The Rise

by Nathan Parks

  He looked up at the large warehouse-style complex outside of which they were standing. He could not detect any movement. He had no doubt that the occupants had no idea what was about to take place.

  Denora looked to the handful of skilled warriors that were standing around them.

  “This is the moment we get back what was taken from us! This is the moment that will go down in the journals of history that Mortal man faced the onslaught of prophecy. Stories will be told to the children about the moment that the earth opened up and creatures of dark nightmares came out from the depths. Legends will be sealed in blood—legends of dark beings with fangs and long, black hair which came out of the darkness to destroy innocence. Yes! We will be remembered!”

  Mantus was impressed. She had flare—no one could deny that. He stepped back and let her take the lead. There still was some lack of confidence that she would be able to pull this off; but he had no doubt that if he and his team needed to clean up, they would be able to. Why not let her go first? If she fell, well, he could praise her as a martyr; and if she succeeded, then he could revel in the success.

  * * * * *

  Jackie closed her eyes as she took a break. The teams were set up in Scintillantes. Yara had been left in command of the Sanctum, and now it was just a waiting game.

  She looked down at her watch and thought about how she could be at The Broken Tear working on a new tattoo for a customer, but this felt like home. For five years she had worked closely with the Alliance, and now she closed her eyes thinking about how she was a part of the family. She had to keep that in the forefront of her thoughts; no way was she going to be thinking of the danger that Gideon may be in at this moment.

  “The coffee has been sitting in the pot for over an hour,” Yara stated as she walked in, “but I figured we both could use some.”

  Jackie opened her eyes and sat up as she took the cup of black motor oil from the Angel.

  “Right now, I will take it!”

  As Yara sat down, there was a loud explosion that rocked the Sanctum, followed by yelling and alarms. It jolted Jackie, and she knocked over her coffee. She grabbed a box of tissues, hoping that there would be enough inside to keep the dark liquid from going too far.

  “Leave it!” Yara yelled. “We are being attacked!”

  “What?” Jackie’s face went white. “We? We didn’t get any word of . . .”

  “Shut up and move!” Yara yelled out as she grabbed Jackie by the arm.

  “Do you know how to use a gun?”

  Jackie started to shake.

  “A tattoo gun, maybe, but I have never used a real gun!”

  “Great! Well, if any of the Fallen are wanting new Clan insignias, I will send them your way,” the Angel shook her head. “Stay behind me, and I mean directly behind me!”

  The two exited the room quickly and quietly.

  “We need to activate the failsafe.”

  Jackie wasn’t sure what that meant, but she had watched enough movies to know what she thought it meant.

  “Are you kidding? We can’t let the Sanctum fall!”

  “The Sanctum is just a building . . . period! We don’t have enough forces here to defend it, and we can’t afford to let any of the Fallen have access to anything here!”

  Yara stopped and spun around. Her face was set and stern.

  “We thought they would use an old Patmos, one closed down years ago . . . but we were wrong!”

  It became clear to Jackie what she was saying.

  “They are going to use the Sanctum!”

  “Yes, and even with our teams ready for them, they will not be expecting them to enter the Hall of Heroes through our Patmos!”

  “Where is that gun you were thinking about giving me?” Jackie asked, holding out her hand. “I may not have shot before, but I sure can learn really quickly.”

  “We don’t have time for that! We have to get those who are left here out and blow it!”

  “No, we are going to fight! We have to! Even if we can hold them off only long enough to get some of our teams back through Patmos and defend the Sanctum. We can’t just roll over.”

  “It isn’t rolling over,” Yara stated plainly. “It is buying time.”

  “The gun!” Jackie demanded.

  Yara thought for a minute. Then she unholstered one of her sidearms and handed it to her.

  “Aim and pull the trigger. Even if you don’t hit anything, at least you may keep some heads down.”

  As she handed it to her, Jackie slammed Yara into the wall and fired past her. The scream that followed showed that, indeed, she was a quick learner . . . or at least a lucky shot.

