Transgression

by Matthew Ashworth

  Melancholy Wings

  Part 2

  Transgression

  By Matthew Ashworth

  © Matthew Ashworth 2012

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced

  in any form or by any means without the

  written permission of the author

  First published on 4th of January 2012

  Contents

  Map of the Underworld. 4

  Chapter 1. 5

  Chapter 2. 8

  Chapter 3. 13

  Chapter 4. 20

  Chapter 5. 27

  Chapter 6. 32

  Chapter 7. 40

  Chapter 8. 46

  Chapter 9. 53

  Chapter 10. 58

  Chapter 11. 64

  Chapter 12. 71

  Chapter 13. 78

  Chapter 14. 86

  Chapter 15. 92

  Chapter 16. 99

  Chapter 17. 103

  Chapter 18. 109

  Chapter 19. 118

  Chapter 20. 126

  Chapter 21. 135

  Chapter 22. 139

  Chapter 23. 146

  Chapter 24. 153

  Chapter 25. 158

  Chapter 26. 166

  Chapter 27. 173

  List of Special Abilities. 177

  Map of the Underworld

  Chapter 1

  Back to work

  It’s been twelve interims in the Internal World, and equally twelve days in the External World, since the fall of Beelzebub. Garridan was keeping a low profile during all those days, as the dark angels of the Underworld and angels of the Utopia continued looking for him. He couldn’t continue with his task, because he had to stay undetected, but he could plan his next move. The power he was once given had greatly subsided, and he didn’t understand why. He could barely feel it within him now. That meant he could not risk facing the angels in an all-out fight.

  The last time he sensed any angels appearing in the External World was at least five days ago. He hoped they had given up looking for him, what meant that he could finally go for his next important target. He knew very well that as soon as he would make a move, the angels would be on him again.

  The next target on Garridan’s list was one of the corrupt kings who kept oppressing his people repeatedly and taxing them high amounts. He resided in a large palace on top of a hill. At the foot of a hill was a city he ruled over. Using the cover of the night, Garridan made his way up the hill with ease. He analysed the palace defences fairly quickly and used his battle experience to sneak his way in whilst killing any of the guards that got on his way. Since the inhuman power that he had initially was no longer as concentrated in him, he had to rely on stealth a lot more. As a result of that, Garridan looked for and found a back entrance into the palace, through the basement. Managing to eventually reach the front lobby of the palace, Garridan was confronted by a couple of more guards there, which he defeated without much challenge.

  He then made his way up the stairs, and after quietly making his way through a few corridors he seemed to have found his target. Garridan did not look back and did not care for any of the guards that he slaughtered. He was now ready to assassinate his target and he was not going to hold back even a bit. He was going to see lots of blood getting spilled.

  The king who Garridan was supposed to kill was in a large room with one other guard. He wore battle armor and had his sword on him. That meant he could be a challenging target to subdue. Garridan instantly sprinted towards the enemy in order to bring him down quickly. The guard noticed him and immediately got on his way, trying to protect his king. Garridan had to slow down for that, but managed to bring the guard down in seconds.

  - “Whoever you are, you’ve made a mistake by coming here uninvited.” The corrupt king reacted and drew his sword out, ready for a bloody fight.

  Garridan did not respond in any verbal manner and just continued walking towards the man aggressively. Once he got within a reasonable distance, the king attacked him. Garridan parried his swing and then began slashing at him violently. Surprisingly the king was good with the sword and defended every single slash directed at him. Garridan was mildly surprised, but he would’ve been extremely disappointed if his target would’ve gone down within a single sword slash.

  After Garridan’s last strike, the king retaliated and began madly trying to hit the intruder with his blade. Garridan successfully avoided and blocked every single strike, and with the final block he parried the king’s attack in such a way that he knocked his blade out of his hand and up into the air. The enemy got startled by such a sudden trick, what gave Garridan an easy opportunity to stab his blade in his target’s stomach. The king instantly froze from pain. At this moment Garridan caught the sword that was thrown into the air and used it to swiftly behead the enemy.

  As usual, Garridan was very indifferent to having taken another life. He tossed the king’s sword aside and removed his own signature blade from the enemy’s headless corpse. Then he began slowly and patiently making his way back down the stairs, but not out of the palace just yet, as he was expecting to run into a group of dark angels very soon and was prepared to make his stand.

  Chapter 2

  Ally in Trouble

  Adelais was plagued with a huge mixture of various thoughts. Not much had happened in the past twelve interims, but there was a lot of tension in the Erebus sector. Adelais was still deeply thinking about a little meeting he had ten interims ago. This was merely two interims after Beelzebub’s defeat, when his sector’s troops were still at the Infernal Pit, finishing off the cleanup.

  The Infernal Pit was full of Erebus troops, but the cleanup was coming to an end gradually. Adelais was one of the dark angels on duty at the time. He had to be guarding the place and watching for intruders. Whilst there, he tended to spend a lot of time in the Southern part of the sector, constantly looking out at the Pandemonium sector at the distance and thinking about Malakai and Aurora.

