“What?” I ask impatiently.
“Good luck,” she says, giving me a sweet quick kiss on the cheek.
“Thanks,” I reply, uncertain. She smiles sweetly and rushes off.
Meanwhile, as the six Fire Swans blast our shields; a fleet of Demons take to the air behind them, ready to attack. On the ground, the army of Believers gathers around our shield, eager to destroy the Foundation soldiers.
We don’t have one Angel in the air. The Foundation soldiers are hidden along the mountain range. All we have out in the open are the Tallies and me. That is exactly the way I planned it.
We don’t want to show our hand just yet.
We don’t want them to know how many soldiers and Angels we have or where they are located.
The Sage is arrogant and thinks that he will win based on the sheer numbers, but what we lack in numbers, we will make up for in tactics, as I said before.
Finally, the last of the shield is down. Immediately, the birds begin attacking each other. A Fire Swan opens its mouth and lets out a river of flames at a nearby Tally. The Tally cries out and bursts into flames on the side of the mountain.
The other Tallies counter by attacking that Fire Swan from both sides. The Swan is instantly rendered into a solid crystal. It crashes on the mountain top and the pieces shatter to the ground below.
Meanwhile, all the Demons in the air are hurling power balls at me and the Believers run towards our camp, hell bent on killing us. I dive and cut through the air to dodge their attacks. There are at least three close calls where I almost have my wings rip off.
The entire army of Believers and Demons are after me. I lead them to the exact spot I need them to be: the center of the camp. Once I’ve got as many of them to gather as possible, I give Wolf the signal.
Without warning the Omari and other Paras gather in the air, and hold hands. They form a circle of illumination that expands. The Demons, knowing what’s about to happen, shout for the others to go back, but it’s too late.
The ball of illumination explodes. The blast takes out hundreds of Demons and Believers. Their bodies drop lifelessly from the sky. The Demons that are still alive on ground race for cover.
“Now!” I roar.
Suddenly, the Foundation soldiers come from everywhere and attack the Demons and Quo that didn’t make it out of the blast zone. Unfortunately the Paras can’t summon up another massive surge of power since it drains them. But the blast they created was powerful enough to help us take out hundreds of Quo and Demons.
Once the Foundation soldiers have the upper hand, my team and I take to the sky, along with Rage. Two Demons gang up on Rio; he uses his shield to block their attacks. He then waits for the right moment to retaliate.
Rio snaps one Demon’s neck and pulls wings off the other. I have never seen him this violent before. I’m guessing he’s pissed, but not just at the Demons.
“Marcus, move!” Miku calls out franticly.
I turn in time to see death coming for me in the form of a giant power ball. There is no time to duck or out run it. Just as I brace for impact, Ameana redirects it back to the Demon, who then explodes on impact.
Seeing this, a Demon near Ameana tackles her and wraps his hand around her throat. The demon doesn’t see Rage approaching. He doesn’t even realize he is in flames until his flesh starts melting. The Demon is reduced to ash and blows away with the wind.
“I’m not human - stop rescuing me,” Ameana demands.
“Most chicks would say ‘thank you,’” Rage counters.
“I’m not most chicks,” she reminds him.
“That’s why I like you.”
“Damn right,” she says playfully.
Flirting, even in a battle, seriously?
I shake my head and fly over to Miku, who is pinned by a Demon to the side of the mountain. I know she’s afraid to sing because there are too many Foundation soldiers around. I snatch the Demon off her and toss him across the mountain range. The force and speed I throw him causes an imprint of the Demon’s body to be left in the mountain.
Miku spots a group of Demons far enough away that she can sing to. She flashes me her best deadly smile.
“Go get ’em, Pretty,” I encourage.
Miku swiftly flies over to the Demons and holds a little concert, where she sings softly to them.
Within two minutes, they are begging for death in several different languages. Miku kindly complies.
