-BLAZE-

  The Freighter's crew got to the armoured intruder before Blaze did. He stopped running and watched as a dozen of them lined up on the deck and levelled blaster rifles at it.

  "Fire!" One of the crew members screamed. A dozen blaster bolts lanced at the creature, but it didn't dodge. Instead, the creature's odd cloak warped around its body, forming a shield between it and the crew. The bolts hit the cloak and fizzled out.

  "Keep firing!" Someone yelled. They fired volley after volley at the intruder to no avail. Everything got absorbed by the cloak.

  The intruder started walking towards them.

  The crew kept firing but their efforts didn’t slow the intruder down. It lifted its sword arm and thrust it forward, flinging the blade through the wispy cloak. The sword struck one crew member, a hulking green-skinned man. He fell to the ground, dead.

  The intruder gestured and the sword flew back to it.

  It hurled the sword again and another crew member died. Some of the remaining men on the landing deck started to break rank and run for their lives screaming. Three brave ones (or maybe they were just stupid) remained, firing useless shots at the intruder.

  It summoned the sword back to itself and prepared to strike again.

  "Hey!" Blaze shouted. He sprinted towards the intruder. "Look here." The intruder stopped to look at him.

  Blaze initiated his transformation.

  Of the five creatures in his menagerie, the Saurian was his favourite. It was the first creature he had ever transformed into, and was the one that bothered him the least. Blaze remembered searching for all information on the Saurian that he could find after his first transformation. His father helped him. They struck gold in the national library of their home world. Blaze had shuddered when he read the encyclopedia entry for the Saurian.

  ‘The Saurian was a reptilian apex predator native to the planet Koo. Found near large water bodies throughout the planet, the Saurian dominated food chains on both land and sea. The creature, while technically a carnivore, supplemented its meaty diet with berries and other fruit.

  ‘The average Saurian male weighed 700kg but its six limbs, four arms and 2 legs, made them excellent at traversing a variety of terrains with incredible speed.

  ‘All Saurians were wiped out in the devastation of Koo. But their genetic code is thought to be preserved through memory magic. Maybe one day memory magic will be used to bring back the noble and terrifying creature.’

  Blaze reached within himself and found the genetic code of the Saurian. He embraced it and felt the familiar sense of calm, calculating ferocity wash over him.

  His body morphed.

  Transformations were always painful the first few times, but Blaze had turned into the Saurian so many times that his body seemed to have adapted.

  He felt no pain as his skin rippled into a dark green colour and grew armour-like scales. Blaze had mastered transforming with all sorts of clothes, and so his gear melted and changed into the reptilian hide.

  His jaw enlarged and a set of razor sharp fangs erupted from it. His skeleton shifted, allowing the second set of arms to sprout from just below his armpits. A long tail erupted from behind him. The tail was always awkward. Blaze still hadn’t mastered how to use it in battle. It was the one thing about the Saurian he found difficult to do.

  The last things to change were his eyes. Blaze's vision shifted from normal human hues to the multicoloured multidirectional sight of the Saurian.

  The transformation concluded. Blaze felt the pure physical power flowing through his body. The Saurian didn’t have the ability to manipulate mana, but its physical gifts made it more than a match for most mages.

  Blaze channeled the Saurian’s natural ferocity, and roared at the intruder.

  The three brave crew members who had stayed stumbled backwards at the sight, but they didn't run. The intruder also didn't move. It seemed to be studying him warily.

  Blaze charged. He could feel the basal instincts of the Saurian edging him on, pushing him to take out this pretender to the throne. Only the Saurian reigned supreme. Blaze had mastered controlling the Saurian's urges, but this time he let it press him forward.

  The armoured intruder hurled its sword at him.

  Blaze chose not to dodge. He intercepted the blade with his forearm. The Saurian's scales took the blow and held. Blaze battered away the sword.

  With his enhanced vision, he saw the armoured intruder’s red eyes widen in shock. Blaze bounded across the deck and was on the intruder in a trice.

  He slashed, raking the Saurian's claws across the intruder's helm, and sending it flying across the deck.

  The intruder fell to the floor, and Blaze roared again. He glanced at the three crewmen. They were Kinuans, a species of humans who had quills on their heads instead of hair. Blaze was surprised to see no fear in their eyes. Instead he saw awe. They clapped and cheered for Blaze.

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  Crazy bastards, Blaze thought.

  He brought his attention to the intruder. It was shakily rising to its feet. With the helm off, Blaze was able to get a good look at its face.

  The intruder was male. He was young, had blue skin, pure white hair, and looked very much like Priestess Amara's aide.

  What's going on here? Blaze wondered. The blue-skinned man reached out a hand and summoned his blade to himself. He pointed it at Blaze.

  "You belong to the First Light!" the man shouted. "Don’t try to deny it. I know it. I know the truth. The lies of your people have caused death and destruction on my world. But no more. I, Nale Vitham, for the sake of my people and my gods, will enjoy killing you."

  Nale hurled the sword at Blaze and again Blaze battered it aside. This time, however, Nale didn't remain idle. He pulled out the second sword strapped to his side.

  This one was shorter and had a gleaming red blade. The air around it seemed to ripple. Nale made several slashing motions in the air. The sword left a red trail in the air, the lines of which intersected with each other to form some sort of symbol.

