Fallen Light

by ExDraco

Risk Altair: A grovyle-hybrid with powers and abilities that span forests and all of nature. He lives a life of fear, everyday worrying about his survival despite his safehaven, and along the way he meets friends, makes new allies and enemies, and goes further and further into uncovering dark secrets he doesn't even know he has. His origins are a mystery, but so is his identity.

1. Prologue: Twin Brothers

Hey, guys! I know it's been a while, but I finally decided to scrap The Existence Artifacts and re-write the whole plot line once more. After looking over and over the plot line, I realized it had far too many flaws, and the parts I had already written were a little disappointing in my perspective. So I've decided to revise it completely, but still using Risk/Kylor as the main character. I now present to you, the first chapter of Fallen Light.

Fallen Light

Prologue Chapter: Twin Brothers

-?-

My name is Risk. Or some people call me Kylor, I don't really mind either way. I live my life everyday on the run, my leaf blades stained with at least a few drops of blood by the end of the day. Some of you might wonder, why the heck do I have leaf blades? The answer is because I'm a hybrid. I was a human, but then I was fused with the DNA of a grovyle, which led to all of these mutations. And although some might think it's great to have powers like these, my perspective is entirely different. Every time I look at my reflection, or when I'm fighting off my enemies, I view my mutations as a painful memory of what I had done six months ago. Some people think of these abilities as a blessing, I think of it as nothing more than an agonizing curse. How this all started, I will have to go back six months to tell the tale.

-Six Months Ago-

"Unh… What…? Where am I?"

I opened my eyes to scan the surroundings, my head resonating with pain as I forced my sight to concentrate on answering two questions, what happened to me, and where was I. My entire body felt like lead, each muscle put out of commission and not one nerve responding to my commands. I hadn't lost all my senses, which was good, at least. I still had my clothes on, that's for sure, but for some reason I just didn't feel like myself.

My surroundings were a typical place to wake up in, just outside a garage of some sort that was simply a tiny area of the overlooking humongous building. I had no idea where I was at the time, all I did know is my eyes were slightly blinded from lights that came from behind, most probably head lights on some vehicle. I still couldn't twist my head to be sure, so that was my best assumption. Now on to my next questions, what had happened to me?

I was thinking I had to wait for my body to recover before I could actually get some answers to my infinite questions, but apparently luck knew patience was not one of my virtues. Soon after my awakening, two soldiers appeared in front of me, and that was when I first realized I was their prisoner. I was locked in a cage like an animal, surrounded by four walls constructed with steel bars that I could only hope of destroying. I seemed to be on an elevated platform, since even though I was collapsed on the floor of the cage I was still at eye-level with the soldiers in front of me.

"So… where… transport… to…" I was sure that wasn't what he was saying, but my ears were still ringing with exhaustion that I couldn't make out clearly what their conversation was about. By using my sight and what I could salvage from my hearing, I concluded that the two in front of me was one soldier and one commander, or someone with higher rank.

"What… condition…?" The commander asked, my hearing still making out only gibberish, or was it?

"Semi-conscious… normal… heart rate… breathing… mutations… complete…"

"Semi…? Why… isn't… sedated…?"

"He won't… be able to break out… anyway…" My hearing was getting better, since I could now hear their conversation slightly clearer.

"Sedate him with a heavier dose; prepare him for three hour transport to Survival Lab."

"Yes, sir. But if he's part of Project Fallen Light," the soldier paused, just enough time for me to wonder what he meant by project, "why was the result a grovyle hybrid?" Those last words led me to wonder what he meant by hybrid too.

"Why the result is so, I don't know, but what I do know is that he is a level five security danger, so keep a close watch on him, is that clear?"

"Yes, sir! I will now go prep for transport."

The soldier turned to my cage, and then he crouched down at what was just below me. I heard the faint sounds of a button being pushed and a switch being flipped, and the next thing I saw was a mass of green fog that caused my sight to black out, and that irritating ringing in my ears came again. It didn't last long, though, as all my senses faded into black as my consciousness lost its grip…

-?-

The first sounds I heard were the sounds of gushing water. There wasn't anything louder than the sound of gushing water, flowing downwards, possibly a waterfall. I didn't see anything but pitch black, and I couldn't remember anything. Well, not everything was lost though; I could still remember my name, at least. My name is Peleus Altair, but that was all I remembered. But no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't close up the gap between now and the last thing I remember, which was training to learn how to fight.

