Fire in Darkness

[Vince the Dark]

Thanks guys. Really appreciate the comments. ^.=.^ And these last few chapters have really been interesting for me as well while writing, and also sentimental at some points. Specially chapters 19 and 20. So here we have the continuance to the story! Chapter 20!

Chapter Twenty: Unexpected reunion

But it never came. Even though Flames paw had stopped and he could feel something running down on his paws, there was no pain at all. Flames slowly opened his eyes again to see what had happened, and to his amazement and shock, Fay was standing right in front of him, having put himself in the way of the dagger and looked at Flames with tears in his eyes as he coughed up blood.
“Why...?” Flames had started crying again now, looking at his friend stand there, slowly but surely bleeding to death.
“Because... You were the first one to accept me for who I was...” The husky was coughing a lot as he spoke. “And I wanted... To repay... Your kindness to me...”
Fay then wrapped his arms around the fox and giving him a passionate kiss, whispering  three words into the others ear just before his body went limp in Flames arms, falling down on him as he closed his eyes for the last time.
Flames was crying more than ever now, holding they husky in his arms, shaking him in vain to try and wake him up. “No!” He shouted. “You can't do this! You can't leave me!”
Flames put Fay's body down on the ground, burying his face in the husky's chest and pounding on it at the same time as more tears ran down his muzzle. “You can't... Not after that...”
Everyone had fallen silent as Fay had put himself in line of the dagger, holding their breath as they watched at what happened.
Malakar was the first one to break the silence. “Oh well... Guess you can't always get it right on the first try...” The dragon shook his head, glancing at Flames kneeling over the now deceased husky. He then snapped his fingers for a second time, making Fay's body disappear from under Flames and making him growl in anger at Malakar.
“Now now... I was just doing you a favor there, fox-boy. You'll need your concentration.” Malakar then turned his back towards the others, raising a paw over his head so that it was completely visible to the rest. “And I still have a few tricks up my sleeve, so to say. I've been researching your background, Flames. And I'm not talking about here, but everywhere. And what did I find as a result of all my researching you may ask? Let me show it to you!” The dragon snapped his fingers for the third time, lighting up a corner of the room that no-one had bothered investigating earlier.
There was a strange-looking machine there that suddenly started moving and making odd sounds as the machinery came to life. Suddenly there was a sudden flash of light that went through every corner of the room, bouncing off the walls as a figure had materialized inside the machine.
To the appearance it looked like a female, but she didn't have any fur on her, and was pretty much everything that an anthro is not. She was... Human?
As the group looked at the confused human that had been sucked there like out of thin air, it suddenly it Blaze who she was, as the disoriented human continued to look around, holding a blaster in her hand and trying to gaze through the room at all the people standing there.
Blaze now started panicking as her thoughts came up with possible things that could come out of this, running over to Flames who had just seen the human but hadn't had a good glimpse of her and covered his eyes, muttering to herself. “No, no, no, no! You can't remember, you mustn't remember!”
Flames struggled against Blaze's grip, managing to get her off him so that he could take another look, just as the humans eyes had contrasted after the teleportation and settled on Flames, leaving her speechless. “F... Fla... Flames..?” It was all she could manage to say.
Flames looked confused at her, not being able to understand how she knew his name before it suddenly hit him. A large strain of memories, long since gone had started rushing back into his brain. A whole lifetime came back to him in an instant. Everything he had forgotten: Neo Babylon, Phantom, Xan, Omega... and then her. That one person that had meant so much to him.
Flames shed a tear as he remembered it all, saying only one word: “Levi?” He then dropped to the floor, unconscious from the sudden rush of lost memories that made it feel like his head was about to burst.
Levi rushed over to Flames, now noticing Blaze who was looking at her. “Long time no see... Leviathan 'Levi' Aquaous...”

And to make things clear for all the readers, I suggest you read Flames' story, The Hero Eternal: Warrior, to close up loose ends in this chapter. It can be found here:
http://www.thefurryforum.com/forums/index.php?topic=4378.0

[flames]

Woah, just when I think I have you figured out bro you throw that into the mix! Very unexpected and very clever nii-san, brilliant chapter!

