Shadow Claw
By Blue Dragon-sy

Chapter 1:
Darkness Befalls

Rapheon sat up suddenly, his muscles tense. His heart was pounding against his chest, his breathing was harsh and rapid, and his shirt was drenched in his sweat. For a moment he couldn’t remember where he was or what was happening, but then his memory set in again…

He raised a hand over his eyes, telling himself over and over again that it was just a nightmare… albeit a realistic one. He had dreamt that he was Kryden, the brown-haired warrior alone in the dark castle with a silver wolf, and he shuddered when he thought of the pain he received from Druegen. The pain felt so real… too real to be just a dream… why had it been like that? And how did that man – Kryden, or something – relate to it at all?

He shook his head to force the thoughts out of his mind, and then slid off his bed as his forest green eyes automatically glanced out the window to tell how late or early it was. He had expected it to be late morning, but the darkness outside surprised him… it turned out that the dream had woken him up at the crack of dawn. What a great way to start the day.

He yawned and stretched, and then started to re-tie his long, messy blue hair in a low ponytail, or at least make it look acceptable. After he strapped his sheathed double swords around his faded blue pants and put on his favourite red sleeveless jacket over his sleeveless white shirt, he slowly went out of his room, only to find that his two elder siblings were already awake.

His sister Cecille, a pretty twenty-year-old in a plain pink dress embroidered with soft blue flowers, was already preparing breakfast in their humble kitchen that stood in the corner of the their living-dining room, her long green hair that went down her back tied back with a blue ribbon that matched her dress. His elder brother Camus, a tall and slightly muscular man with short and partly messy green hair, was slowly polishing his single silver-green broad sword on one of the living room chairs. This time he had a short-sleeved white shirt and a pair of pants similar to Rapheon’s.

Camus and Cecille were actually twins, with Cecille being older than Camus by a few minutes and both of them older than their youngest brother by about five years, but not many people believed it as the only similarity they had were their deep green hair and cerulean blue eyes.

“Whoa, Raph!” the elder brother spoke with a hint of surprise, setting the cloth he was using for polishing his sword down. “You’re up extraordinarily early today! What’s the occasion?”

“Nothing…” Rapheon muttered and slumped down on the chair next to his brother, heaving a sigh. “Just a nightmare…”

He looked concerned. “What nightmare?”

The young boy just leant against the back of his chair and closed his eyes. “I really don’t want to talk about it…”

“Oh, okay then…” Camus still looked a little concerned. “You can tell me if you want to, all right?”

He just nodded a little.

The older of the two resumed polishing his sword, but paused for a moment and then turned back to him. “By the way, Raph, Master came along and told us to be there early.”

Rapheon blinked his eyes open, evidently surprised. “Huh? Whatever for?”

He looked at him. “Wait a minute, don’t tell me that you forgot what today is…”

“Today? What’s th–” Rapheon stopped abruptly and then sat up straight as though in reflex. “Wait! Today’s the day I’m finally starting my patrol in Yurhosha Forest!” He slapped his forehead. “How could I forget?!”

Camus shrugged. “Well, I was going to wake you up, but looks like you did without my help…” A grin formed on his face. “…for once.”

“Hey, what do you mean by ‘for once’?! There ARE times that I woke up early, you know!”

“Oh yeah? Like when?”

“T-that was… uh…”

The elder brother laughed and before Rapheon was able to remark, their sister interrupted.

“Hey, breakfast is ready!”

 

It was a typical bright and sunny morning in the isolated seaside village of Yurhosha, situated at the southern edge of the large continent of Sargora. Surrounded by sea on the southern side and separated from the other towns and cities by a huge barrier of mountains on the northern side, it was only accessible by a mountain pass on the nearby Dawnstone Mountain. Even so, it would take five days to reach the nearest town from Yurhosha by foot, not to mention the mountain pass was very steep and uneven, and the fact that ships hardly come to the seaside village, so visitors were rare in the village.

Yurhosha Forest, situated at the northern edge of the village, was known to have harboured monsters that would attack the village in their hunt for food. That was why Garlen, the mayor of the village and the fighting arts master of twenty-five students, would send his students on a daily patrol in the forest to ensure that the number of monster attack would be minimal.

