The Immortal Phoenix
Location Unknown…
In a large dark room several lights shine down upon dark blood red thin stripe of carpet. Several pictures with small lights, decorate the large room on each side of the room. At the end of the carpet lies a raised throne with several small steps that lead up to it. In the chair sits a large outline of a person that is covered in darkness. In front of him three men kneel before him. One of the figures is also bathed in the darkness, the other two are knelt on the red carpet and the light shines directly on them. On of the men, has short wavy grey hair, his body seems to be highly frail, as his body is exposed. The only clothing the man is wearing is a pair of trainers and tatty old dark grey jeans. His chest is covered in red stains that appear to have been made by some type of liquid being split on to his body. The other man is wearing a brown jacket with plain white shirt underneath. His trouser are also brown, his shoes are a pair of trainers and are black.
A door opens behinds the throne filling the room with light, a man dressed in type of waiter’s uniform walks up to the throne holding a large silver tray. As the man approached the throne he bowed before the figure and offered the contents of the tray to him by placing it in front of him. The figure slowly reached on to the tray, on the large tray a small mobile phone laid in the middle. The figure picked up the phone of the tray; the waiter removed the phone and started to walk back to the open door behind him. As the door slammed shut behind the waiter, the mobile phone began to ring. The figure flipped open the phone and raised it to their ear. “Master, it is me Sarge I have a report.” Came from the phone as the figure brought the phone closer to their ear. “Go on” the figure slowly replied in a deep voice.
“Master, I have encountered with an unknown assailant. Someone who deifies your will, his attacked and defeated Blaze in open battle with what seemed like ease. I could not retrieve Blaze’s body for you though master, as Ice intervened in the battle. He has now turned against us and sided with assailant. He calls himself Demon Hunter, he wears a black suit and carries a katana which is attached to his belt. I will continue to hunt and track this enemy of ours. But in order to defeat him I will need assistance. I am currently located at Blaze’s flat in London. That is all my master” The phone went quiet as Sarge finished his report, the figure closed the phone and placed it on the arm on his throne.
“hmm cerebral” the scrawny man knelt in front of the figure slowly rose up to his feet but with his head down. “Travel to Sarge’s location and show him your special talents, after search for the traitor Ice. Capture him and bring him to me, kill him if you have no other choice. That is all for now. Now go!” The figure spoke in a stern and demanding voice. “Yes my master” Cerebral replied, he quietly turned and quickly walked down the red carpet towards the exit. “Quake, head to this Demon Hunter’s last known location. Find him and capture him, do not kill him. I want to meet this man who managed to kill Blaze and defeat Sarge. Go now!” The figure’s voice echoed throughout the hall. The man in the jacket slowly rose to his feet, but kept his head down. “Yes master” he spoke quietly as he turned and headed in the same direction as Cerebral had taken.
Location
>England – Rural area, outside London…
Dark clouds filled the sky, as the black smog had not reached this area yet. In the distance several pillars of black smoke could be seen behind a line of trees. The area was mostly fields with a small village in the middle. With several houses still intact scattered about. A lone car drove down the streets of the village in the middle of the night heading towards the other side of the village. The wipers quickly washed the rain of the window screen of the car as it drove down a small country lane. As the car drove it turned in to a smaller lane, in front of it where large black gates. As the car approached the gates started to slowly open. As the car passed through they began to close behind it. As the car continued to drive down the lane, at the end a small cottage stood there. Several trees and bushes surrounded it, the car pulled to a stop out side the front door of the cottage. As the driver’s door opened out stepped Ice, he walked over to the door and pushed it open. He propped a brick up against the door to keep it open as the wind battered against it. Ice walked back to the car and opened the back door of the car. He clambered in side and as carefully as he possibly could, he pulled Blaze’s body out of the car.
