The Heirs of Death

2. The Black Fire

Kneeling next to his bed, my hands tightly glomming his marked one, I allowed my magic to surge in my arteries and veins. Down to each drop of blood I owned, magic took over. The room was silent, void of any sound except the ones of his beating heart and mine, the situation so similar to the first time my eyes ever laid on him. Without looking, I knew Leon and Ramos had stayed outside, leaving us to whatever needed privacy. Taking a deep breath, I closed my eyes and allowed his magic to meet mine.

A blur of time passed as my powers sewed a bridge with his, lifting my soul to the essence of both his power and soul. To the point where his dreams and nightmares met. And it was as I opened my eyes, as I stared at the world his magic lived within that I truly realized how damaged the situation was.

No reflection gazed back, no mirrors reflected the light of my flaming sun like when I had unlocked my own essence. Because the glass was no longer standing high with pride, cloaking me with his elemental, but it was a scattered sea of shreds and tattered crumbs. Ragged, the sky was sheathed with thick clouds, the thin sunrays that pierced them washed the place with a sickening scarlet.

The air was misted with a growing darkness. The cursed chant resonating around me trailed chills up and down my spine. But above that whispering malice, a voice pierced in the encumbering heaviness, reaching my ears with an urge. I would know it no matter what, the pained voice of my roaring father.

I did not take the time to think twice before dashing in this endless universe. Glass pierced the skin of my bare feet, blood trailing as I ran, burning with each step. I didn't stop.

The screams and roars and yells rang stronger, and I braced myself for what I would see. The ground shook as though hell itself trashed and tossed, trying to break free. I pushed my body harder, turning a blind eye to the pain devouring my lowest part, forcing myself to go faster. I had known from my training with Ramos back at the Whitestone Manor and the First Norm that time was never equal in reality and magic. Where a minute in this world passed, it might cost me drastically more in the outside. The thought only made my heart weaker, thinking and calculating how much time I might still have.

As I ambled further deep in this dimension, the scenery changed. Crimson downpour fell as storming whirlwinds, soaking me wet. Flickers of cold flames licked my ankles, shimmering against the remaining dispersed glass. The earth growled once again, thick fogs and mists mantling me.

The howls were no more distant cries or dying whispers, instead, they became full-blown wails of pain that tore his throat as they evade. And I could feel it, the weakness and the fear that took hold of that brave heart.

I stood still, unable to move, my body paralyzed to its last inch, feeling like stone. A wall of black fire stood as high as an obstacle between me and the King behind it. And for a moment, I met his eyes, smoldering emeralds lined with pain and grief, nothing like the vigorous, strong, and commanding  ones I had heard off and seen on paintings.

His lips parted once again, my name evading them as the remaining of a torn cry, and I watched. Watched as black chains manacled my father and king. Watched as his mighty blood dripped on the floor, each drop echoing as it merged with the crimson ponds under his floating form. But what brought more fright to my heart was the demon rising behind him. I would know him everywhere, the demon that had haunted my dreams for endless nights. The same demon that attacked us in Arelesia, the one I had killed and damned to peril in hell.

He had come for revenge, and what was a better way than to watch him end the person I had went through the journey for?

A devilish smile tugged at his mouth, showing rows of razor teeth. His clawed hands reached for Father as he walked, the ground shaking with his every step. And it was a nightmare to my eyes as I watched him pierce one of his claws in my father's shoulder, tearing flesh and bones apart. More blood dribbled and I screamed, tears streaming down my face.