Chapter Fourteen: The Russian
Jamie grunted as he took Taylor's weight onto his shoulder after unbuckling his seat belt, the land rover had landed on its roof making it even trickier to rescue him from the wreckage. The twins and Joseph were busy taking on the group of five Cyturion's who had taken them off the road. They weren't any of the higher ups but they were still putting up a damn good fight nonetheless. Joseph was swinging around a gigantic claymore of pure white fire attempting to keep two of the five men back, so Jamie could get Taylor out.
The two men looked to be in their mid-twenties, one wearing a grey t-shirt and the other a black one, both in matching black jeans. The one in black had long hair down to his shoulders; it was dirty and matted making the dark brown look almost black. He wielded a pair of flanged maces sizzling the rain in the air as the swung in for Joseph's head. Joseph jumped back then lunged in knowing he was exposed, burying his claymore up to the hilt into the man's chest.
He kicked the now limp body off of the blade and jumped back from the other man who attempted to take his head off with a flaming two handed axe. The man had over stretched leaving his right flank wide open, Joseph swung his blade straight in for his kidneys. The sword bit into flesh and like a knife through butter it made its way through the tissue and bone then out the other side in one swift motion. His body fell two the ground split in two, the blade having left just below the hip as the blood poured momentarily staining the tarmac crimson, before the blood vessels and arteries were sealed from the heat of the blade.
The other three were still busy fending off the twins, one of the men stood out in particular. He was muscular just like Joseph but this man even managed to make the American appear to be a dwarf compared to him. He stood away from the other two circling like a hawk over the South African's waiting for an opening. Turning about he noticed Joseph advancing toward him and smiled despite his comrades bodies dismembered before his eyes.
The man had short black hair with a burn that ran across his right temple cutting through the hair on his head and continued to his eye, which was sealed shut due to scarred tissue. He also had a scar along his neck running from side to side. His single black eye showed that he was dangerous enough despite being blind in one eye, he was intelligent and the fact he was analysing the twins so thoroughly was proof of just how dangerous it made him. He held no weapons just the obsidian black fire coursing over the skin of his arms to his open palms, which he held out wide as if to show he meant no harm. That scared Jamie even more; he had some trick up his sleeve but what exactly?
Joseph made the first move lunging in his blade aimed directly for his opponent's chest its aim true. The man smiled and just stood aside letting the blade pass right by him, and then he grabbed hold of the blade with his right arm dragging it downward. The force of the pull bulge the man's biceps, every single blood vessel pulsating with the effort as he forced the blade into the ground then brought his left hand around in a fist aimed for Joseph's chin.
Joseph let the fire of his claymore dissipate then formed a circular shield in his left hand blocking the man's strike but the momentum knocked him to the ground nonetheless. Jamie decided he needed to step in, Joseph wasn't going to be able to fight him on his own, that move he pulled was all he needed to see. Jamie closed his eyes and felt the heat of his flames roaring to life across his arms and to the tips of his fingers, it felt natural now, it felt a part of him. The man pulled his fist back for another strike but before he could bring his fist down Jamie formed a spear of white fire then hurled it right for the giants head. The man saw the spear coming out of the corner of his eye and merely swatted it aside with his fist as if it were a minor inconvenience.
"Tut tut, didn't your mother ever tell you not to play with fire boy" said the man in a deep Russian accent.
"Oh she did, but what can I say I'm a teenager I never listen" said Jamie as he formed another spear and launched it again for the man's head.
The man deflected it again but the brief second his attention was drawn away Jamie had disappeared only to be replaced by the painfully strike of a fist to his kidney followed by another to his other side as he felt his flesh burn from the flaming fists. He swung out on instinct but his fist met only air as Jamie was gone again and appeared out of whirlwind of white flames with Joseph by his side back to his original position next to the unconscious Taylor. Jamie imagined the short and shield he'd used during his fight the other day and let them materialize in his hands the strange hardness from the handle of the shield and the sword fuelling him with courage.
"Jamie you aren't strong enough to take him by yourself, if that's what you’re thinking" said Joseph who had now reformed his claymore and held it out before him ready to fight.
"I wasn't, let's do this I'll follow your lead" said Jamie standing with his legs shoulder width apart ready to defend himself for any attack from the Russian.
