- “They are preparing another assault against the Utopia. I am sure of it.” Azrael spoke quietly all of a sudden whilst the three of them were watching the passing troops.
- “The question is – how soon is that going to happen?” Adelais responded.
- “Very soon. No more than 3 or 4 interims I am guessing.” Azrael gave his prediction, “Depends on how many units Pandemonium already has.”
- “Then we should hurry and close that opening to the Void, or else they’ll continue spawning all these vile creatures.” Balder suggested.
- “Yes, we just need to be careful now. Those guards we’ve killed could be discovered soon.” Azrael speculated.
They kept watching the enemy troops pass them by for a while longer, and once the coast was clear, they came out of their cover and had a careful look around. There were no enemies in the vicinity, but there were some guards up ahead. It was time to continue.
The three of them used the shadows to creep ahead and ambush the guards. The guards reacted fast and put up a fight, but that fight was over before anyone else could be alerted. After hiding the deceased guards out of view, the dark angels continued ahead. The main tunnel eventually came out into an enormous chamber with several levels in it. The chamber had a big staircase going from the top level all the way to the bottom level in a form of a square spiral. That structure was somewhat similar to the design of the Abode of the Corrupted, except nowhere near as deep and wide. This chamber only had 5 levels, and it only served to be a place to ascend or descend between them. There were at least two tunnels leading out of this chamber on each level. There were guards all over the place and they appeared to be patrolling along each level.
- “Well then, it could be tricky finding our way through here.” Adelais pointed out.
Azrael got to concentrating again, hoping he would sense the direction the profane energy was in highest concentration. Adelais could tell that his commander struggled to sense exactly where it was coming from.
- “I think we should go down to the bottom level.” Azrael guessed.
- “You think or are you sure?” Balder asked.
- “Not sure at all, but it is coming from the bottom.” Azrael explained his reasoning.
- “We still need to handle the guards in this chamber.” Adelais pointed out.
- “They won’t be a problem if we sneak past them.” Azrael assured him.
The three of them once again used the shadows to remain unseen and began descending downwards through the spiral staircase. They could’ve simply flown all the way down, but that would undoubtedly draw attention from every guard in the chamber, which was why they were forced to take the long way down.
Since there were a lot of dark patches in the cave, they could sneak their way down without any problems, and most goblin guards were unaware of their presence. Once at the very bottom, they had to choose which of the three tunnels to take. Azrael got to concentrating again, except he snapped out of it way too fast.
- “Trouble.” He told his teammates.
- “In a form of what?” Adelais asked; confusion instantly taking him over.
The next second he felt it too, and a few moments later all three of them saw a familiar figure jump all the way down the shaft of the chamber and land not far from their position. It was Malakai, and he seemed to be well aware of their location. That caused every guard in the chamber to get alerted and the three angels were found.
- “The road ends here.” Malakai stated arrogantly.
- “What do you want from us this time, Malakai?” Adelais responded angrily.
- “Nothing that I want from you. I am simply doing my job. You should get used to it.” Malakai taunted him subtly.
Many goblin guards began descending the staircase to join him, whilst a handful of the troglodytes came in from the tunnels too. The number of the Gehenna guards in the vicinity was increasing, and Adelais and his teammates could see that.
- “We have to abort the mission.” Azrael quietly said to Balder and to Adelais, “It would be suicide to fight our way through this.”
- “Oh and I should let you all know that your friends in the Abyss sector are all dead.” Malakai stated with a sickening smile on his face.
Adelais was taken over by shock. At first he refused to believe that, but then he could see no other reason as to why Malakai would lie, especially considering he knew about the other team.
- “Ethel, Lazarus, forgive me for not being there at your moment of need.” Azrael quietly said whilst gazing up.
Adelais heard him say that. He, however, was struggling to accept the truth that two of his friends were now gone. By the looks of it, Balder was mourning Catalina’s demise as well. There was a bitter silence in the chamber, and Adelais was finding it really hard to keep his emotions together.
- “Quiet I see.” Malakai commented out loud as more guards joined his side.
- “You will pay for what you’ve done to them.” Adelais murmured softly, and then in a burst of rage he darted towards Malakai.
- “Guards, seize him!” Malakai ordered right away, as if expecting him to do that.
The guards reacted immediately and went to attack Adelais. Azrael and Balder had no choice but to go and help Adelais, even though it was obviously a bad idea, because they could not handle everyone by themselves. Adelais flipped over the first guard and sidestepped swiftly from the second. He then slashed at the next two, killing them with a single slice each, and finally reached Malakai.
