A Shadow Flame (Book 7)

by Jordan Baker

  Steel met steel, and Calexis glared as Aaron's blade stopped her sword a mere handspan away from Lexi's neck. With his blade, he shoved her back, and she landed heavily a few paces away. Aaron sliced through the shadows that held Lexi, but they returned almost immediately, and he stared at Calexis, with a dark look in his eyes.

  "You are killing her," he said, his voice dry, but reverberating with power.

  "Would you like me to stop?" Calexis asked, with an impish grin that clashed with the dark shadows around her reptilian face. "Make me stop. There you go. Now, make me do what you want. Show me how powerful you are. Fight me."

  Aaron stepped toward her as dark shadows snaked toward him, and he felt the shadow within him twisting into the center of his being, where he kept his power suppressed, moving deeper as he came closer to grasping its abundant energy. What little power he had gathered in his body was quickly running out, but he knew that it no longer mattered. The spell over the people was broken and if he could free Lexi, then she and the others could get away, then he could fight Calexis the way he wanted. The tendrils of shadow curled around his limbs, trying to stop him the way they held Lexi, and Aaron felt his power flicker deep inside him and it was all he could do not to seize it. Instead he grasped the shadows and let them flow into him, joining with the shadow, taking the dark power away from Calexis, and weakening the power that held Lexi.

  "Let her go," Aaron said again. "It is my power that you want."

  "Perhaps I want you both," Calexis said. "You must learn that there is very little that I do not desire."

  "With the power inside of me, you can take what you want," Aaron told her.

  "That is true," Calexis replied. "But I will still take her power all the same."

  Aaron reached out and drew the dark tendrils of shadow that held Lexi toward him, gathering them in his hand, then he pulled on them. The shadows unwrapped themselves from Lexi and she fell to the stone cobbles, barely conscious and bleeding badly from her wounds. The shadows writhed in Aaron's grip, then they turned upon him and he felt the shadow within him grow even more powerful as he drew the darkness into himself. He could feel the dark power eating away at the last bit of energy he had gathered in himself, and he knew that he could no longer resist.

  "You will face me," Aaron said, and the fire within him flared.

  "Very good," Calexis said. "Now show me your fire."

  "Come," Aaron told her. "Show me your darkness."

  Dark grey shadows loomed around Calexis as Aaron burst into flames and moved toward her, his jeweled sword held before him. In a blur, as fast as lightning but blazing with fire, Aaron struck and Calexis barely blocked his attack with her own blade. He struck again, even faster and more powerful, driving her away from the unconscious blue dragon, pushing the dark queen back toward the stairs to the palace. Calexis stared at him hungrily from behind her blade as she blocked another blazing attack, and she stepped back again, just beyond his reach.

  Aaron moved forward, hammering at her again and the truefire within him burned even brighter, the energy he had suppressed for so long finally free. The gemstones in his blade began to glow as the abundance of his power filled them, flickering deep red amid the white hot fire of his power, and he hit Calexis' blade again, knocking it back toward her so hard that she nearly lost her grip. A glimmer of fear appeared in her eyes, but her lust for the power he possessed overwhelmed any trepidation she felt, and when she saw a hint of shadow appear within Aaron's power, she smiled, knowing that he would soon be hers.

  Aaron drove Calexis up the stairs toward the palace, and he glanced back toward Lexi as he fought her mother through the entrance and into the grand entrance, but the blue dragon still lay motionless upon the broken stones of the courtyard. There was nothing he could do to help her, but he heard a voice in his ear, a whisper that he recognized.

  "We are coming," it said with Ehlena's voice, a dry echo on the wind.

  "They are too late," Calexis told him, as she blocked another powerful attack, and having heard Ehlena's voice as well. "They thought they could stop me by desecrating my temple and stealing my power, but they have failed."

  "Stealing your power?" Aaron asked as he struck again, the two swords sparking wildly inside the dark entrance to the palace. "It is life you stole from countless others. That power was never yours."

