by Lucia Ashta
Regardless, the demon could easily provoke dread and terror in the human heart. Its eyes had no pupils, suggesting the torment and suffering that lay behind them. Ashta, unable to resist the pull of the demon’s eyes, stared into their dark depths, defying the automatic reactions of paralyzing fear that threatened to boil up within her. Instead, she kept her focus, knowing that the demon fed off the negative emotions of fright and panic like a parasite. Dark feelings in a human heart gave the demon power over that person.
The demon’s facial features mimicked those of a human, but there was no capacity for joy in its expressions. Its body was opaque and solid, revealing that there was a density and strength to it which the dark blobs they encountered upon entering the city did not possess. The demon had no skin, but was all flesh, topped with stubby horns on its head. What was the beast’s exterior seemed to run through it. There were no viscera or soft underbelly as in a human or other animal. The demon had no heart. In the intensity of the demon’s stare, Ashta forced her innate curiosity to stand down. She could figure out how demons ticked at another time.
There was a brief standstill, the quiet before the fury of the storm, in which the demon appeared to be sizing up his opponents. Then it breathed out a ferocious, guttural grunt; the foul stench singed Ashta’s nose hairs. The sound forewarned of imminent attack that would bring with it hate, darkness, and pain. Ashta steeled herself, still having to push away her instinctive reactions of fear that kept trying to rise up within her. The demon’s eyes flared with fire.
Ashta and Anak held firm to their courage. As the demon breathed filth and wickedness at them, they breathed in the breath of Creator. Their light held strong and intact. The demon inhaled deeply, rooted itself staunchly to the ground beneath it, and balled its fists. It pushed its chest out and belched a belt of fire from its mouth straight at the twins.
Instinctively, Ashta and Anak magnified the intensity of the light that projected from them. The fire did not reach them. The fire first hit the bubble of protection that Area and Arien had placed around the twins, which it could not penetrate, though the bubble did weaken. Ashta could see that the shield the bubble had formed was now thinner.
Ashta gripped her sword, placing concentrated light within it through her intention. The unicorn was such an advanced creature that she synchronized herself with Ashta’s thoughts. As soon as Ashta decided to charge, her unicorn responded with flawless timing. Once more, the demon blasted out an inferno through its mouth, but Ashta and Anak were no longer in its line of fire.
More swift and agile than the demon, Ashta had circled to its left side while Anak had gone around to its right. With their emblazoned swords shining a bright blue light, they swung at the demon in quick succession. Ashta swung first, arcing across the demon’s torso. Anak swung just seconds after, also slicing at the giant demon’s chest. Their swords met in the middle of the demon’s upper body when the demon let out a wild wail.
Meanwhile, the unicorns pierced the demon’s thighs with their horns. The flesh around the wounds began to peel away instantly from the intensity of the light the horns had injected into it. The beast let out another agonizing howl. Ashta and Anak pulled out their swords and drew them back to strike again. But even as they raised their swords, they lowered them. The unicorns had dealt the final, lethal blows.
The demon was weakening rapidly, its animating force abandoning its body. Without premeditation but perfectly synchronized, Ashta and Anak pointed their swords at the demon. But this time, they did not pierce its flesh. Instead, they sent a beam of light through the swords that burst forth from the sharp tips. With light coming at it from both sides, and already fatally wounded by four beings of light, the demon shrunk into a charred form that finally crumpled into ashes at the hooves of the unicorns.
With divine timing, a sudden gust of wind lifted the ashes in a tight swirl. The wind raised the ashes above the twins’ heads, and then carried them higher still, where they scattered and vanished from that reality.
Ashta and Anak had no time to take in what had just happened. Right away, several other demons identical to the one they had just defeated attacked them. The vanquished demon’s cries had rallied the others. Five demons now charged the twins at full speed. They lumbered awkwardly toward the twins from all different directions. As the demons rushed the twins, the earth shook around them with their thundering footfalls.
