Freezing Fire

Freezing Fire

         Cage hated the cold. If he could describe the feeling that invaded the skin on his bare hands and face, it would be a burning cold; a freezing fire. The climate was not suitable for any man to journey in, especially a man clad in clothing as light and thin as Cage's attire. But the biting winds and pelting ice that came with it were tolerable to Cage, for his goddess was with him.

         Each stride brought Cage one step closer to his destination in that no man's land. His eyes were on a towering spire-shaped mountain that left a constant shadow at its base. The surrounding mountains created a valley floor of unbroken snow. Cage almost felt intrusive as he left his imprint on this un-treaded territory. He could not help but feel like the mountains were watching him as they loomed above, ready to swallow him whole. The feeling of vulnerability was not something Cage liked, especially at something so unrealistic.

         What was real was the Ice Dragon that laired in the upmost parts of that towering spire. He could spot Cage and swoop from above. Cage lowered his eyes from that peak, putting that dragon from thought. Everyone knew the tales, for they were told as children of the Ice King. Cage knew what no other mortal did not. What this... king did not. He was merely a false pretender, and Cage's business was not with him, but with the true ruler of the Ice Dragons, burrowed far below.

         Cage placed his hand on the hilt at his hip and withdrew his sword. The orange glow that suddenly illuminated his face gave him comfort. Words were written across the double edged blade that flickered randomly with an inner fire. Astagar, the Heart of Fire. As the most powerful sword ever created, it was made from the heart of a fallen star. As Cage watched the words flicker in and out, he got lost in a memory that now seemed so long ago.

         The warmth of her closeness was a vivid memory, where all others seemed to blur with time. She stood by his side, her arms reaching to the heavens, and Cage watched as the star fell. Just when it seemed it was so large it would swallow the earth, it grew smaller in size, so that when it floated down in front of Cage, blinding him, it was the size of his torso. It stayed there, suspending in the air. No crash or havoc wreaked from its fall like Cage had obviously expected from his doomed expression.

         The star, now a concentrated size, started to form into something else entirely. In one flash it was a sword, as long as Cage's arm, rotating in the air.
         "Take it." Said his goddess.

         As Cage grabbed the hilt. A sudden feeling of warmth and peace rushed over him.

         "This is Astagar, Cage. He will be your guide, protector and weapon in the battle to come."

         "Battle?" Cage was use to the mystery. He had served her, the Goddess of Fire, all his life. And he was her favorite.

         "Cage, my sweet young man. You will face God of Ice in my name."

         Cage looked at his goddess, and could not help himself. He laughed in her beautiful golden face; hysterically. Her glowing golden eyes showed amusement. How could they not? She knew Cage's thoughts more than he knew his own. The battle between hot and cold, ice and fire, was forever a cliche. It was for a child's bedtime story, not a mission given personally by a goddess.

         The goddess stepped closer to Cage with a sudden and familiar look in her eyes. "You do this for me, Cage, and you will forever walk by my side." She grabbed him by the hair on the back of his head and pulled him close. He made love to his goddess for what he thought may be the last time, no matter what her promises spoke of.

         Returning himself to the present, Cage looked for his destination. A small hole at the base of the giant mountain, hidden from all by those that knew its location, led deep below ground. Sword still in hand, he quickened his pace to get to the opening. As he lowered himself into the hole, the sound of wind and the biting cold that came with it lessened. The hole turned into a tunnel, one that he could barely crawl on his hands and knees.

         Crawling for what seemed like hours, Cage did not notice the slight decline or the gentle curve of the tunnel that slowly led him downwards in a giant spiral. His sword was the only light in the darkness that threatened to engulf him. That light saved him from crawling right off a steep cliff that came out of nowhere.

         As that orange light reflected off the walls of ice, it slowly lit up a giant cavern. The spectacle before Cage made him gasp in fear and awe. A dragon with scales as blue as the purest of ice was sprawled out in a mass of riches. Gems, gold, jewel encrusted armor and weapons, all could be seen as the ice magnified the light from Astagar. The dragon's torso was so large that it's body faded into the darkness. It's mouth, with razor sharp teeth protruding, looked like it could swallow six men at one time. It was the biggest creature Cage had ever seen.

