Though the words seemed to simply be an audible repetition, there was definitely more raw force behind the second uttering.
Strangely, despite the reverberating sound in his skull and the fact that his body fairly shook with the sheer force of the words, the command didn’t sound like an angry order. Instead, it felt more like an insistent urging, as if it were a mighty call of nature needing to find release.
Kre opened his mouth to try and speak but found that words would not come. Instead, he felt the anger begin to again rise in his blood, threatening to envelop him with that white-hot seething fury that would rival the intensity of the flaming construct he now knelt before. He could not seem to reason out why he felt rage at this moment. The emotion just simply seemed to be, and he appeared to have no control over it.
Through the red haze that was beginning to cloud his vision, or maybe because of it as it helped to filter out the fire’s outermost aura, he thought he could make out various shapes in the dancing glow.
At first, it seemed as if the inferno had consumed a tall, young woman, flames arcing from behind her forming a sort of halo about her entire frame.
In the next moment, the halo shifted ever so slightly. It seemed to break near the bottom, releasing itself slowly as it arced upwards and out to each side. The new wings elongated and seemed to settle even as the figure in the middle shifted, growing taller and statelier.
The flaming wings curled in then, wrapping around the central body, distorting Kre’s view of the statuesque lady.
“Reveal Thyself”
Again, the same words, yet more impactful than the previous iterations. If he were not already kneeling on the ground, he was certain that the sheer force of will behind the intonation would have laid him flat on his back.
Something changed this time though. The fury he felt suddenly died down, as if hurriedly snuffed out for fear of someone spotting it. As with any flame that goes out, a small spark remained on his mental wick and for that instant that it still glowed, he could see that dark corner of his mind where the anger had risen from. The corner where the shadow that took the visage of his friend Noj lay.
The flaming construct in front of Kre changed then, in that same instant that he identified the source of his unwelcome emotion. The wings opened back up and spread out wide, revealing a massive creature of fire and light.
The being had both no shape and also a form that would forever be etched in Kre’s mind, instantly solidifying the stereotype of the stories that called the creatures of this form by the name dragon.
Kre lowered his head, all at once ashamed of viewing such a regal and majestic being with his self-judged unworthy eyes.
That’s when he felt the flames blast through him.