Now it was just a little after dawn, but the sky was already quite bright, so Rapheon and Camus had no trouble finding their way through the village where they were born and grew up in. However, on the way to the field where the master usually trained them, they met three eighteen-year-old students who also studied under Garlen.

One was a short, rotund young man, whose name was Dean, while the other was a tomboyish girl called Laine, with her long purple hair tied in the form of a ponytail. The last one, Ken, was a tall blond-haired man with similar build as Camus, and he seemed to be the leader of the trio. Since Rapheon was rather short for a fifteen-year-old boy, standing at only five and a quarter feet with a child-like look, many of the students, especially these three, bullied him every time they could, so he preferred to avoid them most of the time.

Ken gave that annoying grin as soon as he spotted the two brothers. “Hey, lookie here, it’s Rapheon Sarphoenix!”

It was no use avoiding him now, Rapheon had to answer.

“…What do you want?” he asked with a frown on his face, for he hated the trio more than anything else. Once when he was only nine, they tied him up and hung him upside-down on a tree in the forest, where he struggled and yelled for a long time before Camus found him there.

“Nothing.” Ken brushed away the strands of blond hair over his eye. “Just wishing you luck for your first trip, although I doubt that you can return safely.”

“Yeah!” Dean agreed. “A shrimp like you couldn't get through an army of ants without hurting himself!”

“So, like, you'd better back off now!” Laine said. “The monsters in the forest are, like, so tough and powerful, you can't, like, make it through alive!”

“Oh, dear.” Their leader pretended to look really guilty. “He must be shaking in his boots after what we've said.”

“No, I’m not!” Rapheon shot back. “You must’ve felt afraid when you first started!”

“Oh, no. I was the same brave and strong man as I am today.” He pointed a finger at Rapheon “You, on the other hand, are just a pesky little worm!”

“I-I’m not!”

“What’s the matter?” Dean sneered. “Scared?”

Laine laughed. “Like, he must be! He’s, like, the greatest coward in the village!”

At that moment, Camus felt that it was enough.

“Hey, back off!” he yelled, standing protectively between his brother and the trio. “Leave him alone!”

“Leave him alone!” Ken mimicked. “Oh, the big brother came to help. We’d better be off!”

The trio laughed, and then laughed again as they left. Rapheon sighed as he watched them, for he felt that they had spoken the truth – this would be his first time in an actual battle against a monster, and he was really afraid.

“Don’t keep what they’ve said,” Camus told him, putting a hand reassuring on his shoulder. “They’re just trying to make you feel bad.”

“They’ve succeeded,” Rapheon muttered and shook his head. “Camus, I'm really worried. What if I can't make it? What if the monsters make mincemeat out of me?”

“Hey, don't worry about it! Once you get the hang of it, it’ll be easy. I was shaking on my first day like you years ago, but I found that it wasn’t so bad after all.” He gave a confident smile. “Anyway, should anything happen to you, I’m right next to you.”

He hesitated for a while, and then smiled as well. “Thanks, Camus. I knew I could count on you.”

Camus nodded. “If you’re feeling better now, let’s go quickly or we’ll be late.”

 

The training session was just like any other – long, boring and tiring – with the tall and muscular master monitoring the students as they did practice swings with their respective weapons. Even though it had been years since he became his student, Rapheon still admired the middle-aged master greatly, for he was wise and greatly skilful with a variety of weapons. Garlen, with greying black hair and slightly thick moustache, spent his days teaching his students fighting arts and dealing with village problems as a mayor. Even though he was usually busy, yet many years ago when Rapheon was only three, he took care of the three orphaned Sarphoenix siblings like how every father would.

The young boy sighed, trying in vain to remember his parents’ face. He could scarcely remember their faces, but he was told that his mother had died of a strange illness and that his father left in search of medicine but never returned. Sometimes he would watch the other village kids run to their parents and sigh enviously…

“Rapheon! Stay focused!” Garlen’s voice came so abruptly that it made him jump.

“Y-yes, Master!” Rapheon replied quickly and continued to swing his light double swords, turning red as he heard giggles from the other students. However, he tried his best to ignore it and concentrated on the training in case he was yelled at again.

