The Fire Within

by Nicholas Clausen

  Gerian thought she saw some of the shutters on one of the houses close as they passed by. It made sense that all the cities inhabitants would be hiding in their homes. Hiding from Gerian and her horde.

  She smiled and shouted into the rain, letting the water run off her helmet.

  She had invaded Celestial City, and she had made it through the walls.

  Her father would be proud of her.

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  The sounds of their mounts and their enthusiastic cheers echoed off the buildings as they surged through the city streets. They seemed too straight, the roads. Every house seemed to be perfectly placed and perfectly built.

  Gerian couldn’t understand who would want to live like this. The rain was washing off the soot and ash from their war machines. It looked like the buildings were bleeding black blood into the streets, but their mounts seemed not to care. Water pooled up and splashed around them, with more rain falling everything was soaked.

  Water beaded off the Utahnen and drenched the shadow cats. Their fur clumped together, and no matter how much they tried to shake the water off, there was more falling down on them.

  It unnerved Gerian how organized the city looked and how vacant it was. There wasn’t a single window open, no one was trying to catch a peek at the invading army. Gerian had an odd feeling about everything, but she couldn’t slow down and think about it. Not when they were so close to the end.

  The Metallic Pyramid continued to grow before them as they neared, they crossed a bridge that forced them to funnel in together. The city seemed dead and empty as if all the people had run and hidden, knowing they were coming. As they neared the pyramid, Gerian couldn’t help but think it was just too big, it was a fake mountain, and it just didn’t seem natural. It didn’t fit with the rest of Arvain.

  The giant doors of the pyramid were still open, the ones the bigger dragons had crawled out of. They had emerged like wasps coming out of their nest as the rain had fallen. She was unsure what was waiting for them in the pyramid, but it seemed the Metallic Nation was not willing or unable to stop them.

  “Faster!” Gerian yelled as the dark thoughts tried to creep their way into her mind. She knew that she couldn’t doubt herself, not after getting this far.

  She knew that, and still, she doubted. Her father had been sure, and it had cost him his life, against the same monsters Gerian found herself faced up against.

  She cracked the reins, and her Utahnen used its thick rear legs to pull further ahead of the group. She had been the first of her people to enter the city. As they followed the path that led them to the base of the pyramid, the same path Hayden had taken to start his trials, she was the first to enter the Metallic Pyramid. Her cavalry close behind her.

  As they entered the giant tunnels that snaked their way through the pyramid, the rain stopped, and Gerian felt the need to slow down. There were no torches lit, and still no humans walking around.

  Just like the rest of the city, the Metallic Pyramid seemed abandoned and empty with all the dragons gone. The soldiers kept their mounts moving at a slow, steady pace. She thought she could hear the shouts of the ground troops crossing the bridge outside the pyramid, but she didn’t concern herself with that.

  This was there victory, their moment.

  “Where do we go?” The Bone Thief asked. Even in the presence of their enemy, the Bone Thief showed no emotion, no fear.

  “We keep to the main tunnel until we find someone that knows where the throne room is,” Gerian explained.

  “The throne room?” The Bone Thief asked.

  “We are going after Elizabeth,” Gerian explained as her Utahnen shook its mighty flanks and growled into the darkness before them. They continued riding down the tunnels, and Gerian learned that she didn’t mind the shadow cats.

  They were almost silent even on the metal floors, but the horses were a different matter. The sound of their hooves striking against the ground was enough to make Gerian consider sending them all away.

  Those thoughts left her mind when the tunnel opened to a large room with braziers burning along the wall. A giant door stood sentry on the far wall, and it seemed that the door and frame had seen fire many times in the past.

  Gerian couldn’t figure out how they could have caught the door on fire, but she guessed that it hadn’t been their war machines that had caused this damage.

  The door was slightly ajar when they entered the room, and Gerian got off her Utahnen to check it out.

