Inner Light: The Dragon Within by Metha Metharom - HTML preview

Prologue

Deep into the century, a sorcerer of notable standing created many artifacts for nonmagically aligned folks to fight off an ancient evil. The artifacts included amulets of a particular type. One of which was the Amulet of Release. The quantity of these amulets are not known for many were destroyed in the war, and some were seized by the darkness.

These ancient evils were corrupted spirits of the ancient ones. They were once in fact mighty dragons who grew tired of being branded evil by their very look and took action into their own hands to stamp away their threat but, it was these very acts that led them to the path of evil.

There are still yet many good ancient ones that remain but they have kept themselves away from man.

Through long hours of discussion, the council of the wise ones decided to lock away forever the power of the artifacts.

The stories told were long ago but, now is now.

 

Chapter 1

Michael sat at the
computer staring at the screen wondering what the hell to do. This was the most boring night ever, sure yesterday was boring but this is worse, because it was still boring. Tomorrow will probably be the same and he will end up suffering the never ending chain of boredom.

It was kind of ironic for him as he muses the fact that at work he works predominantly with computers and yet here and now he was staring at one, when he finally got home.

Sometimes he wishes something would happen, anything at all; a meteorite maybe or even a tiny war. Anything would do to stop the growing madness inside of his head. If something doesn't happen soon he fears that he would become delusional.

Before he knew it he had fallen asleep, only his eyes weren't close. It’s just that his brain seems to have shut down, and he was operating on
automatic. He became amused at this fact but only just.

Then it came, the
screeching of car tires in front of his house, the sound of metal scraping across concrete and a loud bang, no…many loud bangs as if guns were being fired, and then the roaring sound of
something. Then everything slowed down.

The wall seem to peel or rather seem to bend unnaturally, a small crack at first then metal pierces through the wall, it was like an action movie that he was participating in. The car came racing through the left side of the wall with him still sitting where he was.

Another second and he would have died, he had reacted without thinking, he leaned back so much that the chair fell over with his feet sticking in the air while his desktop computer along with half of his bed was wiped out along with the wreckage of the car.

This was not happening, he had saved up so much for that computer, and he even had to forego eating to buy it.

Michael felt so angry at the injustice of this but could do nothing about it for at that point in time the roof decided to cave in on him.

He had never been one for claustrophobia for the fact that he had never been in a closed space but, now he is and he struggles with his all to pull himself out of the wreckage of his house, he was half swimming half struggling, he could no longer feel anything in his arms but he had a fair clue that he was wounded.

A small twinkling of light, he saw it briefly but he saw it, he pulls himself out and stares at the glowing full moon and gasps. He was alright but, he was wounded, but barely, there were only some scrapes and scratches but they would
definitely hurt when his adrenalin finally decreased. But at this moment he thanks the powers that be that he can not feel anything.

Then he saw them, the headlights, the headlights of the infernal car that wrecked his bedroom and his parents’ house. Oh boy are his parents going to kill him when they get back from their holiday trip. But maybe the insurance will cover all of it since a car, not his own, was driven through his house.

Before he knew it he was trudging along up to the car, so angry now that he was ignorant to everything, especially to another car bearing down his way and barely stopping in the back of his ignorant self.

"Hey you, you fuckhead, get out of the car now!!!" Not all his life had he been so angry. Where is he going to sleep? How is he going to rest to go to work? The bastards will pay.

He had trudged up to the car door and yanked hard,
without acknowledging it, the car door just came loose and tossed to the side as if it was mere paper.

Behind the car door was a heavily wounded man, he was bleeding heavily, and from what Michael could see, so was
everyone in the car. Anger turned to concern and he started to pull them out. 'Oh my God, what the hell?' he thinks.

"I would leave them there if I were you," said a voice behind his back. Michael turned around at the cold voice to see a black clad man pointing a gun at him.

He had wished for
excitement but, not for this, not for this. The man waved the gun at him as if for him to move. He had no choice whatsoever but to comply and then with a glaring realization, this man was
responsible for everything. He was responsible for the wounded, responsible for his backyard being dug up like it is now, responsible for his house being cut in half and his computer which was completely destroyed. Anger fed him power, anger fed him strength and he clenched his fists.

The man must have seen what he was about to do, for he suddenly brought up the gun as if to shoot but Michael was just that much quicker and launched himself at the man only to be shot straight in the chest. 'Fuck this was bad' and then he fell backward onto the ground.

