Drops of blood

Drops of Blood in the Underworld

I looked at my claws, arms and everything else, it was stained in dry red blood. I could tell it wasn't mine because my blood was deep black with specks of yellow. I didn't know what had happened, where I was, or even who I was. It was all just… Blank… There was still some blood taste in my mouth. I couldn't stand it, I loved the taste and wanted more. I tried to lose focus from the delicious taste and looked around me.

I saw a rocky area, a skeleton with it's meat dangling off some of the bone and the once white of the bone was red with blood. I saw a few other bodies but they weren't as gruesome. The rocky terrain had various pointed stones sticking out here and there. I looked up to see a orange tinted sky, it must be around afternoon time. I growled and took a closer look at everything, there was a chain wrapped around my wrist, I follows the chain for a bit and saw a violent looking sword, razorblade edges and jutting out curved spikes. It was attached to me for now so I picked it up. I then found a black leather trench coat, sleeveless and a large hood. I took it with a sigh assuming it was mine, I found a spot for my sword in it, I also saw a handle in there and I grabbed it and pulled out what looked like a double barreled revolving magnum, it was fully loaded and had a clamp to attach to my other arm, I clamped it on and looked through the sights. It must've been mine as well, so I left it on and started walking.

I kept walking for several hours, the sunset feeling never changed, it left a sadness in my heart… Or, hearts I noticed. I had two different heart beats. Odd, but with my size, I guess it made sense. It was odd… This feeling of extreme sadness crashing down on me, I didn't know why… But I hated it yet I enjoyed its' presence. Nothing was around me, just darkness and sunset. I sighed, I was still tired from whatever had happened back there. I found a place where the rocks were spread out enough and flat enough to be considered a good place to stay for a few hours.

I woke up after hearing some noises, I looked around and saw nothing. The only thing I noticed was a change in the scenery, the sky had gotten darker with red streaks across it. I got up and continued my walk across the seemingly endless wasteland with nothing to hear or see but the sound of howling wind blasting by me. It was getting hot, really hot. I put the hood up on my coat and zipped the entire thing up wanting to keep in my body heat rather than the outside area's heat. I tried to keep my tail under the coat and didn't have to worry about my wings since heavy duty gold chains were running through them to keep them folded for me.

I soon reached a cliff and decided to look over it to see if I could spot anything. The only thing I saw was a heavily fortified castle with hardened lava running around the outside. It seemed pretty frozen over to me so I decided to climb down the cliff and walk across the plain of hardened lava.

I felt a cold chill run down my spine and through my tail. Something was out here with me, I didn't know what it was, but it was probably powerful from the feeling it was putting off. I held my magnum at the ready and had a grasp on my sword as well just in case. I continued walking until I felt something painful in my shoulder, I looked and saw a menacing looking arrow in it with a card dangling off of it. I read it and growled, it said "I missed you" on it. I looked around extremely angry wondering where it came from.

The only thing I saw was a shadowy figure in the distance, probably someone cloaked in black, or made entirely of shadow. I pulled out the arrow not even really caring if I would bleed out or not. I looked down to break the arrow and when I looked back up, there was a figure indeed in a cloak.

"You've been gone way too long, you know that, right?" The figure said to me, I just gave him a confused look and replied. "Who the heck are you and why did you shoot an arrow at me?"

He suddenly looked confused as well and then soon had a look of solving a problem after much trouble. "Ah… Is that how it is…?" He said simply.

I growled, "Shut up, whoever you are, you're really getting on my nerves." He chuckles.
"Am I now?" He thought for a moment and then looked back at me. "I'm the Reaper, you really don't remember, do you?" I heard this and nodded slowly. I wasn't going to lie about forgetting things, I'd rather tell the truth to get my answers sooner than later. Besides, I might get an excuse to beat him down for that little arrow earlier. Now that I thought of it, where it hit started to throb, I groaned lightly and lost balance falling over and then everything went black.

When I woke up, whenever that was, I was lying on some furniture, it actually fit my size. I looked at myself and everything seemed to be in check. The wound didn't hurt anymore, I didn't bother checking why, it didn't matter to me. I got up slowly and started looking around, it was just a damp castle like interior. What seemed to be the only decoration, if you'd call it that, was deep scratches in the walls, probably from some form of claw marks. I stood there looking at them, it seemed give me a pulling sensation as if to look at it more closely. I went up to the wall and examined it more closely, I put on of my own claws into the mark, it fit perfectly. That didn't make much sense to me since I don't remember being in that room before.

