Raising his arm, Solaris pointed across the lake of blood at a well-maintained house. The house was nowhere near a house from back home, but in this strange land, this house may as well have been pristine.
"There's movement in that building."
Movement was something that was lacking fully in the place from the air to the lake of blood; nothing besides them was moving, everything was still and unchanged. The buildings didn't settle; all that moved was them, so the thought of another thing moving sent a shot of relief, terror, and hunger into Solaris very being.
With the pace of a starving beast, Solaris bolted forward, turning to run along the edge of the blood lake. The putrid stench was pushed away by a burning feeling of hunger, and as he ran, his pace increased faster and faster.
Soon, a sudden blast of light emerged where the lake sat, a heat wave surged from the light, taking a passing glance to his right, he saw a large ball of fire flying across the lake, his eyes widened in panic as he thought.
That bastard is going to steal my food!!
Solaris pushed his body to the limit and shot forward, his body leaving a slight afterimage as he sprinted. He was going to beat Ember to whatever was moving.
As Solaris grew ever closer to the building, he took another fleeting glance over towards Embers' fireball. It started to shoot upward, flying higher and higher. After a large distance upward, Solaris grew curious and looked ahead to where Ember was heading. High above, he saw a black dot slowly growing in size.
Forgetting the dot, he shifted his gaze towards the building in front of him.
Slowing to almost a stop, he shifted and violently pushed through the door, his eyes filled with hunger and his mouth salivating.
Quickly, he looked through the house searching for the source of the movement. He had no proof that it was something he could eat, but starvation overtook all.
He rushed towards a door where his shards had detected the movement and pushed it open finally laying eyes on the source of the moment, a putrid stench hit his nostrils immediately the smell of fresh blood and visira the smell temporarily subsided Solaris Hunger, his eyes laid upon a creature feasting on the corpse of another, it was a large creature with dark skin and two wings protruding from its back with dark bones holding the thin flesh do the wings together.
The sound of chewing was grainy and disgusting, a sound not like anything he had heard before, calling the shards to his body, and forming a blade by combining the edges of the triangles.
The weapon was suspended just above his closed fist.
Slowly, he began to approach the creature on the ground, and as he did, the side profile of the creature came into view, the mouth protruded out into a beak, and the rest of its face resembled a human's.
The creature paid no mind to Solaris for a time until it finished chewing.
As it swallowed its neck slightly extended out, and turned to look at Solaris, as it did, its large mouth opened, revealing that the entire top and bottom of its maw were filled with sharp teeth.
Terrified, Solaris shot backwards, narrowly avoiding the attack.
Seeing its prey move, the creature stood upright, revealing a tall, muscular frame with a hunched-over body and a long neck; it was as if it were a cross between a bird and a man.
Seeing the body fully, Solaris understood what he was looking at; it was a demon, and a powerful one at that. The demon's skin seemed incredibly durable and thick, not to mention the strength that emanated from its very being.
Thrusting its arm sideways, a silver spear appeared in its three-fingered hand.
Before Solaris could even understand what was happening, the fight had already begun.
***
A lake of blood grew further and further away, a ball of fire was flying upwards away from the lake, shooting towards a small black spec in the sky; this fireball, of course, was Ember.
As he gained more and more distance from the lake, the black dot grew clearer and clearer. It was a creature with two massive wings, a human figure, and a golden halberd, floating in a single spot. As the ball of fire approached the creature, its face was shown in the light of the fire, its mouth protruding into a beastlike maw, with a nose akin to a hyena.
Its eyes black with no irises.
A small smile appeared on the demon's face, revealing the layer of razor-sharp fangs. Moving its body, it dodged the ball of fire with ease, as it did a tall human figure stepped out of the fire.
His jacket, having specs of fire still burning on its surface, yet somehow it was still in pristine condition; his body was held up by two massive black wings, seemingly made of obsidian, each engulfed in fire. Ember looked down upon his prey while bringing his cigarette to his lips and taking a puff.
As the smoke exited his body, words left with it.
"Prepare to die, demon, your flesh will satiate my pupil."
***
Solaris was thrown through the building walls and slid close to the lake of blood. Groaning, he stood up and moved his arm to grab his sword.
"Oh shit"
Solaris had left his sword in his room back home.
As this realization hit him, so did the demon.