He surprisingly stuck his tongue out, elongating it and reached out to Jimmy’s neck. He pulled and squeezed tighter, trying to break his neck. In just a blink of an eye, Satu’s tongue was cut in half. I couldn’t believe Luis did that with just a simple hand movement. That only made Satu angrier. He came at Luis, and was so fast even Luis didn’t see it coming. He grabbed him by his hair and slammed his head onto the concrete floor. We all thought he was dead after an injury like that.
“Luis?” I called worried.
Larry attacked him from behind, trying to keep him away from Luis. Satu unexpectedly caught Larry by his shirt, then opened his mouth and bit him on the neck. He started sucking his blood.
THIS WAS INSANE!
Jimmy, Patrick and Bruce tried to save him, but he didn’t let go of Larry.
“You’re killing him!” I yelled.
Larry kicked and elbowed him, trying to get him off, but Satu was a giant leech, sucking all the blood out of him and he wasn’t letting go.
Surprisingly, he did let go of Larry.
When he did, he ripped off a chunk of Larry’s neck. He collapsed to the floor, in pain and bleeding.
“No, Larry!” I screamed.
Satu was looking for his next target. He spotted just the guy. He was coming for me again. He ran towards me like a bull and pointed those sharp horns my way.
Jimmy got in the way, trying to protect me, but Satu’s horns penetrated right through his skin.
He flung him off his horns up in the air and Jimmy landed a few feet away severely injured.
A huge hand came at me fast. Satu now had me by the neck. He squeezed hard and flung me down to the ground with force. As I was on the ground, he placed his giant foot on my chest pinning me to the ground so I wouldn’t be able to get away. His foot was heavy too. He looked up at my guardians and then at my archangels, searching for another challenger.
Patrick came at him full speed. He thought he had him but Satu’s hands ripped right through his chest.
“No!” I cried.
Patrick’s blood splattered all over as Satu held him in the air dangling from his arm. When Satu removed his arm from his chest, Patrick collapsed to the ground not moving.
He was cruel. I couldn’t watch any more.
My archangels were going to get killed if I didn’t think of something.
I glanced at my guardians. I needed their guidance once more. They knew what I was going to do. They all held hands and closed their eyes. My grandfather got The Book of Mythos from Rebecca; he opened it, and started reading the ancient Detarrunian language. Whatever he was saying, it was magical.
As I lay under Satu’s foot, I decided to close my eyes, while I took deep breaths and listened very carefully. Listened carefully to my soul. I needed to know what I was supposed to do. I needed to know how to save the world, and I needed that guidance now. The concentration was a hard process. But I had to concentrate.
Satu turned back to me and was about to grab me but he stopped.
He felt something. He felt the power within me. He removed his foot from my chest and backed away slowly. He knew exactly what was coming.
I felt electricity running through my veins. I blacked out and lost control of my body.
The sky turned dark.
There was wind blowing 60 miles per hour and a thunderstorm was developing.
Satu tried to attack me again, but something pushed him back, almost knocking him off his feet. It was a shield I unconsciously created within me. Then involuntarily, I started speaking another language.
It was Detarrunian.
“Fuse,” I said in a soft voice.
My archangels started glowing, and were generating an enormous amount of energy. It was some kind of celestial power that was being transmitted through all of us.
I kept my eyes closed, and was in a deep meditative state. While I focused and listened very carefully, I felt seven different energies activating within my body. Each one provided me with Divine Purpose, Intuition, Judgment, Compassion, Emotional Balance, Creativity, and Stability.
I heard a dog barking in the distance.
Matheus ran towards me and transformed into a metal object. While Matheus was still transforming, The Others started floating up in the air. They were suspended off the ground and they started shining an incredible white light.
Matheus and the archangels disappeared into thin air.
This was the transformation Satu feared. He tried to stop it, but my shield impeded him from touching me.
The Others reappeared in the form of light. The light possessed my body and soul.
I thought my heart had stopped and the light hurt my body, but my wounds were healed. I was changing every second into something else. Matheus now appeared in the form of a golden heavenly sword.
I finally opened my eyes, and grabbed the sword in my hand.
This was the moment to make things right. I had finally accepted my destiny and most importantly, I accepted who I was.
“I am Ethasus, and I’m finally ready.”
The Chosen One
It was morning in New York City, and the sun was rising.
Once everybody in the city saw Erick transforming, they stopped fighting each other and watched in wonder. They couldn’t believe the amount of energy this young boy had.
The Others and Matheus were now a part of Erick, and Erick was now a part of them. They fused into something different. United as one, they changed him and he wasn’t human anymore.
He was an angelic celestial being with incredible powers.
White wings spread across his back. They were about 12 feet long and he had Detarrunian tribal markings tattooed all over his back and arms. They were the symbols of Heaven, Paradise, Earth, Purgatory, Inferno and Hell. The six realms he was chosen to protect.
He was the guardian angel of both humanity and the underworld.
Satu growled at Erick, enraged. He ran to him and went for the kill.
Erick didn’t move.
