Asius turned toward the voice he’d just heard. Three demons were watching him, their dark wings extended. Something moved in a shadowy corner in the back of the room, but he could not make out what it was since the trio of demons were blocking his view.
“Take care of Lyam,” he said softly to Vyns. “I’ll take care of these three.”
“And what do we do with Diago?” Vyns turned his back to Asius and faced the demon that was stepping on the Healer’s neck.
“Leave him on the floor. We can’t deal with all of them and take care of Diago at the same time. Our only chance is if Lyam recuperates. We need his healing abilities to even the odds.”
“Make yourselves comfortable, my little angels,” said one of the three demons standing in front of Asius. “You’ll be staying here with your friend so he won’t be so lonely. The only question is if you’ll be alive or dead.”
No sooner had he finished his sentence when he launched a blazing wave at Asius. The Counselor quickly reacted. He slashed with his sword from top to bottom, creating a column of ice in the air. The burning half-moon crashed into the icy block and split in two, and each half—now burning less intensely—went past Asius without touching him. All three demons jumped at him.
Asius stepped forward a little to meet them, leaving the line of ice behind him. He raised his bluish-white sword, still covered in frost. The demons split up when they got to him and attacked from all sides. The Counselor blocked some of the blows and dodged others, but he had no chance to fight back. The three fiery swords surrounding him kept him constantly on the defensive. To attack one of them would leave him defenseless against the other two, so he continued to protect himself as best he could while flames danced all around him.
“Your friend is a Healer, right?” said the fourth demon to Vyns. He removed his foot from Lyam’s neck and took a step back. “I despise those vile little quacks.”
Vyns watched as the demon raised his sword with both hands, ready to strike the defenseless angel. He remembered how Diago had reprimanded him for not protecting him the day Edmon had died in the sewers when they were trying to capture Raven. At that moment he’d been too blinded by the pain of his friend’s death to accept it, but he knew now Diago had been right. He vowed to himself he would not make that mistake again. Before they’d entered this building, Asius had assigned him to Lyam, and under no circumstances was he going to let him down. He’d already made too many mistakes with Raven and Nilia to allow himself to fail again. So he left Asius with the three demons, hoping that being a Counselor hadn’t weakened him, and ran toward Lyam, determined to give his own life to save him.
He had no time to use a rune. The demon’s sword had already begun its descent, and in half a second it would cut off Lyam’s head. Vyns realized he was too far to get there in time to stop the fatal blow without putting himself in danger but he didn’t care. Rage took him over and, at the last second, he made a desperate leap, hoping to be able to shield the Healer. When he was in the air, he saw the sword stop half way and change direction. It was now coming straight at him. It had been a trick. The enemy had only threatened to kill the Healer so Vyns would be obligated to put himself in a vulnerable position. It was too late to stop his own inertia. The sword drove into his right shoulder, partially severing his wing. But a split second before he’d known what was going to happen, he’d stretched his left wing and managed to strike the demon, causing him to lose his balance and fall backwards.
Pain coursed through his back, but Vyns straightened up as best he could, grabbed the hilt of the sword that was sticking out of his chest and pulled it out with a howl of pain. His right wing was hanging limply, dragging on the floor. His right shoulder was separated by nearly a half inch from his torso from a cut that descended down his chest almost to his nipple, and it looked like it would continue to split open more. Blood was running down that entire side of his body.
Asius heard Vyns’s cry but could do nothing to help him. He had his own problems. The trio of enemies pursued him relentlessly, and he now had a superficial cut on his leg. Time was not on his side. He would be the first to tire, and sooner or later he would make a mistake. His hope had been that Vyns would defeat the other demon and then help him, but judging by the scream he’d just heard he couldn’t depend on that. He continued to defend himself in the hopes that one of his enemies would err in a key movement. It was taking what seemed to Asius like an eternity, but finally one of his attackers missed a thrust by a wide margin, giving him a second to rest instead of having to dodge or block. The fight had given him the chance to study his opponents, and he was now about to attempt a risky maneuver based on a prediction of his enemies’ next attacks.
The Counselor agilely jumped back, landing next to the demon that had just made the mistake and throwing him off balance with a blow to his wing. Then, with both hands, he drove the point of his sword into the floor. Ice spread out on the floor all around him, trapping the legs of the three demons and freezing them in place. Asius took advantage of the fact that two of them were farther from him, knowing it would take them at least a couple of seconds to break free. He pulled his sword out of the floor and stabbed it into the leg of the one he’d hit in the wing. A frigid energy immediately flowed forth from the sword and into the demon’s body, turning him into a statue of ice.
