Crimson Eyes Against a Crimson Hand

The group split up and ran away into the forest. "I guess we're doing this now!" Yuria yelled as they regrouped. Pharros raised its wings and the surrounding trees in the forest got uprooted. The thing's hands outstretched and the floating balls of light surrounding it flew towards them.

"Incoming!" Metas remarked, as the flying missiles came careening toward the group. One came flying toward Ellyn who rolled out of the way, the projectile created a small explosion and shockwave knocking her back. When one approached Yuria, she could not see any nearby water source and scooped up some dirt with the chalice and threw it forward. The layer of earth formed a wall and the object blasted into it, creating a shockwave that knocked Yuria back as well.

Felkin and Metas ran, weaving through the forest and using the trees as cover for the light blasts. Ellyn stood up and loosed a volley of shots at the back of the entity. The thing turned around and used a multitude of hands to crush each bolt midair. Yuria pulled out another bag of wolf's bone, noticing that her supply of it was dwindling. A spear made from darkness shot out from thin air and it struck the spirit in the side, a dark wound appearing in its 'flesh'.

Seeing this, Metas and Felkin turned around and ran back to the entity. Felkin raised his weapon and slashed at Pharros, the sword extending and lengthening. Pharros used half of its arms to catch the blade and the other half sent a shockwave towards Yuria. Yuria leapt out of the way and the blast pushed on forward, clearing out any tree or boulder in its path. Metas pointed his palm at his target and he shot out the flame projectiles, that he learned how to do earlier.

It raised a few arms to block it, leaving a few burn marks but otherwise unharmed. Metas used his other arm to swing his chain-spear and hitting Pharros in the head and leaving a wound. Felkin struggled to pull his sword back, as the entity still held on to his sword. It held on tighter and tighter, and Felkin tried coiling the sword in response, the sharp edges of the blade slowly digging into the hands that held it.

More balls of light flew out from its wings and sent out towards them and they scattered once again. Pharros pulled Felkin's sword forward and dragged him along the ground with it. The light projectiles came for Felkin as well and he was forced to let go of his sword to dodge. The sword reverted to its original size, and Pharros tossed it aside. More and more of the trees were destroyed as they were used for cover from the light blasts. Felkin rolled and rolled, avoiding each ball of light that came towards him, leaving craters in the ground.

He looked up and saw its hands raised high and its fists curled, he jumped back before he could be struck by its punches. Each punch from each arm created a shockwave and cracked the ground. Ellyn loosed more shots, each one striking and piercing the entity's back. It used its arms to rapidly sweep through the air trying to attack and knocking down the last remaining trees in the nearby area. It then stretched its wings back and let forth a tremendous gust of wind.

There was a large flat area that surrounded them that was now barren and had no grass or greenery left. The animals had retreated farther into the forest beforehand but there were a few caught in the crossfire. Felkin's sword lay nearby behind the entity, and the group stood, shaken but mostly unharmed. They were all tired and breathing heavily, Felkin looked at his sword and looked at Pharros, trying to figure out a plan.

Before they could communicate or form a plan, the spirit summoned more balls of light as it raised its wings. "Throw me! As hard as you can!" Yuria then picked up some more soil in the goblet. "What?" replied Felkin. "Just do it!" said Yuria. Felkin ran and picked up Yuria which he then promptly threw in the air as hard as he could.

Yuria flew in the air, her cloak blowing in the wind, she held onto her hat tightly, and she threw the soil towards atop Pharros, the cup gleaming purple in hand. She used abyssal magic to create a platform to where she landed. This happened in a swift and quick motion and as Pharros shot its balls of light, a dome of earth formed around it, causing the projectiles to hit that instead, and a large explosion occurred.

Yuria stood up triumphant, and looked up at the smoke caused by the blast. She then fell back in fear as she saw the result, it had been injured and had wounds on its body, but its helmet was slightly damaged and Yuria could see a red eye was visible. The others saw this and were startled as well. Felkin ran towards Yuria who was frozen on the ground, as Ellyn and Metas tried to shoot at its exposed head.