He was looking straight up at the moon, and his eyes were getting blurry and his body growing cold when he saw the face smirking down at him with that infernal gun pointed straight at his head. "Boy, that surprises me but you just earned yourself one way to heaven" and he took aim.

Then he saw the light flashes behind him and
something launched past his head in a blur, the smiling face was a frown. Then a line of flame went past his face and body as there were more flashes of light. But that too was fading and then darkness.

Chapter 2

Carla watches helplessly as she sees the man take the bullets and fell over, as the Priestess of the Seal it was her duty to protect and keep the Amulets of Release from the clawing hand of the darkness. And now a bystander was involved.

She had no clue as to how they found out her where abouts for many runes were drawn on their bodies to dampen dousing. But never the less they have found her and her protector. It was only the protector who was given the usage of the amulets for without it there was no way they would be able to protect her from harms way.

Some of those same protectors had used their own bodies to shield her from harm when the car finally crashed and had plowed through the house.

Everything was fine and happy and she was talking to Brandon just a brief moment ago now he was dead and laying beside her…his neck broken from the impact that should have killed her.

As the protector
continuously fights the dark wizard just metres away from her and also the body of the stranger who had previously been
dragging them out of the
wrecked car, she could watch in helplessness.

None of her protectors were qualified to use the amulets for they could not release their true form. Only two in their group could have done that and that was Brandon and the other, Ritter. Brandon was dead, his amulet dull in her hand. He could not use it now but perhaps that stranger can.

The amulets were said to give any bearer the power of regeneration but, no matter the regenerative ability the dead can not be revived.

While her protectors were fighting, she placed the amulet around the neck of the stranger hoping that she had made it in time. The man, from what she could see, had willingly tossed himself at the dark wizard
without a second thought and now he lay dying on the ground.

The effect was
instantaneous not even Brandon or Ritter could have released the amulet.

The explosion of light nearly burned her sight away as it shot from the body of the man and into the sky, rising up and up and up in a wavy line forming finally the shape of the ancient one, a dragon of magnificence. The white serpentine dragon roared once, shaking the
surroundings while her protectors and the dark wizard completely stopped in their tracks.

The dragon turned around, staring at the now terrified group. He looked down back into the body and plunged into the body of the man.

She watches as the
wounds of the man had gotten miraculously healed and the man rose up to his feet standing firm and glaring at the crowd of terrified protectors and the dark wizard.

Chapter 3

Michael did not get it, he was dying and now he was up on his feet, power surging through him with magnificent power. For a while there he could have sworn that he had actually
exploded from his own chest into the sky and then plunged back into himself again.

He took a look at them, all were wounded but, one he remembered had shot him in cold blood and the rest were in the car. He was pissed, very pissed and he wanted to release it all, release it all on that man.

Without realizing it he had said it out loud "Release". He could feel it blazing around him, the energy simply exploded under his feet and surrounded him in a spherical field of blazing light. The ground exploded around him tearing away and floating into the air.

Before he knew it he was encased in an armour of white and gold, a crown rested on his head, and two white gigantic bird like wings sprouted from his back, and he was holding a white and gold spear in his hand which was blazing with incredible light.

He points at the wizard with the spear and a beam shoots out of it and into and through him. The dark wizard screamed and black smoke rose from his mouth and some from his skin. The dark wizard fell to the
ground not understanding of what had truly happened but it seems his power had gone from him.

With that Michael promptly fainted.

 

Chapter 4

Rozek, angered by the incompetence of his subordinate, punched hard into the table in front of him making a big hole in it. It was incredulous that one dark wizard could not handle the power of one drugged up
mediocre protector and a sorry excuse for one.

But yet it had been
reported back that Grondel failed for his dark signature had
vanished from the Book of Pact. This of course usually means that they have been killed and
therefore have failed in their mission.

He had offered Ritter the Power of Darkness thus creating a pact, and his signature still remained in the book therefore he had not tried to betray the contract. It was he that drugged his friend. So how could they still defeat Grondel?

Grabbing the table with one hand while his other
subordinates watched in fear, he slammed it across the wall sending shards of wood fragments everywhere.

"Find her and bring the damn priestess alive, we need her blood to open the seal!" he yelled at them.

Callyn a corrupted amulet user stood up and bowed at him and then walked gracefully out. While his other underlings, goblins and trolls alike quickly rushed out as if in fear for their lives.

Chapter 5

Carla watched over the body of the man who had just saved all of their lives, he
seemed to be in a comatose state of some kind, he had made no movement at all ever since he had collapsed.

Her remaining protectors had called up 000 for emergency aid but had left the house in ruins while taking the dark wizard's car to continue on to their journey's end.

