[Shieba]

The first thing his slowly returning senses picked up was the smell of blood, sand and dirt. And then, then came the pain. He groned and tried to open his eyes, but as soon as he managed to, bright light made him almost blind and he quickly closed them again.

For a few minutes, he simply stayed like he was, wherever and however that might have been. Warm liquid running down his head informed him that he was obviously having some kind of head wound and his left hind leg hurt so much it was probably broken. Besides that, it seemed to be buried under some kind of rubble.

He used the time where all he did was fighting against the pain even breathing caused by desperately trying to remember what had happened - and who he was.

His name was Rak'ard. But beyond that? Nothing. He desperately tried to grasp thoughts and pictures floating through his still sluggishly working brain at random, but there was no recognition of anything. It was most likely the head wound, yes, it had to be, it would all come back sooner or later.

For now, all that was important was getting away from here. He was wounded and wounds rarely came out of nowhere. If he had been attacked, then he was in deep trouble. Rak'ard strained his senses, but he couldn't pick up any sound but the howling desert wind.

[R 1.1]

[Shieba]

Desert wind? He blinked again, more carefully this time, and endured the light until it stopped burning so much. Indeed, this had to be Wilt'no. What was he doing here? He could sense no immediate danger - how was he able to tell? Was he some kind of warrior? - but the desert wasn't the best place to stay if injured.

Biting back a yelp of pain, he struggled to get up. A quick glance showed him that his hind leg was indeed crushed under a pile of brown, sandy rocks, but luckily, he managed to get it free with a bit of struggeling. The pain the movement caused, however, made him almost black out again. Yes, this was one broken leg.

Good thing he still had three others. Shakily, he stood up, staring down at the bloodied sand below him. He felt dizzy, but there was not enough red on the yellow-brown sand around that he had to worry about bleeding to death. His head wound also seemed to slowly cease spurting blood.

Slowly, he dared to look around - and found himself in front of a cliff, a ruin of something which had probably been a temple or some similiar kind of building imbedded in it. At least he could make out the entrance, everything else was still covered in sand and rock.

[R 1.2]

[Shieba]

So had he been here to explore this ruin? Something inside him told him this was not the case, but from the look of it, there had been some kind of landslide and he had been half-buried below the rocks, which probably had caused his injuries - and the entrance here to appear?

Be as it may, exploring this place was out of question in his condition and he doubted that, someone - or something - was living in the ruin. And even if, he was easy prey for every hostile creature right now. No, he had to get to a town.

But how to get there? All he saw was sand and dunes in every direction but the one with the cliff behind him. Rak'ard contemplated trying to climb up at least some of the rocks, but he would probably only hurt himself more in the process and therefore settled for walking in a straight line away from the cliff. Hopefully he would be able to find it again if he got lost or couldn't make out a town in the distance pretty soon.

Slowly, he started to limp away from the shadows the cliff provided and the scorching desert sun hit him full force. It took him several minutes to notice that he, however, didn't seem to mind all that much. This seemed rather strange to him - shouldn't he, in his condition and on the verge of collapsing, be more than just bothered by the light?

But instead, it was as if the heat of the sun was almost welcomed by his exhausted body. Rak'ard had neither time nor energy to dwell on this strange occurance, however, but he was sure that all would make sense as soon as his memory returned to him.

[R 1.3]

[Shieba]

It certainly made his journey a bit easier. Walking on three legs was terrible enough as it was and while the heat and sun didn't bother him, the wind did. Sand hindered his sight and burned in his eyes, but the worst was the fact that it mixed with the half-dry blood on his head and hurt terrible in the wound.

For all the misery he had endure, however, he found himself holding up rather well. He indeed seemed to have quite the endurance and given the fact that he instinctively seemed to listen and gaze into every direction from which some strange sound seemed to come, he probably really was some kind of fighter or at least someone who knew how to live outside and handle whatever was thrown at him.

Maybe he even lived here, in the desert?

That was a strange thought. Why would anyone live here, in this place? He had the distinct notion that the old temple surely wasn't his home and none of the towns (hopefully) around here were, either, but that he liked to spend time here, in the sun; in the heat; in the desert.

In the fire.

