FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Avenging Blaze

Chapter Zero: Lighting the Blaze

The blood of my kin dripped from his exposed claws. The desecrated bodies of my mother and father lay at his feet. I knew I was crying as I saw him turn his head towards me. My blood froze as the moonlight illuminated a jagged scar on his face, a scar I knew too well. I was the one who had given that scar to him.

"Brother? Mother and Father, Auntie and Uncle, all of our Clan, all of them are dead. Our family, dead! Why? Why would you do this? How could you do this? You were the favorite, the prodigy! Why?" I wailed.

"Foolish little brother. The truth is right in front of you, and yet you can't see it. I did all of this to test my ability. As for how I did this, allow me show you. Dragon Art: Memory Gaze!"

He looked into my eyes, his irises golden; mine changed into a fear-filled sapphire. I knew what he was going to do when he said, "show you." Okay, I didn't, but I had two guesses. The first was that he was going to show me by example and kill me as well. The second was that he was going to force me to "watch" how he slaughtered our family using a Blood Skill. Turned out the latter was correct.

I was suddenly standing on the main street that leads to the High Council's Castle, except for all of the colors were reversed. The banner representing our clan, a dragon with viscous, crimson blood streaming from its needlepoint fangs and razor like claws, a symbol of our clan's victory in the Blood War, in front of a swirling black and white blaze, a symbol of the clan's status and place on the council.

The colors go in order of rank, from lowest to highest, red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet, silver, gold, black, white, and finally black and white. The clans, in the same order, are the Dwarves, the Anami, the Weres, the Elves, the Angels, the Terrans, the Daemons, the Fae, the Vampyres, the Dragons, the Lycanthropes, and the Pureweres. Each clan has its on Blood Ability, a power that only that only that clan has, like the Dragons ability to breathe fire, no matter what form they are in. There are also the humans, whose color is gray, but they are viewed as less than worthless. They live a constant life of pain in retribution for bringing about the Blood War.

The Blood War began because humans felt that they were superior to the other races because they had the highest population. They used this reasoning to justify spreading slanderously disparaging lies to the lower clans, who were unable to take them as anything but the truth. This is because the Ancients gave the humans the gift of Persuasion before they disappeared from the planet. Anything the humans said to someone was automatically assumed to be the truth by the unfortunate being. The only beings unaffected by this power are Dragons, Lycans, and Pureweres. During the period of time now called the Oathrending the humans used their gift to create rifts between clans. There were four main rifts. One was between the Dwarves and the Elves. Another was between the Daemons and the Angels. The two with the most devastating consequences were the rift between the Lycans, the Weres, and the Vampyres and the rift between the Pureweres, Lycans, and Dragons, as a group, and all of the remaining clans.

There were many gruesome atrocities that happened during the seven years that the Blood War raged. The death toll reached an abhorrent 30% for all clans. This is the main factor that contributed to the decision of the High Council of All Clans to remove the power of Persuasion from the humans, as well as place humans on a level that caused them to be treated worse than slaves. It was at this time that the prophets were finally able to interpret a passage from the Ancient's Book of Time. It read, "When darkened snow falls in the Land of Purity, the Plasma Skirmish will draw to a close. Guard well your doors for the Reaper has many guises and is closer than you think." It was about this time that my brother was born. Everyone proclaimed him the prophesied child because of his black hair and pale skin. They were so preoccupied with him that they didn't even notice as a large army of most of the clans massed outside of the castle. The book was right. The Skirmishes were over and the War had truly begun. A black snow fell over the castle grounds that day soon to be washed red with Battle's Rain.

"Daydreaming again are we Azrael? You really must pay better attention or you will fail to learn anything," my brother said.

"Yes Icefire," I replied automatically.

