"Why would the Reapers lie to me?" she asked. "Even now, as I found out the secret of what Gramps did to save me; they still say it was a car accident."
"They do not have the knowledge of truth. Their eyes are still clouded by the untruth of your grandfather," he told her.
"Gramps kept all this a secret from everyone... why?" she pondered.
Ananus smiled, and held out his hand. "That is a lesson of love. A lesson you will soon learn."
Lucy stood upright and took the spirits' hand. "I chose to believe it. I chose to be just a kid that lost her parents. Now, I choose to be the woman that avenges them for their injustice." Fire burned inside her, the essence of the Daxeal could be felt as she stood for the first time as a chosen. "I have answered your question, I have given you the truth. Where is the key?"
16 The Truth Shall Set You Free
A smile grew on the face of Ananus. Lucy gasped in shock, but relief could be seen in the ancient priest's face. They both looked down to see the blade of a sickle protruding from his chest.
"Thank you, Lucy Ducit, chosen one of the Daxeal. You are the one we have waited for," Ananus said as his form began to vanish.
Standing in his place was a tall, hooded figure with bone fingers wrapped around the handle of a long-bladed sickle. His other hand pulled the hood from his face to reveal the face of death and darkness, Azrael himself.
Lucy was surprised, to say the least. He was not this hideous, gross monstrosity hell bent on collecting souls, but an extremely attractive male with blond hair and soft gray eyes. She gasped at seeing his true, luscious form.
"You have released the priest Ananus from his bonds." His voice was that of an angel singing early in the morning to raise the morning sun, almost melodic. "The Daxeal has chosen wisely with you. Claim your prize as I have finally claimed one of mine. Release the soul of Lazarus and reap the essence of wickedness from this world." Azrael lowered the blade of his sickle to Lucy. Hanging from the blade was the key of knowledge. "Knowledge is the key that unlocks many doors. Use it wisely," he told her.
Lucy reached out her hand and took hold of the key. As her fingers wrapped around it, visions flashed before her mind's eye: places, people, spirits, and even her grandfather. Lucy was transported before a bright light overlooking fields of golden sunflowers. Standing beside the light was Azrael dressed in brightly colored robes of blues and white, not his black robes of reaping.
"You were once my prize, Lucy," Azrael told her. "That is until Conrad Otto breathed life back into you. One day you will be mine again. You have seen with your own eyes; no one escapes death. Everyone pays the price."
He disappeared leaving only Lucy standing before the light. His voice rang out inside her mind, "You have done well, child of the Daxeal. Use the knowledge given you to fulfill your birth rite. You were given these gifts for a purpose, and your gifts will serve you well. Stay the course, and free the others."
The voice faded. The visions left her weak and overloaded with thoughts not her own. She felt her knees buckling under her. Arms stretching, grasping for anything to steady her, she hit the ground. She was back on Pikes Peak surrounded by her friends.
"Where did he go?" shouted Jaso. "He just vanished."
Stan rushed to Lucy. "Lucy! Oh no, Lucy! Are you alright, kiddo?"
Micah came to a skidding stop, dropping the Sentai blades at his side. He placed a hand under her head and tilted her forward. "Lucy, you still with us?" he asked as his eyes filled with concern.
Her eyes slowly started to drift open, "Why wouldn't I be?" she said faintly. "We’re a team. I need to have your six." A rush of relief filled the them. A collective sigh of relief could be heard from everyone.
Lucy sat up, rubbing her head, "And I have this." She opened her hand to reveal a key, the Key of Knowledge.
"Oh, my God. She did it," James shouted. "She actually got the first key!"
"Congratulations, Miss Ducit. You are the first person to claim a key after all this time."
The group snapped their heads around to see a woman standing on the ridge with her hands placed on her hips. She was dressed in a black dress with a tight corset trimmed in red. She wore a hat that looked early Victorian with a thin black lace veil covering her face. She looked like she stepped out of one of the paintings in the Met. Standing on either side of her were rather large humanoid figures scarred from head to toe, like one of Frankenstein's monsters. Each one had a smaller creature strapped to its back, holding reins to control them. The reins were attached to the side of the abomination's head by a bolt that ran through it. On their chests they bore the symbol of the Countess; infinity on fire.
