Kin of Exile

by Tyler Bunyard

  Karrel attempted to counter attack, peeking out from the cover, but he was quickly shut down. A deadly slice of air cut clean through the pillar he was hiding behind, once again slicing into his clothes and torso, and as the orange light surrounding him flared, he was knocked to the floor once more.

  Aerozthcz continued its unstoppable assault. It flailed its arms around randomly, sending its attacks everywhere and cutting into anything in its wake. The creature was now laughing maniacally, anger still burning in its eyes.

  Karrel stayed as low as he could, rolling along the floor to dodge anything that came his way. He surveyed the area, desperately searching for his pyretiff and Puck. Both were nowhere to be found. They had broken the demon’s shield, but now they had no way to get close enough to strike it. Even worse, Karrel could no longer see Johnny, who had become completely enveloped in the onslaught that was being thrown his way.

  In that moment, Johnny burst forth from the rocky smoke that surrounded him. His chrome armor had been diced and showed several hundred cut marks all along its body. The armor was still attempting to repair itself, but it was working too slowly. Johnny did not charge forward empty handed though. Both of his hands were wrapped around a large chrome object that carried a resemblance with a maul. Johnny quickly closed the distance, evading as many attacks as he could before bringing the silver sledgehammer down upon the head of his opponent. With an echoing thud, the blunt weapon crashed into its target’s skull, stunning the creature momentarily.

  In an instance of unsureness, Johnny froze, his mallet still atop the demonic cranium. The wind-bearing demon remained still for a full second before it cracked its head up toward Johnny. Blood was dripping from the creatures smiling mouth.

  “Ow…!” the demon hissed. It whipped its arm upward, before realizing what had actually happened.

  Beside Aerozthcz, two chrome turrets began to rapidly assemble themselves. Upon completing their own construction, they turned, pressed their barrels against the demon’s torso, and opened fire.

  An explosion of concussive energy radiated into the demon’s body as the projectiles slammed into its frame. It screamed in agony, but not before it finished its own attack against Johnny. It whipped its arm up, unleashing a torrent of sharp wind against Johnny’s body.

  The yellow-eyed engineer was rocketed backwards as he screamed in pain. The force of the blast sent him flying. Karrel’s eyes went wide. Following Johnny down the street was a cloud of his own blood. As he twisted and twirled through the air, a mist of crimson painted the streets. He slammed hard onto the ground, rolling a few dozen feet before coming to a stop.

  “NO!” Karrel jumped from his cover. He pressed his feet against the ground as hard as he could, sprinting after his bloodied friend. His brain was racing with a million different thoughts all at once. Had the demon been put down? Was Johnny okay? Was he exposing himself to an attack while he ran? However, one thought, one image, stood out amongst them all. He swore he saw something flying alongside Johnny as he was thrown back, and the object had appeared all-too-human.

  Skidding to a halt, Karrel began to assess his injured friend. He felt the air leave his lungs as he forgot how to breathe. His stomach shrunk a thousand sizes, and his legs gave up against the force of gravity, dropping him to his knees. Johnny lay unconscious on the ground. A pool of crimson covered his shoulder, and where his right arm should have been attached, there was now nothing but the blood that poured from his wound.

  Chapter 27

  A Second Opinion

  “What are you doing!” a voice filled Karrel’s ears. “Grab him!”

  With an unintentionally hard landing, Puck slammed against the ground next to a still frozen Karrel and immediately began to telekinetically separate the dirt holding Johnny from the rest of the landscape.

  The sight of Johnny, unconscious and dismembered, had disabled Karrel’s motor skills. He had seen all sorts of atrocities in his lifetime: innocents consumed by gluttonous monsters, cities burned to the ground, and humans doing what they did best to their own kind. But this time was different. This time, he had an attachment to the life that hung in the balance. Whereas usually he would just be thankful that he was not the one in harm’s way, this time it infuriated him that he had let something like this happen. Images flashed in his mind of the young boy at Sinwatch, his failed rescue attempt, and the devastation that that had caused him. This was all too familiar. He was not sure if it was the anger or the shock that was immobilizing him, but to Puck, it made little difference.

