Chapter Six – Attack of the demon wolves! Gorian's Darkness Flare!

Later that week, at night around a campfire…

 By the end of that week, Zillas had mastered the Freeze Bleed and the Freeze Arrow. Not only that, but she was working on an…interesting spell.

A spell of Happiness – meant to disable the more powerful Mazoku in combat by flooding them with positive emotions.

Gorian cringed when she explained it to him.

"You, my dear, are as sadistic as your father!" he said.

She grinned. "Who do you think I want to cast this spell on first?" she asked.

Gorian stared at her, then smiled. "I can see that Gaav will like you," he said. "I know I do."

Zillas paused and looked up from the scroll that she was writing the spell down on. "Do you mean that?" she asked, her eyes lighting up with joy.

"Of course!" Gorian said. "Why wouldn't I?"

Zillas looked away. "Because I'm a half breed," she said. "You're a pure-blooded Mazoku, and I'm…tainted."

Gorian grabbed her shoulders and forced her to look at him. "I used to be human," he said. "There is nothing wrong with having human blood in you, understand? I know some humans that are powerful enough to control Mazoku – I respect them, even if I am a Mazoku now, I will always have respect for the humans. You should too."

Zillas nodded. "All right," she said, "I'll remember that."

Gorian smiled. "Now get some sleep," he said, "we need to travel the rest of the way to Swank tomorrow, and it's already late."

Zillas nodded and lay down next to the fire and fell asleep, knowing that Gorian would watch over her while she slept.

*-*-*-*-*-*

Gorian woke her up six hours later, and Zillas noted that it the sky was turning that dark purple that it turned when it was the early hours before dawn.

So he let me sleep all night, she thought. I wonder why?

She got up and dusted off her clothes before collecting her things and making sure that the fire was well and truly dead. She stood up and turned to face Gorian, who was glancing around as if he expected bandits to appear out of nowhere.

He was half-right – although it was not bandits that appeared it was Mazoku. They were wolves in form, but their eyes shone a bright red. One of them, a wolf larger and obviously the leader of the pack, stepped forward and transformed into a tall, redheaded woman with brownish-green eyes wearing clothing similar to Gorian's, except that hers were a dark brown. She carried twin daggers in her belt and was deceptively beautiful. She looked at Gorian and spoke slowly, as if were unintelligent.

"We want the girl," she said. "Surrender her and you'll be spared."

Gorian drew his sword, and Zillas saw for the first time that the blade was pitch black, yet it was strangely beautiful to look at.

"You'll never take her to your Mistress," he said. "You'll have to kill me if you want Greater Beastmaster Zelas to have another servant."

She smirked, an evil, frightening smirk. "Then you die."

She leapt at him barehanded and attempted to crush his throat with her fists. He sidestepped and brought his knee up just as she flew by, connecting with her gut. The force of the blow quite literally sent her flying head-over-heels, but she shot back up and turned to him, a blast of dark energy leaving her hands.

Mazoku power; Gorian had told Zillas about that a few days ago. Depending on the strength of the Mazoku, his or her power could easily melt flesh off of bone in seconds, or merely stun the target long enough for the attacker to finish them off.

Gorian simply held the blade up, absorbing the blast easily. At his attacker's shocked expression, he smirked.

"I enchanted this blade so that it would absorb Mazoku power," he said, still smirking. "It works well, don't you think?"

With that, he leapt at her, his dark blade slicing cleanly through her body. The dark substance that was her blood dripped thickly from her exposed ribs, and with one final look of hatred, she faded from existence forever.

That was when the other wolves attacked, surrounding him so that he couldn't escape. Zillas almost panicked, but then she saw the look in his eyes, as if he were hiding something…

Then he drove the blade of his sword into the ground and vanished from sight, only to reappear in front of Zillas, hands raised.

"You, who follows after the light, who blankets our rest! Darkness, I summon thee to mine hands! Bestow upon me the means to destroy those who oppose me!"

The darkness itself seemed to form a sphere in Gorian's hands, standing out against the failing night with startling clarity. He shot a smug glance at the wolves that were, by now, charging them and finished the spell.

"DARKNESS FLARE!"

The darkness solidified, and flew from his hands and enveloped the wolves, covering them completely before pulsating once and vanishing, destroying the wolves completely. Gorian turned to Zillas.

"That," he said when he saw her questioning look, "was my Darkness Flare. Cool, huh?"

"Very!" Zillas replied. "Um, can we go now?"

Gorian laughed and nodded before walking off.

Author's notes: Enjoying it so far? I know that I'm enjoying writing it! Hehehe…