[Arilys DuskFlare]

Awesome story, Vince (Yep, I finally found the time and patience to red it xP)
The last chapters were... *trails off*
They were simply amazing, I can't wait for the rest.

[Vince the Dark]

Arougrhsögjhuerg! This chapter is taking me forever to write! One month without getting a new chapter up is really frustrating... Thank you all for your patience with me guys.

[Arilys DuskFlare]

Hehe, good stories take time. It happens, getting stuck on some part.

[Vince the Dark]

Finally! Chapter 21 is finished! Took me forever, but here it finally is! :-[

Chapter Twenty One: The Last Stand

Flames had drifted into a sleep that was filled with memories, long since past. It was like a never ending nightmare, as image after image passed in front of his eyes. Flames tried to shut them out, but all in vain as the images continued showing up and almost torturing him.
At the same time, Levi was still trying to wake him up, shaking the unconscious anthro, while Blaze stood beside her, shaking her head. “It's not going to work, give him some time...”
“The question is, do you have that much time to offer him?” Malakar, who had been watching amusedly at what had happened, stood now beside the two and looked down at Flames.
Levi looked up at the dragon, still somewhat confused about what was going on. “W-What do you mean?”
Malakar bent down closer to Levi. “The question is, my sweet... If there's anything left of him by the time he wakes up.”
Blaze started growling at Malakar and Levi stood up, aiming her blaster towards the dragon as Vince and Ravus also moved between Flames and Malakar.
“You're not laying on paw on him.” Vince said, the rest of the group nodding behind him as they took an attack stance and looked towards Malakar.
Malakar looked amused at this, not the scared at the least. “Pathetic... You couldn't defeat me even if you were twice as many.”
The dragon then clenched his fist, dark energy gathering around his paw, creating a huge energy-wave that sent the group flying backwards as he moved his arm horizontally in the air ahead of them. “Truly pathetic... You have absolutely no chance of defeating me.”
But to Malakar's surprise everyone stood up again, not wanting to give up.
Levi looked at Malakar standing beside Flames' unconscious body, aiming with her blaster and pulling the trigger, sending an blast towards the dragon which was then dispersed by and energy shield that had formed around Malakar. “It's not a matter of who's stronger that tells us how a battle will end...”
“That's why you got to keep on going, whatever happens...” Blaze had stepped forward as she spoke, lunging towards Malakar, trying to lands blows on the dragon, though all in vain and having to jump back beside everyone else.
“So we have to give Flames all the time we can, because... We believe in him...” Ravus had now stepped forth, readying his fiery breath and sending a burst of fire towards Malakar, though the other dragon had avoided it with his energy shield again.
“That's why we fight... Until we can fight no more... Flames showed us that.” Vince lunged forward now, grabbing his double katana and sending blow after blow towards Malakar, and finished with a shot of his fiery breath towards the dragon from close range, before jumping back to the others.
Malakar looked at the four in front of him, starting to see the potential they had in them as he wiped away some blood from his cheek, because Vince had managed to land a hit on him, though a very small one at that.
This time, all for of them lunged towards Malakar, making the dragon evade and counter attacks more than he could keep up with, although he did manage to block most of it.
Punches, slashes, fire blaster shots came flying towards Malakar, making him back away from Flames who was still unconscious.
“Damn it...” Malakar thought, starting to see that he was outnumbered pretty fast when they came at him, all at once. He then sent another energy wave towards the group, sending them flying backwards again and giving him some more time to gather up more energy, so that's just what he did. Malakar started absorbing the dark creatures that were gathered at the walls, who were blocking all ways out of the chamber, now making him stronger.
Vince, Ravus, Levi and Blaze could nothing but watch as Malakar grew stronger than before, the dark energy flowing into him, and magnifying his powers immensely.
But then, the flow of energy into Malakar suddenly stopped like it had hit a wall, and a cough could be heard. Everything stood still as Malakar then looked down after a moment looked down, seeing a sharp object sticking out from his chest as he started coughing up some blood, feeling at it and watching his own blood covering his paw.
“Who..?”
As he then looked back, Malakar saw to his horror that it was Flames who stood there, having pierced his chest with the X-Sabre.
Malakar then growled angrily at Flames as he was about to turn around to grab the anthro fox, but suddenly feeling pain from his heart, making him turn around and look what was causing it.
The rest of the group had just sat on the ground, wondering what had happened when Malakar had all of a sudden stopped absorbing more energy, but Vince, or rather, the entity inside him, had noticed what had really happened and plunged forward, sinking his claws into Malakar's chest, right in front of the dragons heart and started muttering an incantation, making all the dark energy in Malakar transfer into Vince before it had time to disappear into nothing as the demonic dragon fell dead on the ground.
Flames let out a sigh as Malakar fell down on the ground in front if him, having woken up just in time. “It's over...”
But as Flames was surprised to see his brother standing on the other side of Malakar. “Brother, what are you..?” But to his horror, Vince had started to glow from the dark energy he had absorbed from Malakar, his eyes having turned completely black again, after having had one black and one red.
Vince looked up, feeling the newly acquired power flowing inside him, sending Flames flying into the wall as a rush of energy was released from him. “Over? Far from it.”

