Seraph

by James Hicks

  The giants were upon him now. But it was only Emim and Rapha. No Anakim and that worried him. Both giants had their weapons drawn and Seraph was also armed. He activated his shield, then reached down and grabbed his sword that was tucked neatly into the thigh of his suit. It radiated with the warm orange flame and then cooled to show its blue steel. He was ready.

  Rapha went in first and swung with grace and extraordinary elegance. Seraph wasn’t trained in the art of sword fighting, but he found himself not only keeping up with her, but besting her. This was certainly not him. And even when Emim joined the fray with his heavy weapon, Seraph blocked with his shield and dodged every blow as the hammer smashed into concrete and bent steel. Even though he was getting the upper hand, the combination of both of them was forcing him to retreat.

  Emim brought the hammer down, but Seraph blocked it with his shield and sliced him along his fat belly. Emim fell back and grabbed his stomach. First blood had been drawn and the sight of it gave Seraph hope that he could defeat them. They were indeed flesh and blood. Rapha swung but was parried. Seraph pushed her away with his shield and flew through the cement ceilings until he made it to the roof where he could be alone and recuperate.

  Rapha rushed to her wounded brother’s side.

  “Emim, are you alright?”

  “I’m fine.”

  “You are bleeding. Stay here.”

  “No! I will be fine. I will end him,” Emim said with rage.

  “Then come, brother.”

  “Go, I will be there.”

  Rapha was the first to make it to the rooftop of the unfinished building, but there was no sign of Seraph. Rapha paced slowly, trying to use her senses to detect him.

  “Hiding will only delay the inevitable.”

  No answer. She walked slowly.

  “I know you are here. . . . I can smell you. . . . Come out and face me!”

  Still nothing.

  “It was torture being buried inside that weak wench . . . Andrea? My brothers and I ripped her apart. I only wish I could have known her today so I could eat her heart . . . But since that has escaped me, I will do this to the people of earth you seem to care about so much.”

  Seraph jumped from his hiding spot behind her with sword in hand, but she turned and blocked the attack and lost her footing a bit and dropped to a knee. Seraph kicked her in the head and tried to do it once more, but she swung her sword with her free hand and swiped at his waist. And though the strike did connect, it glanced right off his stomach. Seraph came down with his shield and knocked her on her back. Seraph brought down his sword to deliver a death blow to Rapha, but she moved and the sword got stuck in the roof floor. Rapha fought him from her back.

  Seraph was surprised that even from this position she was far from defeated; in fact, she was just as dangerous on the ground. She put Seraph in an arm bar and would have completely ripped his arm from his body, but he summoned his strength and pulled Rapha up and power-slammed her. Rapha’s head hit the cement roof and blood flowed from it like a river.

  Emim climbed to the roof, unbeknownst to Seraph, and palmed Seraph’s face, lifted him off Rapha, and slammed him to the floor. Emim brought down his fist, but Seraph moved and the fist went through the floor. He was stuck. From there Seraph got up and assaulted him with hit after hit. But when Emim finally mustered enough strength, he pushed Seraph away with one hand. He stopped just short of the roof’s edge, but Rapha, who had recovered and was now on her feet, kicked Seraph in the side of his head and he fell off.

  Seraph plummeted from the seventy-story construction building, and before he could gain his balance and fly back to the roof, Anakim came running from one of the lower levels and speared him while he was in the middle of free-falling into the nearby office building. Anakim rained down blow after blow. Seraph tried to block and dodge but to no avail. He went limp. As the giant beat him, they sank through the floor and into the ceiling of the floor below until it collapsed under the massive weight. Anakim finally stopped. Armor or no armor, Seraph was in trouble.

  Camilla knew that she should have been heading home but could not, would not sit uselessly by watching John get killed on TV, or listen to it on the radio like everyone else as if it were a sporting event. This was the man she loved and she was going to do something. She got in her car and drove through the wrecked city to Times Square. She managed to arrive on 42nd Street just as Seraph was being escorted down the street in chains to where Lilith was waiting.

