The Dragon Children

14 | The Devil in Us All

CHAPTER 14 - THE DEVIL IN US ALL

Up from Ruthven's and Akuji's bodies came a dark, shadowy figure. Faolan and Naphtali both had no clue as to what was going on. They heard menacing laughter that was enough to make them shake. "Finally.. I'M FREE!" The voice was echo-y, and it came from Ruthven's body. The smoke cleared, and the figures revealed themselves. "No.." Naphtali covered his mouth. "You know what those are, right, Naph?" Faolan looked at him. "You.. your friends injected Ruthven and Akuji with.. a Devil?" Faolan nodded. "Your friends aren't innocent anymore. They're Devils now." Naphtali grabbed Faolan by his shoulders and shook him. "Why.. why would you do this?!" "The plan was to turn them into Devils and then kill them." "There has to be a way to bring them back, right?!" Naphtali looked into his eyes. ".. No. We have no other choice but to kill them." Naphtali backed away. "Look.. Naphtali. It's not my fault. They already had devils inside of them. I only helped speed up the process." "SHUT UP!" Faolan frowned. "There's only one way of winning, Naphtali. We have to work together. We have to kill them." Naphtali disagreed "I won't do it." Faolan slapped him and growled. "Do you not know where you stand?" Naphtali looked at him. "Every home in this kingdom is built upon the bones of enemies long since slain. You walk freely the cobble of its roads, that have been paved with their blood. Do not pretend you are unaware of Kraghon's past, Naph. That you have not benefitted from the violence of your ancestors. I simply follow in the past kings' footsteps. I expand my Kingdom not for myself, but its civilians. So if you are unwilling to pick up a sword and slay those who stand in my Kingdom's way.." He looked away. "Then you can forget about Ruthven and Akuji. And your own life." Naphtali finally agreed.

Faolan and Naphtali split off to fight one Devil at a time. Faolan had gone to fight the lost Ruthven, and Naphtali went to fight the lost Akuji. Lilihman was floating in the sky, viewing the battles. Faolan ran through his kingdom, seeing it burnt to the ground, and all his civilians dead on the ground. He shook his head to rid the negative thoughts of his possible death. He ran toward the forest outside of Kraghon, where the now-devil Ruthven was. While walking toward the Devil's location, he saw all the soldiers that would have killed Ruthven laying dead on the ground. He stepped in front of the Devil. He drew his sword. "Good evening." Faolan stayed calm and looked at his surroundings. "Time.. and time again.. self-proclaimed heroes will take justice into their own hands, no matter the cost." The Devil faced Faolan. Ruthven's hair and body were still there. Her skin was grey. Her hair was black, and she had two large horns on the top of her head. She had two dark wings coming from out of her back. "What's your name?" Faolan asked. "My name.. is Tunrida." Faolan smirked. "Tunrida. The Scandinavian Devil?" She looked at him. "Yes. But the woman whose body that I took.. was called Ruthven. Or, no, was it Gandalhi? I can see two different identities." Faolan stepped back. "Gandalhi? It.. really was you?" Tunrida stayed silent. ".. Ruthven had a family. My old friend was a part of it." "Naphtali? .." Faolan nodded. "There's no way I can bring you back to conscience. So instead.. I'll have to kill you." Tunrida laughed. "I existed long before you humans infested this planet. And I shall exist long after you are exterminated. You are temporary. I.. am eternal. You can't kill me." Faolan took his battle stance. "We'll see about that."

He looked up to see a dark spike, made of Devil magic, fall on top of him. He dodged out of the way and swung toward Tunrida. Tunrida deflected it with her wing and flew up. Faolan ran up the side of the tree and jumped up on top of it. Tunrida attempted to blow him away by flapping her wings repeatedly, but Faolan hid behind his shield. He threw his shield at Tunrida and ran after it. Tunrida hit the shield back, but Faolan jumped onto it, and off of it. This made him fly toward Tunrida. He raised his sword to the air and dropped it. He cut one of Tunrida's wings off, making her lose balance and fall to the ground. They both landed on their knees with no trouble. They were evenly matched. Tunrida hit the ground and cracked it. Faolan immediately recognised it as Ruthven's ability and dodged and weaved the cracks as lava poured out of it. He summoned another shield and pushed it toward Tunrida, throwing the lava in her face. She groaned as Faolan slashed her face, leaving a cut on it. She started getting angry. She floated up in the air as black energy surrounded her. Faolan had prepared for the worst. He looked up to see hundreds of thousands of black sparkles fall from the skies. No, maybe even millions. They weren't just over Kraghon, but over the entire planet. People in innocent countries across the world were seeing it too. This was no longer Kraghon's problem. As soon as one of them touched the ground an explosion occurred. And it wasn't a small one, either. The world was falling apart before Faolans eyes. He raised his shield above him, but it cracked with just one touch of an explosion. He ran back up onto the tree. The sky turned red. Thunder was crashing down around him. It was the end of the world. He drew his sword once more. He took a deep breath in, as all of his life's memories started overflowing him. He wasn't a kid anymore. He had to save everything.