Why was I training, you ask? It was to protect my little brother; he had a knack for getting in trouble and I always had to bail him out. Not that I was angry at him or anything, but one too many times I found myself defenseless against those who would harm him, so I decided to go off and train to fight. But that's the last thing I remember, I don't remember anything other than that.

After what seemed like a long time in the dark, I opened my eyes to see if I could determine where I was and what had happened, standard procedure when kidnapped in the Pylius Protection Army, or PPA for short. But what I saw after I opened my eyes wasn't in any way possible 'enlightening', since all I saw was exactly the same as if I had never opened my eyes at all.

Either I was being kept in a dark cave inside a waterfall, or they blinded me because all I saw was darkness still. I honestly hoped it was the former instead of the latter, I really didn't want to be a blind person, and the thought itself was scary enough. Thankfully, my suspicions were proved correct, when a wall of some sort opened up, albeit slowly and with a whole lot of mechanical noises, coupled with the sounds of rocks tumbling and splashing in a body of water, like a steel wall disguised behind boulders and rocks.

The light was blinding, and my eyes squinted at first sight but eventually I got used to it and I could see clear as day I was being kept as a prisoner. Of course, I had no idea why but my best assumption would be that I was being kept hostage, but with people like these you just couldn't assume.

I felt vibrations coming from the platform I was on, and soon I found out why. I was sitting inside a steel cage. It was a steel cage on an elevated platform with wheels covered in chains, kind of like what you might see below an army tank. The platform slowly moved towards the light, probably they were transporting me to somewhere else, but for some strange reason I didn't see anywhere nearby.

It must be an automated platform. I wonder why I have to be transported with no direct contact.

The reason for that was all but a void to me, so all I could do for now was wait and see what would happen next. Trust me, my reaction to what happened after I got out of that darkness would have happened to anyone normal. As soon as the cage finally burst out into bright daylight, my body responded in sync with the smell of fresh air, and my previously unmovable body finally responded. When I turned my head to see if anything had happened to me, my eyes widened to the size of plates.

My skin had an orange tinge to it, which was the first thing I noticed. If that wasn't shocking enough, I had a tail with a small red ember dancing at the tip. If THAT wasn't enough, my hands were partly replaced by claws that closely resembled that of a Charmeleon's. I had seen some pretty strange things in the PPA, but this definitely creates the new golden standard of weird.

I didn't have much time to marvel at what I had become, as we entered the forest and left the cave behind the waterfall (explains where the gushing water sound came from), green gas surrounded me and I began to feel sleepy… My sight became more and more limited as I collapsed on the cold, hard floor of the cage, a hint of pain erupting from my ribs as I took a forced trip into dreamland…

-Risk-

I didn't know it at the time, but from the moment I awoke, everything would become nothing but chaos.

The second time my eyes opened, I actually remembered what had happened the first time, before that green gas, which I assumed was sleeping gas, knocked me out. This time, I didn't need to wait for my body to respond, since the dose of sleeping gas they gave me probably wasn't as strong as the last. My eyes fluttered open like window shutters and I was up and ready. I was still in that dumb cage, but my surroundings had shifted dramatically, which wasn't surprising to say the least.

This time I was placed in the middle of a small room, surrounded by four steel walls and a ceiling lamp overlooking the entire area. Over in the top-left corner of the room I noticed a small work table, and on top were just a bunch of papers and files bunched up in a pile, coupled with a table lamp that seemed to complete the ensemble. There was a door, of course, at the top-right corner of the room. Even if I got out of this cage somehow, I wouldn't be able to escape; the door had some sort of password protection on it, and I had no idea how to open the door.

