With Blades and Flames: Awakening

by David Csontos

  “Yes, me too!”said Arkain. The five of them were now speeding along the land as fast as they could jumping over anything that got in their paths. In the distance, a dark tower could be picked up in front of the moon. It was a wide and half destroyed tower but it might be their only escape.“There is a tower in front of us! We need to get there!”he shouted and the others agreed. They have rushed towards the sight until they have reached a clearing. The trees have disappeared and long grass field took over. The grass itself stretched up to the chest after a while but only behind the tower. First, they need to reach it. They ran and ran. When Arkain looked back he could see shadows in the distance closing up on them. It took a while, but they have quickly reached the tower. Unfortunately when they finally looked at it, it was demolished at there was no way of climbing up. It was half open and the walls were broken and demolished.“Run! We need to keep going!” shouted Burdõlbut Ilinoair replied with a“No! They will reach us soon and there is no point running! We need to fight!”The four of them got ready while Hoot had flew up onto the top of the stone wall.“Get all of your weapons out!” shouted Agaroth and grabbed his sword and his smaller axe. Burdõldid the same along with Ilinoair. Time seemed to slow down for them. Each started to breathe faster and looked towards the forest.“What is that?!”shouted Ilinoair and pointed towards something in the distance. Slowly, a line of wolves appeared on the side in front of the trees. A few steps and they were out in the open.“What are these?!” yelled Burdõland he was right. The wolves seemed bigger and more menacing. Their eyes were red and their teeth were hanging out from their mouth. On some parts of their body they were bold like all of them burned themselves. Each was growling which sounded like a small rickety humming noise from a distance. It started raining and small raindrops have started invading the place. Suddenly, Arkain fell onto the ground.“Arkain! Are you alright?”His insides started to burn like never before. It felt like he was going to die. He tried to fight off the pain while the predators were glancing at him. He stood up with the sword in his right hand.“Are you all right?”asked Agaroth but already knew what was happening. He looked up at the sky and saw that the moon. It had completed its full circle and was now full.“Whatever happens, just keep fighting and listen to me!”he yelled and waited for the wolves to attack. On the other hand Arkain’s pain was slowly starting to disappear and now he could stand upright.“I’m fine”he said and did the same as the others. Then, a wolf from the middle walked out into the front. It was huge and horrifyingly strong.“Get ready” whispered Ilinoair. Out of nowhere a bright flash could be seen from next to the tower. It was a long line that have exploded into the ground with a huge impact creating a blast of wind. As soon as this happened, all the wolves started charging. Barks, growls could be heard as the four fighters were facing towards an army of beasts.“See you on the other side” said Burdõl and swinged his axe towards the upcoming demons. He managed to hit one on the head but another took its place. Arkain and the others were fighting as much as they could. A wolf fell here, another there but they have managed to get split up. The wolves somehow pushed the boy away from the others into a separate circle of danger. Arkain could not concentrate any longer. The pain was slowly starting to come back to him, weakening his body. He swinged his swords towards the wolves but they have kept jumping back. There were too many of them and this was a completely unknown attack. They didn’t realize how much these have managed to bring terror to them. It was all a bad surprise. Agaroth was fighting on one end, Burdõland Ilinoair on the other. He has never seen such an aggressive wolves before. They were attacking him from every corner and there was barely any time to react. Abruptly Arkain’s scream could be heard. A wolf have managed to bite his hand which made him drop the sword.“Hold on!” shouted Ilinaorand tried to fight his way towards him but had to jump back. He could reach the boy. He screamed again, because just after his right hand got bitten, his left was too with the wolves now going into full attack. The pain was increasing inside him. His insides caught fire and it felt like he had no escape. Hoot started giving out sharp cry and started hopping.“Arkain!”roared Agaroth with trepidation. It all became slow, Arkain tried to fight, move, cry, jump, and leap and survive but it didn’t work. His hands were pulled down by teeth and the other wolves leapt onto him.“Arkain!” shouted Agaroth and because of this a wolf managed to also leap on him. All he could do is use the sword to stop its mouth but it just kept going, even in pain. Burdõl’s leg got bitten as well and he was now on his knees. Ilinoair was overwhelmed by everything around him and tripped on a wolf. The owl shrieked louder and louder. For Arkain the world slowed down as the pain increased. His whole body was on fire by now and the wolves were ripping his skin and muscles. Then, he started to become free. His bones twisted and his soul was expanding. He grew and become something else. Blood was flowing down onto the ground and skin was dropping as well. His eyes started spinning and he became blind. His mouth started to stretch and teeth were growing. Dark, black fur started growing on his back and claws were emerging from his hands tearing the little human flesh he had left. You could hear the bones cracking, breaking and forging. His head twisted to the left and to the right below the attacking wolves. Teeth like small raindrops fell to the ground. Then, his ears were growing and his whole body took on a new shape. His shoulder blades warped out of their places and his legs were deforming. Everything became more alive but his mind was lost. He lost anything that he once had as a human and he no longer knew what he was doing. The new mind took over to replace the old and scarred one. More wolves ran to it and started ripping it apart. Then, an ear-splitting growl could be heard to which all the wolves around looked towards the owner. A hand with claws emerged from the pile ripped its way out. In the middle of the madness an enormous body could be seen, covered in black fur with yellow eyes. Agaroth and the others were trying to fight their way up so they could stand up but it was too much to handle.“Oh no” whispered Agaroth. Huge growls filled in the remaining air as the thing ripped and tore its way to the surface. Then, it bit into the next beast’s neck which fell back screeching. Another thunder has struck and it stood up bellowing, and from the light the thing could easily be seen. It was half wolf, half human covered in black fur with a wolf head. Wide and strong that had many teeth on it. It looked at Agaroth for a moment then went back to fight with the animals which were going at it as much as they could. The black wolf lifted one of them and threw it away, then it struck the next one on the side. Its claws have penetrated the beast’s skin easily and lifted blood from it. Another three had jumped on it but they were quickly thrown off and ran towards Agaroth. It jumped on the wolf that was trying to get to him and bit its neck. Then it went for the others that were on Ilinoair and Burdõl. It bellowed again and attacked them, now on all four. It was a battle of beast against beast. Then came the biggest wolf which ran through the others towards it. It became bloody as the two biggest creatures around started to fight for survival. Each unforgiving and ready to kill started tearing and slashing each other to pieces. The black wolf went to attack first and trying to bite the other’s neck. They fought than it was the other’s turn. The beast went to attack and raised its claws. It ruptured the air in front of him and cleaved the black wolf’s skin through its left eye. Luckily it didn’t become blind meanwhile the humans and the dwarf was jumping up and down to stay away from them.“Stay back!” shouted Agaroth and pushed Ilinoair and the dwarf away from the fight. The black wolf and the leader were now fighting close. They were dashing around each other and leaping. The black wolf jumped on the beast and started biting its neck, it did not gave up though. It managed to slip its way out from in-between the great fangs. Each of them growled loudly and were now in the air crushing the other. All of a sudden, the black wolf got the upper hand and got hold of the beast’s neck once again this time not letting it go. The other struggled and painstakingly tried to get rid of the pain but it couldn’t. The black wolf was stronger and started to crush its neck and e
verything inside it. It cried from the pain, then his body flopped with all of it dropping onto the ground, but still the black wolf didn’t let go of it. It just kept crushing it until there was nothing left. Then, it released it, leaving blood soaked teeth and skin in its mouth and turned towards the three survivors. His fur was soaking wet in the rain and he was bleeding from everywhere. His eye filled with blood from the scar above it that ran through. It could only smell blood around itself. Its eyes faced towards them without any expression. Next, its mind started to become cloudy and it looked down at its scars. Most of its body was covered in it and blood was flowing from all of it like rivers. The wolf fell to the ground and everything became dark.

