Chapter 8 – Crisis

Drake and Sai were walking quickly through the forest. Occasionally smaller beasts would try to attack them, but they posed no threat to them. Sai was constantly playing with his new found power, activating and deactivating it.

“Could you stop that…?!” Drake asked annoyed as Sai once again activated his red glowing spikes, which almost stabbed into Drake’s face. Sai turned around and laughed cheerfully, like a small child. Suddenly a dangerous glint appeared in his eyes and without answering Drake he dashed straight towards a big tree. Without stopping he smashed with his body against the tree and the stem burst on numerous places. The tree, that probably stood there for a hundred years, slowly fell to the ground.

“What the hell was that for?” Drake asked while slowly getting angry. He should’ve let this lowly crocodile die. Then he wouldn’t have to bother with this useless thing. Drake had thought about it for some time now. He did save the crocodile and apparently his blood gave him a huge amount of power. What if his decision to save him was false? What if, one day, Sai decides to betray him? If it was now it would be no problem if Drake used his real power without holding back, but how strong would Sai be in ten years? On the other side, if Sai really became his brother, from his heart and soul and not only through a simple oath, wouldn’t he become a huge help to fulfil his task of revenge? And before that wouldn’t he gain something he had yearned for in the last two years? A friend! It was a dangerous situation and Drake didn’t know if he should trust Sai or not. He sighed. It was no use to think about it now, as he couldn’t change the granting of his bloodline and he neither was willing to kill the crocodile man.

“Well…It’ll be faster that way!” Sai said. He carefully observed Drake, who seemed to be deep in thoughts a moment ago. A dangerous glint had appeared in his eyes, but as soon as Sai spoke to him it disappeared. “I will think about it later!” Drake decided in his mind and got ready to walk.

“How long do we have to walk until we arrive at your village, Sai?” he asked curiously and turned around to look at the crocodile, which was still standing near the fallen tree, watching him. Sai’s thoughtful gaze disappeared and he looked towards Drake.

“It won’t be long if we use my technique!” Sai said with an amused and excited glint in his eyes. He infused his body with his soul energy and started running into Drake’s direction, quickly passing him. Drake didn’t think much of the thoughtful gaze Sai’s and followed closely behind.

Two figures were moving through the dense forest. One of them was a giant black scaled crocodile, which had red glowing sparks on his body and was walking on two legs. The other one was a small creature with long black dreadlocks, a mask on the lower half of his face and a blood red pelt as a cape. Both of them exuded the sharp sensation of extreme danger as they dashed through the forest, one loudly trampling everything in its way, the other one silently following, like a small shadow. They were extremely opposite, but if one would observe them closely it seemed like they would be undefeatable opponents if they worked together.

Drake was following behind Sai, trying to no get hit by the countless splinters of wood the giant crocodile was whirling up. Everything in Sais way was trampled as he ran with his full strength through the forest. No beast dared to attack them anymore.

Soon the dense forest around them became clearer, as the ground became stony. Sai stopped and Drake, who was running behind him, almost crashed into the dangerously glowing spikes on the crocodiles back.

“Bloody hell! Why did you stop all of a sudden?!” Drake shouted angered and stepped around Sais body. They were standing on a cliff, underneath them was a small valley, filled with even more trees. The valley was surrounded by high stone cliffs and rocks. A small river was flowing through the valley starting at a hole in one of the cliffs and ending in a pond. In the middle of the valley was a relatively large settlement, consisting of tents and cooking fires. There were no fences or other measures of protection and Drake could understand why.

“This looks…peaceful…” Drake whispered and Sai who heard him nodded his head.

“This is the village of the Du’Shalan Tribe, my home!” Sai said proudly and watched the settlement in the valley.

“I think I can endure staying here for some time…” Drake muttered and a relieved feeling rose in his heart. Now he finally would be able to train his techniques and develop his own fighting style, without having to worry about the sudden appearance of a dangerous beast.

“Well…let’s go d-…” Drake wanted to say as all of a sudden a sharp, shrill cry resounded in the valley. The two raised their heads and gazed into the sky. At first there was nothing to see. Abruptly, accompanied by another cry five giant birds descended from the sky. They had three long, sharp looking, black claws on each of their feet. Their feathers looked like someone ignited them, with small flames all over their body. Sharp black beaks lay directly under black eyes, which were on the side of their heads. They looked like fake phoenixes. Drake thought that they were looking kind of familiar. He suddenly remembered the small birds, which he had named grousers.

