Fireborn Champion (15 page)

Iron inched to the pool’s edge. He went to his knees and looked toward the hole where the sea welled into the room. Beyond the opening, a vast and foreboding world hinted at the ruins of a once great city now choked behind the impenetrable blue and green veil of the sea.
 

Yet some other point of light—pure light—shone within that opening. It shined no brighter than a star at twilight at first, but it quickly intensified as the point drifted nearer to him.
 

Iron squinted and leaned forward. The light revealed the outline of a distant fish, even though calling it a fish did it a disservice. Its willowy body sported long fins flowing from its back and belly like silk banners in a gale. It gazed at him with two polished eyes Iron immediately recognized. The creature floated just where the ruins vanished into the sea, watching the man who watched it.

“I remember you. You were the doe,” he said.

The circle is broken
, her voice murmured through his mind.

“What circle? What do you want from me! I’ve found allies now. They want me to stop the king. Is that—is that what you want, too? Is the circle some kind of weapon, some kind of spell to bring the Six back to Urum? The others think I have the key to stopping Sol. Is it this circle? Tell me how to fix it!”

Beware the Serpent, Iron, for he comes in many forms, and the Sun he raises will be your destruction.
 

“But I can fight him. I
will
fight him, for Ayska and her crew, for what he’s done to them and everyone else. I am the Sinner’s servant. If you’re a sign from him, I’ll do whatever you wish. You just have to tell me how.”

First, you must forgive us.

The fish turned and slowly sunk into the depths. She paused, barely visible, and floated. No, she did more than that. She waited.
 

Iron tore off his shirt and threw his sword over it. He ripped his boots from his feet and added them to the pile. They’d all only weigh him down, and Sinner only knew where this swim would lead. Iron said a quick prayer to the Six and took a deep breath over the opening. He shook the jitters from his arms and dove into the Sapphire Sea.
 

He swam quickly. Learning how to dive during the wink of summer in the frozen north taught Iron to swim speedily and with determination. He opened his eyes. Saltwater burned them, but he ignored it.
 

The glowing fish guided him deeper. He followed her into an enormous room occupied by statues of strange creatures larger than even the titans of Ormhild. He swam past some statue of a tentacle-laden monster, its single great eye spanning three lengths of his body.
 

Coral grew in reds and whites over the stones. Schools of shimmering fish every shade of gold, silver, and blue swam throughout the ruin. If he had gills, he would’ve stopped and inspected them all. As it was, his lungs already ached and begged for breath, his heartbeat thudding louder with each stroke he took.

Soon, every movement became a labor. His lungs screamed, and so did his heartbeat. Iron glanced behind him. No sign of the entrance remained. Even if it did, he doubted he’d reach it before the last bubbles of his breath slid past his cheeks on their way to the surface.
Please
. He looked at the fish, black edging his vision.
I can’t make it
.

You can. You will
.

His guide veered upward. Iron clawed at the water more than swam through it. A bubble escaped his nose and rolled like a rubber ball up his brow.
 

The fish angled for an odd patch in the ceiling where spears of light gave the water a few slight flesh wounds.
 

His heart fluttered, both from excitement and surrender. Iron poured his strength into his aching arms and kicked with all the mad desperation of a drowning man.
 

One hand grasped the light. Another broke the surface. Iron gripped a stone edge and hauled himself into the open.

He swallowed air, sweet air. His lungs expanded, thanking him as they cooled. He swung his arms over a marble lip and hacked the briny seawater from his throat. For a calming moment, he lay his cheek on the floor and closed his eyes, listening to his pulse fade into regularity.

“That was too close.” Iron rested a moment longer, then came to his feet with little more than a grunt.

A mosaic of gemstones so deep blue, they flirted with black studded a round wall. Diamonds sprinkled between the gems and made the walls and ceiling their own miniature dome of the night sky. A woman’s statue towered in the center. Her hair fell over her shoulders in gleaming waves while she clasped her hands beneath her swollen belly. From her knuckles, the sea dripped onto toes peeking from her flowing dress. She stared forward, a loving smile shining despite the lonely eternity she faced.

