by D. Fischer
Tember and her odd companion were forced into hand-to-hand combat with the oncoming assault. They wade through those who are attacking their friends as one team, delivering deadly blows, ducking and weaving. Tember’s halo shines bright, a beacon to the enemy. She swings her leg, wraps it around a demon’s neck, and twists him to the ground. The force snaps his spine before his face is shoved into the sand.
It’s taking everything they have to raise the death toll on our enemies. They just keep coming like the stadium is breeding them by the dozens. My mom used to use the phrase popped from the ground like daisies. It applies here.
Tanya and Jane call my name once more, drawing my attention from Tember and her friend. A few vampires leap from the last bench and dive toward my back. I lurch forward without lifting my feet and pluck the first from the air with my teeth. Using my tail, it snaps at the second and third, connecting to their torsos with a thud. I chomp once, severing the body in two.
I take extra care to avoid my two charges when I swivel back to the main battle. They’re not mentally built for this, and they lack in combat skills. It’s not their fault – they’re mothers at heart. Brutality and a barbaric nature aren’t something they’ve ever thought they’d have to endure, just like all those who have fallen today. Just like Gan. I shouldn’t have to endure it either, but I’ve made my bed. This, all of this, is my doing. My ripple of consequence.
The sandman is in battle with the last wounded orc, his skills far greater than I thought a passive creature could be capable of. The orc’s skeletal unicorn is in a heap by the wall, discarded in a cringe-worthy mass. He holds the sword I left behind, hacking a path back to us while swinging the spiked ball with the other.
A whack drowns the yells and roars when the sandman swings the ball like a bat, striking the orc square in the jaw with the spikes. The orc crumbles to the ground, and blood oozes from his now half-missing face.
The sandman turns fluidly and slashes his sword through the air, dancing around Gan’s bloody mess. The sword connects with a demon’s arm, severing it clean off. He’s proficient, but even I can see he’s exhausted. His attack is becoming less forceful, his energy depleting.
We can’t keep doing this, my conscience whispers in the small pocket of my mind to the darkness.
Even though many of the enemy have begun attacking each other for sport, there are too many of them and not enough of us. We’ll die if we don’t retreat, but how can we when there isn’t a place to hide in this realm? Any which way we could turn, we’d have demons on our tail, trailing our fear, and vampires on us like leeches inside a murky pond.
We have to leave the realm and live to fight another day. We need a plan – a better plan. One which gets us all out of here alive.
I was ignorant to think I could do this on my own - to come here and save Dyson while destroying the fee. Dead fee wasn’t part of the original plan, but I couldn’t pass up the opportunity, not after I saw all the captives and their treatment. Not after Gan, whose dead body is being protected by a sandman, a griever for the loss.
Revenge comes with its own set of consequences. Seek revenge and dig two graves.
It’s now or never.
I roar above the noise, catching Tember’s attention. Holding an unconscious demon’s head in her grips, she snaps its neck with minimal effort. The head of the demon droops to an odd angle. We hold each other’s eyes for a moment, and then she grimly surveys the mob, picking up on my train of thoughts. Her chest rises and falls, her eyes picking through every detail and weighted options. I’m sure she’s engaged in many battles throughout her life, but I’ve never seen anything like this. Has she?
Two more demons head her direction, approaching from her back. I swivel and lash out my tail, knocking them back and crushing them against the wall. A boom vibrates the air, and the wall cracks and crumbles from the force. It crashes to the ground seconds later. Smoke and dust rise, clouding our vision. But as the wall falls, it distracts our enemies, leaving their heads swiveling that direction instead of ours.
Tember looks back to me and uses her hand to shield her eyes. She nods once. “Let’s go!”
Plunging from the racing cloud of smoke, Dyson’s wolf skids to a halt under me, almost knocking Tanya over. I blow another stream of fire, engulfing two vampires who thought to chase him. They don’t have time to scream before they’re piles of ash.
