Unlikely Heroes I: The Dragon's Fury

[Thief of Blood]

(Wow... it's been ages since I got on here... well, updated chapters anyone??)

Hello, this is Thief of Blood...but you may call me Vipress. For a couple of months now, me and one of my finest friends, Andrew Simanson, have been working on a series called Unlikely Heroes, with a trilogy and a possible fourth and fifth book in mind. The trilogy begins with The Dragon's Fury, continues with The Lonely Island, and ends with The Trickster's Plot.
All story posts are (c) 2014-2015 by Amanda Culton and Andrew Simanson
We share credit, but his mind full of genius brings all the action to these stories, and my romantic, fanciful mind brings all the drama and character development. (Except for Drayneus. That one's totally on you, Andy!)
Comments and questions are not only allowed, but highly encouraged! I refuse to give away any spoilers about upcoming chapters, but Andy's a bit more lenient with that.
So, without further ado, I present the first chapter of Unlikely Heroes: The Dragon's Fury!

The Warriors Shall Bring the Light
While The Assassins Shall Bring the Night
The Dragon’s Fury Shall Reveal the Path
Or Destroy Everything in Its Wrath

PR0L0GU3:
Long before the country of Liberia was founded upon the principles of democracy and freewill, the four empires of the Vampires, Pyronians, Eltonians, and the Shadow Elves dominated the landscape in four different territories.
The Pyronians and the Eltonians were possibly the most powerful of the four empires, probably because of their trusted partnership. While the Vampires and the Shadow Elves lurked on the borders of the other two empires, waiting for a chance to gain more territory and power.
While these four races were constantly feuding for power, two much more powerful forces were battling for dominance of the continent. The god of the Dark, and the god of the Light, each represented by two of the empires, Eltonia and Pyronia for the Light, while the Vampires and the Shadow Elves represented the Dark.
These beings eventually, unintentionally, destroyed the four empires in their feud, putting themselves into a deep slumber in the process. But the ruler of the Shadow Elves, Malice, and the ruler of the Vampires, Alucard, managed to escape the genocide and rebuilt their legacies as international crime syndicates. Eventually, a strong ruler, Andre’ the Second, stepped forward and established the country of Liberia as a democratic state.
While the country of Liberia flourished, so did the crime syndicates, and while they flourished, the god of the Dark is on the rise once again, and with no help from the god of Light in sight, all hope drifts to the four heroes of legend that the King of the Pyronian Empire prophesied, but will the heroes help save Liberia, or destroy it?




CH4PT3R ON3:
“What the heck were you thinking, Ignus? Stealing from Alucard like that!” Eren yelled at him as they ran through an abandoned alleyway. Ignus looked at his friend running atop the rooftops, and yelled “Sorry man, this is what I’m all about! Trying to take down Alucard’s crime syndicate!”
As they burst from the alleyway into the crowded streets of Elite City, Ignus wondered how they’d get away from the henchman Alucard had sent to catch them, and most likely, kill them…
Like he’ll ever get that chance, Ignus thought. He’d dealt with worse guys than the guy who was coming after him, and half the time, Ignus was twice the size of the guy he had to fight. Being six foot four helped with that, and having worked out since he was thirteen, he was pretty muscular, and considering that was eight years ago and he was now twenty one helped too.
Ignus’ appearance gave him a sort of kindly look, he wore a long-sleeve dark grey shirt, a pair of gloves that left his fingers exposed, a pair of weathered jeans, a brown vest, and an orange beanie cap. His mop of naturally orange hair had streaks of yellow in it, giving it the appearance of fire. His orange eyes danced like tongues of flame in the wind.
The crowds of people in the streets didn’t help Ignus or Eren get away any faster, so they climbed onto the rooftop of a nearby building and started to run across the cityscape.
Just then, Ignus heard someone scream in the streets behind them, he turned, and saw their pursuer had caught up to them…
His build was tall and lean, like a wolf that had been starved for a month. He wore a black robe, a wolf pelt around his neck, and a skeleton mask covered his face. In his right hand was a four foot long staff with a finely cut gem at the top that glowed with a sickly dark green hue. Crowded around him was a mob of ten or more skeletons in ragged clothes and armor holding rusted swords and spears.
Ignus suddenly felt very much afraid, he and Eren turned and sprinted towards the edge of the city, where it bordered a large forest, Eren and Ignus’ home.
The Necromancer gave chase, summoning three more skeletons with bows and ordering them to fire at the two of them, Ignus drew his own weapon, Inferno, a long bronze broadsword, and blocked two of the oncoming arrows, but one grazed his cheek, giving him a nasty cut.
Ignus jumped into a nearby alleyway, Eren looked down at him from the above roof-top and yelled, “Ignus, what are you doing?! We need to run!!” “Get to the forest, Eren! I’ll buy you some time!” He yelled back.
He took something out of his pocket, the item he’d stolen, a pair of chain bracelets, and tossed them up to Eren, “Keep those safe! I don’t want to die in vain!”
Eren nodded, leapt across the gap, and yelled “Make it back!”
Ignus turned towards the street, just as the Necromancer entered the alleyway, undoubtedly grinning behind his skeleton helmet. “Now I’ve got you…” His voice was like if a shadow could talk, deep and cold. “Time you paid your debts…”

CH4PT3R TW0:
The necromancer was flanked by four skeletons on either side, all looking eager to attack, like a pack of wolves about to tear apart their prey.
Ignus’ brain started to hatch a plan, but he needed more time to figure out what to do, so he instinctively started talking to keep him alive. “Can I least know who’s trying to kill me?” Ignus said, flashing a grin.
The necromancer grunted, as if pleased to be asked that question. “Since you are about to be killed, I suppose it would be acceptable if you knew who I was…” he cleared his throat. “I am Wilthor, Vanguard of Death!”
The skeletons roared and banged their shields in approval, Wilthor raised his hand and they stopped. “Now, how about telling me the name of the person foolish enough to steal from my master?!” The necromancer asked.
By now, Ignus had figured out how to escape, so he took a step forward and said defiantly “Dude, you never want to mess with fire…” he outstretched his hand, and almost immediately, Ignus’ hand burst into flames, coiling around his hand like an angry serpent.
Wilthor took a step back nervously. “So, you’re a fire user… This just got a WHOLE lot more interesting…”
Ignus thrust his palm forward in a shoving motion, and the flame shot off his hand, hit the ground, and erupted into a wall of flame in between him and the necromancer and his warriors.
Ignus then sprinted toward the left wall of the alley. He took two steps up the wall, then pushed off with all he was worth, back flipping over Wilthor, who stared at him dumbfounded, then screamed in rage “AFTER HIM!!!”
Ignus hit the floor of the alleyway running, and dashed out into the crowded streets once again, the necromancer hot on his trail, screaming for blood.
He didn’t make it far into the street before he ran into someone and sent them tumbling into the street.
When they finally stopped rolling, whoever he had tackled said angrily “Hey man! Watch where you’re going!” Ignus looked down at who he had tackled and gulped, it was a girl…
She had long black hair with green streaks running down to the ends; with piercing green eyes and two unnaturally sharp canine teeth. She wore a low cut black and green t-shirt, with black jeans cut off around the mid-thighs.
Before she could say anything more, Ignus got up and scooped her off the ground like a damsel in distress, and sprinted towards the eastern edge of the city. The girl didn’t seem to get carried like this, because she looked at him angrily and said “What are you doing?! Trying to save me?!” Ignus rushed into another alley way and set her down while he tried to catch his breath.
She stood in front of him with her arms crossed, waiting for an answer. Finally he said, “Look, I got into some bad business with some guy, then he sent another guy to try to kill me, and when I ran into you, my instincts were to carry you away, because that guy chasing me probably would kill you too!”
The girl blinked at him and tilted her head, as if processing what she just heard. Eventually she sighed and said, “Alright, I believe you…”
“Wait, what? Just like that?!” Ignus said, surprised.
“Yeah, I’ve seen some weird stuff, so I believe you.”
The two of them climbed to the top of the roof of a nearby building and ran across the roof-tops until they were sure they’d lost Wilthor. Ignus hadn’t been paying much attention, but when he looked back to see if the girl was still following, he saw she wasn’t running, she was flying, levitating at least a foot off the ground!
“Whoa! Whoa! Whoa! What are you?!” Ignus said, stopping abruptly. The girl looked at him, confused for a second, then her expression changed to recognition, then said “Oh this?” she said pointing at her feet, “I’m a vampire…”
“Why can you walk in broad daylight, then?” Ignus asked
“My DNA is mixed with viper DNA, so I need sunlight to live…” Ignus nodded, then turn and continued toward the edge of the city…
The girl ran up behind him and grabbed his shoulder, “Hey! Could you at least tell me your name?” she asked. He hesitated, then said “Ignus, but my friends call me… I don’t have any friends…” he replied, frowning.
The girl winked at him mockingly, “Nice to meet ya, Iggy, my name’s Vipress…”

CH4PT3R THR33:
This guy’s a moron… Vipress thought as she followed Ignus across the roof-tops, but in the back of her mind she thought, but also kinda cute…
After a while the two of them reached the edge of the city, just as the sun was starting to sink on the horizon. Where the city ended, it merged into a massive forest with trees so thick the sunlight couldn’t have possibly hit the forest floor.
Ignus stared into the darkness with his face tight with concentration. He turned to Vipress and smiled, “Nice meeting you, Vype! Bye!”
He turned back towards the forest and sprinted into the looming darkness, and just like that, he was gone.
Vipress didn’t have anything better to do, so she went into the forest after him, he was surprisingly easy to track, mostly because he left burning footprint impressions in the dirt.
It must have been eight ‘o’ clock at night when she finally found his house, it was a massive pair of tree houses, sewn together with a long cable bridge. A faint orange light glowed in one of them, on what looked like a balcony.
She took the risk; she looked up at the tree house and yelled “HEY!!!”
Nobody answered, but just then, Vipress heard muffled whispers…
“Crap! How’d she find me!?”
“I don’t know man! Here, let me try something!”
A deep voice echoed off the balcony, “NO GIRLS ALLOWED!!!”
Vipress rolled her eyes, blew a clump of hair out of her eyes, and then floated up to the balcony.
Two guys were sitting there, one was Ignus, but he’d changed out of his first outfit into a simple combination of jeans and an orange t-shirt. The other guy was about three inches shorter, with close cropped dirty blond hair. He was wearing a green tank-top and a pair of camouflage cargo shorts, he had an iron tipped spear leaned up against his wicker chair.
Ignus reacted first, “Dang it! I forgot she can fly!!”
His friend looked at him, shocked, “You forgot a girl that hot can fly, what is she?!”
“She’s a vampire, dude!” Ignus shouted at him. Eren’s expression went from shocked to frightened, to suspicious. He slipped something into his hand from under his leather belt, he raised it over his head and advanced, it was a wooden stake. “LET ME KILL HER!!! LET ME KILL HER!!!”
Ignus got in his way and shoved him back, “Whoa man! She’s not the bad kind of vampire!”
“You mean she won’t suck our blood?”
No! She’s a day walker!”
“Oh! Like you!” Ignus looked shocked, then angry, “Shut up!”
Vipress floated onto the deck of the tree house and cracked a smile, “Well, now that we’ve introduced ourselves, I think we can all be friends!"

CH4PT3R 4OUR:
After Ignus finally got his friend (his name was Eren) to calm down, Ignus went to bed while Eren showed Vipress where’d she be sleeping there for the night, or for however long she would be staying.
After Eren had left, Vipress floated over to the other house and leaned against the railing. The tree house was above the other tree tops, so she could see far out into the West, toward the Great Desert, and beyond that, the Druid Mountains…
She stood at the rail for a few a minutes until someone slid onto the rail next to her, she looked over and saw Ignus’ mop of orange hair and eyes gazing out towards the West.
He didn’t do anything for a while except sigh sadly and quietly. Finally he turned and said, “So what’s your story?”
It was a question Vipress had heard a lot of times. She turned toward the Great Desert once again and replied, “I don’t want to talk about it…” Ignus sniffed and crinkled his nose, then said “You girls are all the same…” She turned on him,
“Excuse me?” He looked at her and raised an eyebrow, then sighed. “Look, I know your type, you girls act like your past is this terrible sob story that all us boys won’t want to hear about so you say ‘I don’t want to talk about it’.” He said.
Vipress’ jaw clenched, this guy had nailed her. “How do you know that?”
“What?”
“What my types of girls are like?”
Ignus breathed heavily “I get around a lot, I’ve met a lot of different people. Most of which I made enemies with…” Vipress laughed,
“You? Enemies? That’s funny!”
The corner of his mouth tugged at a smile, and then he stood up and stretched his arms, “Well I’m going to bed, good night Vipress…” With this said he strolled toward the door in a drowsy type of way.
Vipress stayed up for a while longer, then followed the route Ignus had taken into the house. She found a bed and crashed on top of it, the day behind her had been exhausting, and in no time, she had fallen into a deep sleep.

