Cataclysm

by Karice Bolton

  “The messengers are waiting for her, sweetie. I doubt you saw what you think. I know this is difficult. No matter what you say. She’s your sister,” Athen’s words hit me like a knife.

  “It’s not because we have the same father. I don’t care about that. If she’s evil, then she’s evil, but I swear, I saw a glimmer of light. It was like a sliver of life in there. Start talking to me, and look at her,” I commanded.

  He nodded at me and began.

  “Come on, my love. We’ve got to take care of Lilith, so we can get on to everything else. We’ve got mortals to save, my angel.” Athen was watching Lilith intently. I know he saw what I saw. Her eyes lit up whenever he spoke affectionately to me.

  “I know you saw it,” I channeled. “We might not be able to save her, but she might be able to help us. We can’t give up on her.”

  Athen shook his head. His eyes began to get a dampness to them.

  “Ana, you are the most incredible white demon in existence. There’s a reason you’ll lead us all to victory.”

  Bringing Lilith back from the edge, I looked in her eyes one last time before I made the decision that would change our destiny.

  Chapter 26

  The time had come. There were no more days left to shield us from the inevitable. There were no more hours to shield us from this day. All of us knew the fight was on the horizon, but none of us wanted it to actually arrive. Battles erupted all around the globe, but the main stage was set for Mt. Rainier where the groundwork had been laid farther back than we ever knew.

  The army that Lilith had created, the tunnels that they had dug, and the lives they hoped to destroy were all centered around the volcano. With the earth shaking as violently as it ever had, the real threat of a volcanic eruption was near. There wasn’t enough time to worry about whether it was Mother Nature disagreeing with what was lurking on the horizon, or if it was the demon’s handiwork attempting to destroy more mortals. Regardless of the cause, Cyril and Arie were headed to the grounds to ensure the evacuations from the towns below would happen quickly if needed.

  Noah was in command of the first wave and upon his signal, we would move in. I didn’t know when Azazel would appear. As cowardly as he’d been in the past, I didn’t expect it to be until the end, after his armies came in and did the dirty work.

  We were all going into this knowing that lives would be lost; that families would be separated. It was our hope that the memsors would work for us all, so that the white demons would at least be taken care of and regenerate, but nothing was guaranteed.

  Trying my best to flush the thoughts aside and stay focused, I grabbed my belt that contained the blades I was told I no longer needed. Securing my hair in a quick ponytail, I slowly walked out of our bedroom trying to capture the way everything was at this very moment, in case this moment might never exist again. I inhaled the spicy cinnamon scent from the candles we last lit. I felt the warmth of the air blowing in from the heater. I touched the pine chair I so often read in. I desperately wanted to come back to everything just as it was now, intact. But that seed of uncertainty in the pit of my belly forced me to look at everything one last time, before I met Athen for our journey.

  Becky and Tom were kind enough to take Matilda and the little girl far away from the horrid mess that was about to begin.

  “Come on, love,” Athen’s voice rang through our home one last time before the battle began. “Let’s go take care of this so that we can begin our lives once more.”

  “I agree,” I sighed. He took my hand, and we walked out the door of our home on our way to begin a fight that very few mortals knew needed to be fought.

  ***

  A transformation was beginning to take place. As I stood on the mountaintop, I could see everything we built, everything we accomplished. Thousands were ready to fight. We needed to right the wrongs of our cousins. We had prepared as best we could. Now we were here to send a message and destroy the uprising before it took over.

  Looking out to the crowd, I was blessed to be part of this.

  “What if this never ends?” someone hollered from the crowd.

  Scanning the white demons in the crowd, I looked for the one who could have asked this question. They deserved my attention. They needed to be able to look into my eyes and feel what I was feeling. As everyone was intently looking at me for an answer, my gaze finally fell on the one being who wasn’t looking up. Athen stepped up next to me. He grabbed my hand, which I appreciated. I kept staring at the white demon who posed the question that undoubtedly many were thinking. I could only see the top of his head because he was wearing a ball cap.

