Darkness, Flames and Hopes Ch. 07

"It's just a demon, sunshine! Nothin' more! Screw it, enlighten me now."

He gently put the dirty tip of his wand onto Ambryn's nude chest.

"What's your affection with this rat?"

Minerva took a final look at the succubus, shook her head at the wizard and tried to answer with a calm voice.

"She is not a-"

The old wizard signaled to be quiet with his hand and turned to the young wizard next to him.

"Yeah, let'em know. I'll handle it."

The brunette young man looked at him for a while, threw his hood back. A black large asterisk was engraved in the middle of his forehead. His ear didn't have the lower half, and the remaining piece was filled with several small iron accessories. When she recalled the old memories, Dimana grimaced. The necromancer, who summoned her to the earth years ago, was no different from them, and the normal face of Ambryn showed that not all dark wizards were that mad. All these traditions should have been unique only to necromancers. However, this disgust provided enough power to even manage a dead carcass. She clenched her teeth to not to give Minerva anxious glance, the young wizard spoke in an emotional voice.

"I love you, Master."

The master grinned filthy, raised his empty hand and caressed the younger's beard. The young man licked his lips, leaned towards his face, kissed the old man's dry, cracked lips with lust. Watching two men kissing, Dimana forgot the pain of her devastated body and unknowingly turned her eyes to Minerva. She didn't expect lust, but there was not even the slightest surprise on the sorceress' face. She was waving her fingers quickly and muttering something with short breaths. Was she casting a spell? The blue eyes suddenly turned to her, and a big wave of anger trembled all her beautiful face. Dimana frowned and bit her inner lip, turning her face back to the wizards, but the sensual kissing had ended, and the young wizard was running to 'them' quickly. The master smiled broadly at Minerva, holding his wand steady with both hands. The sorceress pointed Ambryn with her blue eyes, asked.

"Is she alive?"

Necromancer shook his shoulders without looking at the woman on the ground.

"Dunno, sunshine. Don't care. She suffered a lot. They want her alive, but you know... Corpses are a necromancer's treasure."

"Who are they?"

"What do you think, eh? Your fellows? My turn. What's all to you? And with that succubus! Ambryn's? It's actin' like a... brat."

As the yellow eyes turned to her, Dimana lowered her eyes on her bleeding leg. Listening to the same determination over and over again was extremely annoying, and even worse, it was a determination that even Dimana accepted. A fact that she was sure days ago that it would only bring pain. A fact that every flying cloud, rising and setting sun proves again and again.

"What do you need to release Ambryn?"

"You killed all my cubs, sorceress. That's too much. But..."

Necromancer's grin disappeared. With a serious facial expression, he pointed the snake head of his wand to Minerva.

"You. Bend the knee before me and let me bless your entity. I swear on my soul that I will release 'em. And for good."

Dimana felt sad for the sorceress as the necromancer solemnly hit the wand on the ground. Being a smartass will not work this time, and this time she was completely alone. Dimana clenched her teeth and tried to stand up, but her weak flutters ended again on wet ground. She wasn't much different from Ambryn. With each passing moment, her body was melting more with every drop of blood.

She turned her eyes to Minerva. Anxiety and hopelessness were apparent throughout her wet face. Could she help her? Even if she could, there was a very strong force she had to take care of. A terrific force that ruined Ambryn and flied Dimana in the air like a kite. While the sorceress remained silent for a long time, the dark wizard spat on the ground and again made his disgusting voice.

"Well... One way or another, you shall be mine, darlin'. At least, you can save 'em. Call it now."

Minerva quickly blinked her eyes a few times as if she gave up something, took a deep breath with cool and fresh rain air, turned her blue eyes to the succubus who staring at her.

"Check her out."

Dimana turned her fearful burgundy eyes to the dark wizard who grinned and spat on Ambryn's motionless body. It was a terrible suggestion to go to the damned man's feet, but she did not have to strain her devastated body. Ambryn's body rose up from the wooden panel, her blood-heavy hair fell backward and quickly began to approach her. What moved Dimana's body was fear. Ambryn fell to her feet as the succubus moaned. She looked at the witch's blood-covered face with her expanding eyes. The thick blood above her shut mouth was swelling with a few small bubbles. Her eyebrows were playing at heavenly speed. All the muscles on her face were spasming. She was reacting to pain! It was a miracle that she was alive. Dimana quickly stretched her fingers and cleared the blood on her face, slowly took her head on her lap, leaned her head on the witch's nude chest and discovered her beating heart.

