"Dammit, Iris you old hag." Kaden said as he tossed the last of the trash into a dumpster behind the inn."

The young man had been ordered by his mentor to stay behind and clean. Not only the kitchen, but assist the innkeeper with whatever he desired.

"You are not allowed to leave until this kitchen is spotless. It is your mess after all," she told him when he tried to leave with them. "Since you created loads of dishes for that poor old innkeeper and his wife, you'll be helping him around the entire inn."

It was a cheap trick to get him to stay behind, letting him pig out on as much foreign food and beverages as he wanted. His instincts told him she was up to something but decided he should get chores done and hopefully grab a few hours of training.

He sighed in understanding then reached into the back of his dark grey breeches. Kaden really wished he hadn't eaten so much. There were no ry-parrots back home and he just couldn't control himself.

The master knight pulled out a list handwritten by Iris. He could see her smile in his mind as he read it.

To do

-Snacks

-5 crystion jewels

-New sleeping huts

-Gun polish

-More snacks

While most people found her smile dazzling and charming, Kaden found it highly annoying. "Please and thank you," he recalled her saying upon giving him the note.

Like he could refuse. The last time he ditched chores to train, he was left to hang upside down over a chasm for six hours. He had to fight off giant vultures for two of them. Iris was ruthless, but it was thanks to her ruthlessness that he had morphed quickly into a warrior.

He had known the woman all his life. Though he couldn't remember his childhood, Kaden knew this woman was not his mother. He couldn't remember his mother or father and thus thought of Iris as a parental figure. Iris practically raised him. She was the one who'd given him his blade and sheath. He wondered if he came from the Nadire branch but he was afraid of the answer.

Those where just two reasons why he never bothered to run for it.

Another was not wanting to leave Aya with that psychopath. She was his best friend, and they knew each other's strengths and weaknesses, ins, and outs like the back of their hand. They faced many hardships together and their teamwork was nearly perfect.

Which was why Kaden was aggravated that Iris gave him chores instead of sending him to give Aya support. The knight didn't like the idea of sending Aya out on a mission with a bunch of greenhorns.

She was a skillful tactician, like most of Felicity's bloodline. It was amazing what she could do. She'd led him many times, so Kaden knew full well his friend was more than capable. If he had felt differently then he would never have followed her across the harsh desert of Zracs-34 to face a darkling horde.

Aya leading a mission wasn't the problem. Kaden's worry came from not knowing if the team she was leading was competent. If his friend was unsure of her team then he feared she would become unsure of her own abilities. Kaden had never bested her in sparring matches but that didn't ease his mind of worry.

"Dammit, Iris." Kaden hissed as he started towards the center of the capital.

Sometime later, Kaden found himself in the heart of the capital of Vyrmm. The buildings here were just as beautiful as the ones back home, reaching high into the sky and made of a colorful steel-like material that most buildings in each capital where made of.

The floating cars here were shiny like the ones back home, though they were shaped somewhat differently. Kaden strolled the shopping district, he could see Lyzaria university sitting on a hill in the horizon. It was huge, made of white and blue titanium-4. Only slightly different from Amilia university.

He also noted the officer knights and other master knights on patrol. They probably wouldn't recognize him with the hood and collar of his dark grey cloak covering his face.

After being recruited into the Order of Knights, you go off the grid and all records of you from the universities are kept solely by the intelligence bureau. The Order goes to great lengths to keep one's identity hidden from those who'd do them harm. It was a given when your status was the cause of bounty hunter attacks.

The sun had started to set when Kaden finally finished his shopping. The buildings looked dazzling as the setting sun made them shine a reddish-orange. After nearly a half day of chores, Kaden couldn't wait to hear how Aya's mission went. He hoped she managed okay but only time would tell.

He noticed a commotion being made as civilians pointed at smoke rising from a building in the distance. Then multiple sirens stationed all over the capital started blaring. Kaden knew what that meant. It sounded just like the sirens back in the city of V-Cereus.

Kaden knew what was about to happen...

Activating his Mana hull, the young man leaped onto a building just as a computerized female voice echoed throughout the city. "Attention citizens of Solonia, please move towards the nearest safe center and await the arrival of a divine knight. From there, the divine knight will either protect your safe center, or they will escort you to the escape tunnels through the capital. This is not a drill. Repeat. This is not a drill." The announcement repeated.

Yeah, this was just like the day he went to battle to protect a kingdom in for his nation. He cursed under his breath as he saw large balls of fire the size of boulders flying towards Solonia. They crashed into the sides of buildings, hover cars, and the stone roads, causing massive pieces of debris that could prove fatal if someone was standing under them.

Not good. Kaden thought.

He leaped onto a taller building and started to scale it. Once high enough, Kaden saw another barrage of large fireballs hurtling towards the city. His eyes grew wide in disbelief when he saw them jumping over the high walls that separated Solonia from the outside world.

"This is definitely not good." The young man said aloud.

Vympiri and darklings climbed over the wall. The caramel skinned young man cursed when he saw a large number of evilbarers were with them as well. This was not normal by any means. Never in history have Darklings fought alongside Vympiri.

