Redemption (Stand-Alone, Spin-Off to Reaper Series), page 33
Turning towards the sound, Eve began to walk. She felt confidant that she could fly if she tried, but doing so would undoubtedly drain her energy, tiring her out before Belial came, and the last thing Eve wanted right now was to be fatigued when she needed to be fast. So she walked, tripping over stones and slipping on cracks in the hard ground. There was a moment when Eve had to leap backwards because she had nearly stepped in a thin river of molten lava that was spilling out of the cracks in the ground, its intense heat rising and feeling like it was burning her face even without her bending closer to it. Cautiously stepping over the lava, Eve carried on towards the sound, which was becoming louder and more constant. Through the haze of the dirt-filled air, Eve could now see a strange blue glow just ahead. It appeared to be just beneath the surface, the light shining up from within a crater. Steeling herself, Eve stepped to the edge of the crater and looked down into its depths. And was horrified by what she saw.
There, filling the entire crater, which was big enough to swallow a football field, were thousands upon thousands upon thousands of human souls. They had lost their human shapes that all souls took shortly after death and reverted to the shape they maintained while inside the human body. They were now in the form of glowing blue and white orbs, only slightly larger than a baseball, their light shifting and swelling, then fading slightly, before brightening once more. Eve stared in despair at all the souls Belial had taken. There had to be hundreds of thousands of them, if not a million or more. Every soul that had been in the Garden when he struck it, now piled with disregard in a giant crater, unaware and helpless.
However, it was not the sight of the souls that most chilled Eve’s blood. It was what flew above them.
Ghostly shapes of electric blue fire, gliding this way and that over the souls, almost lazily. They flew like manta rays, seemingly without a care, gliding on the air and occasionally swooping lower over the souls as they flew. Whenever one did this, it would emit a loud shriek, exactly the kind Eve had followed to this location. Watching carefully, Eve saw the souls that the blue fire flew near would suddenly fade and ghostly wisps would rise from the orb, vanishing within the flying blue flames. Once the fire passed by, the orb would remain more faded than before, barely any blue or white left within.
“Demons,” Eve whispered in horror.
Thousands of them. Tens of thousands, likely even more than that. Nowhere near as many as there were human souls to feed on, but there were still enough for an army. One that, with the power of human souls fueling it, would wipe out everything that stood in its path.
I have to get those souls.
Eve stepped to the edge of the crater and began to carefully climb down the inside. She stepped over the ledge and tried to find something to grab hold of, but it seemed the wind had smoothed out the interior of the crater and there was nothing to climb down with. Eve immediately lost her footing and slid quickly down the inside of the crater, as though it was a giant slide. Eve gritted her teeth and dug her fingers into the dirt, tearing up dust as she slid down, but she could feel herself slowing. Finally, she came to a stop just before reaching the surface of the human souls. Eve looked up at the Demons, afraid that they might suddenly be swooping down on her, ready to tear her apart, but they maintained their aimless floating. They seemed completely oblivious to her. However strong they were, it appeared they weren’t yet strong enough to think for themselves. They were acting on pure instinct, and right now, that instinct said feed.
Eve repositioned herself so as to balance on her feet as she surveyed the crater of souls. She had no idea how she was supposed to get all of the souls back to the Garden without being stopped. Deciding she should probably just start encouraging the souls out of the crater, Eve reached out to touch the nearest one, hoping to wake the soul from its spiritual coma.
Suddenly, the Demons above all began to shriek wildly. Eve looked up in time to see the nearest one lash out at her, a tongue of blue fire darting towards her so fast that she didn’t have time to move. The fire struck her hand and Eve cried out in pain, snatching her hand backwards as she leaped back, ready to fight off the attack.
However, as soon as she pulled back her hand, the shrieking stopped. The Demons above all became complacent once more and resumed their lazy drifting and feeding. Confused, Eve watched them all for a moment, cradling her hand at her chest, certain that the Demons would randomly turn and attack again. But they did not. They were once more oblivious to her.