"Alive..."

She raised her head and turned her eyes to Minerva, shouting at her in an excited voice.

"Alive! She is-"

She had to complete her excited words with a scream. A blow that hit her body knocked her into the dark forest. Her back hit hard on a tree twenty steps away from the wizards, leaving Dimana again breathless. She also saw Ambryn's body after her. Ambryn fell right next to her on the wet floor, her bloody face buried in mud. How pathetic! She had not even thought of setting up a shield. She would have died if the bloody necromancer chose to use a scarier spell instead of just throwing her out, and the only thing that kept her alive was his weird interest to the sorceress.

She straightened up on her butt, grabbed Ambryn by the arm and leaned the witch's head on her thigh. The war of the wizards had not yet begun. They both studied each other under the rain carefully. The necromancer rolled his yellow eyes and called Minerva with a throaty voice, who gave him all her attention.

"Well, don't wait for me, sunshine. I'm too old for that. And too damn tired. Hell, I'm a dead man."

Minerva continued to look at the old man without any reaction. He shrugged, turned his face to the setting moon without worrying about the danger.

"Can't take a joke, eh? Right. I'll break the bitch's neck when this lovely moon goes down completely."

Minerva didn't react again. She should have had a plan. She must have prepared some kind of a trap, and the necromancer had sensed it enough.

"And that demon's too, of course. Time flies, my love."

Apart from a deep breath, Minerva remained still as a stone again. Dimana drew her attention to the witch in her lap. Her hands were bruised because of the chains. Even she was still taking short breaths and wheezing, she was no different from a dead human. Dimana tried to grab the chain with both hands and break it with all her strength, but all her power was shed with her flowing blood. Whatever this accessory was, it was absolutely magical. When she squeezed her fingers around the chain again, the necromancer spat on the ground and started walking towards Minerva.

"Annoyin'... Here I come, little gazelle!"

Minerva opened both palms and stretched them to the ground. Her long fingers danced quickly in the air. Dimana dropped Ambryn to the ground, tried to stand up anxiously, but reunited with the mud without taking a step away. The necromancer accelerated, holding his wand in front of him. Now there were only ten steps between them. Minerva quickly turned her palms toward him, shouting quietly, grinding her teeth. He just frowned, but the earth began to shake like an earthquake. The mud, leaves, stones and water left their places, gathered around the older wizard, completely covering the target. All the trees around them swayed and leaned towards him with great attraction. When Minerva groaned and pulled a palm back, it seemed as if the whole forest tried to attack the dark wizard. Everything, including large stones, began to hit the target Dimana can no longer see, but everything smashed into his shield, which covered him like a blue veil, and began to scatter and fired back to Minerva. The sorceress clenched her teeth and spread her arms wide. All pieces hit the wide shield and turned into dust. Before Dimana could breathe a sigh of relief, Minerva's screaming body rose to the air and quickly began to fly towards the man who created a bright large circle in front of him. As Dimana shouted frivolously and jumped up, Minerva screamed and swung to the mouth of the circle.

"N-no!"

Her long neck passed through the circle, her fearful shouts accompanied by the screams of Dimana. As soon as the necromancer grinned wide and slightly lifted his wand, Watching the glowing circle that began to close rapidly around her neck with her fearful face, Minerva suddenly turned her palm to him. As his cheerful smile broken, his wand creaked and exploded with a loud sound. this time he was the one who shouted in fear, when the pieces of wand cut his old fingers.

"Wha-"

As the snake-like head was flying in the air, the necromancer flew back a few steps and slammed down to the ground hard. The bright circle cut under the chin of Minerva, burned it, filled her throat with a deep scream, but disappeared in the dark forest before causing any more damage. The rest of the wand began to suddenly ignite under the rain. Minerva groaned in pain, her back knocked down like the necromencer's. Dimana covered a weak shield and started to run towards her regardless of her shattered leg, but Minerva sat up on her knees and hands and shouted without looking at her.

