He saw white as pain laced his whole body and left him twitching on the floor before turning his body rigid, he jerked awkwardly not conscious nor unconscious. He was in a semi-consciousness state where he could still feel the pain and heat.
He opened his mouth to scream but red smoke poured out instead and his brown eyes turned red. His red eyes shone and a deep red aura covered him.
His mind spun, from his mother's melting head to fire burning him. Jake's mind suddenly turned dark and void. He saw a face in the emptiness, a white face with eyes of darkness that looked at him with such deep melancholy the very air was heavy with the face's sadness, a red horn curled through the face's black hair.
Then the face changed. Anger twisted the face the the air snapped at Jake, drowning him in endless anger and fear.
Just when Jake thought he would die of the anger, it stopped, the pain flowing away as if it never happened.
And emptiness filled him instead.
He cracked his eyes open and whatever energy had filled him was gone and in its place it left long white hair and red eyes that burned with steady cold light.
Two men stood above him, debating his death.
"Are you sure he is not their son?" A cool voice said.
"I'm sure commander Apex. The Intelligence we received was that their child had brown eyes and black eyes and he'sprobably burned to crips by now." The voice was flat.
Jake focused his blurred eyes on the two. The first one was an intimidating man who wore black clothes and a long red coat.
On the right side of the coat was the symbol that froze Jake, a red dragon breathing fire. The Inferno Legion. The dominant Clan that ruled most of the Eastern Doomhaven continent.
The Inferno Legion had been absorbing all the outposts East of the continent since they rose to dominate the East. People called them the Eastern Dragons.
But they had always left the Ashen Outpost alone because they had the weakest Awakeners. Their hunter hunted with ordinary weapons and they practiced no battle techniques. Only water and plant creating techniques.
So why? Why had they attacked?
"Hummmm..... so who is he? He looked strange, what with his white hair and red eyes." Commander Apex said. He was a tall man with a solid build, and an air of casual authority surrounded him.
Jake recognized a powerful person when he saw one.
"Might be birth dysfunction, with earth changed and all." The second man was dressed in a black fitted clothes but his face was covered in a mask of solid black with fire patterns.
Apex nodded and said nothing, his gaze trained on Jake, who gaze back unflinching.
"He isn't intimidated. He will be good as a Hound....if he survives. Don't you think so Kael Hound?" Apex touched his beard.
The man beside Apex. Kael Hound turned his masked face on Jake and bowed to the Commander. "It is as you said, Commander."
Apex snorted. "What is your name boy?"
Jake opened his mouth and then paused. He had almost said 'Jake' but Jake was dead, gone with the flames and smoke.
He was nothing now, empty. "My name is Azaroth."
His voice was low and raw but it was devoid of any emotions.
Apex raised his brows. "Azaroth? The ancient name for emptiness? Good, good name boy."
Then Apex turned and walked out of the half-bunt mansion.
"Can you stand?" Kael asked.
Azaroth nodded and stood up, surprised that he could stand. Hadn't he just fallen through a void? Hadn't he drowned in anger and hate? Azaroth could swear his bones had ached as the white face turned angry eyes on him.
He stood, still surprised at his own strength. He was still the thin twelve year old but he felt as if he could run miles.
Azaroth let none of his emotions show on his face. His face was blank and cold, not showing even an hint of emotion.
Only emptying and hunger. Hunger for revenge. He knew who did it now, all he needed was power.
"Follow me," Kael ordered flatly.
Azaroth did as he was told. He followed the masked Hound passed his burnt father's room. He wondered mildly if Apex and his Hound had put out the fire since they were practicing the fire techniques.
They passed his mother's body and he paused briefly to see if he would be consumed by anger but he felt nothing except cold anger and the certainty of revenge.
Azaroth didn't know where they were taking him but he had heard something about Hound and he knew about them. His father always talked about the Hounds with fear because they were the living weapons of the Inferno Legion.
Azaroth didn't fear them like his father did. His father had been weak and didn't have the power to protect what was his. Azaroth didn't want to protect anything. What he wanted now was the power to destroy.
And he would use his enemies' resources to do it.
Outside, smoke still bellowed from burnt-down houses, and bodies were being piled on top of each other by masked Hound.
Azaroth looked at the bodies, committing their slack jaws and unfocused eyes to his memories. Not because he cared for the people who had been nothing more than leeches, but because he wanted to inflict as much pain.
A yell distracted Azaroth and he watched as a group of old and young people were led out, shoved together by one of the Hounds.
They were arranged in front of Commander Apex.
"I don't belong to this outpost! Please spare me! Please spare me and my children." An old man shouted, kneeling and bowing. Others soon followed, bowing and denying Azaroth's father.
Azaroth felt a lick of anger. How dare they! After they had leached off his father and mother for years. They deserve to die! Azaroth thought.
Apex stared at them in open disgust.
"The man who led this outpost was weak and narrow-minded. He refused to let go of the rules of the old world and he suffered for it. But he did protect you people in his way." Apex flicked his finger and a bust of thin fire cut the old man's head. "He didn't deserve this disloyalty."
The people surrounding the now-dead man ran but the Hound got to work with swords and spears. Not even the children were spared.
Azaroth watched all feeling a kind of dark joy as their head rolled.
Kael Hound beckoned to him and Azaroth followed him as he led the way to a carriage. The carriage was big with a big iron cage at the back where Azaroth was shoved in.
Kael rounded the cage and Azaroth was sure he was smiling behind the mask. "Welcome to hell, Hound to be."
Azaroth bared his teeth in a smile that imitated a wolf's snare. Yes, welcome to hell.