The Noru 7: Rage Of Angels

by Lola StVil

  I remember when Randy discovered that angels were real and that I had powers. We were in the warehouse after being attacked on the playground by demons. I had to call the team for the first time in years and ask for their help. The team came and saved our lives. We then took Randy to the warehouse and tried to explain everything to him.

  “Randy, you weren’t hallucinating. The guys back there had wings. They aren’t the only ones; I have them too,” I said.

  My best friend then looked over at me and watched in amazement as my wings spread out behind me and flapped against the air. In the first few moments he was scared to death. I thought I had scared him for life. I feared he would never recover from the shock of knowing about our world. But in just a few moments, Randy went from fear to total elation. I hear his excited response as if he were right in front of me:

  “YES! I KNEW IT! I FREAKING KNEW IT! YOU’RE A SUPERHERO! THIS IS SO FREAKING AWESOME! Can you bend metal like Magneto? Wait, I bet you can control the weather. Make it thunder, Pry!”

  It didn’t matter how much craziness was going on or how much danger we were in, Randy forced me to have a life outside the angel world. He helped me stay normal in a world where I was anything but normal. I recall him jumping on my bed a while back, gleeful and determined to cheer me up:

  “C’mon, Pry, get up!” he yelled as he plopped down on the sofa next to me.

  “Go away,” I said, desperately wanting to go back to sleep.

  “No, you have to get up so we can celebrate!”

  “Celebrate what?” I asked.

  “Hello? It’s March first; it’s your birthday! You’re fifteen today.”

  “So?” I replied.

  “So you are now officially a Taylor Swift song.”

  I sat up and grunted.

  “So what do you want to do for your big day? I’m thinking we hit the movies. There’s a slasher marathon in the Village. We’ll stop off and get whatever angel power ‘snack’ you like, I’ll gorge on popcorn, hot dogs, and Milk Duds, like a good American.”

  “Randy, I don’t think—”

  “Then we’ll go bowling, where I will beat you. Then we’ll fly to the other side of the world and see what breakfast looks like for the good folks in Papua New Guinea,” he said with confidence.

  “Why Papua New Guinea?” I asked.

  “Cuz it’s fun to say!” he replied with laughter.

  It’s not just his humor that I recall; it’s his insane amount of courage. He went into a cave filled with the one thing that makes him wet his pants: spiders. He was terrified, but he did it anyway because we needed his help. He also braved demons right along with us even though he had no powers to retaliate when they attacked him.

  But the bravest thing Randy ever did was standing up to Aaden for me back when the two of them first met. Aaden told me years later that Randy stood his ground and warned him about breaking my heart. According to my husband, he had walked into the kitchen that night and found Randy, the one-hundred-ten-pound human, had gone into full “badass” mode.

  “Here’s the deal, Silver, platinum, aluminum, or whatever your name is—Pryor is not just my friend. She’s my best friend. Now she may have a thing for ‘dark and handsome,’ but I won’t allow you to hurt her,” Randy warned.

  Aaden walked over and stood right in his face. Randy looked like a toy with Aaden looming above him. But although his voice was shaky and his eyes were wide with fear, Randy continued to stare Aaden down.

  “If I hurt her, what the hell would you do about it?” Aaden said, just to see how far Randy would go.

  “You hurt Pryor and I’ll rip your damn face off,” he said.

  Aaden told me he liked Randy ever since that night because what he lacked in size, he made up for in sincerity.

  The frantic cries of my team members pull me out of my daydream. Everyone around me is yelling and pleading for me to stab Alago in the chest. They shout over and over again that this is the moment we have been waiting for. Their voices rise like a massive choir in the middle of a soul-shaking chant.

  Alago roars into the heavens, knowing he is about to be destroyed. He moves the very ground he stands on and summons a wave of wrath unlike anything we have ever seen. But my team is steadfast, strong and ready to die to save humanity. No matter what hell Alago raises, the team keeps him bound.

  They have done everything they can; now it’s up to me. I must be strong enough to kill Alago. I must be brave enough to take my best friend’s life. I cry out as I raise the sword high above my head. The sword cuts through the air with the grace and brute strength of the Omari.

