Kin of Exile

by Tyler Bunyard

  The group was approaching another door. This time it was rather large, and double sided, able to fit an automobile through if need be. They had been walking for a while now, and Karrel felt as though he had gathered enough information. It was time for the personal questions. “I’ve been meaning to ask… The thing that attacked me, do you know what it was?”

  “That can be answered, later,” Angel deflected the question. “First, let us show you our favorite room.” He pressed a button to the right of the door, and the two sides of it retracted into the wall. The group stepped through the opening, onto a suspended set of grates, several feet above the floor of the new room.

  Utter disbelief, and excitement, simultaneously filled Karrel. Gazing down upon the new area they had entered, it was massive in size. It took minutes of walking just to get to this room. However, Karrel was sure that reaching the other side of this storage area would take even longer.

  “Welcome, to the warehouse!” Angel made a ceremonious gesture towards the vast open space.

  The warehouse was filled with equipment, supplies, and raw materials. Stacks of steel girders were piled upon each other. Machinery for construction could be found scattered about, and there were tons of mechanical devices that Karrel could not recognize. Boxes, filled to the brim with equipment, were stacked as high as the ceiling. While being filled with what seemed like enough material to build a small city, the warehouse still had a vast amount of empty locations within it. It also seemed to be the only place in the underground hideout where the walls and ceiling were not meshed together with rock. It was pure, reinforced steel. A faint smell of smoke and gas filled the room, and the ventilation system was hard at work, humming loudly, attempting to clear it out. Off in the distance, sparks could be seen flying outwards from a table, positioned in what looked like a makeshift laboratory.

  Karrel, forgetting his questions, was overcome with the need to explore. He looked around to find a way down to the ground level. He spotted a ladder at the end of the grates and started to walk towards it. Angel and Puck followed.

  Approaching the end of the grate, Angel stopped Karrel. “We have one final thing that we need to tell you– Or, ask you…? Look, there is something that we haven’t talked about and we should probably do that right now. Otherwise, it might seem like we were trying to hide things from you.” Karrel was disappointed, being so close to the ladder, as he currently wanted to explore any of the secrets this warehouse held. Angel had a very serious look on his face though. That was something Karrel had never seen, so he decided to listen intently.

  Angel continued, “We know that you’re a bit… special. When you got attacked–”

  Impatience overcame Puck, who interrupted Angel, loudly sighing so that everyone could hear him, “Angel! There is a much faster way to break the ice.” Puck charged forward slamming into Angel and knocking him over the edge of the railing.

  Karrel’s eyes widened with surprise. There was a large metallic machine right underneath where Angel was falling. It had a large opening on the top, with sharp, overlapped edges inside. The machine was turned on, and the edges were rapidly spinning. He watched as Angel dropped several feet, directly into the opening of the machine. A cloud of thick, navy-blue smoke erupted has Angel was consumed by the metal contraption.

  Karrel turned towards Puck, screaming, “WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT?”

  Puck, not even looking at Karrel, but directing his gaze towards the machine below calmly stated, “That, is a metal grinder. Johnny uses it to break down all of the scraps that we collect so that he can use them for his experiments. It can tear through steel girders in a matter of seconds.”

  “That’s not what I meant!” Karrel started to reach for his green book. “I thought he was your friend! How could you just kill him like that!?”

  Puck, still not looking at Karrel, waited a few moments. He then pointed towards the end of the machine, “Watch.”

  Karrel, hesitant to take his eyes off of his new enemy, chanced a glance down at the grinder. From the output end of the metallic beast, a spew of dark, navy-blue smoke vomited itself out. It caressed the floor for a short while before gathering together. The blue cloud began to rise and slowly give itself shape, as a humanoid figure began to form from the smoke. The final bits of blue seeped out of the machine, and a loud and angry voice could be heard coming from the cloud. “Jesus Christ! Ow! That friggin’ hurt, Puck!”

