The Rise

by Nathan Parks

  “I love you, Daddy.”

  He tried to talk, but only blood poured out of his mouth. He could not take in a breath. Memories from his lifetime began to flash before him, mingled with pain.

  Legion pulled him down onto the blade.

  The Demon’s mouth was next to Isaiah’s ear, “It was me who embodied those young men the night your wife and daughter were killed, Fool. It was for nothing more than a need to see violence and mayhem again; but oh, the desolation it caused you . . . I never could have imagined. The blood of your daughter as she lay in your arms was so beautiful as it washed over that lovely dress of hers.”

  Chapter Fifty-Three

  Anger raged violently within him, but Isaiah had no strength; it was gone. He tried to open his eyes one more time to look at his daughter, but she was gone. There, standing in the middle of all the chaos, he saw Trinita, Megan, and Alfonso. He still had clarity enough to understand that they were not really standing there, but he knew why he could see them. The veil between worlds was lifting for him. His daughter, while lying in his arms, had spoken about the Angels coming for her.

  Would he be able to hold her again? Would he be able to feel the brush of his wife’s lips on his once again? He never got to make amends with Troy; he regretted that, but now it was too late. At least he had been able to clean himself up; and he could cross over knowing that he did so as a mighty warrior and not as a drunk, lying passed out on his apartment couch.

  He tried to take in one more breath. His body screamed with pain and the lack of the ability to breathe. He couldn’t; there was too much blood. The world went black.

  Legion shoved the lifeless body off him. He stood up and concentrated. He felt movement within him. He felt himself stirring and spitting. His skin began to stretch, and his muscles became rigid as he yelled out a battle cry. The time for the Dracon to rise had come, and the universe would change permanently. He would rise and sweep over it in evil and darkness, and creation would bow down before him!

  Zarius was in a dead-heat battle with his brother. Ages of violent hatred which had divided this brotherhood was released into timely rage. Each was evenly matched, and each found himself bloodied and bruised.

  Tanisha had been the calming force in his life, and he had one focus at this moment: destroy his brother. Zarius had no clue if his wife was still alive. The vision of her lifeless body lying in his arms had flipped a violent switch deep inside of him that had been turned off so long ago.

  Both brothers swung their blades fast and furiously, each matching the tenacity and ferocity of the other. Zarius dropped to one knee, allowing a swing of Michael’s to clear over his head. The Vapor took the hilt of his sword and jammed it hard up under Michael’s chin. The Archangel’s head violently shuddered as a sharp pain pierced his neck from the whiplash.

  “Till death, Brother.”

  Zarius bellowed with a warrior’s rage, “Till death!”

  Michael slashed a great gash across Zarius’ left thigh, but the Vapor did not stop. He stood and fought through the pain. The swing of the blade had been overreaching, and it knocked the Archangel off balance. His brother used this slight shift to his advantage and rushed his shoulder into Michael’s hip, wrapping both arms around him and lifting him up off the ground.

  The double agent of the supernatural realms attempted to unfurl his wings to catch his balance, but did not accomplish it in time. He felt the full weight of the Vapor land upon him. He gasped as a rib or two cracked, and he felt the pain radiate up into his back and chest.

  “Zarius! We have a huge problem!” Eve shouted out.

  Her face and hair were splattered in the blood and remains of demonic forces she had been holding off; but she had heard the scream of Legion and looked up in time to watch as he multiplied into numerous beings, each with long, black hair and teeth bared. They were now outnumbered way beyond what they would be able to thwart.

  The Vapor did not lose his concentration. He didn’t care anymore. The death of his brother was the only thing he could think about. His tunnel vision on this mission was unshakeable.

  “Leah!” Eve turned to the other Vapor, “We have got to move back to Eden!”

  The former Alliance leader was worn down. Every muscle in her body screamed out for rest, but she caught a glimpse of what Eve was yelling about and realized that rest was not going to come easily.