  - “Adelais! It’s me!” an extremely familiar voice suddenly ringed in Adelais’ mind as he snapped out of his thoughts.

  He thought he recognized the voice, and within a second he saw the one who was calling him. It was Aurora. She was hiding behind some rocks near the river bank.

  - “Aurora? Is that you?” Adelais couldn’t believe his eyes; he instantly suspected that he was imagining this.

  Aurora ran out of cover immediately there and got closer to Adelais, grasping him tightly for a second. Adelais was greatly confused. He didn’t expect this at all.

  - “How did you get here?” he asked after quickly looking around to make sure nobody was watching them.

  - “I knew your sector was doing a cleanup here, so I realised you’re likely to be here too. Been waiting and looking for you for a while now.” She explained.

  - “What if Malakai or the demons find out you’re here?” Adelais was concerned for her safety.

  - “The demons do not seem to be bothered with me since I am still a rookie, and Malakai is mostly with me during training, but he needs his private time too.”

  Adelais could see Aurora gazing at him intently. The expression on her face was somewhat blissful, but at the same time slightly glum too. He figured that she must’ve missed him greatly, even though it had only been a handful of interims. He felt that way about her too. However, they could not be together for long. At that very moment they were members of the sectors which were at odds with each other. If anyone from either sector saw them, it could stir up even more conflict than there already was.

  - “I am so glad to see you, Aurora.” He finally said and embraced her, “I hope those demons of the Pandemonium aren’t tormenting you.”

  - “Well it’s a terrible
place, but it hasn’t broken me yet.” Aurora admitted.

  - “I really wish you could join us instead. Have you considered it?”

  - “I have, but for now I need to help Malakai. He says he has a plan and that he needs me. If this plan of his will see the end of the demons, then I cannot opt out right now.”

  - “I understand.” Adelais said after hearing her out; he wished she didn’t put herself through this, but he respected her enough to let her choose her own path.

  Adelais hadn’t heard any other news of Malakai during this time. He wished he could get another chance to meet up with Aurora and to get to see Malakai too, but in order to gain access into Pandemonium he would either need to be waging a war against it or preparing to join its forces. He was in no position to do the former and no intention to do the latter. His dark angel comrades kept him company during these interims as they all knew how he was feeling. When he came out of his thoughts, he diverted his attention at the conversation between Ethel and Lazarus. All three of them were not far from Hades’ palace at the time.

  - “I really don’t think Malakai joined the Pandemonium forces because he truly is evil.” Ethel disputed Lazarus’ point about the reason for Malakai’s actions.

  - “But nobody here changes sides just for the sole reason of changing sides.” Lazarus tried explaining, “He must’ve gotten an offer of some kind from them. A promise of great power perhaps.”

  - “Malakai is not evil.” Adelais entered their conversation.

  - “He is tactical.” Ethel added, “I think he joined them so he could use them.”

  - “Well, he is only going to get himself killed.” Lazarus commented on Ethel’s theory, “He might’ve outsmarted Beelzebub, but outsmarting Lucifer wouldn’t be so easy.”

  - “Maybe he doesn’t need to necessarily outsmart Lucifer. He has a plan of some kind, that’s for sure. He always does.” Adelais said here with certainty.

  - “Playing with fire is dangerous. I think he is partaking in a very risky behaviour.” Lazarus responded.

  - “A lot is happening right now. We might have to make some hard choices too.” Adelais stated his opinion.

  - “You’re worried about having to fight him?” Ethel asked, as if reading his mind.

  - “I am.” Adelais admitted truthfully, “I wouldn’t be able to forgive myself if he fell by my hand.”

  Their discussion had to come to a halt at that moment as they heard Azrael, their dark angel commander, calling them. Once they turned around, they spotted him approaching. He looked like he was in a rush.

  - “Lord Hades is about to have a meeting. We all need to be in his chamber.” He said to his team.

  Obediently, Ethel, Lazarus, and Adelais stopped what they were doing and headed to Hades’ palace together with Azrael. As they were entering it, some other dark angels, including Gideon and his team, were being summoned too. They all quietly made it through the main corridor and eventually reached Hades’ well-decorated private chamber. Most of the sector’s dark angels were gathered there, waiting to hear what Hades, their leader, had to say.

  When all who Hades requested to join the meeting came, he began speaking loudly for everyone to hear:

  - “Urgent news everyone. One of the sectors allied to us, Den of Retribution, has just been attacked by the forces of the Pandemonium. As a result, I am going to send most of you to the Den to help them with this situation.”

  Everyone was startled by those news, even though it was to be expected, judging by what happened twelve interims ago.

  - “There is more.” Hades continued, “It appears a ruthless murderer whom we’ve been tracking for some time now, Garridan, has continued his killing spree in the External World.”

  - “My team will go after him again.” Gideon volunteered eagerly.

