In Eden's Shadow

by Amanda Churi

  They know, I reiterated.

  They smiled. All of them. I don’t think I had actually ever seen Laelia’s face fold that way. Seek’s mural of angels behind them gave encouraging, accepting smiles as well. The staked fledglings who were bleeding red and black, their draining lives running into Satan’s hideous exoskeleton, wailed and hollered in protest. Their game was about to be turned on its head, but their approval didn’t matter.

  Really, only hers did.

  Mabel’s head bobbed with a tight smile, misty tears in her eyes. I moved my sight to that pathetic human soul of mine that she held onto with tight, trembling fingers, knowing that she was about to be permanently separated from the one she fought so hard to get back to.

  I wasn’t so far gone that I would thank him for giving me a purpose, but I wasn’t so rude that I would leave him with an insult either. Nice knowing you.

  I disconnected from them, and through the lingering lines of lagging static, Eero’s head rolled toward me, foggy blue eyes wrung with confusion.

  I returned to reality with a heavy-set crash, back in the forest drawn from scratchy black and white scribbles. Each breath dragged through me, metallic and surreal. The abstract rays ribbing Gannon’s body moved in choppy frames, the squealing of the currents excavating my ears as he reached his prime.

  Coruscus’ aura rebelled and flared back into existence, its rays bursting through the chaos. It swung across my breast protectively, besieged by a hateful, murderous growl. One look at it stunted my heart.

  The cord had changed; instead of a solid, slick wire, there were now deadly barbs reaching from it. The colors were different too; Coruscus was still gold, but it was now a deeper, richer shade closer to honey, and the center was not a simple sphere from which the energy stretched. The waves of light were folding and spinning, forming an intricate design… A flower of some sort.

  I knew the giggle that went off in my head. Mabel…? Did she have something to do with this?

  The weight of a second sky landed on me and snatched my eyes back to my opponent. Gannon’s chaotic thunderstorm of white that dared to resemble wings throbbed once before a shelling of shocking knives and pikes came pelting down. My legs shot me forward and toward his wide, violent embrace, weaving harshly with skids and tumbles through his phantasmic maze as spear after spear came down, dicing the earth. Gannon commanded them with his brain; his body stayed stagnant and immovable, eyes smirking as each maneuver of mine became harder with the building pressure. My world itself was in a tremor, the thunder spears getting closer by the second.

  My spine violently twisted; I turned so hard that my pecks and hips were facing opposite directions as a bolt detonated over my shoulder. Shit…!

  My opposite ear crackled. I snapped back to my original position, hardly avoiding the next shot. Crap! Did he have me pinned?! Satan!

  Satan didn’t reply with words but rather by throwing my spine back, a streak of singeing white whizzing over my face and searing my scaly flesh. My hand found the chain at my side and then whipped it out, the coils whirling and undoing themselves as the grapple hit Gannon square in the face, nicking his nose.

  The surprise hit was enough to break Gannon’s focus, the crackling forest around us dissolving to its roots. Gannon hopped back with an empowered spring, wiping his nose to see the smear of blood.

  A smug smirk crinkled my lips as the chain came flying back, landing firmly in my hand. An amazed chortle, one of enthrallment raptured Gannon; he threw his arms open again, resummoning his back-eating eels while ripples of power continued to surge across his bedazzled face. “Yes! Again! Do that again!”

  Satan snapped my arm down and sent the metallic snake flying. Gannon pushed out his hand, and the two collided, deflecting one another and sparking a scalding shower. Satan immediately freed His second coil and sent it Gannon’s way as the other ricocheted back; once it returned to His hand, He relaunched it, repeating the tactic over and over to force Gannon to stay on the defensive.

  Step by step, we closed ground. Gannon’s flying hands moved so quickly to block each flog that he looked like he was scrubbing an invisible window. But he was in Heaven; his zipper of a smile went beyond his face, eyes combusting, skin cracking like glass as more and more currents gathered beneath his skin, making it lift off his bones.

  “Tah, take over,” Satan grumbled.