  “We have no other option! We move back, we are dead! We lose!”

  “We don’t . . . we lose!”

  Eve barely got her voice of frustration out before she heard a loud explosion behind her. She dropped to her knees and spun around quickly, two handguns at the ready; but in an instant, she realized she didn’t need them . . . at least at that moment.

  She and Leah couldn’t believe what they were witnessing: from the back-patio area, the saw Ki, Gideon, Bristol, and even Kadar come running out with every arsenal piece they could carry; unexpected reinforcements had arrived!

  “Ki!” Leah yelled out. “Get the wounded out of here!”

  He shook his head, “Not yet; we’ve got something more important to do!” He turned to Gideon, “We will hold them off, but you understand what you are facing?”

  “We end this tonight!”

  Gideon was sprinting straight toward the mayhem.

  “Bristol, get the twins out of here!”

  She was already heading their way. Kadar was wrist-deep into the cavity of one of the segments of Legion. He was smiling ear-to-ear.

  More and more Nephelium poured onto the lawn. For a moment, Eve stood stunned. Kadar really had brought their kind together. She never had imagined that there were this many of them.

  The fighting became even more intense, but Leah understood something needed to happen. She realized that Zarius’ focus had changed from protecting the delta to an all-out revenge fight to the death. She knew there had to be some way to end this, but at this moment she wasn’t sure how to achieve that goal. They couldn’t sustain any more losses, but that goal did not seem achievable as she looked around.

  She watched as Gideon headed straight toward the delta. He got to it and pulled something out of his hip pocket. She recognized it and realized what he was about to do. It could work!

  “Eve! Throw me one of your guns!” she yelled out.

  The Nephelium didn’t even hesitate at the request. She dropped the magazine from the gun. In one smooth and seamless move, she reloaded it and threw it toward the Vapor. Leah caught it, checked the chamber, and then began to fire at incoming segments of Legion and the forces of darkness.

  “Eve, protect Gideon!”

  Eve looked over and saw the Angel running through the fray. She nodded and fought her way to stand beside Leah. The two fought shoulder-to-shoulder, creating a wall to protect their teammate.

  “When we said this battle would be THE battle, I honestly thought we might have a chance!”

  “We do . . . stand by and wait,” Leah responded as she took out another dark figure.

  “It isn’t like I have anywhere else to be at this moment!”

  “No!” Serenity screamed out, and both Leah and Eve looked over to see a segment of Legion grab Lano.

  The young boy was scratching, screaming, kicking, and biting—doing everything he could to get away—but Legion was not letting go.

  Zarius spun around as Michael refused to back away. The Vapor’s blade caught the Archangel right underneath his solar plexus. Zarius felt it hit its mark. He screamed out in unfettered rage as he shoved the blade backward into his brother and then turned as he twisted the blade sideways. The sword exited out the side of the Archangel’s body, and he collapsed to his knees at the feet of his brother.

  Leah watched it; and before anyone else could stop her, she rushed to Zarius’ side. She looked at the former leader of the Arch Council kneeling with a horrific look of understanding spreading over his face.

  “Michael,” she literally spat on him, “I promised you there would come a day whe
n you would kneel before me! You wanted prophecy? Well, consider this prophecy fulfilled!”

  Zarius stepped back. He had done his job, and he understood the significance of what was playing out in front of him.

  He turned to try to locate his wife. He saw her body lying in the snow. Her blood had bathed the cold, white bed in which she lay a crimson wash.

  “Leah, he is all yours.”

  Zarius turned and pushed his way toward his wife.

  The female Vapor stood over Michael. He had lost all movement in his right side. His sword lay on the ground beside him, and the light in his eyes was fading.

  He looked up at her and shook his head, “You will never know, Leah, how proud I was of you, but you also were always in my way. I never hated you. I admired and respected what you have become and, at times, have even been jealous.”

