Born of Fire: The Dawn of Legend Page 5

  “No…” Rex cried as he dropped to his hands and knees. “Not again!”

  “Rex, what’s happening to you?” Philippe asked as he quickly knelt down beside him.

  The same red glow from before began to emanate from all over his body. Rex clenched his fists as he felt like his skin was heating up but strangely not burning him.

  “R-Rex,” Philippe stammered. “Wha…what’s happening to you, son?”

  The vibration coming from below continued to grow in strength until the whole museum was shaking. A massive wall of lavender fire forty feet across exploded out from the ground and shot up through the ceiling and into the sky. Rex and Philippe stared in shock as the lavender flame continued to rise from the Earth with no sign of stopping. Then they heard it—an eerie howl that turned Philippe’s blood to ice and boiled Rex’s. Two glaring eyes appeared in the fire and locked onto Rex, who gritted his teeth as he felt like they were burning right through him. Out from the torrent of fire stepped a creature straight out of the pages of mythology. Standing with a backdrop of burning lavender was a pale-grey dragon. Philippe’s jaw dropped while Rex’s eyes widened. The mere sight of this creature stirred something so deep within him that he could barely contain the power he felt boiling to the surface.

  The dragon stood fifty or so feet tall on two powerful hind legs, and was clad in armor. A long spike-covered tail swayed menacingly behind it. Its long neck carried a frightening head with a long-toothed snout topped with two horns that curved back.

  “At long last,” came a deep voice from the dragon. “I have found you.”

  Rex shook his head furiously. The dragon’s words flowed over wicked, curved teeth.

  “Who are you?” Rex growled.

  “So long I have lain and waited,” the dragon continued, ignoring his question. “Waiting for a time you would finally reveal yourself to me. And here you are, right where I lost you. Now I can at last return. All I need is to bring you back, and at last we can finish what we started long ago.” An enormous fiery lavender circle appeared in thin air in front of the dragon, who stretched out his arms, and then what looked to be four fiery tendrils shot out and ensnared him.

  What is this? Rex thought. What’s happening to me? It feels like he’s ripping me out of my own skin!

  Rex felt his strength diminishing fast as the red glow around him began to fade. His eyes rolled back in his head and everything went dark. He quickly awoke and found himself, yet again, in the void. “Oh, no, not again!” he said. He looked around, and just like last time, the same red ball of flame appeared ahead of him. Rex walked right up to it like before, remembering the power it had given him. He was about to touch it when the image of Allison’s frightened face filled his mind, and he could hear her scream the word “monster.” He did not want to feel the way he did at that exact moment ever again…like a monster. Worse off, what would his father say if he saw him like that?

  An enormous booming roar filled the void. Rex looked around frantically. “What’s out there?” he asked, badly shaken. “Tell me!” There was no verbal response from the unseen beast, but he could feel its intent: furious and without fear.

  “Rex,” came the female voice from off to the left. “You must not fear what you are, but you must also not let it define who you are.” Rex looked up in front of him as the two burning red eyes once again appeared high above. “Seize that which is yours and awaken,” she said as a fiery red mouth opened up and rushed at him. Rex grabbed hold of the flame and immediately burst into a bright ball of red fire, filling the void.

  The dragon shrieked as a sudden flash of red fire exploded from Rex and blinded him. He covered his eyes with one of his massive leathery wings as his flame vanished. Slowly, he could feel the light diminish and he pulled back his wing apprehensively to see what had become of the boy. “Wha…” he said, startled.

  There before him, with red flame wafting off him in waves, stood a creature that resembled a young tyrannosaur, but was in many ways different. Around eleven meters in length and three meters in height, his body was covered with a majestic silver feathers, while his face was a deep red. His skull was deep and heavy and topped with a golden-orange crest that resembled a crown, along with two fiery red eyes that burned from within deep sockets.

  “The Doom Bringer…” whispered the dragon.

  Philippe, who was still on the floor, looked up at the dinosaur, who despite being smaller than many of the skeletons in the great hall, still towered above him. Mesmerized, he stared at the dinosaur, who in turn slowly turned his head and looked down at the man. Looking into his eyes, Philippe uttered, “Rex?”

