The Last Fire Weilder

Picking up the pieces

Zendrix's View

I don't remember what happened but I remember the feeling. It was like being pulled through tar, the feeling of stickiness on your skin. 

When I finally saw light again, I was on my hands and knees, coughing and gasping for air. I looked around and finally got my bearings, Undryn, Sylphki and Valkaias were frantically yelling and my ears adjusted to what they were saying and I stood up, my hand to my head, my clothes singed. Then I saw the blood. 

My pupils dilated to small slits and I felt the blue stones on my cuffs press my body and compact my muscles.  I did not do well with blood, but I had to help. I shoved the urges down and focused. 

Marksynth was groaning and had a steady flow of blood from a wound on the left of his chest. 

"Lay him down now!" I heard Sylphki yell, Undryn was returning with cloth to stop the bleeding and Valkaias was leaning over him, a knife in his hand. I knew what he was going to do. 

"What are you doing! Stop! Let me do it- Undryn, get him out of here." I commanded. Valkaias snarled as Undryn grabbed his shoulder but he was in too much pain to fight back. 

"Sylphki, as soon as I pull this out, press on the wound as hard as you can and we'll wrap it." I told her. 

"Yes sir," She said, her hands covered in blood to the wrists. His face was paling,

"He's loosing too much blood." I didn't even give a warning and unsheathed my claws, which I had never let anyone see willingly and she took the towel off the bullet wound. 

The small groans Marksynth gave amplified as I stuck my fingers into the wound, the silver steel-like tips searching for my target. I heard a bit racket coming from the down stairs from Valkaias. 

 When I felt the tip of my finger touch the hard surface, I pinched it with my claws and pulled it out just fast enough not to hurt him. 

As soon as the bullet was out, I tossed it away. Sylphki instantly pressed on the wound and I wrapped it. 

 I was too caught up on the scent of blood, I didn't even scent the burning, cinnamon-like smell intruding on my senses. I whipped my head in every direction searching for it until I saw a black and grey lump- presumably a person- laying on the balcony. 

Then the pieces clicked. 

I ran over to the body and looked it over; It was Keegan. I rolled him off of his side and onto his back and my hand was black, leaving a white hand print where I touched him. 

Ash.

He was barely breathing and he was covered in the black substance. I quickly brushed it all off of his face the best I could and he still didn't wake up. I panicked, picking him up and taking him to the shower to clean him off, praying to Phoenix he would wake. 

Undryn's view

I finally let Val upstairs and assumed Sylphki could handle him since he was stable. What I couldn't handle was the current state of the kitchen. 

There were claw marks on the counters, broken cups and glasses. I sighed. 

I hate his temper tantrums...

I'm the only one that can handle him unless he uses his powers which is only used occasionally but is generally a display of dominance. That was true for most Lords. 

There were bloody handprints among the mess as well, presumably from Marksynth. Something brushed my senses, I barely smelt it but it was the scent of... Cinnamon?

I followed it and it led me back upstairs. I looked around the room and analyzed my surroundings. Sylphki was cleaning up the worst of the blood and Valkaias was kneeling next to Marksynth's body, his hands shaking as he wiped off some of the blood. His face was white as a ghost, his eyes wide and traumatized. 

I knew they would be okay, all things heal with time but this would definitely leave trauma. I looked at Valkaias's hand and it was burned badly. Halfway up his forearm there was veined red and black skin, blood seeping out of it and dripping onto Marksynth. 

I helped clean up as much blood as we could so it wasn't a puddle anymore and I went to take the rags into the bathroom but before I did I looked from Sylphki to Val's arm and she got the message. 

As I walked down the hall, the scent got stronger but was also laced with a familiar scent but it was not something that I could ignore. 

I hurriedly opened the bathroom door and sitting next to the bathtub was Zendrix, but I knew that look. 

It only came from the aftermath of scenting blood and the mix with adrenaline. Even if he is contained, he could still do serious damage. The blue stones on his cuffs were dim but still bright enough to say that he wasn't all there. 

I put the rags in the shower and turned the water on, leaving it to sit and rinse for awhile and walked over to where Zendrix was. The cinnamon smell was masked with the smell of burning charcoal and when I looked inside the bathtub I knew why. 

Laying inside, his head on the edge of the tub was Keegan, the water around him so black it was opaque. His face was mostly clean, a light grey sheen was all that remained there but his hair was still dark. 

"Zendrix." 

His gaze dragged to meet mine, his bright yellow eyes swallowing the slits of pupil. It quickly widened when he saw me. 

"Undryn. What do I do," He asked defeatedly, his hands covered in soot, his claws still visible. "I panicked, nothing like this has happened in so long and I'm afraid that I'll have to leave soon. People will hunt me and probably Keegan too. We need to strengthen the wall, the humans will search for us, we have to go somewhere-"

"Zendrix." He closed his mouth and focused on me. "No humans will find us here. You're becoming hysterical-" Before I could finish, loud coughing filled the room.

Keegan was awake.