Embracing the Flames (37 page)

I landed against a wall with a hard smack and fell to my knees as debris filled the forced winds around us. Torrents of stone and dust whipped past me. I tried to duck but a large chunk slammed into my chest, throwing me even farther down the hall, away from Astral.

“Aurora!” Astral shouted as he pried himself off the ground.

“Astral!” I shouted back in warning as something dark slammed into the back of him. It was Zordon. He was still in his mutated dragon form. Sleek and obsidian-scaled, he glimmered, his wing span reaching from wall to wall. His eyes gleamed black against his reptilian skin.

Astral’s eyes lit up as he rose to meet the new Zordon. It was amazing to see him take his natural size. He was nose-to-nose with Zordon and began to chant as energy shot from his eyes.

A bubble of protection formed around Zordon, deflecting what Astral was throwing at him. “GO!” he shouted at me from over his shoulder, his eyes remaining focused. Men, armored in gold and light, poured from either side of the wall throwing spells at Zordon’s protected figure. The Hall filled with madness, and it grew hard to distinguish the dark energy from the light.

I scrambled backwards and did the first thing that popped into my mind. “Aiderum!” The rubble around me formed into a large warrior. I sent him forward into the madness. He thrashed left and right, absorbing the damage Zordon continually shot out.

“You don’t have to do this, Zordon,” Astral said on a low growl. “This is not the answer.”

Zordon laughed. “Oh but it is,” Zordon yelled back at him as he slammed his fist into the ground, causing a quake to swallow the Celestians around him. “My father knew it the day he created me. There can only be one supreme race — one supreme Fate. It was his foolish mistake to think that I would help him in return.” His eyes grew dark as he tilted his head in Astral’s direction. “And now that the Progeny has unknowingly aided me, I can unleash my plan.”

He spun into the air like a tornado, pulling all of Astral’s magical energy into himself. Then his energy streamed out, covering the Celestians closest to him. My fighter was dragged into the mix, absorbed by his power. I leapt into the air, determined to end this.

“You all fight against me, but you will soon bend to my will.” 

Lexi appeared before me, hovering in the air. “How did you?” I began, but she waved me off, pulling me to down to the ground.

“You need to go, now! Iliana has requested your presence.”

“Iliana?”

She continued to ignore me as she pulled me away from the chaos. I glanced back over my shoulder right before the door at the end of the hall closed. Astral must have sensed me because he looked back as well, his mind merging with mine. “I’m coming,” he promised inside my head.

I turned back and found myself in the room I had just been so curious to see. A long, wooden table was in the center, five chairs lined up behind it. This is where they sit.

“Wait here,” Lexi commanded as she went to a doorway hidden behind a shelf that rested along the farthest wall. I strained to hear the sounds from the other side of the door, praying for any sign of Astral, but somehow the room was silent.

“The room is protected. Evil cannot cross the threshold,” said a woman’s voice. The voice of a thousand angels in one.

I turned. “Iliana?”

Her angelic smile lit up the entire room, approving of my quick recognition. “I am she,” Iliana said with a regal nod.

“You saved me,” I said in awe, dumbstruck by her flowing beauty. Her hair was whiter than snow and fell in waves to the floor. Her eyes were the color of the bluest sapphire, sparkling against her pale skin. She was dressed in a cascading light pink dress that tooled behind her.

“I have, yes,” she admitted.

“I don't understand. I thought there were only five Fates.”

“My brothers have not divulged my existence as a Fate with anyone. They do not care for my opinions. It is exactly why I must work around them without their knowledge or permission.”

“You are the one who created me. You are the one I have dreamed about, aren’t you?” She simply nodded. “Thank you,” I said, fidgeting and trying to say the right thing.

“You are very welcome, Aurora. You are the right to a very dark wrong. This is why I chose to help you. Every time you felt a pull from your Oraculus, it was me. I knew there was something you needed to see; something that would help you grow while my brother Saeth went behind us all. And while we’re on the subject, I need you to do something for me.”

“Anything!” I said a little too eagerly. I stepped back, biting my lip in embarrassment.

She giggled quietly, her warm smile enhancing the amusement in her eyes. “I need you to go back. You have two worlds to save, and a dying race to protect. We can’t very well leave your Oraculus unfinished, can we?”

I stared at her a moment too long, trying to grasp everything that she had just requested. “But how? I’ve done such a crap job so far,” I admitted solemnly.

