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The Origin of Shadow

Chapter 5

(vIDo, The Fire Fox)

I ran for ages as the sky changed from day to night and then from night to day, I didn't rest and I didn't stop, not until I had Resdayn in my arms and I knew he was safe. I passed a few towns and villages only to see where Jericho's insanity had led him. Entire settlements burnt to ashes, from the amount of bodies in the street it seemed that Jericho's army left none alive. But what I found strange was that the only worrying thought I had was how long had I been gone for? I finally stopped on the borders of the Feline kingdom to regain some energy. It would appear that Demons can't run forever. I sat down on a log next to a road to rest. Usually this road was full of traders with their wagons packed full of valuable things for sale, some more valuable than others though. But still, it felt wrong and disturbing that this road was so quiet, but if I kept following it then I'd reach Aerix's palace. As calm as this place was I felt like I was being watched as a strange scent flooded my nostrils, there was someone else here. I decided not to react, but to act like everything was ok as I listened to them walking around in the forest that the road ran through. I heard their feet stepping on the dirt and I also heard their heartbeating whilst their blood flowing through their veins. They were nervous or scared, I wasn't sure, but I definitly knew that their blood was pumping faster and their heart was beating harder than usual. I smiled as they finally stopped once they were positioned behind me.

Shadow: "heh heh, I can hear you"

Suddenly a ball of fire raced towards me as I managed to roll out of the way. I turned to face the opening in the forest that the fireball had just burnt open. And that's when I saw my opponent. It was a Fox with fire in the palm of his paw.

Shadow: "That's a nice trick. What are you? A Demon? Or maybe one of Jericho's men"

vIDo: "I am no Demon and I have no loyalty to that monster"

Shadow: "Then I will not fight you"

Suddenly Shadow-Heart appeared behind me out of nowhere with a grin on his face.

Shadow-Heart: "Now that is rare"

The Fox suddenly gave a strange and almost scared look as Shadow-Heart appeared. It was clear that the Fox didn't know whether to run or stand his ground. But I knew his type, a gentlemen-scoundral. He was polite and well-mannered to decieve his prey, but once he had them caught, he showed his true colours.

vIDo: "How did you do that?"

Shadow-Heart: "It's easy, almost every class of Demon can do it. It's just using elements as portals"

vIDo: "Demon? Y-you're a Demon?"

Shadow-heart: "Yep, both of us"

Shadow: "But what about you? What are you?"

The Fire Fox did not answer, but luckily Shadow-Heart knew what he was.

Shadow-Heart: "He's a Fire Fox, I've never seen one before. They can manipulate fire but they can't create it like certain types of Demons. These guys are incredibly rare"

Shadow: "How come?"

Shadow-Heart: "Demons hunted Fire Foxes to near extinction over 2000 years ago, the gland in the back of their brain that allows them to manipulate fire is a very tasty meal if prepared right, and it's also a mild drug to mortals, they're weak compared to you and probably wouldn't be worth your time"

Shadow: "So what you're basically saying is that I can kick his ass?"

Shadow-Heart: "Yup"

Shadow: "That's good to know, but I'd prefer a different approach first"

I then focused my attention on the Fox.

Shadow: "Tell me, how long has it been since Jericho's army stormed this land?"

vIDo: "Why should I tell you?"

He was still in an aggressive stance. I needed to find a way to calm him down.

Shadow: "Because I'm trying to stop him"

vIDo: "Yeah right, you could just be a straggler of his army, how do I know you're not lying?"

Shadow: "Because you'd be dead by now if I was lying"

The Fox thought things through for a moment before lowering his guard and extinguishing the flame in the palm of his paw.

vIDo: "It was about 4 days ago since they came through here. Everything has gone to hell since Lucien was murdered"

Shadow: "Tell me what's happened since then?"

vIDo: "Well the Empirial army split into 2 groups, one group stayed by Jericho's side out of fear, the other remianed loyal to the original purpose of the Canid Empire and saw Jericho as a threat, they vowed their alligence to someone name Nathaniel, he's meant to be a knight but he was last seen heading to the castle just before Jericho took over, so most believe he's dead now. Then Jericho started attacking his own kingdom as small pockets of ressistance grew. But he didn't just kill the rebels, he killed everyone in any town that harboured rebels to send a message. After that most furries fled to the other kingdoms for safety, although some didn't run incase they were caught. But now all the kingdoms are wedged between the rampaging Dragons and Jericho's bloodlust. That all happened about a month ago. Although 5 days ago Jericho left with about 80% of his army to destroy the Feline kingdom"

I was surprised and I didn't know what to say. Not only had I been gone a month, but Jericho had already caused so much damage. He left 5 days ago, that's more than enough time to get to Aerix's palace. I had failed. But then I remembered something, something vital.