“Stop now and save your lives,” Asius declared, removing his sword and standing next to the frozen enemy.
For several seconds, the two demons stared in astonishment at their comrade. Asius again noticed movement in the dark corner of the room and saw lines of fire forming a symbol. For a moment he thought it was another wave of flames directed at him, but it was not; it was a strange rune like the one they’d found but could not identify while checking out the upper floors.
Meanwhile, Vyns took advantage of the fact that the demon that had attacked him was unarmed since he’d just pulled his sword out of his own chest, and he drew a rune of fire that acted as a barrier and blocked the demon’s path. The demon threw himself against it and pummeled it repeatedly. With each blow, circular waves spread through the air and blended with other waves, so that in a matter of seconds the image of the demon looked distorted, as if he were looking at him through water. Wasting no time, Vyns dropped his sword and bent down over Lyam.
“Wake up, Lyam!” he shouted, shaking him with his uninjured arm. “Wake up, damn it!”
He knew the barrier wouldn’t last much longer. He was weak, and it took all he had just to remain standing. He’d barely had the strength to project the protective rune. If the demon had had his weapon he probably would have destroyed Vyns in two blows. Now the rune was beginning to collapse and Lyam was not responding. Vyns picked up his sword and struggled to raise it up. He moved forward, his wing dragging on the floor, and prepared to fight.
As the rune disintegrated. the demon jumped over it. Vyns tried to pierce him with the sword, but his adversary effortlessly dodged it and, with a backwards blow, knocked Vyns’s sword out of his hand. With almost no strength remaining, he watched helplessly as the sword fell from his hand and bounced off the floor. The demon demolished it with one kick, then grabbed him by the neck.
“You are going to die,” he growled, bringing his face close to Vyns’s. “I hope kissing the Elder’s ass all this time was worth it.”
Vyns’s neck strained under the pressure of the demon’s grip as he punched in vain at him with his left fist. The little strength he had left was hardly enough to keep himself from being strangled. His vision was beginning to blur.
While all this was happening, Asius’s threat had been ignored. The two demons freed their feet from the ice and went after him. The Counselor dealt a blow to the demon that was frozen to his left and a small deluge of ice shards showered the floor. One less enemy. When the other two jumped at him, he quickly moved off to the side and struck one of them in the back with his wing. The demon was propelled forward and was unable to avoid crashing into the line of ice Asius had created at the beginning of the fight. His body ended up flat on the floor, broken in two, the surface of the ice covered with his blood. And now there was one.
At that moment, a thundering noise coming from the corner where Asius had seen the strange rune resonated through the room. The Counselor looked in that direction and saw a mountain of stone in the shape of a human coming toward him, covered in blue flames. He overcame his initial shock and managed to kick away the last of the three demons who made another attempt to attack him. The gigantic rock struck a blow. Asius put his sword out to block the strike and the stony fist slammed into it. It was a calamitous blow. The angel flew through the air and landed hard on the floor, losing his sword in the fall. He’d felt the shockwave through his entire body; its force was devastating. The demon jumped at him again, trying to skewer him with his sword. Asius, still stunned from the tremendous impact, could do nothing more than to roll left and right as the sword was repeatedly raised and lowered over him. Finally, the weapon pierced one of his wings, leaving him pinned to the floor. The demon swiftly moved off to the side. Asius felt the bones in his leg breaking as the giant’s foot crushed down on it. The situation was desperate. His wing was pinned to the floor, and his leg was trapped under the monumental weight of this unknown enemy—whatever it was.
Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more.
And now, Vyns was about to lose consciousness. His enemy was still on top of him, strangling him with a twisted smile on his face. He had almost no feeling left in his body, and no longer had the strength to fight. The thought that he had failed once again cut through him like a knife.
Just then, his wounded shoulder lit up. A brilliant white light surrounded his entire right side, and Vyns felt a wonderful wave of warmth running through him. The broken bone in his wing was set and the cut from his shoulder to his chest healed itself, leaving no trace of the wound. Using his right arm that was thankfully left intact, Vyns struck the demon in the head with all his might, knocking him away from him. In a single second, he rolled to one side, took out his sword and stabbed the demon. Then he sat up and saw Lyam sitting on the floor, leaning on one arm while the other was still pointing at him, emitting a faint glow.
“I’m sorry . . . I didn’t see him coming,” Lyam strained to whisper.
“It’s not your fault, my friend.” Vyns rushed over to him. “I am the one who was supposed to protect you. How are you doing?”
“Weak . . . But we have to help Asius.”
