Here it was, at long last. After months of tracking and backtracking, Mike had finally found the end of the trail. His parents, along with his uncle and a few others, had left the castle to do battle with an entity much stronger than the ones in stories passed down by his fathers Chris and Inferno. Against their wishes, he had quietly packed provisions, along with his sword Blade Edge and a few days after their departure, Mike too made his move, leaving in the night so nobody in the castle would see him go. He wasn’t about to let his fate be decided without his presence, but now, standing at the gates of the Sable Tower, he began to feel mixed emotions; he wanted more than anything to rush in, but at the same time, felt a sliver of fear course down his spine. Even from the outside, Mike could hear the clash of swords, piercing of flesh, and screams of agony. Granted, he had yet to hear his family in pain, but he didn’t wish to be standing there when it did happen: he wanted to be there, to help if they were in danger. “This is it...” Mike said to himself. “Once I go inside those doors, I’m going to be alone...I’ve never had to face demons by myself. But when I find my family, I will stand by them to the end. Papa Chris...Papa Ferno...watch over me.” Just before he could open the doors to the tower, there it was...the sound he had been dreading since he made it to the tower...he could hear his family losing the fight...was the leader really that much stronger...to make his parents, his guard, his uncle scream in such horrid ways? Mike dropped his provisions, steeled himself, drew Blade Edge, took one more big breath, and finally opened the doors. “I’m coming!!” he shouted as he burst through the threshold. The young dragon fox ran down hall after hall, occasionally using his wings to give him a boost of speed as he tried to navigate the twisted corridors of the cursed tower. He continued to hear the sounds of battle, using it to guide him in the right direction while following the diced remains of demons slain in a path through the tower. Soon he ran into a T-shaped path. Right or left... he thought as he now used his instinctive hearing. One wrong turn and he would be in for the fight of his life. This deep into the tower, yet instead of hearing the noise get closer, he had somehow managed to hear it get quieter. He started closing his eyes to give his ears more attention. Suddenly, he heard it, his eyes opening. He knew which path to go by. He chose to go right and ran in the direction of the noise he was hearing. He soon made it to the end of the hallway, bursting through a door only to realize he had made the wrong decision...his ears tricked him into believing that was the right direction and led him into a room that hadn’t even been opened... It looked like an armory, only filled with demons prepared for battle. They looked, and with the sounds of shrieks filling the air, they lunged for him! Mike dodged back and turned to back track and lose them. But as he took his first steps to run, he could feel a blunt pole strike him in the back of the head, sending him to the ground as an army of demons fled out of the room to aid their lord. The already dark hallway began to dim, and fade to nothingness as he lay there, thinking this wasn’t how it was supposed to go...
