Jacy: Where the hell are Kain and Wolf?
Jacy: Ah well, cue the disclaimers!
Disclaimer: I do not own any of the copyrighted things I use, I do own my OCs and this story.
Extra Disclaimer: Serenity belongs to phoenix firewing and Dax belongs to Alec the Dark Angel.
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Chapter 6: Leadership
Kera was awakened by the sound of the large metal door being unlocked and opened once more. She heard footsteps come towards her and Dax's cells and tensed up, expecting anything. She stood up and waited for whoever was coming to come into view. When the person did, she was surprised.
It was a lanky, nerdy looking man who looked as if he was terrified just by being in the room. He looked to be in his early twenties with stubble coating his chin. His hair was a pale grey and his brown eyes shifted nervously behind black-rimmed glasses. He wore a dirty and ripped white dress shirt and a pair of filthy black slacks. He carried two metal trays, one in each hand, with some kind of gruel on them. He slid the trays into each of their cells and then turned to leave, but Kera was quicker and grabbed him through the bars. She covered his mouth so he couldn't scream and used her other arm to get him in a head lock.
"Yell and I'll kill you, understand?" she whispered menacingly into his ear. He nodded earnestly and Kera took her hand off his mouth, but kept her other arm around his neck.
He took a gasp of air before timidly saying, "Wh-what are you going to do with me?"
"If you answer all my questions honestly, I'll let you go. If you don't, well, I think you can piece that one together," she said, feeling bad when she felt and heard him swallow nervously but quickly pushing it aside, "Where are we?"
"W-we're underground somewhere, I don't know where exactly," he said fearfully.
Kera acted more irritated than she actually was by growling softly before saying, "What does Merikh have planned for the hatchling and I?"
"Y-you're bait to lure Jacy here, h-he didn't tell me why he is keeping the other one," he spoke apprehensively.
"You're saying 'I don't know,' quite a lot, say it again and I'll be eating you instead of that slop you brought," she growled, and he whimpered in response, "Where are the keys to the cells?"
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Jacy sat back in the large blue recliner he was sitting in, lost in thought. His thoughts constantly shifted between how Blane was faring, worrying and thinking of a way to rescue Kera, and to how the Temporal Marked One managed to slow down his portal travel and if he still was.
As he thought, a woman who looked to be in her mid-twenties and bared a striking resemblance to Kera, but she had flaming orange hair and light-green eyes, made her way towards him. She wore a black shirt with the image of a tribal flame in the middle of it and a pair of slim-fitting blue jeans. Her bare arms had a lacery of pale white scars that resembled claw marks, bites, and scratches, and attached to her thigh was a holster that held an M9 pistol. Clipped to the black belt she wore were several extra magazines for said firearm.
When she was standing in front of him with her arms crossed, a scowl on her face, he noticed her and spoke calmly, "Fera?"
"Jacy, please don't tell me that you went to wherever you were for those ten days, and got my little sister captured by that psychopath Merikh, for nothing." She said disdainfully. Jacy stood up slowly before looking down at her as he was a few inches taller than her, but he was not naïve enough to think he intimidated her.
"I didn't plan on being gone for so long, or Kera getting captured," he said, meeting her fierce glare with one of his own, "but I didn't come back empty-handed."
"Then where is this so-called 'hero' that you were so hell-bent on finding, then?" she questioned harshly.
"He was taken by a member of Death's Embrace, likely the one that runs the gladiatorial ring over on Liberty Island," Jacy answered coldly, his eyes narrowing.
"So that's just another added to the list of people we have to rescue!" Fera said angrily, "Some 'hero' he turned out to be."
"If I know Blane, which I do, then he's already escaped with the gladiators and is heading back to the city as we speak," he told her.
"Why are you so damn confident about this guy?" she demanded, "How do you know he isn't dead somewhere?"
"Because I brought him into existence!" Jacy shouted, surprising Fera as he finally snapped, "When I was a kid, before I knew about my abilities, I wrote him and several entire worlds into reality. In the original story, I wrote that he died and stayed that way. When I learned about my abilities, I realized what I had done. Unfortunately, when I finally had the time to try to fix my mistake, I was too weak to travel myself so I sent Kera instead. But her ability to revive the dead was useless as what I had written wasn't what happened. Instead of him getting killed by Ragnarok, the main enemy, and his brother killing Ragnarok in vengeance, he died sacrificing himself to save his love. I knew I had to go there, despite the danger of overusing my powers, and bring him back. I managed to do it and I brought him back with Kera and I so we could train him. The reason why Kera and I were never with the Survivors at the same time up until a week ago was because one of us was training him while the other was with the Survivors. In those five years, I didn't just see the limits of his physical and mental strength; I saw determination that could not be de-railed. I have faith in him as a warrior, as a leader, and as a friend."
