Chapter 15: Noise and Furious Flame.
The Firelord was clad in ugly sooty armour, One would not have known he was one of the firefolk, living flames if not for the gouts of dirty flame that issued from him. Dark smoke billowed out behind him like a dread cloak. Behind a helm with a sculpted scowling face he flickered.
It was strange, there was nothing bright or shining about him in spite of his body being nothing but flame. He was entirely dark brooding and foreboding. There was a deathly silence, then cracking out like a whip of flame, the Firelord spoke again.
“Who dares to rival my flame, the greatest of all flames? What wretch thinks he can hold a candle to my shining glory? Show yourself and be reduced to ASHES you pathetic dim beings! Worship my glory and you may yet live. You are the singing mongels are you not? Bark a bit of the beauty of my fire and I might not destroy this place for the second time” The Firelord snarled.
He was not merely wicked, but clearly insane, promising destruction yet offering to spare, eveyone knew that he would not allow any fire other than his own to exist.
Lupix was terrified. She was not the only one, the destruction and ravaging of Wolfheim and its people bore heavy on the survivors of Wolfhiem. In moments, the Firelord had almost destroyed what had been built up over generations of wolves, fire howlers and musicians. Lupix could not move, she was frozen.
The Firelord laughed. A laugh devoid of humour, or joy or mercy. He believed he was unstoppable, that he had won, that he would win.
Lupix felt a surge within her and stood proud, she would trust in the spellsong that the spirits had offered her, that they had mad sacrifice for.
“I-i dare. I DARE! I DARE YOU SMOULDERIN…”
Lupix was cut off by a roar of flame as dark fire billowed from one of his gauntlets. She screamed, fearing for her life, but the greedy hungry flames did not burn her, no they did not even reach her.
The great sand walls seemed to cough and spit up sand that stopped the fire, snuffing it out.
The was a moment of silence as everyone took in what had just happened.
Then it was Lupix’s turn to laugh, a laugh of joy and relief.
“I DEFY YOU, I LUPIX VII, QUEEN OF WOLVES, HEAR MY HOWL, SEE HOW BRIGHTER IT IS THAN YOUR WICKED FLAME!” Lupix shouted out at the Firelord.
She howled in defiance, shining flame shaming the Firelord, illuminating everything, soaring into the sky, vast glorious and rather pretty.
Fire exploded from the Firelord, showing his ire. Smoke choking the flames, sparks flying everwhere. His armour warped. He collected himself, drawing himself back into his armour, loathe to share his flame, not that anyone wanted to see it now.
“SILENCE! So you have some trifling spell, I shall burn it, I shall burn you, I shall burn you all. I will even burn your ashes, I shall make ashes of your ashes! I should not have even left the stones of this place, this time I shall burn even them to ashes, ALL WILL BE ASHES. YOUR FLAME IS NOTHING A MERE SPARK, NOTHING TO MY GLORY!”
In a fury the firelord’s gauntlets vaporized, and clawing flames rushed at Wolfhiem, but the sand walls coughed and spluttered and sand rapidly rose to meet the flames. The sand did not even turn to glass, but crashed over the flames and back into the walls.
The Firelord was dumbfounded. Never before has he been so defied, never had encountered something that could resist his flame, admittedly this was in part due to him sticking to terrorizing mainly in the south-east of Elcon, though he spread his minions further afield.
His puzzlement turned to rage of course and his helmet was consumed by flame, a great blazing head with a face of utter wrath and disdain was revealed. Lupix involuntarily took a step back in the face of such a face of hatred, resentment.
Lupix swallowed, then shouted out.
“SO WHEN ARE YOU GOING TO BREAK IT? SORRY WAS THAT A TEST RUN?”
Lupix really wished someone would stop her, but then it wasn’t likely anyone would, given she was Queen.
Growling raving flame tore from the Firelord in a torrent towards wolfhiem. The sand walls however simply rose to meet him. The firelord screamed in pain as he hit the wall. Then he yelled in madness at the walls and drew back from them.
He grew larger, he towered above Wolfhiem, His vast sneering face leering at the Glass operaplace.
He was about to crash down, when the sand wall began to thrash, all of a sudden it split and one end slammed into the Firelord.
The walls took the form of a great snake of sand encircling the city ruins. It hissed at the firelord, who tried to get past it, but the snake wrapped its coils around him and constricted. The Firelord wailed with fear as the sand snuffed more and more of his form out, finally he tore off into the sky and away from Wolfhiem. He did not return.
Everyone cheered, and the wall became a wall once more, though perhaps a bit more serpentine looking of a wall.
The Firelord had been well and truly defied.