Jay Glides over, snatches three demons and beats the hell of out them before they even realize he’s there. He then places them inside a Holder and kicks them across the mountain range . The Holder opens and spills out what’s left of the Demons’ remains.
“Any Angel can kill a Demon; but ya got to have skillz to make it look this good. I mean, am I right?” He asks me as he Glides away, looking pleased with himself.
Without warning, a Demon tackles me. We both tumble awkwardly in the air. We grab each other by the neck, both refusing to let go. Off to the side of us, I spot a Fire Swan about to blast an unsuspecting Tally. I drag the Demon so that he is forced to switch positions in order to maintain his balance. The Demon is now in the line of fire and when the Fire Swan sprays, the Demon is charred.
Furious, the Fire Swan aims at me. Fortunately, a Tally shoots a beam, freezing the Fire Swan mid-flame. Another Fire Swan a few yards away, clearly pissed, sends a whirl of flame across the sky in retaliation. The Falcon is set on fire and nose dives to his death. While the battle between the birds rages on, down below, the battle between the Foundation soldiers and Believers has turned vicious.
A Believer effortlessly waves her hand and the ground splits open. Dozens of Foundation soldiers fall into the gaping hole. Before I or any other Angel can fly down to get them, the Believer closes the ground back up. Many of our soldiers have been swallowed whole by the earth.
The same Believer waves her hand to do it again but a Foundation solider near attacks her. He does this without even touching her. He opens his palms and two shadows shaped like snakes spring to life. The shadows wrap themselves around the Believer’s neck. The soldier controls the shadow snakes with a slight movement of his hand. The Believer dies within minutes.
We aren’t winning every battle. In fact, a few feet away, a Foundation soldier is being skinned alive by a Believer who makes a motion in the air like she’s peeling a banana. I’m too far away to help; I call on Jay, but it’s too late. The Foundation soldier dies in a pool of his own blood.
A Foundation soldier quickly attacks the Believer with the peeling power. Judging from the anger with which the soldier tackles the Believer, I’m guessing the slain soldier was somehow related. The soldier tackles the Believer to the ground. They throw power balls at each other and fight to get the upper hand.
A Foundation soldier watches the two of them wrestle to the ground. She stands a few yards away and mumbles something. Suddenly the Believer with the peeling power is screaming for dear life.
“That’s Tracy, ‘Bone Collector,’” Eta shouts up to me.
At first, I can’t see why they would call her that but then I watch as the bone in the Believers arm rips itself from its body and flies over to Tracy.
Tracy calls for yet another bone from the Believers body. By that time the Believer is in so much pain, she passes out for good.
So glad the bone collector is on our side.
From the corner of my eye, I spot a blur of red. I look down below and see the river of blood. I follow the river to get to its source. A Believer has mind controlled a group of Foundation Solders into hacking each other to death with blunt instruments and various powers. They are like possessed zombies carving into each other and, in some cases, themselves.
“Where’s the mind controller?” I ask Ameana.
“I can’t see who’s doing it,” she replies.
“Ask Rio whose waves are reading ‘extreme concentration.’ Hurry!” Ameana takes off towards Rio. I scan the crowd but can’t find the Believer
that’s in control. I touch down onto the blood bath and try to stop them from mutilating each other any further.
Other Angels join in to help me but it’s useless without taking down the Believer controlling them.
In the sky, Rio waves feverishly to get my attention. He then points me to a Believer a few miles away. She’s only about 5’4. She’s slim and so unassuming, she’s easy to miss. I take to the air to go after her.
“I’m on it,” Miku vows, popping up out of nowhere.
“Pretty, don’t sing too loud,” I warn her.
“I’ll try.”
The next thing I know, the Believer with the mind control is ripping the skin from her chest.
She’s in too much pain to concentrate on her powers. I can actually see her exposed heart pumping. Or at least it was. Miku snatched it from its chest cavity and smells it like a she would a rose.
