Chapter 2: Broken

The darkness seemed to press in on Flare as he travelled through the tunnel. Flare could swear th darkness was alive, because it felt like it was grasping him in it's hold, slowly suffocating his life and hope.
"Get over it." He scolded himself. He felt ridiculous. It was the same way he felt when was facing Strahovlada in her domain, the way she constantly affected his mind, trying to force him to give up.
'Never surrender.' Flare told himself. He continued forward. The tunnel was quite low, Flare could barely walked at full height, and appeared to be carved through the strange obsidian Flare had encountered earlier. Flare could hear the smooth, black walls hum with a mysterious source of energy, one that he couldn't seem to reach. The only light in the tunnel was Flare's hands, which were glowing with flames. Even with the fire, Flare couldn't see more than five feet in front of him.
Without looking, Flare's forehead hit something hard. He stumbled back, dizzy and clutching his head as he tried to get a look at what he had just hit. When his vision cleared, he saw what he had stumbled into. A horribly mangled corpse, limbs severed and hanging by it's own blood veins, stagnant blood long dried splattered all over it, a horrible reek emanating from it's rotted, decaying flesh, it's mouth pitched open in a grotesque fashion, spiders crawling in and out of every opening in the body.
The odour and sight was too strong. Flare couldn't help himself, he buckled to the ground and threw up, yellow bile streaming from his mouth and burning his throat. He shut his eyes and held his breath, trying to forget the unholy object, Without looking, he willed himself and his hands blazed brighter with fire, then blasted at the remains of the rotting corpse, incinerating it into ashes.
"What have I stumbled into?" He asked weakly. He slowly got up, ignoring his inner pain, and staggered further down the cave.

As Flare stumbled over rocks and rifts in the cavern's floor, voices started to whisper in his head, as dark and as menacing as the shadows that pressed in on him.

"Flare."
"The survivor."
"The accursed one."

Flare gritted his teeth and closed his eyes, trying to shrug off the evil voices that were filling him with confusion and anger.
"Get out of my head." He said. But the voices kept pestering him.

"A creature from the fire."
"A stolen mind."
"A devastator of life."

Flare confusion intensified. Devastator of life? He had never even met a single living being. What were the voices talking about?
"Get out!" He shouted, his hands blazing brighter.

"The family curse."
"The bringer of war."
"The flames of death."

"What are you talking about?!" Flare shouted, losing patience and focus. The voices were somehow toying with his mind, filling him with unknown feelings.
He tripped over a cleft in the ground and fell forward, but didn't bother to get up. He laid down in a fetal position, clutching his head in his hands as if he was trying to crush his own skull, squeezing his eyes shut.

"Crosses will burn.
"Axes will fall."
"Lives will crumble."

The voices subsided, leaving an unnerving silence in the depths of the cavern. Flare opened his eyes and released his grip on himself, feeling weary. His fire extinguished.
"What was all that about?" He asked, feeling more confused than before. He started to feel like he had back in Strahovlada's domain, lost and empty. He rolled himself onto one his side and propped himself up on one arm, hesitant to stand up.
"Don't give in." He urged himself. "Voices can't hurt you."
A glowing blaze at the the end of the cave's tunnel drew his attention. Reluctantly, he picked himself up again and forged further into the cave, pushing aside his frustration and confusion.

