Bloodline of a Tempest

Chapter 20

When she opened her eyes, dawn was still far off. The air was crisp, and the first sounds from the camp were echoing in the distance. Nema looked up. Demian was still sleeping, his back pressed against the wall, his right arm wrapped around her holding her to him. She was tucked under the heavy silk of his cloak listening to his even breathing.

Nema slowly slipped from his embrace, covering him with his cloak.

He looked different when he was asleep, the lines of his face soft and noble.

'My tragic prince,' she whispered, brushing off a wayward lock from his forehead.


As Nema climbed the hill behind the castle, trying to fend off the morning chill, with every step she took, it felt like she was leaving behind the last wisps of a beautiful dream that was still tangled in her hair.

She found Erridan, the fire mage, watching the soldiers sparring in groups. Their attacks seemed just as vicious as they would be in a real fight.

'They have been locked for too long,' Erridan said, 'but these are the best men I ever led into battle.'

'You are one of their generals, aren't you?' Nema asked. Here in the camp, she heard many stories about him and many stories about Demian. Some of them were good, some of them were frightening.

'I was,' Erridan said.

'He is gathering the army,' Nema told him. 'I can feel it. Ever since my powers were set free, I can feel the darkness moving across Atria like,' her gaze strayed, 'like sickness moving trough a tree, eating it from the inside.'

Erridan nodded. 'The light in you feels everything that exists,' he said. 'That is why our king asked the fire mages to bind a part of the source to the blood of our people - so those like you can heal the land desolated with wars.'

'I want to help,' Nema said. 'I want to use these powers for the good.'

'Castor is now at his weakest,' Erridan said. 'He's been waiting too long for a new Asteralt, and you could not create another world for him. He will do everything in his power to take you back. He is too weak to come on his own, but his army of darkness is already advancing towards us.'

'We can win, right?'

'We can fight,' the general said.

Nema looked around. 'Where is the rest of the army?'

Erridan frowned.

'When you rode into Seren, there were thousands and thousands of men.'

The general nodded thoughtfully. 'I despise trickery,' he said. 'In my days, I wouldn't let something like that go unpunished,' scattered 'but to save you, we had to use Castor's tactics. Roell made the illusion of a great army and Castor's mercenaries scattered around in fear.' Erridan pointed at the men training in the yard. 'This is the army.'

Nema's eyes widened. There were less than two hundred.

'But there are so many people coming every day,' she said. There were rivers of men and women, arriving from all parts of Atria.

Erridan shook his head. 'They are refugees. Castor's army is now killing and abducting everything with a drop of magical blood. They are here to see you,but they are afraid of us. They have no combat training, and their powers are weak.'

'I can open a portal,' Nema said.

Erridan smiled. 'You do not understand, Nema. These men have sworn to protect their Asteralt. If we go back, that would bring us dishonor.'

'But we can't win,' she said, finally grasping the severity of the situation. Only last night, she though everything could end well, now there wasn't a flicker of hope left. She couldn't understand their plan. Castor will survive and feed upon the blood of Atria until there is Atria no more.'

'There are many wars you can not win,child,' he said, 'but there are some you are not to retreat from at any cost.'

She was gazing at the distance.

'What do you want, Nema Silverstorm?'

'Vengeance,' she said. 'Now, all I want is vengeance.'

'You would need fire for this.'

Nema looked away.

The fire on Erridan's palms flashed, and Nema instinctively took a step back.

'Do not retreat!' He said.

Nema stopped.

'Hold your ground.' The flame was now so close to her face she had to close her eyes, her heart thumping in her chest.

Suddenly there was a loud growling in front of her, and Nema opened her eyes just in time to a grey wolf circling around Erridan, the smoke rising from the ground where his paws touched the dry leaves.

'I knew it,' Erridan said. 'Come, Nema. We do not have much time.'






When Nema rode through the gates of Seren, it was already nightfall. The runes on her skin were shining with fiery letters, and the creatures of the night were moving out of her way. Castor's army of darkness was everywhere their eyes could see except on the yard in front of the fortress where a silver elm tree stood proudly. No evil dared to approach it on a twenty feet distance. Nema took a moment to stand in front of this dear friend. This tree will protect generations and generations of Atrians long after there is no one left who remembers her name.

Nema entered the ruins of the fortress, climbing up the stairs of the south wall. She knew she would find a door there.

She was fighting off the tears when the door opened.Her word was crumbling away, and the heavy stench of rot was coming from that once beautiful forest. 'I am sorry,' she whispered.

'I did not believe you would come when you sent the message,' Castor said, his eyes on her hands.

'I came unarmed,' Nema said.

There was no crown, and no expensive silk and Nema finally saw him for what he really was – a creature of mindless greed, a parasite. He was nothing but what he stole from others.
His real face still resembled the one he presented to the world, but the old age and the malice that cursed through him sneered from every line on his face.

'Why?' Nema asked. 'Why are you hunting us?'

Castor sighed. 'You always ask why. No one asks why am I still here,' his eyes flashed. 'Your ancestor trapped me here, to rot on one of these planes. It took me four hundred years to free myself.' He clutched his fist and Nema cried out.

