Born of Fire: The Dawn of Legend (37 page)

Another fifteen minutes passed when Rex felt a vibration beneath his feet. He looked down then all around, but saw nothing. The vibrations continued, growing stronger every few seconds. “What the hell is that?” He continued to feel them increasing in intensity when he heard what sounded like the cracking of branches and rustling of leaves. He peered forward and saw movement far up ahead. “Hey,” he called down to the two girls. “I think someone’s coming!”

“Is it EeNox?” DiNiya asked.

“I don’t think so,” he replied as his head started to crane higher to see the source of the disturbance in the canopy.

“Well, then, who is it?” LyCora asked.

“Someone big.”

The two girls exchanged looks before joining Rex on the upper branch. The three watched and listened as huge branches were pushed out of the way, and an immense sauropod as tall as the tree they were in walked into view.

Rex’s jaw dropped. Never in his life had he seen something so enormous, nor had he even heard of a DyVorian growing this size. The massive creature was nearly as large as a blue whale and must have stood forty-five meters tall. They watched as the titan made its way towards them at a surprising pace, given its size. Rex found himself wanting to take an instinctive step back but refrained when he noticed that the girls did not seem to be afraid in the least. The giant DyVorian stopped just short of them, and a familiar face popped up from behind the large mound on top of its head where its nostrils were located.

“Hey, guys!” EeNox called down to them.

“What took you so long?” LyCora asked.

EeNox frowned. “Hello to you too.”

“LyCora collapsed while you were gone,” Rex explained.

“Seriously? LyCora, I’m sorry, are you all right?”

“I’d be better if everyone would stop making such a big fuss over it,” she replied irritably.

“Sorry. Just don’t want you hurting yourself or anything.”

LyCora forced a polite smile that looked haphazard at best. “I’m fine. Trust me. Anyways, who’s your friend?”

“Oh, sorry,” he said, looking down. “How rude of me. This is LyVera. She just traveled up here from the Northern Capital.”

“Hello,” she said in a strong, yet calm womanly voice. “Your friend here has already explained your current situation, and I have agreed to help.”

“LyVera,” LyCora thought aloud. “Where have I heard that name before?”

“Thank you so much,” DiNiya professed, bowing her head.

“You’re very welcome, young one,” LyVera said, tilting her head slightly forward in turn before her eyes shifted over to the CeraVora. “He is the one, I presume?”

“Yup, that’s him,” said EeNox as he jumped off and rejoined the other three.

“So how do we get him on to her?” DiNiya asked, looking over at the still weak predator who was straining his eyes to see.

“Just watch,” EeNox replied, smiling.

LyVera leaned forward and looked down at the emaciated predator. Her eyes suddenly glowed a brilliant blue, and two smaller nearby branches began moving, wrapping around his torso and tail and gently carrying him over to her, where they draped him over the base of her neck.

“She’s of the blue flame,” LyCora said in surprise.

“That’s right,” EeNox replied. “I ran into her back by the river.”

“You mean back where we were earlier?” DiNiya asked.

“Further upstream, actually, but it’s a good thing she showed up, too, because I was attacked by our friend again. He almost had me a couple of times, too, when she came along and sent him swimming faster than lightning back downstream.”

“Sounds like we owe her for saving two lives,” said Rex, still fixated on her.

“The FeraNea tribe,” LyCora suddenly blurted out. “That’s where I’ve heard her name before. She’s one of the few DoraMax born of the blue flame.”

“DoraMax?” Rex asked.

“The name of my kind,” LyVera replied. “We are usually always born of the green flame; however, every five or six generations one or two are born of the blue.”

“I don’t understand,” said DiNiya. “The DoraMax prefer the vast rainforests of the south. What brings you so far north?”

“I heard rumors of an unnatural use of the blue flame here in KaNar,” she explained in a calm yet stern voice. “So I decided to come investigate things for myself. That, and I figured VoRenna could use the help.” LyCora gave her a look of surprise at the sound of her mother’s name. “Yes, LyCora, I know who you are, and I doubt very much you or your mother could perform the kind of technique that can turn the dead into weapons, so ease your mind, child.”