Joseph ran forward bringing his claymore up high then bringing it down ready to cleave the giant in twain with the huge blade as it descended upon its prey. The Russian formed a huge shield made of the obsidian black fire of his arms, it was crude looking with spike made from the flames protruding from its surface and was shaped into a crescent moon. He blocked the strike from the claymore and bashed back with the shield attempting to catch Joseph in the chest with the wicked spikes in its centre. Joseph managed to bring the blade back up with incredible speed to knock the shield aside causing the spikes to pass but a few inches away from him as the Russian stumbled aside from the parry. Jamie wasted no time by taking advantage of the giants misfortune by rushing in bring his sword down aimed for his neck ready to his head from his neck with one swift blow.
The Russian was already expecting it, lashing out with his shield at the last possible moment sending Jamie's sword out wide then drove his fist forward for his ribs. Jamie brought his shield in to block just in time but all it did was slow the strike down by a fraction of a second. His fist broke the shield apart causing white embers to flutter to the ground, allowing his fist to collide with Jamie's ribs causing his bones to rumble and snap loudly piercing the air. Jamie stumbled back clutching his side taking sharp unsteady breath’s as he tried to regain his balance by leaning on the overturned land rover for support.
There was a scream from where the twins had been fighting the other two men who'd attacked them, two bodies were on the ground, the blood from their wounds ran down the roads with the flow of the rain. The twins were both unscathed and had turned to face the Russian who was now looking between Jamie and Joseph to the twins behind him, that's when it dawned on him he was outnumbered despite his skill and Jamie's injury.
"Very entertaining, I hope to see you again soon" said The Russian. As he looked at everyone Jamie in particular as he still clutched his ribs, whilst attempting to control his breathing. With a laugh he was gone amongst the obsidian flames which rose up around him leaving nothing but silence.
"Who the fuck was that Joseph?" asked Farn as he walked over to check on Taylor who was still out cold, completely oblivious to the battle that just unfolded a mere few feet from him.
"No idea, he kept his mind void of any information, he must've known who I was" said Joseph.
"Well whoever he is, he's skilled and highly dangerous. Hopefully Tobias or Ryne knows who the mysterious giant is" said Farn as he pressed two fingers to Taylor's neck checking his pulse to find a steady beat strumming beneath the skin.
"We'll worry about that later. As for now we've got some cleaning up to do, Farn and Michal torch everything here I'll take these two back to base" said Joseph gesturing with his thumb to the unconscious Taylor and wounded Jamie.
"Understood, we won't take long" said Michal turned and began the thorough task of destroying all evidence of their presence.
Joseph walked over to Taylor grabbing him by the arms and hauling him onto his shoulders into a fireman's lift making sure he had his weight comfortably supported. Jamie joined his side slowly as not to anger his ribs further as he took slow careful steps toward Joseph. Without a word they allowed the white fire to erupt around them obscuring the view of the English countryside, to be replaced moments later by the main building of the Welsh base. The sky was dark grey clouds as they swirled and dominated it's never ending canvas blocking out any chance of sunshine, a strong wind blew in which would be chilling to any other normal human being. Joseph walked to the main building with Jamie trailing behind as fast as he could without hurting himself too much; the pain in his ribs had become unbearable without the aid of further damage.
They reached the doors only to be met by a very stunned looking Mylar whose arm was wrapped up in gauze from the burn he'd received from Noran. He wore only a black vest and loose baggy blue jeans which hung off his hips fitting his muscular figure perfectly. His face went pale when he saw Taylor slung over his shoulder along with Jamie clutching his side wincing as they came to a stop.
"Wipe that look off your face, he's just unconscious and Jamie probably has a couple of broken ribs at best. The twins are cleaning up, the land rover is totalled though" said Joseph.
"Get him inside then and take him straight to one of the rooms, and meet me in the war room. Jamie you go to the med bay I'll send someone over to take a look at you" said Mylar then he turned and made his way into the war room leaving them to it.
Once Taylor was tucked up into one of the rooms upstairs, and Jamie in the one next door Joseph headed straight back down to the war room. The door was wide open as he entered the threshold, he found Mylar, Tobias, Ryne and Cecilia all sat around the table awaiting his arrival. Cecilia wore a light green t-shirt accompanied by a darker green button up cardigan with small buttons running up the middle. Tobias was in white button up shirt which was open at the top in a non-formal manner. They all looked to him expectantly waiting for an explanation to the attack.
"So what happened exactly?" asked Tobias as Joseph who took a seat by Mylar at the middle of the table.