Castor was now standing above her. 'Why aren't you defending yourself?'

'Why does it matter?' Nema gasped, trying to stand up. 'I am here. It's what you wanted.'

Castor was approaching, drawn by her pain.

'My army is in front of your camp. A little while longer, and the last fire-feeder will disappear from Atria.'

'Why are you so afraid of them?' She asked.

Castor smiled. 'Nema.' He shook his head.'Little Nema. I really liked you the best of all the others. Only fire can harm me, Nema,' he said. 'But you know that already.'

'You killed my parents,' she said. The dark clouds were gathering, and the bolts of lightning were tearing the sky apart.

Castor waved his hand. 'I killed many of them, Nema.'

The scent of hot earth tickled her nostrils.

'Your animal is here,' Castor pointed at Nox.

'He is harmless,' Nema said.

'Just like you, Nema,' Castor smiled.

He twisted his wrist, and Nema screamed, falling to her knees. Nox was running around them, faster and faster until the first sparks were flying from under his paws. Nema felt the rage moving trough her. The lightnings were striking the ground, setting dead trees on fire.

Castor took a step closer. 'Do you think your little tempest can hurt me?' He asked. 'I am the creature of darkness.'

Nema was gasping for breath. The pain he was inflicting was ripping trough her. 'The light always wins,' she said. A trickle of blood was dripping from her nose.

'Your kind is strange. You would rather die a foolhardy death than live a long life in the quiet of surrender,' he said. 'But you made a mistake when you came here. Now you will spent the next century chained to that wall. You deprived me of the pleasure of capturing you and dragging you here. If you thought that would propitiate me - you were wrong.'

Nema laughed, wiping off the blood from her face. 'You are a fool, Castor,' she said, standing up.

Castor stopped in his tracks. The anger she saw in his eyes was ready to cut her down. 'What did you say?'

'You are a fool,' Nema said. 'You've been living for more than a thousand years, and now a girl who was not allowed to approach the sacred circle is going to kill you.' She said. 'Imagine that.'

Even if she didn't believe before, the moment she saw a flicker of doubt,Nema knew a girl could defeat the dark king. She had the higher ground.

'The earth creates,' she said, 'the water feels, the air breathes life into everything. But fire,' Nema said, 'the fire is the only one that knows nothing but destruction, and fire is the only that can bind the power. Once the circle of fire closes around you,there is nothing and no one from the outside that could help you.'

Castor flinched when he saw a blazing trail speeding down the path Nox imprinted in the ground with his paws. He spoke the chant, but it was already too late - the circle has closed.

'How?' He asked.

'When the army of fire-feeders came to defend my village from your men, the trauma repressed one element. The power I was refusing to acknowledge took the shape of a familiar, a form of magic that could exist separate from my body. The fire-feeders call them Noery, the wolves of fire, but Nox is a part of me,' she pointed at the animal whose fangs were glistening in the moonlight. 'We will die together, Castor,' Nema said, 'none of us will leave this circle alive.'

'There isn't a spell that could kill me,' Castor said. He still did not believe Nema could be a threat.

Nema laughed. The runes on her skin were shining.

'You still haven't learned the difference between the power and the second-hand magic.' She was repeating Erridan's words, taking great pleasure while speaking them. 'I am not going to kill you with a spell,' Nema said. 

This was her vengeance. This was the vengeance of her bloodline – the bloodline of a tempest.

'Do you know why we can wield all four elements? Because the power of the very Source lives in our blood. Once freed, it can destroy the entire world.'

Castor's flawless facade was faltering.

 The wall of fire that was closed around them was drawing his fears to the surface. Even dark kings had them.

'You would risk destroying Atria?'

Nema shook her head. 'This plane exists in a parallel time. Only you and I will go down with it.'

She learned it from Cay. There were planes like this all over their constellation. The prison for fallen water benders, where Demian spent ten years, was one of them. They existed in parallel timelines to make them harder to access or escape.

The storm outside was raging.

She saw a flash of a dagger in his hand before it was embedded in her chest. Nema gasped. She heard the shouts from outside of the circle. In the place where the dagger was, instead of blood, there was a ray of light shooting trough. The ground kept shaking. The rays of light were shining from Nema's body as her physical form was shutting down.

Castor was retreating until he faced the wall of fire. He was surprised the fire didn't waver, for there was little strength in Nema left. Erridan warned her that her fire would die once she starts dying.

'I will hold it, Nema,' she heard Demian's voice. 'I will not let him leave the circle.'

Demian was standing a bit further, keeping his right hand pointed at the flames. The light was now breaking from every cell of Nema's body, and her consciousness was slowly changing into something abstract. Castor was whispering his chants, but every time a shadow approached from the outside the wall of fire burned it down.

'You can't defeat the darkness that existed for thousands of years!' He cried with his shrieking voice. Nema saw how his form was crumbling into dust in front of her.

She felt no pain anymore. She felt nothing anymore.

'The light was there before it,' she thought. 'The light was there before the darkness. The light was there before anything.'

They both fell on the ground.

The last thing she heard was the rumble of the crumbling world. She couldn't see Demian anymore.