They are now at Farley's Eden, a hand reared flower and plants mega store, also the
hideaway of Farley the Wizard. There was no doubt in her mind at all that the man that had rescue her had the spirit of the ancient ones, the dragons of old and therefore the one most worthy to hold the power of the Amulet of Release; an astounding find for anyone of this age.

From what she knew and what has been passed down to her, dragons have left this world to the hands of men but, for this man to possess the power or the spirit of the dragon could only mean one thing…the dragons had sent one of their own to be born in this world in the guise of a man to help them.

Farley standing by her side confirmed as much, "Yup, this boy here…there is no doubt about it…the energy he gives off is that of a dragon. Sure he looks like a man but he is definitely a dragon."

"But why? Why would he be here and why now?" she asks him. Farley just shrugged and said "I am not quite sure but, there were these stories too that the dragons, before deciding to lock away forever the power of the amulet, had volunteered to stay behind in the world of men to help out mankind thinking that to just abandon them is wrong," he looks down at the man and then says "Perhaps he is one of them that had wanted to remain behind."

She was almost elated when she heard what Farley had said. "So you are saying the war could finally be tilted in our favor with the help of this man?" She almost jumped for joy if not for Farley stopping her.

"Don't rush into believing this and that," he frowned "At the same time he could be one of the ones that stayed behind to
destroy the world too. At the moment we have no clue what kind he is, let’s just keep a safe distance."

She got to her feet only to find Elra's hand on her shoulder. She turned around to meet her friend's gaze, there was a look of sadness in her face, then the realization hit her and she began to cry. Her favorite protector, Brandon, had died to protect her and she wept into her friend's arm where she held her for a while then pushed her back. Her face still hadn't changed, then she said "The amulets, they are rejecting the other protectors..."

Carla could not help it but, just fell back onto the floor, this was bound to happen
eventually. They were just not meant to wear it. Only a few non-magically aligned men or women could wear it and release the power from within them. But, unfortunately, as time goes past the amulet would reject them for they do not have the right kind of power inside them.

She looked to Farley and he nodded "Looks like we got no choices then. We are just going to have to trust in fate and trust in what it brings." He then looked back at the man who suddenly groaned.

Chapter 6

Michael woke up
thinking ‘what the hell hit me?’, he had vaguely recalled the weird dream where he turned into a sorry excuse for a power ranger and shot a beam of light at an enemy. What the hell was that about?

When he opened his eyes, he saw a face so beautiful it made him wonder if he was in heaven and then he saw the guy and thought nope no one that mediocre looking could make it in heaven. So he must not be dead. It was a weird sort of reasoning but, he was right on the mark.

The girl then grabbed him and for some reason begins to cry, oh god, he must stink, he just realize he hadn't showered last night. Then he remembered her face, she was in the car and he had tried to rescue her but then had gotten shot for it. Then something weird happened and that dream happened. Please let it be a dream, let it be a dream he almost yelled out.

The girl sniffles and says "My name is Carla. You are the dragon that was sent to save us. You are our only hope."

Crap, he thought.

 

Chapter 7

Errrrr...is what Michael should have said but being the man that he is he said "Get away from me you fucking nutjob!!!!" and then backed away to the farthest corner of the room.

Carla didn't know exactly where she went wrong in her introduction but, she had a feeling that he was not going to listen to reason, neither did Farley who immediately
whacked him on the head with his staff which suddenly appeared.

"So what are we going to do?" she said with chagrin.

"Well I don't know about you but, I think you came on just a bit too strong," said Farley.

The wizard sighed and said, "Let’s just take him back and see what he does next. I can fix his house back to the way it was in a matter of seconds but, really you know how to pick your heroes."

Chapter 8

"It’s been 7 hours," Carla was mumbling behind his back with her hand grasping her waist. He doesn't quite understand it himself but, for some reason magic just doesn't want to work around this place, as if the very air around here was a magic dampener.

"And I don't think he can stand any more of you knocking him unconscious either, you must have hit him 6 times by now," she sighed. "If you hit him anymore I think he is going to be brain damaged."

No choice then, he had to use it, he always hate using it because whenever he used the bloody amulet he would turn into a turtle but with magnified
magic. With one word he said it, "release", and his very body shrunk down and his body started to turn green and a bit scaly. He was still on his two feet but now he was that much smaller but still holding the staff. Farley, the Wizard, has now become Farley the anthromorphic Turtle Wizard. Why in God's name was this man a dragon and he was a turtle it was so unfair. But, with his power magnified 100 fold one quick chant was enough to put the house back in its previous shape.

