Chapter five: What Dragons do Best

Back in the forest where the police lie in wait, Ren huddles in the bushes with the shades from nature covering him.

The tail that he barley casts in the shadows behind him begins to pull itself up from the ground and takes a form. A tall and thin man arises from the darkness with black hair draped over his grey skin and dark kimono. The creature from the shadows slowly creeps his black lips to Ren's ear without the slightest itch from the officer. In a casual voice, he quickly speaks into Ren's ear, "Hello."

Ren jerks his head to the sudden voice and hears a huff sound with a flash of green to his eyes. His face begins to burn like hell itself as he drops to the ground and begins to scream in utter pain. The flames of emerald spread all over his body and he begins to roll down the steep hill as he continues his exclamations of agony.

The man from the shades stares at his victim with disappointment and makes a comment, "Some people just don't know how to die properly."

Arikon hears the screaming and runs over to the place to see the man in the black robe. He points his gun at the stranger. "Halt!"

The person looks to Arikon with his dragon-like eyes. The deep red in his iris is painted around the thin purple pupils to give off a chilling glare.

Sheriff Arikon stumbles from this stare, but then immediately puts his gun up pointing to the odd person. "This is the police, put your hands in the air!"

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Suddenly, we both hear a faint scream coming from outside just beyond the door.

I rush over, but before I can lift the je-il Kakashin grabs me by the arm and pulls me back. "Let go of me!" I shout at him.

This time he has a terrified look on his face and says to me in a slightly quivering tone, "Trust me, you don't want to see this."

I'm getting tired of this! I pull my arm back and run out to see what happened. Down the hill, I see the police circling a strange-looking man. What's going on? Is that Kakashin's partner? I try to listen in on what the commotion is.

"Vila," Kakashin sneaks up to me and whispers in a shaking voice, "Please, come back into the house."

"Put them up!" Arikon shouts in frustration towards the man.

I can only see the back of the person, but he lifts his hands slowly just as he was told to do.

Arikon cautiously comes up to his side and grabs the man's wrist to pull it down after swiftly putting his handgun away. He takes the other hand and shackles him. The sheriff then turns with the man and sees me on top of the hill standing next to Kakashin. "I've got your accomplice under custody, I suggest we negotiate a little before either side makes a rash decision," He calls out to him.

Kakashin answers with a scared glimpse in his eye, "You've already made one..."

The accomplice quickly turns around to face Arikon and jabs two fingers into his throat.

But-how!? He was cuffed!

I can barely see what's going on from this distance, but that doesn't take away the shock that I have making a pit in my stomach right now...

Arikon is able to feel for the small dagger on his belt and takes it out to stab the person in the gut.

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The accomplice takes the knife out with his free hand that's not lodged into Arikon's jugular and thrusts the blade into Arikon's belly. He pulls out his two fingers and lets his body drop.

Melek is the first to pull the trigger on him and suddenly each officer shoots a bullet into the person's body.

He falls to the ground immediately as a cripple with his front facing the clouds. I hear a disturbing chuckle come from the man as he lies in the sleek grass.

He's still alive, but for how long?

Melek rushes over with the barrel still pointing directly down at him. "You better talk or I'll put one in your head," he spits out to the person in a tone full of wrath.

The man continues to chortle as his answer to Melek.

This laugh is not giving off a good vibe to me. Something bad is about to happen, I can feel it.

"Talk!" Melek bursts out in rage.

The laugh finally subsides for there to be a dead silence in the moist air.

The pit in my stomach grows as the quietness goes on.

Finally, the person speaks in his deep voice, "You should have just run away."

The person suddenly breathes fire and engulfs Melek into a sapphire hell.

Melek's body quickly disintegrates into ash and nothing more is left of him.

My entire body refuses to move or make a noise as I watch this horror unfold before me.

This man, no, this monster raises his body up from the ground with no struggle. He looks untouched!

The officers back away with their guns still pointing at him, but the fear in all of them is imminent.

This dark mist emits from the person and gives off a tenebrific ambiance. He speaks with a voice of deep authority and gentle excitement, "Anyone else? Come now, it was just starting to be thrilling!" He puts so much enthusiasm and power into the last word that I feel my heart drop in an instant and it stays there, cut down in fear.

Kakashin puts his hand on my shoulder to grab my attention and startles me in the process. "Please Vila, you don't want to see this," he calmly whispers in my ear.

It finally hits me that this person must be Vensen. I want to see what he's capable of. "No," I whisper back without taking my eye off of the scene, "I wanna watch him." I want to study this person. Kakashin said he'll be the bane of my life from now on anyway. I look down from the steep hill and watch the person turn around to stare at me with his chilling eyes.

He looks at me with a glare that's so full of insane malice that my whole being trembles from the blood color within his eyes. He must know that I'm staring back at him for my own curious purposes, I can see it in the shine of the purple slits he has for pupils. The person who I believe is Vensen raises his hands into the air like before with a sinister grin from his black lips. The misty blackness that emits from him grows beyond his size at an alarming rate until it mostly obscures his figure and forms the shape of a shadowy dragon's head from horn to chest. The hazy sleuth spreads its wings as the police try to shoot at it again. The wings flap only once and it summons a great gust of wind to throw everyone off.

I shield my eyes from the sudden gale and look back at the scene when it dies.

Vensen still stands there with the fog around him and the men on the ground.

I examine a little closer to see body pieces all over from them.

My breaths begin to gain weight as the realization comes to mind.

He slaughtered them all, with one strike...

The mist begins to fade back into him as he glides his feet up the hill towards me. I know he's heading straight for me. Before I realize it, he suddenly appears in front of me. It all happens so quickly that I suddenly find him grabbing both my wrists with one hand and keeping them in the air with a painful tug. "I told you not to bring any cops with you," he says in a disturbingly gentle, yet disciplinary way. Then, he uncovers my dagger to unsheathe it and points the blade to my stomach. He leans his boney and creepy face towards mine as he continues in a raspier and more frightening tone, "I also said no weapons, dear."

"Vensen wait," Kakashin interrupts.

Vensen stops and the grin drops into a frown. He raises his face from mine and continues to look at me with a morose glare. His voice speaks with a sullen tone that's deep and smooth, yet somehow nerve-wracking, "What Kakashin?"

Kakashin hesitates for a second before answering, "Don't forget who she is. You wanted her alive yourself; remember?"

What?

Vensen turns his head to him and swiftly brings the blade point to Kakashin's throat, then says in that same tone, "Then don't let her wander around so loosely." A few long seconds pass until Vensen finally takes the blade away from Kakashin and turns to me. "Go to the village and tell your 'people' to prepare for battle." He then drops the dagger to the ground close to me and remarks, "you're gonna need all the time you can get to do so. I'll see you next morning."

I keep my eye on him as I cautiously bend down to pick up my dagger and begin to walk away. As I run down the steep hill, I turn around every minute or so to see if they're behind following me and then continue pacing myself downwards.

I need to reach the village...