Hadrian Black: The Abandoned Prodigy

The loud, blaring alarm was followed by a swarm of footsteps - emanating from the entrance of the cavern.

"Hadrian, run- NOW!", Charlus called out as he started running.

Hadrian complied and followed his grandfather, who's hurried footsteps left small dust clouds for him to trail after.

"Maybe we should go look for the intruders too?", Hadrian and Charlus heard as they turned the corner.

"No, you fool.", one of the 6 guards standing near the 'door' lazily replied. "We have our orders."

It wasn't really a door. Like most of the areas in the cavern, it was just a hollowed-out hole, but it served its purpose.

One of the larger men growled in annoyance, "This is hardly a job, we've done nothing but sit and guard these females!"

"We couldn't even play with them like we're normally allowed to do.", another added.

"Try it. Go and see how our leader will react.", the lazy sounding guard taunted.

"I'll pass.", the large man grunted, "Besides, there's no getting past the little demo-"

Charlus, having grown incensed at the way they talked about 'playing' with his wife, threw a powerful bombarda at the group.

The sheer power and size of the spell caused Charlus to drop out of his invisibility rune spell.

"They are here-!",

"Help-!"

Charlus sliced both of their necks with a diffindo, an apt way to silence them - Hadrian noted.

Upon entering the 'room', which was essentially just another hollowed out area in the cavern, Hadrian and Charlus were met with a small boy. He was sitting with his legs crossed, one elbow on his knee, and the hand it was attached to supporting his head as he rested.

He had short, curly, black hair that sat just above a headwrap that was tied across his forehead. He also possessed a myriad of tribal tattoos, they were ugly-looking and marred his clay brown skin.

His only clothing was a shawl wrapped around his waist like a skirt, and the headwrap - both red in color. Unfortunately, even the little clothing he had, was tattered beyond what any pauper or homeless person would feel comfortable wearing.

"Dorea!", Charlus shouted out, as his eyes fixed on the space behind the boy.

Hadrian's eyes flickered to where Charlus was looking and saw Dorea and Koni both tied up. Their backs were facing each other, and they seemed to be unconscious. .

They rushed towards the two females but found themselves stopping abruptly once they heard a weird rumbling sound coming from the boy.

"Ha..ha...Hahaha-", the boy chuckled. "Hey! You! Come here!"

He stared at Hadrian as he spoke.

"Watch for any guards that might come, Hadrian!", Charlus shouted as he ran towards the hostages.

"Grandfather, there's something wrong with that guy-", Hadrian began.

"I said COME!-", the boy lunged forwards and scurried towards Hadrian on all fours with extreme speed. "Help me free him!", he shouted, his voice turning feral as small horns began to protrude from the top of his head.

Hadrian jumped back into his shadow form. Allowing the boy to speed 'through' Hadrian, passing him as if he was nothing but air.

"Urgh!!", the boy let out an enraged shout. "Why won't you help me!"

Meanwhile, Charlus was sneaking closer and closer towards his wife and Koni, intent on rescuing them.

In his determination, he didn't notice that the boy inside the 'room' was...different; and so thought that Hadrian would be able to handle him easily.

The boy noticed Charlus helping the prisoners and growled, "I'm not stupid! I CAN SEE YOU!!"

Charlus was thrown into the walls of the cavern with a resounding, "Umph!". A Charlus shaped indent was left etched onto it, as he fell to his knees.

The boy looked at his arms in glee, before turning to Hadrian's direction and smiling wildly, "See what happens!? Come out so I can show you again!"

Hadrian, who was still in his shadow form, began shadow traveling towards Charlus.

"COME AND PLAY WITH US!", the boy continued.

Hadrian reached Charlus's side and forgoed his shadow form.

"Grandfather, let me-",

BAM!

A large shockwave emerged out of nowhere, throwing Hadrian away from Charlus.

Hadrian flipped through the air, before landing on his stomach.

"Ugh!" - he ġrȯȧnėd as he tried to get up.

The quick pounding of feet made Hadrian look up. His eyes were met with another pair, accompanied by a sadistic smile - belonging to the boy.

"If you don't let me...-let me go help my grandfather", Hadrian coughed, "I won't help you."

Hadrian tried. He wasn't sure if it would work, but the boy did seem to consider it.

Unfortunately, the boy's contemplative look receded and took one of apathy. His amber eyes became a deep red, and his tattoos began glowing scarlet.

"You will have no choice in the matter, boy.", he chuckled darkly, "I will rise, and there's not much you can do. I'll show those stupid seers that they were wrong about you!!"

