Crossroads

by Mary Ting

  “You’re outnumbered, Aden. Turn yourself in, or I will have no choice but to kill you. This is not my intention, but I will do what needs to be done,” Michael attempted to reason with him.

  “You’re a fool to think this is over,” Aden replied.

  Sure enough, it was too good to be true thinking it was over. Numerous fallen appeared out of thin air, surrounding Aden. They, too, made their swords magically appear in their hands. Immediately, I knew something was different about them. One looked directly at me, and I was taken aback when I noticed his eyes were completely black. From afar they looked like fallen, but bigger. Close up, they looked like the worst possible demons imaginable. Looking into their eyes sent chills through every part of me. It was like looking into a black hole and feeling like the more I looked, the further I would fall into their world. I was petrified.

  “We have more company!” Caleb shouted, with a look of fear.

  “Meet the newest members of my family!” Aden declared.

  Vivian, Caleb, and Davin held their swords up and congregated in a circle with their backs facing each other. I hid behind Michael. Slowly, the fallen started edging toward them.

  “What are they?” Davin asked, rocking back and forth, ready to defend himself.

  “They’re not fallen. They are demons,” Michael answered, his voice betraying the alarm he was feeling.

  “They look repulsive. Their eyes are completely black,” Caleb stated, grimacing.

  “There are too many of them!” Davin shouted in panic.

  “Not a problem. Come to mama, and I’ll show you what hell is really like,” Vivian taunted.

  “Stay behind me,” Michael instructed, as his wings extended. Though his wings were blocking my view, they were also protecting me as I stood behind them.

  Suddenly, I heard the loud metallic clangs from the swords, and I knew the demons had attacked. I looked up, and I was surrounded by sparks. The clashing of the blades was so powerful, it created a shower of fire. I froze from fright. As I drew in deep breaths, I felt excruciating pain on the palms of my hands. I hadn’t realized I had rolled my fingers into a ball, clenching so tightly that my fingernails dug into my skin. I released my fingers, knowing I would be safe as long as I was behind Michael, but that wasn’t enough. I needed to know that Michael and his friends, my friends, were safe too. Inching away little by little from my safety zone, I backed away until I had a clear vision of the room and knew exactly where everyone stood.

  Michael turned to his right, facing several demons head-on. Raising his sword over his head, he placed it in a horizontal position as he swung his weapon, cutting off the demons’ heads. I gasped in horror at the sight of them being decapitated. Demons or not, it was repulsive to witness. Michael defended his own neck by swinging vertically. As the sword came down, he thrust it into the demon’s chest. In that split second, the demon burst into black ashes. Some of the ashes landed on my shoulder, and I quickly brushed them off in disgust.

  More demons leaped toward Michael. He leaned to the right. One demon barely missed him on the shoulder as he sliced through a monitor instead. Bright golden sparks were shooting in all different directions, like fireworks. At that moment, Michael’s wings blocked the sparks from flying toward me. Swiftly Michael swirled his sword to his left and drove his weapon into the second demon’s chest. With a snarl, a nearby demon lunged toward him, and the tip of his sword barely nicked Michael in the chest. Michael gave him a look that could kill, spun around, blocked an incoming blow from his right, and jumped into the air. As he landed, his sword swung around, eliminating the demons surrounding him.

  Vivian was now positioned adjacent to Michael. As a demon charged toward her, with a flick of her wrist, the swords were caught up in a circular motion. The demon’s sword went flying; slicing anything along its path, until it finally landed about twenty feet from them. His eyes wide with shock and full of fear, Vivian took the opportunity to drive the sword into his heart. Drawing the sword out, she pivoted to her right and blocked an attack by driving it straight up. She recoiled backward, barely missing a blow as her long hair fell across her face. She gracefully ducked, dodging a swing that came from behind. She flipped, positioned herself behind a demon, and thrust the sword into his back. Screeches of pain and defeat echoed all around.