There were absolutely no windows at all, which led me to believe that I was currently underground, but I couldn't be sure unless I got out of this dumb room, which didn't seem to be happening any time soon. It seemed surprising to say this, but I actually felt bored. I know it may seem like an insane emotion after being captured by people I don't even know, but all I had to do was stare at the lab's layout and wait for what happened next. Boredom seemed like the sensible thing to feel right now.

Then something I noticed snapped me out of my boredom, changing that feeling into pure dread and shock. A glass mirror was hanging on a peg that stuck into the wall, and I couldn't help but feel as if it was meant for me when I woke. What I saw inside terrified me. I had changed, a lot. My skin had a green tinge instead of the humane pale white, my hair was still blond, but now it overlapped with a really long leaf that seemed to grow out of my head, almost like a grovyle.

My irises had turned blood-red, they were sky blue originally, and my arms had leaf blade growing out of the sides, as if my DNA had been fused with that of a grovyle. I found the strength to stand up inside my cage, realizing that there was enough space for me to stand up straight. Growing out of my… bottom end of my back was a bunch of leaves that had a striking similarity to the tail of a grovyle. I was wearing a black T-shirt along with a pair of black jeans with a skull pattern on each leg.

I suppose my outfit wasn't too bad, despite the freaky mutations and all, now all that was left was to find out what I was doing here and find a way out, both of which I didn't have to wait long for. Soon enough, a team of soldiers all wearing the same exact uniforms with an assault rifle pointed in my general direction emerged from the entrance, and one of them flipped the switch to let me out. All of them cocked their rifles as I stepped out of the cage, as if to say: Move and we'll blow your brains out. I would gladly take that warning.

They led me out of that dull room and through the corridor beyond, a semi-circular tunnel that seemed to lead somewhere, with not a window to the outside. My suspicions were confirmed from then on, I was underground. This team of soldiers seemed to be my escorts to somewhere, as to where I didn't know. I didn't have long to wait though, within a two minute walk they dumped me in an elevator. As the lift doors closed they went back to their duties, and the lift ascended the floors. The elevator dinged at the 'Basement Three' floor, and even more soldiers were there to escort me.

I gladly followed them, hoping to find out more to my questions, and hoping to find a way out of here. We walked silently through another corridor; neither a word nor sound was uttered from the soldiers, making the underground air that much tenser. Soon enough, we reached a crossroads in the corridors, the path in front of us replaced with a metal door. One of the soldiers walked over to the side of the door and scanned his palm on it, which was the key to opening it. The soldiers stood in a wall formation behind me, leaving me no choice but to venture onward through the door.

My first thought was: bright. Though the corridors were lighted somewhat, the intensity and brightness of those small lamps was nothing compared to this massive arena. When I say arena, I literally mean a place just meant for fighting. The ground was covered in obstacles such as jutting rocks and slippery ground, and there were balconies hung on the walls above me, watching over like spectators. I almost felt like I was a gladiator or something, but it was just wishful thinking.

At the exact opposite of the battlefield, another 'hybrid' emerged, and quickly scanning his traits I confirmed that he was a charmeleon-hybrid, but for some reason he looked surprisingly familiar…

Then a voice broke into my thoughts, one that boomed over the loudspeakers.

"Alright, let us commence this battle. Lapsus, the Fallen Light, versus Imperius, the Aurum Soul."

-3rd Person-

Both Peleus and Risk had absolutely no idea what was happening at the time, but they understood English enough to discern one thing: whoever that voice belonged to, he was commanding the both of them to fight each other for no damn reason in hell whatsoever. And though it was obviously a command to begin fighting from the voice, neither 'Lapsus' nor 'Imperius' felt compelled to start a battle one bit. That was the case, at least, until the voice boomed another line through the loudspeakers.

"Oh, and to give you both some motivation, the winner of this battle shall be given his freedom."

That line, though short and somewhat sweet, was enough to send the entire field into pure chaos. Those simple eighteen words, the word 'freedom' in particular, were enough to spark an obligation to battle in both of these hybrids. Of course, neither was as psychotic as the person on the other side of the loudspeakers, and they were both gentlemanly enough to say one line before their battle began.

"This is just for freedom, so no hard feelings, right?" Risk spoke first.

"Same here. Let's finish this quick."