CH4PT3R F1V3:
Ignus woke up to being shoved out of bed and Eren yelling at him.
“Dude, what are you doing?!” Eren screamed, Ignus sat up groggily, he looked up at Eren’s face, and got up unsteadily.
“Dude, what’s with the rage in the tone?” Ignus asked. Eren pointed towards the bed with his thumb, he looked over, and saw Vipress lying on top of the bed, snoozing away.
Ignus looked at Eren and swallowed hard, “You mean I…”
“Yes!” Eren said, and then his face reddened, “No! But yes, you slept in the same bed!” Ignus walked over to the bed and poked Vipress, “She sleeps like a rock, no wonder she didn’t realize she was in the same bed as me…” Ignus muttered.
Vipress chose that moment to wake up; she sat up so fast she bonked Ignus in the nose with her face. Ignus instinctively recoiled and held his nose, “Geeze, Vype! You got a hard noggin!” Vipress took in the scene, Eren glaring at her and Ignus holding his nose in pain. She looked at the bed she had been sleeping in, then she looked at Ignus again, and her face reddened. “Please tell me I didn’t-““Yeah, you did…” Ignus said, interrupting her.
Before any of them could react to what had happened the previous night, there was a tremendous BOOM! It echoed across the tree tops and shook the tree house. They all ran outside, and what Ignus saw not only surprised him, it scared him…
A wall of ice the size of a skyscraper had appeared on the Western edge of the forest, and it was quickly approaching them. Spikes of ice the size of houses were shooting out of the ground, approaching at lightning fast speed, mowing down hoards of trees as they went.
Eren jumped onto Ignus’ back, who then leapt off the porch of the tree house, with Vipress flying down beside them, they landed on the ground just as one of the ice spikes demolished the tree house in a single strike, just in the nick of time…

CH4PT3R S1X:

Ignus crashed to the ground with Eren on his back, and when his feet landed on the ground, they sent webs of cracks along the ground and sent up a cloud of dirt.
Vipress landed outside the dust cloud and waved some of it away, when the dust cleared, Ignus was standing in the middle of the cloud, his eyes burning with hatred, Eren clinging to his back like a scared kitten.
Ignus grabbed EL by the back of his shirt and set him on the ground, “You still got the bracelets?” He asked him, “Yeah, here…” Eren pulled out two bracelets made of bronze chains and tossed them to him. Ignus slipped one onto either of his wrists, they seemed to glow orange as he slipped them on…
“What was that?” Vipress asked, Ignus kept his eyes on the horizon from where the ice spikes had originated, Eren looked at him expectantly. “Why don’t we go find out?” he said baring his teeth.

CH4PT3R S3V3N:

It didn’t take long for them to find the source of the ice spikes, after all, they were each over a hundred feet tall and they didn’t seem to be melting in the morning heat.
The spikes stretched all the way into the Great Desert, where they erupted out of the side of a massive sand dune. Ignus didn’t wait to walk up the hill, he leapt up to the top of the dune, Eren did the same, and Vipress flew up behind him.
Before them laid a crater that went down in a steep slope and ended in an area around sixty feet in diameter with a large outcropping of rocks in the center of the clearing.
Ignus jumped onto the side of the crater and slid down to the bottom. As he was sliding down, he observed three people hanging out on the rocky outcropping. He didn’t like the looks of them…
One was a girl, with ice white hair, pure sky blue eyes with no pupils and icy white skin. She wore tattered jeans spattered with blood and a blue t-shirt. Her right arm was entirely mechanical.
The other two were guys; one wore a large black trench coat that dragged along the ground, concealing two long katanas made from dark iron. He also wore loose fitting black vinyl pants and a tight fitting grey t-shirt. His eyes were concealed behind a pair of sunglasses.
The second guy was the one Ignus had described that had been chasing him, he was tall and gaunt, like a starving dog. He wore a skeleton mask that concealed his face, but his eyes glowed dark green behind the eye sockets of the mask. He wore a black cape laced with green that flowed down to the ground; his right shoulder had a large piece of armor covering it. His right leg was the same, covered in armor. In his left hand he held a long piece of metal and wood with a glowing green stone at the end, a staff, in his left hand he held a large broadsword…
The second man spoke first, “Ah it appears my dinner has arrived! Welcome heroes! Now, who shall I kill first?”

CH4PT3R 31GHT:

Eren leaned over and whispered, “I got the girl, you can have the ninja…” He said jabbing his spear toward the young man clad in black.
Ignus stepped forward and opened his hand, a large ball of flame appeared, then, with a sudden bright flash of light, the flame exploded. When Vipress uncovered her eyes, Ignus was holding a five foot long sword made out of bronze, the hand-guard was fashioned to look like dragon wings, and where the sword started, the mouth of a dragon spat out the blade, the hilt was wrapped in leather, and a topaz gem was embedded in the bottom of the handle.
The man stepped forward and brandished his sword, “So, boy, you would dare challenge the mighty Wilthor again?” Ignus laughed, “I choose my own battles, and for now, you and me, to the finish…” he pointed his blade at Wilthor’s chest.
He turned to the two of them and said, “Fight well…” and charged at Wilthor. Vipress charged at the man in black, while Eren dashed towards the girl with white hair.
The man in black braced himself, drew his two katanas, and silently waited for Vipress to reach him. She brandished her dart gun that she had been hiding from under her belt and fired a dart at the man, who quickly deflected the dart with his blades. Vipress used her flight to boost herself as she leapt off the ground, straight over his head.
As she passed over him, an object about the size of a football smashed into the side of the man’s face, causing him to stagger sideways, clutching the are the object had hit, Vipress looked to her left to see Ignus standing in a position that showed he had thrown something, he held Wilthor above the ground, his feet dangling a few inches off the ground.
Vipress looked down and saw that Ignus had thrown a rock the size of a small football and hit the man squarely in the temple, which was now streaming with blood. Vipress quickly fired another dart at him, which hit on the side of his neck, he instantly collapsed. “Huh, hopefully paralysis…” she muttered to herself.
She walked over to Ignus, who had Wilthor pinned to the ground; his sword hovering over his face, the side of Wilthor’s mask had been smashed, revealing pale skin that was streaming with blood from his right eye.
“You’ll never escape him, he’ll find you!” Wilthor spat, Ignus bared his teeth, “No, he won’t, he hasn’t found me yet…” Ignus raised the sword to stab him, but before he could, from behind them came a strangled gasp.
Both of them wheeled around to see Eren collapse to the ground, an icicle covered in blood standing over him, with Isis behind the spike, laughing hysterically.
Vipress ran to Eren’s side and pulled his head into her lap, his lips were covered in blood, and the wound in his gut seemed to have passed clean through his heart. There was no way to save him…
Eren heaved a painful breath, shooting forth more blood, his eyes then closed and he didn’t move again.
Vipress held his head and wept, Ignus stood behind her ominously. When he didn’t say anything for ten seconds or so, Vipress turned and looked up at him and she had to remind herself to breathe.
Ignus’ body was wreathed in flames, the flames flickered across his skin while he clenched his fists, his entire body trembled with rage. Then, three lines of flame seared across Ignus’ right eye. His eyes turned into nothing more than swirling pits of flame that tumbled out of his eyes and crept toward the sky.
He glanced up toward the sky, then brought his fists to his chest and curled up.
Then, in one terrible scream, Ignus exploded…

CH4PT3R N1N3:
Later, Vipress tried to explain what Ignus did, but she just couldn’t, whatever attacked that girl wasn’t Ignus anymore.
He sprouted long, curving horns out the back of his head, his teeth sharpened into fangs. He grew a foot taller; his fingers grew into talons, and a pair of dragon wings ripped through the back of his shirt.
Before Vipress stood something that used to be her friend, now turned into a demon…
Ignus paid them no attention; he dissipated into a cloud of smoke, and then reappeared in front of Isis. Before she could even blink, Ignus gripped her around the neck and started to choke her. He lifted her up until her feet were at least a foot off the ground, then, in one swift movement; he slammed her into the ground and dug his boot into her chest.
He reached down and clamped his talons on her mechanical arm so hard it groaned and creaked. With a blood-curdling roar, he ripped her robotic arm clean out of the socket, but he wasn’t done yet…
Ignus lifted up his now assuredly heavy and hard weapon and brought it down on Isis’ face, Ignus repeated this for another two minutes. There was screaming, there was blood, but that wasn’t the scariest part, the worst part was his laughter, it was insane, almost joyous that he was beating the living sh*t out of some poor girl…
Vipress couldn’t stand it anymore, she ran up behind him and grabbed his shoulder and yelled, “IGNUS STOP IT! YOU’VE BEATEN HER!!!” He didn’t seem to care, because he lashed out and bashed her across the right side of her face with his talons, cutting across her right eye; the blow sent her flying into a nearby wall. She hit it hard, and she blacked out from the pain…

CH4PT3R T3N:
Ignus woke to see Vipress on the ground, lying in a pool of green blood, Eren sat next to her trying to stop the blood flow.
Ignus ran up next to him “Didn’t you die?” he asked, Eren said nothing, his eyes were stuck on Vipress’ wound…
She had a long cut across her right eye, and instead of red blood, green blood poured from the wound and across the ground, causing it to steam and hiss, poison.
Ignus didn’t need to explain to him they were leaving, he scooped up Vipress gently in his arms, and Eren climbed onto his back. Ignus walked toward the edge of the crater, by this time he realized how wiped out he was, his muscles ached, the right side of his face burned with pain, and his mind throbbed with pain.
When they reached the top of the crater, Ignus could barely stand, whatever had happened just hours ago had taken his strength. He walked over to a nearby sand-dune and gently set Vipress down. He tore off a piece of his t-shirt and put it on Vipress’ eye. She seemed to be having a nightmare, because she twisted and turned and whispered “No, Ignus! Stop!” Eren looked down at her, worry written all over his face… “You may want to sit down, Ig, I’ll explain everything…”
“So you see, I was falling down this big hole down toward a fiery pit, I’m assuming that was hell, but before I could reach it, you grabbed my arm and flew me out with your dragon wings…” Ignus looked at the ground, amazed, “So… I brought you back from the dead?” “Yep…” he looked over at Vipress, who was still tossing and turning. “So, did I do that to her?” he asked “I don’t know, I woke up to her like that, you were passed out a few feet away…”
“So I guess we’ll have to wait for her to wake up to explain…”

Chapter 11: Vipress
Vipress’ nightmares made no sense, mostly because they were just images speeding by, one was of Ignus as that thing, the next was Vipress standing before a massive black castle, followed by Ignus getting smashed into the ground by an enormous fist, then ten shadowy figures standing before a massive smoky figure…
“AH!” she shot up from the ground, but, where was she? She looked around and saw she was lying at the base of a sand dune, with a fire crackling a few feet away. Eren was fast asleep a few feet from her, and Ignus stood at the edge of the crater, looking off into the distance. Vipress touched her right eye, where Ignus had struck her, there was a piece of a t-shirt wrapped around the right side of her face, it smelled like smoke…
She strolled over to Ignus and had to lean on his arm, her legs felt like partially melted ice. Ignus looked down at her and flushed, “You all right?” he asked, “I’m fine, but what happened to you?” she replied with a weak grin. Ignus touched the make-shift bandage over Vipress’ eye, “Did I do that?” he asked, worried. “Yes, and No, when you did this, it wasn’t you, it was something else…” Ignus scowled, “So that explains the voices…” Vipress frowned “What voices?” she asked “For the past few years I’ve been hearing voices urging me to succumb to the darkness in my heart…”
Vipress thought about this, it made sense; there was something evil sealed inside of Ignus, drawn out by his worst qualities, anger, sadness, fear…
When Eren had been killed, Ignus’ rage had drawn out whatever was inside of him, and it had beaten the living sh*t out of that girl, and it apparently took over Ignus, because he didn’t recognize her.
Vipress unwrapped the bandage and let Ignus examine her eye, the cut hadn’t been serious, just a graze across the top of her eye, but now an ugly white scar stood out across it. “It matches yours…” Vipress proclaimed, Ignus looked confused, “What do you mean?” Vipress reached up and stroked Ignus’ right eye with three of her fingers, where three pale scars stood out against his bright orange hair. Ignus touched them as if they were radioactive, “Those weren’t there two days ago…” he sat down and gazed off into the crater, where the girl and Wilthor still lay, unconscious. Vipress sat next to him and lay down, she closed her eyes and went to sleep…

