Son of Ignis

Son of Ignis
I


Fluffy white snow fell gently to the ground before it was thrust up again by the strong breeze of mid December. Cool tempest blue-grey eyes watched its assent before turning back to the abandoned rundown shack out in the middle of a lush, green forest. Or it would have been lush and green if it were summer.

South Eastern Kentucky was full of untouched forests. Being at the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains, Mercy Kentucky was almost a town in the middle of nowhere. The population of Hartford County Kentucky was only 90, 000 and they were the second largest town within the whole region of the South East.

There was only one clan in the South Eastern part of Kentucky, and that was Cyrwil clan. Even then the Cyrwil clan only took up 5% of the entire population of Hartford County. Not all of them were hunters though, because not everyone was suited to be one. They were normal civilians, police officers, school teachers, and the occasional blacksmith.

Travis and his clan have silver hair because of Albinism; the genetic condition that is the lack of pigmentation in the hair eyes and skin. Most of his clan members have this condition in the form of silver hair.

The Cyrwil Clan are against killing vampires and werewolves just because they were vampires and werewolves. To them every living thing has a soul, or more specific, every being that has the ability to feel sorrow, pain, and regret has a soul.

Those who refused to change and Killers that kill on their own free will and enjoy it, whether they are human, vampire, or werewolf have no soul in their eyes. They are monsters, monsters that will be dealt with swift justice.

The Cyrwil Clan’s specialty is Sealing. Meaning they can seal anything. They can also store certain things in an alternate dimension through special runes. All they have to do is concentrate and send some of their spiritual energy into the runes and they can call their weapons into this dimension.

Travis went to school just like any normal child would. He graduated Mercy Elementary School and was currently going to Hartford County High School with his cousins and his younger brother.

Michael was eighteen months younger than him and was a year below him school making him a junior. Sometimes people would mistake the two as twins because they looked so much alike but Michael had inherited his mother’s cool grey eyes whereas Travis got a mixture of both his parents color; a cool blue-grey.

Chin length silver locks fell into Travis’s slightly feminine face before he brushed them back into some semblance of order. He wore a pair of black women’s jeans that hugged his legs and butt nicely even though he covered them with the long t-shirts he liked to wear. They were hip-hugger skinny jeans that were the color of charcoal but they suited him just fine. They were, after all, just pants.

His long black winter duster was buttoned all the way up from his the waist but his fleece lined hood was down which was what caused his spiky, shaggy silver hair to fly around in the winter wind in the first place. Under the fleece lined winter duster was a long-sleeved sweater that was pitch black in color and was made of a mixture of wool and cotton.

The harsh wind blew again causing his hood to flap against the hilt of his six foot long katana that went from his left shoulder to just off from his right foot. His nodachi was sheathed in a special sheath that would allow quick drawing and was basically weaved of flexible wire. It criss-crossed down the blade and with just the flick of his wrist he can unlock the sheathing mechanism and pull the sword free.

His shin length black hard leather boots, which his jeans were tucked into, sank into the already piled up snow as he moved forward to inspect the old shack leaving size twelve footprints behind. The silver haired teen pushed the door open with his right hand and his left hand rose to the hilt of his nodachi as he cautiously entered the cabin.

It was semi-dark inside and a fine layer of dust covered the floor and sparse furnishings. The old fireplace across the room looked like it hadn’t been used in decades and was made of what looked like light colored stones charred with years of use that were stacked up and sealed together with mortar.

Snow fell off of his boots as he stepped inside. The cool chilly air for one second cut down his collar and caused him to shiver. Silver eyebrows drew together as the youth analyzed the situation. The report had been there was a werewolf living in this cabin.

It seemed like nothing had been there in a long time let alone lived there.

“Hello?” to himself his deep, yet youthful voice sounded eerie in the empty shack and started to scan the area with narrowed eyes. In a shower of red light, the hunter dismissed his nodachi and sighed heavily.

‘Great. What a perfect waste of a good Saturday.’ He thought bitterly to himself. The door to the cabin slammed shut with the sharp wind causing the youth to jump and mutter curses to himself. He looked over at the window and cursed again. The strong breeze and light snowfall had turned into a vicious blizzard. Travis sighed because he knew he wasn’t going anywhere for a while.