There was a flash of...something...in his mind. Fire...there was something going on with fire. He couldn't pinpoint what it was, but it was a good, first sign that his memory would hopefully come back soon.

But something else came first.

[R 1.4]

[Shieba]

He sensed whoever was coming his way long before he saw anything, no matter how much he squinted against the light of the sun. But suddenly, his instincts were flaring up like mad, screaming at him to get away, get away, get away!

For a long moment, Rak'ard just stood there, in the middle of the desert, no place to hide anywhere in sight, and pondered about the fact how he could know that something was coming and that it was dangerous. But then, he figured out how terribly stupid he was right now. Even if whatever sixth sense he had was wrong, in his condition, it was far better to be safe than sorry.

As quickly as his hurt leg allowed him, he started to limp into the opposite direction, but he could feel that he was way too slow. The presence - he had no better word to describe it - came closer and closer to him. Dangerous. Dark. Evil. He had to get away from here!

But there was no escape. He was too far away from the ruin now to have any chance to reach it in time and when he dared to look behind him, he saw something black closing in, the image shimmering in the heat.

He didn't stop; his body sensed the danger far too well and gave him whatever last reserves it had stored, but it was before long that Rak'ard could recognize what was coming at him.

It was a Fellox. A Fellox, as black as the darkest night.

[R 1.5 (Level up!)]

[Shieba]

Dyugra grinned as soon as he could make out that his little prey had no chance of escape. He had picked up the smell of blood long ago and had hoped for something like a caravan, really, but beggars couldn't be choosers.

He had allowed Hilal, that annoying wannabe-saint brother of his, to "lure" him out into the desert and away from the town he had planned to visit for a little killing fun. The heat was nasty, much more so than he had expected, but he had thought that he would be able to lose Hilal somewhere in the endless sand - which had worked out wonderfully, bah, that fool - and then find himself some innocent travelers to have fun with.

Sadly, he had found absolutely nothing and no one, at least until he had picked up said smell of blood. And here it was, that poor, helpless creature. The Lucain was obviously wounded and wouldn't prove much entertainment for him, but Dyugra was in no mood for a travel made for nothing. He wasn't much into torture, really, but since it seemed like he would get no other fun today (unless Hilal died somewhere right now and he could go and laugh at his dead corpse later), there was no harm in a little toying with what would be dead soon anyway.

Coming closer and closer, he noticed how the Lucain finally stopped, having seemingly given up trying to flee in vain and instead dropping into a defensive stance as much as his hurt leg allowed him. Well, this was still not enough to merit turning into a human and getting out his nice weapon collection, but at least it seemed like his toy wouldn't give up even before the fun had started. That was at least something.

[D 1.1]

[Shieba]

"W...what do you want from me?" Rak'ard growled. Now, up close, he could see his opponent even better. Not that it helped - his memory refused to supply him with any kind of information. Did he know this strange Fellox? He had never seen one colored like this before. However, he didn't need any kind of memory to recognize the cruel intent of killing and the darkness in the eyes of the other creature. "Should I know you?"

"Know me?" Dyugra laughed and stepped even closer. "Not likely. Few who have gotten to 'know me' have lived to tell the tale. As for what I want - just a bit of fun. Not that you will be much of a challenge, given your current state, so let's just say that I'll finish what fate has obviously in store for you anyway."

Something in Rak'ard's mind seemed to respond. As if he should know such words. As if they should be familiar. But it was not the time to fish for images of the past when he was about to have no future. There was no way he would be able to talk the Fellox out of his intent - killers who killed for fun were hardly sane enough to reason with.

Quickly, he calculated his chances and found, unsurprisingly, that they were close to none. He was injured and the only advantage he seemed to have - his strange resistance to the desert sun - was not enough to grant him any kind of great ideas. The Fellox seemed a bit exhausted from his run and the heat, but this paled in comparision to Rak'ard's own exhaustion.

"Well, then, shall we begin the little dance?" Dyugra assessed the situation as well and got to the same conclusion. There was not an ounce of worry in him that this would be more than mere child's play.

[R 2.1] [D 1.2]

[Shieba]

Rak'ard saw the attack coming, but had no chance to evade on three legs. What exactly it was that got him, however, he couldn't tell. It was black and fast and it hurt.