He carried him towards the cottage as he entered the cottage he turned to the left and kicked open the door to the living room. Across the floor several cans of soda laid strewn out across the place, large areas of damp appeared in the ceiling as the water dripped down in to half full buckets below them. In the corner of the room a small television sat on top of a wooden stool. In the other corner of the room there was a microwave and kettle on the floor, with several small packets beside it. In the room there was also a large sofa, it was green in colour and had several areas with foam sticking out of large holes that had been cut in to the sofa. Next to it facing the television was a single arm chair in a similar condition to the arm chair. Walked over to the sofa and placed Blaze’s body on to it. After making sure that Blaze’s was safely placed on the sofa Ice walked over to television and pressed the power button. The television flickered on and a news show appeared on the screen. “Major fighting appeared through out the city of London today, several eye witness reports stated that two demon’s were fighting in the streets. These are unconfirmed reports but one of the demons fitted the description of Blaze, the other one could not be placed. It was white male, in mid to late twenties. He was wearing a black suit and was apparently wielding a katana which he had attached to his belt. In other news the war in the east continues as” The screen switched off as Ice removed the power plug, he walked to the other corner of the room and switched on the kettle.
Ice walked over to the arm chair and slumped down in to it as he waited for the kettle to boil. Ice let out a sigh as a drop of water hit in the forehead. The water splashed across his face, Ice closed his eyes and turned his head to look upwards as another drop of water hit his head. “When will it all end” Ice said quietly to himself as another drop fell from the ceiling above. Just then the kettle started to whistle and the switch turned off. Ice rose up out of the chair and walked over to the kettle. Ice touched a switch on the microwave and the door opened. Ice stuck his hand in side and removed a large bowl. He then picked up one of the small packets as he opened it, noodles fell out in to the bowl. He picked up the kettle and poured the bowling water over the noodles and in to the bowl. He slowly put back down the kettle and placed the bowl inside the microwave. Ice turned the dial on the microwave, and it suddenly came to life as it started to hum as it warmed the food.
Ice slowly stood up and leaned up against the wall, he stood there and just stared at Blaze’s dead body. After a while the microwave dinged, Ice knelt down and removed the bowl from the microwave. Ice then picked up a fork that was on top of the microwave and began to eat his food. After a while the bowl became empty as Ice finished off the rest of the noodles that were in the bowl. Ice placed the bowl back on the top of the microwave with fork in side. “I better get on with it then” Ice said to himself as he walked out of the room. As he turned the corner to the front door he picked up a shovel by the door and left the house. He looked up as the rain and wind had picked up. He quickly ran across the drive and ran towards the middle of a large field that was by the house.
Location London…
In the dark streets Demon Hunter continued to run down the street in order to flee from the soldiers that were following him. “The beast within” Demon Hunter kept thinking to him self. He started to ponder whether or not this meant that he had a beast within him. As Demon Hunter continued to run he noticed a clothing store to the right of the street. Demon Hunter came to a halt, he quickly turned around to see if the soldier’s were still following but it seemed like the coast was clear. In the window of the shop a black suit was being displayed on a mannequin. Demon Hunter looked closely at the suit, it was almost identical to the one he was wearing. He looked around on the floor before finding a large stone near a lamp post. He picked up the stone and threw it through the window. The glass shattered, Demon Hunter grabbed the mannequin out of the shop window and removed the jacket from it. He quickly put it on, he took on more look behind him and continued to run away down the street.
Location
Rural area – outside London…
Ice shoved the shovel in to the ground and began to dig, he threw the dirt behind he shoulder. After a while the wind began to die down, as did the rain. Ice continued to shovel, as the hole became bigger and bigger. Ice began to sweat as he rubbed his forehead with the front of his arm. He let out a breath sigh and continued to shovel. Inside the cottage Blaze’s body lay on derelict on the sofa, the blood had stopped running from the wound as he began to heal it self. Blaze’s chest began rise and fall continuously, when all of sudden sparks began to fly off of Blaze’s body. The sparks hit the furniture in the room and they instantly caught fire. Blaze’s body became engulfed in flames when he sat up and let out a huge scream. Ice instantly turned towards the cottage as he saw smoke appearing from the roof. Ice took a step back in horror at seeing this. When what seemed like a huge explosion destroyed the roof, but as Ice looked closer he could see what looked liked a large bird on fire fly out of the roof.
