Michael nodded and turned red with anger. “These collars are heavy and it slows down our teleportation to Heaven. It makes the process of teleporting much longer, so the guards around us would be able to notice us if anyone tried to teleport from this place. They would stop us before we could disappear right away. Luckily, Enoch wasn’t with us when these savages captured us, so he can fetch weapons from Heaven and free us from these tracers. But first, we’ll need you, Dewey, Jenna, and Grace to distract these guards.”
I groaned. “Aw…but I’m really lazy right now. And I’ve had enough of fighting hell creatures. Why don’t you ask someone from Heaven to be a distraction?”
“Nonsense, Zach!” Grenada clenched her fists. “We are the angels who are going to help you! It should be your responsibility to free these angels, yourself!”
There was a loud explosion at the back of the academy, and the angels gathered around one of the windows to see that a huge flock of devilish fire SoulBirds was gathering in the air. They were shooting fire down at the forest behind the campus, where hell spirits were crowding around with guns in their hands. They were shooting at the fire balls that the SoulBirds dropped from the sky.
“What are those idiots doing?” Muttered one of the angels.
Hannah sighed. “Looks like we have another angel joining us…”
I laughed. “Are they trying to put a collar around another angel?” I saw that the fireballs turned into metallic rings whenever the spirits shot them from the sky.
Michael approached us with Chelsey on his shoulder. “I just got word from a Headmaster at another academy, in the eastern lands of Nawt. Headmaster Frederick just escaped from another invasion by Lucien. His academy was turned into a Punishment House, and Lucien has taken all kinds of innocent Mediums captive, if they refused to serve him. But Headmaster Frederick managed to save a couple spirits, and now he’s on his way to rescue us.”
The angels started to look hopeful.
Chelsey cooed, and Michael continued to talk. “Yes. We told him to meet with Jenna and Grace, and they will all work together to distract the guards.”
I waited with the angels for what seemed like hours. It was shadowy and dark in this building, and the angels were barely glowing. I could tell how heavy those metallic collars must be. The angels looked uncomfortable and weak with those collars. The Assembly Building was lit up only by the dim glow from each of the angels.
Apparently, I was not wearing my punishment headband anymore. It must have disappeared after I left the Bhad Chapel. At least that was something to be relieved about.
Finally, there was another explosion. I hurried up to the nearest window and caught a glimpse of light flashing across the campus. It was an angel. Someone finally arrived.
The entire campus was filled with jumbling hell creatures. The sky was covered with panicking fire SoulBirds. Light started to twinkle in the sky and across the campus, and pretty soon, angels were darting everywhere. Each had a weapon in their hands. They clashed with the hell creatures and sent many fire SoulBirds plummeting to the ground.
The angels around me started to cheer.
“Oh boy!” Dewey ran to the center of the room. “They’re finally here!”
Chelsey maneuvered in a circle the air, and Dewey circled on the ground. Light shone between both of them, and Enoch appeared in front of the SoulBirds. He was carrying a magnificent sword with heavenly flames at the tip. I was suddenly uplifted by the sight of that sword. It was nice to finally see the bright fire from Heaven, rather than the red, nasty fires of Hell.
Instantly, the angels in the room were holding weapons. Their collars melted and the angels were glowing with an intense bright light.
“Zach, come with us!” Cried Hannah. Her large, beautiful wings were unraveled and they were elegantly spread out behind her as she hovered above the ground. She reached out a hand and pulled me up in the air with her.
I held her hand tightly and felt anxious. I wished I could fly like these angels.
But a huge chariot crashed through the roof of the Assembly Building. I gazed up with awe at the sight of three white horses with fire blazing on their manes. They were harnessed to a golden chariot, and a mighty angel was seated at the front. Dewey was perched on his shoulder, and the little SoulBird was tweeting with exhilaration.
“Zach, come on!” Shouted Dewey.
“Gabriel!” Cried Hannah. She pulled me up to his side and I was seated next to the mighty angel. “Please take him away from this place. We’ll meet you at the borders of Pryde after this battle!”
