Ivan stood before a large window. It was as broad as the room. Its height reached the ceiling. The glass as clear as though it had just been placed.
The storm outside had reached the island causing the trees to thrash. The wind caused the windows to rattle in its fury. The sound of its rush howled through the mansion.
Ivan still stood there. Like a massive rock standing against the ocean waves.
And then the stone door exploded inwards. The rock cracking, crumbling, and collapsing with a dusty rumble as it collapsed to the hardwood floor.
Ivan let out a sigh as he turned around. His 6 tall broad shouldered frame making a stark long shadow across the floor. It was haunting against the striking flash of lightning and thunderous roar from behind him.
The dust cloud in the air obscured the person who had destroyed the door. The clack of talons against the floor made Ivan raise an eyebrow in slight interest. As the dust settled a large dragon man strode through it. His feet tapping the large chunks of of stone away like crumpled paper. A huff escaped his nostrils with enough force to make the dust clear away from him.
Ivan stood a little shorter than the dragonman before him. Their two figures giving off a red aura of bloodlust like two giants about to brawl. Ivan's energy showed blue stranding of water magic while the dragon mans was a murky rainbow cascading around them like a flood.
"You broke my door and killed my men. What did I do to piss you off?" Ivan growled angrily.
I smirked. "Not a thing. But you hurt your mother. And she sends her regards." I said as his eyes widened. A roar escaped his mouth as shadows suddenly wrapped around his arms and legs holding him in place.
"What!? What is this? Who are you?!" He screamed at me. And then shadows entered the doorway and he paled slightly. Bloody marionette like creatures filled the doorway as whispers from their crudely formed liquid jaws echoed through the room.
"It's him. The one who murdered us. The one who raped, tortured, maimed, and killed us.The unforgiven. The monster." Their voices echoed out one by one. Female voices and men's. Commoners and nobles alike.
The smell of iron wafted through the room as pungent as a butcher shop as they spoke. Yet this smell didnt bother Ivan. His entire room had been painted scarlet with blood when he vented his rage at a chained woman or two before.
But that wasn't all. His eyes glistened a little in excitement as something dawned on him.
"You are a necromancer! Hehehehehe! Oh this is rich!" He laughed as suddenly the shadows quaked and suddenly released him.
He stood up with his chest puffed up in pride. "A mere necromancer tries to use shadow magic on a Blood Lord. What a sham. If only I realized you used shadow magic like that. I wouldn't have been so shocked at your natural control. But to me a pirate that has killed hundreds and ransacked their bones. You might as well be an amateur." He said with a snide sneer on his face.
He raised a hand and the ground rumbled as skeletal hands broke through the tile flooring. Their bodies coated in some kind of foul, murky water. It wrapped around the skeletons like a see through armor. It was like looking through brown jello.
The smell of rot filled the air as they stood there. The rot and blood smell would normally make one vomit if they weren't accustomed. But neither the dragonmen or Ivan seemed bothered by it. Each knight held an axe, sword, or spear in hand with a shield at the ready. Seemingly trained to do so.
Ivan laughed maniacally at the 40 plague knights at his command. And suddenly a light clapping filled the air. Ivan's laughing died quickly as he looked at the stoic look on the dragon mans face and his boredom evident in his frown.
"It seems I found something I shouldn't have here. But some way or another the gods always give me such surprises." He said as he raised his scaly left hand. He twisted it and snapped his fingers.
A wave of rainbow energy rippled through the room in a shockwave.The knights shuddered even as the blood puppets stood there shocked. The murky water was begining to boil and turn clear before their eyes.
Ivan looked around confused at what was happening. His connection to the knights had suddenly been cut off as though someone took a pair of scissors to a thread. He held out his hands and focused but not one knight moved an inch.
Suddenly they turned to look at Ivan as the water fell to the ground with a splash. Their hollow eye sockets stared almost menacingly at him. His eyes filled with fear as he was once again pinned by shadows at his feet.
"How! How! How can a lower class necromancer cut me off from my plague knights!? You shouldn't have such power Kid!" He shouted out in fear.
The dragon man didnt move as the puppets and skeletons moved closer to Ivan.
"Your mistake was thinking I was something as small as a Blood Lord. Kid. Maybe you'll see things my way when you come to understand balance." The rumbling voice filled the air.
"Balance... No... NO! It cant be! You are a Guardian of Aaaaagh!" He screamed as the skeletal knights began to beat him. He curled up in a fetal position before unleashing a blade of water at his assailants. The water crashed through them scattering their bones and sending them rattling across the floor.
Ignis POV
"Noone has seen a guardian of balance in ages. And I will not fall to some crack pot claiming to be one!" Ivan yelled as water gathered into a spike that froze before launching itself at me.
I casually twitched a finger up and a piece of tile launched upwards into the icicle.
The two pieces shattered with a crash the sound of breaking glass. The ice splintering all over and away from me.
Meanwhile ivan had completely found his footing and pulled out a sword.
"You are good at magic. Nobody can be that good without some drawback. You probably aren't so good at close quarters right." He said with a smirk.
I didnt even blink as he charged in with his sabre. I didnt even raise a hand to block. My tail on the other hand did all the work.
The tip blocked, deflected, and struck with speed and strength comparable to a fencer. It was precisely hitting the tip of the blade before it could make any real moves. And slowly the tip began to crack. The metal dented and slightly bent out of shape from my scales hardness and mass.