Still positioned near Anak, Ashta felt him prepare his light field for the attack. She sensed him raise his sword in anticipation of the imminent assault that would be upon them in just seconds. His actions were identical to hers. Ashta’s unicorn bowed her head, pointing her single, gleaming white horn toward their attackers.
In the split seconds before the demons reached them, Ashta’s intuition commanded her attention. It unnerved her as she was already poised to repel the oncoming attack. For one second, she tried to push her screaming guidance away. The next second, she had given into it and scrambled to ready herself for what it was telling her to do. In life, Ashta had learned it was imperative to listen to her intuition above anything else. Now, under the threat of death, she listened to her guidance above reason.
With the sudden onset of inner knowing, Ashta closed her eyes to the storming demons that plodded menacingly toward them and pulled her focus inward. She ignored the imminent danger by focusing on her inner light. She felt the warmth and safety that came from full connection to Creator. Ashta lowered her sword, calmly sheathing it.
Still with her eyes closed, she found complete stillness and sat, unmoving, atop her unicorn friend. She sat straight and tall. She breathed in light. In that space of inner stillness, she could no longer hear the demons’ roars as they hurtled toward them. She could no longer feel the tremors that shook the ground beneath them as the demons stepped. She could no longer smell the sulfurous stench. All Ashta could feel was the essence of Creator.
Ashta’s eyes were still closed when she heard the first shriek of agony and defeat. Even so, she stayed in the space of light and beauty. Soon, the cries lessened in intensity. Ashta only opened her eyes when the cries diminished to fading whimpers. When she did, she saw a great wave of white light radiating out from her. It fully encircled her, Anak, and their unicorn companions, pulsing out in succeeding waves and ripples.
Ashta’s unicorn bowed her head, contributing to the light wave that radiated out before them. The wave of light was suspended in time, one pulse after another. The essence of light reached out and touched the essence of eternity.
Ashta looked down to see the once-towering demons in charred heaps on the ground, rapidly disintegrating into ashes. The waves of light had stopped them in their tracks. The dark had been defenseless before Creator’s brilliant light. And so it was true: light would always vanquish darkness. Light was the point of creation.
From where Ashta and Anak sat, high upon the unicorns’ backs, they watched the same wind that had come earlier return to carry away all that was left of the demons, effortlessly and gracefully. Creator could transform everything. It was possible to transmute darkness into positive energy and use it for good and beauty in the world.
The last of the ashes swirled away on the wind, giving a moment of grace to what had been creatures of intense darkness, with the fire of torment burning in their eyes. Anak rode up to Ashta. He guided his unicorn parallel to hers and leaned over to embrace her. Anak spoke, “I am honored to be one with you, fellow light warrior, my beloved.” Tears of emotion welled in Ashta’s eyes, but she was still able to see their unicorns tilt their heads toward each other and entwine their single horns in love.
46 Serenity after a Storm
With the immediate threat resolved, Ashta looked around, taking in her surroundings for the first time since they had galloped into the heart of the city. She looked up and down the winding stone streets, but could not see angels anywhere. Ashta lifted her gaze upward. Angels and demons swooped everywhere in the skies. Angels with their wide wings unfu
rled overtook the gargantuan creatures of darkness. With stunted wings and absence of grace, the demons did not wield their colossal frames well. The angels were winning.
Bursts of fire and light punctuated the sky. Layer upon layer of angels and demons reached up toward the heavens, fading into the clouds past where Ashta could see. Knowing that light would prevail, she returned her attention to the streets. A short distance from where she and Anak stood, Carn and Baldub were fighting several demons.
Baldub had grown to immense size; he was as tall as the monsters he met head on. The twins watched as Baldub roared a mighty roar. The demon Baldub faced stepped back. In an attempt to hold its ground, the demon drew in breath, clenched its fists, and stood rooted to the ground. Then, with great fury, it belched out fire. It was a caustic, bitter breath that carried both foul odor and flame.