Chapter 12: Ignus
The next day, Vipress suggested they make way for her home in the Druid Mountains. It would take a few days to make it there, but Ignus suggested otherwise. “Not so fast! I think I can get us there faster!” Eren looked at him funny “How?” Ignus reached into his mind and tried to grasp the memory, “I remember my father telling me about an ancient race called the Drakonians. They were half dragon, half human hybrids who could take the shape of both…” Ignus clenched his fists, closed his eyes and focused on dragons, their scaly skin, their sharp teeth, and most of all, their giant leathery wings…
When Ignus opened his eyes, Vipress and Eren were twenty feet below him, his hands were now huge reptilian claws, a pair of enormous wings sprouted from his back, and his mouth had elongated into an orange, scaly snout with razor sharp teeth and four huge, curved horns. He was a sixty foot long monstrosity, and he LOVED IT!!!
He opened his mouth to speak; “Get on…” his voice was now deep and almost demon-like…
Vipress climbed onto his back and locked her arms around his now thick neck. Ignus picked up Eren in his right claw, then spread his massive wings and took to the skies…

CH4PT3R THIRTEEN
First thing about flying, it was scary, Ignus had never been fond of heights before, but soaring over one thousand feet above the ground was out of his comfort zone by a good mile or so…
He got over the fear quick, though, because even if he fell out of the sky, he would most likely survive the fall, but Vipress and Eren wouldn’t, so he had to get over the fear quick.
Overall, it wasn’t too bad, the wind whipped against his face as he soared through the air toward the Druid Mountains, a huge line of mountains on the horizon. He craned his neck and looked at Vipress (Well, tried to…) “You can go to sleep, Vype, It’ll be a while before we get there…”
She nodded, then leaned forward and rested her head in between Ignus’ two horns, he put on a burst of speed and headed for the Druids.
It took about another three hours to get there, the mountains steadily grew into giants looming above him and the earth below. He decided to land at the base of one of them to make camp for the night, because the sun was already setting and the sky was getting dark.
He set down and placed Eren and Vipress down by a young oak tree. Using his fiery dragon breath, Ignus managed to create a fire out of some dead leaves and twigs from the oak. He shifted back into human form and sat beside the fire.
He extended his hand and looked at his palm, a small web of red cracks had appeared in the middle of his hand, and were very slowly, creeping down his hand and up his arm…
Whatever had happened to him earlier that day was starting to corrupt him…


CH4PT3R FOURTEEN
Vipress woke up leaning on Ignus, who was leaning up against an oak tree. He had his eyes closed and appeared to be sleeping, taking slow and heavy breaths…
Vipress sat there for a few minutes, listening to Ignus breathing, she could hardly believe this was the guy who had gone insane a few hours ago and beaten the crap out of somebody …
She sat up and leaned away from him, his body radiated so much heat that she could feel it from two feet away, it was like sitting next to a furnace. Vipress stood up and walked over to the fire, where Eren sat, tending the flames.
He smiled as she approached, “Having a nice snuggling session with Ig?” he mocked, “Be quiet…” she shot back, she sat across from him and gazed into the fire. “You think it’ll be back?” Eren asked, Vipress looked over at Ignus, whose hair hung over his eyes, casting shadows across his now pale scars. “Hopefully, no, because that guy is NOT nice…”
***
Vipress didn’t remember going to sleep, but she woke up to Eren saying “Vype! Wake up, we got trouble!”
She sat up groggily, rubbing her eyes. She looked around sleepily. Eren had his spear out, crackling with electricity. Ignus stood a few feet away, his shoulders on fire, his fists clenched, also on fire. “What is it?”
To answer her question, an awful metallic screeching sounded through the otherwise silent night. “Oh sh*t, is that what I think it is?!” Eren said, terror written on his face. “It is, it’s the Riders…” Ignus said, leaving his eyes on the horizon, his hair seemed to be smoking…
“What’re we gonna do, Ig? They’ll slaughter us on the spot!!!” Eren screamed in terror, “WAIT A damn MINUTE!!!” Vipress yelled, “Who are the Riders?!” Ignus and Eren turned toward her, they both heaved a huge sigh, and then Ignus straightened and put out his flaming shoulders and fist. “The Riders are a group of brigands who live in this desert, and are very protective of their territory, killing anyone who trespasses on their ground…”

Chapter 15: Ignus
Ignus wasn’t afraid of anything, except for perhaps… He couldn’t think of anything… Whatever, he sat on the ground, waiting for the arrival of the Riders. He knew they were coming, he could hear their metallic screeching getting closer and closer.
He looked over at Eren, who was hiding behind a rock, muttering “I don’t wanna die, I don’t wanna die…” While Vipress was yelling at him to be a man and quit cowering like an infant girl. The sight made him smile, and it made him sad. He had dragged his friends into this, if he hadn’t messed with Alucard, none of this would’ve happened…
His thoughts were cut short by the metallic screeching again, this time it sounded right below the rise of the hill. Ignus got to his feet, and prepared to fight the oncoming enemy.
***
A small group of perhaps twenty to thirty individuals were riding up the hill on what looked like wild hogs, how they got those saddles on them, Ignus had no idea…
Each one of them wore a long black cloak cinched at the waist with a leather belt, with the hood pulled up so he couldn’t see any of their faces. On either their belts or strapped to their backs were all sorts of dangerous weapons, such as swords, knives, bows, clubs, flails…
The largest of them rode forward. He wore the same attire as the others, except for one thing, he didn’t carry a crudely crafted sword or club, he carried a finely made scythe, with a blade over four feet long and curved like a crescent moon. The handle was made of wood and wrapped in leather, it was a beautiful weapon, Ignus had to admit…
He dismounted his boar and strode toward them, he was considerably larger than any other of the Riders, at least six feet tall. His scythe gleamed wickedly in the moonlight.
The man stopped twenty feet from them, he lowered his hood and revealed pale skin, red eyes, and dark brown hair, two small tusks protruded from his lower jaw, like a hog. He then spoke in a voice that sounded lazy and sloth like, “Well boys, looks like we got some lively prey for once…” he broke into a malicious grin, while his underlings roared with approval. The cheers echoed through the silent desert.
Ignus stepped forward, “No one’s gonna be prey tonight, there’s no prey for you here…” the man broke into a roar of laughter, as well as his henchmen. “What’s so funny?!” Eren said angrily. One of the man’s men stepped forward and pulled down his hood, he had dark skin and proud grey eyes, strapped on his back was a massive war hammer, “You fools do not question Lord Rider, I will crush you under m-“
Rider raised his hand for silence, “That’s enough, Kalim, I will deal these trespassers myself…
***
Eren stepped forward and brandished his spear, “You’ll have to deal with me first…” he launched himself at Rider, thrusting his spear at his neck, but faster than Ignus could blink, Rider drew his scythe, knocked Eren’s spear aside, and slashed upward.
Eren barely avoided the strike, but the scythe grazed his chest, he stumbled backwards, clutching his stomach.
Without hesitation, Rider kicked his legs out from under him, who then painfully crashed onto the ground; Rider then kicked him in the ribs so hard he skidded all the way to Ignus’ feet, where he lay groaning in pain.
Ignus looked down at him with anger, then back at Rider. He took a step forward and, as if his hands were guiding themselves, tapped on his chain bracelets. Which elongated into seven foot long chain whips that glowed red hot. They wrapped around his wrists still, and he tightly gripped the chains. To test them out, he whipped one of the chains at a nearby boulder.
The chain cut through the rock like a warm knife through butter. The warriors shifted un-easily, but Rider didn’t flinch.
“An impressive display, but that won’t save you.” He sneered. He leapt at Ignus, but he lashed out with his new chain flails, wrapping around the handle of his scythe, he tugged, and Rider came flying towards him.
Ignus brought his fist up in a smashing arc, crashing into Riders face, sending him toppling into the air. Ignus whipped his other flail toward him, causing it to wrap around his waist, making his robes smoke from the heated metal.
Ignus yanked downward, smashing Rider into the ground.
His henchmen stood still, awestruck, staring at their leader on the ground, un-moving. Then, Malik screamed “KILL THEM!!!” The warriors surged forward, screaming for blood. Ignus turned to Vipress and Eren, who had recovered and was standing now. “Get to cover!” They dove behind the oak tree, Ignus then crouched low and gathered all the energy he had in him, and released it in one massive, fiery explosion…
Chapter 16: Ignus
The next thing he knew, Ignus was standing on charred, black ground. Everything within a hundred yards had been reduced to nothing but charcoal. Vipress and Eren were peeking at him from behind the now charred oak tree.
Vipress stepped out from behind and ran up to him “That was INCREDIBLE!” she exclaimed, then she did something he did NOT expect, she floated off the ground, and very quickly, kissed him on the cheek.
Ignus’ eyes widened, he felt his cheeks flush, and he had to make a conscious effort not to burst into flames…
Eren was busy trying not to laugh, Vipress’ smile vanished as fast as it appeared, she punched Ignus in the shoulder, “Nice job, Iggy…” she acted indifferent, but Ignus could see she was blushing.
Eren looked around, “So, what happened to all the guys following Rider?”
“They were either incinerated, or they fled, I see only twenty bodies, so I’m guessing some of them got away…”
“I saw some of them get away,” Vipress explained, “I saw Malik pick up Rider and run…”
“So we can count on seeing them again…” Ignus said irritably.
***
They gathered up their stuff and started their ascent of the Druid Mountains. Ignus decided to turn into a dragon and let them ride on his back. After about an hour of walking, Ignus got a chill down his spine, as if they were being watched.
Suddenly, Ignus stumbled; he changed back into his human form, causing Vipress and Eren to roll on the ground. The scars on his felt like they were being seared into his skin with a hot iron. His heart felt like it was burning from the inside out.
He was screaming in pain, retching in pain. Vipress was trying to get him to turn him over, screaming “IGNUS!!!” a deep voice said in the back of his mind This is a gift from me, my treacherous grandson, let it be a lesson to you… Malice will deal with you soon enough…
The pain was too intense, Ignus’ vision faded into black.
Chapter 17: Vipress
She had to admit, Vipress panicked when Ignus collapsed. His screams echoed through the mountains, shaking the ground. When he finally stopped, his body went slack, and dissipated into smoke.
Vipress grasped the air, she had had him, now he was gone from her grasp, Eren stabbed his spear into the air in anger “Where the hell did he go?!”
“I don’t know, but I have a feeling we’ll find him soon enough. For now we should make it to my place, I know some people who could help us…”
***
They reached her house by sunrise. It was a large obsidian castle etched into the face of a cliff, with a huge pair of polished onyx doors.
They walked up to the doors and Vipress said “Well welcome to my humble abode…” She pushed on the doors, which opened with surprising silence and swiftness. They stepped inside, and Eren whistled with awe. “This is some crib…”
The ceiling was twenty feet tall, with a massive TV mounted on the back wall with tons of movies stacked underneath. A huge couch was lined up with the TV; a staircase went upstairs on the left of the TV. A door branched off to the left and right of the castle.
“Well, I guess I’ll sleep on the couch tonight…” Eren announced, he walked over, laid down, and started snoring.
Vipress walked up the stairs into her bedroom, which had a large mirror and dresser, as well as a huge queen sized bed with green and black sheets. She crashed on the bed and started snoozing, and she was treated with some terrifying nightmares…
***
She was standing in a cave, with ceilings at least fifty feet high, stalactites hung from the ceiling, tapered to sharpened points. Chained to the side of the wall, thirty feet up, was Ignus…
“Ignus!” she cried. She flew up to him and tried to loosen the chains, but she couldn’t get a grip on the chains, because they were searing hot and burnt her hands. “Ignus wake up!” she shook his head, trying to wake him up, he could definitely break these chains, but he refused to move. His head slumped against his chest, his right cheek had a nasty gash across it, crusted red with dried blood, the rest of his face was bruised and battered. His shirt and pants both had massive slashes in them…
She floated back to ground and tried to figure out what to do…
Suddenly a voice from beside her said, “He won’t hold out for long, you must find him soon…”
Vipress looked to her right to see a man was standing beside her. His skin was deathly pale, his hair was long and silvery, he had startling grey eyes, as well as a pointed nose and perfectly set jaw and mouth.
He wore a simple combination of jeans and a grey t-shirt. He wore a white trench coat with high collars that covered the sides of his neck, so it made him look like an evil scientist.
Vipress tilted her head, “Who are you?” she asked, he looked over at her and smiled, “I’m sorry, my dear, I forgot to introduce myself, I am Alucard…”
Something about his name seemed familiar, but Vipress couldn’t place her finger on it. She focused on his face, “Where is Ignus being held?” she asked, looking up at his frail form.
The man frowned, “He is where you believe you can find help, the Diadact have taken him prisoner as a favor to my brother, Malice.” Vipress almost choked, “Malice?! The Shadow Elf King? What does he want with Ignus?!” The man chuckled, “Ignus stands as a huge threat to Malice’s empire, but more namely, Drayneus does, the demon locked inside of Ignus… Beware, Vipress, every time Drayneus asserts his authority in Ignus’ mind, he comes closer to fully taking over his body and soul, and you have seen what Drayneus can do…”
Vipress’ jaw clenched, “Why are you telling me all this?” she asked
Alucard’s face became sad, “Consider it a father’s assistance…”
With this, Vipress’ vision faded into black.