[flames]

Wow, just wow...I am speechless bro, you truly have outdone yourself this time and blown my writing clear away with this chapter.  Sheer brilliance.
I was very touched by everyone's efforts and whilst I can honestly say I expected the entity to trun against Vince at the last moment and seize total control again, I didn't quite imagine it like this and it suprised me nonetheless. Masterfully executed brother, I expect the next highly emotional chapter to be amazing too.

[Arilys DuskFlare]

.......... Wow......
I don't know what to say. It's simply amazing. And the way everyone joined to help Flames.....
Why did the chapter end like that?? I can't wait for the next one

[Vince the Dark]

Why did the chapter end like that?? I can't wait for the next one

Exactly because of that. You have to keep the reader on his toes and make him want to read the next chapter too. ^.=.^

[Arilys DuskFlare]

Exactly because of that. You have to keep the reader on his toes and make him want to read the next chapter too. ^.=.^

And also, it was some sort of revenge because I did that once too xD

[Vince the Dark]

Arghöjhgkjsbgkjhföhgjbajfööbgvnd!!!!
This took a hell of a lot longer than I had expected at first, but it's finally finished! The next chapter is done and ready to be posted! Hope everyone has been able to bare with me during this all too long wait, and enjoy the latest installment. ^.=.^

Chapter Twenty Two: Through fire and darkness

Flames looked petrified at his brother after having forcefully flown into the wall. This can't be... He though to himself in shock. Not now... Not like this...
As Flames tried to gather himself, the entity inside Vince was already taking action and wasn't leaving the fox much time to get his act together. The entity knew that one of Flames' only weaknesses was his brother, so he intended do take full advantage of the situation now that he was in control over the dragon again. He felt at the newly acquired powers, quickly summoning an orb the size of a fist between his paws and smiled as he felt the power flow through him. It was like nothing he had felt before.
At the same time in the other side of the room, Levi, Blaze and Ravus were simply looking at what was going on, not sure if the should intervene or not, but Levi was the first one to take make a move, having grown angry at just standing and watching as Flames had flown into the wall. But as she took a step forward, Blaze suddenly stopped her, shaking her head.
“Let me go!” The human shouted, trying to get past the fox that was holding her back.
“No...” Blaze then said in a calm tone, standing her ground as she made a glance towards her counterpart. “This is his battle, not ours.”
Levi was growing impatient now, struggling more to get loose and to be able to run over and help Flames. “Why!? We have to help him!”
The female fox closed her eyes, letting out a sigh. “Because... That dragon, is his brother.”
“What!? Brother!? How is that even possible? They're two completely different species!”
Levi was loosing her calm by now, her rational thinking going down the drain at that moment as she tried to understand all that was going on, but not getting any of it. She had been brought there from another place in time and space itself, so she had no possible way of understanding things, and all this was giving her one major headache.
“We have to help him...!” She cried out pleadingly. “We have to...”
Blaze then turned to look seriously at the human. “Do you honestly think you can stand a chance against Vince? You'd be torn to pieces in an instant!” The fox knew that she was talking about, because she could sense the power that was emanating from the black dragon.
“But...” Levi tried.
“No but's... This is Flames' fight, and we have no part in it. We can only pray that he's the one left standing after this...”
Meanwhile, the entity had sent a powerful shock-wave of energy at Flames, making the fox yelp out in pain as he was shot towards the wall a second time.
“Fight, you despicable excuse for a life!” The entity shouted at Flames with his dark voice, sending another wave of energy towards the fox.
But Flames simply took the hit, whimpering as he stood up again and again even though all the pain. “...No...”