Iron smirked and walked forward. “So you’re the Burning Mother. The books don’t do your statues justice.”

He went to her belly and kissed it. When before the god of loving sacrifice, Sander said it was a boon.

“Of course, we worshipped her,” a hoarse voice whispered. “They are the ones who raise the Suns. Without them, life drowns in the void.”

Iron spun around. He went for his sword, only now remembering he’d left it behind. Another stupid decision, the next in a long line of foolish ones he’d made.
 

A figure floated above the water’s undulating table. Pale braids flowed over his shoulders and ended at his knees. His skin was pale as a snow hare’s fur, and he watched Iron with wide, amber eyes. He smiled, two fangs protruding from his lips. A robe fluttered around his feet. Like everything about him save his eyes, it lacked any hint of color. The creature blinked slowly, so slowly, like one who had eternity to act.

“You aren’t human,” Iron said. Pulled along a line of curiosity, he stepped closer to the apparition. Something about the alp looked so strangely familiar.

He grinned, flashing those sharp fangs. “No, Fireborn, I am alp.”

“Have you come to kill me?” Iron marched toward the water’s edge. “Or are you going to take me to the heretic king?” His eyes frantically searched the water. “And where is the fish? Have you killed her? If you have, I swear on the Sinner—”

“I have not killed her. I served her.” He floated from water to the stone. “Blessed is the Mother, for all bow to her, and she bows to none.” The alp flowed past Iron and prostrated himself before the statue, Iron too stupefied to stop him. Why did the ghost look so familiar?

The alp rose and faced Iron. His robes drifted around him like a summer breeze toyed with them despite the still air. “I have waited long for you to come, Fireborn.”

“You call me Fireborn. She called me by that name in my dream. What does it mean?” Iron didn’t care if this was an alp. If he had answers, Iron wanted them.

“A child forged. A diplomat. A peacemaker. A warrior. A weapon. The Fireborn is the Son of Prophecy and Champion of the Six if only…” He paused and shook his head. “…If only he can forgive them.”

 
“Forgive what? Tell me, please. You’ve got to have some answers, and I’m so tired of riddles.”

The ghostly alp nodded and stared at the Mother’s statue. “Listen to my story, and you may find some. I have waited countless generations to speak it. This is not the whole truth, but it is as much of it as I could find before my time ended.” He turned to the starry wall and waved his arm. The gems flared, and a story in them unfolded as he spoke.

“Two titans ruled under the First Sun, stronger than the the rest and more beloved by the Six than any others. Their names were Freidon and Asgeron, and their strength sculpted mountains, their feet dug valleys, their very voices thunder echoing across Urum’s plains. Freidon was given the frozen north beyond the Sapphire Sea, and to Asgeron they gifted the verdant south.”

The priest sighed and dipped his chin. “There was peace for an age longer than any other that would come after. Life flourished. Urum flourished, but nowhere did it flourish more than in the south. Asgeron’s kingdom was unparalleled in creation, and the Six showered him with praise for his stewardship, not knowing that their blessings cast a shadow to the north.

“In his icy home, Freidon’s heart withered. The titan grew jealous of his southern brother and spawned a hatred for the Six. Freidon gathered the titans in his realm and spoke poison in their ears. He blackened their hearts as his was blackened to the gods. And so, Freidon raised an army against his brother, and while the gods’ eyes shone upon Asgeron, Freidon destroyed the temples of the Six and blinded them to the world they so lovingly created.”

Iron watched the wall of stars shift and glow as the story played out. He saw Asgeron and Freidon. He watched the temples burn and the gods fear for their children.

“Freidon’s army washed across Urum. Few of Asgeron and his allies remained, and they were vastly outnumbered. In a last, desperate gamble, Asgeron built a shrine to the Six so small, so insignificant, Freidon would never find it. He pleaded for their help, and through his prayer, the Six gained vision on the world and saw the devastation wrought across creation. The gods spied Freidon’s victory and realized he would bring his bloodlust to the heavens next.

