Wings of Fire - The Eternal Flame

Chapter Twelve - All Jewels No Flame...

I ducked my head around the corner, to see how many SkyWings are posted at the door. 'Three. Wow, Queen Scarlet isn't that protective of her treasure at the moment... Weird.' I thought, and held up three claws behind for Shiver to see. I shake my shoulders to wake up Fallenflame, and quickly tell her to hold on tight. 'This is it. Time to save Fallenflame.'

I speed my way around the corner, catching the three SkyWings off guard. I run at the first one, holding my claws out to burn the guards face. Before the guard had time to react, he was a pile of ashes. I hold out my wings so the other two cannot escape, and quickly grab one guard's neck and the other I smack with my tail. They burn under my scales, and I watch them become a pile of ashes, like the first one. Surprisingly, the guards didn't make much noise. The last one tried screaming while I wrapped my tail around her neck, but otherwise I don't think any of them made much noise.

I turn to Shiver, whose standing there, speechless. "You're okay to kill your own kind? That was pretty violent..." She said, looking a little nervous. I just grunted, and turned to the big, golden door in front of us. I push against the door as hard as I could, before it starts to melt. I get the door open, and my claw marks in the door. I look around. The room is filled to the brim with jewels, gold, silver, and all kinds of shiny crystals and gems. The whole room sparkles, and I just look. The room is huge, lighted by a weird rainbow coloured flame in the middle.

"Rainbow flame? Maybe.. Is that the Eternal Flame, do you think?" Shiver looks amazed, by the flickering colours of the fire. I walk towards it, my claws shuffling through gold coins, melting them. "What is this?" I say, while I reach to touch the flame. I touch it, and it flickers, creating sparks when in contact with my firescales. 'Wouldn't an animus artifact feel like an animus, weird and magicky?' I thought, remembering when I held an animus amulet Queen Scarlet gave to me to destroy. {The amulet had a small piece of paper in it, which burned at my touch. It felt weird, like I was infused with something at first, but then faded away in a matter of seconds. "Thank god that was destroyed, good boy, my little Pyro!" Queen Scarlet said sarcastically to me, but I didn't know that at the time.} I shook my head.

"No. This isn't it. This flame is just a mixture of chemicals in the flame to make it flicker different colours." I spoke. I needed to find the Eternal Flame, fast. I felt Fallenflame shuffle on my back, and I turned to see her gazing at the flame in front of me. "It's a mixture of cupric sulfate, cupric chloride, and polyvinyl chloride. Isn't it beautiful? I didn't know Queen Scarlet knew how to make this." She spoke quietly, Shiver and I amazed she knows what this stuff is. I didn't really know what this stuff is, to be honest.

"Yeah. It is beautiful. But... I don't see the Eternal Flame anywhere." Shiverblade said, while digging in the gems, as they started to freeze at her touch. We searched for a while longer, and I realized it's probably almost sunrise. I was shuffling through the jewels when Shiver spoke up. "It's not here. We've searched everywhere. It must be somewhere else. Like the SandWing Kingdom. Maybe the MudWings have it. It could be anywhere! We can't give up!" She shouted in despair, and I watched her while she told herself to not give up, to keep looking.

'No... It's gotta be somewhere around here....' I thought, frowning. 'To find it, you must look to where you truly love. Hmmm. Where do I truly love?' I glanced at Shiverblade, and turned my attention to Fallenflame. "Where do you truly love, Fallenflame?" I ask, while she just looks confused. Shiver turns her head to me. "Why are you asking a question like that? We're here to look for the Eternal Flame, not where you love." Shiver said. "Graizon said the Eternal Flame is where you truly love." I said, with a slight blush, while I think of Shiverblade.

"Pyro, I truly love you."