In Eden's Shadow

by Amanda Churi

  Pinion acted—slashed at Griffin’s throat, but he sidestepped it with ease. His disoriented eyes immediately snapped back into focus upon being targeted, locking down with deadly accuracy on she who dared to strike him. Hissing with rage, he whipped his arm out and let the cards fly.

  The queen hardly lifted her sword to her face in time, but the hit was so intense that it shoved her several crucial inches back, the cards going so far as to lodge themselves into her solid weapon. She lashed out in return, but again, Griffin avoided it, this time with a high-speed tumble.

  “Back!” Pinion ordered through gritted teeth as the overshadowed sorcerer rose. Griffin whipped his robotic arm down beside him as the levers and pipes shifted into a machine gun, wailing balls of white budding in each chamber.

  Pinion turned and bolted. “GO, GO, GO!”

  “But Sage is still—!”

  Pinion grabbed Seek by the arm and forced her to retreat. “Leave them! They’re not worth it!”

  Seek couldn’t believe the order, but she was too terrified to fight and turn back as Griffin expelled a predatory screech and aimed his arm, the six chambers that made up the wide barrel rotating and shrinking as the pressure built within.

  The entire Encryption had shifted direction, frantically transitioning from offense to defense and racing back toward the decimated village that they came through.

  Typo snickered at their fallback, pushing his pulsing red fist up toward the clouds as his killer gaze pinned a target on Seek’s back. A flare of red exploded from his knuckles and tore through the clouds, a monsoon of battle cries surging up and around the palace as Typo screamed, leading the charge of demons and Elites. The tanks were back on the move; the ships began to fire once more.

  Griffin roared, releasing the barrage of ammunition. The rounds fired in waves of six with deafening booms as Seek looked back in horror, watching the streaks of white barrel toward her.

  Arms of corroded metal shot up before Seek’s face, locking together as the bullets struck hard and fast, shoving Pinion’s already flying body even farther. Pinion screamed, nicks and plates of her compressed wing flying off with each blow, but she kept herself running and taking the brunt, refusing to let Seek be her shield. “Now’s the time to blend in! You need to get lost so that Typo can’t pick you out!”

  Seek was so surprised that she thought her ears betrayed her, especially as Griffin howled once more with the failure of his attack. He refused to conform to any preexisting battle tactic; he pursued them with fire at his heels, the gun spinning and reloading as his reworked body shot him past any grounded demon or Elite, only outsped by the cavalry.

  Pinion wanted to fight that alone?! “But what about you?! You’re injured! You need me!”

  Pinion shoved Seek away, forcing the child to fend on her own two feet. “Don’t think about me anymore! You think about yourself from here on out!” She threw her neck back to project her call. “ALL HOODS UP!”

  The few black hoods that had fallen immediately flew over their respective heads, further disclosing those behind the armor. With a last terrified glance at her queen, Seek yanked her hood down as far as it could go and sharply broke away from the center of the formation. Her shaking hand anxiously clutched the hilt of the sword hooked at her side, her heart throwing itself against the cage of her armor with every step. This was really it; it was time to do or die.

  She zigzagged in and out of her allies to obscure her position while the demonic battle cries of the enemy ambushed her from all angles. She was afraid to look up—too petrified to raise her head and risk Typo recognizing her—but even the simplest upward glance drove a stake through her heart.

  Falkas were soaring overhead, galloping through the sky to cut off their escape route. Typo stood upon the back of his sprinting steed, a shadow ball readied in his sweltering palm with devilish eyes overlooking the crowd. It didn’t matter how fast the rebels ran; the falkas moved at an incomparable speed, closing over the ruined village well before the Encryption ever had the chance to reach even the outskirts.

  “DROP!” Typo ordered.

  The falkas continued on their run, but the shis mounted upon them jumped, falling and landing into the heart of the retreat.

  Seek screeched, darting to the side as a shi perfectly intercepted her path. Air surging through his hollowed body and rattling his rotten bones, he swung his meteorite blade out to the side, catching an Encryptor at the ribs and smacking them down into the snow.