  Puck jumped down from the railing, landing heavily next to the newly reformed Angel. He was laughing loudly and gave a hearty pat on the back to Angel, “Suck it up! I just saved us 10 minutes of explanation.”

  Karrel could not speak. He stood, staring with a paralyzed and dumfounded expression. For the second time, he watched Angel die before his eyes and resurrect himself within the minute. Twice. Twice it had happened. There were a few religious groups that would likely be praising him as a deity if they had seen these events. Yet, there he was before him. The very same Angel that had escaped death once before, fully clothed in his dark attire and not a scratch on him.

  Chapter 7

  Demonstrations

  “You know I can still die, right!?” Angel shouted. His rage echoed throughout the warehouse, but the laughter coming from his friend had not yet subsided from the grinding incident. “I told you to stop risking that!” He shoved Puck, who was still trying to catch his breath from all of the self-inflicted hilarity.

  After about a minute of the two friends bickering back and forth, Puck directed his attention back towards Karrel. Still a smile on his voice, he cried out, “Hey! Aren’t you gonna come down here?”

  Karrel woke up from his blank visage. He was still trying to make sense of the whole ordeal. Just more questions to be answered… he thought as he walked toward the ladder shaking his head. He was stopped by Puck’s booming voice. “Wait wait wait! I got another idea as to how to save some time.” Karrel stopped and looked towards him. “Just, don’t move a muscle. You hear me? Not a single one!”

  Puck lifted his left arm and pointed it at Karrel. A feeling of intense, yet somehow incredibly light, pressure surrounded the entirety of Karrel’s body. It was as though an invisible force was pressing against every inch of his skin and clothes. He stopped moving, letting whatever was happening to him take over. He watched as his body was lifted from the railing. It only started with a few inches, but eventually, he was raised over the protective handrails and started to slowly drop to the ground floor. There was nothing beneath his feet but air, and in a similar manner to the way he could will his green book to levitate, he was being floated toward the concrete floor.

  Karrel was only a few meters from the ground when his shirt started to flap upwards from the wind resistance. He extended an arm to stop the mild nuisance and immediately felt the invisible force break. As Karrel plummeted towards the ground he could hear Puck shouting at him, “No no no! I told you not to move!” Karrel landed hard on the ground, his hands catching himself as he rolled back onto his feet. “I can’t move an object if it’s fighting me back, man! That’s why I told you not to move!”

  There was no real harm done. Karrel did feel a slight ache in his heels, as the heavy landing was unexpected. The pain was not what was on his mind, though. Questions were what was filling his head. He blurted them all out at once.

  “How did you do that? How is he still alive? Who the hell are you guys?” Karrel vomited his words nonstop. “Why did you bring me here? What do you want with me? Why are you showing me all of this—”

  Puck interrupted, holding his palm up and then pointing at Karrel, “Stop! First things first…”

  Angel stepped forward, gesturing toward Karrel, “Your turn.”

  Karrel took a step back. “What do you mean?” he muttered.

  “You survived your little bout with the demons,” Angel pierced through the deflection, “even though we could find no weapons on you. You woke up, on our coffee table, recovering from something that well and should have killed you.
” Despite the deliberate tone, the humor in his voice started to return. “You also have very beautiful eyes, a trait that we all seem to share. Though, the colors may be different…”

  Karrel had not made the connection until now. His red eyes were abnormal, of course, but Angel’s incredibly dark optics were just as bizarre. Come to think of it, Johnny’s eyes were unusually yellow, and Puck carried a shade of green that he had never seen on a human before.

  Angel continued, “Most importantly, however, is the fact that you were able to eat those strips of demon meat, which we just gave you, without suffering any of the poisonous consequences.”

  “You told me that meat wasn’t demonic!” Karrel shouted in surprise.