A dark, heavy thought crosses my mind, a sliver of desperate hope trying to convince me that the fallen wall is our chance to even the odds. The thought basks in the thrilling possibilities, flicking new scenarios through my mind. I push against it, attempting to swipe it away, to wash my hands of it and regain some mental composure past the visions of crumpled bodies beneath my victorious talons. But I can’t. Instead, I feel it darken me further with cold tendrils of invisible fingers wrapping around my heart. A stain to my pure soul. It’s a branding, one I’ll never be able to ignore. A branding of what I’m truly capable of.
Once you dwell in the dark, it always drowns the light.
Dyson’s bones crack and reshape as he returns to human form, albeit naked, and grips the scales around my leg like a rock-climbing wall. I swing my body, shooting flames at a group of vampires attacking each other. The movement almost throws him off, and I can hear his grunt when his ribs slam into one of mine.
I still my movements, my muscles rippling with effort to contain myself. He climbs up with ease and nestles himself between the dip of my wings.
More rush our direction, aware of our plan, but it does nothing to pull me from the thought of his bare body touching my scales. Warmth settles there, right where he places himself in a haste. His skin touching mine feels… right, like a flower blossoming inside my stomach, twisting in a ray of sun, and a flock of butterflies swirls around it.
The sun . . . My mind’s eye feels it, thirsts for it. I reach for the light, wanting more, needing more. I reach a little more, desperate for his bright soul to touch my dark one. To ease the smothering discomfort that threatens to swallow me whole.
The screams and roars pull me from a full mental grasp, forcing me to regain focus to the matter at hand and the incoming enemy. I shake my head to clear my thoughts, and the blossoming flower and butterflies disappear as quickly as they came, replaced by a cold sensation – a bucket of ice dumped on an already chilled body. I almost sob.
The sandman takes a running leap and grips the curve of my back leg. He’s quick to climb, a practiced skill. Tember’s odd companion follows directly afterward, his approach closer to a swinging monkey in a cluster of close trees.
My dragon head swivels, looking for Tember with wild eyes.
Jumping into the air, fist pulled back, Tember punches a demon upon descending. Her fist cracks the bones of his wide protruding cheek, the sound unmistakable, and he falls to the ground. Taking another running leap, she catches my scales with one hand. With a grunt, she swings her legs, grips another scale, and climbs.
My back is heavy with passengers, straining my spine and leaving me to wonder how I’ll fly from here with each on my back. Jane and Tanya have yet to be seated, but we must try. I must try. I won’t leave them behind.
“Tanya, Jane, let’s go!” Dyson screams from the top before I have a chance to roar at them in frustration. I’m agitated and anxious, and my scales prick my muscles, an uncomfortable sensation similar to goosebumps.
Expanding my wings, I stretch and test them. I’ve never flown before. I’ve never seen their full expanse or felt the wind between each crevice.
I flap once, and the creeping sand cloud is pushed back from the breeze of it. The feeling is like no other, like a lover’s fingers trailing through thick hair, massaging my scalp. It sends a thrill of adrenaline coursing through my hot veins.
Resist the dark, a voice warns. I remember them, my mother’s words, but the tone is all wrong. It’s male, deep, but just as loving as the woman who brought me into this world.
I whip my head to look
beneath my stomach, using the voice to anchor my thoughts. Tanya and Jane look to one another, tears streaming down their aged faces. It’s their blissful moment in chaos - a silent communication - and I nudge Jane’s back, letting her know we don’t have time for it.
Tanya squints up at my underbelly bowing with the weight on my back, and she shakes her head. “You can’t -” she begins, screaming over the noise and shaking her head. “Run! Fly! Leave us!”
She pushes one of my legs, and my instincts force me to chomp at the air. Jane startles with fright but quickly recovers.
The dust starts to settle from the falling wall, and the demons and vampires roar, aware of our impending attempt to escape. They run with pumping arms, some with speed, some lumbering due to massive size. It’s intimidating, looking at it from this perspective when I harbor every person I could lose.
