Prologue

  A dark castle, surrounded by a moat that consisted of a green liquid, stood out from the large skyscrapers that surrounded it. It's very appearance made the sky around it blacken. Demons made out of red energy flew around it. Their screeches could be heard for miles.

  In the distance, a man riding a giant bird, that seemed to be made out of shadows, was headed towards it. The man, in his late teens, was wearing a suit that looked like a combination of Robin Hood's costume, the color black, and modern elements. His face was covered by a veil of shadows and the hood covered his hair. "Head towards the top spire!" he commanded to the bird.

  The bird shifted to a half dive, angling himself so he could reach the spire with more speed. None of the demons noticed the duo, as the sky was too black for detection. When they got close enough to the spire, the young man melted through the bird, and landed on the spire. The bird gained a humanoid shape, and melded with the man's shadow. Placing a finger on a small communication device in his ear, he said "Infiltration complete". A woman's voice on the other end said "Copy, continue Michael"

  Continuing as ordered, Michael became a shadow himself, and went through a nearby window. The room was dark, so he dispelled the shadow spell, regaining his body. He began to head down the spiral staircase, completely ignoring the multiple pictures, and the checkered paint on the walls.

  At the end of the stairway, there was a door. Melting into shadows once again, Michael slipped undetected through the opening doors. He continued to slink through the castle, stopping only to latch onto a shadow so the spell wont time out. The many guards paid no attention to him, as they heard no alerts. Most of them were celebrating their victory, in summoning the castle. They had no idea the demons would kill them all, to gain enough blood to take material form.

  Half an hour later, Michael found what he was looking for. An empty room with a red portal taking up most of the room. Since the circle was fully opened, nobody was present to guard it. Morphing back to normal, he began charging dark energy to destroy the castle, and the demons around it.

"Well, well, well. Look at what we have here." A voice behind him said.

  Michael turned around, and saw a man he hoped not to encounter. The man had a shaved face, brown hair, and a white suit on. One of his eyes was blue, and the other was completely red. Draven Kooch.

  "Draven" Michael growled. As he said that, guards ran into the room, and their presence made the portal shrink to a human sized hole. All of them aimed their guns, swords, and axes at Michael.

  "It's nice to see you, Michael! It really is." Draven began. "I was worried you were too scared, or too smart to stay away, child" he laughed. "Now that you're here..." he lifted one hand, and aimed it towards Michael, "We can begin."

  As if on cue, demons from outside flew into the room. The guards seemed relieved, as their odds at winning were that much higher. It was when the demons faced them, and began to attack, that they panicked. The first few guards were entered, and they immediately exploded in a gory display of innards, bones, and blood. The next few were ready, and eager to not die. Draven, with his hand still out, willed the blood to come to him. As it got closer, it turned into a mist, and dissipated. The next moment, Draven was surrounded in an aura of red energy.

  Draven flew down from his balcony, with the help of his blood magic. Upon landing, he cracked the ground and the resulting shock wave killed twelve guards and seven demons. He seemed to revel in his new-found powers. He liked them so much, that he made a blood-whip, and killed several guards as a test. He seemed to be lost in his power.

  Michael took this as a chance to draw more shadow energy, as his enemy seemed stunned. "Just a few more seconds..."

"And what do you think you're doing?"

  Michael looked up, and say Draven had closed all of the distance between them. A wicked smile on his face, and mysteriously acquired glasses showed he was at least 10% more evil looking than before. "You don't want to ruin the party, do you?"

  A down-low sweep kick to the leg knocked him down. The grin disappeared when his face hit the ground. A black flip helped him regain his footing, but Michael was now gone. Surveying the room, ignoring the carnage, he saw one demon standing, staring at him with fear. Noting that demons love fear, he realized something was off. A crimson shock (a blood bolt) was fired out of the shadow, revealing a pained figure to jump out.

  Michael jumped through several shadows, drawing enough speed during those maneuvers to launch himself at Draven, and deliver a necessary amount of force into his face. Anticipating this, considering that's a common attack from Michael, Draven caught his arm mid-punch and threw his weight towards a statue. The blow knocked him out. Satisfied, Draven began to chant.

  Mike wasn't knocked out. He was, in fact aware of Draven's plans. He didn't want to even know exactly how powerful his opponent has become, so he allowed himself to make that mistake. At the moment Draven's attention was diverted, he began drawing his own energy.

  Fifteen minutes passed, but that was exceptional considering the amount of time it takes to chant the spell, that wasn't so bad. He had enough energy built up to do as he planned, but the problem was he didn't know the range. In order to execute the attack, and make absolute certainty of destroying the portal, he had to get as close as possible.

The only problem was his enemy was right there.

  On normal circumstances, Draven and Michael are evenly matched. It's a standard 'good always wins' scenario. Unfortunately, that means the bad guy has all the 'good stuff'. Normally, this is equalized by Mike's skills or resourcefulness, but today was much different.

Instead, he would have to go all out on this next attack.

  He rushed towards Draven, faster than he knew he could. Nobody had time to react, but then who does? All could be seen from a distance was a humongous sphere of black covering the entirety of the dark castle, and a mile in each direction.

And then it was gone...