The Orb of Fire | Teen Ink

The Orb of Fire

September 1, 2021
By aditya_aysola, Albany, New York
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aditya_aysola, Albany, New York
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Favorite Quote:
"Practice does not make perfect. Only perfect practice makes perfect." ~ Vince Lombardi


Author's note:

I had wanted to write a piece for a very long time that signifies the importance of persevering and persistence. And, this is what I came up with... 

 We were all sitting in the Fire Army room and the Fire King’s retinue was informing us of our mission. A few weeks ago, the Fire King’s most prominent possession The Orb of Fire was stolen by the Ice Kingdom from its rightful pedestal in the fire Orb room. Once the orb was taken from its pedestal a timer was set automatically and the orb would slowly crystalize and freeze up and would officially become the property of the Ice Kingdom. The Orb of Fire was used for many, many years in the Fire Kingdom to protect and defend it along with the guardians. The Fire Kingdom’s retinue departed  my two best friends Colton and Larroy and myself on a mission to retrieve the Orb of Fire and resinate it back to its rightful owner our master the Fire King.  None of us are normal mortals, we are filled to the brim with magic and training that no mere mortal can dream of endeavoring. The three of us were trained by the Fire Kingdom to protect and defend the kingdom and its people at all costs. We signed an oath claiming that we would always stick with the Fire Kingdom even in the times of dark. The Orb of Fire could see anything that was desired in the future and, in the wrong hands great destruction and mayhem will arouse while yielding the orb. During the time of the mission, we only had 5 hours before the Orb of Fire crystalized and turned to ice. This was the most dangerous and grueling quest I had ever went on in my career. 


Larroy was a little taller than me and very strong, he could summon colossal fireballs and throw them around, Larroy had black, wavy hair. He had to move his hair out of his face every once in a while, which I thought was pretty funny.  Colton was the exact opposite of Larroy’s physical features, he was skinny but had a lot of inner strength to use his fire magic. Colton had a lot of flexibility. He could twist and turn his bodies in ways that seemed unimaginable. Everyday Colton would wake up and commence his day by working on his Guide to staying healthy for Fire Soldiers. Colton was as flexible as elastic gym bands. Larroy however, didn’t have the patience and the will power to start his day off in such a queer way. My parents came forward and hugged me goodbye, wished me a safe journey and told me to be cautious around the Ice Kingdom. I thanked them for showing their immense love to me, and our journey commenced. 


The three of us mounted three black Friesian horses with weapons, a map and a watch to keep track of when the Orb of Fire would crystalize. Fire Soldiers were trained to be peaceful in the most chaotic of situations and there were different methods to  maintaining peace and controlling our inner zeal. The Sun was beating hard down on our backs, and, it was perfect to fuel our fire powers up to the optimal level, for when we entered the Ice Kingdom zone and there was no sun. It was starting to get chilly, and that was a major problem for the three of us. We didn’t want our powers extinguishing like water on fire. 


“Thanks to the Ice Kingdom, we have to go out, risk our lives in order to resinate our orb back,” Larroy mumbled. 


“Stop complaining Larroy!” Colton said, trying to form tranquility in the air. But, it could clearly be seen that Larroy was furious. Larroy picked up his hand abruptly  and brushed his hair out of his face angrily, while his other hand was busy holding on to a rope on the saddle of the horse. The trio of teenagers were heading into the Ice Kingdom territory now. I could feel the hair on my back standing up, and goosebumps form on my arms. The horses went from a speed of lighting fast like they should be, to a slow trot. I looked at the ground, I could see watery snow on the ground, we were officially in the Ice King territory. As of right now, we are about half-way there, to reach the Ice palace. With about four hours left, I felt like we were doing pretty good on our trek. But, who knows what hindrances were awaiting before us. The Ice Kingdom could use The Orb of Fire to track down the three of us, and could potentially know our very next move. 


It was getting awfully cold in our vicinity. I assumed the Ice Kingdom controlled the temperature to be in the negatives. The Ice King and his retinue could control everything that was inside their kingdoms vicinity at their will, just like we can in the Fire Kingdom, avalanches, ice rain and literally anything else you could think of. And, with our Orb, the Ice Kingdom seemed unstoppable now.  We stopped, and took out three heavy Fire Soldier coats from Colton’s backpack and put them on. 


“Ahhh...” Colton exclaimed like he had just gotten out of a sauna “much better” he continued. I could see the anxiety picking up in Larroy’s face. I wanted to calm him down, but I felt it was useless. Words couldn’t change Larroy’s emotions. 


On spur of moment, the ground started rumbling and, almost immediately I could feel a quivering sense in my stomach. I halted my horse and stared at the snowy ground trying to figure out where those rumbling sounds were coming from. I looked up at a very nearby mountain, and, it was there, coming down fast. 