  The dinosaur snorted red flame from his nostrils, then turned his attention back to the dragon, who also was shaking off his own sense of awe.

  “So, it’s true after all,” said the dragon. “You really have been reborn of new flesh. No matter, you are a far cry from your former self. This should not be as difficult as we had all feared.”

  The dragon ignited his lavender flame again and shot out four fiery tendrils at Rex, who leaped out of the way and charged him. Maneuvering around more of the same attacks, Rex shot forward with a sudden burst of red and rammed into the dragon, sending him crashing through a wall and out into the street before slamming to a stop in the building across from the museum. Rex was already on his feet when the dragon looked up and bared his teeth menacingly. As if by instinct, the dinosaur clamped down on the back of the dragon’s neck with powerful jaws, lifted him up, and slammed his upper body into the building next to them. Rex let out a howl of triumph, which carried through the air like a haunting call from another time and place. His victory was short-lived, however, for he was struck forcefully in the chest by the dragon’s tail and sent reeling back. Pulling himself free of the building, the dragon shook off the debris and fixed his gaze on Rex. Dropping to all fours, he charged forward, bounding like an enormous cat. Then, pushing off with his hind legs, he leaped into the air and landed on Rex, pinning him to the ground. “You haven’t lost your tenacity for battle, but you are a far cry from the monster you once were. Now I shall take you as my prize and return to the others, where the grand marshal will welcome me back as a hero.”

  Rex could feel his mind whirling like a violent sea during a storm. He struggled desperately to focus his thoughts but found the force thrashing them about to be too strong. Everything around him seemed to glow as his eyes took in a multitude of light spectrums. If he could only focus on just one thing, he could perhaps give the fury inside him some sort of direction. He forced himself to focus on the dragon on top of him, who was speaking about things that made no sense. Still, it was something to latch on to nonetheless. Rex craned his head up and forward, peering into his foe’s eyes. Managing to get one of his legs underneath him, Rex began pushing up with all his might.

  To the dragon’s surprise, he felt himself slowly rising up, and he glanced down to see all the muscles in the young dinosaur’s leg bulging as it now supported the whole of his weight. “Impressive, but it’s going to take more than—”

  His words were cut short by a blast of red fire from Rex’s mouth, which struck him in the side of the face. The dragon’s long neck reared back as he let out an anguished cry. Wasting no time, Rex brought his other leg underneath, and with a low, guttural grunt, pushed off the dragon, who fell on his back, now holding his face. Rex stared down at his foe as he cracked his neck, which echoed like heavy stones being smashed together. He prepared to move in for the kill that the fire in his veins and instinct in his mind was driving him to, but was distracted by a faint moan come from behind.

  Turning, he looked back into the enormous hole torn in the side of the museum, unable to see a sign of anyone, although he could indeed smell something was alive and hear it breathing. Clearing the steps to the building in two strides, he stepped through the opening and proceeded to follow his now heightened senses, which led him back where the battle had begun—where everything had begun—The Great Hall
of Dinosaurs. There he saw the still form of a small creature, one that would have appeared lifeless had it not been for the sound of its heart pounding in Rex’s ears and scent filling his nose. Fallen rubble had landed on its legs, and it was bleeding badly from the stomach. Slowly, Rex bent down to investigate the tiny creature, nudging it at first with his snout, before flipping it over onto its back where he got a clear look at its face. Something, a passing memory or rather the echo of one, suddenly gripped him. He peered closer into the face of the small, unmoving thing and saw the faintest of movement behind its eyelids before they began to part.

  Philippe felt as if he was awakening from a long sleep. His head felt heavy and his body sluggish, or at least what he could feel of it. Everything below the waist was numb, like it was not even there. He tried to move his legs but found them unresponsive. My legs, he thought. Why can’t I move them…why won’t they…? It was then that he opened his eyes fully and beheld the awesome sight of the fearsome creature looking down at him. He was gripped by a sense of awe rather than fear, for the beast seemed to exude an aura of power so raw and beautiful that he could not help but be captivated by it. Still, it was a strange sense of familiarity that held any fear he might have had at bay. As he looked up into the creature’s burning red eyes, he felt a presence, one that he knew. As he allowed himself to fall within the burning pools of fire, he suddenly saw the face of his son in his mind’s eye. “Rex,” he gasped in a weak voice barely over a whisper.

