1 Chapter 1: Scars

The convergence of all malevolent and dark matter, the central point of the rebellion againist the forces of Order, the Shadow Realm.

It was always dark, the only light that shone was that of a brilliant blue moon, shining upon a grand city with numerous Victorian style dark buildings.

The roads were filled with people, trading, offering greetings and sharing stories, the crowds of people parted as a horn was blown and a group of people wearing dark cloaks all with serious expressions walked by.

This peculiar group walked in the direction of the gates located at the far end of the city that led to the palace. The local people frowned and exchanged fearful whispers, the presence of those people in cloaks meant that they were still at war.

At the top of tallest mountain located behind the city stood a grand dark palace with many towers and buildings, it had an ominous aura to it, such that the strongest dark creatures steered clear of it.

At the far end of a circular room within the palace lies a black throne made from shadows and upon it sat Hakai No Ono, the Emperor of Darkness. His appearance could not be seen, as if the shadows were intentionally hiding him.

Behind the vail of shadows, Hakai had his eyes closed deep in thought, he had been weakened greatly in the Arcane War, to the point that every movement caused him pain. Hakai slowly opened his eyes and gazed at the centre of the room where a purple flame was burning, the flame burned brighter as a voice came from it.

"Hakai, this war is not going in our favour, its the Arcane War all over again. You don't have enough strength to go to the front lines and due to the promise I made to Solomon, neither can I." said the voice.

"Father, a promise made to a dead man has no meaning, this is war," Hakai spoke slowly, pain evident in his voice.

"Are you so cold that you cannot honour the request your dear friend made."

"Unfortunately I never had anyone around to teach me about honour father, you should know that quite well," said Hakai in a cold voice.

"In any case, they must join the battle."

"No, I gathered them so that I could protect them from this war not expose them to it."

Dark power exploded around the throne room as Hakai glared at the flames.

"It will be pointless to keep them alive if all the forces that can assist them are dead!"

"We must take the risk now or should consider this war lost." The voice became silent for a while and the flame began to slowly dwindle. As the flame was about to go out the voice spoke with a worried tone.

"Shadow and Soul, those are the two that I will let fight, the other two shall remain hidden."

"I've always been curious, did you join forces with me because I'm your family."

"The only family I have resides in the Shadow Realm," Hakai's voice had no emotion when he spoke, Chaos could feel the hatred Hakai had towards him.

"Everyone else other than that is my enemy."

"I see."

Hakai sighed heavily as the flames disappeared. 'He's blind to the severity of the situation however, two is enough,' thought Hakai.

'My successor and Tsukiyomi's son huh, how to utilise their abilities to the fullest, I wonder.' Hakai slowly fell asleep as he drowned in his thoughts.

♤♤♤

The land of Fong, an endless areas of trees, grass and tall mountains, the only known gateway to the Shadow Realm. It was quiet and peaceful with birds singing, warm rays of sunlight illuminated the land.

Under a cherry blossom tree in the middle of Fong, lies a sleeping, seemingly, thirty year old man. He had long black hair and a long black beard, his skin was red and scaly and he hummed happily with stem of wheat in his mouth. This man was an immortal, Longwang the Dragon King.

BOOM!

Longwang slowly opened his black eyes at the sound of the explosion and sighed.

"Those brats surely know how to ruin a beautiful afternoon," Longwang said lazily, he snapped his finger and two boys who held each others throats appeared a few feet away from him.

One boy had black windswept spiky hair that covered the left side of his face, he had dark eyes and looked about fifteen, he wore a long priest's robe.

The other boy looked about the same age and had long silky hair that was tied back into a high pony tail, his face was smooth and handsome, his eyes were silver and had a soft glow to them. He wore silver robes similar to the other boy.

"Boys, do you really have time to argue, I believe I gave you a task, shouldn't you be handling it," Longwang said exasperated. The two boys let go of each other and faced the man.

"We finished the exercise," said the boy with dark hair, "But then Mora jumped me."

"Only because Kioku kept on bragging about finishing first like a kid!" shouted the one called Mora.

"Silence! this bickering has gone on long enough you both need a reminder of why you're here." Longwang snapped his fingers and the two boys disappeared.

"Two years with hell fire should do the trick."

'Those brats never change. Both of them are trouble makers couple that with their insane egos and they're practically demons. One would think two years without food, enduring dragon flames and walking up a snowy mountain naked would humble them but they just bounced right back,' thought Longwang.

"However, they don't know how protected they are out here away from the war. I was instructed not to tell them anything but Hakai should realise they will notice something soon, given how the enemy is moving they may have to join the battle sooner or later.'

♤♤♤

The two boys appeared on a small patch of land and around them was a sea of endless flames. Kioku immediately began to sweat and felt his throat dry, the flames were so hot they caused his sweat to evaporate.

"This is your fault," Kioku said with a dark look at Mora.

"I wasn't the one bragging!" Shouted Mora. Kioku rolled his eyes and looked around but all he could see were flames, no water, no other pieces of land just endless flames.

"I can't teleport," said Mora with a look of frustration. "Moon light hasn't touched this place."

Kioku tried to travel through his shadow but found it impossible. "Neither can I, my connection to the shadows is weak here."

Kioku put his hands together and his shadow expanded until it formed a dome that shielded them from the flames.

"This all wouldn't have happened if you weren't jealous," said Kioku angrily. Mora remained silent and after a while sighed.

"I wasn't jealous," said Mora slowly. "I was frustrated."

"Why?"

"Because all we do is train here when there's a war waiting for us out there. I want to fight, I want to trample Order and her forces but here I am, scorching to death in a makeshift hell."

Kioku looked at Mora intently, they had known each other for long but he never heard Mora talk so eagerly about war.

"Aren't you afraid?" Asked Kioku, his hair cast a shadow over his hair.