The blazing flame was emanating from strange, scarlet markings that were carved into the side of the cave. To anyone else, they would look like nothing more than odd symbols. But to Flare, every mark was translated in his own eyes.
"The language of fire." He murmured. The markings turned into a readable message.
"Beware: The army has returned, and they will bring their vengeance with them, eliminating all life from the face of existence." Flare read, then shuddered. His mind started to ponder. "Where is this army and why do they want to destroy?"
Wet, warm liquid trickled across the ground, streaming around Flare's feet and seeping into his cringed. The smell filled his nostrils, and he recognized it all too well. Blood.
A low hiss echoed through the cave. Flare could feel his eyes narrow. He turned and stared into the shadows, ignoring the increasingly sickening smell of blood and the glaring glow of the fire markings.
"Show yourself." He growled. For a moment, nothing moved. Then, a shadowy figure lunged into view from the darkness, a horrible hiss echoing off the walls.
Flare barely had time to duck as the figure lunged over the side of his head. A quick glimpse was all he could catch, but he could make out glowing amethyst eyes and a body shape that struck anger within his heart.
"Snakes. He cursed. Strahovlada's grotesque and horrifying appearance had been part-snake, and Flare had a clear hatred for the creatures ever since. Which, ash he reflected within a millisecond, hadn't actually been very long. Awake, at least.
The snake slithered towards him slowly, and as it emerged into the garish, red lights of the glowing markings, Flare got his first clear look at it.
The snake had a narrow, sleek body shape covered with metallic gray scales that bristled against the ground grinding the loose rock on the cave floor. It was very long as well. From head to tail, it was about twice as long as Flare's height. It's eyes were empty, glowing in a unnatural and threatening shade of amethyst, and it's forked tongue flickered between it's knife-like teeth, slowly dripping a yellowish venom.
"I hate you things." Flare said. The snake hissed, perhaps in understanding, it's form slithering closer through the trickles of blood that ran across the floor. Flare stood his ground, unwilling to back away. "What are you waiting for?" Flare growled, his hands bursting into flames. The snake's glowing eyes bore into his own, emotionless and unreadable. Ghostly wisps of gaseous venom curled from the snake's mouth.
"Hello, Flare Plamen." It said in a monotone voice.
Flare cringed at the mention of his family name. Having learned about what his family had done, his own father having been the one who released Strahovlada into the world, he had started to resent the name.
"And who are you?" He snarled. The snake did not reply. Flare's eyes narrowed into slits.
The snake hissed, arched it's back and lunged, it's jaws opening for biting as it lunged at Flare.
Flare ducked sideways and hit the wall on his left, the silver scales of the snake flashing past him. The snake landed and turned swiftly, before hissing and rearing, ready to strike again.

"Struggling is futile."
"The army is released."
"You will be the bringer of death."

Flare winced as the voice returned to his head, sounding their threats in dark, horrible whispers, trying to sever Flare's concentration. Flare cursed and fought to stay focused on the snake.

"Everything will die because of you."

The last voice was filled with so much rage and certainty that it paralysed Flare for a split-second, but it was enough for the snake. It lashed out again, hooked his tail around Flare's arm and swiftly coiled around it. Flare screamed as the lethal point of the scales pierced his skin and wrapped tightly around his arm and dug deeper, shattering nerves and crushing bones. Blood seeped from between the snake's coils, streaming down his arm in crimson waves. Flare started to feel dizzy and weak, his focus and fire failing. He could barely register that yellowish poison was was dripping between the snake's scales, mixing with his own blood, it's venom coursing rapidly through his bloodstream.
The snake reared his head and hissed triumphantly. It shot out at Flare for the final time, going for the kill. Flare couldn't feel any pain. The vanquisher of Strahovlada was about to be beaten by a snake.
'NO!'
Something in Flare's dying mind snapped. His heart pounded and his eyes tightened. Without any control, he grabbed the snake by the neck and clamped his hands shut, mercilessly squeezing the life out of the reptile.
Flare couldn't think. His mind and body were running on uncontrolled adrenaline, but it was mixed with something he had never felt before, something so indescribably dark. With a shock he realized the feeling.
Bloodlust.
Flare caught control of himself and gasped. He released the snake, it's gray form falling to the ground in a sprawled, lifeless mass, and laid still. Flare's breathing was fast and shallow, his breath glowing in the cave. His mind was slowly recovering, the snake's poison somehow subsiding.
"What...have I...just...d...done?" He stammered, shocked of his actions. His knees buckled and he fell against the wall, staring at the lifeless reptile in a pool of blood, not sure if it was his own blood or not.
"I...killed this." He breathed sadly, his breathing turning heavy with regret. "I did. A living creature. With my own hands." He remembered the feeling of bloodlust. It hadn't been his feelings, it couldn't have been his thoughts, but it had come from him, so far inside he couldn't describe it.
"How could I have? What's happening to me? His voice was cracking, confusion and emotion flooding over him. He slowly got up, his emotions turning into pure anger. "What is wrong with me?! I want answers!" His whole body blazed, blazing with pure white flames. The flames died, and Flare nearly collapsed, unable to hold more than a flicker of a flame.
"I have to know." He whispered weakly to himself. "About what's wrong with me, who the army is, and where I am and why."
He struggled further into the darkness, his thought and confusion as deep as the inky blackness that filled the cave.

End of chapter 2,.
Sorry for slow updates, and don't expect them anytime sooner. I have no comfort with some of the later ideas, the chapters are hard to write about just one person, I have no working computer and exams fast approaching. Sorry, but that's how it is, unfortunately. Anyways, please review. Thank you.