Chapter 18: Vipress
She woke up on the floor of her room, her cheeks green with tears. Had she been crying in her sleep? Maybe she was so stressed about Ignus she couldn’t take it and broke in her sleep.
What that man, Alucard, had said made sense to her; Ignus was being held by the very people who she thought could help them, the Diadact. She would have to find him quick, which wouldn’t take long; she knew exactly where she was going…
***
She flew downstairs and shook Eren awake, “EL! Wake up! Ignus is in trouble!”
Eren sat up slowly, rubbing his eyes, “What, Vype?”
Vipress slapped him hard across the face, “IGNUS IS IN TROUBLE!!!”
His eyes widened a bit after that, “Where is he?!”
Vipress shook her head, “I know exactly where to look…”
Eren grabbed his spear, while Vipress grabbed a two liter of Mountain Dew and her dart gun. They exited the castle and started climbing the mountains once again.
They reached the top of a small hill and came to gaze upon a massive waterfall, surrounded by a massive cliff face that dropped fifty feet into a shallow pool of water.
Eren whistled “Nice waterfall, let me guess, they’re keeping him behind it?”
Vipress nodded, “Yeah, that’s the entrance to the Diadact Kingdom…”
***
Vipress flew Eren through the waterfall into a relatively small cave that seemed to be carved out artificially by human (perhaps in-human) hands. In the back of the cave was a small door carved from iron.
Vipress and Eren walked over and knocked. A small hatch opened, and a face made out of rock, with two bright blue eyes peeked through. “Can I help you?” he asked, his voice deep and gravelly.
Eren raised his palm to the rock man’s face, and a blast of electricity surged into the door and blasted it off its hinges, crushing the man underneath, where he then broke into several slabs of stone.
Vipress gawked at him, “Harsh much, Eren?”
he rolled his eyes, “For right now Vype, I’m willing to kill to rescue my friend…”
Vipress shrugged, “Well then, let’s go rescue that red-head…”
***
They walked through the door and found that it opened into a long hallway with another hall branching off to the left and right, both of them heading downwards. Vipress turned towards Eren, “You stay at this junction and make sure no one follows me, I’m going to go find Ignus…”
She turned to go down the stairs, but Eren grabbed her shoulder, “Hey, I want to help you!” Vipress shrugged off his hand, “I have some unfinished business with him, and I’m going alone…”
Vipress sprinted toward the stairs, while Eren hefted his spear onto his shoulder and said, “Whatever…”
She flew down the stairs and found a huge hallway with several prison cells on either side of the walls, some had prisoners in them, others had what remained of previous prisoners. At the end of the dungeon was a pair of massive crystal doors, two Diadact guards stood by either side of the doors.
Vipress loaded her dart gun with a dart filled with lethal poison. She floated to the ceiling and floated up above the two guards.
Before they even knew what was happening, Vipress shot one of them in the neck with the dart, then flew down and kicked the other into a nearby wall, shattering on impact.
She pushed on the doors, they opened with a lot of creaking and clanking. Hopefully the guards don’t get here fast enough… She walked through the doors, into the room she had seen in her dreams. The ceiling fifty feet above, with stalactites hanging from the ceiling, and chained onto the wall was… “Ig!” Vipress yelled with relief.
He was just as she remembered from her dream, a nasty cut across his right cheek, as well as being bruised and looking otherwise terrible. His clothes were ripped to shreds. He didn’t seem to be dead, but Vipress noticed something different about him, his hair had faint streaks of gray in it…
She flew up to him and whispered “Ig?” he blinked a few times, then raised his head, “Vype? What’s going on? Get me out of here!”
Vipress grinned, “Yeah, but before I do that…”
She leaned towards him; her face was now a few inches from his…
Then she kissed him, full on the lips, and his eyes widened with shock, but he didn’t pull away…
When Vipress let him go, he was grinning, “Whoa…” he mumbled. Vipress was blushing, her cheeks colored green. “Alright, Ig you can break the chains now…” she told him, he nodded.
He tugged on his chains, causing the stone they were anchored onto to crack, until, finally, the chains ripped free from the wall, causing the chains to fall to ground with a huge SMASH!
The cavern started to groan as chunks as rock fell from the ceiling and walls. Ignus freeing himself must have made the room unstable, and now the entire room and possibly the entire fortress were threatening to collapse.
Ignus looked around, then back at Vipress, who he then scooped up in his arms as if she were a kitten, and sprinted towards the exit as the cavern collapsed around them…
***
Eren was waiting for them at the top of the stairs, he seemed to have noticed Ignus escaping, because his face had worry written all over it. “Let’s go! Come on! This place is gonna collapse any second!” he yelled at them. Ignus didn’t stop running, scooping Eren onto his back, “I get the memo, Eren, I’ll get us out of here…” Ignus replied solemnly.
They reached the now door-less entrance to the mountain, just as an enormous boulder broke from the ceiling above and was about to collapse onto the doorway…
But Ignus was faster, he fell to his knees while he was running, skidding under the boulder with perfect timing, as it crashed onto the doorway with a massive WHOOM!!!
He put her on the ground and Eren climbed off his back.
Ignus looked her over, “You okay?”
Vipress laughed, “I’M okay? How about you? That was amazing!”
Eren nodded approvingly, “Even though you were tortured and almost dead, you’re still as badass as ever, Ig…”
Ignus smiled, a rare sight, and then started walking toward the waterfall.
Chapter 19: Ignus
They reached the bottom of the mountain by around three ‘o’ clock, stopping by Vipress’ castle to grab their stuff. When they reached the bottom of the mountain, they found a familiar face waiting for them.
Rider was sitting on a boulder, with Malik standing beside him, his hammer in his huge hands.
Vipress stepped toward them, “What do YOU want, Rider?” She growled. he threw his head back and laughed, “Now, now, little girl, that’s no way to treat a potential ally!”
Ignus raised an eyebrow, “What do you mean?” he asked him. Malik spoke up, “Master Rider was actually quite impressed with you defeating him in combat, so he decided to meet you again…” Rider nodded with grudging approval, “I’ve decided to give you a chance to make me your ally. Defeat Malik in combat, and I will consider you my ally, and my armies will ride with you into glorious battle!”
Malik hefted his hammer onto his shoulder, “If you accept my challenge, realize I have not been defeated since joining my master…”
Ignus and Eren stepped up, “We accept!” they shouted in unison. Vipress floated over to a nearby boulder, sat down, and sighed “You boys have fun…” She said quietly.
Malik made the first move, he lifted his hammer over his head, yelled “DIE!!!” and sprinted toward them. He brought his hammer down and would have smashed Eren flat, but him and Ignus rolled to the left and right, getting behind and in front of Malik.
He noticed Ignus trying to sneak behind him, because he swung the hammer sideways toward Ignus’ face with way too much speed, and all he could do was raise his wrists to his face to defend himself.
He felt the hammer smash into his wrists, sending him flying sideways into the ground, digging a deep trench into the dirt. He sat up, dazed, to see Eren slash Malik across the back of his calf, making him stagger to his knees.
Ignus got to his feet and stumbled, his vision tinged with red, he looked at his wrists to see them coated with blood, his right wrist was bent at an odd angle, probably broken, but the pain was dull, like a small tingle…
Ignus ran towards Malik, who was still staggering on the ground, and raised his fist to punch, but he didn’t seem to be as injured as he let on, because when Ignus brought his fist down to punch Malik, he swung his hammer toward his face, but Ignus was ready this time.
He caught the hammer on his chain bracelets, grabbed Malik’s hammer and yanked it out of his hands, and hefted it into his hands.
Malik looked up in surprise to Ignus smashing the hammer into his face, sending him flying to Rider’s side, unconscious. Rider didn’t look shocked, in fact, he seemed rather impressed. He nodded with approval. “Well done, my allies! I guess I can consider you my friends?” he strode over, his scythe in his hands. He started writing in the dirt with the blade of his scythe. When he was finished, it read:
Hey Malik, me and our new allies have headed out to God knows where, for the mean time, you’re in charge of the Riders. Be back soon, Sincerely, Rider…
Rider then turned his attention back to them and said, “Alright! What’s the plan?”
Ignus shook his head, “I don’t know, we’ll probably try and get into Alucard’s underground...” He started, then nodded towards the direction of Elite City “I’m guessing there should be an entrance there… You know where one is Rider? You got sources…”
Rider nodded, then flipped up his hood, concealing his eyes and nose. “Yeah, there’s a facility on the outskirts of the city. Alucard uses it as a makeshift entrance to the underground, there are other entrances, but the nearest entrance is in there, but it’s crawling with guards…”
Vipress tilted her head, “You sound like you know this place pretty well…”
Rider sighed, “Girl, that’s because I used to work there…”
“Oh…”
Ignus turned back to Rider, “Well… Who’s up for invading a complex?” he said grinning…
Chapter 20: Nightshade (Time for some variety!)
Nightshade was bored.
BOREDDDDDDDDDDD!!!!
He had been assigned guard duty at the complex, and he was pretty sure he was the only one on duty, for the entire place seemed to be completely empty.
Now he was just strolling around, trying to find something to do.
The facility wasn’t much of course. It was a simple hexagon shape, constructed out of concrete and steel supports jutting out the walls, but the place was slowly falling apart, with chunks of the ceiling missing and the windows coated in dust.
Nightshade wiped off some of the dust and looked out the window. He saw a vast desert immediately in front of him, with a forest to the right, and Elite City to his left.
He sighed, such a vast world he could explore, and he was stuck in here…
His brother Drake was probably having fun hunting someone Alucard wanted dead, he’d left two days ago and hadn’t come back yet.
Drake said Nightshade looked a lot like him, which was true, but he hated to admit it.
He had Drake’s light complexion, brown hair, his blue eyes, even the same sense of style, lots of black. He usually wore a black leather jacket, a grey t-shirt, black jeans, and a pair of black combat boots.
The only difference that told them apart was their attitudes... Drake was patient and otherwise pretty chill, while Nightshade had a permanent scowl on his face, was always in a bad mood, and more or less had no patience. And while Drake used tomahawks more than half the time, he used either a bow or his katanas, if he had katanas…
He sighed again, he wished something would happen to bring some spice into his day. Then, like a brilliant light (which he normally disliked), an explosion rocked the complex down to its foundation. He whooped with excitement, “Finally! Some action!” he yelled, and then he ran towards the source of the explosion…
***
He leapt down half a flight of stairs to the first floor of the complex, drew his bow and drew taut the bowstring, with an arrow nocked. He sprinted down the hallway and rounded the corner to see the wall had been destroyed in what looked like a fiery explosion, standing a few feet down the hall were four people…
One was a girl, with waist length jet black hair with green streaks in it. Wearing black boots, a black and green t-shirt cut a bit low, as well as black jeans cut off to be made into shorts.
The other three were guys, (Thank God…)
One was a bit taller than Nightshade was, maybe five foot eleven, wearing a black bandanna that covered some of his close cropped dirty-blonde hair, a pair of camo cargo shorts, and a green tank-top. In his hands, he grasped a spear with an iron tipped point that seemed to crackle with electricity.
The second guy had a black cloak that covered his shoulders and back, with a hood that covered his eyes, nose, and barely concealing long and dark brown hair. His mouth had two unnaturally large teeth protruding from his lower jaw. He wore baggy grey sweats underneath the cloak, along with a dark brown t-shirt that had a picture of a boar on it that read My Hog is Smarter Than You. In his hands he held a gigantic scythe, the handle made from wood and wrapped in leather, the blade over three feet long and curved like a crescent moon.
The third guy was probably the most imposing. He was considerably bigger than the other three, perhaps six foot four, with long, shaggy orange hair that was dyed with yellow streaks. He wore an orange t-shirt with flames on it, with new looking jeans and a brown vest over his shirt. He wore gloves that left his fingers exposed, as well as combat boots and an orange beanie cap. On his wrists were two chain bracelets.
For a few seconds, they all stood there, assessing who they were facing…
Nightshade made the first move, he launched an arrow straight towards the red-head, hoping to kill him first.
But somehow he caught the arrow…
He snapped it with one hand. “Dude, this just got serious…”
And with that, they charged…

[Thief of Blood]

