A Cynical Shadow's Return

Chapter 12

     Four hours passed, and the burning sun was now replaced by the crescent moon. Reko’s struggle to clear his mind continued while Darzay led the way back to camp, and Leaonay looked up at the stars with a wide smile on her face. With every time Reko attempted clearing his mind in order to concentrate on only the emerald shards he had, something would always pop up in his mind, being the cause of his failure. His greatest worry was not being able to take down the shadow even with Darzay helping out. He did not want to fail everyone who had put so much faith in him, so unlocking the full potential of the Artifact shards was imperative for the sake of those he cares about. Darzay, however, was oblivious to what Reko was doing, but mostly did not care until his curiosity continued to poke at him. He would look up at Reko, who was still meditating on top of Golly’s head with a green glow emitting from his right pocket, and let out a small, annoyed growl. The glow would begin losing its brightness slowly as a green flame formed on his body, but only for a very brief moment. After seeing that, Darzay stopped moving forward and jumped on top of Golly’s head, staring down at Reko. 
        “That’s it,” Darzay declared, “I’m getting real tired of you sitting on your ass while I do all of the work here! Just what the hell are you doing and why?”
        “Darzay, we don’t have time for this,” Reko responded as he continued to focus.
        “Well, I’m making time for it. You’ve been stuck like that ever since we left the mountain region and I want to know why.” Reko sighed in annoyance because his concentration was now broken. He opened his eyes and looked at Darzay with an agitated glare.
        “Listen, what I’m doing is what’ll tell if we survive against that copy of me.”
        “Tch, who says you were fighting him in the first place? You had your chance and got your ass kicked. You’re sitting back and watching from the sidelines.”
        “Ya know, I’d like to see you try and make me,” Darzay growled at him and Reko exchanged threatening glares with each other, looking at each other in their aggressive eyes. After a brief moment of glaring, Darzay put on a grin and chuckled, starting back along the path.
        “You’ve got guts, Reko,” he said. “That’s the only thing I respect about you, but you better not die. Only I will get the pleasure of killing you.”
        “Not even you will get the pleasure of killing me, Darzay.” Darzay said nothing more as he led the way back to camp, and Reko went back to his concentration. Leaonay took her eyes off of the night sky, and let a small, cute yawn that no one paid attention to. She looked at the two males and the rock monster to see if they were paying attention to her at all, but as she expected, none of them even glanced at her. Knowing this, she crossed her arms and began pouting since she wanted to be the center of attention. Even though his conversation with Reko was over, Darzay still wanted to know what Reko’s meditation would accomplish in the battle with the shadow. Not knowing continued to bother him, but he acted as though he didn’t care anymore.

     Back at camp, Igneous, Rai, and Lotus stood guard for the night while Kinsa and Sitha rested inside. Elias left shortly after Agnus did and hadn’t returned since then. It was just them, all alone in dark depths of the wilderness. Rai yawned, then thought of a joke as he looked to Igneous, snickering. Igneous was sitting on a long, resting his eyes and using his ears and nose to keep aware of his surroundings, but then, Rai came and poked him in the shoulder.
        “Hey,” the hawk teen said to the teenage wolf, “hey Igneous. I’ve got something really important to ask you.” Igneous opened his eyes and looked over to Rai, who wore a goofy grin on his face, and upon seeing it, he knew that Rai was gonna tell an awful joke.
        “Rai, can’t it wait?” Igneous asked, not wanting to hear the joke.
        “No, it’s like really really important. Come on, pleeeeease?”
        “Well alright. Go ahead.”
        “What do you call a fish with two knees?”
        “....What?”
        “A tu-nee fish!” Rai burst out into laughter, but Igneous sat there, staring at him in annoyance. Then, Igneous thought of a joke of his own to quite possibly shut Rai up.
        “If you think that's funny,” Igneous spoke, “then get a load of this. What do you call a belt made out of watches?” Rai ceased his laughter and looked at Igneous curiously.
        “It’s just like your jokes, a WAIST of time!” Rai remained silent for a moment, but once Igneous thought he had got him to stay quiet for the night, Rai once again burst out into laughter.
        “Good one Igneous! Looks like I need to step my game up for the competition.”
        “Wait, Rai, I didn’t mean to--”
        “Nah, it’s fine, Igneous. You don’t have to worry about being the King of Jokes. I already am king!” Igneous facepalmed, then looked down at Lotus, who was staring at the dark forest with content and pet her on the head.
