Transgression

by Matthew Ashworth

  Azrael, however, didn’t direct the scope of the attack at Alastor. He directed it at the demons that were trying to strike him from the side. Instantly those began dropping right onto the ground, failing to even come close enough to Azrael to take a swing. At that stage Adelais fought his way to their location.

  - “I’ll take the heat off you, captain.” He reassured Azrael, allowing Azrael to concentrate on Alastor once again.

  - “That’s dainty of your apprentice to defend you.” Alastor remarked suddenly, “I am not impressed.”

  Azrael didn’t bother enlightening Alastor on fighting with honour, because he knew Alastor’s typical demonic perceptions of the world would not get it. Instead, he just resumed the fight by charging forwards at Alastor.

  The two of them clashed their weapons against one another’s once again, constantly trying to lay a hit on each other. Their struggle continued, whilst Adelais was eliminating the demons that were attempting to attack his commander. At that moment, however, Azrael and Adelais noticed more demonic troops arriving at the scene, which included the generals Eligos, Buer, and Crocell. The battle was going to get a lot harder for the Creator’s soldiers now.

  Chapter 5

  Futile Attempt

  Adelais saw all the demons coming and immediately realised that it was time to pull back. Their army might’ve been good, but it still consisted mainly of dark angels and surviving Den of Retribution guards. The demons, however, were in too great numbers, not to mention the generals. This meant the allies of the Den had to retreat and wait for more reinforcements to arrive.

  - “Azrael, we should retreat.” Adelais suggested to his commander.

  Azrael was carefully observing Alastor and waiting for him to continue attacking. He appeared to have heard what Adelais said and started inspecting the enemy army, whilst still keeping an eye out on Alastor. Seconds later they heard Balder yell from the back:

  - “We need to withdraw, everyone!”

  Adelais looked at his commander again, hoping he would agree. Azrael finally did and the two of them launched into the air instantly.

  - “They’re getting away!” Alastor shouted angrily after them.

  The demon archers instantly locked onto the two of them and opened fire. Adelais saw their entire team pull back and was hoping that he and his commander would make it. However, he suddenly felt a sharp pain as one of the arrows struck him in the left wing. He tried his best to ignore the pain, but a second later another arrow hit him in the back. He felt severely weakened and could no longer go on. Surrendering himself to the weakness, Adelais began plunging down.

  - “Adelais, don’t give up on me!” Azrael yelled from above and dived to save him.

  Just as he was about to grab Adelais, however, he was tackled in the air. Whilst falling, Adelais briefly checked to see who it was and realised it was the fallen angel Crocell. By the time his commander was about to retaliate against her, she rammed him against the nearby wall with force and then violently tossed him onto the ground.

  Adelais landed first, feeling a great impact when he fell. Azrael fell shortly after him. The two of them were in so much pain they could not get up and keep on fighting. The demon kind had them now.

  Adelais turned whilst on the ground and glanced up. At first he could only see multitudes of infantry demons running past him, but eventually he saw a knight-like figure, Eligos, on a horrifying horse. A second later Crocell landed by Eligos’ side.

  - “What are we to do with them?” she asked.

  - “We’ll keep them in custody for now. They could come useful as hostages.” he replied in his raucous voice.

  Garridan could finally see three flying figures in the dark sky through a window of the same palace where he killed his last target. Not feeling worried whatsoever, he headed into the lobby where he planned to have a face off with the angels. He knew that they were perfectly aware of his exact location. Bracing himself for an intense fight, he began waiting with great patience. It was completely silent for a few seconds, and then suddenly there was a pound on the front door. After that pound the silence followed again. Garridan didn’t move a muscle. He kept on waiting and trying to predict what the angels were going to do. Finally he saw them appearing out of thin air right in front of the door. He understood that they merely used their supreme abilities to traverse through the locked door without having to smash it open. Just as he spotted earlier, there were exactly three of them - two were male and one female.

  - “Garridan, this is your final hour.” Said one of the male dark angels.

  - “We are not going to negotiate anymore. You have been a plague to the world and now you must be eliminated.” Said the female directly after.

  Garridan did not bother giving them a witty reply. He just cackled slightly at their threats and drew two swords out. At that second all three of the dark angels rushed at him. Garridan kept using the blade in one of his hands to block the incoming attacks, whilst the blade in the other to perform the offensive strikes. On an occasion, however, he needed to block with both. Suddenly, within one swift move, he managed to put down one of the dark angels. The other two continued aggressively attacking him. Garridan started backtracking into the nearby corridor, what he predicted would happen. Allowing patience to control him, he continued to back away and block the incoming attacks.

  The female dark angel at that point attempted to use her special ability. Before she even got a chance to charge some energy, however, Garridan reacted quickly and delivered a mortal slash to her torso. She collapsed immediately and passed away, leaving only one last dark angel, who was wielding a spear.