  Something in the dinosaur’s mind suddenly sparked and came to life upon hearing the small creature speak. It was as if all the lights had suddenly been turned on, illuminating all that had been dark. “F…Father.” The word echoed across the short distance between them, a distance that felt like an immeasurable vastness.

  “Son…is that you?” Philippe asked as he reached up weakly with one hand.

  “Yes,” Rex said as he crouched down and brought his left eye close to the man who had cradled him in his arms in this very spot fifteen years ago. “Yes, Father…it’s me.”

  Philippe looked into the massive eye of swirling light and smiled weakly. “I always knew…there was something…special about you.”

  “Dad…I don’t understand what’s happening,” Rex said now in a pain-laden voice. “What am I?”

  “You are my son, Rex.”

  “But—”

  “I don’t know where you came from, but…I always felt that you were the one who found me…who saved me…thank you, Rex…thank you…son.” He then whispered something to Rex that he knew his son might not understand now, but he would one day. He then leaned back and forced himself to speak clearly, saying, “I love you…son.”

  There was a brilliant flash of light behind them, and before Rex could turn, a ball of the lavender fire slammed into his father, engulfing him and reducing him to ash. Rex stood, stunned, unable to move or even blink. He just stared at the pile of dark soot that had once been the man who had taken him in, raised, and loved him. The one person to have ever made him feel loved or wanted in this world. Now he was gone, just like that. The only one who had ever mattered to him in his entire life, gone forever in a flash of light.

  Slowly Rex regained his sense of awareness and rose back up. He turned around and saw the dragon standing in the entrance of the hall, bleeding from the head and breathing heavily.

  “Don’t you dare turn your back on me, you monster,” the dragon hissed.

  As the numbness Rex was feeling receded, it was immediately replaced by something else. Something that weighed heavily on him, but also felt lighter than air. It was something visceral that stemmed from his very depths: anger, the likes of which he had never known. The kind that could only be felt when something beyond precious was taken. Something that left him feeling robbed, but more specifically, it left him with a hunger for vengeance for a life taken from someone who he knew did not deserve it. It was then that he ceased to be as still as his skeletal counterparts; erupting into a burning mass of furious red fire, he charged.

  The dragon raised his guard but quickly felt the impact of five tons of rage slam into him and send him tumbling back out into the streets. Holding his stomach, he tried to breathe, but the wind had been knocked out of him. As he attempted to get to his feet, he felt an enormous pressure around his neck as his armor began to give way. Turning his head up, he saw he was within the grip of his enemy’s jaws, and with a flash of flickering flame from his eyes, he felt his whole body being lifted off the ground like before, only this time he was suddenly thrust into the air. Rex rammed his head into him, which sent him slamming into another building; dragon and building came crumbling down.

  He groaned as he felt his head scream in pain, and he found himself once again lifted off the ground and sent sailing through the air; this time, he skid down the length of the street, pieces of his armor flying off as he went along.

  Rex could only feel the deep, seething rage that was boiling in his veins. The desire to grab hold of the dragon with his jaws, sink his teeth into him, and toss him about wildly was overwhelming. Yet it was not enough. He needed to do more—to bite harder, to feel his enemy’s body crushed under the pressure of his bite, to feel his life slip away in his grasp. It was like a hunger now that called to him, urged him on, unrelenting and unyielding. He put one foot in front of the other, each one gaining speed until he was running as fast he could down the street towards the only thing left in the world to him.

  The dragon saw Rex running towards him and immediately began charging the lavender flame around him, until at last he shot out more of the life-absorbing tendrils that he used to try to subdue Rex before. To his relief, they hit their mark, but to his shock, they did not succeed in stopping Rex as he had hoped. Rather, the red-eyed set of crushing jaws continued to bear down on him. Mustering more energy, he unleashed four more blasts, which ensnared themselves around Rex, this time slowing him down but still failing to stop him. “Damn you,” the dragon hissed as he bared his teeth and shot four more.