Darklings killed anything that was not of their kind.

"What's going on?" Kaden asked himself as he continued ogling the growing destruction before him.

He jumped away from the side of the building as he conjured more mana. Landing on another building, he ran, moving swiftly through the city as he flipped and spun from building to building looking for a Knight who might have any information.

He heard screams, people calling for a help. Sliding to a stop, he looked around and spotted an evilbarer that had already gotten pretty deep inside the capital. The thing had a woman in its hand.

Kaden didn't think.

He began to sprint, his arm morphing. The skin on his left arm that was once brown with scars transformed into black dragon scales.

Suddenly the young man has engulfed in lightning and a powerful surge of strength flowed through him. Within two seconds, he was in front of the monster, a sword made of pure lightning sparking to life in his scaled hand.

With a grunt, he thrust his sword into the thing's chest right where its core would be, then planted his feet on the chest of the thing. By the time the evilbarer realized what was happening, it was too late.

"Lightning Current!" Kaden shouted as bolts of electricity shocked the monster. Once and then again with a stronger current before it could reform completely. The monster dropped its would-be victim, and half a second later, Kaden was on the ground with her in his arms.

"T-t-thank you," The woman stammered out when she got over her confusion. She sobbed into him loudly in his shoulder. "Thank you so much."

"Don't mention it," He said, pulling off his hood. His curly brown hair was tied back in a ponytail but some lose strands dangled over his forehead, not quite covering up a scar that never healed.

"Hey!" An officer knight called out to him as a group of them rushed over. It was the group he had seen earlier.

Suddenly the hairs on the back of his neck stood on end.

The Officer Knights stopped and aimed their rifles in Kaden's direction. Instinctively, Kaden threw himself to the ground, pulling the woman down with him just as the knights began firing.

The mana acted as projectiles, smacking into a couple of Vympiri that were coming up behind Kaden. Normally the projectiles could pierce metal, but the skin of a Vympiri is stronger than most metals. All it did was push them back as they shielded their faces and hissed angrily.

Three of the officer's Mana became visible around their body before a mana hull formed around him. They leaped on the side of a building, keeping the three vympiri distracted with their rifles.

Their Mana projectiles were bigger. This was a sign that they were pouring more mana into the crystals inside the rifles. This would start to hurt vympiri who weren't mature with enough shots being able to kill.

Kaden wasted no time as they resorted to dodging which left them open. Lightning surrounded his body again as electricity sparked around him. One moment he was beside the woman on the ground, the next he was in front of the vympiri. His scaled armed pierced through its chest, the talons on his hand could be seen sticking out of its back covered in blood. The leech looked at him wide-eyed in disbelief.

"Hope your friends put up more of a fight," Kaden said with a bored expression.

The master knight pulled out his black dragon-scaled arm and kicked the monster hard, sending him sailing into a nearby building. Kaden instantly began forming more mana as he then spun on his heels, swinging his scaled arm to block a punch from a female vympiri.

"Not bad human." The vympiri said impressed. "I'll enjoy taking your life force."

"Not even in your dreams, leech."

Kaden kicked the creature hard. It blocked but was stilled pushed away a bit. A sword made of lightning formed in his hand in a reverse grip.

He slashed at the vympiri who dodged.

Kaden used his momentum to spin and kick with his heel to which the vympiri block then he punched it hard with his scaled fist, the force sending it crashing into a hovercar which exploded with a loud, BOOM!

He then flipped in the air and jammed his lightning sword into its chest. The creature's eyes held shock as red blood oozed from her mouth.

"At least you were more of a challenge than your friend."

Currents of lightning engulfed the vympiri, frying it to death.

He meant his last words. The creature was able to keep up with the added stack from his lightning cloak. If he wasn't careful he could end up dying though only mature vympiri could match him.

"Thanks for your help," he said to the knights as they approached him. "Where are your safe centers?"

Not being from around here meant Kaden had very little knowledge of the layout of this capital. He also had a horrible sense of direction. Besides, he should stay with a group. They might need the backup.

"There's one just up ahead," responded the Knight that had first called out to him. "We could make it in only a few minutes if uninterrupted."

Kaden nodded. "Lead the w-"

"Look out!!!" The woman who had been saved screamed, pointing upwards. Kaden saw more large balls of fire falling from the sky, one was hurtling right towards them and coming fast.

"Haaaaaaa!!" Kaden shouted, mana surrounding him as he leaped towards it.

A large arm made of orange flames erupted from his mana hull. It held a sword made of lightning that split the fireball into chunks before it made an impact with anything.

"You're the Lightning Flame," one of the officer knights said almost in awe as Kaden's avatar arm turned into embers that got lost in the wind upon his landing. "I knew I recognized you!"

"Yeah, that's what they call me," Kaden said. "We need to hurry to the safe centers and round up any civilians on the way. Every second we slack off could be another second used to save a life."

"Yes Sir!" The officer knights responded, standing at attention.

Kaden shivered, "Don't call me 'Sir'." He swooped the woman up in his arms. "Let's move!"

Just then more vympiri appeared with darklings in tow.

