Fantasia

Arc3: The Heir of Ardneria

Chapter10: Rivals

It was finally unmasked; Klaive's malicious plan to gain control over his village and to take over the powerful tyrant flame, but one last obstacle was standing between him and achieving his goal…and that obstacle was Demetri.

But the story between these two wasn't a newborn tale by the moment Demetri entered the temple to return the spell he stole ten years ago and found Klaive waiting for him, but it was a forgotten story between the two men, deep within the time when Juan was just a seven years old kid.

…

The young Demetri had bigger ambitions than any other young beastman since his childhood; he wanted to become the sage himself, one may think that this is impossible since Luffine's family got the leadership, but as expected from a brute clan like Ardneria there was that exceptional rule…

The rule simply says that if you managed to beat a leading family member, instead of letting him take the lead you'll receive it instead of him, and that was the start of Demetri's hard training to fulfill his dream.

He simply was a genius; because he managed to turn his sick addiction over smoking into a newly formed fire magic called: the lord of smoke, he even got that title as the best smoke manipulator ever known in Ardneria.

This was enough to make any father proud, but not Rocux, because he simply refused his son's ambitions after knowing the true intention behind all this hard work, and tried every way to prevent his son from committing such foolish act.

But the son was as stubborn as his father and challenged Klaive, but even though his skill he simply lost against the monstrous power of Luffine's son leaving the battlefield with a scar that remained a sign of his loss until this present day.

He returned home in shame, his father scolded him reminding him of his warnings but the son didn't pay attention neither to his father's scolding nor to his mother's consulting as Klaive's final words to him: "Come back when you are stronger, else don't come" let him put defeating his rival as a life determination.

He was somehow like Juan; a person interested in books, and with some time he spent inside the library and a swift hand that stole a precious book he learned about "The harbinger temple" and the mighty "Tyrant flame" within it.

And so under the cursed darkness of a moonless night he headed to the shrine, and broke through its sanctity, to the sealing idol he headed and with a blinding greed he shoved his hands into the sacred pole and received the legendary flames.

He left the temple with the speed of wind, and headed back home in immense joy that he finally obtained the key to fulfill his dreams, but suddenly he felt it; scorching pain was pulsing through the veins of his hands, he pulled them to witness this hideous transformations as the wrath of the temple was casted upon him, the agony he received drove him insane as he released a loud growl that reached the highest sky.

In a time not so long the sage learned the truth, and after excusing from the parents, justice was to be served and Demetri was banished out of his clan like any sinner and threatened with death if he willed to return, and so the shameful beastman left his family forever.

With time, people started to forget about the "sinful" Demetri as the sage ordered them to keep this story from being repeated especially that his son -Who believed that Demetri left under the shame of defeat- was unaware of it, and slowly the lord of smoke's legend waned with the cruel flow of time.

…

This memory filled Demetri's head for the half second between Klaive's attempt to punch him, and the swift bend to avoid it, then he quickly jumped and delivered a flaming kick to his foe's face that pushed him a distance away.

"Not bad Demetri! After ten years your moves had improved!" Klaive complimented his foe wiping his chin.

"Listen Klaive, I don't want to go any further in this fight, so be a responsible man and deactivate the purification, and then I promise to…" Demetri tried to negotiate with his foe.

"Demetri, my old rival, it's not about obtaining the tyrant flame, nor about me being a sage, it's all about to restore the pride of this clan"

"What are you talking about?" Demetri asked.

"Imagine, the proud beast clan of Ardnerian being tainted by my father's unreasonable leniency!" the other answered.

"Hey! That's none of your business! Lord Luffine allowed that long time ago, you have nothing to do about it!" Demetri shouted.

"Imps, Ragons, and humans! They all disgusted me since I was a child, they attacked us many times and yet father insisted on forgiving them under the feeble reason of peace! And the rest of the clan just obeyed like mindless pets, but now I'm the sage it all shall be purified! I shall lead this clan to the golden age over their corpses and the corpses of lenient fools like you!" Klaive responded.

"Then…" was Demetri's sole word before his foe was pinned to the ground violently by some invisible force, no it wasn't invisible but it was too fast to be visible.

Klaive stood up quickly to witness his enemy's power taking its perfected form; the thick smoke behind Demetri reshaped itself to form the appearance of a giant slender jinn covered under a thick puffy coat with a pointy double tipped hood.

Klaive laughed loudly as his whole body got engulfed in flaming aura: "Very well! I'll answer your full power with my full power!" before giving his magic the shape of a raging serpentine dragon.

And so the battle began! The dragon quickly attacked Demetri but it was smashed down with the jinn, leaving an opening for Demetri to attack Klaive with both legs but the latter countered it by grabbing his feet to swing him away but the thick smoke prevented his master from getting crushed to the wall.

Klaive didn't spare the moment and used his fingers to draw the symbol of Ardneria surprising his enemy by a materialized fiery boulder above him who summoned his jinn to his side and blocked the giant threat with it arm, but the cost was colossal because the rock exploded removing the half of the smoky beast's body.

Demetri then smirked ordering more smoke to gather regenerating his beast, but he was unaware that he revealed a weak point concerning his powers; of course Klaive noticed that the dispersed smoke loses its magic and thus limiting the amount that Demetri can manipulate in battle.

"Hmm, I am impressed, you didn't just manipulate the smoke's density, but you also gave it a full sharp responding form but you've really missed the point here" Klaive said while returning his dragon to its initial form of a fiery cloud.

