Ragged Breaths
Excruciating pain filled the young man's body. The evil king chuckled in glee to see his mortal enemy in pain worse than he could ever imagine. The cloning process was close to completion, and the terrible king couldn't wait for his enemy's power to be under his command. Of course though, he did make a few adjustments to the clone. He checked the machine's status screen again.
Low Power.
Low Power? Oh no, he had forgotten to connect the machinery to his secondary power source as well! In a panicked state, he coaxed the machine to work faster, but it wouldn't comply without more power. So the tyrant waited anxiously, gnawing at his long and sharp nails.
After a few more minutes, the cloning process was done pre-maturely, and a young hero stumbled out of the first chamber, too dizzy and exhausted to attack the nervous tyrant. At last, the second chamber opened, to reveal a liquid purple mass in the shape of the fallen hero. The fiery-haired tyrant flinched at the sight of it, as he expected it to fall to the ground like a bucket of rainwater. But to both the young man and the slightly reptilian-looking king, the pre-mature mass moved its arms up and smiled, defying the laws of physics. The nameless figure looked down on the shocked hero, then up to its creator. The tyrant took a deep breath, and then with a strict look and deep commanding voice, he pointed at the young hero, and said, "This is Markus, your enemy and your source. Get rid of him."
The still unnamed humanoid mass stood there and pondered, as his liquid brain processed the given command. It then looked over at the weakened Markus, and ever so slowly walked up to him, leaving wet violet footprints behind. It bent down to Markus, who was still breathing heavily and lying on his side. The liquid humanoid grasped onto the frightened hero's shoulders, and stared coldly into the young man's bright blue eyes.
Markus lit his hands on fire, trying to ward the creepy liquid humanoid away from him, but it did not flinch or even slightly move its piercing violet eyes. He suddenly started to feel more exhausted, and then looked at the arms of his failed clone. Flesh was starting to form on its fingertips and up its fluid body.
It only took Markus a moment to realize that it was draining him of his life energy. He tried to pry the thing's hands off his shoulders, but he was becoming too weak, and it was only becoming stronger. With his hopes crushed, the defeated hero decided to stop struggling and lay there, waiting for it to all be over.
When the draining sensation was over, the exhausted Markus looked up at his modified clone, which was now in the flesh. The clone had the same build and face as him, but his skin was paler, his eyes violet, and his hair pitch-black, unlike Markus' chocolate-brown hair. Markus dragged himself away from it, while the tyrant looked at the clone with absolute joy. The clone looked up at the slightly reptilian-looking king expectantly.
"What is my name, and who are you?"
The proud tyrant cleared his throat as he prepared to respond to his new creation's question.
"You, my son, shall be known as Darkos. Darkos Shadelight Magika to be exact. And I am your king, King Aron Keeragon, ruler of the evil reptilian race known as the keeragons."
The newly named Darkos thought about his King Aron's response, and then pointed at the struggling hero. "And what about him, what's his role?"
Aron looked over at the hero in disgust, and then smiled a little bit.
"He is my life-long nemesis, the fire wielding hero Markus. Although I must say, he did look much younger before you drained him."
Confused by this remark, Markus looked at his reflection in the glass of the cloning machine. He gasped in shock as he realized that all of his beautiful brown hair had turned dead white. He started to stroke his once young-looking hair lovingly.
"I do wonder though," Aron stated, "if you gained any of his abilities and powers."
Markus looked back at Darkos, and tried to set his hand aflame once again, but could only get a wisp of smoke. He looked towards Darkos, eyes filled with a terror Aron had never seen through-out his entire lifetime of fighting the fearless hero. Darkos then concentrated on his own hands, and they were soon with a much darker and violet fire, which seemed to be an opposite of Markus' usual holy and golden flames. As Darkos kept concentrating on his darkly blazing hand, he soon felt a strange pain at the tips of his fingers. Moments later, to the astonishment of all three, long and pure white claws made of his own bone slid out of each finger, ready for action. Darkos doused his dark-flame and examined his new deadly weapons.
"My brother will save me!" Markus shouted out of the blue. Both Aron and Darkos looked toward the weak hero, who was still lying on the ground. "He knows I'm here and will burst through the doors to save me any moment now!"
"Oh I know he is coming here. In fact, he's coming through those doors right now." The tyrant smiled darkly.
Moments after the keeragon king stated this, two humanoid reptiles burst through the door, dragging with them another young man that looked very much like Markus (minus the white hair). Tears were streaming from the newcomer's eyes. His bright green clothes were dirty from being dragged.
"Markus?"
"Louis, I thought I told you to run away!"
"I did big brother, but they ambushed me when I least expected it. I'm so sorry."
"Don't worry, it's ok. We'll get out of this one alive as usual, little brother."
"Well he might, but you certainly won't," the arrogant tyrant growled at the red-clad hero. Markus looked up at him in fear.
"Soon, I'll have your brother's power in my hands, but not until I shake him to the core with the sight of your death before his very eyes." The evil king gestured towards Darkos, who in response, smiled creepily at the terrified brothers.
"Darkos…" Aron bellowed, then paused for a few moments.
"…kill Markus."
Darkos ran towards Markus, who had been forced to his knees by one of the keeragons, grinning like a psychopath. He raised his claws of pure bone to the ceiling, then drove them straight through the elder hero's chest. Blood sprayed across the small metallic room, splattering on both Darkos and the petrified Louis. Markus' once cherry-red was soon stained with crimson. The dying hero looked over at his frozen brother with a look of sympathy.
"Don't worry, little brother, I'll be alright." He started to choke on his own blood, which was spilling into his broken lungs. "I'll be in a better place than this." Markus raised his head slowly, and looked towards the heavens, 'til he breathed no more. Darkos finally removed his now crimson claws from the chest of the forever fallen hero, and they slid back into his hand. Rivers poured more fiercely from Louis' tear ducts, as he began to wail like a wounded animal.