  "Fool," Calexis growled as she struck back at him with her blade, the power of her attack driving him backward toward the entrance of the palace and out to the top of the steps. "I am a god. All things are mine to take."

  "You are not a god," Aaron told her as he took several more blows upon his blade, the power driving him back toward the steps to the courtyard. "You are slave to a god."

  Calexis paused for a moment, with conflict flickering in her eyes as Aaron tried to catch his breath, then she struck again.

  "You know nothing," she said with a smile cracking across her face as he barely managed to block her blow. "Soon you will understand. You will know the truth of darkness."

  Aaron pushed her away and was about to attack when he suddenly felt his stomach lurch and his breath became short. It was as though a hand had reached up inside him and was crushing his innards, and an icy cold darkness began to spread through him. Calexis stepped back and watched as Aaron stumbled, gritting his teeth and trying to step toward him, but failing to move. The fire within him blazed even brighter and Aaron felt it begin to burn away the shadow, but when he took another step, he felt the dark power grow as it fed on his energy, and the tip of his sword lowered as his strength began to waver.

  "Is something wrong?" Calexis asked, her voice saccharine with feigned concern.

  "You ask as though you do not know," Aaron said. "Tell me, what is wrong with you. What is it that you do not see?"

  "Embrace it, Aaron," Calexis told him. "Let the darkness feed upon your fire and you will discover the truth of it. You will know what it is to be truly free."

  "You call this freedom?" Aaron said as he forced his sword up. "I call it death. I can feel the darkness. It destroys life."

  "What greater freedom is there?" Calexis asked and she leapt toward him and swung her sword toward him. Aaron barely blocked her blade, and his fire burned even brighter as he reached for more power and tried to counterattack. He knocked her sword aside and slashed at her, but Calexis easily deflected his blade with a quick return and she easily stepped back out of his reach as he faltered. Aaron felt the shadow grow, swirling darkness within the light of his fire and his vision blurred as his limbs refused to move. Calexis took a step toward him, with a smile curling at the corners of her mouth. He felt the shadows of her power grip him and it drove him to his knees, his sword upon the ground.

  "There now," she said. "That is the way of things. It pleases me to see you kneel before me."

  "I do not kneel to you," Aaron said, his voice defiant, though his strength was failing.

  "You will do whatever I tell you," she said as she took another step closer. She reached out a clawed hand and curled it around his face. "You are mine. You have always been mine. Let go of your struggle and free yourself, while you still have the choice."

  "And if I refuse?" Aaron gasped as his breath was nearly choked away by her power.

  "It no longer matters," she said. "You cannot refuse the shadow."

  "It seems that I cannot," Aaron replied as the cold darkness spread within him.

  "You are powerful," Calexis said as she stepped closer and lifted his chin, tilting his head up toward her. "I have waited so long for such power to come into the world."

  "You destroy power," Aaron said. "There is only emptiness within you."

  "Yes," she said. "You understand the truth of it. The truth of fire is nothing to the shadow, for where there is light, there will always be shadow, and where there is life, there will always be death. It is a cycle that continues until there is nothing."

  "That is your truth?" Aaron whispered.

  "No," she replied, as
she lifted him up, the grip of her power compelling him to his feet. "It is the truth of all things."

  "And where there is no fire, there is no shadow," Aaron said, him words barely mumbling in his mouth.

  "There is only darkness," Calexis said. "Do you see the truth of it now?"

  "Yes," Aaron replied, as the shadows closed in around the edges of his vision and the word began to turn dark. "I understand the truth."

  "Very good," she said. "Now let go of your fire. Let it flow through you. Let the darkness feed upon it."