The new sage approached the grey haired beastman slowly making the other take a defensive stance ordering his jinn to attack Klaive with immense speed, but his foe just took the damage completing his walk, another punch, followed by a clap, finished by a chop, but he just completed resisting the attacks using his fiery shroud, approaching his enemy in confidence.

Demetri sensed something wrong about his enemy's movements, so he ran to the other side avoiding close distance between them, and just continued using distant attacks, but Klaive's impervious fire protected him from receiving massive damage.

But wait! Demetri realized what's going on! Klaive wasn't just draining his power by forcing him to attack, because in addition to his feet Klaive had his fingers move as well…

Demetri raised his head above him to see that the ceiling is filled with magic circles that Klaive drew during his slow walk:

"Oh you finally realized that it didn't begin, it's already finished!" Klaive commented flicking with his finger summoning dozens of fire rocks that showered the room like a rain of meteors shaking the temple like a quacking pulse.

The whole room was buried in volcanic dust, the heavily injured Demetri jumped out of the rubble, to see that all his smoke had been dispersed during the attack with his enemy standing in the center of the room with the grin of a victor.

"Impressive! You swallowed the flames of my rocks to prevent it from killing you! You are clever even in such situations!" Klaive complimented his rival with applause.

Demetri wanted to breathe more smoke but his enemy overtook him with a quick devastating punch in the stomach sending him to the wall, as the punch was powerful enough to force blood out of his weakened body.

"But alas…this is the end of the story" the victor said preparing a blazing fist.

Then at this moment Klaive realized something…Demetri could've defeated him! He just refused to do it, how's that? Because he simply had the tyrant flame imbued in him; because the legendary flames are said to have the power to obliterate anything in its path, but instead Demetri refused to use them, he wanted to fulfill his dream and defeat Klaive with his own powers.

This didn't bring birth to anything but more wraths! Klaive didn't accept this truth as his enemy grinned spiting him, he ran toward him preparing his finishing spell, but he was not going to knock the defeated man down, he was going to kill him!

"Do it Klaive, kill me, but please, as a last will I want you to leave Juan alone…" Demetri said taking what are supposed to be his last breaths.

But he wasn't Klaive anymore, who was approaching him was a beast, simply a colossal mass of power blind wrath, Demetri closed his eyes slowly breaking a tear of regret stuttering apologizing to the ghosts of his beloved family whom he brought shame…

He counted the steps that separate him from ridding Klaive of his bottomless anger, smiling for unknown reason, but suddenly the room got filled in thick mist that jetted out from the floor door.

Klaive jumped back waiting for the fog to be lifted, shortly before he released a loud laughter; he was mocking the feeble effort of Juan, Roné, and Zolu who arrived to stop him.

"No seriously! I mean this is some joke, right?!" Klaive asked.

"You bastard! How could you lay your hands on Demetri!?" Roné shouted igniting his whole body in flames.

"Klaive what's wrong with you? Demetri wanted to return the spell, why have you done this to him?!" Juan asked while trying to hold his brother to stand.

"Juan…you are…an idiot!" Demetri commented while trying to take his breaths.

"Say nothing Demetri! How could he do such thing? Your shoulders! Your back! Your legs! They are all damaged!" Juan said in shock.

"Anyway…don't expect me to humble you like I did with the guy on the wall, it'll be fast and merciful" Klaive boasted approaching them slowly.

The three of them felt scared feeling the massive magic aura of Klaive heading him toward them, but somehow, Juan's unusual instincts reacted to this situation, as it made him push himself toward the angered man, turning both of his arms into muscular gorilla like arms, using one of them to block his fist and the other one to send him to the edge of the room with a powerful punch.

Klaive, Zolu, Roné, and even Demetri were shocked to see this unexpected view! Klaive, the second strongest Ardnerian, the new sage, and the heir of Luffine, got punched simply by the weakest member of the clan.

"That's…" Roné said.

"AWESOME!" Zolu added.

"Roné! Zolu! We are bringing him down!" Juan shouted at his companions while lowering his headband over his left ear.

"But Juan he's…Klaive!" Roné mentioned.

"I said we are bringing this man down!" he repeated planting both fear and courage in the hearts of his friends.

"The hell! (He stands up) This is what happens when you let a human live as a part of your clan! He brings up his bunch of freaks and rebel against you!" Klaive shouted back.

A human?! Did he hear him right? He just called Juan a human! But this is impossible! He had been told by his father, his mother, the sage! And more importantly Demetri that he's just a cursed beast child! He stared at his older brother and as well did his twin asking for an explanation.

"Don't tell me?! No way! Juan Rocux, the smartest Ardnerian had been fooled by that childish fairy tale! Don't tell me you've spent seventeen years of your life believing that you are a beastman!?" Klaive claimed with mockery breaking the man's spirit down.

Roné got angered upon hearing this claim and called Klaive a liar accusing him by trying to depress Juan but the latter just stopped his brother.

"It's okay Roné, say no more" the shepherd said wiping his face from tears.

"But bro…he's…" Roné tried to speak but his brother's mysterious smile followed by the sudden cold aura shut him up.

"I am a human then, very well, anyway this human will take you down! So be prepared Klaive!" Juan boasted while turning to his twin and Zolu with a smile challenging Klaive into an obviously unfair battle.

To be continued