The Dragon's Bounty

Chapter 13

             A young Khan was walking down the street in his royal guard armor, on patrol around the capital city. Lots of people waved as they passed by him. Khan smiled and nodded, only his eyes visible through his helmet. When someone held up their hand, he would smack it, pointing at the person who had initiated the high five with both fingers, the passerby smiling and returning the gesture. Suddenly, he heard a scuffle down an alleyway. He placed his hand on his sword and slowly walked down the alley, a few strands of lightning jumping across his chest every once in a while. He spotted a man holding a woman, a gag over her mouth.
          "Hey!" Khan shouted. The man turned and his eyes grew. He turned back around and began running away down the alley, dropping the woman onto the ground. Khan bent down for a moment. "Are you alright?" He asked.
          The woman nodded. "He stole my bag!" She shouted.
           Khan nodded."Worry not, ma'am. I'll get it for you." He sprinted off down the alley after the thief. He drew his sword as he ran, holding it in both hands in front of him. "Hey!" Khan shouted. "Stop!" The thief tripped and started crawling on his back away from Khan. Khan raised his sword. "Stand down." Khan said. The man's eyes became dark and he grabbed Khan's arm. A dark force flowed into Khan, who shouted out and dropped his sword, trying to pry the man's hand away from his arm. Khan's eyes began glowing, small strands of lightning jumping across his face as his helmet shattered and flew into pieces. Khan continued to shout as he fell to his knees. The man finally let go and fell to the ground. Khan stumbled backward and fell. He looked down at his glowing hands, lightning jumping violently all over his body. Suddenly, he thrust his arms outward and shot a massive lightning bolt out of his chest. A large storm cloud appeared above the capital, darker than any cloud Khan had ever seen. Lightning jumped around the cloud, which began dumping out lots of water. Khan stumbled back out into the street, his eyes still glowing with thunder crashing around him. Lightning struck Khan, and his armor shattered as he absorbed the energy. He fell to his knees in pain, shouting out for help to anyone who would listen. Everyone backed away from him, looks of pure horror on their faces. He passed out and everything went dark. He woke up inside a pair of stocks, standing up on a large pedestal in the center of town, the storm continuing to rage above him. "What's happening?!" Khan shouted.
           "You are about to be executed for your crimes." Khan looked to the side at the executioner with a large axe.
           Khan began breathing heavily. "I don't want to die!" He shouted. His eyes began glowing again. Lightning struck the stocks, completely reducing them to splinters. Khan looked at his hands, which were once again glowing with electric power. He launched himself over the crowd and began running as fast as he could away from the center of town.
           "Stop him!" One of the guards shouted. Khan didn't stop for anything. He just kept on running. Finally, he reached the outer wall. He launched himself over it and continued running until he couldn't see the city anymore. When his lightning finally calmed down, he slid down against a tree and put his face into his knees, confused and alone as the storm raged around him.

           Duros strutted down the street, happily skipping along to the beat of the harsh winds and rain around him. He passed by many people on his way to the market, each smiling at him as Duros waved and smiled back. He spotted the new wanted poster against a tavern wall. It looked to be a young man around 16 or 17, labeled as The Storm. His bounty was about as high as a large monster a hunter would bring in. Duros whistled an upward shrill.
            "I'd hate to be that guy." He looked up to the sky. "Wonder if he did that." He said. He shrugged and continued on to the market, hoping the food wouldn't get too wet. He bought a few food items and began walking back home. Suddenly, a man tackled him to the ground. "Hey man, what's up?" Duros said cheerfully. The man scowled and his eyes turned dark. He grabbed Duros' throat and Duros felt as if someone was stabbing him in the neck, feeding in some sort of liquid. He shouted out in pain. By the time anyone found him, the man was gone and Duros was holding his throat.
           "What happened, sir?" One man knelt down beside Duros. He held out his hand toward Duros. Duros grabbed his hand and started to be pulled to his feet. Suddenly, the man's clothes wrapped around him and strapped his arms to his sides, coiling around his face as the man released muffled screams. Duros backed away and bumped into someone else. The same thing happened to that man, tripping him to the ground. Duros began sprinting down the street, hoping this would stop. As he passed by people on the streets, they were all wrapped up by the threads in their own clothes. Even royal knights who pursued him were wrapped up by the clothes they wore under their armor. He sent out his own threads to pull himself to a rooftop where he could be away from others. He bent over to rest for a moment.
           "Hey, you!" Duros turned around to see a knight in mostly red armor, his fists blazing with red energy, but he wasn't standing. He was suspended in midair. Duros began sprinting as fast as he could across the roofs of the buildings, using his threads to propel himself some ways. Bolts of red energy flew past his head as he ran. He jumped to the wall and was knocked back by a red bolt hitting the ground in front of him. "You're through!" The knight shouted, closing in on him.
           "No, stay back!" Duros shouted. When the knight got too close, he became wrapped up in his own garments, plummeting over the wall, screaming all the way down. Duros quickly sent out a thread and wrapped it around the knight, pulling him back up and placing him gently on the wall. "I'm so sorry." He said. And with that, he slid down the wall and sprinted away, earning himself the nickname of The Spider.