Reapers - Master of Souls (Reapers Chronicles Book III)

34 - Barrier (1 of 2)

Never opened myself this way

Life is ours, we live it our way

All these words I don't just say

Cause nothing else matters  

34 - Barrier

It was excruciating having to stand in the sidelines. To watch my friends fight. To see people die. To feel like I could have done something but didn't.

Whenever I was fighting, I always felt like everything happened so fast. All I had to do was attack and react to my enemy's next move. But seeing the whole picture, the simultaneous battles happening around me was like watching everything in slow motion.

Since Vlad and the others had arrived, it started to look like we could actually win.

Kyoshiro and Hector aided our comrades at the others side of the abyss. Mei and Amyr helped Joaquim take care of the ghouls on our side.

The creatures were stronger, faster, more savage than any wraith or Swarth I had ever encountered but they were no match with scythes.

Blood-curdling howls tore through the noise of the battle every time a ghoul was defeated. They sounded more human than wraiths. The smell of rot and rust permeated the air. Black sludge and decapitated body parts scattered everywhere.

Vincent and Alexis stood behind Vladimir so that the three of them formed a triangle. Then, they joined in chanting the spell, their words drowned by the the shouts and clangor of metal.

At last, the barrier started to form quickly, becoming more solid as it rose to the sky.

Just when I thought it would all be over soon came our main problem: Adrianna. In a matter of minutes, it looked like she had somehow managed to calm the souls inside her. The moment she opened her eyes, she flew past the chinks of the barrier and landed behind the remaining ghouls.

Startled, one of the creatures twisted and clawed at her, baring its razor-sharp teeth as it did. With a quick backhand, Adrianna sent the ghoul flailing and shrieking to the abyss.

"Scum," she muttered, wiping the black blood from her hand. "Don't get in our way!"

This seemed to get the other ghouls riled up. They were part of Legion once, but they were monsters first: senseless, bloodthirsty.

They turned their backs on us and started for Adrianna. One by one, they pounced at her. One by one, she sent them flying every which way.

A gasp escaped me when a headless ghoul tumbled down a few feet away from where Yuki and I were standing. Yuki hid behind me, his fingers clutching my shirt tight.

"Nuna, i-is it... dead?" he croaked.

"I guess," I told him, poking at it with my Cataclyst. It wasn't moving. I couldn't see where its head had rolled to either.

"Now, I'm confused," I heard Amyr complain.

It was Mei who answered, "Ghouls acknowledge no master. They are mindless and are driven by pure instinct, very similar to someone I know," while looking at Amyr pointedly.

He sneered at her. "I knew that."

In less than a minute, no ghoul was left standing.

The familiars in front started to back away when Adrianna stepped towards Vincent. Her lips twitched to a crooked smile, her eyes wide but blank as she lifted a hand as if to reach for him.