She gracefully strode over to me and looked down at me, her fathomless blue eyes willing me to believe. “You have done everything expected of you. You figured out that I wanted you to go back to find Soothe. You followed Zordon bravely and even put fear into him. You made the right decision when faced with death and you fiercely protected those who need you. You have proven yourself a fighter and still have so much left to prove. You know that.” She nudged my chin up to meet her gaze, her motherly scold not meant as a threat but as words of encouragement.

There was still something bothering me, a question only she would know the answer to. “Yes. But when I was stabbed, he felt it. It happened to him. How can I defeat him? If I kill him, I die too. Is that my purpose…to die?” I felt my eyes watering as the conclusion I had tried to avoid surfaced. What other way could there be?

It seemed faint, but I thought her eyes watered too. “Zordon is very powerful, Aurora. He has the blood of The Fates running through him. And my brothers, well,” she looked away, “they refuse to step in against Saeth. So much damage has already been done. Your connection to him is physical because you share the same Oraculus, but there is another way. A way I intended for no one to discover until it was time.” She turned back to me, a fierceness filling her eyes. “You are the Progeny, Aurora. It is not your purpose to die. There is a way around it; you just have to return in order to find it. The answer lies within the prophecy. Third of three.”

I was stuck on third of three. “Fenn?” I felt my whole world bottom out.

“Many difficulties lie ahead, Aurora, but I believe in you. You have to believe in yourself and in those around you to help you through. You are not alone in this fight.”

“Do you know how I can find the way around avoiding my death?”  

“I am not to interfere any further at this point. Every move I make could hinder our future, but I have a portal ready for your return. Keep in mind, things will be different when you return. Time runs slower here than it does in your realm. Your loved ones have already had a funeral for you. Zordon’s darkness has already taken over.”

I felt the suffocation of being inside a coffin as I thought about my grandparents and Fenn having to say goodbye to me. I owed it to them to return, to tell them that I was okay, that everything would be okay. I felt old insecurities trying to push their way forward in my mind.

Her gentle hands calmed my nerves, waving away my questions with a kind smile. “Have faith in yourself. The answer cannot be known before it’s time.” I didn’t question her.

Rumbling sounded outside the door. “Take this,” she said, handing me a crystal stone that looked just like the Stone of Immortality.

“What is it?”

“It is the Stone returned. Take this back with you. You will need it in the end.”

“In the end? But how —”

“Alexis,” she called over me. Lexi appeared by her side, dropping gracefully to her knees, her pristine white robe splaying around her. “You are to go with Aurora. If she needs to return here, bring her. You will lay down your life to ensure she succeeds, understand?”

Lexi nodded. The door burst open and Astral appeared, slamming it shut behind him. For the brief moment that I could see the hallway, I felt The Fates of our worlds slipping away. White robed men lay lifeless on the stone floors while the Dark Saar, now controlled by Zordon, raided the hallway, storming after Astral. The door began to vibrate with every magical beating that tried to open it.

Iliana looked back at me. “After this day, The Fates as we know them will no longer be. Our brother, Saeth, has betrayed us all by helping Zordon and in return, we will all pay for his mistake. Zordon will be the new and only Fate.” Her beautiful face fell, angelic tears surfacing. “I have foreseen this just as my brother, Gidius, did. It is why you were created. It is what I have tried to prevent. It is up to you, Aurora. Bring us to salvation. Heal the realms.” Her sapphire eyes sparkled with promise.

In her eyes, I saw my strength. She exuded faith in me. I knew that I would stop at nothing to see this through. I knew that by going back and facing my destiny, I would bring the New Dawn.

“We have run out of time, Little Flame, we must go now,” Astral heeded.

And with one last nod of agreement, I was shoved through a portal, back to the Chasm. Back to Fenn. Back to a broken reality.

THE END...

For now...

About the Author

Candace Knoebel is the award-winning author of Born in Flames — a young adult fantasy trilogy. Published by 48fourteen in 2012, Born in Flames went on to win Turning the Pages Book of the Year award in February of 2013.

Candace Knoebel dreamed of being a dancer ever since she could remember. With a love of all things art, she saw herself moving to New York and pursuing her passion as an artist. But all that changed on October 10, 2002 when she met the love of her life. Her dreams diverged. After marrying her high school sweetheart and having two beautiful children, she realized she missed her creative side. Through lunch breaks and late nights after putting her kids to bed, she built a world where she could escape the ever-pressing days of an eight to five Purgatory. Since then, she crawled out of Purgatory and has devoted her time to writing and sometimes heelying.

Born in Flames Trilogy

Coming Soon

From the Embers, Book III