And Gabriel rode away. I held tightly to my seat as we crashed out of the building and soared over the academy.
“Woo-hooo!” Dewey was enjoying himself. He was jabbing his long, pointy beak at all the fire SoulBirds that surrounded us. Gabriel slashed at all the other flying hell creatures that surrounded our chariot.
I didn’t know whether I was enjoying this or not. I was excited and horrified at the same time. I had never been this high in the sky. When I looked down, I could see tons of hell creatures fighting the angels in the forests of Nawt.
Suddenly, I heard a hiss. There was a snake slithering up the side of the chariot. I widened my eyes and scooted closer to Gabriel, who was busy fighting the creatures in the sky.
“G-Gabriel…” I gasped.
The snake stared straight into my eyes and spat venom at my face. My vision blurred and I screamed with horror.
“Zachariah!” Yelled Gabriel.
I was rapidly thrashing. The venom stung bitterly, and before anyone could do anything, I had already fallen off the seat.
“Zaaaaach!” Screamed Dewey.
I was drifting through the air, still blinded from the venom in my eyes.
Before I hit the ground, I felt long talons catch my shoulders. I yelled with pain as those sharp talons dug into my skin.
“Dewey! OWWW! Let go!” I landed on the ground and looked around. I was standing in an open field. I gazed up at the SoulBird that was gripping me, but I could barely see. My vision was still blurry, but I was able to make out the form of an earth type SoulBird.
“Dewey?” I groaned.
The SoulBird lowered its face and its long sharp beak pointed straight at my nose. It tightened its grip on my shoulders and I started to scream.
Suddenly, something crashed into the SoulBird. The SoulBird let go of me and I fell on my knees, coughing. My vision finally cleared and I looked to my right to see that Dewey was facing the earth type SoulBird that had caught me. I recognized the devilish earth type right away. It was Shiigo.
The taller earth-type SoulBird was glaring down at Dewey with a naughty smirk. Then she turned around and hurried away.
“That’s right! Run away!” Shouted Dewey. “Hope you turn to ashes!”
Dewey turned to face me. “Zach, are you alright?”
I slowly stood up and gripped my right shoulder. “Um…I think so.” I gazed around at the open field. I could smell smoke and fire, and I could still hear the noise of the battle.
Suddenly, something zoomed past us. Dewey and I instantly dodged to the right and barely avoided colliding with another creature.
“Wah! Hellcats!” Screamed Dewey.
The creature circled around us and then stopped to growl at me. The hellcat was crouching, and looked ready to spring at us.
“Ruuun!” The little SoulBird immediately took off like a roadrunner. The hellcat shot forwards with a scream and I turned to race after Dewey.
“Dewey!” I called through gritted teeth. I guess hellcats were a silly weakness for him.
The hellcat was surprisingly fast and I had to keep making confusing turns to avoid the feline’s swiping claws.
Then the hellcat leapt at me and I threw myself to the ground. The hellcat flew over my head and skidded forwards on the flat ground. A line of fire erupted from the ground behind the creature.
I stood up and tried to hide between the flames as the hellcat slinked ar
ound, trying to detect me.
I turned around and narrowed my eyes to see through the flames. I arched my neck over the flames and glimpsed a pointy house.
I could see a small band of fighting imps gathered near the front. A small light was dashing around, colliding with the imps and turning them to ashes. It was Dewey.
I rose and dared to step through the flames. The fire surrounded me, but perhaps I could withstand this fire.
But then the hellcat leapt over the flames and landed in front of me. I narrowed my eyes and faced its menacing scowl. But suddenly, a harpoon jabbed into its side. The cat stiffened, and rolled over into the flames. It caught on fire and it gave out a deafening scream until it exploded.
I looked to the left to see who had shot the cat for me. A tall darkly dressed girl stepped through the flames with a heavy looking harpoon in her hand.
“Miranda,” I muttered with disbelief. It was that jailbird from the Punishment House.
