Heart of Fire Season One Episode Three

By TheCrimsonDM

Three girls fresh out of their magical school are all looking for their place in the world while dealing with the loss of one of their closest friends. Meanwhile an ancient evil is waking up. Can these young heroes deal with the new threat, or will they be devoured by their grief?

• Language: English
• Publisher: TheCrimsonDM
• Release date: Feb 20, 2019
• ISBN: 9780463805947

TheCrimsonDM

A creator filled with passion and insanity, their love of music, fantasy, anime, sci-fi, and video games has inspired them to create stories filled with wonder and weirdness. If there was one thing TheCrimsonDM wanted more than anything else it would be to spread the joy of creation across the world and to inspire others the same way they were inspired themselves. Also loves puppies and bunnies and long walks on the beach.

Book preview

Heart of Fire

Episode Three: City Slickers

Written by TheCrimsonDM

Heart of Fire

By TheCrimsonDM

Copyright 2019 Coriantumr Pace

Smashwords Edition

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to your favorite ebook retailer and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard-work of this author.

Special Thanks

To all my friends and family who have given me the moral support to dive head first into my art.

Table of Contents

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Seventeen

Chapter Eighteen

Chapter Nineteen

Chapter Twenty

Chapter Twelve: Dark Discourse

Lunaria ran across the woods on all fours. Each one of her four paws were large enough to crush stones beneath them, her blue-black fur made her almost invisible in the darkness of the forest. Her sheer size was larger than most humans were tall. The smells of the nocturnal forest all around her were freeing, the feeling of being out in the wilderness was even greater. Her dark green eyes could see in picture perfect clarity through the darkness, each piece of bark missing from the trees, each stone she passed by, and each of the nocturnal animals which all stayed out of her path yet couldn't help but to watch her as she ran past.

Being an ascended came with the added perk of being able to transform into a beast of legend, and Lunaria's was that of the Shadow Wolf.

Despite how much she enjoyed her time in the forest she still couldn’t separate herself from the thoughts of the argument she had held with her sister earlier this evening. Sol was vigorously encouraging her to take on an apprentice. They had been alive for nearly two hundred years rebuilding this broken and shattered land in the wake of God War, and in all this time Lunaria had never once met a creature who could truly appreciate the dark like she did. All of Sol’s students were privileged and practiced, usually in the magics of light which only further set them apart from Lunaria’s goals. Lunaria did not need a solar mage for her student.

Traveling like this usually set her free, but for tonight it felt like she was still trapped in her human mind. Even in wolf form she couldn’t separate herself from the latest argument she'd had with her sister. The worst part was the fact that she couldn't even understand why her elder sister was so obsessed with this idea of apprenticeship. Was it because of the difficulty the Ascended had with breeding? Surely Solaria wasn't worried about such things for her sister. Lunaria wasn't worried about it after all, she'd come to peaceful terms with not having children a very long time ago.

The sound of someone screaming off in the distance took Lunaria away from her thoughts. For a moment she considered ignoring it as she was still contemplating, but then she recalled who's forest this was, it was hers and it was her responsibility to look after those who traveled it. Lunaria ran towards the direction of the scream. It didn't take long before she caught the scent of blood. The darkness of the woods quickly gave way to the flickering orange light of a campfire. Lunaria chose to hide silently in the woods, her fur merging into the shadows to make her truly invisible to any looking in her direction.

Around the campfire Lunaria saw a group of men, each wearing black and green armor and holding riffles. Two unicorns, also wearing similar armor were residing off to the side resting their heads on the grass. Two large wagons with massive cages on each stood out to Lunaria’s sight. One of the cages was empty, but the other one had a small boy curled up into a ball staring darkly out over the edge of the wagon at the men around the campfire. Next to him lay a dead woman, the blood spreading out from her throat was still fresh.

One of the men sounded pissed as he spoke harshly, Why did you let the woman get a hold of your blade? We can’t have the slaves killing themselves before getting to the city.

One of the unicorns neighed as if laughing before adding, We still have the small one.

The same human replied, Yeah, fat lot of good that does us. Kids are hardly useful as slaves until their older.

One of the human’s sneered. Well… I wouldn’t say useless. His dark eyes filtered over to the kid in the cart with the kind of malicious intent that made the frozen cold in Lunaria’s heart sharpen into icicle daggers. Lunaria had seen enough, she knew that these were slavers and that they were all bad for her kingdom.

Sneaking around to where the unicorns lay was a trivial task. One of them was soundly asleep on his side. The other was only barely awake. They were so tiny next to Lunaria, and merely reaching over with her mouth wide open to snatch the waking one by the neck was simple and quiet. With a quick bite of her teeth the long neck in her mouth snapped. Dark crimson leaked into her mouth tasting sweet as ever, but on principle Lunaria dropped the body and focused on the other unicorn snapping its neck with just as much ease.

With these two down she stalked out of the shadows and into the light of the campfire. She was imposing in size standing nearly as tall as the wagon itself. She was also quiet making nary a sound as she walked. The men would never have even known she was there if one of them hadn’t glanced over at her at the last second.

He lifted his riffle, intent to wound Lunaria, but Lunaria wasn't just quiet she was also fast. She jumped, half like a streaking shadow, over to the man slamming one of her paws into his chest knocking him onto the ground. With him held under her paw he couldn't move if he tried, and after a little pressure both him and his armor crumpled underneath her. The other two men took aim and fired, but she vanished into a poof of shadows and smoke. For a moment they stared at the empty space, their eyes widening as they looked around as if trying to spot a ghost.

They were however looking in the wrong direction. Lunaria reappeared behind them through another cloud of shadows and smoke. She lashed out with powerful fangs and claws. She tore the remainder of the slavers into bloody ribbons. They never stood a chance.

Once she was finished with that she reverted to her human form. Fully clothed in a dress of dark blue and green she wiped her scarlet drenched mouth on her arm. That was very refreshing after dealing with her pushy sister tonight. Looking over she saw the boy, still staring with dark eyes at her.

She walked over to the cage, grabbed the door and yanked it off its hinges with only mild effort. Inside the boy stood, he was bruised and cut, covered in