Chapter 17

“So you're saying that he threw a hissyfit after his bitch died and became a lord? You're kidding, right?” Azmaveth asked with disappointment. 

               Ignatius threw a punch at Azmaveth, but instead of it landing Ignatius found himself pinned to the ground. Six of Azmaveth’s soldiers had pinned him down. Ignatius struggled to break free, but he couldn’t do so with his raw strength. 

               “How the hell are they so heavy? What are you feeding them?” Ignatius fumed.

            Azmaveth's eyes sparkled as he spoke. “Ah? I don’t feed them, I fill them with rocks. It’s quite an easy procedure. You just cut open their stomach and stuff it. I also put the rocks in other areas, but I’m far too lazy to expand on that.”

             Tutku looked behind him at all of Azmaveth’s soldiers. Every single one of them had been mangled in some way. They were experiments, not warriors. Tutku’s eyes landed on a soldier who held their head in their hand. Their head was attached to their body with a long, flexible tube. Tutku massaged his neck in response, and he felt his face grow ashen. 

            “Well, what should we do with you? Since you are far too weak to fight alongside us and you already disagreed, should we just kill you? You’re not worth anything anyway.” Jayin spoke with his ice-cold voice.

              Ignatius remained calm, and Jayin’s smile grew.

              “Ah, so you don’t treasure your life. We might as well destroy your tribe then and make you watch as we kill them all. Hey, Tutku, you can round up the children, I will deal with the women. Amaris and Azmaveth, you can do whatever, I don’t care.”

               Ignatius pushed away Azmaveth’s soldiers, and he rose to his feet. He quickly swung out his sword and it burned with a white flame. 

              “No. I won’t let you!” 

                Jayin let out a horrifying laughter, and Ignatius couldn’t help himself from being swept up in his mocking tone. Tutku rushed ahead with his soldiers in suit as he attempted to pass Ignatius. Ignatius swung his sword, and with a clang, two swords met each other. Tutku had countered his attack with his large sword. His sword towered over Amaris, and its blade glowed a bright white light. The contrast between who was holding the sword and the sword itself didn’t complement each other, and it made one ask, “Why would a demon like him have such a holy sword?” 

The hilt of the sword was magnificent, as it was covered in silk-like metal made of gold. Ignatius pushed his sword with more strength, and Tutku was thrown into the trees. His hands were burned from Ignatius’s fiery blade, and he cried out in agony. The white flame was a flame so strong that it could melt away anything it wished, even a god. Tutku was lucky to have only been lightly touched by the flame, but his luck didn’t matter to him at all. 

Ignatius swung his head around in a panic. Jayin, Amaris, and Azmaveth had disappeared alongside their army. Ignatius sprinted back to his village with huge steps, and just as he was about to make it to the clearing, the ground below him began to shake. Within an instant, Ignatius was standing on a pillar of land that had broken out of the ground. He could see everything from this height, his village, the forest, the gigantic plains that surrounded them, and in the far distance he could see skyscrapers. He looked below him as he tried to determine if he should jump or not, but his thoughts were interrupted by a sword cutting through his left shoulder. Ignatius immediately defended himself and backed away from the furious Tutku. Tutku held his sword in his left hand and he stared at his right hand. 

          “You defiled me.” He whined.

          Ignatius swung his sword at the seemingly distracted Tutku, but instead of his sword landing, he found himself falling to the ground. The area below him had vanished. Tutku was still on the pillar, and as he tumbled to the ground Tutku jumped toward him. Tutku held his sword above him, and with one strike Ignatius found himself on the ground unable to breathe. Tutku stood above him, and he shoved his hands to Ignatius’s face. His hands were still warm, and the smell of burning flesh violated Ignatius’s nostrils. 

“Look what you did to me! I’m ugly!” 