As soon as I looked up I saw the carnage my brother had unleashed upon the Castle Guard. Icefire used his katana to rip the very flesh from the Guards bones, causing great sprays of blood to erupt from their bodies as they collapsed to spend their final, excruciatingly painful moments of life wondering how this could have happened. The next to die was a small group of children playing in one of the courtyards. Icefire took his time in killing them. The first, a girl of at least five years, he slowly cut into small pieces, making sure she was alive before each individual slash. Blades of wind from every direction shredded the next, a boy of maybe three years. His blood was turned into a fine mist that was carried by that murderous zephyr into one of the gardens where it turned a bush of white roses pink. The final one was the most gruesome. After watching his friends be butchered right in front of him, Icefire used the same ability he was now using on me to make the seven-year-old boy relive the repugnant scene over and over again until he was begging to be killed. Icefire rejected his pleas for an hour until he finally accepted, and ripped the poor boy's throat out. On his way out of the courtyard, Icefire came across our aunt and uncle. They walked up to him to ask why he was covered in blood and Icefire responded, "Why don't I just show you." With that he proceeded to kill both of them. First was our aunt. Icefire used a dagger that he hid in his boot at all times to slowly peel her skin off of her body. Uncle just stood there in a state of shock as he watched his favorite nephew skin his own aunt. Only when all that was left was a gradually falling corpse, dripping blood to form a great pool did he finally react. He rushed toward Icefire, planning to avenge his wife's murder. It didn't work out very well though. Icefire just held the dripping dagger out in front of him and uncle impaled himself on it. From there Icefire proceeded through the castle, killing everyone who got in his way, or everybody. The final people that Icefire killed were our parents. Icefire then Changed his hands into claws and ensued to rip them to shreds. The two of them didn't even try to defend themselves. All that my mother did was ask Icefire, "Why?"

Then it all disappeared. I fell down onto my knees. I could tell that I was sobbing the way that tears were streaming down my face.

"Why? You were the favorite, the prophesied child. You first Changed at age seven and mastered the Change at ten. Any member of our clan would have bent over backwards doing something for you, and you killed them. Why?" I yelled in between sobs.

"I did this because you were born," Icefire stated simply.

"What?"

"After I was born, the Blood War escalated to unheard of levels. No one could understand why, until the Prophets interpreted the rest of the Page of Snow. They finally finished deciphering it when you were off with those mutts for three years, in fact the Interpretation happened on your ninth birthday. It read 'When the Bloods of Kin flood you door do not despair forevermore. When Chaos breathes in Land of the Clean, Light will shine and all will be forgiven. The Reaper will show his true face and belief of all will he debase. Bloodshed and Blood maintained. Power embraced and Chaos born.' You are the Chaos that breathes in the Land of the Clean, or the Pureweres clan. Our family shunned you because of your appearance. Black tipped white hair, color changing eyes, pale, yet healthy, skin tone. They saw you as a freak, not a Gift. You are not only the true Prophesied Child, but also a Chaosform!" Icefire exclaimed.

My mind came to a screeching halt. A Chaosform? Me? Chaosforms are the most powerful of all beings. They are so powerful that the Ancients decreed that a Chaosform would be born once in every thousand lost generations after a Chaosform dies. Wait a minute. My grandfather was the thousandth person to die since the last Chaosform died, and then I was born. Normally there is a grand counter established in the castles of every clan to keep track of the number of deaths, but the war messed that up.

My childhood was severely messed up. Like Icefire said I was all but exiled because of how I looked. My parents hated me because I reminded them of the Prophecy of Snow, because of my black tipped hair. My entire clan treated me like trash and spoiled Icefire. When they saw me they just looked through me with an ice-filled gaze. The only people who even noticed me were Icefire and Lorcán, my mate.