He began with a powerful overhead slash, which Malakai quickly blocked, but stumbled backwards nevertheless. Adelais then began kicking and slashing at Malakai repeatedly, attempting to end his friend’s miserable existence once and for all. Malakai, however, was on full defence. Adelais managed to slip in a kick that connected with Malakai’s torso and sent him stumbling back even more, but other than that Malakai managed to successfully block every hit directed at him. Adelais then finally produced another strong overhead swing, but Malakai parried that one, causing Adelais to be pushed backwards substantially, right into the hands of two burly troglodyte guards.
- “Excellent.” Malakai said to them, “Don’t let him escape.”
Adelais began trying to manoeuvre out of their hold, but two more guards stepped in at that moment, one of which snatched his weapon away. Adelais was now brought to his knees and could not fight his way out. Azrael and Balder were both completely surrounded with other guards and could not help him.
Suddenly, at that very instant, Aurora came down from above and pounced straight on Malakai. Her move appeared to have taken him by surprise and he nearly fell down. Nevertheless, he managed to shake her off and tossed her onto the ground almost straight away.
- “Aurora, what are you doing?!” he shouted with extreme rage.
- “I told you to stop.” Aurora retaliated, “yet you didn’t…”
- “You’re not my commander!” Malakai interrupted her rudely, “Guards, grab her as well! She needs to learn her place!”
Aurora quickly got up on her feet and tried to fight her way out of this, but the guards grabbed her almost instantly and brought her down to her knees as well. Adelais could see the turmoil she was in and it was breaking his heart. She looked up at him and there was fear in her eyes. Adelais realised that she hadn’t changed for the worse as he initially thought. She was fighting for the side of good all along.
- “Adelais, we’ll help you!” Azrael was shouting from behind, but Adelais knew it was unlikely that they’ll be able to help him.
- “Azrael, don’t bother!” he shouted back whilst turning to see his commander some distance away, still fighting several guards, “You and Balder should retreat. It’s the only logical option!”
Azrael was about to say something, but Balder pulled him back, attempting to convince him that Adelais was right. Azrael rarely showed distress, but this was one of the times that it was clearly seen on his face. It was obvious that he did not want t
o abandon his good friend.
- “I will not leave you behind, Adelais!” Azrael stated firmly.
- “You have to! Come back for me after you regroup. If you don’t go now, they will kill you!”
On that note Balder pulled Azrael back some more and Azrael was forced to obey the logical choice in this situation, no matter how much he wanted not to. Within an instant, both Azrael and Balder flew up into the air and towards the top level in the chamber, eventually out of Adelais’ sight. Adelais was sure they’d make it out of the sector safely. He, however, could not think the same about himself and Aurora. When he turned to face her again, he saw Malakai slapping her hard for what she did.
- “Don’t dare to touch her, you traitor!” Adelais yelled at his old friend with blinding rage, wishing he could kill him on the spot.
- “Take her back to the Pandemonium.” Malakai ordered the troops who were holding her, “I’m going to teach her a little lesson once I get there.”
- “No! Get your filthy paws off me! I am not done here yet!” Aurora shouted, still trying to come loose.
- “You act like a juvenile, Aurora. You need to learn some manners.” Malakai mocked her.
- “Adelais, I love you!” Aurora suddenly screamed at the only individual in the room she truly cared for as the guards began dragging her away, “I am sorry for what I’ve done. I love you!”
Adelais saw the look on her face when she said those words. She looked terrified and grieved at the same time. He wanted to respond to her, but the guards took her up to the next level at that stage and he could no longer see her. He couldn’t see her at all, but he could still hear her screams until she was dragged to the very top and out of the chamber. The emotion he was experiencing at the time about everything that just happened was eating away at him from the inside and bursting out of his whole being. He wanted to scream and to release the anguish he was feeling, but he did not want to show any more weakness. He could not let Malakai ridicule him any more.
- “What of him?” one of the guards holding Adelais asked Malakai.
- “I suggest you lock him up. He might come useful to all of us.” Malakai said and then, without saying anything to Adelais, he flew up into the air to the top level so that he could leave the sector.
Chapter 27
Screaming for No-one
After managing to escape the danger, Azrael and Balder rushed back to their home sectors to inform their leaders of what happened. They split up once they crossed the river, with Balder going to Helheim and Azrael to Erebus. Azrael flew straight to Hades’ palace, making sure to be quick. He did not want to delay the situation for any longer.
Once he landed at the palace’s steps, he rushed inside, looking very rough. The judges let him straight in, as Azrael looked very distressed, what meant that he needed to speak to Hades urgently. Once inside Hades’ chamber, Hades seemed to have noticed the worry on Azrael’s face and immediately got out of his seat.
- “Azrael, what happened?” he asked sternly.
- “We have failed, master. Malakai somehow found out about our mission.” Azrael informed him.
- “Just your team or both teams?”
