Burned

It was hot as if a burning sensation was surrounding him. As soon as he woke up, he saw the sky, moon and stars shining brightly in the darkness of the sky. He finally came to his senses when he turned his head on the right and saw that the manor they were staying at was now engulfed in massive blue flames.

"What is happening? Why is everything in flames?" The boy groaned as tears slowly fell down on his cheeks.

The young boy tried to stand up but struggled due to some of his wounds. His brown sharp eyes were covered in tears, traces of mud and dirt covered his golden hair and fair skin. His once elegant clothes were ruined and was now dirty and ragged. His cries continued for some time until he noticed something moving in the flames. He feared that it was an enemy trying to eliminate him as his heartbeat increased rapidly as if it was a drum being struck in a festival.

As soon as the figure emerged from the blue flames, it walked slowly but with its big strides it took only a short amount of time to get to the boy. Due to the bright light of the flames, the boy only saw its silhouette. Unable to discern whether it was an enemy or not, he froze in his spot unable to move, not even an inch. As the figure closes in to him, he finally recognized the figure from the flames. It was his older brother.

Instead of joy, he felt shock and despair as soon as he saw his brother missing his left arm with blood dripping from the wound. His once elegant clothing was ruined and only his pants were intact and his body covered in lethal wounds. A portion of his elegant and handsome face was burned along with a part of his golden hair.

"Aran! Who did this to you?" the boy cried as he is pained seeing his brother's current state.

As Aran got close, he disregarded the question and carried him with his right arm instantly running towards the forest. Although his body was covered with lethal wounds that weakened him. Carrying his little brother was an easy task as he was not an ordinary person.

After running for about a minute, he sensed the presence of several people that entered the forest catching up to them in an alarming rate.

"Tch, I really can't escape them huh" Aran smiles as he looks at his little brother "Alexius, I may have to hide you and come back after I'm done dealing with them"

Looking at his surroundings, he found a deep ditch that is enough to fit Alexius' little body. He lays down Alexius and gives him the golden ring of the Aura Family.

"But Aran this is the family heirloom given to you by father" Alexius said as he was surprised by his brother's action. "How can you fight them without this ring?"

"For safekeeping of course" Aran says boastfully. "You hold on it for me until I come back. I don't even need this ring to win"

Alexius hugged his brother tightly dropping tears on his shoulder.

"I'll be waiting for you" Aran said in a sad voice as he wipes his tears on his eyes.

Aran smiled at him and began casting an illusion spell that resembles the nearby plants and bushes. He also cast another spell that would remove and hide one's presence for the time being.

He waved goodbye to his brother as he ran swiftly. A few minutes later, the sound of several footsteps were heard and passes by Alexius' hiding place.

When the enemies reached Aran, he was sitting on a rock calmly. All the enemies suddenly stopped afraid to move closer to him as they felt Aran's horrifying and murderous presence despite his harmless facade.

"What pressure!" a man with a spear said, "If looks could kill, we would all be lying dead right now"

In front of them was a heavily injured man with a missing left arm and yet they all froze on their feet terrified to even go near him. At this moment, the bleeding from all his wounds have stopped and some of his injuries were healed.

"Hmm, what is this? You all were so eager to catch up with me earlier. You were all so fast that you even almost outpaced me" Aran said in a mockingly confident tone. "Now I'm so close to you all and yet you stopped"

Then a man with a pitch black cloak wearing an eccentric yet elegant black mask suddenly appeared. He was different from the other men beside him. He showed absolute confidence and was not afraid to walk towards Aran. He took little steps and eventually reached him.

"So, you are the great and all-powerful Aran Aura or should I say the "Golden Phoenix" Killing you here would greatly reduce your Family's power." the man mockingly said. "It's a pity! A man such as you would die tonight."

"Do you really think that you have what it takes to kill me?" Aran said mockingly "Even with my power greatly reduced, I highly doubt you could lay a finger on me"

A beautiful bright golden light flash around his right hand as he winds up a punch. The masked man jumped backwards outside of his range avoiding the incoming attack.

"Are you afraid of a punch coming from a man with one hand?" Aran spoke mockingly. "I have other matters to tend to so let's finish this quickly."

The fear residing inside the hearts of the men who were fearful turned into anger and rage but they knew that if they attack carelessly, they would be killed. It was frustrating for them. Even though they were powerful individuals that were handpicked for this mission, they all felt the huge gap between them and Aran.