The pounding of their feet nears and my adrenaline spikes, desperate for a few more moments to convince the women that here isn’t the place to die a second time. I whip my head from underneath my belly. In quick succession, I release a wave of fire, engulfing the first line and creating a barrier of flames to buy us time.
My heart drops. The flames reach to an impossible level - not because it’s not working. It is. My hope sinks because of Tanya’s words and the truth behind them. My spine is already pained, an ache which reaches to my skull. I’m inexperienced in flight, and if I add another person to my back, I may not even make it off the ground.
I roar in fury, directing it at the demons and blaming them while they disintegrate into charred bones.
Jane and Tanya are sacrificing themselves because someone has to. The enemy is close, too close. Even if I could get both women on my back and manage to lift my talons off the ground, the enemy would bring us down. If someone were to stay behind, if someone were to distract, it would allow us the time we need to escape. It makes me sick thinking about it.
I chomp my teeth, a snarl, and stomp my talon. I don’t want to lose someone else.
“Go!” Jane shoves one of my legs this time, soft flesh against my armored scales. “Go!”
I stare at her, searching one pleading, wet eye. It glistens with my flames, and tears continuously flow to the edge of her jaw. I search the other, finding the same emotion. She’s scared. Worried. Broken... I can see her heart shattering to pieces with this one look.
“No!” Dyson yells. “Kat, no!”
Jane nods to me, slow but certain, and brings her trembling fingers to her lips. She knows this is her end, and she’s aware of the costs. She’ll be taken to the void, forever a trapped soul.
“Kat! There’s no place for the twice dead. Don’t do it!” Dyson attempts to sway me once more, but there’s resolve on the women’s stances even as they begin to back away from the safety of my underbelly.
Nothing I say, nothing I do, will save them from their own choice to save us from the inevitable if I were to try. And I won’t take choice away from them. Not like it has been for me.
“We have to go!” Tember’s friend yells. The vibration of released bow strings whips the immediate atmosphere while Tember and the man fend off those who have leaped over the wall of burning bodies.
Our time is up.
Jane reaches forward and strokes the scales along my jaw. “Tell Eliza to be strong. Tell her I love her. Tell her . . .” her voice cracks. “Tell her I choose this fate because a realm without her in it is too dim for the darkest of souls.”
I briefly close my eyes against her gentle touch, feeling the depths of her last request through the contact - an unruly beast to a compassionate human. A mother saving her daughter. The selfless rescuing strangers. It sobers me, yet mentally brings me to my knees. My legs wobble, echoing my thoughts and jostling those on my back.
Grinding my teeth, I nod my head against her palm, vowing to honor her wishes. A tear streams down my scales, hitting the sand below. It sizzles when it meets blood and goop. My tears cure, but they can’t cure this.
“Kat!” Tember yells in desperation.
It’s now or never. I turn from Jane’s compassionate touch, and, against my conflicting judgement, I beat my wings through the cold, dusty air. Dyson screams and protests on my back. His fists pummel my scales, but he soon reduces to sobs that quake his body against my aching spine. My heart shatters with his.
I’ll live with this for the rest of my life, knowing I allowed their deaths and stole their freedom, even if it was their choice in the end. And I’ll accept this burden as my own.
The darkness, once gripping my thoughts, dampens in my sorrow. The cold fingers wrap more tightly around the chambers of my heart. This time, however, I accept it for what it is - an emotional disconnect I willingly accept.
Gently, I lift into the air, my wings pushing against the pressure of the wind gathering underneath. Dyson wails, and my eyes well with tears. I shift my flight slightly for fear he’ll fall with his grief, and the sandman grabs Dyson’s arms to hold him in place. My heart pounds in my ears, sorrow gripping.
Higher and higher I fly, my feet tucked against my belly. We’re almost to the top of the Colosseum, and a rush of unexpected wind pushes me slightly off kilter. My riders’ grips tighten with their legs, squeezing my sides.
“Steady, Kat!” Tember warns.