  “AARRGH!” I yell as I put all my strength into lowering the sword into its target’s chest.

  Sorry, Randy. I have to do this. I have to kill Alago…wait! Shit! That’s it! Kill Alago!

  The sword comes down inches away from Alago’s chest. Instead of striking him, I veer off to the side and hit only thin air at the last minute. The team looks at me in utter disbelief. I missed. I swung the sword, and I missed. They can see that I missed on purpose and it baffles them.

  “I have an idea!” I call out to them.

  Just as the words leave my mouth, Alago breaks free of the team’s hold. He howls with hatred and malice as he attacks at full speed. He plows right through the team, sending us all tumbling into the air. When we land, we are scattered among heaps of junk and debris.

  We have been thrown too far to stop what’s happening—Malakaro has finally broken out of his prison. He zooms up into the sky like a rocket, with Alago right on his heels. Together, they rise above us and link hands in the air.

  The moment they touch, a series of blood-colored currents encircle them. They swell and emanate a blinding light that propels them further into the air and turns them in circles at inhuman speeds. The surge rips their skins away from them and grants them a new, thick, dark metallic, protective coating.

  The spikes on Alago are now reinforced black steel. Malakaro’s wings are nearly three times their normal size and coated in an impenetrable black liquid-like metal. The perfect partners of evil open their arms wide and, without saying a word, tear a hole the size of an ocean into the sky.

  We watch as swirls of energy as large as cities form above our heads and start to inhale the world. A series of cracks spanning several miles appears, assuring that those who don’t get swallowed by the sky will get eaten by the earth. All around us, angels, demons, Quo, humans, animals—anything that once showed signs of life—are being obliterated.

  Malakaro simply looks in the direction of a forest and it gets wiped off the face of the earth. He turns his attention to the council, who are in the air, getting ready to attack. They never get the chance. Before they can strike, Alago nods his head and the sky turns against the council, casting them down to the ground like trash.

  Malakaro laughs as he descends on the council. Fate is the first one to launch a wave of white energy at Malakaro. When the white light leaves Fate’s hands, it’s a raging sea of illumination, but once it makes contact with Malakaro, it becomes a mere speck of light he puts out with the tips of his fingers.

  Malakaro looks over at Fate and lifts one hand in an upward motion, as if to say “Fate, stand up.” But he’s not talking to Fate, he is actually summoning a large army of dark entities with no faces to rise up from the ground and devour him. The disfigured shadowy figures do as their master says, and in one fell swoop, Fate is gone.

  When Fate falls to his death, someone cries out, “Nooooo!” It’s an outcry that can be heard around the world, a cry filled with anguish and sorrow. It’s so gut-wrenching and primal, it sends chills down my body. I follow the sound to find out whom that much pain belongs to. On the ground, where Fate once stood, I spot an older woman kneeling down and weeping openly. Judging by the intensity of her moans, the Face has lost the love of her life. Suddenly, she gets up on her feet and charges towards Malakaro.

  “Barbara, no!” my mother yells.

  The Face doe
sn’t heed the warning. She no longer cares about her own safety. All she wants is to avenge Fate, and she’s willing to die to do it. She uses her powers to peel hundreds of metal strips from the scrap heaps that were once skyscrapers. She shapes the metal into makeshift arrows and launches them at Malakaro. They slice through the air with precision as they aim for his face. Alago catches them and throws them into his mouth; he then spits them out in rapid succession. The arrows land with brute force, impaling dozens of people.

  Malakaro glares at the Face as he calmly waves his hand. He silently orders her to pick up one of the jagged rocks near her foot and slice herself open. The Face does exactly as he orders. She starts crying out as she watches herself carve into the side of her face. East barrels into her and wrestles to keep her from harming herself. The closest angels to her are Dylan and Swoop; they race to help East. They call out to Diana for backup, fearing the Face will skin herself to death.

  Time harnesses all his powers and joins forces with my mother. The two of them attack together. They form a flood of brilliant light and send both Alago and his partner tumbling backwards in the sky. The team and I take to the air and add our powers to that of the remaining council. The blast of powers forms an all-consuming light that encapsulates the two evil entities.

