Epilogue
The bitter air engulfed my body, but for the first time in years, centuries, eons, it didn’t bother me.
Not when I was covered in scales.
Not when lava dripped from my mouth, heating my core.
No, nothing bothered me now.
My wings stretched open to their full length, deliciously aching after being confined for so long.
Power, unbridled and unrestricted, poured through my veins, and I couldn’t help but roar toward the moons, breathing fire at the sky.
I was finally free.
How long had it been? The moons still appeared the same, the landscape was still winter, though everything looked a bit…dead. What had happened?
I could only remember those blasted queens…and then blackness and deep, deep cold.
Rage consumed me. Those queens…I would have my revenge. They would pay for what they had done to me. I would raze their kingdoms to the ground until there was nothing left.
I looked down at the volcano that was my namesake, taking in the winter tundra of Eroth, my home.
I had ruled over this kingdom for millennia, and I would remain for many more to come.
Those wicked Fae had tried to curse me, to trap me, and keep me from razing their world to the ground, but in the end, I won.
It was a clever plan, I would admit. But they failed.
Now I was free, and they would rue the day they tried to cage me.
I was a beast that could not be caged.
Without me, Eroth would perish. But with me, it would become the most powerful kingdom in all of Avalea. The others would bow.
Or burn.
Their choice.
Movement caught my eye, and my gaze snapped to the two figures near the edge of the lava.
A girl stared up at me with piercing gray eyes, her face wet.
Some string inside me felt like it was being plucked, drawn toward her, but it was quiet and faint and easily ignored.
A single sniff told me she was human. A human in Eroth?
My nose curled in disgust. The Fae have let filth into their lands once more?
A smaller boy tugged at her arm, pleading with her to go with him.
I felt a sharp pang, like maybe I had met him before, but there was no memory of him. Only the darkness of the time trapped in the curse.
Who were they?
I looked once more at my domain, snarling at the barren emptiness I found. There were no Fae traveling through the valley, there were no animals, not even plants. Everything appeared dead. How long had I waited in the dark?
And who were these two?
“Maren, come on,” the boy said to her, tugging harder. His movements were frantic, glancing up at me every few seconds as if I were going to eat them.
Hmm, that’s not a terrible idea.
Baring my teeth, smoke curled from my snout.
The boy stank of fear as he pushed the girl backward, away from where I towered over them.
“He doesn’t remember you,” he said to the girl.
The girl protested, digging her feet into the ground, unwilling to move. “But Rhydian—”
“The Rhydian you know is gone,” the boy yelled, and surprise licked through me.
Rhydian.
The name clanged, ricocheting through my mind, but I couldn’t figure out why. I had no memory of such a name. The only memory I had was of darkness, a deep ache in my bones from not being able to stretch for so long, and a never-ending, unrelenting cold.
And then I suddenly woke up and here I was.
Who was this Rhydian?
“What are you talking about?” the girl asked the boy.
The boy pointed up at me. “That’s Kharos, the Beast of Eroth.”
Power surged through me at the sound of my name. It had been so long since I had heard anyone utter it. It was laced with the proper fear it deserved.
Avalea should fear me.
I was its destruction.
And now that I was freed, I would be its wrath.
The girl’s gray eyes met mine, and it was clear that she knew me somehow.
I searched my memories, trying to figure out why she would look at me like that, but I could find none.
She was just a human. An easy snack. And yet those gray eyes, and the sadness streaking down her cheeks, drew me in.
For a moment, I felt a flicker of something—then it vanished, and I felt nothing. Only rage. Only the need for revenge.
I bared my teeth at her, expecting her to cower like all humans once did, but she didn’t move, didn’t shrink back in fear.
The boy spoke once more. “When the curse was laid, it trapped Kharos in a Fae body so that he could no longer rain destruction on Avalea. Rhydian was his Fae form.” He pointed up at me once more. “He won’t remember you. Rhydian is gone.”
A growl bubbled in my throat. That was what the queens did to me? Trapped me in a pitiful Fae body? All this time…
Lava spilled from between my teeth, my core burning hotter, needing release.
The sadness in the boy’s voice irritated me. I snapped my teeth and he flinched, taking a few more steps back.
I relished his fear.
“He won’t hesitate to eat us. We need to run.”
Yes, run. Run so I can give chase. It has been too long since I’ve gone after prey.
The girl continued to stare at me, and it was obvious she was unaccepting of the boy’s explanation. Though she was merely a human, her gaze held me captive for some reason. I couldn’t bring myself to look away.
What nonsense was this?
I curled my lips back, baring my teeth again, expecting her to finally run so I could give chase, but she didn’t move.
“Maren!” the boy cried, pulling her arm, and this time she gave in and started moving backward.
Smoke curled from my snout in anticipation.
But then she spoke, and I was suddenly frozen in my tracks.
“I’m not giving up, Rhydian. I know you’re in there.”
I couldn’t move. My very bones locked up. Something about that name had every inch of me pausing, but how could that be? I stared at the human, fighting to understand this infernal magic holding me against my will.
One blink and a sharp shock of recognition sliced through my mind.
But the next it was gone, disappearing like the ash floating toward the moons.
Whatever was holding me momentarily captive released, and my fury was too much to contain. A plume of fire erupted from my mouth, aimed at the girl. Who did this human think she was?
The boy snapped up a shield of golden light just before the fire engulfed the two of them, and I was slightly disappointed that they weren’t burned to a crisp when it dissipated.
The girl glared up at me, unwilling to back down. A strange feeling of delight pulsed through me, but I pushed it away. I would not allow anything to distract me. Not when I was finally free.
“I will save you,” the girl said before she finally gave into the boy’s pleading and turned and ran, disappearing over the side of the mountain.
Save me? Save me?
There was nothing to save. I was already free. I roared fire at the starless sky.
And soon, all of Avalea would know it.
They would remember my name.
Kharos. Beast of Eroth.