The Flame Lily

There weren't always dragons in the valley. It really was an accident. I take most of the responsibility, but why would a wizard leave an apprentice alone without proper training. I was in the midst of studying when Azin disappeared.

He was there one minute, and when I turned around, he was gone. Hours passed, and Azin still hadn’t reappeared. So I decided to sift through all his books and tried to find the right locater spell. There were so many different ones. At first, I thought it was one of Azin’s elaborate tests, but this time, I couldn’t find any clues he usually left behind. How would I know which one to use? We hadn't been over this kind of thing before. I looked for hours as I read everything about finding someone or something.

Finally, one leaped out at me. This had to be the right one. I grabbed the book and almost everything I needed to set the spell in motion. I packed a few things in case my journey was long. Once outside, I required one final ingredient. It was a Flame Lily. This flower wasn’t too common in Locryn Valley, so finding it would be an adventure. I’d only seen one in my life, and oddly it was just a week before Azin disappeared. He pointed them out to me as we traveled back to his cottage on our last journey. These flowers really did resemble a flame with the way the yellow and red petals curved up in the air. Azin told me he heard tales of dark wizards using Flame Lilies to summon evil entities.

As I thought back about the weird grin Azin had on his face while telling me stories of this flower, I couldn't help but think maybe the spell was one of his elaborate tests. Why else would he stop and explain some history of the Flame Lily? Either way, I knew standing around wasn’t getting me any closer to finding him, so l I started walking. It would take me at least a day to reach the flowers, and I only had a few hours of daylight left.

I planned to walk to my friend Bingle's treehouse. I figured I could reach his place just before the sun went down. Bingles was a gnome who lived deep in the forest of Locryn Valley. He was an outcast who left his family to spare them the shame because he could never quite get his magic to work properly. It was almost like it did the exact opposite of what he wanted to do. He never let it get his spirits low though he always seemed happy. I only hoped he was home.

By the time I reached Bingles, the sun had gone down. I could hear all the creatures of the night scurrying around. The light fairies filled the trees. Each fairy had its own unique light color. I watched as the trails of gleaming, colorful dust fell on the ground around me. My favorite was when the glowing dust fell on the wild forest flowers. For a few moments, the flowers would be luminant. I always loved the nighttime in Locryn Valley. To me, that's when the true magic came alive. The most potent beauty spell couldn’t compare. Azin taught me that if you could see the glow of the fairies, that meant no danger was near. Somehow the fairies could sense darkness and evil.

Right when I went to knock on Bingle's door, it swung open.

“Ermin, to what do I owe the pleasure?”

“Hi, Bingles. I had to come your way to find a Flame Lily. Azin disappeared, and I need one to do a locater spell.”

“Azin disappeared?”

“Yes, but I have a feeling this may be one of his tests.”

“Well, if a Flame Lily is all you need, I have one in my treehouse. That’s my favorite flower, so anytime I see them, I bring some home.”

“Oh, Bingles, you’re my hero! You just saved me a day’s journey.”

“I don’t know if I’m a hero, but if I would do anything to help out my good friend Ermin.”

“I’m so grateful for you, Bingles. You’re the most faithful friend I have.”

Bingles and I talked into the night and finally fell asleep in the wee hours of the morning. When we woke up, we gathered everything for the locater spell. According to the book, we had to cook down the lily for hours until it made almost a paste consistency. Once that was done, I mixed in a few more ingredients. I had to smear the paste all over a personal object of Azin’s, which had to include some DNA of the person. The only thing I found was a comb that had a few pieces of Azin’s beard hair.

Bingles and I gathered more supplies in case it took more than a few days to find him. We got our satchels on, and I rubbed the paste all over the comb. All I had to do was speak the unique words, and the comb would take off in the direction of Azin.

“Concilio et Labore Locatious Ad Fonte!”

A few moments went by, and nothing happened. I started to feel like a failure. Bingles only had one Flame Lily, so starting over wasn’t an option. What did I do wrong?

“Ermin, why didn’t it work?”

“I don’t know, Bingles. I followed everything right, I thought?”

“It's probably my fault Ermin. I always mess everything up.”

My spirits dropped down so low. I started to think I wasn’t cut out to be a wizard. Then out of nowhere, the comb lifted and began to float slowly through the forest.

“Bingles, it worked!” I yelled with excitement!

He looked up with a huge smile.

“I knew you could do it, Ermin!”

We followed the comb through the forest. It was almost nightfall when we decided to stop until morning. We grabbed the comb and secured it for the night. We could hear it banging against the box as it tried to get out. Honestly, I was pretty annoyed by it. The only good thing that distracted me was when the beautiful light fairies came out of the trees. They always put me in a zen mood. Eventually, we both drifted off to sleep.

