Cipher Code {complete}

Chapter Fifty Six: Their Father.

October, Year 483
Auro
North

"Eva, I don't think this is going to work."

Dawn was crouched low against the snow, watching the growing puddle that extended downwards from the point where her fingers touched the ground.

The plan was to get the massive Colossi to chase her into the pit, much like Hezekiah had done with the smaller ones. But the beast was large and heavy.

She had been melting the snow for what felt like hours, her exhaustion evident in the sweat trickling down her jaw, and yet it wasn't deep enough.

The creature wouldn't sink to his knees.

For a moment Dawn diverted her attention to Hezekiah. In the thick plains of snow he resembled a god. He melted and refroze the snow like it was second nature, weaving between the attacks of the lumbering creatures.

He was keeping them in place, stopping them from advancing towards the gate-towards Dawn. Anytime their fists managed to make contact with his body he seemed to shrug off the force while the Colossi scrambled back, wailing in pain and clutching their disintegrated limbs.

The snowy plain was already beautifully decorated with their bronze-blue blood but they didn't seem to be capable of dying.

Dawn had seen their repulsive heads roll, their limbs torn apart by the ferocity of Hezekiah's powers. And she had seen them recover, regenerating and growing limbs at a rate she could never hope to achieve.

From the battle she had learnt two things. One, that Colossi had no brain nor heart. And two, that Hezekiah Yong was a force to be reckoned with.

And yet my father managed to capture him, Dawn thought bitterly and acknowledged her father's power. He had been so strict when she was a child, determined to rule everyone but his staunch followers with a firm hand. Come to think of it, the only time she had seen him truly happy was with her mother, the only woman to ever leave him.

"Concentrate, girl!" A voice hissed in her mind and she was brought to the present.

Defeat the monster. Save Corey. She chanted in her mind, willing the new powers that played dormant beneath her skin to activate. Defeat the monster. . .

It started with a tingle in her fingertips then more steam began to rise. Save Corey. Save Corey. . . She rushed through the words furiously, closing her eyes as she imagined the heat buried in her flesh rushing down into the deep pond of water, slamming against its end.

The pool needed to be deeper.

Dawn melted more and more snow while keeping her focus on Corey. The deep lines that cut into his face when he frowned, the way the corners of his eyes wrinkled when he smiled. She wouldn't let him die. Not in this life.

The heat she controlled finally hit something that wasn't cold and Dawn knew she had hit rock. She sucked in a deep, frigid breath and kept going.

She started digging.

†

The capital was under siege. Rhea Lee let out a sigh and put down the book she held, the words she just read still echoing in her mind.