“It seems like they really were not fully grown…” Drake thought and observed the birds as they floated closer and closer to the ground.

“What are these birds, Sai?” He asked and turned towards the crocodile. To his surprise Sai’s face was distorted and he could feel rage, helplessness and horror in his eyes. Sai was curling his hands into fists and crunched his teeth anxiously. The birds got closer and closer to the village and Drake, who was confused before, finally understood what their goal was and why Sai was anxious. They wanted to eat! Sai looked at the village, then he looked at his hands that were curled into fists. Suddenly a deep growl was heard from his body and his eyes started to burn in raging red flames.

“It is enough…it is enough….it is enough…..ENOUGH!!!” Sai shouted and returned his gaze to the village in the valley. The birds had landed in the middle of it and were trying to grab one of the crocodiles that were running wildly through the village. Sai breathed in deeply and spit out a roar infused with his soulenergy and rage.

‘GROOOOOOOOOOOAR’

The whole valley seemed to tremble, the trees were bending and losing all of their leafs. Small rocks started to fall from the cliffs, landing in the valley with crashing noises.

The roar lasted for almost a minute, until every living being in the are had either hidden itself or fled. Sai closed his mouth and the echoes of his roar were resounding all over the valley, reflecting from the cliffs. The birds, who originally just wanted to take a snack, were bombarded by sound, which confused them. They lost their sense of orientation and momentarily stopped their pursuit of the Du’Shalan tribe members. Sai didn’t think long after roaring and directly jumped from the cliff. Drake understood the danger of the situation and followed behind.

Sai landed with a loud sound and the ground beneath him shattered, forming countless small cracks. Drake who followed behind landed almost silently and stepped next to the raging crocodile.

“Let’s slaughter!!” he said with a cruel look in his eyes and dashed into the dense forest that was between them and the village. Sai immediately followed and an equally bloodthirsty look appeared in his eyes. Drake was moving fast and he heard wood breaking close behind him. In a few short breaths both of them reached the village and saw how the ten ‘warriors’ from the clan were trying to fight against the giant red flaming birds. Their bodies were charred by the flames and big claw wounds were everywhere on their bodies. They had no chance against the birds, as none of the crocodiles had a bloodline technique. Hell, they didn’t even have a proper bloodline. As Sai saw his tribe mates and friends getting hurt he immediately started to run again, pushing all his soul energy in his body. Drake, who didn’t want to just watch was directly behind him. In the blink of an eye Sai reached one of the birds and rammed straight into it, pushing it to the ground. With a loud roar he jumped towards the flaming bird, which was trying to stand up, grapped its neck and twisted with all his might. The red flaming bird, which was strongly trying to break free cried loudly as its whole head got twisted around. At the end of the twist Sai pulled with all his strength and severed the head from the body. Blood sprayed everywhere and the body of the bird slumped to the ground, trembling and twitching.

Sai roared triumphantly and dashed to the next nearest flaming bird, no wounds could be seen on his dark black scales.

The warriors of the Du’Shalan tribe were watching this giant black scaled warrior killing the giant flaming bird as if It was as easy as killing a chicken. They all were shocked and dumbfounded, as they looked at the severed head and the wildly spraying blood. Unfortunately they forgot in their shock, that they were fighting three other flaming birds. The birds, which were kind of intelligent, directly used this chance and jumped enraged towards the ten warriors that were standing before them. The warriors were still in a dazed state when they heard the shrill cry of the birds and turned around again, only to see three giant black beaks flying towards them, ready to crush their bodies. Despair filled their eyes as they realized that one simple mistake would cost them their lifes. One of the wounded warriors fell to his knees and watched the sharp beaks coming closer with lifeless eyes. He had given up hope. All of a sudden a small blood red shadow passed the warriors as fast as lightning, unseen by them.

Drake, who had watched the battle of Sai finally decided to act. He kicked the ground with all his strength and charged towards the three flaming birds. He collided with the first bird in mid air, pushing it back a few steps. “Those birds are pretty strong…it seems like I have to go all out!” he thought and with a blending green flash of light the scorpion tail appeared above his forearm, trembling in excitement. “Lets try this first…” he muttered and dashed towards the bird he had pushed back. In a short breath he appeared in front of the dazed flaming bird and leaped on its back. With a thought he gathered more soul energy in the ghostly tail and with a movement of his arm he struck towards the head of the bird. A loud bursting noise could be heard and the head of the bird was crushed into peaces, blood splashing everywhere.