He didn’t even flinch. In fact, he looked straight into the beast’s eyes, as he waited patiently for the attack. Just when Satu thought he had him, he didn’t.
He saw him standing on the same spot as if he never moved out of the way.
He was invincible.
Satu side kicked him, but Erick caught his foot midair, with his left hand. Satu almost had him by an inch. He slowly shoved him, and Satu fell backwards a few yards away, leaving a trail. Now moving faster than light, he came at Satu full throttle with his golden sword. He ran by him so quickly in a zig zag, there was only a blur.
The guardians watched in awe in the distance.
Erick stood behind him, with his back to him.
Satu tried to attack, but he realized something was wrong.
Both his arms and legs fell off. Blood spilled like a sprinkler valve. He collapsed on his face with no limbs to break the fall. His mouth and eyes were wide open in shock. He lifted his head to look up at Erick slowly.
“It can’t be, I’m way stronger than you, how did you—” He choked on his own blood.
Erick now looking down at him said these simple words, “Life is beautiful. It’s full of love, and it’s full of life. It isn’t fair, that you drag others to their deaths and misery, just because you have chosen that path. You are no devil and neither will you be a god.”
Satu hesitated to answer. He took a second to think about his response.
“You are all worthless. You were all born to serve me and die. You will not win this war, Ethasus.”
Erick was about to walk away when Satu called out. “I summon you, Orcoptu.”
Erick turned to him. He could not believe he would do this now.
“Orcoptu? I want more power and immortality. Let me become the devil The Chosen One so intends to stop me
from becoming and in return, I will trade my soul for his!” He shouted proudly, still choking on his own blood. He started laughing hysterically. He believed he had won. He believed he had the upper hand.
“As you wish,” came a sinister voice from behind Erick.
It was Orcoptu himself. He appeared in the air transparently, but enough to know he was there.
Orcoptu grabbed him by the back of his neck.
“Wait!” Satu screamed, realizing what was going on. “What are you doing?”
They disappeared instantly in midair, leaving his limbs behind. The only thing that was heard were his echoing screams, while he disappeared forever and taken to Hell, where he would be shackled for all eternity. Like the rest of the devils.
“A trade for a trade. Just as Lola predicted,” Erick said in a whisper.
His wings disappeared and so did his powers. A few seconds later, he fainted. His guardians ran to him.
Clara and Jack got to him first, but Erick wasn’t moving. He appeared to be in a coma.
“He’s not breathing!” Clara screamed as she looked for a pulse. “Somebody help him!” she cried.
Erick started glowing again.
A colorful light left his body and his sword. The light transformed into five human beings. The Others.
They went back to their original human forms, and so did Matheus. They all regained consciousness and looked at each other oddly. They realized their wounds were gone too. They saw Erick was not okay and ran towards him.
“Erick?” Larry shouted. He examined him for a second “What’s happening? Why isn’t he breathing?”
“I don’t know. He’s not waking up,” Clara cried. Jack hugged her tightly. He had fear in his eyes. Fear of losing his son again.
“Stay back, give him room to breathe!” Kate shouted as she ran as fast as she could.
She immediately performed CPR on him. She did the 30 pumps and 2 breaths routine for about a minute, but there was still no sign of life. Kate was afraid she might have gotten there too late. She started getting anxious.
“You are not going to die on me, not today, you hear me?” She tilted his head back, pinched his nose and blew air one last time.
Erick started coughing.
Kate and Clara were relieved and smiling with happiness. Erick was slowly starting to breathe again at last. He opened his eyes and looked around. The first thing he saw were two beautiful blue eyes.
“Erick? Are you okay?” Kate asked.
Erick looked at her, then saw Sarah, his guardians, Matheus and his archangels waiting on him to respond. He gave them a weak smile.
“I’m okay. What happened?” he asked, disoriented.
“You don’t remember?” Jimmy asked. He shook his head. “Dude! You kicked butt!”
Erick stood up gently. His parents and his grandparents hugged him tightly. He hugged them back too. “I’m so proud of you,” Jack said. Erick smiled at him then looked at his grandfather.
“Pops? I thought you were dead,” Erick said.
“Of course not. I’m a guardian remember? Guardians don’t die,” Harris responded.
“Oh! Right,” he replied, embarrassed. He got on his feet, Larry and Jack helped him up.
He turned back to Kate.
“Thank you, Kate. I owe you my life.”
“Don’t mention it,” she said smiling. He hugged her tightly, and she hugged back. It was a magical moment for him. He wanted to kiss her but didn’t dare. Everybody was watching them. When he let go he started blushing. She was blushing too.
He looked around, and saw that Earth was saved once more, and so was The Order. Nothing made him happier.
There was a clear blue sky in Downtown Manhattan and the war was finally over between the Satunians and the Detarrunians.
There was finally peace once more.
A lot of lives were lost that night, but because of the fallen and their valiant acts, a billion other lives were saved all around the world.
“Mom?” a man called.
There were four soldiers walking towards Erick. Two of them looked familiar to him. It was Justin and the lieutenant who saved him in the battlefield.
“Chris?” Sarah called, crying. She ran to the lieutenant and they hugged. They were both crying with joy.
