Born of Fire: The Dawn of Legend (63 page)

“Maybe I’m crazy, but I don’t think it’s been him we’ve been fighting this whole time.”

“Oh, no, my dear,” TolNy interjected as the large spikes on the end of his tail became covered in fire. “You’re not crazy at all.” He whipped around with blinding speed, driving his spikes into the golden flaming DraGon and pushing out another made of blue flame, which quickly vanished, revealing one made of flesh and blood beneath.

“There really was a second,” AnaSaya exclaimed.

“I knew it,” LyCora added.

“Apparently these two were not confident in their ability to survive an upfront fight,” TolNy explained as the blue-flamed DraGon rose to his feet and growled menacingly at the old StyNovora, who seemed undeterred by the threat display. “So they combined their strengths to make you feel as if you were fighting one extremely powerful opponent. A rather clever strategy, albeit cowardly.”

“You seem to have a bold tongue, DyVorian,” the blue-flamed DraGon hissed. “I’ll take great pleasure in ripping it out.”

“Now there you go again,” TolNy mused. “Making promises you can’t keep.” Both DraGons let out savage cries before charging towards him.

“Look out,” AnaSaya cried, but no sooner had the words escaped her lips than she found herself dropping instinctively as the two DraGons were sent flying over her head and crashing into several large trees. The girls glanced back and saw the flame diminishing from TolNy’s tail as he brought it straight back to its resting position, balanced off the ground behind him. “I didn’t even see him move,” she said, awestruck. “Did you?”

LyCora glanced over at her with a bewildered expression and said in flat voice, “No…I missed it myself.”

“Girls, I would suggest getting behind me much sooner than later,” TolNy said. He flexed the muscles in his tail, and it began to sway behind him.

As if on cue, the two DraGons rocketed forward in a burst of gold and blue on a direct course for the three of them. The two girls jumped to either side of TolNy, and all of them together fired blast after blast of flame at the oncoming attackers, who dodged and weaved to avoid them.

“Damn it, they’re too quick!” AnaSaya exclaimed.

“So shoot quicker,” LyCora replied as she took a deep breath and began rapidly throwing fist-size balls of fire, which succeeded in blowing holes in the trunks of the trees but still failed to hit their designated targets.

The body of the DraGon, which was almost on top of them, became completely engulfed in flame and burned right through every tree between them.

TolNy stopped firing to engulf his body with his own flame. “Quickly, feed your flames into mine!”

“What?” LyCora asked with a look of confusion. “What are you going—?”

“Just do it!” he bellowed.

Both girls looked at each other then jumped back, raising their hands up in front of them. With a noticeable push, fire flowed from them into TolNy, whose own flame now churned with green, blue, and lavender. The DraGons were forty meters away and approaching rapidly. Both girls glanced over and saw that they no longer had time to run, and they met each other’s eyes with looks that betrayed their courage with a shared notion of defeat.

TolNy let out a mighty, bellowing call that felt like it shook the very world around them. All his muscles tightened and doubled in size as he sent out an enormous blast of fire that was so bright it momentarily turned night into day. Both LyCora and AnaSaya turned away and shielded their eyes as they felt the massive release of raw energy fill their bodies and make them feel as if they were floating above the ground. It was a power so great that it both terrified and struck them with a sense of awe. Some thirty seconds or so later, they could see the blinding flash of light diminish then disappear from behind their closed eyelids, prompting them to venture a glance. At first they saw only each other staring back. Upon scanning their surroundings, however, which were now so quiet that it would have been hard for anyone to believe they were under attack, did they finally see the full extent of TolNy’s last-ditch attempt to save their lives.

Standing no more than ten meters in front of them, the old warrior breathed heavily, his sides slowly expanding outward then collapsing back in. Ahead of him, where there had once been forest, was now a burnt expanse covered with acrid smoke that stretched twenty meters across and went back at least a hundred. Both girls slowly rose to their feet and took tentative steps up to his side.

“The forest,” AnaSaya said in a subdued voice. “It…it’s hurt.”

“What did we do?” LyCora stammered as she gazed out at the horrific scene before them.