Pharros blocked the attacks and used one hand to lower its helmet down hiding the eye. It scooped up some of the earth with its many hands and threw it in the direction of Ellyn and Metas forcing them to move out of the way. It then raised its hands to attack Yuria, but as Felkin ran closer, Yuria stood up and picked up the sword, throwing it towards him. He caught it and extended it, deflecting Pharros' attack against Yuria.

His red eye glowed and he struck Pharros hard, sending it crashing onto the ground. Before it could fly up again, Metas threw his spear and wrapped its chains around it. Ellyn tried to fire more shots but found that she had already ran out of bolts. Metas was exhausted and said: "Shoot it!" Ellyn dug through the sack and pulled out a bottle of white sand surprisingly unharmed. "Light this up!" said Ellyn as she threw it at Pharros.

Metas could only produce a tiny spark but it was enough to ignite it and created a fiery blaze. He felt no more resistance so Metas let go and the chains on his spear fell to the ground. He fell seated, and tired. The entity was seated and had its head facing downwards. Its light now dims unlike its previous radiance. Its skin and wings were charred and damaged, and a large dark wound was on its chest, courtesy of Felkin's attack. They began to walk toward it when it raised its head. Its helmet was completely shattered now, pieces of it scattered on the floor, it opened its eyes, two crimson lights in an otherwise featureless face.

The tension in the air shifted, they felt a chill in their bones and all the members of the group lost strength and fell to the ground. A red haze seemed to cover the air and they had trouble breathing. Metas had trouble standing up and fell when he tried to get on his knees. Felkin used his sword as balance as he slowly inched towards Pharros. Yuria had dropped a wolf bag but was slowly inching towards it, trying to retrieve it. Ellyn was crawling along the ground, her prosthetic hand being dragged along as she inched towards her goal, knife in hand. Pharros could do nothing but glare ominously, almost right into their soul.

Felkin feebly managed to take his eyepatch off and he opened his eye momentarily causing a shift in the air. This imbalance of force momentarily dissipated the effects of Pharros' crimson glare, the others jumped at this chance, Ellyn sinking her knife into its leg, and Yuria grabbed the wolf's bag and was able to cast a spell, striking Pharros in the face and at last closing its eyes. The other members of the group laid back down in sighs of relief as Felkin stood up and walked towards their foe. He stood victorious, his eyepatch back on and he could still see the bright light that laid within Pharros. As he raised his sword, it began to talk to him. "Champion, take my soul and absorb its power. For there is another one who approaches and seeks to attain the power of souls."

"What?" Metas overheard them. "Combat has readied your vessel for the attainment of power. Now, strike me down." Felkin raised his sword and thrust it down onto Pharros. He began to feel power course through him as the others marveled as streaks of golden light began transferring from Pharros to Felkin.

Felkin helped up the others who were seated. "We have to go." The forest's eternal sunrise began to fade and then the darkness of the night soon swept them. Yuria still had the feather in her possession but it had no longer had the same glow it did before. "It was a warning. It foresaw that someone seeking its soul would come here besides me." Felkin remarked. The group was battered and tired. "You think we should avoid them?" Asked Ellyn. "I have a bad feeling about this. Let's go." Said Metas.

They walked deeper and deeper into the forest, Ellyn and Metas looking over the map to plan their movements towards the nearby city. "The forest will keep anyone out, right?" questioned Yuria. "If the thing's magic was what kept the illusion, then anybody could just be able to walk in." Felkin surmised. "That's right." A voice from the shadows answered Metas. A figure stepped out from the darkness. It was another bandit. He had medium length black hair with streaks of white on its tips. He stared back at them with hollow black eyes. Like the other bandits he wore simple clothes and mismatched armor. He looked no different from the other banditry, only that he had a lavish gold gauntlet on his left hand.

