Syndrome of Mortality

by Eden R. Souther

  Ravin threw up his hands. “There you go, spewing your ‘holier than thou’ bullshit,” he snarled, “that’s how it goes: ‘Blah, blah, blah, I’m better than you, blah, blah, blah, Angel shit.’ Then, when she’s gone, you’re going to walk away and feel satisfied that you did your part, when in reality you didn’t do anything. I haven’t gotten a second alone with Michelle since you spoke with Zier. How the fuck am I supposed to convince her if you won’t stop hovering like a hawk?”

  Loviel looked over at Michelle, who now had a handful of red tomatoes. “It is funny. I was giving you two space and you took that opportunity to yell at me about how terrible my kind is when that was what you wanted her to choose so badly. I can see you have all of your priorities straight.”

  The anger had finally reached its breaking point. Ravin’s vision went red. He didn’t know what he was doing until he felt his fist connect with Loviel’s jaw. There was a crack that was just oh-so-pleasurable that echoed in his ears. Whether it was surprise, or the power behind the strike, Ravin didn’t know. All he knew was that Loviel went down. It was satisfying. So very satisfying. It pleased the dark parts of his personality.

  From the ground, Loviel struggled to sit back up. Pain radiated from his face. He looked up at Ravin, shocked. He bit back tears. Zier was right, whatever friendship they had was ruined. Silently, he rubbed the sore spot on his jaw. It stung. But worse his heart was hurting.

  Shakily, Loviel got to his feet and saw the darkness that was in Ravin’s eyes. A sudden strong instinct filled him, one he could not control. It was powerful and gave him renewed strength. Loviel’s golden eyes glittered like the sun. “You are not thinking clearly. Leave. Now. Before you do something you regret.”

  Ravin cracked his knuckles. “I don’t think that I’m going to regret kicking your ass,” he hissed as his dark eyes flared with an unholy light.

  Loviel held out his hands and two bright lights appeared in his palm. “Ravin, I don't want to fight you, but I will protect myself and my partner.” If he was being unpredictable and most unlike himself, it was not outside of the realm of possibilities that in some way he could harm Michelle. It was Loviel’s sworn duty to protect his partner. If that meant fighting the demon he once called friend, he would.

  “Please.” Loviel looked Ravin in the eye. “Please reconsider this path you are about to take. It is not one you can easily return from.”

  The demon didn’t validate Loviel’s words with a response. He instead, threw another punch, aimed at the angel’s face once again. It had been so satisfying the first time, he needed to go for a second helping. What he hadn’t expected was for the angel to catch the strike. The light energy washed over his fist. It burned like fire.

  Ravin recoiled and shook out his hand. The cool air helped cut some of the pain. Then, instead, he went for a kick. His leg landed on pure, solid muscle, but he could feel a give.

  Loviel skidded back a few inches, narrowly missing the plants behind him.

  Thinking he had an opening, Ravin threw himself forward. In a split second, burning struck his chest. Loviel’s hand didn’t even need to touch him. The pain was immediate and agonizing. It didn’t damage his clothing, but he could feel the blisters forming on the flesh of his chest.

  A curse escaped his lips as he fell back a few steps. The words came out in Demonic, and rolled off his tongue in wild abandon.

  Every time he tried to strike his foe, he was met with a block, or more searing light. It clashed against the darkness that had welled in his palms. The two energies crackled and snapped at each other as their owners continued to test each other, seeking a weakness, or an opening.

  Close range was doing him no good. He couldn’t break through the angel’s defenses. That gave him another option to try.

  Ravin teleported away from Loviel and centered his focus into his palms. His rage, pain, and frustrations were all used as energy for creating a growing ball of dark energy. It expanded outward until he could hardly contain it, in his unstable state. He glared at Loviel and gave a slight smirk.

  “Hey, what the hell are you doing?” Michelle yelled.

  In that split second when Michelle spoke, Ravin unleashed his fury. It flew directly at its target without hesitation.

  Startled by the human’s voice, Loviel twisted to make sure she was okay. When he turned to look back at Ravin, a dark blast was hurtling towards him. He only had a blink to think of a way to dispel it. He was sure he couldn’t take such a powerful hit.

