Flames of Sepheron

Tempora, Ali, and Jodia were named the newest Torch-bearers of Seledon. The honor of carrying the Flame of Sepheron to the other cities of Seledon was one of the greatest honors. Each year the newest Torch-bearers were sent across the continent to refresh the Holy Flames in each city. If these flames were not renewed with new dragon-flame before the end of the cycle the Darkness would be allowed to take over.

The Darkness was just what its name suggested. It was an all-enveloping darkness that destroyed everything that it touched. The only thing that has been found to hurt it or even keep it at bay is the dragon flame. Sepheron is the eldest of all dragons on Seledon. Her flame is strong in the ways of magic and has been found to keep the Darkness at bay for the longest amount of time. Other dragons help keep their small towns or dens safe from the Darkness, but they must stay close and refresh the flame often.

The Torch-bearers will have to travel between cities each day. If they are caught outside, they only have a small piece of dragon-flame to keep them safe throughout the night. Torch-bearers have been known to disappear, lost to the Darkness on such occasions.

As the two suns of Seledon rise, the Torch-bearers start their trek across the continent. They each carry a torch of dragon flame. The flame glows purple, bright and clean, showing a renewed future for the people. Ali leads the way as he is the orienteer. He’s a small-framed boy, only 5’3” at the age of 18. Despite his small stature, Ali has a fierce determination to do what is right. He knows the way to each city and how long it should take to get there.

Jodia is the exact opposite of Ali. He was chosen for his brawn, at 6’8” and over 250 lbs, Jodia’s made of pure muscle. He can walk all day and night if needed and has shown his bravery time and again. Jodia is older than most Torch-bearers at 21 but he worked harder each year to prove his worth. All of that work had finally proven itself and he was now a Torch-bearer.

Tempora was not proud to be a Torch-bearer. Although it’s a great honor and it will set her up for a great life, she was given information that the others weren’t. Everyone knows that the Torch-bearers are sent each year. She was told that the Darkness had noticed the power in Sepheron’s flame and had been particularly keen on stopping her Torch-bearers. The last two sets of bearers had not made it across the continent. This left the cities to fend for themselves with younger dragons and weaker flames, several cities and their dragons had fallen. The continent of Seledon was losing its war. This added to the weight on Tempora’s mind, she wanted to stay and practice her magic and become a warrior against the Darkness.

Having dragon-magic run through your veins was rare in Seledon. In the past, the magic had been more abundant, but as the Darkness grew, they were lost. While the magic is passed on through the bloodlines, there is the occasional user who turns up out of nowhere. People say this happens when there is a great need for them. Tempora is one of the latter types.

Knowing this and the legends of why someone is suddenly born with the power to use dragon-magic, Tempora fought against the title of Torch-bearer.

“If you know that there will be a great need for the power, why send me on this mission? Leave me here to protect Sepheron’s city. Isn’t that why I was born with the use?” Tempora had argued with the council. In the end, they just claimed Sepheron’s Will had chosen her to not only wield dragon-magic but also to become a Torch-bearer in her name.

As the trio leaves Spheron’s city, Tempora confides some of her information to Ali. She informs him that they need to find a new path, one that Torch-bearers before them have not taken. Ali nods his understanding and tells her that he will set a new path after Amira’s city, the first city on their trek. Tempora thinks about this and agrees.

Ali got the trio to their first destination unscathed. As they approach the city, word spreads. They are greeted by every member of Amira’s city. The people came out in droves to watch the Torch-bearers rekindle their dragon-flame. As they approach the center of town, Tempora sees that their dragon-flame is weak and has turned a sickly orange. Amira’s color of a deep forest green has been added to the flame to help keep its strength, but even that was waning.

Amira wasn’t strong enough to rekindle the flame fully and people had been lost to the Darkness in the past weeks. But with a new touch of dragon-flame coming from Spheron, the city would be safe again. Though Tempora was the leader of the expedition she let Jodia set his torch to the flame so that he could be the savior of Amira’s city.

As Jodia approached the flame with his torch the entirety of the crowd held their breath. As the two flames touched the city’s flame flared a bright purple, showing that Spheron’s flame ruled once again. The crowd let out their collective breath in a loud cheer that shook foundations.

 That night after everyone had left, Tempora and Ali went over the route that they would take to the next city. Trexxon’s city was a long walk from Amira’s. They had to find a quick way over the river and through the mountains. With the plan in place, the trio pulled the shutters to keep the light of the dragon-flame out of their eyes as they slept. With the dragon-flame keeping watch over the city, everyone slept easy. As the two suns rose on the horizon they set out on the next leg of their journey. They talked easily at first then fell silent as the day wore on. It wasn’t until after their midday meal that Jodia noticed that they were not on the trail that he had expected.