“What's that I hear? No?” The entity cackled, making sure to speak loud enough for everyone to hear him as he walked around the middle of the room before making a sudden turn and seeming to vanish as he moved with such speed that normal eyes wouldn't be able to catch the movement. And within a second the dragon then appeared in front of Flames, having slammed his fist into the chest of the fox, whispering into his ear. “Then you're as good as dead.”
Flames coughed, clenching his chest as he tried to regain his breath and fell down on his knees in front of Vince. “I... ugh... Can't fight you...”
“You're pathetic! Pathetic!” The entity shouted, making fun of the fox's weakness and grabbing him by his throat. “You're too kind. You lack that killer instinct when it comes to fighting.”
Flames coughed, wheezing as he tried to breathe and put his paw on the dragon's arm, trying to get him to loosen his grip. “I... Can't... It's... Still him...”
“Okay then...” The entity said and snapped his fingers, making Fay's limp body come back into existence from wherever Malakar had sent it. “Maybe this will inspire you.” The dragon was now smiling malevolently, and when Flames saw Fay's body, he went into shock again. He had never experienced death in this way, never a person that had been close to him and he had know, so the magnitude of the shock was enough to petrify the fox again.
For a brief moment, everything stood still in Flames' eyes, and the only thing he could focus on was Fay, the once so lively husky was now laying lifeless on the floor.
But suddenly something came in the way of that image, a bright blue light that shone from somewhere just outside his field of vision. Flames turned his head, and to his utter surprise, he saw Vince crying, even though the entity was still in control of him. And it was the tears that emanated that strange shine that had gotten Flames' out of his petrification. And what was even stranger, was that the tears were floating into Flames' pocket, forming something inside of it.
The fox slowly reached his paw into his pocket, pulling out something that looked like a hilt made of crystal, though every teardrop added to it, building it up.
Flames looked at it, and as he did, he felt the paw around his throat loosen it's grip until he feel down on his own legs again, free to breath again. “What... Is this?”
The entity first touched his cheeks, feeling that they were soaked. But what made him lose his grip of Flames' throat was the hilt that had formed out of the tears. “...The hell?”
Flames continued looking as more and more of what now seemed to be a dagger formed into his paw, wondering what the meaning of it was and looked up. “What are you trying to tell me, nii-san?” the fox was gaining more confidence from holding the crystal dagger and putting it away, and then drew his X-Sabre after, pointing it towards his brother. “This ends now.”
The entity nodded, drawing Vince's double katana and holding it at the ready before lunged forwards towards the fox, weapon at the ready for action.
Flames did the same, and as their swords clashed, dust started flying up into the air, starting to generate a massive dust cloud that you couldn't see through around the two.
The watchers were holding their breaths as they heard the swords clash for a moment, subsiding and then starting again from another part of the cloud.
Flames was putting all he had into the fight, not ready to give up now that he had gotten his confidence back.
Another short pause came, more dust whirled into the air and then silence. Time seemed to stop in its tracks as the silence continued, everyone held their breaths as the dust started to settle. The same thing was running through everyones minds: Who had won?

[Arke]

This long and you end in a cliffhanger?
It's just as good as ever, and I know we're all glad you finally posted this. 

[Vince the Dark]

This long and you end in a cliffhanger?

Heh. I just had to keep the tension at the end, because I'm so close to the ending now. But I'm glad you liked it hon, and I'll try o be quicker this time with writing the next chapter, this one took far too long.

[Arilys DuskFlare]

YOU!! *points at Vince* T.T WHY?! So long and it ends LIKE THIS?!

CRIME, I TELLZ YAH! :th_PyongLlora:

[Vince the Dark]

YOU!! *points at Vince* T.T WHY?! So long and it ends LIKE THIS?!

CRIME, I TELLZ YAH! :th_PyongLlora:

Well... At least it seems that I'm good with writing cliffhangers it seems. Will have the next chapter up shortly, so don't worry.