by Jordan Baker
"You will hear my words, Aaron," Ariana told him as she took another step toward him.
"Say what you wish to say," he told her. "Then begone."
Ariana nodded, then she bowed her head.
"I wish to say thank you, brother," she told him. "For what you have done for the people of this land, and for the love and care you have shown me and many others, you have my respect and my gratitude."
"That is what you wanted to say?" Aaron laughed, his voice shifting again to something darker and more ominous. "Strange words to risk your life for, and wasted words, for such things no longer matter."
"Such things will always matter, so long as there is life in this world," Ariana said.
"Enjoy what moments you have left, Ariana," he told her, and his voice shifted again. "Now get out of my sight before I change my mind."
"Ariana, we must go," Borrican growled as he shifted to his dragon form.
"Ah yes, the dragon of Kandara," Aaron shouted as Borrican let out a bellowing roar. "Your fire will be mine."
Ariana leapt onto Borrican's shoulders as he sprang into the air, narrowly dodging hundreds of black tendrils that flew from Aaron toward him. Zachary's fire blasted away at them, as several caught the black dragon by the leg and began pulling him downward, and the tendrils let go as Borrican's powerful wings lifted him into the sky. Aaron turned and sent the dark power toward the mage, and from the sky, Borrican and Ariana saw Zachary completely engulfed in darkness before his fire flared and burned back the shadows. They watched as Brian leapt toward Aaron again, his entire being glowing like the lava that flowed within the world itself and among the desolate wastes of the dragon lands.
"It makes no sense," Ariana said. "He told us to leave, yet he wants your power."
"It seems that Aaron fights the shadow still," Borrican said as he climbed higher into the sky, toward the dragons and the Ansari, who circled around above the palace. "Did you see when Zachary hit him with truefire, Aaron's own flames began to burn brighter."
"Is that why he says the things he does?" Ariana asked, her emotions conflicted, both angered and saddened by what she had seen.
"Look," Borrican said, glancing down at the city below. "The darkness is focused upon him as Ehlena told us. Aaron has gathered the shadow here, for one reason."
Dark tendrils spread out across the city, like the roots of a tree, all centered upon the place where Aaron stood in the courtyard below. Zachary blasted Aaron again and it seems as though the strands of darkness retreated a little. Borrican circled around among the dragons and Ansari, and he could hear their thoughts echoing his own.
"You know what must be done," he roared, and they all began to spiral downward, closer to the battle happening below.
Aaron laughed as Zachary's flames hit him and he blocked another one of Brian's powerful attacks, sending his friend skidding across the courtyard. The shadows within him recoiled and burned from the truefire, but he felt the darkness grow even darker, absorbing raw power from the flames. Aaron looked up and saw the flashes of light in the dark sky, as the dragons above him let loose with their flames, pouring streams of truefire down upon him and he lifted his hands up and smiled as the blinding heat washed over him.
"Yes," he said as the shadows were burned away yet they also fed upon the flames and grew stronger. "Show me your power."
Brian jumped backwards as the courtyard was suddenly awash in burning flames and the palace courtyard itself began to melt around Aaron. He used Kroma's power to raise a circle of stone around Aaron, to try to contain the acid flames and molten stone, and he raised the ground beneath Zachary and himself, into pillars on either side, as the mage continued hurling fire, adding to the flames of the dragons.
"Why does the shadow not burn away?" Brian asked the god.
"It does," Kroma said. "But it seems also feeds upon the flames. That is the true nature of the shadow once it has manifested itself in the world. The only way to destroy it now is to overwhelm it with truefire."
"That much power could destroy the entire city," Brian said.
"If that is what it will take, then that is what must be done," Kroma said. "If this city is destroyed, it will be a small price compared with the last time the power of the shadow was cast upon the world."
Aaron felt the truefire burning him, scorching his skin, but it was only heat and did little damage to him, for his own fire protected him and the shadows that swirled around him cooled the worst of it. He could feel the darkness that had spread through the city returning to him, to protect the shadow within him and to feed upon the flames, and he felt the shadow grow darker, along with the fire that burned at the center of his being.
"You think to resist me?" Kenra sneered within his thoughts.