"You know who I am, and you know you cannot defeat me," she said with arms stretched outward in a revealing motion. "Let's just save a lot of bloodshed, yours exclusively, and time by just handing that key over now. I promise to kill you quickly without pain... well, not much," the Countess told them.
Jaso pulled his rifles, "Stan, get Lucy out of here. We will hold them as long as we can." He turned back to the Countess. "We decline your offer, but there is something we can give you."
Ruina placed her hands on her hips again and gave a condescending smile, "What would that be, little Reaper?"
A low humming whistle was heard in the distance. It came louder and louder until something hit the abomination on her left with a thud, knocking him off-balance. The little creature on its back tried to dismount frantically.
"We will give you hell!" shouted Jaso, as the projectile lodged in the chest of the beast exploded.
The blast was so strong it knocked the Countess to the ground. Flat on her back, her ears ringing from the blast, she shouted, "Kill them! Kill them all and bring me that key!"
A horde of minions charged forward from behind her, and the hulking blob that was left slowly lumbered toward them. The little creature driving started screeching orders, hopping up and down on its back. James opened fire with both cannons dropping soldier after soldier, waiting for the Delta Charge to be ready again.
The remaining abomination reached James and unleashed a mammoth blast on the mini tank sending it flying backwards. It took out three of the Davarti just from the sheer motion.
Micah found himself surrounded by four of the undead soldiers. He grasped the handles of the Sentai blades and placed them in front of him. The right blade he held horizontal as the left was held steady above his head. One of the Davarti fired a blast from his side gun, Micah quickly shifted the blades and deflected the bullets back, jamming the gun and causing a chain reaction inside the chambers; the gun exploded in the hands of the Davarti. He spun to his left scything the blades across the neck of another, separating its head from its body. The two remaining soldiers charged together; electrified weapons lit the air, with sparks flying in every direction.
Micah stepped back into a battle stance, calm and stoic. At the last moment, he crouched low, swords swinging to each side. The blades severed the legs of the oncoming soldiers just below the knees, sending them to the ground. With a boot to the chest and a blade to their throats, they were sent from this world. Free of assailants, Micah rushed to help Jaso.
Lucy started to shake the cobwebs from her head and noticed that she was being led away from the fight and her friends by Stan. She started to squirm trying to break Stan's grasp.
"Easy, kiddo. We don't know what went on inside you," Stan said as they came to a stop.
Lucy rubbed her head and looked inside her clenched fist to see the key on its chain. "I did it, I really did it!" she exclaimed.
"I know," said Stan. "Unfortunately, so do they." Stan pointed to the fight waging behind them. Lucy could see the Countess standing in the center barking orders.
"We have to help them," Lucy yelled. "There are too many of them. They’ll all die!"
Stan stood in front of her with her arms outstretched to stop her. "Our priority is to get you and that key to safety. We all are willing to lay our life on the line for that key.
They won't be able to buy us much time so we have to hurry."
Lucy felt her blood boil as she looked at the Countess. Memories from the trial flooded her mind; how the countess had taken all her family. Her face ran red with anger. She could see her friends being slowly overrun by the minions.
"I'm not leaving them. I have seen my fate, and it's not here, not today." Lucy pulled the chain around her neck and shoved the key inside her shirt. "I'm sure I will need help in a few seconds... if you don't mind," she told Stan.
"What are you..."
"Hey! Ruina! You want the key? I'm right here," Lucy shouted as she pulled the Rainmakers from her holsters. "Come get it."
"Get me that infuriating girl and get me that key!" the Countess shrieked. “Try to keep her alive. If not, so be it!”
The soldiers stopped and turned their attention on Lucy. The creature riding the last behemoth ordered it to stop pounding on James and the mini tank and go for the key.
Blast after blast, Lucy downed Davarti. Firing shot after shot and reloading with little effort. Suddenly, the loud whistling sound was heard again. The little creature driving the abomination started to panic.
