Markus and his father rushed to his mother's side. His father put his ear to her chest; her heart was still beating, though barely, and her breath was slow. The look of pain on her face was heartbreaking. Jessie couldn't stand the sight of her mother in this state, and tears streamed down her face, her expression becoming blank and almost completely devoid of emotion.
Her legs gave way, and she fell into Markus's arms. He held her as both he and his father were filled with uncontrollable rage. Markus began to hear the voice of the dragon in his head again, its angry voice echoing, "It did this. There are more of them. I can see them."
Markus replied to the dragon, "They're not important right now; I need to help my mom."
The dragon responded, "Go close to her and touch her wounds." Markus followed the dragon's instructions, touching her injuries.
As he laid his hand on her, a bright golden light illuminated her wounds. Memories of times with his mother flooded his mind—even memories he wasn't supposed to know, like when he was just born and she was holding him in her arms. The ability he was using seemed to cause this phenomenon. After it ended, his mother began to wake up.
Most of her wounds were healed, and she was now in a far better state. Markus's father filled with joy upon seeing his wife awaken, looked to his son with tears in his eyes and a small smile. "She's getting up! What did you do?"
Upon seeing his son, he recognized that half of her wounds were now on Markus. Markus stood up, barely awake, his voice trembling as he said, "Don't worry, I'm fine. Just get Mom inside; I'll carry Jessie in..." He fell to the ground before he could finish his sentence, still awake but unable to keep on his feet.
Paul and his friend struggled to get to their feet as they walked toward Markus's father to tell him that they should bring the kids and his wife inside. Paul grabbed Markus, and one of his friends carried Jessie in.
They laid the children in their respective rooms as June, one of Paul's friends, began making a basic healing elixir. Meanwhile, Paul informed Markus's father of what had happened. "It was the villagers, but something was wrong with them. There were ten of them, and they all used a strange black and red arcana I've never seen before. Their eyes were pitch black; it was like they weren't human anymore."
Markus's father looked enraged, his eyes bloodshot and filled with pain. His brow furrowed, and his fists were clenched so tightly that his nails dug into his palms, causing them to bleed. "Paul, where are they?" he demanded.
Paul tried to calm him down, but he wasn't having any of it. "Paul, my wife was barely alive a minute ago. My son risked his life to save her, and my daughter passed out from her mother's injuries. So I'm going to ask you again: where are they?"
Paul sighed, understanding why Markus's father was so enraged; he wouldn't want to be in this situation either. He replied, "They're outside the village in Bloodstone Cave. Be careful and fight smart; don't go rushing in like an idiot."
Markus's father nodded as he packed supplies and instructed the others to barricade the door while he was gone.
After finishing his packing, he rushed out the door, ready to seek revenge.
It was the dead of night when Markus's father reached the cave entrance, scouting it out from nearby bushes. There were four villagers at the cave entrance, half of their bodies covered in a black substance with tentacles jutting out.
"What the hell happened to these people?" Markus's father exclaimed as he grabbed beast bait from his bag. The scent was powerful, reaching deep into the forest and drawing out a gang of thunder wolves.
Markus's father threw the bait at the cave entrance, causing the thunder wolves to attack the villagers, ripping them apart.
Their screams alerted more villagers from within the cave to come out. The others were infected with the same black substance, but one of them was completely covered. He looked less like a human and more like a black lizard man, with three tails and four eyes.
The lizard man, appearing infected, stabbed his hand into the ground, causing spikes to jut out of the earth, stabbing the thunder wolves and killing them all. The people guarding the entrance had already been taken out by the wolves by the time the lizard man arrived to finish them off.
Seeing no further use for the fallen, the lizard man reached out and absorbed their infection, adding it to his own, causing him to grow even larger and sprout two extra pairs of eyes, now totaling six.
The infected villagers began to speak in a loud, echoing voice that sounded beast-like. It was some kind of language, but not one spoken by any human.
Markus's father looked at the infected with rage burning in his soul; he wanted to end these creatures for what they had done to his wife. He threw a bottle of lamp oil at the monsters. It broke upon hitting them, leaving them drenched in oil. He then shot a blast of flame at them, setting the smaller ones ablaze, while the larger one dodged and rushed at Markus's father.
The lizard infected clawed at him, but he dodged by sliding under his legs grabbing a machete from his bag and cutting deep into his thigh as he sled through.
The monster's wounds began healing on their own right before Markus's father's eyes. He said aloud, wanting the monster to hear him, " SO THATS YOUR GAME!!!? DON'T WORRY I'VE PUT FAR WORSE THAN YOU INTO THE GROUND AND TRUST ME, YOU WON'T BE THE EXCEPTION!!!!".
Markus's father rushed toward the monster, dodging its claws as it tried to grab him. He jumped onto the beast's shoulder, seized its face, and unleashed a massive blast of flame from his palms that engulfed the creature entirely. The infected monster slapped Markus's father away, letting out a piercing scream of pain. He spun through the air and landed on his feet, watching the monster squirm in distress.
"Go to hell, you bastard!" Markus's father shouted as he moved closer.
The monster roared, sending a shockwave that extinguished the flames. It then shot its tentacles at Markus's father. He dodged them skillfully, creating a fire sword as he maneuvered through, deftly slicing off one of the tentacles.
After evading the monster's reach, he realized that it couldn't regenerate from the burn or the severed tentacle.
"So your weakness is fire," Markus's father observed, looking intently at the beast, a serious expression on his face. "Well, today isn't your lucky day. I'm about to show you a raging inferno you brought upon yourself."
The monster roared and charged at him, its speed seeming to increase dramatically. It created a black snake from its arm, which wrapped around Markus's father while sinking its fangs into his neck. "Haha!" he screamed as he grabbed his machete and cut the snake in half.
Markus's father continued to dodge a flurry of claw attacks from the monster, landing a high front kick to its jaw. Then he swept its legs using his flames to create a mini explosion, increasing the speed and power of the swep dropping the monster on the ground.
Markus's father took a moment to heat up his body, burning the poison out of his bloodstream. The beast transformed into a giant, serpent-like black dragon adorned with glowing red tribal tattoo-like markings all over its body.
"You're a shape-shifter, aren't you?" Markus's father uttered, preparing to confront the beast in its new form. "This is going to be one annoying little freak."
Flames manifested on his arms and legs, forming into claws as his eyes glowed orange, his fire arcana, raised his body heat, making his blood move faster, expanding his muscles and giving him a boost in strength and speed.