by Jordan Baker
Aaron stared at the battle that raged all around him and it was as though everything was moving slower than it should. Lexi breathed fire and shot lightning upon the snaking arms of shadow that gripped her by the throat, trying to choke her. Truefire that was as hot as Lexi's, enough to burn the shadows, but without the crackling energy that somehow combined in her dragon form, shot from Zachary's one hand as the flames within his core consumed him. Brian knelt on a pillar of stone, changing the ground itself, turning it to molten fire, sending streams of it toward where Aaron saw himself, another him, surrounded by dark power, standing and fighting them all. He looked up as a dragon descended from the sky in a sharp dive, and he saw Kasha's glittering green eyes slowly turn toward him as she flew past in the strange delay of time, then she snatched Tash from the ground.
Aaron caught a glimpse of something shimmering in the air, and he saw Ehlena appear, staring straight at him. She walked toward him, moving normally while the world around her remained slow, and as she drew closer, her form became more solid. She swung her hand at him, as though she intended to slap him, but it passed right through him. Aaron turned and stared at her, as she turned around, and there were things he wanted to say to her, but for some reason the words would not come. It seemed that she had nothing to say either, but he could see the look of confusion and disappointment on her face, and he could also see the shadows within her that were slowly stealing her essence. He tried to smile at her, wishing he could reassure her in some way, but it felt painful somehow, and Aaron knew that he could not tarry here for much longer, for there was something he had to do, and he leapt up, off the ground and floated over the lip of stone and the molten rock that ringed around his other self. He pushed past the dark shadows, sending them scattering as he approached the center of the fire and darkness.
Aaron was not surprised when his other self turned and stared at him, with eyes flickering with darkness and a scowl made of flesh that smoldered, seared by fire. He knew that while he was looking at his own face, what was beneath it was not him. It was something else, someone else, the same dark figure that had sent him into the deep chasm and had stolen the fire from within him. The eyes that stared at him were first surprised then furious when they looked at him, and they glimmered with a kind of hatred that he had seen before. It was strange to Aaron that this being would despise him so much and yet it has lusted after him for his entire life, always there, waiting, wanting, and searching for him, but he saw the power of his fire swirling within the darkness and he understood why. It was the hunger of the shadow, the insatiable lust for power that became greater and more difficult to sustain every time its own power grew. It was a weakness that Aaron already understood when he had come to Calexis, to tease her with his power, though he now knew that it was the shadow that he had been taunting by drawing it to him without letting it have what it wanted.
"You are nothing," Aaron said as he reached out and grabbed himself by the throat. The shadows that held Lexi released, recoiling slowly and they began moving toward Aaron, as he felt the power of his fire flow into him. His hand burst into flames and he felt it burn his neck where he gripped his other self, and the darkness that surrounded him, that shielded him from the dragonfire above and the attacks from Zachary and Lexi, now plunged inward, toward him, trying to pry him away, but Aaron moved closer until he was face to face with himself and the rest of him began to blaze hot with blinding fire.
"I am the one," his other self rasped through the grip on his throat as the shadows descended into him, flooding him with shadows so dark that it pulled the flames into it.
"No," Aaron said and he closed his eyes as his fire engulfed them both. "You are nothing."
The shadows streamed toward Aaron as he floated above the center of the pool of molten stone, his entire being turning dark, as though he had been cut from the world. He was like a missing piece in the fabric of existence itself, a void of nothingness, then a flicker of flames appeared in the center of the darkness, and his mouth opened and a voice howled. It was not his voice, but something else, empty and hollow, ancient and powerful, and it filled the air with echoes that seemed to shake the world itself.
In the sky, Ehlena appeared at the center of the dragons, who were circling around, sending blasts of fire toward the dark figure below as Kasha flew up toward them, having rescued the young dragon that had ventured into the fray. Ehlena could tell that the fire of the dragons was not enough to destroy the shadow, and with her power, she created a vortex beneath them, then she whispered in their ears.
"Now," she said, and she let her voice carry to the dragon, the mage and the warrior god who stood below. "Let your fires rage."
"Ehlena, no!" Ariana yelled when she saw the young goddess appear at the center of the battle, using her power to whirl the fire in the air, for she could plainly see the strain she was under, but Ariana's voice was drowned out by the dragons as they screeched and bellowed fire that combined together into a stream of blazing heat, made even hotter by the powerful winds Ehlena had summoned.
Upon the ground, now free from the shadows that had held her, Lexi let her fury blaze with crackling flames and they blasted into Aaron, and Zachary matched her while Brian, with Kroma's power, sent dark, burning strands of molten stone that flickered with truefire, flying from the earth toward him. Aaron screamed as the flames hit him from all sides, and the shadows reached upward, trying to consume the fire, but they were pushed back down toward him as a swirling vortex of fire came streaming down from above. Suddenly the flames became even hotter still, and the sky blazed with burning light as the vortex grew larger and spun faster, concentrating the flames into a sharp point that tore through the darkness.
