Page 98 of A Luna's Dynasty
He stared at the empty spot before slamming his fist to the ground. He clenched his jaw as his arms trembled. He'd lost them. He had one job, and he failed. They were all he had in the world … his most important people. Who had taken them?!
Asher’s body hit the ground with a jolt that rattled his bones. He blinked, and the world came into focus. He was standing in a corridor of black glass, the walls pulsing and weeping rivers of orange magma. Each time the molten rock hit the ground, it sent up a blossom of fire that licked at the ceiling before slithering back down. The air sizzled, but when he drew a breath, it was sharp and clean, not smoke or ash. He ran his hands over his arms. There were no burns or pain. He looked around frantically, searching for Lita.
Twenty feet ahead, framed in the light, stood Lita, arms outstretched, head tilted up as if she could drink the fire straight from the air. The flames wreathed her but didn’t touch her, as if they recognized something in her and bowed away from it.
Asher’s chest seized with relief and he sprinted toward her, calling her name again and again until he reached her and wrapped her in both arms, crushing her to him. “Lita.” He sighed, seeing she was unharmed. “Don’t ever do that again.”
She laughed, the sound unsteady. “Pretty sure I didn’t have a choice.”
He pulled back, just enough to scan her for injuries. “Did you feel any of that?” he asked. “The fire?”
She shook her head, blinking in wonder. “No. It felt like falling through a dream. Like I wasn’t even a body, just … light.”
He was about to say more when he felt her hand close around his, the contact shooting sparks up his arm.
Of course you would leap into fire for me, she thought, the words unfurling across their bond as clearly as if she’d spoken them aloud.
He answered with his own thoughts, not bothering to speak:What is my life without you in it?They gazed into each other’s eyes until Lita’s attention shifted. She cocked her head, listening, eyes narrowing as if she heard something.
“Do you hear that?” she whispered.
He concentrated, but all he heard was the burbling of lava, the crackle of fire. “No. What is it?”
“It’s like … a song. Or a voice. But not a voice.” She closed her eyes, and when she opened them again, her irises glowed gold for a moment before returning to green.
The air in front of them warped and twisted, and a wall of fire erupted from the far end of the corridor. It raced toward them in a solid sheet, stopping only a few feet away and coalescing into a doorway of pure flame. Through it, he could see anotherchamber, this one dominated by a vast pool of roiling, molten rock. The heat coming off it made his eyes water, but still, there was no pain, just that strange, electric energy.
Lita stared at the portal, spellbound. “It wants us to go through,” she said, and Asher couldn’t tell if she meant the voice, the fire, or both.
“We don’t know what’s on the other side. It could be a trap.”
“Do we have a choice? We can’t go back, can we?” She gave him a crooked grin as he let out a sigh. He gripped her hand and gave it a small squeeze.
“Then we’ll jump through it at the same time.” Asher let out a small chuckle. “Any chance this is fairy magic?”
“No … I don’t think so. Ready?” She watched as he nodded, and in perfect sync, they jumped into the flames.
The fire spat them out into blackness.
For a moment, Lita thought they’d been dumped into the vacuum of space, a darkness so dense and endless, it had weight. She couldn’t see her hand in front of her face, couldn’t even tell if she was breathing air. Only Asher’s fingers, still locked with hers, proved they hadn’t come apart or scattered across a thousand dimensions.
They stood, blinking, waiting for their eyes to adjust. Slowly, the blackness faded to a softer shade, as if there was some light getting through. Then, far off, a point of orange light appeared.
At first, she thought it was just a star, a piece of leftover flame from the world before. But it grew. And grew. The orange blossomed into yellow, then gold, burning steadily brighter as it drew closer. Soon, the shape was unmistakable. A creature, blazing with impossible radiance, flying straight for them on fiery wings the length of houses.
A bird … no, not just a bird, a force of nature that was unlike anything she’d imagined. Its wings were made of living fire, each feather trailing ribbons of incandescent light. The head wascrested in gold, and the tail fanned out in a river of flame that scorched the ground as it passed. The eyes burned white and they fixed on Lita with an intensity that made her knees buckle.
She stood frozen as the creature landed before them, its wings folding with a snap and sending sparks crackling through the air. It was beautiful but so alien, so obviously powerful, that Lita’s first instinct was to stare in awe, or maybe run.
Instead, she held her ground, every sense on high alert.
The phoenix cocked its head, regarding her for a long, slow moment. Then it spoke, but not with words. Its voice was a thought, pushing into her mind and vibrating in her bones.
You are the beginning, it said.The first link in the chain.The words entered Lita’s mind, but Asher could hear them through their bond.
The phoenix flicked its tail, and the fire danced.The world will need peace.You are both more than you know. You carry the seeds of the future. The world will hunt your bloodline down. So will your enemies. I am Seraphina, a tier-three deity. Your bloodline will be tasked with bringing peace to the world, but you will need help. This is why I have come to you. I am lending you my powers and will become your summon, making you a firebender.
The phoenix spread its wings, and the darkness retreated. The blaze was so intense, it should have vaporized her, but all she felt was warmth, a loving heat that filled her from the soles of her feet to the tips of her hair. The firebird rose above them, and Lita saw, reflected in the glass below, the figure she’d become, a silhouette crowned in fire, wings arcing from her back, power rippling off her in waves.