  “Yes, we did! We sort of… lied. We wanted to test something. The only people I know that can eat meat carved from those fiery puffballs out there are Johnny, Puck, and myself. Seeing as we aren’t mopping up a vomit-filled floor, I’d wager that you can too. There’s no way this is a coincidence, which brings me to my point. We all have special, capabilities. Gifts you might say. You’ve seen Puck’s now, and you have also seen mine.” Angel elbowed Puck square in the stomach, who grunted with a smile. He once again gestured towards Karrel, “Now… Your turn.”

  They knew Karrel had some sort of ability. There was no sense in trying to hide it. They might not know what the ability was, but the icey stares that were being given to Karrel told him that they were confident of their accusation. He knew there was no choice but to give them a demonstration.

  Karrel reached into his pocket and pulled out his green, oilskin notebook. A flicker in Angel’s eyes, and a smirk on his face, appeared. It was the look of a man whom had just come to the realization that he was right all along.

  Karrel started to turn the pages of his book. The variables “Discharge” and “F.Aura” were no longer blue, and had returned to their original, red color. A few more pages, and Karrel was satisfied with the choice of variable that would be shown off to his spectators.

  “Alright then,” Karrel announced, “You might want to stand back for this. It’s going to get really hot in here…” Puck and Angel took a few long steps backwards and continued to watch attentively.

  Karrel put his hand on the page of the book, but before he could start focusing, a booming voice shook through the warehouse. It was calm, but incredibly loud, obviously coming from an intercom that ran throughout the base, “I don’t know where you’re all currently located, but now would be the time to look alive. We have company.”

  Puck immediately started to run toward the ladder that lead to the exit of the warehouse. He was shouting frantically, “I knew it! I knew it! I knew we shouldn’t have cut the corners when we brought him in. Now we have to deal with this crap!” He was already up the ladder when he hit a button on the side of a wall. He was shouting at it now, “Johnny! Beasties or UWP?”

  The loudspeaker in the room once again bellowed out in a mild voice, “Demonic, Puck. They’re at the main entrance. The camouflaged wall will hold them for the next few minutes while you relocate yourselves. Bring our new friend. I’d like to see how useful he is.”

  Karrel’s heart sank. A demon attack? He usually ran away from those. Especially if it was headed right for him. Now he was being directed right toward the battlefield? He was collecting his thoughts when Angel tugged on his shirt, approaching the ladder.

  His signature smile on his face, Angel joked, “Well, you’re going to have a much bigger venue for your performance. It also seems like I get to have a bit of fun showing off too.”

  For some reason, what Angel said had instilled a sense of confidence in Karrel. There was no fear in Angel’s statement. He wasn’t masking any sort of dread or using humor to diffuse the tension. He was simply happy to have something to do. There was aura of certainty that they would succeed, and because of this, despite his own doubts, Karrel kept his book in hand and followed Angel to the ladder.

  Puck was already through the exit and had disappeared by the time Angel and Karrel left the warehouse. They were sprinting now, attempting to get to their destination as quickly as possible. It had only been a few minutes before a large explosion was heard a distance away. Johnny’s voice came over the loudspeaker once more, “The main gate is down. Angel, Karrel… you’re about to miss out on the action.”

  Angel paused for a second to hit a nearby intercom, “We’re almost at the elevators. Tell Puck and the girls to leave some for us.” A few more turns and corridors, and Karrel and Angel reached one of three, large, incredibly wide, steel-reinforced, sliding doors. Angel punched in a short code on a nearby panel, and one of the entryways swiftly opened, revealing a large lift. They both stepped on it as it started to rapidly ascend.

  They were only on the lift for around half a minute, but based on the speed, they must have covered a few hundred meters in that time. Karrel’s legs felt heavy because of the force being applied to them. He understood though, the necessity of haste. They were under attack, and this elevator saved precious seconds.

  Johnny once again addressed the situation over the loudspeaker, “All of the intruders have entered. I’m activating a lockdown to close off the destroyed entrance and trap the bastards inside.”

