Page 66 of Crown of Flame

I burn the magic away with my fire. The crackle of the flames is deafening, the sound muted only by the roaring rain and thunder outside.

Serena reaches into my mind then, tentatively as Aldris and I circle one another. The feel of her in my head is comforting and warm.

Don’t get hurt. I love you.

Aldris does not slow down, despite the fact that I have burned away his desk and chair. He stands, facing me, and with a flick of his wrist, he pulls dozens of ornamental knives and daggers that hang on the walls of the room.

They float menacingly in the air, their blades pointed at me and Serena. Aldris grins, his smile sharp and jagged.

“Today you will learn, fire demon, that the heroics will never get you anywhere. Fighting for humans, trying to save them from us, will always destroy you. You should be ashamed of your actions. You could have been all-powerful! You could have helped us rule this world!”

I cock my head to the side and then allow my mouth to stretch into a wide smile that matches Aldris’s.

A sudden look of trepidation crosses the dark elf’s face.

He must not expect this. He must have expected his words to scare me. But now, he is looking at a being made of rock and fire, a being that towers over him, with a mouth full of fire.

The look of unease vanishes quickly though, and I exhale a cloud of fire, as dozens of knives and daggers fly at me.

I dodge some of them and melt others into nothingness. I hear Serena back away from the onslaught, and when I glance to the side, she is cowering in a corner.

A sharp, thin blade does pierce the rock carapace that serves as my physical body.

I pull it out and throw it aside, not missing Serena’s gasp of shock. It bounces tinnily on the floor, and Aldris laughs loudly, wickedly.

A flash of lightning illuminates the room then, and throws his face into harsh relief, his head thrown back as he laughs and laughs.

I leap at him, as I see, from the corner of my eye, that Serena stands close to him, next to a tall, dark bookshelf.

She does not seem to notice me but keeps her eyes fixed on Aldris’s neck. On the amulet.

Suddenly, I know what her plan is.

And I know exactly what my place is in her plan.

Aldris pulls a magical shield out of the air, but I exhale flame and rock, and my assault rips through it.

He stumbles backward but does not give up and does not submit. Instead, he uses more elemental magic and summons a pool of water, intending to drown me in it.

I focus my magic on the walls of the room and pull, and they come collapsing inwards. The water, instead of drowning me, spills through the cracks and rubble of the newly destroyed room.

Aldris screams and shrieks as the floor beneath him shakes and crumbles. I throw fire and rock at him, not with the aim of harming him, but of distracting him. Serena, who is steady, despite the destruction of the tower around her, runs up behind Aldris and rips the amulet off his neck.

He must feel it. That sudden nakedness of his neck. That sudden vulnerability. He must know what is about to happen next.

I smile widely at him again, my mouth full of fire.

I can touch her.

And I can destroy him.

And my smile becomes wider and wider as he screams and tries to scramble away from me. But I grab him by the lapels of his jacket and place my mouth over his.

His soul does not come easily, though it isn’t as stubborn or as strong as some of the souls I have devoured in my time.

He doesn’t, I think reflectively, have the soul of a true monster. Aldris’s kind of evil is commonplace and mundane.

Somehow, Aldris manages to speak, even as he is dying. He splutters the words out as I devour his soul.