- Fury of Fire

Blood and rain melded and mixed together on Lia's face as she awoke from her vision, the feeling of Cain's warmth leaving her as she succumbed to the cold stormy rain. She took a deep breath, letting the scent of rain and iron fill her lungs as she closed her eyes once again, recalling the smell of the forest and the wind that blew through the trees.

Then she heard the first of steel crashing against steel, like the echoing chime of a gong that echoed through her brain, Lia's mind snapped back to reality, losing the thought all together. Around her she saw the distant blurred figures of two separate parties. People from the caravan and Arnold's team engaged in heavy combat.

With steel in the air and iron in her lungs Lia found the scene all too overwhelming, fear laced in a package of self-depravity and hate. She was confused, cautious, and now alone. Almost alone.

The sound of a foot splashing deep into the mud, sending water rippling through the poodles as Arnold made himself known, spitting out a mouthful of blood, his face covered in scars. From bruises to the start of what appeared to be a black eye, he looked shaken, beaten, and losing.

"Not too bad…"

He said with a smile on his face, watching the rain as it poured away the blood, streaming in pools down his face.

"...You know, I took you for an amateur. But that fighting, that thrill, it was almost unreal."

He shrugged, a mocking sort of smile on his face as Lia's mind snapped back into place, watching his hands glide over his spear's shaft, tracing the many carvings and curves with his hand until it rested in a firm position against his chest.

With the tip pointed towards her with killing intent.

"Too bad all that blood on your hands was just luck."

At his words Lia's eyes fell to her hands, her face warping into one of shock as red filled her vision. Blood stained her skin and with what little help the rain afforded, it began to stream in drops from her fingertips falling into puddles of mud and blood.

'Did I…did I do this?'

She wanted to vomit, throw her hands into the mud and cover the red that filled her vision with something, anything that would steal away the red from her brain. But she had little time, for the shaking and disheveled voice of Arnold cut through the open air, a mockery to his former deep voice like the bellowing of a horn's song.

"Look alive girl. This ends here."

He took a stance, his spear to his chest in one quick motion, guiding the sharp and steel tip through the air circling Lia as she stood there paralyzed with an unknowing sense of fear.

Why was she here? What had happened? What was going on? Why - all these thoughts and questions rushed through her head like the burning blaze to a wildfire that burned away the forest and the mountain's peaks. But it wasn't until those thoughts moved through her head, her heart pounding with the fear of death at the sight of Arnolds spear, that she finally realized something.

'I'm not afraid.'

And like the flick of a switch, Lia felt her body go rigid and lose control, her muscles tensed and whatever pain she had been feeling from the various wounds and scars across her arms and face were gone. A chill pooled over her, then like the rising of a flame in her chest, she felt his warmth all over again.

Only one name came to her mind as she felt her body move into a battle stance, arms to her chest defending her face as she leaned backwards against the prowling wind.

Arnold seems to recognize that the monster had taken over as her face changed from one of fear and terror to one of pure acceptance without any fear of death. He watched as her eyes like embers in the fire's light, burned brighter with every second, as the whites in her eyes faded once again to reveal the black and white look of a devil within.

"Now we're getting started."

He mumbled as he watched her with intent, that one fleeting moment passing between them as it passed between everyone before the unmistakable knowledge of death was in the air. Soldiers say it is the "peace before the war," but here, it was like the focus that set alight the match, that burned them to their cores.

That one moment across the battlefield felt like hours, days, years or even eternity as they stared at one another from afar. The Monster and the Man, waiting to rip one another apart.

And as if to set them alight, the sound of two swords clashing together symbolize their battles beginning. All great wars begin with the crossing of swords.

Arnold was the first to attack as he threw himself forwards, pushing out with his hands as the spear flung from his palm towards Lia, who swiftly dodge to the side before wrapping her arm around the shaft. In the same second, she felt her body kick off the ground and twist in the air, the feeling of a jaw against her foot was as vivid as the sound of bones cracking under force.

But Arnold was not one to fall from a mere kick to the face as he stumbled backwards for a few feet before the air parted and shifted at his attack, ducking just in time for Lia to miss her shot as her foot flew uselessly through the air.

