A New Old World

Can Dark Flames Shine?

I took a step inside, my grip tightening as I unsheathed my sword and held it with both hands as I followed the claw marks on the cave's wall which leaded to a man-made long corridor with lighted torch giving out enough light to see the way that I followed until I heard Ray and Jhin talking with a third voice. 

I ran thinking they were in danger and I could notice the third voice's owner: A man standing taller than me around fifty meters away from Ray and Jhin with a black hood on which blocked me any way to see his face.

"And here comes the last member of the party! You have always had this thing for letting the greenhorns step away, It isn't really polite of you Ray" He smirked as he lifted his head and I could see his white skin and teeth as he smiled widely "But sadly for the new kid I want my revenge to be a solo battle, you might have killed my guard pets but I have a whole Zoo for your friends" He said as his shoulders burst in flames and the floor below me and Jhin melted, causing us both to fall as I saw Ray's face filled with both surprise and fury

"What have you done? Where did you send them?" Said Ray as he held his sword tightly and the tip of the sword was slowly absorbing the ground

"I have but taken them to a guest room for their entertainment while the grown ups deal with each other, Is perhaps the Heavy Rock Ray softened after losing his seat?" 

"I have nothing to tell to someone like you Firark, you had your chance when I failed to finish you off, I won't let that happen again" 

Ray rushed toward Firark as his sword slashes trough the ground having doubled its wide and slashed Firark in half from bottom to top as he vanished in shadows 

"My dear Ray, you are but following the shadows of the past! Are you perhaps out of shape now that you are no longer of use?" Said Firark as he tossed fireballs the size of a head toward Ray 

"You have improved, and as any other person you think that's enough to brag" replied Ray as he blocked, cut trough and avoided the fireballs that Firark kept tossing at him 

"It really crushes my heart that I have to keep distances but, since you crushed my weapon's soul I prefer to keep you at bay until the oven is ready" Firark thundered his fingers and a fire spread around Ray surrounding him and disappearing from view "I wonder if the heat will turn you into a diamond!" exclaimed Firark while laughing.

"That's not how diamonds are made but" trough the fire a Golem made it's way and cracked open letting Ray walk out of it "I'm pretty sure Jhin would say I'm about to shine more than one" replied smirking as an earthquake hit the cave and the ceiling fell dividing Ray and Firark.

"I guess mother nature is on my side yet again, my mission is now complete and although I am sad to leave and run, I'm sure we will see each other again" said Firark as  he banished bellow the rocks falling and blocking the way completely as Ray quickly turned around in search for Jhin and Mario.

 I hit the floor heavily which numbed my sense and filled me up with pain. My legs, knees, arms and hands where were the pain hit the most as I had stopped the fall with those; I looked up to find myself surrounded by Bulkars who had yet to notice me as I witnessed something I wish I haven't. The Bulkars were killing each other, the claws would pierce the chest of one another and the killed one would be sucked in trough the claws of the killer. As their number decreased the size of the five survivors increased and their thin dark skin turned dark and thick as well as their form turned more of the one of a human rather than that of a beast. I tried falling toward a corner to hide myself as they all saw me and one charged toward me. I barely put the sword in front of me but it sent me flying toward the wall and the sword fell too far away from me. I barely put my head up as I felt an intense pain in my right arm as the claws of the Bulkar pierced my flesh and the blood poured down the cave's wall and the Bulkar roared in my face as it all froze...I looked around and the four other Bulkars were coming my way, wanting part of the feast I guessed as I put a smile on my face welcoming the certain death my foolish decision has bring me.

"Are you to give up and accept defeat so easily!?"  a voice echoed trough my head 

"W-Who are you? Don't you see my situation? I'm hopeless as I am now" I replied as I looked at my arm and I barely held the pain back 

The Bulkar claws began to disappear as its essence stuck to my arm and filled up the holes the claws made and healed up as the sword appeared on my grasp "This is how you deal with such low creatures that can barely hold up their own existence"  a blow with the blunt part of the sword edge pushed the Bulkar back and against the ones charging as I put the sword back into my gauntlet as the Bulkars fell in the ground, their bodies detached from their bottoms in a single and clean cut "Don't try to eat what you can't chew" . 

The words echoed once again as I regained the movement of my body, the feeling of being controlled and powerless where still fresh but I kept them aside as the cave shacked with an earthquake and I summoned my sword once again and put haste to find Jhin and Ray whom I found after running around the only tunnel outside the room I was before and in a really wide open area, Ray and Jhin were both fine as we run to meet up as the ground split and a big creature emerged from the ground: The beast was at least five meters tall, its skin seemed like a mix of steel and copper as it hardness could be seen by the naked eye, its spiky tail waved and broke the cave's ground to make room for its size as the large horn mimicked a rhino and its roar was more powerful than the one of a lion.

"That's a Behemoth! Everyone run! We cannot take it down with only a party of three" yelled Ray as he put up a wall as the Behemoth breathed fire at us and melted the wall that Ray has just put up 

 "I'll try to blind him with my light, keep the walls coming Ray! We can't let that fire reach us!" said Jhin as he shot toward the Behemoth's eyes and the shots vanished before even reaching it, enraging the beast as he started to stomp the ground causing the ceiling to fall and split me from Jhin and Ray's side falling into the hole from where the creature had emerged as I saw the look in their eyes and their screams trying to reach for me as I disappeared into the darkness.

I felt the pain of the impact run through my body when I hit the ground, the sound of the air rushing past me while falling was deafening, and I couldn't hear their voice calling for me anymore. The light vanished in seconds as the void welcomed me and that's when I could confirm what would then be my biggest fear. I saw myself walking one, two and three steps. I saw myself slightly looking back at me. I saw how a smile draws on my face; I saw how its eyes were now where mine once were. He stretched my neck as if he had been stiff for years. My Gauntlet turned  blacker than the darkness surrounding it and with a small laugh he walked  away from me while I was desperately tried to move  and break free to get away from him but I was unable to move, forced to watch myself being corrupted by it.

My body was no longer mine and I looked up, now able to see how deep the hole I was into and how it looked like a cage as I took impulse and with a jump I hit the ceiling and landed in front of Jhin and Ray whose confused looks mixed with horror made me try even harder to break free from its control but little it mattered as I turned around and faced the Behemoth, cracking my right hand's knuckles as the Behemoth charged at me and I stopped it without falling back as the Behemoth flew over us and landed, crying on pain as I crushed its now broken horn in my hands and its remaining , absorbed by the gauntlet turned into a new sword's handle which I grabbed and pulled out to reveal a greatsword which I put to rest on my shoulder as I stared at the Behemoth, taunting it to attack me again. The Behemoth breathed fire once again and it was absorbed by the sword without my body feeling a single bit of the heat even though I didn't avoided it

"And here I thought a Behemoth would be worth breaking out for a while..."  I spoke with a voice which was not my own as I swung the sword after charging toward the Behemoth and sliced it in half and vanish d as I was cutting it burnt by the flames that it itself had breath seconds ago. I turned toward Jhin and Ray and smirked at Ray 

 "See you all soon"  

The last words echoed the cave as I felt to the ground, feeling how I could move my body which was now in intense pain as I passed away with both Jhin and Ray pointing their weapons at me with fear and confusion...