  Garridan decided to begin aggressively attacking there. Feeling too overconfident, however, he made a couple of clumsy swipes which left him open and gave the dark angel a chance to deliver a stab to his left shoulder. A surge of pain flowed through Garridan, causing him to drop the sword in his left hand. However, that surge of pain also empowered him, though nowhere near as much as it used to. Feeling enraged, Garridan resumed attacking, this time with stronger ferocity and speed. Finally, after having half a dozen of his strikes blocked by the enemy, Garridan managed to sever the angel’s right arm. Momentarily he followed that through with a powerful kick that knocked the injured opponent down. Garridan walked up to the dark angel there and stared down at him as he struggled from enormous pain.

  - “Looks like it was your final hour after all and not mine.” Garridan said, and then with a single swift sword stab in the torso he finished off his foe.

  The dark angels of Erebus and Purgatory, the troops of Helheim, and the guards of the Den finally made it all the way back to the Northern docks. The demons didn’t follow them all the way there and hence they could stand down for the time being. As soon as they reached the dock, they noticed several boats approaching the shore. Those were the back up troops from Erebus and Purgatory.

  - “Finally here. We can reinitiate the attack right away.” Ethel commented when she saw the boats.

  She then turned to look for her commander. However, Azrael was nowhere in sight. Upon a closer inspection she realised Adelais wasn’t in the army either. She turned to Lazarus straight away.

  - “Lazarus, where are Adelais and Azrael?”

  Lazarus too was lost, trying to hastily locate his comrades and then attempting to sense them. Ethel quickly figured that they must’ve not made it back with everyone else. A horrible thought overtook her that they got killed.

  - “No.” she said quietly, hoping that was not true.

  At that moment Balder approached the two of them. He seemed to be looking for Azrael too.

  - “Ethel, Lazarus, have you seen your commander?”

  - “They’re still alive, but they’ve been captured.” Lazarus let them both know right after successfully managing to sense their presence.

  - “Why are the demons keeping them alive?” Balder couldn’t understand the motive.

  - “I don’t know that.” Lazarus answered, �
�But we can still save them.”

  - “Then we better get onto it right now.” Ethel said sternly.

  Balder nodded in agreement and then headed for the boats that were docking now. It was time to quickly gather all of the reinforcements, regroup, and finally to advance into the thick of the sector again.

  Ethel and Lazarus followed him so that they could get their infantry prepared as well. Ethel was trying to be positive, like she usually was, but having two of her teammates in the clutches of the most vicious demons of the Pandemonium was causing her to rapidly lose hope. Whilst Lazarus and Gideon helped Balder to assemble the armies, she kept trying to think of an attack strategy. Was it wise to charge head on? The demons could easily threaten to kill Adelais and Azrael in case of another attack against them. She realised that if they attacked the demons, she would have to dive right into the thick of the enemy troops and to try and help out her teammates. However, doing so by herself could get her captured along with them. She knew she had to get a few other dark angels to help her with her plan. Lazarus and Balder were likely to agree, so she immediately walked up to them and informed them of her intentions.

  Chapter 6

  Dreadful Abyss

  Aurora and Malakai were both airborne, heading somewhere. Aurora didn’t ask him where they were going, and Malakai hadn’t told her either. Throughout the last twelve interims he spent a lot of his time training her. She finally began learning some of the useful fighting techniques and was feeling a lot more confident being a dark angel. She was still a long way away from becoming an expert fighter, but she was learning fast and managed to maintain a good progress. She also began specialising in one of the abilities that angels used. Malakai didn’t force her to discover it. It came to her by itself, as special abilities normally came to the angels. Aurora’s specialised ability was telepathy. She could communicate with others via her mind and even to use it offensively in a fight. However, whilst still at basic stages, she could only use it for very short bursts and with targets which were very close by.

  - “Malakai. Where are we going? Aren’t we supposed to help the others in the Den of Retribution?” Aurora suddenly broke the silence with a question.

  - “We will join them shortly, but first we have to acquire some troops.” Malakai responded whilst continuing to stare ahead.

  - “Where are we planning to acquire those troops from?”

  - “We’re heading to the Abyss of Nightmares sector. They’re allied with Pandemonium, so they’ll agree to give some of their units.” He explained further.

  - “I never asked you, but what exactly happens to all of the creatures and other guards that are used in the Underworld after they die? You said we either get taken to the Utopia by the Creator or break apart and are absorbed by the Void, depending on our loyalty. But what about the simple guardians?” Aurora suddenly raised a question.

  - “They are simply reborn in the sector they belong to and continue their service. The rebirth, however, does take up some time, at times even up to an entire term.” Malakai enlightened her.

  - “So they never get their eternal rest?” Aurora found it unusual.

