by K T Kaye
As the demon picked up a broken piece of stone, Willow crawled towards her gun. She grabbed hold of it and fired twice.
The demon fell to the ground dead.
A bullet in both its foreheads.
“You alright?” asked Araminta as she helped Willow to her feet.
Willow nodded, “I hate demons!”
* * * * *
Sophie and Alexander stared at the demons in front of them. The demons were orcs. The humanoid demons had dark grey skin, crimson eyes and were dressed in battered chainmail. The orcs cut open their victims in such an elegant manner that it was almost artistic.
“They’re getting closer to the palace,” Willow shouted as she ran over to meet them, “They must have realised we’ve been sending survivors there.”
Sophie nodded, “You ready for this?”
“Ready?” Alexander grinned, he zoomed behind an orc and swiftly broke its neck, “I’ve already started.”
Sophie and Willow quickly joined Alexander on the battlefield.
Sophie’s eyes glowed as she sent demons flying out of her way. As she did so an orc sneaked up behind her and grabbed her waist. It threw the fairy over its shoulder. Before Sophie could get to her feet, the orc slammed a mace into her back. Sophie fell to the ground. The mace crashed into her back once again.
Sophie screamed.
Her powerful scream knocked over every orc within a three-metre radius. Sophie pulled herself to her feet. The orc that had attacked her was about to do the same but the fey raised her hand. A bolt of purple lightning flew from her fingertips and hit the orc’s chest.
The orc screeched as it turned into a pile of ash.
Willow killed four orcs with ease however her fifth was turning out to be a bit of a problem. The orc swung its sword in her direction. Willow blocked but the orc was too strong. Willow was forced to break hold and stumble backwards. She tried to land a kick but missed. The orc swung its sword again. Willow took a step backwards, as she did so she tripped over a fallen merman guard. Willow fell to the ground; her sword flew from her hand. Out of the corner of her eye Willow noticed the guard’s spear. As she rolled out of the way of the orc’s sword, she grabbed the spear and stabbed it into the orc’s belly.
The orc fell dead.
As Willow got to her feet, however, a sixth orc sneaked up behind her and stabbed her in the back.
Alexander killed seven orcs in a matter of minutes. The vampire fought quickly and with great skill, defeating any orc he encountered. One attempted to attack the vampire with a mace, but Alexander simply zoomed up behind the orc and chopped off its head. As he did so he noticed Willow fall to the ground.
A dagger sticking out of her back.
“Will!” Alexander rushed over to Willow. Sophie quickly joined them.
“We need to get her to Rowan, now!” Alexander ordered.
“There’s too many of them,” Willow gasped, “Unless reinforcements arrive, we can’t win this, not alone.”
“Maybe we don’t have too,” Sophie muttered as an idea popped into her head, “Maybe we don’t have to fight at all.”
“What do you mean?”
“During one of the sea wars, the former King created a device, a switch, that when activated would wash away Atlantis. The entire kingdom was washed away, then once the war was over Atlantis was rebuilt.”
“If the device still exists, and Becks gets the portal working, we could get everyone to safety then wash away the entire kingdom,” Alexander muttered.
“The demons included.”
* * * * *
Angel and Danny teleported to the portal room. The portal room was elegant and grand. It had a mosaic floor, light blue walls that were covered in royal portraits and a coral balcony from which the entire city was visible. The portal was encased in a frame made of gold and coral.
The portal glowed a soft pink and hummed quietly as three demons stood guard in front of it. One of the demons was a large monster, with three snake heads and a long-spiked tail, while the other two were orcs.
“I’ll take the big one, you deal with the other two,” Angel ordered. Angel transformed into a water dragon and fought against the larger demon.
As she did so Danny pulled out his gun and shot at the orcs. One fell dead in a matter of moments while the other swung its mace at Danny. The mace hit Danny’s hand, knocking the gun to the floor. The orc swung down its mace once more, but Danny ducked out of the way. Danny rugby tackled the orc to the floor. The orc struggled from Danny’s grasp, dropping its mace as it did so. Danny grabbed hold of the mace and slammed it into the orc’s head. Dark grey blood splattered onto the wall as the orc fell dead.
“Nicely done,” Angel muttered as she transformed back into herself.
“The other demon? Oh,” Danny stared at the bloody demon corpse.
“I forgot how powerful my water dragon form is.”
“You’re rather impressed with yourself, aren’t you?”
“You know what, I am. I thought that demon would be much harder to kill. Right I’m going to go get Becks and McLean. See you in a sec,” with that Angel disappeared, only to reappear moments later with McLean and Becks.
Becks went over to the computer by the portal, “The portal itself hasn’t been damaged, however it has been hacked. The portal currently will only allow things from the polar portal to enter. It won’t allow anyone from this side to pass through or change its destination.”
“Can you fix it?”
“Now that the polar portal no longer exists, I should be able to change the portal’s destination. The problem is that when the polar portal exploded some of its power backfired and fried this portal’s ability to bring people in…”
“But will we be able to portal people out?”
