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Chapter 4: First Encounter A deafening roar erupted from the Balrog's mouth and it took a swipe at the wall. The wall completely fell in, almost crushing me. I was too shocked to say anything though. A black, scaly claw reached in and closed around me. Hold on a second...... That's the exact same claw I saw back at the swimming pool! But how'd it get there? The claw's grip on me tightened and my breath was squeezed out of my lungs. I felt certain I was going to die here. "Oh no you don't! Shadow Partner! Lucky Seven!" Roy yelled from behind the Balrog. He was holding a rock that disappeared as soon as he said "Shadow Partner" and his shadow solidified behind him. It matched his every move exactly and when Roy threw two of his Ilbis, the shadow followed suit. The Ilbis stuck themselves in the Balrog's back and it roared again, relinquishing its grip on me. "Go! Quickly!" Roy jumped over a claw swipe. I took a few deep breaths and stared at the Balrog. It was launching black lightning at Roy every now and then, and he was dodging them pretty easily. "Ivan, we need to get away from here!" Alexis called to me. I picked myself up, grabbed Lacus's hand and half-carried her away, for her leg hadn't healed yet. Alexis scowled. When we hadn't even gotten 20 metres away from the house, I heard a scream. Roy's scream. "No......" I gasped. There was a roar from the Balrog. Suddenly, a fire blazed up in my heart. "We need to go back." I said, walking back towards the house. "Are you serious?" Alexis's jaw fell open. "I can't just leave him like that!" I protested. "In that case, I'll go with you." Alexis walked towards me. I smiled. "Lacus, stay here. We'll see what we can do about that Balrog." I put Lacus down softly on a rock and we raced off towards the house. For some odd reason, I could run as fast as Alexis now! We reached the house to find Roy on the ground and the Balrog rapidly advancing on him. "I just remembered. We don't have any weapons." I groaned. Alexis hit me on the head. "Think before you leap next time." she mumbled. I looked around for anything I could use as a weapon. The only weapons around were the Golden Arund and the Devil's Sunrise hung on the wall. "You think you can use that?" I pointed at the Devil's Sunrise. Alexis nodded and we sneaked behind the Balrog into the house. Roy saw us out of the corner of his eye and stared at us. Unfortunately, the Balrog caught his stare and turned around. I had just grabbed the grip of the Golden Arund and Alexis has just unsheathed the Devil's Sunrise. Strangely, the weapons felt comfortable in our hands. I twanged the bowstring and smiled. "Soul Arrow." I mumbled. Arrows made out of light appeared in my hand. "Hey...... How'd you..." Alexis stared at the arrows in my hand. "I don't know." I shrugged. The Balrog was now flying towards us. "Get ready." Alexis nudged my elbow. I nodded and closed my eyes, trying to visualize the Balrog's flight path. As if in a trance, I nocked four arrows to my bowstring with my eyes closed. I opened my eyes to see its eyes widening in fear and let fly without a millisecond's hesitation. "Strafe!" I shouted. How do I know how to do it? The arrows flew through the air and embedded themselves in the Balrog's chest. It roared and yanked the arrows out. "What in the world......" Alexis gasped. "Combo Attack! Power Strike!" Alexis shouted and jumped into the air. She brought her sword crashing down on the Balrog's bone helmet. A floating blue rune immediately appeared in the air around her. Her eyes widened as she realized what she was doing and she pulled off another Power Strike. The Balrog's helmet cracked and another blue rune appeared. It roared and flung Alexis back into the wall. "That didn't hurt at all!" she jumped to her feet. There weren't any injuries! "Alexis...... have we..." I stared at her. Suddenly, a black lightning bolt hit Alexis smack in her chest. She was blown backwards, and she didn't get up. "Alexis!" I shouted. I glared at the Balrog, nocking a single arrow to the string. "Inferno!" I shouted, launching the arrow. Red flames licked around it and the arrow disintegrated in mid-air, but the fire continued its trajectory. It missed though. I had barely enough time to dive aside as a black lightning bolt hit my chest. I fainted. In Ivan's mind...... "Ivan, wake up." someone said. I rubbed my eyes and sat up to see a pitch-black dragon hovering in the air in front of me. Its entire body was covered in scales except for the head. The eyes were red and it had sharp claws. "It's been quite a while." it smiled. I stumbled backwards. "Being the reincarnation of the actual Ivan, I suppose your memories are sealed up inside yourself somewhere." it said. What? Reincarnation? "What are you?" I asked, trembling. "I am the Dark Dragon." it spread its wings out wide. Back to the Maple world...... I woke up. Pure energy was venting from my every pore and I could barely contain the excitement in myself. The Balrog shrank back as I got up, brushing debris of myself. My wounds healed themselves. Great black wings and a tail burst out of my back and I started to hover in the air. My hands and feet morphed into claws while my body grew longer and grew black coloured scales. My head became dragonish while my eyes became red. I pounced on the Balrog and bit its neck. Black blood flowed from the wound and I clenched my right claw into a fist and gave it an uppercut punch to the chin. It's head flew up and stuck there, looking up into the sky. It could no longer look straight, thats for sure. I whipped my tail around and hit the Balrog on the wing roots. It roared and fell to the ground. It reached a claw up and knocked its head back into position with a sickening crunch. I felt like vomiting at that moment. It shot a punch at me, but I ducked it and kicked its legs out from under it. It collapsed to the ground, but as it did, a black lightning bolt hit me in the chest. The energy merely dissipated across my chest. The Balrog let out a roar of dismay and I grabbed hold of the Balrog with my claws, taking it into the air. Once in the air, I began to gather energy in my mouth. I looked at the Balrog's head and opened my mouth. Black fire shot out and completely vaporized the head. I let the body drop to the ground and swooped down, landing beside Roy. "Eheh...... So you're back, the real Ivan." Roy grunted. I could see a chest wound, probably from a lightning bolt. "Hold still, I'll try to heal you." I placed my claw on his chest and focused. Energy flowed down my arm and into the wound, healing it. The skin knitted back together and severed fibres and veins reconnected. His heartbeat sped up and he slowly got to his feet. Luckily, there was only one wound on his chest that I had to heal. I suddenly started to feel very weak and I collapsed to the ground. |
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