Kin of Exile

by Tyler Bunyard

  Finally, they were close enough to make out the details of the creature. It was approximately eight feet tall, stood on two powerful legs, and had two muscular arms that, though not large, seemed strong enough to crush steel. The skin it possessed looked more like brown scales, their color alternating between a light and dark brown. The curled horns were thick, and as sharp as the rest of the spikes distributed along its body. The wings looked like smaller versions of an umbrabat’s, though twice as strong.

  There was no need for the boys to confirm whether or not this was their target. The very air around this creature seemed to bend and twist, and though it was not audible or visible, it felt as though a heavy storm was pressing against them the closer they got. The figure seemed almost blurred, and it took a few seconds before they realized that a heavy coating of what must have been pure, compressed air was surrounding it. This was their target, there was no doubt about that.

  As they continued their observations, the group saw the demon wave its hand in the air. A small, orange square appeared, floating in front of the creature. An image filled the shape, though it was too small to make-out, and shortly after, a voice projected itself from the portrait.

  The tone was thunderous, sounding like a terribly loud grumble. “Why do you bother me, Aerozthcz?” it sneered.

  Karrel and Angel shot simultaneous glances at each other. They had heard this voice before. Where? They could not remember.

  The wind-covered demon responded with haste, as though it was afraid to keep the floating image waiting. Its voice was high-pitched and raspy. It dropped its head as it spoke. “The collection has been completed.”

  “Good,” the thunderous voice responded. “Was it sufficient?”

  The wind-demon raised its head and smiled. Its teeth were as razor sharp as any pyretiff. “I think you’ll be happy with the numbers,” it responded. “This year’s sacrifice was bountiful.”

  Fury spawned in the eyes of Angel and Karrel. Sacrifice. They remembered where they had heard the loud, grumbling voice before. It was the entity that spoke to the president of the UWP, the night they raided the superdome. This was the sacrifice the president was talking about. Flarepoint wasn’t stolen. It was given to the demons as a payment. Why they did it, or how, they still did not know, but one thing was for sure: the UWP was actively selling away human lives.

  Angel signaled for Johnny and Puck to regroup. Slightly irked at having to give up their position, Johnny and Puck stealthily made their way over to the other two.

  “What!?” Puck gave a loud whisper. “This better be good.”

  Angel and Karrel reminded the other two about the UWP president’s discussion they had overheard. They then relayed the information they had just discovered. Puck went red with hatred, only barely able to contain himself and remain silent. Johnny, however, fell silent as he thought.

  “Whoever this demon is,” Johnny finally spoke up, “he’s obviously the ringleader. We’ll put this new information aside for now. Our mission remains the same. Take out the wind-demon.”

  Karrel hated having to put aside his anger. He had never trusted the UWP, but he never thought them capable of something this terrible. He thought back to his deceased parents. They fought against true tyranny, that was now for sure. He had never had more respect for them than he did now.

  Calming himself down, Karrel returned to the task at hand. They had a demon to kill. That came first. “Suggestions?” he whispered.

  “We’ve got the element of surprise,” Angel suggested. “Let’s use it.”

  Johnny pulled from his belt several chrome polyhedrons and threw them onto the ground, allowing themselves to slowly, silently build themselves into turrets. Puck began to form multiple stalagmites along the ground. Angel began to compress black smoke into his hands, as Karrel whipped out his book and began to concentrate.

  Johnny brought up a hand, as the group took aim. He began his silent countdown. Three, two, one… He gave the signal, and the four friends let loose a barrage of attacks. Puck shot the stalagmites from the ground, Angel let loose his powerful dark blasts, Johnny’s turrets opened fire, and purple and blue lightning shot forth from Karrel’s hands.

  Every single attack slammed into the demonic entity standing in front of them. In one swift motion, the crossroads had become filled with explosive strikes. Dust kicked up from the ground, and debris was shot everywhere.

  For a moment, all that could be heard was pebbles raining down upon the ground. The four friends popped out from cover and peered onto the landscape they had just changed. Nothing but dust could be seen.