Lorcán is the Prince of the Lycanthropes. I am one of the few people who have ever been part of a male-male mating. There have only been twenty of these matings in the history of our people. They started after a rouge dragon cursed all matings on our planet to produce more male offspring than female. Members of male-male matings are more prominent among the clans, mainly because people believe one member gave up his own happiness for the sake of duty to his clan. This wasn't the case with Lorcán and me though. Lorcán chose me because he saw that my family would never love me as I deserved, and he did. Matings between clans, like ours, are especially renowned, chiefly if one of the males can use a Fertility Spell to produce a child. This has only happened five times out of the twenty pairings.

My fondest memories are of my times with Lorcán, mainly because his family loves me. He was five when I was born, so he is a little like another older brother at times, except this one actually likes me. My favorite memory is from three years ago, when I was four. I was staying with Lorcán for a year so his family could get used to me. At least that's what they said. The truth was Lorcán couldn't stand how my family treated me, so he took me to live with him for a while. The memory is of a time when Lorcán was going for a horseback ride, and I wanted to go too.

"Locun, I wanna go hose backwiding too. Can I wide wif you?" I asked.

"No, my love. It is too dangerous. Lightningcharge is too powerful for you to ride. I do not want you riding and getting hurt for it would kill me." Lorcán replied.

"Pwease?" I whined, sounding like a newborn pup.

"*Sigh* I just can't resist how cute you are when you pout. Very well, on one condition, the minute you start to fall, we stop and you ride the rest of the way with my eldest sister Mallory on her mare Brook." Lorcán conceded.

"Okies!" I replied with a bright grin.

"Silly mate," I heard Lorcán mutter as he ruffled my hair then lifted me up into the saddle of his black stallion with him.

We rode all throughout the Lycan's lands. Lorcán spent the time pointing out different features of the land and telling me of the alliances of our clans. He told me that our two clans and the Dragons all have an alliance with my clan on top. The Daemon clan was our militia, by its own choice. The Angels and Vampyres had done the same, except they became our medical corps and black ops. The most hilarious thing of the entire ride was the looks Lorcán kept giving me whenever we turned and I didn't fall, like he was expecting it. It never happened.

Thinking of this brings back the memory causes me to remember what caused Lorcán to take me away in the first place. Lorcán was staying with in the castle in order to get to know my family better. It didn't go very well though. Lorcán growled whenever someone walked by me and shoved me into a wall, but that wasn't the worst of it. Lorcán reacted violently to someone insulting me by pretending I didn't exist when I was in the same room as them. Four people ended up in the infirmary before everyone took the hint and decided to just glare at me whenever I was around. Lorcán grudgingly accepted this change. To him, any notice, even such a negative notice, is better than no notice at all.

When Lorcán learned that no one had ever taught me how to defend myself or use magic, he was first stunned, and then he raged for about an hour.

"What are they thinking? You're natural magic is the strongest in history! You even have eyes that the color changes depending on your mood! No one in history has had that! No one! Your potential is limitless! You're stronger than Blaaz, the greatest Chaosform in history, and he had more Magical Power than the Ancients! That's it, I will train you."

And so he did. For weeks he would train me in every way imaginable to defend myself, as well as how to use magic. Lorcán was surprised at how quickly I picked up on anything I was taught. We both thought nothing could go wrong, but we had forgotten about my brother.

We were sitting in one of the castle gardens when it happened. Lorcán had just finished teaching me a few basic fire spells and was now sitting on bench across the courtyard from me. I was standing and passing a Fireball back to him when I was knocked to the ground by a punch across the jaw. When I looked up I saw a fuming Icefire looming over me.

"What is wrong with you? This is my training ground! How dare you defile it!" he roared.

"I humbly beg pardon brother. It will never happen again," I said as I stood up and turned to leave.

Icefire wasn't done though. He slammed into me and began kicking me while I was on the ground.

"Who gave you permission to leave? I wasn't finished with you. You came in here to practice magic didn't you? Don't lie, I saw the Fireball. Who taught you anyways? Any of our clan's teachers would have killed their family and themselves before they taught you," Icefire ranted.

"I..." I began, but Icefire cut me off with a strong kick to the stomach that me fighting to breathe and keep back my lunch.

