Dylan stood up and walked over to a large circle. I was confused but I followed. Everyone else stood outside the circle. Jack didn't seem comfortable, and neither did Gracie. "Jack come on, he's in no shape to fight. Look in his back! Plus he needs a tour and-" She was cut off by the whoosh of a flame starting. At the edge of the circle, purple flame burned. A wall of flames I realized, about 6 feet high. Jack said, "Oliver. You don't have to do this. But if you do then at least know the rules. The fire is solid, but won't burn you. You can use any weapons you want, but try not to kill. Also all magic is allowed. Are you sure you want to do this?" I looked in his direction, a determined glint in my eye. A slight nod from me, and I turned to face Dylan. A bell sounded, and I asked, "Do we start-" I was cut short by Dylan's foot lodging itself firmly in my chest. I flew into the fire but felt solid surface, smooth like glass but harder than steel. I picked myself up slowly, blood trickling from my mouth. As soon as I had risen I leaped at him, hoping to catch him by surprise. No such luck. He caught me by the throat and threw me across the arena. I flew 15 feet before hitting the purple flames. It was a deep purple, I noticed. I stood. Never have I ever fought someone so strong. It was inhuman how strong, fast, and powerful this guy was. I had my guard up and slowly approached. I got within three feet and then he moved so fast I couldn't react. A quick hit to the nose. Ow. This guy was too strong. Then he slugged me in the stomach. I felt like my stomach had blown up inside me. But I felt like I could still do something. "I thought you said you could fight. Well fight me. Or are you done already?"
"I'm just getting started." I said cockily. I felt a surge if strength and anger. I will not let this guy humiliate me. I stomped my foot and hit the guy in the chest with both hands, as hard as I could. He slammed into the purple fire shield as hard as I had. Well that felt good. I still had that burning strength in me, so I got over cocky. I grinned with a bloody smile. Then Dylan got up. I saw the sad expressions on all of the others faces. Amy looked quite worried, and so did Will. Jack looked like he was anticipating bad news. But Gracie looked scared.
"What! You think I can't take a hint!?" Dylan yelled angrily. He leaped forward and pounded my body with hits. Kidneys, lungs, every organ was touched by his fists. The newfound strength was gone. He tossed me across the arena, 30 feet, and laughed. "Like he's the Shadow Warrior!" I stood up. His laughing stopped. I had some of that burning strength, but it was different. I felt a completely different thing. Like my brain had more strength. A voice spoke in the back of my mind. Trust your instincts, the voice said. Let your brain take over. And I did. Jack was smiling now. I looked down at my clenched fists. They were covered in black flames. Uh-oh. But no pain. I decided to try something. I pointed my arm at Dylan and thought. "What the-" and I cut him short with a fireball to the chest. He slammed into the purple flames and bounced back. And I just started chucking the flames at Dylan. Eventually the flames died from my hands. I tried to ignite them again, but I couldn't. "Dude. Nice." Jack gave me a wicked smile, and I knew he would be a friend. From Dylan's body the black fire died, and he stood. He looked as beaten up as I had. He didnt say anything. He just walked over to me and stood about five feet away. Then as quick as lightning he punched me in the face. I hit the ground and before I could react he smashed my ribs in with a kick.
Yup. I rolled onto my back and faded out of conscious. I heard a voice deep in my mind, much deeper than before, like it was speaking from inside me. It said to me, Oliver. Get up. Combine your 2 new strengths, magic and fighting. Basically, when your fists get the fire thing going, punch him. I stood up and and looked directly into Dylan's eyes. I opened my right palm, then made a fist. It got the black flame thing again, and I punched straight at Dylan's face. When my fist made contact, his entire body was cloaked in the black flames, and he flew across the arena so fast I barely could comprehend it. When he hit the purple barrier, it rippled like the surface of water. My palm opened and the flames disappeared. Dylan stood with difficulty, but was at my side in a second. I saw the fist, and then opened my eyes to find that I was on my back, shirt soaked in my blood from a huge cut on my chest. Dylan walked towards me and then his jaw dropped. I felt the pain lesson, and I looked down. My wounds were covered in flames, so basically my entire body had black fire on it. A lot on my chest and back, but a thin lair all over. I stood, and all my wounds were gone.
"Look at him. Not a scratch on him anymore." Amy said, almost as shocked as I. "Let me fix that." Dylan said. He took out a knife from a boot sheath and stabbed my shoulder. It was a long thin knife, and very sharp. Sharp enough to cut all the way through my shoulder, and out the other side. He twisted the knife, but then a bonfire of black flames ignited on my shoulder and he was thrown back. The knife shot out of my shoulder and headed straight for his face. He turned and it just grazed his face before he caught it. Once my shoulder was fine the flames went to my hands. He threw the knife and I stuck out my hand. A shield of black fire blocked it.
For my next trick, I lost my lunch. I fell to my knees, vomited, rolled over to my back, and passed out. I awoke in a different room, curious if it had all been a dream. Then I noticed Gracie and Jack standing over me. They hadn't noticed I was up yet. "... but could he really be the Shadow Warrior?" Gracie asked in a hushed tone. "Of course!" Jack whisper screamed. "Did you see how he handled himself against Dylan? Only the Shadow Warrior could do that." "What's the shadow warrior?" I asked. "Nothing." Gracie said a little too quickly. Okay. Better find that out quick. I stood. Jack said, "Whoa man, be careful." "I'm fine." I say as I stagger. Jack helped me to my feet. "Lets begin the tour!"
I followed Jack and Gracie around. They showed me the forge, where Will makes silver weapons for the group. I met Will and he seemed pretty easy going. Despite his size and demeaning manner, he was really nice. Then there was Amy the chaperone. She also wasn't a specialist in fighting. She operated as a nurse, chef, and teacher. Then there was Jack. He was amazing at magic. He can teleport with a snap of his fingers. He can do something like what I do with black fire only his is lightning. He has basically as much magic skill as Dylan has fighting skill.
That brings me to Dylan. He is a year younger than Jack, so my age. 14. He is mean, strong, and almost invincible. How we all are put together is confusing, but so far this is what I have gathered. So if you are like us, then you can see demons for what they are more easily than mere mortals can. You have a certain invulnerability to magic and physical damage. The more powerful you are in either magic or fighting the more resilience you have. So we fight demons. They try to kill us. But important: Our blood increases their power. And their power is represented on how well they can blend in. So if you see a demon that is pretty much not concealed at all, then run. But if it takes a while to realize that something is a demon, then it probably wasn't very powerful.
They hunted us for power and wanted our blood. But we had to be stronger than them or we would die. Apparently I had lots of promise considering my fight. Ah but I forgot Gracie. She really was gorgeous, nice blonde hair, though she was tanner than I had first thought she was. She was a cross between magic and fighting. She had both, not as much of either as Dylan or Jack, but still she had power. We kept walking around, giving me a tour and then the dinner bell rang. As I walked over, I realized something strange. There was tons of silver all over the place. I looked at Jack, "Hey what's with all the silver?" He laughed. "Wow I never really thought about it but I guess we do have tons of silver. It's because demons have a huge weakness to silver." I nodded. Seems legit.
Then I thought of something. I took of my leather jacket and underneath I had a belt of silver chain going around the waist of my jeans. "Nice Oliver. And that reminds me, we have to get you suited up!" I thought about that. I pictured going out and buying clothes like Jack has, but all thoughts went away when I saw the huge plate of food came forward. I'm from a pretty poor family, so when I saw the food, I was elated. We sat down, and dug in.
