The Evil Within ~ A Wings of Fire Fanfiction

Chapter 1

Screaming.

Pain.

Darkness.

Cold, unending darkness.

A single glowing spirit floated through the void, but he wasn't scared. He had been here many times before, and in fact enjoyed the brief reprieve from actual life.

One that wasn't going to last, apparently.

Strong gusts of ethereal wind tugged at the spirit, dragging him away from the comforting shadows and towards a circle of hazy light. Although the spirit struggled, the wind swept him away, and soon the darkness faded back completely, leaving nothing but a bright white light.

"Grim? You awake yet?"

The newly reanimated spirit closed his eyes, temporarily slipping back into the darkness.

"Look, Grim, I'd love to let you sleep, but we're moving out soon."

"Not Grim," he croaked at the speaker.

The other dragon snorted. "Right. I forgot about your weird name-keeping aversion. Well, decide quick, 'cause we're leaving right away."

The former spirit sat up and glanced around, blinking his eyes at the still too-bright light. He was surrounded by a rocky plateau with nothing but clear blue sky above. A handful of dragons swarmed the plateau, muttering to one another and cleaning things up. He shuddered. Not things. Bodies.

"What happened?" he asked, turning to the dragon he'd been speaking to earlier.

"We were sent to flush out a rebel hideout," the black and orange HiveWing growled. "You were the only casualty."

"Who am I?" the former spirit inquired suddenly, rubbing his snout. "I don't seem to have a name."

"You used to be Grim," the HiveWing replied. "Now you're going to choose a new name, just like every time you've Reincarnated."

"A new name? Then I guess I'll go with..." He thought for a moment. "Blade. Yes, that sounds right."

"Great. Now can we move on to more important things? Is there anything you need to know so that your memory remains intact?"

The newly-christened Blade gave his companion a confused look. "What do you mean?"

"Do you remember anything about your past lives?" the HiveWing growled. "Like what my name is?"

Blade thought for a moment. "You're...Slaughter, right?"

The HiveWing snorted. "Congratulations on remembering," he said sarcastically. "Is that all?"

"Um...I'm friends with a dragon named Reaper, I live in a Facility?" Blade shot Slaughter a look of confusion. "What is that supposed to be?"

"You're talking about Facility 01," Slaughter replied. "It's our home. And no, you are not friends with Reaper, at least not anymore. He's gone."

"Where'd he go?" Blade asked, curious. "I thought we can't die. Wait. How do I know we can't die?"

Slaughter rolled his eyes, as if he couldn't believe how stupid Blade was being. "We're Reincarnates," he growled. "That means every time we die, we come back to life. You just died, and now here you are. Alive."

"Who killed me?" Blade asked, fear creeping into his voice. Slaughter acted like he was supposed to know a lot more than he actually did.

The HiveWing wheeled around and pointed at the lifeless corpse of a blood-red SkyWing with dark grey scales along his spine and the edges of his legs. "That one. He got to you right after the battle, once we thought everyone was dead."