  Camilla snuck up and found a place where she could hear what was happening. All around her were dead civilians and police officers. It was catastrophic. She picked up a dead cop’s sidearm and stuck it between her back and skirt and placed her shirt over it. She didn’t really know how to use a gun, but she knew the safety had to be off, point, then fire. Simple enough. From her vantage point, she saw two of the male giants and a woman, too short to be one of them, but clearly not from earth. However she couldn’t find Rapha and that worried her.

  “Mother, we present your fallen enemy to you,” Anakim said.

  “You have exceeded my expectations. He never stood a chance. Not so tough now are you, Seraph?”

  “Still tougher than Ornias.”

  Lilith was enraged and smacked him in the face, but his helmet was still on so he didn’t feel a thing.

  “You hit like a girl.”

  “Defiant till the end. It is over, you fool.”

  “It ain’t over yet.”

  “On the contrary . . . you have been beaten, you have lost. All I have to do is figure out how to separate you from your precious armor.”

  “You’ll never get it off me.”

  “Oh, I will . . . even if I have to peel it off your cold dead body.”

  “Good luck with that.”

  Emim backhanded Seraph, but winced due to the cut on his stomach.

  “Emim, my son, are you alright?”

  “Yes, Mother, I am fine.”

  “No, you’re hurt.”

  “It is but a flesh wound.”

  “Anakim, what about you? Are you alright?”

  He simply nodded.

  “Where is Rapha? RAPHA!”

  “Right here, Mother.”

  Rapha appeared behind Lilith and was standing over Camilla. She picked her up and placed her hands behind Camilla’s back and walked her over to where her brothers stood with Seraph.

  “And who might you be?”

  “Camilla . . .” Seraph’s head dropped.

  “I smelled her, and by the way she was looking at Seraph, I can only come to the conclusion that she cares for him.”

  “Is that so? Ah yes, of course, why else would you be here . . . Camilla?”

  Camilla went down to help John, but instead she became a liability. She watched with dread as Lilith advanced toward her brandishing a dagger.

  “I will cut right to the chase. If you do not remove your suit, I will make you watch as I kill her painfully . . . slowly . . .”

  Seraph struggled in his chains, but Anakim kicked him in the back of his head. Camilla began tearing up. All she wanted to do was help, but by interfering she may have killed him. Maybe she should have listened to him and gone home. But it was too late for that now.

  “Camilla, you have gorgeous eyes. . . . Shall I start there, John?”

  “LILITH, PLEASE, DON’T!” John screamed.

  Camilla looked at Seraph and mouthed the word, “No,” and shook her head.

  Seraph screamed and powered down his suit. Camilla burst into tears. John was going to die, and it was going to be all her fault. Lilith approached John with the dagger, but to John it felt as if she were walking in slow motion. There were so many things going on in his mind that he needed to try and calm his spirit. In the midst of this storm, he heard a small still voice repeating, The Word of God is living and powerful. Living and powerful. Living. Powerful.

  John closed his eyes and meditated on that portion of scripture and just before Lilith could reach him to
kill him, the sword shot straight to the ground where John’s hands were. Living. He grabbed the sword and instantly transformed into Seraph. Before any of them knew what was happening, he cut his chains loose and in one smooth motion cut Emim in half—diagonally, from his legs all the way through to his shoulder blade. Powerful. Anakim fell back and Emim stepped back, grabbing his chest before his top half slid off his bottom half.

  Lilith screamed in horror. Rapha was in awe of what she had just seen and couldn’t believe her eyes. Camilla grabbed the gun from her back and shot Rapha in the foot, then the face, and gunned down Lilith. Lilith blocked each bullet with one hand and opened a vortex with the other and disappeared into it, leaving her children behind.

  “Run, Camilla!”

  “What?”

  “RUN!” Seraph yelled.