And so, the battle ensued, and escalated to an all-out two hybrid warzone. The first strike came from Peleus, who fired a Fire Shot through the network of rocks covering the battlefield, a straight path to hit Risk. The fireball streaked past the intended target, as the grovyle hybrid ducked under a rock waiting for the fireball to hit the wall. Returning fire with Edge Boomerang, he summoned leaves to act as boomerang and circle around to hit Peleus, though with Blaze, a teleportation skill, he evaded easily.

Peleus landed just beside Risk as a streak of fire, and from ranged the battle turned to hand-to-hand combat. Peleus kept up the constant pressure with Inferno Helix, while Risk countered each strike perfectly with his own Leaf Blade. They exchanged blow after blow, sparks hit the ground and bounced off the rocks as the mortal combat escalated to a much faster pace with each attack.

Peleus slashed horizontally with his attack, and this time luck was on his side. Risk managed to side-step, but barely as the embers dancing off his opponent's palm lightly grazed his shoulder, a gash mark now evident on his lightly-green skin. Risk immediately counter-attacked with Razor Pierce, in which he condensed sharp-edge leaves into the form of a large blade, and well, pierced Peleus with it. Peleus, on the other hand, dodged with ease, and returned with another Fire Shot. This time, Risk increased his speed with Instant Flash, and the fireball struck nothing but the air around it.

Risk had practically vanished, and Peleus looked left and right, spinning his head in circles as he tried to locate his opponent. It wasn't until too late did Peleus realize that Risk was right above him, as Risk fired Terra Flare, an insane attack that created a mid-size green explosion at where Peleus once stood, leaving him with cuts and injuries all across his body, his clothes ripped and stained with blood.

Then, out of nowhere, Peleus drew a silver blade, a sleek sword with a silver wolf-head insignia in the middle of its cross-guard. Its hilt was made of pure gold, and it was wrapped in dragon leather. With his now unsheathed sword, Peleus had the advantage. He continuously spammed Blaze, in which he would vanish off somewhere and re-appear just beside Risk to land a blow. Risk had to keep all of his senses sharp just to be able to dodge SOME of his attacks. Majority managed to land a hit, and within a minute Risk was covered in slashes and bleeding, each cut oozing out blood and staining his skin red.

Peleus never seemed to tire, each time Risk dodged Peleus would simply appear somewhere unexpected and land a hit, with Risk at absolutely no position to block them. With Risk dodging a downward slash from Peleus' sword, he used Instant Flash, dashing at top speeds to behind a boulder, but of course Peleus was already prepared for that. As Risk turned his head to check if Peleus was approaching, Peleus appeared behind him, alerting Risk to his presence with, "Looking for someone?"

Risk spun around in instinct, slashing his leaf blades towards the direction of Peleus' voice. It was a futile attempt though, as his leaf blades were met with Peleus' silver blade, and sliced in half. Blood gushed out from each of the fallen tips and soon the side of the boulder had turned as red as Risk's arms and legs. He collapsed in pain, gripping his arms tightly as he winced in excruciating pain.

Risk's neck was met with Peleus' blade tip, and with a smug expression Peleus said, "I suppose this is my win. You lose, grovyle."

A loud clapping came over the loudspeakers, "Well done! Well done! You both fought very hard, I am impressed by your prowess. Now, if you would both return to your cells…"

"What!? I thought you said the winner would be allowed to go free!"

"Oh, that was just a way to get you two to fight! Of course I can't let you go, you're such valuable subjects. Guards, bring the prisoners back to their cells."

The doors burst open and out came pouring a massive amount of soldiers and guards, each holding an assault rifle in hand with the nuzzle cocked at the two hybrids.

-Risk-

'Imperius' was strong, but I doubted he was strong enough to take on all of those soldiers by himself, and even though he had fought with me and left me with scarring injuries, he was fighting for freedom, one thing I can definitely empathize. Since now the battle was over, there was only one suggestion to make.

"Hey, Imperius. Wanna call a truce and blow these assholes' brains to the ground?"

"Why not? I could go for some pandemonium."