  What? I didn’t understand what He meant until the chains left my palms but continued striking on their own. Her control freed my hands that lifted from my sides, condensed spheres of black—curses—growing between each finger. “Aponi, Ryze, get ready to release some of the fledglings. Laelia, help with my aim.”

  Huh…? There was no time to look back in; doing so could have been the difference between life and death, but there was certainly an unsettling fog concentrating in my head. He was calling on them? To help? That’s right, I was just the vessel He needed; His years of exploitation and stress had sapped Him dry, but my storage unit of demons, the ones He had purposely tucked away to kill me, they were His energy—kindling He was burning through the longer He stayed in my body.

  A snarl ripped through Gannon’s warping face. “Had enough target practice yet? You’re only getting more predictable!” He raced forward as a shell of white, the lightning shooting out of his feet making him fly forth without friction.

  Satan jumped, flares of black spouting from my heels and launching me straight into the vortex of night, stories above the canopy. Satan chuckled and chucked the magical grenades down into the forest. Trees vanished in clouds of bark and soil, entire plots of land reduced to dust with a single curse, but Gannon moved so fast that he had his own comet trail, playing connect-the-dots with the trees and avoiding every strike. Once it was time for Satan to reload, Gannon stopped running and threw himself around to face my suspended body.

  His hand flew up, and the electric dome screeched. The wires of electricity jumped and snapped out from every wall, stabbing through me and keeping me in the air. I could hardly scream—what managed to come out was a gargled, electrocuted mess of saliva and blood.

  Rockets of white shot Gannon into the sky after me. The electricity charged him, built around him, and pushed him into a pressurized shot that shattered the air with a massive boom. He smashed into my chest with zapping fists; I saw stars and heard the echo of the abyss, Gannon flying with me until he rammed me into the wall.

  He took me by the shoulders, grinding me down farther and farther into the broken tiles that began to pierce my worn armor and cut through my back. The electrical storm surrounding Gannon kept him aloft, defying gravity and fueling his muscles that pushed harder and harder. Satan tried to take control back; every limb of my body He cried for in blubbering, deranged madness. The face of His centuries-old enemy was finally there—so close that He could have bit it off had He been able to move.

  “Come on, still no power spike? Wow, those Eyla are pretty disappointing, but I think You’re the biggest disappointment of all.”

  His grip changed, a sparking hand flying around my neck and crushing my windpipe. He snarled, unwinding Mabel’s spine from his neck and squeezing it tight.

  My sight flew to the fracture his merciless grip sent across the string of blocks. My rage came to my eyes and shook my vision into a blending, distorted picture as he lifted it over his shoulder, a blanket of white flames spewing forth with the purifying, all-destructive aura of God.

  I knew I wasn’t going to come out of this existing, but she wasn’t going to be the one who landed that blow. “NO!”

  It was my scream and my fight that pulled through—my knee that cut up and pegged him right below the chin before I punted him with my foot, backflipping him across the forest’s sky. Relief rushed through me in a gasp, my muscles and heart pounding but freed—so free that they let me enter a free fall, but my nerves were so shot I hardly felt myself hit the ground.

  “Come… On…” Satan tried to get up, but my hands were still swimming with stati
c—everything was, inside and out.

  Getting close to him is suicide… I noted.

  “Obviously—” A hack cut off His reply—an oatmeal of blood and clots falling as an oozing heap into the grass.

  I looked over my hands that were finally settling down, noticing the cracks and blood welling up between the scales.

  My body… It was breaking down. I was losing time, and Gannon was only getting stronger.

  “Not yet,” Satan growled. He inhaled deeply through my nose; another barrage of ripping screams, the shredding of souls assaulted my ears. Visible fractures came to my eyes; my field of vision broke, segmenting into smaller chunks rimmed with a coming fog. The chains at my hips jumped and rattled; Coruscus burned, as did the bracelet and necklace, while my tattoo began to open and peel. They were screaming, all of them, but it was Mabel’s that tormented me most.

  A ring of black and purple fire shot from my hands and feet, overhauling the prosthetic Eden in a tsunami-like wave. The plains and trees were awash with fire at once; not even the well-saturated forest could hold back the cursed flames. The heat was sweltering, leaving my vessel panting as the air came to life in vapors that smelled of burning brush and flesh as the fire embarked on its warpath, consuming everything in sight.