"Hmph…" I grunted pulling my attention away from the currently unexplainable. I looked around and saw some heavy metal doors, they had a sinister look to them, the way the markings were designed. I pulled on the handle and silently slid open for me. I stepped put into the hallway noticing just how big the place was, I actually felt quite small despite my sixteen foot height. I decided to look for the way out and started walking through the hallways. It seemed like a big maze with hardly any doors or windows except for the one I came out of. It really made me feel cramped and enclosed. I hated that feeling.

"Judging by the speed of your pace, you look pretty anxious to get out of this place." I heard a voice say behind me, it didn't sound too full of authority so I simply ignored it and kept walking.

I couldn't help but notice something grab my tail, however. I turned around and saw a man in a black suit. I chuckled lightly thinking he looked more like an ant with how short he was compared to me. But I did admire he had the guts to grab onto my heavily spiked tail without fearing to cut himself.

"And who are you?" I asked willing to be humored by whatever he had to say.

"Forgotten already?" He said letting go of my tail.

I couldn't help but grin. So far he seemed pretty likable by my standards, has attitude, guts and didn't seem to be in any sort of fear. I could easily spot fear, hands shaking, voice trembling, a drop of sweat or constantly shifting feet. He was extremely calm.

"I take it I must know you, right?" I asked.

"I hope so, how could you possibly forget your owner?" I heard this and just laughed.

"You've got to be kidding me, right? Me being owned by some short man in a suit who's half bald? How about you just walk away before I lose my interest in whatever you have to say, all right?" I said turning around to leave.

The next thing I knew was the wind knocked out of me and I was on all fours gasping for air. I blinked a few times wondering what just happened, I saw the man in front of my brushing his hands off and smiling.

"You dare insult your master?" He replied from what I said previously.

I winced and fell to my side, I couldn't move. I tried to speak but found myself not able to conjure up any sort of understandable words. I was still trying to catch my breath.

After a minute or two I was finally able to say something. "Wh… What the… Heck…?" All I saw was a smile on his face and he said a few words and then I could move again. It felt like he had some sort of chains on me before, but they were almost invisible or something, I couldn't explain it. I slowly picked myself up and blinked a bit hard as my vision was a bit blurry. I started trying to remember just who this guy was, but I couldn't remember a thing at all, it was just blank.

"You really have no idea of anything, do you…?" He asked.

I nodded quickly not wanting anything else to happen like before. He slowly shook his head as if he was disappointed about something. I just looked at him not even daring to move an inch. He then looked at me again and seemed as if he was about to give a long speech.

"Get out." Was all he said.

I nodded slowly and looked around, I still didn't know where the exit was. He simply pointed down the hallway behind him, I nodded and walked by him careful not to touch him by accident. I saw a metal drawbridge that was open, on one side was a long line of individuals with all kinds of different looks but one thing remained the same, they all looked afraid when they looked at me as I walked by. The few that actually looked at me gulped when I passed. Why were they afraid of me? I sighed and found myself on that same charred barren earth before, only it was very hot, not just from the ground underneath me, but the air around me was boiling. It felt kind of nice, I glanced back at that line of creatures and noticed they were sweating. It must have been the heat, they probably weren't used to it or something.

I had no idea as I just decided to explore and have a look around. I ended up walking for what seemed to be hours, coming across nothing but the blackened earth around me, I could see what looked like a few spires of the earth jutting out in the distance, then what looked like a mountain range behind it. I blinked a few times as a memory flashed by of nuclear explosion, lots of those dead creatures and then a falling through a portal with an arrow in my heart.

I shook my head wondering what had just happened, were those memories mine? I couldn't tell… I sighed and started walking again. I started to feel as if I was in some sort of trance as I continued walking. Memories of some guy name Jeffrey Hunyor and his friends who's names I couldn't quite catch as they went by in the flashes. He was a dragon along with the other, but one that stood up on two legs, not four. A lot like me, I realized. The memories continued to go by and I soon yelped smacking face first into something hard.

I snapped out of it and backed up, it was one of those spires, how long had I been walking? I stepped around the spire and kept up my pace, I reached the base of that mountain range. I wanted to get a look of this place up high. I thought for a few minutes just exactly how to get up there, it was the biggest mountain I've ever seen, I also assumed it wasn't going to be the biggest in the mountain range I saw from afar. I shook my head and decided it had to be done.

I reached behind me to my wings and started searching for a clasp since my wings were bound in golden chains weaving in and out of all the rips and tears in the wing's membranes. I soon found it and unclipped it. I thought for a moment what to do now, I decided to try to unfold my wings and see if the chain would untangle itself as I did so. I tried to unfold my wings and found that the chain started to untangle itself slowly. I simply kept pace and before I knew it, the chain was undone and my wings were free.

