Into The Light (The Fallen Shadows)

by Rebecca R. Cohen

  Rapid flashes of blinding light sent all but two of the Descended into Purgatory. With only two left and Serena, who appeared seemingly human left, Ash and Davon thought they had already won, a thought that didn’t sit well with Serena.

  The first of the Descended launched herself off the counter swinging the sword in a counterclockwise motion rapidly as she made a beeline for Ash. Serena took a forceful swing directly at Ash’s throat but his quick reflexes allowed him to duck at the last second. The first Descended came back at him a second time this time aiming for his arm. The blade swung down and sliced his bicep creating a massive gash. Briefly he looked down at the injury as if it were second nature to him to check out his injury even during battle.

  Serena lashed out at him again for a third time this time catching the side of his stomach. Even with his quick reflexes he was unable to avoid the tip of the blade from sliding its razor sharp edge across his skin. He doubled over from the pain of the cut. His skin became hot as though he were burning up in a fire. The pain and the heat distracted him giving Serena her opening to deliver the fatal blow she’d wanted to lay on him ever since she saw his smug face enter the abandoned café.

  Ash managed to stand though he was obviously weakened and was hunched over putting pressure on the injury he’d just received. He stared at Serena who wielded the blade in her hand. She rushed him aggressively and gave him a blow to his face with the handle of the blade. He fell to the ground and once again found himself on his knees.

  Serena grabbed the angel blade and stood directly behind Ash’s head as she pulled the sharp edge of the blade against his throat. “Where are your wise crack remarks now Guide?” She began to pull the blade harder against Ash’s neck cutting deeper into his flesh.

  Blood began to trickle down from the blade and onto his shirt leaving spots like splattered paint throw carelessly against a wall. The blade burned into him and he felt the cold onset of an angel’s death. He felt the blackness begin to surround him as he heard mere echoes of Davon’s voice beckoning in the distance.

  At least he survived. He can take over as Katharine’s Guide she’ll be safe. A comforting thought in what Ash believed to be his last moments. Knowing Katharine would be safe, Ash was ready to accept the angel’s death, the nothingness that would become of him.

  When an angel died their bodies would turn to white soot so it could be buried in the garden with their fallen brothers and sisters. Angels had no eternal resting place they would simply become part of the garrison from which they came.

  Ash closed his eyes and waited for the emptiness to overcome him but it never did. He felt a sudden release from the pain where the angel blade had been piercing into him and he heard a loud thud. Slowly he opened his eyes allowing them to come back into focus.

  When the red spots stopped dancing in front of his eyes from the pain he saw Davon standing over Serena, who was laid out flat on hard ground, with his sword protruding out of her neck. A wound from any other weapon than the golden arrow forged from God’s throne would not send a Descended back to Purgatory but it certainly did the trick in killing them.

  The Guides made it a point not to kill a Descended unless there were no other options. Their mission was to send them to Purgatory where they would live and dwell on the sins they committed in Heaven. They considered this to be a far greater punishment than a quick and easy death. Of all the Descended that they have fought, Davon and Ash had only killed fifteen of them while their fellow Guides took a less cautious approach to using their swords where they could have just as easily used their arrows.

  Ash regained his composure and attempted to leap to his feet but as his body turned vertical once again his injuries sent him falling back to the ground. The Guide landed on his knees nearly losing his balance. Ash was weakened, a fact he’d never admit out loud. The injured Guide had too much pride to ever admit such a mortal thing.

  Davon, still standing over Serena, pulled the sword from her body and wiped the residual blood from the thin blade with the hem of his shirt. He his mouth cocked to one side as he watched the blood spill from the spot where the sword once sat. It pooled underneath Serena’s head forming a ring almost like a halo. Davon let out a brief chuckle; he always appreciated the irony in a situation.

  Behind him he could hear Ash groaning and trying to stand up with a consistent “ugh,” followed by a gentle thud. He spun around to see Ash holding his side while pushing with his free hand in an attempt to stand only to have his arm buckle and fall back to the ground.

  “Hey Davon can I get a little help? Would that be so hard to say?” Davon said mocking Ash as he made his way over to help his injured partner. To which, Ash rolled his eyes. “Well,” Davon said catching Ash with his forearm just before he hit the ground, “that was a lot messier than I would have liked.”

  “She had the angel blade,” Ash said in a low growl.

  Davon, who had been leading Ash to one of the only functional chairs in the abandoned café, stopped short at the sound of Ash’s words. “The angel blade doesn’t exist.”

  Ash lifted his head revealing the gash that sat in the middle of his neck. It was still bleeding lightly and had formed into the shape of a small butter knife. “I beg to differ.”

  “Maybe Chance didn’t know the blade existed” Davon placed Ash gently on the chair and stood bewildered.

  Ash laughed sarcastically but said nothing. Chance, an elder of Heaven, had information about every weapon of Heaven that had ever been created; he oversaw most of their production. If the angel blade was forged from God, Chance would have been the one to see it through to the end.

  “He knew, he just didn’t tell us because not even he knew Serena took it.”

