Prologue
The sky flickered in the night as the lightning came down just as hard as the rain. All the trees in the forest were blowing and seemed as if they were going to fall down. The crack of the thunder seemed to shake the whole world. The fire in sky never got the chance to appear this past day. The day had been a whole storm and it would end the same way.
The footsteps in the mud were barely noticeable to the fast heartbeat. But the heartbeat was not unusual to him. This heartbeat had lived ever since the day he was born. And in some ways he was glad it was finally coming to an end. That's when he needed to stop for a minute.
He turned and hid behind the giant oak tree to his left. The moment he stopped he could hear the distinct shouting that had been chasing him the past few days. But they finally got him.
He checked the large gash on his arm that had cut him earlier that had almost sealed his fate. It wasn't as painful as it looked, but then again, he had faced his fair share of injuries before.
Suddenly, he could feel the power returning to him. He knew it wasn't going to be enough to fly out of there, but he knew he was going to be able to fight. And that was enough for him. He knew he wouldn't win but he knew he could go out with some dignity.
And then he realized that was all he had left. Sure he had lived in that giant castle with all of the other members. Sure he lived with the fancy chairs. Yes, they had the long tables that they ate on every night but even with his friends, Joe and Evan, he had nothing.
When he joined the clan, he sold his soul to help them defeat the creed. He knew that they had little chance of succeeding too. After all, there were only seven of them. God knows how many of them lived. But even though there were hundreds of them, the entire world seemed to hate them.
"Over here!" the shout came from just down the dirt road. "He went into the forest. The tracks lead over there."
This was it. He was the last one and it was going to end now. He was ready for it. He got in his fighting stance just as "he" came out of the bushes. He had many confrontations with him before. Every time he saw him he looked into his cold dark eyes. He could see his soul and he knew something was wrong about it.
Then he suddenly began to charge at him with lightning speed. It was now or never. He concentrated as much as he could and then the power flowed through him. Then the rings appeared but as the ring reached the top of his head his hand began to glow and a green, flaming sword appeared in his hands.
Then the man took out his short blade. He knew what that blade had to offer and he knew what it could do to him. It happened once and he knew that it would be his downfall, but he wasn't going out without a fight. Now he began to charge back and they were heading straight at each other. Just before the blades clashed, it was as if the white light appeared and everything seemed to fade away.