  - “Not to worry, Gideon. Some angels from Purgatory sector are already on it. This will allow us to concentrate solely on helping out the Den.” Hades disclosed.

  - “In that case we’re ready.” Azrael said to his master.

  - “Excellent. For now I’ll send three teams of dark angels. I am sure Helheim and Limbo will be sending some too. As soon as you head out, I will be deploying some infantry reinforcements too, but they would take time to reach the battlefield.” Hades planned.

  On that note he picked three dark angel teams to go, including Azrael’s and Gideon’s teams, leaving the others to stay in Erebus and defend, and then dismissed everyone at once. The dark angels which were ordered to travel to the Den made a hasty way out of the Hades’ palace and then took into the air to head for the docks.

  They all flew in unison towards the Southern docks and prepared to head out. The Den of Retribution was relatively close by to the Erebus sector, so it wasn’t going to take them long to get there. Each dark angel team got a separate boat, and very quickly the three boats were on the water, heading to the battlefield.

  Adelais looked slightly distressed, as he wasn’t looking forward to having to face Malakai and possibly Aurora in a fight, but it was almost unavoidable as they were now serving the forces of Pandemonium. It was a difficult truth for him to come to terms with, and this thought had been making him anxious for the entire twelve interims. He felt like everything around him was crashing down. He hadn’t yet forgotten about the Abode sector, which was still under the control of the demons of Pandemonium. He could only hope that everything would turn out for the best in the end.

  Chapter 3

  Relentless Assault

  - “Let’s crush them!” Alastor shouted to his demonic troop as soon as their boat made it to the docks of the Den of Retribution.

  He was the first one to disembark and step onto the Den’s lands. There were no guards at the dock. Every single one of Den’s defenders was behind the outer wall.

  - “Hurry up! We’ve got a battle to win!” Alastor yelled to his own units, hoping they would show as much initiative as he did.

  All of the ones who were on the same boat as him began jumping out of the boat, whilst several other boats from Pandemonium were still approaching the shore. Alastor was too impatient and didn’t bother waiting for them. He wanted to get the action started as soon as possible. As a result, the first two dozen of demons, which were led by him, began running towards the main gates of the Den immediately.

  When the next boat got to the shore, the five dozen of demons on it began getting out of it right away, hoping to join those who began attacking already as they didn’t want to miss out on any action. Eligos was leading this wave and sat atop a monstrous black steed. There were still four more boats approaching the docks. Demon generals Buer and Crocell were on two of those, whilst the other two boats only contained infantry troops. Buer was the captain of the archers. He looked like a leonine centaur with five legs, which allowed him to move around freely and quickly. He was a master archer himself and had several other skilled demon archers at his command. Crocell was a fallen angel. She served in the Utopia until several years ago, when she fell from grace and joined the Pandemonium. She had demon warriors under her command too, but she preferred to fight alone most of the time and to let her troops do whatever they wanted.

  Alastor and the demons that followed him closely had reached the main gates by now. Those were locked and reinforced as expected. Alastor was a bit infuriated as he realised he would have to wait for Eligos’ troop, as those were pushing the battering ram forward.

  - “Come on you lazy slackers! You’re wasting time!” he roared at them, thinking that would rush them.

  Once Eligos and the others got to the gates, they began getting into a formation to wield the battering ram. It was suspended by heavy chains on a tough frame, and the demons that were about to wield it were very burly.

  Alastor joined them as he was too eager to begin the fight. Once everyone got into a formation and grabbed onto the ram, Alastor gave a loud roar to begin. All of the ten demons that wielded the ram applied all their strength and crashed the end of the ram
into the gates of the Den. As soon as that occurred, they retrieved the ram back to its original position and repeated the motion. Several archers atop the wall began firing at them. A few demons went down, but majority covered themselves with shields. The ones wielding the ram continued, despite several arrows flying towards them. Slowly but surely the gates began cracking and breaking off in places. Each strike of the ram was sending bits of the gate debris flying off.

  When the final blow was done, the gates collapsed entirely, and all of the demons that stood by suddenly charged ahead, including Eligos. Alastor let go off the ram immediately and ran to join them, wanting to be the first to draw blood.

  The first area the demons entered contained a lot of infantry guards, known as custodians. Most of those were either regular-sized scouts which carried light weapons or slightly larger fighters armed with axes and clubs. All of the archers at the time resided on the wall just beyond. Those began shooting at the invading demons as soon as they started assaulting the melee guards. Alastor rushed his way to the front line and began swinging with his long spiky hammer violently. Within the first two swipes he put down three guards, and more were perishing with each new swing he produced. They kept getting knocked back with so much vigour that their corpses often ended up a long way away from their original standing position. Eligos in a meantime was charging at various opponents throughout the battlefield on his horse, attempting to impale them on his lance. After managing to bring down a few guards, he launched his lance at one of the larger opponents and then jumped off the horse. The lance struck his target successfully and killed it. Eligos drew his long sword at that stage, continuing the battle on foot.