The Midnight Flare

Creatures of Flame

The king darts forward and swings the lance. I catch it with one of the daggers and throw the other at him. He just smacks it to the side with his hand. He pulls the lance away and stabs forward towards my heart. I spin away and dash past him to pick up the other dagger. I turn back to see him charging towards me. I cartwheel out of the way and throw a dagger at his back. He spins and deflects it with the lance. He throws the lance as if it were a javelin at me. I duck underneath it and start running towards him. Suddenly, he stretches out his hand in my direction. I turn around to see that a trail of icicles are carrying the lance back. I roll out of the way and slide my leg out, tripping the king and causing him to fall on his back.

How come I never thought to do that? I think as he grabs his lance.

I throw a dagger at him and dash forward with the other. As he deflects the dagger, I catch it, spin, and strike him. He uses his arm to block the hit, which makes a huge cut in his arm. He stabs at me with his lance. I sidestep and grab the lance from his hand. Something in my head triggers, as if some voice in my head said "Kill him." I spin and strike at the arm that's been injured. He screams out in pain. I drop the lance.

"I yield. I can't... take that... much... pain," He manages to get out. He looks up at me with a smile on his face. I toss the daggers over to the weapon rack. I hold out my hand to him. He takes it with his good arm and pulls himself up.

"Sorry, I didn't intend to hit that arm again," I say to him. He nods. Why the hell did I do that?

"I figured that," He says. "There was that one part of you that said otherwise though. That's the part that does most of the killing isn't it?"

I nod. "That's the one. Mainly because when I'm fighting, I don't have to fear hurting someone. Unless Demi decides to join in. Then I just have to be mindful of where she's at."

"I see. Well, you shouldn't have any problems with who you're fighting, right?" The king asks.

"Of course not!" I answer. "By the way, are you gonna get that patched up?" I point to his bleeding arm.

"Yeah, I guess," The king says, sighing.

"Are you a masochist?" I ask the king. He chuckles nervously.

"Well... it's not that bad as to where you would say masochism," The king says quietly. "But yes, I do find some pleasure while injured. But not a lot I swear!"

"Oh please," I say. "In my eyes, you got nothing to be ashamed of. Besides, I'm a masochist too. Though not as much as most masochists."

"Please just don't say anything to anyone. It's not really something everyone needs to know."

"Your secret's safe with me, Your Highness. Nothing to worry about."

The king chuckles. "Ok then. Now about yo-"

Suddenly we hear a loud crash from the throne room, followed by crackling sounds. We dash to the throne room and burst in, both armed with weapons of ice. What we see shocks both of us.

Both Memphis and Chris are unconscious and on the floor. The queen and Demi are fighting about a dozen of what appear to be a cross between flameblooded and huge bats. Their bodies are covered in scales and occasionally, a snake-like tongue shoots out of their mouths. The only thing that makes them somewhat elven is that they have normal legs and arms, although their feet and hands are clawed. Their wings sprouted from their back and, though they looked misshapen and broken, they were able to hover above the ground when they flapped their wings. Their heads are the size of half their body, with ears both the same size. Their eyes are large, taking up most of their face. Their nostrils are just slits and their mouths are hung open and filled with razor-sharp teeth. The queen has a few claw marks on her back and is holding a short-sword. Demi doesn't have a scratch on her and is holding one of her daggers.

"Oh fuck, I thought I wouldn't have to kill again today," I say with a smile. "Guess I can't catch a break, huh?" I throw a dagger towards one of the creatures and run towards Demi and the queen. The creature tries to use a fireball to melt the dagger, but it goes right through the fire ball and right into its head. It falls to the floor dead.

"What the hell happened?" I say to Demi as I stop next to her.

"Those things just swooped in, knocked those two out and tried grabbing me," She says all at once. She's breathing very fast and is sweating like crazy. "My mom tried to fend them off. She put up a fight, but got hit. And the only one that's injured is the dead one."

"Don't worry, I can take care of this. Make sure those guys are alright," I say. She nods and runs back.

I dash forward and start cutting away at the creatures. Every time I strike at their bodies though, their wounds just close up again. So they can only get hit in the head. I jump on top of one of them and throw daggers towards the others. They all just spit fireballs at me. I jump up over them and watch them collide into the head of the one I was standing on. All ten fall to the floor. As I dash away towards the royals, they all turn to ashes.

"Is everyone ok?" I ask as I get over to them.

"Besides two being unconscious and the other two with bloody injuries, yeah, peachy!" Demi says.

"Ok, I get it, it was a stupid thing to say," I say.

That's when I hear the flapping. I forgot one. I turn around just as it swoops down to grab. I jump in front just as it goes to grab Demi and it grabs me instead. I try to stab at it, but nothing dents it. It flies out the window and swings me up into the air. I stab into its forehead before it tries to bite me. And then I start falling. I try to slow my fall by using fire to make me and the creature hover slightly, but it only slows it down. Fortunately, the fall doesn't cripple me because the creature cushioned my fall after hitting a couple trees. But as I stand up, I feel something hit me in the back of the head and I black out.