| |
––––––––
SHARP jabs of pain shot through Gabriel’s side as he coughed up poisoned, dark blood and spat it on the ground. He shuddered and stilled, waiting for his body to heal while he watched the tiny bloodstream glint in the silver moonlight on the grass. He hoped that was the last of the vile infection.
“No matter how many times you get sliced up, it never gets easier, eh?” Uriel, the leader of the angelic legion, asked with a sly grin.
Gabriel growled and breathed in for a retort. But instead of words, he lurched and coughed up more of the poison onto the ground.
Gabriel fell to one knee and gritted his teeth. He groaned and looked past Uriel’s cynic grin to the Manor. It towered in the darkness, its outline barely visible in the retreating dusk. Even though Gabriel couldn’t see the Divine Light, he knew somewhere in the Inner Sanctum Azrael was undergoing her first trial. Even though the gods had long ago stopped listening, he said a silent prayer for her survival.
A second jolt of sharp pain reminded him that he should perhaps pray for himself and he hissed in a breath.
“What’s wrong, brother?” Uriel asked and used his pinky to pick at his teeth.
Gabriel gripped his ribcage. “I think there’s a Dark shard still inside.” Gabriel staggered to his feet and with a grunt and undid the warrior strap belted around his chest. The weapon pack filled with gold-glowing daggers fell to the ground. He tried to take in a deep breath, but only managed small, short gasps.
“This is only Azrael’s first session,” Uriel said. “We’ve never had a raid this large for the first one. Do they think the demons have a better chance to invade with a hybrid weakening the Manor’s walls?”
Gabriel huffed. “She’s not weakening the walls. And Azrael’s not the first hybrid to undergo the trial.”
“She’d be the first to survive.”
Gabriel frowned and turned away from Uriel and the Manor. That was only partly true. Alexandria had survived the Acceptance trial, just not what came next.
Among the piles of disintegrating black corpses lay two of his angelic brethren. Their sprawled and bloodied white wings contrasted sharply against the black, webbed bodies fanned out like enormous bats. He hoped that Azrael survived not just for her sake, but so such precious life had not been lost in vain.
The demons rarely were able to take an angel’s life. It took powerful constructions of Light to kill his brothers. But now, here lay two well-seasoned warriors, dead. Where were the demons getting the Divine Material to craft such weapons?
His shoulders sagged as he watched the three remaining angel warriors pick through the bodies, stabbing golden spears down into dark flesh at any hint of movement. The tallest angel cried out in victory when his spear was met with a gurgle of protest.
A distant demonic shriek made the angels jerk their heads to the horizon. The warriors looked to their leader and Uriel nodded in unspoken approval. The angels thrust their wings and launched into the sky, sending a plume of dust in their wake. Within a heartbeat they were halfway across the grassy plain towards the very thing that had just killed their brothers.
Gabriel couldn’t let more die, not on his watch. He sucked in a breath and clenched his jaw as he thrust his forefinger and thumb into his wound. Uriel didn’t offer any assistance as guttural sounds rolled in Gabriel’s throat.
Gabriel hadn’t felt physical pain in at least two centuries, and digging out the Dark fragment nearly made him lose consciousness. But he persisted until he found the sharp edge, latched onto it, and tore it out.
Uriel didn’t hide his grimace as Gabriel tossed the smoking shard to the ground and it bubbled in the tiny creek of his blood. “At least it wasn’t a Light shard,” Uriel offered.
Gabriel knew that a Dark shard would hurt, but it couldn’t kill him. It only infected, decayed, and oozed evil into the bloodstream. But a Light shard was the wrath of the Divine. It never failed to end the life of its target.
“No,” Gabriel sneered. “You let two of your angels die by a Light shard while I was overrun with opponents.”
In spite of the accusation, Uriel clapped Gabriel on the back with mock camaraderie. “You’re just sour you had to fight ten of them. Relax. You didn’t have to fight them alone. I brought five of my elite warriors.” He crossed his muscular arms and sighed. “Well, I guess I should say I brought three elite warriors, and two novices.”
“Do you not care that your own brothers are dead?” Gabriel snapped. The pain receded and Gabriel stretched his wings to their full length. Unlike Uriel, he didn’t wear the taloned weapons strapped to the arches of his wings and had full mobility.
Before Uriel could respond, Gabriel thrust himself into the sky. Uriel wouldn’t be able to follow with all his ornate battle-gear weighing him down.
Gabriel gained altitude, heading toward the sounds of snarls and clashing metal. The angels had found the last of the raid. Gabriel wasn’t going to lose another brother, not tonight.