I chuckled as Ivan breathed hard. "You done?" I mocked.
His face turned red again in anger. Much like a child. Some would ask why I was drawing this out. The reason was simple. Teaching myself patience with an unreasonable individual. Though not much training when I'm the one winning. But it was good for me I thought.
He held up his saber which was cracked, bent, and dented beyond recognition. It looked more like a ball of metal with a handle than a sword at this point. I yawned loudly mocking him as I looked around.
(Is there seriously nobody else here? I thought this guy would be tougher.) I thought to myself as I waved my hands making a halberd of blood beside me.
I had left dragons cry on the boat with Hargo. Seeing as having a treasure of that caliber would make things too easy. And I wanted practice.
I focused on hardening the blood till it turned black. And entire halberd made of bloody iron made the air around it feel ominous. And at the same time I created a blade similar to what Ivan had used before out of the same material before tossing it to him.
It fell to the ground with a clang as he stared at it before glaring at me.
"Pick it up. We are not done here." I said gesturing with my chin to the blade.
His face contorted into a snarl as he picked it up and launched at me with it raised over his head. A broad swing downwards toward my head.
The blade was slow and deliberate but I could tell it was messy. A trained hand becomes useless when training ceases as they say. And as this blade swung down I felt something in my head.
It was like my instincts told me where was the best place to go. Everywhere was an opening. Blue filled my vision with only a little red spot around the middle of my weapon.
Seeking to test out the red spot I raised the weapon in defence.
As the blade hit the weak spot I saw and felt the blade split in half. I managed to dodge the swing as Ivan laughed.
I couldnt help but smile at the pitiful fool. He took so much confidence in his small victory he didnt realize it was only a test. I held the two halves of my weapon. An axe in one hand and a small crude spear in the other. I tossed the spear to the side and suddenly raised the axe in parrying Ivan's assaulting blade. He swept from the side so I struck upwards sending him tottering.
He struck from above next so I sidestepped and backhanded him. Every step shown by the blue spots and red. Having learned once from the red spot I avoided them further. Each attack I countered and acted. Every small opening I took advantage of.
Some may say I was going soft on this weakling. But in reality. I was just using him to further my understanding of myself. I shifted my weapon from an axe to a shield. From a shield to a spear. From a spear to a sword. And on i went.
The thing about Ivan though was that he never quit. And he actually grew along with me. He started noticing his own flaws and adapting. Thinking before acting. Parrying a strike now and again. His pride gone. Now replaced with a knowledge he was being toyed with. And not lightly either.
Soon he was covered in bruises and cuts. Some deep. Others shallow. And the only thing I made certain of. Was to not hit his vital points. His biceps, triceps, sides of his legs and feet. All these had been wounded. Even a cut or scrape to his face here and there. But no artery nicked or cut. But he was still covered in blood all the same.
Ivan stood up after he skidded into a wall. His breathing heavy from exhaustion. His hand suddenly let go of the blade hitting the floor with a clang. His eyes rolled as his bloodied body slumped to the floor with a loud thud.
Not knowing whether he was unconcious or not I extended my senses into my surroundings. I could feels his heart beating and his breathing was like person sleeping. He was out cold.
I nodded my head as I waved a hand towards him. The blade turned into a metal cord binding his body thoroughly disabling him.
And with that I turned and with another wave he floated off the floor following behind me.
"I guess taking someone with a bounty wouldn't be a bad thing." I sighed as I let go of my hammer. It fell but before it hit the floor it exploded into red powder swirling away across the floor.
I wandered the mansion smelling the blood and seeing the gore that coated the place like a horrific painting. I felt bile rise up my throat almost making me vomit.
I took a deep breath and settled my feelings of disgust. My body settled and I felt something else.
The sensation of being watched.
I turned around and found who it was. The shades. The many who had followed me here into this place. They numbered in the hundreds standing before me. What had once been a simple few had been added on to. Many that had hid now were out in the open. Others who had tried to get revenge but failed.
Their energies filled the building. Cold, malicious, and dark. I stood with Ivan behind me unconcious still.
"Is it justice you wish for? Or vengeance?" I asked with my voice quietly echoing through the building.
The boards seemed to shiver from the paranormal force so focused inside. The walls cracked as anger churned in the ghosts before me. The blood they had spilt had not been enough. The death and destruction they had been part of. None of it had been enough to sate their bloodlust. Their thirst for revenge.
"We demand his blood. We demand his tongue and guts for garters. His skin for an umbrella, his eyes for earrings, and his hair for a rug. We want him. And you cannot take him from us." Their voices echoed. A chill filled the air as a wind gusted with enough force to throw everything around me away.
But I did not move. Not an inch.
"No." I said. My face stoic and unmoved. I felt I had changed much in my time on the island. Grown in a way I guess. The man had done wrong. But I was neither just or unjust. Neither was I a murderer or savior. But I had given them enough vengeance for me to stomache. The brutalized bodies were proof of that. These previously innocent shades had now changed.
Morphed and deformed into evil and sadistic things. I would not give them what they wanted. I would not allow it.
"I gave you vengeance to bathe the halls with blood. And my price was him. He will be mine. And you will not take him from me." I said as I held aloft a single item.
My Scroll of the Dead.