LABYRINTH SHIELD – CHAPTER THREE – ARAX'S REVENGE
It has been three days since we fought the Snatchers, and I've been having an amazing time in Labyrinth Shield! (We've just sat around the guild hall for days, going shopping once or twice.) I never thought I would be happy again, but I was wrong. Thanks to Labyrinth Shield I'm happy. I have achieved the impossible.
I've been staying in the Labyrinth Shield common rooms, which are kind of small, and they smell bad. But unfortunately, I have no alternative. From the Snatchers job we each got 30,000 jewels. After buying clothes and paying back Luciois, I'm left with 20,000 Jewels. I need to save for a house.
"Good morning, hun!" I hear as I walk into the main room of the Labyrinth Shield. As usual, I'm wearing scarf and jeans with my ring underneath.
"Good morning, Shalaid," I say, smiling brightly at her. This is usually my morning routine.
I wake up, I do my daily exercises, I take a shower, I get dressed, I brush my teeth and go downstairs. Shalaid always tells me where Alois, Lucious and Ezrith are.
When we fought the Snatchers, I aparently proved myself, so Ezrith has been a little kinder. I'm still trying to figure out why she hates me.
"They're in the training grounds hun," Shalaid says, smiling brightly at me. She's a very nice woman, like our mother. It makes it feel like a big, disfunctional family. But without the guild master, who is still away. "You want some beer?" she asks politely.
"You know I don't drink, but thanks Shalaid," I say, and walk to the back door. The training ground is quite big, with a few large oak trees lining the sides. It's outlined with a fence, because sometimes the kids from Wychelm come and watch us train, betting on who will win battles.
"Morning Damien!" Alois shouts gleefully. She sits under one of the tree's, in the shade sipping an Apple Martini.
"Morning Alois," I say, and sit beside her. A few minutes later, Lucious and Ezrith join us.
"My house collapsed!" Lucious practically cries.
"Our house," Ezrith corrects. Ezrith and Lucious share a house, and Alois camps on the hills. I'm not sure why.
"It's your fault! You and your swords," Lucious snaps. They then argue for a while about who's fault it is, until they agree it was Ezrith's fault for sending swords into the support beams, but Lucious' fault for provoking her.
"WE SHOULD ALL GET A HOUSE TOGETHER!" Alois suddenly shrieks, making me jump. At my feet, abit of the ground gets covered in frost. A bad habbit when I get frightened. We all look at her blankly, so she continues, "There is a four bedroomed house going for 80,000 Jewels a month. It's not an excellent house, but together we can easily pay the rent!" She says.
"Okay, if Ezrith promises not to destroy it," Lucious says. I roll my eyes, he probably did provoke her. Who wouldn't want to throw swords at him.
"Fine, but only if Lucious doesn't flood it, and if Damien doesn't freeze it," Ezrith snaps. Alois giggles, but I think Ezrith is serious. Dead serious. Meaning she might stab me.
"Are you sure you want to live with me?" I ask, feeling stupid and kind of unwanted. I think it's force of habit really.
"Of course silly, you in?" Alois asks with her brilliant smile.
"Okay," I say, "I have 20,000 Jewels now." I pull them out of my pocket, in a mini bag. Lucious and Ezrith each give 20,000 to Alois too.
"I'll go get our keys," Alois says, and skips out of the training court, leaving me alone with Ezrith and Lucious.
"Damien, want to battle?" Lucious asks me, standing up. It's either that or sit with Ezrith. I agree, and we walk to the middle.
I hear a kid shout about the match, then others shouting out their bets. Most bet on Lucious, but a few bet on me. I'm grateful for that.
"Standard rules apply, weapons allowed, first to yield looses," Lucious tells me.
"Or first to be unconcious," I add. He nods. Oh how I long to punch him in the face, moronic Dragon Slayer he is. "Ready?" I ask. The children are silent, as is Ezrith.
"Ready!" He says enthusiastically.