  Instantly, Davin was standing nearby, surrounded by demons. His sword swung from left to right, blocking, attacking, and slashing each of them. As more appeared, Davin dodged all the blows except for one small, unexpected swipe that cut him across his arm, knocking him down to land on top of a demon’s feet. As the demon gave a menacing smile, he positioned his sword to plunge directly into Davin’s chest, when Vivian knocked it out from behind.

  “Take that, you worthless monster,” Davin shouted and gave Vivian a thankful smile as he flipped back up. He somersaulted and landed behind more demons. I couldn’t see what happened, but black ashes rained on the floor, and without a trace, they vanished.

  “Ashes to ashes and dust to dust you shall become,” I heard Caleb say as the demons were executed.

  Suddenly, without warning, Michael was surrounded by ten of them. He gently pushed me to the side. “Stay here under the desk.”

  “Come and get me!” he shouted at them.

  There were many of them swarming in full force. I was terrified, worried about Michael. My fingers dug deep into the floor as I took a peek. Michael’s wings were opened slightly, and when they came close enough, he opened all the way. His wings were like blades. He spun around, slicing one after the other until all ten lives were taken, leaving Michael in a tunnel of ashes. I couldn’t believe what I had just seen. As soft and delicate as his wings were, I would have never imagined that they could be used as a weapon. It was frightening and completely remarkable at the same time. Relief overcame me as I saw Michael standing there without a scratch.

  Unexpectedly, the table that I was under disappeared. It was thrown at Michael from his blind spot, knocking him across the room. I stood alone, exposed and defenseless, as the demons edged toward me. Noticing a scalpel next to my feet, I quickly picked it up and waved it in front of them. Even though I knew I didn’t have a fighting chance, I had a burst of adrenaline. I noticed Michael standing; ready to bolt across the room in my direction. Before Michael could reach me, the demons collapsed. I blinked in surprise, the scalpel shaking violently in my hands. Then I saw Caleb, Vivian, and Davin standing right before me. In that moment I realized three things—the three of them had killed the demons standing before me, all the demons were eliminated, and all of my friends were safe. Not to mention that what had started as a storage room had now become unrecognizable. It was unbelievable!

  Knowing this wasn’t completely over, I immediately turned to Aden. He was backing away with an intense glare in his eyes. All the demons had turned to ash, and he was left standing alone. Aden knew he was defeated; his eyes were boiling with anger.

  Michael tenderly touched my cheeks, relieved that I was safe. He turned to Aden. “Can’t find enough fallen to do your dirty work, so you had to play with fire? Went down to see the devil himself? Are you crazy?” Michael’s voice was loud and angry. “You don’t have that kind of power anymore. Who helped you open the gates of Hell? What happens if they turn their backs on you? You will leave the humans defenseless against these uncontrollable demons!”

  “I am your superior. You do not ask such questions!” Aden commanded and narrowed his eyes at me. “And you…” He pointed to me. “Too bad Lucy got in the way. You should have been there to protect her. It was too bad I had to go through her to get to you.” He smiled a cold, evil smile.

  As he started talking about Gamma, I immediately reached for the bracelet she made me. It didn’t hit me at first. I thought Gamma’s stroke was due to her age, but it wasn’t. Aden had killed my Gamma.

  Michael gently placed his hand on my back and said, “He is trying to get to you through your emotions. Don’t listen!” His touch and his
words calmed me.

  “Too bad she had to have a massive stroke. I enjoyed making her suffer.”

  My fists were clenched tight. I could only imagine feeling the satisfaction of punching him, because there was no way I could get close enough to do what I wanted.

  “It’s not true. They don’t feel any pain when they have a stroke, Claudia,” Davin spoke, walking toward me.

  Under normal circumstances that might be true, but Gamma was an Earth angel. I couldn’t hold back any longer. “What did you do to her?” I shouted.

  “Nothing much, just the usual torture. She wouldn’t give me the answer I wanted to hear, so I squeezed it out of her head. Such a pity. If only she had cooperated. She could have lived another twenty years,” he said, giving me that evil smirk.

  “You are the devil!” I shouted angrily. “How could you?”

