Born in Fire

Act V: Hell

High above the walls, a shadow loomed over the castle. From the north, the great cloud of smoke loomed. The dark wall moved closer to the keep. The serfs below beheld the great beast above, overtaken by fear.

A horn sounded thrice.

The mighty dragon soared over the walls of the village and let loose its breath of fire. Men, women, and children fled from their homes as the fire consumed them in a great flood of hellfire.

Not far behind, Taran sped to the village, as fast as his legs could carry him. A horse trotted not too far away. He seized his chance and leapt to the horse and urged it into a gallop. Through the flaming gates he charged. His bow at the ready, he released a volley of arrows at the flying demon. His arrows would not penetrate its hide, but its eyes had no armor. An arrow took the beast in its left eye.

Taran reached for another arrow. His quiver was empty. The chaos raged around him. He had to protect himself from debris, fire, and others who would collide with him in blind panic. A flaming building collapsed, and the horse lost itself. It reared back and fell over onto its back, impaled by a broken shaft.

A familiar scream reached his ear.

He found Lucina.

Dressed in the garb of a knight, she lay crumpled upon the dirt. The horse pinned her down, and the broken shaft had pierced her belly. "Taran..." she coughed.

"No, hush," he cried, "don't talk." His voice cracked.

"Go on... Get out of here... while you still can..."

Taran did not listen. He pushed the horse off of her and held her close to him. "I won't leave you. Let me take you home."

"I... I'm already home... Sir Blacksmith..."

She turned cold. Her face froze, and she became limp.

Fire burned in Taran's eyes.

An explosion of breaking stone brought Taran back. The dragon had destroyed the gates to the castle. A barrel of wine in its talons, more lay splashed about the steps of the keep. It greedily guzzled down the wine, with no regard for the destruction around it.

"Now! While it's guard is down! CHARGE!!!" Ector rushed at the dragon with three other knights. They flailed their swords about in a frenzy.

"NO! STOP!!! Taran cried out. His pleas fell on deaf ears.

The dragon bellowed out at the charging knights. "STAND BACK, FOOLS!!!"

The monster vomited a torrent of fire upon the knights. The storm of fire and smoke drowned the knights and burned them to cinders, and scorched the streets around them. The horses and men melted into the earth, and became one with the massive, smoldering scar upon the ground. Ector screeched as his molten armor seared his flesh and smelted his bones.

"HELP ME, BOY!!!" Ector cried out, "HELP ME!!! TARAN!!! TARAN!!! TAAARRRRAAAAN!!!!"

The young blacksmith inched away from the smoldering corpses.

"THE FOOLS! THEY STAND NO CHANCE AGAINST ME!!!!" The dragon ravenously downed the last barrel of wine, and began to stumble. Its legs crumbled out from underneath it, and the beast collapsed upon on its belly.

Taran seized his chance.

He flew after Alondite and freed it from the stone. With a great roar, Taran hacked the dragon's neck. One blow sufficed, but he kept swinging. Alondite bit through the dragon's hide until it chipped into the stone floor below it. Multiple times, he pierced the monster's heart. With a shriek, the dragon collapsed down upon the blade. Taran barely had the chance to avoid its girth collapsing on top of him. He rolled down the courtyard away from the stumbling creature. The smoke from the dragon's nostrils ceased to rise, its tail froze, and its lone eye dulled and became murky. Its growling drowned, and all became still.

Fires still crackled, unable to be extinguished.

Taran fell to his knees. His left forearm was seared and ragged from the dragon's fire in the first attack. His skin had blistered and singed. His fingers remained intact, but his scar was great, and charred skin covered his arm up to his elbow. He garishly wrapped a tattered cloak around it, at least to stop any remaining pain, and looked around for any survivors. Three times he called out, and all that replied were the echoes of his own voice. Aside from Lucina, he could find no one else. Fergus, Lord Duncan, Ector; they had all been consumed in the monster's fire.

He looked to the dragon. Alondite still lodged in the dragon's belly. He withdrew the sword, and stripped the dragon of its iron scales. He tore the sinew from its limbs and laced the skin and scales together into a suit of armor; complete with a cuirass, gauntlets, and boots. From the beast's leathery wings, he weaved a cloak and sewed a sheath for Alondite.

His new equipment complete, he set off back to the castle, but he stopped. The keep had smoldered. It lied in crisped ruins, melted like ice in the heat of summer. His mind went blank. What do I have to go back to now? He thought, Why should I stay? My father was a mercenary. I don't belong in a castle. He felt his insides twist. He looked to the castle, and then beyond the mountain. He had never stepped foot outside the village or beyond the castle. I have to find my own path. I know nothing of myself. What will I find in the world beyond the world?

He looked back at Lucina's body. She lay sprawled across the dirt. He picked up her lifeless body and looked around. His forge lay where it had been. The roof caved in, swords shattered, the anvil crushed. The furnace had been scorched by the fire, its coals crackling with an ardent inferno. Taran's arms shook. He placed Lucina's body into the ruined furnace. The flames danced around her body, consuming her. Taran placed his hand over his heart and nodded. He turned away from the burning city, walked through the smoldering gates. Sword in hand, he ventured forth. Beyond the horizon, the sun as his only guide.