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"Don't let your guard down for a single second!" Blane told the gladiators as the boat they'd found docked into the port, "Because I can assure you that it'll be the last mistake you'll ever make! Now move!"
All the gladiators nodded in understanding before they jumped off the boat and formed a defensive perimeter around the boat. Aaron and Blane stepped off and the gladiators formed a wall in front of them and the all began to walk forward.
"Wow, in the three hours it took to find a decent enough port you've turned them into a functioning unit," Aaron said, impressed, not taking his eyes off the area in front of them.
"A common enemy unites even the strongest of foes," Blane responded, his eyes scanning for any kind of hint of where to go, "The common enemy here being dying as a zombie."
Aaron nodded in agreement and the group walked in relative silence for a while after that. The only sounds that broke it were their footsteps, breathing, and occasional gunshot fired into the skull of a zombie. The area was mostly vacant, much to everyone's surprise, and it made all of them uneasy.
Before Blane could comment on this matter, however, one of the gladiators pointed to the sky and shouted, "Dragons!"
All of them looked up and, indeed, there were two dragons flying in the air above them. All of them, except Blane and Aaron, started shouting and waving their arms and rifles above their heads in an attempt to get the dragons' attention. It worked and the two dragons shifted their direction and began to fly towards them.
As the two got closer, they were able to make out the dragons' colors. One of them was dark-blue with a crimson underbelly and wings, while the other was completely devoid of color. However, Blane's element and dragon heritage allowed him to see the colorless dragon's pallid eyes and the bites and scratches covering its body and the black aura surrounding the blue one's head.
"Take cover!" he shouted a moment too late. The pale one landed on two of the gladiators, crushing them, before snapping up a third with its maw. The blue one let loose a stream of electricity from its mouth as it hovered just above the ground, striking four gladiators and causing them to explode and send gore flying everywhere.
Acting quickly, Blane charged at the blue dragon and jumped at him. Mid-jump, he shifted into his dragon form and collided with the blue one. The impact knocked both of them to the ground and they began to claw and bite at each other as they rolled.
The gladiators, meanwhile, had recovered and begun firing at what they realized was a zombie dragon. Aaron, too, fired at it but saw every bullet shot at it just bounce of its scaled hide. He saw it begin to rush at him and he felt the middle of his back begin to burn and itch. He stood still as the decaying beast got closer and closer and, moving faster than he ever had, he jumped over its open its open maw just as it was about to clamp down onto him. It let out a roar of surprise as its jaws closed onto nothing. Before it had time to ponder where its prey had gone, Aaron shoved the barrel of his gun into the monster's eye and pulled the trigger. Round after round entered the beast's skull, piercing its brain and causing its unnatural life to come to a close. As its lifeless corpse fell to the ground, Aaron jumped off its back and landed cleanly on his feet.
Meanwhile, Blane faced off against Fear. The two dragons fought with tooth and claw, an unspoken agreement between the two of them that they'd fight like the dragons of old, with honor and without the use of their elemental abilities.
At the moment, the two were circling one another as they stepped in unison. Both of them bled from the deep scratches, horrid bites, and ferocious gashes covering their bodies, but neither showed any sign of the obvious pain their wounds caused.
"You fight well for someone with no control of their own mind," Blane complimented mockingly as he chuckled.
"My master spared my life and gave me power that I had only dreamed of," Fear snarled defensively, "All he asked for was that I serve him and I gladly accepted."
"Your sister thinks you're dead, Aidan," Blane told him, his tone going soft and sad, "Come with us, ple—"
"I HAVE NO FAMILY!" Fear roared before he ran at Blane. Seeing this coming, Blane side-stepped and slammed into Fear's side as he went by. The two of them clawed and bit each other as they rolled until Blane managed to pin Fear down on his stomach. He struggled for a moment, but stopped when Blane put one of his paws on top of his head.
"What are you going to do, Blane?" he heard a familiar voice say. He glanced over to where the voice came from and saw his father, Rurik, standing there. He looked exactly as Blane remembered him; his sandy blonde hair long, a tan tunic over his chest and a pair of green breeches covering his legs, his chin covered in stubble, his sword attached to the belt around his waist, and a kind look in his eye.
"I'm going to kill him," Blane spoke softly, looking down at Fear, "Like he's killed so many others."