  - “The beings of the Underworld do not go through mental anguish or physical suffering as the animals in the External World do.” Malakai replied, “They are just there to serve a function, which is to defend their sector.”

  Aurora often asked him questions about how the Underworld functioned. She was still incredibly curious and there were things she didn’t know of. It seemed to her that Malakai was glad that she showed so much interest. This made her a very promising soldier.

  At that moment they could finally see the Abyss in the distance. The sector itself was almost entirely below the surface. The surrounding grounds were mostly wastelands and contained nothing but a few guard posts and watch towers, as well as the two sets of docks, one at the North and one at the South.

  The two of them got silent as they began approaching the Abyss. Aurora was gazing at it with great curiosity, scanning the place for every last detail. Once they crossed the river and entered the sector’s area, Malakai told her to ease her mind, as the sector was rather eerie and unpleasant. Aurora listened to his advice, although she still was partially interested and partially anxious about what the sector was like.

  After they passed a few guard towers, they reached the main entrance into the sector. It was a gigantic hole in the ground, with the path gently descending downwards around its circumference, like a spiral. The two of them landed at the very entrance and stepped closer so that they could begin descending. Aurora gazed inside and could barely see anything at all. It was fully dark inside of the Abyss. All that the two of them could see was the path that led them down and nothing else. As they were descending, their eyes kept gradually adjusting to the darkness. It was a very long way down, but Aurora was patient about it and just continued following her commander.

  Once at the bottom, they saw two big wide tunnels. Those were illuminated slightly with torches on the walls. Aurora wasn’t too fond of this place. It was incredibly eerie and quiet, just as Malakai told her, and except for the guards in the watch towers, they had not seen any other live being in the entire sector.

  - “Where is everyone?” Aurora asked Malakai here whilst he was trying to remember which tunnel to take.

  - “You haven’t noticed?” Malakai turned to her, “We’re being constantly watched by creatures lurking in the darkness. They’re defending the entrance.”

  Aurora suddenly felt terrified for a brief second and began frantically looking around, trying to see those creatures that were hiding. After failing to see anything, she tried to compose herself. Malakai at that instant chose the way and began walking towards it.

  - “Don’t fall behind.” He advised, and Aurora instantly snapped out of her thoughts and followed him.

  They headed along a dimly lit tunnel and very soon reached a small chamber with several guards. Two of those looked like high ranking demon generals. One was tall and wore almost entirely red armor and even had red skin. The other was slightly shorter, very dishevelled, had pale cinereous skin, and his right arm was long and thin, like a serpent. Aurora looked at it more carefully when they got closer to those two and noticed that his arm indeed was partially a serpent.

  - “You must be Malakai. We’ve received your message.” The red-skinned demon general spoke, “You probably know who we are. I am Berith, and this is Vine.”

  - “Yes. I have heard of you.” Malakai dismissed the introductions, “As you know, Lucifer requires some of your army to use against the Den.”

  - “We’ve discussed it with our master and he would lend some. How many do you need?”

  - “We were hoping to attack in waves, so it might be a good idea if you joined in as well.”

  Aurora got bored of their talk at that stage and zoned out. She began thinking of Adelais as she hadn’t seen him in a long time. Malakai didn’t really care to listen to her inner turmoil during these interims. He was very action-oriented and was constantly busy. He was glad to answer the questions she had about the Underworld, but every time she began talking about how she felt or what she thought about being a part of Pandemonium, he failed to listen. Adelais was the only one who truly understood her, or at least that’s how she constantly saw him, ever since the deep conversation they had back in the Infernal Pit. At that moment she glanced over at the two demon generals. They seemed no different to the demons in Pandemonium. They were savage, selfish, and craved power. The more she was in their company, the more disgusted she kept feeling.

  - “Follow us then.” Berith finally said, at which point Malakai signalled for Aurora to come, as they were about to be taken further into the sector, where the infantry troops were located.

  As the two demon generals led them deeper and deeper through another tunnel, Malakai kept observing the place, as well as making sure Aurora was still following him. He could easily see her confusion and aversion to the place. Those
caves were much darker than the caves of the Infernal Pit, and they also were belonging to the demons. They could make almost any individual who wasn’t used to them to feel uneasy.

  Very soon they came out into a very large chamber, and its ground was incredibly irregular. Nevertheless, that didn’t bother Malakai. The four of them, along with the guards who were with Berith and Vine initially, continued crossing the large chamber until they eventually could see the other end. There were several exits out of it. The demon generals patiently led them into one of them. The cave tunnels looked incredibly repetitive and featureless, but the residents of the sector clearly were used to this already. They knew precisely where each tunnel led. Finally all of them arrived at another large room. That one had a lot of internal structures and contained plenty of demonic soldiers of different types.

  - “This is one of the squadrons.” Berith mentioned, “You can take them if you wish.”

  - “How many squadrons do you have?” Malakai showed interest.