"Who gave you permission to speak? If I didn't know any better I'd say that by the way you keep overstepping yourself that you were human, you little URF!" Icefire grunted as Lorcán tackled him.

"How dare you dishonor my mate, your kin, in such a way," Lorcán growled. "He has much more honor than you do. You walk around with people worshipping you, never needing to do anything for yourself because everyone does everything for you. You haven't ever had to work for anything, whereas Azrael has had to work hard to get even the smallest scrap of food. All of you look down on him like he is some sort of beast when he is really more of a person than all of you put together. How can any of you even mention honor when you all have none."

Icefire shoved Lorcán off of him.

"Who do you think you are? How dare you speak to me in such a way? I am the Prophesied Child! I'll kill you for your actions!" Icefire spat as he lunged Lorcán.

I jumped in between the two of them and slashed Icefire's cheek with the dagger Lorcán had bought for me. A fine spray of blood filled the air.

"You will not harm my mate," I said in a low voice.

"You worthless scum. You dare to strike me!" Icefire hissed.

The next thing I remember is flying across the courtyard after Icefire backhanded me. I skipped across the ground twice before I landed on my right arm with a sickening crunch. Lorcán went ballistic.

"What in the name of Luna was that for? You just broke his arm you bastard, yet you act like all you did was swat a fly. Don't you feel any remorse?" Lorcán bellowed.

"I have no clue what you're talking about," Icefire stated calmly, "Are you sure you weren't hallucinating?"

That was the last straw for Lorcán. He threw himself at Icefire. The two of them brawled for ten minutes before a voice rang through the courtyard.

"What is the meaning of this?!" the voice bellowed.

Doom Inferno is a very intimidating person. He is 6'5" tall, has a muscular build, midnight hair, and a predatory aura. Very few people can stand up to him. It is for this reason that he has always seemed to be the perfect Alpha, or leader, of the Pureweres. He is also Icefire's and my father.

"Father," Icefire said, "Lorcán just attacked me for no reason. I was defending myself," he told him.

"Is this true Lorcán?" Father asked.

"No way," Lorcán replied, "Icefire attacked Azrael, and then me when I stopped him. When Azrael tried to defend me, Icefire hit him so hard he went flying and broke his arm. Look at him," he said pointing at me cradling my ruined arm, "that is what your eldest son did to your youngest. I'm sure you saw everything. You've been watching me and Azrael for the past seven hours!" Lorcán told him.

"I didn't see any of what you just said happened." Father replied.

Lorcán looked over at me. I had made a sound like a cross between a choke, a sob, and a cry of pain when my father said that. Tears that had nothing to do with my arm were streaming down my face. They were tears of heartbreak and betrayal.

"I don't believe this! How can Azrael be related to any of you people? He is caring and compassionate, while the rest of you are all cold-hearted and cruel! You call yourself a leader Doom Inferno. What kind of leader pretends he didn't see one of his own getting thrashed? What kind of father acts like he can't see one of his own children when they are in pain and need comforting? For that matter what type of Clan ignores a young child like he doesn't exist? All of you Pureweres look at Azrael like he is a ghost. If that's how you're going to treat Azrael then I have only one response."

Lorcán walked over to me and picked me up.

"I'm leaving, and Azrael is coming with me."

With those words Lorcán teleported us back to his families' castle, where I lived until I decided to return home and got this wonderful homecoming gift.

During my reminiscing I must have said Lorcán's name because Icefire spoke, effectively breaking me out of my stroll down memory lane.

"He can't save you this time. No one can. Now it's time for you to die," Icefire said.

He began to walk towards me, and I started to look for the "door" in my mind that all Chaosforms have. The opening of the door is what gives a Chaosform its powers. If my parents, or any clan for that matter, had paid attention to the death count, then a Prophet would have come to test me at my birth and found that door, and then taken me away to be trained in the use of my power. Yet as none of that happened, I was on my own. I was in such a panic trying to find the door and avoid being killed that my mental form ran right into the door, and destroyed it.

