Near the foothills of the Rocky Mountains, somewhere outside Los Angeles, California, a small crevice led deep into the earth. No wider than a man, the small chasm belched soot and foul-smelling sulfur into the air.
Residents who lived nearby had complained to environmental organizations when the rift appeared a few months earlier but no one had yet been able to make it far inside. The heat within the crevice was intense. The residents were told that it was probably a result of tectonic shifting along a fault line and that it was a flume leading to an underground magma pocket.
The chasm led further into the earth than the environmental organizations believed. Beyond the entrance of the cavern was a dizzying series of natural and unnatural caverns leading deep into the earth. Natural lava tubes merged into carved stone tunnels that transitioned into rough chambers filled with a multitude of stalagmites and stalactites.
Beyond the furthest of these expansive chambers, the passages all became worked stone. Like the story of all roads leading to Rome, the carven passages all led to a massive central chamber. In its depths, lava flowed freely in a blistering swirl that caused the air throughout the rounded room to dance in the heat.
Hovering above the lava, suspended by a latticework of catwalks and support pillars, a gargantuan dark stone castle rose from its charred island.
Pale-skinned men and women, the only color on their skin coming from the ashy soot that settled on their bodies, crossed the catwalks and entered the castle.
In the heart of the castle stood an obsidian throne, on which sat Lord Balor. The tall man leaned back against the chair, his dark hair cascading over his shoulders in waves. His body was draped in crimson and black clothes that clung to him in the oppressive heat. His body was soaked in sweat, adding to his sour disposition.
A Fire Warrior stepped through the throne-room doors and hurried to the Lord’s side. Leaning close, he whispered into Lord Balor’s ear.
“My lord, Lady Sammy and her warriors have returned from their mission.”
“And?” he asked, his voice echoing in the long chamber.
The warrior shook his head. Lord Balor dismissed him with a wave before clenching the arms of his chair in anger.
“Send her in,” he ordered. The warrior with whom he’d been speaking before the messenger interrupted them stepped to Lord Balor’s side.
Sammy entered with a small entourage of Fire Warriors behind her. Her silky dress from the spring formal was gone, replaced by black leather pants and half-jacket. A similarly short shirt clung to her body beneath the jacket, exposing her midriff.
The group approached the throne and stopped at the base of the steps. As a group, they bowed before their Lord.
“We’ve returned, Lord Balor,” Sammy said. Her nervousness was evident in her tone.
She raised her head and looked at the pair of intimidating Fire Warriors on the raised throne dais. Lord Balor towered over the other Fire Warriors. His size and fighting prowess combined to solidify his place as Lord over their offshoot clan.
Sammy knew that not all the Fire Caste agreed with Lord Balor’s plans to assassinate the remaining Wind Warriors but none dared speak against him for fear a violent reprisal.
The man beside Lord Balor lacked the physical stature but scared her far worse. General Abraxas was virtually unparalleled in his fighting skill and ruthlessness in battle. Their clan had already lost a number of Fire Warriors just because of Abraxas’ displeasure.
“Did you succeed in locating the new Wind Warrior?” Lord Balor asked. Sammy knew he was leading her into a verbal trap but she dared not defy him or lie to him.
“We did, my Lord.”
“And is he dead?” The words were laced with a barely veiled threat.
“N-no, my Lord,” Sammy stuttered. She closed her eyes and tensed in anticipation of his retribution. “But I have left men in his town. We will succeed…”
Lord Balor opened his hand and a jet of searing white flame flew from his palm. The fire engulfed the Fire Warrior kneeling beside Sammy. The man screamed in anguish but the yell was short-lived. The heat from the flame turned him to ash almost instantaneously.
Sammy felt the waves of heat rolling over her and felt her hair threaten to ignite from the onslaught. She clenched her jaw tightly and bore the pain the heat caused on her exposed flesh.
When the punishment was done and the warrior burned to black ash, Lord Balor dismissed the flame.
“I won’t accept failure,” he stated angrily. “Were it not for the fact that you are my daughter, it would have been you I burned today.”
Sammy nodded. “Yes… Father.”
Lord Balor waved his hand and dismissed the rest of the Fire Warriors. “I wish to speak to my daughter alone.”
Sammy looked up as the booted feet of the other warriors quickly retreated from the chamber. General Abraxas still stood at his place of honor beside her father.
“Tell me of this new Wind Warrior.”
She swallowed hard, her throat parched from the heat. As much as she loathed lying to her father for fear of his reprisal, she knew she couldn’t tell him the whole truth. She couldn’t tell him that she had thought about him every night since meeting him. She couldn’t tell him that she hated herself for betraying him. She couldn’t tell him that she had cried herself to sleep that night after the spring formal and about how she longed to run back to him that very night and apologize profusely.
Sammy had never been anything other than a brashly independent woman but the connection she felt with Xander was far beyond anything she understood.
“He’s new to his powers,” she explained. “He’s still trying to figure them out but he’s a quick learner.”
“And yet he defeated you,” General Abraxas hissed. His voice was like a serpent, sliding between his sharpened teeth.
“I wasn’t prepared for his level of skill. I’d be better prepared if we met again.”
“I’m glad to hear you say that, my daughter. You’re going to have another chance to redeem yourself. You’re going to return to the surface and find this Wind Warrior. And this time, you won’t fail me.”