The boy began to siphon magic from his surroundings, which was now taking a physical form.

"Hadrian!", Charlus shouted fearfully, now having gained enough strength to stand, but struggling to move. Charlus was quite a bit past his prime, and so did tire easier than he used to. Although, the ritual did ensure that he regained slightly more endurance and strength.

Behind Hadrian, a large flurry of guards arrived, and were about to start spell casting - but stopped once they saw Hadrian being overpowered by Bouda.

"No.", Hadrian grit his teeth, as his eyes took on that deep, soul-sucking black color once more. He grabbed the boy's hand with his own and ċȯċked his other hand back.

Hadrian struck him with a dragonized punch, his scales digging into the boy's ċhėst and arm as it embedded itself into his torso. The boy fell, whimpering as his knees fell to the floor.

"Obli!-", the guards began, ready to intervene.

"No, you fools!"

The guards stopped at the hand of one man who was smirking delightedly, "Bouda will come back! Limbani's son has stopped fighting it!"

Charlus recoiled in shock, 'Limbani's son!?'

"Y-you! JUST GIVE UP!", the boy cried out- having seemingly recovered from the strike, "What do you hope to achieve?! Regardless of my defeat, my brethren will soon walk this realm again and lay waste to your world!"

The boy jumped from his crouched position and kicked Hadrian in the ċhėst, he got ready for his next attack - having believed that he would go flying through the air as he did earlier. Unfortunately for him, Hadrian's body was mid dragonization, and his ċhėst had grown scales - increasing the resistance, and durability of his torso.

Hadrian countered by kicking the boy in the face, catapulting him a good distance away. His ċhėst, arms, and legs were now dragonized.

"Let the boy go.", Hadrian growled, "The boy that you've trapped yourself in."

"You think you can make demands?!", the boy's body began transforming, his body taking a more demonic and unnatural form.

The small bones on his head, shot wider and higher - becoming large, ram-like horns.

"You dare make demands, in front of me!", Bouda hollered.

Hadrian calmed himself down, getting angry wouldn't help him. In the face of such a powerful creature, his dragonization sped up, his inborn instincts helping to preserve him.

Wings sprouted from Hadrian's shoulderblades as leapt into the air and flew towards Bouda with great speed.

Bouda laughed and shouted out, "Even though I'm not at my full strength and size, it's more than enough to handle you, boy!"

Bouda grabbed one of Hadrian's wings and threw him to the side of the cavern.

"Hadrian, stop!", Charlus called out, "He's only getting stronger!"

"What else can I do but fight?!", Hadrian rebutted, "We can't just let him kill us!"

"We'll have to incapacitate him somehow!", Charlus started, "Any plans?!"

Charlus carved a large rune formation into the air with his wand, it flashed yellow- before condensing into a small, coin-sized circle.

"Stupefy.", Charlus whispered, sending it straight to the demon boy. This stunning spell shot through the air like a bullet and smacked Bouda on his hip.

'It won't do much', Charlus lamented, 'His body's too tough for a mere stunning spell.'

Hadrian slipped into his shadow form, he had a plan...but it was risky.

"Argh!", Bouda cried out in anger, his body flared with the darkest of magic, distorting the air around him.

"Damn it!", the man at the door ġrȯȧnėd in irritation, "Someone kill this old man!"

"Oblituro!"

"Oblituro!"

"Oblituro!"

All the guards cast a spell, coalescing and forming a mighty display of spell power.

Charlus moved his wand rapidly, carving the most intricate and powerful rune formation he'd cast the whole day. It formed an immense, green circle - spinning swiftly around the spell that the group cast.

"I'll just...steal that!", Charlus declared as the rune formation absorbed every bit of magic in their combined spell.

The rune formation grew even larger, swelling to an incredible size.

"BOMBARDA!", Charlus howled, gritting his teeth as the spell flung out of the rune formation and into the demon beast.

BOOM!

It launched the steadily growing demon into the wall, cracking the cavern's foundations.

"Grandpa!", Hadrian shouted as he released his shadow form. He'd spent the time that Charlus created for him, preparing his plan. "I have a plan."

Chunks of rock began falling from the ceiling by Bouda. Pretty soon, the whole cavern was going to collapse.

"What is it Hadrian?", Charlus shouted as he glanced towards his wife and the girl.

"I just need you to keep him still! I'm going to try something!", Hadrian replied.

The way Hadrian said 'try', did not fill Charlus much confidence, but whatever it was that his grandson had come up with - had to do.