Shadow: "What of the soldiers that faught against Jericho?"

vIDo: "They helped esscort civillians to the other kingdoms, after that they rallied to the Feline palace. Or atleast that's what I heared"

Phew, my last command got through. Well Nathaniel's last command, atleast Aerix will have a decent defence to hold out.

vIDo: "But it doesn't matter. The other kingdoms are doomed to fall unless someone takes down Jericho. His army only follows him out of fear. But Jericho can't die, he's been shot with arrows, stabbed, poisoned and even decapitated"

Shadow-Heart: "Looks like you're not the only one who became a Demon"

I let out a sigh as I began to think about what to do next. Just me charging in half-blinded would not be a good idea.

Shadow: "Well, thanks for getting us up to date, but we really should be going"

I was about to walk off when Shadow-Heart came out with his idea.

Shadow-Heart: "Hold it, Jericho is a Demon. This changes everything. You can't face him until your Demon Seed develops fully"

Shadow: "But I've only had 1 conversion in about 2 days. The Demon Seed, is taking too long"

Shadow-Heart: "But without it you'll be too weak"

Shadow-Heart and I had forgotten about vIDo as he actaully had a solution to my problem.

vIDo: "Erm......sorry to interupt, but I think I know a guy who might be able to help you"

Shadow: "What?"

Shadow-Heart: "Explain Fire Fox"

vIDo: "I know this guy, he's a doctor, the best doctor in all the land. There's nothing he can't fix or heal and I bet he can speed up the development rate of your Demon Seed thing"

Shadow: "And why are you telling us this?"

vIDo: "Because the only way any of us are going to survive is if Jericho is killed, otherwise he's just going to keep killing until there's nothing left. I'm just looking out for my life and in this case helping you could result in me living longer"

I looked at Shadow-Heart as it seemed he came to the same conclusion I had.

Shadow: "Fine, take us to this doctor you know"

The Fire Fox nodded.

vIDo: "Come on, this way"

The Fox turned around as me and Shadow-Heart followed him into the forest. But then Shadow-Heart whispered something into my ear.

Shadow-Heart: "Becareful, he's a Fox they can't be trusted, keep an eye on him and don't lower your guard"

Foxes were cunning tricksters, but they made good stealth warriors. The point was that some of them weren't furries you'd want to trust.

Shadow: "What's your name anyway?"

vIDo: "vIDo.....what about you?"

Shadow: "I'm Na..........I'm Shadow"

I had forgotten that Nathaniel was no longer alive, he died and I was created from his remains, the moment I came to that realization I became a little depressed. Me and Shadow-Heart followed him slowly and cautiously as he led me towards a secret path. After about an hour of walking down this path we reached a strange looking house. I'd never seen a building like this it was made with both wood and metal instead of stone.

vIDo: "Come on, I just hope he's in"

We appraoched the house as Shadow-Heart dissapeared and whispered 'Good Luck' into my ear, I'm sure he had his reasons. vIDo then opened the door as we entered, this place was so bizzare. It was full of strange medical equiptment and shelves stacked with..........only god knows what in a bunch of jars. I looked up to see a load of gears and cogs in the ceiling like some kind of steam punk design. Infact most of the junk in here was steampunk in appearence. I kept looking around as vIDo went to fetch the doctor.

vIDo: "Hey doc, You got a patient"

I kept looking around, completely amazed at these new wonders. And then I was startled when the doctor arrived. He was on some kind of chair hanging from the ceiling that could move up and down. The doctor himself, well.........he was confusing. His lower half was that of a goat, but his upper half was like nothing I'd seen before. His skin was pink and had no fur. He had no maw and looked like a shaved ape. His shirt had short sleeves and he was wearing a pair of glasses with circular frames and a bizzare mask that covered his mouth.