  There were sounds of fighting coming from every area of the Sanctum. Yara motioned for Jackie to back up into one of the other smaller rooms.

  “I’m going to go activate the computers to start the sequence to send this place sky high. Do what you need to do, but make sure you get yourself out of here!”

  “Am I following you?”

  “No! Start moving yourself toward the exit, and make sure you help anyone else get out of here.”

  Yara looked at her one last time and walked back into the hallway. Jackie screamed loudly and long as she watched. As quickly as Yara had stepped out, a blade came from the right of the doorway into the path of the Angel. Yara’s head was severed cleanly from her torso, and the momentum of the blade caused the Angel’s head to roll back into the room. Her body collapsed, and blood sprayed over the door frame and down Jackie’s leg.

  She stood horrified and frozen. Everything in her stopped, and it felt like someone had hit the slow-motion button on a remote. She watched as a female warrior came into view of the doorway. Her hair was pulled back, and her face was painted with a large black strip from one ear, across her eyes and the bridge of her nose, to the other ear.

  The smile on Denora’s face was a masterpiece of devilish delight and blood spray. She walked in with her sword resting on her shoulder. She kept her eye on Jackie as she walked forward and picked up Yara’s head. She held it by the hair and allowed the blood to drip down over her boots and form a puddle where she was standing. She looked at the scared female human standing in front of her with devilish glee.

  “If you are going to stand there in fear, pissing your pants, at least let me give you something to really be afraid of.”

  Jackie watched as the Overlord took Yara’s head and held it up. Denora looked directly at Jackie as she bit into the left eye cavity of the Angel’s severed head. There was a popping sound, and Jackie felt weak and sick as she heard the Demon begin to slurp up the bodily fluids that ran from the crater left from the bite.

  Jackie raised the gun.

  “Point and pull the trigger,” she whispered to herself. “Point and pull the trigger.”

  Everything moved in slow motion still, and she felt as if her arms weighed over 50 pounds each. The trigger on the handgun felt as if it was stuck. Was she even squeezing it? She watched as the gun fired, but she had turned it to the side trying to figure out why it wasn’t firing. The bullet buzzed by Denora without even coming close.

  “Well, you do have some guts,” the Overlord laughed, “but sadly, not the punch.”

  Jackie fired again. This time it seemed easier, and it was closer to Denora. The Demon did not even flinch.

  “Weak One, you have no idea the forces of humanity and Eternals that I have stared down! You are a gnat on the larger windshield of this universe.”

  Denora dropped Yara’s head, and the sound of it hitting the floor created a sickening thud. The Demon slowly started walking toward her. Her body shook, and she couldn’t hold onto the gun. She dropped it and started moving backward.

  There was a commotion from the hallway, indicating that the fight for the Sanctum was in full swing. Just behind where the Overlord stood, Jackie watched as figures with long, black hair and demonic poise swept past. Some were soaked in blood; some had splashes here and there; but every single one had a frenzied demean
or, a bloodlust.

  “You may take the Sanctum, but you will not win this war,” she spat at Denora.

  There was no more room for her to move back, and she stood with her back against the wall. This was not how she expected death. How could she? She had never really thought of it; and of course, she had never thought—even in the last five years—that she would take her last breath inside the Sanctum, facing down the very persona of evil.

  Denora loved fear. She existed to inhale the very stench of it. She inhaled deeply through her nose as she lifted her blade and swung.

  “Gideon,” Jackie whispered, “forever I will be with you, My Love.”

  The words flowed out into the universe, finding no ears on which to fall, and were drowned out by the banshee-like scream of the Overlord.

  Chapter Forty-Eight

  “How do we defend against a being that can be anywhere at any time?” Victoria whispered as she and her two counterparts stood inside the back-patio area of Eden, looking out into the back yard.