  Epilogue

  It was cold. Cold beyond anything. The snow left their footprints behind each of their steps as they have made their way to the end. The end of their journey at last, not knowing what it would bring. In front of them was a decaying castle with a mountain next to it.“We are here!”shouted the first man and walked forward. Then came the second and the third carrying something heavy. It was in bandages and nearly was twice the size of him but he still managed to carry it. An owl had flung across their view and settled on a tree looking down at them. There was no wind, only silence. They have travelled far through heavy terrain with many pains and weight on their shoulders but they have finally reached it, even if it wasn’t the way they have planned. It all seemed like years that they have been gone but it still didn’t fulfil them that their end was here. It is their final stop in a while which they have more than earned. There was nothing except emptiness around them. No life, no sign of a warm welcome but a cold forest that didn’t care whether they win or lose. They are already forgotten and if they die here then it wouldn’t matter. The three strong travellers were made of a harder steel though, this would be their death and they knew it. The mountain was high and its top could just barely be seen from this far.“Finally, we are here” said Agaroth.

  A man’s mind will only be able to free itself once the soul transcends from the reality of deep chaos. Once that happens nothing will matter to the pity of feelings that once was thought of so fondly. The rest of the body will stay behind to fulfil the reality of others and as time runs out restarts itself. Just like the others that became foul to our minds and our existence. When you realize this amnesia is the only god that you want to pray to and probably the only god that listens. No matter how far away you try to take your mind away from this anarchy, like death it will catch up to you deleting the reality that you have so carefully built up. Or is this all a dream? A needle in the skin? Not part of anything but an object that holds onto you until you take it out. For all that is this could be a hallucination, no more. Even then, does all of this matter? Does all of this worth it? Throughout your life you live in a world that you created for yourself and everything else becomes unacceptable. Both of us know that this will not last long. This will reach its end like so many other things. Sooner or later that rift will come crashing down, but when it does would you become free or lose yourself in a void like you are doing now? The complexity of this creation exceeds your understanding further than you could imagine. No matter if you realize this for there is no saviour, no light at the end of the tunnel or an escape from this deep pit of insanity that you have dug yourself to be able to continue this vivid transcend.

  -From and unknown diary

  How“With Blades and Flames: Awakening” was made: (Potential Spoilers Ahead)