Dark blood came from the corner of her eyes, and Lilith realized that the blade had nicked her cheek, making a straight line on her face. She landed back on her feet, glaring at the angel. “You just marked my pretty face!” Lilith scowled. She watched Ariel stand straight, the blade on the spear she held gleamed under the moonlight and memory tugged at the back of Lilith’s mind. “Where did you get that?”
As her answer, Ariel sliced the spear in the air, creating a silver crescent before her. She crouched down with the spear reeled back just on the level of her shoulder. Lilith smiled. “Not willing to share, eh? That’s too bad.”
A rustle from behind her distracted Ariel for a moment. Her eyes glanced behind, giving Lilith the opportunity she needed. Spikes erupted directly in front of Ariel. The moment of distraction cost her the time she needed to evade, but the angel swiped the blade upward before getting hit on the shoulder by one of the spikes. She stabbed the spike of shadow, forcing it to release her, then jumped away just as another set of spikes erupted behind her.
Ariel wheeled around as she landed to face Lilith again and suddenly felt a heavy weight in her hands. She looked to the weapon she held and her thoughts were clouded by doubt once more. Ariel could feel the power in the spear, but it was power that was beyond what she had ever held. It was convenient to her, but the implications were disturbing.
Just hold it out a little longer, Ariel thought. Until Mikaela returns.
Mikaela’s landing echoed all around her. The little ball of flame followed her down from the hatch and illuminated the tunnel that stretched out in front of her. The tunnel was made of iron and the floor was concrete. It stretched farther than her flames could reach, and she could see nothing noteworthy from where she stood.
“David?” Mikaela called out, her voice echoing back to her. “Jenny?”
No answer. Mikaela nodded to the ball of flame, urging it to lead the way. The faint orange glow served as the guide as she walked into the tunnel. The witch tried to read the energies around her, but all of them were faint. But they are recent. Mikaela confirmed to herself. Which means…
Her thoughts were halted by an object sitting in the middle of the floor six meters in front of her. Mikaela rushed to the object, feeling hope. The ball of flame revealed the item just as she picked it up, and she recognized it immediately.
This is David’s shoe! Mikaela confirmed the energy in the footwear. Then, a thought came to her mind. So, he’s walking around with only one shoe? The image seemed both awkward and funny to her.
Lilith’s boisterous laughter was a bane to Ariel’s ears as she dodged every attack she sent in her direction. The spear grew heavier in her arms, and she wished to rely on it no longer. It is too dangerous, Ariel thought. Her feet slid to a halt as a spiked shadow erupted in front of her. The surprise made her stumble back with the spear supporting her fall. Ariel stabbed the spear into the ground and used it to lift her feet off the ground and tossed herself against Lilith. Her knees met with Lilith’s face, throwing off the demon.
“Again!” Lilith shouted. “Not the face!”
“How about the hair?” Mikaela’s voice sounded behind her, and Lilith’s golden locks were yanked back, forcing her down. The demon then floated off the ground only to slam hard back on the ground, knocking the air out of her.
Ariel turned to see Mikaela with her hand outstretched towards the demon, the other holding a man’s shoe. Mikaela directed Lilith’s body to the side, slamming against the trunk of a tree where the demon slid to the ground.
“Why you!!” Fury was in Lilith’s voice as a large blob of shadows grew from beneath her feet. The shadows exploded into numerous spikes speeding towards Ariel and Mikaela, the angel taking her position to strike. But with a flick of Mikaela’s hand, the shadows softened until they thinned into a smoke that gently blew in their faces.
“H- How…” Lilith was shocked, her blue eyes staring at the witch. Her brows knitted together as she studied the young witch. Suspicion brewed in her mind. How did she get so powerful?
“Sorry, but we can’t stay to chat,” Mikaela claimed, reaching for Ariel. Lilith watched as Ariel brandished the spear again and stabbed it into the ground. White light erupted from the blade of the spear, blinding the demon. In her last attempt, Lilith screamed and another set of shadows sped in their direction. But before the shadows reached the two, the light disappeared. And so did the angel and the witch.