“AVALANCHE!!” I screamed. “Giddy-up!” I screamed to my horse. The others followed my lead. My father always told me to be cautious in and around the Ice Kingdom. The monstrous avalanche came crashing down from the mountain and hit us, blinding us. We didn’t escape the avalanche in time. The Ice Kingdom knew we were coming to retrieve the orb of fire. They were trying to slow down our process enough to let the orb crystalize in their chambers on their pedestal. My head was throbbing with pain. I opened my eyes and all I could see was white snow around me. My whole life, I had wanted to go on a top secret espionage and now I’m sort of on one that I absolutely despise. I had wished the Fire Kingdom could’ve enhanced their defenses. 


“Guys?” I questioned curiously. I stood up looking around for them. There was thick snow all around me, and it was very beleaguering to trudge through the snow. The trio of Friesians stood up slowly, trying to reinvigorate themselves. After about ten minutes of searching for my two best friends, I found them. We slowly got onto our horses and started trotting closer to the Ice Kingdom. The Avalanche knocked off about an hour of our time. I was still in pain, and the others looked like they were in pain as well. 


“How much time do we have left?” Larroy asked.


“About 2 hours,” Colton responded.


I could feel the anxiety turning up a notch in the air around us. I was sweating, and my hands started shaking while I was grabbing the ropes on my black Friesian. My lips were bleeding, during the avalanche a segment of ice slit my upper lip. I could feel the blood trickling down my chin, and land on the saddle of the horse. Black clouds were surrounding us now, I could hear thunder ringing above us. We were going at full speed now, it turns out there were icicles raining from the sky. Instantaneously, we took out our backpacks and placed it on our heads to give us some sort of protection in this chaotic scene. In the midst of the icicle rain, I could hear horses galloping behind us. 


“Oh-No!” Colton screamed.


“They’re here!” Larroy continued as if he knew what Colton was going to say next. 


Larroy looked over his back and he could see four of the Ice King’s best skill equipped army on our trail. He closed his eyes, channeled his inner strength and summoned a fireball in the depths of his fingertips, he threw it behind himself hoping it would land right under them the fierce soldiers, and demolish them. His very own fireball landed under two of the Ice Kings soldiers and they collapsed along with their horses. Our time was running short, and it was still raining icicles heavily, along with two Ice soldiers on our behinds. I was starting to cry while riding, tears were running down my face into the air. I sort of felt hopeless and afraid. 


“COLTON!” I screamed, “Backflip off of your horse and front kick one of the soldiers in the back of the head!” I yelled. Colton did exactly that, without any disputes he kicked the more muscular Ice Soldier off his horse and he rolled away. I halted my horse and Colton’s, Larroy then followed my lead. Larroy and I got off our horses and decided we were going to have a little fun in the middle of the ice rain with the last Ice soldier trying to perish us. 


“Give it all you got, little kids!” the Ice soldier teased, “Come at me!”


Colton ran behind the Ice soldier and pushed him. The unidentified soldier was very mad now. He took a sharp spear from his back and stuck it in Colton’s right arm. Colton breathed hard, kneeling on the ground, sweating like never before. His arm was bleeding vigorously, I interfered and kicked the soldier in the hip, he fell to the ground with a thud that made Larroy wince. “The bigger they are, the harder they perish” I thought to myself with a light chuckle. I was in the process of trying to find calm in the air. Just when I thought I was calm and quiet, I felt it on my leg. I needed support so I slowly climbed up my horse and sat there in agony. One of the Icicles pierced my leg. 


“Go on...” I somehow managed to get out of my mouth, “Go on, without me…” I said defeated. 


“No!” Colton said now crying while he yanked the spear out along with a scream, “Even though we have about thirty minutes, we all make it or we all don’t”. I stared at the stupid Icicle jammed in my leg, and screamed at the top of my lungs. I felt good to let it all out. “Never give up,” “Never back down,”  “Always persevere, no matter the price you pay,” my parents words were ringing in my head, echoing. I quickly but steadily yanked the Icicle out of my leg and let out a cry of pain, steadied myself onto the horse and we started to the Ice Castle which was eye distant away. I don’t know how I managed to do it, but I did. 


Our pursuit was a success. It was going to take time to recover and gain our energy back. But, the trio of teenagers had a successful mission. We resinated the Orb of Fire back to the Fire King in its rightful pedestal in the King’s room. Everyone rejoiced at our return, and presented us with a warm welcome. Colton started working on his upper body a lot more, and now, not only is he flexible but also very strong. Larroy received a degree in being the Fire King’s personal royal guardians and I was slowly recovering from the injuries and received the Fire Kings award for honorary guardian excellence. I learned something important throughout our mission and that is to always persevere in everything that is presented in life no matter how difficult it may be. My parents shed tears of joy as I walked to dinner at the King’s banquet. Victory was on our side, the King’s retinue was triumphant over dinner. It turned out the two kings established a truce and, you could say that everything ended in a peaceful way.  



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