He was never going to live this down in the wizarding community. And it always takes him 2 hours plus to change back, god damn them all, god damn them all to hell.

"Errr I don't think the house originally looked like that Farley" she says. He gasped, as only an anthromorphic turtle can, without realizing it he had
converted the house into a pit with spikes jutting out from every which way. In his way he had turn it into hell. He sighed and chanted once more. The house was luckily now back to the way it was, or at least he hoped so.

Chapter 9

When Michael woke up he had a splitting headache, he must be coming down with that new flu, for the life of him he couldn't remember what
happened, maybe it was some kind of self induced amnesia resulting from a severe trauma state. Little did he know this was in fact the case, he was shutting down getting whacked in the head six times in a row as a way of forgetting the pain.
Unfortunately, the pain was still there.

It was the fucking
weirdest dream he ever had. He was so glad that he was just the mediocre Michael that everyone knows. He looked at the clock then jumped, it was 2:00pm, and he starts work in 30 minutes. How was he going to get to work on time? It was at least half an hour walk to where he works. The train had already gone, what the hell was he going to do? He hadn't even made food yet or prepared anything. What the fuck???!!!!

After several minutes have passed he decided the best thing to do was call work and tell them he was going to be late but as he got to the phone for some reason the phone did not seem to be connected. What the
fuck???!!!! In the end with only 10 minutes left he decided to run to work.

Even if he ran full speed the whole way the best he could do was cut down 2 minutes, he would still be late by 20 minutes Boy was this going to look good on his record.

When he got out of the door he burst full speed down the corner hanging a quick turn and rushed madly down the streets, in his wake he left a long line of flame from where his feet had touched the pavement.

This of course would be totally out of place if not for the front of his house already
looking like an entry way into hell itself, poor Farley, the Turtle Wizard had only managed to turn the back of the house to the way it was while the front still
remained like the looks of hell.

This visage was surprisingly good for the visiting mormons because for some
strange reason everyone was mumbling about that house next door and wanting to ascend to the heaven above.

When he finally arrived at the call centre, his favorite place to work (Not!), he could smell some kind of burning, maybe there was a fire of some kind, and he was right the smouldering shoes had made the carpet catch fire, then the alarms went off and all hell broke loose.

The sprinklers were turned on suddenly and being the call centre that it is, with
computers and phones lying around, water was not the best friend of such equipment.

The computer keyboard fried and several operators had to be sent home or to the hospital depending on which one was electrocuted and which ones were in shock from seeing someone getting electrocuted.

All in all it was a good day for Michael. He was paid for a job not done and he
electrocuted several people that were always good since he didn't like most of them.

Taking a short trip home on the train and being able to relax was a welcome idea for Michael but, when he finally got off at his station, he found himself inundated by a large crowd, made up of news
journalists and random citizens. Bumping around and wading through the crowd he finally made it in front of his house. For a long while he stared at it, his brain attempting to make heads or tails of what he is seeing and failing miserably. He looked up at the sky with his fist punching at the clouds as if seeking
vengeance, and he shouted "Why me?!?" at the top of his lungs.

Chapter 10

"You should stay here until Kaiten arrives, he is a first class protector from the
organization," Farley says to the girl priestess "Yes he is no dragon spirit but he is just as good, he is skilled in martial arts and various forms of
assassination techniques."

"No I should move now, I have already caused so much trouble for you, and if I stay there will be even more problems for you," Carla says feeling so tired from it all. Her protector was of no use any longer except as a meat shield now that they have lost the power to use the amulets. Besides they were originally priests with no fighting skills. All except for Brandon who was a hired bodyguard sent by the organization.

Elra then intervened, "No, Farley is right you should stay here, by leaving you would put yourself at risk and also the Seal and thus the world. You should stay until at least Kaiten arrives."

With a heavy heart Carla sighed, at least with her here she can at least keep a closer eye on the dragon spirit man.

Chapter 11

Kaiten sat in the chair, face cool and calm not showing any sign of emotion. He had been trained this way since birth, and not surprisingly, he was awarded an Amulet of Release. To all he was Kaiten but to the Black Panther Ninja Clan he was its Kage, the leader of the Black Panther Ninja Clan, and he was on his way to Protect Carla the Priestess of the Seal.

The airplane from Japan landed at Birsbane Airport and soon Kaiten was walking out to meet his contact. As a Ninja he could be noticed only if he wanted to but, at this moment, he did not want to, so he was part of the growing throngs.

