Chapter 5 Ash before the flame
“Nooooo, my precious test subject!” Kennedy’s scream tore through the air, raw with desperation.
A shimmering water whip lashed out in the nick of time, snatching Vandal out of the flame’s path and flinging him away from the explosion.
Flames splashed on some slaves and bandits alike. An unfortunate slave was screaming in agony as the flames licked his flesh off his bones and melted the chains that bound him. In that same breath, a frail girl took off with her ankle shackles suddenly loose, sprinting desperately toward the bush ahead.
Kennedy was already huffing and puffing, a stream of blood running down from the corner of his mouth. “Damn it… the backlash…” he muttered, gritting his teeth, his chest heaving from the failed water drill that had cost him too much resonance energy.
“Leave with your men… and I won’t kill you all. The boy is mine.”
Kennedy’s eyes shone with anger. “Never! I am a member of the Seven Clouds Clan; we always pay back in blood!”
He immediately took out a vial of strange liquid and drank it without hesitation, then began forming rapid finger signs. Almost all the water erupted from the nearby lake, rushing together into a massive swelling blob that ballooned rapidly to the size of a boulder before freezing solid.
“Damn, that vial cost me a fortune, you bastard, I will make sure you never get what you want.”
“Take that boy and leave!”
“Yes, boss,” Emeka answered instantly. He had narrowly avoided being hit by the flames. Picking up the dazed Vandal, he slung him over his shoulder like a sack and sprinted toward one of the smaller lizards.
“Take this!”
The frozen blob morphed into a spinning tornado of frozen blades, sharpened to deadly edges by its insane velocity. It tore through the surroundings before slamming furiously into the spreading purple flames.
Ash and thick smoke blasted outwards in a choking cloud.
“Out of my way, idiot!” Kennedy backhanded a bandit trying to mount a big lizard carrying several provision bags. The man flew sideways with a sickening crack.
“Hiya!” He slapped the lizard’s forehead hard.
It roared before shooting forward at rapid speed.
Purple flames kept hammering on the large freezing chunks of spinning ice, breaking them to pieces and incinerating them, but it only caused more smoke, swallowing everything in a blinding haze.
In the chaos, Emeka’s lizard bounded away with Vandal. Jasper’s group vanished into the smoke.
The smoke hung thickly for long moments.
A purple chain shot out from the smoke veil like a snake, trying to reach Kennedy, but he only laughed as he expertly dodged the strike. His expression, however, changed from joy to shock, then rage, the chain was in fact not after him, and it quickly latched onto Jasper, yanking him off his lizard.
“Father! Save me!”.
Swiftly, it dragged Jasper back into the smoke.
“Bastard! Give me back my son!”
“Come and take him,” the calm, neutral voice replied.
Kennedy narrowed his eyes but didn’t respond.
Not now… he told himself. I’ll come back for my son.
He exhaled slowly, steadying his nerves. There was no point pretending; he knew he couldn’t win this fight.
“I’m not foolish enough to throw my life away,” he muttered under his breath.
Without another word, he turned back, already planning his return, this time with vengeance.
In a matter of seconds, everywhere was quiet again except for Jasper’s voice screaming for mercy.
“Please don’t kill me, great monster! I will give you anything you want! Please, please, please!”
“Shut up or I will kill you on the spot.” The words carried a heavy hint of killing intent in their undertone, so you knew it was not a bluff.
“We shall meet again very soon.” The flames died as abruptly as they had surged, shrinking into nothing. Silence crashed over the burnt and devastated clearing, thick and heavy with the scent of roasted human flesh and melted chains.
“That looks like three lizards approaching us at fast speed,” one of the men said, gesturing ahead.
Clusters of figures moved about, all bearing the insignia of the Seven Cloud Clan.
“Those are the bandits that were sent to escort Master Kennedy,” another added, lowering his voice slightly, “and to assist him in his research.”
“Research?” a third scoffed. “Call it what it is, he’s more interested in poisons than potions.”
A few of them exchanged uneasy glances as they looked toward the camp.
“Is that not Elder Kennedy?… Quick! Let’s welcome him.” Several other Seven Cloud Clan members came out, all with one hand on their chest as they bowed slightly.
Three mounted lizards rapidly approached. Kennedy was riding the biggest lizard, which carried the provision bags, and a few slaves were tied to the two smaller ones as they were pulled along the ground. They lay in pools of blood from their peeled flesh; some had even died along the way, and it was only their corpses that remained tethered to the lizard.
Vandal, however, was on one of the smaller lizards, and Emeka was riding that lizard. The other lizard carried the slave bandits.
He was pulled down roughly.
“You little shit… you got to ride with me on this lizard while your fellow slaves were dragged on foot,” Emeka snarled in Vandal’s face.
“I will really enjoy torturing and then killing you very soon—that’s if the Mawrot Essence doesn’t kill you horribly first.” Emeka’s eyes shone with cruelty.
“Did anything unusual happen in my absence?” Kennedy asked with a dignified expression.
“No… not at all, Elder Kennedy, would you—”
“Step aside. I have something I need to quickly do. Prepare our best men; we are going hunting.”
Kennedy went inside the tent immediately. After some seconds, he came out, heading toward Emeka and Vandal.
Taking a good look at Vandal, he nodded in approval.
“He seems even more full of resonance energy than before.”
In his hand was a bowl of thick black liquid. He didn’t even bother to explain anything to Vandal.
He handed the bowl to Vandal and ordered in a cold voice, “You, finish this!”
“Please resist, so I can take my time beating obedience into you!” Cracking his whip mercilessly, Emeka’s eyes followed Vandal’s slightly trembling body.
“Woo-hoo!” he sneered from behind. “Little runt! If you ever dare to resist, you know what’s going to happen to you, right?”
Vandal took the bowl, bringing it up to his lips, his heart beating madly within his chest.