But as he watched the others swinging their weapons – some with swords, some with spears, some with bows and arrows, and some even with bare hands wrapped in hard gloves – he always wondered why he was the only one using two swords at once. Even Camus used only one sword, a long and broad silver-green one that was a little too heavy for many to handle, and that made him feel rather out of place, as though he didn’t belong there…

The training session went on and on, until Rapheon heard the cue to stop, “All right, that’s all for our training today. Good work.”

All twenty-five of them stopped, most of them sighing in relief – even though the master was a kind man, he was strict and usually made them train until they were tired.

Garlen cleared his throat. “As you know, our youngest member, Rapheon Sarphoenix, will be on his first patrol in Yurhosha Forest today.”

The other students started whispering among themselves, and Rapheon managed to catch some of the remarks.

“Hey, do you think he can do it?”

“Not a chance!”

“Maybe he’ll be as great as his brother Camus.”

“Poor kid…”

“He’ll be okay! I think…”

“Ya think?”

Rapheon then decided that he had heard enough and stood patiently next to his brother, once again trying to ignore what he had heard. He was still feeling nervous, and he tried to calm himself by shutting his eyes and taking slow, deep breaths. Camus gave him a reassuring smile, mouthing, “It’ll be okay, Raph!”

He nodded, wishing that he wasn’t so nervous, and turned back to the master who started speaking again.

“We’ll now proceed to the forest. Get into your respective groups and start your patrol.” He turned towards the two Sarphoenix brothers. “Rapheon, Camus, both of you come with me.”

“Yes, Master!” the two answered simultaneously and followed him to the entrance to the forest. By now, the other twenty-three students had already disappeared into Yurhosha Forest in groups of twos, threes and fours, some actually running enthusiastically. Only the master and two students were left behind.

“Now, Rapheon,” Garlen spoke, turning around. “This is your first day patrolling the forest. Remember your training and do not disappoint me.”

Rapheon gulped nervously. “I-I’ll try my best…”

His brother slapped his back lightly. “Don’t be so nervous, Raph! The monsters are not as powerful as you think!”

“I know, but…”

“Rapheon, don’t ever let your emotions cloud your senses,” the teacher interrupted. “Focus on your weapon and remember your training.” He then went to his side and gave him a soft pat on the back, smiling. “And don’t look so gloomy, otherwise people would think that I’ve sent you to patrol the forest alone on your first day!”

The young boy turned red. “S-sorry…”

“Anyhow, we should get started.” Garlen gripped his spear tightly as he turned towards the other Sarphoenix. “Camus, perhaps you would lead the way.”

Camus nodded, and then the trio slowly made their way through the forest, following the faded brown path that led deeper into the forest. The sunlight shining in between the leaves lighted the otherwise dark place a little, giving the lush greenery a rather peaceful look, as though there weren’t any monsters around them. The birds singing happily, herbivorous creatures grazing the grass in clearings, the squirrels chattering away on treetops. If only the forest was not infested with monsters, it would be nice to take a little stroll here once in a while…

Suddenly, an ear-piercing shriek startled Rapheon out of his thoughts and his hands were on the hilts of his swords immediately, wondering momentarily what on earth just happened.

“Wha–?” he began asking, but Camus interrupted first.

“Raph! Get down!!” he shouted before bending and forcing him to bend as well.

“H-hey!” he cried in reflex, and then felt a strong gust of wind as something large flew by, just inches above them.

Rapheon then stood straight, looked around to see what had just happened, and saw three large eagles, measuring six feet from beak to the tip of the tail, with the colour of blood on their feathers. His eyes widened as they gave another loud shriek, their black eyes gleaming, and he began to panic.

“Camus!! Master!!” he yelled. “What do I do now?!!”

“Don’t panic, Raph!” Camus said as he calmly unsheathed his broad sword. “Red Eagles look strong, but actually they’re the weakest monsters here!”

“Just remember your training,” Garlen stated, holding his spear in front of him. “Camus and I will kill two of them, and you should take care of the last one. That should give you a chance to battle.”

Rapheon just nodded nervously and watched the others lunging forward into battle with confidence. To his surprise, all they needed was one powerful slash to kill their assigned monsters, giving the creatures no chance to attack. The defeated Red Eagles gave a loud screech before disappearing away into a cloud of smoke, and only then the young boy remembered his previous lessons on monsters – once a monster is defeated, its body would disappear away, just like that. No one knew why it happened, no one knew why monsters were entirely hostile against humans, and no one knew why the monsters were there in the first place…

Camus sidestepped to evade the remaining Red Eagle that rushed at him, leant the flat part of the blade on his shoulder, and then turned towards his brother. “Now, Raph! It’s your turn!”

