22 Firuz - They are coming

Azad stood poised amidst the rolling clouds of grey ash. Sprilling spears of smoke lunged towards him from every direction. He whizzed through the air, his form shifting with his every turn and move. 'You have broken the accords...' His voice rang out, high pitched like the howls of a thousand wolves. Silence fell upon the town of harra as all the winds converged towards him, disappearing into his body. Purple ribbons flourished on his right hand as it slowly turned into a sharp blade, thinner than a cicada's wing, shining with a deadly glint.

'You will rise against us for a Nameless?' A cacophony of a million voices sounded out from the grey clouds, as they converged towards a single point. The Ash turned into a man, old and gnarled, like dead wood. A loose robe of grey ash fluttered around his wiry body. He stared at Arash with pitch black eyes. 'They trespass on our lands, kill our kind, and yet you stand against me for this thing.' The thousands of voices rippled out to the melody of disbelief.

'His kind is not the enemy. They were once our friends.' Azad said. The wind converged towards his right hand, the sword grew longer and sharper with each passing moment.

'This thing is not a friend. It works for them!' The old man's skin slithered over his bones as he spitted out the words. He flexed his fingers and the ground beneath his feet rippled to life.

Green vines spiraled out of the ground, curling as tiny flowers bloomed on its edges. 'They took away my children. Killed them like everything they do.' Pain flashed across his face as the flowers wilted to grey dust. 'Nothing grows anymore. We are dying, and when we finally found a way, you want to take it way from us. Our own kind!'

'I only want him, you can do whatever you wish with the others.' Azad relented. 'Let him go and I don't care what you do.'

'Do you think we like being stuck with this boy? We have tried others, but they die within days. Only he can sustain us.'

'You are killing him. I can't let that happen. He is too important.' Azad's eyes hardened.' A promise has been made and a word given.' Azad's right hand turned into a long broadsword, humming to a deadly rhythm. He clenched his left hand and the wind around the old man constricted him, made it hard for him to move. The old man sneered towards him, hatred burning deep in his eyes. 'Decide!' Azad said as he raised his sword towards the wiry old man.

The old man turned toward Firuz, his skin writhed over his bones as his skin turned to ash. Firuz howled in pain as tiny grey spots appeared on his skin, his eyes rolled to back of his head. The grey spots slowly spread across his skin, turning his skin into solid stone.

Azad lunged towards the old man, his sword gleaming with a purple blue hue. He sent a long, vertical slash towards the old man. The thin blade let out a loud shriek as it hurtled towards the old man. The old man tried to dodge, but the sword slash was upon him in a flash and blasted him through the buildings. Pain flashed across the old man's face, but other then that, not a single hair was harmed on his body. Instead, Firuz screamed out loudly as his body arched back in pain, and a large gaping wound appeared on his chest, greyish-red blood oozing out of his body as he limply fell backwards to the cold ground.

Dread washed over Azad's face, as he rushed towards Firuz. He pressed his hand over the wound, thin purple ribbons shooting out from his hands, weaving around the broken skin and slowly closing the wound. Soon, the gaping gash turned into a thin white line running across Firuz's torso. Azad looked up to the old man, anger gleaming in his eyes.

The old man laid had been blown past almost twenty houses. Even though he looked fine on the outside almost millions of his brothers had died under that terrible purple slash. His chest still

throbbed with the pain and the feeling of his brothers dying still fresh in his mind.

Sounds of misery and pain spilled all around them. Men and women were rushing out of their homes, dragging their dead with them. Fear plastered over their faces as they ran with all their might.

The old man's body disintegrated into clouds of ash, hurtling towards the men around him. The grey ash drilled into their bodies through their mouths, noses, and ears. He could feel his brothers increasing as they slowly multiplied inside the bodies of the countless men around him.The men and women slowly disintegrated into grey dust, drilling into the ground below.

Azad's right hand turned into a blur as he threw countless purple arcs towards the men howling around him; turning them into red mist. He managed to kill some of them but most of the men and women had merged with the ground.

Giant pillars of mud shot from the ground, rushing towards Azad. He turned into a blur as he dodged countless spikes. His right hand sending out countless purple slashes, slicing the mud spikes in half. He managed to cut most of them, but three still managed to impale his body. He groaned in pain as his body disintegrated into countless purple ribbons and reappeared 100 meters up in the sky. A giant's face face formed into the ground below staring at Azad with grey pupil-less eyes.

'What happened? Don't you want to save your little friend?' A giant hand rose from the ground, holding Firuz in its palms. Half of his body had already turned grey. He helplessly stared at Azad.

Azad growled in anger as his body merged with the wind. Countless tornadoes merged together to from his giant body, he held a monsterous purple blade in his right hand. He raised it high above his head.

Suddenly a loud horn pierced the deadly silence around him.

'They are coming' Azad grimly thought as he stared towards the direction of the horn.