"Why would I be?"

"We're fighting Order and all the gods that support her. We're just human and they have command of powers beyond our imagination, they could easily kill us. We're fighting at a disadvantage."

"Are you afraid Kioku?" Mora asked with a cocky grin.

'Of course I am,' thought Kioku. 'The fate of entire realms rest on our shoulders.'

"I am the heir to darkness, I don't feel fear."

"Remember our first lesson," said Mora pointing at temple. "The will to survive is the greatest tool needed to fight gods."

"What does that even mean?" Asked Kioku. He never understood that lesson and it was frustrating him, he, who had mastered all the seven hundred war stratagems of the Shadow Realm at the age of nine.

"I don't know about you but I don't feel like dying here."

"I have an idea," Kioku said as the dark dome disappeared.

"But Master is going to kill us for doing it."

"I'm listening," said Mora with a wide grin.

♤♤♤

Longwang sat under his favourite tree humming cheerfully once more. He had gotten rid of the noise and it was time to enjoy the fine afternoon.

BOOM!

Longwang opened his eyes and stared to his right where, in the distance, a cloud of smoke was rising. Longwang shook with fury as his slit like eyes narrowed.

"YOU BRATS BLEW UP THE HELL CHAMBER!"

♤♤♤

"Well,' said Kioku leaning against the nearby tree.

"We're screwed."

Kioku and Mora were hiding out in the dense forest behind Longwang's palace, the night was cold and rainy and the moon was hidden by the clouds. Mora, who was drinking water from the river suddenly laughed loudly.

"Oh no?" Said Kioku worriedly, he knew that laugh. 'Here comes the daily dose of his crazy ideas.'

"We picked the perfect place to hide," Mora said with a sneaky grin.

"What do you mean?"

"Remember, this is where Master's pet, the White Tiger lives."

ROOOOOOOAR!

Kioku turned pale, he looked in the direction that the roar came from. He could hear or rather feel something approaching, something ancient and powerful.

"We should go."

Kioku turned to leave but Mora remained in the same spot. He was looking in the direction of the approaching creature with excitement in his eyes.

"Are you kidding," said Mora as he stretched his limbs. "Master Longwang doesn't allow us to practice Arch during training so this is the perfect chance to get some practice in."

"Between fighting that thing or meeting the master, I'll take my chances with the master," said Kioku but Mora wasn't listening, he was paying attention to the beast that had appeared before them.

It was the most terrifying and beautiful creature they had ever seen. The beast was tall, and it's body was ghostly white with night black streaks. It's eyes were brilliant blue and it's fangs were prominent and as long and sharp as daggers.

'The guardian of the West, Byakko,' thought Kioku. He could feel the malevolent aura emanating from it, the moment it took a step forward, Kioku turned and ran away.

"Are you running away!" Shouted Mora.

"No, this is called strategic retreat."

Kioku ran as hard as his legs could carry him, he heard roars and Mora's excited voice, confirming that the idiot was still alive.

"The thing is one of the guardians of the Dragon Realm, he has no chance, heck he could be killed."

Kioku looked up and saw that the palace was near, if he told Longwang quickly enough Mora could be saved...

'Who am I kidding,' thought Kioku. 'The dumbass is probably already a corpse.'

Mora came slamming into Kioku and the impact sent both of them crashing into a tree. Kioku stood clutching his head, his eyes widened in horror at the sight of Mora's body.

Mora was covered in blood and three large claw marks ran across his chest. His limbs were all scarred and several chunks of his hair were missing.

"Aaaah!"

Kioku fell to ground holding his head in pain. Memories were rushing through his head quickly, Hakai's first lesson, his first meeting with Mora.

The final memory was of a woman laying on the ground covered in blood just like Mora, a young Kioku stood over with a sword, his eyes cold and his face smeared with blood.

"No...no...no...don't die...don't....please..."

Byakko appeared seemingly out of nowhere with his mouth opened wide. Kioku had no time to react, he said the only thing that came to mind.

"Don't....die."

A pillar of golden flames erupted between Kioku and Byakko and when they subsided, Longwang stood between them. Longwang glanced at Mora and turned back to Byakko with fury in his eyes, a fiery aura erupted around Longwang, the nearby trees immediately began to burn and the air became distorted.

"I warned you before," said Longwang slowly as he took a step towards Byakko who made a whimpering noise.

"And yet you dared harm another student of mine!"

BOOOOOM!!

Longwang roared at Byakko and the shockwave that erupted sent the beautiful creature flying into thousands of trees before crashing heavily into one of Fong's mountains.

"As for you.."

Longwang stopped himself, Kioku was on the floor crying silently. Longwang walked up to Kioku and placed his hand lightly on his head.

"Pain is a necessity in life child," said Longwang warmly, Kioku looked up at him with tears in his eyes.

"The scars you bear are what will give you strength, you must endure the pain if you wish to survive. Stand and take Mora up to the palace, Draco should be able to heal him."

'If you're scared of something like this, you will not be able to handle the enemies to come,' thought Longwang.

Kioku stood slowly and picked up Mora and carried him on his shoulder. Longwang watched Kioku walk away with a sad expression which quickly changed to one of annoyance.

"Father I told you not to speak with me as long as you side with Order," Longwang said coldly.

'After what happened to the last,' said a voice in Longwang's head. 'I would've thought you would stop taking apprentices. Why did you accept those two, especially since both of them existing is a taboo itself.'

"In this war," began Longwang, the rain had stopped and a bright rainbow had formed in the sky.

"They are our hope."

'And what would you, ruler of the Dragon Realm, give to protect that hope.'

Longwang frowned as he looked at the rainbow. His father had asked him the same question before what was different now was that he had an answer.

"Everything."

'Even your life and family, your entire realm?'

"Everything father."