From the Embers (The Born in Flames Trilogy)

by Candace Knoebel

  “We don’t really know what happened. What if Zordon never actually locked Saeth up?” Zane prompted. “Or what if this was all a part of their plan?”

  “What ifs won’t change our circumstance,” Lexi said, lips pressed into a white slash.

  The ground rumbled beneath our feet, a hole opening in the center of the area. With nowhere to run, we grabbed on to each other and waited.

  Something started to rise. I unsheathed my daggers. My hand clenched around the hilts, ready for a fight. The vile creature dug its fingers into the ground and pulled itself the rest of the way out.

  Lexi gasped. “A Reap Demon.”

  “Reap Demon?” I was almost hesitant to repeat.

  “The one who collects and tortures the souls of the Lost,” she said, a tremble in her voice.

  The Demon rose to a staggering height, towering over the four of us and making the Lost look like small ants. Its body was made of smoke with sharp, curled horns protruding from its forehead. Red eyes glared down at us. It placed its hands on its hips, blocking us from going any further, then threw its head back and laughed.

  So that was where the laughter had come from.

  “What now?” Zane mumbled through the side of his mouth, keeping his eyes on the Demon.

  “It seems we have to gain access to the next level through him,” Lexi explained.

  “And how exactly do we do that?” Fenn inquired nervously.

  The evil red eyes of the Demon gleamed down at us, waiting for us to make a move.

  “I’m thinking,” Lexi said, wincing from her own words. “Take this.” She pulled something from her pocket. It was the Stone of Immortality. “You will need it for the final spell.”

  I clutched it tightly in my hand, vowing to not let go.

  “This is just great,” Zane said, cursing. He took a deep breath, his fingers flexing and then cracking at his sides. Without a word, he took a step towards the Demon, ignoring our calls for him to come back. He made it about two feet before being flung backwards by the force of the Demon’s smoking hand.

  “Zane!” I cried out, turning to run for him, but a large fist of smoke smashed down in front of me, preventing me from moving any further.

  “Fenn!”

  He was by my side in an instant, grabbing me by the arm and pulling me around the enormous hand in Zane’s direction. Another large fist slammed in front of us.

  We skidded to a halt and fell to the ground in a tumbled mess of legs and arms. We tried to regain our footing to run in the opposite direction, but no matter where we ran, the Demon’s fist was there, stopping us.

  “All right!” I finally yelled as I turned to face him. “What do you want?”

  The Demon didn’t speak. I don’t think it could speak. He just stood there staring at us with the threat of more to come.

  “Aurora, look! An opening,” Lexi hollered as she tugged Zane back towards us. He clutched his arm to his side, his face gray.

  I turned back to the Demon where Lexi pointed and found the hole the Demon had crawled out of. It had to be the way to the next level. He was the test.

  “But how?” I said to any who would listen.

  Fenn grabbed my hand. “We make a run for it,” he whispered to me.

  I glanced back at Lexi and Zane who were running but not covering any distance. Some unseen force was preventing them from making progress.

  “We can’t leave them,” I said, searching his eyes. Truth clenched around my heart.

  “We have to,” he said clearly, sadly. He turned back to Lexi. “Throw me the spell!”

  A look of pale shock crossed her face, and then replaced by understanding. She knew we had to go without her. She stopped running and let her light build up, summoning all of her power. Despite the force that held her back, she was able to conjure the paper into Fenn’s hand.

  Fenn looked back at her, pulling in a slow, regretful breath, and then grabbed my hand and tugged me towards the opening. We ran faster than we ever had before. He put both of his hands on my waist as the Demon took a step back, swinging his hand into the air, ready to smash us.

  “Now!” Fenn yelled. He threw us towards the hole. I slid through the prickly grass directly underneath the Demon and lifted my hands up the minute the hole pulled me down. My eyes shot up, searching for Fenn who appeared a split second later, free falling beside me.