  “I’ll answer as soon as the one who asked that question looks up, into my eyes when I answer,” I paused.

  Slowly, the being in the ball cap began to look up at me. He was no older than I was in appearance. Judging by the fear in his eyes, it made me realize he had been one of the ones who we had turned to our side recently. He had no choice in the matter. His mortality had been stolen. He was tricked to the dark side, only to be turned to our side. I had to convince him and the others that this was the right thing to do.

  “It’s our duty to protect the innocent souls, who can’t protect themselves. I don’t want to fight any more than anyone else, but we’ve been given little choice in the matter. We can do what’s easy or we can do what’s right,” I looked over at Noah, nodding my head in his direction. He smiled back at me as if he could finally breathe again. I needed to communicate with the white demons, who were thousands of years in the making, and to the newly-turned. I needed to touch them both in a way that they would understand.

  “We’ve all experienced loss here. I don’t deny that. But rather than let the grief fuel our need for vengeance, we need to let the love we’ve had for an eternity act as our ammunition. We have something the dark side will never have, and that is faith. For the ones who have recently joined us, thank you. You have given us the chance to end these dark demons. Your sacrifice of mortality was never something that we wanted, but we thank you for giving us the hope that we needed. Because of all of you, we can show what happens when kindness and love prevails,” I stopped.

  The crowd of white demons started cheering wildly, and Athen was no longer the only white demon who I let my spirit shine for. Turning to Athen, his eyes gleamed with pride, and I kissed his cheek quickly.

  Yelling to the crowd, I began again. “We have faith in our fellow white demons. We have faith in the mortals who we try to protect. We even have faith that we can turn dark demons to white demons. That’s the difference, my fellow angels. We have hope! There’ll be a day, very soon, when we won’t be called to battle. That time hasn’t come yet. We don’t have that luxury now. The dark side hasn’t learned their lesson. They don’t understand the power of love. They don’t understand why we don’t want to fight. We are happy when we can make someone’s day a little brighter. They are happy when they throw insults and destroy relationships. Cruelty manifests itself in many different ways, and we are here to do our best to end it. We are all here for a reason. And that reason is to stop this hatred and cruelty Azazel and his Legions want to perpetuate. We are almost there, guys! We can show that uniting as one will conquer hatred! Now let’s get ready to end this once and for all!” I yelled into the crowd.

  The hollers and screams echoed through the air. The white demons were jumping and hugging one another. It was an incredible sight and not one I thought I’d ever be helping to ignite.

  “Pretty amazing,” Athen whispered. “Don’t you think?”

  “We are a lucky group,” I whispered back. His lips softly came to meet mine, whisking me into another world. It was the world I just spoke about - one that’s filled with love, acceptance, and support. My mind flashed to all the times Athen stood there, ready to catch me if I fell, but firmly believing that I would soar. The night in Whistler when I felt his presence still brought shivers to my spine, never thinking my dreams could become a reality. But here I was standi
ng in Athen’s arms, leading an army into the fight of a lifetime.

  Unlocking from Athen, I stood back taking in his otherworldly beauty, finally realizing I held that same beauty. After everything I had been through this last year, I realized the beauty I first recognized in that pub in Whistler, so many months ago, had nothing to do with external qualities. It was their inner beauty that drew me to them. We are all filled with the same potential for beauty. Some of us choose to embrace our power, and shine as brightly as possible, working to make the world a better place. And others simply don’t. Those are the mortals and dark demons who we have to feel sorry for. They don’t get it, and they never will.

  Hugging Athen one last time before our war was to begin, I looked over the thousands of white demons ready to fight for the good of all.

  “Are you all ready?” I hollered.

  “Yeeeess!” they hollered back.

  “Let’s get this going then,” I told the crowd. One by one, a beautiful sight of white demon after white demon began filling the air in the direction of the battlegrounds. Thousands of beings were flying to a place of hope and victory.

