Blood-Mage Hunters

Darkness

"You got a letter while you were sleeping," Agatha suddenly said, snapping all three of them from their thoughts.

"A letter?" Lucius asked, cocking his head to the side with a curious look in his eyes.

Agatha nodded, taking out a piece of paper and handing it to Reia, who was sitting the closest to her. He unfolded it, scanning the neatly written words and reading them out-loud for Lucius and Cyrus.

"Most respected Blood-Mage Hunters,

we are seeking your help. Word of you resting in Birch Lake City has come to us, so we hope our letter reaches you well.

A dragon has descended down and settled on our mountain, terrorizing our village, killing us and burning down our hard work. We have filed a report to the government about a week ago, but it seems that our request didn't reach you. That's why we are writing a letter ourselves, asking for your help. Please, come and help us.

With the utmost respect,

The villagers on Mountain Obsidian," Reia read.

The three of them sat in silence for a few moments, realizing that their "vacation" had come to an end.

"Jesus fucking Christ, we can't catch a break, can we?" Cyrus complained, getting out of bed regardless. "First a hydra and now a fucking dragon? Great. Just fucking great," he cursed, putting on his shoes.

Lucius and Reia did the same, getting out of their comfortable beds and getting ready for yet another trip.

**********

It only took them half a day to reach the mountain village. All the people there were moving around in a frenzy, a lot of them hurrying away with bags, probably leaving their city and finding refuge somewhere else. They looked up at the big mountain around which's base the village was. It stood tall and imposing, at some point probably serving as a grand monument for the villagers, but now it only brought fear, because, curled and twisted around the highest parts of the mountain, a black dragon was sleeping.

A middle aged man with short black hair and brown eyes hurried towards them, his face filled with worry. "Are you... Perhaps, did our letter reach you?" he asked them, desperation clear in his voice. He must be the leader of that village.

"It did," Lucius reassured him. "We are The Blood-Mage Hunters."

The man almost collapsed from relief, but he quickly remembered the situation they were into. "The dragon is now sleeping. We decided that it was best if all the villagers evacuated the village now, so no more people would get killed. We tried our best to fight back and stop the dragon from destroying our homes and killing our people, but it was way too strong for us," he cried out, looking around at the many destroyed houses.

Reia put a hand on his shoulder to try and calm him down. "Make sure all the villagers evacuate as quickly as possible. Go to the nearest village. We'll take care of the dragon and then come to get you. We won't let the monster destroy your village," he said with a reassuring smile on his face.

The man nodded his head, hurrying away and instructing al the villagers to leave. After about an hour or so, the village was completely empty save for Reia, Lucius, Cyrus and the dragon.

"We should try to kill it while it's still asleep, right? If it wakes up we won't stand a chance," Lucius said as he looked up at the mountain.

The three of them looked at each other, nodding and instantly dashing towards the mountain, jumping in the air, seeming as if they were floating, moving closer and closer to the sleeping creature. Mid-air, Reia cut his palm, his blood flowing and wrapping around the dragon to keep it in place. Cyrus let out a roar and summoned his flames, swallowing the monster. A low grunt of pain came from the sleeping creature, something moving inside Cyrus's flames. The vampire continued to burn the monster, not knowing how to control his ability yet and exhausting himself, but it would be ok, since there was no way the dragon would survive his flames, so he wouldn't have to worry about not overworking himself.

Having no more energy left, his flames slowly subdued, revealing the black, unmoving dragon. "Take that, you stupid dragon!" Cyrus cheered before collapsing. Reia caught him with his blood rope, pulling him close to him and holding him in his arms. Lucius also approached the other two, feeling as if this was too easy.

And his suspicious came true when an angry roar came from the dragon. The monster raised its head, opening its big wings and jumping from the mountain, flying towards them. The vampires barely managed to get out of its way.

"Shit," Reia cursed under his breath. "Obsidian Mountain... Of course a fucking fire resistant dragon would come here," he sighed, looking at the roaring dragon.

"So this idiot went and used all his energy to burn it down for nothing?" Lucius anxiously asked, getting the feeling that they were fucked.

"We have to cut its head. That's the only way," Reia explained. He shot his blood rope towards the dragon's neck, the tip of it sharpening into a blade. However, when the blood blade made contact with the dragon's skin, nothing happened. The creature only let out another angry roar, seeming annoyed by their attempts. Reia retracted his weapon and his entire body shook, coughing up blood. "Fucking hell. That bastard has thick skin," he cursed, turning more and more pale, obviously not having much energy left.

Lucius rushed towards the dragon, taking out his trusty knife. Its blade had never let him down, so he hoped now wouldn't be any different. He slashed at the creature's neck with all the force he had, but the blade didn't even manage to penetrate its skin. The dragon looked down at Lucius, throwing him away with a flap of his wing. The vampire went flying into the mountain, his back hitting against rocks. He slid down until he fell down on a flat part of the mountain, his head bleeding and his entire world spinning from the impact. He watched as Reia struggled to dodge the dragon's attacks while still holding Cyrus in his arms. His blood weapons didn't even scratch the monster.

"Fucking hell," Lucius cursed, stumbling back to his feet. "If that idiot managed to do it, then why couldn't I?" he asked, an unhinged smirk spreading across his face as he focused on the dark feelings brewing in his chest. All his life, a certain loneliness grew inside him, making him accustomed to the darkness, learning how to become one with it. He let himself be taken over by that darkness, jumping back in the air while a dark aura formed around his body. Then, he focused all his attention on the dragon, wishing it would get eaten by that same darkness.

Emanating from him, a black cloud of pure darkness flew towards the creature, surrounding it. Confused and angry screams were heard from inside, but it seemed as if the darkness formed an impenetrable wall in which the dragon was trapped. Lucius moved towards Reia and Cyrus, summoning that same darkness around them. When the blackness disappeared, they were inside the wall of darkness in which the dragon was trapped. The creature was wildly moving around, but it didn't have enough space to do anything.

"Reia, bound him," Lucius instructed him.

The vampire nodded, summoning his strongest blood rope with all the energy he had left, tying the dragon and completely stopping it from moving, except for the wild flaps of its wings and the angry roars.

Lucius calmly moved towards it, taking out his blade once again. He couldn't cut its throat with it earlier, but inside this darkness -his darkness- no one stood a chance against him. Focusing his energy on his blade, a dark cloud wrapped itself around it. He swung the blade of darkness at the dragon's neck, and it easily sliced through the thick flesh, the monster roaring in pain. Lucius didn't stop until he went all the way around its neck, slicing, until the dragon's head fell down.

The vampire released the darkness around them, panting, looking extremely pale but also very satisfied.

"I'll take us to the villagers," he said, forming another cloud of darkness around the three of them. When it evaporated, they no longer were in the village on Obsidian Mountain, but in a neighboring village in which the people refuged.

Reia turned his head towards Lucius with wide eyes, wanting to praise him for his incredible ability, but the vampire had already collapsed from exhaustion, having overworked his powers.

"For fucks sake, why does this keep happening?" Reia cried out in desperation, picking Lucius up and holding him one his left shoulder, while Cyrus rested on his right one. "So his ability awakened too," he softly laughed. "Darkness manipulation... Interesting," he smiled, feeling proud of his companions.

To be continued...

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