Ignatius struggled to reach his sword which burnt the grass beside him. Tutku saw his attempts, and with one kick, the sword was flung into the forest. Immediately, Ignatius snapped, and the smell of smoke grew stronger. The trees actually began to burn as the white flame overtook the red. Ignatius kicked Tutku off of him, and he rushed to grab his sword. He stormed through the forest as he chanted the secret language of flames, but it was to no avail. The white flame was too defiant, which is why it was nicknamed the King Flame. Only those worthy enough to tame the flame could take the title away from it. If one could not tame the flame, the flame itself would rule according to its own desires. Ignatius’s mental state was too hectic, he couldn’t calm down. He knew that he needed to get to his village, but without his sword he knew he couldn’t do anything to protect anyone. There was also the fact that his own sword was burning down the forest that protected their village. Then he suddenly came to a halt. He lowered his hands and picked up his sword. The white flame reached out wildly as it attempted to burn everything in sight. Tutku rushed behind Ignatius, but he stopped running when he felt a wave of dread wash over him. Ignatius raised his head and stared at Tutku with his flaming eyes.

“I can’t protect the forest, but I can still protect my people.” 

Then he raised his sword to the sky and the King Flame subdued to his will. The King flame shot into the clouds, and the flames of the forest followed in suit. Within a minute the fire lowered to the ground once more. The forest and every plant in the vicinity were annihilated by the flames, and the village was revealed for all of the Underworld to see. The fire had penetrated into the clouds, and a massive ripple effect shook the sky. Tutku began to laugh.

             “What was that for? Why did you destroy the forest? Are you an idiot?” 

             Ignatius stared at the sky with anticipation, and Tutku followed his gaze. A low rumble echoed in the sky, and the shadow of a monstrous creature hid behind the clouds. 

Tutku yelled, “What the fuck is that?!”

The creature got larger and larger until it shot through the clouds. It was a dragon.

           The dragon's scales were like ash, and its eyes were like a storm that never ceased. It lowered to the ground and stood before Ignatius and Tutku. Ignatius pointed at Tutku and said, “I called you here to kill him and the intruders. It was them who made me destroy the Forest of Eternal Flames!” 

              The dragon turned its head to face the destroyed forest and then returned to face Ignatius.

              “So, the demons still fight endless wars of classism and racism? Why should I fight for you when you don’t change your ways? There’s no point in doing so. I might as well just burn you all.”

              Tutku stabbed Ignatius in the abdomen and yelled, “Well look at what you did! You fucking tattle tailed to a dragon, and it backfired. Now I’m going to burn to death because of you!” 

              Ignatius was about to stand up for himself, but the cries of his people reached his ears. Without a second thought, he sprinted toward the screaming and came across his people tied to the last remaining trees of the forest. They were burning alive. If the fire was red it wouldn’t be able to kill his people, but it was white. Ignatius tried to cut the ties of a woman who cried for her children, but the rope would not cut nor catch fire.        

               Jayin appeared behind Ignatius and explained, “It’s impossible, Ignatius. The tears of Lord Dispar absorb into anything and constantly cool the area they land on. The rope is also made out of indestructible strands of dragon scales. There’s no hope for you or your people.”

              Ignatius stopped trying to save the woman, and he walked by every single one of his people. Though something was amiss,his face became unreadable.

              “You missed some.”

              Jayin smirked calmly, and Amaris, on the other hand, rushed to the castle without a word. She had been watching them from the sky, but she also thought that something was wrong. So when she heard, “You missed some.” She immediately believed him. 

She slammed open the castle doors and came across an empty scene. There was no dust in sight, but there was also no maid. She searched every room, but she couldn’t find anyone until she heard the sounds of screams. She followed the sound until she found herself before a large bookshelf. She put her ear to the shelf and listened to a conversation coming from behind it.

“Help!” A man screamed.

A woman sighed and said, “Stop screaming. There is no point, how come you still have not given up after two thousand years?” Then, after a pause, she continued, “Besides, what do you suppose we do if we get saved? Ignatius has already killed us once, he’s just keeping us alive so we will not go to Oblivion and be free of our suffering. Who knows when the day will come that he will get bored of us.”