From her perch upon Borrican's back, Ariana looked up and saw dozens of dragons, many that she recognized from the northern lands, suddenly appear in the sky, breaking through the dark clouds and adding their fire to the swirling flames that crashed down upon the darkness below. As Borrican took in another great breath, she glimpsed Aaron's face through a gap in the fire and the shadows, looking up at her, and she thought she saw his eyes change back from black pools of darkness to flickering flames, and she could also see that the shadowy darkness that had taken over his body had begun to recede. Borrican let out his blast of flame and Ariana lost sight of what was happening below as Aaron disappeared into the flames.
On the ground, Lexi stopped as she saw Aaron begin to turn from the shadowy version of himself to the way he had been before, but she could see the darkness was still covering parts of him, swirling within the flames that burned inside of him. Through the fire that raged all around him, she saw Aaron turn his head and look toward her with a kind of sadness in his eyes that flickered with flame and shadows, then something in them suddenly changed. It was as though his power was gone, and he was just Aaron, without the magic of truefire and without the curse of the shadow, and for a moment, Lexi thought she saw him smile at her, then his eyes shifted again, and when she looked into them, it was as though she was looking up at the night sky and she felt as though she was somehow being drawn toward it.
The world began to shake and Aaron closed his eyes then turned his face upward once more, letting his sword fall into the smoldering lava and holding his arms out as pure, raw power flowed though his entire being. A pillar of truefire suddenly shot up all around him, blasting straight into the sky above, blasting through the swirling vortex of flames and cutting a hole through the dark clouds that covered the sky. Lexi could feel the heat of the fire and she instinctively knew that it was far more powerful than anything she or the others could withstand. With a flash of lightning energy, she snatched Zachary, and the young warrior god from where they stood and she flew away as quickly as she could. The dragons overhead sensed the danger as well and they widened their circle as a white, hot sphere appeared at the base of the pillar of light and began to expand. Barely a moment later, it exploded, sending a wave of blazing energy in all directions, chasing Lexi over the roo
ftops of the city and knocking the dragons from the sky.
The dark clouds that hung overhead were burned away, revealing a night sky, full of stars, that slowly faded to day as Lexi circled around. The dust and smoke from the blast began to settle and dissipate, and she saw that the wave of energy had damaged many of the buildings below and much of the palace was destroyed as well, including the walls that surrounded it. As she flew closer with the mage and the young warrior held gently among her claws, they saw that upon the ground, in the place where Aaron had stood, at the center of an empty pool of molten stone that was already beginning to cool and harden, was a statue made of stone. Lexi landed in the broken courtyard, next to the round pool, and she let Zachary and Brian down to the ground, then she shifted her form and leapt over to the smooth, stone edge of the pool. The statue that stood above her was strange, for it appeared to be stone, but it also seemed to move and shimmer, with the colors of fire and shadow flecked and marbled within its smooth surface.
"Is Aaron inside it?" Lexi asked, turning to Brian, who had attacked Aaron with the molten lava. Brian stepped up onto the edge of the stone circle and walked out over the smoldering stone. He placed his hand upon the base of the statue, and felt for any presence within the stone, but after a few moments he turned and shook his head.
"I can feel echoes of his power, but he is gone," he said, then he realized that he no longer needed to ask Kroma to do such things and Brian wondered if the god was still inside his thoughts.
"I am still here," Kroma said. "But I have shared with you my power and my knowledge."
"Why?" Brian asked.
"It was time," Kroma replied. "If you seek my counsel, I will be here."
"Where are the others?" Brian asked. "Did everyone else survive the blast?"
"Can you not sense them?" Kroma asked, and Brian noticed a hint of doubt in his tone. He closed his eyes and he could feel movements and tremors all around, some small and quiet, and others that were more noticeable.
"I can feel them, sort of," he said.
"Well, it's a start," Kroma said.
"What happened to Aaron?" Brian asked. "Is the shadow truly gone?"
"What of the shadow?" Zachary asked, breathing heavily and doing his best to suppress his fire.
Brian looked around and was surprised that he knew the answer, even though he already knew why he could suddenly know such things.
"The shadow is gone from this world, but its power lingers" he said. "Even in the stone and the earth itself, there is a poison that will take some time to fade."
"Is it safe?" Lexi asked.
"It is safe," Brian told her, and they turned as the dragons in the sky above screamed and bellowed as most of them turned and flew back north.
A smaller number circled down toward the courtyard and shifted their forms as they dropped to the ground, and Lexi stepped down from the edge of the pool and she blurred toward them when she saw Kasha carrying Tash in her arms.
"Is she..." Lexi asked.
"Tash will live," Kasha said.
"I am fine, Lexi," Tash whispered as she opened her eyes and Lexi was surprised when she saw what looked like stars glittering in her gaze. "Aaron healed me."
"You are still badly injured," Kasha told her. "You must rest."
"I am very tired," Tash said as her eyes fluttered and closed.
"Where is Ehlena?" Ariana asked, staring up at the statue of her brother. "The last I saw of her, she was at the center when the fire shot up toward her."
