The Finish Line: Rise of The Fallen Angel

The Canine and Painful Memories

As the team made their way to the desert, Toshiro suddenly stopped.
"Hey, I feel like we need a team name. Any suggestions?" He proposed.
"Hmm.... The Resistance?" Maria suggested.
"No. It has to be The Yummy Curries or something." George said, snickering slightly.
"Dude, no way! It's gotta be The Dancers!" John said in response to George's joke.
"I swear you're making up ridiculous names for the sake of it. Toshiro?" Arsène said.
"Uhhhh.... I think I agree with Maria's suggestion." Toshiro replied. "Anything yourself?"
"How 'bout The Elements of Humanity?" Arsène said. "Wait no, too long. Maybe.... The Undefeated?" He corrected.
"Ooooo, I like it!" Toshiro said
"Damn that's neat." George and John said unanimously.
"Mmmm. Sounds neat, Arsèy." Maria said, with her pet name for Arsène.
"What did I say about that name!?" He said in annoyance.
"Hehehe. You know you like it ♥️." She teased.
"Oh really... Marrrrrrria?" Arsène teased back, dragging and rolling the 'r' in her name. It really goes well with his slight Español accent and deep voice. She almost melted.
"Uhhh.. errr, y-yea.." she blushed and stuttered.
"Not so triumphant now, huh?" Arsène playfully said.
"Who knew that The Great Fallen Angel had such a sense of humour?" Toshiro teased.
"There's a lot of things you don't know about me" Arsène said back. He even showed them that he speaks Spanish when he wants.
"Puedo ser una persona muy secreta."
"Errr wha?" They all said in unison.
"Means "I can be a very secretive person."" He translated. After everyone, now known in a group as The Undefeated, gathered all this information, they continued onwards. But as they went on, Arsène suddenly felt a piercing pain in his head, causing him to clutch it, kneeling on the ground.
"UURGH... urgh. Ngh!" He grunted in what seemed like agony, which worried everyone on the team.
"Hey, Arsène! What's the matter!?" Toshiro straight away went to his side to steady him. But Arsène didn't see or hear him. All he saw and heard was.. something from 15 years ago....

No matter where you looked, all you see are ruins, flames and ShapeShifters everywhere. No matter where you ran, all you would run into were more ruins, more flames and more ShapeShifters. He ran and ran until he couldn't no more and eventually collapsed from extreme heat exhaustion. Hours later he came to, flames still dancing around him, but ShapeShifters seemingly scarce. What he didn't expect to see was two people who looked like they were controlling the whole thing. But the second he saw them, they vanished. He ran to find his parents, praying that they were at least alive. After what seemed like says he finally spotted them, lying in a pool of their own blood. He screamed but no one heard it. He checked their vitals but found none. He put his ear to the chests but heard no beat....

Arsène finally snapped out of his memory and looked up at the others, getting to his feet.
"Ngh." He groaned, dropping his head once again. Once he looked up, Maria came up to him.
"Was it another memory?" She asked, worried. He only nodded, not trusting his voice just yet. So, Maria did the one thing she knows that will calm him down, she wrapped her arms around him in a tight hug. It took all he had not to start crying. Even though a few tears ended up defying his battle, he wrapped his arms back around Maria to compose himself. After a few minutes, they separated and Maria wiped the remaining tears away with her thumb.
"Are you OK?" She asked, affectionately.
"Yea. I'm fine. Thanks." He responded, equally affectionately.
"Not that I want to interrupt this touching moment, but we really should get moving." Toshiro said gently.
"Right. Let's go." With that little episode out of the way, the group continued on their way to the desert. In her mind, Maria was thinking,
'I can't believe he actually HUGGED me!' After a few hours, the sun started to set and the team was starting to get tired.
"Hey, Arsène, can we make camp somewhere here?" Maria asked.
"Hmmm. We should but we don't have any resources to get through the night."
"I might be able to help out." A mysterious voice said. Everyone got their weapons out, ready for battle.
"Whoa, whoa! I'm not here to fight you!" The man said putting his hands up in surrender.
"My name is Fenrir, I'm descended of the Ancient Wolves and know plenty of hiding places to camp for the night. We good?" The man, now identified as Fenrir, stated.
"Mmm.... ok, lead on." Arsène said, a little wary. And just like that, The Undefeated were led by Fenrir, who Arsène later sensed that he had wolf-like power, and had themselves a nice and cozy cave to camp in for the night.
"A wolf..." Arsène thought aloud.
"Mmm? You mean me? Yes, I have the ability to transform into a wolf, and have supernatural abilities. The tribe, Shadow Tribe, was it? They destroyed my soul mate. I wish to hunt them down as well. If I may, I would like to join in your quest to eliminate the ShapeShifters." Fenrir asked.
"If you must, however, blood will be shed, and while I'm sure you're used to that, this will be like nothing you've ever seen. We may not make it out alive. Do you still want to join?" Arsène said cryptically.
"Yes, if I may. I must avenge the one I love so that she may Rest In Peace." Fenrir stated in appreciation.
"Hmph, quite admirable. But I'm afraid that we'll have to end this chatter here. Tomorrow, we need to make our way to the frozen desert before the oceans evaporate. We'll only have a few hours before that. Be well rested." Arsène concluded and drifted off into the world of dreams. With everything said and done, the rest of The Undefeated went to sleep and prepare for the treacherous battle ahead. Little did they know, tragedy is destined to fall upon them....

A/N- Thank you so much for all the reads, I could not be more happy that I'm keeping you all entertained in this story. Please stay tuned for the battle ahead. This book will have 12 parts total before the continuation commences.