Darkness Within The Fire

Collab with Burning Demon.

A silent breeze swept through the forest, trembling the tall trees. A thick layer of pure snow lay on the ground. It was the middle of January and the winter clung tight. A starless sky swathed the land as the sun continued to set, ready for the lunar eclipse.

High up in the mountains, there was a village. This village as full of people, young and old. Many were dying, may were just born. But all were doomed.

An ancient tale told frequently throughout the tribe describes a dangerous and dark, winged creature visiting their tribe. This flying demon was said to have demanded control over their land, threatening them to an eternity of unfortunate and horrible events. However, the old tribe stuck together and brought the Superior Spirits and fought against the evil demon, sending it well away from their home. But as the demon was pushed away, he cursed the tribe and warned them that he'd be back. And that he would watch them burn in hellish flames. 

Many people of the tribe believed this story. Some even claimed to have seen the demon's tracks in the forest. But soon, as all things must, the story faded away. The tale was just another myth now, told just for entertainment.

But there were a few older, wiser members of the tribe who strongly believed and worried that the winged demon would return and create more chaos. It was these same members that held a ritual every evening in order to call the defending spirits as a precaution. A great whole tribal one was held every lunar eclipse, for it was also believed that was when the Haulapai Spirits were strongest, and the tribe was far away from evil. These tales and mythes and legends...no matter whether the tribe fully trusted them or not, they all took part in the rituals since the agonizing death of their ancestors was definitely true.

In his cave Terr sulked. He was bored and hungry. He sat and waited. Suddenly a loud repetitive boom reached his sensitive ears. Again and again. Each beat sent a shiver of pain though his body. He unfolded his arms and sighed. He did something he hadn't done for several hundred years. He stood up and stretched out his wings. 

From his cave he could see the whole mountain range. He could see the forests all the way down to the valley, to the human quarters, and out to the ocean. This was his realm. Anyone who ruined his peace in his land would die.

Back in Haulapai land, the Elders were getting ready for the Lunar Ritual. Sticks covered in moss and cinnamon were being burnt by the huge fire in the centre of all the huts and tepees. Young women were dancing around gracefully, awaking the Spirits to their circle. Everybody was swaying in the circle trance-like, chanting the ancient prayers and songs.

"Halal a fenevadnak. Hagyja a gonoszszellemket...halal a fenevadnak. Hagyja a gonoszszellemeket..." The tribe repeated, crooning at the Spirits to enter. Old croaky voices mixed in harmony with the young, perky ones, as together they called their great, great ancestors to join them.

"OOHDA OOHDA!" The head Chief shouted, bringing the hypnotic voices to a halt.

Suddenly the drumming and chanting stopped. Silence once again fell upon his ears. He smiled. The silence enabled him to hunt once again. He walked to the edge of his cave. He looked out. His eyes focused on one small clump of houses. There. Terr stood up straight. He stepped forwards, on to the ledge. And once more, into thin air. He unfurled his great black wings. A mighty swoosh filled the air. A crow cawed. An owl shrieked. 

The demon was awake. The demon was coming. Terr was free.

The Chief's danger call was heard by everyone in the village. People stood in silence, not even daring to flinch. A whoosh of breeze flew by, making the hairs on the tribal's backs stand on end. The wind was not warm. The wind was not loving. It was cold, and had an eerie sense of death about it. All of the tribe stood their ground as a large shadow flew above them, stooping down to stop abruptly before the fire. The demon had arrived.

Terr saw the people. These frightened, pitiful humans. He laughed. His laughter made them flinch from him. It filled him with a malevolent glee. 

"Hello mortals." His voice was rough and broken from years of misuse. He folded his arms and waited. His wings still spread out. He was beautifully evil. And the mortals knew it.