I glanced behind me expecting to hear the chain clatter to the ground, but I didn't hear anything. I looked up at my wing membranes to see what looked like a tattoo of the gold chain.

"Huh…" I grunted.

I shrugged and had to jump to get off the ground and I still struggled getting myself in the air. I guess being my size wasn't exactly the best of things. But I was still able to do it, eventually. I made my way to the mountain's top and it got more and more cold than it was on the ground as I continued upwards. I should have noticed that sooner since when I got half way up, ice started to form on the end of my snout. It threw me off thinking something had hit me on my snout. I found myself losing focus and the air started to get thin.

I couldn't breathe, I didn't know why the air was this thin, it didn't make sense. I started getting a bit nervous when my thoughts betrayed my actions, I was falling, lost focus and blacked out.

I felt something between a roar and a scream escape my mouth and a loud crunch. I clawed frantically wondering what had just happened. I ignored the pain and found myself on a rocky slope of the mountain, blood flowing all around me. I felt the pain get to me again and I cried out. I tried to get up but couldn't find the strength quite yet. I looked at myself, my limbs seemed to be intact but that crunch…

I realized my wings and looked as best as I could, they were torn, ripped and had various bone sticking out of them. Blood was everywhere. I realized my coat was starting to dissolve to what looked like a shadowy substance. I watches as it faded completely. I thought it was extremely strange and wondered something. Was I made of shadow?

I concentrated and focused on my wings, they dissolved to the same substance, I slowly got up and focused on them coming back but only fully repaired. They did and I just went wide eyed. I thought about getting my coat back and it soon returned. I smiled and started laughing.

"Well that's certainly more helpful than other things… I wonder if I can die…" I said to nobody but myself.

I just assumed I could only control the shadow for as long as I stayed conscious. It's best not to assume I'm invincible, all power has limits. It only made sense for now. I remembered what I was doing before I fell and turned around and looked out over the ledge. The place was like a desert, only no sand. I noticed a few red spots glow here and there, they looked like fissures in the ground. I looked closer, flames burst out every few minutes.

The place looked just dreadful, like a death trap. I wondered if there was a way out. There had to be. I sighed seeing nothing but the wasteland itself. There was a lot of light though, but it looked like the place had a ceiling. So where was the light coming from… I looked up to see little slices of light coming down from the ceiling. I gulped and started to understand just where I was. This place was the underworld… That light must be from heaven… Or purgatory… Either way, it must be better than down here… Maybe there's a way through those cracks that the light is travelling through… There might be hope yet…

I smiled. Good, there's something to look towards. But if the air gets thinner and the atmosphere gets more cold… Then… I went wide eyed getting a great idea. I took off flying and focused on turning my entire body to that shadowy substance, the next thing I knew I was surrounded in a rippling cloak of darkness. This might work… I went full speed towards one of the cracks. I couldn't remember what happened next, I just felt my scales burning like they were on fire.

I opened my eyes and found myself laying on the ground and a few humans looking at me and wondering why I was there. The place looked better than it did down where I was before. I could see the thin crack I managed to get myself through when I was in that shadow form. I slowly got up and brushed myself off.

"Where am I?" I asked hoping one of the humans would speak up.

I heard stutter to get the word purgatory out. I nodded slowly and started wondering what I should do next. I decided to walk over to what looked like a green, grass filled field. I felt something grab my arm, it was obviously about my size since it was able to stop me completely. I turned my head and saw what looked like a 15 foot tall angelic dragon. I went wide eyed seeing this, his grip tightened on my arm.

"What are you doing here, Alastor? Here to try to murder a few more innocents?" He asked, I gulped.

"I don't know who you're talking about, I think you have the wrong person." I replied.

He looked at me strangely. I felt him let go of my arm and I took it back a bit relieved. I replied with thanks and smiled shortly. He just looked at me like I was insane.

"Did you lose your memory…?" He asked me, I didn't want to lie, I didn't remember a thing so I nodded.

He looked like he was thinking so I just stood there and let him. He took a step back and looked at me closely. He then opened his mouth as if to ask something but stopped and looked like he decided it wasn't worth it.

"Look, I don't know who you are and what you think I am, but I don't remember a thing." I said honestly.

I noticed him nod slowly. I gulped thinking he would assume otherwise.

"Don't even remember your own brother… Well, I guess that's not horrible. We've only battled each other because we are brothers." I went wide eyed at this.

I just happened to be in the underworld… And he looked angelic… How could we be brothers… It didn't make sense to me. I shook my head not wanting it to be real, why would I attack my own brother? I winced and fell to the ground blacking out again.