Chapter Ten: Stranger
The sun was rising in the east when they arrived in the middle of Nevada. Dust and sand blew in their faces while their eyes adjusted to the bright orange light. Daniel had convinced Caelum to rest the night before to ensure that he would survive the travel. Though offended at being underestimated, Caelum couldn’t argue with the angel. Now, as they stood there, Caelum was thankful that he had a few hours of rest. His mind was spinning after passing through dimensions to change their locations, and he bit the inside of his cheek to keep the bile from rising.
He squinted to see the scene before them, and the first thing he saw were the dark green tents and sand bags that littered the area. There were no people around, but boxes carrying weaponry and other necessary supplies were stuffed in the tents. A military base? Caelum wondered.
His gaze went beyond the tents where he saw many things littering the area: pieces of cloth, chipped wood, and metal. One large item rested amidst all the mess, and Caelum took a step closer to get a better look. It was a handmade sign board that said, “Repent your sins!!”
“There was a struggle here,” Daniel explained to him. “Civilians trespassed in the area and began to protest against what they believed to be military experiments after the bridge was created. The soldiers who guarded this area tried to hold them back, but anger and fear fueled the civilians and it turned into a battle.” His eyes glanced behind them. “Something drove both parties away before it escalated, however.”
“Something?” Caelum repeated. He followed Daniel’s eyes and found a large crater, forty meters in radius, marking the area. It looked as though a meteor had crashed on the land, creating the gaping hole. The air around the crater seemed to ripple. It was as if he was looking at the scene through dark water, then the orange glow turned murky and ominous. Caelum blinked rapidly until he finally saw what was causing it.
Dark figures began to appear before his eyes, all gathered around the crater. Tall and unmoving, the figures huddled over the hole in the land. All were enshrouded in dark gray hoods, making them indistinguishable from each other. In his muddled memory, the figures were familiar to him.
From the crater, black smoke billowed up. But it was a strange smoke, bearing thick shadows in random areas that rose up faster than the rest. Caelum watched the smoke intently, focusing on the thick shadows that mixed within it. These were no shadows, he realized. They moved on their own; some reached up to the sky, some changed directions, and some were halted in their flight by something he could not see.
“T- those are souls?” Caelum wondered in surprise.
Daniel nodded. “Yes. And there are reapers around trying to contain them.”
“Oh.” Caelum realized. “I knew I’d seen those before. Azrael must have given them the order to contain the situation.”
The angel by his side looked at him oddly. “You see them?”
Caelum cocked his head to the side. “You mean the reapers? Yes, I can. Why—?” Then his eyes widened. “Oh. That’s right, I’m mortal now.”
“And mortals should not be able to see reapers unless—”
“Unless they’re dying.” Caelum finished the sentence, horror dawning on him. Upon saying it, his vision turned again and his body felt like lead. He fought to keep his feet flat on the ground. He gripped the angel’s shoulder for support, breathing through his mouth. Caelum was weakening and he knew it. What a time to be human again… He cursed his situation.
Daniel stared at Caelum, this time without any protests from the man, and saw that his soul
was losing its energy rapidly. Walking through dimensions has depleted his power so much that even though Caelum had rested for a few hours, his energy was still dangerously low. His eyes bore through the vessel and stared at the fading light inside; it was like looking at a lighthouse in the middle of a misty ocean.
“Your soul is fading… quickly.”
“Tell me something I don’t know,” he said, his nails digging into Daniel’s coat. He lifted his head to see the reapers and a weak smile spread across his face. "Would it be possible for you to kill the reaper that tries to take my soul?"
"A reaper will not take your soul after it has already consumed itself," Daniel explained, looking over his shoulder at the unmoving reapers standing around the crater. “There will be nothing left to send to Purgatory.”
“So, my soul will end up not being resurrected at all?” Caelum wondered. “Well, I don’t think much of it, considering the world’s already turning into Hell.”
