Chapter 60
Sometimes gentle, sometimes brisk,
In open fields I love to frisk.
I can cool your face or fill a sail,
But can you catch me?
I bet you'll fail.
Sana grit her teeth as she swiped through the air with a fishing net in a room howling in a gale while the letters to the answer to the riddle flew around her in the gusts and swells of the wind.
She let out a frustrated roar as she missed the fleeting 'w', for what felt like the millionth time and it was the last letter she needed to complete the word wind!
Take a breath and focus.
Sune said from his perch in her braided hair.
Sana took a deep breath and sat on the floor with the wind howling around her. "What am I supposed to focus on?" She yelled, eyeing the 'w' buzzing by her. "I'm never going to catch that damn letter!"
You will, little flame. Just quiet your mind and focus.
Sana pursed her lips as her hair whipped around her while she followed the 'w'. She gripped her fishing net and raised it above her head as the letter came near her.
Not yet!
That faint melodic voice cried inside her mind.
Follow the pattern.
Sana frowned.
What pattern? And who...who are you?
A twinkling laugh filled her mind.
I'm you.
The voice was her? What did that mean? She'd never heard a voice in her mind besides Sune.
Watch the letter, Sana.
The voice growled as heat traveled up her spine and her vision became laser focused on the wispy white letter zooming around in the wind.
As she watched, she realized the gale force winds weren't pushing the letter around, but it was as the voice said, a pattern.
The elusive 'w' would twirl high above her head then swirl in a big circle around the cube sized room before zig-zagging around her as if to taunt her and follow the same pattern again.
Sana stood, gripping the pole of her fishing net as she kept her eyes on the final letter to the riddle.
A grin curled over her lips as the letter came close and she swiped the net over it.
The wind ceased as the four letters rose from her next, spelling wind in glittering gold while a new door with the Darcanos wolf appeared on the gray slate wall.
You did it!
Sune cried with glee.
Two more to go, little flame!
"Yes, I'm nearly there. I just hope I'm not the last one," she said, reaching for the door and looking back at the silence of the empty room
Thank you for your help.
She whispered to the voice in her mind before she opened the door to the next room and stepped inside.
The illusion of fear can keep you alive
But it also prevents you from living
Will you choose to thrive
Or will your fear keep you from surviving?
The smoky riddle appeared in front of her as the door closed with a solitary click in the darkened room.
"What does that mean, Sune?"
Sana, be calm, but it means you'll need to face your—
"Sana Lightbourne!"
She froze as fear wrapped its icy claws around her heart at the sound of her father's voice booming around her.
Sconces of fire burst to life on the walls illuminating the room as chains wrapped around Sana's limbs, chaining her to the dusty floor of her family's storage room. The damp familiar scent of the clay walls assaulted her senses as a thick black whip smacked against the floor.
"You worthless excuse for a Lightbourne," her father seethed, smacking the whip against the floor again as Sana cowered in fear, shaking as she curled her arms around herself and pressed her head against the floor.
"F-father, I'm sorry," she said as tears pricked the corners of her eyes, waiting for the inevitable crack of his whip.
Sana this isn't...
Sune's voice was a muffled buzzing against her ear as her mind was consumed by the illusion of her father's torment.
"You should be sorry!" he yelled.
"I clothed you."
Sana yelped as he smacked the whip against the floor beside her head.
"I fed you!"
She screamed as another crack of the whip slashed her side before her father dug his hand into her hair and yanked her head back to look at him.
"I allowed you to live when you should've died instead of your mother!" He roared. "And now you think I don't own you!"
"I-I'm sorry," Sana wept as tears rolled down her cheeks while she shook under her father's raging gaze. "P-please let m-me go."
"No." Her father's violet eyes darkened to black as his talons dug into her scalp and his features contorted into the sharp angular face of a golden falcon. "It was a mistake letting you taste freedom."
He looked away from her to the sconces on the walls and a sinister grin curled over his lips causing a cold chill to race down Sana's spine. Her father cracked his whip against the floor and the fire in the sconces flared and bled down the wall at his command.
"So I'm going to watch you burn," he said, looking back at her as the light of the fire flickered in his black eyes. "The same way you watched your mother perish."
"Father no!" Sana screamed, struggling against the chains as the fire swept across the floor toward her.
He bellowed a deep laugh, releasing her and stepping away. "You did this to yourself," he said, crossing his arms over his chest as smoke billowed around him, filling the room.
Let the fire come. I am not afraid.
The melodic voice inside her mind seethed.
But I am!
Sana scrambled away from the fire growing closer, feeling the heat against the bottom of her boots as she pressed herself against the wall.
Why?
The voice scoffed.
You were born from fire.
Sana sucked in panicked gasps of air while tears rolled down her cheeks.
What are you talking about?! I-I'm going to burn like my mother!
She pulled and yanked against the chains to no avail as the fire spread faster, spreading across the floor like slithering tendrils while her father's black eyes and his pearly white smile glinted in satisfaction.
Our mother didn't burn. It was her time and this is not ours.
The voice said as the fire circled around her and slithered up the chains. Sana cried out, scrambling to her feet as the scorching heat neared her hands and her feet.
Fire is not for you to fear nor is your father.
The voice seethed.
Let the flames wash over you and turn them against that man who never cared about you.
Sweat dripped down Sana's forehead mixing with her tears while her heart pounded in her ears.
N-no. I can't.
Trust me, Sana. If you want to save Rhyel, use the fire. I will guide you.
As the burning flames surrounded her, closing in and threatening to scale up her limbs, Sana's eyes darted around her. There was no one else here to save her. Sune disappeared, Kal was a figment of her imagination and Rhyel was trapped in a cage waiting for her to find him.