Rapheon jumped in surprise, and replied, “O-okay…”

As Camus and Garlen stayed in the back, the young boy approached the final hovering bird, his double swords held in both hands. He was actually a left hander, but preferred to battle with two swords instead of one, for fighting with two swords gave him a better ‘feel’ of power.

The Red Eagle glared at him with murderous eyes, seeming to know that its opponent was afraid, and suddenly charged towards him with a confident cry. Rapheon backed two steps back in his panic, but he calmed down a little at the sound of his master’s voice once again yelling, “Focus, Rapheon! Remember your training!”

Recalling one of the skills that his master had taught him, he ran towards the charging monster with a yell and then somersaulted over it just when he was only inches away from it. As he landed behind it, he immediately turned and formed a cross with his swords, focusing his thoughts on them as they shone a white light.

“Raging Flash!!” he yelled and he slashed repeatedly at the Red Eagle, the swords emitting a brighter light with each strike. At the final upward slash, it shrieked in pain and disappeared away like the other two eagles.

Rapheon gave a relieved sigh and lowered himself to a sitting position, feeling weak around the knees from the fear, and once again tried to calm himself by inhaling and exhaling slowly. He had been so nervous throughout the battle that he thought his heart would burst out of him.

Camus went over to him and slapped his back lightly, surprising him. “Raph! You did it!”

“I... I won!” he cried, getting to his feet before doing a little victory jump. “I actually won!”

“See, Raph? I told you that you could do it! You don’t need to feel afraid at all!” The older student turned to his master. “Master, how well did he do on his first battle?”

Garlen nodded as he smiled. “Not bad. Better than how you did on yours.”

Camus rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. “Really?”

“Come on. We still have a long ways to go before we head home.”

In a dark unknown land, a shadowed figure walked among the cracks in the ground, undisturbed by the sight of his death-filled surroundings. A family of bats screeching as they took off from a dead tree, he stopped when he arrived at the edge of a lake of dark waters and knelt, raising his hand above the still water as a dark light appeared around his hand. His reflection on the dark waters shook, as if there was something nearby that was disturbing the lake surface, and was replaced by the image of a black demon, its features covered by the shadows, its blood red eyes glowing brightly.

“I have arrived, Lord Zygran,” the figure said, bowing in respect.

“GOOD, JRUCEQUES...” a deep, menacing voice answered, coming from the image in the water. “...I SENSE THE PRESENCE OF THE CELESTIAL HUNTER... IT SEEMS THAT HE HAS BEGUN TO AWAKEN…”

“What is your wish?”

“...ELIMINATE HIM... THEN... BRING ME HIS ‘SHADOW’...”

“Yes, I shall do so immediately.”

The image shook again and then once again reverted to Jruceques’s own reflection. His hand stopped glowing as he lowered it, his expression unchanging.

“…So, bring the shadow of the Celestial Hunter…”

 

When Rapheon, Camus and Garlen arrived at the forest entrance after their patrol was over, the sky was already a bright orange colour, the sun saying its final farewell to the village before giving in to night. Rapheon’s stomach growled lightly and he put a hand on it, wishing that they would hurry so that the two brothers could get home to dinner.

“Well, that’s it for today,” Camus said and then turned to his brother. “And that’s not bad for a first patrol, Raph.”

“It's not as bad as I thought!” Rapheon replied enthusiastically – all the fear and doubt he had felt this morning were gone.

“You will be able to do better with more training,” Garlen stated, smiling. “But for now, we should return home.”

Both Camus and Garlen started heading out of the forest, but when Rapheon was about to follow them, he noticed that the nearby forest were rustling softly. He approached them cautiously, his hands on the hilts of his swords in case it was another monster ready to spring out at him.

“Hey, what’s wrong, Raph?” Camus asked, turning around.

“I thought I saw something moving over there…” the young boy answered as he bent to examine the bushes.

Suddenly, a silver wolf jumped out from among the leaves, startling him back into a sitting position, and Camus readied his sword.

“No, Camus!” Rapheon exclaimed loudly, and then lowered his voice. “This wolf… it’s not trying to attack us.”

