The final test - surviving a battle with the land's fiercest and strongest warrior
I was woken up by the coldest wind I've ever felt, violently tossing my body around. Everything around me was covered in snow and ice. The cold wind was so strong and so brutal that it was threatening to blow me away each time I took a step. Each time the wind hit my skin, it felt like razor blades being thrown at me.
I immediately started warming up my body by spreading heat all over it. I've gotten really good over the years at controlling the fire I wield. Before, I couldn't control it and I'd only feel like there was a fire threatening to explode inside of me when I was angry or sad. That's no longer the case.
I can wield fire with my hands now. I underwent excruciating pain to do this because the skin on my hands started burning each time I conjoured flames with my hands.
After months of my hands constantly burning and healing over and over again, my hands reached a stage where they were unaffected by the fire. I now wield the flames like they are another one of my limbs, and that's honestly how it feels. The fire feels like it's a part of me.
I've tried conjouring the fire on the rest of my body, but that almost killed me. It felt like I was being burned alive and although my skin healed the moment it got burnt by the fire, the pain was still unbearable. So, until I can find a way to withstand that pain, for now, I can only wield the fire with my hands and eyes only.
I tried to look through the thick white mist that engulfed this place, but I couldn't see much. I felt the flickers of flames in my eyes slowly engulf my eyes so that I could see through the mist. Both my eyes were now on fire, but it didn't hurt at all. It just felt like I was wearing a warm pair of glasses that made me see through this thick mist.
Then my memories all came flooding back to me.
This thick white mist had to have been created by the witches. The last thing I remember is helping the inklings in the Silver city to fight the centaurs. We had lost that battle, and the only way to save the last few survivors was to give myself to that cold and menacing voice that filled the air.
I was going to hand myself over to the witches and the centaurs, but I got shot with one of our own arrows. Someone from the Silver kingdom betrayed the inklings and me and shot me! Now I was captured and I needed to escape or hopefully kill the people who captured me.
This place is ten times colder than how the witches made the Silver city feel. I had to keep increasing the heat in my body so that I wouldn't freeze to death. However, the cold here felt different. It didn't feel menacing like the ice created by the witches in the Silver city. It felt like the cold sharp air was trying to cut away any signs of weakness.
The air was so strong and so cold that most people would have already been frozen to death by now. This ice was trying to kill anything with even the slightest weakness in it.
The place looked barren; everything had been killed by the ice. There were jagged rocks covered in ice and no signs of life on the rough terrain. This was clearly a large mountain made of ice.
I walked around the icy mountain, careful not to make a sound and alert whoever captured me. I had to steady myself so that I wouldn't get blown away by the strong winds. However, the longer I walked around the terrain, the more my body adjusted to the flow of the wind. I could feel the curve of every movement and in no time, I wasn't even affected by the wind anymore.
Whoever had captured me had healed me and that was a huge mistake on their part. I felt rejuvenated. Before I got shot in the shoulder by that arrow, I was holding on by a thread. I felt drained and no longer had any strength left to conjour my powers, but now I felt like a new person and could probably burn this entire mountain down if I wanted.
I crouched down to look at some bones I noticed that were scattered on the ground. They were clearly human bones. The mountain was filled with them. The people had probably died from this cold and harsh environment. But that wouldn't be me. I wasn't even cold anymore and no matter how strong and violent the wind got, my body adjusted to its movements so that I wouldn't be affected by it.
I would find my way out of this place in no time.
I saw a shimmering object headed my way with so much speed and intensity. I jumped out of the way in one swift move and landed back on my feet without any struggle.
The shimmering object hit the frozen rock behind me and lodged itself deep within the rock. It was a silver spear. Had I not seen it in time and gotten out of the way, it would have struck me right through the chest.
I found myself being grateful that I had developed my senses and fighting skills these past few years.
I've trained everyday with Mike, the alphas of werewolf packs, other ranked wolves, inklings and even seers and witches. I've learned a great deal from all the different magical creatures I've met and the knowledge I earned has helped me get out of all kinds of impossible situations.
Mike and the wolves helped me tap into the predator within me. They are the reason I discovered my hands had the ability to heal themselves after I spent months learning how to wield fire with them. They trained me like one of their warriors and taught me how to handle any adversary, big or small.
The good witches taught me mental fortitude. They showed me how they were able to resist Raphael's call to them even though they felt connected to him because he's a warlock. They also taught me which plants to mix to create simple spells that can help me find my way out of danger.
The seers were probably the most daring with what they taught me. They showed me how one can harness their spiritual abilities and even induce a vision without being a seer. I haven't been able to do this yet, but the technique has increased my intuition.
I saw a huge man with long red hair and a long messy and dirty red beard walking towards me. If he's the one who threw that blade, it meant he spotted me miles away. He was so far that I only picked up faint traces of his scent.
As if he read my thoughts, he jumped into the sky and landed infront of me with a loud thud that cracked the ice under his feet. The man stood some distance from me and was eyeing me curiously.
I was using all my willpower not to look, but unfortunately my eyes trailed down his naked glorious physique and landed on his manhood that was covered in a bush of red untrimmed hair.
The mountain man was the biggest man I've ever seen in my life. Thick muscles covered every inch of his body. His milky white skin looked like it had never seen any sunlight and his calloused hands indicated that he had been living on this uninhabitable mountain for a very long time. Judging from the bones I saw a few minutes ago, most people couldn't survive this harsh place.
