THE EDGE OF FLAME
The hurricane showed no mercy. With its wind weeping mercilessly and ruthless to creatures.
Thunder boomed like war drums over the sanctuary, and lightning ripped through the sky with furious nature, casting a fleeting light over the broken stone pillars and burned ground which Malak and Morwen's attack had left behind.
Elara coughed, a line of blood running down her lip, pressing back against a fractured pillar. Her magic was flickering wildly in her outstretched hands, uncontrolled and unshaped. Lerder stood over her, panting, his tunic stained with blood from his rib-high, bleeding wounds.
"We can't hold them off for much longer," Elara whispered.
Lerder didn't reply. His golden eyes blazed angrily as he looked for their enemy, surveying the destroyed sanctuary.
"Lerder," she called his attention, her hand shaking, "we must make for the rear. The tunnel at the rear of the Oracle's sanctuary."
"They'll follow," he growled. "But if we separate them, we may have a chance." Lerder said.
Elara voiced hard. "You will perish… But I pray you don't."
He turned to her, his features twisted with anguish and determination. "I promised to guard you. I won't break that promise, not now… not tomorrow." Lerder spoke, with much willingness.
"You think I am concerned about a promise?" she burst out, her voice breaking. "I care about you."
For an instant, his face softened, but before he could speak, a chilling laugh rang through the sanctuary.
"Touching, but misguided." Morwen slipped from the shadows, the obsidian blade held in one hand. Her eyes sparkled like ice.
Malak, dark energy coiling around him like a cloak, followed with powerful lights. "The Prophecy isn't concerned with your hearts. Power alone."
Elara moved closer, magic spilling over again, though she was tired. "You won't have it." She barked, with a hard voice.
"We don't care to know anything about that." Malak declared harshly.
Lysander suddenly appeared out from the broken remains behind them, Kael and Isadora beside him. It was chaos and deliverance that followed them, bitterness filled their heart and was ready for war.
"Lerder, get her out!" Lysander uttered, losing an arrow which caused Morwen to dodge backwards.
Lerder hesitated for a while. Then he took Elara's hand and ran.
The Oracle's chamber lay beneath a narrow, ancient tunnel, walls alive and gathering with stones that looked smooth when Elara moved through them. Her magic stirred, the sensation of fate closing like a noose about her shoulders.
"They knew we'd come here," Elara exclaimed.
"Then there's a reason." She added, with high expectations.
At the tunnel's heart stood the Oracle.
But not the old seer they remembered. She stood tall, her form surrounded by swirling light and shadows. Her voice was neither male nor female.
"You seek answers, but truth is pain." Oracle voiced.
"We're out of time," Lerder said. "Tell us."
The Oracle stepped forward. "Lerder, son of Caelum."
Elara stilled. "What did she say?"
Lerder's face turned white.
The Oracle spoke again, louder. "Son of Caelum, last heir of the Betrayer's Lineage."
Silence exploded.
Elara backed away. "That's not possible. The Betrayer's line was destroyed." She uttered.
"He was hidden," the Oracle said. "Raised to fight the fate his blood once shaped. But blood remembers."
"No," Lerder shouted.
"Lerder..." Elara's voice trembled.
"I didn't know," he said hoarsely. "I swear, Elara. I never knew. Lysander… he must have known. That's why he betrayed us." Lerder responded, with much confusion.
Elara moved back, and said. "You're the key. The prophecy never said… 'WHO'… would bring the fire. Only that it would be the Betrayer's heir."
The Oracle turned to her. "And it is you who must choose: burn the world, or change it. That is in your hands."
A noise shook the mountain. Malak was coming.
Lerder took her hand. "We have to go… Now!"
"To where?" Elara asked.
"To face them. Together." He voiced tightly.
They ran toward the roar of battle. Toward destiny. Destiny cannot be cancelled or kept in dark for a long time; it must take its place when due.
Lysander was cornered by Malak's dark wolves, his arrows' painful impact. Kael lay unconscious, blood trickling from his forehead. Isadora fought Morwen, their magic colliding in bursts of violet and greenish.
"ENOUGH!" Lerder roared as he and Elara burst into the fight.
Malak turned. "Ah, the prodigal prince returns."
"I'm no prince." Lerder responded.
"But you are the weapon." Malak pointed out.
Elara lifted her hands. Power surged. The air bent.
Morwen shrieked as Elara struck, magic crackling from her palms, slamming into the witch and sending her flying into the temple wall.
Lerder lunged at Malak, their clash shaking the ground. Blades met. Power exploded.
"I made you," Malak stated. "I forged your future."
"Then watch me destroy it," Lerder spoke, angrily .
Elara joined the fight, weaving fire and light, her power intertwined with Lerder's. The sanctuary blazed.
But Malak's strength was unnatural. He struck Lerder down with a burst of black lightning, sending him sprawling.
"NO!" Elara screamed.
She ran to Lerder's side. He coughed, bloodied, barely conscious.
"Don't you dare die. Not now." Chaewon expressed, emotionally.
"You were always stronger than me," he whispered. "You were always the light."
She turned to Malak, fury and grief blazing. And she unleashed everything.
The mountain trembled as her magic ripped through the air, a storm of raw power that engulfed Malak. The dark sorcerer screamed, consumed by fire and light.
But it was not enough.
As the smoke cleared, Malak emerged, weakened but alive.
"This isn't over," he cried softly. "The heir has been revealed. The gods will awaken." Malak voiced low.
He vanished into the air. Silence fell and calmness filled the atmosphere. The battle is over for now.
Lerder coughed. "He's right… They'll come."
Elara helped him up, tears streaking her face. "Then we get ready. We will end this." Elara said.
Behind them, the Oracle's voice echoed one last time.
"The fire has been lightened. The reckoning begins."
As they exit the sanctuary, the ground splits beneath them. A beast of molten flame bursts from the earth, eyes locked on Elara. It speaks one word:
"Chosen… The chosen one!"
Elara moved Lerder aside, but Lerder also wanted to face the consequences of Loving a chosen one.