“What?” Camus looked at him in surprise – Rapheon had never been able to understand creatures before. “How… did you know that, Raph?”

He didn’t know the answer. As he stared at the wolf, still seated on the ground, he noticed that it was the largest wolf he had ever seen, for it was easily bigger than him, and that its eyes were bright green, unlike the wolf monsters with eerie red eyes that he had encountered in the forest. These eyes seemed to be trying to tell him something as the wolf gave a soft howl.

“It’s telling us... to follow…” the young boy said as he slowly got up.

As soon as he did that, however, the wolf ran into the bushes.

“H-hey! Wait!” Rapheon cried and ran after it, not realising that his brother was shouting his name. He continued running, bending and jumping to avoid hitting the tree branches and roots as he ran. Very soon he came across a clearing, breathing hard as Camus and Garlen arrived behind him.

The silver wolf had stopped in the middle of the clearing, and next to it was a still figure on the ground – it was a man lying on his back in a pool of blood, his brown hair, clothes and half-armour all stained with blood. An unusually long sword with a red hilt stood half-buried in the ground beyond his grasp, probably his own.

“What the?!” Camus exclaimed and ran to his side, kneeling next to him with his master on the opposite side of the man.

Rapheon just stood aside as he watched his brother and master examining the man’s wounds, thinking that this man and his wolf looked familiar… until he remembered the dream he had this morning.

Could they be…?!

The silver wolf sat beside him, its soft howl surprising him out of his thoughts, and he pat it on the head reassuringly as though it were his own pet.

“This doesn’t look good, Master!” the older student yelled. “We need to get him to the village quickly!”

“Let us not waste any time!” the teacher said and helped him to carry the man to the village as Rapheon and the wolf followed silently behind.

 

That night, there was a great thunderstorm – thunder roared and lightning flashed across the sky as though it was trying to tear it into two, the storm seeming like an angry creature raging in the sky. The village was empty as everyone remained in his or her home, but the Sarphoenix brothers waited patiently outside a room at Garlen’s house, where he was tending to the man’s wounds.

When he was done, Garlen entered the living room where the brothers were, washing his hands to remove the blood. They got up from the chairs as soon as they saw him, and the younger of the two asked, “Is he… okay?”

“He’s fine after I tended to his wounds,” the teacher explained, wiping his hands dry with a piece of cloth. “With rest, he’ll recover properly, but...”

“But what?” Camus said.

He shook his head. “You wouldn’t believe it if I told you. You have to see it for yourself.”

Once again he entered the room, with his two students following him, where the silver wolf sat on the floor next to the bed its master was resting on, as though protecting him. Rapheon slowly switched his gaze onto the man on the bed, and then let out a gasp.

As ordinary as the man seemed to be, as he was lying on the bed with his shirt and armour taken off, his wounds bandaged, Rapheon would see clearly that his right arm was entirely different from what he had expected. It wasn’t a human arm, but something like a limb of a beast, with a strange coat of black and deep purple void-like substance around it. Sharp claws extended from the tip of the fingers as the whole arm shone a strange, eerie dark light, and purple sparks appeared around it once every five seconds.

“What... what is that...?” the elder student muttered.

Garlen shook his head. “I don’t know. Perhaps he is a demi-human.”

At his master’s words, Camus turned towards him in surprise. “But demi-humans perished thousands of years ago! Could he actually be one?!”

“I don’t know about that as well, but the question is not whether he is a demi-human or not, but whether he is our ally or enemy.”

“But still…”

The wolf interrupted them with a howl and they heard a soft groan from the man, who stirred for a moment before opening his eyes slowly. Rapheon inhaled sharply in shock as he gazed into his unusual eyes; the left clear glass eye and the other blood red one.

“Where… am I…?” the man asked.

“You are in the village of Yurhosha, on the southern end of the continent of Sargora,” Garlen answered. “You’re in good hands.”

“Yurhosha…? So, he sent me away from there…”

Again, Rapheon shivered as he remembered the dream, trying not to look into the man’s eerie eyes. However, this time he felt an urge – a strong urge to raise his swords and… kill this brown-haired man. He shook his head, gritting his teeth as he resisted the urge and while trying to hide it from his sibling. Whatever was going on with him…?