"You are nothing," Aaron said. "You are only a face to the shadow."
"You are persistent," said another voice.
"I see you," Aaron said. "I know what you are."
"You are more perceptive than the others," said the voice. "And what am I?"
"You are nothing," Aaron said through gritted teeth as even more fire poured down upon him from the dragons above and Zachary hit him again with another blast of flame. He looked up, past the fire and past the dragons that circled around just overhead and he saw one dragon far above the rest, a flicker of blue against a black sky that was now turning grey.
"You think one more dragon will be enough to stop me?" the voice asked, with a deep, rumbling laugh.
"Whatever it takes to destroy you," Aaron said.
"I see now what you are trying to do," the voice growled. "You thought you could hold me here with your will alone, but you are nothing compared to my power."
Aaron suddenly felt an icy cold spread through him, and even his skin turned dark as coal as shadow flooded through him, and the flames that engulfed him now seemed very far away, as though they were barely touching him. Inside his thoughts, it was as though he now stood upon nothing, suspended over a deep, dark and bottomless chasm. He had the unsettling feeling that he was about to plummet downward, and just as the thought occurred to him, he began to fall. All around him, he heard the deep laughter of the shadow, and the rasping sneer of the god Kenra as he tumbled further into the darkness, away from the flames that raged in the sky above him. He looked up and saw two dark figures looking down at him as he fell. One he knew was Kenra, the god of lies, and the other figure stood behind him, much larger and darker, like a shadow, and Aaron reached out toward them, over what seemed like an impossible distance, and he grabbed Kenra and pulled him down with him into the chasm.
"Let me go!" Kenra raged, his dark form struggling against Aaron's grip.
"No," Aaron said, and his grip on the god tightened. "You are the lie."
"You will die like the others," Kenra hissed, his features twisting into that of Calexis, then Cerric, and other faces Aaron did not recognize.
"The others," Aaron said and he cocked his head as he stared into the god's dark, shimmering eyes and heard echoes of the countless voices of those whose lives had been stolen. "They are within you, as you are now within me."
"They are nothing!" Kenra growled. "I am the one god. Your power is mine!"
"You are mistaken," Aaron said, then he looked past the struggling god. "Look there. See the truth of your one god."
"You speak nonsense," Kenra sneered. "Now unhand me and descend into darkness the way you are supposed to."
"Look and see the truth," Aaron said, sensing the utter denial from the god. "Are you afraid?"
"I fear nothing!" Kenra seethed.
"Then look," Aaron said.
"No!" Kenra began to struggle and Aaron grabbed him with both of his arms and crawled his hands up to his shadowy head. It took a great deal of effort but he managed to get a grip on the god's head and he began to force him to turn around. "Stop this! I do not want to look upon it!"
"Why?" Aaron asked. "Do you not seek the truth? Are you not a god?"
"It doesn't matter
," Kenra said. "It changes nothing!"
"Then why not face the truth?" Aaron asked. "If it doesn't matter, then why are you afraid?"
Aaron forced Kenra's head around and he felt the god flinch in his grasp as he saw what Aaron saw, far above them both at the opening of the chasm. The dark figure that stared down at them had grown and now loomed overhead like a giant, a shadow with form, not merely a power controlled by a petty god, but something else, the form of someone else, the truth of the shadow, something Aaron realized he had known almost instinctively for almost as long as he could remember.
"The shadow is no shadow at all," Aaron said. "The darkness you see is the one who calls himself the one god, the one who takes all life and turns it to nothing. You are nothing but his servant."
"No!" Kenra screamed. "It is a lie! A trick! You are like the others, trying to trick me!"
"It is the truth," Aaron told him. "You are nothing but a shadow."
"I am a god!" Kenra screamed.
"You are nothing," Aaron said, and Kenra turned and stared at him, and in the dark eyes, shadows that were all that remained of the god as he began to lose form, Aaron saw only sadness and fear.
"Why must it be so?" Kenra whispered.
"You are nothing," Aaron repeated, and he felt the god begin to disappear, like dark smoke dissipating in the wind.
"It is a lie," Kenra gasped.
"It is the truth," Aaron said, then he felt his grip become empty as the god disappeared into nothingness.