"Much boom! Much boom!" it screeched as it pulled back on the reins trying to get the creature to stop. With a thud, the shell lodged in the chest of the behemoth, and the driver jumped off. Lucy dropped to the ground, covering her head as the Delta charge exploded and scattered undead parts all over the ground again. Some of the Davarti were missing their legs, others their arms, but still they tried to get to Lucy.
"Did ya miss us?" asked James as he came rolling into sight.
Micah came running from behind him followed by Jaso. They stood with Lucy and Stan ready to finish the fight.
"Are you scared to fight your own battles, Ruina?" shouted Jaso. "It seems we broke all of your toys," he said as he fired a shot into the Davarti torso that was crawling toward them.
They could see the red of her face behind her black lace veil. "My name... Is... THE COUNTESS!" she shouted. The remaining Davarti, swarmed in around their master. "I will have the key. I will harness its power, as I did from Lazarus, and I will become a god!" Ruina's eyes turned as black as smoke from a coal foundry. Shadows oozed from deep inside her.
"Don't let her touch your skin," Stan told Lucy. "She will drain the life from you and make you like a soldier."
Jaso opened fire on the approaching foot soldiers. The Countess grabbed two of the soldiers, one in each hand with surprising ease. She hoisted them up in front of her and used them as shields from the oncoming spray of gunfire. The shadows floated from the Countess to the bullet-filled Davarti, weaving in and out of the bullet holes like a tamed cobra.
"You cannot win," she told them. "The keys are a part of MY destiny."
She hurled the lifeless bodies toward the heroes. As they hit the frozen ground, the bodies turned to shadow vipers. James rolled his chair past them all to the front and shifted into the mini arsenal.
"I hate snakes!" he yelled, as he unleashed thousands of hot ammo rounds onto the slithering snakes.
Micah, Stan, and Jaso rushed to cover Lucy. Lucy patted her chest, wincing in pain. "What is burning?" she shouted as she pulled the key from her shirt. "The gem inside the key is glowing hot," she said to Micah.
"What is it doing?" asked Micah. "Is it a trick?"
Lucy squinted her eyes and held the key tightly in her grasp. Just like before, she saw images and heard sounds that pierced her mind. "I understand," she said dropping the key back into her shirt. Lucy placed her pistols back in their holsters and slowly walked around her friends and headed straight for the Countess.
"Lucy! What are you doing?" shouted Stan. "You need to stay behind us, hun!"
The Davarti saw her and charged in her direction. One by one, she ripped them to shreds with her bare hands using techniques that were not taught to her.
"Where did she learn that?" asked Micah, with his mouth agape.
Stan shrugged her shoulders. "Certainly not from me."
"WELL, SHOULDN'T WE be helping her instead of just watching?" Jaso exclaimed. "We'll have to ask her later."
The group ran to back her up, and they could hear her chanting ancient words that no one understood. Her face was blank and stone cold. Her eyes fixed on the Countess.
"Sha'nay eletor concurum. Sha'nay eletor concurum," Lucy repeated over and over as she made her way toward the Countess.
"Yes, child. You will make a grand addition to my Davarti."
"What is she doing?" asked James. "The Countess will drain her, take the key, and damn us all!"
"We have to stop her one way or another," said Jaso. "We can't let the Countess get the key." Jaso pulled his rifle and had Lucy in his sight. "Lucy! Please stop!" he shouted.
Stan felt her heart crash. "Cover me; I'll get her." The elder Reaper ran directly in front of Jaso, blocking his shot on Lucy. Stan was remarkably in shape for her age, but the battle was catching up to her. "Come on!" she said as she placed her hands on her hips, forcing air into her lungs. Pushing forward through the pain, she got close to Lucy. "You can't fight her hand to hand; you can't fight her at all while she has the Lazarus Gem. She feeds on the essence of the living, you have to stop!"
Lucy did stop. Turning to face Stan with an eerie, blank look that startled her. Stan felt a lump form in her throat as Lucy spoke.
"I am death eternal. I am the life of the undead. I am Azrael, and I claim these souls!"