The man slowly sat up with his left human hand at his head and looked at the three of them with his ever expressionless eyes. “My name is Kryden, and that wolf is Ray.”

This time, the young boy’s suspicions were confirmed.

So it’s true! It’s the same as in my dream! But… how…?

All of a sudden, a loud explosion sounded over the thundering storm, making everyone turn towards the window, and the ground started shaking so furiously that they fell onto the floor. Rapheon shut his eyes tightly as he stayed on the floor, a feeling of foreboding washing over him, and there he stayed even after a few short seconds when the rumbling had stopped. He looked up slowly after he heard the others getting up, and got to his feet too, with Ray growling loudly.

“What was that?” Camus wondered aloud.

Garlen walked to the window and looked outside, but as sunset had long passed and the storm blanketed every view from sight, he could not see anything.

“It’s too dark to see,” he stated. “I will go out and check.” He turned to his two students. “Both of you stay here.”

With that, he exited the room.

Once again, Rapheon looked into Kryden’s clear glass and bright red eyes, which showed no expression at all as they stared back into his own green ones. After a few seconds of awkward silence, Kryden spoke.

“You look familiar…” he said.

The young boy was taken aback. “I… I do?”

At that moment a woman’s scream rang through the dark night sky and Camus recognized it at once.

“CECILLE!!” he yelled before running out of the room.

Rapheon took an uncertain glance at Kryden and then quickly followed his elder brother outside.

 

In the raging storm in the middle of the dark village, a large creature stood. At a first glance from far away, one would mistaken it as a black bear, but it was not just an ordinary creature – it was a huge black demon with the size of two grown man, its metal hide as dark as the stormy sky, its gleaming claws seeming as though they could destroy a mansion with just one swipe. In fact, it had already several houses at one end of the village and killed several humans.

Catching sight of a woman falling nearby, it lunged at her. The scream piercing the dark sky, the demon’s arm came like a sword and silenced her mercilessly with a single stab in the neck, and the blood splattered all over its arm. At that moment, though, it realised that there were even more humans surrounding it.

“Attack!” Garlen yelled, pointing the sharp end of his spear at the monster. “We need to buy some time for the people to escape!”

All of his students uttered a battle cry and charged with all of their might.

The black demon growled loudly as it crouched, and with one powerful claw swipe it was able to floor all of them, wounding them and causing most of them to fall unconscious. The master, however, was able to avoid its attack, but after that he was careless. It howled and then threw a ball of dark thunder at him, which hit him squarely in the stomach. He gritted his teeth as the pain spread all over his body, but once the pain was over, he found that his tense muscles would not move as his mind screamed at them to, and all he could do was to watch helplessly.

With no one to stop it, the metal demon switched its attention back to killing the remaining escaping villagers and its glaring red eyes fell on Cecille, the nearest one to it. She tried her hardest to escape from it, but wherever she turned, the metal demon somehow appeared in front of her, blocking her escape route. With nowhere to run, she slowly backed away as it approached her, her eyes widening in fear, and then she tripped over a rock and landed on her back. As the demon raised its claws, her fear took over her completely, and she let out a terrified scream.

“Raging Flash!!” Camus shouted as he stood in between her and the monster and struck it with his single blade, and while its attention was on Camus, the young boy went over to his sister and helped her up.

“Go, Cecille!” he cried. “Run!!”

“What about you two?!” she protested.

“Never mind that! Just go!!”

Rapheon gave her a soft push and she started running towards the outskirts of the village, and he turned to Camus who was standing in a defensive stance a few feet away from the demon.

“I couldn’t hurt it at all!” the elder brother shouted, keeping his eyes on his opponent. “Its skin is as hard as metal!”

“What should we do?” Rapheon asked as he unsheathed his double swords, forming a cross with them. He was terrified of this large monster, as it was twice as tall as his elder brother, but he shook away his fear and stood his ground firmly.

Camus nodded. “Let’s blast it together!”

“All right!”

The two brothers stood on either side of the monster, each preparing to attack it. They raised their weapons and focused their thoughts on them for a second, the weapons emitting a white light, and then at the same time, they charged at the monster.

“Raging Flash!!” they yelled together and attacked the monster rapidly with slashes, but it did not move at all and actually looked as if it actually enjoying the sensation of being attacked. Rapheon attacked harder, frowning as he tried not to panic, but it did no good.

