Chapter 33 The Father of Fire
The room was shaking. The giant red dragon pushed its head through the broken wall, its scales hot enough to melt the floor. I looked at its eyes. They weren't just red; they were full of a memory I thought was buried forever.
"Dad?" I whispered. My voice was a tiny sound in the middle of the chaos.
The dragon let out a low growl that made the glass windows shatter. "The man you called father is gone, Elara. He was just a shell. I am the fire that lived inside him. And I want what was stolen from me."
Kate, my editor, stepped forward. Her flaming sword was bright, and her silver tattoos were glowing like neon lights. She didn't look like an office worker anymore. She looked like a general from a nightmare.
"Step back, Elara," Kate said. "You’ve done your job. You wrote the story they wanted. Now, give me the child. He is the only thing that can put this beast back in the cage."
"No!" Xavier growled, stepping in front of me. He bared his teeth at the dragon and then at Kate. "No one touches our son. Not a dragon, and not a woman with a sword."
I clutched the golden baby to my chest. He was still glowing, but his face was changing. He looked confused. He looked sad. He was just a baby, but he was being hunted by the whole world.
"You don't understand, Elara," Kate said, her eyes fixed on the dragon. "The 'contract' wasn't just for a book. The Agency used your stories to track the energy of the Silver Line. Every word you wrote gave them the data they needed to find the King's Heart. And now, your father, or what’s left of him, is here to take it back."
"I don't care about contracts!" I screamed. I felt the black scales on my arms burning. The revenge I wanted wasn't against the humans anymore. It was against everyone who had used me as a pawn. "You lied to me, Kate. You were my friend!"
"I was your watcher," Kate said, her face cold.
The dragon lunged. Its massive teeth snapped inches away from Xavier. I felt the heat blast against my skin. The president and the other leaders were screaming, trying to crawl out of the room, but the dragon swiped its tail and crushed the exit.
"Give me the heart!" the dragon roared.
Suddenly, the golden baby in my arms stood up. He didn't look like a baby anymore. He looked like a toddler, his golden skin shimmering. He reached out and touched the dragon’s nose.
The dragon froze. The fire in its eyes flickered and died.
"Daddy?" the boy whispered.
The dragon’s scales began to turn from red to gray. It shrank, its massive body folding in on itself until a man lay on the floor. He was old, thin, and covered in burns. It was my father.
"Elara..." he coughed, reaching out a shaky hand. "I'm sorry. They... they put the fire in me. I couldn't stop it."
I ran to him, falling to my knees. "Dad! We can save you. The baby, he can fix you!"
"No," my father whispered. He looked at the golden boy. "He can't fix a soul that's already burnt out. Elara, listen to me. Kate isn't the real enemy. The agency wasn't the top of the mountain. There is another group. The 'Readers': They are the ones who watch us through the screens. They are the ones who decide who lives and who dies."
"What are you talking about?" I asked, my heart cold with fear.
"We are a show, Elara," my father said, his voice fading. "And they just canceled the season."
Kate let out a sharp laugh. "He’s right. And the only way to save ourselves is to give the readers a finale they will never forget. A sacrifice."
She raised her flaming sword and pointed it right at Leo and Elias, who had just burst into the room.
"If I kill the first two sons," Kate said, "the Readers will be happy. They love a tragedy. And they will let the rest of us live."
"You touch them, and I will rip your soul out!" I roared.
I didn't wait. I let the dragon energy inside me take over. My body grew larger. My claws turned into white-hot metal. I lunged at Kate, but she disappeared in a puff of smoke.
"The sacrifice must happen, Elara!" her voice echoed from the ceiling.
Suddenly, the floor beneath Leo and Elias opened up. They fell into a pit of black ink.
"NO!" I dove after them, but a hand caught my ankle.
It was my father. He wasn't weak anymore. His eyes were glowing red again.
"Let them go, Elara," he hissed. "It's the only way we all survive."
I looked at my father, the man I had mourned, and realized he was gone. This was just the fire talking.
I kicked him in the face and jumped into the black pit.
I was falling through the dark. I could hear Leo and Elias screaming my name. I reached out, my fingers brushing against theirs.
But then, a bright light appeared at the bottom of the pit.
It was a computer screen.
I saw a hand holding a mouse. I saw a cursor moving toward a button that said 'DELETE ALL.'
"Stop! "I yelled, but I was just a character on a screen.
The cursor clicked.
Everything went white.
I woke up on a cold, metal table. There were no scales. There was no dragon. I was in a hospital room.
A nurse walked in, holding a clipboard.
"Good morning, Elara," she said. "The surgery was a success. We removed the tumor. But I’m afraid there’s some bad news."
"Where is Xavier?" I asked, my voice dry. "Where are my sons?"
The nurse looked at me with pity. "Honey, you don't have any children. And there’s no one named Xavier on your visitor list."
She handed me a book. It was the book I had been writing. The cover had my name on it.
The title was 'The Lycan King’s Stolen Heir.'
"You wrote a beautiful story while you were under anesthesia," the nurse said.
I looked at the book. My hands began to shake. Then, I saw it.
On the very last page, in tiny, silver handwriting that only I could see, were the words:
'Stay in the dream, Mommy. We Are Coming For You.'
Suddenly, the hospital window shattered. A golden wolf jumped through the glass, his eyes full of fire.
"Run, Elara!" he roared.
But he wasn't looking at me. He was looking at the nurse.
The nurse’s face began to peel off, revealing the red eyes of a machine.
"The story isn't over yet," the nurse said.