The Blood Hero(1.31)

Jaxon spent the rest of the day honing his skills. He learnt how to focus his flames into isolated parts of his body, and could now finish an attack.

Darkshadow shot flames at the blood covered murderer. The one who had attacked his friend, and killed him. They would not let him go unharmed.

"I'll ask you one more time." They hissed. "What do you think happens to dogs like you, who hurt people?"

"I..I said I don't know!"

"Well you're fuckin about to."

Darkshadow lit their blade as hot as they could and slammed the side of it into the man's face, burning him badly. They did this repeatedly, before getting even angrier and slicing the man's head right off.

Darkshadow walked to their lifeless friend and placed a hand on their chest. The body slowly turned to ash as Dark sobbed in frustration.

Jaxon gasped, tears streaming down their face for some reason. They didn't remember this person who died, but it must've someone important to him.

He took a deep breath and continued practicing, his head held high everytime he figured something out.

Elijah limped out into the yard, watching the clouds float by and sighing. 'What am I even doing here..?' He thought to himself, brushing his hair out of his face.

"Hey.. uh.. are you ok..?" Flail stood by Blue, a worried look on his face. Maybe they could talk just once...

"Not really.."

"O-oh.." He opened his mouth to try and give him some words of encouragement, but thought better of it.

"I wish I'd never have been born really.." Elijah stared up at the sky, his eyes looking hollow with dread. All he did was dread what might come next for him. What thing could happen that was worse than what he had gone through? He knew there would be something.

Jaxon decided to pick up The Blood Hero's mask. It was the first time he had even looked at it since he had found it and fixed it up.

Jaxon thought of testing his new skills out in a real situation, maybe it would be better for him to see what it's like as a hero anyway.

Jaxon grabbed his sword and adjusted the straps on his mask to fit his head. Then he dashed for town with his hood up and his head held high.

Jaxon climbed up the first tall building he saw, and surveyed the area. He watched for any danger, before hopping to the next roof top.

He noticed a child running across the street, and a memory came through. He remembered what had happened to himself just a couple of months ago.

He jumped instantly, not caring about himself and landing next to the child. The pickup truck screeched to a halt, just barely stopping in time. Jaxon had himself covering the child, ready for whatever might happen.

The driver jumped out of his truck and just stared wide eyed at them both. He took a step back in fear, recognising the bright red mask on Jaxon's face.

"T-that monster will.." He mumbled. "H-he'll.. he'll kill you!!" The man took off running.

Jaxon stared after him in confusion, the child's parents running up to him. Jaxon looked up at them and smiled under his mask.

"Here's your kid, please be careful with em." Jaxon walked off, he could feel the parents fearful stares after they saw his mask.

"What was with those people.." Phoenix floated above Jaxon, his fiery hair glowing brighter than usual in the sunlight. "It's as if they're scared of you."

"No.. they're afraid of someone else..." Jaxon narrowed his eyes. "Someone who must be putting fear into the air."

"Meh, we can handle--"

A scream came from down the street and Jaxon spun around. All he saw was the man from before, lying dead in the street, his neck snapped.

His eyes widened and he tore off to find the family from before. This was no coincidence.

He was too late. The only one left was the child, who was barely clinging onto life. He stared down at the torn apart bodies of the parents and almost threw up.

"Who the fuck..?" Jaxon took a step back, he could hear sirens in the distance. He waited there for the ambulance to arrive and then left for home.

He stashed his mask in his bag and headed inside, running up to his room. He closed his door quickly and took a deep breath, his eyes wide.

"Looks like someone's targetting people you save already.." Phoenix sat on top on his dresser, playing with a bright orange feather. "Tomorrow we'll have to go searching for this person."

"Are you insane!?" Jaxon stared at Phoenix. "I'm not gonna go out and accidentally get a bunch of people killed, again!"

"Relax, we've got it all under control." Phoenix sighed. "We won't go rescuing anyone tomorrow."

"Fine. But if I die it's your fault."

"If you die, then it's definitely the opposite of my fault." Phoenix muttered.

Morning came and Jaxon headed off for school, Phoenix annoying him the whole way there. He stopped when he saw the caution tape and many authorities running around a spot just outside the woods.

There was still a fresh pool of blood and a body lying there. It was teenager just a little younger than Jaxon, he had his skull smashed in and his chest had a long, clean cut through it.

Jaxon could tell the blood on the ground couldn't belong to the boy, as this body was old. It was at least a month old, if not older.

Jaxon walked past one of the officers and heard his conversation. A chill went down his spine.

"This that asshole's work, isn't this the fire user from that group of kids who were supposed to kill him."

"Yeah, looks to me like they weren't destined to win after all.."

Jaxon shivered and headed to school, wondering about what this monster was capable of. He hoped Phoenix was right, and he really did have it under control.