Chapter 21: Nightshade
The last thing Nightshade remembered before being knocked out was being kicked in the groin, punched in the gut, and hit in the face with the shaft of a spear.
Now he sat up and groaned with pain, his nose was pointed in an odd direction, and his groin still ached with agony.
Who had kicked him there? He thinks it was that green and black haired chick, he would pay her back for that…
He managed to get to his feet and leaned on against one of the walls. Just then, he heard footsteps coming down the hallway, he picked up his bow and nocked an arrow. Maybe one of them had come to finish him off, but he wasn’t sure yet…
Suddenly, the figure emerged, it was Drake…
He looked about the same as the last time Nightshade had seen him, except now he wore a black leather jacket over a long sleeve grey shirt, along with grey sweats and black tennis shoes. His sunglasses looked rather beaten up, the left lens was cracked a little. His mouth and neck were covered with a black scarf.
Drake was holding his two tomahawks, with his iron katanas strapped to his back. He looked over Nightshade and sighed, “You alright, bro?” he asked
Nightshade nodded, “Yeah, I should be fine; I need to go after those guys…”
He started to limp forward, but Drake stopped him by putting a hand on his shoulder, “You’re in no condition to fight, I came here because I heard the explosion and knew you were here…”
Nightshade gritted his teeth, “I’m not some five year old, Drake, I can handle this…”
Drake pointed to his now crooked nose, “You handled getting beat up well then?” he frowned and looked at his feet, “Well if there’s no stopping you, at least take these…”
He unstrapped the katanas from his back and handed them to Nightshade. “You sure, Drake? You may need these!” he exclaimed, but Drake shook his head earnestly, “Don’t worry, I’ve got my hawks to use, I get the feeling you’ll make better use of those blades. I’ll see you soon bro, I just got a new assignment from the boss, so I’ll see you later…”
Drake gave Nightshade a quick hug, then sprinted back into the darkness, leaving Nightshade holding his blades…
Little did he know, that was one of the last times he was going to see his brother…
***
He ran out into the courtyard and towards the shack in the center, he threw its door open and sprinted down stairs inside that led down into the underground.
He reached the bottom of the stairs, where they led into a massive concrete corridor, with ceilings ten feet tall. The corridor rumbled, originating at the end of the hall, where a pair of massive wooden doors stood.
Nightshade walked up to the doors and creaked one open slowly and silently and peered inside. The scene that befell him surprised him.
The four figures were standing in the middle of an arena, about sixty feet across in diameter, with rows of seats situated around ten feet above the dirt floor. The four people were standing over around ten guys, all unconscious on the ground.
In the back of the arena, sitting in a massive wooden throne over another set of doors, was a figure so terrible, Nightshade didn’t want to look at him, because his sheer presence invoked terror.
But he forced himself to look at him, or in more proper terms, at it.
He was quite tall and muscular, with purple eyes that radiated anger. But that wasn’t the most terrifying thing about him, because his body was much scarier…
His skin was a light purple, with bone-like protrusions on his forearms, thighs and face. His mouth was bared into a growl, revealing teeth like a crocodile’s. He had a massive set of horns shooting at the side of his temples and straight toward the ceiling. He had a tail that swept over the railing of the arena.
But the guy sitting next to him was even more terrifying…
He was a giant for one, over nine feet tall, with his olive black hair tied into a bun on the top of his head, with solid black eyes, no pupils, as well as a pointy nose and a mouth twisted into a permanent sneer. He wore a breast plate that sharpened into two points at his shoulders, then went down his sides, leaving the right and left side of his rib cage exposed, painted in crimson on the piece of armor was an A inside of a circle, the symbol of Anarchy. He wore baggy grey pants cinched at either knee with a band of gold.
On either of his forearms and hands were silver gauntlets, with sharp fingers and three slits in them at the tip of the wrists…
Nightshade slipped in through the door quietly and hid in the shadow that the doors casted. The ceiling had one massive chandelier that hung by a chain of bones, candles with blue flames cast ominous light over the arena.
The red-head seemed to be in a heated conversation with the monster on the throne…
“We conquered your challenge, Destroyer! Let us go!” he shouted at him. Destroyer tilted his head as if he hadn’t heard. “But there is one more challenge you must accomplish to proceed, young fool…” he growled.
“What is this challenge you ask of us?” he shouted back.
That was a mistake…
The giant sitting next to Destroyer stood up abruptly, got on the railing, then suddenly leapt from it, landing on the ground kneeling, one hand spread over the ground, the other resting on his knee.
The red-head and his three friends took a few steps back. Destroyer almost smiled, “Your challenge… Is to defeat my trusted hench-men… Anarchy…”
Anarchy stood slowly, allowing the four of them to take in the nine foot tower of muscle and chaos undoubtedly about to tear them apart…
Anarchy flicked his wrists down, and three, two foot long straight blades shot out of the slits in his gauntlets.
The red head stepped forward and said something very quiet, probably: “God help me…” and charged Anarchy.
***
It wasn’t much of a contest, the man leapt at him with all his might, but Anarchy spun, much too fast, and roundhouse-kicked him in the chest, sending him flying into the right wall of the arena with a sickening CRUNCH. Nightshade could swear he felt a breeze from the impact from fifty feet away…
The girl screamed and ran over to him, where he lay on the ground groaning, how he had survived a kick that bad was beyond him…
Nightshade drew the katanas Drake had given him, each a little over three feet long and made from fine dark iron… and stepped into the light of the arena.
Anarchy fixed his pitch black eyes on him, the two other guys accompanying the red-head turned and looked at him, and their eyes widened. The one with the scythe said, “Come to help your master?” Nightshade shook his head, “Actually… I’m here to challenge him…”
Anarchy sneered, “You would challenge me, knowing the only result possible is death?” his voice was deep and powerful, resonating into Nightshade’s bones… But underneath his words was something older, a power that made him feel as if his DNA was being un-knit, the power of chaos…
Nightshade raised Drake’s katanas, now his, one over his head, and the other in front of him. The rest of the trespassers scooted over to the girl and the red-head, still slumped against the wall, but he seemed to be slowly recovering, but Nightshade’s attention was pinned on Anarchy, who was slowly advancing on him, his gauntlets raised, ready to slash him to pieces.
Nightshade stood firm, waiting for Anarchy to make the first move…
Which he did…
In the blink of an eye, Anarchy dashed towards him, slashing his blades in a sideways strike.
Compared to fighting Drake before he worked here, the attack was a bit slower than he was used to, so he dashed forwards and slide underneath the strike on his knees, slashing at Anarchy’s spine as he slid past.
He didn’t manage to connect the blow, because Anarchy leapt off the ground, twisting in mid-air, and landed facing Nightshade.
His face broke into a grin, “An impressive display, this might actually prove to be entertaining!” he mused. Nightshade raised an eyebrow, then stabbed his katanas into the ground and drew his bow.
He nocked an arrow and aimed straight for Anarchy’s face. He let the arrow fly, and it almost hit him, but he deflected it with the forearm of his gauntlet. He started running along the wall, sprinting towards Nightshade.
He threw his bow behind him and ran towards the wall, snatching his katanas up on the way. Anarchy was only twenty feet away from him now, still running on the wall, scraping his blades against the wall, showering the ground with sparks.
Nightshade reached the wall, and jumped upwards, kicking off the wall towards Anarchy, who slashed upward with his blades.
Nightshade swung downward with all his might, yelling in defiance. His blades met Anarchy’s in a bone shaking clash, and they found themselves floating in mid-air, surrounded by a bright red aura, flickering in and out of sight…
Anarchy was growling with rage, “No one can match my strength! Who ARE YOU!?!”
Nightshade could barely speak, the aura of chaos surrounding him was sapping his strength, but he managed to find the words, “THAT’S EASY, MY NAME IS NIGHTSHADE!!!” he shoved Anarchy back with all his might, and sent him flying into a wall, where he was embedded at least three inches deep into the rock, his arms sagged to the ground, and his gauntlets slipped off, clattering to the ground, Anarchy started to stir, but Nightshade threw one of his katanas, and it stabbed him in the shoulder, pinning him to the wall.
Anarchy wailed in agony, clawing at the katana through his shoulder, but the blade was sunk almost hilt deep into his shoulder, and deep crimson blood poured out of the wound, soaking his arm, dripping off his fingers, pooling into puddles on the dirt floor.
Nightshade collapsed to one knee, exhausted…
He hadn’t fought this hard since… he couldn’t even remember, really…
He turned towards the trespassers, still huddled around the red-head, who was now on his feet, and leaning on the one with the hoodie and scythe.
The girl with the long black and green hair was staring at him with wide eyes. She walked over and smirked at him, “Nice job, ‘Shade…” she leaned over and then quickly kissed him on the cheek.
Nightshade blushed terribly, he looked at her and scowled, “No…” he growled, he then walked over to the shadow of the door, and melted into the darkness…
Chapter 22: Ignus
After the guy disappeared into the darkness, (quite literally…) Ignus turned to Destroyer, who was sitting on his throne, his mouth hanging open with shock. Rider stepped forward and strapped his scythe to his back. “Let us go, Destroyer! Anarchy is defeated!”
Destroyer’s face contorted with rage, “I told YOU to defeat Anarchy, which Nightshade did for you, so now I shall kill you!”
Destroyer leapt off his throne onto the ground, sending webs of cracks along the dirt floor.
He bared his teeth at them, as well as clenching his fists.
A voice inside his head said Let me fight him!
I’m not sure, do you promise not to hurt my friends? Ignus thought back
Oh no, no, no. You and I will simply merge our minds to fight him…
Ignus hesitated, then thought Okay…
Ignus felt his scars starting to burn, and his teeth started sharpening into fangs. He growled, a horrible sound deep in his throat, scraping and almost demonic. His hair turned into a swirling pit of flame.
Vipress stifled a scream, “Not again!” She cried, Eren had a look of terror on his face, Rider’s mouth was curved downward in a frown.
“Don’t worry Vype! I’m still in control!” Ignus replied with a reassuring smile, his voice otherwise sounded the same as it had before, but underneath his regular voice was another, a voice that sounded old and powerful, deep and demonic…
Destroyer growled, “Well, this is certainly a surprise…” He raised his fists, and charged at Ignus, who now felt like he had liquid adrenaline flowing through his veins. He leapt over Destroyer as he smashed his fist into the ground where he had just been standing, sinking his arm elbow deep into the dirt.
Ignus landed a couple dozen feet from Destroyer, who had just ripped his arm free of the hole he had created. He turned towards him just as Ignus drove his knee into his face, sending him flying, digging a foot deep, twenty foot long trench in the dirt.
Destroyer stood up from the trench with a murderous look on his face, he had taken the blow as if it was a flick, and now he seemed to want to kill him even more, his purple eyes burning with hate.
He leapt forward with his fist raised, Ignus crossed his arms in front of his face to dampen to the blow, but at the last second, Destroyer seemed to phase out of existence, completely disappearing from his sight.
Ignus heard a faint breeze behind him, and whirled, raising his right leg to kick. Destroyer had reappeared behind him, and Ignus’ kick managed to collide with Destroyer’s already outstretched leg, the impact causing dust to rain down the ceiling…
Destroyer and him stood there for a while, struggling against the others strength, trying to overpower the other.
“You don’t realize it yet, do you boy?” Destroyer growled
Ignus raised an eyebrow, “What do I not realize demon?”
Destroyer let loose a laugh, a deep, terror inducing bellow that made Ignus shiver. “This is no regular battle, boy! This is a battle of GODS!!!”
Ignus growled, “I’m no God, but I’m pretty sure I can kill one!!!”
Ignus wrapped his leg around Destroyer’s calf, and then wrenched his leg towards the wall, sending Destroyer spiraling through the air. Ignus leapt into the air, then flipped forward, bringing his leg up and over as he spun, smashing his boot into the monster’s chest, sending him flying into the ground, creating a massive crater in the dirt floor.
Ignus landed on the ground with a soft thud. Destroyer groaned from the bottom of the pit he had created. Vipress and Eren were staring at him from behind Rider, who seemed to be the only one not scared of him at the moment…
Ignus strolled over to them, “You all right, guys?” he asked.
Rider nodded, “We’re fine… That was nuts, what you just did there…”
Suddenly, Ignus’ throat contracted, and words were forced out of his mouth, but the voice that came out was much different, completely demonic and terrifying. The words weren’t even his, they were being forced up from his stomach and out his mouth, he could feel himself choking on his spit. “Well now, since that business is finished, would you mind if I borrowed Ignus for a while?” he said, his mouth being forced into a painful, sharp-toothed grin.
Eren, Vipress, and Rider gulped nervously in unison. Vipress stepped forward, “Uh, sure?”
“Good…” Ignus choked out... And with that, Ignus’ vision faded to black…
Chapter 23: Ignus
When Ignus woke up, he wasn’t in the arena anymore. He was inside a massive underground cavern, with several beds strewn over it. An iron gate blocked the only perceivable exit, which led out to what seemed like a huge coliseum…
Several tens of people were in the cavern, either sleeping on the beds, or talking to one another, or sharpening their weapons, which included axes, knives, spears, and swords. Ignus was lying on one of the beds, near the middle of the cavern.
Somebody next to him said, “Well, here we are…” Ignus looked to his right, and saw someone was watching him from another bed…
He was tall, taller than Ignus, perhaps seven feet tall, with vibrant red hair. He had a pointed nose, crimson eyes, and a mischievous smile. He wore a bloodstained chain-mail shirt, with a piece of armor covering his left shoulder and upper bicep. A sharp piece of barbed wire was wrapped around his right hand’s knuckles, now covered in blood. He wore a pair of torn up brown sweats, as well as a pair of red and black boots. Tape was wrapped around both his forearms. Strapped to his back was a massive broad-sword, with a blade at least a foot wide, the blade over seven feet long…
The most interesting thing about him was on his right eye, where three long, pale white scars ran from his eyebrow to the bottom of his cheek. He looked so much like Ignus he said, “Are you… Me?” he asked.
The man laughed, it was deep and infectious, and made Ignus smile. “No, I am not you, my friend, in a way you can say I am, but I am most certainly not you… My name is Drayneus…” he said with a warm smile, revealing sharp, pointed teeth.
Ignus shifted on his bed so he had his legs crisscrossed underneath his waist, “So where are we? And who are you?” he asked, Drayneus laughed again, “Well, like I said before, my name is Drayneus, as for my story…” He stood from his bed and started walking toward the Iron Gate, “I shall show you…” he gestured toward the doors, which were now slowly creaking upward, unveiling the path to the coliseum.
All the other people were getting up from their beds and heading through the gate to the coliseum. Taking their weapons with them, as well as putting on armor or padding.
Ignus ran after Drayneus, “What are they doing?”
“Attending the games, they would be killed if they didn’t…” Drayneus replied, unsheathing his blade and laying it across his shoulders.
They both were absorbed into the crowd of people, Ignus looked around at them, seeing many different ages of people, he saw someone who was no older than twelve, trying to tote a sword that was bigger than he was, he also saw a man who looked older than the cavern, practically being carried by his partner, a teenager who looked about seventeen, carrying the old man in one arm, carrying a battle axe in the other.
The sight of the people made Ignus sad, these people were being forced to fight or something like that, probably for entertainment…
It made him sick…
He turned to Drayneus, who towered over the crowds, easy to spot. Ignus was in the same boat, he towered over most of the crowds, who all looked either really old, or really young. “So Drayneus, what are these people, and you, doing here?”
Drayneus’ expression turned sad, “Well, you see, you’re in one of my only memories, this is before I came to your realm. Where I came from, the entire country was ruled by a cruel emperor, who threw anybody who opposed him into this prison, and he had them fight them to the death in this coliseum to get rid of them. It is quite sad; I am the only one who managed to escape… “
Just then, they emerged into the massive coliseum. It was just like the arena he had fought Destroyer in, but about five times as big… Where Destroyer would have sat was a golden throne covered in shade by a crimson and violet pavilion. On the throne sat a tall man with milk and coffee skin, dark brown eyes, and a proud grin. He was dressed in royal crimson robes, with a gold and silver crown atop his head.
In the seating thirty feet above the dry dirt floor of the coliseum, thousands of spectators jeered at the crowds, waiting to see a massacre.
The crowds settled into a loose semicircle in front of the emperor’s pavilion, a group of perhaps eighty to a hundred people, looking up at the emperor with mixed looks, sadness, hatred, anger…
The emperor rose his hand for silence, the crowds in the stands quieted immediately, he then rose from his throne and spread his arms, “Good people of Xnerium! Today is a special day! For today, two combatants will fight for their freedom from this arena!”
The crowd around Ignus burst into shouting and pleading cries to have them fight. The emperor raised his hand for silence, the crowd complied. “Now, now, the combatants have already been chosen, and they shall be called shortly…”
Drayneus gripped Ignus’ shoulder, “My time is coming, all will make sense soon, I won’t be able to show you the whole memory, but you will see, for I shall contact you again…”
The emperor called, “Drayneus the Merciless!” who stepped forward, the people making way for him, forming an aisle for him to walk through to the front of the crowd.
The emperor then called, “Xainos the Consumer!”
A new man stepped to the front of the crowd; he was tall, with a black cloak covering his back, as well as a black t-shirt and jeans, with an iron gauntlet on his left forearm, his other arm was covered in slash marks, dried closed with blood. His skin was pitch black, as dark as midnight. Four, small sharp horns erupted from the top of his bald head, which came to a point at the back of his head. His eyes were blank white.
The crowds edged to the walls of the coliseum, knowing what was about to go down. These two warriors were the strongest in all the land, powerful enough to destroy anyone who got in there way.
The emperor spoke over the cheers of the crowd, who were shouting compliments to either Xainos or Drayneus, who now stood in a circle around them at the edges of the arena.
“Now… FIGHT!!!” the emperor shouted.
Drayneus raised his fists, which burst into flames. Xainos opened his hands, and a dark energy started emanating from them, coating them in layer after layer of dark matter.
Drayneus and Xainos each leapt into the air, raising their fists to strike.
They met mid-punch, and a blinding explosion followed, and Ignus’ vision faded to black…
Chapter 24: Vipress
Okay, the demon making Ignus pass out was not something Vipress needed, because they then had to carry him out of the arena.
Well, she didn’t, Eren and Rider did, Ignus’ limp form hanging off either of their shoulders. They ran out of the arena with Destroyer starting to stir behind them. Vipress closed the massive wooden doors behind them as they ran out of the arena.
They ran down the corridor for a while, it slowly descending in a slight slope, delving deeper underground. They all slowed to a walk once they were sure they were safe from Destroyer and his henchmen…
Eren looked over at her, struggling to carry Ignus’ massive form. “So what did you do to him when you freed him?” he asked. She blinked a few times, processing the question, then, realizing what he was asking, replied, “None of your business…”
His eyes widened, “Oh… My… God… You totally kissed him didn’t you?!”
Vipress felt her face getting hot, “What?! No! Why would you think that!?” Eren laughed hysterically, slapping his knee with his free hand, “Don’t lie to me, Vype! I can see it in your eyes!” from the other side of Ignus, Vipress heard Rider whisper, “Oooooooo….”
Vipress punched Eren on the shoulder, “Just forget about it, let’s just get out of here…”
***
The corridor emerged into a large cave, with a massive hole in the ceiling, leaving it open to the night sky. Eren and Rider set Ignus down against a column, then started to sit around and make a fire, Rider happened to be carrying a few sticks to chisel with, but he agreed to use them for firewood. None of them had something to light the fire with, then, Eren raised a finger, and his gaze steadily crawled to Ignus, who was grumbling in his unconsciousness by the column.
He walked over to him and lifted Ignus hand, adjusted his fingers so they made a finger gun, pulled the trigger, and a bright orange flame shot from the tip of his finger, into the pile of sticks, and instantly, a fire blazed to life, filling the cavern with vibrant orange light.
“Well, that was easy…” he mused, then he plopped next to another column and started snoozing, Rider sat down cross-legged in front of the fire and apparently went to sleep, because Vipress heard him snoring underneath his hoodie.
She sat in front of the fire and gazed into the flames, and she could swear she saw Ignus’ face smiling back at her. She looked up at him, still unconscious and leaning against the column.
The embers from the fire floated through the hole in the ceiling and into the now dark sky. She wished he would wake up, and then she could tell him how she felt…
She closed her eyes and lie back on the cool stone floor, and fell into a fitful sleep…
***
She woke up in the middle of the night.
Eren and Rider were still sleeping when she looked at them from her lying position.
She sat up and looked over where Ignus was leaning against the column, but he was gone!
She jumped to her feet and whipped her head from side to side, looking for him, but she could see no sign of him.
She walked behind one of the other columns in the cave, and saw he was sitting on a small dome shaped erected from the stone ground, gazing into the night sky. She sighed with relief, then walked over and sat beside him.
They didn’t say anything for a while, just gazed at the stars in the calm night sky, when Ignus finally said, “What am I, Vipress?” she looked over to see him, looking at the ground, tears streaming down his cheeks, his eyes flickering dangerously bright.
The question took Vipress by surprise, she had asked her father that question once before and he had assured her that she was special to him and it didn’t matter what others thought…
But she wasn’t her father, and Ignus wasn’t like her, he was much, much, different…
“What’s bothering you?” she asked him, a stupid question, he obviously was very bothered. He wiped a tear from the side of his face, and looked back into the sky. “I asked you, what am I?” his voice was dangerously angry now, and he turned towards her, his eyes filled with the insanity when he had gone rage mode…
Vipress sat there, staring at him, his eyes filled with several feelings, loneliness, depression, anger, sadness. He had realized he was the only kind of person in the world, and he would always be looked at as an outcast, a freak…
Vipress managed to choke out the words, “Ignus… You think you’re the only one alone in this world?” she asked,
“Yes! I’m the only kind in this world! I’m all alone!” he spat angrily, his eyes starting to spark,
“I’m exactly like you Ignus, I’ll never be accepted either…” she said quietly,
This seemed to jar him, because all the anger disappeared from his eyes, and it was replaced by curiosity. “What do you mean? Why not?”
Vipress sighed, “My father… His name is Alucard…”
Ignus’ expression was unreadable, the perfect poker face… “Your father… Is the eternal lord of vampires and the leader of the international Liberian crime syndicate?” he asked. Vipress felt tears welling in her eyes, “Yeah, you think you’re an outcast? How do you think I feel whenever someone finds out who my father is?!” a tear made its way down her cheek and fell off her chin and onto the stones.
She wiped her eyes and looked at the ground, she couldn’t see Ignus’ face, but she could almost picture in her mind him looking at her with sorrow.
Ignus shifted next to her, and the next thing she knew, he had his arms wrapped around her, in fiery embrace, and she could feel his face bury into her hair.
At first she couldn’t speak, too shocked to find the words… But then she buried her face in his shoulder and cried silently on him, her tears hissing against his skin, her tears and blood were poison after all, but he didn’t seem to care, because he held her even tighter after that…
They stayed like that for a while, holding each other in their arms. Being embraced by Ignus was like being hugged by a hot coal, his body radiated heat like a burning piece of charcoal. But he shivered, tears dripping from his eyes into Vipress’ hair. Her tears had now burned at least a half-inch into his shoulder, but he still didn’t seem to care…
Finally, when he let her go, his eyes were red from tears, and his pupils flickered like hot coals, warm and dark… “Listen Vype… I’m sorry-“
“Oh shut up Ig… Or I’ll start crying again…” she replied with a weak smile. He smiled in reply, and leaned over and kissed her.
When he pulled away, he looked at her with confusion. “Back in the cavern, why did you… Uhhh-“
Vipress knew what he was going to say, “Why did I kiss you?” she asked, he nodded, his cheeks turning bright red. “I kissed you because I like you Ignus,” she poked him on the chest, “You’re a brave young man who was willing to die to save me and your friends…” she said, she felt her face getting hot too.
Ignus sighed deeply, then turned towards her, “Well, Vype, I like you too…”
She leaned over and rested her head on his shoulder, then closed her eyes, and went to sleep…