  Aaron felt his power flare and the fire that raged within him was unleashed, let loose by the will of the darkness that held him and intertwined with his own, and he could see the shadows growing between him and the dark queen as she drew him close into an embrace. As they touched, the darkness began to flow into him, filling him with a seemingly infinite emptiness. He could feel Calexis and the god within her laughing with glee, their voices joined by a chorus of others, screams like echoes from an ancient past, the remnants of so many lives that had been stolen over the ages by the power of the god and the shadow. Somewhere beyond those voices, Aaron felt the center of the shadow, the darkness that lurked beneath, the same darkness that held him and had hungered for his power since he had been barely an infant. It was there, the true source of the shadow, the power that must be defeated lest it consume all life, if only he could find a way to counter it.

  Calexis' claws slashed his arms as she was knocked away from him, and Aaron caught the barest glimpse of blue and crackling energy as his thoughts fell into a pool of darkness. The dark queen screamed as she was ripped away from her prey, her magic interrupted by the young lizard girl, who attacked her without hesitation. Lexi smashed at her with powerful, relentless strikes that came blindingly fast and Calexis could barely keep up. She struck blindly, with her blade and her clawed hand, but Lexi disappeared from view then reappeared next to her, attacking again.

  "I will kill you!" Calexis screamed, her thoughts twisted and confused.

  "No, mother," Lexi said, standing behind her for a moment. "I will kill you."

  Lexi reappeared in front of Calexis and plunged her sword into her chest. Calexis screamed and her body began to turn to black smoke, but Lexi flared her lightning and it held the dark queen in place. Calexis stared at her daughter, and a strange smile suddenly crossed her face. It was not cruel or vicious as she had so often looked, but it was something else, almost proud, and it made Lexi feel awkward and uncomfortable. She was even more shocked when Calexis dropped her sword and placed her clawed hands on Lexi's blade and pulled it deeper into her chest, moving closer to her.

  "You are so beautiful, Lexi," Calexis said, her voice softer than it had been for a long time, more like it had been when Lexi was very young.

  "You are mocking me," Lexi said.

  "No," Calexis told her as tears of blood began to fall from her eyes. "I have so little time."

  "Yes, I have killed you," Lexi replied and she shoved her sword deeper, and Calexis cried out from the pain of it, then she gritted her teeth and stared at her daughter.

  "I was a fool," Calexis told her. "I should have treated you better. I am glad you met someone who did what I could not." She glanced over at Aaron, who stood motionless with dark shadows swirling around him.

  "And you have hurt him," Lexi said.

  "I have tried to help him, to stay the hand of the god, but I am at my end," Calexis told her. "I cannot explain everything, but you must destroy the shadow. Use every bit of power you have, Lexi, even if it kills you. You must stop the darkness."

  "Why do you say such things?" Lexi asked, confused. "It is your darkness that has made so much trouble."

  "No, Lexi," Calexis said. "You may despise me if you wish, and I am to blame for many things, but the power called the shadow is something far worse than I. You must destroy this god, and you must destroy the power of the shadow, no matter what."

  "I do not understand," Lexi told her. "I came to stop you and to help my friend."

  "I fear that he is beyond your help," Calexis said, then she coughed, and a clot of black blood ran from her mouth. "Nothing else matters, Lexi. Stop the shadow. Burn the darkness with your fire and do not stop until it is destroyed completely."

  "I will destroy this darkness and free Aaron," Lexi replied, though she was still confused. "Why do you speak like you want to help me?"

  "Know that I am proud of you," Calexis told her. "I must go now, for I can no longer hold back the god that has stolen my life."

  "What do you mean?" Lexi asked. "I will take your power like I took the power of Stroma."

  Calexis' head slumped forward and she began to laugh.

  "You were lucky," she sneered. "That fool Stroma was too trusting of his own cleverness and he let his guard down. I will not make the same mistake."

  Lexi increased her lightning but something strange was happening. Calexis remained slumped, impaled upon her blade, but somehow it seemed as though she was moving, pulling herself sideways and ripping the sword through her as she turned to dark smoke. She tried to use the sword to take the power from he mother, but a powerful hand smashed Lexi in the side of her head and she stumbled sideways, taking Calexis' body with her. When Lexi looked up, she saw that the entire shadow had left her mother's form, which remained run through by her blade, and she could sense that Calexis was gone, nothing more than a lifeless husk, with thickening blood pooling on the stones beneath her feet. Lexi lowered her sword and her mother's lifeless body slipped from the blade to the thick stones at the top of the steps, then she stared at the dark figure that stood before her, a whirling shadow that was almost like a person, but without a solid form.