As the darkness closed around him, Aaron saw a smile cross the face of the shadowy figure that loomed above him, with eyes that burned like coal, and he knew those eyes. He remembered his dreams from long ago, the vision of when the fire had burned in the palace, the blade of shadows that cut deep into him, bringing pain and blotting out the stars of the night sky, and the eyes were always the same. Aaron yelled as the figure turned away, letting him fall deeper into the endless chasm, as despair threatened to overcome him, then he closed his eyes and focused his thoughts, searching within himself for the fire that was, but he could find only darkness.
In the sky above, Borrican circled around and Ariana saw the darkness around Aaron begin to grow again, despite the flames that flowed toward him from all around him. It was as though the fire was no longer having any effect, and she wondered if the flames might actually be making the shadow stronger.
"What is happening?" Ariana asked.
"I don't know," Borrican said.
"It is the shadow," growled a dragon they did not recognize at first, which they realized was one of the Ansari, the one called Kasha. "It is the true shadow, the darkness, a power that feeds on all others."
"Why does our fire not destroy it?" Borrican asked.
"It is not enough," Kasha said. "We must have more and let the flames burn hotter."
"There is only one flame that burns hotter than mine," Borrican said, and he looked up at Lexi, who was still circling around the sky above the rest of them.
"She refuses to fight," Kasha growled.
"I will talk to her," Ariana said, and Borrican beat his wings, lifting them higher into the sky as Kasha folded her wings and dove straight down toward the ground, where Aaron stood laughing at the fire that could not destroy the shadows that surrounded him.
"Lexi," Ariana said as Borrican flew next to the blue dragon. "Why do you not help with your fire?"
"I don't want to hurt Aaron," she said, turning her head away from them.
"That isn't Aaron," Ariana told her.
"No, he is there," Lexi growled. "I can feel him. I can hear him. He is still there."
Borrican turned his head and looked back at Ariana for a moment, then he turned to Lexi.
"If you can feel him, then you know what he needs you to," he said.
"My fire is too hot," she said. "It even burns the godswords."
"Your fire did not burn my clutch," Ariana said. "You warmed the three eggs with your fire and they are fine."
"How do you know that?" Lexi cried. "What if I hurt them?
"I can feel them, Lexi," Ariana told her. "Your fire helped make them stronger, just as your fire will help burn away the shadows and make Aaron stronger. Do not forget the fire that burns within him. It is as powerful as your own."
"You don't know that," Lexi said. "What if I hurt him?"
"He has already withstood the combined fire of several dozen dragons and the mage, Zachary," Borrican said. "We need your fire to stop the shadow, Lexi."
"I don't know," Lexi said, shaking her head, and tears gathered in the corner of her dragon eyes.
Ariana stood up on Borrican's shoulders, then she suddenly leapt across the gap between him and Lexi, landing on the wing of the powerful blue dragon, and she marched across her shoulder and grabbed onto the scales on the back of her neck, then she leaned forward and Lexi looked back at her.
"The shadow is destroying him, Lexi," Ariana said. "If you do nothing, then Aaron will surely die. If you do something, then maybe he will live. Those are the choices. Aaron needs your help, and if you do nothing, then it is the same as killing him."
"I can't do it," Lexi said.
"Yes, you can," Ariana told her. "You said Aaron helped you, that he saved you. You have to save him now."
Lexi looked down at the growing darkness that was beginning to spread across the city once more, and she wished there was something she could do that would not risk hurting Aaron. She closed her eyes, wishing that it all could have ended when she had killed Calexis, and at first, she did not notice the tiny set of talons that latched onto the scales on her head.
"It's like the poison, Lexi," said a familiar voice, and she opened her eyes to see a Kestrel staring down at her from above one of her eyes. "When Aaron took the poison from you, he took it in himself and it made him sick. It's the same. He has taken the poison, but he needs you to help him burn it away."
"Tash," Lexi said. "It is too dangerous for you here."
"Don't tell me it's too dangerous," Tash told her. "I came to help, just like you, and that's what I'm going to do."
Tash spread her kestrel wings and leapt into the air, then she shifted her shape into a small dragon, barely the size of Lexi's head, then she dove straight down toward the swirling flames and darkness below.