  From inside of the concealing cloud of soot, which now filled the streets, a familiar, high-pitched, raspy voice could be heard. “Forgive me Master,” it stated calmly. “I seem to have located some leftovers.”

  “Have your fun, Aerozthcz,” the roaring voice made its final statement, “but do not keep me waiting…”

  With a gush of wind, the smoke cleared, and the square image faded. The wind-bearing, demonic entity turned to face its shocked enemies. Its smile was wide and sharp, and its wings had spread to its full length.

  Karrel froze. The creature had tanked a full barrage of attacks from the four of them and had come out unscathed. No blood, not even a scratch could be seen on the creature. Even more, as he peered at his opponent, he could sense the vicious intent behind its grin. The bloodlust the demon was giving off was so thick, Karrel could feel it in the air, smothering him.

  “You poor, poor souls,” Aerozthcz shrieked. “Attacking me during lunch was a terrible mistake.”

  Angel stepped forward, masking his fear. “Poor souls? Us?” he mocked. “At least I have an alias people can pronounce. Seriously, what kind of name has two z’s in it?”

  The wind-demon licked its lips with a long, curled tongue, then wound one of its arms back, as though it was about to throw a ball. The empty hand lashed forward. In an instant, visible slices of air shot forth from the demon, heading directly for the group.

  “Scatter!” Puck shouted, as he jumped from cover. Johnny, Puck, Karrel, and Angel all dodged as quickly as they could as the unsolidified projectile rapidly closed in on them. The burst of air smacked into the ground, and an explosion of dust and debris scattered across the streets.

  Karrel found himself rolling across the ground, the pressure wave from the demon’s attack propelling him along the broken road. He slammed his hand to the ground in an attempt to stop, and stabilize himself, but lost his book along the way. As quick as he could, he surveyed his surroundings, attempting to locate his friends and any sort of cover that would suffice. Everyone seemed to be okay. They were off-balance, but none of them had sustained any injuries. Johnny’s turrets however, had been utterly destroyed.

  The demon began to cackle, its voice as terrifying as the power it possessed. “My, my, this is interesting. None of you have been split in two.” It began to wind its arm up once more, and took aim at Johnny, who was out in the open.

  Karrel swore, calling his green book to him and opening its pages. He concentrated on the texts, then took aim. He released the attack, and purple and blue energy shot forth like lightning from his palm. The blast connected with its target, though to no avail. The coating of wind easily deflected the shot away from the demon. However, the attack dragged the attention of the demon off of Johnny. It was a small success, but one that had most likely saved Johnny’s life, and taken Karrel’s.

  The demon turned its body toward the book-wielding human. It was visibly disturbed by the continued resistance of its prey. It leapt high into the air, its wings holding it in place above the four friends. It took in a deep, deep breath and exhaled with all of its might.

  As though it had fired a hurricane from its lungs, air bombarded the streets below. Windows shattered, street signs vaporized, and old vehicles were sliced into pieces within seconds. In a single moment, the creature had conjured more destructive power than any demon Karrel had ever seen.

  Luc
kily for the group, Angel had a defense ready. He leapt to the middle of the street, shooting black lines of solidified smoke out at his three friends. The dark clouds wrapped themselves around Karrel, Johnny, and Puck, slingshotting them directly toward Angel’s position. As the windstorm struck down at their location, Angel summoned a massive plume of black smoke and shot it upward to meet the downward flow of air.

  The two forces violently collided, and the resulting pressure wave smashed into the adjacent buildings, sending broken glass and demolished furniture flying. The black smoke started to form a dome around the group, barely keeping them clear from the violent winds. Angel struggled against the sheer force of the air, his protective smoke constantly cracking underneath the strain. A second before Angel’s collapse was assured, the attack subsided, and he dropped to a knee, panting. The brief struggle had taken everything he had.