As if trying to suprise me, he waves an arm and a dozen spikes of water begin to fly towards me. I grin, and wave my arms, turning all but three to ice and sending them back at him. The three that didn't turn to ice fly at me, but I easily sidestep. He's rather foolish if he thinks he can surprise me.
Lucious uses a wierd water whip to shatter the ice, but one thankfully hits his arm; making him bleed a little. He scowls at me, realising he clearly underestimated me.
Before he can attack again, I send ice daggers towards him. His whip smashes most, but one hits his chest and shatters. (I made them so they wouldn't pierce him, but merely hurt him.) Lucious scowls, clearing hating being defeated infront of his little fans. Before I can react, the whip is around my ackle, and I'm flying through the air. I hit the fence and gasp in pain. He was too quick, I was too slow. Can't let it happen again.
I suddenly hear screaming behind me, and realise it's the children! I jump up, and spin to look at them fleeing the scene. Then, a shadow covers me. I nervously gulp, sensing an evil presence. Gingerly, I turn around to see what is blocking the sun.
A huge, humanoid creature stands about ten metres away, facing away. It's at least ten times bigger than me, and has huge bat wings, which are folded in. In one of his huge, hands is a large, wicked looking whip. It seems to be made of leather, with spikes protuding out. It's a few times longer than the demon, who I realise is facing Ezrith. Lucious is nowhere to be seen, so he might be with her, both blocked by this huge demon.
Suddenly, I hear a sound like scraping glass. "I am Arax, the winged terror!" It screams. I reconize that name... I recognize him!
As if to demonstrate how terrible he is, he sends his whip down, and picks a tree. He carelessly throws it behind him. I turn, and see it landing on the street, disturbing the path with a humongous crash.
I hear Lucious' voice and then footsteps behind me. I turn and see Alois running towards us.
"What is that?" She shouts, looking slightly scared.
"Arax!" I tell her as she stands by my side. I see Arax raise his arm, as if to use his whip again. Naturally, I do something stupid. I throw ice daggers at him. They hit him, and bounce off.
I hear a deafening roar, and Arax turns around, spreading his wings. Arax's wings span a good few metres, and they seem leather. Now I now realise his entire, humanoid body is covered in tight, black leather, and he has the head of a bat. Unfortunately, it's obvious he can see just fine.
"Damien Targaryen Herondale!" Arax roars in his voice like scraping glass. "I promised I would have my revenge, and here I am." He makes a noise that I assume is a laugh.
I remember now. Daniel and I fought him, and lost a long time ago, when we were fifteen. Although, that was only two years...
"Damien, who is this... Thing?" Alois asks.
"It doesn't matter right now," I tell her. I see Ezrith and Lucious running around Arax, towards us. Maybe with four of us we can kill Arax. We can maybe achieve what Daniel and I couldn't.
"What is this thing?" Lucious asks as he and Ezrith reach Alois and I.
"Arax, a Demon!" I say. Demons in Fiore have two forms, or atleast most do. They have their true form, this was Arax's true form, and they could posses people. The true form was usually worst.
"How do we kill it?" Ezrith asks, looking up at Arax. She doesn't seem scared.
"WITH FIRE!" Alois shouts, and before I can stop her she shoots twin hellfire balls up at the Demon before us. The fireballs hit Arax's torso, and are immediately put out. I hear Alois make a dumbfounded noise, and Arax does his odd laugh again.
"HIT IT WITH EVERYTHING YOU'VE GOT!" Ezrith screams, I see swords beginning to appear above her head.
"No! It won't work, we need to destroy the whip!" I say, Ezrith doesn't listen and her swords fly at Arax. As does a glass.
"TAKE THAT YA' BOOB!" I hear, with a slight gasp I look towards the Guild Hall and see Shalaid with glasses beside her. She picks another up and launches it at Arax. As it flies through the air, I aim a cold blast of air at it and it launches at Arax's face. The glass shatter, and with another blast the glass hits the demons left eye. Arax screams, in actual pain.