  “We’re almost done,” he said encouragingly. He reached through thin air for my hand. I took it for reassurance and squeezed.

  Our feet lightly landed on a hard surface. Fiery pits of lava and rock had formed. Something moved beside us. We jerked our heads to the right. The Shadows. Swirling around us, they took on forms of various human bodies.

  “Let’s get moving,” I said.

  “We have to be close,” Fenn said as we carefully hopped from rock to rock, trying to avoid the flowing lava. I tried to focus in on my dragon sense, but it was blocked. There was nothing but darkness and Shadows.

  “Do you see anything?” I asked.

  “No. You?”

  “No,” I said, growing weary. “How are we going to get Lexi and Zane out?”

  “She will get them out. She is a Celestian,” he said. But something in his tone didn’t sound so sure. She wasn’t able to get us out when we were all in there together.

  “But—”

  He cut me off. “Don’t. We have to stay positive. We’ve come this far. We are finishing this.” The will in his voice was powerful.

  A blast of lava shot up in front of us, preventing us from moving any further in that direction. I felt like my heart was going to beat right out of my chest. Fenn’s hand tightened around mine as he pulled me close. More lava burst up into the air, surrounding us in a circle. I closed my eyes, tapping into my power. This was my element to control.

  When my eyes opened, I focused on the lava, sending every bit of my power into it. The walls of lava faltered, but they fought back using magic older than me.

  “The magic here is strong. Intruders are not welcome,” I said to Fenn, dropping to one knee from the woozy feeling in my head. With effort, I shoved the pain away. I had to be stronger. I had to get us out of here.

  I focused on the task. It was a power drain to fight back, but I refused to give in. I stood back up, told Fenn to get back, and pushed harder, taking a step toward the lava.

  My hands flew up into the air, and slowly I lowered them, demanding that the lava follow. The lava slowly dropped, moving back into the rushing pools around us.

  “Let’s go,” I said determinedly, grabbing Fenn’s hand and pulling him forward.

  He gaped at me. “Do you know how hot you are?” he asked in admiration. Sweat dripped down the sides of his face and curved around his smile.

  “Sweltering in this level,” I said in mock seriousness, wiping my own sweat off my face.

  He chuckled.

  I smiled to myself, not paying attention to where I was stepping. “Fenn!” I cried out as I slipped on a pool of condensation. I tried to grab on to something, but the rocks were too slippery.

  “Rory!” he shouted, reaching for me. I spread my wings just as the bottom of my foot was about to hit the lava, and flapped with all my might. I threw my arms around his neck the moment I landed. He held me up while every muscle in my body shook.

  “Are you all right?” he asked, checking me all over.

  I nodded, too worked up to speak. With renewed caution, we jumped from rock to rock for what felt like forever until something small appeared in the distance. We hoped that whatever it was, we wouldn’t have to fight it. As we drew closer, the shape grew familiar.

  “It’s here,” Fenn said, pointing to the cauldron in the center of the rock in front of us. “This is where Zordon was created.”
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  “Figures,” I muttered.

  We hopped over to the rock and huddled around the cauldron. Fenn took the paper out of his shirt pocket and carefully unfolded it, his hands trembling.

  “The blood of Zordon must go first,” he instructed.

  The vial was already in my hand, prepared for this. I lifted it over the cauldron and unscrewed the lid, dumping the tainted blood into the empty cauldron. The sound of the drops hitting the bottom sent chills down my spine. I dropped the vial into the lava, anxious to be rid of it.

  “Now your blood,” he continued, watching me closely. I shifted back into my human form and took the offered dagger from him, and then slid it across my palm. Across the same scar his mother had given me over a year ago. My blood spilled into the cauldron, followed by small, curling wisps of smoke that rose from the mixture.

  I waited until I thought there was enough, and then whispered, “Mendaro,” watching my skin seal itself shut. I handed the dagger back to Fenn.

