by Jack Knight
Ava’s only response was, “Awesome.”
Chapter 10: Flames
Kronos, the amazing tutor in chaos magic that Xion and the others had tried so hard to find, did not seem to want to train them very much at all. As soon as each of them had summoned a familiar, he told them to go off on their own and practice using magic without spells. Those were his only instructions.
Xion felt a little let down, he had been expecting much more, but it was difficult to stay upset for too long with Aurum padding along beside him. Ava had decided to go off on her own to find Warren and Laira, leaving Xion to wander around the forest with Sapphire and Xara.
They had decided to stay close to Evergreen, in case the assassins show up again, which was made difficult by Aurum wanting to run off and explore. The farther away she walked, the less potent their connection seemed to be, but she never strayed far enough that Xion worried about it disappearing.
Sapphire tried to talk to Xara and Xion equally, but Xion refused to speak any time Xara tried to engage him in conversation. Every time she did, he would pretend to be preoccupied trying to use magic. He was more practiced than the others with chaos magic, but he did notice the difference in having a familiar.
Before, when he used magic without spells, he could feel the drain in his energy, no matter how small the magic. After his connection to Aurum, he felt the draw of energy from within himself, and from outside. The two sources of energy made simple magic so much easier, he summoned fire into his hand several dozen times before it had affected him enough to notice.
After several attempts to speak to him, Xara had given up. She instead started speaking only to Sapphire.
“So, what was Aur’in like?” Xara asked.
“It was great!” Sapphire exclaimed. She held her lynx, who she said was named Ferion, in her arms like she was supporting a baby. The glowing cat looked around with content disinterest.
“There were all kinds of shops in the markets that traders from all over came to visit. And, we trained in spells almost every day. They even taught us sword fighting,” Sapphire continued.
“They taught you sword fighting?” Xara asked excitedly. “Can you guys train with me? My master disappeared a couple months ago, I haven’t trained in ages!”
“Well,” Sapphire smiled apologetically, “I’m not really very good. You should talk to Ava. I’ve never seen anyone who can fight like she can.”
“What about you, Xion?” Xara asked. She looked at him hopefully for a response.
Xion just shook his head and placed his hand his hand on a tree he was passing by. With only a little effort, ice spread out from his palm forming a perfect circle several inches wide. Xion would really like for her to just talk to Sapphire, but she seemed insistent on tricking him into conversation.
Xara, for at least the twentieth time, did not take any offense from being ignored. She turned to Sapphire again, and continued as if nothing had happened. “Okay, I’ll ask her later. What about romance,” Xara giggled, “a big city like that, there must be lots of it.”
Sapphire turned bright red, and when she answered, her voice came out noticeably higher than usual. “Um, well, not so much for me.”
“Oh, come on, you’re so pretty, there’s no way,” Xara argued. She looked at Xion. “Why haven’t you asked Sapphire on a date?”
Xion’s concentration broke, the ice shattered with tremendous force, blasting him away from the tree. He stumbled back several steps and tripped over his own feet, landing painfully in the dirt. Aurum ran from wherever she had been and stood between Xion and Xara. She did nothing threatening, but one word passed between their link.
Sister.
“Yeah, I know,” Xion thought to himself as he pushed himself back to a standing position.
Xion felt his face burn, but he was not entirely sure why. He wanted the attention off of him immediately. “I wouldn’t want to get in the way of her and Ava,” Xion finally replied to Xara.
Xara’s eyes went wide, and her face lit up. “Ooohh,” she cooed and slowly turned her head to look at Sapphire.
Sapphire’s face had turned into a mask of absolute horror. “No, no, no,” she rushed, “that… it wasn’t… it was one time,” she stammered.
“Oh gods, this is so exciting!” Xara squealed. “Okay, tell me everything, was it just kissing? Or have you guys…” Xara waved her eyebrows up and down with a smirk.
Sapphire’s face turned so red, Xion worried that she was going to explode like a volcano.