  Light welled in Loviel’s palms. In a flash he summoned a pillar of light.

  The moment the darkness and the light touched, a shockwave burst through the air as the energy escaped and was neutralized. A loud boom exploded and there was a ringing as the dust settled back to the ground.

  Horror filled Loviel’s eyes as he stared at Ravin in front of him. The shockwave had left burns on his hands and face. He turned and his heart dropped. There was a small crumpled figure on the ground.

  Michelle.

  “What have you done?” Loviel screamed and ran to Michelle’s side. She was limp in his arms. Panic settled in and his wings flared. He had to think fast. He had to get her to safety, but he was tired and the energy wouldn’t lift him.

  Ravin didn’t let himself fall into the hold of panic. The adrenaline was running too high. “Hospital,” he grunted, then grabbed Loviel’s shoulders roughly. He knew the angel could take it.

  Michelle couldn’t.

  He used his abilities to teleport the three of them to the hospital’s port hub. Of course, his nature flagged him as a possible danger. Of course he was. He’d already proved that he was. Michelle could attest to that… if she was conscious.

  Fortunately, the nurses were on their game and were attentive. They had her in a mobile Care Pod within a minute. At last, Ravin’s adrenaline crashed. He wanted to collapse into a puddle of self-loathing and hate. He fell to his knees and rubbed his face.

  Loviel looked down at Ravin and anger spiked in his blood. Limping, the angel headed after the nurses who had taken Michelle away. This was all the demon’s fault. Would she be okay? Would his partner make it though? He closed his eyes and focused on her location. He followed after the trail to the Aqua-Care unit. There were many of the Aqua-Care Cisterns lined up.

  The nurses began hooking Michelle up to tubes before placing her inside an empty tank. It filled with a viscous liquid and suspended the girl’s limp shape. There were lots of orders being shouted back and forth as the team raced to get the girl stable.

  Numbness battled sheer hatred as he stood watching silently. The anger was fueling his body, giving him fresh energy. It kept him on his feet. It kept him from falling apart. If he ever saw that demon again, he would destroy it where it stood.

  It had harmed his partner. It had attacked him.

  Tears leaked down Loviel’s face. He had trusted the demon once. He had called it friend. It had been his only real friend and yet that meant nothing to the creature of darkness. It was just like all the others of its filthy kind: creatures of darkness and destruction.

  ‘You’re just hurt, Loviel. You’re upset. Michelle would want you to forgive Ravin,’ his thoughts reminded him quietly. It was true, but he couldn’t forgive. He just couldn’t. It hurt too much to see her in such a state. To know that the Tt had caused it was maddening.

  Why hadn’t he stopped? Why hadn’t he listened? Why did he never listen?

  As a nurse walked by, Loviel put his hand on her shoulder. “How is she, the girl in tank four… will she be okay?”

  “She is in critical condition,” the nurse said quietly. “She’s barely hanging on. The poor thing is going to need some sort of a miracle.”

  Chapter 28

  The stress level had been raised to an all-time high. Of anyone, Lian should have been mad at Ravin and Loviel. Technically, it was their fault. Though in a way, she blamed herself a bit. She could see that the tensions had been rising, but she hadn’t done anything to sto
p them. It wouldn’t have been easy, but she could have tried.

  Now she was facing the consequences for her actions. Michelle was hanging on by a thread. Neither her Mother or Father would stay by Michelle’s Cistern for more than an hour. It was too painful to see their daughter in such a state. Lian understood completely.

  The Michelle in the tank wasn’t her sister. It was a frail shell that looked sort of like her, but it wasn’t really. The girl before Lian was lifeless. The only reason Lian had any clue she was still alive was the faint beeping of the monitors.

  Doing her homework was beginning to be impossible. She looked down at the page. Questions she had once known were voids in her mind. The answers weren’t there. All she could think about was Michelle.

  Tears smeared the ink on the page and Lian rubbed her eyes.