  “It wasn’t difficult. She fought me with everything she had. She just didn’t have much strength since she had aged.”

  While listening to him, my body burned with anger, like a wildfire blazing inside me. I felt like I was going to explode.

  “Let it go, Claudia. His powers are weak, with the demons out of the way,” Michael said as he rested his hand on my back.

  Then he focused his attention to Aden. “Aden, now I know why you need the fallen and the demons. Besides having them fight your battles for you, you feed on their evilness. You draw from their energy. You are truly pathetic, and yet you call yourself a leader.”

  “Come with me, Michael,” Aden’s voice was deceptively sincere. “Better yet, why don’t all of you come with me?”

  “Don’t waste your time. We’re not mindless, like your puppets,” Caleb said.

  “Your time is up. Either you surrender, or I will kill you myself,” Michael ordered, slowly closing in on him.

  Without a word, Aden started to laugh hysterically, and just as Michael plunged into him, Aden disappeared. His laughter resonated, sending chills prickling down my back. His swift, sudden disappearance had startled me and all I could do was stare at the empty space where he had just stood. Where had he disappeared to? It didn’t matter where, as long he was gone. I knew he would be back, and now I knew for sure the reason why. Even though I was extremely relieved that he was gone, my body started to shiver as my thoughts turned to Michael.

  Michael was left standing where Aden had been, his shoulders slumped, empty-handed and anguished. The opportunity to eliminate Aden was in his hands, and just like that, it had vanished. Knowing he would blame Aden’s escape on himself, I needed to reassure him that it was not his fault.

  “Michael,” I cried out softly with a raspy voice.

  Immediately, he tilted his head and looked at me.

  I was also debating whether or not to tell them what Gamma had said, when Michael grabbed me. “Are you all right?” he asked. He caught me as my knees buckled, and stopped me from falling to the floor.

  “Yes, now that you are all safe,” I said, feeling relieved. My heartbeat finally steadied, along with the shivers. His hold was all I needed to calm me. I placed my head on his chest and let out a heavy sigh.

  “I’m sorry. We would have been here earlier, but we were detained by other demons,” Michael said, apologetically.

  “I know,” I said, as he continued to embrace me. “That explains why the demons disappeared while I was running away. I thought they were fallen. These demons, where do they come from?” I asked Michael.

  “Demons, also known as evil spirits, were angels, followers of Lucifer, and some are children of fallen angels. They are disembodied spirits. They were sent to a spiritual prison called “Abyss.” Humans call it “Hell.” When they enter your world, these demons must occupy bodies of unbelievers. Their eyes turn black so that we can distinguish them. The only way they could be released is by a gatekeeper or by the Royal Council. How they escaped is unclear, but the answer lies with Aden. I do not know how he did it. The only thing that I could think of is that he must have found a fallen gatekeeper to do his dirty work. What puzzles me is that I can’t think of any fallen who was a gatekeeper.”

  “Oh.” It was all I could say.

  There was dead silence in the room until Davin spoke. “Well, we’re always happy to get rid of them for you.” Then he pulled me out of Michael’s grip. “Share a little,” he joked, giving me a tight squeeze.

  I sucked in my breath from the tightness.

  “Sorry,” Davin said, chuckling while releasing me. Then he became serious. “I’m just glad Aden disappeared instead of making us disappear.”

  “Well, he didn’t have a chance. It would have been four against one,” Vivian answered back. “Since his powers were weakened, I think we could have taken him out. I believe he knew that as well, so he just disappeared.”

  “That’s true. We were lucky that he was getting weaker with the demons out of the way. But what puzzles me is what he could possibly want with you, Claudia.” Davin looked at me with curious eyes.

  I didn’t answer.

  “There must be something else besides you crossing over to Halo City, because he wouldn’t go to this much trouble bringing the demons to Earth,” Vivian said. Then she turned her attention to Michael. “What do you think?”

  “I don’t know. Let me think about this,” he said, brushing the question off as if it wasn’t important. “No more questions,” he demanded. “Claudia has had enough. We’ll talk later.”