‘Might as well make myself comfortable.’ He thought bitterly before looking around the room to find anything burnable he could use to start a fire. There was an old table with four chairs in the middle of the room, an old looking vanity with a broken mirror on the far right wall and a dusty moth-eaten bed over in the left corner. He grabbed all but one of the chairs and stared to break them down so he could burn them.

“Damn, just my luck. It might take a minute or two to get this old thing working.” The silver haired youth said as he broke an already degrading chair and tossed the broken bits into the fireplace. After that was finished he snapped his fingers calling on his affinity for fire to light the wood but it just sizzled.

'Too cold?’ Travis asked himself in his mind. The wood should have been dry, considering the windows and roof was still intact. The apprentice hunter frowned and tried again.

He balled up his left fist, being a south paw, and released it. The releasing of tension from his hand summoned a baseball sized ball of fire. It hovered over his hand, bobbing up and down with the rhythm of his heartbeat. He drew his hand back and tossed the fireball onto the wood which burst into flame.

Travis sighed in relief as the smoke started to go up the old chimney instead of bellowing out into the cabin like he thought it would. It was a sign that the chimney was still usable. Warmth instantly started to flood the room giving the young hunter a sense of nostalgia.

He his cousin and his little brother had sat in front of a fire like this many times during the winter. Though they were training to become hunters, they still got to spend time with each other. Christmas was always spent in front of a fire just like the one he sat before.

“Master needs to get better Informants…” the silver haired hunter grouched bitterly before he sighed and sat down on the dusty floor in front of the fire. Tempest colored eyes watched the wood burn as it crackled and snapped happily. It reminded him of his affinity training and of his childhood with his little brother and his cousin Edward.

‘What would Edward do in a situation like this?’ he thought. Edward was better at just about everything than he was. The hunter was so lost in thought he was startled when his cell phone went off. Travis reached into his coat pocket, pulled out his black Samsung SGH-t539, a basic plan model and flipped it open.

“Yel’low.” He greeted before he started to stare off into the distance.

“(Such an unorthodox greeting…I swear) have you located the Werewolf yet?” the voice of his Mistress Hunter came through the line. Instantly Travis was on his feet with wide fearful eyes. Margaret Cyrwil was he and his brother’s trainer. She was a tall willowy woman with Romanesque features with pixie cut silver hair and cool brown eyes. She also had a very nasty temper if you got on the wrong side of it.

All hunters go through a process of training. When they turn five they are assigned or chosen by a hunter that is not their parents and trained until they reach the age of eighteen.

Travis had a half a year left until his Initiation Ceremony which all the hunters go through. He had hoped he could go through the ceremony with his cousin but Edward still had a year and a half of training left, even if he was mentally and physically ready to ‘graduate’.

“You need better informants, it was a fuckin wild goose chase. Plus, now I’m stuck in a fuckin blizzard.” Travis said with irritation making his words acidic. He heard an almost inaudible, irritated sigh on the other side of the phone. He was going to get it when he got back.

“Er, Master?” Travis asked uncertain, his Mistress was probably mad at him now for using such crass language.

“(…always so troublesome! Michael doesn’t give me half the trouble you do…) I should wash your mouth out for using such language Travis, but if you’re caught in a snowstorm then it will have to wait. Come back as soon as the storm clears, understood?” The woman on the other end of the phone said before the line went dead. Travis sighed. Margaret was always like that, like Travis was more of a burden than her own choice. He flipped the phone closed and thumbed the speaker and music player buttons on its face.

’Why does she have to be like that? I know I’m not the greatest apprentice in the world but I’m not the worst either…’ Travis thought with a frown.

She had chosen to train him. He knew he had been more than difficult growing up but he also knew he was as good as his cousin if not better. Actually he knew his cousin was special. Hell he was special, Edward could sense specific auras. He could tell a person’s intent by how their aura moved.

The only thing Travis was good at was swinging his sword and burning things. He hated feeling so inferior to his cousin, and he also hated that he felt inferior. He just wanted Edward as he saw him to just be his cousin, not a rival, not an object of hatred, and definitely not for to feel inferior, just…a cousin.