Power was suddenly flowing through me. I held my right hand out in front of me as if to hold off my now running brother and his deadly claws.

"Elemental Art: Air Shackles!" I yelled.

Icefire froze as shackles of solidified air immobilized him.

"You think that such a low-level spell can hold me?"

"No, but it will stall you long enough for this. On this night in my darkest hour, I accept my purest power. Let it change me as it wills so that I may avoid this kill. All yet none flow through me, as I will so mote it BE!" I chanted.

Suddenly, a searing pain shot through my entire body. It felt like my body was rebuilding itself, which it was. My bones were rearranging themselves to compensate for my newly grown wings and tail. My canines had elongated into a mixture of draconic and lupine fangs. Black tipped white short fur was growing all over my body and my musculature was increasing exponentially. Claws similar to my brothers had grown out of my hands and feet and wolf ears had grown out of the top of my head. My face had elongated into a snout and I had growing taller, a LOT taller. I was three foot four before the change, and I was now seven-seven. Anyone who looked at me would think I was a Lycan in Werewolf form with crimson Angel wings. There were also changes occurring inside of my body. The main thing that was happening was that I was starting to remember things that had never happened to me. I guess Chaosforms have what's called a Life Memory. A Life Memory is when someone can remember every moment of their past lives, if they had any. A Chaosform's Life Memory comes with an added bonus though. It allows a Chaosform to use the Blood Power of any clan, as well as any abilities or spells from their past lives. Something else Chaosforms seem to have that other beings don't is a World Memory. A World Memory is exactly what it sounds like, memories of everything that has ever happened on the planet. I could remember the day the Ancients left, the first Clan Council, which occurred back when humans were a part of the Council, and every war that has ever happened.

"How did you do that? You shouldn't have even been able to open the door," Icefire stated shakily, breaking me out of the daze I had been in while my mind caught up with what had happened.

"I didn't open it," I replied.

"Then how did you get all of your power?"

"I broke it," I said in a perfectly level voice, looking Icefire directly in the eye.

Icefire was visibly stunned, then his eyes gleamed with murder and he broke free of my spell and began advancing toward me. I turned toward the door.

"Elemental Art: Impenetrable Wall of Darkness," Icefire intoned.

A midnight-black wall instantaneously appeared and blocked off the door and windows. A maniacal grin appeared on my brother's face.

"No way out now," he said. "Now I can destroy you and claim my place among the Forsaken as the Reaper."

"Actually there is a way out. I calmly now accept Earth's Embrace, to take me now from this Death filled place. Take me away Mother so that I may be free, as I will so mote be."

"NO!!" Icefire roared.

Everything began to swirl around me and a strong pulling sensation engulfed my body. All of my energy was leaving my body. The last thing that I experienced in that room was Icefire yelling that he would get me someday.

Suddenly I was laying facedown in a snowdrift, barely conscience. As I lay there I heard the sound of beings approaching. With my heightened senses, I could smell that they were humans. With most of my remaining strength I used one of the oldest and most dangerous spells known to all beings. I knew the possible consequences, but it was the one thing I could to ensure my clan's vengeance.

"On this night of spilt blood, I relinquish my time as a cub. From this day on a fire shall burn within me, never allowed to be free. Should it ever be allowed to raze, it shall be revealed as an Avenging Blaze."

I heard the humans getting closer. I knew I didn't have the energy to escape, so I did the next best thing. I changed back into my Terran form. Then the humans were there. I had spent three years living with Lorcán; from the time I was seven. I decided to return home today, on my tenth birthday, to find that my brother had gone insane and butchered my entire family. What a great birthday present. The humans found me after that thought. I heard one say that they should take me back to the village before I got hypothermia from the lack of cover I had. With that, I passed out.