  Seek forced her vision to steer clear of what would happen next, sucking in her lips as shis became a natural part of the crowd, drastically slowing their advance; she couldn’t even run straight anymore, having to dive to the sides and run in circles when necessary. She needed to put up some sort of fight, but her trembling hand merely remained at the ready. What help would she be?! She was so inexperienced and clumsy when it came to weaponry that it was utterly pathetic. Without her powers, she was practically handicapped in battle, but using them meant giving away her position and inviting Typo to a one-on-one… And she knew how that would turn out.

  A shi charged her from the side. Seek hardly realized in time, narrowly avoiding a blow to the gut. Panicking, she shuffled back to distance herself, but the shi had all attention on her, sauntering forward with swaying shoulders, bones breaking and reforming.

  She tightened her hold on the hilt, but she lacked the strength to draw. “G-get back!”

  The demon merely scoffed, leveling his sword with her head and tearing forward in a streak of black. Seek half-fainted at her impending death, dropping just low enough to avoid a direct hit as the blade whooshed overhead. The moment it cleanly passed, she scrambled back up and continued running without looking back—but now, there really was no safe place to run to.

  She could hardly breathe, hyperventilating more and more. There were fewer and fewer allies while the avalanche of enemies continued to descend. Her tiny, frail body moved so swiftly and desperately that it was hard for them to pick her out and even more so catch her before she had already squirmed away, bit by bit nearing the run-down haven of a village.

  All falkas freed of steerers changed their flight path, circling back in the sky and touching down in a line before the town. They did not join the battle, posts responsible for catching whatever stragglers made it that far. Only a few Encryptors were ahead of Seek, racing forward with heads down and weapons raised, determined to get through.

  A single falka reared up on their hind legs when the first who dared to cross got too close, whinnying a fierce warning before charging the Encryptor. The soldier dropped, sliding in the snow and through the demon’s legs, slicing them off right above the hooves. They got through just as the horse proceeded to collapse, only for another falka to be waiting for them, throwing down their hooves and bashing in the Encryptor’s head.

  Even seeing their skull bust open, Seek still couldn’t draw her blade. If a skilled swordsman was done in that easily, her end would be downright laughable.

  She took a deep breath, unsheathing her sword and pulling it in close to her chest while glancing up at Typo, who flew around the battlefield, still searching for the disowned princess. When he passed overhead and proceeded to make his next loop, Seek took to action and put on an extra burst of speed, heading straight for a falka. They snorted, amused by the puny approaching prey, and however fake it might have been, Seek smiled right back, placing two of her fingers on the blade and sending forth a single soul to rest on the deadly tip.

  The falka jerked in surprise, those surrounding it rearing up in panic, but Seek was already upon them, sliding beneath the belly of one and stabbing them under the ribs. It separated their cloudy gut perfectly in half as she glided on the snow, the magic reaching through and purifying their demonic soul. The neighboring falkas steered clear, bolting away into the fray to alert Typo, but by then, the child was back on the run.

  Seek was not the first to get through to the village—a handful of others successfully cros
sed before her, all diving into the nearest hut that could give them even the smallest fraction of shelter. Not knowing if Typo had yet been alerted, Seek did the same thing, scrambling through a collapsed window and scampering into a dark corner.

  Her head hit the frozen concrete with an exhausted thud, her frantic breath bathing her in a cloud of mist. Winded, she stared out from the cracked foundation, hugging her sword as the death wave encroached. Bit by bit, demons were entering the village. Typo was flying toward the houses with the utmost urgency, but the majority of demons remained on the battlefield, taking down whatever enemies were unfortunate enough to linger. The only reason any of the Encryption had even made it through was because of Pinion, who boldly took to fighting Griffin and keeping him off the rest of them.