"On the way back a jeep had been tailing us for a while and I knew they were Cyturion's by their murderous thoughts. They started throwing fire ball's at us and one of them took out one of our tyres, with that and the rain we lost control of the land rover and crashed" said Joseph.
"Taylor got knocked out during the crash so he didn't get involved of course, five of them had come after us but one in particular caused us some problems" said Joseph as his brow furrowed with worry at remembering the skill the man possessed.
"Any idea who he was?" asked Tobias as he looked at Joseph intently.
"No, he was huge even bigger than me and Russian with a scar going across his temple, he also sported a crude looking shield with spikes in its center" said Joseph.
"Shit" said Ryne causing everyone's heads to snap around to face him after the unexpected outburst.
"You know him Ryne" asked Joseph looking confused but intrigued at the same time.
"Yea I think I do, however it can't be as I remember killing the man myself forty years ago. His name is Kirill Avilov, highly dangerous and even more cunning" said Ryne sighing in disbelief at what he was hearing it just couldn't be possible.
"What do you know about him?" asked Mylar determined to gather as much information as possible.
"Not much, he's been around since the earlier 1800's and I'd been tracking him for a while. He'd been hitting small villages in Russia slaughtering at random, this was when he was far more reckless and had less brains to work with" said Ryne.
"I finally tracked him down after five years of searching to a place called Ufa in Siberia. Myself and three others found him hiding out at an abandoned farm with a dozen other Cyturion's" said Ryne.
Ufa, Southern Russia, 1867
The snow fell in thick blankets giving the roofs of the surrounding buildings the typical look they always sported in Siberia, it was beautiful but it didn't stop distract from the freezing temperatures. For Ryne and his men it was toasting as their body temperature was far above normal, unfortunately they still had to wear furs so as not to stand out. They were sweating profusely and wished that they could just be normal for the duration of their time in Russia. Luckily they hadn't been in Russia long merely a few days; they were hoping this would be their last time once they'd dealt with Kirill once and for all.
The farm was in sight, and they were nestled amongst the tree line of a nearby forest as they observed the area. It was being used as a Cyturion base by Kirill and they'd been operating out of it for the last ten years but it was only until recently they were fortunate enough to capture one of his men. Night had fallen a few hours before but they had waited just to make sure they had the element of surprise.
The three Arturion's with Ryne were Anton Budanov, he was local to Ufa himself so he'd been brought along for his knowledge of the area, and his fighting skills were superb. He was only twenty-one years of age and had only recently manifested his powers but had proved himself on several occasions. He had copper brown hair which fell to his shoulders in soft curls framing his pale and angular face which with his new white eyes made him even more striking to look at.
He was only a little taller than Ryne with a very slight build but had enough physical strength to compensate. The second was a much older veteran of the Arturion's, Argus he'd been a part of the Arturion's who had first arrived to earth and was older than the other three with him combined. He wore a dark brown set of furs along with brown trousers and boots woven from more furs, his long brown hair had become greasy with the constant sweat from his pours.
The third person with them was a woman in her late twenties; her name was Anna Carellina from America. She was somewhat young for an Arturion with only a couple of decades behind her but was another very formidable fighter. Her long dark hair was tucked away inside of the grey fur coat she wore and was sweating just as much as everyone else. She had plump cheeks and a smile that always lit up any room she was in, she'd always been very popular and likeable amongst everyone, and she was just one of those people.
Ryne looked out as they waited for the guard patrol to finish and disappear around the back of the large barn which sat as the centrepiece of the farm. He gave the signal with flick of his wrist; Anna vanished amongst white flames which melted away the snow she had been crouched on a moment before. They saw a small flash of white behind the barn where the guard had gone; a second later Anna's head poked out the side then proceeded to give them the thumbs up.
"Move and stay alert for anymore patrols" hissed Ryne. He got up and started running across the field his feet crunching through the three inch deep snow, reaching the wooden fence and vaulting over it without hesitation.
Argus was his elder but he'd been in charge of this manhunt for the last five years so naturally he was in charge of proceedings. Argus was more than happy to take a back seat understanding Ryne's reasons for not wanting to relinquish command. The other two came up behind him hopping the fence trying to keep any noise to a bare minimum, Ryne signalled for the two of them to take up the positions explained earlier on. Argus swung right going to one side of the barn and Anton went left, Ryne carried on to the entrance of the barn where a large set of doors remained closed and presumably locked.