  “We do or we die,” Eve said bluntly. “Sorry if that is harsh, especially with what you have already faced with Legion; but it really is that simple.”

  Leah acknowledged the same and then added to it, “Tori, there is no real answer. I thought we had Legion when we fought him before. Obviously, I was wrong. I don’t concede easily, but there is no way around it. He beat me before, and I honestly have no idea how to take him out. To the point Eve just made, we just have to. If we don’t, then everything we are familiar with will change. Life as we know it—or I should say as you know it—will cease to exist.”

  “That is cliché,” Tori scoffed in an attempt to hide her growing fear.

  “Yeah? You think?”

  Eve rolled her eyes.

  “Yes, very!”

  Leah caught slight movement straight ahead. She could feel a sense of dread wash over her, and she hated it. She reached up to touch her pendant and panicked. She grasped at the empty space where her necklace usually hung.

  “What’s wrong?” Eve asked, noticing Leah’s sudden alarm.

  “Joan’s pedant is gone!”

  “You gave it to Lano back in the Command Center earlier,” the Nephelium stated. “Did you get it back?”

  Leah thought for a moment and realized that so much had happened that she didn’t even remember giving it to the little boy.

  “No,” she worriedly answered.

  A heaviness washed over her. She had not let it out of her sight since the moment she had retrieved it from the fire. Here, she was facing one of the most vital fights of her existence; and it was not around her neck.

  “I will have to remember to get it back from him.”

  “That is, if you live long enough.”

  Leah’s anger flared up at Eve’s last remark.

  “Really? That was low . . . even for you, Eve.”

  “Maybe, but I couldn’t think of anything lower to say.”

  “I’m sorry to interrupt this display of love and affection, but something is not right,” Tori spoke up.

  Leah and Eve both turned and looked at her. She was standing a few feet away from both of them. The teen had a scared look on her face as she began to scratch at her arms.

  “What’s wrong, Tori?” Leah asked with true concern.

  At the same time, she slowly moved her hand toward one of her weapons. She wasn’t going to be surprised by any tricks that Legion or any of the Fallen may have up their sleeves. She knew that the Council members had not indicated any cause for concern, but they were also far from all-knowing.

  “I can feel something moving inside of me!”

  “Legion?”

  The teen looked up at Eve as the question was asked and shook her head.

  “I don’t think so. I can’t hear his voice inside of me, but I feel as if my skin is crawling!”

  The Vapor and the Nephelium both stepped back even further as the teenager kept scratching at her skin. Red welts started forming on her arms. Tori fell to the ground in pain as she looked up at the other two. Her eyes were pleading for help, but her mind told her help would not come. She knew why they were standing back.

  “There is a sound of . . . of . . . I can hear . . .”

  She couldn’t get past the pain that was racking her body.

  “It sounds like I am being swarmed by a huge flock of seagulls . . . the sound of rushing wind through the tops of trees!”

  Eve looked over at Leah.

  “I’m thinking they aren’t seagulls!”

  Leah shook her head and held her finger up to her lips attempting to silence Eve. She didn’t want Tori to become any more afraid than what the young teenager was already. She kept her distance but knelt down to get on eye level with Tori.

  “Tell me, in the best way you can, what all you are feeling, hearing, experiencing.”

  “I hear the rush of a mighty wind in my head!” the young lady said. “It feels as if something is inside of me again trying to get out . . . but not like before.”

  She paused, trying to catch her breath as another wave of pain swept through her.

  “I don’t hear any voices.”

  Leah thought for a moment as she contemplated the situation.

  “What if Legion is calling to her?”

  Eve looked back and forth between Victoria and Leah.

  “I don’t know; but I do know that no matter who it is, if either of you decide to go into some vile, twisted form, I will take you out without question.”

  “Or . . .” Leah thought again, “Tori, Nemamiah and Gabriel told you that you are no longer in the same physical form as before, correct?”

  Tori gritted through the pain. She was trying not to scratch at her skin as the Vapor asked the question.