- “Both. I can no longer sense Ethel or Lazarus. I am sure they’ve departed to Utopia.”
- “What about your team? Don’t tell me they died too.” Hades didn’t seem pleased, but he could understand the severity of the situation.
- “No. Balder has come back with me, but Adelais was captured. I am afraid they might kill him.” Azrael spoke out his concern.
Hades took all the information in and began thinking of what to do. There was a faint look of worry on his face too, even though he tried to look composed.
- “That means our enemy knows of our intentions. Correct?” he suddenly asked.
- “I don’t think so. We haven’t even gotten to the target destination before they found us.” Azrael replied.
- “Then we might still have another chance… but we will have to be better prepared this time.” Hades deduced.
Azrael could not possibly put anyone through the same arduous task, including himself, but he knew that it was essential. Those gateways to the Void needed to be closed down one way or another, but he didn’t know how to do it. Sneaking might not be so effective anymore, as the enemies were now more alert of the intruders.
- “Lord Hades, I must save Adelais before it’s too late.” Azrael suddenly spoke up, hoping to let his leader know of his intentions.
- “I understand, but don’t rush into it. This sector cannot afford to lose you too.” Hades gave him a firm advice.
- “Moreover, whilst we were sneaking into Gehenna, we’ve seen huge packs of creatures exiting it. The second attack on the Utopia is imminent.”
- “Just as I thought. We will need to start preparing for it right away and to let every other allied sector know, including the Utopia itself.”
- “It will be done, master.”
- “Azrael, one more thing.” Hades said as Azrael was about to turn around and head out of the room, “I don’t want you getting discouraged about what happened. I know you’ve lost your team and it is very demoralising, but you’re the most experienced fighter and tactician in this sector. I need you to stay sharp.”
- “And I shall be.” Azrael gave him his word with a respectful nod.
At that stage Azrael left Hades’ chamber and began pondering on the next step. He knew that failures were always going to happen. Those who never experienced failure, simply never tried hard enough. He survived for so many years as a dark angel not only through being a good fighter and trying to avoid failing, but also being able to learn from his mistakes so that he wouldn’t make them again.
Adelais’ hands were tied in chains and he was dragged along a lengthy corridor by two hefty troglodytes. Dozens of different thoughts and emotions were passing through his head each second and he was feeling that this was the end of him. He lost all hope and sincerely believed that he would die there. One of the male fallen angels native to Gehenna was walking directly behind the two troglodytes and facing Adelais.
- “You still haven’t told us why you and your allies were here. We need answers.” The fallen angel asked in a demanding tone of voice.
- “I am not about to tell you. Kill me if you want, but I will not tell you.” Adelais denied revealing any truth.
- “We have other means of making you talk. Trust me. They will be much worse than anything you have ever imagined.”
- “I do not fear suffering.” Adelais coldly answered back without even looking up at his enemy.
- “Fine. Take him to the cell block.” The fallen angel instructed the two troglodytes and then stopped walking.
The two guards continued dragging Adelais along the corridor and eventually up some stairs. He was looking at the ground throughout the entire time they dragged him. His mind had almost gone numb from the mental pain he endured recently and he completely gave up on everything.
By the sounds of slamming metal doors he could tell that they were finally in the cell block. He didn’t look around. He merely let them do whatever they pleased as he was too powerless to resist. Within a minute the two guards stopped. They spoke to another guard in an unfamiliar language and then opened one of the cell doors. Then, with one sharp motion, they tossed Adelais into the cell and slammed the door shut. The cell was incredibly dark and empty. The cell door was the only means to see out of the cell. It, however, had thick metal bars all along it, so it was incredibly difficult to break out.
Adelais got back up on his feet once the guards had left him and approached the cell door. He glanced out and at that instant the emotions hit him hard. Everything dreadful that happened within the short space of time, ranging from the death of Ethel and Lazarus, to Malakai’s betrayal, to what was about to happen to Aurora, to the failure of the mission he and his team had to do to keep their sector out of danger. It all combined into one mighty, scathing stab that ripped his soul a
part. He fell to his knees and yelled as loudly as he possibly could, releasing all of the tension and agony that built up in such a short amount of time.
END OF PART 2
Bonus Feature
List of Special Abilities
Introduction:
The angel kind has potency to become proficient in certain special abilities. These abilities result from the mastery of the holy energy of the Creator. Though each ability to some degree manifests itself in every angel, only one will be that angel’s special ability that they master throughout the course of their life.
Every ability without exception is measured on 3 main parameters:
Skill, Strength, and Scope.
Skill – how advanced is the user in the ability and how many different skills of that ability they possess.
Strength – how powerful and effective is the user’s mastery of those skills.
Scope – how diverse can their ability be used, e.g. the distance of effect, the duration of time.
Transgression Page 16