  Rex could feel his energy fading, as if his life was slowly being ripped from his flesh. He continued to put one foot in front of the other, but each step grew heavier and more difficult. He did not know how much more he could push himself. He could feel himself nearing his limit. It was then that he heard sirens behind him. He had heard them before, when they were far away in the distance and he too blinded by anger to care. Now he could see they belonged to police vehicles, which came screeching to a halt as they rounded the corner. The officers were confronted by an impossible sight: a creature from the past locked in combat with another from legend. He heard people shouting as they clambered out of their vehicles and drew their weapons. Even in the midst of madness and rage, Rex found himself scoffing at the utter futility at their attempts to take control of a situation they could in no way comprehend. In truth, he was not even sure if he understood it any more than they.

  “What’s wrong, Doom Bringer?” the dragon called out to him, prompting him to return his focus to what was in front of him. “Feeling a bit weak in the knees? Well, don’t worry. I still need you alive. So I won’t be extinguishing you like that pet insect of yours!”

  At the dragon’s taunting words, Rex found an untapped reserve of strength he had not previously known within himself. So deep did it run that it felt bottomless, like he could have all the power he would ever need in life to face anything that stood against him. Flashes of red sparks surged all around him, while the dragon watched in horror as his enemy regained his step and began picking up speed once more, moving ever closer with all manner of murderous intent. “No,” he exclaimed. “How are you still even able to move?” Rex was back to his full gait and still picking up speed. “No, no, no!” the dragon cried out just before Rex opened his jaws impossibly wide, his whole body erupting into flame, and locked down just below the base of the dragon’s skull. The dragon immediately felt them pierce through the armor like a hot knife through butter, into the thick scaly hide, and thro
ugh the vertebrae, which felt surprisingly soft and pliable. Then, in an instant, all the fight in the dragon disappeared, and his whole body fell limp within Rex’s jaws. Rex stood there for a moment, savoring the taste of victory before the waves of adrenaline receded, leaving behind the open wound that was his father’s death.

  Immediately, he parted his jaws, allowing the body of the dragon to fall heavily to the ground, and he reared his head all the way up to the sky, unleashing a deep, mournful cry.

  He became dimly aware of gunshots as the police opened fire on him. At first Rex hardly seemed to notice the bullets, which bounced and ricocheted off his hide like pebbles against a mountain. He looked down and bared his teeth, letting out a deep, reverberating growl.

  No, Rex, came the voice in his head out of the depths of his despair. You have slain the one who killed your father.They are not deserving of your wrath.

  Rex’s mind was now a flurry of chaos, a storm raging out of control. The pain he felt in his heart was unbearable as scenes of his youth with his father played out over and over again in his mind, ultimately ending in his demise. Now he stood, truly alone in a world that had never accepted him, surrounded by the very creatures that had deemed him a monster outside the natural order—all of which now unloaded their hatred born of their fear of the unknown onto him. Rearing his head back, he closed his eyes and dreamed of a time before this day, before the jeering cries and hateful stares, before the moment when his father first held him. Back to a time that he knew only the scent of a woman who held him close. Her essence had always haunted him from an unseen point in his life. Still, it was that faintest of memories that brought with it warmth the likes of which he had never known again.

  So it was now at the hour of his greatest pain and fury that for the first time ever he opened his heart to a world that scorned his very presence. Parting his jaws again, he unleashed another visceral cry, but this time from such a primal depth that the sounds of gunfire and shouting ceased as the whole world seemingly held its breath to behold a being beyond anything it ever produced, a creature whose very voice made it tremble. As the mournful sound drew to a close, Rex slowly opened his eyes, continuing to gaze upwards, and saw what appeared to be the sky opening like a great void beckoning him in. From it he could see dazzling red light pouring out like soft crimson waves of water that reached down to him. His body began to feel light as he grew seemingly disconnected from the ground beneath his feet. Soon everything became numb as his mind felt warm, and he drifted into the gentle lull of sleep. How serene it felt to have all his torment and anguish just slip away. As the final pain, the final memory, the final heartbeat drew to a close, he saw himself approaching the beautiful, glowing space in the sky. Below, the whole city was bathed in silence and a dream-like crimson hue. Sleep now, came the voice once more. And let your pain be no more.