The Aspect of Fire

Crispin sniffled as he churned the Borealis around in his pot. We were up before dawn, greeted by an angry red sky. Crispin was making ice cream.

“Are you alright?” I asked. He shook his head.

“Odwald says I have to give him the Borealis for the ritual,” Crispin explained. “This is the last time I’ll be able to use it for cooking.”

I patted him on the shoulder, but his words lingered with me. The last time. I folded away my bedroll as I had done on countless mornings before, but the familiar routine brought me no comfort. Who could say what other last times we would witness today.

“Good morning,” said Olive cheerily. “Is that ice cream?”

“Yes,” said Crispin, putting on a brave face. “It’s for later.”

---

We joined the trail of Humblefolk heading towards the Scorched Grove. The Tenders had organised the townsfolk into groups to act as bucket brigades. The stronger among them carried shovels and brooms to beat out flames that got too close. It looked as if the whole of Alderheart had come together.

As the volunteers spread out to defend the perimeter of the city, we strode on toward the head of the column. Odwald, Susan, and Dean Windsworth were there, accompanied by a small detachment of the Perch Guard.

“We’re almost ready,” said Odwald. His voice was calm, but his eyes darted wildly between us, his fellow mages, and the ominous orange glow that burned deep within the Scorched Grove.

“The distraction?” asked the Dean.

“He’s ready,” said Susan. She smiled at me which made me feel a bit more confident.

“As are we,” said Odwald. “Remember, don’t let it catch you.”

I turned to my friends.

“This is where I leave you,” I said.

Olive winked at me and strummed her lute. Crispin stepped forward and hugged me around my waist. It lasted for longer than I was comfortable, but I didn’t pull away. When he finally drew back, there were two glowing paw marks on my back: one shining gold and the other ice blue.

Without looking back, I walked in closer to the Scorched Grove.

---

Hot fierce flames. I walked fast along the edge of the burning grove to conserve energy until I needed it, but the overwhelming heat felt as if it was sapping the life force right out of me. I wiped sweat from my brow and continued.

When I was far enough away from the group, I jumped the flames at the edge of the Grove and headed inward. I was moving toward the summoning circle at a different angle from the rest of the party. They would undoubtedly arrive first, with time to prepare the ritual, and I would find them there, if I was lucky.

From within the Grove I heard a deep roar and then, seconds later, felt it rumble through the charred earth at my feet like an earthquake. A gout of smoke rose from that direction and the heat intensified.

I threw my head back and crowed as loud as I could.

Another roar and rumble in response. Then, what felt like footsteps. Large, lumbering, quaking thuds that shook the skeletal remnants of trees around me.

“Alright then,” I whispered. “Let’s see how you run.”

I plunged forward, my claws hitting the ground twice for every thump the Aspect of Fire made in pursuit. I skirted the edge of the Grove, heading toward the ritual location in the wide arc Odwald had planned with me the night before. We just hadn’t counted on the Aspect of Fire’s powers.

I heard a whistling behind me and turned my head in time to see a searing ball of fire soaring towards me. I dodged to the left and slowed as it crashed in to a thicket ahead of me, throwing flames and cinders in all directions.

“Oh great,” I said. “Just what I need.”

I gulped in air and pushed forward. The thicket was filled with burning trunks and smouldering vegetation. Not much room to manoeuvre. The heat and rumbling behind me grew stronger.

I jumped the first tree, flapping my wings to catch the updraft from the fires around me and propelling myself forward over the obstacle. I drew my axe as I landed and swung it across in a mighty arc to clear a second tree from my path.

I saw an opening and darted through it just as another fireball detonated behind me.

I turned gradually toward the summoning circle, exchanging the burning thicket for a steep downhill slope. The area was littered with rocks, scorching hot and shifting with each tremendous thudding step of the elemental.

“No cover,” I cursed.

I strafed down the slope, desperate not to be a sitting duck. The fireballs landed closer, each explosion throwing small stones and grit into the air to rain down on me.

I had come to the bottom of the hill when finally my luck ran out. The Aspect of Fire threw two fireballs in quick succession, and as I dodged out of the way of one I foolishly stepped into the path of the other.

I screeched as the impact blasted me off my feet and forward onto the ground. My right wing was wreathed in flame and pain streaked across my back. I tucked and rolled to smother the flames as best I could.

I came to a stop in a heap. Perhaps this was it. Perhaps this was the best I could do. At least I would serve as a distraction, right up to the end. I heard another whistling sound, the fireball curving through the air, the heat approaching.

In my mind’s eye, overlaid on the ground below me, I saw Olive’s face. Impossibly large, filling my vision, her gaze rose to meet my eyes and in a melodic illusory voice she dispensed her wisdom.

“Egg.”

I gasped as I saw… the truth? Flashes of insight sparked through my mind. I saw the giant First Egg, alone but warm, nestled in the heavens. I watched as it hatched and cracked into shards of shell that scattered through space to become planets and moons. The white sloshed and poured into oceans, bringing balance and life to the barren worlds. And I saw a glowing golden yolk, a glorious shining star at the center of it all.

