Fool (III)

"Zero!" Agnis screamed in horror. She rushed over to him in worry. Dion appeared before her in a blink of an eye and grabbed her by the throat.

"Kah. You. I remember you." Dion's eyes glinted with glee. His mouth curled up to show his pearly white vampire teeth. "You and that pup. No. It seems he has grown." He stared at Zero lying down on the ground. He sheathed his sword.

Agnis struggled hard in Dion's grasp, but Dion's hand clasped down harder and made it very difficult to breathe. Her breath quickened as she gasped, and her magical abilities slipped through her fingers like water.

"I remember now, we were here at the same place, weren't we?" Dion smiled evilly. "You smell different." With his free hand he raised a lock of her hair to his nose. He sniffed deeply, inhaling her scent.

"Nostalgia I cannot seem to remember." He leaned in towards her as his fangs appeared next to her neck. His tongue licked her neck, leaving a bit of saliva. "And an unusual power that I smell." His eyes brightened in hunger.

"Get off me, you freak!" she gasped in anger. Her right hand came flying to his face, but he blocked her with his free hand. Like a snake he bit down into Agnis's throat, drawing out red jewel-like blood.

Agnis screamed. Her legs shook and collapsed, unable to hold her body. A soft suckling sound could be heard, and he wrapped her closely into an embrace. Each gulp took more and more of Agnis's life and vitality. Agnis's breathe quickened, and her hands shook as she lost her power. Her eyes were slowly closing and her breath was barely audible.

From behind, Aldran slammed into Dion as hard as he could. Dion let go and snarled while pulling out his sword. Agnis collapsed onto the ground next to Zero's unmoving body. Dion looked down where a small dagger protruded out of his side, piercing his stomach. With a grunt, Dion pulled it out and threw it onto the ground.

"Get back, you vile creature!" yelled Aldran. He took this chance and attacked furiously without any remorse. His sword speed was equivalent to Dion's attack. Each was on par with the other. The clash of metal rang throughout the area in a chaotic beat.

"Not bad, human." Dion let out a powerful swing that knocked Aldran onto his back. "I would say your power is one of the rare few that are born once every hundred years."

Aldran slammed against the ground hard, spewing blood out of his mouth.

"Aldran!" Gullifer ran towards Dion in a mad rush, trying to stop Dion's next attack. "You bastard!" He swung down unto Dion in an overhead strike.

Dion stopped it with just two of his fingers and broke the sword in half.

"Wha-a-at?" Gullifer stared, stupefied at the outcome.

"Trash should stay where trash should be." Dion roundhouse kicked him hard against his stomach, sending him flying backward into the city wall a good ten feet away from them. A loud crash was heard as Gullifer was embedded into the wall.

Dion stood still as rock on top of a mound where dead bodies lay out before him. One foot after another, he began to walk down. His sword tip dragged against the ground. Blood dripped off the sword, creating a trail. He walked over to Aldran.

Zero slowly regained consciousness. His vision was hazy and his senses disoriented. He was having a difficult time even moving.

"You. How have you been blessed by power?" Dion stepped forward and stepped on Aldran's wound.

Aldran cried out in pain. His hands whipped towards Dion's foot, trying to push it off.

"Did she give you it?" He stepped on Aldran's shoulder harder.

Aldran's face contorted. "What are you talking about? What power? I have earned everything by myself," he yelled back as he tried to push Dion's foot off his wound.

"Earned? No one is given the gift. You must be chosen. No gift from her is ever given without a price. What have you given up?" Dion leaned forward. Smirking, he searched Aldran's face. Aldran gazed back vehemently.

"I see." Dion burst out laughing. "That is what you have given up as the price of power."

"What do you mean? I have given up nothing," Aldran spat back.

"How naïve you little humans are." Dion chuckled. A gust of wind wrapped around him. "All must pay a toll when given the gift. Nothing in life is given freely, and everything is given and taken in equal value."

"What are you talking about? Tell me!" he shouted.

Dion spaced out for a moment. His eyes glazed over, thinking about what he was going to say, as his lips turned into a snarl. Aldran grabbed a fistful of dirt without Dion noticing.

Dion's lips curled at the ends. "Wouldn't you like to know? What would you give up in return to gain more power?" He grinned evilly from ear to ear.

"I have given up nothing." Aldran spat.

"Oh, but you have." Dion leaned over to his ear and whispered. "Your humanity."

At that moment, Aldran threw the dirt into Dion's face, making him reel back. He shoved Dion's foot off his shoulder. Dancing around in laughter, even with eyes full of dirt, Dion moved fluidly out of the way.

"You have lost it all. You have lost it all," Dion sang. "The fool has gone and chased after a dream. He gave himself in exchange for a precious gift. Why would a man do something so foolish without knowing the consequence? Is he so blinded by the joy of receiving and being ahead that he forgets what the world will bring? Or is he just naive and thinking that the world will go in his favor?"

With great effort Aldran got up onto his feet. Dion wiped his eyes and circled Aldran, dancing to his own beat. He left behind ten different afterimages, creating false doppelgangers. His afterimages faded in and out, changing into a creepy clown-like figure.

"The fool has lost his most precious thing for a gift by her. He sings his glory out to the world but has forgotten what he has lost. No more can he go back to what he once was, but moves in rhythm to her beat."

"Shut up," Aldran whispered with a difficult voice. His throat was parched, making it hard to speak out loud.

"Oh the poor fool, what have you gotten yourself into?" Dion cackled with laughter. "Oh the poor fool." His voice faded in and out.