        “At least someone here won’t drive me crazy, right girl?” The cyborg dog’s scanners picked up a heat signature heading their way and began barking aggressively. Igneous sniffed the air and growled once he picked up the person’s scent. It was the scent of Elias. Elias came into the scene with an aggressive look in his eyes, and upon seeing him, Igneous knew whose side he was on. Lotus growled ferociously and would attack on Igneous’ command, but Igneous remained quiet. Elias looked at Igneous in disgust, almost as if he had been offended by something.
        “You,” Elias growled, baring his teeth and clenching his fists tightly, “the new alpha of this pack; the new Hero of Tasaloo; everyone’s favorite. These morons: they trust you with their lives; they follow you without question; they worship you and your wicked father like you’re gods, but where was my recognition for leading the Beta Squad? I’ve spent my life trying to live up to his example, and yet you, a supposedly dead child who can’t do a single thing without help, come and take the position of alpha without even having to try! A child has no business being alpha! You don’t deserve any of the titles you’ve received!” Igneous stared at Elias for a moment then looked at the ground, feeling sorry for him, but clenched his fists and lifted his head up.
        “You’re right. I don’t have any business being alpha and I’m no hero, but my dad is trusting me to carry out his legacy, so I won’t disappoint him. That’s why I took the position of Alpha in the first place. It doesn’t have anything to do with the rest of Tasaloo, but what about you? You’d kill a kid just to become this so-called hero you imagine yourself as? You’re not a hero, Elias. A hero wouldn’t do anything you’re doing right now.” Elias growled furiously, and black markings appeared all over his body. Rai gasped, remembering the markings that were on Agnus back when he went on his ruthless rampage, and he looked over to Igneous with a worried look on his face.
        “I-Igneous, that stuff on his body is bad news,” he said. “Agnus had the same thing on his body after Red died.” Igneous looked to Rai, then furrowed his eyebrows as he set his sights back to Elias, studying him. A twisted smile formed across Elias’ face, seeming so wide that it would almost reach his eye level, and let out dark chuckles which soon turned into a peal of crazed laughter as the Gift seized full control of him. Rai gulped and took a few steps back while Igneous stood strong alongside Lotus, believing that if he used his mind effectively, there would be a chance that he could come out on top of the oncoming battle with no casualties suffered. Suddenly, Elias charged forward with incredible speed and knocked Igneous off of his feet with a strong right hook, but Igneous easily caught himself and sprung back to his feet by doing a backward handspring. He then rubbed his stinging left cheek and started to analyze the Gift’s capabilities from that short exchange. He’s fast and the strength of his attacks is nothing to laugh at, Igneous thought to himself, so not only does this power build up a crazy amount of strength based on hatred, but it also grants the user an increase in speed as well. That’s troublesome. I’m outmatched in terms of strength, speed, and probably combat skills. So what do I do from here? 
     Elias grinned and began running towards Igneous once more, but Lotus stepped in and fired a plasma ball from her maw which stopped Elias in his advance before the ball could hit him. Both Igneous and Rai saw this as an opening so they both charged at Elias, Rai unsheathing a dagger, and Igneous ready to throw a punch. However, Elias was capable of reacting quickly enough to counter the boys’ attacks, grabbing Rai’s arm and raising it up as he kicked Igneous in the stomach, then taking Rai’s dagger and stabbing him in his right wing before giving him a hard elbow to the kidney. Igneous wheezed as he fell to the ground, clutching his stomach, and Rai cried out in pain before he was knocked onto the ground. Igneous then raised up, panting a little as he stood up.
        “I should have known that an increase of speed would have increased his reaction time as well,” Igneous said, then growled. “Dang it, this just isn’t fair at all.”
        “IGNEOUS!!!” A familiar voice erupted, and Igneous turned behind him to see Kinsa rushing towards the scene with something in his right hand. Kinsa then hurled Igneous’ teleportation ring at Igneous, and Igneous gasped when he saw it and quickly rushed to catch the ring. Once he caught the ring in his hand, he did not hesitate to slide it on his right ring finger, then turned his sights to Elias while Kinsa made his way over to Rai to tend to his wounds.
        “Rai, are you okay?” Kinsa asked with worry in his voice as he helped his brother stand, only then noticing his bleeding wing. Rai cringed in pain.
        “B-Bro, my wing hurts like heck,” he said as he looked at his stab wound, and Kinsa unwrapped one of his own bandages and wrapped it around Rai’s injured wing.
        “It’ll be fine,” Kinsa assured his brother. “Just try not to move it or the pain will get worse. Besides, I think Igneous has this covered, now.” Igneous looked to Elias and his teleportation ring emitted its blue glow as he prepared to go another round against the rampaging Tasoolian, and before Elias knew it, Igneous had vanished before his eyes. Although he was not expecting the sudden teleportation, he was not at all concerned about it, and when Igneous appeared behind Elias, he quickly ducked, dodging a roundhouse kick from the boy. Igneous then teleported once more, and this time, he appeared above Elias, serving him a hard kick to the back of his head. Igneous landed onto the ground and a confident grin on his face as he watched Elias geet back to his feet, but just as he was about to go full-on berserk, the shadow appeared beside him, wearing his signature cynical grin. The three boys gasped in shock at the sudden entry, and the shadow chuckled darkly.