  Nale held out his hand, and his vambraces began to glow bright red. He shouted in a language that Blaze couldn’t understand.

  The ground beneath the fiery symbol splintered, and the shards flew into the symbol, coalescing to form a blazing fireball.

  Nale pointed to Blaze and launched the fireball at him.

  Blaze reached out to deflect the projectile, but the Saurian's instincts screamed at him to dodge. He swerved the fireball and felt its heat lick at his skin as it flew by.

  That was a good decision, he thought.

  Blaze looked up and saw that Nale had already formed another fireball. Again he launched it at Blaze, then he formed another, then another, getting faster each time.

  Blaze dodged the first and the second, but the third ball slammed into his tail. He roared in pain as the fireball melted the Saurian's skin with searing heat.

  Blaze stumbled and fell, lost in the pain. He looked up just in time to see Nale drawing yet another symbol in the air.

  The blue man's face was contorted with deep concentration. This time multiple fireballs formed in the air.

  Blaze swore.

  Nale raised his red sword and was about to shoot the fireballs when a blue blaster bolt caught him in the shoulder, shattering his concentration, and pushing him to the side. He fell to the ground and the red symbol dissipated.

  Blaze felt two sets of arms grab him by each of his upper shoulders. He turned and saw two of the three brave crewmen trying to lift him up.

  The third man came to stand between Blaze and Nale. The man aimed and fired another blaster bolt at the intruder. Nale's cape swirled and blocked the bolt.

  "Ramis!" The crewmen holding Blaze's right shoulder yelled. He was a young pale skinned Kinuan and had long quill-like hairs. He was yelling at the crewman who had fired at Nale. "I told you to go for the head!" the man holding Blaze yelled.

  Ramis whirled around. He looked very similar to the first man, except his quills were shorter. They rattled as he spoke.

  "I'm sorry, Portos," Ramis replied sarcastically. "Maybe next time you take the shot."

  Portos shot back. "I would have. Except I'm stronger than you, and so I had to help our friend here. Try to be stronger next time. It might help, since you're such a bad shot."

  They growled at each other.

  "Peace, peace," the third man said. He was more portly than the other two, and had a quill-beard. "We still have an enemy to fight," he said.

  Ramis whirled back around and loosed another bolt at Nale. The cloak absorbed that one too.

  Blaze straightened up, taking his weight off the two men. The pain in his tail was still there but he would be able to bear it.

  "Thank you," he said. It was difficult to speak with the Saurian's mouth but he managed to get the words out.

  "No worries," the portly man said. "I am Artos. You already know Portos and Ramis. Let us help you take down this beast."

  "He's coming!" Ramis yelled.

  Nale had risen and was drawing another symbol in the air. Artos unholstered his gun and spoke to Blaze. "We distract him. You hit him hard."

  Blaze nodded and bounded away from them. Nale's attention was drawn to him, as was expected, but the three Kinuans spread out and fired shot after shot, forcing the cloak to twist and turn as it protected the villain.

  With his vision obscured by this, Nale stopped drawing with his red blade and reached out his hand to recall his first blade.

  Blaze moved faster. He charged at Nale, smashing into him before the villain could grab his first blade, and they fell to the floor, grappling.

  Blaze used the Saurian's advantages. He grabbed Nale's arms with his upper arms, immobilising the villain before sinking the claws of his extra arms into the villain's armour.

  The armour held, stopping Blaze's progress. Blaze growled and stabbed again and again, slowly peeling back the armour.

  Nale cried out in his strange language.

  His vambraces glowed red, then fire spilled from them and crashed over Blaze. He felt terrible pain as the heat cooked the Saurian's skin. But he held on and used his extra set of hands like daggers. He broke through the armour and sank his claws into Nale's side.

  Nale screamed.

  Blaze's vision began to blur, and the pain from the burns started to overwhelm him.

  Not yet! Blaze thought.

  He opened his maw and clamped it on the villain's shoulder. The armour was tough but the Saurian was tougher. Blaze bit through the resistance until he finally tasted blood. He ripped through Nale's shoulder, leaving it a bloody mess of muscle and bone.

  The villain screamed again. Blaze’s grip slipped, allowing Nale to punch him in the chest with his good hand. Fire bloomed with the punch, pushing Blaze back.

  Blaze fell to the ground, weak, and with one eye burnt out. He watched Nale scream and raise his hand in the air. The villain's first blade flew into his grip. Again, Nale spoke in the strange language Blaze didn't understand.

  A mass of flesh burst from within Nale's cloak and enveloped him. It coalesced to form a monstrosity with a bulbous body and spindly legs. The monstrous thing glanced at Blaze then looked at Nale. It made an odd cooing sound, then picked Nale up.

  Suddenly, blaster bolts struck the fleshy creature’s flank, leaving charred skin. Blaze heard the trio of crewmen yelling in fury.

  The fleshy creature turned and ran for one of the bay doors. It crashed through and disappeared inside. Blaze knew he had no strength to follow.

  Morph. Morph. Morph. He berated himself. Morphing would heal him. If he remained in Saurian form, he would die. His vision began to fade.

  Who the heck was that? He thought to himself as he faded out. And where the heck is Ben?