  The alkins didn’t ask me any more questions after that. Everyone had something to say, except for Caleb. I could tell Caleb’s thoughts were elsewhere. I ran to him and embraced him. He was as stiff as a board. “I…I…thanks,” he said, surprised as he leaned away from me.

  I didn’t care, nor was I insulted by his action. He was here to help me, and I was grateful.

  “Don’t mind Caleb. He isn’t used to it. I think physical affection was missing in his previous life on Earth,” Vivian spoke as she patted Caleb on the back. Caleb quickly looked down, feeling uncomfortable with Vivian’s words.

  “You know nothing about my life on Earth, and none of us remember our past,” Caleb said as he stared into the space where Aden had been. Caleb turned and looked at us. “What made him turn so evil? I could only imagine that he was once a good angel, don’t you think? It must have been hard to avoid such temptations that were forbidden, only allowed for the humans. I think eventually, when you live among humans, you think and become like them. Look at us! We miss being here even though we can’t remember our past, whether it was pleasant or not. It’s the freedom to choose, to love, to live to the fullest, that we all hunger for.”

  “Wow, Caleb! That was the most you’ve ever said,” Davin said jokingly, placing his hand on Caleb’s shoulder.

  Smiling, Caleb pushed Davin a few feet from where he stood. “Shut up!” he said playfully. “You talk too much. Sometimes I have important things to say. I may not share what I’m thinking, but I think about many things.”

  “We all think about “what ifs.” We wonder about our lives on Earth that we have no memories of,” Vivian responded.

  Michael wasn’t paying attention to our conversation. He suddenly wrapped his wings around me as he was deep in thought, staring into the same space where Aden had stood. He looked worried. “Aden will be coming back with more fallen and demons. He’s just testing our limits. His army is growing,” Michael said, looking extremely concerned. He tilted his head toward the door, grabbed my hand, and said, “We should get going.”

  About halfway out the door, I noticed Caleb standing in the middle of the room with his arms stretched out. The door behind us closed by itself, and Michael whispered into my ears, “He’s putting everything back, cleaning. We call him the sweeper.”

  My eyes practically popped out. “I see,” I said, looking behind my shoulders only to hear soft noises. It was incredible to witness their powers: Davin, the gatekeeper, Vivian, the locator, Caleb the sweeper, and Michael, with multiple powers and more I had yet to
witness. Michael was amazing just the way he was, and it didn’t matter if he had any powers at all.

  Chapter 19

  We stepped inside the elevator, and all the mixed emotions I stored so tightly inside began to unveil. The adrenaline that pumped through my body as I was running for my life had temporarily pushed aside the loss of Gamma. Now that I was safe, the reality of Gamma’s death settled in. So many overwhelming circumstances had taken place within a short period of time. My body became weak, and I thought I was going to faint. I just had to hold myself together for a little while longer.

  “Can we stop by Gamma’s room?” I asked timidly.

  “Yes, of course! I’m so sorry. We were so worried about your safety that we didn’t even think about your Gamma. We didn’t mean to be insensitive like that,” Michael said apologetically.

  “No. Not insensitive. Very thoughtful,” I quickly replied.

  I was just ecstatic that they were here with me again. Davin squeezed in between Michael and me and placed his arms around our shoulders. “Sorry about your Gamma. I don’t know if I ever lost anyone in my human life, but I can only imagine. It must be extremely difficult,” he said.

  “Thank you,” I replied.

  “Room five twelve?” Davin asked.

  “Yes,” I said.

  As we approached the room, there was a nurse that I recognized sitting behind her desk, smiling. As soon as she realized we were headed toward the room, she stopped us.

  “Excuse me, but that room is off-limits,” she said firmly, blocking the door.

  “Nurse…” Michael quickly looked at her name tag. “Sara. Her grandmother just passed away about an hour ago. I would really appreciate it if you would allow us to have some peaceful moments to honor her grandmother’s passing,” Michael said persuasively, giving her his irresistible smile.