Vyns turned to see how the Counselor was doing. He saw him lying face up on the floor with one wing pierced by a sword and a mountain of rock and flames on top of his leg. In that moment, the giant raised both arms over his head, ready to crush the defenseless angel at his feet. Vyns swore. It would be impossible to get to him in time.
Asius saw the two intertwined rocky fists covered in blue flames descending upon him and knew this was the end. He crossed his arms in front of himself, though after having seen the strength of the giant, he knew it would not be enough to keep him from being brutally destroyed.
A burst of sound cut through the air.
Two lines of fire shot down on both sides of the giant. The lines were completely identical and descended at the same speed. The giant’s arms lost their flaming shield and fell noisily at each side of his prey.
Asius was relieved to see the Twins, one on each side of the ton of rocks, gripping their fiery swords. They stood up straight, then each Twin dealt an identical and opposing blow toward the other. Their fists came crashing together, smashing the giant’s stone head between them.
“Yala!” Asius’s face contorted in pain. “Be careful. There are still two more of them here.”
“They’ve fled,” said one of the Twins. The other Twin went to the back of the room to a hole that had been cut in the wall. “Do you want me to look for them?”
“No. They’ve probably gone for backup. We have to get out of here before they come back. Where is Zaedon?”
“He’s here,” said the other Twin, rejoining them with Zaedon leaning on him, obviously exhausted. “He has some pretty serious wounds.”
“. . . I’m sorry, Asius,” said the first Twin in his usual neutral tone. “I know I should have protected him. They separated me—”
“. . . I did all I could,” finished the other.”
“Nonsense,” replied Asius. He knew when Yala went back and forth with different parts of the same sentence it was because he was feeling bad about something. On this occasion, it was apparently out of guilt. “We would all be dead if it hadn’t been for you. I’ve never been so happy to see you as I was when you finished off that pile of rocks. I owe you my life.”
Yala’s face remained serious but reflected no emotion. Though Asius noticed a slight glimmer in his eyes, he wasn’t exactly sure how to interpret it.
Vyns came toward Asius with Diago in his arms as Lyam crouched down at his side and examined his leg. It was mangled.
“You took quite a hit.” The Healer’s voice was weak since he was still not completely restored. “I can’t cure everyone. Diago’s condition is critical but I need to rest to regain my strength.”
“Heal him first,” instructed Asius.
“If I don’t heal you,” Lyam contradicted, “you won’t be able to walk. We’ll have to carry you. And besides, we might need your strength again.”
“Diago first,” he stubbornly ordered. “At least get him out of danger—to the point where he can walk would be enough. Then if you still have strength left, you can heal my leg. My wing doesn’t matter for the time being.”
Lyam nodded reluctantly and returned to Diago who was resting in Vyns’s arms. He placed his hand on his chest and illuminated his body for several interminable seconds. The Healer’s face contorted from the exertion. When the glow faded, Diago opened his eyes, surprised. His wings were still bleeding, but he put his feet on the floor and looked around at everyone. Then his eyes locked on Asius lying on the floor.
“Asius!” Diago knelt beside him. “Damn you! I owe you two now!” he exclaimed, referring to Asius having saved his life during the War. Ever since then they’d been united in a close and lasting friendship. “I don’t know how to thank you.”
“There was no way I was going to leave you in their hands.” A sparkling glow covered Asius’s leg, healing it. It still hurt but he could move it perfectly. Lyam collapsed to his knees on the floor, weakened from the effort.
“Thank you,” said Asius, standing up and running his hand through his hair. “This is not over yet. We should get out of here immediately. Lyam, can you walk?”
The Healer nodded and managed, with some difficulty, to sit up. Asius picked his icy sword up off the floor and put it away.
“So . . . what were those things?” asked Vyns as he helped Lyam to his feet. “That stone freak was enormous. He had Yala by two feet!”
“They conjured them here from somewhere,” Diago told them. “Some of the demons must have developed the ability to invoke those things. I’m guessing they come from the Hole.” Asius and Vyns exchanged a look of mutual understanding. “They tortured me with them. I think their intention was to try them out on me to see how they managed against an angel. If I’m not mistaken, the ones that look like animals are called Shadows and the stone giants are called Titans. They use runes—”
“Let’s leave that for later,” Asius interrupted, once again using the tone of voice of someone in charge. “We have to get out of here. Diago, you carry Zaedon. I want Yala to be freed up in case we come across more enemies. Vyns, stay close to Lyam at all times. Let’s go.”
They left the room. Asius turned left to go back the way they’d come but Yala grabbed him by the arm and stopped him.
