Flame Rider I: Rise of a Warrior

Chapter 2: Cre^dus vs Blaze

“Sometimes by losing a battle you find a new way to win the war.”

Donald Trump

Reqziga, 29/03/2994

Blaze’s POV

I was only three when I was thrown into the arena and forced to learn how to defend myself. I learned quickly though, and now at the age of nine I could fight better than a human who had trained in every fighting style for their entire life.

‘Why did I have to be here?’ I asked myself, ‘Why me?’

I was stuck on a planet that was covered in rivers and seas of lava and volcanoes that never stopped spewing molten rock. I was sitting in my room, which was quite small, and felt like the prison it was supposed to be.

I looked into the mirror and tried to smile, but found that my body was unable to perform the simple task. My hair was jet black, with streaks of flame red, but I had kept it so short that the streaks weren’t even noticeable.

My eyes were a cold green, and were more suited for a man five times my age. My ears were rounded, with slight points that were normal in elf/human hybrids. I was slim and looked more like a stick, than the muscular boy that you’d except from someone that fought for a long time.

This was because my enemy and his master starved me every day. Instead of eating three full meals like I was supposed to, I only had a light breakfast, containing only a piece of plain toast and an apple. Lunch was just leftovers that I had saved from the night before, and dinner was overcooked vegetables and occasionally undercooked meat.

I stood up, and grabbed a rock that I had started carving that morning. It was slightly round, and had several holes that I had tried to fill in. So far it looked more like a piece of poorly designed art more than anything, but I decided to keep at it. Rock carving was the one thing that kept me sane in this prison, as well as being the few things I could do without killing someone.

“Open up Blaze!” shouted a voice from the other side, “Master wants you in the cloning chambers.”

I sighed as I placed the rock I had been working on down and stood up to leave. I was wearing a cloak that reminded me of my elven father before he had been…well…I couldn’t really remember much of either of my parents, even if I didn’t think of them as my true parents

***

Angalifa, 29/03/2994

Maria’s POV

I was seven years old, and was trying hard to prove myself as the best. My hair hung at my shoulders, and was a night sky blue, with streaks of icy silver. My eyes were a soft emerald green with my second eye colour being violet.

I had two really close friends, Erath and Chloe. The three of us had been the source of some trouble in the past year, but for the most part folks just ignore our trouble making. My friend Chloe had deep blue hair and had steel green/blue eyes. Chloe was about my age, give or take a few minutes, and her brother was ten years old. His hair was blue like Chloe, but was lighter in colour. His eyes were a deep, but kind, steel blue.

“Hey slowpokes,” Erath teased, “Hurry up.”

I couldn’t resist feeling slightly attracted to him, knowing that at my age I should be more concentrated on my studies than anything else. But he was so cute, and almost every other female his age wanted to kiss him.

“We are moving as fast as we can,” Chloe said.

“I’m only moving as slow as you,” I whispered, “So that you didn’t feel like slow dough.”

“You what?!” Chloe explained, tackling me, “What did you just call me!”

Me and Chloe tossed and turned, as we both tried to gain an advantage. Our fight was soon halted by Erath, as he dragged his sister off me. I got up, and laughed shakily before collapsing to my knees. Erath rushed forward, and placed his arms under my shoulders, before hoisting me up.

“Oy, careful,” Erath said, as I stumbled backwards, “I need my legs.”

He smiled lightly, as I started to drift off slightly, my mind reaching out to a strange land of volcanoes and lava oceans. I snapped back to reality, as I noticed him leaning over me.

“What?” I asked.

“You drifted off just now,” Erath said, “I kinda got concerned.”

“Oh, that’s sweet,” I said, biting my lip as I realised how close I was to my crush.

It happened quicker than I thought it would. One minute Erath was crouching next to me, worry in his eyes, next I hear Chloe fake vomiting, as I felt Erath’s lips brush against my own. He pulled away quickly, shame colouring his cheeks. I could feel blood rushing to my own as I realised what had just happened.

“Sorry, I shouldn’t…” Erath said, before I placed a finger on his lips.

“Don’t be,” I said, before getting up, “We should start heading back now.”

***

Reqziga, 29/03/2994

Blaze’s POV

Cre^dus was hiding somewhere, I just knew it. But I couldn’t find him. Not a single freaking trace of him. It was like he was a ghost, me seeing him one second, before he disappears without a trace again.

When I had first met Cre^dus, I had been shocked to discover that he looked exactly like me, other than the fact that he was better feed, and looked more like a fighter than myself. Jrecsktfra had told me that that was because Cre^dus was me, but he wasn’t at the same time.

I hadn’t questioned the logical forced onto me, but let it sink in and mulled over it as I slept. When I had asked Death, he had said that Cre^dus was most likely a clone that had been altered in some way.

‘Stop thinking about that,’ I scowled myself, ‘stay focused.’

The blow came from behind me, and I fell into the hard packed dirt of the jungle training arena. Cre^dus was on top of me before I had a chance to turn around onto my back. He started to slam my face into the dirt, before grabbing my left shoulder, and yanking me around, smashed my nose with his right fist.

I managed to get my left fist into Cre^dus’ gut, but it didn’t seemed to even phase him. I froze, shocked at what had happened, before realising that Cre^dus was allowed to train on his own, without me. I was at a disadvantage, simply because Cre^dus was Jrecsktfra apprentice.

I wrapped my legs around Cre^dus’ waist, and flipped him over my head, launching myself into the air as Cre^dus crashed into the ground. My opponent was up in a second, and drew what looked like a small metal cylinder.

I started to back away, as the cylinder ignited, a glowing red blade spring into existence. Even though I had seen the training light Energy Blade before, but still feared its bite.

I was unarmed, and knew that I wasn’t likely to win, but that only drove me on. I had learned to harness the power that the animal side of me could produce, and used it to keep myself alive. It was like a fight or flight instinct that I also had – but had learned to shut off – but was more like an attack or dodge instinct, something that was able to warn me when to attack my opponent, and when to let him attack me.

“Now I will defeat you,” Cre^dus stated coldly, swinging his sword, “And then you will go back to your little cage, and serve me as well.”

I launched myself at Cre^dus, dodging his energy sword, as he tried to lay a fatal blow. This ended up working in my favour, as it allowed me to get close to Cre^dus, where his light weapon wouldn’t be as effective.

I realised my mistake as soon as I felt the energy sword graze against my spine, causing it to go absolutely stiff. Cre^dus shoved me away before attacking me again. This time I was defenceless, and was soon knocked against a try, as my spine unstiffened.

By now though, it was too late. Cre^dus advanced on me, and lifted his energy sword, before bring it down on my neck, where I was sent into deep sleep with this last thought, ‘Too little, too late.’