  At the moment, Lian was the only one sitting in the Cistern room. They were restricted areas so only direct family could enter. Her Mom had pulled some strings to let the others come in, but for the moment, they were all away doing other things.

  Kazun had been stuck with Ravin. After what happened to Michelle, the demon had gone to a dark place. Not dark like evil and stuff, but with a deep, self-loathing depression. Kaz was keeping him company.

  Jo was with the family; they were busy making arrangements. Even Marie admitted it would take a miracle to bring Michelle back from the edge. The only thing keeping her heart going was will power and a lot of technology. So, they had started to think about the…. Lian couldn’t even think of the word. It made things too real.

  Loviel stood guard outside of the unit. After everything that had happened, there was a new fierceness about him. He wouldn’t let Ravin near the area. Everyone had tried to convince him to do so, but it was off the table. He blamed Ravin for everything. It wasn’t entirely false, but Lian knew that Ravin hadn’t been acting like himself.

  Then again, in his current state, Ravin hadn’t argued. His eyes had just glazed over. He looked almost as lost as Michelle did.

  Everything was falling apart.

  “Michelle, what would you do?” Lian closed her book and set it on the ground. It was pointless to keep going. She couldn’t concentrate. She couldn’t think. What made it worse, Zier had left to take care of personal matters. So he wasn’t there to take the fear away. How was he supposed to know everything would have gone to hell in the span of a couple of days?

  Lian was alone in the wing. She felt more isolated and scared than ever. If she had called for him, Zier would have come. She should have, but…

  A familiar static feeling made the hairs on her arm stand on edge. There was a whispering in the back of her thoughts, just out of reach. A tiny smile appeared on her face. That was true. At least she still had Fenriel.

  A drowsiness began to settle in. The room was nice and dark, and the steady beeping was like white noise. Crying had worn her out and now seemed like the perfect time for a nap. She looked up at her sister. Surely Michelle wouldn’t mind. Actually, Michelle probably would have told Lian to get her little booty in bed.

  She smiled a little at the thought before drifting away.

  Lian was sitting on a moonlit beach; the waters glittered under the moonlight. It was beautiful. She looked behind her and saw buildings made of fine white stone. It reminded her of the ones she had seen in books about Pre-Equilibrium Ancient Greece. There were lots of books about the architecture and Lian loved reading about cultures, as did Michelle. When they were younger, the two girls would sit in front of the holoscreen and watch documentary after documentary about cultures long decayed to dust.

  As she got up, Lian dusted the sand from her pants and cuddled into her sweater. It was the one she always wore when she was upset. Michelle had gotten it for her when she had just started college. It was her safety sweater. Since Zier had been around, Lian had found herself wearing it less and less… until now.

  A soft sigh escaped. She looked up at the buildings and started to walk up to them. As she neared, she noticed there was whole city of these buildings. They stretched far until the ground turned to starlit clouds. In the center was a fountain.

  Art decorated every surface. Fine carvings and symbols littered the walls all around. Everything was so ornate and beautiful. It was like nothing she had ever seen before.

  “What is this place?” she whispered as her hand slid across the white stone. It felt glossy and smooth. Something about it was just delightful. It made her feel like she was somewhere comforting. Home. Why, though? She had never seen this place in her life.

  Lian was acutely aware she was having a dream, but this one felt different. Everything was sturdy and stable like a memory, but it wasn’t her own. What was going on? Where was she? Slowly, she tilted her head up and her eyes widened at the sight.

  The stars and galaxies filled the sky above. Vibrant colors swirled about as if all of space and time lay before her. Beauty was so awe-inspiring that she couldn’t look away. It felt like a painting made by the gods themselves.

  Home.

  Things were slowly starting to fall into place. Lian looked around the pavilion and found marble stairs leading up a hill of cloud and star glitter. Excited energy filled her legs as she scrambled towards and up the stairs.

  “This is where you lived,” Lian breathed, climbing up, taking in the beauty, and letting it fill her. “This was your home, wasn’t it, Fenriel?”

