The Darkness Brings Forth The Brightest Of Lights

Chase gazed around as he pushed himself to the top of a pile of corpses, funny enough he had not been the one to kill these people, as allies and enemies alike had been drowned in the horror of this war.

Everyone was still fighting, as honorable as it sounded, this war was stupid and no doubt the result of some stupid feud between two great families, or maybe three, how the hell was he supposed to know?

But in the moment, where he seen the vial magically appear on his armor, everything had finally clicked into place.

The strange conversations that he has had in the previous days.

The strange need to stop this war before it truly gained a terrible toll of death.

And the want for his friends to survive this terror.

Chase felt his flames surge, and it was in that moment when everything around him seemed just a little larger.

He yanked the vial off of the single string that held it, and atop the many corpses he felt the air grow warm.

Fire began to radiate around his body, burning like a beacon in the darkness.

He ripped the cap off of the vial, and gazed down at the strange liquid.

...

'Two years ago, I watched unable to do anything, as my home and family were torn away from me...'

'I fled into the dangerous Dark Forest, with no hope of surviving, and yet by the unfavorable odds stacked against me...'

'I met people and creatures alike who acted like they had made a solemn vow to protect a Stray like me...'

'Father... Kade... Cloudy... Danny... and Sparky...'

"Your deaths will not be IN VAIN!"

His grew louder as he brough the vial to his chapped lips.

Downing the terribly tasting liquid in mere seconds, he grabbed his stomach in pain.

Feeling the muscles in his throat begin to vibrate at a strange rate, he grabbed the mask resting on his face...

And threw it into the blood stained snow below him.

He remembered what Dragon had said.

'It was a sin to reject a sacred duel...'

Then he recalled what the actual dragon had said.

'You must be the one to stop this war...'

Feeling his heart rate increase, he did the only thing he could do.

He screamed.

"SAZIR OF HOUSE FROSTFANG!"

He cursed himself, the moment he realized just how loud his voice had become, everyone and their enemies could hear the sound of his call.

Sazir looked up from his most recent kill, and his eyes widened as he looked up toward the direction of the boy standing proud atop countless corpses.

"I CHALLENGE YOU! TO A SACRED DUEL!"

The war halted, and allies and enemies alike froze in their tracks, gazing toward the direction of Sazir.

"No..."

Sazir replied with a terrible grin resting on his face.

'Figures, guess I got no choice then...'

Chase held his wrist in the air, and with terrible force, ripped off the piece of armor that covered the sigil of the Phoenix.

"I... AM CHASE OF THE HOUSE OF PHOENIX! AND I CHALLENGE YOU TO A SACRED DUEL! FOR YOU HAVE KILLED MY PEOPLE AND MY FATHER TWO YEARS AGO IN THE RUINS OF WILLOWMERE!"

Chase began to radiate fire from his wrist, and remembering the few classes that he had taken on runic magic, he figured there was no better time than now to test his courage.

He began to radiate flames on the environment around him, causing the bodies below him to burn away.

Soldiers cleared the way between Sazir and Chase, as the ground was engulfed in engravings of flame, as the sigil of the flaming bird had taken its place once again within the world of the living.

"I will not demand it again..."

Sazir's eyes began to show fear, as he must have finally realized the situation that Chase had put the man in.

It was like the entire world had frozen over, and the only ones left were the two that were about to light up the very atmosphere above the battlefield.

Chase growled, as he stepped forward.

"Sazir of House Frostfang... I CHALLENGE YOU TO A SACRED DUEL."

Chase's growl turned into a terribly enraged scream, as he lifted the tip of Hero's Fang in the direction of his only enemy.

"Blaze of House Phoenix fell to you and your sister two years ago... and today... I will avenge my father and my people..."

Sazir's countless burn marks on his body began to light up with orange embers that were not supposed to appear on the surface of age old burns.

"I- I accept your duel..."

Sazir muttered, as his shattered blade hung limply from his hand.

The armies were to stunned to even speak, after all... It was not everyday when the only surviving heir of the kingdom rose from the ashes in order to enact his long lost families vengeance...

And then...

The two mighty forces charged toward each other, and for the first time in two years... Ice and Fire had begun their dance across the crimson battlefield once more... To settle the wrongs done in the past.