LyCora breathed a notable sigh of relief. It was true that there were no other blue flames as powerful as her mother this far north before ClyVen, so naturally she had worried that as the word of what was happening got out, that her mother, and possibly even she, would be suspect.

“LyVera, has my brother told you what happened?” DiNiya asked.

“Yes,” she replied. “I will bring you and this poor flame back to the gates so he can be treated.”

“Can’t you just do it here?” Rex asked.

“No…and that is what concerns me.”

“How so?”

“The affliction that has been placed on him is a highly advanced form of flame manipulation. It will take some time to break it and require a more controlled environment to concentrate.”

Rex was unclear as to what she meant by concentrate. After a little more than half a year ago, the whole concept of something like flame being real was still very jarring to him. Nothing he had ever seen or read about could explain how a flame actually worked. Still, he was beginning to understand that what he had been taught as the natural order was in fact only a very small fraction of an infinitely larger whole. He was now beginning to understand that flame was a science that was beyond the intellectual understanding of the top minds of Earth, and his too for the moment.

All eyes shifted to the top of the canopy as thunder rumbled beyond.

“Sounds like a storm is moving in,” DiNiya said, looking back down. “We should get moving if we don’t want to get caught in it.”

The four of them climbed aboard LyVera’s back, far behind the CeraVora, and LyVera glanced back to make sure they were seated securely before taking a heavy step forward. The group sat and caught their breath for what felt like the first time all day as they proceeded through the forest to the gates.

Rex looked off to the side and saw the enormous columns that were LyVera’s legs moving ponderously underneath. He marveled at the thought of something alive being so big. He laid the side of his face down against her back and closed his eyes. From far down deep within the titanic beast, he could hear her heartbeat—slow, strong, and continuous, like each step she took. Rex found his eyes growing heavy, and they shut as his heart slowed to match hers. He could feel himself moving in the dark, gliding on his own unseen power.
Where am I
?
Is this the void
? He continued to sail through the sea of blackness before slowly, everything began to illuminate in a pale blue light, before erupting into a kaleidoscope of bright shimmering blue organs, amidst a vast intricate network of veins—all glowing with flame.
I’m…inside her
. He looked around and saw he was traveling between huge columns that he came to realize were her immense ribs.

He continued forward, where the path narrowed and angled up through the neck. Higher and higher he traveled, gliding over veins wider than tree branches and vertebra larger than him. Faster and faster he began to climb until he was arching over into her head and out her eyes, where he suddenly was high above the ground looking out at the forest through eyes that were not his own. He did not know how, but he was experiencing the world through another.
This is unreal. I’m not just in her, but feeling life as her
. It was then that he realized he was communing with her. Somehow his flame had reached out to hers and made contact.
But how
? Could it be that now that he had begun to learn how to control it, how to draw it out through will and not simply anger, that it was beginning to act in accordance with his natural curiosity?

The line between where his mind ended and hers began was now blurring, and he felt as if he was losing himself. Still, it was very different than the time he had communed with DiNiya, which had felt like a union on the most primal level. This was more like a voyage into the mind of another. The distant calling of his name, however, began to pull him away from her eyes and slowly down her neck before it grew louder and drew him back the entire length of the way at great speed, until his head reared up from her back.

“Are you all right?” DiNiya asked as she and the others looked at him curiously.

“Fine,” Rex replied, the feeling of what he had just seen already slipping away. “Why?”

“Well, because I was calling your name and shaking you for over a minute.”

“Sorry, must have fallen asleep.”
I wonder if it really was a dream
? He looked up to LyVera, whose head towered high above.
I wonder if she even knew I was there.
Slowly, her head angled to the side slightly, locking one of her eyes on to him, before she turned her full attention back to the path ahead.
Does she know
?

After an hour of travel and three torrential downpours, they reached the gates in time to see a large crowd massing in front of the tavern.

“What’s going on?” Rex asked, standing up and looking out at what appeared to be a good portion of the gate community. “Did something happen?”

“I don’t know,” DiNiya said, joining him at his side. “It almost looks like they’re waiting for something.”

