Heaven and Hell

A deep rumbling shook the area around them. The fire seemed to grow like an inferno, the heat was so intense that it seemed to steal all but trace amounts of oxygen in the air. Serena began to feel light headed, when a silhouette appeared from within the flames.

From the flames the silhouette began to become clearer, taking shape. The silhouette was coming towards them from a vast distance. When his features were discernable, he stepped out of the flames and onto the soft grass near the fire. His short, dark hair was slicked back and resembled more like feathers than hair. He was dressed in robes like the cultists were wearing, but instead of a hood it had a high collar and a black cape billowed behind him. His nose was hooked like a beak, his skin a pale white. His hands were like the talons of a bird of prey, but the most fearsome thing of all were his eyes. His yellow eyes were slits and when he glanced at Serena it reminded her of how the Fiend had looked at her, a hungry longing. They seemed to pierce through to her very soul.

The Witch dropped to one knee before Alvora. He swept passed her without even glancing at her. Instead he headed in the direction of Azriel and his last remaining foe. When Serena saw the cultist she was astonished to see that it was Rene! He dropped to one knee as Alvora approached. Azriel made a move to strike at him, but the demon merely swatted at him as though he were nothing but an insect. Azriel flew into a nearby tree with an audible oof! He lay on the ground, trying to regain the air back into his lungs.

“Master,” Rene said bowing his head.

“Rise.” Alvora spoke, his voice high, resembling a squawk of a bird . Rene did as was bidden. Alvora looked him over a couple of times, then he bit his neck and began to feast on Rene! Serena could not bare to look as her friend was devoured by the monster in front of her. She felt as though she was going to be sick, but she managed to keep herself together. When he was finally finished feasting, leaving nothing but bones and clothes, Alvora licked his fingers and strode over to the Witch.

“You have done well Witch,” he praised.

“Thank you my Lord,” she said breathlessly.

“Rise and receive your...just reward.” The Witch rose, beaming up at the demon. Alvora showed no signs of emotion, he lifted his hand and struck the Witch in the stomach, his hand coming out her back. The Witch whimpered, her face contorted into a look of surprise and pain. Alvora withdrew his hand and the Witch slumped to the ground. As she lay there in her weakened state, Serena, Maria and Li Yung were now free from their bondage, her spells broken. The Witch laid still on the ground. They stared in horror at the demon who glared at each of them. He wiped the Witch’s blood on his cape.

“And now to have some fun,” he said, a small smile appearing on his face. He swooped down upon Serena, who managed to roll out of the way. She got up on one knee and began firing rapidly at the demon. He screeched as the bullets pelted him and he reeled back, disappearing behind the trees.

“Your little chi bullets are as much use to use as throwing rocks. They are but a mere nuisance to me,” Alvora said, his voice echoing around them. Serena and Li Yung were on their feet, Maria struggled to rise but was too weak so she stayed kneeling.

“Any plans?” Serena whispered to Li Yung.

“I might be able to sense him, but I need time to pinpoint his location,” he answered.

“I’ll try and distract him then,” Serena said. Before Li Yung could reply she began firing her guns off into the trees at random. Li Yung closed his eyes and raised his right hand to eye level. His hand began to move as if something was guiding it when it stopped and he was pointing near where Azriel lay.

“In the trees!” he exclaimed. Serena fired several shots in the direction he was pointing. She was rewarded with the sounds of grunting from Alvora, but he still did not reappear. Li Yung closed his eyes again, his arm following the movements of the demon, or at least that’s what Serena suspected.

Azriel tentatively stood up, clutching his side. He drew a shuriken and stood where he was, following Li Yung’s movements. When they stopped again in the trees opposite to Azriel, he threw his weapon even as Serena opened fire. This time they heard screeching. It was an awful sound that reminded Serena of a bird of prey.

Alvora glided out from the trees, screeching and swooped down upon Azriel, who leapt away from the demon. Azriel was too slow and his shoulder was grazed by the demon’s talon hand. Alvora landed gracefully next to him. Azriel reeled and threw another shuriken, Alvora deflected it and slashed at him again. Azriel ducked the attack and drew a knife from his ankle sheath. The two began to trade slashes, neither one managing to hit the other.