Sometimes, I really worry about that girl…
Once the mind controller is dead, the Foundation soldiers stop attacking each other; but the damage is already done. Some have lost hands, legs, and entire arms, while others lost their lives.
The carnage is made worse by the endless screaming coming from the victims who, just out from the haze of mind control, find themselves disfigured.
The other Angels and I carry as many of them towards the back of the camp as we can. We then place them in the cave that serves as a make shift infirmary, near the hide out. I head back to the battlefield littered with blood, bones and broken wings. To make matters worse, power balls are zooming through the air, traveling at unnatural speeds.
In the center of all the chaos, I spot a small, bean pole of a soldier trying to summon up a power ball to take on a Believer, who has electricity between her palms.
Ty!
I run to Ty, who has managed to summon up a power ball. The Believer laughs at him, takes the micro ball inside her hands and crushes it. The Believer raises her arms to strike and put an end to Ty’s short life.
I tackle her; we fall to the ground, and she quickly gets on top of me. She is surprisingly strong.
She’s enjoying the fact that she’s much stronger than I anticipated. She raises her hand to electrocute me, but I grab both of her wrists to keep her hands from touching, knowing that will result in a blast of electricity.
“What’s wrong, Guardian? Did you think you were the only one with super strength?” She mocks.
“No, but I’m the only one that can do this,” I reply venomously.
I reflect her fear back to her. She begs for me to stop. Her body shakes violently. I double my efforts. She dies with fear frozen on her face. I throw her corpse off of me.
“Marcus, why’d you do that? I had her!” Ty says confidently.
“I know you did but we need you to look after the soldiers in the infirmary,” I reply.
“Aw, C’mon, I have to be on the front lines. That’s where the action is!” Ty protests.
“You can always come back; but right now I really need you in the infirmary, protecting the wounded in case the Believers or Demons attack.”
“You really think they’d get that far?”
“Yeah, and there’s only one person I trust to stop them.”
“Okay, I’m on it!”
“Good,” I reply as I watch Ty head towards safety. I signal a nearby Angel to watch him.
Once back in the air, I spot two of the four Death Stalkers. They charge through Believers and Foundation soldiers alike, leaving a trail of injured Quo. They gallop up and down the battle field, growling and snarling. Hungrily they search for human flesh. I’m relieved that Emmy is nowhere near here.
However, I still need to take care of the Death Stalkers. I call out to Wolf, who is closer. He hurls two illuminating power balls at them at the same time. It kills both beasts on the spot. I look around and find the third one, not far from me.
As my team tackle Demons in the air, I fly down to kill the second to last beast. Once I land, it charges towards me. It picks me up off the ground and sends me flying into the air. I manage to hop on to its back and ride it.
The Death Stalker is furious and tries to throw me off like a raging bull. I stay on him until I spot a weapon I can use on the ground. I pick up a jagged, discarded human bone and plunge it between the beast’s eyes. It jerks itself around uncontrollably and roars as a geyser of black blood gushes out from its skull. Only when I stab it again and again does it finally die.
I look around for the final Death Stalker but can’t seem to find it. Just then, Eta franticly calls out to me. I turn to see what she’s pointing at and I find the last Death Stalker. It’s standing a few feet away from its next meal: Emmy.
Damn that girl!
Without even thinking, I race into the air to go get her. I’m fast, but not fast enough. The beast races after her. Emmy screams and takes off running. She will never be able to outrun it. I cut through the air at unheard of speed.
The Death Stalker has chased Emmy down the road to the now fallen city of Cree. I follow them but I can’t see them well enough from the sky. I land in hopes of finding her. Fearing calling out her name will alert the beast, I quietly scour through the small city.
I hear the Death Stalker growl and Emmy’s screaming right after. I follow the sound and find the beast has her cornered along the walls of what was once someone’s home. Emmy searches for some kind of weapon but there is nothing useful around her.