  With a clunk, the elevator had reached the top, and the explosive sound of the battlefield could be heard opposite of the reinforced doorway. Loud pops, and what sounded like rock being blown apart into rubble, echoed on the other side. Karrel took a moment to steel himself. There would be no running from this fight. The exit was closed off and there was nowhere to go. Survival meant taking out every single one of the enemies. He readied his book, opening to the page that contained the symbols representing “F.Aura.” He focused on the green collection of pages and the glowing red runes wrapped themselves around his hand. Smacking the hand against his chest, a familiar orange glow encapsulated his body.

  Angel, who was watching the entire time, seemed mesmerized by the event. He chuckled, “Very cool!” and hit a nearby switch. The wide door slid open, revealing the mayhem that they were about to join.

  Chapter 8

  Earning an Offer

  Outside the elevator, there was a change of scenery, and Karrel took a moment to scan the new location as Angel prepared himself. The metal and rock mesh that had been spread throughout the hideout ended at the top of the lift. The area was comprised of hard rock that engulfed the surroundings, and dense stalactites hung from the ceiling. The elevator had apparently led up to a cave with a single opening. There was a small amount of moonlight coming through, which told Karrel that it led outside to the wastelands. However, within a few seconds, a rock-like wall rose from the ground, closing off the only breach in the area. The lockdown Johnny had mentioned must have come into effect. Artificial lighting, hidden along the walls, lit the battlefield up, and Karrel got his first look at the oncoming assault.

  Numerous demons had plunged through the gate and were now engaging with Puck and four other humanoid figures that he did not recognize. There were too many to count the exact number, but Karrel estimated around forty demons had entered the cavern. With that estimation, he felt an infinitesimal wave of relief wash over him. Karrel had assumed the worst, when Johnny mentioned that they were under attack. He assumed that a hotspot was invading this territory. However, an attack force of this size meant that it was only a fringe group; a small force that had temporarily broken away from the hotspot to find a quick meal. Forty demons was forty demons, though. But as Karrel watched Angel leap out onto the field of battle, he was inspired to do the same. Green book in hand, he picked his first target and charged forward.

  There was a nearby pyretiff that was attempting to flank around to the back of Puck, who had taken cover behind a large debris field to Karrel’s left. It was rapidly leaping off of the walls and fallen rocks, attempting to take advantage of Puck’s currently divided attention. Karrel found “Discharge” in his little green book and quickly wrapped the symbols around his hand. As the pyr
etiff leaped towards its target, Puck turned around and prepared to defend himself. Karrel extended his hand towards the airborne target and relinquished the attack. A crackling sound deafened the area, as if thunder had just erupted within the cave, and a surge of purple and blue energy shot forth from Karrel’s palm, connecting with the pyretiff. The beast was not expecting the sudden attack. A large chunk of meat was blown from the demon’s body, and as it ricocheted across a few walls, landing hard on the ground, it was apparent that it would not be getting back up.

  “One down, plenty more to go,” Karrel said to himself.

  Puck shouted to Karrel, “Nice shot!” He then peaked himself out from his cover. Raising his empty hands, as though he were lifting a heavy object over his head, two huge, nearby chunks of rock lifted themselves off of the ground. Puck stood there for a few moments, focusing, the large pieces of rubble floating in the air. Making a throwing motion with his arms, the twin pieces of debris rocketed themselves across the battlefield, connecting with two pyretiffs down range. The crumpling sound of exploding rocks echoed throughout the cave, and the two unfortunate demons were knocked to the ground. An orange pool of blood slowly appearing beneath them, the two creatures struggled to recover from the devastating attack.

  Karrel took a mental note never to piss off Puck, considering he had just turned the very ground beneath his feet into a powerful weapon. Proceeding forward, to close the distance between himself, the four unknown figures, and Angel, Karrel hopped from cover to cover, making sure to never expose himself to an easy ambush.