Born Of Fire

Born Of Fire Chapter 51

Phoenix dropped back a step, falling into much the same position as Secrat. Secrat started strafing left, and Phoenix followed, keeping his hands up to deflect any flame his opponent might send his way. The Zuhdalay with Secrat started jeering, and Ember sent a gust their way, silencing them.

“Why do you do this Secrat?” she asked, pleading in her voice.

His eyes never leaving Phoenix, Secrat answered. “What started as harmless fun, your ‘brother’ turned into a personal vendetta. We were only playing with him that day in the square, and he humiliated us. The next time, he destroyed any sense of honor I had left, while we were playing a harmless prank.”

“You call insulting me, destroying my home, slandering my family name, trying to kill and shame me, a prank?” Phoenix spat, still turning in the deadly circle.

Secrat’s lips twisted into a sneer. “Maybe we went a bit far. But that does not mean you will leave this meadow alive. The time has come for my prank to come full circle. This includes me shoving your severed head into a bag.”

“I can understand your misplaced anger at Phoenix, Secrat,” Ember piped up again. “But why join Demetrius?”

“He has been good to me,” Secrat said with a shrug. “He has shown me the gifts that were only reserved for the gods, and showered those same gifts upon me.”

“And what gifts were those?” Spedro asked, breaking his silence.

“We will get to that,” Secrat laughed. “But for now, let us test your mettle, Phoenix.”

Secrat jumped backward, arching his back as he flipped into a handspring, then landed smoothly, hands coming up aflame.  With the distance now between him and Phoenix, he could use his gifts with abandon, not risking himself harm. Phoenix on the other hand, took off an instant after Secrat, leaping forward and closing the distance between them in a flash.

Secrat smiled, and brought his hands up, aiming a single finger toward Phoenix’s chest. A single jet of flame erupted from his forefinger, which Phoenix barely avoided. Twisting his body to the left, the jet flying harmlessly over his shoulder, Phoenix barely had time to right himself before Secrat smirked and spread all ten of his fingers, unleashing a torrent of red flame at him. Phoenix called forth the earth then, jumping high into the air with assistance from a boulder that erupted from the earth beneath his feet. In the air Phoenix twisted, bringing both of his hands to bear on Secrat, then flinging two orbs in quick succession at the man below him. The deadly flames impacted on Secrat’s chest, cutting off the fire gushing from his fingers, and obscuring the man in an acrid black smoke.

Phoenix landed lightly with a bit of help from Ember. They turned on the Zuhdalay still standing where the battle had begun. “Are you next? Will you come meet your deaths as blindly as he?!” Phoenix yelled. “I defeated him in a single move; how much better do you think you will fare?”

The Zuhdalay barely blinked more or less fled, and Phoenix turned to glance at Spedro, completely perplexed. Spedro was not watching the theatrics Phoenix had created, but instead stood looking at the forest behind them all. Not wanting to turn his back on the enemies not fifty feet away, Phoenix backpedaled, coming even with Spedro’s shoulder. “Is everything all right my friend?”