A sudden explosion of energy catches Alexis and Jeremiah's attention, they swing their heads around to see the blue mist they forgot about, it expands then contract like a beating heart before it condenses into a tiny dot.
"Oh no, I forgot about him!" Jeremiah exclaimed
The dot grows larger as it gets closer to them, approaching quickly.
"What?! I thought you finished him off!" Alexis said in angry confusion
"Well I mean, I did hit him pretty hard.." He shrugs
Alexis palms her face and sighs. "Alright well we gotta take care of him then." She brings her animals up to them, now down to regular size
"Ok how do we-"
Alexis is cut off, she blinks and in that moment all she sees is Jeremiah's cane in front of her neck colliding with a flaming sword.
"Oh shit!"
She backs away reflexively, signaling her animals to come over.
Jeremiah pushes the intruder back kicking dirt and smoke up in the process.
He's much faster now!
"Not this time." Jeremiah said
The man readied himself again, as the dust clears it revealed his tattered cape blowing loosely in the wind, his armor broken and busted, face bruised and hair now covered in dirt and muck.
A small bead of sweat rolls down Alexis' forehead
The man points his sword towards Jeremiah, the flames of his sword flaring up in response.
"Heh heh, almost gooot you!" He pointed tauntingly at them both
Alexis scowled at him
He let out a small chuckle. "Alright, assholes."
He revealed a sinister smile full of missing teeth, even the sword itself seemed excited as it's flames flare up when he points it at them, an invitation to fight.
"Round 2."
-Cole, Dustin and Luke-
"Alright I think we're almost here.. what in the hell?" Luke says
A large gray warehouse somehow materializes right before their eyes in the middle of the desert.
Grayson, who was surprisingly quiet this whole time, finally decided to speak up. "Well that is strange, but it seems like this is where that intense presence is coming from."
"Yeah.. looks like it." Luke says confused
Cole begins hopping out of the carriage before Luke grabs him by the arm.
"Gah! What are you doing, he's in there!" He points at the warehouse
"Are you even thinking? Lets come up with a plan first before we-"
Cole shoves Luke hard and sends him to the back of the carriage with a thud, getting looks from Dustin and Grayson. He lands on the ground and brushes off his shoulder.
"Don't lay your hands on me." His words have a strange bite to them, it didn't sound entirely like Cole was speaking though, he then turns to the building and punches a hole straight through the large garage door.
Luke looks up confused, with a hurt expression on his face.
Cole? What's gotten into you?
Dustin watches Cole go inside in a bit of a daze before turning to see Grayson holding Luke up.
"Luke! Are you okay? I don't know why he did that.." Dustin said
"Ugh, it's fine, more importantly, we need to go after him!" Luke ordered
"But-"
"He's right Dustin, something could happen to him if we don't hurry." Grayson explained
Dustin looked at him for a moment like he was about to say something but he just nodded his head instead and got out to follow Cole.
-Inside the warehouse-
Cole runs straight in, the lights coming on as he runs in, he's met with a 3 automatic doors, the place was clearly up to modern standards, but, how was that possible?
Cole busts straight through the first door he sees, after running through a few hallways he runs into a lab full of high-end scientific equipment, there were multiple test tubes, both regular and human sized ones.
He looked at the people inside of them, they were equipped with a face mask to breath in the green bubbly liquid they were in.
He ignores them and runs through the room, uncaring if he destroys any equipment.
Eventually he comes upon a closed door, a regular door.
This is where it's strongest
He thought, he kicks down the door in rage and sees...
-Dustin, Luke and Grayson-
The carriage disappears as they enter the warehouse, and when they do Luke and Dustin notice the presence feels stronger than ever, it seems like the building somehow suppresses Prowess emissions.
They begin following Coles trail.
"Man, he runs so fast!" Luke said
"I'm completely lost." Said Dustin
"Just follow the fire on the ground, he's really not good at hiding his trail, or his presence." Grayson said
"That being said, it's still kind of difficult to sense his presence in here." Luke said
They come to the end of the flame trail and enter a dark room. Confused, Dustin reaches for the light but when he flicks it, it only comes on for a second, shocking him, that's just long enough for them to see.. something moving out a vent in the back of the room, holding Cole's body.
When they see it, they realize, that is the source of the intense presence. But it wasn't Luke and Cole's father.
"Is that-"
"Cole!" Luke shouted, the figure turns around for a moment staring at them before making it's way through the vents in a rush, sealing the entrance behind it.
"No!" Luke runs up to the vent punching it as hard as he could, shattering the cover.
"It's only ice! Come on!" Luke ordered
They follow the creature through the vents, it didn't even look like it was moving, the vents were nearly pitch black so they couldn't see but it looked like it was simply gliding just above the surface of the vents with Cole on it's back.
The vents grew more damp and wet as they crawl through, too dark to see though, so who knows what liquid they were crawling through.
They followed it all the way out of the building where the creature took off on all fours in the direction of the town.
As they watch it, they slowly come to the realization that what they were chasing was a human.
Grayson received a text on his phone, he looked at it, his eyes widening for a moment, then he puts it back in his pocket.
"Grayson come on!" Dustin shouted
"I'm right behind you!" He says short of breath "I'm not as well conditioned as you young guys."
Dustin and Grayson catch up to Luke who was still chasing the person, although it was far to quick for them, and it ran straight into the towns barrier, disappearing right before their eyes.
"Dammit!" Luke exclaimed "How is it so quick?!"
"Let's not panic, I think we can still get him, we just need to come up with some sort of plan." Grayson suggested
"A plan?! The plan is to get my little brother from that guy, and go back to help Lexi and Jerry take out that army! Then we can take down my father." Luke explained
YOU ARE READING
Maledictus Ignis
AçãoMemories are what make us who we are, so without them, who are we? Is it possible to live a happy and fulfilling life without knowing yourself? Or perhaps the question we should ask is; does it even matter to begin with?
