are you doing this to me? Why do you keep submitting me to this torture?”

  “Torture?” he said, rearing his head back. “I have not harmed you once since you have arrived.”

  “I wouldn’t say that,” she replied, looking back down and holding herself tightly. “The things you say…the way you’ve been getting inside my head, hurts a great deal.” The DraGon’s lips curled back, revealing a sinister draconic smile as she continued, “And the worst part of it is…you enjoy it. Every moment of it.”

  “Now, now my dear. You make it sound as if I have done you some great disservice.”

  DiNiya looked pain-stricken by his words. “How can you just say that? Of course you have! You keep prying into places in my mind I don’t want you to go, and no matter how much I plead for you to stop, you continue! You just keep pushing deeper and deeper!” She grabbed her head and gritted her teeth. “And every time I cry out, I can feel you inside…laughing.”

  DayKar sat down on his haunches and encircled her with his huge wings. “Poor little DiNiya, always the victim. How tired you must be of playing this role for so long.” DiNiya regarded him with waterlogged eyes. “Have you not figured out just why you are here yet? Why you are waiting for him to come save you once again?” He bared his teeth and encircled them both in a ring of gold fire. “Again from me?”

  DiNiya felt her mind slipping, no, falling backwards. Her feet were still planted firmly beneath her, yet she could feel the rush of free fall. DayKar’s face seemed to change right before her yet remain the same. Rather, his features became more hardened, as if he was aging right in front of her. She watched as the sky around him changed into one of deep crimson and realized she was once again floating amongst the clouds as she had done so many times in her dreams. Yet she was wide-awake. Suddenly she heard a familiar sound beneath. Turning slowly, she saw the dark cloud in the shape of what she now knew to be a TyRanx rear up and roar, making the very air around her vibrate. It was at that moment that she felt herself suddenly rising up, like something was pushing her faster than she could comprehend. The wind now raced past her face and whipped through her fur. Out of the corner of her eyes she noticed tiny flashes of red, and the terrifying sight of DayKar as she rocketed towards him. There was a sudden flash, followed by a bellow, then only darkness. Slowly, she opened her eyes. The image was of the stone floor, now warm to the touch. She glanced down at her hands just as the faint red glow around them faded and disappeared. Left behind was a warm wet sensation that ran down over and in between her fingers. Holding her open hand up, she was horrified to see it was covered in blood.

  “At last,” came DayKar. “Progress.”

  Looking back up, DiNiya was shocked to see him holding the left side of his face, blood flowing from between his fingers. There was a small flash of golden light, and the blood flow ceased. Then pulling his bloody hand away, he held it out for her to see. DiNiya regarded him solemnly before looking back down at herself and realized she was, in fact, covered in blood. “Wha…what did I do?” she stammered as she took two staggering steps backwards.

  “You allowed yourself to let go, if only for a moment, but you did it nonetheless! I knew you had the power in you. After all, I was once quite well acquainted with it.”

  “I…don’t understand,” she replied, feeling lightheaded.

  “Of course you do, DiNiya,” he said, catching her in his hand as she fell, gently cradling her. “You have always understood. All your life you have moved through it, seemingly always one step removed. Never fully being able to savor its taste, never being able to truly feel the warmth of its touch. You, like I, have always known there was a mirror image of yourself. We are more alike than you allow yourself to believe.”

  “You’re mad,” she said, trying to push herself off him but feeling his voice take hold of her mind and keep her from fighting back. “We are nothing alike! Nothing!”

  “Then tell me, DiNiya, why is it that I know that the reflection you see in the mirror is a false one to you?” Her eyes went wide as a gasp escaped her lips. “That to even look at it evokes something restless inside, something that you can feel moving just behind your eyes. Something…” he paused for a moment. “Something hating you for keeping it at bay for so long, for denying it the heat of the sun on its skin and the wind beneath its wings.” He shook his head and refocused his gaze on DiNiya. “Yes, we are indeed so very much alike, except for one thing.” He abruptly raised her high off the ground and brought her close to his face. “Unlike you, I have embraced the past, for it is the past that defines who we are today! Now it is time you come to terms with who it is that resides in you! What it means to be of old flame born of new flesh. It is time you acknowledged your true nature, AmaRanthine!”