The door to the cabin slammed open causing Travis’s heart to leap into his chest and for him to spin towards the door. Wide tempest eyes stared at the person in the entryway. The man’s long, waist length cyan blue hair whipped wildly around him in the force of the wind. His violet eyes looked dazed and he appeared to be half awake.

He wore a torn long-sleeved blue shirt that was a few shades darker than his hair underneath a long white winter jacket. It should have clashed with his pale skin but for some reason it didn’t. The pants he wore were black and were tucked into the thick soled, fleece-lined winter boots.

Travis was about to call on his affinity when the stranger fell forward and hit the ground hard in a dead faint. Travis leaped up from his position and quickly ran over to the downed man.

He flipped him over and checked his pulse but stopped when he got a good look at him. The man had sharp slightly feminine features with long cerulean eyelashes that graced the man’s slightly slanted eyes.

‘He’s Japanese…’ Travis thought. The silver haired Hunter cursed when he realized he hadn’t checked the man’s pulse and quickly did so. It was slow but strong so that was a good thing.

The man was about the average height for a Japanese man and appeared to be in his mid twenties. He noticed he had black eyebrows and knew that the light blue colored hair was a dye job.

The teen noticed that the man’s hair was cut in layers. His bangs were about chin length, and the top of the rest was shoulder length. The rest went down the man’s spine all the way to his lower back.

‘It would have taken about four or five boxes of hair dye to cover that much of his hair…’ Travis thought. The door banged loudly against the wall causing Travis to jump and curse again. The cold wind bit harshly at his nose.

Travis hastily stood and closed the door, barricading it with the block of wood that was sitting next to it. Then he grabbed the stranger by hooking his arms under the blue haired man’s armpits and dragged the stranger over to the fire. Once there, the apprentice hunter walked briskly over to the old musty bed and grabbed the moth-eaten, dusty blanket to cover the blue haired man with.

“What the hell happened to you?” He whispered worriedly as he looked the stranger over. Then he felt it, the flickering of an aura. Travis sighed and rubbed his face with the palm of his hand. The man was a vampire, or so Travis guessed from the way the man’s aura felt.

Blue-grey eyes looked over to the fire but it took a few minutes for Travis to realize that it needed more wood. The apprentice hunter pushed off the ground with his hand and stood, making his way over to another chair.

He broke it just as easily as he had broken the first chair. Considering that was like snapping a twig, they were truly unsuitable to sit on. Travis was glad he’d decided to sit on the floor or he would have one aching ass.

It only took a few minutes to get all of the wood into the fire. He liked watching things burn, but not to the point where he would set fires that were dangerous. He knew the fire element suited him best. Travis absolutely abhorred the cold. After throwing the rest of the chair into the fire the deep soft tenor voice broke the silence dragging the apprentice hunter out of his thoughts.

“Where am I? What happened?” the stranger asked in Japanese. Travis looked over at him and frowned. It was a good thing he knew the language, growing up around the Karasuchi Coven had its advantages. Come to think of it, he could have sworn he’d seen this vampire before.

“Those are supposed to be my words, what the hell are you doing out here in the middle of nowhere Karasuchi-san?” Travis answered in English. The man jumped to his feet and instantly was in a fighting position. Travis figured he’d scared the man whom must have thought he was alone.

‘Figures.’ Travis though mirthlessly. The silver haired teen grumped as he flopped down on the hard dusty floor and folded his legs Indian style. The Japanese man stood there though and stared at Travis incredulously.

Startled violet eyes locked with his stormy blue ones. He was confused; the last thing he remembered was fighting something…

“What…ah gomen.” the blue haired man still looked quite dazed. The apprentice hunter sighed and pointed to the spot in front of the fire and next to him.

‘He must have hit his head pretty hard…or something like that…’ Travis thought bemused.

“Sit down and collect yourself.” The hunter advised as he stared into the fire.

‘Okay so obviously he’s not a threat, good. Oh not good, maybe I should sit down…’ the Japanese man thought as he almost toppled over. It would take a good fifteen minutes of rest for him to regain enough energy to not stumble when he walked. As for using his affinity, he couldn’t call up enough spirit to freeze a glass of water let alone fight until after a good night’s rest.