  “Yes, but I don’t know what they meant.”

  Leah thought back over the different things they had experienced with Legion and Tori. She had a hunch, but it was risky.

  “Tori, I want you to stop for a moment and just do your best to be present. Let what is going to happen, happen.”

  Eve unsheathed two of her knives even as Leah glared at her. She shrugged her shoulders and ignored her. She wasn’t about to just embrace a sudden attack from Tori or Legion . . . or any weird combo of the two.

  “Leah, what are you doing?”

  “I wish I knew; but if you have any other ideas that don’t involve killing her, I am open to suggestions!”

  Tori screamed. As she did, she was surrounded by the ravens that they had seen before Legion attempted to fully take form in Lano’s room. This time, though, they did not attack. They flew about for a brief moment, and then a larger one landed on Tori’s shoulder. The rest found different perches upon which to sit; but all of them maintained their distance, looking suspiciously at Leah and Eve.

  Tori had that feeling that one gets right after vomiting for the last time and the wave of nausea moves on. She didn’t move, though. She just turned her head and looked at the larger raven perched upon her shoulder. She could feel its talons holding onto her, but not so tightly that they broke the skin. She was amazed at the weight of the bird.

  “What is he doing on me?” she questioned, her voice wavering.

  “My answer would be, I think he is waiting for you.”

  “What? Waiting for what?”

  “I think we have discovered that you have some new abilities.”

  Eve threw her arms up and looked back out over the lawn.

  “Great! So now we have a Vapor, a Nephelium, and Bird Girl!”

  Leah held in a snicker. She stepped forward and offered Tori her hand. The frightened girl took it and stood up.

  “When Legion embodied Dracul, there were stories about his riding out into the night, surrounded by hordes of bats. This thought was due to the fact that much of Dracul’s dark and hideous work was done under the cover of dark. What most people testified to seeing were black flying creatures. What we know is that they were not bats, but ravens. Legion could
manipulate them and control them to attack at his beckoning call. The myth was darker than reality, but still just as demonic and horrific. It seems that the residue of Legion within you has allowed you the ability to do the same.”

  “Um . . . can I get a refund . . . I mean, why not the ability to fly or turn people into stone? No, I get damn birds!”

  “Don’t be so quick to dismiss it, Tori,” Leah expressed. “You never know how they may end up helping us.”

  “I have to say,” Eve interrupted, “for once I agree with the girl. Why birds?”

  Before anything else could be said, Isaiah came over their earpieces.

  “Leah or Eve, are you there?”

  “Go ahead, Isaiah. What do you have?” Leah responded as she activated her comm.

  “The Sanctum has fallen.”

  Nothing. Nothing but silence. No one could speak. Shock and pain hit both of their chests as it sunk in what he had just said.

  “Leah, did you hear me?”

  She tried to speak, but her throat was dry. She couldn’t respond. Eve was able to finally find words and responded to the Nephelium.

  “How? We had no prior warning they were going to attack the Sanctum!”

  “We don’t know. Information is coming in now, but not much.”

  Leah was able to finally find words as her anger rose from somewhere deep inside of her.

  “Kadar! Did you know of this?”

  Kadar came over the earpiece, “No, Leah. You have to trust me that I didn’t. I had assumed that they would need a Patmos gate to get to Scintillantes, but I thought Michael had other ways that were more covert.”

  “Casualties?” Leah asked.

  There was a brief moment when there was no answer. Then another voice came over the comms.

  “Leah, it is Gene. Yes, as far as we can tell anyone who was left behind at the Sanctum was killed.”

  “Wait! Wasn’t Jackie there?” Eve asked, afraid to hear the answer.

  “Yes. It sounds like Denora and Mantus attacked there, and that means that we will be facing Legion and Michael.”

  “So, are you saying that . . .”

  “Eve, I’m saying that Jackie did not make it. According to camera feed that we are just getting in, it looks like Denora killed her.”