  Davon began looking around wildly. He threw himself to the ground and began crawling like a baby across the cold broken marble floor. He moved his head around like a dog searching for its bone. Ash watched stunned as he leapt to his feet and began throwing chairs from where they sat, some flying and breaking as they crashed against the counter.

  The sound of wood cracking and glass shattered echoed off every corner of the room. He worked his way over to the Descended that met the better end of the Guide’s swords and began flipping them as though they were nothing more than pancakes frying on the stove.

  “It’s here I know it is,” Davon said in a frantic panic.

  “Davon, calm down. Finding the angel blade is not our mission,” Ash said surprised at even himself. He had never been the one to be adamant about following the mission. He’d often go off book and follow his own plans.

  Davon was always the one to follow every order he was ever given no matter how insane they might be. Ash never thought himself above the rest of the Guides because he was a direct descendent of God but he also didn’t always agree with their orders. Davon was always the one to level him out and rationalize with him and it was strange for Ash to see their roles relatively reversed.

  “I’ll look for the blade you go sweep the place to make sure the doorway isn’t here.”

  Davon jumped up the way a prairie dog would pop up when it heard a sudden sound in the wild.

  “You can barely function.”

  Ash glared, “I’ll be fine, you know as well as I do that these wounds will heal within the hour as they always have, just go.”

  Davon reluctantly agreed and took off into the room from which the Descended had emerged. Once he was out of sight Ash took a quick gaze around the room without so much as standing up to get a better view. He had noticed, during Davon’s panic, that Serena’s body was no longer where she had dropped. She was alive and had taken off with the blade. He could have easily told Davon and the two of them could have gone after her but Ash knew that if they did they’d never return in time for Katharine’s ascension.

  Despite her anger with him he wanted to be there for her while she ascended. They could go after Serena another time, she was looking for the doorway and with Katharine acquiring her powers they could find
her a lot more easily. He wasn’t worried about facing Serena again because now he knew how she fought and what her secret weapon was.

  Davon emerged from the far corner of the café on the opposite end of where he had disappeared to check for the doorway. He was calmer than when Ash last saw him. “It’s not here.”

  Ash shrugged and used the chair to pull himself to the standing position but he stumbled. Davon rushed to him and wrapped Ash’s free arm around his neck for support. “Let’s get back, I want to talk to Chance about this angel blade business.”

  Ash buckled himself into his seat on the aircraft. In all the times he’d climbed aboard that steel contraption he’d never been more happy to see it than he was at that moment. The cold steel seat that cradled his behind so perfectly and the straps on the buckle that hugged his chest were a welcomed attraction compared to what he had been through that day.

  He sunk into the chair the way he would sink into bed in his sleeping quarters. He couldn’t wait for sleep, it was all he could think about. He closed his eyes and waited to drift off into some magical dream but despite his plans Davon had a far different one.

  “How could Chance not have told us that the one weapon, the one thing in all the realms, that could kill us existed and had been in the hands of a Descended this entire time?” Davon asked Ash who had just begun to relax.

  “Come on I was just about to fall asleep,” Ash said begrudgingly. He kept his eyes closed hoping that Davon would get the hint.

  “Ash don’t you want to know why he kept this from us?” Davon clearly did not get the hint that Ash was trying to spend the ride back to the Anchorage in silence and in a spectacular dream.

  “Of course I want to know, but don’t you think that right now we have more important things to worry about?”

  “Like what, your girlfriend?” Davon snapped with dismay.

  Ash had to admit he was guilty as charged, he was far more concerned with Katharine and therefore he said nothing at first. He thought about Davon’s choice of words and realized that he loved the sound of it, girlfriend. It was a strange word to him as he’d never put any labels on anything pertaining to matters of the heart, but he knew what the word meant.

  In the garrison there were no courtships, there was no dating, most of the time the marriages were arranged by the elders. It was rare that a marriage in the garrison was formed out of love. Ash believed that this was the reason Rafael fell for Serena and why he fell for Angelina: they were forbidden fruit.

  Being told who to love for all eternity was a harsh thing to do, even for an angel. The garrison placed a lot of irrational rules on its angels, at least in Ash’s opinion, but messing with matters of the heart was their worst offense.

  “She is not my girlfriend,” Ash said not fooling anyone. “Is it really so wrong for a Guide to care about their Tracker, especially the very last Tracker?” Davon’s look said a lot but mostly it said, you’re joking right?

  “You care too much Ash,” Davon said, with a tone that lacked judgment. It was the first time in a long time that he wasn’t condemning Ash for his past discrepancies. “I know you think it is good to care that much, but it will only leave you and your mission broken in the end.”

  8

  MISSING

  Katharine had been at The Anchorage for a few days preparing for when her abilities would finally surface. She worked tirelessly with Chance learning meditation and soothing exercises to help keep her calm during the process, one that cost the sanity of many Trackers before her. Molli, as she promised to be, was with her every step of the way. Her presence gave Katharine the feeling of familiarity and home that she needed in order to focus. She became very familiar with the Anchorage’s various pathways and hidden corridors, the ones Chance allowed her to see.