  The demons and Proxez joined in on Griffin’s attack, trying to overwhelm the angel. A patchy forcefield was Pinion’s best survival tactic, but too many too often made their way through, squeezing through the glitchy holes that Pinion had not the time nor attention to patch. That being said, she couldn’t turn away from Griffin for more than a heartbeat; her wing had to guard her, swinging wildly and launching green arcs of magic to keep those who made it through at a distance.

  Griffin was a ruthless beast with no calculation nor coordination whatsoever. His mechanical arm continuously shifted forms: first a hammer, then a diamond blade, followed by his machine gun spewing purified bullets nonstop—those never stopped flying, and neither did his cards. The second new ones formed, he launched them no matter the color, and only by the grace of God did Pinion avoid them. As it was, she couldn’t land a single hit on the sorcerer; his jumps propelled him nearly a dozen feet into the air at times, and his mechanical construction allowed him to break all physical limits of the average human.

  And when Pinion went too long without suffering some sort of blow… Well, Griffin wasn’t afraid to strike elsewhere to take out his frustration; only Pinion reengaging the cyborg could save more allies from so needlessly being butchered by vaporizing bullets, serrated blades, or piercing cards.

  “COME ON OUT, SEEK!”

  Seek threw herself into a tight ball, whipping herself away from the cracks in the wall. Steadying her breathing was next to impossible; as it was, she had tremendous difficulty controlling her shivers to keep her blade from racking against her suit.

  “What’s the point of hiding?” Typo reasoned, his voice drawing closer. “You can’t come out of this alive! You’re only delaying the inevitable!”

  Slowly finding the strength to clutch her sword tight, she raised her blade, keeping the tip pointed at the puny hole that she had squirmed in through.

  A door not far away was kicked in. “WHAT CAN A LITTLE BRAT LIKE YOU DO? GIVE UP!” A window shattered, followed by the screams of her allies. Seek slammed her head down into her knees to try and muffle their cries; her outstretched blade bounced so hard that it may as well have been rubber.

  He’s going to keep searching until he finds you! Seek told herself. He’ll keep pillaging—killing! Just do what he says! Save them!

  He will kill them, regardless.

  Seek opened her eyes in surprise, still hearing the cries of war, but now, there was another distinct voice—one from inside her.

  Gannon is your goal… And you can reach him if you give it your all.

  “But…” she whispered shrilly. “I’m… Afraid… I’m not strong anymore with so few of you… He’ll catch me!”

  Child, you have the Holy Spirit with you—you have us. There is nothing to be afraid of. You can do all things through Christ, through us, so rise and fight. Fight as the child of God you are.

  Her knees racked. There was a strong pull in her gut, almost standing her up by itself, but she resisted and remained seated, crying in the tight corner that she had been forced into five years ago. “I… Can’t…!”

  “Seek-chan!”

  Seek nearly had a heart attack as a figure appeared in front of the window, scrambling inside to take refuge with her.

  “M-Merritt-sama!” she whispered harshly. “How did you—?!”

  “I can never forget a scent. You know that.”

  Seek shook her head, incredulous. “You’re so stupid coming here…! Typo will find us both now and—!”

  She bopped Seek’s nose to silence her. “Ōi, well, it didn’t seem like you would be getting out at all without me. Now listen, I have a plan. It’s a bit risky, but you have to trust me.”

  Just hearing the word “trust” brought extreme distress to Seek. Still, she did not protest, nodding once to show she was listening.

  Her response made Merritt chuckle. “Iie, iie, don’t be afraid; you just have to have faith.” She held out her hand, inviting Seek to take it.

  Seek stared at Merritt’s open palm as though it was life or death—which it was. Merritt’s language alone frightened her, but the increasingly loud bangs and snarls coming from the raiding demons did an even greater job.

  Choosing what she considered the lesser of the two evils, Seek warily held out her non-dominant hand, keeping her sword tight in the other.

  “Alright… Stay calm.” Merritt placed one hand on each side of Seek’s, gently stroking her veins and tendons with her human-claws before taking a deep breath and suddenly pushing down, puncturing her skin.

