Born of Fire: The Dawn of Legend (72 page)

DayKar slammed into the ground with an incredible force, sending a shockwave colliding into the wall of fire.

“Stand firm,” VyKia called out as she bared her teeth.

The shockwave pushed against the shield for close to a minute before it finally began to dissipate. With loud, exhausted sighs, everyone ceased their efforts, dropping the wall and revealing the dense plume of dust and smoke where the two relentless combatants had fallen. At first there was no sign of movement, but shortly after four massive wings unfolded and flapped once, dispersing most of the dust. DayKar rose up on all fours and cracked his neck. Then, as if realizing he had dangerously let his guard down, fixed his gaze on the now large crater in the ground.

“There’s no point in hiding,” he said, sounding more at ease now. “I can sense your flame.” At that moment, all the dust in the crater was suddenly ignited, looking like thousands of tiny sparkling red lights. Slowly, a glow from down inside grew brighter and brighter as it neared the lip, until Rex stepped over the edge, red flame gliding off him like waves of water. “You still have that tenacity of yours,” DayKar mused, rearing up on his hind legs and crossing his arms. “I would have thought the centuries would have honed your ferocity, but you’re still far from the monster I once knew. I’m almost disappointed. Still, facing off against the mightiest TyRanx to ever live is not something to take lightly.” He closed his eyes and lowered his head for a moment before gazing up to the sky, recalling some distant memory. “It’s better that monster remain a thing of the past.”

Rather than move in for another attack, Rex reared his head upward as his mind became flooded with memories that at first seemed to not be his own, before eventually growing more familiar. Faces and voices raced through his head as emotions of all sorts swelled within him. Pain of losses he had suffered in a previous life now opened wounds in him he did not even know he had. The burden of these lost memories now grew into something almost too painful to bear, and he parted his jaws, releasing a mournful cry to the sky.

“Rex,” DiNiya whispered. The sound was the saddest thing she had ever heard. It was almost as if his pain and misery had become tangible and flowed into her, into everyone. Then it changed and became something else altogether. Lower it grew and more savage as anger now seeped into it. It was a call, one that made something very deep within her shift. Something she had never before realized had been there, but now it was desperately trying to claw its way up from her depths and out into the world. However, she felt something weighing down on it, something keeping it pinned down in that dark corner she knew her flame was hiding. Turning, she saw EeNox standing rigidly, his fists clenched and his eyes aglow with his flame. Baring his teeth, he let out an echoing growl. “EeNox,” she cried, “what’s wrong with you?”

He did not answer; rather, he emitted his green fire as he reared back and roared to the sky. The sound gave way to two others; turning, she saw AnaSaya and LyCora, who were glowing with the aura of their blue and lavender flames. ShinGaru was trembling as his body began to contort and arch to the point where his back looked as if it would break. DiNiya could still feel something moving inside of her but could come no further. This was obviously not the case with the others, who were emitting a power that seemed too great for any of them to possess.

“What’s happening to all of you?” she cried out. “EeNox, please! Say something to me!” She could feel fear and panic growing within her, overtaking that which had been trying to surface and forcing it back down from whence it had come.

ShinGaru, EeNox, LyCora, and AnaSaya exploded in massive bursts of flame, and DiNiya watched in shock and wonder as their bodies dissolved into the light. From it arose four beings seemingly made from the fire burning forth from them. The blinding light faded, and standing where the four had been were four young DyVorians.

“W-what…just happened?” VorTak stammered as he and his sister watched in disbelief.

DiNiya took a tentative step to her brother, or at least the DyVorian who now stood where he had. She recognized the species immediately; it was the same as VayRonx and KyVina: A TarBoranx. Standing not far behind him was a young VyoNyvora adorned with beautiful dark blue and grey plumage; locking eyes with it, she was met with an overwhelmingly judgmental stare that, while making her feel uneasy, was also very familiar. “LyCora,” she said before turning to a white-feathered VeNyrox with purple and red feathers adorning her tail, who regarded her with sympathetic eyes, and who she immediately sensed to be AnaSaya. The three of them stared back at her, and then to everyone else behind. She heard a familiar voice speak her name.