Eve looked down at her hand. She saw that the Demon had viciously burned the back of her hand and some of her fingers, the skin now a painful-looking red and covered in blisters. Fortunately, Eve’s healing powers had returned with her wings and she saw the damage quickly fading away until her hand was pristine again.
Eve frowned up at the Demons. It seemed that they were instinctively protecting the human souls, like wild animals might defend a kill from other predators and scavengers. Eve supposed that without being at full strength, and without Belial giving them commands, they were pure beasts of instinct. Which meant they wouldn’t let Eve go anywhere near their food.
As Eve considered all of this, though, another thought crept into the back of her mind. There was one way for certain that she could carry all of the souls out of this world and back to the Garden, a way that would ensure the Demons would not attack her. Because, if she did what she was thinking, the Demons would simply be too confused to attack. Their food source would have simply vanished, but Eve would carry the souls to safety.
“I have to consume them,” Eve whispered in dread as she stared out across the lake of human souls.
The consumption of souls. This was the absolute law of the Angels. One must never, ever, ever, consume the soul of a living creature. It was a vile and disgusting act, far worse than cannibalism. If consumed, a human soul would be at the mercy of the Angel who consumed it. If the Angel chose to do so, they could subject that soul to an eternity of torture and torment, often driving the soul to madness. The soul would pray for death, just to escape the horrors they endured, but death could not come for them. Naturally, Eve knew she would never do that to a soul.
However, it was not just about the human soul. It was incredibly dangerous for the Angel as well. Eve had seen what the raw power of human souls could do to an Angel when consumed. She had witnessed it with her own eyes.
Azrael. The late Angel of Death. He had consumed souls to overthrow Heaven. The souls had given him the power to do so, but before he had been able to consume the one soul that allowed him to become more powerful than Elohim, the descendent soul of an Archangel, the souls he had consumed were burning him alive from the inside. He had been reduced to little more than a rotten mass of sinew and bone. And he had only consumed a few hundred souls, over the course of several hundred years. What Eve was now planning to do was to consume hundreds of thousands of souls in only a few minutes. What kind of damage would that do? How quickly would the energy of the souls overpower her? As she stared at the souls, grim faced and full of dread, Eve could only reach the conclusion that this act would almost definitely kill her. Taking a deep breath, Eve told herself that if this is what it took to stop Belial, then it was worth the risk.
Eve stood as straight as she could, standing on the sloping ground of the crater. She spread her arms and her wings wide, opening herself to the souls. She closed her eyes, focusing on her breathing, trying to ignore her racing heart. After only a moment of hesitation, Eve opened her soul.
An immensely bright light suddenly shone out from her entire body, shining bright red and gold. At the sudden appearance of the light, the Demons shrieked again, this time sounding more afraid than anything else, and shied away from the brightness. At the very same moment, the souls began to move. Slowly at first, simply flopping over and rolling towards Eve like glowing tumbleweeds. But then they began to speed up, their pace quickening, and then they were all flying towards Eve in a hurry, the Demons above shrieking in fear and anger as their food escaped them, but they were too threatened by the shining light to attempt retrieving the souls.
When the first of the souls stuck Eve, she was suddenly reminded of when she had been shot. Only this time, it was as though she had been shot with a thousand bullets at once. She cried out in pain as the souls began to rush into her body, forcing their way in through her chest and into her own soul. They pushed with so much force, Eve fell backwards against the side of the crater and was pinned there, her head thrown back and the blinding red and gold light burning brighter as she forced herself to stay open to the souls, and to keep the Demons at bay as they circled and shrieked overhead.
Finally, as the torrent of souls continued to pour into Eve, she felt nothing but pain. No thought entered her mind other than how much she hurt, how it felt like her insides were on fire, how she felt like she was being crushed and stretched at the same time. She threw back her head and screamed into the sky, louder than she had ever screamed before in her long life.
On the other side of the vortex, Belial was still locked in battle with Elohim, neither one able to overpower the other. Unlike Elohim, though, Belial was aiming to kill. Belial knew Elohim would eventually make a mistake and let his guard down, just long enough for Belial to crash upon him and destroy him. He felt victory was within his reach.