Ryne let his fire roar to life across his arms and hands; he formed a short sword from the flames and cut through the wood of the door with ease. The wood splintered and fell, its surface scorched beyond repair as it hit the snowy ground smoking from the fiery blade. He casually stepped into the barn to find several men gathered in the middle of the barn all of their arms wreathed in obsidian black fire.
In their center stood Kirill his eyes alight with excitement as he examined the man before him, he had his arms crossed void of flame. He looked calm and controlled, that wasn't a good sign. Ryne let his sword fade away and gathered as much power around his fists until he could muster no more.
"Do your worst, then I shall do mine" said Kirill as he smiled, his entourage spread out around him numbering twelve and all looked as sharp as a fox.
"My worst is a nightmare you shall never awake from, murderer" said Ryne then with all his might slammed his fists out into the air in front of him.
White fire began to flow from his hands too fast for the nearest few Cyturion's to react as they were consumed by the onslaught, they fell screaming to the ground trying to roll their bodies along the ground to put the flames out. But it was folly, after a few moments their lives had been claimed by the unrelenting inferno. There was an almighty crash as from behind the group Anna burst into the fight amongst a whirlwind of white fire cutting down two of the Cyturion's with a pair of daggers wicked and deadly in the fiery forms. The two Cyturion's fell from slit throats and died soon after as they twitched and flailed upon the straw covered ground. Out of the remaining seven three moved to engage Anna whilst the other four moved on Ryne albeit a little cautiously after seeing how swiftly he dispatched their fellow comrades.
Before they even had a chance another flash of white filled the barn, Argus flew out from amongst the white flames grasping onto two scimitars. In one move he severed the heads of two of the advancing Cyturions as he lunged in for the gap between them, blood flowed thick and fast from the exposed arteries as the bodies crashed to the ground. The other two fell back a few feet away from the new threat before hurling balls of black flames right for Argus, he batted them aside and lunged in once again.
They attempted to flee but Argus expertly sliced out the tendons on their ankles sending both to the floor, he took their lives quick and mercifully. Argus turned on Kirill who still stood in the middle of the carnage his arms crossed, not even a flicker of concern on his face as he continued to smile. There was a flash of white from above Kirill and Anton came crashing down upon him a huge two handed hammer in his grip, bringing it down upon the giant's head intending to utterly decimate him.
"Anton no!" screamed Ryne knowing it was too late; he was almost within reached of Kirill.
Anton was but a few inches away as Kirill's arms flared to life with swirling black fire, he brought his right hand up into the air holding a shield shaped into a crescent moon with long spikes protruding from its centre. The spikes dug into Anton's stomach, tearing through his muscles with ease as the heat of the flames helped to burn away at the layers of tissue. Entrails and blood flowed from the vicious wound.
All he could do was gasp in shock his eyes snapping wide as he looked down at his inside falling onto the fiery shield only to be burned away. Anton's flames died as his eyes went blank all life gone from them and his body twitched once then fell limp against the crude shield. Kirill tossed his body to the ground and turned to Ryne his smile wider than before as his eyes bore into Ryne’s that was the worst possible thing he could have done.
Ryne let his short sword reappear in his right hand followed by a spear in his left. He charge straight for the giant lunged in first with the spear, the spear made contact with the shield followed by a boom as their power clashed off of each other. Ryne brought his spear back jammed it into the ground and vaulted himself into the air as he did the spear vanished to be replaced by another short sword. As he descended toward Kirill he knocked his shield aside as he attempted to bring it up to defend and then cut into his shoulder of the arm holding the shield, causing him to lower it even further out of the way. Ryne took that moment to make his move, as he landed upon the giant he drove both his blades deep into each side of his neck, and then twisted them hard in opposite directions.
"I warned you my worst would be your nightmare, where ever you go after this may you burn for all eternity" said Ryne his anger fierce and not to be reasoned with.
"For me death is only the beginning" said Kirill as bloody shot from his mouth as he coughed from the exertion of using his voice box.
Ryne said nothing only yanking his blades free then slicing his throat with one of them. Then he jumped off of his shoulders landing carefully onto his feet as he watched the Russian fall to the ground, his body lifeless and one less wretched soul plagued mankind.
AN: Again apologies for this being so late after the last one as I did have a slight case of writer's block and the annoyance of work hah.
This one was very action based and I wanted to put some mystery into this one, so you may all be thinking what's going on with Kirill? Well in time you'll know I promise!
Hope people like this and don't forget to vote/comment!!!
All The Best FN