“Oh, gods,” she whispered to herself, mortified. “No, just… She kissed me one time, that was it. It was right before she went into a battle.” Sapphire turned her eyes to Xion, and she added pleadingly, “It was nothing, I swear.”
“I was there, remember?” Xion said, confused as to why she would bother explaining it to him.
Xara laughed. “Is my brother a peeper? That’s creepy, you shouldn’t be watching stuff like that.”
Brother. The word sent a wave of anger through Xion. He wanted to keep it under control, but Xara was acting like there was no problem between them, and she could just show up out of nowhere and everything would be fine. It burst out of him, and once it was released, he had no control over it at all.
“Stop calling me your brother!” Xion shouted.
Xara furrowed her brow in confusion. “But, you are my…”
Xion did not let her finish, the words poured out of him, and he could only stop long enough to breath. “If I was your brother, you wouldn’t have let me grow up in Fairen on my own! You knew where I was born, which means you knew where I was. All alone, my entire life. If I was your brother, you wouldn’t have let that happen.
“And, I heard about my mother being pregnant while she was in Celemor, over a hundred years ago. That means that you have to be over a hundred years old. If you were Xana’s daughter, you would have done something to stop her from going after Draxis, and she would be alive!”
Xion felt his chest heaving as he panted for breath. He had no idea that he was even angry about those things until they came out of his mouth. Once they had, he realized they were not true. Maybe Xara could have come for him in Fairen, but there was no way his mother’s death was Xara’s fault. He wished he could take the words back as soon as they left his mouth.
Xara stared, blinking back tears that slowly fell down her face. Instantly, Xion felt a sharp pain in his chest. He had not wanted to hurt Xara, he wanted to take every word back, but before he could say anything, Xara was running back toward Evergreen.
Xion started to move to follow her, but Sapphire’s hand caught his arm. “Xion,” she chided, “what was that?”
Xion’s shoulders sagged in disappointment in himself. “I don’t know, it just came out,” he said miserably. “I need to apologize.”
“No,” Sapphire said sadly, shaking her head. “You need to wait. Talk to her later.”
Xion sighed in exasperation and covered his face in his hands. He slowly pulled them down and looked at Sapphire pleadingly. “Why does talking to people have to be so hard? I miss when nobody looked up when I walked by and I didn’t have to worry about people’s feelings or saying the wrong thing. Now, people hear I’m the chosen one and mob me, and I have a sister!” Xion lamented.
Sapphire nodded. “I can see how that would be hard,” she apologized. “But, you can’t take out your frustrations on Xara, she’s been so nice. How do you think she feels, meeting her brother after all this time, and the first thing you say to her is… well, that?”
Xion nodded. “I know, I’m horrible.”
“Come on,” Sapphire took his hand and led him through the forest at a slow walk. “You aren’t horrible, you’re in a difficult situation.”
“This sucks,” Xion complained.
Sapphire laughed. “Yes, it does. But, things are getting better, you’re going to train with Kronos, and you’re going to stop Draxis, and everything will be fine soon.”
“Draxis!” Xion
shouted. He could not believe he had forgotten about what he had seen in his sleep.
His shout had made Ferion, who had been walking just beside Sapphire’s feet, leap a foot into the air. When he landed, he glared at Xion and let out a low growl. Aurum, who was climbing a tree as if she had cast Spider’s Touch on herself and chasing a squirrel up the bark, did not seem to notice his outburst at all.
Xion relayed to Sapphire what he had seen, explaining everything Draxis had said about the five hells. As he spoke, Sapphire’s face stayed calm and expressionless, but he could tell she was just as worried as he was.
“Okay,” she admitted, once he had finished, “so maybe it won’t be better right away.”
Xion smiled, thinking that she was putting it mildly. “Yeah, he’s just raising hell, not the greatest thing.”
Sapphire laced her fingers through his, and he felt his face grow hot again, his heart started beating so hard he was sure she would hear it.
“We can get through it together. You, me, Ava, and Warren,” she insisted.