Everything happens very fast, but at the same time it slows down.
Between us and Arax, a glowing, bright blue circle on the ground. In the circle appears a young woman, probably twenty. She's facing us, so I can she has long purple hair that is in pigtails. She has on a navy blue skirt, and a pale blue blouse along with knee high black boots. She is very pretty, and has one golden eye and one red.
She appears oblivious to Arax, because she has a pleased look on her face. Somebody screams for her to duck, I'm not sure who, and she does. As this happens, I notice Arax's whip hurtling towards us.
I swiftly erect a wall of ice, but it doesn't help. The ice shatters, and I launch to the floor, dragging Alois with me. I hear a scream, glass shattering and Alois panting next to me.
I quickly get up, and notice Lucious and Alois doing the same. The new comer seems to notice Arax for the first time, and she gets a determined look on her face. She stands up, and scans her surroundings.
I notice that Ezrith is missing, and as Arax's whip returns to him, I see her through the disturbed dust. She flew through a window, into the guild hall. She's bleeding, quite a lot!
I see Shalaid jump up and run inside, looking like a mother who watched her child fall. Arax's next move is unexpected. He reaches down, like a child into a toy box, and picks a flailing and screaming Lucious up.
Arax flaps his wings, sending a massive gust of wind towards us. I manage to remain upright, as does the new girl but Alois falls back with a thump.
The new girl holds her hand out in a stop sign, and around it glows a red circle. "Too far," She mutters, and the light fades. Arax is already far away, flying north. With Lucious.
The girl runs over, and straight past me towards Alois. The girl helps Alois up.
"Lunaria! Good timing as always," Alois notes.
"What was that thing?" The girl asks, Lunaria... A pretty name. Also a strong one, which is fitting. I feel much power radiating from this girl.
"Arax," I answer before Alois gets the chance. "It's a strong Demon, he must've come for..." I say, but stop. Lunaria has the good grace not to push for me to finish.
"Ezrith!" Alois gasps, as if noticing for the first time. The three of us run inside, and towards Shalaid who cradles Ezrith. "Is she...?" Alois begins, sounding like she may cry at any moment.. Shalaid looks up at us with big, sad eyes but thankfully shakes her head. Glass covers the guild hall, and a few tables are smashed where Ezrith landed. She's bruised, cut, and bleeding.
Ezrith suddenly coughs, and opens her eyes. "Lucious?" She asks, looking panicked.
"Arax has him, just keep still while I heal you," Alois says, and kneels down.
"No!" Ezrith says, making us jump. "Go save Lucious. I'll survive." Ezrith says. I expect Alois to argue, but with tears in her eyes, she nods. Alois gets to her feet.
"We'll be back as soon as possible," Lunaria says in a soft voice, she still wears her determined expression. "I'll teleport us." I've never teleported before, but it happens quickly. A blue circle glows around Lunaria, Alois and I. Suddenly my surroundings change. I look around, and see we're at the base of a mountain. I can see Wychelm, a dot in the distance. A few tree's are scattered around, but apart from that it's mostly rock and dirt.
"We're north of Wychelm, at the mountain," Lunaria says. "I saw Arax coming this way."
As if to prove her point, I hear the broken glass laugh of Arax from above. I look up and see him circling the mountain top.
"I can't see Lucious," Alois notes.
"Arax might've left him up top, to lure us there," Lunaria explains.
"Should we-" Before I can finish, Lunaria vanishes, a blue circle surrounding her. I roll my eyes, but she then reappears.
"Lucious is right at the top, unconscious, it's better to leave him up there," Lunaria tells me and Alois.
"Damien, you fought him before, what's the plan?" Alois asks, a concerned look etched on her face. She must have realised I've fought him, which is good of her.
I think about this carefully, knowing Lucious' life depends on it. Despite me not liking him, it's my fault Arax is even here.
When Daniel and I fought it, we didn't think it through and it didn't work. We later discovered it's whip was it's power, but we never met Arax again.