The bird flew around in the air, before noticing Ice. It swooped in and flew directly over Ice. Ice knelt down to the ground as the large bird passed over head. Ice’s tattoos began to ripple as out fire from Ice’s arm a shard of ice. The ice went straight in front of the bird which came to halt in mid air. All of a sudden the flames started to head towards the top of the bird, as the flames disappeared Ice could see what looked like feet and legs appearing. The person began to fall to the ground below; as they hit the ground all of the flames had engulfed around their hair. As the person stood upright Ice could see that it was Blaze. “Blaze!” he shouted surprised and horrified that he was still alive.
Blaze tapped out flames that were still burning on his clothes, after they were out Blaze looked up and smiled at Ice. “I am going to have to get some Flame retardant clothes.” He raised his hand through his hair and pushed it back behind himself. His hair stuck in to place and pointed downwards to the ground behind him, the hair still burned brightly though. “How are you alive?” Ice asked puzzled at how he was still standing in front of him. “I am not to sure” Blaze quickly replied, Blaze looked up in to the sky “I remember after I collapsed. I found myself in the black void again. This time I was falling. I tumbled and turned for what seemed like an age as I felt the wind pass by me. Then as I fell I saw what looked like four rectangular windows in front of me. They washed over me and I saw things from the past, the present and from what I guess is the future” Blaze said in a puzzled tone. “What did you see then?” Ice asked curiously.
“I’m glad you asked me that, as the first window washed over me, the black void disappeared and I was taken to this very place…
“Hey wait up” around the corner of the cottage two boys came running out. “ha ha you’ll never catch me!” One of the boys mocked as he continued to run away as fast as he could. The boy was around ten, it was a average boy with short brown hair, he was wearing blue jogging bottoms and a orange shirt. He continued to run around a bush as the other boy followed. As the boy broke from running around the tree and headed back towards the cottage the other boy slumped against the tree and panted for breath. The boy was slightly overweight and was wearing black jeans with a red top. “Hey come on Doug, catch me all ready” the other boy yelled as he realised he was no longer being chased. “Hey I’m tired can we call it a day now?” Doug asked hopeful that the answer would be a yes. “Ok then, you got it” the other boy replied as he jogged over to the tree. They both rested underneath the tree and closed their eyes.
… Then a white light washed over me again and I was back to falling through the black void once again. The next one was a bit of a blast from the past, oh how you’ve changed Ice ha ha. Well as the light washed over me I was standing in a centre of a warehouse in the middle of a battlefield…
Blaze stood in front of several unarmed men as they lie bleeding on the floor. Blaze slowly removed his swords from their sheaths on his back; he held the swords out in front of himself when they suddenly became engulfed with flames. Blaze revelled at the sight of them, as they wrapped around his blades and gently caressed his hands. Blaze lifted on of the swords above his head and held it there staring in to the eyes of his victims, as he saw their eyes fill with terror and dread. He loved it, “Stop it now!” Someone shouted from behind Blaze. Blaze instantly turned around while lowering his sword back down to his side. Standing at the entrance to the warehouse was a young man around the same age as Blaze. He was wearing a brown sleeveless jacket which was zipped up to the top; he had white jeans which meet at the bottom with his brown trainers. His hair was short and brown, and his eyes were very pale blue in colour.