“Not that way. This way. There’s something you should see.” Asius looked at him, uncertain. “It’s important,” the Twin added, reading the doubt on the Counselor’s face.
“All right, you lead the way.”
Yala went into the dark corridor and everyone else followed. Their vision had adapted enough to be able to penetrate the blackness without needing additional light.
“I’m so sorry, Asius. You were right,” Diago admitted. Asius looked back at him, not understanding what he was referring to. “I should have believed you when you warned me, but I didn’t.”
The first time Asius had traveled to Earth was just after Edmon had died trying to capture Raven. It was then that he’d shared his suspicions with respect to the demons and had asked for Diago’s help. Diago had gotten angry with him for trying to go against the Council’s orders. “You asked me to keep an eye on them. You had a feeling the demons were plotting something and I didn’t listen to you. I was blinded by a sense of duty to carry out my orders. You were right and Ergon was wrong. And to top it all off, I lost Raven and let them capture me. I’m not worthy of the trust you had in me when you came to me for help.”
“I doubted you too, Asius,” said Yala before the Counselor could respond to Diago. “I have to admit that I only agreed to accompany you because you’re a member of the Council. I had serious doubts as to whether you knew what you were doing. I will never again doubt your judgment or your intuition. From now on, you can count on me for whatever you need.”
Asius was quiet for a moment. He hadn’t known Yala was harboring doubts about him, since his severe, inexpressive face was notoriously difficult to read. And now Asius had just witnessed something that surprised him as much as the strange allies the demons had brought out of Hell—Yala spontaneously verbalizing his thoughts and feelings.
“Don’t worry,” he reassured them. “You did what you thought was right. Now we just need to get back to the Nest before it’s too late to let Ergon know he was wrong.”
They turned a corner and found some stairs that went up to the end of the corridor. Yala stopped them next to a closed door.
“It’s here,” said the Twin. “You have to see this.” Asius took hold of the doorknob. “Just you, Asius.”
The Counselor stopped and considered Yala’s words for a moment.
“All right. I’ll go into the room for a moment. The rest of you should go up to the next floor—carefully—and look for an exit. At the first sign of the enemy, come back here. Yala, go with them and stay with me.”
The group walked to the stairs with one of the Twins while Asius and the other Twin went into the room. It was a large room with chairs all along two opposing walls. A rune of fire was floating in the middle of the room a few inches off the floor.
“I stumbled upon this when I was looking for you.”
“Why did you want only me to see this?” asked Asius.
Yala did not answer; he just pointed at the rune. Asius went over to it. It was a well-known symbol. He went over it with his finger.
The rune shone more brightly, and a group of flames shot into the air above it. A few seconds later, an image appeared in great detail—at least, in the eyes of an immortal. A Minor would only have seen a fire burning in the air.
Asius’s eyebrows raised and his forehead wrinkled.
“It’s the Threshold,” he said, overwhelmed with shock as he studied it captivatedly. It was a three-dimensional image that showed part of the First Sphere, more specifically, the Citadel. “It’s an exact replica, right down to the last detail.”
“I didn’t think it was a good idea for everyone else to see this.”
“You couldn’t be more right. Since you only showed it to me, I’m assuming you understand the implications of this. No one else should know about this, Yala.” The Twin did not respond, but Asius had no doubt he understood the importance of his discovery.
“They’re at the exit. They’re asking if they should leave or wait for us.”
“Tell them to go out and wait for us outside. We’ll be joining them shortly. And ask them if the way is clear.”
Yala stood silently as Asius finished his examination of the flames.
“All clear,” said the Twin.
“This is one of the worst surprises we could ever come across. Maybe we discovered it in time . . . Did you see that, Yala?”
The Twin followed Asius’s gaze toward the back wall, his face intently focused. Asius took out his sword of ice and the room lit up. Near the back wall, an hourglass was floating in midair.
“Let’s get out of here!” Asius exclaimed, his voice full of urgency. “It’s set to expire today!”
They left the room, hurried up the corridor, and ran up the stairs. Since the other Twin had just found the exit, Yala knew the way and headed straight for it. They saw no enemies on the way out, and as soon as they exited they crossed the street and met up with the rest of the group one block up.
“We have to return to the Nest right now,” Asius announced to them. “There’s no time to lose. Let’s get back to the portal.”
“That might not be necessary,” said Vyns, pointing up.
At that moment the Counselor realized the ground was trembling, and a piercing, thundering sound was rumbling through the whole city. He raised his eyes toward the sky and was faced with the most horrid shock of all.
“It can’t be,” he said in astonishment. “It’s impossible.”
They heard a loud explosion, and a shower of glass fell on them.