  Looking over at Athen, I asked one simple question. “Can love win over hate?”

  His eyes shimmering, he replied with a simple answer, “When doesn’t it?”

  Our bodies shot into the sky. The wind was whipping against us as we glided through the air. Cyril and Arie were flying behind us. The view was breathtaking. We flew over the tips of the trees, every once in a while letting a limb gently touch us. Seeing a beautiful lake, I let my body dive towards it. Reaching my hand out, I felt the splash of water ripple over my skin as I sailed the surface. Athen was right next to me, taking in the images just as I was.

  “Beautiful isn’t it?” I asked.

  “Completely,” he replied, grabbing my hand before we darted back up towards the sky. We were almost to the landing area. Some of the dark demons were probably already there, waiting for us.

  I let out a huge sigh that was impossible to miss even as the wind circled around us.

  “We’ve got this,” Athen assured me one last time before letting go of my hand, so that we could all land where the others had already assembled.

  Not paying as much attention to my landing as I should have, I came to the ground with a thud. I was upright, but it was a hard landing for sure.

  “Yikes,” I muttered.

  Noah ran over to Athen and I, quickly greeting Athen and then turning his attention to me.

  “They’ve started the movement. Azazel’s first batch will be here soon. I suggest we all get over to where we had agreed,” he began.

  “Absolutely. Let’s get on it,” I replied.

  The ground started its protest. The earthquakes were continuing, and it was a hope of mine that we’d end this before any possibility of the volcano coming to life, became a reality. Watching the facial expressions of the other white demons, I was relieved to see they weren’t reacting to the ground’s movement at all. It looked like they all knew what to expect.

  Noah started shouting the commands, and we began moving to the grounds that we had chosen to begin the battle. The sky began darkening as the clouds rolled in.

  Reaching our destination, I scanned the land quickly waiting for the dark demons to arrive. It was only a matter of time. We planned for some to come by foot and some by sky.

  “This is it,” I looked up at Athen. His eyes were concentrating on the scene ahead.

  “No matter what we see during this battle, we’ll have to keep going. Remember that, okay?” His green eyes were searching mine for confirmation.

  Not wanting to completely internalize what he was trying to tell me, I only nodded. I knew my voice would betray me in this moment.

  The ground was vibrating in a consistent pattern. They were almost here. This thumping was that of the dark demons’ footsteps.

  “It’s time to separate, my love.” Athen bent down, giving me one last kiss that I never wanted to end. Feeling the warmth of his breath briefly let me escape from the horrors we were about to witness. His lips released from mine, and I opened my eyes to capture his beauty one last time. “I’ll always love you forever and in all eternity.” His smile returned to his lips, before he stepped back and shot off into the distance.

  It was time. The battle had begun.

  Chapter 27

  The dark demons were all dressed the same. It wasn’t very original. They had black pants and a black shirt. Even their shoes were black. I’m assuming it was Azazel’s requirement, thinking it would look intimidating. Unfortunately for them, it just looked silly and made it far easier for us to target them.

  Spotting the first group of dark demons who I wanted to attack, I flew over to them, landing cautiously. There were only a handful of demons in this batch. It was a good group to start with. The mix of newly-turned with a couple of seasoned ones would be just challenging enough. My adrenaline was pumping so quickly, that I didn’t even doubt my ability to be able to take them all down. Granted, there were also several of my own positioned closely around.

  “Oooh, Ana herself,” one of the more experienced demons snarled.

  “It’s not that exciting,” I promised.

  Grabbing the weakest one first, I linked my arm through theirs and threw him to the ground with a thud. Stepping on my victim’s throat, I grabbed another demon by his arm and threw him against a boulder, his head crashing against the rock. This immediate success began circulating the addiction throughout me. The high that always surfaced from destroying these evil creatures was back in full force. It was hard to believe how my measly fingers could destroy them so easily. The thought that I used to arm myself with so many knives made me chuckle. The earth’s surface began to slowly crack open, and I realized we all had to be more cautious.