“We didn’t stop him last time, and now every dragon that was killed is back,” Xion pointed out.
“It’s bad,” she admitted.
“Worse than last time.”
“Worse than last time,” she agreed. “But, we can do this. We just have to find that dragon’s tomb and stop him.”
“How? Do you know where it is?” Xion asked.
“No,” she admitted, “but we found the watchtower, I’m sure we can find this.”
“Seriously, though, how?” Xion insisted.
Sapphire seemed to think for a moment, and then she smiled. “I was thinking about what Sister Azeral said the other day, and I looked through one of Warren’s books, I have an idea.” She looked at Ferion and said, “Can you find a pool of water or something?”
Ferion’s ears and nose twitched and then it bolted through the trees. Without hesitation, Sapphire chased after him, pulling Xion along with her. They did not have to run for very long.
When Ferion stopped, it was close enough to Evergreen that Xion could still see the soft glow of the crystals in the distance. Water from a nearby stream fell over a small ledge and filled a pool about twenty feet across and roughly in a circle, before spilling out into another small stream that wound its way through the trees.
Sapphire pulled Xion over to the pool and then knelt down. “Okay, let’s see if I can do this with chaos magic,” Sapphire said to herself.
She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. When she let it out, she opened her eyes again and said, “Glora.”
The river showed Sapphire’s reflection in the pool for a few seconds. Then, a ripple went through the water and Sapphire’s reflection was replaced with the side view of a girl sitting at a desk. The girl was thin like Sapphire and Ava, and her pointed ears broke through her shoulder length white hair.
“Glora, can you hear me?” Sapphire asked.
The girl looked up in surprise, her bright green eyes shone in the water, and Xion finally recognized her. Unfortunately, she also recognized him.
“Hey, cutie, why is it just you two, huh?” Glora asked, waving her eyebrows up and down suggestively.
Xion just realized that he and Sapphire were still holding hands. He was not sure if Glora could see it, but Xion quickly let go of Sapphire.
“Um, are you calling me ‘cutie’, or her?” Xion asked.
“Uh huh,” Glora grinned. Xion glanced at Sapphire, who had turned bright red again. He wondered if she understood what Glora was saying, because he definitely did not.
“Um, anyway,” Sapphire said, her voice a little higher than usual, “we have a question.”
“Me first, when did you learn such a high level scrying spell?” Glora asked.
“Just now,” Sapphire told her, her voice returning to normal. “I did it with chaos magic!”
Glora blinked several times in surprise. “Wow, so, the chosen one isn’t the only one being taught?”
“No, I figured I should learn, too. You know, since I’m here, and look!” Sapphire tried to grab Ferion, but the lynx took several steps back to avoid her hands. “Oh, nevermind,” she looked back to Glora’s reflection, “but, I have a familiar!”
Glora nodded, “Impressive.”
“Sapphire,” Xion said, nudging her with his shoulder.
“Huh? Oh! Right, so Glora, do you know anything about a dragon’s tomb?” Sapphire asked.
“I mean, the dragon fire gems are technically tombs, right?” Glora suggested.
“Oh gods…” Sapphire whispered in horror.
Xion had not thought of that. The dragon fire gems contained the magic of dragons that were killed a long time ago. Draxis had used one to resurrect the dragons, but Xion knew there had to be others.
“How many are there?” Xion asked.
Glora shrugged. “I don’t know, but I’m sure I could find out.”
“If you could, that might be really helpful,” Xion replied.
“Might be? I wanna be more appreciated than that,” Glora teased.
“Well, we still aren’t sure. All we know is Draxis is trying to open a portal to release the Five Hells, and it’s going to happen at ‘the dragon’s tomb’,” Xion explained.
“Ooh, that’s not good. Last time it happened was a bad time,” Glora said. Xion could not tell if she was joking.
“What happened last time?” Sapphire asked.