The Death Stalker is toying with her, moving in and then backing off. It’s like a twisted cat and mouse game. Finally, the animal has had enough. It roars and Emmy makes this soul shaking scream that cuts right through me. Then she does something that only Emmy would think to do: She tries to reason with the beast. Her voice is shaky and her eyes filled with tears. But apart from that, she tries hard to stay in control.
“Look, you think I’m grade “A” flesh but I’m not…I’m on the track team so, I’m all muscle. That’s tough to chew. And I didn’t get a chance to moisturize this morning so my skin is really dry. I’m tough and dry--I’m human jerky. I wouldn’t taste good at all.” The beast has had enough; it lunges at her with all its fury. She screams again and covers her eyes. When she opens her eyes again, she realizes she is in the air and in my arms. She is shaking with relief.
She thanks me repeatedly. I remain silent.
“I couldn’t find anything to hit him with. And then I saw his teeth…thank you so much,” she says breathlessly once we land a few yards from the hide out.
Again, I remain silent. She nervously fixes her clothes and addresses me.
“Marcus, I know I promised I wouldn’t—”
I take off without hearing the rest.
A little while later, I head to the infirmary to look in on Ty, the wounded Angels and Foundation soldiers. They are being looked after by Paras with healing knowledge and Quo with similar powers.
There are about two hundred wounded men and women. Although the other side had more deaths due to the power blast from the Paras, we too have casualties. They number in the hundreds.
The second Ty spots me, he comes up and asks if it’s time to go back to the front lines. I tell him we still need his help and a Para Angel calls him to fill up a pitcher of water. That’s when I look over and find Emmy among the helpers.
I ignore her and focus on my job: making sure the wounded stay positive. I stop and talk to each of them. I tell them that they will be fine. In some cases, I am lying. Ameana uses her x-ray powers and points out that at least fifty of them who won’t survive.
Still, I try to keep their hopes up. It’s better to die with a little hope than live without any at all.
By the time I get to the last patient who is likely to die, I seriously feel like I’m about to lose it.
But I know I don’t have that option. I can’t just fly off the handle. They need to know that I am in control and that I have faith in what we are doing.
Emmy tries to catch my eye again and again, but I avoid her.
She had no business on the battle field. And yet, as usual, she shows up. I’m glad that there are others around us because I really don’t want to be alone with her. I’m way too upset with her right now.
Unfortunately, the Paras and Ty go off to get supplies. Then the Quo helpers go to get collect wounded soldiers from the field. And Ameana is long gone, leaving the two of us alone. I focus on the wounded and cover them with blankets. Most, if not all, of them are asleep by now.
“So, how mad are you that I went out into the field?” She asks, hesitantly. I don’t make eye contact.
“I’m not mad at you; I’m mad at myself.”
“For what?” She asks.
“For thinking you would keep your promise.”
I can tell my comment hurt her. She lowers her eyes.
Whatever.
“Marcus, I’m sorry. I just had to go get—”
“—Emmy, don’t.”
“I’m trying to explain to you why I was out there.”
“I don’t care. You promised that you would stay in the hideout. And you didn’t. Your reasons don’t matter.”
“You’re not even gonna hear me out?”
“Why? This is nothing new. This is classic ‘Marcus and Emmy.’ I tell you not to do something for your own safety. - You say okay - Then you turn around and do it anyway,” I snap.
“It’s not like that.”
“It’s always like that. It’s our thing; it’s what we do. You put yourself in danger; I put everything aside to save you, only to have you put yourself in danger, like, ten seconds later.”
“Hey, I’ve saved you a few times too,” she protests, hotly.
“So, what is this, a contest for you?”
“No, I’m just saying we have saved each other - that’s what you do for people you love.”
“No, what you do for people you love is take care of yourself. But you’re not doing that. You’re just running out into danger like some demented, attention hungry, thrill seeker. And you know what, I really can’t deal with it.”
“Well you know what Marcus, I don’t really give a damn what you can and can’t deal with. I’m too busy losing people I love, getting tortured and attending your wedding.”