He shot a look towards the entrance that the guards were guarding, and was pleased to see that they had made a run for it. It seemed that the falling debris and possibility that the cavern would collapse had done much to engage their fight or flight instincts.

The demon slowly rose, knocking the rock fragments off of him. He'd grown to around 8ft tall, the word 'boy' could not be used to describe the beast anymore.

'Keep him still...,' Charlus repeated to himself, 'I...can do that.'

He performed that intricate wand weaving used to absorb the necromancer's magic once more, and wrapped the rune formation around the demon. Slowly siphoning its magic...

It roared in anger, before charging towards Charlus.

Charlus flicked his wand, causing another formation to form. This time, on top of Bouda!

Bouda's feet sunk into the hard, rocky ground. His body struggled under the immense gravity rune; his feet rising slowly and heaving under the tremendous force.

Charlus held his free hand out, to hold the other formation in place. The force seemed to slowly increase, as the magic that was siphoned from Bouda, powered the rune formation.

Meanwhile, Hadrian got to work.

He'd seen his grandfather's show of power and was in awe, but he also realized that it must have been extremely taxing. He could see the look of pure exertion that Charlus was sporting.

He quickly cut his palm with a cutting charm, allowing a steady stream of blood to flow. He flew around the demon beast Bouda, creating a circle of blood that surrounded it. It seemed that Bouda was quickly realizing what Hadrian was doing, as his look of anger contorted into one of fear and desperation.

Hadrian landed at the circle's origin and crouched in front of the beast.

Through a strained face, Charlus looked down at Hadrian crouching on the floor. He'd seen him circling the beast, but had no idea why.

Hadrian's cut his other palm, and bellowed, "Evicentus!". The circle of blood glowed white and caused the demon beast to screech.

The gravity rune that Charlus was holding above Bouda, rose. The beast was using its strength to push the gravity rune up and off of it. this caused it to sink even deeper into the ground, its lower body now buried knee-high into the ground.

Charlus strained, "Hadrian, finish it- whatever 'it' is that you're doing!!"

"Puriento Diabortus!", Hadrian shouted, as the demon let out a deafening howl.

Bouda rapidly shrunk, its horns retracted, and the beast's presence slowly expelled itself.

Just as well, since Charlus wouldn't have been able to hold his magic any longer. He slumped to the floor, tired.

"Blood magic.", Charlus sighed painfully, his injury made breathing a troublesome ordeal, "Incredible."

Hadrian looked just as fatigued. The blood magic he had just used was very demanding.

Unfortunately, Hadrian and Charlus had no more time to rest. A tremor from the floor and walls reminded them that the cavern was going to topple, starting from the room they were in!

With a great deal of urgency, Charlus and Hadrian ran towards the pair of prisoners. A quick cutting charm later, and the two of them were free from the ropes.

"Wake up!", Charlus pleaded as he jostled Dorea, whilst Hadrian did the same to Koni.

They sturred awake, and from the look in their eyes, were extremely alarmed.

"We have to leave!", Charlus shouted as they stood up, "Now!"

The group promptly broke into a sprint, as shards of earth cascaded from around them.

They were a few meters away from the exit, before the boy that housed Bouda got up and started running with them.

Charlus rounded on him, pointing his wand at the boy. "Keep going!", he ordered the rest of them. They all listened, albeit reluctantly. Well...all but one.

Hadrian went into his shadow form and stayed behind. Luckily, no one had noticed - since they were too busy escaping.

"Please!", the boy wailed, as he looked around the collapsing room, "I want to see my father!"

Charlus looked at the boy with a pained expression.

The boy's eyes glowed red.

Instantly, he was thrown back by Hadrian, who materialized out of his shadow form.

"What are you doing here?!", Charlus demanded.

"Saving your skin.", Hadrian replied as he grabbed hold of Charlus.

His body was still in a semi dragonized state, his limbs sporting scales, and his wings out, and so was able to manage carrying Charlus.

He flew as fast as he could, his muscles aching from Charlus weight. As he was doing so, he could hear the boy's possessed shouts reverberating from the breaking cavern's walls.

"This isn't the end!! HE will bring us all back to wrench this realm from HER hands, It's already been foreseen, THIS DEFEAT MEANS NOTHING!"

That last shout caused the last of what supported the area to topple, crushing the demon...and the boy that housed it.

Hadrian and Charlus narrowly escaped the room as a giant piece of rock dropped at the foot of the entrance, behind them - closing off the exit to the room, or what was left of it....