Born of Fire: The Dawn of Legend (107 page)

DayKar, who held his stomach with one arm and winced in pain with every breath, took in the sight of the last two members of a long-extinct warrior race, reuniting fully for the first time in centuries. Old memories crept into his head, prompting him to see the ghostly image of their full-grown former selves standing in their place. He knew he must act quickly and soon, for he would not likely get a better chance than this one to realize his goal. Still, the pain-filled sobs of his mate pulled his attention from his prize. Looking over, he was torn by his desire to race over to her and hold her in his arms, while calling the battalion of knights he had waiting just below for his signal to mobilize. Gritting his teeth, he dropped to all fours and ran over to LemaRes. Gently scooping her up in his arms, he slowly turned her over and was heartbroken to see the frightened face staring wide-eyed back up at him. “Fear not, my love,” he whispered with a smile while stroking the side of her face. “I’m here.”

“It…it hurts,” she gasped in a breathless voice.

“Shhh. Everything is going to be fine. I promise you.”

Placing a hand on the floor next to her, he sent a small golden pulse through it, which traveled down into the level below, where a battle group of ten knights was waiting. Looking up, they saw the ceiling momentarily flash of golden light.

“That’s the signal,” said one of the DraGons. “Remember what Grand Marshal ordered: capture, restrain, but do not kill. Let’s go!”

Rex and DiNiya stood, bodies touching in silent pleasure as they burned as one, when a pulse that resonated through the floor beneath their feet snapped them out of their trance and brought them back to reality. Blinking, Rex took in the sight of what he at first thought was himself looking into a mirror before realizing the person he was seeing looked in fact very different from him, being of a smaller stature, not to mention female. It was her scent that caught him by surprise most of all, though, for it was one that immediately evoked memories of a beautiful auburn-furred girl.

“DiNiya!” he exclaimed.

“Surprise?” she replied awkwardly.

“Going for a new look, I see.”

“You made it look so good that I figured I’d give it a try.”

Rex could not help but laugh slightly. “Seriously, though…how do you feel?”

“Well, that’s the scary part. I feel amazing!”

“You get used to that after a while.”

“But what about you?” she suddenly exclaimed, once again taking in all his injuries. “You’re a mess!”

“Thanks,” he replied sarcastically.

“No, I’m serious, Rex: look at you! I mean, wow! Are those your ribs sticking out!?”

Rex glanced down. “Holy shit, that is brutal!”

Furious by the lack of severity he was giving to his current state, she nipped his neck. “Don’t treat this like something to boast about! You need help right now!”

“Okay, okay, just relax,” he replied, lowering his head beneath hers in mock submission. “I really don’t feel that bad. Not anymore, anyway.”

“Doesn’t matter! I’m getting you out of here right now!”

“Hey, I’m supposed to be rescuing you, remember?”

It was at that moment that ten more large shapes emerged from the platform.

“What’s happening?” DiNiya asked.

“Do you really have to ask?” Rex replied, putting his back towards hers.

Suddenly ten DraGons took form as DayKar had done previously and hovered above them. “Take them now!” DayKar roared.

Rex and DiNiya had barely enough time to shield themselves with the combined power of their flames as the DraGons showered them with a torrent of fire.

“Damn it,” Rex groaned. “We’re never going to be able to make a break for it if they keep this up!”

“Make a break for it?” DiNiya replied, wincing under the strain of holding off the immense pressure of the DraGon’s combined flames. “That’s your plan?”

“Of course! Why?”

“Did you have your eyes closed on your way here? We’re hundreds of meters off the ground. So unless you can fly, we’re not going anywhere!”

“Stranger things have happened,” he replied, baring his teeth as he felt his legs buckling from the force pushing down on them.

“Keep going!” DayKar shouted as he stood up with LemaRes in his arms. “Don’t let up even for a moment!” Obeying the Grand Marshal’s command, they continued pushing harder. However, they began to feel themselves tire and knew it was a matter of who would weaken first.

The two TyRanx felt themselves losing strength as they now had their stomachs almost pressed against the ground. “Rex,” DiNiya stammered. “I don’t…think I can…keep this up for much…longer!”

“I know,” he replied. “But we…have to!”