  The other side of the door was nothing but darkness, but there seemed to be a hall on the other side. Although she couldn’t see the ceiling, she could tell this was some giant cavern or a giant hall.

  “I think we found the throne room.” She said back to the soldiers around her. That was the only explanation for such a grand door and the giant hall behind it. Elizabeth was near, she could feel it. The room they were standing in was filling in with the cavalry that had survived the fields outside the city. There was a good number that had lived, enough to take Elizabeth down.

  “Do we go?” The Bone Thief asked.

  “I think so, it’s dark. Possibly abandoned as well,” Gerian said as she pushed the door open. The door moved almost effortlessly and without making a sound.

  She climbed back onto her Utahnen and led the way through the door. They were still going slow, but they were cautious, not scared. The entire group made it through the door and passed the first turn when the door closed behind them.

  Gerian heard the door closed but didn’t think anything of it. It wasn’t until they had made it a few turns down the hall before they found a dead end and realized something was wrong.

  “This isn’t a hall.” The Bone Thief said. “It’s a maze.”

  “Why would they put a maze underneath the Metallic Pyramid? This has to be the way to the throne room.” Gerian argued. She pushed forward and made a few more turns before finding another dead end.

  “It’s a maze, what do we do now?” The Bone Thief asked.

  Gerian was about to answer when a shout rang out from the end of their group. A cry that made Gerian’s heart skip a beat.

  “Dragon!!” A bright pillar of fire rose above the walls of the maze from where the door had been. A silver dragon was sitting on the walls and burning its way down the halls from the entrance to the maze.

  “We can’t go back, they have blocked the entrance,” Gerian said. “We need to go forward, hurry!” She shouted out and pushed her Utahnen towards what she hoped was the exit.

  She led the group a ways down, listening to the dragon continue to burn further and further into the maze. The light from the fire gave off a glow that allowed them to see the dragon and walls of the cavern. They followed the bending maze down one turn and then another.

  They found one dead end and quickly backtracked until they found another dead end. Panic was quick to set in as they got more disoriented while the dragon continued to burn into the maze.

  Gerian was scared, but she tried to push the fear back, tried to hide it like her father had taught her. This was not the place to allow fear to take over.

  They made it to what appeared to be halfway through the cavern. She could see a giant staircase in the distance, and Gerian thought they were getting close. She didn’t know what they were going to have to do with their mounts, but they just needed to get to the stairs.

  They all heard the sound of a dragon flying and looked back to where the silver dragon was still burning behind them. The noise hadn’t come from that side of the maze, but from the staircase.

  “No,” Gerian said as a giant golden dragon landed at the stairs and started blowing fire around the exit to the maze.

  “Please, no,” Gerian said to herself. She stopped her Utahnen, and the Bone Thief stopped the shadow cat. They watched the fire rise up before them and cause the golden dragon to glow.

  Gerian didn’t know what to do. She didn’t know where to go, where to turn.

  She wanted to cry, she w
anted to scream. She wanted a chance to fight her enemies, but not like this. Never like this.

  The silver and gold dragon continued to burn their way through the maze as the soldiers shouted, and their mounts screamed.

  ~

  Hayden felt water soaking through his armor and wind raced around him. He had to fight back a chill that was running up his spine. There was nothing but swirling darkness around them and what seemed to be the never-ending sound of rain pounding on them.

  Hayden closed his eyes and realized he couldn’t tell the difference if his eyes were open or closed. He knew Draek was hovering in place, trying to stay still in the storm until they found another dragon.

  Hayden felt like they were moving, but he couldn’t tell where and he couldn’t figure out anything about their surroundings.

  Draek, what do we do? Hayden asked, but Draek was focused and was using all his senses to try and find the other dragons.

  There was a strange tingle in the air, one that Hayden and Draek both knew.

  Draek rolled to his right as lightning ripped across the sky and tried to split them apart. In the brief flash of light, they were able to see the silhouette of the dragons around them. The air was full of them, and there were even a few within Draek’s reach.