  Malakaro and Alago counter by ripping even further into the earth. The ground beneath us fractures and starts pulling apart. Thousands of shadow demons spring from the dark abyss below. They ravage everything they touch. They latch on to us like locusts and refuse to let go.

  The all-powerful partners of evil laugh as they walk through the army effortlessly and command them to kill whatever is left standing. Time and Death are losing the battle due to the sheer number of shadow demons that have descended upon us.

  “Why didn’t you kill Randy?” Bex shouts as he tackles a shadow demon.

  “I have a better idea. I’m not gonna use the ash-laced blade on Malakaro. I’m gonna use it on Alago. Once I take the power out of him, he’s back to being Randy. He will be no use to Malakaro,” I reason as I slice into a shadow demon.

  “You’re hoping that without Randy, Malakaro loses his enhanced powers?” Bex says.

  “Yeah.”

  “What if you’re wrong? What if he’s just as strong?” Bex asks.

  “Then we’ll go to plan B.”

  “What’s plan B?” Aaden asks as he pulls a shadow demon off Easton.

  “I’ll get back to you!” I reply as I dive down to earth, where Alago is about to trample on a group of angels he just plucked from the sky. I collide into him, forcing him to misstep and miss his target. Alago turns his rage on me by picking up a car and hurling it at me. I move out of the way but not quickly enough. My wings are pinned under the vehicle. Alago is headed straight for me.

  Shitshitshit!

  I blast him as hard as I can; it slows him down but doesn’t stop him. He’s still headed towards me. He looks venomous and eager to kill. There’s glee in his eyes as he comes closer; he knows he has me beat.

  C’mon, c’mon, c’mon…

  No matter what I try, I can’t pull my wings from the car. I reach over and grab an iron rod near me or at least I try. It’s too far away. I try again and again. Finally, I’m able to reach it. I attempt to maneuver the car just enough to get free from its hold. But by then it’s too late. Alago is now in striking distance.

  I lift my hands up to attack, but Alago is quicker. He backhands me with a force that could rival Omnis’s. The power of the blow shakes loose a few teeth in the back of my mouth and splits my cheek open. The pain is excruciating. Alago, enjoying the effects of his blow, slaps me again. I cry out as agony spreads through the other side of my face.

  Alago yanks me from the car, causing a tear in the upper part of my wings. He throws me to the ground and kicks me like a football. I go flying backwards into a streetlamp. I bang my head on the base of it and the pain radiates all over my skull. Alago is nowhere near done. He bears down on me and stomps his foot on my chest. I manage to cover myself with part of my wings in order to soften the blow.

  Alago is tired of playing around. He leaps into the air and goes to slam his body down on me. I see him descend, but the blow to the head slows down my reaction time. I can’t get clear of him in time. I place my hands in front of my face and brace myself for what’s to come. But I don’t feel pressure from above like I thought I would. Instead I feel someone’s arms around me as they tuck me into their chest and quickly roll me out of the way. The being hides us under a huge slab of concrete. I look up and find myself looking into Aaden’s eyes.

  “Hey,” he says as if it were a casual day.

  “Hi,” I whisper.

  “You good?” he asks.

  “Yeah, just a little skull fracture,” I reply as his face starts spinning in my head. I close my eyes, and Aaden goes into worry overdrive. I quickly open them back up so he knows that I am okay. I’m not, but this is no time to be technical.

  We hear Swoop screaming for her life as six shadow demons literally try to tear her in two. We look around frantically and realize that everyone on the team is handling one awful situation after another.

  “Go help Swoop! I got this,” I assure him.

  Aaden nods and takes off into the sky. I slide out from under the hideout. Alago turns just in time to spot me. The creature is delighted to find his toy again. He can’t wait to break me into as many pieces as he can.

  Alago bolts towards me. I hold the blade behind my back and get ready. He jumps into the air and comes down on me with the power of a mountain. My wings are still injured, but I’m able to move quickly thanks to the adrenaline pumping through me. I make it out of the way just in time. He comes after me again. He won’t stop until I am dead.