"Her essence lingers but I cannot sense her presence," Brian said with a frown.
"What about Aaron?" Borrican asked.
"Aaron is gone from this world," Brian said. "The fire at the end was his own."
"Then it was his choice," Kasha said with a nod, looking to the image of the young man who stood with his gaze to the sky and his hands outstretched. "And that is his truth."
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Jax awoke to the gentle touch of a hand upon his shoulder, and he looked up into the face of a beautiful young woman, who he was sure he recognized, though he thought she looked different than he remembered. She smiled at him as she rose from where she knelt at his side, then she faded away, disappearing into the air. Jax sat up from the stone floor in the darkened room and he saw that the sun was shining outside the window, which wavered and shifted faintly, then whatever magic it held ceased to be. In his hand, Jax found a wooden tube and a tangle of string, and he opened it and shook out its contents, finding two rings inside, both of which he knew had belonged to his father. He sighed in resignation, for it was clear that his father had made his decision, and chosen to stay in the strange realm where the world was made of stars, from which it now appeared that there would be no escape.
Jax rose to his feet and noticed a shape the floor, and he reached down and picked it up. As soon as he touched it, he immediately recognized that it was a copy of the strange book he had taken from his father, the book that the young man Aaron had sought, a magic volume that had apparently caused a lot of trouble for the people of the world. Knowing that it was likely still very dangerous, and determined that it should not fall into the wrong hands, he shoved the book into his shirt for safe keeping until he figured out what to do with it. Jax thought he heard the sound of cheering, so he peered out the window and saw that the palace courtyard was filled with people.
"I suppose I'd better go find out what I missed," he muttered, wondering how long he had been laying on the floor, then he turned and made his way out of the room, not noticing that his steps no longer made any sound and that he cast no shadow, no matter which way the light fell upon him.
Jax stopped in the outer chamber, determined that he should straighten his clothes and dust himself off, but when he looked into a tall mirror that stood against the wall, he was confounded that for some reason, it seemed that he had no reflection. He held up his hand in front of his face and was relieved that he could at least see himself, and he could certainly see the room behind him in the chamber, but he was missing. He dashed from the room, determined to find out if he had somehow fallen prey to some strange sort of magic, or if he might not even be alive. With silent footsteps, Jax quickly made his way from the old part of the palace, climbing up and out through a window, then he dropped down outside into a small garden. He ran down the overgrown path that led toward the palace courtyard, and climbed over the rubble that had once been the wall between them. Once he was through, he ran toward the people who had gathered in the courtyard and were congregated around a large, empty pool and a statue that had somehow appeared at its center, with a jeweled sword sticking into the melted stone in front of it, a blade that Jax would likely have recognized had he not been so distracted by his own predicament. He was relieved when people noticed him when he began pushing his way through the crowd and he was even more relieved when he saw Fergus turn and break into a grin as he approached.
"Am I alive?" Jax asked, looking around at all of the people, finding it strange that he could see things that he could not see before, as though the clothing they wore was somehow not entirely solid, and he found himself averting his eyes.
"Now that there's an odd question, Jax," Fergus said. "Did ya get yerself hit on the head or somethin?"
"I'm not sure," he said, then he saw Kasha walking toward him, and though she rarely wore much in the way of garments, it was even more distracting that the few scraps of cloth she was wearing might as well be gone, and Jax forced himself to look at her eyes as she approached him.
"I see that you have finally come to know Ansari," Kasha said with a smile.
"To be honest, I'm not exactly sure what I know," Jax admitted.
"Then you may be wiser than most," she said.
Jax turned as trumpets blared, and a procession of elegantly armored warriors entered through the remains of the palace gate. They were led by a tall warrior, dressed in intricately worked leather and steel, whose angular features were somehow even more elven than the dozens
of elves who followed him. The strange elf approached the edge of the stone circle beneath the large statue and he dropped to one knee before the princess of Maramyr, whose red hair glistened in the bright sunlight, waving in the breeze overtop the shimmering crystals that covered the side of her face and parts of her body.
"Your highness," Quenta said, with his head bowed. "We have driven the Darga from your realm and they now flee far to the east."
"Rise, Quenta," Ariana said. "You need not kneel before me."
"In this land, you are Queen," he said. "When we are in the forest, I will stand before you as you stand before me, as equals."
"You are welcome here and recognized as you would be at Elvanar," Ariana said. "Now stand with me, for we are to witness a sight not seen in Maramyr for many generations."
Ariana smiled as Quenta rose to his feet, then she turned and nodded to Carly, who reached out her arms and took the one hand of the mage, Zachary, and hand the young warrior, Brian, in each of her own, then she closed her eyes. A moment later, the ground began to shake and the broken parts of the palace began to crack and crumble, then stones shifted and moved and great streams of water burst into the air, creating a mist in he sunlight that glimmered with colors. The crowd of people, who were a little nervous at first, after all they had witnessed, visibly relaxed and they smiled when the streams of water died down and fountains flowed in places that seemed as though they had always been there, and flames flickered in torches, casting light even in the brightness of day.