  Heaving, I stood, even though I was anything but stable.

  And Gannon was already there, a raging bushel of white in the distance that reaped the fumes of his hard work. He had a good bit of red to him after that strike, but nothing compared to me—and nothing that an average human wouldn’t have endured. His white hair levitated around his scalp tattooed by failed experiments. Eyes shone bright and dangerous like alarms, every blood road, muscle path, and bone route in his body highlighted, convulsing with power. His hold on Mabel’s spine was so tight that it was an extension of his arm; the seething hatred that kept hold of it would never let it go.

  His quick return made Satan take another puff.

  More cracks. More fuzz. Static in the stomach and a breeze in the mind.

  But we stood ready again. The chains were more sporadic, but they took aim; Coruscus managed to lift itself up and turn its head to the bastard, a guttural growl knocking within and making the aura whirl like a sawblade.

  “Look… At what you did…” Gannon mumbled, stalking forward with a slow, ominous gait. “My lifetime’s work… In ruins…”

  Tah’s chains shook and birthed a black fire, waiting for Gannon to enter striking range. The toxins pooling from Satan’s pores began to congregate at His hand, and with a grandeur hiss, the gaseous poison solidified in Satan’s hold, molding into His legendary weapon of three spires and one death wish. It too, however, was dark, covered in grime, rust, and famine, ready to topple just like Satan’s bones that still called themselves a frame.

  Gannon stepped into Tah’s predetermined grid, and the chains lashed out, carving arcs of burning black into the earth. Gannon jump roped effortlessly over the crossing strikes, landing with a hefty thud and running dead at me.

  Satan stabbed forward with His pitchfork, releasing a storm of rotten wisps and ashy soot—a furnace on its reserves. A shield of liquid glass separated from Gannon’s skin, protecting him from the black magic. Tah’s chains hissed and dove at his back, but they merely nicked the surface and rebound from his force field, leaving the crazed man untouched.

  Satan screamed, continuing to fire with His rod as though it was a machine gun. A sticky smile drew Gannon’s lips high, and he swiped forward with Mabel’s bony whip, releasing a wave of bloody flames that consumed Satan’s own. Had Satan not leaped back in time, He would have been hit face-on.

  “Laelia!” He snapped. “Fucking help Tah aim! Ryze, Aponi, more fuel! Mabel, get ready!”

  Another frame of black and a rush of winter. I spaced back, but I wasn’t all there. His influence, His desperation was closing in on me more and more.

  He took His pitchfork and spun it as a propeller. Lethal waves of heat and flame spouted from the staff to counter Gannon’s shield with His own, taking the relentless strikes that Gannon brought nearer and nearer. The entire forest was glowing with the fires of all worlds; the smoke had two measly pinholes to escape through, asphyxiating me and clouding the battle even more.

  Running out of options, being driven closer to the wall, Satan changed tactics and charged Gannon head-on, roaring the cries of every demon in His body.

  For the first time, I could say that Gannon was somewhat caught off guard. The flames gushing from Mabel’s spine lapsed for just a moment mid-strike, and that was when Satan took His chance, plunging the rod of His pitchfork into the thickening soot and pole vaulting over Gannon’s head.

  He screamed a scream that echoed Hell’s fury; Tah’s chains shot down and harpooned the soil for stability, the rings of fire shooting from her grapples making Gannon totter. Satan somersaulted in midair, and Coruscus exploded with golden vengeance, coming down on the sorcerer’s head.

  Gannon hardly leaped to the side in time, the ferocity of Coruscus’ strike shattering the barrier and scathing Gannon’s shoulder. When the flustered sorcerer turned around, Satan was charging again, chains flying and ax spinning.

  They became locked in brutal close combat. Gannon revived his staticky shield just before Tah’s strikes could sever his head. Hands that were suddenly trembling pushed rivers of electricity through Mabel’s spine so that he attacked with lightning and fire in one blow. Coruscus became the one to engage the burning rack, each block and strike countering the other—two separate parts of Mabel fighting for two separate things. Satan continued to strike with His pitchfork, Gannon dodging most every thrust, but the longer the battle went on, the more accurately Gannon was able to predict and counter Satan’s moves, forcing us closer to the wall.