“You almost have them!” DayKar exclaimed. “Push through!”

With one final push, Rex and DiNiya felt their flames give way to the onslaught of fire from above. So great was the pain as the fire slammed into them with such force, that they felt their bodies break under its might.

“Excellent,” DayKar said, while the other DraGons breathed a heavy sigh of relief. Looking back down at LemaRes, DayKar felt a surge of anger race through him. “Don’t worry, my love,” he said as he placed a hand over the bleeding stump, cauterizing it. “The hour of our victory is at hand. Soon I will deliver that which I promised you…so long ago.”

LemaRes looked up at him with fading light in her eyes. With one final gentle stroke to her head, he set her down as softly as he could before proceeding to Rex and DiNiya. Fierce was his gaze, as for the first time the stakes felt so real. He had enjoyed himself for far too long, treating this whole thing as some form of amusement that would ultimately result in a glorious victory for him. However, he had severely underestimated the TyRanx conviction and ability to kill, a mistake he swore long ago never to make again. What a fool he had become to allow himself to be so careless. Worse yet, he allowed the one person he loved above all else to be harmed.
LemaRes
,
this is all my fault. I swear to you I will make this right
. Glancing back, he saw her lying almost lifeless on the ground, both eyes looking back at him with only a mere hint of life. Unable to look at her more, he turned away.
I swear I’ll make them pay!

The other DraGons stepped aside as DayKar stormed past them and over to Rex and DiNiya. Looming over them, he felt such a wave of hatred that his entire body shuddered. “Now,” he said with no attempt to hide the malice in his voice, “you two will serve your final purpose!” Reaching down, he grabbed both by the scruff of the necks, digging his claws in deep, and carried them back over to the altar. “I have allowed this to go on for long enough, but no more! This ends here and now!” Slamming them down upon the stone structure, he placed his left hand on it and released a thin wave of golden energy. Suddenly the melted chain bonded together and rose up once more, binding Rex and DiNiya together. “Now,” he said as he placed his hand on a panel on the side of the altar, “for the final and most important ingredient.”

The panel suddenly lit up, and two long spear-like scourers shot out from either side of the altar and embedded themselves into the two TyRanx, who cried in pain. Before they could say a word, the altar began pumping them both full of a powerful electric charge, which immediately triggered the release of their flames. Then everything seemed to happen at once. No sooner had their crimson fury been released then the tower began groaning like some titanic creature stirring to life after a long slumber. All over, panels began sliding and opening as the machine held within activated for the first time in ten thousand years.

“For all the trouble you two have caused,” DayKar said as he watched the two of them writhe and roar in agony. “You will ultimately be responsible for our salvation. In short, we couldn’t have done it without you.”

Rex and DiNiya felt as if their bodies would explode at any moment as their flames pressed outward in every direction. However, it was not merely their bodies that felt as if they would give out but their minds as well. Every memory and emotion raced through their heads, forcing them to relive their entire lives over and over again.

The DraGons all hovered in silence around the tower, watching and waiting patiently for their promised moment. It was then that the flame that whirled around and consumed the two TyRanx suddenly shot upward into the sky as a beam of red light.

Several kilometers away, EeNox, LyCora, AnaSaya, and ShinGaru were racing towards the tower on the backs of NyEssa and the other Highwings. “Over there!” LyCora shouted, pointing with her snout at the thin red light shooting straight up into the sky.

“What is that?” EeNox asked, sitting up.

“Our destination,” NyEssa replied before letting out a loud cry, signaling to the others to speed up. They raced towards the light as fast as wing and flame could take them, all the while feeling a sense of unease.

“Does anyone else feel that?” AnaSaya asked uncomfortably.

“Yes,” replied ShinGaru. “It feels…familiar.”

“The sky,” one of the other Highwings said. “That light is doing something to it.” They all watched as the clouds began to churn and spread almost like a whirlpool.

“It looks like the sky is opening!” EeNox said, astonished.

“How can that be?” NyEssa demanded.

“I don’t know, but something tells me Rex and DiNiya are at the heart of it somehow,” LyCora replied cryptically.