“Someone is coming from the gate,” LyVera said from high above.

“Can you tell who it is?” EeNox asked.

“Two BroMarvora pulling a carriage and another leading in front.”

“A carriage,” Rex repeated with a curious expression. “You have celebrities in EeNara?”

“What are those?” asked DiNiya.

“You know, famous people?”

“Oh, you mean someone like LyVera.”

The DoraMax glanced down.

“DiNiya, Rex,” came BaRone’s voice from far below.

“Father, what’s happening?” she called down to him.

“The healer we called is arriving. I see you brought back more than just fish,” he said, craning his neck up to take in LyVera.

“Actually, she brought us back,” Rex corrected.

LyVera brought her tail as low as she could to the ground, allowing the four to descend.

“It’s good you four came when you did. I want you to help—What happened to all of you?” he asked, regarding their tattered state.

“Long story,” said EeNox.

“Good news is I think I remembered something,” Rex said.

“That’s wonderful. What is it?”

“I hate fishing,” Rex replied dryly.

“I see. Well, anyway, who’s your new friend?”

“Oh, I’m sorry,” said DiNiya. “This is LyVera.”

“Hello,” the DoraMax said, bringing her head down as far as she could. “I’ve traveled from the Northern Capital to speak with VayRonx, KyVina, VoRenna, and yourself.”

BaRone looked momentarily taken aback. “I’m surprised to hear that word of what has been happening in our humble mountain community has reached as far south as the capital.”

“The recent tragic events that have befallen your tribe are no small matter and are of great concern to the Northern Council.”

“I speak for all of KaNar when I say we appreciate the guild’s concern in this matter. Have they dispatched you to look into it?”

“Not officially, but I have been asked on their behalf to do so should I make my way north.”

“And so here you are,” he said with a smile.

“Indeed, and I bring you someone who may know more on the subject,” she said as she used a tree to lower the unconscious CeraVora to the ground.

“I see,” BaRone said, regarding him with uncertain curiosity. “Well, then, we have much to discuss.”

The crowd now parted as the carriage came into the center of the square. The two BroMarvora pulling it stopped just in front of the tavern doors and immediately called back, “We’ve arrived.”

The door opened and out stepped a large, muscular woman with broad shoulders and long reddish-brown fur that was tied back in a long flowing ponytail that went past the small of her back.

BaRone smiled and approached her. “It’s been a long time, VyKia. Good to see you again.”

The two pressed forearms before hugging each other.

“It’s good to see you too, BaRone,” she said. “How is my brother?”

“Brother?” Rex whispered over to DiNiya.

“Still with us,” BaRone replied, sounding more optimistic.

“VyKia is TarFor’s sister,” DiNiya whispered back to Rex.

“Comes as no surprise,” VyKia said. “He’s far too stubborn to simply die when killed.”

“We’re ones to talk,” he replied, giving her a wink. “How was your trip?”

“Fine. You know you’re lucky we were this close to KaNar, or else it would have taken another two days to get here.”

“Your brother is the lucky one,” he said before glancing at the carriage. “I see someone’s a little shy.”

“Slept the whole way,” she replied, crossing her arms and looking annoyed. “And snores louder than TarFor.”

BaRone laughed before glancing back at the others. “Come on over, you four. There’s someone I want you to meet.”

The four looked at each other before walking over. VyKia regarded them all with interest before focusing on DiNiya and EeNox. “You two have grown much since the last time I saw you.”

“Thank you, VyKia,” DiNiya said. “It’s so good to see you again.”

“Likewise. We’ll have to spend some time later catching up after my brother has been tended to. First, however, there is someone who would like to say hello,” she said, looking to the carriage. They waited for someone to emerge but only heard what sounded like heavy breathing coming from inside. “I said there is someone who would like to say hello,” she repeated, although this time with greater emphasis. The breathing turned into loud snoring, causing VyKia to lose her temper altogether. “WAKE UP AND GET OUT HERE!”

Everyone jumped, and the sound of someone stumbling inside the carriage could be heard. “C-coming,” came a soft, yet high voice from within.