She had no choice but to trust the phantom voice in her mind.
O-okay. I'll...I'll do it. Guide me.
Good.
The voice purred.
Focus on that man who never loved you and let the flames consume you.
Sana nodded as she gazed through the smoke and fire to her father grinning in the corner, watching her inevitable demise. She whimpered and grit her teeth as the flames nipped at her hands and feet.
Her eyes grew wide as the burn from the fire wrapping around her limbs felt like a warm embrace.
How...how is this possible?
Raising her arms as the flames melted through her chains and danced along her skin as if it were alive and happy to be near her.
I told you. You were born from fire. It is our kin. Feel its warmth, feel its power, Sana.
The voice said as the flames consumed her body like a cocoon, pooling around her feet and spreading up to the ceiling. Her skin tingled and shimmered in red and gold as if the fire was seeping into her and filling her with strength, courage and...and rage.
Yes. Get angry. Soak it in and show your father you do not fear him.
The voice growled.
Memories of her father's abuse flooded her mind. Every verbal and physical assault he hurled at her for being useless, worthless, and the Lightbourne he wished he never had stung her nerves and fueled the flames consuming her until she felt as if she was going to burst.
She didn't need his love.
She didn't need his care or attention.
And she refused to let him watch her perish or let him fill her with fear any longer.
"Have you burned for your sins yet?" Her father's bellowing laugh filled the room as his smoky silhouette stood before her cocoon of flames. "Have I finally rid this world of the Lightbourne that never should have lived?"
A snarl curled over Sana's lips. "No," she said, shoving her fits into her father's gut, catapulting him across the room and crashing into the wall as if he were a flimsy piece of tarnished wood.
"How fucking dare you!" Her father roared, springing to his feet as he shifted into a falcon with golden wings sparking with fire and razor sharp talons poised to shred her to pieces. "You cannot defeat me, Sana. I own you!"
Burn him!
The voice thundered in her mind.
Sana growled as her father flapped his wings and raced toward her, talons outstretched. She didn't flinch, didn't cower, instead, she ran toward him with fire quaking in her steps holding a long flame like a spear in her hand.
She wouldn't be afraid and she wouldn't let her father stop her from saving Rhyel. If it meant his death, then so be it.
As her father came down on her with his massive talons, she rose to greet him with her fiery spear. A melodic cry like a chorus of thundering bells roared from her as she drove it into his chest.
The fire around her flared and sparked as he burst into a thousand pieces of glittering green shards.
Well done, Lady Sana!
You have chosen to thrive.
The glimmering shards formed the words of congratulations as the illusion of her family's old storage room melted away as did her rage and the fire swirling around her limbs.
My Gods, little flame! That was amazing!
Sune said, fluttering around her in awe.
I thought you couldn't hear me!
"I...I couldn't," Sana said, catching her breath as she stared at her hands in disbelief. Could she really control fire like that or was it all just an illusion?
Then how did you do that?
Sana wiped her brow, shaking her head. "I'm not sure," she said as another door with the Darcanos wolf appeared before her. "But this...this is the last door, I think."
You're right. It's the last one. Rhyel could be at the end of the next challenge.
Sune nodded his antennae at the door.
Let's go, little flame. It's almost over.
She took a deep breath and nodded as she crossed the room, looking back again.
She wasn't sure if she was going crazy in this game or... or if that voice was real.
But where did it come from?
And would she hear her again once this challenge was over?
Sana squinted her eyes as she stepped out onto the sandy shore while the glint of the evening sun dazzled across the water. A warm breeze swept across her face and the smell of the salty sea air teased her senses.
At least she was out of that darkened maze.
"Sana!"
Her eyes grew wide as her heart thumped and simmered at the sound of Rhyel calling to her from his cage attached to a single wooden bridge floating in the water. She barely heard the cheers erupting from around the shore as tears pricked the corners of her eyes.
"Rhyel!" she yelled, running across the swaying bridge to his towering form filling the door of his cage with his bed tousled hair and tender blue eyes beckoning her to him. All she wanted and all she needed in this moment was him and his big strong arms wrapped around her.
But as she neared him, a thick wall descended over the cages on the floating dock, threatening to keep her from him. "No!" she screamed, picking up her pace, eager to reach him before he was blocked from her view.
"I don't think so!" Her sister, Aneera, roared from the bridge beside her as a barrage of tiny fireballs spewed from her fingertips at Sana.
"What are you doing?!" Sana screamed, covering her face as the fiery assault singed her arms and melted through the bridge, breaking it apart.
"Making sure I win this game," Aneera seethed, launching a thick stream of fire at Sana's gut.
Sana! Move!
Sune yelled, but it was too late.
Aneera's forceful punch of fire was too quick before Sana could dodge it. She gasped as her dragon's breath came to life in a blinding glow thwarting the attack.
"Sana!" Rhyel's voice boomed over the shouts and cheers from the nobles as the force of the blast knocked her off the broken bridge into the cold, salty water and took the breath from her lungs.
Of course this would happen.
Of course she would fail at the end before she could save him.
Darkness clouded the corners of her eyes as she plummeted further into the water's dark, murky depths.
She was useless just like her father said.
A/N: I am so sorry to leave you on this cliffhanger!
But something has awakened in our Sana and I love it.
..???? And could that voice be her phoenix?
?? Also again, fuck Aneera. I get that she wants to win but come on.
..just focus on your own game! And um...
. Rhyel...oh honey, I feel like he is going to lose his freaking mind that Sana, not only fell into the water, but she got hurt! ??