This World Belongs to Us

24: Liara

Liara immediately rushed forward with her machete raised. This took Qui off guard, but the angel nimbly managed to spin out of the way and floated in the air. Liara grabbed a loose rock from the cave ground and hurled it at Qui. Her throw missed, but Qui still winced in anticipation.

"Liara please," said the angel. "This is not who you are."

"Don't tell me who I am!" she cried back.

"These are not the choices you wanted to make. Do you really think betraying the angels is the right thing to do?"

"Betraying!?" Liara cried out. "All this is because of you! Every death here is because you decided to manipulate my life!"

"We did what is right."

"Really!? Killing an innocent man to get to his girlfriend is the right thing to do? What kind of twisted minds to they allow in heaven!?"

With a vengeful gesture, Liara applied her Vi Athenemate to Qui. It was a potent concentration of bad luck she had never used before in her life. Qui frowned slightly.

"Luck will not alter your situation here Liara. You have reached the end of your road. You will listen to what I have to say."

Liara found and threw another rock. Her aim was way off and it flew well above Qui's head. The angel increased the intensity of the light around it, flooding the cave.

"Listen!" boomed Qui's voice.

And then the angel heard a strange sound coming from above it. Curious, Qui glanced upward. With perfect timing, a stalactite, jostled from both Liara's rock and Qui's voice, detached from the cave ceiling and plummeted straight toward the angel.

The stone collided directly with one of the angel's wings. It ripped through feather and bone, sending the angel tumbling to the ground of the cave.

Liara advanced, but Qui seemed unfazed by the rock lodged through its left wing. Despite being off balance, Qui used its other wing to propel its body away from the stalactite and toward the wall of the cave. Its right wing was torn to shreds.

"I am not here to fight with you!" Qui cried out.

"Neither am I! I'm here to end this!" Liara shouted back. She charged full speed at the angel. This time, Qui raised his hand and bright light rippled outwards toward her path. Liara didn't dodge.

The light struck her entire body. It felt like she was hit with an ocean wave of boiling water. She couldn't stop her momentum, and felt a scream come out of her mouth as she pressed forward through the burning light.

Qui must have not meant to fully attack her, for the light blinked out in the next moment. Liara still rushed forward, and the angel once again dodged out of the wall, nimbly shifting a meter away.

Liara didn't feel the pain from the light yet, but she did catch a glimpse of her sleeves and the edges of her coat, which appeared to be crumbling away. She suddenly understood what Kivar meant when he mentioned how he could lose himself, and just focus on the prey ahead. The angel was close, and she lunged forward and stabbed the machete toward Qui.

Qui retreated. And in the next moment Liara had never been so pleased with her Vi Athenemate; for as the angel backed against the wall, its left wing was pierced through by a sharp rock that protruded from the wall. Qui grimaced and instantly tore itself away from the wall.