Born In Flames by Candace Knoebel Page B

right?” I looked up at her, my sight finally clearing.
Her lips were pressed into a hard line, her expression barren and humorless.
“Right, you’re not kidding.”
“The Draconta is the faction of humans and dragons that live inside the Obsidian Chasm.”
“Okay…so dragons and Mages…crazy ladies, oh my.” I rolled my eyes. But somewhere deep inside, the pieces were slowly forming into a distorted picture. A picture that resembled me, only I wasn’t human…I was something else, something serpent-like with angry-red eyes.
“Look for yourself,” she said flatly, stepping aside.
The overwhelming brilliance of the Lyceum subsided as my eyes finally adjusted to the purewhite marble that seemed never-ending, covering the floors all the way up to the ceiling. There was a massive fireplace that took up most of a wall located at the back of the room, its flames burning a greenish-blue. The mantle was made of a gold so bright it could have been carved from the sun itself.
A breath-taking mural of constellations adorned the top of the dome-shaped ceiling. I squinted–the constellations seemed so real, as if the Mages had summoned a clear midnight night sky to shine inside their home. The stars twinkled amongst the velvet black background, almost as if moving in a magical flow.
Everything seemed suspended, somehow floating on thin air. Shelves ran up the walls, filled with trinkets and books and globes that floated effortlessly. The tables that were scattered around the room had no legs. There were people, or at least beings, moving around us and through us. We must have been invisible. It seemed busy but silent at the same time. Like magic.
Lady Eve took a step forward, expecting me to follow suit. “Mages of every stature, from the lowest ranking Sage Mage, to a Grand Mage like Myrdinn over there,” she said, pointing to a silver-haired man, “dwell here.”
My eyes followed her line of sight, lingering on the man she had just mentioned. Didn’t I know him from somewhere? Those lavender eyes seemed so familiar. I walked over to where he sat, next to the fire, and leaned in closer, trying to remember.
“And you?” I questioned, still inspecting the man she called Myrdinn, enthralled by his chiseled face and silver hair.“How do you tie into all of this?”
“That is of no importance right now,” she quickly shot back, pulling me away from the man called Myrdinn. I was about to yank my arm from her when she suddenly sucked in a hissing breath. I turned to see where she was looking as the room muted and everyone froze, heads pointing to the floor. The air was thick and pungent with fear.
There he was.
My breath caught as my heart slammed against my chest. I couldn’t take my eyes off him and felt a weird pulling sensation towards him. I knew him somehow. Zordon.
He looked over to me, eyes flaring with hatred. For a brief second I felt caught and thought that he was going to run towards me. I thought he was going to kill me.
But as the seconds elapsed and nothing happened, I remembered we were invisible and turned around to see just where his eyes were piercing. A lady, with long flowing champagnecolored hair that sparkled like a moonlit waterfall, sat alone in the corner. Her pensive face looked familiar.
Eve elbowed my side and whispered, “That is the Arch Mage I spoke of, Liege Zordon, with his two sons, Zane the oldest, and Zhax the youngest.”
The room remained silent as Zordon strolled through the Lyceum, his obsidian cloak billowing after his footsteps like a black cloud. The air felt weighted, like a storm was growing stronger with every step he took. His two sons followed on either side of him, their gazes arrogantly sweeping the room, snickering at every head that bowed.
“The lady behind us is his wife,” Eve sneered, her lip curling in distaste.
I couldn’t take my eyes off the trio; their presence seemed to take up the entire open-aired room. The younger son, Zhax, favored his