I pushed myself up and leaped to safety as the fireball crashed behind me. I crowed in delight. I felt lighter than I had in months, my energy renewed, my vigour restored.

“It’s all egg,” I screeched. “It’s all egg!”

The Aspect of Fire roared a response, but whether it agreed or not was none of my concern. I had faced death yet again and survived. I made a decision. I would not die today.

I gritted my teeth and pushed onward, my heart hammering in my chest, and began the final approach to the summoning circle.

---

“It’s here!” Dean Windsworth shouted as I burst into the clearing, the Aspect of Fire hot on my heels.

The three mages stood at three points on the circumference of a large summoning circle. The ground looked as if it had been cleared in a hurry. Intricate orange glyphs glowed against the dark scorched earth.

“Then begin,” said Odwald and raised his claws skyward.

They began to chant, at first in unison and then their voices diverged into harmony, entwining spell within spell to weave bonds strong enough to hold the Aspect of Fire. Their chant became a fugue, their words offset not just in pitch but also in time, twisting and turning ever more tightly. The glyphs of the circle flared at their feet.

Olive and Crispin rushed over to me.

“We’ve got to weaken it here in the clearing,” said Olive. “And Odwald was worried about the Borealis. He said something about its power waning.”

“Here, Plume,” Crispin said as he handed me a bowl of rapidly melting ice cream. “You need this more than me.”

I had just enough time to tip the refreshing dessert into my mouth before the Aspect of Fire entered the clearing and we saw it face to face for the first time.

Olive gulped.

“Egg,” I said, as reassuringly as I could.

The fire elemental towered above us, taller than the tops of what little counted for trees in these parts. Its body was a great pillar of fire, flames licking wickedly up to molten rocks that formed primitive claws at the end of rugged arms. Its chest was a boulder that was lit from within by a fierce fire. But its face was the worst. A blazing stone mask with curved horns and empty eye sockets filled with flame and rage.

Something in the creature reacted to us. It raised its head and roared. The trees beside it erupted into flame and it began to advance slowly, inexorably upon us.

“Protect the mages,” I shouted. “Protect the Wood!”

Olive snapped out of her fear and pulled out her panflute. She played a sweet descending scale and clouds rolled in to the clearing. I heard a sizzling sound as first rain then sleet fell in a torrent, crashing against the Aspect of Fire as it advanced. The elemental howled and lashed out at the clouds above it.

Crispin edged away from the group and pointed the Borealis, finally, in the direction of something we wanted him to hit. A gust of wind and shards of ice blasted from Crispin’s mouth and peppered the Aspect of Fire’s chest.

“I guess I’ll just hit it with my axe,” I said as I gritted my beak and charged.

The great axe clanged against the elemental’s arms and I worked hard to keep my footing as the sleet storm raged around me. I landed a second hit too, but it felt different, somehow softer than the first.

I looked at the axe. “Oh no.”

Crispin’s handiwork, the broken frying pan attached to a quarterstaff, after so many battles had finally met its match. The metal pan, which I had sharpened to a fine edge, began to lose its shape and bend. It curled inward and part of it dripped and fell to the ground in a small black pool of molten metal.

The Aspect of Fire seemed to cackle as it turned and casually picked me up with a crushing grip and threw me across the clearing. I hit the ground and lay there staring at the broken weapon.

“Crispin will not be happy,” I murmured and began to rummage in the Bag of Holding.

With a roar, the fire elemental flared brightly and overcame the sleet and snow around it. It pushed on, tearing a rock from the ground and setting it ablaze.

Crispin tried the Borealis again but the Aspect of Fire tilted lazily to one side and the icy projectiles passed by harmlessly. It lifted the rock up above its shoulder and prepared to throw it.

“It’s going for the mages,” Olive shouted. She scrabbled for her lute for another spell but it was too late.

The Aspect of Fire launched the fiery boulder in an arc towards the summoning circle. It glowed brightly like a comet, merciless and inevitable. We could only look on as it plummeted towards the defenceless mages.

Then there was a blur from the other edge of the clearing and another comet swooped towards the summoning circle. But while the boulder burned a fiery red, this second shape shone with gold and silver.

“Riffin!” I yelled.

The Strig Knight collided with the boulder and knocked it aside to land safely away from the mages. Riffin brandished his shield in one hand and raised his sword with the other.

“Sorry I didn’t help you sooner,” shouted Riffin. “But I’m not going to let you take all the glory!”

Crispin raised the Borealis again and conjured a wall of ice between the Aspect of Fire and the summoning circle. The elemental swung its fist at the wall but screeched in pain as the section it hit exploded, driving shards of ice deep into its core.

“I’ve got it,” I said, grabbing the Blade of the Wood from the Bag of Holding. It was the work of a moment to secure it in place at the end of the staff.

Olive tossed a potion to Riffin who caught it and downed it in one. I jumped back into the fray beside him and we swooped in on the Aspect of Fire from both sides.

