Disappearance of Roselei Hawthorne

Chapter Six

"Is that him?" Gideon asked, upon seeing Vulcan enter the arena.

"Yeah. He wasn't wearing that ridiculous armor when I met him before though." Kallen grimaced when he saw the clunky suit of metal that Vulcan was wearing. It was obvious what the armor was for. It wasn't to aid Vulcan in battle, it was to restrict his movements. "They've set him up for failure!"

"I don't think we should worry too much." Lillia tried to stay optimistic. "He can just take it off, can't he?"

"I think so. They can't disqualify Vulcan for it, but whose to say that he wasn't threatened into wearing it." Gideon shrugged. "That being said, will he take it off?"

"But even if he was threatened, the game masters can't do anything about it if he takes the armor off. Because we're going to free him, right?" Lillia pointed out. "Besides, we're only speculating that he's been threatened into wearing the armor. Maybe Vulcan chose to wear it."

"Only an idiot would willingly wear such a suit of armor. Look at him! He can barely move!" Gideon almost laughed.

"I actually agree with Auntie Lillia." Kallen furrowed his brow. "I may have only spoken with him for a short while, but its easy to tell that he's smarter than he looks. There's no way he thought wearing the armor would be a good idea."

"I guess, at the end of the day," Lillia began, "whatever happens, happens."

Everyone had their eyes glued to the arena, specifically on Vulcan. He wasn't moving at all. He simply stood in place, with his only movement being the way his shoulders would rise and fall with each breath. But the armor wasn't the only thing about his appearance that had been changed since Kallen saw him. His long hair had been pulled up into a ponytail, and his tired demeanor had vanished. It was as if he were born anew. While he was still feeble and small, his eyes were full of fire.

The swordsman looked confused. He was just sort of bouncing from side to side waiting for Vulcan to make the first move.

"That man is an embarrassment to all knights." Gideon scoffed. "A real swordsman would know to make the first strike. Especially in a situation like this."

As if he had heard Gideon's words, the swordsman suddenly started running towards Vulcan. He had his sword at the ready, prepared to strike the moment he got close enough. Vulcan still didn't move. The swordsman had a sly grin on his face as he ran.

"He already thinks he's won." Kallen shook his head. "I know Vulcan is a bit injured but he's not going to go down that easily."

And Kallen was right. As soon as the swordsman swung his sword, Vulcan sprung to life. With a quick whip of his arm Vulcan surrounded himself with fire. In doing so, Vulcan's armor came right off. The helmet went flying, and the chestplate fell off his shoulders. It seemed the metal was too brittle to handle the intensity of Vulcan's fire. But as the armor came off, Vulcan's true form as a dragon-born was unveiled. Long, curved horns sprouted from his forehead like spikes. They were colored a deep red, like the color of dried blood. And from his back came a tail, covered with shining black scales and thin spines that were the same color as his horns.

"Incredible... " Was all that Lillia could say. Kallen and Gideon sat there, mouths agape. It was so dark when Kallen visited Vulcan in the cell, that he hadn't even noticed these appendages.

"That's a lot of fire. I'm surprised I couldn't sense his magic." Gideon looked impressed.

"You couldn't sense it because he's a dragon-born. Witches can only sense the strength of other witches. Its because dragon-born's don't technically use magic. Their fire power is an innate ability exclusive to them. It looks similar to our fire magic, but its more different than you'd think." Lillia explained as she watched the fight in awe.