The mortals stood, stunned with utter fear and astonishment. They could already tell that there was no escape. The demon's wings were huge and his beautiful dace gleamed at them with power and knowledge. He looked like an angel, and suddenly, the tribe all felt the need to go to him. They felt a want to stumble forward closer to this creature. It was drawing them towards him, like a magnetic pull. 

He was already starting to take control of them.

A few kids, their eyes wide with curiosity at this gorgeous, but cold-hearted phenomenon, slowly walked towards him. The closer they got, the more stunned with happiness they got. And the more happy they got, the more thrilled the demon got.

"Ah.. Young mortals. You come to me. You crave my power and knowledge. Don't you?" The children froze. This dark angel was talking to them. He was acknowledging their existence. They were overfilled with delight. Terr knew this. He knelt down and whispered softly 

"Young boys. Young girls. Come here. Come closer." The children crept closer. "Come here." And closer. "Come on." Suddenly the children were standing before the beast. 

"I'm not that scary, am I?" He asked. 

The young children shook their heads. He wasn't scary, he was like a king. He was their king. And they wanted to do whatever they could to protect and help their king. The innocent children were right by his side at this point, the pull successfully taken over their minds. There was no going back now; the demon had taken over them.

All the Elders could do was stand there,  and watch with their faces wrinkled with worry and fear. They felt a weaker draw towards the creature and it did not affect them as much. But even then, the fear was still raising higher and higher in the tribe. Nobody would dare to breathe, and they were right not to. The winger creature raised his wicked eyes to meet the head Chief's startled ones. 

"Do I wish to kill you? As said in your old myths? No. No, I don't. I will not kill you. I am the kind one. I am here to teach you. You must learn." He looked into the Elder's eyes. They stared back, terrified. His eyes hold flames, but flames of ice. Not of the fabled fire. It was clear that Terr wasn't the demon to be feared. Everyone relaxed a slight bit. Terr noticed this. He noticed it and decided to use it to his advantage.

He quickly swept his eyes over the tribe and watched them carefully for a minute, contemplating when to begin his plan. The children beneath him stared up with complete admiration. Terr scoffed. He had this tribe wrapped around his deadly claw.  Just as he was about to click his fingers to call the Fire, the Elders gasped in shock. Everybody looked up at the night sky above them. Terr looked up as well, confused at what had paused his plan. And there, right above him, a huge black creature, just like him, swooped down dramatically beside him. The creature landed with a thud, causing the tribe to scramble back a few feet away from them in fear. The bird-like creature raised his head slowly from the cover of his bright red, soft wings to stare right back at Terr. His yellow eyes pierced Terr's black ones, as he realised who this magnificent but deadly creature it was. 

Daddy.

"Hello my son..." His voice rippled out. Shock waves ran through the terrified people. Even the mighty chief looked on in horror. Terr stood bolt upright. "Father..." Terr whispered. 

"Now, Mr Chief. I am Drak'Nor. I am Terr's father and YOU are on my lands. I warned your ancestors the consequence's of doing this." The great monster said, calmly. 

Drak'Nor looked at all the humans. The humans looked at him. He looked at his son. Terr looked away. Drak'Nor knew his son wouldn't harm these humans straight out, he was disgusted by his son's cowardice. Terr knew this, and he tried to avoid Drak'Nor when he could.

Terr stared at the blazing fire, waiting for his father to begin screaming and cursing at him. He was a failure and a complete mistake to him, even after all these years of serving him faithfully. He know all too well that father would only do one of either two thing: force Terr to kill the humans and prove himself as a worthy warrior, or destroy them himself and leave Terr to another thousand years of solitude. He braced himself as Drak'Nor flexed his claws slowly.

"Right, you worthless humans. I see my dear son has done nothing but stand here and threaten your pathetic lives," He threw Terr a disgustful look and continued to address the tribe. "Now my little kiddies, this lovely ending to your lives could go two ways...but I'm still deciding which one would be best for my amusement..." Drak'Nor pondered as he paced around the fire. The tribe were stood still in shock, but none dared to move. 

