Chapter 8

As the sun began to rise, Raijion looked at it in wonderment almost as its glory let the sky and turned it blood red. The look of death was on the face of it as it rose to power. Its warmth reaching out to all that was in its wake, the forest though did not welcome it with open arms instead it fought with it and blew a cold nights air onto the group. Zelliea shivered at the wind and stood closer to her brother as now Raijion turn to look at them all.

"It makes me wonder just how much you know my friends. The path you follow is false, the goddess you follow is wrong, she is leading you to your very death, and you don't even see it." Raijion spoke now; his blue eyes seemed to be glowing with dark power as his whole armored body moved to face them.

"That is a lie the goddess is of the light, she is here to bring peace to all of those who choose to follow her! You are the one who follows her evil sister and wants to bring death and destruction to all in her wake. She has forced you to do things that would not be you Raijion why can't you see that!" Leon spoke to him now upset at the fact that he would say such lies.

"Am I liar Leon? You don't even know why you were sent on this quest now do you? You think it was to stop me but you are not sure, for my actions doesn't lead to the goddess of darkness waking now do they?" Raijion spoke again this time from behind his full faced helmet he smirked at the group, "You all have this idea that I am going to wake her yet you are far from the truth. I tried to tell you the truth I found those years ago but you attacked and bared your fangs at me then, and now you bare them again even to this day! You all betrayed me; you all left me to die alone in this darkness that I now use to bring the truth of it all!" Raijion said as he pulled his sword out of the ground and aimed it for the group.

Raijion's massive sword began to glow, a dark aura encasing it as he lifted it into the air. Van pulled his sword from the ground as well and shouted to the group, "Get out of the way now!" He lunged forward and blocked the attack from hitting its mark.

"You think that by a show of power you will beat us Black Knight! Your wrong, my friend Raijion died a long time ago! He would never have followed darkness never! He was kind and caring, he loved all the people, he would never have hurt anyone no matter if they were evil or not, no you are just a monster that has his face, you are nothing like him! And now for that I will beat you hear and now!" Van said pushing Raijion backwards now and lunging for him again.

"Oh this is fun now we get to enjoy a battle of our own now don't we." Rouge said as she pulled out her weapon of choice. It looked like a wheel with blades upon it, Leon and Zelliea had never seen anything like it before in their life, but here now in front of them this woman had one and she knew how to use it well. She was Raijion's top general, and she got her name from killing her enemies fast and on key. "Let's play."

Zelliea moved out of the way as daggers from her hands flew at her now, almost catching her off guard as they did. Leon began to speak one of his spells when she appeared next to him.

"Oh no no no this will not do at all for you to be casting at a time like this monk." She spoke as her left leg came and hit him across the back of the head sending him flying out and away from her.

Zelliea took aim now that she had a chance and shot an arrow at her. Rouge turned just in time to catch the arrow and break it. The girl with the arrow was good she could tell, but not good enough, she was lucky to get that shot off but she would not get another chance like that to catch her off guard. Rouge moved in fast now and trust her weapon at her, Zelliea dodged it quickly and brought her fist up to try and connect with her face, but it was meet with Rouge's own hand blocking it from making contact.

"I have to say you are fast, and your skills are good; no wonder you protect your master like I protect mine. But you know your master is wrong in where he goes, you will all die if you keep this up. Stop now well you are ahead little girl." Rouge said her hand gently brushing upon her breast as she did; she pulled out a second weapon one very much the same and spun around cutting Zelliea across the stomach, "Dam girl you are fast."

Zelliea was caught off guard by Rouge feeling her up but she regained her stance when she saw her pull another weapon out, but she was still to slow at that point for the second weapon had hit her dead on cutting her badly. "You want to protect your master who fights for evil. You were once a famed dancer. So why do you do this, you are following a path of evil now; you are committing crimes that don't suit you. Why would you do such a thing? Why would you harm innocent people in order to make your own gain?" She spoke as she pulled an arrow from her pack and drew it back, the tip of the arrow began to glow in a blue aura now, "Light give me power take down my enemy and show her the way to your warm embrace!" She shot the arrow and it moved with amazing speed and hit Rouge in the shoulder as she tried to dodge the attack.

"Dam it!" She said as she hit the ground rolling a few feet away then stopping, "Your arrow of the Phoenix. It is said that it never misses its shot, I guess I got to ahead of myself girl but that will be your last." Rouge said as she pulled out a few more daggers and let them fly and take wing. Zelliea dodge them with ease now and then looked to Leon who was now ready.

"You were the one that was found off guard wench! Now feel the fires of light! Flames of light burn bright and bring this one of evil to your embrace show her the wrongs and crimes she has done and pure her heart into your loving embrace! Dragon's Flame!"