Felkin instantly knew something was wrong. "Go!" he ushered the others to retreat as he readied his sword for battle. The individual a few years older than Felkin and as he went nearer Ellyn recognized him. "Be careful! He's one of the bandit leaders! He rose to power in a matter of days! He's no joke!" Felkin breathed deeply as he steadied himself. The individual grinned. "So, you know about me huh?" He held out his left arm. 'Go!' the group was surprised as the bandit showed them a projection of the events that just transpired. Including the conversation that just happened and Felkin warning the others. "Are you sure we can't help?" Metas said to Felkin.

"Relax, I'm only after him." He took his gauntlet off and revealed a hand covered in red scars. The scars glowed crimson light. He opened his palm toward the group. Felkin lunged to strike him but before he could reach his target, a blue light shone from the forest as an explosion occurred. A crater was the only thing left in the nearby area. Felkin, with a few cuts and charred clothing picked up his sword and lunged again, extending it to hit from the front and the back at the same time. "Go! I'll catch up!" Felkin yelled as he moved to strike. The bandit repelled Felkin's strikes with his bare hand and shot beams of blue energy at him. Felkin ran, rolled, and deflected as the bandit blasted at him with magic.

He slashed and the other combatant blocked with his hand. Felkin extended his sword so that the point of the blade would strike behind him. The bandit ducked so Felkin was forced to revert his weapon so he did not hit himself. A sudden left hook caught Felkin off guard and knocked him back. He landed a few feet away and he stuck his sword into the ground for balance. He coughed up blood and knelt on one knee. Upon seeing this Yuria instinctively held onto tight on the spirit feather. Suddenly arms resembling Pharros' emerged from the air and began striking towards the red handed one. He jumped backwards and sidestepped to dodge the attack, swiped his arm in the air and blue lightning crashed down onto the arms of light. The feather in Yuria's hands turned to dust. Annoyed, the bandit leader dashed towards Yuria intending to strike her with his fist.

The edge of Felkin's blade caught him in the face, giving him a cut right under his right eye. Felkin then arced his blade to hit him again but he deflected it. His smile turned into a scowl as he used his arm to punch the ground covering him and the surroundings in an explosive blast. Metas had gone in front of the other two to shield them and the three of them lay on the ground, blasted away by the mere force of the shockwave. In the smoke, Felkin attempted to rush the stranger in a surprise attack. Felkin swung his sword, clearing the smoke. But the bandit dodged and was lying in wait, his left arm glowing with cerulean energy.

Instead of deflecting or blocking the blast he let himself get hit as he extended his sword and struck the stranger, the attack slashing their shoulder. The clothes and armor on Felkin's chest was burned away as his flesh was charred at the impact of the blast. He struggled to stand up and again, he glowed with light and his wounds slowly faded. "I didn't think you would live through that." The stranger said with a smile. Felkin spat out blood and walked towards his enemy with his sword ready. Energy began to glow on the bandit's arm as he approached Felkin.

They bounded and leapt towards each other but Felkin removed his eyepatch and the glow of his crimson eye instantly paralyzed the enemy. Felkin slashed him across the chest knocking him backwards. The bandit leader tried to stand but was struck in the side by a blow from Felkin's sword. Felkin ran towards him and then struck him on the bottom of the chin, splitting it open in a spurt of blood. The bandit leader fell over backwards and was struggling to move amidst his injuries. The others were beginning to stir now, slowly sitting up and made witness to the currently happening scene.

After his relentless assault, Felkin ran up and raised his sword prepared for the kill. He stood and pointed his sword at him. But before he could attack the stranger sprang up and thrust his fist forward piercing through Felkin's chest. Felkin's arms went limp and he dropped his sword to the ground, his eyes wide with shock.

