The Battle Within

'No, no dying today! Think!' Aurora's mind raced as she began to drop through the sky.

The Empress was both thankful for and fearful of the height to which she had risen. It meant she had a couple of precious seconds to think, but it also meant that the ground would meet her with that much greater force.

From watching her messenger birds— and more recently the eagles—Aurora knew that she could aim her landing by manipulating her body. While she did not have wings, her arms and legs still pushed against the air, just to a lesser extent.

But where to aim?

Her instincts told her the ocean was too far. Taran had been dangling over the perimeter of the camp, and the time it would take to cross to a safe part of the ocean might as well have been an eternity.

'Think!' Already the whizzing air was drying her eyes and forcing them shut. Aurora fought against the urge and searched the ground.

Brinn might be able to slow her descent, if she were close enough, but Aurora had no idea where the elf was or if her power would be enough.

There was only one other viable option, and the Empress made the decision to go for it if she could. If she didn't make it, well...she supposed it wouldn't really matter much to her in a moment if that were the case.

To stop her haphazard spin, Aurora flattened her arms to her side. If an arrow worked by being streamlined, then surely her body would do the same. Sure enough, the ground consistently stayed below her stomach with her head aimed down.

Although she knew that this was not a good solution for long, the muscles of her neck and back responded better than her legs would in guiding her through the air.

As soon as the Empress had guided herself over the desired spot, which only took a split-second but felt like an eternity, she spread her arms and legs as wide as she could. It wasn't as good as the air filling the wing of a bird, but Aurora could immediately feel a slowing of her fall.

Not enough to keep her from dying, but it was something. She yanked at her tattered skirt and pulled the fabric as tight as the could. It slowed her even more, and helped her maintain her spot over her target on the ground.

The closer Aurora got to the ground, the larger she realized the spot she had selected was. The cauldron was nothing short of massive and could hold her and at least two dozen other humans comfortably for a swim. It was a marvel that such a thing had been created at all, no less in the middle of the forest by the Great Lake.

But Aurora had quite another thought on her mind. Her face grew dim. While there was plenty of water to catch her, there was another looming problem.

The cauldron was still boiling! Although Gandr had asked the men to douse the flames, the task had become too perilous and they were forced to abandon the cause. The legs under the cauldron were just not stable enough after enduring the flames for hours and hours on end.

As such, the conflagration still burned brightly and the water roiled above the heat.

'At least I don't have to worry about breaking the surface of the water...' From the few times that the Empress had gone swimming at a natural pool at the bottom of a waterfall, Aurora knew that unless something splits the water in front of the jumper, the initial contact could be quite painful--even bone-breaking.

Other than hope for a quick death, there was nothing to be done about the situation. No recourse. No back-up. Although Aurora did not regret the choice to help Alvar, she did wish it had ended differently. Her only comfort was that she knew Taran was behind her somewhere, suffering a similar fate.

The large pool grew nearer and nearer until Aurora could stand it no longer. She pressed her feet below her, knowing that doing so would prolong her death slightly. But she was not brave enough to die head first.

Of all the ways the Empress thought she was going to die, being plunged into a boiling pot of water had not made the list.

Aurora closed her eyes. From when she had been released until now, it had been only a few moments. Yet it felt both much longer and so much shorter than that.

In a flash, Aurora's family, friends and kingdom all came across her vision. Tears involuntarily flew from her face.

'I hope they know I love them.' At least she had gotten to see them all one last time. To hug them. To cherish their smiling faces.

She wished she had more time. Even a moment longer. Just one.

Her feet crashed against the water and her body followed through the hole which was made. Pain. Her shoes scraped against the bottom of the cauldron. Her legs buckled as her knees slammed into the metal floor.

Aurora stifled a gasp from the impact, nearly breathing in the cold water into her lungs. Cold? It was icy cold!

How in the world had it gone from boiling to near-freezing in the blink of an eye?

Breaking the surface of the water, Aurora searched for the only possible explanation.

"Reyan!"

The fairy flitted towards her as quickly as he could. He had not been fast enough--nor possibly strong enough-- to stop the woman as she fell through the air. But he had been able to send an icy blast into the cauldron to stop the Empress from being scalded.

"Are you alright?!" The old curmudgeon pulled his friend from the cauldron as she struggled to stay above the surface. Her shoulder was on fire from hanging so long and her legs and knees stung from their impact with the bottom of the large container.

If the fairy had not been there, Aurora likely would have drowned.

The fiery-haired woman looked through the camp and saw dozens of pinpricks of light appear within the ranks of the imperial troops. They began to freeze every creature who did not have a bandana in frosty blocks of ice. But the Empress did not have time to contemplate the arrival of the winter fairies. She had more pressing matters.

In the blink of an eye, both the creatures scrambled as quickly as they could away from the pot and into the safety of the trees. For another being had at last made his descent directly behind the Empress. Taran hadn't been aiming for the pool of water.

He had been frantically trying to regain control of his wings, but the more he flapped, the greater the tear in his skin had become until it had reached the top and stopped at the bone. The loose, fluttering pieces of skin gave him no help in his quest not to meet the ground. It was only by pure luck that he did not slam into the trees.

But the impact was nothing short of earth-shattering. The ground around the cauldron shook and cracked as Taran crashed into the metal casing.

Two of the supports below the massive bowl, which were already at their limit due to the heating and then sudden cooling, creaked and bent before giving way entirely. The cauldron tipped and a tidal wave of tainted water sloshed down the slope.

The current caught up each of the smaller containers as it washed down the slope, adding to the deluge. Reaching the trench which had been dug to pump out the water from the lake, Yumeto's bat elixir mixed with the water which flowed from the land of magic.

The pure water of the lake swirled around the intruding force for a moment, recognizing the potent potion as similar to itself. But there was something tainted in the new, foul liquid, and the water from the lake rejected it almost immediately.

Black bubbles formed along the edge of the trench and stretched into the lake. The surface of the water began to resemble the pot just before Aurora fell into it. Only this roiling water was not boiling; it was battling.

Although the troops on the ground could not see the shore, the bats overhead noticed the sudden change and began to grow restless.

Since they were all connected by the elixir, the sight was unsettling to them in a way they could not describe. They left behind their human victims and circled over the water in grim anticipation.

Aurora watched too, her eyes trained on the trench which bubbled higher with every moment. If it went on much longer, either the water would sprout legs and walk or there would be only froth left behind in the previously filled trench.

Things could not continue as they were.

And they did not. The battle came to a head. The water stopped bubbling and became suddenly still.

Absolutely still.

Then...the lake erupted.