Suddenly, from within his own mind, he heard screaming. Shrieking. Confused, Belial focused on this shriek. He recognized it as one of his own Demons, calling out from the next world. Why?
Belial connected his mind with the animalistic thoughts of the Demon who had called out to him. Belial could then see what that Demon saw, and what he was looking at filled him with horror and disbelief.
He was now looking at Eve, on the side of a crater, with countless souls pouring into her. She was screaming in clear agony, but the souls were still going. Every single one of them escaping the crater Belial had stored them in to feed his horde, all rushing into the body of the Angel who continued to vex him.
“NO!” Belial roared.
There was a sudden explosion, one that brought the battle to a sudden halt as Elohim was tossed through the air and crashed through a wall, vanishing inside a nearby building. Before anyone who had been watching could move, Belial was rocketing up through the sky, his electric blue flames crackling loudly as he moved almost too fast for even Gabriel to keep track of.
Belial moved like lightning into the air and shot straight into the vortex of fire, vanishing within in only an instant. The Angels who had been circling the vortex, patrolling for any incoming threats, all began cheering, as though they had won the battle. Elohim suddenly emerged from the building, his great gold wings flapping minimally to get him airborne, his eyes set on the vortex in the sky. As he neared it, Elohim slowed down to hover in the air and raised his palms towards the swirling fire, preparing to close it forever.
“FATHER, NO!” Gabriel screamed, rushing through the air and throwing himself between Elohim and the vortex.
Elohim stared at Gabriel in confusion.
“Gabriel, what are you doing?” he asked.
“Don’t close it yet!” Gabriel cried. “You have to wait!”
“This is our chance, Gabriel, we will not have a better one,” Elohim replied. “Why do you say we must wait?”
“Because,” Gabriel said grimly. “Eve is in there.”
The look on Elohim’s face was one of pure horror. As though someone had told him his daughter was already dead.
“Why!?” Elohim demanded, his tone one of immense concern. “Why would she do that?”
“She’s bringing back the souls,” Gabriel explained. “She knew going after them would draw Belial through the portal, where you can trap him. She just needs to get back before he catches her.”
“And if she doesn’t?” Elohim asked.
“Then…” Gabriel hesitated, looking like the words he was about to say were literally choking him. “Then we have to… close the vortex anyway. With her on the other side.”
Elohim’s distress could not be expressed in words. His look of hopelessness was impossible to describe. He looked like his heart was breaking and all hope had drained from his eyes. Gabriel could see the horror and despair on his father’s face, and only he could understand, because Gabriel felt the same.
“How could you let her do this?” Elohim whispered.
“It was her plan,” Gabriel explained. “She insisted. I tried to talk her out of it, but you know what she’s like.”
Elohim nodded. “Yes. I do. But Gabriel… If Belial begins to come out of that portal before Eve does, I will have no choice but to close it. Trapping Eve with Belial. I will be sentencing my own daughter to death. Does Eve understand that?”
Gabriel nodded. “She does.”
Elohim sighed heavily and turned his eyes towards the flaming vortex in the sky. “Then let us pray.”
30
THE FINAL STAND
E
ve’s screams echoed all across the barren world, drowning out the thunder and the wind and the explosions of more asteroids striking the horizon. Enormously bright beams of light were shining out of the crater, so bright that it changed the color of the sky from blood red to gold. The Demons continued to shriek and circle above, crying out in dismay as their food left them, unable to do anything to stop it. The bright lights made them keep their distance.
Finally, the last of the human souls shot into Eve and the lights died at once, as did Eve’s screams. She lay in the dirt, her eyes closed, panting heavily, her wings splayed out beside her. Every single part of her ached. Not an inch of her body or mind was without pain. Presently, though, it was a bearable pain. Like her whole body was simply throbbing. She felt hotter than normal, too, but she hoped that was only the heat of the wind blowing over her.