He stood there looking at me. He tapped my shoulder with his foot lightly. I slowly opened my eyes and grinned a bit widely, all of my memories had returned. I got up and looked right at him, suddenly, instead of curiosity in his eyes, I saw pure fear. I just chuckled and appeared in front of him and grabbed his neck and threw him to the ground and started squeezing the life out of him.

He started to flail violently, I kept my grip and slowly he stopped moving. When I was satisfied, I let go and started to walk away leaving him there. I stopped walking and groaned in agony feeling something slice across my back. I turned around to see blood flowing off of his tail blade and he was standing there growling.
"That was a cheap shot…" I said and before I could realize just what he actually meant to do, I felt myself losing consciousness. I dropped to the ground with a hard thud.

"I don't know if I'll ever understand you brother…" The angelic dragon said with a sigh.

I groaned a bit slowly opening my eyes. I looked around wondering just where I was. I only saw thick bars of some sort of sparkling metal. Was this a prison? I looked around and saw the whole place had a glittering look to it. Could it possibly be… He'd taken me to the heavens?

"Why would he do that?" I said to myself not remembering what happened when I blacked out and got up.

I stuck my head between the bars and looked at what I could. Just whitish gold castle walls was surrounding everything. I started thinking on just how I might get out, I didn't know how long I'd be in here and I didn't want to stay long either. I passed through the bars by turning to shadow and solidified when I got to the other side. I looked down the halls and it was empty. Not many prisoners in the heavens I figured. That or they've died…

I started walking down one and heard a steady sound of metal clinking, as if something armored was walking closer and closer. Getting caught probably wouldn't be the best idea since fighting in close quarters isn't exactly easy for me. I sighed quietly and started sprinting out as fast as I could manage in this place. I soon found a wooden door and opened it and stepped outside. This place was definitely the heavens. I looked around, I was at the base of what was the tallest castle I've ever seen. Taller than some of the tallest mountains I remember seeing back in the underworld.

I simply shook my head and tried to ignore the castle and started walking away from it. As I was walking, I heard a clatter of metal again. I looked around and saw that around the castle's mainland was a tall wall. I looked at the base and saw guards. I turned back around and headed toward the castle with not much of another place to really go to. I got to the base and looked for an entrance that might lead to the inside. I eventually found an open gate. I looked at it and the surroundings, it looked clear so I walked in.

The place had the same basic structure and look as it did on the outside. The only difference was no knights of any sort. I made my way throughout the place trying to find something to help me get past the main gate outside. I couldn't find much, I needed something that could cloak me more than to fight with. The further into the castle I went, the more I noticed how it circled up and the middle seeming to be some sort of support structure perhaps?

I realized I was very, very wrong as I made it to the top of the place, the top being a wide open arena looking platform and the middle support structure was a hole down through the entire castle. I couldn't tell what was at the bottom though…

"So you've made it out of the prison have you?" I heard a familiar voice laugh.

I looked over and saw the same angelic dragon that said I was its brother. "Can't you just leave me alone? I just want to leave this place."

He nodded simply. "Of course you do. This is heaven, and you're but a lowly demon…" He spat as if I was just dirt under his feet.

I gulped feeling rather offended by that comment. "I see…"

Before I could realize what was happening, he had his sword nearing my neck, I was quick enough to pull out mine and deflect it before losing my own head.

"What the hell are you doing?!" I screamed trying to defend myself as best as I could.

"Sending my worthless brother back to where he belongs!" He yelled slashing at me more, I was only able to defend a few and got caught in the side and across the face with a blow.

I clung to my sword trying to heal myself. But the more I healed myself, the more I lost focus on his attacks. I just got cut up more and more till I was panting and exhausted from the loss of blood.

"You've never been strong enough…" He said with a chuckle walking towards me. I just slowly stepped back not realizing I was edging closer to the tremendous hole in the castle.

"And you never listen. Why are you attacking me?!" I yelled just getting angry.

"Because if I don't you'll hurt innocent lives. You always have, even when you stole as a young dragon." He said shaking his head at me.

I remembered that for some reason. "I stole to keep us alive!"

How could he treat me like this, have I done something I don't remember? My mind was so cloudy as I neared the edge of the hole.

"Don't do this…" I said letting out a short whimper.

"I'm sorry, but I must." He raised his sword and hit so hard my blade fell out of my hands and down the hole.

He pulled back his sword finally and stabbed me hard in the gut, I took a step backwards but there was no floor. I fell through the hole increasing speed as I went. The sword yanked out of me by something unknown to me. Blood followed my limp body slowly as I fell and fell. I passed through clouds as my body felt hot, flame started sear my back side as I fell faster looking down at the earth as it rose to meet me.

Drops of blood scattered across the land I fell into. They soaked their way into the earth and into the underworld…