Watching his father carefully, Terr tried to inch his way far enough to make his escape. He didn't need this. He didn't need to be reminded what a spineless raven-demon he was. He just needed to get away from his father before his decision was made.

Drak'Nor stalked around the fire. His mind spun with ideas. He had said

there were two ways to kill the humans, but in reality there were many, many

more. There was burning, acid, ripping them limb from limb, letting them bleed

out, so many ways. His mind spun with possibilities. He narrowed his options

down to two. Setting them all on fire, using his demonic abilities, or getting his

son, the weak and pathetic son he was given, to kill them all.

"Now, now. I have made up my mind. I have decided on a little game. Who

want's to play with me? Terr? You want to play with these humans don't you?"

Terr, half hidden in the shadow of his father, swallowed. "Yes, I would like to...

play."

Drak'Nor smiled at his son's weakness. This would be fun. A way to be rid of

both the humans and his failure of a son. A terrible accident. A game gone wrong.

A joke taken too far. It would be perfect.

The Elders were worried. They glanced at each other with wide and fearful eyes, wondering what the hell to do. Even then, it was pretty obvious there was no escaping these two horrifying demons, but they couldn't admit it. No, definitely not. They were raised and taught by their ancestors to never give up, and to keep fighting until the very end. However, when the position is between death and death, it's not exactly easy. 

Trembling, the tribe watched the two beasts carefully, trying to get some hint on what they might do to them. But the creatures stood just as still as them, just staring at the fire. The newest one, big and blood red as he was, had his face gleaming with evil, while the other one was obviously terrified and intimidated. The Elders used this to their advantage. 

Head Chief nodded at the circle of warriors by Terr in signal to get ready. If he made any move, they would attack him first and take down the second after. The scared were the weakest, and that is who they would get rid off first. They were ready to fight. 

Terr stood half in the shadows. His eyes diverted from his father. How could they be related? He was a dark raven feathered black and his father was a scaly, red, vicious serpent thing. 

Terr's eyes shifted around the clearing. Humans swarmed everywhere. They more  confident and ready then earlier. They seemed prepared. Terr looked at his father, who seemed relaxed and oblivious to the humans. Terr rolled his breath on his tongue, making a low humming noise. The humans couldn't hear him,  but Drak'Nor could.

A low humming reached Drak'Nor's ears. He immediately traced the vibrations to his son. Terr was making this low pitched sound, just like he did when he was stressed, as a warning to Drak. Drak'Nor leaned back on his haunches. He knew what Terr was doing. Terr, the weak, spineless, b*****d son of Drak'Nor's, was worried about his father's safety. 

It would have been sweet, if it weren't so pathetic. Drak'Nor laughed. A deep hearty laugh. One that shook the earth and made the people start. Terr looked at Drak'Nor, startled. 

The tribe stood, completely put off by the big, fiery creature's sudden outburst of malicious laughter. What? What on earth was he laughing at? The Elders glanced at each other, eyes wide with confusion. They must be planning something. They're going to attack, and they couldn't let their guard down for one second. 

Suddenly, Drak'Nor let out another roar of laughter, and the tribe fell back. His evil joy tremored though their veins causing them to step backwards in shock. Drak'Nor lifted his magnificent wings and grabbed at the kids, causing them to run away screaming. Another thunder of laughter rippled through his throat, and the tribe knew it was too late. They had let their guard down.

Terr leapt into the air, his wings spread wide. He lifted himself off of the ground. As high as he could get, til the people looked like dots. He was in the cloud bank by now. He embraced the could vapours

Drak'Nor stopped laughing the minute his son leapt into the skies. He stopped laughing, instead we held an evil, lop sided, grin on his face. His forked tongue flickered in between his sharp white fangs. Drak'Nor's talons gripped the children tight. They screamed at him, shouted, pleaded and begged. But Drak'Nor wouldn't release them, they were to become his toys. 