  Gannon had entered overdrive; he was foaming from the mouth with electricity, and his eyes held so much energy that they could not be found amongst the sheen of white his entire body pushed off, making his face look like one blank, dangerous slate.

  I could hardly watch anymore… Deflected or not, the power behind each of Gannon’s swings detonated when colliding with Coruscus, filling the air with webs of lightning and making every step more dangerous than the last.

  Power… I thought. Power… Satan, use it all at once.

  There was a hesitation that ensnared Him. A hefty swing and cry, and Mabel’s spine outmaneuvered Coruscus, cutting into my breastplate and hitting the skin.

  A gripping wail sent Satan scrambling back as my soul zapped. My hold on life went in and out like a signal, losing its attachment at a frightening speed as the skin surrounding the gash shriveled and withered. The armor plate had a gaping, melting hole that spread farther and farther across my chest until the Mark was exposed.

  Gannon’s glowing smirk told all. Striking anywhere was an almost sure success, but destroying the Mark spelled victory plainer than anything else.

  Satan could not catch His breath. “What are you—?”

  POWER! I bellowed. ALL OF IT! USE IT ALL IN ONE GO! IT’S YOUR ONLY CHANCE!

  He sprung to the side as Gannon came spinning around again, Mabel’s spine a chain without a ball, ready to take Him out. The chains swiped, Coruscus swung, the pitchfork deflected, but nothing seemed to make Gannon lose steam. “And if it doesn’t work?!” Satan yelled back.

  We won’t know unless You try!

  “AND IF IT DOESN’T WORK?!”

  Fine! If it doesn’t work, You die! But if You keep this up, You are dead for sure! Only a larger source of power can beat him, so if You don’t do it, he’ll keep sapping Your strength until You lose!

  More leaping. More clashing. The showering of sparks, the growing of flames, and the crashing of trees. We were back against the tiles.

  NOW! I screamed. USE IT ALL! EAT US ALL—!

  The electricity leaped from the wall, lassoing us again and again while releasing deadly voltage, ceasing all resistance. Gannon’s dripping head reflected the lethal strings; he smiled
wickedly, the electricity in him jumping for joy and victory. He threw the spine over his shoulder and cackled, bulbs and volts flying from his seared tongue.

  My final, desperate cry came through my mouth. “LUCIFER!”

  Mabel’s spine cut the air and came down on my skull. I felt a tap—a horrendous suction that turned me inside out, took away my vision and set me on fire, one that spread inside out as opposed to outside in.

  And then, everything was soft and black… Like lying on freshly washed sheets. There was a comforting, homey-type of smell, and the nothingness felt warm, a sun-basked blanket wrapped snugly around the skin.

  I saw the Eyla’s misty faces one last time; they sparked through the darkness and shined in terror, distorted in misery and pain, and then, they were gone.

  It was silent. I just lay there, getting lighter and lighter, feeling my energy, my life force starting to pull away at my feet.

  …Oh. Well, shit.

  I don’t know why I laughed—what in the world there was left to laugh, to smile about, but I still did. I cackled in the face of the void, in the desperation coming up my body and shredding me apart, turning me back into pure energy.

  It was all clear now—sucked that it had taken so long, but there it was. I wasn’t going to win—I never was, never had a chance. Even if everything had gone according to plan, it wouldn’t have solved anything.

  Because I would have held Satan’s weapon, would have sat on His throne, and been the unhappiest I had ever been. After all that I had remembered, I could never be free; I would have always been a slave to my mind. Here I was, thinking that I was fighting to live and take it all back, but really, I had been dead the moment I turned my back on God.

  My torso vanished—the cracks of blinding light were shattering my face and pulling slates of my skin into the air.

  I laughed harder, freed, going back to matter and energy, to grow the universe. Tears were coming out, wicking off my face and lifting into the air as fireflies of white. Why… Why was I so happy? I had nowhere left to go; my home had been taken from me long ago.