Descent into Darkness
#9 of Tales of Ethorian: Legends of Alchemy
Vael suddenly awoke to the cool morning air, chilling him to the bone through his sweat-matted fur. The sun had barely begun to rise, setting the heavens ablaze with orange and pink hues but the beauty was marred. In the distance he saw it, great plumes of smoke belching up from the earth in the direction of Meronna.
Without a second thought he was to his feet, scrambling back to the road. It was only by chance that Dante awoke when he did, seeing Vael taking off, seeing the smoke on the horizon.
"War." spoke the voice in the back of Dante's mind, "We both knew it would come."
Dante gave a thin sigh, then kicked Mina awake and muttered, "Get up, we have to get moving." as he pulled himself up to stretch.
Mina shot him a lazy glare, studying him a moment before giving a yawn and an amused, "And what makes you think 'm coming with you?"
Dante shot her a look that genuinely sent a chill down her spine, the subtle pull of fear stealing her enjoyment of the moment away. One look at the dull glow in his eyes and she knew he was powerful, possibly even powerful enough to kill her if he wanted. Whether in chains or not, it seemed that for the moment, she was still a prisoner.
*****
A journey that had taken the better half of a day at a walking pace took only a handful of moments for the frantic fox, his fur still matted with sweat. When first he set eyes on his new home, Vael could only stare. The wall he'd helped to rebuild had fallen once more, the homes the people had so carefully rebuilt were burning and the towering spire in which he and his love had slept every night since their arrival was no more.
Surrounding the town was an ocean of soldiers and siege weapons, massive lines of fire before hundreds of archers, raining blazing arrows into Meronna without mercy. The sight stirred something in the fox at that moment, something he'd felt before but never quite like this.
What was meant to be a cry, 'no!' came out as a guttural scream of rage. Two soldiers - clad in their heavy steel armor and wielding massive bastard swords - heard the cry and approached the white fox, thinking him easy prey. Two soldiers fell before their swords left their scabbards, their heavy metal armor reduced to a molten glow around their smoldering corpses.
Vael started into the fray, his white fur glowing ever so slightly and his lips moving at a constant. Reptiles and rodents made up the first true battle group he came upon. Soldiers and archers alike meeting his stride and when the first sword was drawn, Vael's right paw thrust out, the air in front of it solidifying into a slender crystalline blade, wreathed in electricity.
The first two to come in at him came low, thrusting in with spears to keep him at a distance. Their weapons were slapped easily away, the power of the parrying blows amplified tenfold by the electrical energy of the blade. One unfortunate soldier found the force too much and fell to the ground, screaming in agony as he gripped the bloody stump that was once his shoulder, his eyes locking on his spear as it flew and drove into the ground; the severed arm was still clinging to the weapons shaft.
The other spear-man regained himself, staring wide-eyed for a moment at his mutilated friend. He dropped his spear and tried to run, but to his dismay a resounding, guttural cry of rage chilled his blood as he stopped dead in his tracks. With a blink, he looked down at his chest to the massive shard of ice protruding from his body, which had traveled clean through both him and his armor without much effort.
Enraged at the sight of their fallen comrades, five more soldiers rushed in, swords ready and driving in at all angles, thirsty for blood. Vael threw out his empty paw and they halted in their tracks, two of them suddenly shuddering, the rest of them letting out agonized screams as their blood boiled in their veins, burning thick stretches of flesh away as they fell to the ground in a bloody heap.
The archers strung their bows now, turning to the fox, twenty strong, all loosing their arrows at once at their singular target. A swing of the crystalline blade sent out tendrils of lightning, swallowing the arrows and reducing them to dust and ash. A split second later the energy hit the archers, sending them each into convulsions, their violent spasming powerful enough to shatter bones inside the constricting flesh. A few of them were lucky, dieing quickly as the convulsions snapped their spines. The others weren't so lucky. their dieing screams sounded across the whole of the battlefield as they were crushed to death inside their own skin.
*****
The sun was rising free of the horizon by the time Dante came into view of the battlefield. Almost immediately his eyes were drawn to the white figure amidst the rodents and reptiles. A thin smile graced the squirrels lips as he looked over the path of destruction his friend had already carved into the ranks, shaking his head slowly.
"Never underestimate the wrath of a creature in love." he mused, the smile never leaving his lips. He stood there observing a moment longer before a voice in the back of his head spoke out, "Behind you."
The song of a sword cutting through the air caught Dante's ear and as he spun, his paw coming up, the blade halted, caught in his palm, thin tendrils of blood slowly starting to spill down his wrist. It's wielder, a slender gecko, stood in shock and terror as he stared at the blade, trying to pull on it, pry it free of his enemies grasp.
"Do you know, who I am?" Dante asked, his voice slowly changing from the melodious baritone into a jagged bass as his eyes began to swirl with crimson light. All the slender soldier could do is stare in awe, his fingers falling loose from the hilt of his weapon. "I'm the one your master fears, one of the few who could end this world and steal his power in the blink of your flawed, mortal eyes."
This was no longer Dante and it showed as his eyes went black, his fur melting away into slick, sticky ashen gray flesh. The soldier tried to flee, every part of his mind tried to will his body to turn and run but he stood frozen in fear.
"Run, child.. Run away and never look back. For if I ever see your face again, I'll wipe you and your kin from this pitiful world." These words came through a thin, fanged grin as the blade was let free, finally, only to fall to the ground with a loud clang.
As the gecko fled, scrambling away screaming in utter terror, Mina strode up, giving the furless figure an odd look as she splayed her ears out to the sides. "What are you?" she asked calmly, choosing her words carefully as she added, "And don't tell me tales, I can tell you're no mage."
The figure gave her a long look from those glassy, ebon eyes before turning to walk towards the battlefield. When Mina opened her mouth to ask again, the figure merely paused in his stride and cut her off with a simple, "My name, is Sharduul."
Mina gave a moment of pause, staring almost in awe before she shook her head, ears perking up. "And what of the squirrel? Did he have to die for you to take this form? or-"
Again Sharduul cut her off with a shake of his head and a simple. "Dante sleeps now. He is too kind for what has to be done now.