  DiNiya was suddenly struck by the sound of a young boy screaming. Instantly, she grabbed the sides of her head and opened her mouth to cry out, only no sound came. She felt as if her very breath had been pulled from her lungs. Louder and louder the boy’s screams grew until it was as if he was right inside her head, screaming through her.

  “You’re just one step away,” DayKar said. “One step away from shedding this burden you’ve carried with you for so long. All you have to do is face the memory of that day. Do it, DiNiya.”

  “No…” she whimpered.

  “DO IT!”

  “NOOO!” she wailed, rearing back as the faint, fiery shape of a dark, unknown creature rose from her with a roar, jaws bared, before vanishing just as quickly as it came. DayKar set her down and watched her, head down with her long fur draped over her face and swaying gently in the breeze. With the sudden glimpse of the young girl’s inner nature, DayKar found himself taken aback. He regarded her for a long moment, watching her stand still except for the slow yet heavy rise and fall of her chest as she took every breath like she was clinging to life through them. Slowly he lowered his head towards her, when she suddenly shot him a glare with one burning red eye appearing through the veil of auburn fur that concealed the rest of her face. Slowly, he rose back up, not taking his eyes off her.

  DiNiya could feel something so dangerously furious burning its way out of her, that for a moment she feared it would tear its way out. It’s the same feeling I felt that day. She exhaled a misty red vapor. I forgot how good this feels.

  DayKar could almost see the two pair of larger eyes emanating from her, staring at him with a savage intent. Then the fiery glow in them faded as a gust of wind blew the fur out of her face, revealing a frightened girl. Sounding like a proud father, DayKar spoke lovingly to the clearly shaken girl. “Ahh, I knew you were in there. Now if I can only coax you out of hiding, we can at long last pick up where we left off.”

  VayRonx had successfully picked up the scent of their quarry several kilometers back and had been leading the others at double the speed in hopes of being able to catch up with them.

  “VayRonx, can you tell how long ago they passed through here?” VyKia asked.

  “It has been a day or more at least,” he replied, lowering his head slightly to take in more of the scent.

  “That’s not as close as I was hoping to hear.”

  “Be happy we managed to pick up the trail at all,” said NyRo. “There’s so much wild country between here and the tower that they could have traversed anywhere.”

  “Possibly, but not likely,” VayRonx said, glancing back. “Don’t forget LyCora is with them. She has traveled far more than the others, so she would know where all the settlements along the way would be. Isn’t that right, VoRenna?”

  VoRenna sighed. “I never thought I would find myself the victim of my own success.”

  Everyone else laughed for the first time in a long while. Since the attack, morale had been low, but that did not stop them or anyone else from pressing on an effort to rebuild their lives.

 
“It’s a funny thought,” said TarFor with a chuckle. “Those composing their merry little band: a blue, green, lavender, gold, and even red flame. I’m starting to hope we find them soon so they can protect us.”

  “It’s true they have grown into fine young warriors,” said VyKia. “Still, they have much to learn.”

  “In light of recent events, it would seem that’s true of us all,” VayRonx declared.

  “We have worked so long and hard to keep them safe from the truth, and in the end it found them anyway,” VoRenna said. “Perhaps we should have just reared them with it.”

  “To what point and purpose?” asked BaRone.

  “To prepare them for all of this.”

  “As if someone could be prepared for such a thing,” TarFor scoffed. “None of us could have known that the events of that day in ClyVen would reach so far ahead of us.”

  “And yet it has,” interjected VayRonx.

  “There was no way for you to have known, VayRonx,” BaRone said sympathetically. “No way for any of us to know.”