Matheus smelled a familiar scent. He knew who it was and he was thrilled to see him again. As soon as he saw Matt in the distance, Matheus ran to him and jumped all on him licking his face.
“There you are, Milo! I was looking all over for you. Where have you been?” Matt said, happy to see him. Matheus just kept wagging his tail and licking his face.
Kate’s parents were also amongst the crowd. So were Jimmy’s, Bruce’s, Luis’ and Patrick’s. Everyone was reunited with their loved ones.
Erick looked at each and every one of his guardians and noticed that Rebecca and Nathan were in the back, not being acknowledged. He walked over to them and hugged them too.
“Thank you,” Erick said.
“For what?” Nathan asked.
“For fighting by my side till the end.” They both smiled back at him, pleased to hear him say that. They were also welcomed by the rest of the team a few seconds later. He knew there was someone else missing.
He searched around for her. He walked behind a building nearby and found her on the ground wounded pretty badly.
It was Lola. Erick ran to her and helped her sit up.
“What happened?”
“Rukus,” she answered.
“Where is he?” Erick asked, ready to fight some more.
“He’s dead…” He looked around and saw his dead body a few feet away. “You… did it, Ethasus! You saved The Order and our worlds,” she said, smiling slightly and coughing blood.
That was actually the first time he had ever seen her smile before.
“We need to treat your wounds. You’re bleeding pretty bad.” He was going to carry her but saw a fatal wound in her stomach and chest.
“Don’t,” she said stopping him. “I’m fine…”
“But you could die.”
“If I do… at least… It was an honor… fighting with you,” she said proudly.
“Lola?” Erick said with a sad voice. “I’m so sorry for not trusting you.”
“I’m a demon. You’re not supposed to.”
“You knew all along. You knew Satu would do anything just to win.”
Lola nodded.
Erick felt even guiltier for not trusting her.
“Why did you help me, Lola? Why betray your kind because of me?” Erick asked the injured demon in his arms. She looked at him for a minute then smiled again.
“I helped you because—” she coughed “—I wanted to know what it was like to be human for once,” was her final answer fading away.
She slowly closed her eyes and wasn’t breathing anymore. Erick’s heart was filled with sadness.
He really liked Lola. It was tough for him to know she was gone. He wouldn’t have made it this far if it wasn’t for her. “No, Lola? Lola?” he cried as he called her name. He laid her lifeless body on the ground.
There was a moment of silence. Not only for Lola, but also for those who died during the war.
He saw a swarm of cyclops flying over the blue sky, retreating back to Inferno. Lola wasn’t around anymore, so they all went back to their respective dimensions. Erick saw an immense crowd walking towards him and the team. It was his Detarrunian army and the Satunians.
They all gathered near The Chosen One. They all kneeled, showing respect to their young hero. He felt honored to have fought with such brave men and women. His guardians and The Others also got on one knee. It was an incredible feeling. For the first time, he was proud to be chosen.
“Thank you, everyone,” Erick spoke. He looked at the multitu
de of people who were now looking up to him, and continued, “I truly believe you should all bow to one another. Everyone here played a big part in history. Because of you, Earth and The Order is saved. You stood up for what you truly believed in. You fought with everything you had, because you believed in something. You believed in life, love, and peace. You held on to that belief till the end. I can’t even explain how important you guys are to me. You are the reason why I did what I did. Because I love each and every one of you. Satu or not, we are all human beings, we are all family, we are not perfect, and we definitely make mistakes. I know I made many, but because of those mistakes, I am here today. This is not the end. This is just the beginning. Let’s pick ourselves up, and together, we’ll make it right again,” he finished.
Everyone cheered. Most of them were crying. Some shouted patriotically.
He looked at the crowd and noted some of these people didn’t even have homes anymore. Some lost their families in the battle too.
Erick felt horrible. He deeply wanted to help. He wanted to change things. It occurred to him that maybe there could be a way. That perhaps he could. He felt the need to give it a try.
Besides, he literally went through hell just to save the world, so he deserved an explanation. He deserved some answers, and he definitely had some demands. He knew exactly where to go and who to ask.
He looked at Matheus. “Take me to Heaven,” he ordered.
Clara and Christine were about to say something, but remained silent. Matheus didn’t ask any questions either. He simply did as he was told. Matheus instantly transformed into the majestic phoenix he had rode on many times before. Erick jumped on Matheus’ back, turned to the crowd and gave them a salute gesture. He made his way up in the sky with Matheus, until he was no longer seen anymore.
“What is he up to?” Jack asked Clara.
“He is on his way to see The Creator,” Harris replied, smiling at him.
Chapter 21
Heaven
What an amazing world. It was a city in the clouds. Never thought I would see The Gates to Heaven in the flesh. It was similar to Paradise in a way, but a lot richer in greatness. It was the perfect world for the gods.
As soon as we left my dimension, these white and long marbled floors appeared. They were huge and they led to these humongous gates that had a design of a sun in the middle, the symbol of light and perfection. Matheus told me that no one had ever stepped inside these gates before. Only the gods and The Creator were allowed in this realm.
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