The stranger's hand was covered in blood but his fist was coated in blue energy. "It was easy, all I had to do was close my eyes." He said as he opened his eyes. He pulled his hand out from Felkin's chest and Felkin fell to the ground. He looked at his hand and the red scars on it grew and spread. A projection appeared in his palm revealing him striking Felkin through the chest. "Just as planned."

The others saw Felkin's unmoving body. Yuria cried out and ran towards him, a bag of wolf's bone in hand. Metas was trying to pull her back while Ellyn ushered them to run away. A trail of light transferred from Felkin's body to the stranger's just like what happened with Pharros earlier. Suddenly a figure from the shadows picked Yuria and Ellyn up and held Metas with one arm. He leapt with them beyond the sight of the bandit leader who was relishing in his victory.

He wore an old cloak that was dark red in color, and metal armor old enough to have its polish fade with time but still appeared to be incredibly sturdy. As they swiftly ran away, Yuria made a plea to their rescuer. "We have to go back!" The man was clearly aged and wore a weathered old hat, and strands of gray hair poked out of it. He also wore a faceplate, covering all of his face except his eyes. He answered her. "I don't think that's a good idea, young lady." As they were running, he looked behind him. He saw the bandit leader glowing an inhuman blue and his wounds slowly began to disappear.

"All right." The old said grumpily. While carrying the two, he left Metas behind and jumped an inhuman distance over to Felkin's location. When he landed, the stranger was surprised and instantly went in to attack him. The man picked up Felkin's body and jumped back. He used a pickaxe to strike the earth and cause a smokescreen. He vanished within seconds.

The old man carried everyone through the forest and nearly reached the other side. They were near the city now. He dropped off all his burden, laying them gently onto the ground. Immediately they checked on Felkin but found his body to be cold, and a large hole had been punctured through his chest. "No!" cried out Yuria as tears trickled down her face. She brought out the last bag of magic that she had to heal him before the old man stopped her. "That's enough." He put his hand in front of her. "He wouldn't have wanted to waste it." Said Metas who looked away, his expression obscured by the cover of his hood. Ellyn was in stunned silence "We should bury him. It's the least we can do." Said the old man.

Yuria put the pouch back into her cloak and they started to get to work. The old man also carried a shovel in which he started to dig the hole with. After a while a pile of dirt formed and a hole in the ground a few feet deep was formed. "Who are you?" asked Ellyn. "I'm Jura." "As in the 'Jura' that came here all those years ago?" She asked. He stood quietly and sighed and then answered: "Yes." "As in "Jura's forest"?" Asked Metas. "This forest doesn't belong to anyone. Not you, not I." They gently picked up Felkin's body and they lowered it onto the grave.

There was silence as the group helped Jura with the burial. Yuria broke the silence with a question. "Why didn't you come earlier?" she spoke feebly. "I came as fast as I can and besides, I don't think we could have done much anyway." Metas was caught up with the situation but suddenly realized. "His sword. It isn't here." "Maybe it's still there." Answered Ellyn. The first thing Metas thought of was the strength and potential danger of the weapon. "Maybe we can have it as something to remember him by. Or something that he could be buried with." Added Yuria.

"I'll go and check, stay here." Said Jura as he quickly but quietly crept into the forest. "Who... was that?" asked Metas. "His name is unknown. He's one of the bandit leaders who use magic to take control. He's called the "crimson hand" or "blue demon" because of the nature of his abilities." Ellyn answered. Jura emerged from the forest like a gust of wind, leaves blowing and flying away at his trail. "It's not there." "What?" questioned Yuria. "The sword is no longer within the forest." Jura looked around. "We best get going. If that bandit, has it, we would be wise to steer clear of here." 'So, there's not even anything left of him now for us to carry.' Yuria said to herself. They soon reached town and from the forest they came down behind a building and blended into the crowd. "So, was it worth it?" asked Ellyn. Metas gave no response and looked at a large stone building in the distance. They left the forest behind and continued to walk into town.