Heart of the Dragon King by J Boothby

Author:J Boothby [Boothby, J]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Flying Walrus Studios, Ltd.
Published: 2020-03-20T16:00:00+00:00

On the fourth “day” of tests, they’re able to use me to get to the Elhyra.

I’m brought in and hooked up as usual. They dial up the aether in the room, and I burst into flames.

But they keep adding more power, even after I’m filling up the room with fire.

And they don’t stop.

I pull it all in, and I burn hot, almost as hot as I did by the stone. A lens on one of the ceiling camera cracks. Part of the wall starts to liquefy.

I can feel the fire in every nerve, all across my skin. My hair stands straight out from my head. I can feel those wings start to form, and the stretcher and I rise up into the air with only the wires holding us down.

“Now,” the woman with the glasses says over the speakers. “Kylie, over on your left, there’s a tunnel in this room. Can you see it?”

I want to ignore her and shut the door, but despite myself, I look around.

I don’t see anything.

“Look really hard.” There’s nothing there.

Not at first. But then I see my fire starting to spin around one of the boxes, one that has begun flashing in some kind of pattern.

“Do you see the tunnel?”

I don’t, not really. It’s just aether, spinning around a central point.

The point widens. Is that my doing? I think it might be.

The fire stretches thin across a circle of air.

I push against it. It’s like a membrane—plastic wrap across the top of a bowl.

It doesn’t feel particularly strong.

You know when you were a kid and had a loose tooth that you couldn’t leave alone? This is like that, too.

I push at that thin spot. I can’t help myself.

With a sound like a bomb, a jagged tear rips open into the world of the room.

It hangs there about halfway between the floor and ceiling, shimmering. The edges of the tear flutter black and gold, silver and violet, as a cold wind whips into the room.

It brings the smells of spice and smoke.

I can see things through the tear: a field of dark grass. A forest of spindly, dark trees.

It’s the Elhyra, I’m sure of it.

I’m shocked. I did this? I shake my head. That’s not possible.

“See if you can keep the way open, Kylie.”

There are two huge moons in the sky. The dark branches of trees reach for them.

In the distance is a silver castle, spires reaching up into the air.

The trees are moving in the wind.

Something else is moving over there, too. It’s coming closer.

Something?

Someone.

I jerk my head back and slam the incursion shut. The edges of the tear seal themselves together with a pop.

Behind the glass, the woman hits the switches to kill all the aether in the room. My stretcher slams to the ground.

I see them cheering and high-fiving each other back there.

The woman with the glasses leans over and opens the mic. “You did great, Kylie. A few more days like that, and you’ll get to see your friends. I promise.”

If she thinks I believe her, she’s dumber than I thought.

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