        “I’ve watched this go on for long enough,” he said, “and just by looking, I can already tell who the victor of this battle would be. Igneous, I must say, you are very adept at forming strategies and bringing them to fruition in just a moment’s notice. For that, you have my praise. However, no amount of strategy will be able to save you from the terror that I am about to set before the three of you.” Kinsa and Rai rushed to Igneous’ side and prepared themselves to fight, knowing that it would take all three of them to even be a match for the deadly demon. The shadow practically read their minds and smirked.
        “Igneous,” Kinsa said, “this guy should still be wounded from his fight with Agnus so I think that if we all team up, then we might actually stand a chance.” A laugh was emitted from the shadow soon after Kinsa finished talking.
        “Fool! I will have you know that demons recover from battle much quicker than you pathetic mortals.” Igneous growled as he balled his fists up and had an annoyed look on his face.
        “Cut the crap!” Igneous yelled. “Tell us who you are and why you’ve decided to try and kill us!”
        “Try? I’ve already killed off your best hope for survival, but since I’m dragging you all to the pits of hell, I might as well tell you what you want to know. I am the shadow of the man’s face I wear; I am, in fact, a dead Tasoolian, but most importantly, I am a demon consumed by the sins of anger and wrath, motivated by vengeance. For you see, boy, I am the living nightmare your father created, and because of him, you all are going to experience terror far beyond the recognition of mortals.” Igneous furrowed his eyebrows, then prepared to fight alongside Kinsa and Rai, and the shadow chuckled. “So, this is what you desire? To fight pointlessly until I kill you all? Very well, but I must warn you, once this begins, you will all see just how painful death is.” The three boys set their fear beside them and charged at the demon, ready to fight, but with a wave of a hand, the shadow caused a tree to fall in front of them. Surprised, the boys quickly jumped back, and Rai felt something grab him by his neck and slung him over to a tree stump. When Rai collided against the stump, he landed on his bad wing and cried out in pain which caught Kinsa’s immediate attention. It was then that Kinsa spotted Elias running at Rai with deadly intentions, but Lotus sprung to the rescue and fire a plasma ball at Elias, forcing him to dodge just as before.
     Igneous leaped at the shadow, along with Kinsa, who started back to paying attention, but before they knew it, the shadow used the shadows of the night to constrict the two boys. As they struggled to get free, the grip of the shadows would only tighten, choking the life out of them, and the shadow watched as they struggled with a mischievous grin on his face. Elias had beaten Rai to a bloody pulp and beaten Lotus to where she shut down, and dragged the helpless boy over to the shadow, dropping him at his feet. The shadow then looked to Rai, then at Kinsa, and formed an idea.
        “Kinsa, correct,” the shadow asked as he approached Kinsa, but Kinsa did not answer, not that an answer was needed. “Do correct me if I am wrong, but last I recall, Rai is your little brother by a few days, correct?” Kinsa grunted.
        “If you know all of that, then what’s the point in asking?”
        “Ah, I see. You and Rai have gone through your trials and tribulations for the past seventeen years and during that time, you and your brother have grown quite the strong bond. Quite nostalgic if you ask me.” The shadow turned his sight to Rai and lifted the boy up from the ground, holding him in front of Kinsa who desperately struggled to get free to save his brother, and just as Igneous was about to use his teleportation ring, the shadows stripped of it.
        “Let him go!” Kinsa demanded. “Don’t you lay another finger on him!”
        “Fool, I have no intentions in killing him now as annoying he may be. Instead, it is you whom I wish to kill.”
        “H-Huh? Wh-What?!” The shadow chuckled.