“Geez and you’re supposed to be a vampire.” Travis grumped as he turned his attention to the blue haired man.

‘What the hell is that supposed to mean?’ the vampire thought irritatedly. Who was this kid, to talk so haughty to him, one that was of one of the greatest covens in existence. The vampire blinked.

Then the man winced and touched his forehead. The backlash of using too much of his spiritual energy was causing a migraine in the back of his skull. He decided it was best to sit down so he sat down next to Travis; rubbing his aching skull.

“Ah I remember, I was hunting the nymph and…she overpowered me with her affinity.” The vampire said before wincing again. He was kind of ashamed of himself for getting his ass handed to him by a nymph two hundred years younger than himself.

‘I’m over five hundred years old damn it!’ the vampire thought grumpily.

“A nymph…let me guess, a winter nymph. Don’t feel bad, they can tap directly into Nature’s elemental laylines.” Hazy amethyst eyes cleared and the Japanese vampire turned his attention to Travis. The youth had correctly guessed.

‘He’s smart and correct. In all my years of training I never once was able to tap into the elemental laylines. Itaa, what a headache…’ the vampire thought as he looked at the youth. For him to guess it so quickly the kid either had good intuition, or was a hunter from the Cyrwil clan, no if ands or buts about it.

“You are a Kilver are you not?” he asked aloud and Travis nodded. Kilver was the correct pronunciation of Cyrwil which was of the ancient language. The ancient language which was the original language of the world and the language of the runes was a mix of different languages.

The vampire knew the Cyrwil clan well; they were well informed in every subject which made them the best hunters in the business. They were the perfect ally for a pro-human vampire coven.

“I was sent here to hunt a rogue werewolf which ended up being a wild goose chase and now I’m stuck here because a winter nymph likes to play hardball with a vampire.” The silver haired teen said before he noticed that the vampire was growling lowly to himself.

“Oh I hate her! How can she be so powerful!? I trained for over four hundred years to control my affinity and she comes in and wipes me out like I’m nothing!” Travis merely raised an eyebrow at the ranting blue haired man.

“Try getting bested by your younger cousin. It’s not so much fun.” He told him with a snort. The Japanese vampire sighed and settled down; glaring into the fire.

‘If only…Well, actually, now isn’t the time for regrets.’ The vampire thought bitterly.

“So, I’m just guessing but I could be wrong because of the snowstorm…but your affinity is with water right?” Travis said as he poked the vampire in the shoulder. The man sighed exasperatedly at him but answered him never the less.

“Yes, yours is with fire? I’ve been told there was a fire elementalist amongst the hunters.” The Vampire said in a faraway voice. Travis frowned.

‘Just where is this vampire? He’s definitely not with me.’ The apprentice hunter thought dismissively, thinking about the vampire’s present state of mind, or the lack there of.

“I’m a Kilver hunter, we’re in a whole ’nother class.” Travis said with a smirk and a bit of pride shining through his words.

“Oh…is that right?” Was the vampire’s chuckling response.

‘What pride.’ the Japanese man thought with a smile. He knew the Cyrwil clan was a proud one, but when even the youth are proud to be in their clan, that said something about the way things were run.

‘He’s attractive when he smiles…’ Travis thought and then became hyperaware. It had been a random thought, the kind of thought of which road he hadn’t traveled. The road better known as ‘Love, Sex, Relationships, etcetera etcetera etcetera.’ The silence was thick and Travis didn’t feel like being the one to break it. Both males stared into the fire for a long time until the vampire decided to speak.

“I’m Karasuchi, Yukimora.” The blue haired man said in with an awkward air. Travis kind of felt bad for causing the man uneasiness, but it was just as bad for the silver haired teen as it was for the vampire. He was more than glad for the subject change however, his imagination was coming up with…vivid scenarios.

“Travis Kilver.” He told him in a neutral tone. He heard the other person sigh if only slightly and he could tell Yukimora wasn’t as tense as before. When the vampire relaxed Travis was able to relax as well.

