Chapter 222: The Son Of The God Of Fire
[Music recommendation - Breaking Benjamin - The Dark of You (Audio)]
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It was for her alone that he, whose very nature was carved from passing judgment and upholding the laws of the world, was willing to break every rule ever written if it meant being torn away from her forever. She was the reason he defied the gods who had created him; the reason his heart was forced to beat again, even after it had stopped from Viva’s final strike, because he felt her presence.
Her. Only her. His Solaira... and his Evelyn in this life, and she would remain his in every lifetime to come. Whenever their souls were reborn as different people, in different forms, they would always find their way back to one another to uphold their eternal vow.
With profound emotion stirred by the memories of his past, the fire within him burst forth with full force; his divine aura, absent until now, erupted all at once.
The air around them grew scorching, and moments ago Ivan had been swallowed by darkness, yet now his aura blazed orange like living fire, making the world tremble beneath them. His hands, once limp at his sides, twitched before finally rising to wrap around her waist, drawing her impossibly close. A towering cyclone of flame roared to life around him, encircling both him and Eve, shielding them from every other gaze.
On feeling his strong arm wrap around her, Evelyn drew back slightly and opened her golden eyes, only to be met by his fiercely burning molten-orange ones, where not a single trace of darkness remained. Her eyes filled with fresh tears, and at last a beautiful smile spread across her face.
Ivan lifted his large, warm palms to her cheeks with such longing, such boundless love, that Eve felt utterly overwhelmed. Neither of them spoke a word. They simply closed the distance and crashed their lips together with a ferocity that made the fire surrounding them seem pale beside the blaze ignited in their hearts.
Eve wrapped her arms around his neck, threading her fingers through his hair as Ivan plunged his tongue into her mouth, deepening their fierce kiss. Their mouths moved hungrily against one another, their tongues battling for dominance.
While the two souls finally reunited within the heart of the fiery vortex, outside its blazing walls, smiles of pure joy blossomed across the faces of Cece, Damien, Edward, Alex, Caleb, Professor Dante, Professor Seira, Olive and Septimus as they witnessed Ivan finally freed of every trace of corruption.
"She’s done it at last," Damien murmured, a broad grin spreading across his face.
"Yes, she has," Zevran’s soul added, watching the two divine beings reunite with a gentle smile of his own.
A few even had tears in their eyes at the sight of such a beautiful reunion.
The blazing vortex surrounding the two figures began to shift, morphing into the shape of a massive dragon forged from divine fire. It unfurled its vast wings, revealing the pair still locked in each other’s embrace. A thunderous roar tore from its throat, sending goosebumps skittering across everyone’s skin at the breathtaking sight before them.
It lifted its head, opened its jaws, and hurled pure fire into the sky, as though proclaiming to the world the awakening of the one and only divine warrior, the wielder of the sacred flame of justice, the son of the god of fire....Malakai.
And at the sight before them, as though compelled by an unseen force, everyone dropped to their knees in reverence before the two powerful figures still held in each other’s embrace.
All present bowed in complete submission: Septimus, Cece, Damien, the lumens, the humans, even the royal soldiers of Dartmouth who had been fighting them only moments earlier.
All except Elara and Solan, who stood frozen, staring at Evelyn and Ivan with wide, stunned eyes.
Solan could not believe what his eyes were witnessing. The daughter he had never acknowledged once after his wife’s death stood revealed as a being of immense power, and not only that, she was now wrapped in the embrace of the man he had sworn to his wife he would never allow her to be with. Yet here he was, silently watching them, nothing more than a helpless spectator.
On the other hand, Queen Elara was shocked beyond words, unable to come to terms with the fact that the little girl she had tormented throughout her life, the one she had believed was powerless and easy to dispose of, was wielding powers far beyond her comprehension. She had always thought her husband was the strongest lumen alive, and that her son Ryan had inherited a similar level of power from him, though he was not there yet, as he was still young. Yet Evelyn had surpassed even her husband.
She now saw Evelyn as the greatest threat to her life, yet no matter how hard she tried, she could not find a way to twist this revelation in her son’s favour. Those powerful houses supporting Evelyn would rejoice the moment they learned of her abilities, especially if there was something tied to her past life that Elara did not fully understand.
So she simply stood there, frozen, staring at Evelyn with wide eyes, even as her knees threatened to bend and submit to her entirely.
The dragon roared again, a deafening, primal sound that travelled across the entire city like a shockwave. Windows rattled, torches flickered, and every soul lifted their gaze to the heavens, only for their eyes to widen in stunned disbelief at the sight of a colossal fire dragon blazing across the sky.
It was its second roar that finally made Evelyn and Ivan slowly pull apart, their breaths still mingling as they lifted their eyes to the creature above. The dragon beat its massive wings, each flap sending a strong gust of wind, before it shot upward, taking its flight in the night sky.
It soared above the city in a sweeping arc, before returning back to them. With a thunderous crash, it descended behind its master, its landing shaking the shattered building beneath them like an earthquake.
It’s two molten orange eyes that burned like furnaces locked onto Evelyn. And for a moment, the world seemed to hold its breath.
Then the great beast lowered its massive head, bowing to her with reverence so profound that even the air around them stilled, as though the very flames themselves acknowledged their rightful queen.
Another soft smile broke across Evelyn’s lips, and letting the hand that rested on Ivan’s bare shoulder slide free, she reached out and touched the dragon’s burning forehead, making it release a low, guttural growl as though it relished her touch.
Ivan’s lips pulled into a small smile at the interaction, but it didn’t last long as he soon drew her back into his arms, as if he could not tolerate her caressing anyone else but him, even if the dragon was merely the manifestation of his own power.
Damien, Cece, Edward, Oliver, Alex and Caleb, who all noticed his possessive behaviour, let out soft chuckles, and their hearts finally eased with the certainty that their Ivan had truly returned to himself.
Satisfied, the dragon let out one final rumbling growl before turning towards Ivan’s flame and slipping back inside him.
Ivan’s molten orange eyes shifted to Eve, and his calm expression immediately darkened into a deep frown at the sight of her condition. His gaze travelled from her beautiful face, where a small cut marked the corner of her lip, to her arms, littered with bleeding scratches. Then his eyes dropped lower, taking in the torn fabric of her dress, clearly ripped by force, and finally the gaping wound across her exposed thigh.
By now, the frown had hardened into something far more dangerous, rage pulsing visibly with the vein that stood out on his forehead. In a low, taut voice, he parted his lips and asked, "Who... who touched you?"
Evelyn met his eyes with a calm gaze. She had no desire to hide anything from him, nor did she care what became of the one responsible for the state she was in.
So she parted her lips and spoke a single word, "Valen."
The temperature that was already high began to climb into something scorching, forcing everyone nearby to rise up quickly and step back at once. The vampires and anyone within earshot heard them clearly, and they knew instantly that things were about to turn ugly, especially those familiar with their prince’s temper. Even the students who had once witnessed a glimpse of Ivan’s wrath during potion-making class grew tense, fully aware of how disastrous this could become. And that time, Evelyn had not even been hurt. Now, seeing her covered in bleeding wounds, they knew it would be far worse than before.
Suddenly, movement stirred on both sides where Viva had been thrown by the impact, and also from the place Valen had fled when Evelyn’s awakening had triggered the explosion.