A fierce burst of fire flew from Leon's staff as the flame took the shape of a dragon now and then wrapped itself around Rouge then burst into a huge flame burning everything within its touch to nothing but ash and heap.

"We got her sister." Leon spoke.

He went to move now to help Van but something stopped him then a look of fear came upon his face as he could feel his life's blood pour out onto the ground first across his back, then from his chest, his legs and arms as well then his face as he slowly fell to the ground.

"You poor bastard you think that will stop me! You are sadly mistaken; I can't die not as long as I have to protect my Lord and Master! You two will never win." She spoke as she then appeared behind him holding out even more daggers now between her hands and fingers. "That was my Strike of Shadows. You are lucky I didn't aim for anything vital or you would no longer be here monk."

Zelliea looked in horror as her brother was beaten right in front of her, "Stop it!" She said as she charged in pulling out more arrows from her pack she let 4 more fly over aimed for Rouge.

"Dam it that girl is getting better by the second. It looks as if her tie with her brother is powerful." Rouge said to herself as she dodging the arrows 3 of them almost hitting her dead on. "She is becoming a pain even now."

Both she and Zelliea looked at one another their eyes not moving, both not making one motion to attack the other. They were about to make their attack when there was a sudden blast of wind from the clashing of the dark and light blade. Raijion and Van were now using the powers of light and darkness to fight and they were destroying the forest with every swing.

"You can't win this time Raijion, now that I know you are nothing more than a monster I will kill you hear and now!" Van said as he swung his sword across to cut him in half.

Raijion dodge the blade with ease Van was angry and his anger made him easy to read, "You think you will win my friend but you are far from the truth. The truth is the very goddess you follow is going to kill you all, she is in need of an offering to come to this world and take command, she only wants to destroy and rebuild it. Your goddess believes that humans are too pure in evil ways now that she wishes to kill you all and never start anew. Humans are evil Van but there is also those that are good now aren't there? Yes even I know this that is why I work in darkness for darkness is the beginning and end of all things, darkness hold the secret of how our world was created Van. Light didn't give birth to everything you see here, no it was darkness, light only helped in molding everything so there would be a balance of power. And humans would not have too much for in the wrong hands they would destroy even themselves. But you didn't want to hear this. No you believe your goddess is right and that she will bring peace when really she wishes your death for she thinks that you are evil in your own way!"

Raijion brought his sword down upon Van's and sent him flying away smashing into the trees nearby. He then charged at him baring his sword in hand this time bring his fist into his gut then spinning around he landed a kick to the side of Van's head sending him again flying into more of the dead trees that still stood on their battlefield.

Van got up slowly feeling the pain from being his so hard, "He is so powerful how I could have lost like this." He spoke to himself as he held his gut and pulled his sword up slowly.

Raijion was on him again with lightning fast speed, he smashed another fist into his gut, and crying out in pain Van gripped his sword harder as Raijion planted his sword into the ground now and continued to land more punches on him over and over again. The tree to his back, Van could not move at all, the only thing he could do was take the hits one by one. He finally lost his grip on his sword as it fell slowly to the ground. His vision going blur as he watched it fall, and soon followed his body slowly falling to the ground his head hitting the ground as it did.

"This battle here should show you Van. That you doubt your goddess and your mission… you think that your path is right yet in your mind you don't know of this to be true. You want it to be but you are unsure you are lacking in your faith and you don't want your friends to die because of your choice in this matter... look at you, on the ground weak from this thing you call light. Where is your goddess now Van, I will tell you… she is laughing at you because you fell so easy. This match I win, take your friends and go if you continue you better be ready to fight for your goddess with more power than this. For next we meet…" His blue orbs glowed even more now as he looked him dead in the eyes, "You will die…" Raijion turned to Rouge now, "Let go Rouge, leave them…"

Zelliea looked in horror both her brother and Van fell in this fight, she couldn't do a thing, she was useless in this battle, and she had to make it right, "Raijion! You will pay for this!" She shouted tears forming in her eyes she pulled an arrow back and let it fly.

The arrow hit Raijion's armor but did nothing but break and fall to the ground, "Your weapon is useless against me girl." He said as he appeared in front of her and grabbed her by the neck, "Take your life and live it your power with the goddess is strong but not strong enough that you can face me in battle." He threw her aside like she was nothing. Opening a portal he looked at them one last time, "This should prove that you all are not ready." Raijion then vanished in the portal along with Rouge both gone without leaving behind anything to show were they went. Like phantoms they left the group cold and bleeding on the ground wounded and beaten.

"My Lord I have failed you again… I could do nothing against him… nothing at all… brother I failed you to… you were almost killed and yet I could not save you…" Zelliea said as she began to close her eyes now, her vision blurring but something got hold of them, someone was coming. Could it have been the hunters? Where they coming back to finish them now? No this was going to be the end of them, they had failed the goddess.