  When Lian reached the top of the stairs, her jaw fell open as she gazed upon the single most beautiful temple she had ever laid her eyes on. Sure, she hadn’t seen a lot of temples in real life, but this one beat even the ones in the documentaries.

  It was a large open building. The floor was decorated with mosaics, depicting the stars above and many different constellations. As she entered, Lian looked up; the ceiling had been painted. A scene was laid out before her of a beautiful angel with midnight wings. Robes billowed around her and the moon shone behind her head like a halo of light.

  She held out her arms and the other angels seemed to sing to her. Their eyes were full of such love and devotion. Suddenly the emptiness of the temple was chilling.

  Then it hit her. Why hadn’t she thought of it before?

  Excitement woke Lian in a flash. She was on her feet in an instant. She ran to the door and closed it carefully and quietly. This would be the best place to talk. There was an idea bubbling in her mind. It could be the answer. She looked over at her sister.

  “This time, Michelle, I’m going to save you.” Determination rang strong in her voice. She closed her eyes and focused very hard. Getting the exact pronunciation correct was key. As much as she knew he didn’t like it, she needed to say it. It would call him to her as quickly as possible. Her voice was strong and clear as she spoke the name, “Oriel.”

  There was a long moment of silence before Zier appeared. “You called for me?” he asked in a quiet, surprised tone. The Fallen Angel glanced back at Michelle in the tank. “I see. How may I aid you, Lian?”

  “Exalts aren’t just a Light Angel thing, right?” she asked, her mind now on overdrive. An idea was forming, but she needed information. There were things only Zier would know.

  “Of course not.” Zier’s eyes widened as he realized exactly what Lian was implying. “But you realize just how we could achieve that, yes?” He immediately knelt down before her. “I’ve explained the strain.”

  “She showed me the temples, Zier. I saw the one on the hill with the starry floor and the painted ceiling. She showed me because I think she wants to help. She’s the only answer we have, the only way Michelle can make it out of this and still be her. I trust Fenriel.” She sucked in a breath and put on her bravest of faces. “Zier, I’m ready. Tell me what we need to do and we’ll do it. I’ll do anything.”

  Silence fell between the two. In a moment of pure, unadulterated bliss, Zier stared at her in utter awe. “You really mean it?” he breathed as he watched Lian’s every move. “You’ll help free her?”

  “I mean
it from the bottom of my heart.” Lian nodded and smiled. She had never seen such a look on her guardian’s face. There was a fizzling of happy energy on her lower back.

  Zier took both of her hands in his and lifted them up. He kissed the knuckles of each hand. “Thank you,” he murmured. “Thank you so much.” His eyes were full of tears, but they were joyful. It had been so long. They were going to finally be reunited after so many eons.

  Lian hugged Zier tightly and managed to let out a soft giggle. “Okay, what’s the plan? We don’t have a lot of time, I can get Kaz and Marius to help me, but…” she trailed off. As much as it would have been helpful to have Loviel or Ravin to assist in whatever was necessary, she was nervous about asking them. Their emotions were running wild. What if they yelled at her because she and Zier weren't giving Michelle the choice of if she wanted to be a Dark Angel or not? The anxiety of the thought welled in her gut.

  “First, we should go to Sin.” Zier lifted Lian into his arms and held her close, like a parent would. “She can help us get everything we need for the ritual.” The demoness was an ally of his. He knew how to treat her: as a lady, and as someone who deserved respect. She had definitely earned both through the years.

  The Fallen Angel teleported them outside the bar. “Thankfully,” Zier continued as though nothing had happened, “because we’re not trying to control her, we won’t require a sacrifice of any kind. So, Kazun won’t have to worry about that.”

  “I’m sure he will be very thankful.” Lian waved at the slat as they approached. “Hey Hector.”

  As expected, the door swung open without any fuss.

  Zier gave a broad grin. “One day you have to say ‘no one sees the wizard’ when you’re refusing people.” His comment was met with silence. The Fallen Angel sighed and shook his head. “Of course you don’t get it. No one gets it, anymore. Sin would appreciate it.” With that, he stepped inside and made his way to the office. Even if she wasn’t there, his presence would summon her.