He punched out with his fist, connecting his knuckles with her knee, breaking it sideways from the force of his punch, but Lia felt no pain as she twisted from the buckling weight of her own body. Her knee embedded itself in the mud, but her arms were still free as they lashed out and slammed them themselves into Arnold's face, giving her enough time to back away.

Then she was standing again, though she didn't know how. Her knee did not buckle or break, and she felt the weight of the pain that had been blocked from her teeth off her shoulders as if washed away by water.

Lia just looked at Arnold from afar as he stood holding on hand to his mouth where blood formed in small bubbles at the side of his lips. She hit true.

"Ho, ho, ho! You hit hard, you little freak."

He repositioned himself, holding his spear out at arm's length, just a few feet from her as if he was daring her to grab it, to test his speed.

"But I hit harder. You barely put a dent in me, but I broke your stupid f*cking knee…"

It was then that his eyes fell on her left knee, perfectly fine as his eyes lingered there like lost stars away from the sky, and it was here that Lia felt Cain take the advantage.

She had small fists and knew she could deal little damage with them, as well as Arnold matching her speed quite easily given the chance, she needed every breath of a seconds she could get to land as many blows as she could.

So, through the mud she felt her legs run as Arnold caught a glimpse of this and swung his spear roundabout, but he was too slow as she rolled in the mud, pulling a dagger from her belt before slashing his thighs out from below him.

"Gods be damned!"

He brought his spear back to his chest in record timing, using the butt of the spear to slam it against her elbow. With her outstretched arm reaching towards his thighs and slick with blood, she had little time to react or pull back her arm as the butt of the spear came crashing down on her elbow, twisting it in odd angles.

Lia hand never heard a sound more chilling than the snapping of her own bone, yet to feel nothing of the pain was as if to call her inhuman. She felt it, mentally, even if not physically. But Cain didn't let her feel anything as Arnold raised his spear high to strike again, he used her speed and small stature to run in between his legs before tracing the same dagger slick with blood up his back, leaving torn flesh and cloth behind him.

"Gah!"

She could hear his lungs as they sucked in a deep and pain filled gasp, searching for air, searching for relief. Instead, his eyes were filled with a lust for blood, a lust to fulfill his hanger as he swung widely and blindly with his spear, twisting his body in a three-hundred-and-sixty-degree angle, hoping to catch her in his snare.

But the only thing he felt was the feeling of his flesh being torn to bits as more and more scars appeared on his sides. As Lia ducked below his swing, she embedded the dagger's side into his skin repeatedly.

For the first time, Arnold found himself within the grasp of losing.

"F*ck!"

With surprising speed, he stopped his turn of motion, halting his own body weight and strength that had been put into that swing, turning it around just in time to attempt a stab at Lia's heart. But once again, much to his anger and frustration, he used her dagger to steer the steel tip away from her, before using its sharp edge to cut through his hand.

Arnold had never felt so much pain in his life since the day he fought the famed Dragon of the East in a great battle, marking the greatest achievement in his career as well as his title. It came with the notion that being a Dragon Slayer meant you were the greatest and strongest of all who walked Morden.

But he was getting his ass handed to him by a girl half his age.

It enraged him. He didn't know when he lashed out, but he felt his fist flying just as the stinging sensation in his right palm reached his head, but he gritted his teeth and continued on. His fist soared through the air only to be caught by the strong and small hands that barely fit around his wrist.

His eyes widened as he watched Lia effortlessly turn his fist over, bones popping and sounds abruptly ending around him as his ears turned to focus roughly on Lia, on anything that could distract him.

Then he noticed it. It was only a fleeting thought, but it was vivid in his mind long after this. There would always be questions about that moment, questions he would ask himself for days to come. Did he miss hearing it? Was it a figment of his imagination? Or was the timing just a coincidence? But none of these answers could ever be proven fact over fiction, because he had no logic behind what he heard.

Lia wasn't breathing.

But then the moment ended as the stinging pain of torn skin and flesh appeared in his mind as he watched Lia quickly run her dagger three times over his chest, twice over his arms leaving faint but long scars over each of them, all before he saw the tip approaching.

And into his chest the knife embedded itself, drawing blood quickly from his still beating heart as it pinned itself against the knife, truing itself into a pincushion beneath his ribs.