Kaden scoffed. "Damn. Guess I've got no choice. Take the woman and get the rest of the civilians outta here. I'll hold 'em off."

His left arm began to morph again.Vympiri made the first move, throwing vehicles to catch the group off guard before lunging.

Kaden moved, too. He activated his Lightning Cloak, the young man evaded the hovercars by flipping over one and jumping from the other to intercepted the vympiri.

Normally Kaden's speed with just mana boosting him would put him on par with most of them. However, with his Lightning Cloak, Kaden was too fast for the average vympiri.

He kicked and punched one after the other, sending a few crashing through buildings. He sent one sailing into an evilbarer with enough force to knock the large creature over.

Kaden landed on the roof of the shop he had sent a vympiri into and looked back at the officer knights. "Well? What are you waiting for? Scram!" He shouted.

He jumped off the building, summoning his Lightning sword, the young man clashed mid-air with an evilbarer. Mana could be seen around the lightning cloak before a flaming arm reached out and punched the evilbarer, knocking it over into a small building.

The young man let out a roar as blood dripped from his nose. Another flaming arm grew out of the mana and both of the large flaming arms began to pummel the downed evilbarer rapidly, burning through its tough skin to expose the core. Kaden grabbed the core with his flaming avatar hands and crushed it completely. It started to reform but Kaden then sent his flaming fists to slam against it, destroying it once more. The thing turned into black smoke that got blown away in the wind.

Kaden searched for the officer Knights he was with moments ago and what he saw made his heartache. The Vympiri from before hadn't been downed. They were ripping the Officers apart along with civilians as they feasted on their lifeforce.

Blood splattered the streets.

A vympiri looked his way and grinned, blood staining its pink lips and rosy cheeks, a mana skeleton around it. She held the arm of the woman Kaden had saved minutes ago.

"Sorry little livestock," She cooed mockingly. "Looks like your efforts were in vain."

"Shut up!" he shouted at her with rage. He took a moment to compose himself.

He moved with intent to reach a vympiri before it killed another but was intercepted by the female vympiri. The two met in the air and the vympiri's skin was strong enough to clash with his lightning sword.

"Outta my way!" Kaden snarled.

The vympiri smirked as it threw a heavy punch at Kaden's head. The young knight managed block but the attack sent him crashing into the ground, creating a small crater.

Kaden got up shaking off his grogginess.

He watched wide-eyed as the vympiri held its next victim in its hands.

"No!" He yelled, rushing to meet the vympiri but was blocked once again by the female. She grinned at him with a bloody mouth.

"Damn you, leech scum!" Kaden roared as he attacked with a fury of spinning slashed, punches, and kicks too which the vympiri dodged and blocked, adding to Kaden's increasing frustration.

He roared as his flame avatar swinging his large lightning sword at the vympiri who dodged while laughing at Kaden's turmoil.

"Get down, boy!"

Kaden dispelled his fire avatar and dropped to the floor just as the vympiri's head was lobbed off. The headless body fell to its knees, blood shot up like geyser from its neck before falling to the floor.

The young knight got up, ignoring the fact that he was covered in blood.

"Lightning Flame." Said an older man with a broadsword in hand.

He looked around to see more knights on the scenes. He saw that there were some survivors and sighed in relief but his heart was still heavy for those he couldn't save.

"Lightning Flame." Said the Divine knight once again, a broadsword in hand. He placed a hand on the young man's shoulder. "Your reputation precedes you but if you hadn't lost your cool back there you would've found your opening. "

Kaden knew the older man was right. He had been so fixated on saving others and the vympiri had used that against him, taunting him and making him frustrated.

"Let's finish up here and make our way to university. You ready, Lightning Flame?"

Kaden nodded facing the enemies that remained. This time he wouldn't be distracted and let his sense of justice get the best of his emotions.

Sometime later Kaden and a group of knights found themselves in front of the university. They had been slowed down taking out enemies and helping civilians along the way.

A few small explosions shook the ground under their feet. They hurried towards the noise.

The outside was a mess. Rubble and dead bodies both knight and vympiri littered the surrounding area making it impossible to move with ease. The young man clenched his fist.

Kaden and his comrades entered the school. He couldn't believe his eyes. The place was in ruins. It was like a graveyard without the grave. Kaden could tell a big battle went on here. As the team went further into the school, Kaden noticed that several Vympiri bodies had color which meant they were mature. The group exchanged looks.

The divine knight who'd save him early knelt down to close the eyes of another knight.

Kaden felt two powerful spikes in mana output before a large explosion nearly blew them away along with a chunk of the school.

"Let's move!" The divine knight ordered.

They ran, pushing their mana hulls to see what became of King Vermilion.

A kick blew open the door to the King's chamber.

"No," One of the knights behind him whispered in disbelief. "This can't be. Tell me this isn't real!"

King Vermilion laid dead, a black sword that looked to be made of bone stuck out of his chest. A dark figure holding a pole ax made of black ice stood by the body, his skin was pitch black like a darkling. He wore a helmet that was shaped like the horns and frills of a triceratops.

His broken armor had two shining lights that resembled far away stars that move about.

A Darkness Tamer.