Once within eyesight of the demonic raiding party, Gabriel clasped both wings tightly to his back. He was sent into a spiraling dive like a falcon and held his breath, gripping his last Divine dagger. He dared to whisper one last prayer, that one dagger would be enough.
Gabriel assessed the battle within a millisecond. Two angels had a small horde of demons cornered between them and were picking them off with skilled thrusts of their lances. But the third was dangerously overwhelmed, a mass of demons falling over themselves to overtake him.
Gabriel lifted the arch of one wing and was sent into a wide arc straight into the mass of demons. The angel warrior cried in surprise as the blur of Gabriel’s attack sent the demons scattering like grains of sand.
When they doubled back, stunned but blindly enraged to attack, Gabriel curled his shoulders downward, sending the arch of his wings pummeling straight into demons’ heads. The satisfying cracks told him two skulls had been instantly smashed.
Skidding to a halt, Gabriel lashed out the dagger. The blade left a molten, gold streak across black flesh. Demons cried out and grasped onto their sides, unable to stop the spread of Light infection that would slowly expel their rotten souls.
However, one demon stood out from the rest. Lips wrapped around fangs enough to make a sneer as he watched the demons die in agony. He shifted to Gabriel, towering three times the angel’s height. Unlike other demons with leathery skin, this one had grown a sheet of greenish scales. It wasn’t the demon’s unusual appearance that struck apprehension through Gabriel. It was the gold glowing scythe which he stabbed into the ground.
“Who are you, blue-eyed angel who kills so many?” the demon slurred using the old Windborn tongue.
Gabriel stiffened, not expecting a demon who would rather talk than fight, especially with such a weapon at hand. Was he here not to invade, but to gather intel? Gabriel squinted, looking for the telltale golden spiral tattoo of an archdemon’s pet, but only saw the jagged edge of scales. Even though Gabriel was relieved, he knew an archdemon was behind all this. Only an archdemon could create a monstrosity like this. The sheer size of the giant demon’s webbed wings screamed mutation.
Gabriel clicked his tongue at the remaining angels to support him. The others had killed their remaining foes and backed away, shaking their heads as they denied his request.
Gabriel’s lip twitched. Had Uriel filled them with lies? Even if he was an outcast among outcasts, why would they leave him alone against an augmented demon?
Stepping onto a squirming comrade, the demon offered a toothy grin as he slowly pushed his weight onto the withering body. “Who...are you?”
“I’m your death,” Gabriel spat.
A low laugh rumbled in the demon’s throat. “We shall see.”
The demon blurred and Gabriel launched to get out of the way of the terrifying blade coming straight as his throat. Gabriel was one of the most ancient and agile creatures to exist, but even he was forced to admit he’d met his match as the wind pushed by the blade grazed his cheek. The demon’s form altered, shimmering like milky oil before adjusting his swing for Gabriel’s movement. How could have an archdemon created such a beast?
Gabriel didn’t have time to ponder such blasphemy. The demon had put himself at an awkward angle to come at him a second time, likely hoping to finish him off. Knowing he’d be at Gabriel’s mercy if he failed, the demon put every ounce of power into the swing.
With his feet firmly planted on the ground and his knees slightly bent, Gabriel drew the strength up his calves and thighs to spin himself in a dizzying turn. Most angels didn’t take the time to train their legs, but Gabriel wasn’t like most angels.
The blade grazed past a second time. The demon had anticipated a quick win, for it only took a scratch to implant the fatal overdose of Light. But he had put all his hopes on that final swing...and missed.
Gabriel kept his momentum and thrust his wings to get himself inside the demon’s swing. In such close proximity, the wind vibrated with low drones and the air tasted metallic, a telltale sign of the dark magic powering this creature.
Gabriel slashed low, grazing the demon across the belly.
The demon cried out, eyes going white and wide in surprise. He staggered backward, foam bubbling at his mouth before he collapsed with Light spearing out in spidery veins and overtaking his mutated body.
Gabriel expelled the breath he’d been holding as the demon quivered into death, his soul expelled and his body disintegrating in powdery, dark flakes.
Gabriel turned to exclaim his victory to the angels who had not helped him. But there was only a sea of trampled grass to witness his efforts.
Gabriel took three steps toward the Manor, but knew the angels had already returned to Celestia. Their contract demanded the Manor’s protection only for the duration of Azrael’s session. Even he could feel the air had thinned. Whether she had survived or not, her session was over. He was the only one left to protect her now.