Before the bird fell to the ground Drake had already jumped towards the next bird, which didn’t even know what was happening. It couldn’t even react as Drake jumped in front of its head and, seemingly floating, delivered a punch with full strength to the head. The head immediately exploded into bloody pieces, which scattered everywhere in the village.

The warriors couldn’t believe their eyes. What was happening?! Who were the two terrifyingly strong individuals that killed the flaming birds so easily and where did they come from?! They couldn’t think of an answer and just watched.

Sai was fighting a fight of pure strength with the second bird he attacked. Both of them were trying to push the other to the ground with all their strength. No one seemed to have the upper hand and Sai, who was getting impatient, growled loudly. “If this goes on, I won’t be able to kill this chicken!! I will try something…” Sai thought and closed his eyes. He searched for his soulsea and, with a thought, commanded all of the remaining blood red flaming energy to condense in his arms. He had never tried this before, but he got the idea after fighting Drake.

The spikes on his back and elbows vanished, as he channelled all of the soul energy into his lower arms and hands. His arms started to glow in a faint red colour, it looked like ghostly flames were dancing wildly on his arms and he reached back with both of his hands, destroying the balance of the bird. Before the bird could react to the new situation, Sai’s two arms pounded with all of his strength into its chest, caving it in. The birds shrill cry echoed through the valley as splinters from its rips pierced through its hard, killing it painfully.

Sai coughed a little and blood filled his mouth. “It seems like I have overused the power…” he thought “Drake will have to do the rest…” and with a chuckle he sat down on the ground, powerless.

Drake, who had killed two of the three birds charging towards the ten warriors, watched coldly as the last remaining birds feathers ignited into giant red flames, throwing a wave of heat onto him. The flames were incredibly hot, but to someone that inherited the lineage of a dragon god, it was not much more than a tickle. He looked at the bird in contempt and before it could try any other moves he darted towards it, the blood red cape fluttering behind him.

A short breath later Drake and the bird collided with a loud crashing noise. Drake, who didn’t feel any threat from the flames hit the birds body with his fist and scorpion tail countless times until the flames on the body vanished. The bird fell to the ground and Drake, who got ready to deal the finishing blow, stepped directly in front of the head of the fallen beast.

Suddenly the bird opened its black beak and screamed. The scream was extremely loud, even louder than the roar from Sai and accompanied with by the shrill sound of the scream was an invisible power. Drake was sent flying, crashing through countless tents and trees until he finally stopped in a crater on the ground.

“What the hell…alright…now you’ve got it…!!!” Drake shouted with a loud growling voice, different from his normal voice. He stood up, rage and bloodlust in his eyes and white scales emerged from his skin, covering his chest, shoulders and upper arms. His ice cold blue eyes were slowly turning silver and he seemed to grow a head taller. His appearance was extremely scary and a huge aura of bloodlust hovered around him.

“PREPARE TO DIE, WORM!!” Drake roared with a voice, sounding like that of a giant dragon, growling, deep and strong. The frenzied human figure moved his foot for one step and suddenly he disappeared. He appeared directly next to the bird, which was still lying on the ground and slowly his hands, which were curled into fists before, were now loosening up and forming claws. The tips of his fingers, which normally looked like humans, were now exuding a pale silver-white light, which faintly looked like real claws. With an almost unnoticeable move of his arms the claws slashed through the air and into the body of the flaming bird. Blood sprayed everywhere and two huge, bloody wounds appeared on the body of the bird, splitting its feathers. Drake didn’t stop and slashed faster and faster. Soon the whole body of the beast was covered in wounds, it didn’t look alive, even though it was. Suddenly the slashing stopped and the cruel looking, silver eyed Drake moved his hands on the two wings of the bird. With a ripping sound he severed the wings from the bird, directly shredding the wings into pieces afterwards. Then he kicked the ground, leaped high into the air and with his bare feet pointed to the ground, he fell as lighting towards the back of the bloody flaming bird.

‘BOOOOM’

The birds body exploded into lots of smaller parts, blood and organs splattering everywhere and a huge crater appeared around the place of impact. The whole crater was covered in blood and flesh, making it look like hell. Drake, who was standing in the middle of all this destruction and terror, had not a single drop of blood on his body. He was just standing there exuding an ancient and extremely dangerous feeling aura.