Chapter 5: A Rude Awakening

"Michael!" Sara cried again with the faintest slight hope that he was alive. She knew he wasn't but she didn't know what else to do. Once Paul unsheathed his blade from Michael's neck, he jumped back a klick and watched him fall to the floor.

Lincoln knew that there was no time to mourn and with Michael dead, he had to figure out a way to get out. He was pissed at Paul for killing his brother and his friends, but everyone else's safety came first.

Veronica saw Sara's eyes and knew what her next reaction would be. The bullets and spells started flying all over the place as she maneuvered to garb Sara and pull her back. She was still her mission, but she was a friend.

She dragged Sara into cover to avoid getting hit by projectiles. "Lincoln!" Veronica yelled. She popped her head out and waved at him to come towards them. Lincoln nodded and ran back carefully. He jumped into the covered area. The place became a battlefield and if it weren't for the inaccuracy of the mages, there wouldn't have been rubble on the ground to hide under.

"We need to pull back Lincoln." Veronica suggested coolly.

"Yeah, like I haven't thought about that myself." Lincoln replied sarcastically. A fire ball blasted on top of the rubble, making an exploding noise. "God damn it. We're not going to get out any time soon." Another fire ball exploded on top of their roof.

Sara looked out a little bit and closed her eyes. She could feel them moving and closing in on their position. With the mages bombarding with spells above, there was nowhere else to run. They were ruined and done for.

Another fireball, this time more potent than the last few, blew the roof off. "Shit!" Lincoln growled. Then the strangest thing happened. They were surrounded by an ice shield covering them from above their heads and in front of them. It was too thick for a spell or a bullet to pierce.

"What the...?" Veronica was amazed that there was an ice mage that could've been able to create a shield thick enough to block projectiles. Then she saw a kid and a masculine man in front of them.

"LJ..." Lincoln muttered silently to himself. His brother was alive and so was Lycan. He smiled that his younger brother was more talented than he thought. Thank God you're alive, little brother.

LJ and Lycan turned around and smiled. "Sorry about the illusion, Linc. But we knew what was going on and we had to make it as believable as possible that Paul executed us."

"Explain to us later." Veronica said brusquely. "We need to get out of here."

"Wait, what about Michael?" Lycan asked. He looked for each pair of eyes. Sara, Lincoln, and Veronica despaired. "Where's Michael?" He demanded.

*---*

Michael was running in the dark, not sure where his destination was. He didn't know what he was running from or for. All he knew and felt was fear. He turned around to see what was behind him, but he could see nothing but the dark shroud behind him.

"Sara! Linc!" He yelled frantically. He was alone and he needed some guidance or the comfort of his friends.

"Where are you guys?!" He yelled. He felt empty inside.

"Michael." An unfamiliar voice with a deep, alto, female voice Michael heard in the distance. Then suddenly, he saw a bright, yellow, mysterious light was approaching him from afar. It was walking slowly towards him. He didn't know how to respond to the light. There were two choices: Run or go to it.

Michael started walking slowly towards the light. As it grew larger, he had to shield his eyes. After several minutes, he reached the light. The figure that was in front of him was majestic. It was a woman, but a beautiful woman. She was wearing a white, wedding dress that emitted the light. Her skin was emitting the same light. Her long, blond hair appeared silky and as light as one of Sara's white feathers. She was a pure albino.

"Who are you?" Michael asked calmly.

"You, Michael, are my descendant, my son." She said in her graceful, low voice.

"What?" Michael was taken aback. It couldn't be true. He was an orphan since he was a child. The foster parents who came to the orphanage never wanted ti adopt him. He was alone, except for the first time he met his good friend, Lincoln.

Michael never knew his parents. When he could finally see the world for what it was when he was six, he realized that he was never wanted. He joined the other orphaned children in playing their fun, entertaining games such as basketball, soccer and football. He was horrible at each of those games. A failure. A failure and a loner as a child. He tried to get better, but he wasn't hand-eye coordinated for football and basketball, and he always tripped when he played soccer.

It wasn't much different when he was training with Lincoln and Paul as rangers. What took Paul and Lincoln a couple of days to master techniques took Michael almost two weeks to get used to. He didn't understand why he couldn't get it as fast as they could. He knew that Lincoln and Paul were more advanced than him, but he was slower than the average fighter.

Then it was time for his first mission as a ranger, after barely passing his exiting exams at the academy. He remained in Paul's and Lincoln's group. Lincoln had persuaded Paul to keep him in the group. Well, it wasn't as successful as he thought it would be, but he made it a package deal. It was him and Michael or he could form his own team.

