Chapter 152 - 141

The younger brother, Hunthor, notices that something is wrong even before a terrifying roar cuts the night as the army of fire brought up by his older brother starts acting weird.

At first some just stood in place, as if lost in what to do, the fire that formed their bodies flaming up in a brighter color, only for them to start attacking indiscriminately, breaking structures and jumping against one another, the flames barely managing to keep some sort of form at this point, almost consuming their own beings by the orange blazes.

The three heads from the Cerberus Hound look in the distance, a bad feeling taking root in his heart when, as if to make clear that things are not right, the once Fire Shield that protected the outside from the crawling demons inside is now burning extensively, consuming whatever it reaches and turning this safe heaven into a Fire Cage, caving in everything that is inside.

"Hop on my back!" Screams Hunthor to his companions as he sees the situation turn bad fast, and the others seemly aware quickly do as told, especially after watching just how fast the flames are advancing.

"Now!" With one last warning the remaining people manage to climb on his back with barely in time for the Cerberus to jump over the wall of flames as they lick its belly, hotter than ever before.

Like a beast with a mind of its own the fire advances over everything as its incorporeal body consumes all, no barrier strong enough to withhold such destroying force.

Hunthor leaps over rocks and falling debris as the fire follows right behind him, taking the lives of the unlucky ones, and as the buildings start collapsing around him and dust and smoke join the chaos Hunthor manages to find an opening and jump blindly out of the flames, somehow safely landing back on the ground, but just to be safe the Cerberus Hound puts more distance between him and the building set in flames before letting everybody off his shoulders.

Overlooking the scenario the young brother has a bad premonition as everything burns around him, the trees, the elves buildings, and even the ponds of water are being dried out but such extreme heat.

It is almost bright as day as the mountain is set ablaze.

Hunthor sees it all with his three heads, so while he searches for his brother among the flames he notices a place where the blaze does not reach, and crooking one of his heads another one turns to talk with Aeglos:

"There is something wrong there, Aeglos lets check it out. You all stay close to the river, if things go south don't think twice about diving away." 

"Humph, is that a family trait? What makes you think you can order us around?" Says Isaac while crossing his arms, but the rest of the group ignores him while keeping a watchful eye at any creature that may be lying in wait, the only one supporting him being the Templar that puts a hand on his shoulder.

At that Aeglos climbs Hunthor's back again, having a hard time at finding a foothold against such scaled body, but some wads of fur give him enough support to reach the top, also helping so he doesn't fall back down when Hunthor starts running over the flames. 

They pass shadows being burned, unlucky demons abandon by their master to die among the flames, inhuman howls rising with the flames; and yet the three-headed beast does not fall back and advances among the chaos, until what he sees confirms his worries.

"Shit, Leonel! Isaac, we need you here! Shit, should have brought him here." With that Aeglos jumps down, safe from the flames as they do not reach this place, the eye of the storm, however as he checks the bloody body of Leonel the tension in his body grows, and when questioned about it the silence only worsen the situation.

"Aeglos, how is Leonel? Is he ok?" Asks Hunthor another time, only to see Aeglos hardening his fist while avoiding to look at Hunthor, not even standing, just staring down at the bloody image of Leo.

"Oh no…Shit…My brother, we have to find my brother, now! Aeglos, carry him to Isa, see if… if there is anything that can be done."

"You can't go there Thor, if your brother is the responsible for all of this you will-"

"He would never hurt me." Says Hunthor with a rare fierciness in his voice.

"No, Hunthor, I just got you back, I'm not up to lose you aga-"

"Aeglos, please, I need to do this, I need to help him. Go now, go, Leonel needs your help, we all need your help, please go, and be careful." Aeglos swallows dry, aware that he could not win him over in this discussion, and beyond his worries and disagreement, says:

"…You too love."

Taking a deep breath Hunthor gives a good look at his lover's figure, as if engraving in his memory the very well known very long pointy ears that bend down a little at the end, the long silk white hair and the worried green eyes that stared back at him.

"Don't worry, you still have many songs left to play for me don't you? When we get back be sure to ready your flute for us."

At that Hunthor leaves Aeglos behind, knowing how all this sounded like a goodbye and feeling a weight grown inside his heart at that thought, and trying to brush these worries away he starts sniffing the air with his three snouts to easily pin point the path his brother took, plus the destruction that followed his tracks could not be obscured by the flames.

And that destruction is a bad omen that follows his tracks.

The Cerberus Hound heartbeat skips a beat when he finally reaches him, the strong reliable brother that he knew his entire life now looked as if possessed by something, the dark silhouette of his big body overcame by firestorms that gave the impression that the skull face and horns were floating among the sea of flames, the white teeth protuberant against the orange as his paw would came out and hit the trees beside him, the floor, rocks, everything is being turned upside down by his brute force as his figure burns against the night sky.

"Brother stop!" Hunthor screams, but as that crazy aflame eyes set their gaze towards him, he starts to feel unsure about his confident statement at Aeglos before. And yet he does not back down, and instead moves forward, putting himself in danger as his older brother has done for him many times before.

"Brother, listen to me, you have to calm down, stop destroying every-" However his words are cut short when, with a single leap, his brother launches an attack at him, which makes Hunthor dash backwards.

But of course his older brother has always bested him in combat, especially when it tested out their speed and strength, so as Hunthor tries to back off he barely manages to move out of a killing blood, his body bleeding with scratches all over only a few moments later.

"Shit. Wake up you dumb brother!" He says, but he is unable to convey the worry he felt for the other.

Without much of a choice he fights back, backing up from the close in combat barely enough so he could shot a three casting of explosive balls that stun his brother for a moment, however he soon discovers that, after many attempts, all his fire related attacks are promptly ignored by the ablaze beast that keeps advancing, relentlessly.

And for a Pure Fire Hound to fight against a fire immune creature, is easy to say that the situation is really, really bad for him, and by the second he loses ground and gains more stretches.

And is only a matter of time before one hits deep enough to incapacitate him.

And that would be it for him.