“DiNiya,” said the young TarBoranx.

“EeNox,” she half cried. “Is that really you?”

“Yes,” he replied as if uncertain by her meaning. “Why…What’s wrong?” He took a step forward and froze when he felt dirt beneath his feet instead of his boot. Looking down, he was shocked to see a set of three-clawed toes, and reared back while emitting a shriek. “Wha…What happened to me?”

“What happened to
us
,” LyCora said behind him, causing him to whip around and almost fall over in shock to see her looking the way she did.

“LyCora,” he said with wide eyes. “You look like a younger version of your mother! And AnaSaya… you’re a VeNyrox! Why are you a VeNyrox?”

“For the same reason you are a TarBoranx, I suspect,” came another familiar voice. Everyone turned and saw a creature that was neither SaVarian nor DyVorian.

“ShinGaru?” DiNiya asked.

His entire body was long and serpent-like, with four short legs and a rectangular head crowned with what looked like two blunt horns or antlers. Small tuffs of wispy fur growing out of his cheeks and head swayed under the elegant golden flame that gracefully flowed off him. A row of short-pointed spikes ran down the length of his back, which turned into his tail past his rear legs, terminating into a leaf-shaped fin. “Yes,” he said calmly. “It is I.”

Hovering above them, LemaRes and VorTak found themselves unable to take their eyes off the scene unfolding below.

“Damn it,
they’re
here, too!” VorTak exclaimed.

“No,” his sister replied. “They can’t be! They’re dead!”

“If memory serves, so was he,” VorTak said, pointing down at Rex. “Clearly that did not stop him from showing up tonight!”

“So, after all this time, you’ve all managed to make your way back,” DayKar said. “The AmaRanthine.”

“What are you talking about?” EeNox demanded. “None of this makes any sense!”

“Right you are, boy. Only the Doom Bringer was to have been resurrected. The rest of you were supposed to have remained dead!”

“You mean you knew about Rex this whole time?” ShinGaru asked.

“I’ve known a great deal more than that, you filthy ArisToky!” He powered up his flame and prepared to attack, when Rex charged forward, clearing the distance between them faster than anyone would have expected something his size could move. Rex locked his jaws around the DraGon’s neck, spun him over once, and sent him slamming into the ground.

Almost immediately, all the other remaining DraGons swooped in to aid their leader but were stopped by DayKar, who raised a single hand. “No,” he bellowed before once more regaining his composure. “Leave him to me. He is the culmination of something I set in motion long ago and vowed across the sea of time to see through.”

“What are you talking about?” said EeNox. “We’ve never met you before in our lives!”

“Not this one, no,” DayKar replied. “But I assure you, we were well acquainted in our previous one.”

Those words seemed to carry with them an unexpected weight that took everyone by surprise. DiNiya looked at her brother and the other three and could see they were just as lost as she was, while Rex just stared with burning intensity. However, it was the adults that seemed to look as if some terrible secret had just been revealed.

“Oh, let me guess—they never told you, did they? How pitiful, but then I suppose ignorance would be bliss in this case. Having to live in the shadow of who you all were would undoubtedly make for a difficult existence. Still, now the truth has been revealed and there is no undoing it, no forgetting the realization brought to light. But don’t worry—you won’t have to live with the weight of this reality. For the TyRanx is all I need to complete my mission. The rest of you are going straight back to the grave.”

With a nod to PeroDay, the other DraGon moved with blinding speed and was suddenly behind Rex, and struck him in the back of the head.

Rex immediately felt his body grow heavy as his flame seemingly vanished. PeroDay wasted no time in restraining him before turning back to DayKar. “He won’t be able to channel his flame for a period of time, but I urge you to be quick about this, brother. His power is already greater than we imagined, so we can’t be sure how long he will remain this way.”

“Very well,” DayKar replied as he slowly began to rise into the air with his body aglow with a great and powerful energy. Higher and higher he climbed, passing LemaRes and all the other DraGons.

“What’s he doing?” BaRone asked VyKia.

“Something we probably won’t live to regret letting him do if we don’t stop him now,” she replied without taking her eyes off the rising DraGon.