The elemental was ruthless and seemed to delight in taking us both on at once. It lashed out with its sharp claws and scored bloody scratches across Riffin’s wings. I feinted and ducked one blow but it caught me out with the other arm and raked its claws across my chest.

“Come on, Plume,” sang Olive from a safe distance. “We’re not yet doomed!”

Riffin and I stepped back around either side of the wall of ice and backed up as the Aspect of Fire tore a new rock from the ground.

“Think you can stop another one?” I asked Riffin.

Riffin coughed and blood trickled down from beneath his helm.

“It’s your turn… I think,” Riffin spluttered. “Only fair.”

I backed up further and prepared to intercept the rock clearly intended for the mages, but once again the elemental surprised us. It too stepped backwards, shouldered the rock, then heaved it directly at the center of the ice wall. The remaining section exploded but this time the shower of shards did not reach their mark.

Olive strummed her lute and a thundering wave of sound blasted against the Aspect of Fire’s chest. Cracks were forming, some of its substance had begun to crumble, but it held firm and was not pushed back.

“Form up,” I shouted to Riffin.

We moved in close again, blades slashing and slicing in an unpredictable staccato rhythm as we fought for any opportunity to get past its guard. Riffin leaped onto one of its arms and ran up and round its shoulders to strike at its neck.

I felt Crispin’s healing magic winding round me and Riffin and so I fought on, making it pay for every blow I conceded. Then a shining bolt of light flew from Crispin’s palm and embedded itself in the elemental’s head.

“There!” Crispin cried. “Hit it there!”

The Aspect of Fire roared ferociously and slammed both fists down against me, knocking me backwards and onto the ground. I raised a wing to protect myself as it loomed over me, but Riffin was there. His sword arm hung broken at his side but he raised his shield to protect me as best he could. The Aspect of Fire tossed him aside and he landed motionless between us and the circle.

I staggered to my feet and raised my weapon with the last of my strength.

Then an ear-splitting sound. Olive’s high-pitched cry pierced through the sounds of battle and warped the air above the horned head of the fire elemental. The cracks that had begun in its chest spread. Its face shook and Olive’s cry continued, relentless and pure.

“Riiiii!”

All at once, the Aspect of Fire shattered. Its arms crumbled and its chest caved in as it collapsed hissing and screaming into burning rubble. The pillar of flame diminished but continued burning, smouldering, waiting for its chance.

---

“Crispin, bring the Borealis,” shouted Odwald from the summoning circle. “Now!”

The mages were bathed in light from the glyphs of the circle and when Crispin placed the staff in the center the patterns grew brighter still. The cool chill of the Borealis pushed back against the heat of the Scorched Grove and it hovered shining between the mages.

Odwald, Dean Windsworth, and Susan returned to their spell, now a song with an ancient tune. Susan growled out the bass notes while Odwald and the Dean dexterously navigated a melody and counterpoint in soaring tenor voices.

The Borealis pulsed and dimmed, its power released and woven in with the spell. The voices of the mages swelled to a crescendo but as the last notes left their mouths the light of the Borealis flickered abruptly and then failed. The staff clattered to the ground.

“Is that it?” I asked. “Did it work?”

“It’s not enough,” said Odwald quietly. “The fires, the growth of the Scorched Grove. The Aspect of Fire has grown too powerful to be sealed by the staff alone.”

“Perhaps if we were to supplement it,” said the Dean. “You know.”

“Oh,” said Crispin.

“What are they talking about?” I asked.

Olive shrugged.

Susan looked on with melancholy eyes but said nothing.

“A contribution to the magic,” the Dean explained. He sighed. “A sacrifice.”

“You can’t be serious,” I said. “That’s barbaric!”

“I would not suggest it if I were not willing,” said Dean Windsworth calmly. “The future of the Avium depends upon our success. I will do it.”

“It’s my fault,” said Odwald, meeting Susan’s eyes and smiling wryly. “I’ll do it.”

Before either could move, Crispin stepped forward to the edge of the circle. The glyphs grew a little brighter as he approached. The dry air crackled with magic.

I reached for his shoulder and stopped him. Crispin turned back to look at me.

“Don’t be stupid,” I said. “Don’t do this.”

“No, Plume,” said Crispin. “I’m smart.”

He pulled away from my grip, and I gasped as he stepped across the threshold. The rest of the clearing fell into darkness as what felt like all the light in the world shone directly out of the circle and upwards in a blinding ray that pierced the sky.

The silhouettes of the three mages and Crispin stood out against the light and then vanished, consumed by the magic. A reverberation of energy blasted outwards, knocking us to the ground. And then the binding began.

The remnants of the Aspect of Fire twisted and howled as the summoning circle pulled them inside. It seemed like the elemental was reforming, its limbs reanimated and reaching back towards the material world, but in vain. The Aspect of Fire thrashed as the magic of the circle ran its course, dragging it beneath the ground and sealing the creature under earth and rock and stone.

When the light faded, all that remained before us was an ash-covered hill.