  “I really don’t care, Michael. You have destroyed all that was valuable and consistent in the universe. I believed in you. I even looked up to you for so long.”

  “I know.”

  He had no more strength to hold himself upright. His body fell backward, but she was not going to let him go that easily. She knelt beside him, the battle raging around the two.

  “I would love nothing more than to permanently erase you from the existence of the universe, Michael; but that would mean that all the pain and heartache you have brought to so many over the ages would go unpunished.” She knelt down and whispered in his ear, “May whoever rules the Abyss have no mercy upon your soul! I bind you to the very place you should have been ruling.”

  His last breath in the atmosphere of earth was only a gasp as he felt the rush of eternal damnation sweep over him. His body vanished; and she smiled, knowing that the Malebranche had a new plaything to torture and break down.

  Chapter Fifty-Four

  As Leah stood up, there was an explosion, and the expanse of the lawn was washed in an iridescent light. She covered her eyes and then turned to face the source of the explosion. She watched as Gideon picked himself up from where he had been tossed. His smile could only mean one thing: the delta had been destroyed.

  The segments of Legion stood in shock as they realized what had just happened. Each embodiment of the Demon bolted toward the source with a loud, rushing noise. Legion had summoned all his segments into him; and there he stood, holding Lano around the waist.

  Zarius kneeled beside the lifeless body of his wife. Tears streamed down his face as he cradled the love of his existence in his arms. He was broken and angry.

  “It is over, Legion!” Leah expressed, trying to catch her breath. “The delta is gone!”

  Each of the team members were attending the wounded, holding the bodies of fallen loved ones, or standing ready to give it all they had for one final push to rescue Lano.

  “You are all fools . . . fools blinded to the truths that have sat before you for so long . . . fools for believing that you were a step ahead . . . fools for believing in the idea that if you could come together, you would be able to defeat a prophecy . . . fools for not understanding that you all are still puppets of a plan that you cannot stop but are a part of!”

  Legion stood strong and defiantly. There was a champion air about him.

  It had been a long time since Eve felt defeated; but at this very moment, she did. Even after Alfonso had been killed, she found the strength to fight forward, believing that she would rise to the top, victorious. As she watched Megan give up her life for her child, Eve still believed there was a chance to overcome the obstacles they all were facing.

  Now, she could not see it. She looked around at the carnage that covered the snow in a place that represented new life, new chances, and peace. All of that had changed.

  “Legion,” she addressed him, “what is it that you want from us, then? We don’t have the other delta. You clearly stand as a victor in this battle.”

  The Demon smiled as he reached up to Lano’s throat and grabbed something. As he yanked at the chain around the little boy’s neck, he dropped Lano to the ground but maintained a grasp on the young boy. He then held up the object.

  Leah gasped as her hand went to her own neck. She had forgotten through this that she still had not retrieved Joan’s necklace from the young boy.

  “This is why you are all so blind! A necklace that has hung around the necks of warriors, travelled with Watchers, and been hidden away for so long . . . a vial once given by a Watcher to a young Nephelium with the belief that it would bring her the power she needed to rise up and vanquish her enemy . . . a token of love picked up by a Guardian who never had any questions about its origin or why her ward protected it so much!”

  The team looked back and forth, attempting to follow the words that he spoke; but it was clear that none were following him. Leah digested it all for a moment, and then it all came flooding back.

  She had been there when the love of her life had given Joan the necklace. He had refused to really talk about it, but it had been clear to her that he had shared more with Joan about its origins than had been shared with her. At the time, she didn’t think anything of it.

  For so many years she had treasured it simply as a memento . . . not only of Joan, but also of a love that found no end. Now as she looked at it hanging from Legion’s hand, it dawned on her that what she had held so closely for so long had been the very thing many had been fighting to find even longer.

  “No, I have been the fool!” she whispered.

  “Care to share what he is talking about?” Eve asked as she was still trying to figure out a way to get the young boy from the grasp of this henchman of evil.