  Gazing down at its non-eviscerated targets, Aerozthcz let out a horrendous, ear-piercing shriek. “Why!?” it hissed. “Why are you not in little pieces. What manner of human are you?” It began to raise its hands toward the sky, and the air around it began to twist and twirl. But, the wind-demon stopped short. It suddenly regained its composure, and the toothy grin returned to its face. “No matter. All you have done is provided me with an excuse to unleash my pet.” The demon let loose an ear-shattering whistle.

  For a moment, nothing happened. Suddenly, the ground began to shake. Every few seconds, a massive earthquake erupted underneath Flarepoint, and then it would stop. Thump, thump, the crashing noise was getting louder and louder with each, increasingly powerful tremor. And then, nothing.

  Karrel nervously scanned what had become a battlefield. He could not find the source of the tremors, until finally, he brought his gaze high. A pair of glowing orange eyes was looking down upon him.

  “What… the hell… is that…?” Karrel trembled.

  There, amongst the buildings themselves, stood a massive, winged behemoth. Its greyish-purple head easily towered over some of the smaller skyscrapers, and though its wings were colossal in both their size and thickness, the creature was so grand there was no possible way it was capable of flight. It stood on four legs, and on its upper body, two arms extended outward, gripping an equally large, double-edged spear. It peered down upon the insignificant beings standing in the street. Unsatisfied with its prey, it let out a deep, echoing roar that filled the entire city. The orange runes on its spear began to light, and with a single motion, the gargantuan weapon set itself on fire.

  Karrel looked to the others for advice. Only a single tip was offered.

  “RUN!” Johnny ordered. “ITS A MONSTROSITY!”

  None of them needed to be told twice. With one swift movement, they all turned and ran.

  Chapter 26

  Blocked by a Storm

  Karrel had never run so fast in his life. The behemoth of a demon stomped toward him and his friends, carving its way through the buildings and streets as though they were nothing but a mere nuisance. Chunks of snapped steel and broken asphalt rained down wherever the monstrosity strode, and every time it swung its mighty twin-sided spear, a torrent of flames and cinder followed. Karrel knew that if he stopped sprinting for even a second, the gigantic monster would turn him into a pincushion.

  “Keep running!” Puck shouted, dodging the flying framework of what used to be a broken-down car.

  It was all that they could do, for nothing seemed to even slow the monstrosity down. The sight was deeply pleasing to the relatively smaller demon that floated behind its beloved pet. There was a loud cackle filling the skies as Aerozthcz enjoyed the chase sequence. It kept a generous pace, staying within visual range of the ongoing onslaught brought forth by the monstrosity, but it made no active attempt to enter the fray. Why would it? The view was so relaxing…

  Karrel swore as he chanced a look behind him, quickly ducking underneath the flaming double-spear the monstrosity had swung. He felt the edges of his hair singe, but he was able to locate his airborne target. Unfortunately, there was no way to counterattack him while they fled. It was annoying… He brought his attention to Johnny, who was in the middle of rolling out of the way of the debris caused from the monstrosities previous attack. He was also glancing back at their true target, and knowing him, planning a way around their current predicament.

  A few more bumps, bruises, and narrowly fatal misses later, Johnny finally relinquished an order.

  “We need a distraction!” he shouted. “I’ve thought it through–” Johnny leapt out of the way of some falling glass, “–and that’s our best option! One of us distracts this damn beast, the rest of us face the floating bastard!”

  “Okay!” Angel yelled, “Who’s gonna do the distracting!?”

  Though they all continued to run, Karrel, Puck, and Johnny gave a blank stare to their dark-clothed comrade. Angel glanced from friend to friend, searching for a response until he understood that he had already gotten one.

  “No!” Angel retorted. “No, no, no! Nope! I’m not doing it. I’m going to stand my ground.” Angel skidded to a halt, as though he had momentarily forgotten why he was running. “You guys always make me–”

  The monstrosity slammed its enormous hoof-like foot into the ground where Angel stood. A plume of navy-blue smoke burst forth from the area. The gigantic demon stopped its charge, admiring what it thought was its first kill. The navy-blue smoke quickly began to reform itself. As soon as Angel’s head was almost recognizable, it began to speak.