DayKar carried LemaRes over to the altar in his arms and stood with the rest of his knights as they watched the sky torn open directly above the tower. “Look, my love,” he whispered. “Look at the sky.” LemaRes slowly opened her eyes and gazed up. “They’re coming. Just as I promised you.”

“Sal…va…tion,” she gasped with the faintest hint of a smile.

“Yes, my love,” he replied, clutching her tightly. “Our salvation is at last at hand.” Slowly her eyes closed and her body went limp in his arms. DayKar clenched his eyes shut in an effort to fight back the tears.

As EeNox and the others drew closer, they gasped in awe at the sight of the tower. “It’s bigger than I remembered,” he said, leaning forward on NyEssa.

“Not to mention a bit more crowded,” LyCora added, eyeing the legion of DraGons surrounding it.

“We will succeed at little more than getting ourselves killed if we rush in there now,” NyEssa declared. “We need to wait for VayRonx and the others.”

“But it could be too late for Rex and DiNiya by then!” AnaSaya protested.

“True as that may be, there is nothing I can do for them now, which means the safety of you four is my top priority!”

“Listen,” exclaimed EeNox, “my sister and best friend are on that thing, so if you think I’m just going to sit up here and wait for reinforcements, then think again!”

“EeNox, that’s enough!” LyCora scolded.

“You’re on her side now?” he fired back.

“I’m on the side I’ve always been on: the smart one. And if we want to stand any chance of rescuing those two, then we need to make sure we’re alive to do it, understand?”

EeNox turned his head away and growled.

“Listen, I understand how you feel,” she insisted. “Really, I do. It makes me furious that we’re so close and we still can’t do anything to help, but if we’re going to stand any sort of chance at rescuing either of them, then we have to play it smart. Agreed?”

EeNox snorted green flame from his nostrils. “Fine, but you better have some sort of plan for what we do in the meantime, then.”

LyCora nodded. “NyEssa, can you take us as high as you all can fly so we can hopefully stay out of sight of the DraGons?”

“Yes, of course,” the alpha replied. “But what for, exactly?”

“I want to get as close as I can to that beam of light.”

“Is that safe?” ShinGaru asked.

“Only one way to find out.”

The four of them were taken high into the sky, well above cloud level and sight of the DraGons on the tower. As they drew closer to the beam, they began to feel a strange sense of anxiety.

“I feel…a little funny,” AnaSaya said, shaking her head. “Almost like I’m having a panic attack!”

“I feel it, too,” ShinGaru said. “It’s like something in the air is causing me to feel uneasy.”

“We all feel it, I think,” said the NyEssa.

They continued to fly closer to the light until they finally realized what it was. “I don’t believe it,” LyCora exclaimed. “That’s a red flame! A giant beam of red flame!”

“Then that must mean…” EeNox trailed off.

“Rex,” ShinGaru said worriedly.

“But there’s no way Rex could generate that much power,” LyCora said. “No living thing can!”

“It must be the tower,” EeNox said. “Somehow it’s amplifying the power of his flame. Whatever it is, it’s not good. Look at the sky now. That tear in it is getting bigger!”

“We should turn back,” NyEssa said.

“No!” cried LyCora. “We need to keep going! It’s bad enough we can’t go down there and help right now, but to waste an opportunity to learn more about what we’re dealing with would just be stupid!”

“Not as stupid as taking a foolish risk, young one.”

“Please,” LyCora pleaded. “This is of the utmost importance, just a little closer. That’s all I’m asking.”

The Highwing sighed. “Why not? I’ve lived long enough, after all. So this is as good a time to die as any.” With a push of her flame, she shot forward, bringing LyCora meters away from the beam, where she hovered while LyCora held out her hand. Almost instantly, her flame began to resonate all around her.

“It’s like it’s reacting with my flame,” she said. Suddenly the red flames lashed out at her, causing her to cry out and pull away.

“Are you all right?” NyEssa asked urgently.

“Yes,” LyCora replied, rubbing her arms gently.

“What happened?”

“It was almost like…the flame was trying to take mine.”

“What do you mean take it?”

“I really don’t know,” she said, shaking her head in disbelief. “But from the moment I touched it, it felt like something alive grabbing me!”

NyEssa squawked in apprehension. “I knew this was dangerous. This little scientific investigation is over. We’re regrouping with the others right now!”