Above, the screaming Demons began to shriek louder and with more distress. Eve opened her eyes and looked up at them. They were spinning wildly around in the air, like moths flying around a light bulb. Suddenly, as Eve watched, they began to dissipate. First one simply thinned out and faded away like a puff of smoke, then others began to follow. Quickly, the Demons were fading away, disappearing.
Dying, Eve thought.
Without their food source to nourish them back to full strength, they were all dying. Fading away back to whatever unstable form of energy they had maintained since they had first been destroyed.
Suddenly, a new Demon appeared, this one much larger than the others. It flew overhead, speeding around as it circled the crater, then it fired down to the ground and landed in the center of the bowl that had once held countless souls. The blue fire quickly condensed and then Eve was looking at Belial in his human form, staring up at the sky in horror, watching his Demons die.
“No!” Belial cried, reaching up to his Demons. “No! We were so close! No!”
His pleas were useless, though. As Belial watched, the last of his Demons uttered a single, pitifully weak, shriek, then vanished. Belial stared silently up at the sky, his eyes wide with heartache. He looked down at the ground around him and began to search wildly, kicking up the dirt and turning in circles as he surveyed the area.
“Gone, all gone!” he bellowed. “Every soul, every single tiny little soul, gone!”
Belial turned at faced Eve, his face pinched in fury, lines creasing the skin around his eyes, his forehead, his cheeks. As Eve rose to her feet, somewhat unsteadily, she heard Belial utter a long, deep, guttural growl.
“You,” he snarled. “YOU! MY DEMONS! MY ARMY! MY REVENGE! YOU TOOK IT ALL!”
“Damn right I did,” Eve replied, surprising herself by the forcefulness of her tone. She was feeling drained, far weaker than she sounded, the consumption of the human souls having really taken its toll. “You’ve got no army, now. They can’t feed on the energy of these souls anymore. And you’re screwed.”
“Am I?” Belial hissed. “AM I? You still have the souls inside you. I can smell them. Their wretched stink! All I have to do is rip you open and they’ll pour back out of you like gum balls! You’ve gotten in my way for the last time, Angel bitch! I’m going to rip your skull open and feast on your brain. I’m going to tear out your throat and shower in your blood. I’ll retrieve every single last soul inside you, even if I have to rip them out of your chest one by one and make you watch!”
“That’s some big talk for a guy who turns into a pretty blue fire,” Eve taunted.
Belial suddenly sneered a malicious grin at Eve, his face contorting even more. Eve was feeling uneasy about his face, now. It didn’t look right, barely even human anymore. It looked more like leather.
“Fire’s not the only thing I can do,” Belial hissed, his voice suddenly growing deeper and more raspy. “You should really see how creative I can be. I’ve always liked the human depiction of Demons. But I think I prefer my own design.”
As Eve watched, it suddenly seemed as though Belial was engulfed in blue fire. Not that he became the fire this time, but rather was simply burning inside of it. The fire climbed his legs first, them spread up his body and over his arms, then engulfed his still snarling face. There was a sudden concussion wave that rolled out from Belial’s body, so powerful that Eve was knocked off her feet and tossed through the air, until she landed on her back at the top of the crater. She quickly scrambled to her feet and spread her wings, ready to flee for the vortex, but she was suddenly captivated by what she was witnessing.
The blue fire had reached more than thirty feet up into the sky, seemingly stretching Belial along with it. Belial’s burning blue eyes was all Eve could see of him anymore, as the flames that surrounded him seemed to swallow him whole, only his eyes glowing brighter than the fire itself. In only a few seconds, though, the fire began to recede, flowing back inside Belial’s body. Only now, it was not a body Eve recognized. He had become gigantic, his skin now thick, dark, and leathery. The leathery skin, though, seemed to be cracked all over, with glowing magma spilling out from the skin like thick blood. Belial’s new body was thin and lithe, like a lizard had stood up on its hind legs, only with extra knees that bent the legs like bolts of lightning. The upper half of the torso was not so thin, however. From the waist, the body seemed to balloon out as it became more muscular and powerful, but the skin was still pulled so tight that Eve could clearly see the ribs across Belial’s chest as it bled magma.