“That system, it’s been hacked so we can’t use it at the moment but, it looks okay. It’s not damaged so I should be able to get it working. But it’ll take time. At the Polar Base all I did was get the base’s teleportation system up and running, I didn’t touch the portal so I’m not sure…”
“We’ll buy you as much time as we can. If you can’t get it working, then see if you can get rid of the forcefield surrounding the kingdom. If we can get rid of that then I’ll just teleport everyone out.”
“Angel that could kill you! Teleporters aren’t supposed to teleport from the sea kingdom to land,” Danny exclaimed.
“I’m well aware of that Danny, however if Becks can’t get the portal working then we won’t have a choice. McLean?”
“Yes?” the rat man stuttered.
“Does that computer have a scanner? If it doesn’t can you make me one? There may be survivors that can’t make it to the palace. If I know where they’re hiding, I can rescue them.”
“I’ll see what I can do.”
“Good. I’m going to get the others.”
Angel repeatedly teleported to and from the palace. After teleporting the King and Queen, she teleported all the council members, their families, the palace servants, the citizens who had made it to the palace as well as the guards. As she teleported Sue, Angel collapsed to the floor.
“That’s everyone from the palace!” Angel panted.
“You okay?” Sue asked.
“Yeah. Teleporting underwater is just really hard work.”
“Angel you’ve teleported over a hundred times! It’s a miracle you’re still alive! Are you sure you can keep doing this?”
“I’ll be fine. We need to save as many people as possible, that’s our job.”
“Our job is demon disposal, not saving the bloody world,” Danny muttered.
“Funny how often the two seem to go hand in hand.”
A few moments later McLean scurried over to Angel and handed her a strange electronic tablet, that was a mixture of technology and coral.
“The red dots are Atlantis soldiers, the blue dots are citizens and the green dots are your squad,” McLean explained.
“McLean you are a genius!” An
gel smiled, “Look at all the blue dots! McLean help Becks. I’m going to go save people.”
Angel teleported quickly. Popping around the sea kingdom, grabbing the survivors and teleporting them to safety. At times she had to carry more than one at once. It was exhausting but Angel didn’t stop. There were people who needed her. Aquatic children hiding in coral cupboards. Old mermaid couples too tired to try and escape. Young Atlantis soldiers unprepared for the fight they faced. Angel saved them all. Then she teleported her squad and finally her task was done.
“I’ve done it! I’ve got the portal working. We can get everyone out of here!” Becks shouted as Angel teleported back to the portal room for the last time.
“Becks you are a genius!” Angel smiled, “Let’s send the injured and the children through first. Araminta, take Willow through now.”
“The King and I should use the portal first,” the Queen announced, “That would be…”
“Willow is injured,” Angel walked over to where Willow lay. She pressed her hand against Willow’s forehead and a soft healing glow travelled down the telepath’s body.”
“Save your strength. I’ll be fine,” Willow gasped.
“I know you will. Araminta take her through. McLean send the rest of the injured and the children through after.”
As Araminta carried Willow through the portal the Queen cried, “How dare you give orders in my kingdom...”
“Sophie has an idea,” Alexander interrupted, “A way to get rid of the demons but we need to discuss it with your Highnesses first.”
Sophie quickly explained her idea.
“Does this device still exist?” Angel asked the King.
“It does. The switch is in the war room at the palace,” the King explained.
“Let’s send everyone through then we’ll use that switch to,” the Queen interrupted Angel with a slap.
“This kingdom has stood for over five hundred years! Once we go through the portal, we can get the Emperor to send the paranormal army here and they can get rid of the demons,” the Queen exclaimed.
“We don’t have time! If the demons realise this portal works…Transylvania is not prepared for a demon attack of this scale. Thousands would die in a matter of minutes! We can rebuild Atlantis, but we can’t bring people back from the dead.”
“I mean we can,” Fern interjected, “We can get grandpa here to turn us all into vampires.”
“Even vampires can die Fern,” Alexander countered.
“Yeah but…”
“Not now Fern!” Angel snapped, “Look I understand that this situation is difficult for you. But look at your kingdom. The demons have ruined most of it already. You’d have to rebuild anyway.”
“But where will our people live?” the Queen asked.
“Me and my squad will personally take care of that. Look we don’t have time to argue.”
The Queen was about to protest but the King interrupted her, “She’s right. Okay Captain, we’ll do as you ask.”
“Thank you. Now if you tell me how to work the device, I will wait till everyone has gone through the portal then teleport to the switch and wash away Atlantis.”
“But if you’re here to press the switch, won’t that mean you’ll also get washed away?” Rowan asked, “Angel what you’re suggesting is a suicide mission! The magic used to wash away Atlantis will kill you along with the demons!”
“That won’t happen,” the King explained, “The switch has a timer setting. We’ll have enough time to return to the portal room and escape.”
“We’ll?” Angel asked.
“I’m coming with you. The switch can only be used by the King of Atlantis.”
“Okay. Here’s the plan. Rowan, you, and your mum are going to go through the portal in a minute then we’ll send the rest through. Lightning Squad you’ll leave once everyone, including the soldiers, have gone. Becks and McLean, I’m going to have to ask you to stay until the end. I need you here in case something goes wrong with the portal. Jason, I want you to stay as well to protect Becks and McLean while I teleport the King to the palace.”