  “Perhaps, but the burden of guilt still weighs heavy on my head all the same, for I have to consider that any other choice of action on my part could have perhaps in some small way altered the course of events.”

  “VayRonx, I understand how you feel,” said VoRenna. “We all do, but mighty as you are, not even you can stop the approach of an oncoming storm.”

  “Difficult words for any leader to accept,” he said with a sigh. “Still, you are not wrong. Now we must do everything we can to halt what approaches and threatens our children.”

  A low, bellowing call from far off to the right grabbed their attention.

  “Sounds like a KarVora,” said NyRo.

  “There’s a herd just up ahead,” said VayRonx. “I picked up their scent further back.”

  “Do you think it’s the one led by the bull that RemoKy told us about?”

  “Possibly.”

  “How long has it been since you had yourself a proper battle?” TarFor asked with a grin.

  The alpha glanced back, giving him a wary look, to which the man’s smile broadened. Annoyed with her brother’s taunts, VyKia shot a flicker of flame at the back of his head, causing him to shriek to everyone’s amusement.

  “You daft woman!” he cried.

  “Serves you right for teasing him like that,” she said, leaning forward.

  “Remind me again which group is the one made of children?” VoRenna mused.

  “I get the feeling their group dynamic is probably one of greater maturity compared to ours,” VayRonx added with a hearty laugh.

  “Not with EeNox and LyCora,” TarFor said. “Those two traveling together is a recipe for the complete deconstruction of any form of tranquility!” Everyone laughed heartily. “Hey, VoRenna, that girl of yours has already passed the age of her first season. Has she expressed any interest in a mate?”

  “No, and despite numerous hopeful young men and women, I suspect she will probably wait until her second before she does,” VoRenna said with a sigh.

  “You sound disappointed,” BaRone noted.

  “I am a little.”

  “But it’s quite common these days for girls to wait a season or even two before starting a family,” said VyKia.

  “True, but she’s so closed off and detached that I fear she may never truly learn how to open up to someone else who could love her like only a mate can. I don’t want her to have to be alone like I have been since I lost my mate.” She could feel her heart sink with every pervasive memory from her youth pushing its way to the forefront of her mind, making her feel the sting of old wounds. With great effort, she forced those undesired memories back down in the unseen places of her heart.

  “You’ve done a fine job at raising her, VoRenna,” VyKia said sympathetically, placing a hand on the side of her neck. “It wasn’t easy, not for any of us, but we managed all the same.”

  “I only wish I had been able to do half as good a job as you did with AnaSaya,” she said, turning her eyes up to her.

  “Don’t give me too much credit,” KyVina said, leaning back. “Sweet as that girl is, she is completely lost in any sort of real social setting. Something I know is my fault for hiding her away from the world the way I did.”

  “We all did what we felt was right by them,” BaRone said. “None of us really knew what we were doing, in the end.”

  “But you’ve done the best job out of all of us, BaRone,” VyKia said. “DiNiya and EeNox are pillars of good nature and maturity. You should be proud.”

  “Oh, I am,” he said with a mocking grin. “But of them, not me. It wasn’t easy, raising two children on my own, and yes, I knew I always had the full support of the tribe, it still wasn’t the same without her there.” He looked down, his face burdened with a solemn expression.

  “SeroFiya would be proud of you.” TarFor said. “You’ve done a fine job with those two.”

  “Oh, yes,” he replied sarcastically. “One is completely phobic of any real responsibility, while the other was emotionally scarred so terribly that she can no longer ignite her flame; a fine job, indeed. I don’t even know what I’m doing half the time.”

  “No parent does,” VayRonx said. “Only so much of it is instinct. The rest you have to learn as you go and hope you can pick it up fast enough to stay ahead of them before they eventually surpass you. It’s a breakneck pace that slows for no one.”

  “Well, you would know, old friend,” BaRone said, smiling down at him. “You raised three fine children who have all grown into strong leaders in their own right.”