Amaris wandered back and forth before the bookshelf as she tried to come up with a plan. Then she paused and faced the bookshelf. She took off her mask and revealed her quivering lips. Then she opened her mouth and screamed so loudly that the entire bookshelf and wall shattered into pieces on the spot. What was left was nothing at all. 

“What was that?!” One of the men yelled.

Amaris noticed that the sounds of voices were coming from below her, but there was no opening. Then, with another breath, she screamed once more. This time the scream destroyed the floor below her, but she did not falter as she was flying constantly. Though to her surprise, nothing was revealed, but as she flew downwards a bit and came to a stop, she heard the voices of the people clearly.

“Someone’s destroying the palace!” A man yelled.

It sounded just as though this person was right in front of her face, but she could not see or feel anything. She became frustrated, and the tears that constantly ran down her face began to flow like a flood gate breaking. 

“It sounds like a little girl is crying.”

“Why would a little girl be here?”

“Don’t cry, little one. It’s okay.” 

“Oh my, you’re too soft, Gale. It’s probably a trap fabricated by Ignatius.”

Then, with a loud crash, the castle roof was blown clean off. Amaris swung her head upward, and her eyes widened when she caught sight of a dragon sitting on the highest wall of the castle. The dragon’s scales were a dark ash colour, and its eyes matched Amaris’s. The body of the dragon was like a snake, and in its paws it held onto Tutku.

“Let me down! You have no right to touch me!” Tutku yelled.

“Have no right to touch you? I am a dragon, you are just an imp.”

Tutku scoffed. “At least I'm not a sinner. Oh, speaking of sinners, hello Amaris!” 

Tutku waved, and Amaris turned her whole body away from him, facing one of the lasting walls of the palace. 

The dragon lowered Tutku onto the wall.

“It seems like she thinks very little of you.”

             “That bitch!” Tutku swore.

The dragon scowled.

“That is no way to speak to a lady. Apologise.” 

Tutku looked at the dragon with the most concerned face on the planet. His left eye twitched and he choked on his words.

“Apologise?!” Tutku asked as his eyes bulged. 

The dragon replied calmly, “Yes, apologise.”

Tutku crossed his arms and Amaris turned back around, and flew just above him to make it though she looked down on him both literally and figuratively. She had put her mask back on, and it seemed as though she had become more composed. Her calmness made Tutku more annoyed.

“Why the fuck would I need to apologise!? I’m Tutku, the Lord of Pride! The Lord of Pride doesn’t apologise to a soul, because everything I do is right!”

The dragon lowered his head to Tutku and breathed a hot breath out of his nostrils. 

“I am the dragon of eternal flames, Keahi! I am older than you ever will be, and I have survived more battles than you can even perceive. I was the one who destroyed the ice age that once enveloped the Underworld. I am always right.”

Tutku rolled his eyes.

“Says the dragon who grabbed me and flew over here because he heard the cry of a child. You seem weak to me.”

Tutku was adding fuel to the flames, and Amaris was having enough of it. Amaris knew that Keahi had a soft spot for children, so she took her mask off once more. Tutku braced himself for impact by covering his ears so hard that if he were to put any more pressure on his ears, his eardrums would explode. Keahi, on the other hand, hadn't known what was about to happen, so he sat there, anticipating the future. Amaris fought her quivering lips and managed to say, “Can you reveal the demons hidden here?”

Her voice had been so soft, so pure, that Tutku hadn’t even heard her. This had been the first time she had spoken calmly in decades, and she knew that it would probably be the last. To quell her own voice took a lot of effort, so much so, that if she wasn’t careful, she could have ruptured her own organs. Tutku took his hands away from his ears, and he looked around in astonishment. 

“What?” He asked stupidly. 

Keahi, on the other hand, had a giant smile painted on his face. He seemed to find Amaris adorable, and that fact was proven by his sudden, immediate loyalty. 

“Yes, I can.” 

Amaris tried to form a grin, but her lips wouldn’t stop shaking, so after a sorry attempt at trying to look thankful, she gave up. She put her mask back on her face, and she led Keahi to where the voices of the demons were.