Nothing to Fear but Fear herself

Nakiolia immediately stood up and backed away from him. At Nathaniel’s point of view, it was hard to look at her with all of his own blood smeared on her face.

“What did you just say?” her voice was only a whisper from what it was before.

He struggled to get up, blood was oozing from his neck now.

“You heard me. Why do you care so much about him! Don‘t you see, no one here is doing anything at all about me for what I did!” he gestured to the surroundings, “So why are you even fighting if no one else is going to help you now! Who exactly are you anyway?”

Nakiolia looked around, and noticed that there was absolutely no one around. She looked to the towers in the distance and saw that no one was there, the guards were gone. Everything was quiet; no one was coming to her aid to stop the Guardian that had assassinated the prince.
Holding a heavy heart, she swallowed her pride.

“My name is Nakiolia Cobwebb; my last name was given to me by Lucifer’s own daughter.”

Nathaniel looked hard towards her. There were a lot more questions but now he wasn’t sure if he was able to help her or not. Now that he knew she was permitted a last name, she was certainly off the grounds of him taking her back to Cer.

“Jerico was my fiancé.”

There, it was out, her stomach quivered as the air between them became hard to withstand. All Nathaniel could do was fell sorry for her; but he couldn’t say it to her out loud. Guardians did these kind of things; he knew the consequences he was going to take responsibility for. Except for now, he didn’t feel as proud as he did before all of this. Nakiolia ignored his signs of remorse and carried on her conversation.

“But what does it matter to you; my loss is your gain. Cer will welcome you back as a hero for being the only Guardian with the Prince of the Infernos life as your first kill.”

“How did you know about this being my first kill?” he was stunned by her accusation.

“So, they really didn‘t tell you everything when you joined. Not surprising in the very least I must admit.” Nakiolia chuckled in a attempt to cover up sadness, “It all makes since now; they never expected you to even make it back, much less succeed in your quest.”

She planted the end of the sword in the ground to lean on it. “When a Guardian kills a demon, the blood of that creature unleashes a distinct aroma that sticks to their killer. Over time, that same Guardian will have killed thousands of us, even then it is still possible for us to tell how many or who the species of that demon was.”

At the sight of Nathaniel’s face she knew that she was on the verge of killing every brain cell he had. For him this was completely devastating news. A smile played upon her face as she continued.
“That’s why is was so easy for you. You went undetected because we couldn’t smell you and that was exactly why you are still alive.”

Coursing through Nakiolia’s veins was a burning hatred that hurt the roof of her mouth. She wanted to scream or do something to get rid of all the frustration. She clenched the handle of the sword until her own nails cut into her palm. She couldn’t even look at Nathaniel, so she watched her own blood trickle down the blade until the drops reached the ground. A few teardrops joined the blood at the bottom of her feet and the two textures collided.

“I hate you so much and I don‘t even know you, Nathaniel.”

Both her hands were wrapped around the handle as she concentrated all her raw energy into the sword. Blood and an unknown black liquid transpired from the tattoos on her wrists, encircling her and the blade. The ground where the sword hovered over cracked under the intense pressure, even Nathaniel’s eyes widened for he felt the similar effects.

“It doesn‘t even matter anymore that you killed Jerico. You’re another victim that the Guardians have fucked with, and if anything, that just deepens my hatred for them. The Guardians are just another enemy that we’ll have to deal with,” Nakiolia raised her head to see him, “As long as we are what we are, monsters is what they’ll make of us.”

“Whatever you’re trying to prove, Guardians are not the problem! We are Justice! We fight with honor, trying to keep the middle world free of your kind and evil.”

“Idiot!” she swung at Nathaniel only for him to jump out of the way. This only left a destroyed row of townhouses, “Don‘t you dare utter your code like you‘re above us! I’ve been fighting for all of my life when you’ve only been killing to survive for one day!”

He ran towards her again with his sword, Nakiolia attempted to block it but at the last minute the edge of his sword cut through her side. The blood and strange liquid that surround her fell into the ground until it completely disappeared between the cracks. But the very second he saw blood spurt into the air he was afraid to look and see if it was his or not. Pints of blood trickled down the sides of her mouth, her half gargled reply answered his question.

“Guardians think that demons don‘t feel anything when they kill them. We‘re emotionless monsters, we‘re not even above the rights of animals to them.” Nakiolia coughed up blood, not meaning for it to land on Nathaniel’s shirt. (Thankfully he wasn’t paying attention to it and there was blood already on it.) But she pushed him away with her sword that pierced his flesh on his left arm.

With the sword at her feet she held her side with her left arm and gently twirled her necklace that bared a crested moon and northern star in the emblem.

“There is no justice in any destruction, no matter if the intentions are good. Peace will never be by someone if they try to attained it in blood.”

“What?” Nathaniel said in anger with all these things she was saying.

“You won‘t understand it until you see it with your own eyes. The devastation we all bring to those around us in the name of prosperity; only ending in our own corruption.” the attention in her eyes faded, “But you‘ll see it in them, all suffering in silence. And the Guardians ignore it out of spite or take pleasure in seeing them like that.”

“Shut-up!” he clenched his teeth.

Without any warning Nathaniel vanished, only to become visible once dropping from the sky. His weapon sliced halfway through her arm and she fell backwards onto the ground. She opened her eyes only to meet her own staring back at her on the reflection of the sword.

“Don‘t say anything else, I don‘t want to hear it!” he barked.

“Or you‘ll kill me?” she cocked her head back and laughed maniacally.

A blaze of fire quickly arose from the air around them. From nowhere, large numbers of guards surrounded the two, running through the fire without it even leaving a scorch mark on their armor. Like the little tin soldiers they are, they moved in even patterns revealing Lucifer in one of his many forms. The fighting came to a screeching halt at the sight of a small boy. He looked not much older then eight, carrying a worn, fuzzy teddy bear. This form, #88, was one of the least favorites that Lucifer enjoyed, it was mostly used to send simple messages.

The boy looked down and winded the key on the back of the stuffed animal. Then a glint of life shined in the glass eyes of the bear and looked directly at Nathaniel and then to Nakiolia. The teddy bear looked directly at a clearing in the distance, everyone’s eyes turned to it as well to see that a portal was being created. The gateway from Hell to the middle earth pierced both the worlds. It looked back at Nathaniel who was staring in awe at the sight, and in a low growl called out to him.

“Guardian. If you desire to return to where you‘ve come from. Go now. Or remain here and die.” Its mouth opened, but did not form the words it uttered.

Two guards hurried around Nakiolia as she watched them escort him away. She grinded her teeth together and bared it to the other guards. The bear had become silent now which left the boy to speak next.

“Lucifer is disgusted with your actions, Ma’am. He has long been witnessing your fight with the Guardian and demands to see you in the main entrance. Please follow me.” Guards formed around her, “And do refrain from trying to escape.”

The boy turned around, leading Nakiolia and the guards to follow him to the place of what she felt would be her own demise.