"I'm normally not one for magic and all that stuff", Dyugra commented as if he was talking about what he got for last night's dinner, "but it's rather hot here and I don't like to sweat even more than I already do." He watched coldly as Rak'ard slammed into the next dune when his dark spell his its target. "Could you please at least try and resist a bit more? I'm rather bored if you're only getting smacked around before dying."

Rak'ard would have loved to give some witty reply, but his mouth was full of sand and blood; a nasty mixture tasting of dirt and iron and he coughed violently. The wound on his head was bleeding again and he had been lucky that the dune had cushioned his fall and also his hurt leg hadn't been the one recieving the full impact.

Still, getting back onto his feet required a lot of work and there was no doubt that the Fellox was granting him those endless seconds just out of cruel humor. Stars danced in front of Rak'ard's eyes. What could he do? How was he supposed to survive this?

The pain, surprisingly, only got him thinking harder. His pain tolerance seemed to be quite high indeed. Alright, so he just assumed he was some kind of warrior - what was the most intelligent thing to do now, that running wasn't an option.

"Bah, nothing at all coming from your side?" Dyugra interrupted his thoughts. "Then I might just as well get this over with and move on to hopefully more entertaining victims. What a waste of time and energy. You may die now!"

Rak'ard saw it coming; this black, concentrated energy the Fellox summoned out of seemingly nowhere and hurled at him. But there was nothing he could do!

[R 2.2] [D 1.3]

[Shieba]

He could not move fast enough; in fact, he could not move at all, he just stood there like a frozen rabbit, squeezing his eyes shut in front of his impending doom. He did not want to die like this! He did not want to die!

The flames came out of nowhere and met Dyugra's black sphere just in time. The impact threw Rak'ard back once more, but the scorching heat suddenly surrounding him didn't harm him. "W-what...?" he mumbled as he caught himself just in time.

"Oh-ho! So there is some use in you!" Dyugra evaded the fire suddenly lashing out at him narrowly, but didn't seem concerned at all. "No wonder I find someone like you in the middle of the desert. A fire mage, yes?"

Fire mage? Him? Rak'ard shook his head. He was no mage...but...fire? He could feel the flames which were now slowly circling around him, hissing like snakes on the sand. He felt their heat, but it wasn't unpleasant; in fact, he felt comforted by it. Was this why the sun wasn't burning him? Could he control this element? He wasn't even sure what was happening right now, but he could feel something inside him; the will to live, like a flame, like a fire and he felt the connection to the flames around him.

He wasn't sure what exactly his powers were, but he just got himself some kind of weapon and Rak'ard instinctively knew that and how he could use it. He had done this before, at least that he was certain of.

Dyugra sighed. "And just when it was about to get fun."

Rak'ard blinked. The Fellox hadn't adressed him - or attacked him anymore, come to think of it. Instead, he was staring into the direction he had come from. Rack'ard squinted. Was there someone else coming? Help, maybe? At least the Fellox looked all but pleased. This was good. Very good.

His chances of survival had just risen again.

[R 2.3] [D 1.4]

[Shieba]

Hilal ran as fast as he could, able to smell the blood even from this distance. He had hoped that Dyugra would be unable to find a living being in this barren land, but it seemed he had been wrong.

Coming closer, he saw his dark brother standing just a bit away from something he couldn't make out clearly yet and cursed his luck. Dyugra had managed to lose him just a bit over an hour ago and while Hilal was rather an expert in tracking down the killer by now, the heat and the sand had thrown him off track a few times. And now a poor soul was suffering thanks to his failure.

He had to end this. He had to put an end to Dyugra's bloodstained reign soon. If he would only be a bit stronger...but he and Dyugra were absolutely tied in terms of strength. Another mystery...just like the fact how he felt so responsible for what Dyugra did, just like his siblings felt towards the other, dark Felloxes. There was no logical explanation yet.

But neither was there time to ponder now. Hilal could finally recognize Dyugra's latest victim: A Lucain, obviously hurt, but trying desperately to hold on and...casting some magic?

"Dyugra!" Hilal stopped, panting, just on the opposite side of the other Fellox so he and the Lucain had the killer surrounded. "This ends now!"

