by Amanda Churi
Justus though? Gannon attempted to abort him against his mother’s wishes. It was only while watching her child be physically burned alive in the test tube, his skin blackening and melting from the saline injection, that their mother fought back—smashed the glass herself and took a horrendous beating that ultimately ended with Gannon slitting her vocal cords so that she would never be able to protest again. But nonetheless, her ferocious fight saved Justus; Gannon did not stop his mute of a wife from nurturing and nursing the premature baby back to health, and shortly after, she made a deal that only few knew of in those broken times.
She sold her soul to the Devil to regain her voice—and in doing so, she gained the terrifying powers that she only ever displayed to protect her children.
And she always loved Justus. She was one of the few supports he had. Some things a mother can’t fix, but she got him his life and helped him keep it—and she always encouraged him in whatever he was doing.
Because of their inherent differences—the jealousy—Justus never cared for Seek, but when his mother, his best friend, was killed protecting her… He was never the same afterward.
The Embry that Seek now knew was born out of Justus’ tears—he recreated his mother in the form of a loving, supportive AI, just as their real mother was. And every time Seek had to look at her, there were no words to describe the guilt she felt; not even the angels who had merged with her body could give her a pain equivalent to that.
She moaned, feeling a headache build. Just realizing that she lacked three years of memories was tormenting. Justus would taunt Seek, telling her that Gannon proudly sacrificed his “little girl” when the angels targeted him, but because of the nature of angels, they did not kill the innocent child when she suddenly appeared before them instead of their prey—they simply merged with her.
Gannon ordered endless testing after that; Seek’s lost days were spent as a science experiment as her father tried to figure out how to extract the angels from her body and use them to his advantage, but apparently, angels did not follow the same laws as did Eyla extraction; that her father had down pat—every Revere did. For eight hundred years, they had desperately clung to Calla’s powerful Eyla, passing it on when it was time to crown a new Lord so that the powers remained the same and the knowledge behind their uses could build, making each Lord’s magical capabilities stronger than the last.
Seek was destined to be precisely that until her accident—and while it brought her much suffering, she couldn’t be happier that it did. Even little, she was already being manipulated into thinking like her father; seeing him with mature eyes now, she would have rathered kill herself than be another him.
“Seek, how are you feeling?” Embry asked.
Pulling her hand away from her throbbing head, Seek looked at her prosthetic mother in a daze. “Ha… Guilty…”
Embry smiled again. “I am not her, and she is not me. Do not fret; I bear no ill will toward you.”
“I don’t see how not,” Seek grumbled. “Justus made you… And given that he hates my guts, I’m surprised he didn’t design you to break out a machine gun and shoot me dead.”
“He does not wish you harm. The Embry I have taken the identity of told him to protect you; personal feelings thrown to the wind, he loved his mother beyond reasonable measures. He would never disgrace her final wish. Her last desires align with mine; I am here to stand at your side, my lovely Seeker of Light. Fear not of betrayal; I cannot perform anything beyond what I was created for.” She closed the confidential cube and its projection, extending her free hand. “Rise. Departure is upon us.”
A shiver racked Seek’s body, and the child was up in a beat. “What?! How long have I been asleep?!”
“A span of nearly twenty-four hours. Pinion told me not to disturb you; she requires you to be at full strength for the ambush.”
Seek released an overwhelmed breath. Five years she had been out… Five years combatting her father below the belt, and now, she was ready to break back in…
She was truly insane.
Nervous, she clutched the shackle around her neck. Inch by inch, she had carefully cut away at it through the years so that she was no longer permanently bound, but for some reason, she chose to keep it on her. It was her own little fire that reminded her of the score she had to settle.
“Come.”
Seek looked up, seeing Embry far up the tunnel and nearing the surface. She still held out her hand, hoping Seek would follow her lead.
These battle-hardened dirt walls weren’t ice; Seek didn’t have that baby fat or the luxuries of robes and slippers that she was once too little to appreciate, but she still had some memories…
And she still had her mother—just in a different form.
