Ray Rex had not shed a tear at the news of the disappearance of the youngest son of the royal family. He did not wail at the prince consort Gryffin's funeral. He did not even pretend to act shocked when the public was finally allowed to learn that their Mother Empress, Aeris, had disappeared without a trace.
For all his problems had disappeared in one night, along with all three of them.
And yet.
Many years later, standing on a distant planet, the boy who disappeared was now a man, the embodiment of anger and vengeance. His defiant eyes, darker than the night that enveloped them, peered right into his soul.
It frightened Ray.
" Is your heart still warm? Do you still hate me? Even after all you've gained in my abscence," Nero spat.
"Haven't the faintest idea what you're talking about," Ray replied. "I can help with that."
Ray deftly took off the glove on his right hand. An open gash on his hand seeped blood, but when he outstretched his palm toward Nero, the blood bloomed forth like fireworks. Short, quick bursts ejected from his hand, piercing Nero's body. With every sharp burst, Nero felt a wave of pain, but it quickly subsided as soon as it began. He smirked at Ray and giggled.
"What's so funny! Why aren't you dying," Ray screamed.
"My sword eats blood. You've made him quite excited," Nero shouted back.
More insults and profanity were screamed between the two of them, and Adonis watched awkwardly as he still had no idea what was happening or who was saying what. He tapped Nero on the shoulder, but he didn't turn to look at him. Tugged on his coat. Begged him.
"We need to find your son," Adonis said.
But Nero could not hear the voice of reason when another target of his anger was in front of him.
"Is that what you've been working on since I've been gone? Another approach at failure," Nero taunted.
"Shut your mouth!"
"Can't blame it all on me this time, you fu-"
Ray moved his hand in a smacking motion, and a giant red hand, made out of many red, thick strings, shot out of his own. It smacked Nero with such a force that his body flew into a thick concrete pole, concrete dust flying out into the air. He cried out in pain when his body fell to the cold ground and struggled to stand back up. Adonis came to his aid as the concrete dust settled, but Nero's ears were still ringing, and his vision was blurry.
"Let's get out of here. It's too dangerous to be out in the open right now," Adonis pleaded.
"Mmmf... no..."
Adonis ignored his feeble protests, picked him up, and ran into the warehouse, toward the sounds of hypnotic music.
The inside of the warehouse was not the reprieve Adonis had hoped for. While the outside had bodies piled out in front of it, the inside was covered in blood. The air smelled raw, like copper. Strobing lights of the rave were still on, the dance floor still pulsated in various colors, and a cracked disco ball lay despondent in the sludge of blood, confetti, and alcohol.
Loud shouting from Ray could barely be heard over the music as he was looking for them, and Adonis began to panic. In desperation, he brought Nero to the floor, turned him face down, and grimaced.
"Sorry," Adonis grunted.
He scooped some of the blood on the floor, shuddering as he fed it to Nero and his sword. As he swallowed more of the unholy mixture, Nero came to, his skin a little less paler, his hair much brighter.
"I found you!"
Adonis turned to see Ray running towards them, and reflexively he transformed. Ray stopped running, sliding to a stop across the glowing, bloody floor. A ferocious winged beast had emerged from a man's body. It shrieked, making Ray wince, and for a moment he lost his composure when it flew right at him. He ducked at the last moment when Adonis was close enough that he could see into his giant, open beak.
Ray did a tactical roll, took off his other glove, and outstretched both bloody hands. Thick and thin ropes flew out of his hands, criss-crossing the dance floor. Adonis and Nero turned back and forth, trying to keep up with the trap slowly unfolding before their very eyes. When all was said and done, Ray clenched both of his fists. A few moments of silence, and their heavy breathing was the only sound when the current track ended.
And then it began.
The threads moved and danced, as if swaying to the beat, all with their own minds, their own choreography. With a loud crack, one of the large ones whipped Adonis, and he let out a roar in pain.
"I'm coming! Wait for me, Adonis!"
Nero easily cut through the blood-threads with his sword as he ran toward Adonis. However, Ray wasn't going to let him get any closer. He pointed at Nero, and one of the larger threads made itself taut, tripping him. With a smirk, Ray stuck out his other pointer finger, and another large thread grabbed the sword and flung it to the other side of the dance floor.
"You can't be serious. You can't be relying on that overglorified toothpick forever," Ray taunted.
"I don't need a sword to kill you. All I need is my hands," Nero screamed.
Nero fell for Ray's taunting, and he turned away from Adonis. The moment he turned away, Adonis was dragged down by more thick, blood-threads and ropes. They wrapped around his torso, constricting his movement. Giant, bloody hands held onto his wings, making him unable to fly, and all he could do was flap his wings faster in a futile attempt to get away.
Halfway to Ray, Nero turned around to see his partner struggling to breathe, and that's when Ray took his chance. With a flick of his wrists, another large, bloody hand erupted from his own and flung Nero. He spun toward another concrete pole in the warehouse, but when he got close, a large portal opened up, and Nero disappeared inside. Ray stared in disbelief, his hands shaking in anger.
His eyes flitted back and forth, unable to find his target. So he settled on Adonis.
As Ray's dull eyes landed upon him, the music track ended.
"I should take you home as a pet," Ray said. "I'll be a better master than the one you have now."
Ray flinched, feeling the air get slightly thicker, and then looked upward. A giant portal opened up above his head, and Nero came flying, spinning, with the same force Ray had hit him with. Ray was smacked down to the ground by the force; a loud crack could be heard. Ray's eyesight was blurry, and then he suddenly came to as a shocking pain ripped through his left shoulder.
"Filthy monster! How dare you touch me," Ray screamed.
He lost focus, the red strings of fate faltering, and then collapsing onto the floor, setting Adonis free.
The music started again.