Basic Oblivion

Chapter 6

Kylan was surprised to see that someone could move so fast. Before he had time to think, the stranger had managed to get behind him, grab him by the neck and throw him right into a wall. He climbed out of the hole leading into the closed store he was thrown into.

Kylan wasn't able to tell what it was, but something about this stranger's strength felt familiar. He looked over his opponent, noticing his animal features. Trait magic huh? he thought. And he's using canine. Good. It only took a moment for Kylan to recall what he had learned about canine trait magic.

"So, you gonna tell me your name?" the stranger asked. "I mean you don't have to, but I personally think that it'll make the fight a little more personal."

"It's Kylan," he told him. "Kylan Valkyrie."

The stranger chuckled under his mask. "I see. I've heard about you," he said. "You've become quite the legend, Mr. Valkyrie. Saving the world from an invasion from the Nightmare Zone must've been quite the challenge. The name's Jason, don't wear it out."

Kylan stood straight and made an attempt to stare Jason down. "Tell me something, most people would choose to use trait magic for a more powerful animal. Why would you choose the canine family?" he asked. "There aren't many perks that come from it aside from communicating with canines and maybe the occasional wolf."

Jason's tail swayed slowly. "I think you'll find there's more to it than that," he said. "Don't judge me just because of my appearance. Besides, I wasn't given a choice. Now then, are we gonna fight or what?"

Kylan looked at Jason in disbelief. He actually wants to fight?! he thought.

Kylan found his thoughts answered when he was nearly hit with a bullet from a pistol that had appeared in Jason's hand in a puff of black smoke. Luckily, Kylan's reflexes were as quick as ever and he blocked the bullet with his sword. Pointing the blade at Jason for a brief moment in case another bullet was fired, Kylan charged and swung at him.

To Kylan's surprise, instead of moving, Jason raised his arm to block the sword. Even more surprising was the lack of blood. Instead of cutting Jason, the sword was stopped upon contact by a patch of scales that had grown where the sword struck. Jason smiled as he struck Kylan in the chest with the palm of his hand. Kylan went flying back and rolled on the floor.

"Come on! I thought you would've been able to hit harder than that!" Jason said. "Don't even get me started on your lack of defense."

Kylan was beginning to get annoyed with how carefree Jason was acting. "You want me to hit harder? Fine!" he said. "Just make sure you've made your last moments on this world enjoyable."

Kylan sprouted wings from his armor, steel wings made up of swords. Each one of the swords began to detach from the wings and float around him in an arch. He threw one of his swords at Jason, who stepped out of the way, but wasn't aware that the floating blades had started flying straight towards him. Jason's scales couldn't grow fast enough to stop them all from hitting him.

Several of the blades punctured Jason's body and stuck him to the wall, his body went limp and Kylan walked over to him. "I tried to warn you," Kylan said as he reached to retrieve his blades.

"And I warned you not to underestimate me," Jason said as he quickly lifted his head and let out a scream. To Kylan's surprise, the scream was unlike any he had ever heard before. Glass began to shatter and he was being pushed back by the sound waves. His hands quickly covered his ears, but he was still able to hear the scream as it shook his entire body right down to his bones.

When Jason stopped screaming, Kylan was still a little dazed. Jason pulled himself off the wall and pulled the swords from his body one by one, wincing in pain as each one came out. Kylan watched as each wound began to heal.

Jason had to move his arms around to make sure they had healed properly. "Gotta admit, that actually kind of hurt me," he said. "Congrats. Not many people can actually pull that off."

Jason turned to leave when he was run through  from the back with Kylan's sword. His eyes went wide as he looked down at the blade sticking out of his chest. No one had ever been able to actually stab that far through him, especially not so close to his heart. Kylan shook what little remained of the dizziness off as he stood up.

Kylan pulled his sword from Jason's body as he watched Jason fall to the floor. "Maybe you should worry about your own defense instead of criticizing others," he said.

Kylan was about to leave when he felt a huge spike in energy coming from Jason. He spun around and watched in shock as Jason's body began to change while violently spasming. Brown fur began to grow all over his body, his shirt and the lower half of his pants below the knees began to rip as muscles and fur grew. His nails grew into sharp claws and his teeth turned to fangs. His shoes and gloves were ripped to shreds as he grew bigger. For a brief moment, Kylan thought he would be able to see Jason's face when the mask had fallen off his face, but his face had already started to become deformed as his mouth and nose extended into a snout.

Kylan was now staring at a humanoid wolf that was only a few feet taller than him and wearing Jason's brown bandana and now torn jeans. Unlike Jason, whose body didn't look all that strong, this wolf looked like he could have torn him apart. The wolf moved fast, his claws going straight for Kylan's throat. Luckily, the helmet of Kylan's armor materialized before the claws could reach it, leaving a spray of sparks as the razor sharp claws scraped against the metal that covered over his neck.

Kylan quickly retaliated with a swing of his swords, cutting into the wolf with both as blood sprayed from the wounds. The wolf briefly whimpered as it looked at the wound across its arm before growling fiercely at Kylan. It charged at Kylan again, except this time it was quicker than Kylan could react.

The wolf knocked Kylan into the wall with its shoulder before repeatedly hitting his body with its paws as it searched for a weak point in the armor. Kylan tried break free, but was pushed back into the wall by the wolf. A crack began to form in the chest piece of the armor and the wolf grabbed Kylan, raising him over its head as it slammed him into the ground only to resume his barrage of attacks. The wolf's eyes started to turn red as it's punches got stronger and faster, especially in its left arm, the fur on its left arm stood up and slowly began to darken as it changed from brown to black.

Kylan could feel his armor growing weaker with every hit and started to feel the panic making its way into his head. He fought the panic back as he struggled to get up. In his struggle, he grabbed the wolf by the bandana and tore it from its neck. He was shocked when he saw the necklace hanging from the wolf's neck.

The black gemstone glowed as it hung over Kylan's head by its silver chain. When Kylan saw the necklace he immediately remembered the last one he had seen. The white gemstone that was always worn by his deceased friend, Justin.

The ears of the wolf twitched as it heard the sound of incoming footsteps. It's eyes suddenly turned brown again and the fur that had turned black returned to being brown as well. It released Kylan, whose armor was about to break apart with cracks covering almost every inch of his armor, before turning around and running off on all fours, disappearing into the darkness as Marie came up to Kylan.

Kylan could see that Marie was trying to say something to him, but her voice sounded distorted and far away, like he had his head underwater. He slowly felt his consciousness failing as he slipped into darkness, his last thoughts of the necklace and the questions that had come with it.