Paul had succumbed as he knew he needed Lincoln. He had the highest score on the exam, nearing a perfect score out of a possible 2400 points. The test was based on the correct answers and the time it took to finish the test. There were a total of 150 questions, all mixed with multiple choice, extended answer and essay questions. The test time limit was two hours. Every minute after that would subtract 1 point from the score. Lincoln finished his test in two hours and ten minutes; getting every question right and a few points taken off his essay questions.

Michael had barely passed the exam with a score of 1350. Any score below 1300 would've resulted in a failure. There was no exam after that; just a single graduation.

Then there was his first mission. Michael had the job of getting to the switch to turn on the electricity to the elevator. Michael had to fight through monsters, but he wasn't prepared for so many. Paul knew he might've taken too long so he stalked him silently. Michael couldn't handle so many small ants and rats that Paul had to step in and help clear out the inferior monsters. Michael finally had reached the switch and Lincoln was waiting.

"Do not worry about your past, young warrior." The radiant white lady said, knocking him out of the memories that flashed by him. "None of that matters, my son." She changes the scenery and Michael was watching a battle go on. There was an ice dome in the middle of the field, being bombarded by bullets, fireballs, and lightning bolts.

"What's going on?" Michael asked.

"You were killed in the battle." She told him. Michael then looked around and saw his body.

He shook his head in disbelief. "That couldn't be me. I mean, I-I-I'm alive, aren't I?"

"You were stabbed in the neck by your former friend, young one." She zoomed in on Paul, who was standing on top of the stairs, ordering everyone to work harder to break through the ice dome.

Michael finally lost his temper. He trusted Paul and he killed LJ, Lycan, him, and now he's trying to kill Lincoln, Veronica, and Sara. His eyes glowed red. Then his arms grew red, burning scales. His clothes disappeared and the scales spread over his chest, his lower body, and his feet. The aura around him burned and emitted a fiery feeling. His fists became claws and his head was then covered with red, spiked horns with sharp hair growing out of his shaved head layering backwards.

"Go my descendant. Save your world. Use this new power sparingly. It'll be your savior in times of need. Overuse it and you will fall to the pits of hell. Make the wise and right decisions, young dragonic beast warrior."

And on that command, Michael flew through the portal back to his world. His dead body disintegrated on the battlefield, but went unnoticed. He had no control of himself and could only think of his thirst for blood.

*---*

As the battle continued to ensue, the ice dome started to erode from the relentless and endless attacks from Paul's oversized squad. LJ had fortified it much from the inside, but they couldn't stay in the cold for too long. They would eventually have to come out and fight them to the death, facing injuries and casualties.

LJ knew that in order to stop the damage taken a little bit, he slammed his staff into the ground to cast a magic barrier on everyone that allowed them to take a few hits before real damage would be done. He almost exhausted his strength in doing so. Lycan threw his arms in the air, slammed his right foot down and his arms down into an arch. His hands glowed yellow-red aura that emitted as if his fists became fortified with steel. Sara tapped into another power she didn't know. She spun up into the air for a few meters, twirled her staff above her head with one hand and used the other to push the air in front of her. Everyone's morale and strength were boosted for the battle.

"Paul is mine." Lycan grimly said. "He's going to go down for the pain he put us through." He stared through the ice, clearly seeing Paul at the top of the stairs. Lycan was ready to make the quickest dash of his life for him. He was going to show him what it's like to mess with friendships.

"The Winged Girl and I will provide covering fire." LJ added, still not knowing who Sara was. All he knew was that he could trust her.

"Veronica and I will take out the mages and gunmen." Lincoln said as he sharpened and readied his sword. Veronica cocked her shotgun and then took out her semi-automatic machine gun.

LJ checked the dome. "It's about to shatter. Get ready for some smokescreen, winged girl."

"My name is Sara Tancredi." Sara corrected in her beautiful voice. LJ was taken aback and then nodded.

"Get ready to smokescreen, Sara." He smiled.

Sara smiled back and nodded. She started spinning her staff and it started to burn with fire. As soon as the dome shattered, she threw her spinning staff into the air and the area was surrounded with smoke. However, to their dismay, one of the mages dispelled the smokescreen and everyone could see where to aim their guns and spells at. Lycan was already gripping Paul by his shirt and Lincoln and Veronica had taken cover behind the pillars on the second floor to avoid being hit by projectiles. LJ and Sara were ready to cast when the cease-fire ended.

Then another explosion happened in the same spot where Michael's body used to be. And standing in it was a changed person. A powerful changing Michael.