Filling her body with air and calling on her angels for courage, she gripped her shackle tight and made her way up to Embry, holding her hand and heading up toward the light that this time would shine in her favor.
Twenty
Flyers
Just so we’re clear, it ended up being two days, twenty hours, fourteen minutes, and fifty-two seconds—aka Eero: 1, Pinion: 0. She owed me.
Now just because Sage and I upstaged her did not mean that we left in three days’ time, but that was completely Pinion’s fault. She had to adjust her tactics to align with what we had put together, and like a typical woman, she took forever to make up her mind. Now, nearly four days later, we were preparing to leave—all that we needed now was for the scrappy army to finish their final preparations and for Pinion to give the command.
It’s a blessing that demons don’t have to sleep; otherwise, we wouldn’t have made our goal. The Encryptors who were capable of helping did, though they cycled in shifts; me, Sage, Korbu, and Embry, however, were on an overtime unlike any before it. Every waking second until completion, we were moving, building, testing—and there wasn’t much time for the final part. Regardless, the time was here, and Sage was making the final adjustments.
To me. And I hated to admit it, but it hurt like a bitch.
“Stay still!” they sang, weaving the needle and thread through Coruscus and then my ass.
Yeah, yeah, they won out… But it was my decision! “You’re sure that Coruscus will work just like before?” They pricked me in the tailbone. I had to bite my hand to keep it from flying up and smacking their face.
“Yuuup! I pinkie promise!”
“I don’t even know what that means.”
There was the splitting of cloth, and then, their detached finger suddenly plopped into my hand. “There you go!”
Well, that was a messed up way to promise something. “Thanks…?”
They giggled like a girl. “Welcooome! Should be just a minute more… Nerves take a biiit longer.”
“Say, where did you learn to do this? You can practically fix anything, can’t you? Yourself included.”
“Kinda,” they agreed, humming as they worked. “But really, I was just born doing this. I always knew how to sew really well! That and kill!”
The second part of that statement heightened my curiosity. “You were born to kill? You seem to do the opposite.”
“Actually, I don’t know what I was born for! I wasn’t even really borrrn! I was just suddenly here, but I had to escape below ground because everywhere I went, people wanted to kill me!” They paused, their upbeat attitude taking an abnormal plummet. I looked over my shoulder to make sure they hadn’t died on me. They were just staring at their feet, and the blue strings beneath their button eye were coming undone like tears. “I didn’t look like a human when I was born; I didn’t even have a face. They were scared of me, so I killed some of them and took pieces of their bodies to try and look more like them, but that only made it worse! I was so sad that I moved away so that no one could find me!”
Honestly, they were pathetic, but given that they were in the middle of fixing my legendary weapon, I kept that to myself. “Sorry you had it so rough.”
“It’s okkk! Besid
es, anyone that tried to kill me after that… Hehe! I found out that I can do it muuuch faster.”
Their expression went from depressed to creepy in seconds; in recognition of that, I happily turned my back. “Happy that you found what makes you happy?”
“Thank you! But what would make me happier is to just find Daddy. I need to know why he abandoned me…” A rush of heat and pain flew up my spine with such strength that I stumbled forward, holding my breath to try and subdue the misery that was quickly fleeting. “There!” they announced. “Family reunion, commmplete!”
Amazed, I turned to look, and Coruscus met me head-on; its lovely, translucent blade spiraled with radiant liquid gold—a life force to never extinguish again.
I smiled at first my weapon and then Sage; Coruscus grew with power to show its thankfulness too. Sage grinned, stabbing themself through the heart to accept our thanks.
“Ok, ok, first things first: if you want to pass off as a human, you need to stop doing that.” In light of my appreciation, I said no more, wandering off down the forest path and into the heart of the action.