[H 1.1]

[Shieba]

"So you didn't end up swallowed by the sand, rotting under the sun. A pity, really." Dyugra seemed rather unimpressed. "Well then, Hilal, tell me how you plan to 'end this' without getting that worthless creature there involved and killed in the process. You know very well how much beautiful destruction our fights cause."

Hilal's gaze went to Rak'ard, who was swaying on his paws, but still standing. "Can you hold your own a bit longer? Dyugra and I are of equal strength, but with your help, this fight should be winable. How great is that power of yours?"

Rak'ard shook his head. "I...am not sure." Great, that sounded rather pathetic. It wasn't that Rak'ard wasn't glad that there was someone willing to help him against this madman, it was just that he felt rather dizzy and lightheaded and that he knew nothing about this...fire. What if he couldn't control it fully and it hit his new ally?

"What kind of stupid answer is that?" Dyugra sneered. "You are by far the most pathetic victim I've had in a long time. This world is clearly off better without you." He got ready to strike.

Hilal took on a battlestance at once as well. "As if you're such a good guy." He snorted, then beckoned towards Rak'ard. "If you can't fight, then flee."

That seemed like a rather good idea to Rak'ard, but he still had no idea where he was and neither of the two Felloxes were obviously in the mood for some direction-asking. Besides that, he was no coward. "I will...fight." He reached for that flame inside him, mirroring the one circling around him and then glanced at Hilal. "I'm afraid I'm currently suffering from memory loss, so I have no clue what I'm doing, but I'll try my best."

Both Felloxes stared at him.

"Oh, you've got to be kidding me!" Dyugra growled.

"W-what?" Rak'ard blinked confused when suddenly both him and Hilal relaxed.

[R 2.4] [D 1.5 (Level Up!)] [H 1.2]

[Shieba]

"Lost your memory, huh?" Dyugra snorted. "Now isn't that a nice coincidence?"

"So have we, honestly", offered Hilal as explanation. "Not too long ago, we and our siblings just...appeared here, together with a large chateau. Out of nothing. We can't remember anything prior to that and while it is said to be normal for Felloxes to appear from mist, we are...not really normal now, are we?"

Rak'ard pondered that, even though the bloodloss made him feel dizzy and he would have preferred to at least get into a sheltered place. While he actually just wanted to run from these insane guys, if there was any possibility that they might have been connected to his amnesia, he had to hear them out - at least until Dyugra seemed willing to cut him into pieces again.

"I woke up here, covered by stones, in front of some ruins. It's highly likely that I just got into an earthquake or something similiar", Rak'ard offered. "While I can't recall what I was doing here in the first place, I doubt there is some supernatural explanation for my problems."

Dyugra grinned. "Good. Then it's no loss to kill you."

"You will not." Hilal stepped to Rak'ard and started to speak a small healing spell. While it didn't help as much as Rak'ard would have wished, it stopped at least the flow of blood. "I'm not really good at this..." Hilal glanced at Dyugra, but the other Fellox made no move to intercept. "Since Dyugra is responsible for this, do you want to come with us so my brother can take care of this wounds?"

[R 2.5 (Level Up!)] [D 2.1] [H 1.3]

[Shieba]

That, actually, was the last thing that Rak'ard wanted. "I think I'd prefer it if you could just point me into the direction of the nearest town so I can get help there, thank you." And get Dyugra away from him. But he didn't dare to say that out loud and Hilal seemed to understand that even without words.

"One of my other brothers is also a genius - if your memory loss is from natural causes, he might be able to cure you. Or mother can. There is little she can't do. Actually..." Hilal looked at Dyugra. "Was it not mother who actually suggested to you to explore this part of the land? What are the odds of that and of finding someone with amnesia as well?"

Dyugra cursed under his breath. "What, you think that woman set us up?"

Rak'ard blinked, confused. "Your...mother? I thought you said you just appeared from nowhere or mist or whatever?"

