Chapter 2: Love turned into Hate

"Love is, without a doubt, one of the most powerful and beautiful feelings that human beings can experience. It is the force that unites us with others, that drives us to create deep and lasting bonds, and that fills us with joy, satisfaction and fulfillment."

"However, love is not always a bed of roses. It can also be a source of pain, suffering and heartbreak. And, in some extreme cases, it can transform into its most radical opposite: hate."

How is it possible that love, such a positive feeling, can give rise to something as negative as hate?...

There was the serious one, with serious injuries but really with his gaze lost on the horizon.

The last descendant of the Ryunaki clan, he observes the crimson sky, his gaze lost in the abyss of uncertainty. He knows that the coming battle is inevitable, but he also knows that he cannot stop.

For years he has wondered what is the reason for his fight, what is the purpose of his existence.

"The only glimmer of hope he had left had turned against him.

Of course, who I am talking about is the only light of hope that remained for all of them, and who I was lucky enough to meet and was witness to in his footsteps without losing any detail.

And the time has come for the final resolution of the dragon vs the phoenix.

On the horizon, the final battle looms: Dragon against Phoenix. The fate of two clans hangs in the balance once again, while tension chews through the air, charged with electricity and omens.

Eighteen years have passed since the last battle, where the Phoenix rose victorious and the Dragon fell from grace. But the wounds of the past have not healed, and the shadow of revenge looms over the present.

But maybe this time...

—.I can't do it... I don't have the strength to fight... I have never been at their level and I have always known it. I just want to wake up from this nightmare...

He stopped in the middle of his lamentation, his gaze fixed on the horizon, as if he were searching for an answer in the immensity of the sky.

- "I don't want to face this fate. I don't want to fight..." he murmured in a broken voice, while tears welled up in his eyes.

Memories of his childhood flood his mind. The laughter, the games, the dreams shared with that person, who has now become an enemy. The pain he feels in his chest is almost unbearable.

"I have nothing to live for if it means having to put my life above his," he thought, closing his eyes tightly, seeking refuge in the darkness of his mind. "I'd rather be the one who disappears." ".

Footsteps echoed in the stillness of the scene, approaching inexorably towards Sorato. His reflection in the dusty ground gave him the image of a defeated young man, with his body lacerated and his spirit on the brink of the abyss.

Still, out of desperation, with an effort that would tear his throat, he let out a desperate cry.

—.PLEASE STOP THIS! DON'T YOU SEE WHO I AM!

The scream echoed in the void, charged with a mixture of pain, supplication and challenge. A last attempt to appeal to the humanity that he still harbored in that heart.

His scream seemed to suspend time for an instant. The person stopped, his eyes locked on his, and a shadow of doubt crossed his face.

In that brief period of hesitation, he saw an opportunity. Drowning the pain that lacerated his body, he addressed that person with a trembling voice.

—I am your lifelong friend. Sorato.-Tears welled up in his eyes as he begged-.Please remember me and let's stop this, he begged you even on his knees.

Faced with his pleas, that someone remained silent, his mind was trapped for a brief moment in a whirlwind of mixed emotions.

Tears welled up in Sorato's eyes, streaking down his battle-hardened face. His chest heaved with indescribable pain, a mix of physical and emotional agony. He pressed his left hand against his chest. With his other hand, he closed it into a tight fist.

A muffled moan escaped his throat, a silent scream of pain and desperation.

"PLEASE...SAYURI!" He implored once more, his voice thick with anguish.

This she stopped and answered.

—.My friend... my friend... Sorato

In front of him, she, the most important person in his life, appeared as an imposing figure. Her eyes, once full of kindness and tenderness, now burned with the flames of hell itself. Her lineage gave her a power that eclipsed his own.

"A blessing that became a curse in this cruel confrontation."

-.My great friend. The one who came into my life when I was just a little girl, telling me that he was an orphan and had no family. The same one I grew up with, convinced that he appreciated me, that he believed in me and would never hurt me... My friend.

She then extended her hand in front of him with a swift gesture, as if she conjured a firestorm.

So it was...

—Ugh?—I would see a circle appear with symbols that, judging by his face, he knew very well.

And a pillar of flame arose beneath him, engulfing him in a burning inferno.

—.AAAAAAHHHHHH!- A heartbreaking scream escaped his lips as he struggled to resist the flames.

He staggered, on the verge of collapse, his legs buckling under the weight of the fire. With great effort, he managed to get out of the torrent of flames, staggering and gasping, his body marked by burns.

- "Aaagh..." he murmured in a broken voice, as he collapsed on one knee.

The image of Sayuri, with her face full of tears and fury, was recorded in his mind like a last vision before succumbing.

But at the last moment, a knee caught him by placing it under his chin, preventing him from falling.

"Don't give up yet, Sorato." Her voice, cold and distant, resonated in her ears.

"Sayuri, listen to me," she pleaded with a trembling voice. "It's not too late. We... we can fix this."

But her words fell on deaf ears. Sayuri's gaze was cold and distant, as if she were looking at a complete stranger.