  Camilla ran as fast as she could with Rapha limping behind her. Seraph tried to get after her, but Anakim grabbed him and held him back. While they tussled, Rapha was on Camilla’s heels. Rapha wasn’t as fast as normal with a hole in her foot, and her eyesight was also diminished because the bullet that landed went through her jaw and eye socket.

  Camilla took off her heels and ran as fast as her feet could take her. But she stepped on sharp metal and fell to the ground. Rapha kept limping as fast as she could while watching Camilla struggle to get through rubble and over busted cars. Finally Camilla reached a dead-end corner with nowhere to go: rock to her left, metal to her right and back, Rapha straight ahead.

  Even though Rapha was drastically injured, there was no way Camilla was going to beat her in hand-to-hand combat, or any combat for that matter. Camilla took out the gun and squeezed the trigger, but it was empty. She could see Seraph trading blows with Anakim and thought there was no way that he’d be able to save her now.

  “CAMILLA!” Seraph yelled as he watched Rapha closing in on her.

  This slight loss in focus allowed Anakim to pin the inexperienced hero down and choke him. However Seraph reached out and grabbed a boulder and bashed the giant in the skull. The rock crumbled and Anakim lost consciousness. Seraph got up and raced over to Rapha and just as she raised her hand to smash Camilla, he caught it. He kicked Rapha in the back of the knee and grabbed her by her neck. Still trying to grab her, Rapha struggled and stared deeply into Camilla’s eyes. Camilla stared back and in that moment it was almost as if time stood still for them both. Seraph snapped Rapha’s neck and her lifeless body fell to the ground.

  “Are you okay?”

  “My foot. I hurt my foot, but I’m fine,” Camilla said, hugging him tightly.

  “I told you to go home. I had it all together.”

  “Sure you did, so getting chained up like that, was that Plan A or Plan B?”

  “C. It was Plan C.”

  “I’d love to continue this lovely chat, but can we please get outta here?”

  “Yeah, let’s get you home.”

  “You were amazing, by the way.”

  “Not really, I was getting my butt kicked.”

  “True but it’s your first real battle and look on the bright side.”

  “Bright side?”

  “You didn’t get yourself killed.”

  John powered down his suit and they both laughed at that joke and walked by the body of the fallen giant, but as they walked by him, his eyes opened and he sat up. When he stood up completely, he called out to Seraph.

  “Seraph . . .”

  John stopped dead in his tracks and turned around to see Anakim standing opposite him approximately thirty yards away.

  “Leaving so soon?”

  “It is finished. . . . You and your family have been defeated. Now go back to the pit you crawled out from.”

  “We will never be finished. You killed my father, my sister, and my brother. You think after all you’ve done to me that I would just let you walk away so easily? No, I am going to take from you what you have taken from me. The only way to stop me is to kill me. And after I kill you, I am going to eat the flesh from your bones.”

  “Is that all you got?”

  “Not nearly, after I have killed you, I will repopulate earth with my people. Camilla, is it? Yes, she shall be the first to bear my offspring and they will split her open . . . just like Andrea.”

  When John heard this he knew there was only one way that this fight was going to end. He addressed Camilla without turning to her.

  “Cammy . . . you best get out of here.”

  Camilla didn’t protest but began limping away from the two warriors, because one of them was surely going to die today and anyone around them would become a victim of what was about to ensue.

  John turned into Seraph and Anakim drew his sword.

  “Let’s finish this,” Seraph said.

  Seraph drew his sword and began walking toward him. Anakim started trotting, then he went into a sprint. Seraph ran to meet him. They swung their swords and when they clashed the shockwave from the collision blew out the windows on the entire avenue.

  CHAPTER 12

  Sunday morning had been pretty eventful for Sally and the Goodwins. The church’s children’s chorus had sung and there was even a praise dancer today. Kelly led a marvelous worship and Tom delivered a great sermon, as he did every Sunday. After the service let out, most stayed for the weekly potluck and watched football on the downstairs TV. Tom offered a quick prayer and turned on the TV, but instead of getting the local game, everyone in the room was shocked by the carnage in New York City.