Dazza knew, from the picture, what Kaiten would look like and jumped up and down excitedly when he saw him, waving almost frantically.

Ritter almost laughed at the young would be protector as Dazza did the job he was hoping to do. Using Dazza to his own means and then getting rid of Kaiten would only be just a matter of time.

Kaiten frown as the
young man wave at him in such a frantic manner that he almost lost his cool but, being the man that he is, he decided the best course of action was to just approach him. As he neared Dazza,
another man appeared by his side.

"Hey the name is Ritter, they sent me here to escort you and Dazza back to the Priestess." Ritter smile warmly, a bit too warmly for Kaiten's liking. Dazza was a bit confused as to why Ritter was sent also, since nothing was mentioned that Ritter would come as well.

The plan was that Dazza would meet Kaiten and take him back to Farley's Eden via a cab. But this was okay too.
Especially with Ritter being an elite Protector as well, this could only make the mission that much more successful. Dazza smile at this which makes Kaiten relax visibly.

Ritter led them to his car pointing that Dazza should sit next to him while Kaiten sit next to the bag with his luggage..

The car drove out of the car park and into the main road but, as Dazza noticed they were going the wrong way, in fact they were going outside of town. Dazza frowned at this but did not say anything as Ritter aside from Brandon was one of the best Protectors around.

Dazza could only notice that something was very wrong when they were completely outside of town now and there were no cars in sight. Dazza tried to turn around to warn Kaiten to get out but it was too late, his head was suddenly smashed through the side
window knocking him out, and causing severe head injury.

Kaiten knew from the start that this would be a set up. So he had prepared for it, with his amulet in his hand just before the incident happen. But, before he could release the amulet, Ritter went through the process first.

"Dark release," Ritter mumbled under his breath and a globe of darkness covered his entire body, the energy was so violent that the car exploded into pieces. Dazza was thrown
completely out onto the road, barely hanging onto life as blood poured out from his body.

Kaiten had said it just in time and released a powerful panther spirit which jumped from his chest and caused a shield to form around his entire body.

When the shrapnel and dust finally settled there were two powerful beings confronting each other. Kaiten, now wearing ninja armor, holding a red and black katana blazing with red and black flames and Ritter, clad completely in darkness, his face metamorphoses into that of the devil, spikes sticking out of his shoulders and arms, no longer that of a human but that of a demon.

Kaiten knew that this was not going to be an ordinary fight and he is most likely going to get more than scrapes and scratches from this.

Ritter roared at him and charged. Kaiten vanished from where he stood and appeared behind the back of the slower moving Ritter. His katana in hand he slashed diagonally downward in a wide arc leaving an after image behind but, to no avail causes next to no damage on Ritter who turned around at him and grinned widely.

"You think you are the only one with such tricks?" Ritter asked before vanishing right in front of his eyes only to appear right behind Kaiten and grabbing to do a reverse sup lex with such force that the ground exploded with a semi conscious Kaiten at the centre of the crater.

As Ritter could feel victory at hand, he jumped upward and roared while spikes jutted out of his elbows even further and twisted in the air aiming his spiked elbow at the semi conscious Kaiten.

Dazza at that point in time reaches consciousness and in his last act of heroics jumps toward the semi conscious Kaiten and protected his body with his own.

The blow was too much for Dazza, and his body gave way and convulsed one last time while blood spurts from his mouth where he lay completely lifeless.

Kaiten, finally regaining composure, jumps backward from the crater and yells "Criss Cross Slasher," sending a black and red cross like beam at Ritter who took the full brunt of it. The move had completely taken Ritter by surprise by its
damaging hit. Blood starts to seep from his armored skin and involuntarily he started to turn back into a human.

Kaiten, in the mean time, had used the last of his strength in that last desperate move and could do no more, throwing a smoke bomb at the ground, he vanishes into thin air.

At the least he now knows where to look for the Priestess of the Seal.

Chapter 12

Carla openly cried at the sight of the broken body of Dazza whom Ritter had brought back.

"So it has come to this then?" Farley said "Kaiten too had defected and is now on the run; well that just means the plan has changed again."

Ritter grinned at this, the damage that had been done by Kaiten was too severe for him to ignore, he can barely stand but this will do for now. Kaiten is branded a traitor and there is one less pest to deal with.

Farley was taken aback by the grin but continued on "Carla, I think its best that you go where that idiot is, he may not be much right now but he can still protect you."

Ritter raises his eyebrows at this but does not make a move to ask any questions which relaxed Farley a little.

‘It must just be his
paranoia,’ Farley