"Will you please stop pacing and tell me what is going on!?" shouted Pura. She was impatient and exhausted.
Vitae ignored Pura, circling the crater for hours just mumbling to himself. He ignored Pura as she lay in the centre. Night became day and day fell back to night, yet Vitae continued to pace.
"Vulcan!" he screamed. Pura leaped from the ground in shock, high enough so her head just peaked over the edge of the crater.
"WHAT THE HELL VITAE?!?!" growled Pura. "Are you done!?" Pura climbed out the crater, morose and heavy footed. She sat beside Vitae as he stared up into the sky at the scattered stars and moons.
"Vulcan, the youngest of my brothers," Vitae said, "controls the fire in the universe. He spends his days igniting stars in the empty abyss of space, lighting the darkness and bringing beauty to forgotten worlds. His fur a smouldering fire; and his mane stands as a savage inferno, erupting through his skin from his burning soul. He is a soul which finds joy in bursting volcano's, raining flaming comets from the skies and alighting planets to fill the boredom of his eternal existence."
"He's had a lifelong battle with his twin. Two faces of a flipped coin waiting to land and call who is the victor. He knew where I lay. He knew I was banished here. Why wasn't this fire stopped? How did it start in the first place?!"
Vitae turned and walked from the crater, a flame in his eyes and fury in his stride. Pura didn't ask where we was heading, or why they were heading there, she knew he had a reason, a purpose, for wandering. So they walked off into the distance, as the sun rose and the moon fell, searching for something with no clue of what or where. But, sooner then expected, they were stopped in their tracks by a mountainous cliff; too tall to climb, too wide to go around but a ledge sat about a quarter way up with a light bursting from inside the daunting cliff.
"I'll go first," said Vitae. He leaped from rock to rock, sprinting across the cliff face and pounced to unbelievable heights. 936Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmOmA2p3NEN
Pura just lay down where she stood. "Yeah... I'll wait here, I trust you know what you're doing". 936Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJFMEumbl9h
Vitae looked back down bewildered at Pura. "What are you doing?!" he roared.
"You know, I'd prefer to just wait here. I can do it, it just looks like a lot of effort..." said Pura. She yawned and curling up.
Vitae, struck back by this, turned and walked into the eerie cave only looking to wonder about Pura, in confusion, all but forgetting about the daunting darkness ahead of him. The light which poured out before seemed to be swallowed by the depth of the tunnels. In the dark, however, something stood out. A faint red glow slowly approaching him, the glow split into two, then four, eight... Again and again this happened until they surround him. Suddenly the little lights burst into life, they were animals, monsters even, with sharp claws and wiry fur. Rats. Hundreds of rats.
They all pounced at Vitae, scratching at his body and biting at his feet. Vitae charged back into them, his head knocking them through the air and his claws sliced through them like butter. He held them down with his gigantic paws, crushed them in his powerful jaws, and bled them with his sharp claws until the army of rodents became a small litter. Vitae then stood tall above them, and they coward as Vitae let out a might roar, a roar which spoke both victory and anger. The rats scattered into cracks in the walls.
A roar spoke back from deep in the cave.
One of the tunnels, of many from the this field of corpses, shone with an angry light, a light which had no reason to be there. Vitae marched down the blinding tunnel; the temperature grew immense and the light grew blinding. The walls changed from rock to a simmering coal, embers scattered across the ground and Vitae's skin scorched in the air.
"Vitae... You made it, I see," said a mighty voice.
Vitae looked up to the beast towering above him, a beast burning, a beast with furious flames.
"Vulcan.." challenged Vitae. "Why are you here?!"
"To end this quickly... Michael was having second thoughts. But... We can't have that, now can we?" chuckled Vulcan, a sinister smile on his face and hate in his eyes. "You have no power here, Vitae... Michael saved you once, it won't happen again... Time to say... Goodbye!" Vulcan flung a fireball from his tail, hurdling toward Vitae.
Vitae leaped to the left just in time and crashed to the floor. The fireball exploding with an unbelievable force. Vitae staggered to his feet, he jumped onto the rocks which surrounded the cave, the platforms turning to embers as his feet pressed against them and Vulcan throwing flurries of fireballs at each leap. Vitae soon stood near the roof of the cave and pounced down at Vulcan with colossal speeds, his claws cutting deep into Vulcan's charcoal skins and ripping down his cheek. Vulcan fell with Vitae, in pain, his mane fading from an erupting blaze to a cowardly ember, his paws covering his wound. He let out a mighty roar which burst through the air with a torrent of flames. Vitae leaped around Vulcan's body and took a bite at his neck, his claws scratching as he pulled at his skin.
Vulcan rose and knocked Vitae to the floor. Vulcan's mane grew from an ember but never to its full form. "I will not deal with this insolence anymore!" The walls burst into flames, geezers ejected from the floor with steam and the roof fell like comets. Vitae leaped around the floor as the entire cave collapsed around him, he charged for the exit, sprinting through the tunnels with Vulcan close behind. The cave was too small for his vast body, but nothing stopped him! Vulcan broke his way through and chased Vitae to the very ledge that stood between him and a drop which would certainly be the end for Vitae, if he fell.
Vulcan put one paw forward, and bowed while taking in a deep breath, ready to roar. Vitae suddenly sprung forward. Leaping onto Vulcan's head, Vulcan turned to shake him off and uncontrollably let out his ferocious roar, his body stuck in the cave as Vitae jumped on the rocks above the entrance as the ledge give way.
Vulcan was ripped from the cliff, the mass of his body too much for the burning walls which crumbled under the pressure, including the platform under Vitae's feet. They both fell, rock and fire. Vitae narrowed his body for speed, tearing through the air behind Vulcan before crashing into his chest, his ribs shattered and his mane exploded. Fire flung from his neck as it drained from his eyes.
As Vulcan's body collided with the ground the air was blanketed in a black, thick cloud. Pura stared into the smoke. "VITAE!" she screamed. But there was no reply. Ash began to rain down, coal still alight struck the ground around her and the mountain crumbled to the ground but nothing impelled her to move, she was frozen, lost in a moment of awe.
Then a flame ignited at the base of the smoke. Pura, fell back as fear struck her heart. The flame came closer towards her. Growing brighter. Growing taller. She didn't move an inch, her claws anchored into the ground and her fur stood on edge as a chill crept down her spine. A roar stormed the air and expelled the smoke in a radius around a tall, powerful lion.
His fur a pure, gentle white and a magnificent mane burning with the a passionate roaring fire. The smoke swirled and drifted behind him, gathering into a circle revealing the victor. Vitae. Pura walked towards him, speechless. "Your forest was no accident. But we will find justice," said Vitae.
The smoke surrounded them like a maelstrom, a fire burning above and water flowing below. The smoke grew faster, taller, thicker and with a thunderous roar it collapsed, engulfing them. As the smoke cleared, the planet fell empty and lonely.
They had gone.
ns 15.158.61.48da2