         Cage thought the creature to be asleep, and so he prepared himself to lunge at the creature from above, to deal a death blow before a battle could ensue. Suddenly though, it spoke, its voice rumbling like thunder.

         "You bring the only weapon in existence that could kill me, boy." The dragon spit the last word with contempt. "For that I thank you. It will be a nice addition to my... collection." The dragon's eyes, so blue they were almost black, snapped open. He raised his head so that it was level with Cage, who was so high above the cavern floor.

         Cage looked at the magnificent beast and then at the weapon in his own hand. He then gained the composure to speak. "If you know this weapon, then you know who I serve, and you know why I am here."

         "You will not succeed." The dragon growled with such finality that Cage himself almost believed it in that moment.

         "Perhaps not, but I will still try." Cage hurried the last few words as he planted his foot on the ledge of the cliff and leaped for the dragon, sword raised high for a strike at its raised head. The Dragon merely recoiled from the move. Cage, who's strength was unmatched among mortals, still managed to follow that recoil through the air, so powerful was his leap. He swung his sword at the dragon's face... and missed by mere inches. He was unbalanced in the air and crashed his back into the dragon's chest with a resounding thud. Cage's skull cracked on the unrelenting scales, and stars dazzled his vision.

         He kept enough composure to reverse his grip on his sword and stab backwards, the magical sword easily tearing through scales and ripping flesh as Cage made his way to the ground. The free fall was slowed by the resistance of the dragon's body on the sword, and he held on tight. The dragon's roar of pain reverberated of the ice walls, shaking ice stalactites from the ceiling and leaving Cage's ears ringing.

         As Cage landed solidly on his feet, the dragon brought his wing in front of him and swatted Cage. There was no avoiding it, so Cage let the wing take him and he flew into the cavern wall, almost being knocked unconscious. He still brought his sword to bear but then he saw the dragon's chest swell. Icicles formed on that chest and Cage knew he was doomed.

         The ice breath fell on him, the freezing fire, the black bitter cold night, and Cage gripped his sword, praying for his goddess to protect him. But she did not. His eye balls froze in his sockets. His joints dislocated as the liquid in his body froze and expanded. Cage was an icicle, still aware, but the immense pain from the breath had faded almost instantly as he lost all feeling and his mind started to shut down.

         The dragon sighed, an odd sound that was intensified by the echoes of the cavern.

         "I am slightly disappointed that this is all the Goddess of Fire could bring to bear against me." The dragon went to swallow the frozen man.

         Cage wished for a quicker death. His sword was gripped in his hand but he could not feel it, not the metal or the warmth it gave off. But Cage felt a different warmth. One deep inside of him he could not sense before. Perhaps it was due to this moment of crisis, or perhaps it was due to the fact he could not feel anything else. But suddenly he understood. Astagar was not the weapon his goddess wanted to bring to bear against this mighty Ice Dragon, the God of all things under its frozen reign. He was the weapon.

         He felt the switch, and he turned it. He became the weapon his goddess always planned for him to be. He ignited. Ice melted away as his skin turned into flame as hot as the sun. The dragon blinked in surprise.

         Cage floated from the floor, a ball of fire that lit up the darkest recesses of that cavern. He felt the life force of the dragon, an infinite being who barely remembered his own beginning but chose to take the form of a beast. He knew he could destroy it.

         The dragon opened its mouth and breathed another gout of ice, but it could not touch Cage. He flew at the dragon with the will of his mind and flew in the dragon, attacking its life force. The dragon roared in pain and denial as Cage intensified himself, his inner power, to burn the dragon from the inside out. The dragon was illuminated for a brief moment, only to dissipate like melted ice.

         The dragon was no more. But neither was Cage, for the brightest of flames burn out the quickest.



         The raider threw down the magical scrying orb, shattering it into a thousand pieces as it hit a golden platter. The orb seemed to have captured the battle in that very cavern and everything leading up to it. It all flashed before the raider's eyes as he picked it up. It dawned on the raider that he may be the only one to know what happened there. He merely shrugged and continued the plunder of the riches.
         
         

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