Riven went wild in his head, filling it with ridiculous imaginations, hearing the fight ring out behind him. Various sounds screamed out at him as he ran to his house.
How strong are they? Father seemed frightened. He even told me to run. Is my father in danger?
He could not leave him, he concluded, and steeling his resolve, he took up his spear and ran back, shivering as he did so. Those fiends, terrible as they were, would have to fight both an inker and a boy, wielding a spear.
The rumors about the greatness of his father, Karn, reminded him that there was not as much to fear as he thought. He was a hero, the one who had put an end to the last war.
But that was decades ago.
Age was merciful to no one, so fate was all he had left. His abilities had no doubt diminished over time, as he lived peacefully on his property. This possibility nearly frightened Riven enough to abandon this crusade of his. Almost.
He halted. Inside a blazing ring of fire, Karn and the wraiths were fighting. Karn was no longer fully intact, grunting with every step. Half his foot had been blown off, and he was missing a finger. But he persevered. He would fight until he could fight no more, until he drew his final breath.
Strange symbols covered his body, from a language of the past that Riven knew naught. A vortex formed, swirling the beings, trapping them with Karn. For a moment Riven lost sight of their furious battle.
Riven stepped forward, but could not proceed any further, stopped by the storm of wild cackling energy surrounding the battlefield. He went white with dread, his father was fighting alone.
The hooded being in the lead slashed his arm through the air. Violent energy cackled as it spread in every direction, nullifying Karn's wall of flames. He froze. A dull thump sounded as iron buried itself in flesh, and his face went stone cold as he fell to a knee.
He was too focused to pay any attention to the wound he had incurred.
Those who had felled a single hollow went down in history. Those who killed two were near impossible to find. And yet there Karn was, locked in battle with four at once. He was becoming a legend, one who had faced the impossible all the while; Riven stood watching.
Thunder boomed. Lightning sparked, flowing down from the heavens, hitting its target square in the chest. It only took one slice from a katana, formed in sputtering flames, to remove its cranium. It collapsed, disintegrating before the body reached the floor. One down.
Riven's eyes widened in shock. He killed one!
This alone would spark various debates and conversations in town, an unusual act that had not happened before.
The three remaining began a cursed guttural chant. Darkness sparked above them as a massive bow materialized. The weapon of a devil. A flood of arrows screamed through the air.
Karn let out a plume of fire, destroying most of the arrows. He missed a few, however, as he got a shallow cut on his cheek and another buried itself in his thigh. This time he let out an audible gasp, unable to hide the pain.
He vanished.
Riven's heart pumped faster, the wild battle scene unfolding beneath his eyes.
Reappearing behind them, leaving remnants of electricity, he struck out, impaling one in the head with his fist. Two down. A risk. And his risk turned into a mistake when they blocked his retreat, capturing him in a dark web.
Two beams of energy shot out, one from each that was left, and the result was disastrous. A gaping hole formed in Karn's right shoulder, blowing his arm off.
Riven, seeing this, with tears in his eyes lunged forward. He did not expect, however, that his father would point at him. He flew back hundreds of yards, blown back from the explosion in front of him. He watched from afar as his father duplicated the same move.
Taking the only maneuver possible, he exploded the space directly in front of himself. Scarlet flames licked the floor, remnants of the explosion.
Time seemed to slow down for Riven as he watched from afar, and saw a distant tear crawl down his cheek.
Thrusting upward, flames flew into the air, forming a giant ball of flames, illuminating the sky.
The pinnacle.
That was the last thing Riven thought before everything went wrong.
A new sun emerged, replacing the one that had been taken, consuming the forest with its devastating heat. A sign of Karn's cruel wrath. His unshakable resolve. The ball of fire came down, plummeting towards the ground like a meteor.
Boom!
I'm too close!
Riven was still thrown back, all the way to his house. He arose, spitting out a mouthful of blood. His ears still ringing and his mouth parched, he viewed the sight before him in horror.
A crater, larger than the town, spanned through the entire forest. Or what was left of it.
This was why Karn had been called a calamity walking the earth in the past. Any sign of the hollow was removed, as if they never existed in the first place.
The only evidence was the town-sized hole, dead center in the forest.
"Father!" he screamed, "W-What happened!"
There was only silence. Only when he reached the center of the crater did he realize what had happened. He fell to his knees, frozen in fear as he stared at the corpse of his father.
His facial expression was non-existent; he was left smoking, charred beyond repair. An unquenchable fire spread across his childhood, as the forest surrounding slowly fell.
No…
He wheezed, his chest tightening up. Second by second it grew more difficult to breathe. Not just the smoke, but the shock of the turn of events rendered him imobile. Sweat beaded on his face as he stayed, unable to grasp the situation before him.
T-This… is a dream, right?
He nervously looked around, drawing blood as he clenched his fist.
I-I will just wake up soon r-right?
Flames sputtered out around him, time had passed and the night grew dim. His vision faded, the wound in his side he had paid no heed taking its toll.