When both of them paused at the end of the skill, the demon suddenly thrust both its arms forward and punched them hard in the stomach, sending them flying into the ground with such force that a small crater was created around them. Camus stayed on the ground for a moment to get over the pain and then staggered onto his feet, but since his brother was not as tough as him, he needed longer to recover.

The green-haired man once again rushed towards the monster, but he was knocked back by another punch, this time the overwhelming pain forced him to stay on the ground. Rapheon, in turn, tried to attack the monster as well, lunging towards it and attacking with whatever skill that came to his mind at that point, but as with before, his swords bounced back from the monster’s metal skin. His mind kept telling him to run away, but he ignored it, refusing to let it get to his family and friends.

Suddenly, time seemed to slow down as he felt a cold shiver running through him, paralyzing him on the spot as the monster raised its arm. He tried to back away, but his legs refused to budge as if they were rooted to the ground. He could only helplessly watch the arm coming towards him, his eyes widened with utmost fear as the monster let out a loud echoing roar.

“RAPH!!!” Camus yelled.

Rapheon screamed in utmost pain as the monster thrust its arm into his chest, the sharp pain surging through his body, but no blood came from the wound; instead, a dark void-like light was formed around it. Almost at once he felt strength leaving his body, leaving him half-conscious, and he felt extremely cold and dizzy as if he was freezing to death deep in snowy mountains. His head dizzy and his vision obscured, he had not the strength to even lift a finger, but he did not fall to the ground, for the dark light that surrounded him lifted him into mid-air.

Camus watched in horror as his brother was attacked, and he roared in rage as he charged again at the monster. He tried attacking its arm over and over, trying his hardest to get it to release his brother. With each attack, a little bit of the dark mist that had formed around it touched his hands and caused him to grimace in pain.

“Graah! Release him!!”

“Camus!” Garlen’s voice called and the older student saw that his master had recovered from the paralysis and had arrived to help him. The student nodded curtly and continued, but even their combined forces could not get the demon to release the wounded boy.
Suddenly, a strong gust of wind blew and stopped, making Camus pause and turn. He saw that Kryden was next to him with his shirt on and his sword in his left hand, the sleeve of his shirt covering most of his deep purple and black right arm, but Camus could see that the partly-concealed hand was covered in purple sparks.

“Spirit Blast!” Kryden shouted as he raised his right hand forward and a dark beam in the form of a dragon-like creature charged into the metal demon, creating a force so powerful that the master and student could even feel the vibration from the attack in the ground they were standing on. The monster released Rapheon before it was thrown a few feet away with a roar.

“Raph!” Camus yelled and bent next to his brother. The young boy was breathing heavily, as if gasping for air and his skin felt extremely cold, like ice. “Raph, hang in there!” He proceeded to use a healing potion he had in his pocket, but Kryden stopped him.

“Don’t,” he said. “You’ll kill him if you do.”

“Then what can I do? He’ll die if I don’t do something!”

“Then step aside.”

Kryden slowly and calmly approached the monster, which was getting up from the ground. It let out a roar and charged towards him, raising its arm to attack. When it swung its arm at him, it missed, for Kryden had suddenly appeared behind it and thrust his right arm forward, not giving the monster any time to react. A large force from the dark light surrounding him hit the monster and it disappeared in an explosion of dark light, its roar echoing in the night sky.

He immediately fell to his knees, breathing heavily in exhaustion. Garlen went to his side to help him, but he pushed the master aside and slowly got up, making his way towards Camus, who lifted his brother up and went into his house.

“How... how's he...?” Cecille asked as soon as she entered Rapheon's room with her twin. Camus's hands were bandaged over the wounds he had received when the dark mist around the monster touched his hands.

The master shook his head. “Not good. You should see for yourselves.”

Rapheon was lying unconscious on his bed, still breathing heavily his shirt taken off and the lower part of his body covered with a blanket. He looked as if he was shivering with cold, but Garlen did not cover his chest with the blanket for a reason. There was no wound filled with blood on his chest, but a dark void instead – like the portal to the darkest realm that ever existed.

“W-what the?!” the elder brother exclaimed. “What’s that?!”

“I do not know,” Garlen admitted. “But it’s not like any ordinary wound. This is beyond my knowledge.”

