Fireborne: Rashen Rising

CHAPTER 3: RED FIRE RASHEN

"SOMEBODY STOP HIM!!!"

The shop owner screamed as the masked robber made away with a bag full of Phrites. Despite the shop owner's desperate pleas it didn't seem like anyone was willing to help. He ran through the crowds of the local market effortlessly and it seemed like it would simply be a clean get away from him when all of a sudden the ground rumbles and an earth wall shoot up immediately blocking his path,he is able to stop himself from crashing into the wall just in time,

"I think that's enough commotion for today wouldn't you agree?" Said a voice coming from behind. He looks behind to see the Imperial Soldiers,three to be precise.

"We're going to need you to return the money you stole from the good shop owner of this market..." The soldier in the middle said as he stepped forward, "...and after that you come with us to the station to sort yourself out".

If it wasn't from the way he carried himself you could tell the soldier in the middle was a Squad Commander from the number of stars on his badge,the other two though were just cadets.

The panic starts to set in for the robber as his breathing intensifies,he tries running around the wall but one of the soldier slams his foot hard on the ground causing another earth wall to blocking the robber's path again on the left side and again on the right side leaving him with nowhere to run.

"Please don't make this any more difficult for yourself" the soldier responsible for making the earth wall said cheekily. Now a crowd had started to gather around, what a sight it would be to witness the Imperial Soldiers themselves apprehend a criminal,they began to cheer loudly. The robber's eyes kept moving place to place,from the walls to the soldiers walking in his direction to the crowd gathered around,he dipped his hand in his pockets and pulled out three small balls,he slammed them on the ground as hard as he could as on contact with the ground they made a loud popping sound before releasing s huge cloud of smoke in the area. The squad commander sighed in exhaustion,

"Handle this please" he said as the other soldier stepped forward. He started making waving motions with his hands like he was doing some sort of dance but what he was actually doing was gathering the air around himself, after gathering enough wind he does a pushing action effectively dispersion the smoke,but once the view cleared up the robber was nowhere to be seen,

"Where-?" One of the soldiers wanted to ask but was interrupted by the screams coming from just behind the earth wall,the soldier who had put it up sent the walls back into the ground to show that the robber now had a hostage.

It was a young girl probably between the age range of sixteen to eighteen. He held her at knife edge,he must have taken her during the incident with the smoke bombs.

"Y- You all b- better let me go" the robber demanded with a shaky voice,it was obvious he never wanted things to escalate like this but he had already decided that he would not be going to prison today.

"Just calm down and drop the knife, nobody needs to get hurt today" the commander said trying to calm him down,

"Well I'm not going to hurt her if you let me go" he instantly replied feeling a lot braver like he was in complete control over the situation,he was.

"What are we gonna do?" One of the soldiers whispered,

"Well we can't exactly let him hurt her now can we" the other replied,

"Enough! This guy's obviously a low tier criminal, he's never done this in his life. What we need to to here is-"

"WHAT ARE YOU THREE DISCUSSING?" The robber screamed interrupting the commander as he tightened his grip on the girl and drew the knife even closer to her neck,

"Whoa! Calm down or you might actually hurt her and that'll just make things a lot worse for you"

"Then just do as I say and BACK OFF!!!" he ordered.

Just then the agitated crowd could hear a faint scream coming from a distance,it was getting louder and louder until,

"WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!"

They looked back to see what it was but could only see a trail of the blood red flames descending on the scene.

"What the hell is tha-AAAAAAAARGHHHH" both the robber and the girl scream as something or someone grabs them from behind and launches upwards into the sky.

"You have got to be kidding me" the squad commander said dumbfounded,the cadets just face palm in unison.

"WAAAAAAAAHHHHH!!!" the two scream in unison as they ascended higher and higher,at this point the robber had dropped his knife and the bag of cash. The one responsible for this leaves the girl to fall back to ground while he took the robber higher and higher,once he felt he was high enough he left the robber in free fall and went back for the girl who was still falling, streaking and crying at the top of her lungs.

"WHAT IS HE DOING?" The commander screamed, immediately the other two sping into action, using the earth he launches the other soldier atop one of the buildings,he immediately starts gathering the air again this time to create a wind tunnel to slow the girl's fall and catch her unharmed. With his flames burning at full power the soldier reaches the girl and grabs a hold of her to land her safely but the imbalance in weight distribution complicates things as he can't quite position himself well. As they get closer to the ground he notices the wind tunnel his fellow soldier generated and propels himself towards it,he drops the girl inside the tunnel which does slow her descent, she's caught safely by soldier.

With the girl safe on the ground he turns his attention back to the robber who was still in free fall and getting closer,he propels himself upwards to meet him but instead of catching him he switches off his flames and they both fall together,

"WAAAAHHH!!! PLEASE HELP ME!!!" He begs with tears in his eyes,

"WHAT? WHAT WAS THAT? I CAN'T HEAR YOU OVER THE SOUND OF US FALLING TO OUR DOOM!!" He replied jokingly as they got closer to the ground,

"I DON'T WANT TO DIE I DON'T WANT TO DIE I DON'T WANT TO DIIIIIEEEEE" The robber says unable to control his tears. Immediately and just in the nick of time that soldier switches on his flames again and grabs the robber by the shoulders,this time having no problem with positioning and weight distribution he uses his flames to slow their descent. On landing he drops the robber directly in front of of the other Imperial Soldiers.

"Criminal apprehended" the soldier said as he took off his helmet to reveal a tan skinned face with red eyes, pointed nose and messy hair. His face had satisfaction written all over it.

"Cadet let me ask you what exactly you thought you were doing back there?" The commander asked with frustration in his voice

"What was I doing? I caught the criminal"

"NO WHAT YOU DID WAS PUT AN INNOCENT CIVILIAN IN DANGER" he fired back

"I- I- I didn't put her in danger I saved her and I caught the criminal so everything's fine"

"Everything's fine? Then where's the money that was stolen?" The commander asked not expecting to get an answer

"Umm...money? What money?" He asked confused,

"Exactly,so everything's not fine now is it?"

There was a long silence between both soldiers,

"I- I'm sorry- I didn't kn-"

"What's your name cadet?" The commander asked abruptly,

"Imperial Cadet Rashen" he replied quietly,

"Your full name"

"That's my only name sir" Rashen replied,

"Well Imperial Cadet Rashen you'll report back to your training center and answer to your Head Academic Officer do you understand?"

"Yes...Yes sir" Rashen replied disheartened,he knew he was in trouble now and only just a few days to graduation too. Rashen was left on his own as the other soldiers left with the criminal,he could hear the murmurs from the crowd,the insults. The girl who was taken captive walked up to him,he thought it was a good opportunity to apologise but before he could even begin she slapped him across the face as hard a she could,

"DON'T YOU EVER SHOW YOUR FACE NEAR ME AGAIN YOU FREAK!!!" She yelled at him before hastily walking off into the crowd. Soon enough the crowds dispensed with everyone else resuming their daily activities. Rashen put on his helmet,

"Not a good way to start the day Rashen. Not good at all" he said to himself before blasting off.