"There is nothing to fix, Sorato," she responded with an icy voice.

Despite the pain and despair, Sorato did not give up. Staring at Sayuri, he pleaded once more.

—Sayuri, listen to me...

"Now that I look closely at him at the beginning of this battle, I can see that the light that once shone in his black eyes is no longer present. While many might assume that his dark eyes represented darkness, the reality was very different. His eyes "They were capable of emitting a light capable of shining even in the deepest darkness with which they overcame terrible situations such as this one."

"However, that light was unable to shine without him..."

Sayuri watched him silently, her own eyes filled with coldness. A whirlwind of emotions consumed her: pain, betrayal, and resentment.

—."My friend to whom I opened my heart more than to anyone I have ever done it with, for whom I had very strong feelings opposite to those I now have for him, and most importantly."

Tears suddenly welled up in Sayuri's eyes, soaking her face. The expression on her face was a mixture of pain, betrayal, and a deep sadness that consumed her.

"Whom I... That doesn't matter anymore."

She whispered, her voice broken, as if her words were ripping out his soul. The confession of her lost love, of the feeling that now bound her to darkness.

Her words echoed through the air like thunder, hitting Sorato with unimaginable force. The revelation of her feelings, a love betrayed and turned into hate, left him stunned, speechless.

"If his will already seemed to be collapsed, those words revealed by her ended up destroying it completely"

"It's true, and that's why he was willing to let him finish me off."

—... sniff sniff.-A tear mixed with her blood slid from her until it fell on her foot.

"Her words hit him with the force of a sledgehammer. The little courage that still shone in his eyes was extinguished, replaced by a deep darkness. The will that had sustained him until now crumbled, leaving only an abysmal void." .

Sayuri approached Sorato, her voice carrying bitterness and sadness.

—."Who knew that loving someone in a pure and sincere way could lead to great suffering, and now you are the one experiencing it like I did."

Sorato staggered from the ground, his face marked by physical and emotional pain. He looked at Sayuri with a mix of sadness and guilt.

"Sayuri, I know and every day I regret not having done something to prevent it, and I know that your father..." he tried to speak, but then.

She could no longer contain the fury that consumed her. She lunged at Sorato, venting all of his anger in a brutal kick that sent him flying into the air.

—Don't you dare mention him again or say anything about him again! "He meant everything in my life and anything you assure me he told you, I won't believe it." I exclaim with rage!

Suddenly, that anger made a violent energy of orange color and burning like a flame emanate, which began to envelop her entire body.

"The Phoenix had completely awakened in her"

"I WILL NOT LET YOU FILL MY HEAD WITH LIES AGAIN!" He exclaimed, his eyes full of uncontrolled fury and his fists clenched.

Her body traveled a long distance, describing a parabola in the sky before falling with a deafening crash into the turbulent waters of a nearby river. The current carried him downstream, plunging him into darkness and freezing cold.

Sorato, stunned by the impact, struggled to breathe. The water completely surrounded him, suffocating him and stealing his breath. The current pushed him strongly, dragging him towards an uncertain destination.

Images of his past mixed with reality in his mind. Sayuri's smile, the happy moments they shared, the betrayal that led her to this point of darkness were repeated non-stop in her head.

"What should I do?". "No matter how much my subconscious tells me to fight, I can't..."

"At this point it would be more obvious why she wasn't capable."

Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, she managed to surface. Fresh air filled her lungs, giving her a second breath of life.

He crawled to the riverbank, exhausted but not yet defeated. Also facing a waterfall.

As he emerged from the river, Sorato turned to look for her. But what he saw left him cold.

Suddenly, two twin golden chains, with phoenix claws at their ends, appeared in the air and pounced on him.

-.Those are! Gaaahhh!

Before he could react, the chains surrounded him, trapping his arms and entangling them. The phoenix claws dug into the base of the waterfall, pinning him to the rock.

Immobilized by the golden chains, he watched as Sayuri approached him.

"Sayuri, don't do this to me!" he pleaded in a desperate voice. "Please stop this right now!"

"This was always our destiny, Sorato," he said with a cold and firm voice. "This was a "Fight of Destiny", announced since we were both born as part of two families that started a war between them centuries ago.

Sorato could not respond. Sayuri's words were a bitter truth that he couldn't deny. Fate had pitted them against each other in a final battle.

"A battle of how love turned back into hate"

Sayuri raised her right hand and pointed two fingers at Sorato. A fiery energy began to concentrate at the tips of his fingers.

Sorato bowed his head, accepting his fate. He closed his eyes and felt the heat of the fire becoming more intense.

However... the final blow did not come.

—.Huh?...- He opened his eyes and saw Sayuri looking at him with a doubtful expression. The fireball had dissipated, and the fiery energy had vanished.

"Don't be confused." He said with a firm voice. "I'm more than ready to put an end to our families' conflict right here."

Sorato looked at her with a mixture of confusion and fear. He couldn't understand how the woman he loved could be so determined to kill him.