Sammy’s heart pounded in her chest. It was more than she could have hoped for. Her father was going to send her back to Xander, completely unaware that she couldn’t harm him if she wanted to.
“And to make sure you don’t fail me again, you’ll be accompanied by General Abraxas. He will ensure the Wind Warrior dies this time.”
Her breath froze in her throat. Abraxas was ruthless and unstoppable. There was no way Xander could survive against him.
“Is that absolutely necessary, Father?” she asked. “This new warrior is little more than a child. He doesn’t pose a threat to us. I expected him to be like you always described the Wind Caste to be: violent, unstable, and dangerous. He wasn’t any of these things. Couldn’t we just—?”
“Silence!” Lord Balor yelled. The room seemed to shake in response to his rage. “You will find this boy and this time you won’t come home until you succeed.”
General Abraxas smiled wickedly, his sharpened teeth glistening in the torchlight. He leaned dangerously forward from his place beside the throne. “And this time when you two meet, you’ll make sure that either he dies… or you do.”
Lord Balor shot an angry glance at his general before returning his glance to his daughter. “Don’t fail us again.”
“Yes, Lord Balor,” she replied sheepishly. Tears stung her eyes and she kept her head lowered so her hair concealed her face. Her heart ached and her stomach twisted itself in knots. She didn’t know how to save Xander, especially from someone as maniacal as Abraxas. If there was a way, however, she knew she’d figure it out. Somehow.
The large throne room doors swung shut as Sammy left. General Abraxas took a step down from the raised dais and stood before Lord Balor. The bald General ran a hand over his sweaty scalp and exposed his rows of filed teeth.
“She’s going to be trouble,” he told the
Lord.
Lord Balor’s stern gaze remained on the closed door as though he didn’t hear Abraxas speak.
“When the time comes, she won’t do it,” he continued unabashed by Balor’s seeming indifference. “She has feelings for the Wind Warrior. She won’t be able to kill him.”
“Then you’ll do it yourself,” Lord Balor said finally as he rubbed his chin thoughtfully. “That should be the only thing that concerns you right now. Leave my daughter to me.”
“If she fails, our master won’t be happy.”
Lord Balor slammed his gauntleted fist down onto the arm of the throne. The sound exploded into the large room, echoing around its vaulted ceiling.
“Don’t you dare lecture me on the will of our master!” he bellowed. “And don’t you ever threaten my daughter again. Need I remind you of our master’s plans for her?”
General Abraxas bowed apologetically. “Forgive me, my Lord. I haven’t forgotten our master’s plans. Perhaps I overstepped my bounds. I meant only that Sammy walks a dangerous path.”
“Then it’s your job to keep her safe, Abraxas. Our master won’t accept any harm coming to her.”
Lord Balor stood from his throne and walked around behind the raised dais. He brushed aside one of the hanging tapestries, revealing the stonework wall behind it. He ran his fingers along the wall until they found a small, recessed gray stone amidst a sea of others. A grinding noise filled the room as he pressed the innocuous stone. The rest of the stonework before Lord Balor parted, revealing a secret passage that led deeper into the volcanic cavern. Heat far more intense than that within the throne room washed over the pair of Fire Warriors as they stood at the precipice.
He turned away from the opening and faced the General again. “You told my daughter that either the Wind Warrior dies or she would. I make you the same promise, General. If any harm comes to Sammy, I will give you a quick death, which is more than our master would grant you. Keep her safe or don’t bother coming back.”
General Abraxas bowed again, though his expression held nothing but contempt for the Lord.
Lord Abraxas stepped through the secret passage and the stonework closed behind him.
Abraxas dropped the pretense of piety and walked back to the dais. He climbed its narrow steps before turning toward the empty room. With a flourish, he collapsed into the hard throne. A wicked smile spread across his lips as he surveyed the room and imagined the Fire Caste prostrate before him in reverence.
Sammy watched through the narrow crack between the throne room doors. Her eyes widened as her father disappeared through the hidden doorway behind the hanging tapestry. Even from the great distance, she could practically see General Abraxas’ contemptuous snarl as the warrior took his seat on Lord Balor’s throne.
Ignoring the General, her gaze fell back onto the tapestry that now concealed the secret opening in the rock. She had lived in the castle for nineteen years, leaving only in her attempt to kill Xander, and yet had never seen that opening before. Whatever lay beyond, Sammy felt irrevocably drawn to it. It pulled on her in much the same way Xander had when they first met. It was a surreal feeling, as though forces outside her and beyond her control were pulling her through her own life like a marionette.
“What are you doing there?” a Fire Warrior guard asked as he approached her from behind.
Startled, Sammy spun quickly toward the man. When the guard realized he was addressing the daughter of Lord Balor, he quickly averted his eyes and his stern expression softened.
“Forgive me, Lady Balor. I didn’t realize it was you.”
Sammy cleared her throat, uncomfortable with being addressed as part of the Fire Caste royalty.
“What can I do for you?” she asked, her mind drifting again to the secret passage and whatever lay beyond.
“I was ordered to escort you to your quarters.”
Sammy looked longingly over her shoulder toward the crack between the doors before sighing. She nodded wordlessly and followed the guard away from the throne room doors.