“Death was never something for you to defy,” DayKar said, spreading his arms out. “You have all been living on borrowed time from the moment you returned to the mortal coil.”

Everyone gazed up to the sky as all the other DraGons converged around their leader.

“I have a very bad feeling about this,” LyCora said.

“Why do I get the feeling he’s going to take another crack at all of us?” EeNox asked, backing up to join the others who had all gathered in a group.

DayKar’s whole body glowed as he angled his head directly up and began to breathe fire into a massive golden ball. All the other DraGons began breathing their own fire into it, causing it to grow in size until it nearly filled the sky. “Doom Bringer!” DayKar called over to Rex, who was being suspended in the air by PeroDay. “I want you to watch this, to know what it feels like to lose everything you hold dear while you stand by helpless to stop it.” With a malevolent smile, he turned his attention back on the others below and bared his teeth. “As for all of you: do us all a favor and stay dead this time!” With that, he let out a savage cry and launched the massive fireball down at them.

“That thing is going to destroy the entire mountain!” BaRone shouted.

“We need to get out of here,” VyKia said.

“No time! Our only hope is to stop that thing right here!”

“It’ll take everyone,” KyVina said. “But even then, there’s no guarantee!”

“Then we will die trying,” came a towering voice.

Everyone turned and saw VayRonx, VoRenna, and the rest of those who had stayed behind at the gates to regain their strength.

“VayRonx,” KyVina said, happy to see her mate back on his feet.

“Everyone prepare to counterstrike,” the alpha commanded.

Now everyone who was still above ground stood together and looked up at the terrifying sight of destruction inexorably coming down on them.

High above, Rex could feel his flame fighting to regain a hold in his body. The mere thought that he could not simply access it at will infuriated him, and he began to feel it surge its way back as a result.

PeroDay, who was still holding him, could feel him begin to stir in his grasp and quickly applied pressure in order to subdue him. “Stop that!” he ordered. “Believe me, you’re much better off up here with me than you are down there with them.”

“You won’t feel
that
way for long,” Rex said in a low voice.

“Huh? What are you going on about?” Before he could have even reacted, Rex reared his head back, overpowering the DraGon’s hold on him, and bit a large chunk of PeroDay’s lower jaw clean off. The DraGon howled in pain as Rex pushed off his body with his hind legs and went sailing to the ground where he landed with a heavy thud.

“No,” DayKar gasped upon seeing Rex’s escape before calling back up to the other DraGons. “We must stop the attack! Do not let it touch the ground!”

“Grand Marshal, it’s too late!” VorTak called back down. “What does it matter? Once it hits we can be rid of all of them once and for all!”

“You fool!” he bellowed. “Have you forgotten why we came here in the first place? Why it was so important that we took the TyRanx alive? Without him, all of this has been for naught! We need him alive, or our own lives will be forfeit!”

“I’m sorry, DayKar,” LemaRes said. “But he’s right. There is nothing we can do to stop it now short of sacrificing our own lives to do so!”

DayKar roared angrily before looking back down and feeling helpless as he watched all he had striven for prepare to vanish in a flash of light.

Back on the ground, Rex ran up to the others, who marveled at his powerfully muscular frame, which dwarfed even EeNox in size.

“Rex,” EeNox began. “Are you—?”

“We need to destroy that thing. Now!” Rex said in a commanding voice.

“How?” LyCora asked. “It’s too powerful for even our combined power to cancel out!”

“Then let’s kick it straight back into their teeth,” he replied with a low growl.

“Sounds good to me,” VayRonx declared as he turned his attention back to the encroaching giant ball of fire. “Everyone: on my word, send everything you have at that thing!” All those who were able gathered together and raised their hands up above them. “Now!” KaNar suddenly lit up with the hundreds of flames shooting up to the massive fireball that was now burning the tops of the mountains themselves. Their combined attacks succeeded in hitting it with great force but were quickly absorbed.

“It’s not working,” TyRoas yelled.

“Then push harder,” his older brother shouted in return.

“Everyone, give it everything you have,” VayRonx exclaimed. “Do not hold anything back! We stop this thing here and now or we die trying!” The entire village cried out furiously as their flames grew in width and power, and slowly began to halt the fireball’s decent.