But, as the demon let loose its breath of fire, Baldub stretched up taller still. Baldub blew out the demon’s flame as if he were lazily blowing out a candle at bedtime. The scene would have inspired humor had it not been a matter of life and death.
The demon was startled; it did not know what to do. Baldub capitalized on the demon’s hesitation and, with his club that had extended in size proportionately to his own growth, hammered the demon over its head. The demon shrunk a little.
Baldub hit the demon several more times, until it had shrunken in size so much that he could pick it up in his hand and squeeze it. Baldub crushed the demon with his massive hand until it reduced to a pile of ashes. Then, with that same powerful, yet incongruously lazy breath, Baldub blew the ashes away. His magical breath carried what little was left of the demon away.
Carn, who fought valiantly next to Baldub, was also captivating to watch. She spun with her bow held in an outstretched hand. The bow glowed faintly as she picked up speed. Soon, she was spinning so quickly that she created shock waves around her. The demons were unable to advance before the force field she was projecting.
The waves became so intense that they began causing serious structural damage to the demons’ bodies. The demons could no longer press forward, but began breaking away. Small pieces of flesh flecked away and blew off into a directed, tornado-like wind that Carn had created above them with her spinning.
Carn was a blur of motion. Her long, copper hair and crimson cape twirled with her. Seen from above, she created circles within circles of different colors, her fast whirling giving the illusion of perfect symmetry. The force and consistency of her movement was not only beautiful but also continued its decimating effect upon the demons. The demons were unrecognizable; they had become a disfigured impression of what they had once been.
Finally, the last of the demons blew away. The cyclone that whipped above them took away every last piece. Once Carn had secured victory, she spun one last time and stopped. The tornado above her faded into nothingness.
Carn stood in complete stillness, as if she had never moved at all. Her cape and hair fell limply at her sides. Carn looked up at Baldub who stood watching her, now back at his normal height. She smiled a radiant smile that spread warmth across her face. She was the faultless example of serenity after a storm.
Ashta spotted the cousins nearby. They sat with their backs against a building and their legs outstretched. The excitement of the fight had fled their bodies, leaving exhaustion and stupor in its place. There was none of the usual chatter and playfulness about them. Three unicorns stood next to them, also recovering from the exertion of battle. No more dark creatures prowled the streets.
Thom was making his way over to where the cousins sat. He walked beside his unicorn, with his hand resting on its mane. The unicorn mirrored his stillness, towering protectively over Thom’s small frame. Thom held neither weapons nor any other external evidence of his power. Ashta watched him as he reached the cousins, rested his head against the unicorn’s, and murmured tender words to the creature.
The twins, Baldub, and Carn had just joined the cousins and Thom in the street when an angel defeated a giant demon above them. The demon hurtled down through the sky but, instead of continuing its descent to the ground, its fall was broken by the surveillance tower at the city’s gate. The tower was made of solid stone and withstood the impact. The demon was impaled on the spire that rose from the tower and there found its final resting place.
Though the fighting was furious in the skies, on the ground it was eerily quiet. All the light warriors sat or stood in silence out of reverence for the great power they had witnessed there that day. There was also respect for the destruction; even though all that had died at their hands were soldiers of darkness, there was still a sense of regret for the necessary suffering that had led to that death.
The light warriors took inventory. Everyone was whole and apparently unscathed. Each had learned more about himself that day and understood his powers more fully. Baldub and Carn had grown closer through the experience of fighting side by side. They sat next to each other as friends and protectors.
Suddenly, Carn started to laugh uncontrollably. It was entirely unexpected and contagious. The light warriors all joined in, not knowing what they were laughing at, but laughing just the same. It had been unsettling to stand up to such monstrous and violent creatures. The laughter relieved the tension they had not even known they were holding.