“So, this cousin you were talking about, would that by chance be Edward-kun?” Yukimora asked with a chuckle, trying to lighten the air. Travis frowned. To Edward the Karasuchi coven house was like a second home. So it was no wonder Yukimora was asking about him.

“Yeah.” He replied. It grew quiet again but this time the silence wasn’t uncomfortable. The fire crackled merrily as both the apprentice hunter and the vampire thought. Then a sudden thought hit Travis.

“Say, you said the nymph was pissed at you right? Any chance she’s still looking for you?” he asked with a bit of caution. Yukimora tensed again and if it were possible paled further than he already was.

‘I probably should have mentioned that…’ Yukimora thought; wincing inwardly.

“Probably.” He said in a monotone voice. Travis’s spun around to look at the man with alarm.

“What do you mean by ‘Probably’!?” he asked in a roar.

‘This moron is going to get us killed!!’Travis screamed in his mind. He could not believe the audacity of the Vampire beside him. Information was key to survival, lacking important information like he was still being pursued by the nymph could have cost them their lives had Travis not inquired about it.

“Well to be honest, I don’t know if she’s going to actually come after me or not. I was supposed to kill her so…” the sound of all the windows in the cabin breaking out startled Travis. The harsh winds of winter whipped passed them and extinguished the fire.

“That would be her wouldn’t it…” Travis deadpanned as a sense of irony hit him. The whole room went dark as the fire went out.

‘Yes, that would be her…’ Yukimora thought sheepishly.

The silver haired youth spun around and searched for another Aura in the dark but found none. The Hunter put both of his hands out in front of him palms up and called two balls of fire the size of softballs.

The balls of fire chased away some of the darkness but it was enough to see the figure standing a few feet away from them. it was a tall pixie-faced woman with long silver hair and an extremely pissed off look on her face.

She wore a slip of a dress that looked more like a well fitting bed sheet than an actual article of clothing. Her snow white hair fanned outward from behind her ears like a sea dragon’s fins, the rest cascaded down to the floor.

Travis wasted no time in throwing both fireballs at her, which she dodged and ignited the far wall. She raised both hands, palms out, and pushed wild arctic cold winds at the hunter in retaliation.

“Bitch! You wanna fight!?!” the silver haired youth said as he pushed all his might into his affinity then tossed a line of fire at her. Both elements clashed, pushing and pulling from the force each elementalist put into their affinity.

Electricity, caused by the fire and arctic wind clashing violently crackled in the air. The sheer force of both of their element’s level of power was startling and amazing. The nymph drew on nature itself while Travis drew on his own spiritual energy. Though he drew on his own spirit, the element of fire aided him willingly.

Yukimora really wanted to help Travis but to be honest, the vampire at that time would be more a hindrance than a help. He couldn’t move if he wanted to, though, he did put out the fires that started to sprout up everywhere.

“You are strong, I’ll give you that. But Ice beats Fire!” The Nymph screeched enraged and as if she knew everything. Travis inwardly snorted.

‘Ignorant bitch…Nature isn’t bound by absolutes.’ Travis thought. The hunter could feel the power of the element of fire pulsing in his very blood. Dancing with his heartbeat and roaring with his emotions.

“A Nymph talking about elemental absolutes!? You know Nature isn’t bound by absolutes!” Travis said before he called on Ignis itself. He may not be special like Edward, but he did have the favor of the essence of fire.

“What!? HOW DARE YOU! How DARE YOU have the favor of Ignis!!” the Nymph raged. She hated that even though she was the daughter of Glaci, a grand descendant of Aqua, that she was inferior in power to a mere human.

But Travis wasn’t a mere human, he was a hunter.

‘She is like a jealous child…’ the hunter thought with exasperation before he started chanting lowly, speaking the words long lost by humanity but forever remembered by the Hunters.

“Black Flame!!” Travis shouted the name of the incantation. The color of Travis’s flames went from a passionate red-orange to a searing cerulean blue, to a blinding white before seemingly imploding into a Hellish black. It snaked outwards, wrapping and curling around the ice and snow the nymph shot towards him then embraced her like a long lost lover.