"S-stay back!"

Dimana clenched her eyes and teeth with happiness and anxiety. The damned woman was wounded but at least she was still alive, but the necromancer was still alive too. He stood up and looked at the sorceress who stood up like him with a hateful expression. While Minerva kept her balance firm and took deep breaths, He reshaped his horrible face with a cheerful smile.

"Put your life in danger to reach the source? I must say, you do have some big guts, sunshine. But, all this only pleased me more-"

"Quiet!" Minerva shouted and cut his words. Her blue eyes were no less scary than yellow eyes. The real face of the necromancer came back.

"Your life is done! Your soul is done! Your cursed life will be over. Then you will be entirely pleased!"

When her roars ended with a great thunder, the dark forest was silenced for a long time. The words couldn't shed blood, but it certainly had an impressive side. It was kind of like a war cry. The master's trembling facial muscles also proved this. As Dimana watched the sorceress' pale face breathlessly, the necromancer reached out his bloody hand and turned his palm without raising more words. Like the one on the younger dark wizard's forehead, there was the same star sign on the palm of him.

Minerva, with her two hands dancing in the air, formed a strong shield and backed two steps off. There was no surprise on her face, but the anxiety was extreme. Her blue eyes were watching the black star, which was copied and separated from the palm of the man and expanded rapidly. The star turned into a black aura and grew as big as a tree and for a moment disappeared with the help of darkness. As Minerva and Dimana moaned together, the star turned into a gray smoke, the misty lines broke off in equal proportion and turned into seven separate small clouds in the air. As an orange wave of flames swelled in both palms of Minerva, the clouds turned into seven dark crows, quickly flapping their foggy wings, beginning to wrap around Minerva and attack her shield. Dimana unknowingly went two steps forward, watching Minerva's counter-attack with in horror. The two fireballs, separated from her palms, but missed fast targets and disappeared in the dark sky. The crows continued to crash on her shield, disintegrate and gathered again without slowing down.

His nasty wide grin came back, as a wide blue light flashed in his palm. Minerva continued to throw fireballs around her, destroying the two crows in the fire, but time was running out, and the master's grin widened with each passing moment. Minerva destroyed two more crows again, but as soon as she staggered over the mud and shouted with fear, Dimana started running towards her, ignoring her devastated leg.

"No!"

It was too late when she threw her red body on the battlefield. A perfectly round ice floe that appeared in front of the old man launched, while the woman was still desperately struggling with misty crows. As Minerva shouted with pain and fear, the ice destroyed her weak shield completely, her body rolling over the mud for several steps. The crows began to attack the poor woman as the necromancer began to slowly walk towards her without breaking the grin on his face. Minerva couldn't find time to set up a new shield and just waved her arms in front of her with weak flames in her palms.

All the crows retreated and danced in the air. Suddenly they scattered around and reunited as a wolf-sized crow. The crow immediately turned her head towards the woman trying to get off the ground, gathered her wings, and began to attack her as fast as an arrow. While Minerva was desperately screaming deeply and covering her face, the crow was covered with a wide wave of flames, twisted in red and yellow harmony, which struck the whole forest in the flame, evaporating even the rain in the air before falling to the ground, and disappeared completely within a blink time. Firewood in many areas of the forest started to ignite despite heavy rain. Minerva pulled her shaky hands from her face in big amazement, searched for the source of the miracle with her blue eyes, and only find Dimana's orange body, melting the rain drops before falling on her hellish body.

Dimana's burgundy eyes were still quickly looking for the crow, and she wasn't even sure what she was doing. She only wanted to destroy those fumes, she only didn't want to see the woman suffering anymore, and stretched out palm to the danger. As she frowned to Minerva's puzzled eyes, she noticed her own body, which began to cool down quickly and trembled. She turned her palm towards her eyes and watched her highly visible veins. All of her organs were amber like wood burning in flames. The blood that warms her veins was orange like lava. She undoubtedly looked horrible, but the feeling that caressing her soul certainly reminded her the home. Her true home. She was sure she would laugh huge if the fear hadn't paralyzed her body.

"You fuckin' demon!"

