Warrior of Light
mrsquishr
Chapter 4: Well, that Escalated Quickly
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Lucien had expected changes after his advancement but acknowledged that he may have overlooked one specific outcome. With the Light now saturating his muscles and skin, constantly burning away his mortality, he looked just a little too good.
Lucien had gotten what he wanted from the refinement with his physical abilities far outstripping anything any toddler should possess, as well as being able to sustain channeling Light for much longer. He was no longer entirely human, and it showed. His skin was soft, and almost glowed under sunlight, and his hair had become silky smooth. If he was grown women would have been falling over themselves to get close to him, but as he was it just made him irresistibly adorable.
'This is my life now,' he mused as his mother's friend cooed over him. It was not the first time he had become the center of attention, and he expected it to be far from the last.
He was expected to start kindergarten at the local school at the end of the summer, and him mother had begun taking him to see her friends that had children close to his age. She also might have wanted to show him off, but he wouldn't hold it against her.
After managing to wriggle away from the grabby women, leaving them to their tea and conversations, he wandered through the open backdoor and into the backyard of their house. It backed up to a large forest, and Lucien liked to sun himself on the grass.
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Settling into his usual spot, and closing his eyes to take a short rest, he was startled back awake almost immediately by a rustling beyond the fence. Sitting up, and wandering over to peer through the slats, he saw a curious sight. It was a man and a woman creeping through the underbrush, and they were outfitted very strangely.
The man was wearing something close to modern tactical gear but had a sword at his side. The woman was equipped with a bandolier of some sort, and it was filled strange containers.
As he continued to observe the strange couple, he noticed that the man was leaning against the woman's shoulder, and that one of his legs didn't appear to be bending quite correctly. Suddenly the woman jerked her head around to look behind them and cursed, before pulling one of the containers off her chest and throwing it towards the tree line.
There was movement in the trees, and something blurred into view next to where the woman's throw landed. When it hit the ground there was a muffled pop, and an oddly colored gas spewed out around the capsule. When it touched the thing's foot, it jerked away and let out a low hiss.
"Nowhere to run now little mortals," came a raspy voice from the creature, "give up and I'll make it quick for you."
It truly was an odd-looking thing, almost a man but hunched and twisted. Its eyes shone a dull red, face a dull grey. Lucien watched as the flesh of the foot that had come into contact with the woman's gas bubbled, before quickly regenerating.
"Fuck off!" the woman responded, "we won't give you the satisfaction."
The man she was supporting collapsed, falling to the forest floor, and pulling her partially down with him. Lucien could hear his labored breathing from the fence, and the woman tugged frantically on his arm.
"Come on Rob, get up!" she pleaded as she glanced back up to the creature, a low chuckle now coming from between its grimy lips.
"Just go Lucy, I'm dead weight," came Rob's reply, and Lucy snapped back "No! I can't leave you behind, we can beat this thing together."
Rob just shook his head "Lucy, that thing is far more powerful than we were led to believe. Definitely not a fledgling, I think it's the sire" he finished ominously.
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This whole scene was rather confusing for Lucien to witness and created many questions in his mind. For now, though, he had seen enough, and pulled himself over the fence revealing his presence to the odd group.
"Hello there, would you two like any help?"
The only response he received was blank stares, before Lucy's actions took on a new urgency. "Run kid, get back to the house!" she pleaded, but the creature cut in and leered at him.
"Well, well, well. What have we here?" The thing licked its lips with a tongue entirely too long and sinuous. "Maybe a little snack after I finish off these two troublemakers?"
Now that he had a clear view of the creature, Lucien was certain something was familiar about it. He narrowed his eyes, and his pupils expanded as he glared at it.
"The Dark?" he questioned, "just a small fragment though, what are you?"
The creature looked a bit taken aback by the question, or maybe it was the voids that had consumed his eyes.
"Little boy, you know not what you speak of. There are no fragments within me, I am an avatar of pure darkness! I am a Vampire, and I will drain your body of blood before devouring the husk."
Lucien blinked, this creature a Vampire? But this thing had no more power than a lower blood fiend, nothing in comparison to the true Vampires.
The man, Rob, let out a wet cough and broke Lucien from his train of thought.
'Right, in the middle of something. Wonder about wild claims from dirty forest creatures later.'
Lucien locked eyes with the claimed Vampire and pulled just a small whisp of Light from his heart. For such a weak servant of the Dark, this much would do. A pulse of power flowed into his eyes, and with a sharp crack, the creature's head detonated spraying gore over the trees behind it.
Refocusing on the shocked couple on the ground ahead of him, Lucien picked his way around the brush until he was standing beside the man and was able to see the extent of his injuries.
A large gash had been opened on the man's leg, and he had a tourniquet applied on his thigh. His chest seemed oddly dented, and Rob coughed out a mouthful of blood as he watched. 'Internal bleeding definitely, and a cut on the leg.'
"Brace yourself," Lucien ordered as he placed his hand on the man's shoulder and guided a pulse of Light towards the injuries. "This is going to hurt a lot."
A brief glow shone through the holes in Rob's pants and shirt, and smoke drifted into the air. The smell of burning pork filled the small clearing. Rob clenched his teeth as tears streamed down his face, and a low groan forced its way from his throat.
"Stop, you're hurting him!" Lucy cried, reaching for him, and Lucien shover her hand away from his shoulder before fixing her with a withering glare.
"I'm trying to heal him, unless you want him to bleed out on the ground here?"
He then released Rob, and the man slumped onto the ground, breath coming in harsh pants.
Stepping back from the two, he looked between them and the headless body still laying a few feet away from them. "Tell you what. If you get rid of that thing's body I'll call us even for the save."
"Yes, thank you!" came Rob's raspy voice from the ground, and he coughed several more times before looking up at his savior and falling silent. "Are you an Angel?"
Lucien could feel a headache coming on, he'd just wanted to have a lazy day in the sun, and now this man was looking at him like he'd been sent from heaven to save the world.
"You know what? Yeah, I'm an Angel. And if you tell anyone what happened here you will face divine retribution."
Rob and Lucy now had a mixture of fear and awe plastered on their faces and they nodded silently.
Turning back to his house, Lucien left the clearing behind him and hopped back into his yard. He was a little sleepy now, and wanted to catch up on that nap he was so rudely awoken from.