  Draek blew fire at the one to his right while trying to drop on the one beneath him. Draek grabbed at the clouds where the shadow had been, but the dragon had already disappeared. There were several blasts of fire in the clouds, but they quickly died down, and they went back to waiting for the next flash of lightning.

  This went on for three more blasts of lighting. Each time light filled the sky it was followed up by fighting and thunder.

  On the fourth blast, Hayden held his shield up because he saw a dragon flying to their left. He thought it might have been close enough that the two dragon’s wings could touch. Draek did not attack the dragon, he did not do anything except continue to fly in place.

  Draek, what’s wrong? Hayden asked. He sensed that something was not right with his dragon, and he was worried that something else had happened.

  I, I think. Draek started. He wasn’t talking anymore, so Hayden assumed he was listening to something. Some dragon had his attention.

  Draek? Hayden said, worry and fear creeping in.

  Shaylin is here. Draek replied, finally. Hayden knew that if Shaylin was here, Cass was here as well.

  His mind didn’t fully grasp what Draek was telling him. He didn’t understand how they could be here, why they were there, and where they had gone. Dozens of questions sifted through his mind, and he didn’t know where to start or what to think.

  They are here, and they are calling us. Draek said. Hayden was sure they were moving, and it felt like they were flying up, but he couldn’t tell for sure.

  Calling who? Hayden finally found the right words to ask a question.

  Everyone. Draek replied. With a few powerful thrusts of his wings, Draek broke the top of the storm like a fish breaking through the water. Hayden had to cover his eyes because the sun was glowing above the storm that had hidden it from the ground below.

  Draek hovered over the top of the storm that was a sea of darkness swirling and churning around them.

  Hayden’s eyes finally stopped burning, and he was able to look around him. Dragons were breaching the storm clouds all around them, but all fighting had stopped. A copper dragon rose up to fly next to Draek, but the dragons didn’t seem to notice each other. All eyes were looking ahead.

  Hayden saw a large group of dragons, some from every race and they all seemed ancient. There was a silver dragon flying with them that seemed almost too large to exist. The dragons were flying in no order, but there were two dragons out front.

  One made Hayden’s heart jump into his throat, the golden dragon Shaylin and Cass. He wanted Draek to fly out and meet them, he wanted to hear her voice.

  Draek no longer seemed to even notice Shaylin but was instead looking at the dragon beside her.

  Who is that? Hayden asked. The dragon was a golden dragon larger than Draek. It seemed too old and too large to be able to fly.

  That is Isaac The Golden. Draek said. Those are all the dragons that fled with him when he was overthrown.

  Cass went and found him? Hayden asked, but he already knew the answer.

  And now he is back to help take the throne. Draek said. Hayden couldn’t tell if Draek thought it was a good or bad idea.

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  What do they want? Hayden asked. He was still in shock at seeing the dragons, especially Isaac The Golden but they hadn’t come all this way for no reason. They had stopped the fighting and summoned the dragons.

  Hayden saw Kirin and Nignra come out of the clouds and fly closer to Hayden and Draek.

  They want us to stop fighting. Draek said. Hayden looked around and saw that the sky was full of dragons, but none of them were fighting.

  They accomplished that, now what? Hayden asked.

  Draek flew over to where Isaac and Cass were at, he was the only dragon to move.

  They flew over the storm clouds, and none of the dragons moved to attack them as they went. Hayden couldn’t tell whose side had more dragons but if he had to guess, it looked like they were not faring well.

  “Hayden The Silver,” Isaac shouted when they were within talking distance. His voice was old but not weak. Hayden couldn’t see the rider under the golden armor and tan cape that flapped in the wind behind him.

  “Just Hayden.” He replied.

  “Hayden, Cass has told us what you have done.” Hayden looked over to Cass, but she kept her eyes on Isaac.