Finally, exhaustion swept in. They allowed themselves to let go of the fight, and those that were not already sitting joined the others. With their backs leaning against a wall, the warriors turned their attention to the skies. This time, they looked up as spectators. The battle of the skies was not theirs to fight—at least, not at this time. The light warriors had secured the city so the angels could devote their attention above.
Ashta was relieved to see that the angels now slightly outnumbered the winged demons. Eventually, the angels would defeat the demons that had come to devastate and destroy. The light would defeat the darkness.
Knowing the angels would ultimately secure victory allowed the group to watch the battle from below with detachment. The angels fought and flew with a great, fluid power. And as Ashta watched the angels skillfully engage their opponents, she realized that the flying demons were different from the demons that had lumbered through the streets. Though nowhere near as graceful as the angels, the flying demons were less awkward and more resistant to attack than their grounded counterparts were. They were much more powerful than any the light warriors had fought. It was no wonder that the battle in flight was lasting longer. These demons were different and potently dangerous.
Ashta shifted her gaze toward the surveillance tower. The demon that had lodged itself on the tower’s spire was gone. It, too, had faded into nothingness. All was safe within the city’s streets. Ashta closed her eyes and brought herself to that space in which she could easily connect to Creator. From that place, she sent light sweeping over the city. The light seeped in through cracked doorways and windows, between trees and into the wells where the people drew their water.
Anak, always connected to Ashta, joined in her efforts; his light sped toward the opposite quadrant of the city. Their combined light, filled with the intention to cleanse the city and erase the imprint of trauma, was doing just that. The vibration of distress was leaving those living elements within the city that could hold the memory of conflict.
The light swept across the town until the light that Ashta was sending out from the left sector met the light that Anak was sending out from the right side. Then, with light completely filling every crevice, the vibration of the entire city shifted. The living elements of Mother Earth attuned once again to her vibration and shared in her essence. The stones, the trees, and the dirt hummed. Ashta and Anak released their hold on the light and stopped emitting it. The light continued to float through the town until it eventually dissipated.
With their duty in the city complete, the warriors stood and turned to exit as one. They did not speak; they had reached such a level of connection that communication was unnecessary. The unic
orns walked beside the light warriors. The warriors had ridden the unicorns in battle to gain every advantage they could, but now, the warriors wanted to honor the magic that coursed through the mighty creatures. The unicorns’ legs flexed with rippling muscles, repeating divinely designed motion with each step. As Ashta admired the unicorns, she had a premonition that they were an important part of their epic journey that would not end with this one battle.
47 The Extraordinary
The next morning, while the sun still slept, Elena was jarred awake but didn't know what had roused her. Then she felt Marco holding her tightly in a protective embrace. Elena searched Marco’s eyes for an explanation of what was going on, and he indicated that she should be quiet while they listened. Elena lay perfectly still against him.
Before long, they heard it. They heard what had signaled to their sleeping minds that it was time to return to alertness. Faint whispers of movement sounded outside the guesthouse when there should have been none. An earsplitting alarm rang out, and a rush of activity accompanied it.
Elena and Marco sprang out of bed, launching themselves into immediate action. Elena was hurriedly pulling on the clothes she had thrown on the floor the previous night. As Elena pulled her shirt down, she saw that Marco was already fully dressed and strapping the sword’s sheath to his side. He put the sword itself in his hand, and Elena did the same. Neither of them knew what awaited them on the other side of the door.
With staffs and bows strapped to their backs and swords in their hands, Elena and Marco rushed toward the door. The extraordinary had become the ordinary in their lives. Creator’s paintbrush tinged everything in their world. They opened the door to the bedroom as angels in human bodies.
* * *
There was nothing for the motley group of light warriors to do but return to the campsite. Without the apprehension of battle ahead of them, they shared jokes and stories. There was the silence of telepathic communication and then the sudden outburst of raucous laughter. They all knew the war was not over, but they had won a battle. They enjoyed the lightheartedness that followed in the aftermath of intensity. They traipsed through the grasses that travelers had worn down, creating a path.
