Curse of the Phoenix

Ch.51 -The Awakening

Iara~

I woke up on the ground somewhere, looking up at a roof of cracked stone. Sunlight filtered through the breaks, illuminating the inside. I tried to sit up, before a hand gently pushed me back down.

"Iara, you should rest a bit more." It was Dru.

"How is everyone else? Where is everyone else? What happened?"

"What happened to you is the same thing that happened to us in Ellesméra. Everyone is fine, don't worry. Eragon had to go check on something alone, Murtagh, Alice and Luna went back to the castle to see if anything could be salvaged, and our brothers went to look for supplies."

"Dru! You let Marumen, Luke and Mikael wander off, somewhere on the island, together?!"

"Well.."

"Have you any idea what those three idiots are capable of? They might get crushed by a tree at best!"

"That's why I sent them off, they'll be out of the way, don't worry. You got the worst, me and the other four didn't have much left of whatever that red stuff was."

"So me and Marumen were basically full."

"Yeah..." He trailed off, and I laid back down, tracing the cracks in the ceiling.

Marumen~

"Come on guys, we're almost there!" I said. Firewood, Dru said. Food, Dru said. Yeah right! We could do that on the way back. For now, Luke, Mikael and I were following the extremely obvious trail left behind by the bird.

Marumen, this is not a very wise decision. Virtue said.

She and the dragons of my brothers were flying high, in the clouds should another dragon look up and spot them. Virtue was fine with her white scales, but a red like Verdana? That was practically a beacon.

Why not? It's not like it can hurt us, it only took that red stuff. Plus, look at the odds. It's six to one if we even find it, not counting the fact that those six are three dragons and three dragon riders. We'll be fine!

Just don't get over confident. And be careful, I'll be up here with Verdana and Vrinda in case you need help.

Alright alright.. I broke away from the contact to focus on what I was doing. Luke was farther ahead, checking out the trail. Mikael was behind, making sure nothing got the jump on Luke or I.

The phoenix had left quite a trail. It had burned a path, leaving blackened leaves and branches in it's wake. It was obvious from the ground, but invisible from the sky. He had flown through the trees, a smart move, but I didn't think he expected ground pursuit. Or any pursuit, for that matter.

So when me, Luke and Mikael defeated him once and for all, we could be the heroes. We even knew how.

The bird had come from us, so it could affect us physically. It was also affected by physical things, in order to exit Eragon's castle he had to burn through the door.

So we were going to kill him. Each of us had a sword belted at our waists, and each of us was fully rested and ready. Iara could rest and sleep back in Doru Areaba, I would be the one saving the day!

Eventually we noticed that the trail began to go uphill, and we were climbing a mountain. One of them that formed a ring around the Broken City. Probably one of the largest. The trees began to thin out, and then the burns became more noticeable on the landscape.

We were nearing the top of the mountain, it had become smaller and the terrain more rough. Large boulders and rocks, as well as scraggly grasses instead of forest plants. From all the way up here we could see forever...Even a blue dragon in the middle of the fallen city. Saphira? Eragon had to be there too, then. Was he just checking on that rock?

They were small compared to the rock, it was a monstrous creation of stone, towering maybe a hundred feet in the air. My vision wasn't very good from here, but with a whispered phrase I could see everything. A small part of me felt guilty for spying, but the rest of me was curious.

I watched as Eragon grabbed a chest from the saddlebags, the one from his room that didn't have a lock. Then it opened. And inside was a giant golden...chunk of glass? No, it was covered in facets. Was it a gem? No...the surface swirled. I had no idea what that was.

Then Eragon said something, as he said it he sort of shivered. I knew what he said. He had said his true name. I hadn't caught any words. And I didn't really want to anyway. A few seconds later, something happened to the rock. And then a huge set of double doors appeared. Saphira and Eragon walked inside, and then they shut.

I realized that Luke and Mikael had been saying my name.

"Uh sorry, what?"

"Are you ok? You were sort of just staring there." Mikael said.

"Yeah, sorry, daydreaming." I said. "Let's keep going, I have the feeling we're about to find something." So we started again, continuing up the mountain until we came to the top.

The bird had obviously grown hotter here, as instead of burned plants he had left a trail of melted stone, that had quickly cooled, so you could see chunks of obsidian, black like in the hilt of Iara's sword. Luke bent down to pick up a chunk about the size of his palm.

"Its still warm. Be careful here." He said, before putting it in a bag he brought. We each had one, filled with food and water and stuff like that. The top of the mountain ended in what looked like a tiny valley, made from stone.

"The trail can't just end! That's not how it works!" I complained. "Or all we've been doing today has been for nothing!" But the trail did end, right near the top of this mountain. I was frustrated. So I grabbed a chunk of stone the size of my head, and threw it into the center of the stone valley.

You can imagine, I was quite surprised as the stone dissapeared, and a small fountain of yellow lava sprayed up before dying back down.

"Guys..this must be a volcano. Quick, grab more stones and start chucking them!" So the three of us picked up chunk after chunk, tossing them into the crater, peppering the thin, grey crust with holes. It was almost a competition, as we were seeing who could throw the most.

We stopped as a ripple made its way across the crust, lava spurting out of the dozens of large holes.

"Umm...guys.." Luke trailed off. "I think we should go.." Another ripple, this one more like a wave, wen across the crust from the center. The layer began to crack into pieces, and the smaller ones sank down. We began to back up.

And then the ground at our feet shook. I fell over, my side landing on a rock, and i felt my hip break. Luke didn't fall on anything, and Mikael managed to stay upright by crouching.

"Guys I can't walk. I can't walk. I can't walk!" I said, panicking.

"Oh crap, crap crap crap...Mikael help me carry him we have to go!"

"Luke I can't walk. Luke I can't walk!"

"I know little brother just please be quiet, you're gonna be fine, ok?

"Ok. But I can't walk Luke, how can I be ok?"

Luke~

The pain from such an injury had scattered whatever senses Marumen had, he kept repeating the same phrase I can't walk, I can't walk. Those haunting words..

Verdana get Virtue down here now, we have to get out of here!

I'm on it, be careful!

Suddenly Virtue was shooting down from the clouds, a white shape in a world of grey stone. I was the one holding Marumen, and I placed him in one of her massive paws. She took flight again, winging back towards Doru Areaba. Me and Mikael had one shared look before we bolted, running down the mountain, following Virtue.

We were too late as the mountain erupted in an explosion of liquid stone. The ground shook and rumbled, making me trip and stumble. The lava shot up, high into the sky, a mile at least, and came back down like a storm from hell.

The hot droplets peppered the ground, landing on the trees around us, setting the ground aflame. And that wasn't even the worst part.

With the eruption came a horrible screech, and a phoenix.