He offered me his hand, and I gladly took it. Soon, both of us were standing back to back, 'Imperius' brandishing his sword while I… well, my leaf blades were sliced off in the fight, but I hoped they would regenerate eventually, for the mean time I was gonna have to stick to non-melee skills. They surrounded in a circle formation, leaving gaps in their ranks only for the towering boulders, leaving almost no room for escape.

But like always, the key word here was 'almost'. Between the two of us, I'm pretty sure we could get rid of these guys easily, especially with the godforsaken silver sword that Imperius now held.

I struck first, using Instant Flash to dash just in front of the nearest group of soldiers, eliminating all at once with Razor Pierce, as the giant razor-sharp leaf blade sliced all of them in half, I swung it around, eliminating thrice as much. Imperius took the signal as the green light to attack, and the next time I turned around, his silver sword looked far cooler.

He shouted like a battle cry, "Silver Fenrir, Awaken!"

His silver sword glowed a bright silver light, and the next time I opened my eyes I saw the most majestic silver-mane wolf standing beside him. A summon creature brought forth by the blade, a treasured ally in our escape. Imperius brandished the blade again, and this time the wolf dissolved into a spiritual mist, appearing in a bipedal spirit form around and above Imperius, during which he shouted 'Lunar Eye!', each blast vaporizing one unlucky soul. The beams seemed to hit at random, but they were really accurate, I have to admit, albeit embarrassingly.

In the mean time, I covered the other side of the circle, cycling between Terra Flare and Razor Pierce, since those were the only two attacks I could use at the moment. Each attack seemed to tire me out even more, and especially since I just had my butt kicked by the uber-cool, silver wolf-wielding charmeleon-hybrid.

But luckily I managed to pull through, and eventually the swarms of soldiers stopped asking for punishment, the battlefield now littered with blood, organs and the sick smell of devastation.

"C'mon! This way!" Imperius signaled to me, to follow him, which I gladly did, of course.

He rushed off towards the eastern door from which the soldiers came from and sliced it open with his silver sword. He lead the way down the hallways, as I silently followed without any sound, dormant pain still coming from my sliced off leaf blades. The next wave of soldiers appeared, surrounding us from front and back of the corridor, which we finished off easily with Terra Flare to the back and a concentrated Fire Shot from Imperius.

Once the hallway was clear, and with our hearts pumping with adrenaline, we ran. There wasn't anything else that made any more sense but to run. We rushed through the hallways, taking out enemies as we went. Imperius cleared the hallways with Fire Shot, while I covered our tails with Terra Flare. We were in perfect sync, a two-man fighting team that worked perfectly together to escape from the godforsaken hellhole of experimentation.

After what seemed like forever, we reached the front doors, and with our shoulders we burst out, slamming the doors back in. Imperius used a little fire to melt the doors in place, minimally delaying the progress of the soldiers chasing us.

"Nice work back there, Lapsus. I suppose this is where we part. Don't get caught and maybe we'll see each other again." With those last words, he ran off, leaving me alone.

I followed his lead, but ran in the opposite direction into the dark of the woods, but I didn't even get close. As soon as I reached the perimeter of the lab, a hybrid burst out of the sky and crashed down in front of me, the shockwave forcing me back. I managed to stay on my feet, but I got the feeling the battle wasn't over for me yet.

The dust cleared, and standing there in the miniature crater was a hybrid. He had this creepy smile across his face, and I could hear maniacal giggling from him, albeit soft enough that normal human ear wouldn't be able to notice. He was a servine-hybrid, and he was around my height. He had medium-length black hair, a light skin tone, an athletic build and red eyes with slit-like irises, almost like a snake. He would've looked like me, except for the black hair and snakey eyes and the forked tongue that hissed every once in a while.

He was wearing a green-colored armor that was most probably used for stealth, since it was made of cloth, was thin, and blended it almost perfectly with the surroundings. On his right shoulder was an insignia that I had seen multiple times in that lab, plastered on the wall, so I guess it wouldn't be too far-fetched to assume he was working for them. And he had a wicked customized assault rifle slung over his back in a leather strap, its design far different from any of the normal ones.