Chapter 25: Vipress
Vipress woke up still leaning on Ignus’ shoulder, who was sleeping peacefully against the column. Light poured into the cave through the hole in the roof of the cavern, casting shadows across Ignus’ scars, and was it her imagination, or were the scars a deeper shade of red? Maybe, just maybe, whoever that demon inside of Ignus was starting to take over his mind, asserting his dominance? She didn’t like the thought at all.
She got up as carefully as possible, trying to not wake him up, which she succeeded, then she walked over to Eren and Rider, who had put out the fire and were snacking on a pack of Gold-Fish.
She sat down across from them on the other side of the fire, which was now put out, covered in dirt. The two of them looked up from their snack and stared at her. “So what’s it like being kissed by a demon?” Rider asked, his jaw breaking into a grin, exposing crumbs of Goldfish wedged between his tusks and teeth. Vipress glowered at him, “Ignus isn’t a demon, he just has one trapped inside of him…”
Eren shrugged, “What’s the difference?” he mused, Rider nodded grimly, “He’s right, Vipress, if that thing takes over Ignus, who’s to say it won’t kill us too?” he asked,
Vipress looked at her boots, which were now covered in dust from their journey. “Who’s to say Ignus won’t contain whoever that thing is?”
A voice behind her said, “Its name happens to be Drayneus…” she turned to see Ignus leaning with his back against the column, his eyes still closed.
Eren raised an eyebrow, “It has a name?” he asked, Ignus nodded, “Yeah, his name is Drayneus, and he wasn’t always a demon you know… He used to be a person like me, with control over fire… But he was cursed to be a demon for all eternity, and was cast out from his world and into the Underworld, where he met the realm’s queen, who took pity on him and, sensing his demonic power, made him her most trusted lieutenant. He then was sent into our world to destroy it, but my grandfather sealed him inside my father, and when I was born, Drayneus’ spirit was passed down to me…”
Rider’s jaw dropped, “So you have an all powerful demon sealed inside of you, and you didn’t bother to tell us?!” he demanded. Eren raised an eyebrow, Vipress sighed, “Well, is this demon an enemy, or a friend?” she asked,
Ignus tilted his head upward, as if listening to another voice, then said, “He says that we can consider him a friend, but in time, every time Ignus calls on his power, his spirit will completely take over his mind, then his bloodthirsty spirit will run wild.”
Eren gulped nervously, “Would he then kill us?” he asked, Ignus tilted his head a second time, “He says ‘Yes, I would, and without remorse, you mewling quim.’” Ignus said sorrowfully, Rider got up from his sitting position and wiped off the Goldfish crumbs from his shirt. “Well, I’m not going to be there when that happens…” he sighed.
Vipress glared at him, “Is there any way to get rid of him, Ignus?” she asked without looking at him,
Ignus sighed, “Drayneus says, ‘The only way would be to stab Ignus all the way through with one of Draco’s teeth, but he is just a myth.’”
Eren looked puzzled, “Wait, who is this Draco? Could we find him, Drayneus?”
“Sorry to ask, but could Drayneus just talk for a while? I hate talking for him…”
Vipress frowned, “Will he not kill us?”
Ignus laughed, then his head jerked to the left, and his right eye filled with red until it was completely crimson. Ignus’ mouth broke into a grin, revealing sharp, pointed teeth. He spoke in a way that reminded Vipress of a British gentleman, “Ah! My friends! It is good to formally meet you! My name is Drayneus, if Ignus didn’t tell you already!” he extended an open palm to Rider, who reluctantly shook it. Eren had taken three large steps away from him. Vipress poked him in the chest, “You still in there Ignus?” she asked quietly,
Drayneus let out a laugh, “Oh, little Vipress! I would have torn you limb from limb for that! But alas! Ignus’ strength is so baffling he can somehow restrain me from doing so! I tell you what, it is quite infuriating!” he cracked an otherwise normal smile, but from the tightness in his face, Ignus really was the only thing preventing Drayneus from killing them.
Dray looked around the cave, “Well, you guys are gonna need some reinforcements…” he said bluntly, Eren tilted his head, confused, “What do you mean? Reinforcements for what?” he asked,
Dray looked at him as if he’d just exploded, which is to say, strangely, “For the coming battle, of course!” he said it as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. Rider looked taken aback, “You can’t mean-“
“Yes, my friend, that is exactly what I mean…” he interrupted. Rider took his hood off, revealing his pale skin, brown hair, and red eyes. His face was paler than usual, “Drayneus, if this is the truth… Guys… I need to go…” He turned toward the cavern entrance, but Eren grabbed his shoulder and turned him around, “Rider, what’s wrong? What battle is Drayneus talking about?” he asked,
Rider shook his head, as if that might shake off the fear, “Dray is talking about Malice… The Shadow Elf king, he was going to invade Liberia right after he killed Ignus, but since he escaped his plan, we forced his hand, and now he’s going to invade, with an army of thousands of Shadow Elves behind him!” he explained,
Eren looked at him, shocked, “So what are you going to do?” he asked,
Rider took his scythe off its strap and looked into the tunnel they had entered cave from. “I’m going to try and find some people who don’t hate us and try to convince them to help us fight Shadow Elven army!” He snapped his fingers, and a puff of smoke exploded to his side, and there was his hog, chewing on a piece of a rotten pear. His saddle freshly polished, Rider hopped onto the pig and turned towards the three of them, “I’ll send my comrades to hold off the invasion for as long as possible, but they will not survive for long, I only hope that the other armies will listen to me…” he then turned his boar towards the entrance and spurred his hog into a sort of lazy gallop, to which it supplied.
Once Rider had disappeared into the darkness of the tunnel, Drayneus turned to the two of them and cracked a smile, “I have some plans of my own you two! Who wants to take a little trip into the depths of Hell itself?”