"You'll kill your friend's brother?" Rurik questioned him, walking over and looking up at his son's draconic face.
"The Aidan Kera described was a kind, compassionate, and good person," Blane defended, looking over at his father, "This isn't him, not anymore."
"Not on the outside," Rurik said, looking at Fear who glared back him, "but inside, the Aidan that Kera told you about is trapped and fighting to get out. You can help him get out, Blane."
"The last time I went into somebody's head I did it by accident and I found myself on a battlefield where I had to fight a monster to set my brother free," he said, looking down at Fear once more, "Who knows what I'll face if I go into his head?"
"Whatever is waiting, my son, you and I will face it together," he told him, placing his hand against Blane's side.
"Thank you, father," Blane said softly, closing his eyes and feeling the familiar feeling of being tugged through a very tiny tube.
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"You…" Spyro said, looking into the face of someone he thought was gone for good, "This is your fault!"
Spyro ran at the newcomer, who merely stood there. The newcomer shared similarities with Spyro, such as their purple scales and golden underbellies, but there were differences as well. The newcomer's underbelly was a dirty gold color, had several spines on his shoulders and going down his back of the same color, four reddish-gold horns, and sorrowful blue eyes.
Spyro collided with him and the two of them rolled down the stairs from the doorway. They landed with Spyro pinning the other dragon inches from where the others watched in shock around Nguyen's body.
Spyro placed his paw against the dragon's throat and said, "You ruined the lives of so many, ended the lives of so many more, and now you're the cause of my friend's death. It's time for you to pay for your crimes, Malefor!"
"You're…right," Malefor choked out, looking up at Spyro with sadness, "My death…is well-deserved."
"And I'll gladly give it to you," Spyro growled through gritted teeth. He prepared to blast Malefor with a flame that would turn him to ash, Malefor closing his eyes and bracing himself for the end. However, Cynder spoke out before Spyro could do it.
"Spyro, don't!" she said, causing Spyro to pause, "He's not the Dark Master anymore; one look at his eyes proves that. The Dark Master wouldn't just give up and die without a fight, this is the real Malefor."
"Real or not, it's his fault Nguyen is dead!" Spyro said, distressed, as he looked at her over his shoulder, "Did you forget what he made you do, Cynder?"
"I remember what the Dark Master made me do, Spyro, this dragon has done nothing to me," she said, her green eyes locking onto his purple ones, "And Nguyen wouldn't want you to become a killer over him."
Spyro was silent for a moment, his eyes shut tight, before he let loose the blast of fire at the sky. The fire went nearly fifty feet high, but all of them could feel the heat coming off it as if it was heading at them rather than the sky. After a moment, he ceased the fire and looked down at Malefor, his eyes now open.
"You better thank her when I let you up," he said, the fire in his eyes nearly scorching Malefor as the flames would have, "because it's her that forgives you and her that convinced me to."
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Kera ran through the facility, Dax still asleep as Kera held her in place on her back, and the nerdy-looking man in front of her. Kera convinced the man, whose name she'd learned was Nathan, to help them and escape with them. He'd been captured as well, but when and how he had been he refused to say.
"How much further?" she asked as they turned a corner and found themselves in yet another hallway filled with doors.
"Through that doorway is our way out," Nathan said, pointing to the door at the end of the hallway. Suddenly, the door flew off its hinges and towards them. Kera grabbed Nathan and both of them hit the ground as the door sailed over their heads and smashed against the back wall.
"Did you really think Master Merikh didn't anticipate an escape attempt?" a man said as he strode through the doorway. He walked towards them, a confident gait in his step. Kera could tell the man was not human by the way his red eyes glowed maliciously.
Suddenly, someone tapped the man on the shoulder. He spun around only to have a fist collide with the side of his face. His body crumpled to the ground in a heap and two new figures walked over his unconscious form. One of them looked familiar, but his black hair, red eyes, and dark clothing were not. The other was a dark grey wolf with amber eyes and a crescent scar going over his right eye. Both of them had faded marks on their left arms, on the wolf's foreleg and burned onto the sleeve of the familiar-looking man's dark camouflage jacket.
"Well, you ready to leave, princess?" the man asked teasingly as he helped Kera to her feet. The wolf assisted Nathan, though he seemed to think the wolf was trying to eat him.
"It can't be…Kain? Wolf?" Kera asked, looking at the man and wolf in shock.
"In the flesh," Kain answered, grinning, "Jacy's a bit preoccupied at the moment, so we decided to do him a favor and rescue his girl."