  “We hate to ask more of you and those that follow you, but there is more work ahead.” Isaac looked to the other riders around them.

  We are here at the beginning of a new age, a time of peace for Arvain. Draek said as Isaac’s dragon addressed everyone.

  Those of you who wish to be a part of it, who wish to help us get there may join us. Regardless of which side you were on before. Draek continued relaying the message to Hayden.

  He wasn’t sure, but he thought Isaac was looking right at him as Draek told him the next words.

  If you wish to be against this new age, then you have two choices before you. Fight, or flee. Draek finished. A roar came out of many of the Metallic Dragon’s mouths as they heard the words.

  I take it he doesn’t mind if we start fighting again? Hayden asked. A copper dragon shot past Hayden and Draek and flew right at Isaac. His golden dragon flipped in the air and struck the copper in the head with his tail.

  It wasn’t enough to kill the dragon, but it was enough to send it tumbling through the clouds. The lone attack broke all the dragons free of Isaac’s words, and they waited to see who would attack next.

  Within the span of a few wing beats, the fighting resumed. A few of the Metallic Dragons seemed to have reservations about fighting and continued to hover in the air, but a vast majority lashed out at anything that wasn’t metallic. Hayden and Draek fell in line with Kirin as they tried to find the leaders of the other races.

  Draek had told them Isaac and Cass wanted to meet with them if it was possible.

  They fought their way around the dragons until they had found each of the leaders and then, together, they fell through the clouds and out the other side.

  It was a fast, dark, and wet drop, and soon Hayden was missing the sun above the clouds.

  Hayden and the other leaders landed in Celestial City. Their ground troops had taken control of the city and surrounded the pyramid. Nignra told Draek their cavalry had galloped into it, but they hadn’t come back out yet.

  “Please, don’t get off your dragons,” Isaac said when his giant gold dragon landed on a rooftop, and they were all within earshot. His dragon’s wings rested on the buildings around them instead of being pulled to the dragon’s side. A member of each race was with Isaac as well and just as with the golden rider, they seemed older and their dragons ancient.

&n
bsp; “Who is that?” Hayden asked Kirin and pointed to the elf on the back of a light green dragon.

  “I am not sure,” Kirin responded. It rained around them still, but the dragons had taken back to fighting in the clouds. All the dragons that had come with Isaac besides the ones that had landed had joined in the fight.

  “What do you want?” Rimney shouted. Hayden was about to scold her for her brazenness, but it was a question they all wanted answered.

  “I want the same thing I have wanted since the last time I was in this city, peace for all of Arvain,” Isaac answered.

  “Just because you have come with Cass does not mean we trust you,” Kirin shouted. This time it wasn’t Isaac that spoke but the elf with him.

  “Who are you, that speaks for our people?” The elf asked. Hayden heard the age in his voice, and it sounded like this elf was old, really old.

  “I am Queen Kirin,” Kirin answered and was about to add her titles, but the elf stopped her.

  “I know, I know, Guardian of the Woods and so on.” The elf waved his hand. “What happened to Aelfrie?”

  “My father?” Kirin asked. “He is dead, how do you know him?” The elf was visibly saddened by the news. His shoulders fell, and even the dragon he rode seemed defeated.

  “He was young when I left, but I knew he would be a kind king, a just king. One that would put the needs of his people above his own.” The elf sad sadly. Hayden thought the rain grew colder as the old elf spoke. “He was my son.”

  “I wish we had time, my friend,” Isaac said to the elf. “We will, but not here.” Isaac looked up as stone dragons began falling out of the sky. The storm seemed to be spitting them out.

  Hayden was able to see that most of them were Metallic Dragons.

  “The fight is almost over, we are winning,” Klarack shouted. Durgen nodded his head, but Isaac spoke again.

  “The fight will not be over until Elizabeth is dead.” His harsh words lashed out like lightning. Durgen was the first to recover and speak.