  A blunt surge of pain atop his skull woke Karrel from his daze. He turned to face Puck, who had just used his own fist as a baton against Karrel’s head.

  “Help! Him!” Puck shouted at point-blank range. “I can’t treat and move him at the same time!”

  Johnny was now resting atop a floating platform of dirt and rock. The empty space where his right arm should have been still had a steady flow of a maroon liquid coming from it. Karrel shook himself back to reality and opened up his pack. A large amount of the supplies he had brought with him had been converted into confetti from the attacks he had sustained, but he managed to find some first-aid materials that were still usable. As Puck began to move Johnny down the streets of Flarepoint, Karrel began the patchwork job of his friend’s shoulder. He needed to stop the bleeding as best as he could, and he needed to do it fast. The fact that his patient was rapidly being moved at the same time made it all the more difficult.

  A loud rustling echoed down the roadway. Both Karrel and Puck shot their attention toward the noise. Where the melee between Johnny and Aerozthcz had occurred, a sonic boom of rock and dust burst in every direction. An ear-piercing shriek bounced from building to building, filling the air with the creature’s monstrous rage.

  “Damn!” Puck whispered loudly. “We need to hide! I can’t give Johnny the attention he needs like this!”

  Karrel twisted his head from side to side searching for any nook or cranny that could possibly work. Within seconds, he had spotted a suitable area to use as cover.

  “There!” Karrel pointed to a hole in a nearby building. The wind-demon’s aggression had taken its toll on the structure, but from the appearance, it was what used to be called a supermarket.

  Puck dropped the platform of dirt that carried Johnny, and both him and Karrel lugged the body of their unconscious friend through the crevice and inside of the building. Karrel could feel the warm, red liquid dripping from his friend run down his back as he helped position Johnny onto the floor. This was bad. Johnny had lost too much blood. His skin was almost as pale as Angel’s now.

  Puck hurriedly unslung his own pack. Luckily, his was much less damaged than Karrel’s. He flung container after container out of his satchel until he was satisfied that he had everything that he needed. Bandages and utensils in hand, Puck got to work on Johnny’s oozing shoulder.

  Several minutes passed, the silence only broken by the occasional clatter of Puck’s tools, when suddenly a clanking of objects resonated on the opposite side of the supermarket. Karrel and Puck swore underneath their breath. Had the demon found their position already? If he did, how the hell was Karrel supposed to stop it? Johnny needed Puck’s immediate attention if he was going to have any chance of surviving. Karrel felt his mind go blank with fear as he held his breath, the rattling noises slowly approaching.

  Fortunately, Karrel exhaled a sigh of relief, as two blue, demonic eyes rounded the corner. Breathing heavily, and showing its razor-sharp teeth, Karrel’s pyretiff gave a happy grin to its master. It had cut and slice marks all over its body, and was bleeding in three separate areas, but the azure demon seemed pleased to have found its summoner. The pyretiff covered the remaining distance with two heavy leaps.

  Karrel lurched forward, rapidly shushing his pet, holding a single finger to his mouth. The gleeful demon immediately bowed its head and went silent.

  “Never thought I’d be happy to see one of those,” Puck sighed as he continued stit
ching Johnny’s shoulder.

  Karrel gave a quick pat on the head to his blue pyretiff before heading toward the crevice they had entered through.

  “I’ll keep watch,” Karrel suggested. “You make sure our group doesn’t lose the only engineer.”

  Puck let slip a soft chuckle before going silent, the gravity of the situation overcoming him. Karrel, with his pet demon at his side, began to scout the area. The vantage point left a lot to be desired, but at the bare minimum, he was able to see the skies around their position.

  Sure enough, Aerozthcz was high above the ground, twisting and turning in mid-air, desperately searching for his prey. Every few moments it would whip its arms and legs around, unleashing a torrent of deadly air slashing downward upon the streets of Flarepoint. Nothing, not even the metal frames of the buildings below could withstand the demon’s anger. Slowly but surely, the surrounding area was getting diced into pieces.