Dimana could not make any sense of his anger as the old man quickly took a few steps towards her and raised his arm, but watched with horror at the white aura coming out of his star signed palm and the terrible expression on his face. Before the aura grew up more, thick blood gushed from the nape of him, reshaping his hateful face with a confused expression. His yellow eyes slowly turned to the woman who stood up with her trembling body, but Minerva immediately turned her palm to him for the second time. The invisible blow pushed the man back and dropped him in the mud on his back. Dimana just kept watching what happened by falling on her butt. The pain of her leg jumped back into her heart, quickly loosening all her emotions.

As the master moaned and renewed his shield, the blood poured from his neck continued to merge with rainwater in the mud. Pointing his bloody hand to Minerva, he sent a fireball, but the flames smashed into the woman's shield, and easily destroyed by the influence of the rain. Minerva continued to approach with her crumpled facial expression, gently limping, hitting his shield again, destroying it with the same invisible spell. With every blow and destroyed shield, the old man crawled back on his butt, refusing the truth with his broken voice.

"No... No... No!"

As Minerva finally stood in front of him, he was too weak to even create a shield. The next blow of the sorceress dropped the screaming man back to the ground, separated his arm from his body. As Dimana watched the arm leaping a few steps away with her tired eyes, Minerva muttered between her lips, which she twisted with disgust.

"Yes."

The yellow eyes stared her beggingly, but his head tearing away from his body, rolled away like his arm, and the blood, gushing from his open neck, drenched the mud more. Just at that moment, Dimana recalled what was going on as she glanced at the gushing blood and the blue eyes staring at the fresh corpse. Why they were here, why she tried to save the woman who left the man, came to her and stretched out her hand, why the death of the damn necromancer was excellent news...

Minerva asked in a tired and sad voice as Dimana squeezed her lips and watched the wet hand waiting for her.

"Are you okay?"

Dimana nodded slowly, raising her head towards the blue eyes that had collected blood. She wanted to hold her hand, but Minerva most likely would have fallen on her with a small pull. Instead, she left the hand empty, moaning in pain and straightened. Before she could gaze at the woman's face again, the empty hand quickly wrapped her torso with the other. Dimana watched the heavily rain wetted the trees with a confused facial expression, Minerva buried her head on her shoulder. The same arms hugged her while warming her heart with lust hours ago, but the difference between both emotional rapprochings was mind-blowing. While Dimana tightly closed her eyes and ignored the rain that burned her skin, the wind of the senselessness that stunned her mind was replaced by a stronger stagnation. Strong enough to deserve a definition, but too foreign to be named. After a deep sigh, she hugged the woman's mud-covered gently.

As thoughts and feelings melted her mind, she noticed Minerva's slightly swinging shoulders after a long time, frowned. Was she crying? She had never imagined the bloody woman's cry, but she had the right to do so. It was a good opportunity to show her disguised weakness in the dark forest, which nobody has been gazing, and in the arms of a creature that no one can give very different meanings except fear and horror. Still, Dimana put her hands slightly on her shoulders, without further silence, and slowly pushed her back. Even if her angry blue eyes had tears, it was impossible to be visible on her completely wet face.

"We... We've gotta go." Dimana whispered.

Minerva nodded quickly without looking at her, while she was cleaning her forehead with the back of her hand, she tried to clean her entire face with her arm in a quick motion, but Dimana understood her real purpose very well, and the sorceress probably thought otherwise.

"Where is she?"

As Minerva covered her bleeding neck with her hand, and started to healing herself, Dimana turned her back without any gestures and walked towards Ambryn. The witch was still motionless. Rain dripping from the tree was clearing her pale face, but it was not good news. Humans wouldn't die just because their blood loss or their heads were cut off. Cold weather could make their weak bodies sick and dead. Surely alarm bells were still ringing for Ambryn. Dimana leaned, grabbed the body, as Minerva watched nervously, she returned to her and sat on her butt, pointed to the accessory with her head and asked.

"What's this?"

Minerva knelt in the mud and put both bloody hands on the collar.

"It's a sealbond. A Light Warriors device. Prevents any kind of magic."

Dimana wasn't surprised. She had guessed. Still, she was too busy to guess how a Light Warriors device might have gotten into the necromancer's hand. She didn't need to ask how to open it. Minerva had already given her all her attention. The sorceress moved her finger over the sun emblems.