"Tash!" Lexi roared, then she dove after her and Ariana was barely able to hang on.
Borrican angled downward and beat his powerful wings then tucked them tightly to his side, speeding after them both, and he could hear the thoughts of the young dragon, who he could tell was one of the Ansari. The sound of her thoughts as a dragon was both upsetting and angering for her sadness and frustration screamed at Aaron as she dove toward him. Borrican caught up to Lexi as she flashed out of sight, using her power to move like a giant bolt of lightning, and Borrican plucked Ariana from the air, just before they reached the flames and the shadows. As he angled his flight away, he saw the tiny dragon dodge Lexi as she tried to snatch at her with her powerful claws and pull away, and he watched as the tiny dragon flew directly toward Aaron.
"Stop it!" Tash screamed and fire burst from her dragon mouth as she crashed directly into Aaron. Strangely, she did not hit him, but was stopped almost immediately by a sort of wall, and the breath rushed out of her from the impact. Choking and coughing from flames that burned her throat, and reeling from how hard she had hit whatever it was, Tash barely noticed at first that she was caught in the grip of dark shadows that curled around her.
"Let her go!" Lexi roared as she landed heavily on the courtyard.
Aaron moved his hand and the dark tendrils that held Tash lifted her up.
"You send baby dragons to fight me now?" he laughed. "Pathetic."
"She is a fool," Lexi said. "A fool who cares about you and wants to save you."
Aaron looked at the little dragon and he could not remember ever having met such a creature, though countless memories flooded through his thoughts of killing dragons of all shapes and sizes, memor
ies from an ancient time, when fire and darkness raged throughout the world.
"A nuisance," he said with a shrug, and the black tendrils he commanded crushed the bones of the tiny dragon with a terrifying snap, then he tossed the creature aside.
Lexi was shocked that Aaron would do such a thing and she stood there, wide eyed, as her stomach began to churn and lightning crackled over her scales.
"Oh, now there's a power I know," Aaron said, his eyes narrowing at the blue dragon.
"What have you done?" Lexi growled.
"Come, Lexi," Aaron said to her. "Give me your fire."
"Who are you?" Lexi roared, and Aaron smiled cruelly at her.
"I am the one god," he said, and the tendrils of darkness that danced around him, almost like flames shot forward toward her.
White hot light flickered in Lexi's eyes and she let out a powerful bellow of searing fire that cut through the tendrils of shadow and hit Aaron directly. His eyes widened at the unexpected heat as it burned him. Shadows of power moved to block the river of fire but they were burned away in the blink of an eye.
In the darkness, deep within the shadowy chasm of oblivion, Aaron's eyes shot open and he saw a flicker of white light and felt a searing heat cut through the icy cold that surrounded him. Visions flowed through his thoughts, things seen by his own eyes, that he had not witnessed, and he felt a strangeness fill him, like an emptiness that could never be filled, yet it sparkled with countless points of lights, like the sky on a clear night. He saw the dark clouds swirling beneath him, and the flames of his power flickering as they were consumed by the shadow, and something snapped when he saw the shape of a small dragon and saw who it was that had taken its form.
Strangely, he felt no rage, no anger, only sorrow, and a hard, cold determination rose within him. Aaron looked up toward the mouth of the chasm, far above him, then he looked down and saw himself standing at the center of a dark cloud, with flames spilling over him. All around, he saw dragons, breathing fire, their anger raging hot, attacking the darkness below, and he saw a blue dragon struggling against dark tendrils that had taken hold of her. As he floated downward, toward the madness, Aaron saw the small dragon, with Tash's form inside it, her bones broken and her neck twisted at a horrible angle, and he could tell that her breathing growing faint. Aaron felt his feet touch the ground next to her and he knelt down and gently turned her head straight, then he moved her limbs back to the way they should be and placed his hand upon her chest. He could feel the pain in her and he took it into himself and let her have some of his essence, letting it flow into her bones, fusing them back together. Aaron felt her cough, and her breathing became easier, so he took his hand away and rose to his feet, and as he turned away, he did not notice her eyes open a crack and look up at him.