He fell to his knees, the feeling of a chill overcoming him like cold water that rushes through his blood. His eyes watched the rainfall in the distance as lightning flashed across the sky, marking its war against this battlefield. It was aweing, it was endless. It was calming to his raging mind that raced with fear and hate, but he calmed it down to feel the rain against his skin as it washed away the blood, sweat and grime from his skin.

'So…this is what it feels like to die? It's…'

He saw from the corner of his eye as Lia raised herself, jumping from the ground as she spun through the air in what Arnold could only imagine, was an attempt to break open his head.

'...intoxicating.'

But then Lia saw something, just as she felt the victory flooding her chest and her heart rising with every breath the thought she took, she spun through the air, passing the water as it shimmered in the lighting's beautiful and aweing flash.

And then she saw it. She saw him.

Past the cloud of rain that passed overhead, though the darkness that traversed the ground like the cold against her skin, she saw in the faint flashes of lightning the eyes of one man.

Two crimson eyes.

Time slowed as their eyes met, and suddenly she felt her body shutter inside, but all remained still and slow on the outside. Then in the same moment it returned, like the snap of a finger had set it off again. She lost her balance and fell, landing in the muddy ground as it clung to her face and body like leeches to her flesh.

But as she stood and related around, she only had a moment to realize that a spear's steel tip was coming towards her, even as she laid there on her back watching the clouds above.

'Ah…'

It was this moment that she recalled her dream, her visions of her battle against Arnold, and how his spear had made its way through her neck.

Even as she laid there watching the rainfall against her face, she didn't even feel the embedded spear in her neck as she slowly bled out, living true to her dreams and fears as she slowly died, wallowing in the mud.

Then it was black.

***

Lia didn't know when she woke up, but she could feel the wind against her cheek and her hair as it ruffled in that very same wind, so fresh and thin, clean and clam.

There was no rain, no storm, no war and no battle going on in her mind. She felt herself free in that moment as the sun began to rise over the distant mountains, painting her beautiful face in a warm golden light.

She wasn't soaked, nor was she cold, and she could feel the blood rushing through her veins like charging knights into battle to heal the wounds…

Wounds.

'I have no wounds.'

It was true, for as she turned her arms over and out she saw no scars, bruises or blood staining the beautiful golden tan of her skin shimmering in the sunlight.

"You awake."

Like instinct her body turned around immediately, her hand reaching towards her waist where she expected to find her sword hilt waiting for her there, but only found open air. The sound of the gravel crunching under his foot filled her ears with warnings as if telling her to run.

Arnold appeared from behind a rock face, clean, unsoaked in rain and mud with no wounds on his face or on his body, yet Lia could only see the man she killed.

"Calm down. I'm not going to hurt you."

He gestured to her hands but with no sign of a weapon in sight he chose to sit down on a nearby rock, watching the sun rise with sad and lonely eyes, eyes that looked nothing like the maniacal and mocking gaze she knew of his.

But then again, as she recalled the memories that flooded back into her mind, she began to wonder if he had always had sad eyes? Then her mind turned to the battle below on the ground, and her gaze hardened at the sight of those eyes, those blank faced and crimson eyes that stared at her from the distance in the night.

Arnold could see the look on her face as her features twisted from concern to anger and then finally to confusion in the form of a frown as she looked around, searching for someone amongst the endless clouds.

"If you're looking for him, he's not here."

She whirled around at the mention of Cain's presence, eyeing Arnold with a deadly gaze as she slowly approached, leaving the edge of the cliff.

"What happened? Why are we here?"

Her voice was demanding so Arnold simply laid down his spear that he clung tightly in his hands, afraid that the demon would show up out of nowhere, finding safety in conversation.

"You went down. Your eyes turned as black as the night, before your friend came to catch you. He snapped his fingers and suddenly we were here.

Lia recalled the feeling of his warm breath against her cheek, taking a hand and tracing her fingers over the very same spot, vividly remembering all the little details of what he said and did.

"Maybe he didn't want us fighting. Maybe he was tired of seeing the war go on around us so he brought us here, hoping it would end this…this madness."

"...Cain isn't like that."

"So his name is Cain…I knew that already, I just didn't want to believe that demon had a name. Made him more human in my eyes."

Lia watched Arnold as he looked out over the endless sea of clouds, all so white and shining in the sun as that look of sadness crept back through the soles of his eyes.