  “–me go up against the large guys! Every friggin’ time! But no, not here, I refuse! Someone else can take–”

  WHAM! The monstrosity noticed that it had not yet finished off its prey, and it stomped its foot down onto Angel once more. This time, black smoke erupted from the sole of the demon’s foot. It once again, quickly reformed into Angel’s body.

  “–charge of this one! Maybe then you’ll all see what it’s like to have to fight something three billion times your size! Spoiler alert, it isn’t fu–”

  The monstrosity slammed its foot down again, its irritation clearly visible, and the black smoke that erupted quickly reformed back into Angel once more.

  “FINE!” Angel screamed in frustration, bringing his gaze upward to the head of the gigantic demon. “You want me so bad!? You can have me!” Angel focused his strength into his legs, dark smoke pulsing beneath him, before rocketing himself up into the sky. In mere seconds, he was at eye level with the monstrosity. The orange, glowing eyes delivered a confused stare as it observed its newly airborne prey.

  Angel focused a massive amount of energy into both of his hands before releasing his strike. Two massive clouds of black smoke tore through the air, connecting with the monstrosities face. The attack made and audible explosion, and a concussive wave of force emanated from the monstrosity’s cranium. The force of the strike caused the behemoth to stumble backward, letting loose an ear-piercing roar as it expressed its pain.

  The demon grabbed at nearby buildings in an attempt to maintain its balance. Its efforts went in vain. The creature slammed into the side of what used to be a tall office building as two of its legs buckled underneath its own weight. The only thing that kept it from toppling to its side was its gigantic twinblade that had been plunged into the ground for support.

  Karrel gawked at the sight of the impossible scene Angel, no larger than a fly compared to his opponent, had brought the monstrosity down to its knees. He rarely got to see Angel at full power, the last time being when they had fought against the two female UWP Executives. It was easy to forget how mighty his friend was, but he was also reminded that that particular fight ended with him fleeing, smeared in his own blood. It would be interesting to see if the monstrosity would prove to be more difficult than the engagement with the two well-dressed women.

  Unfortunately, Karrel would not get to observe. The four-legged behemoth got back on its feet. Angel was still spouting all manner of profanity at his target as he circled around in the air. With uncari
ng scoff, the monstrosity flicked one of its wrists though the air. With surprising speed, the enormous hand of the demon collided with an utterly surprised Angel. As though it had swatted a bird from the sky, Angel shot toward the ground opposite of the rest of the group, rolling across the broken streets. It did not stop there. With a swift rotation, the monstrosity swung one of its legs across the ground where Angel was just starting to recover. The strike once again connected, and as though he was rubber, Angel began bouncing far down the road. The gleeful giant began to chase its improvised ball down the avenue.

  “Angel!” Karrel screamed aloud, beginning to chase after his friend. He was stopped abruptly by Johnny.

  “He’s doing his job,” Johnny reassured. “For now, we’ve all got ours to do.” Johnny pointed up to the wind-demon who was shaking his head as he watched his enormous pet run off.

  It was difficult to agree, but Karrel knew that Johnny was correct. The main threat was in the sky, and now that Angel had led the monstrosity away, this was the best time to attack. Stick to the plan; that was how you stayed alive.

  Karrel readied his green book, flipping through its pages. Now was the time to pull out all the stops. He concentrated on the red text in his book, and the symbols representing the variable “F.Aura” began to wrap themselves around his wrists. With a quick slap to his own chest, Karrel began to glow with a familiar orange hue.

  Johnny fiddled with the lights along his arm. The silver, linear streaks of metal that snaked around Johnny’s body began to spread slightly, making themselves much more visible than before. Whereas they used to be near-impossible to spot, now it was apparent that chrome lines were crawling around his body. He had obviously made some upgrades. Puck smiled, seeing the improvements and simply cracked his knuckles together.

  “Now or never boys!” Puck shouted. He raised both of his arms above his head, and the ground beneath him began to rise. A chunk of soil was ripped from the ground with Puck atop, as he began to effectively use it as a mobile, flying platform. “Prepare your attacks! I’ll ground him.”