“I can’t let you go through with this, I won’t let you murder innocent people!” The man shouted, as Blaze looked closer he could see small tears running down from his eyes. “Their injured and unarmed for god’s sake, have you no humanity left in you!” The man continued to shout never looking directly at Blaze. “Humanity? I have no need for humanity, or morals. I have become a Demon, an agent of hell and a god amongst men. No one shall be spared, it is the master wishes. You should know this, we owe everything to him” Blaze replied. “I owe him nothing!” Ice replied, this time staring directly in to Blaze’s eyes with a look of hatred. “Please don’t make me fight you Blaze, see reason you must know this is wrong. I beg of you stop this attack before there is nothing left!” Ice pleaded. “there only way this attack will stop is if you manage to kill me and the rest of the demon’s Ice. Do you really think that YOU are up to it? Can you murder your comrades Ice?” Blaze asked with his swords held down by his side. “I will do what I must” Ice said quietly as he removed his swords from their sheaths “Nitouryuu!” Ice shouted as his swords slowly began to be encased with ice.
Ice ran towards Blaze, and Blaze did the same, they slashed their swords and clashed together. Steam rose as the swords pushed against each other, the fire melted the ice on the blades which turned to water which hit the flaming blades causing the steam to rise. Ice and Blaze leapt back, Blaze crossed his as the flames around the blades became intertwined. “Flaming cross slash” Blaze slashed through the air in the shape of a cross, the flames shot forward in the same shape straight towards Ice. Ice cross his swords and a wall of ice formed around them. Ice then leapt on top of the wall just before the flames hit the wall, he leapt over the flames straight at Blaze. Before Blaze realised what was happening he was punched square in the face. Blaze slowly staggered backwards as Ice flipped in mid air and thrust his feet against Blaze’s chest. Blaze hid the floor and went skidding, Ice flipped backwards and skidding backwards towards his swords. As the fire attack had melted the wall of ice the swords feel directly in to Ice’s hand as he went skidding backwards.
Ice leapt forward towards Blaze who was now standing upright, Blaze slammed his swords together creating one weapon. Ice slashed and Blaze managed to keep parrying his blows. Ice then slashed away at Blaze’s feet, Blaze leapt up in to the air and slammed one of the ends towards Ice’s head. Ice managed to cross his swords in time blocking the attack but Blaze quickly went to attack again when he hit the floor but using the bottom blade to attack. Ice managed to pull one of his swords out of the cross and swung it towards the other blade. The blades collided stopping the attack, Blaze smiled at this and Ice suddenly felt full of dread. Suddenly Blaze spun his blade around; Ice’s swords went flying in to opposite walls of the factory. Ice tried to jump backwards but before he could Blaze slashed at his wrist. The blades cut cleanly through; as Ice landed back on his feet after leaping away he grabbed his wrist as the blood coated his hand.
“ha ha that has got to hurt. Ouch it even hurts to look at it. Ha ha, now Ice do you finally see how stupid your being in resisting. I will keep this quiet from the master if you come back and join us now.” Blaze suggested as his kept spinning his blades until it looked like one. “I will not murder innocent people, I will stop you” Ice replied, “fine have it your way!” Blaze shouted as he dashed towards Ice, Ice quickly jumped to the right as Blaze ran past with his spinning blades. Ice leapt back and started to run towards on of his swords. He leapt for it and swung himself round the handle of the sword. He then placed he foot on the wall and pushed off towards Blaze as he pulled the sword out of the wall. Ice went flying over Blaze’s head but as he did he slashed down but his attack simply deflected off the spinning blades.
Ice landed on his feet and dashed for his other sword, Blaze went skidding to halt before turning around. As he did he saw that Ice had almost reached his other sword, Blaze ran as fast as he could after Ice. Ice quickly pulled his other sword out of the wall and turned around to see Blaze bearing down on him. Ice placed each katana over each shoulder so the tips almost touched behind his head. “I hope this works… Dual Ice Cutter!” Ice yelled as he slashed through the air leaving to lines of ice in front of him. Instantly after being made they shot forward towards Blaze, Blaze held his spinning blades out in front of him self. The attack hit Blaze weapon and simply shattered seeming to have no effect. Ice dashed towards the opening of the warehouse, as Blaze cut through the ground and wall where Ice was standing a moment ago. “I have no chance against him like this, god please forgive me” Ice muttered to himself and he quickly turned and ran off. Blaze turned to follow but an explosion hit the entrance knocking Blaze backwards.