"Lunaria, could you teleport the whip from his hand?" I ask. She nods. "I'll distract Arax, long enough for you to teleport the whip away, then Alois has to burn it to ash, and Arax should die with it."
"Sounds easy enough," Lunaria says. "I'll teleport you up to him," She says.
"Wait-" I try to shout, but it's too late. The blue light engulfs me, and suddenly I'm atop the mountain. I'm not too far from the top, on a path that has been made. It over looks the mountain, and if I wanted to I could jump right to the ground, but only if I didn't mind dying. I see Arax circling, a few metres below me with his wings spanning out. He hasn't noticed me.
"This is crazy," I mutter. I form snowballs in each hand, and when he comes back around I throw them, hitting his head. Arax roars, probably more out of annoyance than pain. He stops, midair, hovering and staring at me.
"Damien Herondale," Arax says in his glass voice, "We meet again." Arax mocks, "Where's your boyfriend? No one here to save you?" Arax laughs at his own comment.
Ever since his death, Daniel has been a sore point. I loved him. How dare this vile Demon mock him!
"I WILL KILL YOU," I scream, I hurtle an ice spike, which shatters on his face. Then I leap from the mountain side on a ridiculous impulse.
The wind immediately begins throwing my hair around, and my scarf. I estimate the fall will last thirty seconds. I turn, so I am facing the sky. I see Arax, diving towards me his whip flapping in the wind. He suddenly lashes out with me, and it snags on my ankle, drawing blood. I try to free it, but it's too late and I'm already flying back up. I get the whip off, and fly up past Arax and almost to the top. Then I begin falling again.
Clearly, Arax was not expecting me to fly up, it miscalculated. I'm above it now, and he's stopped diving and is floating there. As I drop past him, I pull one of my daggers from my belt and slice his wing.
The ground is getting closer, and I'm facing it. Arax's whip slashes by me, narrowly missing me. Then, thankfully, it vanishes. I splay my hands, and a huge pillow of snow appears below me. I crash into it, and sink a metre before I stop. Despite how I just jumped of a mountain, and am now in a huge pile of snow, I laugh. That was magnificent. I survived jumping of a mountain as a Demon tries to kill me! How many mages can say that?
I pull myself out of the snow pile, and see a rather shocking sight. Alois has the whip at her feet, sending trails of hellfire burning it. Lunaria has her hands splayed, pointing towards Arax, who appears frozen in time as he reaches for them. I run toward them, and notice Lunaria has a nose bleed and a pained look on his face.
"Alois hurry!" I gasp.
"Done!" Alois exclaims proudly. The whip exploded into ash, and I turn to Arax. He's disintegrating, still frozen. Making no noise. How eerie, but amusing.
Lunaria drops to her knees, panting and facing down. She must've exhausted her magic.
"Lunaria, listen to me. Take deep breaths. It's going to be fine," Alois says, kneeling beside her.
"How'd we get here?" I hear, making me scream slightly and jump back. Yet again, frost spreads at my feet. Lucious stands near us, looking confused and shocked.
"Take us to the guild, we'll explain later," I say to Lucious. He nods, and grabs onto Lunaria's shoulder. Alois puts her hand over Lucious's and I grab onto his clothes.
A dizziness momentarily comes over me, and we're suddenly standing in the guild hall.
"Oh god, Ezrith!" Lucious gasps, kneeling beside Ezrith.
"She's fine," Shalaid says, still cradling Ezrith. "Ezrith is a fighter!"
"I'll start healing her," Alois says. She sits down, and grabs Ezrith's hand. "Damien, take Lunaria upstairs." I nod, and help Lunaria stand. She wraps her arm around my shoulder, and we begin towards the dorm rooms.
Today happened to fast. We were just training, and then boom! Demon. Nobody died, this time. But what about next time? Or the time after that? Arax was my fault. What of I get them all killed? Will my past not only catch up with me, but with Labyrinth Shield too?