Encryptors were bolting left and right through the forest as the hour of departure descended, but it was difficult to distinguish one person from the other now. Each face had been painted black in an effort to conceal our identities so that the enemy could not target one soldier in particular; this was mainly to protect the prophets from being picked off, as Seek warned was surely the Proxez’s intent. Each set of armor also had a black hood that went with it so that any overhead defining features were concealed as well.
Apparently, I was part of that “prophet” group. Don’t know how they got that idea since I was literally from the opposite world, but whatever, I would let them think what they wanted. Felt nice to be given a bump of power anyway.
Most all Encryptors were ready for action, suited up in the various sets of armor that we had scrapped together, and I was next. The pieces hung from multiple trees like clothes on a line; mine had not been taken since no one else would have been able to fit in it, and only a dozen or so remained for the pickings. Mine was nothing fancy—just an iron breastplate to protect the Mark, but that was all that a naturally fortified demon like me needed.
“What do you mean you’re not coming?!”
I snapped the armor on, glancing past the wide trunk to see just who was squabbling at a time like this; of course, it turned out to be Mabel. Flye was there too.
“Not with you,” Flye stressed. “Pinion decided on splitting up the assault into two waves, and I’m leading the second.”
“Why though?! You’re our best assassin! We need you with the prophets!”
Flye tilted her head and smiled wickedly. “Yes, but I also have a shit ton of sway when it comes to demons, and there aren’t many in the Encryption who can do that. Don’t worry, girl! Pinion knew what she was doing!” She cast her large eyes to the gloomy sky, her smile nearly breaking her face. “Besides… After what Seek told us, Merritt, too… I feel so alive. Heaven is still there! A SUN! A BARRIER! EEEK! I can’t wait to make a record of this!”
“Forget your diary!” Mabel snapped. “Don’t you lose focus when we need it now most of all! Besides!” She motioned to Flye’s outfit with a flustered hand. “A chainmail skirt? Combat boots? And what’s with the top? It’s practically two undersized iron cups with useless chains hanging off! Just look, your boobs are falling out, and I can see your entire stomach! You’ll need to focus on not getting killed instead of writing! Why would you even wear something like that?! It offers no protection!”
Flye popped her hip out to the side, puckering her lips. “Armor isn’t meant to protect, it’s to stun! Because come on…” She tossed her braided hair over her shoulder, flashing Mabel a seductive eye. “Don’t I look stunning?”
Mabel rightfully facepalmed. In all honesty, that wasn’t even a set; I just ran out of complete pieces, but if she wanted to choose that over a suit, it was her prerogative.
What did make me proud, however, was that Mabel chose to use the armor that I originally gave her, especially after I made slight enhancements to it. I refitted awkwardly connecting pieces and switched out thinner plates for thicker ones to protect her most vital areas. I also created a built-in scabbard alongside her outer thigh so that she didn’t almost shish kebob herself with her sword.
I wasn’t entirely sure why I did it. I wanted her dead, but at the same time, she was helping me increase the odds of completing my mission. I guess I just moved her current standing to death row until the time was right for the execution.
Flye bent down, grabbing her trusted scarf and wrapping it around her neck before she threw on a tattered cloak as well. “Oh yeah, and that!” Mabel piped up. “You already have a cape—add a scarf and just hang yourself while you’re at it, why don’t you?!”
“I’ve worn this for years! I’d feel off balance without it!” Flye caught sight of my eye peering out from behind the tree. She tensed up. “Uh, hey, Eero.”
Cover blown, I boldly stepped to the side. “’Sup.”
Mabel faced me. Her hair was tied into a high ponytail, and her face was painted black, ready for action. “Oh, I see Sage succeeded. That’s good.”
I chuckled, giving Coruscus a good lash. “Feels just like it always did.” My capacity for small talk already at its limit, I refocused on Flye. “Mind getting lost?”
She scoffed in disbelief, storming away with her head down while mumbling curses under her breath that I could clearly hear, leaving Mabel and me alone.
“You ready for this?” I questioned.