Serena watched the fight, aiming her guns at Alvora but didn’t shoot for she feared she may accidentally hit Azriel. Li Yung had snapped out of his trance.

“I’m going to help him,” he said as he charged toward the battling pair. Azriel had evaded another one of the demon’s swipes when Li Yung delivered a swift punch to Alvora’s face. He snarled in rage and began attacking Li Yung who dodged his attacks. Li Yung and Azriel took turns attacking the demon, as well as avoided getting hit, however, Alvora did manage to scratch the front Li Yung’s robe.

Alvora glowered at the pair of them. “You two are swifter than I have anticipated,” he said. “Time to get serious!” He shed his cape, revealing a scrawny body. He looked so much smaller without the cape. He dropped the cape and it made an audible thump as it hit the ground.

“That was weighing me down quite a bit. Weighs about two hundred pounds,” he said casually.

He pulled two of his feather hairs from his head and tossed them into the air. The feathers shifted into a pair of twin black swords which Alvora caught. The blades were straight and long, glimmering in the moonlight. He slashed the air with them a few times as a show of his prowess. He smirked at his foes, twirled his swords in an intricate fashion and attacked the two with even greater speed. Li Yung managed to get out of his way, but Azriel wasn’t as lucky. One of the blades had slashed him diagonally upward across the chest and ripped off his mask!

“Azriel!” Serena cried out. She opened fire at Alvora since she finally had a clear shot. He deflected her bullets with his swords, cackling the whole time. He reeled back and Li Yung charged at him. Serena stopped shooting and ran over to Azriel, hoping he was still alive. Serena saw the rise and fall of Azriel’s chest and she knew he was alive. She was almost to him when Li Yung shouted out a warning, just as Alvora swooped in on her, swords slashing at the air.

Serena ducked and rolled to the side. She turned to see Li Yung and Alvora fighting once again. Li Yung managed to strike Alvora in the side with a swift chop. He cawed out like a crow and hit the monk in the face with the hilt of his sword. He fell to the ground, Alvora raised his sword for the killing blow. Serena shouted loudly, while doing so gathered an immense amount of chi in her weapons as she fired both weapons simultaneously. The result was two large blasts striking Alvora, sending him and his swords flying through the air, his grip lost on his swords. Alvora shakily rose, his right arm hanging loosely at his side, bleeding dark blood.

“There’s no way a human can have that kind of power! What the hell are you?!” he shouted in terror. Serena moved towards him, she could feel her power rising. “Keep away from me!” he shouted.

She moved closer to the demon as he backed away, screaming about how it was impossible for him to be this badly hurt by a human. Serena raised her weapons again.

“Die you freak!” she shouted as she released the immense power she had been gathering, the blasts even bigger than the first. Alvora screeched and tried to shield himself with his good arm, which proved futile as the blasts engulfed him. There was an explosion as they impacted. A thick layer of dust and dirt surrounded the area, Serena coughed and fell to one knee. She felt exhausted from using so much energy and everything appeared to be spinning. When the dust cleared she stood and saw the smoking remains of Alvora in a heap, mostly in pieces. Satisfied she turned to Li Yung who had taken cover by a nearby rock. He smiled nervously up at her, giving her the thumbs up. Serena tried to stand but was too shaky, she dropped to her knees panting heavily. Her vision began to blur slightly, she shook her head in an attempt to restore her normal vision. It seemed to help, but not much.

Serena remembered Azriel and as quickly as she could, staggered to his side. She knelt beside him and saw he was still alive, the swords had only grazed him. She looked at him and noticed that for the first time she was actually seeing his face. He had a prominent chin, round nose, his hair blond and his eyes a brilliant green. He was younger than she had expected, he looked to be around her age, maybe slightly younger. He smiled weakly at her.

“Nice shot,” he groaned. He started to laugh which in turn made Serena laugh. She felt so relieved that he was alive. That she was alive. She had survived her first mission, against all odds she had defeated a powerful demon. Very few new recruits could say that they had taken on a demon like Alvora and lived to tell about it. Azriel groaned loudly.

“I shouldn’t laugh so hard, it hurts,” he said clutching his side.

“We need to get you bandaged up before you lose anymore blood,” Serena said. She tore some of the fabric off of his already torn up shirt and began to apply pressure. Li Yung stepped over and knelt next to Serena.