  Most of her days however, were spent with Chance in the serenity garden among the trees with golden strands. Though she had not been there for too long she had gotten into a routine that was so systematic she almost forgot what her daily routine was like before Ash came into her world. The one thing she couldn’t get out of her mind was Royal and Marion.

  She had been gone for almost a full week and no matter how much they trusted her, no parent in their right mind wouldn’t worry about their child if they went missing for as long as Katharine had been gone.

  In order to appease Katharine and simply make her stop asking about them, Chance sent Ash to Meadowbrook to make sure Katharine’s parents did not worry about their daughter. For as long as Katharine was at the Anchorage and until the war was over, Marion and Royal would not remember they had a daughter. It seemed harsh but it was the only way Katharine could be assured that her parents weren’t worrying about her.

  Chance made sure to keep Ash at a distance from Katharine while she prepared for her transition. He would often send Ash on runs with Davon to keep him occupied and away from the Anchorage. Katharine asked about Ash once or twice out of sheer curiosity; she was still so hurt by his betrayal that she convinced herself that she didn’t care about him in the least.

  The days that Ash was around, Katharine would make sure to remain in her sleeping quarters until she were sure Ash was on the opposite end of the Anchorage so their paths would not cross.

  The strength of the injection that Ash gave her a few days earlier had left her with fragments of memories missing including the words Ash spoke as she slipped into a dream-like state. Her last memories of that day were that of Ash hiding Molli’s death from her. She wanted to forget about him, if only for a few days, at least until her birthday. Anytime he crossed her mind for more than a second she ran a lap around the exterior of the Anchorage.

  It wasn’t a foolproof method but it was all Katharine could do to keep her mind from going where she didn’t want it too. Molli would often accompany Katharine on her runs, something she began to dread, as Molli would often vouch for Ash.

  “Talk to him Kat, you can’t avoid him forever,” Molli would say as the girls ran past the topiary garden near the front entrance.

  Katharine had one of two choices as a response, she could either ignore Molli’s attempts to help with reconciliation or she could say what she often chose to say, “I’m not ready.” This was a response that was often met with Molli dropping the subject and leaving Katharine once again alone with her thoughts…. thoughts of Ash.

  She wasn’t lying when she’d say she wasn’t ready to see him but it wasn’t because she was still angry it was because he hadn’t ever really left her mind. He was the last thing she thought about before falling asleep at night and the first thing she woke up thinking about in the morning. The truth was Katharine cared more for Ash than she was ready to admit and being kept apart from him brought up feelings she so badly wanted to fight and ignore but there was only so long a heart could fight what it truly desired.

  Despite her best efforts and Chance’s meddling, two days before Katharine’s 18th birthday she was out for an Ash avoidance run when he was returning from his run. Katharine was running through the west garden when she and Ash collided. The force of his body knocked her down forcing her behind to take most of the blow.

  “Ouch!” Katharine said as she landed quite ungracefully on her backside. “Way to watch where you’re going.” Ash had been putting his sword inside his weapons belt when Katharine came running around the bed and straight into his chest.

  By the time he noticed her it was too late. He lowered his hand offering to help her to her feet, a gesture she quickly brushed off using the palms of her hand to lift her off the ground and back on her feet. “Geez even when I don’t see you for a while you still find a way to get under my skin instantly.” She had many choice words she was thinking of using to express her frustration with him but as she opened her mouth to share them she saw him.

  Ash was covered in dirt and blood. His bloody cut took up residence on his forehead and just below his left eye. His hands were cut and bruised and his clothing torn and frayed. The large gash on his neck proved t
hat he had not just come from any old run, he had returned from battle. The strapping attractive young man who Katharine had come so accustomed to seeing stood before her a battered and broken man.

  “Sorry I didn’t see you there,” Ash said, finally using his shirt to clear the blood off his face. He was struggling to stand upright but still offered to lend her a hand if she needed it.

  “What happened to you?” Katharine asked touching the cut on his forehead gently. He winced in pain and jumped backward to avoid her touch.

  “Had a run in with Serena,” Ash said calmly as if the situation was less dangerous that it truly was. “No big deal. If you’ll excuse me I need to go get cleaned up.” He took off into the Anchorage leaving Katharine to finish her run.

  He was short with her and made no effort to attempt a normal conversation. She figured he was just giving her the space she’d wanted from him.

  “Katharine, wait up!” Molli shouted waving her hand in the air signaling her friend to slow her pace. Molli’s face was flushed and full of fear. “Did you see Ash?”

  Katharine nodded continuing to run in place to keep her heart rate up. “Said he had a bit of a run in with one of the Descended.”

  “Look Kat, I know you’re angry with him for what he did but I highly suggest you get over yourself. You have no idea how close you came to losing him,” Molli said changing her tone from best friend to mentor and mother.

  “What are you talking about? He looked a bit beat up but he said it was no big deal.” Katharine replied forfeiting her attempt to run in place.

  “Running into Serena isn’t exactly what I’d consider no big deal.” Serena? Why did that sound so familiar? “You know, Serena, the very first of the Descended. She got the jump on Ash when he and Davon were ambushed. She sliced him with the blade, nearly missing his throat. Had Davon not been there Ash wouldn’t have survived.