by Scott Toney
Nova Blaze
Alexander stood his ground in front of the castle doors, looking out at the inferno consuming the forests. Those flames are mine, he thought. That destruction is mine. He breathed in the smoky air and tried to use it to cool down his body. They know what I am. He watched the mercenaries lumbering toward him. Half of their number lay dead in the market place, their bodies burned down to ash and coals.
“Let us pass, dragon!” a giant man called to him, a sword in each of his hands. The man threatened but did not approach. Surely they knew that he would kill them if they came near.
“Go back to your lands! Or go to Havilah, to your new king! But you are not welcome here! You will die if you come to me!”
“Is that ssso?” A man emerged from their number. His skin was crimson and horns stretched from his forehead toward the sky. The man walked toward him, a sword clenched in his fist. “I’d like to see thisss.”
“Even you cannot pass.” Alexander stepped forward and stretched his wings. His muscles burned. The fire was igniting within him.
The crimson man stopped feet away from him. “Kill me if you can. Or die at my hands. Your God cannot save you.” The man lifted his blade.
God’s will shall prevail, Alexander thought, opening his mouth and feeling fire sear his throat as a blast of flame burst from his mouth and consumed the man.
The flames seared the red man’s skin and boils burst upon his flesh but he only grinned. “All you do is make me more powerful, dragon.” His skin radiated a deep orange and white glow, flickering and almost blinding Alexander. “Now feel my wrath.” Talons stretched from the man’s fingers and he dropped his sword. “Death comes for you!”
Be with me, Lord, Alexander thought as his flames intensified.
The horned man’s body burned white-hot as Alexander’s flames beat against him, flesh peeling from his form. He held his taloned hands before him and slowly walked through the inferno, then leapt at Alexander with his claws outstretched.
“You will not prevail.” Alexander lifted his paw, driving the horned mercenary to the ground and pinning him against it. “Leave from here. This is not your place.” He could feel the hatred and strength in the man pulsing through him. His heart raced as the man’s talons dug through his scales. Was he to die here? What more could he have done? “No!” the dragon roared.
Suddenly the man beneath his paw quaked, his body pulsing with light and fire. His talons withdrew from Alexander’s scales. “I will be back. I will never die,” he spoke in a rasp.
“But you will never be greater than Him.” Fire consumed Alexander’s sight as the man burst into white-hot nova flame. Alexander was blinded by light. His irises burned and all breath was pushed from his lungs as inferno left his lips and consumed all in its wake.
Long moments passed as Alexander wrestled in his mind to see, to feel the world about him. Heat and pain consumed his chest.
Suddenly he was back. His eyes opened to smoke consuming the air, writhing about him. The mercenary army was gone. Have I killed them? he thought. It’s more likely that he’s carried them away. He watched the forest blazing in the distance. He listened to the crackle of its flame and the sounds of foliage crashing to the ground.
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