“You did very well Miss Serena. I have never seen an attack like that before, you definitely are the Bellator Dei,” he said beaming. Serena’s cheeks flushed slightly at the huge compliment from him. He began to apply pressure to Azriel’s wounds, saying that’ll he’ll look after him while she sees to Maria and Dalton. Serena nodded and headed over to a weak Maria who was still kneeling, barely keeping herself conscious. She knelt down to help her but she shook Serena off.

“I-I can get up myself” she stutters. With an enormous amount of effort she manages to stand herself up. She clutches a nearby tree for support. Serena goes to help but again Maria shakes her off.

“I’ll be fine Johnson!” she snaps. Serena backs off. Maria shakes her head, her red hair in a tangled mess. She steps forward tentatively and begins to stagger over towards Dalton. Serena follows, but doesn’t make any more moves to help her.

“You did good Johnson. Maybe there’s hope for you yet,” Maria said. Serena was taken aback by her compliment.

“Thank you,” was all she could manage say.

When they reach Dalton, Serena checks his pulse. She could feel the steady rhythm of his blood flowing, he’s still alive. Another sigh of relief.

“He’s just unconscious,” she announces. She leans over and attempts to hoist him up but finds he is too heavy, or that she is too weak in her current state, to carry him. Before she could ask for assistance a loud whirling noise draws her attention to the sky. A black helicopter hovers above them. Wary, Serena holds her guns at the ready, but her vision begins to blur again. She shakes her head violently and turns to look up to see the back of the helicopter slide open and two masked figures could be seen. One of them leaps from the helicopter to a nearby tree, swings from a branch and lands gracefully on the ground next to Serena. The second lowers a ladder. Serena points her weapons at the newcomer who holds their hands up in front of them.

“I’m not your enemy,” the masked person yells, pulling off the mask to reveal a woman with long blond hair. “My name is Arianna, I’m here to pick up Azriel.” Serena lowers her weapons realizing that they were agents Abraham’s Shadow. Arianna placed her hands together and bowed.

“Thank you for taking care of him,” she said.

“Actually I think he took care of us,” Serena replies grinning. Arianna chuckles slightly. She strides over to Azriel. “How are you doing down there?”

“Oh you know, the usual,” he groans. “Only hurts when I move, talk or breathe.”

“So then shut up,” Arianna laughs. Azriel smiles weakly at his comrade. From the helicopter a harness is lowered near the ladder. Arianna straps Azriel in and the man in the helicopter lifts him up. Arianna turned to Serena.

“Because you helped Azriel in his mission, we will not kill you for seeing our faces,” she shouts over the helicopter. “Instead we will take you to either the hospital so you can tend to your injuries or your base of operations.”

“How about if you just take us to our jet and we’ll just return to our base,” Serena suggests. Arianna thinks for a moment, then nods her head in agreement. She motioned the man in the helicopter to lower the harness again. She first straps Maria in, then Dalton after she was aboard. Once they were both safely on board the other three climbed the ladder. When they reached the top, the man who was in the back said nothing, but merely nodded and took his spot in the copilot’s chair. Li Yung gave the directions to where the Archangel was and they were off. It took only a few minutes to reach private landing site were the Archangel sat. Serena was about to leave the helicopter when a hand grabbed her arm. It was Azriel’s. He gazed at her intensely for a moment, his brilliant green eyes locked onto her own. He was searching for the words he wished to express, not really knowing what to say. Finally he spoke,

“Thank you Serena. I couldn’t have done it without your help. I hope we can work together again someday.” he smiled at her and released her arm. She returned his smile.

“I’d like that. Good luck with your endeavours Azriel,” she replied.

“May the Lord watch over you.”

“And you too,” and with that, she hopped off the grounded helicopter. Once she was a fair distance away, it took off again into the night. She watched until it was nothing but a speck in the distance, then she turned and headed into the Archangel, where Maria and Li Yung awaited her. Since Maria and Dalton were the only ones who knew how to fly the jet, and were in no condition to fly, Maria had radioed the Great Monastery for a pick up. Within the hour, a team had picked them up and returned them to the Monastery where they were taken to the medical ward for some much needed aid and rest. Serena had passed out from exhaustion before they had even arrived at the Monastery.