Glora took a deep breath, as if she were preparing herself for a difficult story. “Well, it’s happened a few times, actually. Everyone was sure that every time was the darkness’ doing, and every time it just sort of worked.”
“What do you mean?” Xion asked. “How do you ‘sort of’ release hell?”
“You only release a little bit,” Glora answered simply. “Only a handful of demons came through each time. And then, the last time, the portal stayed open longer. Like, for a month. It was eventually closed when, believe it or not, a bunch of orcs threw a demon back through it. That closed it again, and it hasn’t been opened since.”
“So, what’s different this time?” Xion asked. He doubted that Glora would know the answer, but he would not be able to forgive himself if he didn't at least ask.
“Who knows? Maybe the fact that he has other dragons now?” Glora guessed.
“Or, maybe it is the prophecy.”
Xion and Sapphire jumped, the voice was so close, but they had not seen or heard anyone approach. Xion looked above the reflection to see that a woman was sitting in the pool of water. Then, it occurred to him that the woman was actually sitting on the water, as if it was a solid surface.
She had skin as pale as an elf, and her blonde hair parted over her ears, longer than any elf, and trailed down to cover her chest, which Xion appreciated, because she was completely naked. She was sitting with her legs crossed, and since her hair covered her chest, Xion could not see anything inappropriate, but that did not stop Xion from looking down and putting his hand up to his face to block the woman from view.
“I apologize. I didn't mean to frighten you,” the woman said.
“Hey, what’s going on, I can’t see,” Glora called out of the reflection.
“Glora, I’m sorry, I’ll talk to you later.” Sapphire waved her hand, and Glora’s reflection disappeared. Then, she looked up at the woman, unashamed, and asked, “Who are you?”
“I am Riel,” the woman answered. “Princess of the clan Evergreen, and betrothed to the prince of Qua’ke.”
“Why aren’t you wearing clothes?” Xion asked. How was that not Sapphire’s first question?
The nymph laughed, and the sound was more beautiful than any music. Xion almost forgot why he was blocking her from view, he ached to glance at the woman. It took every ounce of self control that he had to keep his hand in place.
“She’s a nymph,” Sapphire whispered urgently. “Can’t you tell?”
“I don’t even know what that means,” Xion told her.
&nb
sp; “A nymph is a type of fey. She’s basically the embodiment of nature’s beauty. There are nymphs of trees, nymphs of rivers and twilight, and many other things. This is a nymph of nature itself, the beauty of the natural world personified,” Sapphire explained quickly. Then she spoke to the nymph, “What do you mean about the prophecy?”
“The prophecy speaks of the dark ones singing darkness’ praise,” the nymph explained. “The dark ones may be the demons that he releases.”
“You’ve heard the prophecy?” Xion asked, making sure not to drop his hand. “Can you tell me?”
“It is not my place,” the nymph answered sadly.
“Oh, come on,” Xion groaned. “Really?”
Everyone always said they could not tell him the prophecy that revolved around him because they did not know the words, or the council who said he was not old enough. Here was someone who knew the words and refused to tell him for no real reason.
“I am sorry, but the court has decided that we are not to take any part in the conflict between humans and dragons,” the nymph explained.
“Which court?” Sapphire asked.
“The Seelie court.”
Sapphire sighed. “Can’t you just tell him? It isn’t actually affecting anything. He’ll find out eventually, and he isn’t a human or a dragon.”
The nymph did not say anything for a full minute. And then, “There are many things that you do not know.”
“That’s not helpful,” Xion chuckled in frustration.
“And,” the nymph added, “my fiance is on the side of the dragons. To tell you now, would be to betray him.”
“Okay, wait, who is your fiance?” Xion demanded, trying to wrap his head around what he was hearing.
“The true king of Evergreen.”
Xion’s head snapped up. Thankfully, the voice had come from the direction opposite the nymph, so Xion did not have to obstruct his vision.
Leaning lazily against a tree, wearing the armor of The Hand of Dreskar, was Xion’s least favorite person in the world besides Draxis.