Once balanced, I look down and watch as the wall of fire dissipates to a low wave. The vampires and demons take advantage, cheers of pure delight when they leap over the embers. As one, ants swarming from their hill, they take over our vacated spot without pause.
Dyson screams when they circle Tanya and Jane, and in a blink, they pile on top of them.
I close my eyes, wetness chilling my cheek. There will be nothing left of the women when they’re done. Nothing but the haunting memory etched behind my eyelids for the rest of my life.
Angling my wings, I tilt us in a new direction, flying along the fog blanketing the sky and leaving my humanity behind.
“Hurry, Kat,” Tember urges. “We need a portal!”’
A growl rumbles in my chest, a warning to the demanding angel.
“Now!” she screams again.
More tears stream down my scaled face, dripping from my muzzle and falling the hundreds of feet below. I chomp my teeth in fury, my grief quickly changing to rage because of Tember’s demand, but knowing she’s right. Soaring through the Death Realm’s sky while coming to terms with what I’ve done will leave Tanya and Jane’s sacrifice in vain.
Erline, I whisper in my head, an unpreventable mourning tone. I know she’ll hear me. She’s heard me before, back in the forest so long ago. Erline, I call again. Portal.
High winds from our gathering speed whip my tail behind me. When I don’t think she’ll answer my plea, the portal finally forms, mixing with the misty fog ahead. It swirls, large and circular, a broken promise for a place far safer than here.
Tucking my wings, I detect my riding companions hugging my spine, and we dip, soaring toward the swirls and leaving a part of ourselves behind.
I’ll never forget this day. I vow to avenge them even if I’m the only one marching in an army.
CHAPTER THREE
AIDEN VANDER
DEMON REALM
I shimmer in, choosing the only place I know she’ll be. The battle cries still vibrate inside my skull, and sand pebbles cling to my clothes, but everything here remains the same. Except me.
My trust in the creature I search for is almost humorous. I’ve only met her once, and even then, she tried to lure me to my death. When I recall that memory, her searching eyes had said everything she couldn’t, and I feel as though I can trust it. She had made a point to tell me about Corbin’s weakness, as had my reluctant escort. Who would do such a thing if there wasn’t an underlying reason?
She’s the one creature I can ask for help. I feel it in my bones.
Sulfur stings my nose, my first deep inhale of the Demon Realm. I haven’t been gone too long, but the stench is overbearing.
The
lavafalls tumble slowly down the cliffs, the backdrop to this realm. It’s the only sound to be heard, and I get goosebumps at the eerie atmosphere. This truly is a place of harbored terror.
I search the surface of the gentle flowing black lava sea, looking for Ferox. There’s a rift between her kind and our creator; it was evident in the way she spoke about him. But I need to find her and quick. Time isn’t on my side.
At this moment, Corbin is wounded and vulnerable, and his remaining demons seem to be absent. I didn’t expect them to be. I had anticipated them to be roaring with battle rage, bustling from one place to the next, and scrambling to find their baring.
However, their absence works in my favor. What I plan on doing next is reckless, even for myself.
Eliza can’t stay in this realm - she’ll be fed from until she dies a terrifying death. It’s prudent I get her to safety, somewhere Kheelan can’t find her. And then, I’ll return to deliver the death to the fee who doesn’t deserve his position. He is weak, pathetic, a disgrace better suited as the grit clinging to my shirt.
Still unconscious in my arms, Eliza’s long red hair tickles my bicep, waving with each shift of my weight. I wait beside the lava sea, the same area I met Ferox in. I glance left, look right, paranoid of discovery before I can go through with my impulsive plan.
In the distance, the flow of lava travels upward, forming the castle walls of Domus Timore. Perhaps the remaining are tending to their wounded creator inside the home of demons. I smirk at the imagery, but it quickly fades while my wait stretches on.
No one knows of my betrayal yet, I remind myself. No one is aware I don’t plan to remain under the pressed thumb of Corbin. The attention was on the bloodbath and not on my shimmering exit, and that works in my favor.