  “It is the vial of blood.”

  The color had vanished from Leah’s face. Why had she not questioned the origin of the necklace more? How could she have not put two-and-two together as they had gone over the historical manuscripts and timelines? Why did she never question what the red liquid within the vial was? She had never needed to; it was simply something to hold onto all these years that kept her grounded to a time in her existence when life had almost found a peaceful plateau on which to level out.

  “Wait . . .” Serenity stood up from where she had been kneeling taking care of several of the wounded Nephelium. “You mean . . .”

  “Yes, that is the vial of blood that everyone has been wanting for the deltas. The vial of lifeblood from the human embodiment of Jah.”

  “You didn’t know?” Chad asked as it dawned on him that Legion could very well have one of the most powerful weapons in known existence.

  “No, I didn’t,” the Vapor stated simply and straight-to-the-point.

  “You have it then, Legion! Let the boy go, and do whatever it is that you are going to do with existence as we all know it. You won! You did it! You got your freedom, got the vial, and currently are the strongest being that time and eternity has really ever . . .”

  “That is my brother, and that necklace is Ms. Leah’s!”

  The young female voice was a projection of the loud outburst of child anger.

  No one could have seen it coming, but it happened . . . right there in front of all of them. Everyone had been paying attention to Legion, and he had been gloating so much that neither he nor anyone else noticed where Lada had gone.

  The shock, agony, pain—and even the understanding of defeat—washed over Legion. The rest of those standing caught themselves in shock when a large gasp emanated from the Demon as he released his grip on the boy and he looked down at the growing blood stain spreading over his shirt. He clutched at his midsection, and the point of the blade sticking out cut his fingers. He couldn’t grasp it and pull it through. He spun around, twisting his body in an attempt to pull the sword from where the young girl had plunged it deeply into his back and through his body.

  Both of the twins ran toward the waiting arms of team members.

  Leah walked forward as Legion collapsed to the ground, his eyes wide and his mouth gaping. He realized what he still had in his hand. He tried to use the last
bit of strength he had to break open the bottle to pour its life-giving substance down his throat, but he was stopped by a firm grasp from Leah.

  “Whatever you do,” he asked as he looked up at her, “finish me. Do not send me back to the Abyss.”

  Eve walked over and knelt down beside him.

  “There is a prophecy that you may not have heard about, Legion.”

  He looked at her. He struggled to concentrate. He had focused for so long on hatred, evil, and darkness. He had suffered ages of torment, pleading for vanquishment or freedom; and now he was doing everything he could just to survive.

  “What is that, Nephelium?”

  “One that Isaiah uncovered just recently,” she answered. “It revealed how a woman and her children would be taken away to a place where they would be protected from all that sought to destroy them, but one day the Dracon would appear. He and his army would emerge from the pits of hell with long, dark hair and fangs for teeth. They would seek to destroy the world.”

  She paused, more for effect and suspense than anything.

  “Then the woman and her children would come forth out of the place of protection and would stand against the evil hordes. The prophecy predicted they would defeat Dracon. So, yes, prophecy has been fulfilled; but you have to be aware of the final prophecy.”

  With that, Leah pulled the vial from his dying grasp as the light faded from Legion’s eyes. The Prince of Darkness, the hero of the Clans, had taken his final fall. He was gone . . . but at such a great price.

  Chapter Fifty-Five

  The twins wrapped their arms around Serenity, and the rest of the team collapsed onto the ground. Zarius remained with his wife, and Eve found herself cradling yet another fallen friend. She had never imagined that life would rip Isaiah from her, also.

  “Zarius, I am so sorry!” Leah reached out and put her hand on his arm. “I have nothing else I can say but that I am sorry.”

  She watched as the large-framed Vapor slowly brushed his wife’s hair over and over with his fingers. He wanted nothing more than to have her eyes open and have her smile that beautiful smile. If only he could hear that melodic and romantic voice once again tell him how much she loved him.