… Do you remember that then? Hey what happened to the scar I gave you?” Blaze asked as he pointed towards Ice’s wrist. Ice raised his hand and pointed towards a large tribal tattoo which merged with the others. “Tattooed over it, hope you don’t mind” Ice said coolly “Nope, sorry about that” Blaze replied with an awkward smile on his face. “Anyway, the next one was the present, it was just my fight with Demon Hunter, but you already know what happened there so I won’t bore you with the details. Then the last one washed over me, and I was standing in a medium sized room. Red lights were flashing across the walls, and behind stood a large open door…
Blaze stood ran to the door and started to push it closed, just then Demon Hunter ran through the door. In the distance Blaze could see several others trying to chase after him, Blaze pushed with all his might and quickly slammed the door to a close. Blaze almost collapsed to the floor as his body was battered and beaten, blood dripped down from his forehead. He managed to stand him self up right, two figures stood in front of him brandishing weapons. Blaze stretched out his arms blocking the door, “I can’t let you pass, sorry for any inconvenience” Blaze said with a small smile on his face. The figures dashed towards Blaze with their weapons ready.
… and that was the end of my visions, interesting huh, did you like?” Blaze asked with a smile on his face. “Very interesting, but that doesn’t explain how you managed to come back to life, what happened next?” Ice asked. “Hmm well the next part was very strange, as I reappeared in to the black void I continue to fall and fall, I lost track of time well I started to feel warmth coming from below me. As I looked down all I could see was a small orangy redish glow coming from beneath me. As I fell closer and closer towards it, it the heat increased it soon started to become unbearable. Then my clothes started to spark and start to catch fire. Then I saw what the heat was coming from, it was magnificent. It was a bird, it was covered in flames yet felt nothing. As it flew around the black void it seemed graceful but with a look of sadness and anger that burned within it’s heart and fuelled its flames. Then I realised something, I am that phoenix, I am the same. Then I suddenly seem to let go of all the anger and hate in my heart and I felt the flames that I kept burning within my self rise to the surface. That when I awoke covered in flames, somehow I managed to fly but creating wings out of fire just as that phoenix had done. I myself had become a phoenix.” Blaze said as he answered Ice’s question.
“Hmm I see you managed to awaken the beast from within yourself, the dormant energy that had lied within you was released. The energy then healed your wound and restarted your bringing you back from the edge of destruction. What a shame, you had to come back” Ice replied as he gripped on to his katana. “Hey that’s not very nice you know, besides fate has chosen a different path for me now. I don’t want to murder the innocent or do the bidding of the master. I wish to atone for my sins; I want to help save the people. To put an end to this senseless war that is tearing this world apart. Besides I have no reason to fight you, as we both know now that I do not die here and now. And I have no weapons I am unarmed, and like you once said you wouldn’t kill an unarmed man would you?”
“Please we both know that you are not defenceless now, I am sure you have realised the extra power that you can now yield. You are far too dangerous to be let to live; I must finish you and redeem my self under heavens night sky.” Ice said pointing upwards as the clouds suddenly broke apart and the star night sky shone down on them. “How can you decide who is to live or die, you have perform sins as well. I was there I remember now Ice” Blaze quickly replied with his arms held out in front of him in order to show that he doesn’t want to fight. “I admit that I have performed unforgivable acts, and when I finally perish as I shall surely plummet in to the fires of hell, but did so believing that they were for the greater good I was deceived by the master. I will spend every moment until my dieing breath fighting you demons, then I shall plunge my sword in to the master’s heart to end this world of suffering” Ice replied.