"Did you see anything? When you were asleep, were there any visions or dreams you might have had?"

She wanted to know if Arnold was like her, and if this was all some play on the mind Cain had conjured up around them, hoping to get them to lose against one another before the battle even began. She didn't know his true intentions, it was impossible to guess unless he told you, and even then you didn't know if they were true words or not.

Arnold only nodded his head slightly, softly as if he was afraid that the mere mention of those dreams would bring them back to him.

"I saw her. I saw my wife."

Then the pity pierced Lia's heart as she fought against it to relish in the hatred she had towards him. But one looked into his lonely eyes, and suddenly she felt sympathy.

"I'm sorry."

He shook his head, holding a hand over his mouth as his voice shook and tears brimmed his eyes.

"I watched her through his eyes. I saw what he saw that night, all the things he watched happen…gods what have I done?"

'So that's what he saw…'

He watched his own wife be murdered and tortured before his eyes, through the memories of his son.

Lia didn't know when she sat by his side, but she felt the stone against her back as she leaned against the mountain peak, just above the clouds as she watched the sun's golden rays paint their faces in peaceful bliss.

Then he spoke, and she knew then and there that he was crying, he had been crying, and he would never stop hating himself for all the things he did.

"...does this get any easier?"

"Does what?"

"Seeing the people you care about die? How can someone live with that grief?"

Lia didn't have the answer to that, for she had never known to love anyone besides her friends, and they were all alive. She didn't know loss, but could tell from Arnold's voice that it was eating him alive inside.

"I don't know if it gets any easier. All I know is that there are reasons to be in the now, reasons to be here. That is what I turn to, that is what I use to keep me going."

Though she didn't see it, she could feel the smile tracing across Arnold's lips as he mumbled in irony, his first thought tracing back to his son and all the horrid things he had done to him.

"...I don't have anything."

It was soft spoken and hard to hear, but whatever words he said Lia knew they were from the heart, the heart that was breaking inside of him.

And then, though the sound did not surprise her in the least, a third voice was heard above the sound of the roaring wind high on this mountain peak.

"There is always something, even when there is nothing."

Lia didn't have to look up to know Cain stood before them on the same edge she had climbed down from. He stood with his back to the light, hands behind his back, his face cloaked in shadow that seemed to fit him all too well.

"Cain…would you mind explaining?"

Cain said nothing, despite Lia's tense voice as she stood, truly compelled to force the answers out of him. She felt like he had used her, showed her images he had no right to show her, even as her summons, even if he was protecting her-

"Stop."

What Lia didn't expect was the sound of Arnold's voice as his hand reached out and took hold of her arm. But he want' look at her, instead his eyes peered past her towards Cain, as the two locked eyes.

"Thank you. For showing me my mistakes…and what I can do to make it right."

Cain stood still and then nodded, a slight shake of the head as his head bowed to the shadows below him. He reached out his hand towards Lia, who looked at it strangely. He had said nothing, told her nothing and she had no reason for taking his hand when she still had questions that needed answers.

"You should go Lia."

Arnold stood, reaching for his spear, holding it tightly in his hands like it was the last thing he had, looking between her and Cain with sad but thankful eyes.

"This battle isn't for you."

He turned his back to her and just as her fingers brushed Cain's, her mind already racing with questions being the only one out of "the know", she felt the ground shutter beneath her.

She stumbled and fell against Cain's arm, who - along with Arnold, found no fear or worry in their eyes as the ground beneath them cracked and shattered like the very earth itself was being split apart on that one mountain.

Then, to her horror, she watched as the ground rose above her, dust and dirt falling from the dark and rough scales of one deadly being.

She saw an eye, red and black with malice as the face formed around it, raising itself above them with large and strong legs that shattered the ground where it walked. It rose above them, towering tall like its own mountain as the dust and dirt that covered and concealed it from the word fell all around them in a cloud of dust.

In the sun's golden rays, Lia could only stand there as she gripped Cain's hand with fear and terror, eyes wide as she looked upon death, as it looked back at her from above.

It spread its wings wide and suddenly Lia relished in the sight before her as the majestic being revealed itself to the world. Unafraid.

Then the Dragon roared.

"ROAR!"

→End of Arch 6 (part 1): Haunted Fears and Lonely Demons ←