  Karrel continued his watch, looking back to his injured friend every few seconds. This area was not going to be safe for long, and Karrel doubted that they could survive a building toppling down on them. Upon examining himself, that became all too apparent. Though the orange, protective light surrounding him was still glowing, its brightness had dimmed slightly, symbolizing the damage it had taken. Karrel’s clothes had been chopped to pieces in the battle as well. The cloth and leather he was wearing had several slash marks all over, and wherever there were openings, Karrel could feel the sting of the cuts and bruises that he had sustained. His opponent had done a number on him.

  Doubts began to surface in the back of Karrel’s mind. He understood that taking this creature down was important, but he no longer knew if the group was capable of doing it. With those thoughts pestering him, Karrel peaked out once more from his cover, making sure to keep tabs on their airborne pursuer. He sensed a bizarre feeling wash over him.

  As he stared at the sky, the world around him felt strange. Strange… yet familiar. The winged creature was no longer flapping its wings, yet somehow it stayed suspended in the air. Everything around Karrel seemed to stand still. Even the colorful clouds of Infernum halted their trek through the air, and as much as Karrel wanted to retreat back into his hiding spot, he found that he could not move. He felt no force holding him back; he simply could no longer will any part of himself into motion. He had felt this before. It was as though someone had once again hit the pause button of the universe.

  Unable to look away from the stagnant demon in the sky, a familiar feeling began to rise in the back of his mind. It was a voice. Dry and raspy, quiet yet powerful, it began to boom inside of Karrel’s head.

  “You pathetic fool…” the voice slowly articulated its speech, “Letting such a lowly creature stand in your way.” Karrel felt a burning sensation inside of him flare uncontrollably. “You are a disgrace… END THIS NONSENSE!”

  With that final command, the motion of the world resumed. Karrel jumped out from the crevice that hid him, his eyes intently locked upon his aerial target. With his pet demon at his side, he began sprinting straight at it.

  “What the hell are you doing!?” Puck aggressively whispered as he watched Karrel vacate the concealment of the old supermarket.

  Karrel paid no attention to his friend’s question. He continued on his linear path toward Aerozthcz. An intense fury overcame him, and he felt almost gleeful to be closing in on his prey. There was nothing more in this world that he wanted than to wrap his hands around the winged creature and rip it apart. All doubt had been erased from his mind. He was going to kill the wind-demon. Everything else came second to the target in front of him.

  Whipping his green book around to his front, Karrel effortlessly flipped through the pages, neglecting to use his hands and opting to simply turn them with his mind. It was something he had never done before, yet the action felt natural. There was no need to search for the variable he was looking for either. He knew exactly where it was located in his book, and rather than turn page by page, he mentally flicked a chunk of the papers over, revealing the exact section he wanted.

  Power brimmed within him, and Karrel could feel it flow through his veins as he wrapped the red symbols around his wrists. His opponent had finally caught his scent and was now lowering himself closer, its razor-sharp grin flaunting the overconfidence it held.

  “Good!” it hissed down at Karrel. “I was starting to feel a bit peckish. Now, do I consume your flesh raw, or do I broil you in–”

  Karrel unleashed both of his stored attacks, the red text around his wrists dispersing with rapid speed. Purple and blue energy rocketed out from both his palms, the lightning-like attack three times thicker than usual. The bright lights connected with Aerozthcz, wholly consuming the creatures’ entirety. The demon’s agonizing shrieks were all but muffled by the concussive wave of the blast.