  Dead! I should be dead!

  I pop the pill that I took from Dylan into my mouth. I hold my head in my hands as if the pain has finally gotten the best of me. I fall down seconds before Alago strikes again. He comes closer to see if the mouse he’s been playing with finally died. I can hear him grunting as he stands over me. The pill is working. My wings are still and my body is unresponsive. Alago thinks I’m dead. If Randy is still in there, it will have some kind of effect on him.

  I hear Alago coming closer to my body. I feel him stand over me. He rages to the heavens with a mix of anger and grief. Randy is still in him. And somewhere inside, Randy thinks I’m dead. That pain is causing Alago to feel confused. He wanted my death, but now that he has it, it feels…wrong. I can sense him leaning over me. He gets closer and closer. Knowing this is my only chance, I open my eyes and plunge the dagger into Alago’s shoulder.

  The blow doesn’t affect Alago. He’s pissed that I played him. He picks me up by my wings and flings me across the battlefield. I pay no attention to the pain and fly right back to him. The ash should work in a few moments. If it doesn’t take Randy’s powers away, I will have to kill him for real this time.

  Please work. Please work.

  Alago rips off a section of a fallen roof and brings it down on my head. I grab the remains of a telephone pole and strike him hard in his ankle. It causes him to stumble, but the slab of concrete is still in his hand.

  C’mon, Randy. Come back to me. If I attack you as the Alago, you will be injured too. Come back to me before I have to kill you!

  He raises the roof over his head again, this time determined to crush me under its weight. He comes down on me, and there is no way to avoid having to counterattack.

  Sorry, Randy…

  I hold out the coin in the palm of my hand and the sword of Avery quickly forms. As the slab of concrete comes crashing down on my head, I ram Alago in the knee and twist the sword as deeply as I can. Alago falls backwards on a heap of dead bodies. Although he’s hurt, he’s nowhere near powerless.

  The ash should have taken effect by now. I don’t know why it isn’t working. But the fact is I can’t afford to wait any longer for Randy’s return. So I brace myself to take advantage of the on
ly chance I will have to kill the Alago. I raise the sword above my head, this time certain that I will bring it down on Alago and end his life. Maybe I was fooling myself, maybe Randy was never really in there, just like Summit. Maybe it was all in my head.

  Well, make-believe time is over…

  I jump into the air, raise my sword above my head, and come down hard on Alago’s chest. “Pry! Wait!” someone shouts. I look down and see my best friend’s face looking up at me. Randy has transformed back into his human state. But by then it’s too late. I can’t stop the momentum. The sword is heading right into Randy’s bony chest.

  “NO!” Randy begs.

  The sword touches his flesh, but it does not go all the way through and there is no blood. Stunned, I look closer at Randy’s body and realize it’s protected by a shield. East saw what was happening and moved like lightning to guard Randy against the attack.

  Exhausted from the close call, I drop the sword and fall to my knees next to Randy. His shoulder is bleeding, his knee is seriously messed up, and he looks awful. But he’s alive. He’s back and he’s alive.

  “You’re back, you’re back.” I weep with happiness.

  “I knew you’d do it! I knew you’d save me,” he says with tears in his eyes.

  We hear someone wail in anger. Randy and I look towards the direction of the sound. Malakaro is in the air and sees that Alago has just been destroyed. There are no more vials, so he can’t bring Alago back. No matter what happens from now on, he’s on his own. His eyes glow with hate and madness. He’s so incensed he’s vibrating.

  “East, get Randy to safety!” I yell.

  As the battle rages on behind us, Malakaro and I lock eyes. I managed to get Randy back from his clutches. I took down half of the power team, and I can tell by his stare that he is going to try to make me pay for it. I don’t care. Even if he ends up killing me, at least I got Randy away from him.

  I brace myself for Malakaro’s attack. But he doesn’t come at me. He doesn’t send sharp objects or command any demons to hurt me. Instead he stands very still for several moments, and then he smiles. Something about that smile sends a chill to my very core. He steps aside so he can reveal the reason behind his smile.