Fred: "Interesting......"

Shadow: "I'll say"

He got off the chair and looked at me like his eyes were scanning me.

Frederick: "An incomplete Demon Seed convertion. Very interesting indeed"

I couldn't focus mainly because I was amazed at what the hell he was.

Shadow: "Excuse me, but what are you and who are you?"

The doctor looked me in the eyes and took off his mask to show he was smiling.

Frederick: "Sorry, I forgot my manners. The name's Frederick, Frederick E. Lester"

He extended his weird, furless paw thing to shake my paw. So I shook it, wanting to make a good first impression.

Frederick: "And as you can clearly tell I'm not exactly like your kind"

Shadow: "My kind?"

Frederick: "Furries, Interesting creatures, but unfortunately I belong to a species known as Fauns. I'm half animal, half Human"

Shadow: "Huh, so this upper half of you is what a 'Human' looks like?"

Frederick nodded.

Shadow: "I don't mean to be rude, but they're don't seem to be that attractive"

The doctor laughed and sat down as vIDo walked up behind him.

Frederick: "vIDo, my dear friend, why did you bring him here?"

vIDo: "He has a Demon Seed and he wants to increase the development rate into a matter of seconds"

Frederick started to think as he stroked his small triangular beard.

Frederick: "It is possible, but incredibly dangerous. The Demon Seed could mutate and destroy or cripple your body or/and mind. The pain will be unlike anything you've ever felt"

Shadow: "I've already had a convertion. I can bare through that kind of pain"

Frederick: "HA! That is only 1/100th of the pain you'll feel if we accelerate it"

Shadow: "I don't care Doc, I need to kill Jericho and the only way to do that is by doing this. So if you're not going to help then just say so and stop wasting my time"

Fred sighed as he cleaned his glasses. After that he got up from his chair before walking over to a shelf and grabbed a jar full of strange roots from a plant. After that he walked back over to me and pulled a lever that I was standing next to making a table lower from the ceiling. This one had straps on it too.

Shadow: " *sigh* Let me guess, I eat that then my body freaks out right?"

Frederick: "Pretty much"

vIDo: "Whoa wait a minute. You're giving him Devil's Bane? Wont that kill him?"

Frederick: "Not yet it wont. Devil's Bane stops an Immortal-class Demon's ability to regenerate, but it also acts as a poision to any other kind of Demon, but only if they're weak. So if this is inserted into his body, then the Demon Seed will try to make him as strong as it possibly can to combat the Devil's Bane and therefore will accelrate it's development to a near fatal level"

Basically to sum up, the roots will poison me forcing my Demon Seed to fully develop. But there is a very high chance it could kill me. But if it was for Resdayn then I was more than willing to take that risk. So I got onto the table as vIDo and Frederick strapped me in.

Frederick: "You don't have to do this"

Shadow: "Yes I do........now please......give me the roots"

Fred let out another sigh as he held the roots infront of my maw and I ate them. After that nothing seemed to happen.

Fred: "It'll take about a minute to kick in, good luck, I'm afriad I'll have to keep you locked up during the process or else you could not only destroy this place, but you could also kill me and vIDo"

Shadow: "It's ok Doc, do what you have to do"

He pulled the lever again as the table went up into some kind of containment thing, so I didn't damage his house. I was alone in the dark with nothing more than my thoughts when I suddnely felt a sharp pain in my stomach, it felt like being stabbed, only it got worse and worse like my skin was being torn off. My heartbeat elevated as my blood started to boil in my veins. I grunted and closed my eyes tightly, trying to bare through the pain, but it was too much as I screamed as loud as I could, then suddnely I started to see things. 100 million different scenarios and situations flashed infront of me. But the strange thing was, I remembered every single one of them in great detail, in each scenario I had to use a different Demon ability or a combination of some to survive, like it was training me. After they stopped, so did the pain. But I felt so tired and I couldn't stop my eyes from closing. After that I drifted off into a deep sleep, and I didn't want to wake up from it.......

To Be Continued.........