Chapter 25: Drayneus
Ignus’ voice spoke inside of Dray’s mind, Dray, why exactly are we going to Hell?
Why, my boy, to get more reinforcements, of course! Dray replied in his mind
Isn’t Rider already doing that?
Those reinforcements won’t be enough, we need another army…
Slowly, realization dawned on him, You mean… We’re going to get the Demon Army to help us? Ignus asked, baffled.
Don’t worry Ignus, they’ll listen, to me that is…
Drayneus turned to Eren, “Could you slash across my hand please?” he asked, Eren didn’t ask questions, because he simply raised his spear and raked the tip across his palm, instantly leaving a deep cut that started bleeding immediately.
Drayneus set to work, drawing on the ground with his bleeding hand. Vipress looked at what he was doing from over his shoulder. “What are you doing? Couldn’t you just use a sword to draw that or something?” she asked curiously,
Can I kill her Ignus? He asked in his mind.
Don’t touch my girl, you mother fu-
Okay! Okay! No need for name calling! Dray sighed sadly, then looked up at her, “Only the blood of one who is pure of heart, or a demon’s…” he replied bluntly, smiling evilly.
He didn’t allow any more questions for the remainder of his work. He silently drew on the ground with his blood, until he had drawn a circle with a five point star inside of it. He stood up and cracked his back, “Now for the final step…” he said to himself. He lifted his hand and flames erupted from his palm.
He threw the flame into the center of the star, and the flames caught on the edge of the line of blood. The blood turned bright orange, and webs of cracks spread across the ground inside of the circle, until the entire circle collapsed into a swirling pit of red flame, going to God knows where.
Drayneus didn’t wait, he leapt head-long into the pit, delving into the depths of Hell…
***
The portal opened up toward the sky, which was pitch black and filled with crimson clouds. He instinctively tucked and rolled onto the ground, which was hard, red, and covered in an inch of ash.
As Dray tumbled out of the portal and into the Demon Realm, he felt Ignus’ conscience fade into the depths of his mind, leaving Drayneus in complete control of his body. He flexed his fingers into a fist, and felt no resistance; he brought it down on a nearby boulder, splitting it in half, still nothing.
Drayneus smiled, he was free! Free to do whatever he wanted! He could escape and live in peace…
But just then, two sudden THUDS sounded through the silent sky. He turned to see Vipress and Eren lying in a heap on the ground, struggling to get on their feet. Drayneus walked over and offered Vipress his clawed hand.
She took it and unsteadily got to her feet. Eren scrambled to his, “Thanks for nothing, Dray…” He grumbled. He blew a strand of orange hair out of his eyes, “I only help women, Eren, men should carry their own burdens…” he replied.
Eren rolled his eyes, stabbed his spear into the ashen ground, sat down on a rock, and ran his hands through his dirty blonde hair.
Vipress looked around at the barren, dark landscape, “So this is Hell? It’s a lot nicer than I expected…” she said, almost sounding disappointed. Drayneus laughed, “This? No, this is just the welcome mat… It gets much worse…”
He looked around at the barren landscape, nothing but hard red ground and patches of flaming ground here and there. The sky was pitch black, as dark as midnight, with a few blood-red clouds lazily bobbing in the sky. They had landed in somewhat of a bowl shaped valley, with hills surrounding them on all sides. Drayneus recognized the place and smiled.
He turned to Eren, “The Demon Queen’s castle isn’t far from here, come on!” he waved at them to follow.
Eren groaned, “Can’t you turn into a dragon and let us ride you?” he asked.
Drayneus shook his head sadly, “Unfortunately, that’s one of Ignus’ abilities, not mine, he would need to be in complete control to do that…”
Vipress tilted her head at the answer, “Why can’t you let Ignus take control?” she asked,
“Because, my dear, only I know the way around this place, and Hell forces me into control, so you’re stuck with me, whether you like or not…”
Vipress pursed her lips, Eren frowned and brandished his spear. “Does that mean you could kill us right now if you wanted to?” he growled.
Dray shook his head, “I’m afraid not, even though Ignus’ consciousness won’t speak to me, it still doesn’t allow me to bring harm to you two in any way, it’s quite remarkable, his will…”
He found himself staring off into the distance, off in lala land,
He shook his head and started walking toward the crest of the nearest hill, which, if he remembered correctly, was pointing North, heading toward the Demon Realm’s capital.

Chapter 26: Drayneus
The castle was enormous…
It had dark, crimson stone walls, a little over thirty feet tall, with dirty sandbags lining the top, laced with rusty barbed wire. The walls extended as far to the left and right as the eye could see, he couldn’t see where it ended.
Guards lined the parapets, standing every fifty feet along the wall, with square shields half their height, and huge pikes in the other hand. Their faces were hidden underneath tungsten legionnaire helmets, as well as iron chain-mail underneath bronze breast-plates, their legs were covered in the same chain-mail up to the knees, while their chins were covered in leather greaves.
How did Drayneus know all this?
Well… He used to serve with those guards…
He had done so… A very long time ago…
The pain crashed onto him like a wave on the cliffs…
He shook his head, trying to get rid of the memories…
Dwelling on the past isn’t going to get me to the future, he thought to himself. He turned to Vipress and EL, who were standing beside him, watching the castle and its guards. “Well, you wanna go?” he asked them.
EL tightened his bandanna around his forehead, “Let’s do this!”
Vype looked uneasily at Dray, “What will we do?” she asked, Drayneus cracked a nostalgic smile, “Follow me and see…”
***
As they approached the wall, one of the guards called, “Ho there! Who approaches the capital’s walls?” This guard was considerably larger than the others, at least six and a half feet tall, wearing all titanium chain mail and armor, holding a large broadsword and shield.
Drayneus stepped forward, “Drayneus the Merciless!”
The guard’s eyes widened behind his helm, “You can’t mean THE Drayneus, the Tamer of the Hell-Hounds, Destroyer of Peace, Tyrant of the Abyss?”
Drayneus smiled, “It is indeed, old friend! Me and my companions need to enter the capital!”
The guard grunted, “Alright, open the gates!”
The stone wall started to split apart, forming a pathway through the wall into the city. The guard looked at Drayneus, then to Vipress, then back to Dray, “This you’re girlfriend, Dray? She’s quite beautiful…”
Vipress blushed beside him, and he shook his head, “No, a friend of mine’s… I’m keeping her safe for him…”
The guard nodded approvingly, Dray then walked through the gateway into the city, with his companions at his heels.
The gateway opened up onto a cobblestone pathway that was bustling with people. Well not people, Demons, beings with dark crimson skin, blood red eyes, and dark hair that was either cut short or that swept over their shoulders. They wore surprisingly modern clothes, such as denim jackets, jeans, shorts, t-shirts, etc…
The cobblestone path, on either side, had wooden housing or marketplaces, and sometimes, forges that puffed out smoke from their furnaces as they created fine axes, swords, hammers, and spears.
A hundred feet down the path it opened up into a massive courtyard, which curved around into a semicircle, which ran into another wall, with another gateway, behind which was a massive keep, with flaming braziers beside its massive wooden doors. It was made out of the same dark stone as the walls, with wide windows and iron bars inside the frames. It towered over the other buildings, standing what looked like two hundred feet.
Drayneus walked towards the wooden doors, aware that almost all of the demons around him were stopping and staring at him as he walked past them, their eyes wide.
He stood in front of the massive wooden doors, his eyes full of anticipation. He knocked on the left door, the sound resonating through the silent skies…
No answer came back from the other side of the door, just silence…
Getting impatient, Dray kicked the door soundly with his right foot.
The door went flying off its hinges, wood twisting and cracking until it crashed onto the keeps solid black marble floor.
The room was just as he had remembered, a long hall with darkly colored, marble floors, with pillars reaching up to the vaulted ceiling. At the end of the hall rested small set of marble stairs, which led to a massive obsidian throne, but where the Queen was supposed to sit, was a small, bulky demon with close cropped hair and a sinister face.
Drayneus felt anger starting to boil inside of him, he marched to the base of the stairs and looked up at the man on the throne with burning eyes. “What’s this?! WHERE’S ANTOINTTE!?!” he yelled viciously.
The man on the throne’s face seemed to pale a little more when he saw him approaching the throne.
“Ah! Drayneus! It’s good to finally meet you!” he said, shakily getting off his throne and walking down the steps with his hand extended.
Drayneus swatted it aside with a little too much force, sending the pot-bellied man flying through the air into one of the pillars with a sickening CRUNCH…
He walked over to the demon’s stocky build and grabbed him by the collar of his black shirt. “Where is SHE?!” he demanded.
The demon spat blood into Drayneus’ face, “You of all people don’t know?” He asked.
Dray let him go, making him slump against the pillar, “What do you mean? I’ve been trapped inside this damn human body for the past twenty years! What are you saying?!”
The demon shakily got to his feet and leaned up against the pillar. “Antoinette is dead…”
Drayneus’ face must have been shocked, grieved even… But his mind was rapidly replacing it with anger… “Who killed her?!” he screamed. The demon held up his hands in terror. “I don’t know! All we know is she was killed in her sleep under all of our noses!”
Drayneus shook his head in disbelief. Vipress and EL stood quietly behind him, watching silently…
He looked at the ground, tears started to sting his eyes. Then back to the demon slouched leaning against the pillar. “I’ll find out who it is later… I need command of Hell’s armies!” The demon looked at him confusingly, “Why? What reason does the all powerful Drayneus have to need Hell’s Armies?”
Drayneus shook his head, “My host needs them to help defeat the Shadow Elven army… And I AM the rightful leader of them!” he exclaimed.
The man shook his head thoughtfully, “Alright, Drayneus, I’ll let this one slide… But next time, I’ll have you pitted in the arena until you fall dead of exhaustion!”
***
They sat on the exterior of the wall, discussing what they would do next. “We should probably get back into the human world, right?” EL asked. Vipress shook her head, agreeing. “Yeah, let’s get out of here, the air’s burning my lungs…” she said, sighing.
Drayneus looked toward the rough hills they had trekked across to get here, another long journey to get back to their starting point…
A tremor jarred him from his thoughts, the ground was vibrating underneath him, progressively getting more violent…
Dray got to his feet quickly, “We need to go… NOW…” he yelled.
He opened his mouth, and smoke poured out of it, ripping his consciousness from Ignus’ body, forming into his familiar, solid smoky form that towered over the three other figures before him. Ignus gasped and opened his eyes, which were returning to their natural orange color.
Vipress looked at Drayneus’ smoky form, “What was that?!”
He looked at her with one glowing red eye, “That, my dear, was my uncle…”
Chapter 27: Ignus
All he remembered was his vision going black after the fight with Destroyer, then the next thing he knew, Ignus was running for his life across Hell’s rough terrain from a giant fiery snake that was out for all their blood…
Dakon, Drayneus had called it, who was now carrying EL on his back, flying on smoky cloud of ash. Ignus was carrying Vipress in his arms, boosting his speed with jets of flame out of the soles of his feet.
Dakon was close behind them, hissing as it came.
It was a terrifying creature, mostly because it was over two hundred feet long and twice as thick as a school bus…
Its scales were bright red, with lines of gold running down its back from its forehead. Its eyes were bright cyan, with a massive mouth big enough to swallow a small cargo plane, lined with huge, sharp and curved teeth. As well as a huge forked tongue that flicked in and out of his pointed mouth. Its teeth dripped with deadly poison.
Dray had said, whatever you do, don’t get bit, you’ll wish you had been more careful if you do…
He had promised to try to block all of its attacks, but he couldn’t promise he could fend it off. They would just have to get to the portal before Dakon got to them…
Ignus flew to the top of a hill and set Vipress down, “You think you can get to the portal on your own?” he asked, she nodded, “You sure, Ig? I don’t want to lose you again!”
Ignus nodded, “Don’t worry, Vype, I’ll be alright…”
She nodded, then quickly kissed him, “Don’t die on me, Iggy…” she said quietly, then flew towards the portal sight. Drayneus set EL down a few feet away and floated over to him. “You ready, my friend?” he asked with a mock brow.