  “Yes, but in leading up to those illustrious statuses were many arguments and sleepless nights, battling them constantly as they pushed for more freedom while you just try to make them understand that all that they deem oppressive on your part is just an effort to keep them safe. All the while you laugh at yourself from the inside at the futility of trying to explain that very notion to them when you yourself were just as foolhardy and prone to rebel against anything established when you were that age. But like with any storm, if you dig your claws in and stand firm, you will have weathered it and be better able to predict the next one.” Everyone regarded him with silent respect, for once again, the titanic carnivore had reminded them why he had been made alpha of KaNar. His sheer might was rivaled only by his wisdom, something that brought peace of mind to most who were fortunate enough to hear it. “We were always honest, which is why in the end they always knew they could trust us and our judgment. But with those six, well…trust is a hard thing to earn back. I only hope we are rewarded with the opportunity to do so.”

  “We will,” VyKia said with a smile. “They’re our children, after all.”

  A glow of resolution returned in VayRonx’s eyes as he raised his head up high once again. “Thank you.”

  “Of course,” she said, smiling warmly in turn.

  Their moment of renewed conviction was short-lived, for no sooner had they found themselves reinvigorated then they heard the sound of heavy oncoming footfalls. VayRonx turned just in time to see two green flaming horns charging towards him.

  In the blink of an eye, he tossed BaRone off, who was caught by TarFor and thrust on NyRo behind him, just as VayRonx dropped his head and collided with that of the KarVora. Despite his immense bulk, he skidded several meters back until he dug his claws into the ground, bringing he and his attacker to a grinding halt. Flexing his leg muscles to anchor himself in the soil, VayRonx let out a deep growl and burst into flame, sending the bull tumbling back. “What is the meaning of this?”

  “As if you have to ask, TarBoranx,” the bull said, righting himself back onto his feet and making another charge.

  This time VayRonx barely managed to sidestep out of the way, but not before the bull managed to graze his right thigh with one of his two-meter-long horns. Glancing down at his leg, he felt rage boiling in his veins but knew he was dealing with a dangerous adversary that, if not careful, could prove fatal. S
till, he was far from concerned about the prospect of defeat. The two mighty DyVorians circled each other, sizing each other up and looking for the opportune moment to strike.

  “You’re a bit away from home,” the bull said, snorting flame.

  “We’re merely travelers passing through,” VayRonx replied in a tone that suggested he would rather resolve the matter without further bloodshed.

  “Is that right?”

  “It is, indeed. Now stand down!”

  “You dare order me in my own territory, TarBoranx? For that alone, I will impale you where you stand!” The bull lunged forward as VayRonx jumped to the side and brought his enormous jaws down on his back, causing his adversary to let out a bleating cry as he struggled to break free. However, a TarBoranx’s most powerful killing tool is its jaws, known for being almost impossible to be free of once they had you.

  The bull winced as he felt the large round teeth push into his back. Damn it, he thought. I only have another few seconds before this bastard severs my spine! Suddenly, VayRonx unknowingly brought his right leg into reach of the bull’s horns. Seizing the opportunity, he jutted his head to the right and drove the tip of his horn into his enemy’s calf; VayRonx immediately released his vice-like grip and threw his head in the air, roaring in pain. Not wasting a moment of the sudden shift in tactical advantage, the bull reared up and rammed the side of his body full force into the big carnivore, sending him toppling down.

  “VayRonx,” BaRone cried. “VoRenna, NyRo, quick, you have to do something!”

  The two of them ignited their flames and prepared to rush in when VayRonx’s voice rung out, “No! This fight is mine!”

  “This fight is over!” the bull yelled defiantly as he arched his head to the side and brought his horn rushing down at VayRonx.

  Seeing he had but a heartbeat’s worth of time to react, VayRonx caught the bull under the jaw with his foot, and with an incredible display of strength and speed, pushed him up vertically and locked his jaws around his throat.

  “You’ve got him!” TarFor yelled, thrusting a fist in the air.