The Lost Prophecy

The Tower of Fire and Ice

 We headed out of the cave and towards Growler. Up ahead, there was a tower. Ashley said the tower is The Tower of Fire and Ice. "We have to get to the top and claim the heart of the firebird and the scale of the ice dragon." I nodded in agreement. We got to the entrance of the tower, but the door had no handles. I scanned the door while Ash tried budging it open with a flat rock. I saw a slot with a fire symbol on it and another slot with the ice symbol. I thought about that for a couple seconds and knew what to do. I took my sword and slid it into the fire slot and snatched Ash's sword and slid it into the ice slot. The door then opened instantly. "How did you do that?!?" questioned Ash.

"Brains." I said with a smirk as I grabbed Ash's sword and tossed it to her. Then I grabbed mine as I walked into the tower.

The walls were lined with statues of ice dragons with phoenix wings and fire at the end of their tails. I was looking at the statues and noticed that they represented Ash and I. But then, I tripped on a tripwire and the statues became full of life and hostile.

"Everett, what have you done!" Exclaimed Ash.

I couldn't answer because a group of those monsters grabbed hold of me and Ash by our arms. "Let go of me!" Ash said as she was squirming in the dragon-phoenixes' talons. One of them blew an icy mist onto her face and for a second, she froze, but then, she went limp in their grasp. "Ash!" I yelled.

The same beast who made Ash go limp blew a fiery mist onto me. I felt a burning sensation on my skin, and my world faded into blackness.

I woke up in a room. Ash was lying on a big rag, unconscious. I went over to her and started shaking her awake. "Ash! Ash! Wake up!

"Ughhh." Ash groaned. "Where are we?"

"I don't know."

I tried to open the door, expecting it to be locked, but it opened. I gestured to Ash to follow me. We went down a long hallway to find a dragon prince that looked like the one beasts that kidnapped us.

"You're finally awake." The prince said, "I've been waiting for you two,"

"Why, you must ask? Because you must complete a challenge to get the scale of the ice dragon and the heart of the firebird," he said.

"Now take your swords and prepare for the challenge!" He gestured to where our swords were. We grabbed the swords and were ready for the challenge of Fire and Ice.

"Let the challenge begin!" said the dragon prince. A few seconds later, his eyes glittered with a dark, murderous look as he became hostile, and charged at Ash and I. We both held our swords up in defense. The prince knocked us into a wall, but we recovered quickly.

"Is that all you got?" Ash said with a smirk.

"Ash, um I don't think we should-" I started

"No it isn't, actually." The prince retorted.

The prince lashed out his tail and icy spikes ricocheted off the wall and towards Ash and I. We held our arms up, thinking that the projectiles would bounce off our armor, only to be slammed into the ground. The prince picked Ash up by the torso with his tail and started squeezing her like an anaconda would with its prey. She started struggling in his grip. "Ash!" I yelled

I turned to look the prince in his eyes. "You put her down. Now." I growled, fury and dread mixed into my voice.

"And why should I?" The violent prince said with an evil, twisted smile.

The prince tightened his tail around Ash and she groaned in pain and suffocation. I flinched, thinking of how much pain she is in. I clenched my sword tightly in my hand and charged at the horrible prince. My sword glowed scarlet and the power of the sword swirled all around me. The prince's eyes shifted from a look of evilness to a look of terror. I jumped and swung my sword. The prince dropped his coils around Ash and howled in pain. I ran over to her, only to see that she wasn't moving. I panicked. Was I too late? I checked her pulse, and a wave of relief rushed over me. Her steady pulse fluttered under my fingers.

I hid her from the battle and turned to face the ruthless hybrid. "I'm not afraid of you, even if you hurt my friend."

"Oh really?" The prince said "And why shouldn't you, a fourteen year old boy, be afraid of me, a phoenix-dragon hybrid that is ten times bigger than you?"

"Because I am brave." I said with confidence. I ran towards the rampaging prince and we fought. I swung my sword and the prince flung his tail at me. Ice spikes flew towards me as I was dodging the prince's thrashing tail. I was too slow. One of the spikes pierced my torso, and I stumbled back in pain. Blue poison spread from the wound and I felt nauseous. The prince sniffed the air, and went towards the place I hid Ash's unconscious body. I tried to run and defend Ash, but the pain was too great. I dropped to my knees and watched the prince uncover Ash's body. But it wasn't there. Ash had found the pedestal where the scale of the ice dragon and the heart of phoenix sat. Ash took the scale, and as she slid the scale into the slot in her sword, her eyes glowed ice-blue. She whipped her sword around herself, and she turned into an ice dragon. She turned to me. "Stay back, Everett. I can take it from here."

I nodded my head, she immediately charged at the prince with her pointy horns and knocked him into a wall. She then used an icy breath to deal with the prince. The prince's eyes then went to a kind glint. He went to sit on his throne and said, "You have completed the test. You had each other's backs, and that is the virtue you must learn in order to unlock your elemental powers.

"So we didn't need the items?" I asked

"No, you still need them," replied the prince, "so you can control your powers."

Ash landed beside me and turned back to normal. "Everett, are you okay?"
She pointed towards where I was wounded. The ice spike already melted away, but the blue poison was still where the wound was. I felt nauseous again and I collapsed. Ash rushed to my side and tried to help me up.

My vision then blurred and my hearing dulled. I could feel Ash shaking me as an attempt to keep me awake.

I fought against the urge to close my eyes and give up, but I couldn't. My world then turned off like a light switch.