Daniel eyed him curiously. “Hell is collapsing. It will not be able to contain the other worlds, even if it was at its most powerful state.”
“That’s not— You know what, never mind.” Caelum threw his hands up. He looked around the place again, seeing the countless reapers that foreshadowed his own death. The smile on his lips mocked his fate; how he willingly came to a place where reapers gathered at the expense of his soul threatening to cease to exist. “This was meant to be.”
Daniel followed his gaze to the reapers, his thoughts heavy. He looked from them to Caelum, who bore fear and sadness despite his jokes. A voice rang in the back of his mind, reminding him of his last few moments in his home.
Take this, Azrael had told him. Take this and look for him. He will need it.
Daniel knew now that Azrael had meant Caelum, but what he didn’t understand was what Azrael had given him. He lifted his palm to the level of his eye and slowly, the feather-like shape appeared on his skin. It was a strange image to appear on the angel’s palm, and Daniel didn’t know what to do with it.
An eerie chill came from behind him. He turned to find a reaper standing close to them. The reaper was faceless, only a dark thing hidden under its hooded robe. The reaper’s head turned to address the angel. “To whom may I offer my services?”
“What?” Daniel looked at the reaper incredulously. The reaper’s sleeved arm stretched out, motioning for the hand he’d just been studying. Daniel lifted his palm again, and as if dissolving in water, the feather-shaped mark faded away from his skin. He turned to the reaper again and the pieces of the puzzle began to fall into place. “Azrael.”
“What’s going on?” Caelum turned to Daniel, shooting suspicious looks at the reaper.
“Azrael, Your Lady of Death,” Daniel addressed the reaper, “what mark did she give me?”
The reaper remained silent for a few moments, as if hesitating to answer. When it answered, however, it confirmed what Daniel had already calculated. “The pinion of our lady. It is a mark she blesses those she finds worthy. And we, as her servants, offer our services to those she has blessed.”
“Your services?” Daniel repeated. He looked to his palm again, seeing that the mark had completely vanished. Azrael had told him that the person she wanted him to find would need it, and Daniel assumed she’d meant Caelum. But what could a reaper do to save Caelum, he wondered. He turned to the reaper again and decided to take a chance. “Can you see the soul of this man?” Daniel motioned to Caelum.
The reaper turned its head to Caelum who stiffened at the creature’s gaze. His face was marked with uneasiness, undoubtedly displeased by the attention given to him by one who reaps the souls of mortals. The reaper returned its attention to the angel and spoke. “His soul is consuming itself. It is not connected to the vessel completely, therefore, it cannot replenish the energy it spends. The price one pays when one cheats the flow of life.”
“Can you mend it?” Daniel asked.
The reaper reeled its head away from the angel, hissing at the words. “You ask of me what is against my nature.”
“However, it is not impossible,” Daniel prodded. “Your lady gave me the mark telling me that the person she wished for me to seek would require it. The person she mentioned now stands before you, and I cannot think of any other meaning behind her words.”
The creature hesitated. It turned its hooded head from Daniel to Caelum, and then to the scene behind them where the souls from Hell escaped into the mortal land. Finally, it admitted, “I am capable. However, I can only mend his soul temporarily. He must not spend too much of the energy, otherwise, he will destroy himself.”
“Do you have a gauge of how much is too much?” Caelum raised an eyebrow. Daniel shot him a glare, and he shrugged. “I’m just making sure.”
“Oh, you will feel it, mortal,” the reaper said. It moved closer to Caelum, revealing a thin shadowy hand that reached up to him. The sight of it sent horror through Caelum, but he stood his ground.
“Do not move too much. The pain will only be temporary,” it assured Caelum just before the tip of its slender finger touched Caelum’s chest.
The pain might have been only temporary, but it was excruciating. Caelum felt his spine arch forward at the mere touch of the reaper, his insides burning as if he was back in the fiery pits of Hell. His mouth opened in a silent scream, and his eyes rolled to the back of his skull. Something was jammed against his ribs, digging in deeper and deeper as his entire body heated up. There was something inside him that was causing it, something burning so furiously that Caelum fought the urge to rip it out with his bare hands. He slammed his mouth shut, his teeth crashing together as he gritted through the pain. There was nothing else around him but that feeling until darkness consumed him, and the world shifted beneath his feet.