“Why are we not on the traditional trail to Trexxon’s city?” he asked.

“We have our orienteer and I am letting him pick the trail that he deems best for our current situation,” Tempora responded.

“We are to follow the traditional path, per order of Sepheron’s Will,” Jodia demanded as he dug in his heels and stopped moving forward. He seemed to be thinking about a way to get back to the traditional path. Something he couldn’t do without Ali’s help.

“Jodia, we have to make our path. Others have failed along the traditional path. You know we must succeed in this. You saw the flame as Amira’s. It was almost dead and people have fallen to the Darkness because of it. Let me lead. I know what I’m doing,” Tempora pleaded with the big man.

Jodia seemed to think on this for a moment, then nodded and caught up with his compatriots. Ali turned back and led the way forward.

As midday approached Tempora could see that they had made a grave error in judgment. With the rains over the past cycle, the river had overflowed its banks and washed out the bridge that they needed to use to cross. Ali was devastated at his miscalculation. He never thought about the storms this year and their effect on the river. Jodia walked to the river’s edge and looked at the bridge moorings.

“I could tie a rope off here and ford the river myself, then tie it off at the other end,” he stated as he returned to the others.

“No, that will take too much time. Then you would be drained and unable to travel as fast as we need through the mountains,” Ali pointed out.

“You’re right Ali. But if I expend my energy, Jodia would be able to carry me without much of a burden, until I was able to regain my strength,” Tempora mused.

“You can’t ford that river,” Jodia pointed out.

“No. But I can create a space on top of the river for us to cross. It will cost me a lot of energy as I am new to magic use. The other part is that I will need to use one of Sepheron’s flames to have enough power for all of us to cross,” Tempora explained as she ran through the correct spell in her head.

“That’s blasphemy! You cannot use the flame for your use,” Jodia explained as he ripped the torch out of Tempora’s hand.

“It's that or we walk down the river to the next bridge. That will put us outside after the suns set. Which would you rather choose? Sepheron’s Will chose me to be a magic-user. Then chose me to be a Torch-bearer. How many people do you know that’s been both? Maybe this is why I was chosen. Do you want to go against her will?” Tempora stood with her hands on her hips, staring Jodia down.

Reluctantly, Jodia handed Tempora her torch back. Quickly, before she lost her own will to do this, Tempora ran to the river and set her feet to cast the spell. Jodia and Ali stood back and let her run through the spell. Slowly, the river calmed directly in front of Tempora. As the calmness spread across to the far bank, the flame of Tempora’s torch sputtered and went out. Jodia ran to Tempora’s side as she collapsed onto the ground. In front of her, the river was flat and covered in several inches of ice, creating a bridge to the far bank.

Jodia, wasting no time, scooped Tempora up in a shoulder carry and ran onto the ice bridge. Ali followed a bit slower until he got his feet under him. He then rushed to keep up with Jodia. A few seconds after the trio reached the far bank Tempora released the spell and the ice fell into the river and washed downstream. Before she passed out Tempora’s torch sputtered and almost relit. Tempora tried to pour her remaining energy back into it, but she didn’t have enough left.

Jodia set Tempora further up on his broad shoulders. He looked at Ali and nodded for him to take the lead. Within minutes the ground started to rise to meet their feet. Jodia sighed heavily knowing the trek up the mountains was going to be a lot tougher with Tempora passed out on his shoulders.

A few hours later, Jodia started to flag. Tempora was waking up but was still too weak to walk on her own. At the top of the mountain, Ali stopped them all to tell them the bad news.

“With the time we lost at the river, and the slower pace that we have had to take with Jodia carrying Tempora, we won’t make the city by nightfall,” he explained.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t think that spell would wipe me so badly. I’ve caused our mission to fail like so many others,” Tempora cried.

“What do you mean?” Jodia asked as he put Tempora down gently.

“I was given the task to make sure we made it through each city. The last few trips have been cut short, like ours is about to,” Tempura explained. She laid on her back and thought through their options. Suddenly, she popped up and looked directly at Jodia. “You are stronger than you think. If I take the flame from Ali’s torch, I can infuse you with extra strength and you could run to Trexxon’s city. You could make it and keep the trek on schedule,”

“You’re weak, would that kill you?” Ali asked.

Tempura nodded and hung her head. “At least the mission would continue.”