The pure wild heat of the dancing black flames consumed the Nymph entire being. Her last terror filled shriek shook the cabin and nearly deafened the staggering fire elementalist and the vampire before all became eerily quiet. Even the storm outside ceased it’s rampage.

Travis sighed and turned his body towards the vampire before he gave the blue haired man a thumbs up and passed out cold. Yukimora caught him before he could hit the ground.

“Oi Travis-kun, don’t pass out...kuso...” The Japanese vampire cursed. He sat the young man on the ground and reached for the slightly charred blanket from earlier and draped it over the silver haired teen.

He was a sharp intelligent man with the tendency to have a bit of bad luck. The false report of the Werewolf had been issued by him. It was all to get Travis Cyrwil here, all to get him to help Yukimora vanquish the Nymph. He hadn’t expected Travis to beat her singlehandedly, but he was intrigued all the same.

“What an interesting little hinote I have here.” Yukito said as he traced the glowing red insignia on the right side of Travis’s face with the tip of his finger. It was the Glyph of Ignis, the proof of its blessing.

It was the rune for fire. It looked like eye-shadow at first, starting on the top of his eyelid and tracing towards the bridge of his nose where it cut at an angle down and to the left slashing first through the corner of his eye then across his cheekbone to his jaw and slicing back up with a point at the other end of the cheekbone.

There was also a long triangle that nestled on the left of the insignia. With his eyes closed, the circle that normally went on the top half of the glyphic ‘7’ went half over the bottom of his eyelid and looked normal but Yukimora knew it was different when the eye was open.

The Iris would be the same color red as the glyph, but the pupil would be a different story. It would be cat-like, slitted but with two small triangles with the tops angling towards the upper tip of the ‘diamond’.

That was Ignis’s Black Flame. The vampire knew that the symbol would only show up when Travis used the ‘Black Flame’ again, until then there would be no pupil, just a vast expanse of red.

It was often called the ‘Night Eye’ and was extremely sensitive to light. It could see even in the most pitch of blacks. It would take years for Travis to be able to open his eye to direct sunlight without pain and even then it would be blinded by the sun’s rays.

The glow died down and the Rune became a dark, almost black crimson color. The Vampire’s pale, slender finger traced the mark again. He was fascinated by the youth’s mark, he’d never seen one be marked on the face before.

“So beautiful. And in an interesting place, usually they are on the arm. I’ve never seen the Mark of Ignis on the face before...” Yukimora said with awe.

‘What an interesting little hinote indeed.’

...

Nodachi – a very long Japanese longsword. Sephiroth’s Masamune is a Nodachi.
Karasu: Raven, Crow, to let dry. Chi: Blood. (Karasuchi)
Gomen: short for ‘Gomen Nisei’ meaning ‘Sorry’ or ‘I’m sorry’.
Itaa: a ‘pained’ expression, like ow.
Yuki: Snow. Mora: boy? Boy’s name? Something like that.
-kun: Honorific usually used at the end of a boy’s name. I’ve heard that it’s a more affectionate way of calling someone, and I’ve also heard it’s more formal. I don’t know which one is true, though I’ve seen it tacked onto a lot of boy’s names by fangirls…so yeah…
Kuso: shit/damn it
Hinote: Flames, Blaze, Fire. (Yukimora’s little pet name ^^)

…

Travis’s Cell: http://www.phonegg.com/Samsung/SGH-T539-Beat/Samsung-SGH-T539-Beat.jpg

Author’s Notes: Have I mentioned how much I hate doing the coding for two different sites? It would be so much easier if the coding for both sites were the same…but Nooooo they have to be difficult!

Anyway, this is the first chapter to Son of Ignis, the spin off to ‘The Night’.

What I would like to know, Tellnoone_Noonetells is how it’s contradicting. Seriously I want to know so if I can, I can clarify some things. You had me thinking real hard on this story for a long time and I just don’t see it…maybe it’s the rose colored glasses?

Anyway I just wanna thank you guys for reviewing. I’m not getting much attention on Y-gallery…and I know my stories are getting better…

‘Do the day and let the day do you.’ Wiremen from ‘Duma Key’, by Stephen King.