“Hey, Zachy,” she spoke in an awry tone. Her expression was dark and unhappy and she looked like a warrior in the fire. That large harpoon in her hand looked heavier than her, but I couldn’t help admiring the way she stood there in front of the flames with that fearless expression on her face.
She stepped forward to me and looked me in the eye. “Not safe for you to stand in the fire for too long.” She said quietly.
I raised my eyebrows. “I’ve stood in hotter fire than this.”
“Oh yes…of course you have,” she stepped up to me without changing her narrowed expression. I felt my heart pound as she drew closer to me. “What happened to your little headband?” She ran her finger over my head, narrowing her eyes.
“Hehe, I lost it after I left Bhad,” I gave a naughty smile.
She huffed. “So you graduated from the land of Bhad? Lucky you.”
“How did you get all the way over here?”
She huffed. “I followed Headmaster Frederick. His academy is not far from here. It’s just been turned into a Punishment House for spirits who oppose Lucien, but Frederick managed to free some lucky ones. I just happened to be following some of Lucien’s henchmen up to the stage, and then decided to follow Frederick here when I heard that he was going to rescue some angels around this place.” She narrowed her eyes. “I had a feeling I’d find you taking refuge with a bunch of angels.”
She threw her harpoon into the fire and it exploded to ashes.
I winced. “Why’d you do that?”
“Puh-lease, you don’t need my help anymore than you need your SoulBird’s help.” She muttered. And she turned around to walk into the fiery flames.
“Hey! Mira! Wait!” I reached out a hand toward her but she walked away without looking back. I watched her step right through the flames, walking right through the fire.
I widened my eyes. The flames didn’t even burn her.
“Yowww!” Dewey suddenly jumped behind me, kicking off the last of the imps that were leaping at him. “Zach! What are you doing?!”
I was standing there, staring blankly ahead into the flames, even though Mira had already disappeared.
“ZAACH!”
I snapped out of it and looked down. “Huh…?”
“You’re surrounded by hellfire! Hello?! You want to be burnt up and consumed by Hell!?!”
“This is hellfire?” I looked around myself. The flames were rising and reddening.
“DUH!” Dewey stomped his big foot and glared up at me. “The hellcat created this fire, didn’t it? You can withstand the Purgatory fire, but not Hellfire! Get outta here!”
Dewey was just about to turn back but the flames erupted in front of his face. The bird jump back.
“You’re trapped!” A menacing familiar voice snickered behind us. I turned to see that Demetrius and Jezebel were strutting through the flames.
“Argh!” Dewey cried, facing the imps. “You guys again!”
“Of course, dearie!” Jezebel cackled. “What? You think Lucien would leave his two favorite messengers behind? This will be our world very soon!”
As I stood around the terribly burning hellfire around me, I couldn’t help picturing myself reaching out to touch the flames. The Purgatory fire had touched me so many times. I had been able to withstand it. Perhaps, like Mira, I could also withstand hellfire.
“Go ahead, spirit,” I turned and saw that Demetrius was smirking evilly at me. He was tapping his fingers together. “Touch it. Feel the burn. Withstand the fire, and you’ll know that you’re ready to enter the world of Hell….”
I was feeling so anticipated. I thought about Mira. I wish I could be like her. She was able to withstand hellfire. Maybe I had the ability as well.
“Zach! Cut it out!” Dewey pecked at my ankle and I flinched.
“Ow!” I felt my face blaze with fury. I seethed at Dewey, who was facing me with a challenging glare. He huffed and ran away.
I followed the darn SoulBird. I was going to give him the most violent beating I had ever given anything.
The shouts from Demetrius and Jezebel followed us, but I could barely hear them. My ears were pulsing with anger.
Suddenly, Dewey screamed and fell into a hole that had been covered by a weak plank. I was running so fast that I barely had time to slow down before I also fell into the hole.
I landed on the hard ground below and nearly fell unconscious again.
But Jezebel’s taunting voice snapped me into focus.
“Hah! What a loser!” She and Demetrius were peering down the hole.