"Shut up!" Aldran yelled. He released a golden glow that brilliantly shone around him, making Dion stumble to the ground.

"Shining Burst!" Aldran exclaimed. He hurled a chain of white light energy balls at Dion. Surrounding him like a python, hundreds of small energy balls appeared before him. Simultaneously they all went off like a bomb.

Large gaping wounds appeared on Dion's body and he tumbled backwards. A loud electric hissing sound could be heard as Dion's flesh melted and blood seeped down onto the ground. The ground hungrily soaked up his blood. Aldran rushed forward and attacked brutally, his sword swung towards him. His mind focused on one goal: to destroy.

Dion fended off a majority of Aldran's strikes, but more than half went through. He was like a comet that cut through the night, dispelling the darkness in its path. Each slice sparked a new light energy ball that he had constantly cast to trap Dion from escaping. Each time Dion had a difficult time dodging out of harm's way because he had nowhere to go. He was dancing to Aldran's tunes and ferocity.

With a final downward strike, a large gaping wound appeared across Dion's chest. Dion yelled in pain and tried to reorient himself. String-like sinews appeared around his bleeding chest, trying to hold it together. Dark magic wrapped around him like a cocoon as he floated in the air in a meditative pose. His eyes closed with his palms together. From the left to the right, zig zagging all over his body, dark sinuous magic wrapped his body tightly likes clothes. He stayed unmoving, where he casted a healing spell healing himself slowly.

Dark electrical sparks held Aldran back when he tried to approach. He covered himself from the electrical sparks before they could harm him.

Finally getting enough energy to stand, Zero made it to his feet. His vision was still foggy and disoriented. He noticed his life points were already halfway gone. At least his side wasn't punctured with holes. Looking over he noticed that Agnis lay unmoving on the ground.

"Agnis?" Zero walked over and nudged her. "Hey, Agnis?" He pawed her couple of times and he noticed the white hair near her neck was saturated with blood.

Zero was shocked at the two small puncture wounds on her porcelain neck. Zero quickly pulled up his item menu and searched for a possible cure. In it he found the holy water that he had gotten from the church.

A warning message appeared before Zero's screen.

Origin form cancellation. You have exceeded the amount of time to stay in your Origin form. You have two transformations left. Cool down time of thirty minutes will go in effect.

"No. No. No. No!" Zero's voice filled with panic. This was the worst time for his Origin form to go away, especially when his status was now cut down by half. The chaotic event of the battle had made the time fly. He felt his body shift back into a thirteen-year-old boy, his paws turning into actual hands, his skin stretching, and his face changing to his human form. It was a very unusual feeling, changing from one body to another, and it always felt like a tug-of-war between both forms.

His hands still outstretched on the ground, he was once again back in human form. Luckily he was not naked this time; apparently once he wore clothes, they would magically disappear and reappear between shifting. It was quite a useful skill that he was glad he had. He didn't want to run around stark naked if he could avoid it.

"Why now?" he whispered under his breath. He was not too keen on losing half his statuses and skills when there was a boss character nearby making fighting even more difficult. Wobbling back on his feet, he stumbled over to Agnis. First getting used to one's feet was always a pain, but he was more worried that something was not right with her.

Making his way over, he sat down and gently turned her over. Her skin was pale white, and her white hair slid down and revealed the two perfect punctured wounds on her neck. A black smoke-like aura seeped out the holes. There was no time to lose before the curse to take effect and destroy her body.

Quickly skimming through his side pack, he pulled out a small crystal clear vial. It was filled to the brim with holy water that he had personally bought from the Church to use for later. Luckily it did not cost him too much, and now it was worth a try.

Lightly twisting off the cap, Zero slowly poured it over her neck. A loud hissing sound was heard upon the moment of contact. Agnis groaned once. The black aura dissipated and the wounds slowly closed.

I guessed right, he thought. He laid her head back down. She sighed in relief and slept in peace. He wanted to wake her up, but he knew that she might not be able to fight right without recuperating.

He turned around to see Aldran fumbling to get up with his sword in hand. Aldran faltered and fell forward. Zero got up and walked over to his side. He slung Aldran's arm over his shoulder and hoisted him up.

"You alright?" Zero asked.

"Barely holding. He packs quite a punch." Aldran chuckled and wheezed heavily. He held down harder onto the sword's jewel. "Who might you be?"

"The one that you made a bet with."

"The fox-looking creature?" Aldran asked with surprise. "I didn't know you were a human."

"Yeah, it comes with the package. We better figure this out quickly or we're going to be dead."

Aldran let go and stood up. "We are completely overpowered. I am not so sure we'll be able to defeat him," he said worriedly. "I'm pretty low on magic, you?"

"Same. It seems you were doing well by yourself." He too was low on magic and health as well.

"I assumed as much." Aldran scratched his chin. "Look, we still have people in the city. I don't think the fog has touched them. We can win this with their help."

"But why aren't they attacking?" Zero was confused at what they were doing. He wasn't sure if they were planning to help or if they couldn't see them far off in the distance.

"They might have thought it's over. Most of my guild mates are down and even Kyo's guild too. Other players on the wall are usually low level." Aldran began walking towards Dion. "Our communication is down and we need to get this bastard now. I'll hold him back. Find reinforcements!" He sprinted forward with his sword in hand and pulled down the visor on his helmet.

"Go!" shouted Aldran with a commanding voice.

Zero sprinted off towards the gates. He could not climb the wall anymore nor was it a good idea to try. It was a non-stop strenuous run. His heartbeat sped up and his breath became short.