I awoke to a loud bang. When I opened my eyes, it was still dark out, and all the light fairies had disappeared. I’d never been in a situation where they hid. I panicked and scrambled around. Thankfully our fire had put itself out, so I didn’t have to work about the smoke and flames giving us away. I quietly woke up Bingles.

“Bingles, get up. I think there’s evil afoot.”

He quickly sat up and helped me grab our things. We hid what we could in the bushes as fast as possible. In the silence, all we heard was the comb banging inside the box. I reached inside and held onto it as tightly as I could. We watched behind a tree and waited for whatever it was to come by. We weren’t sure what was lurking in the night. This part of the forest was known for flesh-eating ogres. I’ve never actually seen one; I only heard stories. I only hoped that it couldn't listen to my heavy breathing. My heart was beating so fast that I felt like it would jump out of my chest. 

We stayed behind that tree for what seemed like an eternity. Finally, out of the corner of my eye, I saw a black figure of what appeared to be a man. I tried to slow my breathing as it got closer. Bingles was breathing so loud I had to cover his mouth. I gave him a look and could see the absolute terror on his face. When it got closer, I confirmed it was a man. It turned out to be Treken, the evilest wizard in Locryn Valley. You didn’t dare get in his way. He would kill anyone in his path for no reason. Azin and Treken had been in many fights since I started my apprenticeship. If he saw me, he would kill me on the spot or anyone who knew Azin.

Treken stopped right by the tree we were hiding behind. Bingles and I held our breath. It felt like he was looking right into our souls. Did he see us? I just knew he was going to strike at any minute. But then, out of nowhere, we heard a noise come from another part of the forest. Treken looked over and bolted towards the sound. We stayed behind the tree for a long while to ensure he was gone entirely.

When we thought it was safe, we picked up all our stuff from the bushes and decided to let the comb loose and continue our journey. The fairies came back out shortly after, so we knew it was safe to keep going. We walked until the sun came up. I was glad it was daylight; Treken’s face was still burned into my mind. Since then, I felt like we were being watched. I could tell Bingles was in constant fear as we walked on. I felt terrible for dragging him into this.

Suddenly, the comb stopped in front of a giant rock. I was so confused. What would Azin be doing behind this rock? I had no idea how I was going to move it. I thought back on all my training on moving objects. All he taught me was to move the small stuff.

“Bingles, I don’t know how we’ll get this huge rock out of the way?”

“Ermin, I think I can do it. I don’t tell many people this, but I have super strength.”

“You really are my hero, Bingles. I may not be much help, but I will push with you!”

We pushed on the rock as hard as we could. I was shocked when it started moving. As soon as the comb had enough space, it floated behind the rock into the darkness. Right as it went in, a bright light peered through the cracks. A piercing roar filled the air. The sound was so loud it dropped Bingles and me to the ground. My ears throbbed in pain. I saw blood oozing out of Bingle's ears. He tried to tell me something, but all I could hear was ringing. I looked up above the rock, and in glowing letters, I saw the words Hic Sunt Dracones. If I remembered right, that meant Here There Are Dragons.

“What have I done?” I yelled!

I pointed to the words to show Bingles. I saw the shock on his face. My hearing was muffled, but it slowly started coming back! Then out of nowhere, Treken appeared.

“I knew my plan would work. I can’t believe the Flame Lily didn’t give it away!” Treken said with pure evil in his voice.

“What plan?”

“You’re a fool, Ermin! I’ve been impersonating Azin for the last week. Only good wizards can locate dragons now. I could never convince Azin to do it for me. Can you imagine the betrayal I felt by my own brother? All he had to do was one simple task, and this all could have been avoided.”

“What have you done to Azin?” I screamed to Treken!

“Oh, if we’re lucky, hopefully, he’s dead by now! According to my time clock, Azin only has a few hours left until my chamber runs out of air.”

Flames began to shoot out around the rock. It started to crack down the middle from all the heat. The screeching roar struck our ears once more. I could feel the warm blood as it leaked down my face. The rock completely broke in half. I ran to Bingles and pushed him out of the way before the rock crushed him. We watched as hundreds of dragons filled the sky. If I weren’t so terrified of everything that just happened, I would be in awe of the stunning beauty of all the dragons. They were all different colors red, black, blue, purple, and orange. There were so many, and they flew so fast that it was hard to get a great look.

Treken yelled, “ Good luck finding Azin,” as he vanished into a cloud of smoke.

Bingles and I looked at each other, and we both knew we had to save Azin! But could we do it in time?