Both Ali and Jodia refused this option. Instead, Jodia stooped to help Tempora to her feet and started walking the trail. Ali watched for a second then decided that he agreed and followed the two down. They would get as far as they could before nightfall set in. Maybe he was wrong, maybe they could make it.

The trio watched the suns set with defeated eyes. They had made it farther than Ali had hoped, but they were still an hour's walk from Trexxon’s city. As true night settled in the trio settled down and watched the Dragon-flames of Trexxon’s city create a white light on the horizon. They planted their torches into the ground and waited to see if the Darkness would appear tonight. The wait wasn’t long. It seemed to have been following them from the mountains. Tempora could feel its hunger even before she could see it.

The trio huddled together inside the light of the dragon-flames knowing it wouldn’t be enough to save them. The Darkness settled around them, blotting out the horizon and the stars in the sky. Voices started to scream inside each of their heads, telling them that they would fail. That they were chosen wrongly and other things to bring down their self-esteem. The Darkness fed on depression and negative thoughts, making it stronger with each one.

The Darkness pressed against the edges of the purple light, causing the dragon-flame to pulse in response. Ali, who was already down on himself was the first to succumb to the depressive thoughts the Darkness was trying to spread among them. He cried out into the night about his failure and how he had doomed his mission. Ali stood to fight back against his thoughts. As he did his leg skirted too close to the edge of the light. The Darkness took its opportunity and snatched Ali into the Darkness. His screams echoed into the night until they were suddenly cut short.

Tempora and Jodia stood back to back within the light and started to talk to each other to keep the other thoughts at bay. But even this allowed the Darkness to push further into the light, ignoring the pulsing of the dragon-flame. It had only been minutes since the onslaught had started, yet the couple now stood inside an ever-shrinking ring of light. Jodia took his torch and tried to swing it at the black wall to force it back. The first swing seemed to surprise the Darkness, but on the second swing, the torch was ripped out of his hands and thrown into the night. The dragon-flame sputtered and went out in before it hit the ground.

With only one torch left, there wasn’t enough light to save the two survivors. Tempora turned to Jodia with eyes full of sorrow. Jodia thought it was for failing to get them out of this situation, but he had read it wrong. Suddenly, Tempora grabbed Jodia by the shoulders and spoke a spell into his ear. In horror, he watched as his muscles shriveled down to nothing. Tempora had stolen his strength to try one last spell. Jodia fell to the ground, losing the strength to even stand. Tempora was trying one last gasp to save their lives.

With all of her and Jodia’s might combined, Tempora called upon the magic of Sepheron. She called upon the flame that she carried and asked it to swell inside of her until she could no longer take it.

Jodia gasped as their last torch sputtered and went out. A split second later Tempora screamed into the Darkness. “BY THE FLAMES AND WILL OF SEPHERON!!” A blast of purple light shot out of Tempora in all directions. The light was so bright that Jodia could see the creatures in the Darkness. They were withered beings, human-like, yet twisted and contorted in their hatred of the light. Above the bodies floated tortured souls guiding the bodies to their targets. Among them, not as withered, was the body of their compatriot, Ali. That’s why the Darkness grew each year. It was because it grew stronger by taking the bodies and souls of its victims and adding them to its mass.

As the light dissipated, the Darkness folded in again. Tempora thought that she had failed again. Quickly, she turned to Jodia, grabbed his torch, and created the smallest bit of flame to light the torch. The flame had to live on. It was more than she had to give, but she had to keep the flame alive. It had to reach the next city. The torch sputtered, then took, and the flame grew. Tempora sighed with relief. Then the flame grew brighter than a torch could glow.

As it grew Jodia felt his strength returning. He was finally able to stand. The dragon-flame grew ever stronger, filling the sky with purple light. More light than any amplifier could ever produce. As they stared into the light, a shape took form. It was the shape of a large dragon. Though not just any dragon, it was Sepheron, the largest and eldest dragon in the land.

“I heed your call, my child. I will make sure you make it to your destination. This abomination has taken enough of my people. Sepheron’s voice chimed through their heads. “I’ve had ENOUGH!” With her last words, the light pulsed out one final time and dissipated the Darkness completely. The two survivors fell to the ground in fear and praise of their Dragon.

“Stand. You two were chosen for this reason. Your sacrifices and will were what I needed to gain the strength to defeat the Darkness that night. Unfortunately, it is a short-lived victory. It will return, but maybe it will think twice about attacking my Torch-bearers again. Now quickly get to the safety of Trexxon. She will keep you safe until you can continue your important journey.”

With that Sepheron was gone. All that was left was the stars in the sky, stars that neither of the two had seen in their lifetime.