  “Who’s next?” I smiled. I spotted Athen smiling at me, right before he dove into a crowd of some anxious dark demons. They were newly-turned, so he could probably take them down with his eyes closed.

  Turning my attention back to my small fight, two came charging at me, but my body shot into the air leaving them questioning their next move. In their moment of weakness, I shot back down to the ground, picking them up by their necks. Carrying them over to the newly formed crevice, I dropped them into the fiery pit, making a mental note to stay far away from all of those cracks in the ground.

  Seeing a group of white demons struggling to take down a large, more experienced demon, I guided my body to them. Arie must have spotted their struggles as well, because she landed right behind me.

  We immediately tackled the large being, with Arie attacking him from behind, twisting his neck while I shoved my fist into his abdomen creating a dark hole. The mist began escaping into the air. Removing my hand from his abdomen, I shook it off and noticed Arie grinning.

  “You really don’t need those knives any longer, do you?” she asked smiling.

  “Guess not. Thanks for the teamwork!” I replied to Arie.

  About to go to the next fight, I looked quickly behind me seeing the white demons still in shock over how fast we ended the demon who they were struggling with moments earlier.

  “Hey,” I hollered back, “It only worked because I believed it would. You can do it too!”

  I ran over a hill not sure what I would encounter, but the fighting was as heated on this side of the hill. A black demon was dangling one of our own over the crevice, and I ran over just in time. I knocked the dark demon backwards away from the cracked earth, and the white demon fell on top of him. I looked directly into the dark demon’s eyes and saw nothing, not even fear, looking back at me.

  “You want to end him?” I asked the white demon, who was now straddling his predator turned prey.

  “Absolutely,” she replied, gripping the dark demon’s neck and crushing it with one motion.

  Moving to the next battling group, I was in awe over the skill level this batch of white demons had. They were quick and unbelievably strong. B
lack mist seemed to instantaneously escape from anything they touched.

  The air began to get very warm, and I wanted to find out the reason behind it. Flying into the sky, I did my best to dodge the assaults that were happening in every direction. Sounds of flesh opening up, and mist escaping was hissing through the air.

  From my vantage point, I finally saw what was causing the heat. The earth had separated, leaving a gaping hole. There was a reddish-orange liquid running through the newly formed canyon. Lava was beginning to make its appearance. I also spotted a few of our own who hadn’t made it, and their spirit was quickly vanishing. I only hoped their memsors were in place, and that they’d be okay. Pushing my fear and sadness aside, I gauged where I wanted to touch down next.

  Landing in a small clearing where there were only boulders and some baby fir trees, I realized I hadn’t seen Athen since we left each other on the knoll. My throat began to constrict with worry, but I did my best to listen to his instruction.

  The ground continued to shake, and I attempted to stabilize myself. Scanning the crowd of people, I prayed I would find Athen quickly. There were so many of us here, good and bad. The fights started to separate with the creation of the large cracks. Watching some of the fights get awfully close to the glowing material, I decided not to concentrate on that any longer. I spotted Cyril and Arie standing next to one another, preparing for the imminent attack of the crouching dark demons directly in front of them, but still no Athen.

  A rumble began below the earth’s surface, and an incredible heat began to spread through the air. It was as if I was standing near an oven. Still searching the crowds for Athen, fiery orange-red flames began shooting out of the cracked surface. Embers were sparking in every direction. The heat was beginning to be overwhelming. The crowd began shuffling backwards to get away from the mouth of fire that was growing by the second.

  This was far too elaborate of an entrance for Azazel, but I wouldn’t put anything past him. The sky began closing in on us all with the dark grey clouds of the underworld. The smoke from the flames hovered over us all. Any minute, this landscape was going to change drastically. I needed to locate Athen. My heart was pounding so fast, I was certain it could explode if I tried any sudden movements.