“Please, you believe that you alone can do all that, you couldn’t even beat me. Besides there is no difference between us now, we were all deceived I had no memories after the process. Just the master’s words to listen to and a deep hatred soon burned in my raging heart for the enemy. And now I remember this I can not let stand idly by anymore and watch this world fall in to ruin. It is not your judgement I must face, I will go to Demon Hunter and face my judgement I will try to help him if he will let me.” Blaze turned and started to walk away when a shard of ice flew past his face. “That man’s heart burn with more anger and hatred for us then either of us can understand. If he is to see you again it will surely finish the job that he has started. You can not go too him!” Ice shouted with his head facing the ground. “Ah Ice you care, but I have no choice. I must face him to try and atone for my sins. Besides your forgetting I have seen the face of my murderer and it is not Demon Hunter.” Blaze replied.
“I don’t care; fate and destinies can be re-written in an instance. Demon Hunter simple arrival has shown how all our fates have quickly changed from the course that they were originally set by. I will not let you throw you life away so recklessly, if you will not listen to reason then I will have no choice but to make you.” Ice replied as he placed a hand on one of his katana. Blaze continued to walk as another ice shard went past cutting his cheek. Blaze quickly turned around and faced Ice, “That reminds me, how are you doing that?” Blaze asked. Ice’s face went completely blank as he relaxed his grip on his handle. “Well?” Blaze asked again.
“Ok then I shall tell you. It is easier to explain if I start from the beginning, I was the last Demon to be created just after you if you remember. But I was created different from the others, before the process was done all in one go, this placed a terrible strain on the body it reduced a persons life expectancy by around twenty years maybe more depending on the person. Whereas I was done in sessions this meant that the body had enough time to adjust it self to becoming a demon. This of course placed a lot less strain; they predicted that my life expectancy had only been reduced by around five years” Ice said but was interrupted by Blaze. “So theoretically you could just wait until all the demons die before attacking the master.” Blaze asked. “Yes, but that would take too long plus there is no way to know if the master has or will be able to create my demons in the mean time. Ice replied.
“Anyway, as I was saying as this had particular benefits especially to my health it also had several side effects. As you know the person’s power is directly related to their psyche, as mine was done in stages my psyche changed from when I was in great pain and relative calmness. This of course meant, that I had too powers that were intertwined thankfully. The weaker of the two powers was water, the only thing I can do with water is absorb it, and I am barely able to manipulate it. My stronger power is ice, as I can wield and manipulate the ice almost as well as you can the fire. By unlike you I am unable to just create ice, there has to be water present. I first managed to overcome this as you know with my weapons. They have a water type gel in and on the outside of the blades. This allows me to freeze the blades, and I also added the alchemy symbol for water and the Chinese symbol for water on each side of each blade. This allows me to amplify my powers slightly, and I can extend the ice with less amounts of water. Then after are battle I could see that this would not be enough. So I had these tattoos put in place, you can see if you look closely tiny Chinese and alchemy symbols. But utilising the water that is in my body I can turn this tattoos in to water, and turn the water in to ice.” Ice said as the tattoo’s on his arm began to ripple, he stuck his finger in to the tattoo and they appeared out the other side. Ice then removed his finger and continued.
“As you see the human body is mostly water, and thanks to my demon powers I can survive with a lot less blood then regular humans. Up to 1 pint I can survive on without feeling adverse effects, and thanks to the water absorbing powers I can quickly absorb the water from the ice that I create, that is why the ice shatters after my moves. So do you understand how I can create the ice?” Ice asked Blaze as he looked dumbstruck. “I just realised, when was the last time you washed your clothes!” Blaze asked pointing at Ice’s dirty trousers. “Hey, I wash them. What does it matter anyway! They don’t smell!” Ice shouted back “anyway do you understand.” Ice asked “Oh yeah, sure sounded great.” Blaze replied, “Did you even listen” Ice asked with a disgruntled look on his face. “Anyway I better be off, see around Ice” Blaze waved his hand as he turned and started to walk away. Then several shards of ice flew all around Blaze, Blaze stopped instantly his hands became engulfed with fire. Ice removed his swords and held them by his side. “This isn’t over yet Blaze!” Ice yelled as he dashed forwards.
END OF CHAPTER 6
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