"Little toys. Little toys." He crooned to the tiny corpses in his clenched fists.  "Tiny babies, tiny babies." He dropped the children's bodies. With a sweep of one wing he knocked twelve human warriors over. 

The humans were crying out, shouting. They called out their war cries. Drak'Nor took no heed of them. He continued using the humans as dolls. As meer puppets too bow to his will, to dance to his tune and to sing his song. 

"Dance little puppets. Dance."

"Dance little puppets. Dance." The words echoed in Terr's head. The images flashed before his eyes. The memories came flooding back. This wasn't the first time he'd seen his father kill the entire village before. This wasn't the first. But it would be the last. 

With a massive breath in and a gutsy bellow Terr dived down. Through the clouds and cold air, he dived. Aiming at his father. 

He reached his arms out, to grab Drak'Nor's skin. He pumpled into Drak'Nor, knocking him over. The impact almost made Terr lose his grip. Drak'Nor looked at his son, surprised. Terr's arms were wrapped around his father's torso, pinning his arms to his side. 

Drak'Nor kicked Terr sharply in the leg. "Get off!" Drak'Nor screamed. This only made Terr cling on tighter. He was holding on for dear life now. If he left go he knew his father wouldn't hesitate to kill him. 

The Chief Elder sensed that his tribe was worried. Most of the families had already made a run for it through the woods, but he held a hand up to warn anybody else from leaving. The small black creature seemed to be attempting to stop the larger one, so surely he was on their side? The Chief had to make a decision now, and it had to be the right one. He watched the black bird struggle to pin down the larger one and as he looked up, he caught eyes with him. And right there, the Chief understood.

He waved a hand behind his back to the army, signalling them to come forward. Terr carried on clawing his father to the floor, despite his thrashes and dark curses. The Chief waited until Drak'Nor was just about to push Terr off of him when he yelled-

"ATTACK YOUNG HIECHIWAA" 

Drak'Nor lay on the floor. He was biting and clawing at his son's underbelly. His chest was being crushed. He screamed curses at his son. Suddenly the human chief call out. Drak'Nor turned his beastly head to the small man. He looked into the man's eyes. There was - rightly - fear in them. But there was something else. Defiance.

Terr held his father down. He was bleeding from multiple wounds. Drak'Nor was biting him, fighting dirty. He raised his fist and slammed it into Drak'Nor's head. Once, twice, three times. His fist made connection. Drak'Nor screamed. 

The armed tribe ran to Drak'Nor with their sharpened spears and flamed torches and attacked him. As they plunged their weapons into his shattered body, Drak'Nor cried out a piercing shout, but he could not fight back. The pain was too much. Everything came at him at once, and he had no strength to release his wings from the human's grasp. The tribe continued to stab at him, causing more screams of horror from the great creature. But he was great no more. Drak'Nor's blood trickled across the dry ground around the humans, making them smile at their victory. He was dead. The demon had been conquered. 

Terr stood up. He looked down at the broken body of his father. He stepped back. His father was dead. Terr had killed Drak'Nor. He was dead. 

Terr was free. He had everything he wanted. 

Freedom.

Reviews

[Bryan Micheni]

This needs a sequel... Awesome read:)

[Shiningwolf]

Very dramatic. Kept me interested through the whole story! Loved the plot. Excellent work! I can tell you worked hard on this.

[Athena Ramos]

congrats on finishing it!!! it's very nice! well written, nice plot, cool name!! "Drak'Nor" awesome!!

there's nothing i can say to correct it. it's great as it is :D

[ImJustAMisguidedGhost]

I know right! It was really fun and yes we should!! :D
*raves*

[Deactivated_BurningDemo..]

*dances*
We finally finished this!
It was fun, we should totally do it again! :D

[halflives]

Wow. This is a powerful, dramatic story with a good, creative plot and creative names as well! I thoroughly enjoyed this!