  The attack had done severe damage, but Karrel was not done yet. His opponent had maintained its altitude, and he was not going to stand for such an insult. Flipping a section of his green book in an instant, the variable Karrel wanted revealed itself. In a mere second, Karrel was holding a ball of green energy in the palm of his hand. The variable “Barrage” usually took some time to ready, but now, Karrel had ripped its red texts from the pages in an instant. He wasted no time. With a powerful chuck, he launched the green ball toward his winged target. The green orb of energy split into smaller replicas of itself and homed in upon the still-recovering creature. With each of the mini-orbs’ detonations, the attack seemed to grow more powerful. The wind-demon became fully encased in a barrage of green explosions. The attack was enough to stop the creature’s wings, and it began to fall out of the sky, slamming into the ground after its long descent.

  Karrel, still consumed by the storm of anger and rage inside of him, brought his gaze to the blue pyretiff standing by his side. With a calm jerk of his head, Karrel gestured toward the fallen demon. The azure pyretiff’s smile grew even larger. In an instant, it propelled itself down the street, bouncing off the sides of broken cars and signs before coming face to face with its prey. Aerozthcz roared as it got back to its feet, only to be cut off by an array of razor-sharp teeth chomping into its side. The pyretiff slammed into its opponent, knocking it back down to the ground, and slashing into its torso with its deadly claws.

  The sight of his prey struggling exhilarated Karrel but did nothing to quell his fury. He began ripping the red symbols from his green book once more, wrapping a copy of the text around one of his wrists. Power surged within him. He could feel it. For some reason, his attacks had become more potent, and as he watched his pyretiff tear into his target, it seemed as though his pet had become empowered as well.

  After fighting with the beast attached to its side, Aerozthcz finally was able to regain some ground. It tossed aside Karrel’s pet, launching a blast of air that sent the blue demon rolling across the streets of Flarepoint.

  Karrel took the opportunity, and he unleashed his attack. A hundred arcs of green lightning shot forth from his fingertips, connecting with their target and searing the air in between. Thunderous crackles of pure light wrapped themselves around Aerozthcz, as though the electricity itself was corporeal, and when Karrel was satisfied with their grasp, he threw his arm forward, whipping his catch into the air and sending the wind-demon skidding across the ground, its agonizing shrieks deafening the area.

  This variable was alien to Karrel, yet the use of it had felt natural. As he watched his opponent struggle against the power he was throwing at it, he wondered where this boost of strength had come from. He wanted to think about it more, but the ideas seemed to clear away from his mind as the rage returned. In fact, every time he tried to think about what he was doing, or what his next action was going to be, his mind seemed to reset back to pure fury. Instinct was driving him. It was almost as though he was not in full control of his body, and something else was guiding his actions. But, just as quickly as the thought had come into mind, it dispersed, leaving behind only the urgent need
to destroy his opponent.

  Rising from yet another knockdown, Aerozthcz slowly recovered its composure. It was puzzled by the recent actions, and had Karrel been a gambling man, he would have wagered that there was a bit of fear mixed in with his confusion as well. The creature shoved its disorientation to the side and began to flap its wings with intense power. Dust and rock were lifted from the ground as an intense wave of air-pressure filled the streets of Flarepoint. Several blocks, in every direction, now had a hurricane rolling through their streets. Karrel stood his ground with little effort.

  As he prepared his next attack, Karrel spotted a chunk of earth lift from the landscape. It was behind the winged demon, struggling to maintain its position amongst the omnipresent storm. It began to form itself into a stalagmite that was parallel with the ground, which meant only one thing…

  As though he was punching the air, Puck unleashed his surprise attack upon the demon. The hardened chunk of sharpened earth propelled itself forward, slamming into the back of the wind-bearing demon, knocking it off balance, and putting a stop to the hurricane that it was projecting.

  At the same time, three tiny chrome polyhedrons rolled their way next to the demonic creature. They rapidly built upon themselves, constructing into three ballista-like objects. In an instant, they all fired their sharp projectiles into their target’s torso. The javelin-esque entities slammed into the demon, unable to pierce its thick, scale-like skin, but momentarily holding the creature in place.

  Both Puck and Johnny, hopped out from their cover in order to regroup with Karrel. Puck, who was now covered in what Karrel surmised was not his own blood, carefully observed his opponent as he led an injured Johnny toward Karrel.