  “Calm” was a nonexistent word. “What are you—?!”

  Merritt harshly compressed Seek’s hand to silence her. “Baka… Shush! I can’t manipulate something if I have never smelled it!”

  Seek still couldn’t calm down, but she did keep quiet when Merritt recalled her hands, using them to waft the scent of Seek’s blood into her cupped palms. Seek was waiting for the moment that the air would warm and Typo would pop up to slit her throat, but even after several thundering seconds, that moment never came.

  Still focusing on her work, Merritt bobbed her head to the ribbons decorating her thighs. “Take one and cover the wound well.”

  Seek ripped off the cloth with primal ferocity. She shoved it down into the puncture wound with haste, bandaging her hand and pulling so tightly that she began to lose circulation, but right now, losing her hand was better than her life.

  Merritt waited. She watched Seek closely and then took the invisible scent contained within her palms, swallowing the air whole. Her purple eyes flashed once and then went dark.

  Seek stared, baffled. “What did…?”

  Hands on her pushed-out hips, Merritt stood with a satisfied smirk. “It’s obvious, isn’t it? Get up and follow me.” She strutted back to where she entered from.

  Head low and frame condensed, Seek hobbled after her, sword down but ready. The sorceress pressed herself against the wall, pulling Seek with her so that they could just barely peer down the street. Fighting continued toward the palace in the distance, but most demons had taken to plaguing the overturned village, crawling on the streets and over sunken roofs, all searching for a pulse of any sort.

  And, of course, on their street was the baddest boy of them all, mounted upon his falka with eyes flashing to and from each house.

  “When I do it, run as fast as you can,” Merritt growled in Seek’s ear.

  “But… What about the invasion?”

  Merritt snorted. “It clearly failed. We’ll find another path in—but this isn’t it.” She lifted her hand; faint light rays beamed through her skin, and slowly, Merritt curled her fingers until they took direct aim at Typo. “Kuso kurae…!”

  She violently pushed out, and Typo reacted immediately, his head flying back toward the battlefield. He was there one moment, and the next, he was gone—evaporated into a fitting, puny black wisp, and teleported away.

  “GO!” Merritt snarled, grabbing Seek at her waist and shoving her up through the window. Seek squealed with fright, plopping onto the street and scrambling to face Merritt. The sorceress paid her no attention; she jabbed the air again, this time in a different location, forcing the black comet to fly to the opposite side of the battlefi
eld.

  “M-Merritt!”

  “Go before you get caught! He’ll figure out it’s not you soon enough!”

  Seek didn’t want to leave, but the rising chorus of growls made her decision for her. Hurriedly picking herself up, Seek turned and ran as fast as she could.

  Snorts and gargles were quickly racing alongside her, two demons on one side and one on the other, pounding down on the rooftops as the three began to catch up to her. She was pumping her arms and running with all her might, searching for some collapsed or cluttered street to lose them on, but nothing was showing itself fast enough, allowing the demons to gradually close the distance.

  She gave her sword a hard, desperate squeeze, feeling the withered muscles in her arms heat up and expand. Her legs were too short, and she was too exhausted to outrun them; it didn’t matter how much she sucked in combat—there was no more time to stall.

  Freed saliva and snarls bashed her from the left side. Scared for her life, she spun with a scream, slashing with her blade to take down the demon in midair.

  The only problem was that she swung too early.

  She was hooked right at the throat, the claws fearlessly sinking in and tearing open the front like wallpaper. She couldn’t believe what happened, unable to scream out of pure shock as she was shoved down onto her back.

  The two other demons leaped down to join in the feast, suddenly blasted away mid-flight. Still without voice or action, Seek’s stunned eyes rotated to the wooden harpoon that pierced both demons through their sides, pinning their thrashing bodies to a pile of rubble. She stared long and hard, her sight whisked away to the one looming over her body when they were suddenly speared as well, the force launching them far away from her. The branches impaling all three were alive, wriggling and grinding into the foundations they hooked the demons to, ensuring no chance of escape.