  "What are you?" Lexi asked, glancing down at Calexis' body.

  "I am the god," the figure said, and it reached out a shadowy hand toward the sword Calexis had dropped and tendrils of dark power grasped it and sent it flying into its hand. "I am the shadow."

  "Then I will kill you too," Lexi said, and she heard a dry whisper become a cackle, a laugh that was far more cruel than she had ever heard before.

  "You are nothing," the figure said. "You are pathetic and worthless. Did you come here to save your friend? If that was your purpose, then you have failed."

  "I have not failed yet," Lexi said as she took a step toward the shadowy figure.

  "I have witnessed your life, your foul beginnings. You were born a failure," the figure said. "A failed attempt by a foolish and vain queen, whose only value was her lust for power. That you have gained power has been by trickery, and not your own. You do not know how the gods manipulate and deceive."

  "I do not care," Lexi said. "And if you say the gods manipulate and deceive then you are talking about yourself. Why should I believe a word you say?"

  "Perhaps you are not so foolish as I thought," the shadows spoke as the figure walked over to where Aaron stood, frozen by the shadows that swirled around him. "But it matters not, for you will end here. Your power will become my power, for I am the one god."

  The figure of shadows stepped closer to Aaron and Lexi dashed forward and slashed at it with her sword, but like the dark smoke, the figure separated around her blade and reformed after it had passed. A shadowy hand knocked her backwards, then countless dark tendrils of shadow streamed from the figure and plunged into Aaron. As Lexi rose to her feet, she saw his eyes widen from the shock of it, but she felt helpless, for her sword was useless against this enemy. The shadowy figure turned its head and looked at her, and Lexi thought she saw a glint of something where its eyes should be, and a grin that reminded her of the self-satisfied look her mother would get when she had done something particularly vicious. Aaron cried out, his eyes closed tightly and his expression one of pain, as the shadows attacked him and Lexi gripped her sword tightly in one hand, out of frustration, powerless to attack, then she reached out her other hand and threw streams of lightning at the shadows, but that power did nothing, and the darkness around Aaron became thic
k like a cloud. The shadowy figure melted into the cloud of darkness, then it closed in around Aaron and, a moment later, it disappeared.

  Aaron stood motionless, his eyes closed, and all was silent, save for the faint crackling of lightning, curling around Lexi's sword arm. She took a step toward him but she stopped abruptly when his eyes opened. Aaron turned and stared at her, and his eyes flickered with flames that were a combination of shadow and fire. The look on his face was frightening and Lexi felt herself take a step backwards as the world around Aaron grew dark.

  "Lexi," he said. "Why did you come here?"

  "To help," she said. "To stop my mother, and to save you."

  Aaron looked over at Calexis' lifeless corpse. "It is very foolish for you to be here," he said.

  "I don't like the sound of your words," Lexi said. "You don't sound like you."

  "I don't?" Aaron seemed confused for a moment, then he sighed and a faint smile appeared on his lips. "I suppose I don't."

  "Who are you?" Lexi asked.

  "That is an interesting question," he said.

  "You aren't Aaron."

  "I'm not?" He looked at his empty hand and raised the sword in his other, as though his body and its movements were unfamiliar. "I am one and I am many, and I am powerful, far more powerful than I had imagined."

  "You are the one called Kenra," Lexi said. "You are stealing Aaron with the shadow. Get out of him."

  "Kenra," he said, as though tasting the name. "Yes, I have been called that."

  "Leave Aaron alone," Lexi said. "He is good and you aren't. Leave him."

  "Why would I do that?" he asked.

  "Take me instead," Lexi said. "I have the power she wanted, Stroma's power. I did bad things, but Aaron never did bad things. Let him go."