"And it's a good thing we showed up when we did," Wolf commented, surprising Nathan and causing him to jump, "Otherwise that changeling would've gotten you."
"I had it handled," she huffed defensively, glaring at them both.
"The tough girl act doesn't work with us, princess," Kain said disapprovingly, "We've seen your true self, the soft side only known to your family…and Jacy."
"That doesn't mean I can't handle myself," she said indignantly.
"Look, we can argue about this later," Wolf said, "But first we need to get out of here because it's only a matter of time before Merikh himself comes to see what's going on."
"Kera?" Dax's soft voice asked sleepily as Kera felt her begin to stir on her back, "What's going on?"
Kera looked back at Dax, who was yawning cutely, and smiled, saying, "We're being rescued, sweetheart."
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Cain jumped and flew through the roof of the building, creating a large hole, to dodge another blast of fire launched by the cloaked man. He flapped his wings to hover in the air and watched as the man walked over to the hole he'd made. When he was standing underneath it, the cloaked man began to float upwards until he was level in the air with Cain and facing him a little ways away.
"Why do you want Talea and Dextran?" Cain questioned.
"The half-breed, Blane, murdered one of our order," the man said curtly, "So we've come to take the things he cares about most, starting with his family."
"You realize you'll meet resistance every step of the way, right?" Cain pointed out.
"We do," the cloaked man said as several other cloaked figures appeared at his sides, "But that's why we all came."
"A challenge," Cain commented, smirking, "I was worried this would be easy."
"Glad we could pleasure you before you died," one of the new figures said sarcastically in a feminine voice.
"Make no mistake; I don't need you to pleasure me," he said mockingly, "No matter how much you want to."
"In your dreams, dragon," the same figure scoffed.
"More like nightmares," he countered, chuckling.
"Why you—!" the cloaked woman began to say, but the cloaked man Cain was fighting previously cut her off.
"That's enough, Elana!" he said, "We are here to exterminate the locals, not argue with them!"
"Sorry Master Ligun," the woman said miserably.
"Aww, don't punish the girl because I'm antagonizing her," Cain said with mock sorrow.
"Shut up!" the woman shouted as her hand shot up and launched a wave of ice in his direction. Cain quickly reacted by firing a blast of flame to block the ice. After the remnants of the wave passed him, he grinned again.
"That's quite the cold snap you've got there," Cain complimented sarcastically, "but my fire cannot be put out."
"That's where you're wrong!" Elana shouted, ice daggers forming in her hands before she sped towards him.
"Elana, don't!" Ligun tried to warn her, but it was in vain. Cain dodged her attack and retaliated by head-butting her, careful of his sharp horns, and knocked her unconscious. He grabbed her by her cloak before she could fall, her daggers slipping from her hands and falling to the ground below, and put her onto his back before turning to the others.
"Follow me and she dies," Cain told them, looking at them with narrowed eyes.
"Every Death's Hand member welcomes death, even their own," Ligun said uncaringly, "Elana was aware of this fact, as is every member of our order, but she was told that her emotions would be her downfall. It seems this is true."
"It was worth a shot," Cain sighed before he let out a huge blast of fire at the cloaked figures. Ligun, however, neutralized it with his own and they cancelled each other out. When the flames dissipated, though, Cain was nowhere to be seen.
"Spread out and find him!" Ligun ordered, "He can't have gotten far and High Priestess Mara wants him away from the temple here until she is able to summon her generals!"
The other cloaked ones did as they were told and took off in separate directions. Ligun, however, remained in the same spot. His hood slightly hid the fact that he was looking around. He heard something behind him and turned around just in time to see Cain impale him in the gut with his horns.
Blood began to drip down his horns fall to the ground below. Ligun gasped for air as he weakly grabbed onto Cain's horns. His hood fell back to reveal a pale face with short blonde hair. His red eyes faded to a pale blue, surprising Cain.
"Keep Elana safe," Ligun whispered softly before he pulled himself off Cain's horns and fell to the ground below. He watched as Ligun's body erupted into black flames the moment he hit the ground before he quickly took off towards the temple, knowing the fire would draw the other cloaked people to it like moths.
As he flew, he spoke as if Ligun could still hear him, "I won't allow anyone to harm her."
As he flew, the wind caused Elana's hood to fall back, revealing her face. Her skin was pale, like Ligun's, and her long brown hair whipped about in the wind. She stirred for a moment, her eyes opening slightly to reveal violet-colored irises. They closed once again as she slipped back into unconsciousness.
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Jacy: Well, that was certainly long and exciting. Remember to Review, 'cause it makes me happy and if I'm happy I update!