[Thief of Blood]

Ignus rolled his eyes, “Whatever, Dray, let’s just make sure those two get to the portal…”
***
Dakon approached swiftly, its massive belly slithering along the rough ground, its tongue flickering in and out of its massive jaw, fangs dripping with poison.
Drayneus braced himself beside Ignus, his fists now raised, his face twisted into a sadistic, gleeful smile.
Ignus flicked his wrists, and the chains lengthened into whips. Dray looked over at the whips and smiled even wider, “I would know those chains anywhere...” he said nostalgically.
“What?” Ignus asked,
Drayneus shook his head, “Never mind…”
Dakon was within striking distance when it reared back and struck at the two of them, Ignus flicked one of his whips toward the right side of Dakon’s neck. In mid flight, the chain grew a heavy spear point and stabbed into the side of the monstrous snake’s neck, who roared in annoyance and jerked his head upward, throwing him into the air.
He landed on the frill of Dakon’s neck, which Dakon reacted to by thrashing around, trying to throw Ignus off of him.
He swung one of his chains around the snake’s neck and grabbed it in his other hand and pulled it tight, forcing Dakon to face towards Drayneus, who had been waiting for an opportunity to strike, who smiled with sadistic glee and set his fists on fire. He leapt off the ground with a thunderous BOOM towards the monsters face, fists blazing with crimson fire.
He brought both fists onto the snake’s head, and a massive explosion followed, making Ignus see nothing but white.
Chapter 28: Ignus
When his vision finally regained its color, He was still sitting on top of Dakon’s neck, which was lying flat on the ground, its eyes closed, its tongue limply hanging out of its mouth. Dray was laying flat on his back beside Dakon’s head.
Ignus walked over to him and offered him a hand, “Nice work…” he offered, Drayneus’ smoky hand took his, “Not bad yourself, kid, I haven’t had that much fun in years!”
He pulled him up, Ignus patted Dakon’s head, “Did you kill him?” he asked,
Drayneus shook his head, “You can’t kill a primordial deity, Ig, but you can knock one out!” he winked jokingly.
Ignus laughed, “How long will he be out?”
Drayneus pondered for a moment, “From a blow like that, around a week, at most.”
He started walking towards the portal. “This should give us plenty of time to get out this hell-hole!”
***
Vipress and EL were waiting for them, the portal a swirling pit of red behind them.
EL nodded to Ignus, “Good to see you’re alive, after that explosion, I had my doubts…”
Drayneus laughed and slapped him on the shoulder good heartedly, “You kidding? He’s going to have to survive much worse than that if he wants to live a full life!”
Ignus laughed, “Yeah, Eren, we’ve survived way worse than that, right?!" he said smiling.
They all started walking towards the portal, Drayneus started to say, “Well let’s get back to the hum-“when something thudded into his back, something short, wooden, and sharp…
They all stopped dead in their tracks and turned. Standing thirty feet away from them was Drake, holding one tomahawk, with the other being embedded in Drayneus’ back.
Drake generally looked terrified, faced with taking on a Demon, a Dragon, a Vampire, as well as a guy who controlled lightning.
Drayneus ripped the tomahawk free out of his back and tossed it back to Drake, who caught in his hand, he then turned to the three of them and said, “You guys go, I’ll handle this son of a bitch…”
Chapter 29: Ignus
Vipress and Eren leapt into the portal, while Ignus stood by it, waiting for Drayneus to take care of Drake.
He threw his two tomahawks at Dray, who deflected one off his fist, but the other sunk deep into his smoky chest, where it stuck out uselessly. Drayneus kept advancing, his eyes burning with malice. Drake threw over a dozen kunai from his belt, but none of them could halt the advance of the smoky tower now advancing on him with clear murderous intent.
Dray reached him and grappled him around the throat, lifting him off the ground, causing him to sputter for breath, his expression turning from panicked to surprised to terrified.
Dray then opened his other clawed hand and before Ignus knew to look away, tore into Drake’s right eye, followed by massive spurts of blood, and with a sickening SHLUCK, ripped Drake’s eye free from its socket.
He then dropped him to the ground, screaming in pain and writhing around in his blood now pooling around his struggling form.
The demon held up Drake’s bloody eye in his palm, “Let this be a reminder Drake, I’ll be watching you…” he then tossed the eye into Drake’s lap, and turned towards the portal, wiping the blood off his hands. “Let’s go Ignus, this guy won’t give us any more trouble…” he said bluntly. He then dived head-long into the portal, with Ignus at his heels…
***
As they passed through the swirling red portal, Drayneus turned into a cloud of smoke and entered into Ignus through his mouth and nose, giving him a surge of strength and rage, making him sigh deeply, flames coming from his nose and mouth.
He erupted from the portal, not in the cave, but into broad daylight, in the middle of the Great Desert, over half way across the Liberian continent!
Dray, what are we doing in the Great Desert?! This isn’t where the portal was! He thought angrily.
Ignus, your friends are going to be fine, they’re on their way to the battle, but getting them there kind of threw my powers off balance, so getting through the portal didn’t get us where we wanted, so now we’re here… Dray thought back calmly.
Ignus turned to the East, where the Unending Range stretched along the horizon, an impassable barrier, at least, for a mere mortal.
Ignus wasn’t a mortal…
He was a Pyronian warrior prince, someone who had rejected his past, someone who fought the terrors of the depths and the skies, braved the most terrifying places on the continent, and fought the vilest criminals in possibly the entire galaxy…
And he wasn’t going to let a PUNY MOUNTIN RANGE STOP HIM!!!
His legs tensed and he shot off like a bullet towards the mountains at an incredible speed, covering miles with each stride he took. The mountains getting bigger and closer every step, each one reminding him what he was doing…
Once he was within reasonable distance, he caused the ground underneath him to explode with as much force as he could muster, making him launch into the air with insane speed, launching him well above the tallest mountain and into the clouds.
The battlefield stretched out below him, where three separate armies were doing their best to tear the other apart.
One army was clearly the Riders, a group of perhaps two hundred individuals, trying to hold back the line of over twenty thousand enemies.
Some of the enemy soldiers were gigantic, what seemed like walking mountains, giants made completely out of stone.
Ignus shot jets of flame out of his feet and palms, making him float in mid-air, letting him observe the carnage happening beneath him.
He repositioned himself until he was over the center of the enemy army, then he cut off his jets…
And just like that, he dropped…
***
His speed almost sucked the breath out of him…
He broke the sound barrier around half-way down to the battlefield. He wreathed his hands in flames and got ready to slam into the ground with as much force as he could muster.
The ground was approaching him now at an incredible pace, the enemies starting to come into focus, if they weren’t zooming him at a thousand miles per hour!
When he finally reached the ground, he slammed his fists into the ground, and a bone shaking explosion followed, blinding him and expanding outward in a fifty foot radius…
Smoke leapt up after the flames died down, which Ignus absorbed into his hand, giving him a clear view of the army he was facing down.
The army was entirely composed of nomads, men clad in leather tunics and leggings, with cloth wrapped around their necks and faces, making their faces unseen, except for their eyes, which were mostly caramel, perfectly matching their skin, which was caramel as well. Ignus had heard rumors of these guys pillaging small towns around the Druid Mountains. They were Nomadic Barbarians who had supposedly come from across the Great Sea after being forced out of their homeland…
But Ignus wasn’t interested in the warriors, but their rides…
They were monstrous reptiles, velociraptors… With saddles and bridles on them and in their mouths, which were filled with razor sharp teeth. Their hands and feet were endowed with inch and a half long claws, all of them ready to tear him apart.
But half of the nomads were looking at him with fear, not anger. Because in a fifty foot radius, were the charred remains of over a hundred of them, as well as their mounts.
Just then, a familiar voice screamed over the sound of the battle, and Ignus’ reflexes took over. He shot into the crowd of the nomads, knocking them off their mounts, bashing heads, punching, kicking, and generally kicking butt and taking name… Occasionally getting stabbed by one of the raptors talons or by the nomad’s weapons…
But his adrenaline was pumping, and he couldn’t feel any of the pain, because his anxiety was pushing it all out of his body…
He leapt over a group of nomads clashing with some Riders, and saw Vipress on the ground, her leg bleeding, a nomad holding a green stained sword advancing on her as she scooted away from them.
Ignus landed on top of him, grabbed the back of his head and slammed him into the ground, feeling his skull crack from the blow.
Ignus walked over the Vipress, who was looking at him with shy astonishment. He leaned over and examined her leg, which was cut across the calf, where green blood oozed out.
“Vype, I have to cauterize it…” he said grimly.
“What does that mean? She said, breathing heavily…
“I’m going to burn it shut…”
“Ah, crap…” She said timidly.
He shot a white hot stream of flame from his index finger, and began cauterize the wound…
Vipress screamed in pain, gripping Ignus’ shoulder so hard he actually felt it…
When he was done, he shakily stood to his feet and helped her up, she fell, but caught herself on his shoulder, “Can you get me out of here?” She asked him…
He nodded, scooping her off her feet and leaping to nearest line of Riders, he landed behind them. He set her down and yelled at the Riders, “Protect her for me!”
One of the Riders looked at him with anger and said, “Who are you to give us orders?”
As he said that, a Nomad leapt at Ignus from the left, his knife ready for the kill, but Ignus caught his face in his hand, burning his face.
The Nomad fell to the ground, screaming in pain, Ignus pointed at him and said, “I’m the guy who’ll do that to you if you don’t protect her!” He screamed. The Rider, almost instantly, said, “YES, SIR!!!”
Ignus knelt to Vipress, examining the wound one last time, making sure it was alright, when a harsh war horn sounded across the battle field. Ignus and Vipress froze, and slowly looked towards the hill it had sounded from.