The words came from Lucy but were from The Angel of Death himself. The Countess lunged for the girl, grasping for her throat, knocking an unsuspecting Stan back. Lucy's hands moved with perfection in motion blocking every move. With her left hand, she pushed Ruina off balance as she connected with her right fist just below the Countess's left eye. In one fluid motion, she left the ground, planting her knees in Ruina's chest, driving her to the ground with a thud to her back. The blow to her eye had opened her skin, and a single drop of blood oozed out. It had been hundreds of years since Ruina had felt pain. For the first time since she absorbed the Lazarus Gem, she was afraid. In a move of desperation, she grabbed the bare skin of Lucy's forearms.
"Now, you and the first key will be mine!"
17 Shock and Awe
Fear spread across the faces of the Reapers looking on in horror. They could see all hope fading. Ruina was turning Lucy and would take the key.
"Get away from her! Get her hands off!" shouted Stan as she tried to get up. "Lucy, please! Fight her!" The cold ground had opened a deep gash in the palm of her hand, but she didn't even notice. Her focus was on Lucy.
Jaso ran toward them, hoping to separate them before Ruina drained all the life from Lucy.
Micah was not far behind, blades in hand slicing at anything that moved. The Countess had her fingernails deep into the skin of Lucy. Her laugh had a maniacal tone dripping with confidence. Suddenly a deafening scream could be heard that had everyone stopping, even the Davarti, in their tracks. All eyes fell to Lucy and the Countess. The smirk had faded from Ruina's face as she stared at Lucy's cold blank expression. The scream had come from the Countess, not Lucy. Pain. The Countess felt pain.
"What are you doing?" the Countess shouted. "This is not possible!" She felt her hands burning. "You... you can't be!" she shouted in utter disbelief. "Arrgghh!" She let go of Lucy's arms and tried to kick her way out from underneath her. She quickly rose to her feet and looked down at Lucy who was still on her hands and knees, "What are you?"
In a low tone, like a reverb from a baritone, Lucy answered without looking up. "I am fear. I am judgment. I am YOUR judgment."
Frozen in shock, the Countess called for a retreat, "Retreat! We fight another day! Back to the ship!" She stopped and locked eyes with Lucy who was now standing, still trying to process what had just happened and looking down to her hands. The red, glistening blisters began to fade. "We will meet again, dear, and next time, I will be ready!" she shouted.
Micah had made his way behi
nd the Countess. As she turned to flee, Micah swung with all his might barely missing her with the deadly Sentai blade. He did connect the handle of his weapon with little effect. The Countess grabbed him by the chest harness and threw him into Lucy, who was walking toward her, knocking them both to the ground. This gave Ruina enough time to reach her airship with the Synod looking on.
"I will be ready next time, little Reaper. I will have your head and that key as my trophy. You cannot meddle with my destiny!" Ruina shouted from the side rails of her airship.
On the ground, everyone had gathered around Lucy who remained lying flat on her back as she rubbed her head.
"Oh, my head... what hit me?" she said.
"That would be Micah," James said with a chuckle.
Micah sat up placing both hands on his head trying to keep it from swirling. "Not funny, James," he said. "I was just barrel rolled by an elderly woman."
Stan laughed and said, "It happens sometimes."
Jaso knelt on one knee. "I'm glad to see you're all right, Lucy," he said placing a hand on her shoulder. "Please tell me you still have the key."
Lucy frantically patted her shirt, feeling for the key around her neck. Grasping the chain, she pulled it from beneath her undershirt. "Whew! Yes, sir, I do," she said with a smile. She held it out for the group to see it.
Stan started to cry. "I can't believe it. We actually have the first key of Lazarus and sent the Countess running in defeat." She buried her face in the palms of her hands, "Oh I wish Conrad and Gerard could have been here."
"Maybe this news will help Gerard get better quicker," Lucy told her.
"Yes, let's head back to the ship. He worked his entire life for this; he needs to be a part of it," Jaso said.
"Yeah, I'm starting to not like these mountains," James told them. The team all looked in his direction. "Well, I never liked them, but now I like them even less."
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