"All of you attack him at once" the masked man shouted "We cannot waste more time here"

"Yes sir, we will eliminate him at once" a man with a spear calmly replied. "Warriors to the front the mages will give support from the back"

"I see, it's not a bad tactic. Playing it safe ehh?" Aran said casually "But do you actually think it'll be enough?"

"Silence, you may be strong but we are not your average people. We were chosen for this mission for the sake of defeating you" the man with the spear agitatedly shouted. "Attack all at once"

The enemies all charged at the same time but the man with the spear instantaneously appeared in front of Aran in a low stance. He concentrated all of his power on his right arm to unleash a powerful and destructive strike.

"He's finished" one of the warriors who were charging thought to himself.

As the spear was about to reach his chest, it was suddenly stopped causing a powerful shockwave destroying the surrounding area while cracks appeared below his own feet due to the powerful force of his own attack that pushed him to the ground. Except for the masked man, Everyone froze and was stupefied not because Aran stopped the strike but the fact that he did it with only two fingers. Not even the mages that were supposed to support the warriors can move to cast a spell.

"An attack of that caliber could casually pierce steel-fortified walls casually and yet it was stopped with no effort at all" a warrior said in disbelief.

"Is that it? Well, I guess I could say it was a good strike. You did manage to scratch my fingers." Aran said condescendingly.

Aran took the man's spear and tossed it in the air, grabbed his face and smashed it to the ground with such power that his head was buried in the ground. He then raised his arm and grabbed the falling spear. He walked back slowly then sat on the rock calmly and acted like nothing happened.

Except for the masked man, everyone froze and began to shiver uncontrollably as they witnessed a horrifying display of power. It was at this moment that they knew that the prey they are hunting was actually a wolf in sheep's clothing. To be honest, he wasn't even a wolf. He was a damn Dragon. Even with all of them combined, they realized that the gap between them was like heaven and earth. They had no chance.

"Sir, what shall we do? We have no chance against him." a warrior spoke.

"Do not fear him. He is only one man with one arm. Immobilize his arm and coordinate your attacks. He'll soon falter and make mistakes. He's just putting up a front to scare all of you. If he wanted to, you'd all be corpses right now and yet he chose to sit down" the masked man said.

"Yes sir, we understand the situation right now. We shall defeat him with all our might" the warrior spoke. "Wait for my signal to attack and mages support us and disrupt his attacks if he ever finds a chance."

They soon stopped trembling and saw a little light of hope in the dark abyss of despair they've fallen into. Their fear soon dissipated in their minds and all they could think of right now is how to survive a fight against this monster. With the signal to attack, this time they all charged and attacked Aran at the same time. They surrounded Aran attacking him at all sides. Their attacks were well coordinated and swift. All Aran could do was redirect and dodge the barrage of weapons coming to him.

"I may have underestimated all of you. I didn't actually thought that you lot could keep up with me" Aran said casually while he was dodging the attacks.

Although Aran was surrounded, he didn't have a hard time defending. He used his spear to defend and redirect attacks from his back while dodging and predicting his enemies attacks in front of him. He was slowly getting used to the attacks and was only waiting for the chance to counter.

"He moves as if he was dancing to a tune of a beautiful melody. His movements are refined and precise" the masked man whispered to himself, "Even at his current state, nothing has changed. I wouldn't get out unscathed after facing him"

The attacks continued for a few minutes, he felt that their strikes were getting slower as time passes by. An opportunity finally came, an enemy mistimed his attack disrupting the rhythm of their coordination. Alas, the chance for his counter has come. A golden light radiated from his right hand and spear. He winds up his arm to pierce the enemy that mistimed but suddenly Aran felt something and moved his head a few centimeters back. A sharp bolt of lightning passes through his eyes grazing his nose and hits the trees causing it to explode. Seeing him full of openings, the enemies tried to attack him targeting his vitals. Aran, seeing another chance, entered a super low stance and did a 360° slash targeting their midsections using his spear. One by one the enemies fall before his feet.

The remaining enemies except for the masked man were stupefied of what just occurred in front of their eyes.

"What the hell just happened?" a mage said.

"Sir, what shall we do?" A mage spoke as his voice and body trembled.

"I underestimated him. I'll take care of him personally" the masked man ordered his remaining subordinates, "Find his left arm, our goal must be in that arm.

"Yes sir, we shall bring it to you at once" the mage said as they swiftly exited the field in a hurry,

"Thank the Heavens, we survived death at its doors"

Soon after, the mages dispersed from the field leaving only the masked man and Aran alone in the forest.