“The two of you did nothing,” he said as if sensing what it was they were both feeling. “The burden is mine alone to carry,” TolNy spoke up without so much as glancing at either one of them. Instead, he continued to stare in front of himself as if awaiting some confirmation that would justify the level of destruction he had perpetrated. Suddenly he collapsed and began breathing more laboriously.

“TolNy, what’s wrong?” AnaSaya asked frantically.

“I think I may have overdone it with that last attack. My body is barely holding itself together.”

“I can heal you!”

“I’m afraid this is a bit out of your league.”

“I have to try!”

“No time.”

“Wha…what do you mean?”

“AnaSaya,” LyCora said in a tone that instinctively told her they were not out of danger just yet.

She stood up and turned to join the other girl, who was staring straight ahead at the decimated path of the blast, which had now almost completely cleared of smoke.

“No,” AnaSaya whispered as she broke into a cold sweat.

Standing on either side of the blast zone, just out of its reach, were both DraGons. The two of them seemed frozen in place, stunned. Both girls were wondering how they had miraculously managed to avoid the blast when they noticed their sides next to the scorched ground were badly charred and looked to be incapable of use.

“You…son of a…bitch,” the pale DraGon stammered as he tried to fight through the noticeable shock he was suffering.

“I’m going to r-rip out all f-four of those spikes,” said the other with a stutter. “Jam one in each eye, shove the third down your throat, and use the fourth to carve your heart out!” With that, he charged forward but found it difficult to keep balance as his entire right side was engulfed in pain.

Seeing this, LyCora shot a blast that hit him squarely in his right knee, causing him to buckle and fall. The DraGon screamed in agony while LyCora wasted no time in following up her first attack. She dropped to one knee and placed both open hands on the ground. Seconds later, tree roots erupted from the soil beneath the wounded DraGon and ensnared him.

“What are you doing?” AnaSaya asked as she watched the DraGon gasp for breath.

“What’s it look like, you fool?” LyCora fired angrily without breaking her concentration.

“VayMon, no!” the other DraGon called out as he shook off the shock and ran towards his comrade.

“Oh, shit,” LyCora said as her eyes went wide at the sight of the enraged, wounded DraGon coming for her. “AnaSaya, take him out!”

“What?” AnaSaya cried out as she looked from LyCora to the DraGon, who was now blind with the single-minded focus of killing the young blue flame.

“Kill him!”

“Wha…I c-can’t!” AnaSaya stammered.

“Damn it, you have to! I can’t use my flame to attack without letting go of this one,” she said, turning back to the DraGon she had trapped only a meter away from her face. The beast gasped for air while still trying to get her with a single outstretched hand.

“You don’t understand,” AnaSaya insisted. “I…I just can’t!” Her emotions were swirling tumultuously within her. She had always been taught to never take the life of another aside from hunting to live for fear of the true nature of her flame overtaking her. It was a dark secret that only her mother and she knew. If she willed herself to kill, she feared it would be unlocking something she would never again be able to restrain. It was for this reason that she now found herself incapable of doing what she needed to, and realized that her mother had been right in begging her not to follow the others into battle.
Mother. I’m so sorry for not listening
.

The DraGon was now nearly upon LyCora, who looked genuinely terrified, tears falling from her eyes. “Damn it, AnaSaya! Please!” But it was too late, before AnaSaya could have even replied the DraGon opened it jaws wide and brought them down on the girl, who closed her eyes at the last second.
This is it
, she thought, when suddenly there was a flash of light…

Opening her eyes, LyCora saw the DraGon she had ensnared still trapped and glaring down at her with the one eye he could angle in his bound position. Looking over, she saw AnaSaya staring behind her. It was then LyCora glanced back and saw TolNy, smoke rising from his body as he shakily rose to his feet. Ahead, the other DraGon who was crippled and broken against the base of a tree twitched as he tried to move with his now broken back. TolNy, despite being in incredible pain, limped his way over to his enemy, where he stood over him.

“Y…you,” the half-dead beast said in a raspy, barely audible voice. “You won’t win…in the end. We…we are but…the beginning. We will claim…that which has always been ours.”

“Not tonight,” TolNy said as he drove his four tail spikes into the DraGon’s skull, causing his body to immediately fall limp.