“We’ll be back with the master!” Cackled Demetrius. “Lucifer will love to see you both.” And Demetrius and Jezebel circled the hole, surrounding it with tall flames. Then they cackled eerily and scurried away.
“Zach? Is that you? Dewey?” A voice came from the farthest end of the room.
I dizzily gazed around and faced the direction of the voice. There was a small figure lying on the ground. A glowing fire SoulBird was hovering at his side.
“Cain!” I recognized the spirit. My legs wobbled as I rose to my feet and clumsily stepped up to my classmate. Dewey was already standing by his side.
“Zach!” Gasped the spirit. His right leg looked nastily scorched.
“What are you guys doing here?” Dewey faced the fire SoulBird beside the spirit. I instantly recognized Pete.
The fire SoulBird huffed. “Eh! We managed to escape the academy in Zellux, right after Michael’s angels invaded the place! We jumped into the Gehenna Volcano and made it back to Bhad, but we were captured by henchmen, and were taken to Nawt, where we were kept as captives in one of the academies academy. Headmaster Frederick managed to rescue us and we were just about to fight the hell creatures and free Michael and his angels, but some crazy imps attacked us! We fell into this trap the same way you guys did!”
Cain raised his expression at us. “Now what about you guys? How did you get all the way over here?”
I snickered. “Long story.” I told them all about what happened since I had last seen him. I started from the moment we lost Damien and the golden SoulBird. I explained how Lucien volunteered to take care of me in his palace, and how he almost convinced me to come to Hell with him, to meet my father. Then I told him about what had happened at Harg, and how I had uncovered the horrid truth that Lucien was secretly Lucifer, and that all the rumors about him taking over Bhad were true. I explained why we were running away—that we were trying to help the angels fight Lucien and prevent the Beast from entering the world of Purgatory. The only part I left out was the dream that I had had with Prima Dona, and how I found out Lucien was my father.
“Awesome,” said Cain. “Well, we’ve got to get out of here before those imps come back with Lucifer! I’ve been stuck down here for hours now.”
I stepped up at the hole. I heard a deep rumble in the darkening ashy sky and it started to rain.
“Hah! Just what we needed,” grumbled Cain.
I turned and gazed at his burnt leg. It was terribly dry and scorc
hed.
“Hey, I bet my rosary could do some healing,” I said, coming over and slipping out the necklace from my pocket. As I set it right beside Cain’s leg, we all watched with wonder as a beam of light shone from the empty cross. It shone upon the wound of his leg, and within a minute, Cain’s leg was clean and good as new.
“Whoa…” Cain raised his eyebrows.
I stared with wonder and picked up the rosary, managing to slightly smile.
A silent prayer echoed through my head as I closed my eyes and held the rosary: Lord…..if you are really watching me….help us all. I don’t know how much longer I can last in this world…
The heat surrounding the hole was intensifying. Smoke wafted into the room. Pretty soon, I had passed out.
Suddenly, there was a rumble from outside. I woke up and looked around. Cain, Pete, and Dewey were all still asleep.
“Hiyah!” I heard a loud masculine voice and the hellfire suddenly disappeared. Light suddenly filtered through the hole, and my hopes rose. Was an angel from Heaven coming to rescue me?
I was starting to see a body forming in the midst of the light. An angel was hovering behind the bars. He wore a long navy blue robe, and was drinking from a wineglass.
“Ahh!” The man faced forward and gave a refreshing sigh. “I can sure call that the blood of life!” He had a deep, drunken voice. He turned to me with a big smile on his face. His eyes were half closed and he brimmed at me with such a smile that the light of his halo was shining extremely bright at my face. The angel had black skin. He had thick dark hair over his head, and he had a thick beard covering his smiling lips.
I narrowed my eyes and took a step back.
“Oh! Ho-ho, where are my manners?” The angel just realized where he was. He let out a loud cough, and spit out some of the wine he just drank. “Ugh! Sorry, son! ‘Scuse me for a moment!” The angel clasped his hands together and moved through the bars of the window. He hovered just a few feet in front of me.
The Purgatory Saga #1: People of the Fire Page 18