“The Burning Mother made the First Sacrifice then. She fell from the sky and poured herself into the titan she loved, bestowing in him the strength of a goddess. But should he fail, she would fail. Should he die, so would she. Asgeron rose and battled his brother. They burned Urum with their rage, but in the end, Asgeron defeated Freidon. As his brother died, the mighty titan saw the desolation their war had wrought, and that he alone survived. He asked the Mother why they would create creatures capable of such devastation, but she could only say that the the gods’ children were more like the gods than he could ever know. Night fell, and as it did, Asgeron took his own life, so broken by the war he had become. Thus ended the First Sun of Urum, the greatest of all the ages.”
 

The alp looked at the Mother’s face and ran his hand down her belly. “It feels good to say that.” He turned to Iron. “Now you know a truth no others of your Sun know.”

“It’s an interesting story, but it doesn’t have anything to do with me.”

“Think. The Six did not defeat the titans, Fireborn, although they did bless a champion. It took one titan to defeat another.”

Iron’s nerves constricted in a cold shock. “But that would mean…”

“Yes. The truth is upon you. This is the secret of divinity. This is the key to almighty.”

“The Six never defeated the titans.” Iron stumbled backwards as the apparition faced him. “They never defeated the alp either. We’ve been wrong all along. The scriptures, the stories, they say the Six stopped the wars. The Six never did!”

Red rimmed the priest’s amber eyes. Tears fell in streaks down his pale skin, and he trembled, sobbing as a torrent of barricaded emotions shattered the cage of his heart. “I loved my brothers and sisters. I loved them all. I had to destroy them or they would have destroyed creation. No, the Six did not destroy the titans. A titan must destroy a titan. An alp must destroy an alp.” His gaze met Iron’s. “And a human must destroy a human.”
 

“But who is the Serpent? He’s the key to this, I know it, but know one knows about him. No one ever seems to hear about him until he returns.”

The alp shook his head, his chin dipping. “I sought the answer, but failed in finding it. The titans whispered of him, but few of those whispers survived into my Sun. I only know the circle is broken because of him, and if you do not repair it, then the Third Sun will set, and when this war is done, no human will see the Fourth one rise.”

“So if I don’t succeed, no matter what I do, everyone will die.” He looked to the Mother. “You never loved me. You cursed me. How could you do such a thing?”

“Don’t say that. Never say that!” The alp swelled in his vision until he stood as tall as the statue. Those amber eyes swallowed Iron. “She loves you as all the Six love you. There was no hope for the titans. I tried, but the Serpent had corrupted my people beyond repair. There is hope for you, and you have a choice. You can save them, Iron. You can save all mankind before it’s too late. Do not fail where Asgeron and I did. Find the titan’s lost shrine and complete the story I could not. Do not fail.
Fly
.”

“But how?” Iron stalked forward, teeth clenched. Gods be damned, why did he feel like he’d seen this alp before? “How do I do this?”

“You must forgive them. Learn their secret shame, and forgive them. There is still time.”
 

“But I don’t even hate them. I doubt them now, but I don’t hate them!”

“You don’t know them. There is a secret hidden to us, one buried and forgotten. The circle is broken. Find the shrine, learn the secret. Forgive them.” The priest reached into his robe. Tears still wet his cheeks, although his smile was one of pure joy. “Take this. It is my gift to you, passed from one Fireborn to another.”

He produced a sword that glowed with starlight. Odd runes ran the length of the curved blade. The weapon’s blade curved like a backbone before ending in a vicious point. He’d never seen the strange metal it was forged from, but somehow it looked familiar.
 

“Take it,” the alp said, shoving the sword toward him. “If you want to save this Sun, you will need this. Do you have the strength? Will you deliver mankind?”

Iron stared at the weapon. Bizarre. He hadn’t met a single person other than Sander until a few weeks ago. He shouldn’t want to risk his life for the angry, cold people of this world. He shouldn’t want to fight a war for them when they’d just keep warring long after his bones turned to dust. He shouldn’t want to do anything but read books in a cabin hidden in the snow.

But then he thought of Ayska and the scars she bore. He thought of Vigal and Gil and Fiolle and lanky Thip with his horrible cooking. He thought of Sander, the man who sacrificed everything to raise a boy not his own. He thought of Kalila and the distant, saddened glimmer in her eyes.