        “Furthermore, I want to show to Igneous how pathetic of an Alpha he is turning out to be.” Igneous clenched his fists and watched as the shadow approached him. “You may be smart, boy, but you’ve been playing into my hands this entire time. The moment I gave Agnus my gift, I had already won. The easiest part was getting Reko to leave and dealing with him myself, and now here we are. You knew there was a risk of Agnus killing everyone, so you found it best to leave while you deal with Elias and me, but did you really think you’d be able to defeat me when your father couldn’t? You’re just a pathetic brat playing Alpha with no special abilities or anything to help you in battle, and now I am going to make you see what happens when you play a role you’re not fit for by killing your dear friends right before your eyes.” Igneous growled, but amongst his anger, tears began to form in his eyes since he knew that there wasn’t a thing he could do to save anyone. Instead of trying to help his comrades, he only ended up leading them all to their deaths, and for that he was sorry. Sorry that he had failed those who had faith in him. Is this how everything ends? We’re all just gonna die just like that at the hands of this fake? I can’t even do anything to save anyone. I’m just so useless and everyone around me is dying because I can’t do anything right. Dad, Lotus, Red, and everyone that I care about, I’m sorry that I failed you all. I’ve lost everything now...No, this can’t be how it ends. I just can’t let it all go like this. He’s killed my Dad, hurt my friends, broken Agnus, and killed Red, the most innocent cub in the world. He never even stood a chance at protecting himself and here I am waiting for death?! What about him? He’ll never get the chance to fully live his life with father, and it’s all because of that bastard! I can’t continue to let him kill people without any remorse! I have to do something! Igneous growled with a burning rage, and the shadow chuckled as he started to go over to Kinsa. As he did, however, the atmosphere suddenly raised in temperature exponentially as waves of heat were coming from Igneous, and his growls were becoming louder and louder.
        “S-Stop it!” Igneous shouted at the demon, catching the attention of Elias, the shadow, and Kinsa. “Leave them alone!” A circle of fire appeared under Igneous’ feet and his transformed from their natural dark hue of blue to a fiery scarlet, and within moments, he broke through the shadows that restrained him using nothing but pure strength which surprised the others.
        “I-Igneous…” Kinsa said as he was completely awestruck for he has never seen Igneous behave in this type of way. Igneous looked at the shadow with tears streaming down his face and began to approach him. The shadow dropped Rai and smirked.
        “Finally showing some backbone, hm? I don’t know how you managed to escape, but I could care less right about now. If you want to fight me, boy, then I can’t guarantee that you’ll survive.” Igneous charged forward with sharp speed and delivered a powerful punch to the shadow’s face, and upon impact, fiery embers flew out from the force of the punch. The shadow was sent flying far from the home of the Alpha Squad, and Igneous chased after him, leaving a trail of fire behind him with Elias following behind him. Kinsa was set free from the shadow’s trap and over to Rai to check up on him.
     Meanwhile, the shadow caught his balance and skidded himself to stop, grunting and wiping blood from his mouth, and then, Igneous arrived, charging at the demon once more and punching him in the stomach. The shadow coughed and wheezed at the surprisingly powerful force of the punch, but as he began to stumble back, Igneous dealt him a brutal onslaught of punches to the face as well as kicks in the gut. Finally, Igneous knocked the shadow back once more and would conjure up all of his strength to deliver one final attack. In that instance, however, Igneous’ attack came to an abrupt end when he felt something sharp pierce through his back, thus stopping him from attacking any further. It had turned out that Elias had stabbed Igneous with the dagger he stole while Igneous was distracted. Igneous’ eyes returned to normal and he cried out in pain as Elias shoved the dagger deeper inside of his body, making more and more blood spill out from the boy. The shadow put on a sinister smirk as he began chuckling and walked towards Igneous.
        “Not bad, boy,” he said to Igneous. “You actually had me worried in that instance, but it would appear that things are back to the way they should be.” Elias pushed Igneous down to the ground and ejected the dagger from him, putting its sharp blade up to his neck to keep him from going anywhere. “Such a shame,” the shadow continued, “that the son of Reko is nothing but a worthless brat. You’re a disgrace to all of the Wolf Tasoolians. Even your fallen relatives frown upon you in shame. On another note, I don’t know where you got that burst of strength from all of a sudden, but it doesn’t quite matter now, does it? Now, be a good sport and tell your mother and father I said hi when you see them in the next world. Elias, kill him.” Elias raised the dagger up, having the sharp end pointing down at Igneous’ head, and without any type of hesitation, he brought the dagger upon Igneous’ head. A tremendous amount of blood was splattered on the ground, and the shadow’s amused expression quickly changed to that of a shocked expression. Another dagger came from nowhere and impaled Elias in his right under his right collarbone, and caused him to fall onto the ground behind Igneous. The shadow had turned his head to see where the dagger came from and began growling the moment that he saw it was Darzay who had threw the dagger and was accompanied by Reko, Leaonay, and Golly.
        “Heh, I guess my aim was a bit off there,” Darzay said with a devilish sneer on his face. When Igneous heard Darzay’s voice, he looked up from the ground and felt entirely relieved to see him, even if he was curious as to why he was there in the first place. Then, he spotted his father, who stood on top of Golly’s head, staring down at them, and couldn’t help but put on a wide smile and wagged his tail with sheer excitement at the sight of Reko since he knew that things were about change for the better from here on out.