Defenders of Destiny Book One: Conflux

Chapter 4: Fire and Fight

He opened his brown eyes and saw the black floor stretch out before him. It was cold on his cheek and he raised himself to his knees to look around. He stood on an expansive black marble floor surrounded by six tall spires of darkness so deep it seemed drag his vision into them. He looked beyond them and saw massive rocks resembling asteroids floating in the air all around him. Upon closer inspection he discovered that the floor stood on a black pedestal on top of one of the larger rocks, which indeed seemed to be asteroids. Unlike the asteroids around him this one did not rotate and did not appear to be moving.

"Rise, son of flame," a voice of many tones and pitches called out from somewhere.

Curious, he stood up. He was a young man and he wore his blue jacket and black jeans, white sneakers, and a large gold chain around his neck with pride. It was not often he dressed his best but this did not look like the place he had been about to head to after his nap on the couch. He glanced around for the speaker. "Who are you? What do you want with me and where am I?"

"So many questions for such a young mind," the mix of voices said. "You are here because I need you. I need you because you have skills that may prove useful to me."

The young dark-skinned man narrowed his eyes. "How do you know about that?"

"What, about your mastery over fire? I know many things, Seth Blair. I know that despite your tough exterior you have trouble saying coherent sentences in front of girls, especially pretty Aleshia. You stole most of the clothes you wear and hate taking baths."

Seth clenched his teeth in anger. "Who are you? Why are you trying to piss me off? You know what I can do!"

"Fire can't hurt me, Seth. We are kindred spirits, fire and I. We both wish to rid the world of everything and are always hungry. Unlike fire, however, I only go for life. I don't waste my time on inanimate objects. A world without life is so much sweeter."

"Yeah, whatever, you still haven't told me who you are."

A shadow appeared at Seth's feet and it darkened and began to stretch out of the floor itself. He took a step back, his hands bursting into flames. The shadow stretched and stretched until it reached eye level with Seth and began to take shape, that of a human. The body thinned and curved and Seth's fiery hands died away when he noticed it to be a rather attractive woman. She had tendrils of shadow swirling around her grey-skinned body, barely covering the areas he wished to see the most.

"I can tell you like me in this form," she said, her full lips uttering the words in a husky voice full of sensuality. Her half-lidded eyes, shrouded in eye shadow, were a piercing bright red and were eyeing him intently. Her hair, whiter than snow, tumbled down her back and reached her hips. She watched Seth adjust his pants and smirked. "Want some of this, fire boy?"

Seth was caught unawares. "Um, what?"

The woman walked up to him and placed a gentle hand on his shoulder, staring into his eyes. He felt uncomfortable yet he could not look away from her. He struggled to think with the right brain yet every passing moment grew more difficult to do so. She appeared to know this and pressed herself against him, squeezing certain body parts against his chest and wrapping a leg around his waist.

"I need your help, Seth," she breathed into his ear. "Will you help me?"

Seth cleared his throat. "What do you want me to do?"

With an almost sinister chuckle she said, "I need you to kill for me."

****

The scene at the foot of the ridge was one of confusion and bewilderment. The four standing at the top of the ridge were climbing down as Ivory, Boog and a recovered Elmar gathered around Aragol and Karmen.