Blood Oath (Book 2 of Alfireán age)

Fight for Glandledale

The blood oath crested the crater, his features highlighted in an eerie red glow from his channeled shield as he stared down at Alf.

Their eyes met and Alf nearly drew back in revulsion. The being that had sold his soul to Vackzilian was far beyond hideous; he was downright repulsive. Bulging blue veins ran down his neck and deformed, muscular arms. Pale gray eyes, glassy and devoid of life, gazed out from a bruised and twisted face. The man's irises looked jagged and torn, his dark pupils horribly misshapen. Alf shuddered. The blood oath's skin no longer bore any natural human coloring. It was as if someone had taken a hammer and bruised every last inch him, leaving his skin a dark purplish black.

Alf shuddered in disgust.

"I was wondering who would dare raise his hand against Lord Dy'Ixion, commander over all of Alfireá's forces," the blood oath spat. "I was expecting at least a dragon kin, but you... ," he snorted. "You are nothing but a mongrel. A mortal!"

"Alf, see if you can either break through his channeled shield or get him to dispel it," Drake's voice said in his ear through a sound warp spell. "Rex, once it drops, you attack him from behind."

Alf nodded and pointed his sword at the blood oath "You come against me with unholy oaths and power that is not your own, but I come against you in the name of the Lord God Almighty, The Lord of hosts, and The King of Kings, and today, you will fall by my hands."

Dy'Ixion burst out in laughter as he stepped down into the basin. "I see you're not only a pathetic nobody but a fruitcake as well. This fight will be rather short."

"That it will be," Alf said as a ball of fire blossomed at the tip of his shielded sword. Water raced down his arm and over the glowing blade, encasing the fire in a sheath of ice; then, with an audible whistle, the fiery ice javelin blasted away.

The blood oath guffawed and his channeled shield disappeared as he tossed his arms out.

Out of the corner of his eye, Alf watched as Rex appeared over the edge of the crater and dashed straight down towards the blood oath.

"No!" Drake screamed.

But it was too late; an invisible force erupted from Dy'Ixion's out flung arms and smashed into Rex, sending him flying head over heels into the far side of the crater. Seconds later, the ice javelin met with the same unseen power and exploded harmlessly in the air.

Alf started to turn to see if Rex was all right when Drake's voice boomed in his ear. "Never take your eyes off the enemy!"

Alf snapped his head back around to see the blood oath already had the palm of his hand pointed at him. His clothes flapped, and the flames behind Dy'Ixion roared as he sucked the air towards him; a massive, shimmering white blade coalesced as he compressed the wind into one long spear, and launched it straight at Alf.

Alf leapt forward and brought his shielded sword up just as the attack reached him. With a whistling hiss, the charged shield clipped the oncoming wind spear and sent it flying into the night sky. Another gust of air flew pass the blood oath, and Defender guided his hands as he tossed his blade to his left and thrust outwards. A second wind spear ricocheted off his weapon, flew out of the crater, and slammed into a silo.

Chunks of rock and stored grain rained from the sky as Alf recovered his stance and leveled his right hand at the blood oath.

Activating the spell imprint in his mind, electricity crackled up Alf's right leg and down into his arm, then flashed in the moonlight as it raced crackling out towards the dark creature.