  “My turn,” he said. He didn’t hesitate, dragging the blade across his palm and holding it up over the cauldron. The steam grew higher, the air filling with the smell of rotten eggs. I turned my face from it.

  “Now we must read the spell together while holding the Stone. It will channel the power of a Fate,” he said. “You think we should hold hands?”

  “We should both hold on to the Stone.”

  “Right,” he said, clearing his throat and coming around the cauldron so we could both see. He counted to three, reached out for my hand with the Stone, and then we said the words:

  “Blood of black, impure and wrong,

  Unbind my soul from where it doesn’t belong,

  Third of three meant for the hold,

  Open your soul and remold.”

  We chanted this three times before the spell finally began to take effect. The Stone lit up, a beam of light shooting up to the cavern ceiling and out towards the cauldron.

  Fenn caught me as I crippled into a ball on his lap. I felt my soul ripping in half, unable to move or speak. It took everything in me to hold on to his shaking hands. The darkness I had been attached to did not want to give up; it fought to keep its hold on my soul.

  I bit down on my tongue, trying to refrain from screaming out, and blood pooled in my mouth. Shards of pain sliced through me as a dark light burst out from my chest where the heaviness of Zordon had always sat.

  Through blurry eyes, I watched Fenn’s face coil in pain as, right before our eyes, our souls slowly wove together. Two small forms of light, in the shape of swans, swam out from inside of us and crossed necks above the cauldron. The minute they touched, I knew the spell was complete. The darkness inside me, the evil taint that I had so longed to be rid of, was no longer there. Only my love for Fenn remained.

  The light quickly faded, and a large blast blew away the rock to our right, sending fragments flying around us. Zordon.

  “Aurora,” Fenn shouted, already on his feet and pulling me up.

  Painful screeching filled the air, immobilizing us in pain. This was not how I had imagined it ending—The Fates reacting harshly to our attempt at fixing their mess.

  “You’ve got it all wrong,” I heard a familiar voice say.

  I slowly opened my eyes. We were standing in the Hall where we had met the Counsel.

  “Stay down,” Lexi said to me. She was right beside me and looked worried and beaten. I dropped to the ground, my mind racing as it tried to catch up. Fenn was on the other side of me. I scanned the room for any sign of Zane and then froze. He lay unconscious a few feet away from us. He has to be okay, I told myself. He heals rapidly.

  I nudged Fenn in the side and pointed towards Zane with my chin. The blood drained from his face. Without thinking, he scuttled forward on hands and knees. I crawled after him, trying to push away the sounds of Saeth’s voice.

  “He says move again and he will burn you on the spot,” Lexi shouted out fearfully.

  Fenn and I both froze. It was entirely possible now so why hadn’t he killed me already? I slowly turned towards the sound of screeching.

  The light emanating off of Saeth slowly began to fade. I almost didn’t want to see, but I couldn’t pry my eyes away. Encased by a red-colored halo, he hid behind the hood of his robe.

  The Counsel stood next to him, exactly how I remembered him. He sneered as he brazenly moved towards us. We had bested him the last time. His steps said we would do otherwise this time.

  “You have undone the bind,” he pointed out with a note of glee in his voice. His hands came together in a clap of joy. “We must applaud you for that.” Another round of screeching assaulted my ears, and I dropped further onto my knees, trying to find sanctity behind the palms pressing against my ears.

  I felt a hand on the other side of me and looked over. Lexi. She trembled from head to toe.

  He circled around us now, glaring at us with disgust. “Zordon knows his soul has been ripped in half, and now he is hell bent on destroying everything you love to bring you back down to the realm.”

  “The Orient,” Fenn said through his teeth. He squeezed my other hand. The threads of my control threatened to snap loose.

  The Counsel stopped walking and bent over to meet Fenn’s eyes. “Such a predicament,” he said through mocking laughter. “Such a shame that you are stuck here.”

  I looked over at Lexi, searching her eyes for any sign of retreat. It couldn’t end…not like this. The endless cackle coming from the Counsel broke what little hope I had left.