  Helicopters continued to shoot footage of the battle between Seraph and Anakim. Sally was the first to realize what was happening.

  “Oh my god. It’s John!”

  “Jesus, Sally, it is him,” Thomas confirmed.

  Other church members were wondering who John was and what exactly was happening. Confusion and panic began to rise in the small basement. They watched as the two warriors struck each other and slammed each other into buildings and cars. The people were afraid.

  “What’s going on?” one member asked.

  “Yeah, do you know that blue thing?” Officer Smalls asked.

  “It’s not a blue thing, handsome,” Sally replied. “His name is John and he’s family.”

  “John . . . John . . . Tommy id’n’t that the young man—”

  “Yes, Robby, that’s him.”

  “Well, shucks I didn’t know he was one of us . . . ,” Robert said.

  “Well, what in the world is that other thing?” Mrs. Ferder added.

  “My kids are getting scared!”

  “Kid’s scared? I’m scared.”

  “Turn it off!” shouted another.

  “Everyone calm down, panicking will not help. John is not only a friend of ours, but he is also a child of God and he is fighting on the Lord’s side. I can vouch for that. We’re not going to turn this off, but those with children are welcome to go home. However, I would ask the clergy and all other prayer warriors to stay. . . . This situation calls for some serious spiritual battle,” Thomas said.

  No one moved. Not even the women with children. The flock listened to their shepherd and decided that if their wise pastor needed them, they should not flee from this opportunity to help another believer. The whole community of believers prayed and their prayers filled the room. After a while Thomas stepped up and prayed aloud.

  “Heavenly Father, we come to you right now asking you to hear our prayers. Forgive us of our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Right now, Lord, we bring our brother John to you. He is in serious need of your help. Cover him with your blood. Give him the strength he needs to endure and persevere. Let not his heart be filled with fear, but give him a mind that is sound and focused on battle. Send your angels to protect him and help him. Give him power . . . to kill that thing. Amen.”

  And the church said, “Amen.”

  Seraph and Anakim’s swords clashed and clanged, they parried one another, and dodged blows. Anakim attacked Seraph with such ferocity and power that Seraph found it hard t
o keep up. Seraph’s style was much more fluid and graceful. Though it, too, was powerful, the strength of Anakim was not to be matched.

  Anakim brought down his heavy sword for a mighty blow and Seraph blocked it, but Anakim hit him with his free hand so hard that he lost his sword and flew into a wall. Anakim threw his sword in Seraph’s direction, but he dodged to the side, and it missed. The sword plunged deep into the rock. Seraph ran toward Anakim who clotheslined him. Seraph flipped into the air and landed on his back. Anakim tried to stomp him, but he moved and threw a boulder in Anakim’s face. That shot dazed Anakim, allowing Seraph to go on the offensive. He grabbed Anakim and flew into the air, banging him into buildings in midflight.

  Anakim grabbed hold of the building wall. The momentum carried Seraph, face first, into the building’s exterior. Anakim slammed Seraph’s head into the wall repeatedly until he fell, but he flew back up. Anakim jumped down from his perch and caught Seraph in the air, they both started falling downward, fighting to avoid not being landed upon. They came crashing down with Seraph on the bottom. Anakim picked him up and threw him into a nearby garbage dump truck. He turned on the machine, and it began crunching Seraph.

  “Do you see the futility of your fight? Earth is my inheritance, passed down from my ancestors long ago.”

  Anakim laughed, assuming victory was in his grasp, but the truck levitated and Seraph stood underneath, raising the vehicle above his head and smashing the hulking giant. He raised it again and brought it down. He did so once more, but Anakim caught it with one hand and got his balance and tackled him, landing on top. Seraph kicked up at his adversary, landing a few kicks, but Anakim caught a leg and swung him as if he was looking to medal in the hammer throw.