The man's piercing blue eyes were eyeing me up and down. It looked like he was undressing me with his eyes and it made me feel very uncomfortable.
This had to be the person who captured me, and he had just tried to pierce my heart with a silver spear. I needed to kill this giant before he killed me.
"That was very impressive" His voice was deep and sounded like thunder. "Most people wouldn't have been able to see my spear through the mist, but I'm guessing all those flames engulfing your eyes are helping you to see through it."
I nodded my head. "Who are you?", I asked him.
A smile slowly crept onto his face. "I am King Killian, of course, and who are you?"
I didn't like how amused he sounded. The man had kidnapped me, killed hundreds of inklings and he didn't even know whom he had kidnapped!
"I'm the girl who walks with flames", I scoffed mockingly.
The ice cold eerie voice that I heard back in the Silver city said it wanted "the girl who walks with flames". I decided I would inform him that I was the one he was looking for. Hopefully that would make him stop the attack on the Silver city and Mike and the others would be able to get away.
He chuckled to himself. "I can see that, little Star fire. You do indeed walk with flames. If you are here, it means you have passed the first two tasks. You should be proud of yourself. Even gryphons fail to make it to this portion of the test. You must be a strong warrior to have made it this far."
When he mentioned gryphons, I noticed that he almost smelled like an eagle, mixed with the scent of a lion. I couldn't place the scent because I've never encountered gryphons before. He had to be one. But why did he kidnap me and what the hell was this test he was talking about.
"What do you want with me? Why did you bring me here?"
He furrowed his brows and gave me a confused look. "I did not bring you here, little Star fire. As for what I want with you, I will do as the gryphon custom demands. I will fight you and kill you. You will die here with honour after facing the strongest warrior in the Gryphon kingdom."
This infuriated me. This jerk thought he could just kill me on a mountain where I would never be found. My bones would wither away just like all the people who had clearly been here before me. Did he kill all these people? There were a lot of bones on this mountain. And why the hell did he keep calling me 'little Star fire'? I may be much smaller than this giant, but I wasn't going to go down without a fight. If I died here today, he was going to die with me.
"You are NOT killing me! And stop calling me little Star fire!" I shouted at him.
He gave a deep sigh. "I sense an immense amount of power coming from you, little Star fire. It truly is unfortunate that you are going to die here. You would have made a strong mate."
The man was clearly delusional.
He jumped in the air again and held his hand back, preparing to land a punch as soon as he reached me. I stretched my hand out and waves of furious flames shot out of my hand, hitting the giant in the stomach and burning him.
Most people would have screamed in agony, but this man stood up and looked at me with raw anger in his eyes. He looked down at the large red and orange wound in the middle of his torso. It wasn't healing, and I could tell this surprised him. The seers I've met told me that the wounds created by my fire can't be healed, but I never thought I would see it in person.
The man and I stood for a minute, both waiting to see whether the wound would heal, but it didn't.
His face turned into a scowl as he inspected the third degree burn that would leave a permanent scar.
"You'll pay for this, little Star fire." he said in a low growl.
Before I could respond, he shifted into a large charcoal black gryphon with ebony black eyes. The feathers on his head and the fur on his body all had faint traces of blue in them. I couldn't help but marvel at the creature standing infront of me. It was bigger than any alpha wolf I've ever seen. It was even bigger than Orion. Although, perhaps Orion has grown since the last time I saw him.
The majestic creature flew into the sky before I could attack again. I looked up at the heavens to try and spot him when suddenly two vicious claws dug into my shoulders and lifted me into the air. He was crushing my bones and I could feel them cracking under the large claws.
I only have regenerative abilities in my hands. The rest of my body might as well be that of a human. This was going to kill me, but I would take him down with me.
I was screaming in agony as I felt the bones in my shoulders being shattered.
I increased the heat in my body until I felt like I was about to explode. His claws had to have been burning, but not enough for him to let go of me. I fought through the excruciating pain of my breaking bones and grabbed both claws with my hands. I conjoured the most vicious flames I could.
The claws burst into flames and I felt the waves of flames rushing to engulf the rest of the bird's body. I heard its screams through my own screams as it let me go.
I fell to the ground and landed on the ice with a thud, further breaking whatever bones I still had in tact. I watched the majestic creature fall to the ground as the flames engulfed it. He rolled around in the ice until the flames died.
When the majestic bird got up, it's claws which were previously white and grey, were now charcoal black. Half of its body was burnt and it was barely managing to take a single step.
I saw the creature transform back into the giant man with red hair. He did not have the same injuries as his beast and only had the third degree burn on his stomach. I realised I would have to kill both his human and beast form to end this man, but I couldn't move anymore. This was the end.
I watched the naked man walk towards me with a sly smile on his face. My wounds were too severe. I was going to die here today. I struggled to keep my eyes open, but I managed to stay awake long enough to see the man crouch down to me and put his two large hands over my shattered shoulders.
He chuckled to himself again. "Your'e lucky my little Star fire", I heard him say through my shallow breaths. "You have proven yourself to be a mighty warrior. You will be the Gryphon king's mate."
The pain and darkness enveloped me before I could respond.