The Devil's Bane: (slightly more than) a short story

Chapter XXIX: Blaze's Defeat

Oh, please," Blaze sighed. "A bunch of kids. Are you serious?"

"Technically we aren't kids but, alright," Dess pointed out.

"Yeah." Felix and Charlotte both agreed.

"Ugh, whatever," Blaze said, rolling his fiery orange eyes. He lazily shot fire out of his hand and Dess rolled out of the way.

"What--Okay, guys. How in the world did you find me?" Cade finally said, after processing the past events.

"Anthony's ring and a new ally. Tell you about it later," Felix answered. Dess shot a ball of fire right back at Blaze. He dodged it.

We can't all be this good at dodging... Felix thought to himself. He decided to calculate on how to defeat Blaze or, at least, knock him out or something like that.

"Are we just gonna keep playing these kiddie games?" Blaze asked, not really thinking of an answer. Dess ignored him. He was just trying to distract him from the real idea--fight. Dess glanced around, making Blaze think he was doing something else, while really Dess was shooting fire out of his hand and...completely missed Blaze. At least it hit his feet.

"Ow! Jeez," Blaze said in an annoyed tone. Dess smirked.

"RAAAGH!!" Cade screamed, striking lightning on his older brother, disarming him, then slicing his scimitars across Blaze's chest.

A strange and surprisingly loud, squelching sound could be heard with a scream of pain from Blaze. Blood splattered everywhere. Dess flinched and Charlotte cringed.

Cade stood above his brother, arms crossed.

"This is what happens when you destroy your own family next to your brother," Cade said, crouching down.

"I--cough--didn't want to," Blaze coughed. "I never wanted to. The...the Devil made me."

"What--I..." Cade spluttered.

"Good luck, little bro," Blaze said, his voice fading quickly. "Mom and Dad, here I come..."

He took one last breath then closed his eyes.

Cade stood up.

"I am going to destroy that monster..." he vowed. "No, never mind. It's you, Dess, who has to slay the Devil. You're the chosen one. You're the Devil's Bane."

*****

"My ADHD self is kicking in," Anthony stated. "UGHHH LEMME DO SOMETHING ALREADY!!"

"Then let's do that. Should check local towns to see if any sightings of the Devil have been spotted? We need a map," Felix fired out quickly.

Charlotte blinked. "There might be an old map in this castle, but if we want an up-to-date one, we'll have to find a town...and money."

"Alright. Dess and I will do a quick search of the castle," Felix finally said. "Then, we can head left of the castle and see if there is a town."

Dess glanced at Charlotte. "Okay," he said. "Everyone else will go left, correct?"

Felix nodded. "See you all soon."

Everyone said swift goodbyes and everyone but Felix and Dess walked out of the castle.

"Let's start on this floor," Felix decided. Dess nodded and started to search for a map of sorts. A few minutes of silence passed.

"So, how have you been?" Felix asked Dess.

"Uh, worried but mostly good," Dess responded. "What about you?"

Felix hesitated, then said, "Same as you, I suppose."

Dess nodded.

Another awkward moment of silence passed.

"What about you and Charlotte? Not to pry or anything but you guys have been looking at each other weirdly..."

"I--what??" Dess flushed.

"It's fine Dess, I was just wondering," Felix said, opening a chest.

"S--SERIOUSLY?! That's what you asked?!" Dess replied, still very pink in the face.

"Um. Sorry I guess?" Felix responded.

"But I mean, I guess I like Charlotte--NO NOT THAT WAY," Dess shouted when Felix got an evil little smile. "She's really cool, I mean, definitely, mhm," Dess added quickly.

Felix rolled his eyes. "Okay. Yeah. Anyways, have you found anything?"

Dess shook his head and said. "Nope," still wondering what he and Felix had conversed about.

The two friends finished looking around the castle. "Nothing. Well, time to go head to the left of the castle," Felix said.

Dess shrugged and headed towards the door of the castle.

"Let's hope the team didn't die on us," Felix joked.

Felix and Dess caught up and chatted during the small walk towards the left of the castle. Felix was right. There was a small town, not too busy.

"Hey guys!" Dess waved as they saw the rest of the team by the notice board.

"Hi Dess!" Charlotte waved back. Cade, Anthony, Mei, and Gerald just did a little wave, and they had serious looks on their faces..

"So, some sightings of the Devil have been reported near here." Cade informed them. "Maybe twenty miles north."

"We did get a map. We, uh, stole it though." Charlotte replied sheepishly. "That's fine," Felix sighed.

Charlotte then held out the map so everyone could read it. "So, north of this town is just plains and a few flower patches," she said.

"The Devil may be gone from there though," Dess added.

"It'll be fine. Just check there and see if it's there to attack. If not, then, um, we may be screwed," Mei finalized.

"Guys," Dess said. "We got this."

Charlotte smiled brightly at Dess, "Yeah. Yeah we do."

Dess glanced away from Charlotte quickly, "Yeah."

"Should we go now or stock up some resources?" Mei asked.

"Yeah. Felix and I can go grab some food," Cade suggested.

"Okay. See you all in...around fifteen-ish minutes," Felix said, starting to walk towards the center of the town. Cade waved goodbye to everyone and smiled at Mei. Mei gave Cade a quick and small smile back.

"So, uh, are we just gonna wait and study the map?" Dess asked.

"I believe so," Mei answered.

Twenty minutes passed quickly.

"Hey guys. We got a backpack, bread, turkey, and a day-old donut," Cade said, strangely happy about the donut.

"It's around three-thirty in the afternoon right now. Should we wait to go to the possible lair?" Felix immediately asked.

"Let's go," Dess said. Everyone agreed with that except for Anthony. But he was out-voted. The team all started to head north.