"So, you're Lapsus, Fallen Light. I really don't know what the big deal about you is, but orders are orders. So, will you come quietly, or will I have to use force?"

"What do you think?" I got into a battle stance, growling softly, probably a new hybrid-based instinct.

He let out a maniacal laugh, one that I was getting crept out by, and remarked, "How do you expect to fight me? Your leaf blades have been sliced in half! Why don't you just give up?"

To show I wasn't completely helpless, I fired a Terra Flare at him, though he just side-stepped a long way and it missed him completely.

"So, you can fight, to some extent. But let's see how long that will last in your weakened state." His forked tongue hissed at me just before he charged.

His tail glowed green as he spun around, probably a Leaf Blade attack, which I dodged with Instant Flash, countering with Razor Pierce. He dodged it without any difficulty, and literally whacked me with the butt of his rifle. The impact sent me sprawling back, and gave me a sudden, albeit terrible revelation. I wasn't going to beat this guy. Maybe after five years of training I would, but not in my current state. Sliced off leaf blades don't exactly make the best battle tools.

"Ready to give up? I'll stop attacking if you do."

"Never! I won't let you beat me, no way in hell!" Screaming louder than I ever had, I charged with a Razor Pierce in hand, but I was met with a smirk from the servine.

He dashed right, and he instantly disappeared. I stopped in my tracks, spinning around in circles trying to find out where he was. I assumed he was camouflaged into the surroundings, but knowing that didn't exactly help my situation. A sudden Leaf Blade from behind me sent me flying towards the grass, and once I was practically kneeling on my knees he un-clipped his rifle, shouted 'Vastitas!', and went trigger-happy on the area around me, each bullet exploding upon contact. Despite all this chaos, the craziest thing went through my mind when the last bullet struck.

I count 120 explosive bullets.

Crazy, right? Here I am, nearly dying by the hands of some psychopath servine-hybrid who just happens to favor explosive-bullet rifles and has a leaf blade, something I don't have, and instead of coming up with plans or good ideas my mind does mathematics. Anyway, back to what was currently happening.

He approached me with his rifle pointed at me, soon in point-blank range. I was frozen in fear, helpless with nothing to do. He was supposed to re-capture me, so I knew that he wasn't going to kill me, at least. But it didn't stop him from doing what came next. He raised his rifle like a club, and swung it downwards to knock me unconscious. That isn't the crazy thing, what happened next was.

My reflexes instantly caused my body to react to the ensuing blow. As the rifle butt soared over me, I slid underneath the servine and did a little uppercut punch to his face, causing him to reel back in surprise and shock. My body didn't stop there. It kept up the momentum, right cross, left cross, right uppercut, why the heck am I sounding like a robot boxing commander? I didn't need leaf blades to attack, I used my bare fists.

In desperation, the servine tried another Vastitas, but this time it didn't work. As the raining bullets came down over me, each were dissolved into nothing but smoking air by the black aura that now surrounded me. In the plastic areas of the servine's armor, where I could see my reflection, I could've sworn my eyes changed from blood-red to dark as night… The last thing I remember was feeling a straining feeling all over my body.

The next time my eyes opened, I was frozen in fear, not of the servine, but of myself. What now surrounded me in the place of the forest and trees was nothing but a smoking field of desolation. The building behind me had been reduced to rubble, the structure crumbling down, and the forest was replaced by a black field with smoke rising into the air. The entire area had been destroyed, a whole place, just boom! Up in smoke, nothing left.

I was in shock, total shock. Nothing was left but me and the polluted air that caused me to cough more than once in the midst of my tears. In complete fear, I ran past the destroyed plains and into the remainder of the forest. I ran, and never stopped running, for I knew that all of that destruction, all that loss of life was my doing. And that was the first time 'Fallen Light' was unleashed. It wouldn't be the last.

Well, I hope this prologue is better than the one from The Existence Artifacts. This is by far my most sped-up prologue ever, introducing another author's OC right off the bat. No rewards for guessing who, though. Anyway, I hope you guys enjoy this chapter, and please review, since that's my only way of knowing if anyone read it at all. Reviews always put a smile on my face. Well, see you guys next time.