As Darkos walked away slowly from the corpse, a maniacal laugh rose up from Aron, and he was filled with a psychopath's joy.
Louis fell to his knees and became eerily silent. The hair on his arms started to stand on end from a sudden static charge.
"I'll kill you." The whisper slowly escaped Louis' lips.
Aron stopped laughing and looked towards the grieving man. Darkos stood still and turned his head.
"What did you say?" Aron questioned the grieving young man.
"I'll kill you!" Louis screamed, and his arms came to life with furious electrical energy. He electrocuted the two keeragon guards that were holding him, and their scaly bodies fell to the ground, limp and smoldering. He screamed again, and the room was filled with wild bolts of electricity, flowing from the enraged younger hero's body. Terrified, Aron ducked for cover.
"Don't kill him," the terrified tyrant roared at Darkos, "Just get him into the cloning machine!" Aron pressed a button, and the cloning machine's first chamber's doors slid open. Aron then crawled away to connect the machine to his secondary power source.
Darkos nodded at the command, and then turned towards Louis. The green-clad hero's sky-blue eyes were blazing with fury, and he charged his fists with electrical energy. He advanced towards Darkos, too angry to think up one of his clever battle strategies. When he swung his electrical fists, Darkos, who kept his calm and cool, easily dodged the rage-blinded young man's blows. The anti-hero set fire to his own fists, then nailed a blow to the angry hero's face. The dark-fire licked and burned at his cheek, leaving a patch of charred skin. Louis fell to the ground, dazed, and regained his senses.
Upon seeing logic and sense return to the fallen hero's eyes, an idea arose within Darkos' mind. From some of the memories he had gained from his source, Markus, he knew that Louis was a coward, and sometimes it was almost too easy to make the younger hero become very afraid.
As Louis shook his head clear, he looked up to see the very bone claws, which had snuffed out his brother's life, slide out of the anti-hero's fingertips. Scared for his own life, Louis quickly got to his feet and backed away, unknowingly getting closer to entrance of the cloning machine's first chamber. Darkos started to grin. His plan was working.
The younger hero soon stepped into the chamber, but didn't realize where he was until it was too late. Just as the doors closed to lock the Louis in, Darkos saw a small dark figure bolt out of the machine in the corner of his eye. He shrugged it off as he saw Louis still yelling from inside and the chamber's doors shut tight. Darkos turned around to see his King Aron standing at the machine's control board, obviously pleased.
"Lord Aron!"
A small keeragon ran through the doors, panting and caring something.
"The younger one had these upgrades with him when we captured him. We thought they would come to use." Aron walked up to the small humanoid reptilian, and took the two objects from him. One was a glowing canine's tooth, and the other, a staff made of gold with a magenta orb on top. King Aron examined them, then threw them into the second chamber.
"We saw see their use on my second clone. They should prove useful for Project Warpwolf."
Darkos looked up at his king, who had returned to the control board, with a bewildered look on his pale face. He then turned away quickly, and looked back towards the machine's two chambers, which were side by side.
Aron gestured towards the waiting keeragon, who then left the room in a hurry. A wicked smile crept up the tyrant's face.
"Now let the wonderful process once again, begin!"
Aron let out a roaring laugh as he slammed his palm down on the cloning machine's start button. Louis screamed just like his older brother had, his body filled with the same unbearable pain.
With the machine now also connected to Aron's secondary power source, not only did the machine never get low power and finish pre-maturely, but the entire cloning process was finished in no time.
The first chamber opened, and Louis stumbled out, tired and sore, just like his brother had been. The second chamber opened shortly after, but it was filled with steam, preventing anyone from seeing inside.
"Awaken, Rez Warpwolf Magika!" Aron bellowed, full of confidence.
The newly named Rez stepped out of the steam-filled chamber. He looked almost exactly like Louis, but with a wolf's ears replacing his human ones, and a wolf's tail protruding from his tail bone. Looking more closely, the three of them could see that his nails were like claws, and his human teeth were replaced with those of a canine. He held the golden staff, and its now glistening magenta orb revealed that it was really a large magical wand. He looked up at Aron with his vibrant violet eyes.
"Hello Rez, I am your king and creator, King Aron Keeragon, and the dark-haired man is your brother, Darkos."
Rez turned to look at his brother, who looked at him as well. To Darkos' surprise, Rez's eyes weren't filled with hatred and coldness like his, but instead with warmth and a child's wonder. Rez smiled happily at him.
"Hai Bro!" Rez yipped with excitement, then ran over to his brother and gave him a big hug. Darkos greatly considered pushing him off, but finally decided against it.
Aron growled in disgust. Rez wasn't supposed to be friendly; he was supposed to be bloodthirsty. He waited for a moment, then cleared his throat.
"Now Rez, I have your first task for you." Rez looked up with anticipation. "Kill your source and enemy, the horrid electrical-wielding hero, Louis Firestorm." He pointed towards the hero, who was desperately trying to crawl away.
Rez looked towards Louis and whimpered. He didn't want to hurt, let alone kill anyone. He sighed, then quickly thought up a clever plan. He charged up one of his fist with raw magenta magic.
Louis looked up towards his clone in fear, then slowly struggled to his feet. But before he could make a run for it, Rez dashed towards him and punched him hard in the stomach, and in a sudden poof, the hero was gone. Ashes fell onto the very ground that Louis had been standing on. Rez stood up straight and sighed. Darkos walked up to his brother and lightly patted him on the back.
Aron let another insane laughing fit fly. Not only were his mortal enemies, the Firestorm Brothers, gone forever, but their power was now in his hands. Soon, the whole world would be his.