  “What do you want?” I snapped at him.

  His laughter ended abruptly, his cruel black eyes narrowing on me underneath furrowed brows. “I,” he said, placing his hand against his chest, “do not want anything from you.” His words rolled off his tongue in a snarl.

  I prayed they couldn’t see the images whirling through my mind. He was vile and vicious and every second wasted was a second one of my own could die.

  The Counsel turned to Saeth, “I am only here because he wants to speak with you. Your fragile ears are not meant to understand his words.”

  “Get to it then,” Fenn retorted cuttingly. Angst rolled off of him in waves.

  Lexi scooted closer to me, her robes dragging across filth and rubble. She leaned her head just close enough to whisper, “I don’t think they mean us any harm.”

  I felt my brows pinch together. Mean us no harm?

  The screeching rang throughout the hall again. I couldn’t stop the awful gagging as my body tried to vomit. On cue, Fenn hunched over on his hands and knees, dry heaving. He felt every bit of pain I felt, as I felt his. The bind was surely intact.

  “Stop it!” Lexi shouted through tears.

  The Counsel laughed. “Saeth wants you to kill Zordon. After what happened, being locked away by his son’s hand, he will not be given another chance. This cannot happen again. This was never intended to happen.”

  I looked up through watery eyes, spitting to rid the crude taste from my mouth. “Then maybe you shouldn’t have created Zordon in the first place,” I spat. “And maybe you shouldn’t have tried to overthrow your brother’s and sister.”

  An unseen force slapped me. My eyes landed on Fenn’s face. Blood trickled from the same spot where I was struck. In that moment, as blood coated the inside of my mouth, I regretted being bound to Fenn. I regretted the fact that he had to feel every strike inflicted upon me. I spit again.

  “It’s nice to be bound to someone you love, someone you care for, isn’t it?” the Counsel said mockingly. “Every hit you take, he takes. Every stab, every scrape, every broken bone, it is his as well. Do you regret it, Progeny?”

  I looked up with hatred.

  He smirked, the evil grin reaching his eyes. “You would be wise to bite your tongue,” the Counsel advised sharpl
y. He stood rigidly, his fists clenched.

  “What she meant to say was, if you would kindly stop wasting our time, then we could get on with killing Zordon” Fenn forced out, spitting the blood from his mouth from the hit we shared.

  More screeching broke out as Saeth glided towards us, murder in his eyes.

  “Please!” Lexi shouted as she watched both Fenn and I fall to our backs, writhing against the broken pieces of wall. White hot pain shot throughout my body, crippling me.

  When the pain let up, the Counsel stepped forward. “Iliana has always intended for Aurora to kill Zordon,” the Counsel translated for Saeth. “Originally, his instincts were to protect his creation, the same as Gidius’. But after Zordon’s betrayal, he realizes he was wrong.”

  “Why doesn’t he just kill Zordon himself? We made him mortal and removed the bond,” Fenn said. Blood drained from his ears, same as mine.

  Saeth cocked his head to the side, watching us intently. It seemed he was contemplating his answer, unprepared for that question. The Counsel looked back at him, waiting for his next words. I braced myself, but nothing came.

  “Sir?” the Counsel questioned, backing up a few steps to be closer to Saeth. The screeching resumed but only for a moment. Shock filtered across the Counsel’s face.

  “Oh my god,” Lexi said under her breath, “that explains it.”

  “What?” I asked, my stomach prickling with fear.

  The Counsel cleared his throat, resuming his evil demeanor. “The night Saeth and Maison went after you when you were sent away by Astral, Iliana stepped in. She is the reason you escaped. She talked the other two Fates, Arcadia and Castien, into helping her.”

  He leaned in further, his pupils dilating. “That same night, a spell was woven, binding The Fates to both of your souls, preventing them from being able to kill either of you. Free will was restored. It was her way of keeping her brothers in line.”