• The sounds of clashing metal rang through the pitch black darkness around the ruins of the castle, Dingrad, the fortress that once was the home to Lord Faerunc Rutgusson. Rain poured down and thunder rolled as sparks flew from spots in the large courtyard as blades met each other. The flashes of lightning showed two figures dressed in clothes as black as the night, and long midnight black hair that almost covered their faces completely. Every time their weapons clashed, the rain around them broke as if kept away by a temporary shield. Sparks flew as the weapons met again and held together for a moment as the each man attempted to push the other away. Lightning flashed again as the two struggled behind a sword and a scythe, both so black they seemed to swallow up all light around them.
    Another flash showed a smirk played across the face of the man with the scythe. The man with the sword was pushed back with a sudden burst of force, causing him to stumble over a pile of rubble and fall on his back. "What's the matter, Sage," the man with the scythe began to say, "Can't stand up to me after all?" The younger man, the half vampyre Sage, gave a low growl before getting back up on his feet and swinging his sword at the other man with incredible strength, only to have it deflected by the metal shaft of the scythe. "It's no use, youngling. You'll never have the power to so much as put a scratch on me." The man said as he forced Sage away once more. Sage fell back against a wall, hitting his head, causing him to go into a slight daze. His hair fell away from his face, showing his glowing red eyes as he struck at the other man once more with his midnight black blade. Sparks flew as the sword was easily deflected off the shaft of the dark scythe once more. The blade was knocked aside before the man planted his foot in Sage's chest.
    Sage was thrown back several feet before smashing into the wall once more. Sage snarled and struck again, this time feinting to the left before striking at the right. The man had anticipated this and deflected the sword off the blade of his scythe, causing sparks to fly as the blades grinded against each other. Lightning flashed again as the men continued to battle one another. They were almost identical in fighting style, but the man with the scythe had the advantage in pure power. Sage just didn't have the strength to keep up. The man cut at Sage with the blade on the bottom of his scythe, but Sage just managed to dodge it, though it cut right through the bottom of his long, black coat. Sage caught the blade of the scythe on the cross guard of his sword as the man brought it around. He knocked the scythe to the side and brought up his sword again for an overhead cut, but the man simply side-stepped it while bringing the scythe around at Sage's side.
    Sage was still recovering from his earlier attack and was in the process of bringing his sword back around, when the scythe’s blade shot into his side, causing him to gasp from the sudden explosion of pain. The man ripped the scythe out of Sage’s side before kicking him over as Sage grasped his wounded side, blood pouring out between his fingers.
    The man's smile could be seen between flashes of lightning. "What's the matter, child? Does it hurt?" He said before laughing coldly. He planted his foot on Sage's hand over the wound, causing him to cry out in pain. "You are defeated, youngling." The man said as he brought the scythe down to Sage’s throat. Sage stared at the scythe with a look of fear upon his face. The man saw the pathetic look in Sage’s eyes and pulled the scythe away from his throat. "You're just too pathetic to kill..." The man said as the scythe faded away into shadows and smoke. He started to walk away, as Sage continued to groan and bleed on the cold, wet ground. "Next time," the man said as he walked away, "Know better than to challenge The Angel of Death." The man, who was Inferno, the proclaimed Angel of Death, turned to look back at Sage with his glowing red eyes, just barely shown through his black hair. "For then, I shall not spare you..." The darkness seemed to rush up into Inferno, before forming up into the shape of two angelic wings on his back. He spread the black wings wide, before wrapping them around himself completely. Black feathers began to fall away until there was nothing left of the wings, or Inferno.
    Sage lay there alone in the dark of night, the rain pouring down, his side bleeding, and his vision fading. As his vision slowly turned black, the last thing that he saw was a man in seemingly glowing armor walking towards him and leaning in front of him. "Fell again, did you? When will you learn...?" The man said as Sage blacked out.