She snickered. “I was born ready. Time to end what we started, right?” She proceeded to walk past me and be on her way, but my arm shot out, catching her at the wrist.
Concern flocked her eyes when she looked up at me; I didn’t even want to know what my face looked like, because I sure as Heaven didn’t know why I grabbed her like that. “Uh…” I stuttered, awkwardly releasing her. She did not move, still unsure about the whole situation, as was I. “Just… Uh… Don’t die yet, ok? Remember, it’s got to be me who kills you.”
She couldn’t help but crack a cheeky smile. She simply nodded before she walked away through the trees and toward the battleground.
What the fuck was that?! I questioned bitterly, shoving the question into my burning brain where the fledglings were rolling over with laughter. Now isn’t the time, dammit! You want us all dead, then you keep it up! You’ll never get back to Hell!
We’re fine with that.
The smart-ass retort was too much, sucking my vision into my brain as I stared down whoever had the balls to say that to me.
I should have guessed who it was when I saw them. Three Eyla at the base of operations, holding up a soul so broken that it did not even deserve to exist. They did not dare to merge it with my core, but they were firm in their stance, ready.
As much of an ass as you are, the sassy one commented, it’s best if we let a demon intent on pillaging the universe fight this rather than wittle ol’ Eero. Just remember who is in control in the end, though. She thrust forward Eero’s limp soul, giving him a stern shake. HIM.
Annoyed beyond words, I switched my vision back over to the physical world, proceeding to where the front lines began. Stupid Eyla… Always a nuisance from the moment the first one showed up. He did not have the final say; I did. The only trouble was how bold his friends were… And even though the other Eero remained dead to me, he still had enough of a drive to interfere per the request of his friends. I didn’t know where that power came from in his current state, but it was something to be wary of… Especially the fact that the fledglings were fine with four tasty treats standing alongside them so long as it ultimately meant getting to me.
Focus, I ordered, shouldering past the gathering Encryptors in the forest clearing. This is your time, not his. Get to the empire, find Gannon, summon Satan, and kill two birds with one ax. Soon enough, there won’t be another damn person that you will
have to take orders from.
“I hate to admit it, Eero, but you did well.”
Pinion’s voice stopped me beside the gaping hole leading to the tunnels. She stood at the bottom of the trench, grinning victoriously while twisting an angelic blade as though she had already won.
Armor fit for a battle-hardened queen was exactly what she got—not like I had a choice, though, since she told me exactly what she wanted. Polished at every corner, hinges smooth like butter, both she and her armor were ready for the fight of their lives. A silver set was her choice, each individual piece crafted with elegant, deadly spikes; the largest fanned out from the hips and at her shoulders, but the protection suited her all the way up to her neck.
The craziest addition was not just an add-on to the suit but her body itself. One sword of justice she kept to gut the bottom feeders around her; the other she reconciled with, reattached it to her back with the help of Sage and me, but it was nowhere near all that it used to be. Instead of a wing with multicolored feathers straight from the prophecy, it was a wired, metallic palm frond stripped of radiance. It completely lacked the capabilities of flight, but now, like me, she had a weapon that she could call on to fight for her from behind, splitting one monster into two.
“You cut the hair,” I noted dryly as she hurled herself up beside me, both her face and gem black. “Why have I noticed that trend among human females? Just add a dick, and you’ll be the spitting image of a male.”
“Hardy har har. A sexist asshole like you wouldn’t think of it, but I didn’t want my hair getting caught in anything.” One hand on her hip and the other clutching her blade, she looked out at her readied warriors that were lining up and across the clearing like a layered runway, two at a time suiting up to an invention that was one of a kind.
“Kevin wouldn’t be proud of what you’ve become,” she said quietly, her soft tone catching me off guard, “but then again, that goes for me too… Still, I’m sure he’s looking down on us now, urging us to go forth and kick some ice queen ass.” With a slap on my back, she began making her way to the front of the crowd.