Hilal nodded. "We did. But our 'mother' - at least she calls herself that and since it seems natural for us to call her this as well, we don't doubt it - well, she's mysterious. And she knows something. We are eight siblings and we are all very convinced of the fact that mother knows what is going on and just doesn't tell us. But neither seems she evil - in fact, she has this strange aura which makes everyone feel comfortable around her and she also takes in each and everyone needing help. We really don't know what to think about her, so we try to find answers on our own." He shrugged. "So who knows if mother actually guided us to you, either to help you or to solve more of our own riddles..."

"Okay, Lucain, here's the deal." Dyugra stepped up and Hilal immediately snapped to attention. "Either you come with us, which is enough of a chore in itself so Haku can dissect your brain or something to find out through you what's wrong with us or I kill you here for simply wasting my time."

[R 3.1] [D 2.2] [H 1.4]

[Shieba]

"You will not harm him anymore." Hilal shook his head. "I will not allow it." He turned back to Rak'ard but refused to let Dyugra out of sight. "Listen, Lucain. Ignore everything this madman is saying - no one will force you to come with us. I'd prefer it if you would, for I feel responsible for your wounds and because yes, there might be a chance that you might actually help us, but after what you just experienced, I can't blame you if you refuse."

"Yeah, well..." Rak'ard shook his head. "There is obviously also a guy...dissecting brains in your family and I think I'd rather stay away from him as well as this one over there. So no, thank you."

Hilal sighed. "Haku would do no such thing, but yes, he is not much better than Dyugra - where Dyugra harm the body, Haku harms the mind." He offered a tired smile. "I admit that our family is rather dysfunctional, so yes, you might better be off without us indeed. The next town is an hour away, in this direction." He pointed to from where he had come. "It's not that far...do you think you'll be fine on your own?"

"Yes..." Rak'ard tested his now rather healed leg. "I think I will. Thank you."

"I'm sorry this is all I can do for you." Hilal nodded. "We shall leave you then. Dyugra, move your ugly face."

"And why should I even listen to you?" The other Fellox sounded rather bored. "I'll kill him, I told him so." And out of sudden, he lunged.

Rak'ard immediately jumped out of the way, but the black Fellox had simply bluffed and attacked Hilal, who whirled around to face Dyugra's attack head-on, but got hit nonetheless. However, Dyugra didn't exploit his sudden advantage but snorted and started to run.

"Damnit!" Hilal got up again, obviously not hurt. "I just pointed that madman towards town!" He gave Rak'ard a glance. "I apologize, but I must hurry or there will be no one left alive to treat you when you get there. Farewell." And he took off as well, chasing after the other one. After moments, the blinding sun made them disappear from his view and Rak'ard was on his own once more.

[R 3.2] [D 2.3] [H 1.5 (Level Up!)]

[Shieba]

Slowly but surely making his way towards civilisation again, Rak'ard continued through the desert, now in better condition, but still tired. But then again, he didn't want to push his luck - wihle he seemed resistant to the heat, he wouldn't take any chances of daring to rest in this place for too long. Who knew what other creatures lived and hunted here. His fire had disappeared together with the danger and he didn't know how to summon it again, so he just wanted to get to a doctor as soon as possible.

Still limping, but without too much pain, Rak'ard needed longer than the promised hour, but when the small town, still covered in sand but with an already much colder temperature than the desert, came into view, Rak'ard was close to just falling asleep where he stood.

The streets, however, were completely empty and this seemed more than strange for this time of the day. But there was also no smell of blood in the air, so he hoped that this was not thanks to Dyugra's doing.

Just when he turned the corner, he saw a woman ready to leave her house. For a moment, they stared at each other - then the woman screamed and threw the door shut, fleeing into her home again. Rak'ard looked at the locked door, confused.

The same scene repeated itself twice more until Rak'ard reached the center of the town. He smelled the scent of something burned to ashes before he saw the large house, nothing more than a black remnant of what had most likely been the largest building in town before. Smoke was still rising from the ruin.

In front of it stood the two Felloxes. Hilal was talking to a man. Dyugra spotted Rak'ard and a devious grin appeared on his face in the second the human also saw him. "I-it's the Devil of Fire!" the man screamed and ran away.

"Devil...of Fire?" Hilal looked at the fleeing man, confused, before also seeing Rak'ard.

"Now isn't that interesting?" Dyugra snickered.

[R 3.3] [D 2.4] [H 2.1]