“Jason!? Why!? He’s an idiot who can barely protect himself!” Fern cried.
“Hey! That’s just rude!” Jason exclaimed.
“See what I mean! He’s…”
“Jason is a demon!” Angel interrupted, “Yes he’s a bit of an idiot, no offense Jason, but he’s also a demon. And the best weapon against a demon is a demon.”
“Can you stop calling me an idiot!?” Jason exclaimed, “It’s really starting to hurt my self-esteem. And saying ‘no offense’ doesn’t make it less offensive! Also…”
“Look we don’t have time to deal with your self-esteem problems right now Jason. I promise when we get back to the base, we can have a serious discussion all about it. But right now we need to get everyone out of here.”
It didn’t take long to get everyone through the portal. Fern had been extremely unwilling to leave Angel behind with only Jason for backup. So much so that the only way they had been able to get the witch to leave was by having Danny throw her over his shoulder and drag her through the portal. The demons must have sensed that their dinner was escaping as all too soon they started banging against the portal room door.
“How long will that door hold?” Jason asked nervously.
“Hopefully long enough for us to escape,” Angel muttered, “Your highness, are you ready?”
“Yes,” the King nodded.
Angel took the King’s hand and with a pop they had arrived back in the palace’s war room. The King went over to a wall and pressed his hand against a stone. The stone moved and revealed a strange device that looked a bit like a computer screen. The King pressed his hand against the screen and a blue light scanned his face. There was a beep and the blue light vanished. The King then pulled out a key and placed it into a lock in the wall. He turned the key. The computer grumbled as a panel in the wall lifted revealing a big red button.
The King glanced out of the window, taking one final look at his beloved kingdom.
Then he pressed the big red button.
“You have seven minutes to evacuate,” the computer said as a countdown came up on the screen.
“Let’s go,” Angel grabbed the King’s hand and they teleported back to the portal room.
“Did you do it?” Jason asked.
“Yes, now we need to…”
Before Angel could finished the demons broke down the door. Angel raised her hands, creating a forcefield around both the King and the portal. The demons bashed their bodies against the forcefield and scratched at it with their claws. Angel’s hands shook as she tried to keep the forcefield going.
“McLean, Becks, your Highness leave!” Angel ordered, “I can’t hold this for long!”
“What about you?” the King asked.
“Me and Jason will stay behind to hold them off.”
“Captain…?”
“Now!” Angel shouted as the forcefield began to shake.
“Yes cap,” Becks dragged McLean and the King towards the portal.
“How long will this forcefield hold?” Jason asked.
“Not long. I’ve teleported too much…I haven’t got much power left. In a minute I’m going to drop this forcefield and create a smaller one in front of the portal. We just need to hold them off for less than seven minutes.”
“How will we know when the seven minutes are up?”
“I’ve set an alarm on my watch. It’ll go off once six minutes have passed.”
“So once it goes off, we’ll have a minute to get through the portal?”
“Exactly. Jason are you okay?”
“Not really. I’m actually on the verge of having a massive panic-attack. I feel a bit faint and like I can’t breathe. You see I’m actually having a really bad day. I know you guys see me turning into a demon as a good thing, but I don’t actually…Ow!” Jason cried as Angel stabbed him once again.
“Sorry Jason but you were rambling.”
“You know that…” Jason transformed into a demon before he could finish his sentence.
Angel dropped the forcefield, creating a smaller one in front of the portal. Demon Jason attacked the larger demons leaving Angel to deal with the others.
Angel transformed into a water dragon. The water dragon (a beautiful white and blue creature whose body glided through the waves with the grace of a ballet dancer) and demon Jason fought side by side. They ripped demons apart and squashed orcs with their powerful tails.
Suddenly Angel’s powers gave out. She involuntarily transformed back into her natural form. She tried to transform once more but found herself unable to.
“This is not the time powers,” Angel hissed as she pulled out her gun. Angel fired two shots at an orc, it fell dead. Seconds later another orc slammed a mace into her back. Angel stumbled to her knees. She twisted around quickly and shot the orc in the head.
She pulled herself to her feet as an axe was thrown in her direction. She dodged the axe but was unable to avoid the sword that sliced her arm. Angel fired at the demon, but the bullets flew off the demon’s scaled body. Angel pulled out her sword as another demon swung its axe in her direction. She blocked the axe whilst also trying to avoid another orc’s mace.
I can’t survive this without my powers, Angel quickly realised.
Crying out in pain as she did so, Angel forced her body to transform once more. This time her powers didn’t fail her. She transformed into a water dragon and floated across the fight. She grabbed demons between her teeth and stabbed her fangs into their rotting flesh. As she successfully killed her twenty-ninth demon, a tentacle wrapped around her dragon belly. Dragon Angel looked up to find a kraken staring right back at her. The kraken’s tentacle tightened as it threw dragon Angel into a wall. Dragon Angel fell to the ground and transformed back into Angel.
As Angel tried to get to her feet, the kraken slammed its body into the ceiling causing the roof to crumble and fall on top of her legs.