Immolating Flames

The mocking words steeled Noble's resolve. Hadn't she planned to kill the Lord of the Mountain and vanquish his army? What was a mere human in comparison to that? 

Of course, she was going to fight the Tyrant with an army or two, but that kind of thought did not help her just now. 

All that mattered was surviving this fight, winning, and uniting the kingdom. With the group Counsel had at his disposal, it might have been possible to take on the Tyrant. But Emira had blocked that path under pain of death. 

Emira had barred every way that Noble had tried to move forward. But not anymore.

It ended now.

Letting her eyes swirl, Noble lifted from the ground. She let her black and gold armor form around her dress, causing the excess fabric to tear away like shed skin. 

She wasn't just any Awakened. She was Queen Bee. 

Fluttering above the smoldering floor, Noble summoned the Ruby Tear. There had to be a way to attack Emira. Noble had done it successfully once before. 

'Was it because Her Majesty was holding back or was it because I caught her unaware?'

Noble intended to find out. 

Circling around the Queen, Noble viewed the two men's shocked faces. In a small pocket of safety, Alyx and Counsel had been holding each other back from intervening. 

Now they looked up at the woman floating like an angel, astounded by the scene. 

"Look out!" Counsel yelled. 

But Noble had already shifted her attention and dodged Emira's attempt to silence her forever.

Coming around the woman's back, Noble threw the sword at the monarch, guiding it carefully to land squarely in Emira's back. 

And it did. 

The fiery Queen cried out, but her scream quickly turned to a cackle. Her body became fire and the sword fell against the floor of the dais. 

"Didn't your Counsel tell you? I am impossible to kill." Emira glanced at Counsel, whose expression was grim. 

Dismissing the Ruby Tear, Noble summoned it back into her hand. A small smile formed on her face.

"Everything can be killed. Even the Gods."

While the gods were not dead in the Nightmare, they were in the waking world. If they could be killed, so could the powerful monarch. 

"Blasphemy!" Emira screamed. "I will take you out of the sky!" 

Her body became so incandescent that not even the glowing bracelets and necklace could be seen. The action made her nearly invisible. 

'Oh no you don't!' 

Using her limited sorcery, Noble called forth the light to lessen. While it did not put the fire out, it lessened the heat and made it so the famous duelist could use both her sources of vision. 

Noble's eyes gleamed. 

'There you are...' 

Emira was forming a torrent of fire so big and thick that it made Sarai's fiery hurricane look like a dust devil. The tapestries on the wall were ripped away and burned. The floor became molten. 

Only the sheer size of the room kept Noble from getting caught in the whirlwind of immolating flames. 

But then the figure in the flames rose from the ground. The fire faltered, unsure of what was happening to its host.

Emira was confused as well. She had never been able to fly under the power of her flame. And she could not control the direction of her flight. 

That was because Noble was the one lifting her. With all her might, Noble tossed Emira into the wall behind the throne. The metal adornments lining the walls melted and coated the Queen's skin, bubbling in the heat. 

Her Majesty screamed. While her clothes and armor seemed resistant to her flames, the wall adornments covered her molten skin unwilling to evaporate or meld with her body.

At last, Emira's ability had at least one limitation. 

Noble's enchanted swords had not bothered the queen, but her body's interaction with the mundane metal had caused her harm.

No longer under Noble's power, Emira dropped to the ground and held her stomach. Metal coated her human flesh like a blanket of steel. 

"You!" The Queen's hatred only grew. She lifted her hands. 

"Uh oh!" Noble could see what was going to happen a split second before it did. 

Emira was about to firebomb the entire Great Hall. 

The rest of the floor, the chairs, and even the balcony were about to be engulfed in flames that would decimate the area. 

There was no escape. 

Noble summoned the Portcullis Key as she aimed for the closest wall, but it was no use. The flames were too fast. 

She felt herself engulfed in heat more than triple anything she had experienced before.

She could feel her charm strain under the pressure, cracking loud enough to be heard over the blaze.

There was nowhere to go and no time to get there. Noble dropped toward the floor in the vain hope that she could find the exit to the Great Hall before her Memory was destroyed.

And herself with it.

There was no air. Only heat. Soon there would be only darkness.

Through the light, Noble saw something run toward her. Was it a hallucination before the end?

The shadow raced toward her like a hungry wolf and enveloped her.

Noble felt herself lose consciousness, but in the softness of the shadow, she did not care. It held on tightly and cradled her, creating a small pocket of air for her to get a single precious gasp.

After what felt like an eternity, Noble eyes snapped open. Shielded by the shadow, Noble's fire charm had held.

She was in one piece.

But what had saved her?

The soft breathing against her back told her that her rescuer was still alive.

When the darkness around Noble parted, she viewed two massive golden paws.

"Kosi?!" Noble's voice was hoarse, but her affection was no less real.

He had told her to check in when the ceremony was over or he would come looking. It seemed he had followed through on that promise, only to find the woman was in mortal peril.

Noble scrambled to her feet.

"Kosi! My sweet Kosi, are you alright?!"

The once grand room was unrecognizable. The floor was covered in ash and the walls were barren. Even the throne was a melted heap of what it once was.

Only a small circle around Counsel and Alyx remained unscathed.

But Noble did not pay attention to any of it. Her mind and heart were with the golden angel who had saved her life.

Flying around to Kosi's head. She watched the Symncus's eyes open slowly. The hair of his beautiful mane and on his back were burned away, and his skin was red. It broke Noble to see the creature brought so low.

'At least nothing seems life-threatening,' Noble comforted herself.

Slowly, Kosi stood and nuzzled his human charge. His intelligent eyes searched her for any sign of serious injury.

Noble smiled, "I am fine, thanks to you."

The hair that was left around Kosi's neck stood on end as he walked around the floating human.

Kosi turned his eyes to the fire-crazed woman in the center of the destruction.

One thing was clear from his glistening teeth and his silent snarl.

He was not happy.