However, to Sorato's surprise, Sayuri approached him with a fierce determination in her eyes. He extended a hand towards his face, with the softness of a caress that contrasted with the coldness of his words.

"What..." he murmured, not understanding what was happening.

She leaned into his ear and whispered.

—There is something I want to check first. It's something I have to prove to myself to make sure I end this.

"The tension was palpable in the air, like the calm before the storm. The unthinkable, after so much tragedy and pain for both of us, was about to happen."

The dragon, motionless due to the chains that imprisoned him, felt the Phoenix's hand rest on his cheek. A shiver ran through his body, a mixture of fear and anticipation.

"Sayuri, I beg you once again, let's stop this," he pleaded with a broken voice. "Doesn't everything we've been through together since we were children mean nothing to you?"

But Sayuri ignored her plea.

He realized that he couldn't raise his fist against her, not against the woman he loved. He closed his eyes in resignation, accepting his fate.

"I guess this was my destiny." "If only I had told him the truth before..."

Suddenly, he opened his eyes and couldn't believe what he saw. The image of Sayuri kissing him filled him with a mix of confusion, surprise, and a wave of intense emotions.

Love, hate, pain... but also something else.

"Her kiss was like lightning in the storm, a mixture that shook Sorato to the depths of his soul."

The kiss finally broke. Sayuri kept her head down for a few moments, touching her lips with a finger.

"That...wasn't a kiss of love, not like the first and only one we had had so far," he said in a cold and distant voice. "So that shortly after he would know the truth and understand that it didn't mean anything to you." nothing.

Her words hurt like a dagger. The little faith that the kiss had perhaps awakened in him vanished in an instant.

However, Sayuri continued with unwavering determination.

"But I will never be a liar." She sighed and continued saying, "I can't deceive myself. For me that kiss felt like one of genuine love, Sorato. But just as it was easy for you to do that to me... "

The calm in his voice broke, giving way to burning fury.

- "For me, it was easy to give you that kiss, it's just as easy to finish you off." He stated, ready to close the curtain.

He concentrated his power with a ferocity mixed with all those negative emotions, forming a fireball in his hands that doubled its previous size.

Sorato, despite being defeated and resigned, could not help but feel a wave of amazement. It was not the pain that overwhelmed him, but... the incomprehension of what he was able to see for a few moments.

—....Did what I saw was?...

But his time to think had run out. In his eyes was reflected the fire that would incinerate both her physical form and his soul.

Sayuri spoke the words with a voice filled with conviction.

Sayuri: With this the chain of hatred will be broken. This is the true end of the conflict between our clans.

And so, with a final gesture of anger and pain, Sayuri released the fireball, consummating his revenge and ending the conflict that had marked their lives forever.

And to finish this story he spoke some last words to the one who simply couldn't do anything.

—.This is the end... Sorato. With this there will be peace in the world. "The collateral damage suffered by innocent people and other clans due to our war will also end." "Because I am the one who will bring peace to this world, and it is the only thing I truly desire for the good of all."

He concluded by whispering coldly.

—"You've been wrong if you think this was just for revenge."

Very true, the phoenix is ​​the one who is supposed to bring peace to the world in times of greatest desolation and war.

Even now, history was going to repeat itself...

However...

That phrase resonated like an echo in his head.

—. (Break the chain of hate).- He bowed his head for a few moments. Looking into the previous one of him and then what he managed to see.

"Did you finally notice?"

Perhaps the phoenix was the bringer of peace and the one who brought it to the world. But the dragon was the one who represented and brought with him...

...THE HOPE!".

And the change in his expression and his next words would prove it.

—I swore to your father that I would be the one to do that!

Suddenly, with surprising speed, he managed to free himself from the chains that bound him. The fireball thrown by Sayuri hit the ground, creating a smoking crater a few meters away from him.

Sayuri, stunned by what she had just witnessed, could not believe that Sorato had managed to escape.

—So you still had strength left, I didn't bother invoking the chains with greater power because I thought you were on your last legs. —It almost sounded like I flattered him.

But as for him...

Sorato, with a firm and determined look, answered him.

—."A few seconds ago I resigned and was ready for you to eliminate me, but now..."

At that moment, an intense light began to emanate from Sorato's eyes. It was the same light, the same one that had helped him overcome so many obstacles in the past.

"Sayuri, my will to fight was on the floor if my only motivation was to save my own skin." He said with eyes full of determination and courage. "Now I know that I should not give up in this fight." He stood firmly in a pose. combat - "Now I know that this fight is not just for me. This fight is really for you! I will fight for you Sayuri."

Sorato, with renewed strength in his eyes and unwavering determination in his heart, confronts Sayuri, determined to break the chain of hatred that has tormented his families for generations.

"The Dragon had awakened"

The battle between hate and hope was about to begin.

Sorato and Sayuri, two souls united since childhood, were involved in a tragic destiny marked by the ancestral enmity between their clans.

It all started 13 years ago, when they were just 5-year-old children...

Dragon x Fenix ​​Chains 2 End.