“No,” the other DraGon cried mournfully as a lone tear ran down the side of his face.

AnaSaya watched in shock as the DraGon trapped in the roots let out saddened cries to the sky. “He’s grieving?” she said, surprised.

“LyCora, finish him,” TolNy shouted as he gave her some of his flame. LyCora allowed it to encompass her before it sank within her skin and melded into her own flame, which now pulsed with new life.

“No, wait!” the captive DraGon pleaded but was ignored, for with the extra boost of energy, LyCora turned her attention back on her quarry, and let out an anger-filled cry. The roots suddenly constricted, and there was a terrible snapping sound as bone splintered out and veins burst. As with the other, the DraGon’s body ceased to move within the roots, which had likewise stilled.

LyCora breathed heavily while AnaSaya just stared in stunned silence. She looked at the dead DraGon, whose eyes were frozen wide open as if in pain or from fear from the moment he realized he was going to die. One final tear ran down from the corner of his eye, down his face, and traveled down below, where it disappeared into the forest floor.

Suddenly, LyCora’s head whipped up to face AnaSaya, who saw rage in her eyes, and tried to speak, but was stopped by the former, who leapt to her feet and punched her hard across the face. AnaSaya fell to the ground and immediately placed a hand on her jaw. Pain swelled through the left side, but she had no time to even dwell on it for she found herself being forcefully pulled up by her collar, where she was confronted by those very same eyes.

“What the fuck is wrong with you?” LyCora screamed. “Why didn’t you attack? Why did you just stand there?”

“I’m…I’m sorry,” AnaSaya stammered.

“
You’re sorry?
No…you wanted that thing to kill me, didn’t you?”

“No, you’re wrong!” AnaSaya insisted, shaking her head. “I just couldn’t!”

“Liar,” LyCora screamed viciously as she raised a flaming blue hand and prepared to fire, when two long tail spikes embedded themselves in the ground between the two girls, barely missing them. They both looked up as TolNy pulled his tail back up from between them and turned to face them.

“That’s enough,” he said, shifting his gaze between the two of them. “LyCora, losing your head like a fool, I know for a fact your mother taught you better than that. How disappointed she would be if she could see you now.”

LyCora lowered her eyes and looked away. AnaSaya, on the other hand, turned to TolNy with tears welling up in her eyes. “I didn’t want anything to happen to her, to anyone, but I…just couldn’t take his life. I know it seems wrong…but if I had I would have…”

“Your reasons are your own,” said TolNy, “but you may want to come to terms with them before this night is over. Come, the both of you. We need to regroup with everyone else.” He lowered his massive bulk close to the ground, signaling for them to climb on. AnaSaya turned back to LyCora, reaching out to touch her shoulder, but she had her hand promptly slapped away. Without saying a word or even so much as a glance in her direction, LyCora walked past her and silently climbed aboard TolNy, who once satisfied with her placement between his plates, turned his attention back to AnaSaya, who looked apprehensive about joining LyCora atop. “AnaSaya,” he said, “we need to go now.”

Nodding, AnaSaya took a deep breath and climbed up where she positioned herself several plates behind LyCora. Confident that both girls were secured, he mustered what little energy he had left and took off down the shallows of the river back to the center of the battle.

The entrance to the hot springs was crowded with parents trying to usher their children down inside its confines as quickly as possible. DiNiya, ShinGaru, and TemBol had been trying their best to corral the throngs of people making their way in the past hour, but were beginning to feel more than a little overwhelmed by the sheer scope of the task. The sounds of battle raging all around them would put people in a state of panic every time they made some headway in calming them down. Everywhere they turned, they were stricken by images of carnage and despair.

DiNiya turned to her left while helping an older woman along, and saw a boy younger than KenSito dragging his father, who hung lifeless in his arms, while crying. Not far on the other side was a small sauropod about half the size of a TarBoranx with large bite wounds on her back that were clearly slowing her down.

“This is a nightmare,” DiNiya said as she scanned the horrifying scene before them. “We have to do something.”

“And we are,” ShinGaru said, stepping beside her. “We need to continue to give these people cover so they can get down there.”

“That’s getting harder and harder to do with those things being able to fly,” she said, looking up at the sky.