When everything came into view again, Caelum saw the changing colors of the night sky. He struggled to lift himself up and realized he had been settled on a sleeping bag next to one of the military tents near the crater. He pulled himself away from the covers and lumbered to his feet, his eyes scanning the area. Streaks of purple and dark orange decorated the night sky, but no sun was present in the horizon. The area was void of any presence, and Caelum felt a sense of abandonment. Where is the angel perched on my shoulders?
“You are awake.” Daniel spoke quietly so as not to scare him. The angel emerged from the other tent next to the one Caelum had slept in. “How are you feeling?”
Only then did Caelum think to assess his condition. Though disoriented, his muscles and bones no longer felt weary, his breathing was even, and the strange hollow feeling in his stomach had disappeared. “You know what, I am feeling much better.” He smiled at the angel. “How long was I out?”
“A couple of hours,” Daniel answered. “I have been looking through the items the humans left behind, hoping they could shed some light on what we should do. However, I have yet to find anything useful.”
“I see.” Caelum nodded. He looked around the area again, his eyes resting on the crater at the center. Then, a realization hit him. “A- are there still reapers around?”
“Yes,” Daniel said. “The reaper told me they are focusing the majority of their resources to control the damage of the bridge. Souls escaping from Hell can cause a chain reaction to the cycle of life so they have taken it upon themselves to mend it.”
“So, there are reapers around. And I can’t see even one,” Caelum said with a smile. “That’s good news, right?”
To his surprise, Daniel smiled back at him. “Indeed it is. Though, the reaper’s warning still applies. You cannot afford to strain yourself.”
“Oh, don’t be so overprotective.” Caelum’s smile turned to a grin. He stretched his arm over his head, feeling comfortable with his mortal form for once. “We’re only investigating anyway. I—” He stopped mid-sentence as a movement caught his eyes. Caelum turned to the other end of the crater where a broken wall stood, no doubt having collapsed after the bridge erupted from the ground. Caelum had
heard much gossip about the location they stood in now, and he wondered what facility the broken wall had been a part of.
Something moved again. This time, it provoked Caelum to investigate. Ignoring Daniel’s protests, Caelum moved closer to the crater. He no longer saw the souls escaping from the hole, though he felt the surge of energy emitting from the ground. It was an aura that would drive any other mortal into the asylum; cold and haunting. But he knew better.
Caelum’s brows curved with confusion as he saw what was causing the movements. A man hid behind the broken wall, wearing a moss green coat with the collar turned up and a greying fisherman’s hat.
Caelum took a step back, meeting Daniel, who was walking towards him. He turned to the angel with a curious look on his face. “There’s a man back there.”
“A man?” Daniel’s eyes turned to the direction Caelum was staring at. He focused his energy in his vision, seeing the vast amount of mortal souls pooling in the area. But none of them were living. “I see no living man.”
“I’m telling you, he’s there.” Caelum took a step around the angel and carefully peeked around the broken wall. The man was there, huddled over and taking quick glances at the sky. He had unruly dark hair, and he was short. Caelum pulled on the angel’s sleeve and whispered, “He’s right there.” He pointed to the wall.
Daniel had his brows pulled together, trying to see what his companion was speaking of. Alas, there was nothing the angel could see besides the peeking sun and the vast dry land beyond the area. “I do not see a man.”
Caelum rolled his eyes in frustration. “So, earlier I’m seeing reapers. And now I’m seeing strange imaginary men? Look, continue with your business with the soldiers’ private belongings. I will investigate why I am seeing a dark haired man in very suspicious clothing when you cannot.” He turned on his heel and quietly made for the broken wall, leaving the angel stunned.
The Damned and The Pure Series: Books 1-4 (The Damned and The Pure Series Box Set) Page 52