“That is a wound created by that Shadow’s ‘Dark Soul’ attack,” Kryden’s voice filled the room. The three of them turned and saw him leaning against the wall near the door as his silver wolf stood next to him. “When one is hit with this skill, the wound will turn into a void of darkness and eat away at his soul. After a certain amount of time, probably two days, he will turn into another Shadow.”

“Then what can we do to help him?!!” Camus practically yelled. The brown-haired man stood in silence for a moment, his eyes looking right into Camus’s. For the first time, he felt slightly frightened looking into his eerie eyes; the left glass-clear eye and the right blood-red one.

“Please!” Cecille pleaded, her tears sliding down her cheeks. “Please save Rapheon!”

Kryden nodded and slowly walked to the bed, the others stood aside to let him pass. He stood next to it, looking at the young boy. Then he slowly rolled up his right sleeve, revealing his deep purple and black arm.

“What are you doing?” Garlen asked, but his question remained unanswered.

“Wait!!” the elder student yelled.

Kryden lifted his right arm and then thrust it right into Rapheon's chest, making Cecille scream. Camus was afraid that his younger brother would be killed and wanted to stop the brown-haired man, but then Kryden let out a yell and pulled his arm out of Rapheon's chest. Dark mist escaped from the void-like wound as the young boy grimaced in pain.

“Raph!” the elder brother shouted as the dark mist stopped.

Kryden lifted his left human hand in front of his face and focused his thoughts on it, muttering something under his breath. Then, he put it over the void-like wound and his hand emitted a soft white light. Miraculously, the wound on Rapheon's chest slowly disappeared.

“What... is that...?” Garlen wondered. “It looked like... magic...”

“There,” Kryden said. “He’s fine, for now. Leave him be – his body needs to recuperate.”

“Phew, that's a relief...” The older student turned to face Kryden and held a hand. “Thanks for your help, Kryden. My name’s Camus Sarphoenix.”

Kryden looked at him, but did not return the handshake. “Although I have tended to him, Rapheon will not fully recover. To heal him, a spell called the ‘Light Bringer’ is needed. If the spell is not cast onto him in a month’s time, the wound will re-open and it will be impossible to heal him then. The wound that he has now is what we call the ‘dark wound’ and will weaken him as long as he has it.”

“Do you know the ‘Light Bringer’ spell?”

Kryden shook his head. “No, I cannot learn this spell. The only one who knows it is Arselius the White Dragon, but he resides only in the ancient village of Nagerilna.” He slowly turned towards the door. “My time here is up. I thank the ones who had saved me, but the longer I remain here, the higher the chance of everyone in this village being eliminated. I must leave.”

“But you haven’t recovered yet!”

The brown-haired man ignored him, taking his things. Before he left, he stopped and glanced at them. “The Shadows are creatures capable of great power of Darkness. They take the form of black animals, but they can kill. Magic is the only way against them.”

With that, he disappeared into the raging storm outside, followed by his silver wolf as the twins stared after him. Garlen shook his head slowly and said the exact thought they had in mind.

“But humans had forgotten how to use magic thousands of years ago.”

 

Author’s Notes:
OMG, this chapter is more massive than I thought… I had to triple post! *runs around* I wonder how Jake-kun could stand reading such long ones… XD

And here goes the pronunciation guide over again! =P


Rapheon = Pronounced the same way as Raphael, except that the 'el' is replaced by 'on'

Camus = Kay-m-us ('kay' as in 'okay')

Cecille = Pronounced as Cecile ^_^

Sarphoenix = sar-phoenix (‘sar’ as in ‘sardine’)

Yurhosha = You-row-sha (something like that ^_^)

Dawnstone = dawn-stone (duh =P)

Garlen = Pronounced the same way as Garland

Ken, Laine and Dean = Guess you can pronounce these typical names =P

Zygran = Zee-gran ('zee' is pronounces almost like 'see' with a ‘Z’, and the 'gran' is pronounced the same way as 'grant' without the ‘T’)

Jruceques = Drew-kiss (I know it's a strange name, but I love it! =P)

Arselius = Ar-sir-lee-us (pronounce ‘ar’ as in ‘art’ without the ‘T’)

Nagerilna = Nah-je-reel-nah (‘je’ as in ‘just’ without the S and T)