That fear led him to Avandriell, who would surely die with the tree. It was then that Asher realised he could no longer feel his companion. Her most basic thoughts and feelings were entirely absent, leaving the ranger with a cold and hollow sensation in the pit of his stomach.
Catching sight of a hornless Drake, Asher shrugged off his ill-feelings and focused on the present again. He was desperate to reach Adan’Karth before he touched the tree.
Approaching the trunk, he watched as dozens of Drakes placed their hands to the snow-white bark and drop to their knees. Slowly but surely, they began to glow, as if the sun itself was in their veins. The skin became hardened and crusted to mirror the bark of the tree until they stood as wooden statues.
“Adan!” the ranger bellowed, halting the Drake from pressing his hand to the tree.
“Asher?” Adan stepped away from his kin and met his friend with confusion. “Why are you here?” he asked, glancing back at the tree. “Time is against us - it will take all of us to focus on the fires.”
Asher stood before him, unsure now of what he had wanted to say exactly. “I… I just… It’s not fair!” he shouted over the increasing wind. “You shouldn’t have to do this!”
“There is no other way,” Adan told him. “We have to try!”
Asher was shaking his head. “This should never have fallen on you - any of you! You had a second chance at life!” The ranger’s shoulders sagged. “You spent so much of it saving me, over and over again. I’m so sorry, Adan. I’m so sorry. I failed you.”
Adan gave him a warm smile and gripped his arms. “You have not failed, good ranger! Fate comes for us all! If my people were destined to do naught but save the world, I can live with that!”
Asher could feel tears in his eyes. “If you touch that tree, you won’t be living with anything!”
The Drake offered him a knowing smile this time. “Every time you use magic, you will feel us in the currents that flow through you. Do not fear for us, Asher. It is not death we face this day. ’Tis life.”
With that, Adan’s hands slipped from Asher’s arms and he turned back to the tree. The ranger gave in to his impulses and grabbed the Drake, pulling him into a tight embrace. “You will not be forgotten,” he vowed.
Adan’Karth squeezed Asher once before extracting himself and moving deftly towards the tree. He slotted in between his kin and pressed his hand to the tree, accepting his fate. He fell to one knee before his pale skin took on a hue that could scarcely be viewed by the naked eye. As the brightness intensified, Adan looked back at Asher with one last smile, an image that the ranger would carry with him for the rest of his long days.
Then, the brightness died away, leaving a wooden extension of the tree where Adan’Karth had been kneeling. Up and down the base, the last of the Drakes were succumbing to the incomparable power of the tree. Craning his neck, Asher watched the fire intently, willing it to die out.
Nothing happened.
“Come on,” the ranger muttered under his breath. “Come on!” he growled. He had no god to pray to, only faith in his friend. “You can do it,” he insisted, wondering if he was already seeing a reduction in the size of the fire.
“Asher!” Nathaniel’s voice turned the ranger around. “The doorway is closing!” he warned. “It’s unstable! We need to leave, now!”
Asher didn’t want to leave - he wanted to watch, he needed to watch.
“Asher!” Nathaniel yelled again. “Get moving! Before it’s too late!”
Afraid that his friends would get stuck on this side of the doorway waiting for him, the ranger finally moved away from the wooden Drakes and joined Nathaniel on top of the root. They made all haste to return to the site of the doorway, regularly glancing back to scrutinise the flames. There seemed more smoke than fire now, a sight that sparked some hope in Asher.
Arriving at the small battle site, the doorway was, indeed, closing up, having already lost much of its height while its edges fluctuated and contracted. Reyna, Inara, Faylen, and even Kassian were still on this side of the doorway, all waiting for their friends. They would leave together or not at all.
“What happened?” Kassian asked, upon their arrival.
Asher met the Keeper’s glistening eyes before turning back to the tree. “I think they saved us,” he panted. “They saved us all.”
The companions watched for a few seconds longer, noting the lack of flickering flames that had burdened the top of the tree. They were doing it, the Drakes were bringing magic back to the world.
The cost of it would haunt the ranger for evermore.
A hand gripped his shoulder and he ducked to follow Nathaniel and the others through the shrinking gap. Returned to a reality he recognised, Asher watched the doorway collapse on itself.
Avandriell filled his mind almost instantly and he felt her great elation upon reconnecting. It was a bittersweet moment for the ranger.
Under an empty and bitterly cold sky, Vighon Draqaro slipped in the mud as he came down, sword-first, on his foe. The steel slid down through the fiend’s visor and face before slicing through the other side. There was little that could stand up to silvyr. When the king rose from his kill, bringing the blade with him, he marvelled as searing flames licked at the exquisite metal.
Vighon hardly had time to notice as he raised it high and parried an incoming blow. He could, however, feel the heat of those enchanted flames on his face. With renewed vigour, he spun his enemy’s
