Grim

Chapter 27 - The Final Battle

I teleport into the middle of the pack of demons. The mere act sets three demons on fire. I let loose the torrent inside. Electricity forks forth from my hands and through my staff. I strike the nearest demon with my weapon. The demon explodes into a large puff of black smoke.

Before the demons can regroup, I teleport into the next group. I do this again and again destroying dozens of demons. They will learn to fear me. That's the only thing creatures like these will understand. I let all my frustrations out. I dance in and out of the fight taking fire and lightning wherever I go. My staff acts as a focal point of my fury. Any demon that meets it is destroyed. Some survive the torrent of lightning, but they are still incapacitated.

The power within fades slowly, but my resolve does not. I don't notice the gradual fading in the midst of battle at first. I strike with the staff, but this time a demon blocks it. How? Sparks fly off the connection between the staff and sword.

"You bastard!", Ornias spews forth spittle with the words.

I respond with a few swift strikes of the staff. The demon blocks them all. I teleport four times in rapid succession. The last one relocates me to high above the sand looking down on the battle. Ornias is looking for me and only me. He ignores angels in his path teleporting to any spot with a hint of fire or electricity.

"Hast thee left the battle reaper?"

I turn in time to block Remiel's strike. "What are you doing angel? I made my choice."

The angel strikes four times. I block the last strike, but lose control over the power inside for a moment. A stream of lightning knocks the angel back from me.

Remiel says, "Heaven hast rejected thee! I wilst not allow thy filth close to the gates of Heaven!"

I teleport back into the field of battle only to regain the attention of Ornias. Both the angel and demon give chase as I teleport several times. The speed of my teleporting is slowing. There is indeed a limit to the stamina of such great power. I had thought I was invincible, but now I know the truth. Remiel and Ornias are getting closer. I have to stop and fight while I still have the power advantage.

I block a strike from Remiel, and then put all my anger into the flames from my eye sockets. Remiel blocks the attack with one of his wings. Scorched feathers fall gently to the ground. His wing has two deep black craters dug into it, but the attack did not penetrate. The angel and I go back and forth in a dance of sword and staff. We teleport almost in unison with each one bringing a clash of weapons. I press the attack with lightning and fire then the angel counters with sword strikes that are swifter than I thought possible.

During the exchange I can't help wondering where Ornias is. Has the demon been watching us weaken each other while he waits for his chance to strike us both? I teleport again, expecing Remiel to follow with another strike. Ornias springs his trap. I swing the staff to block, but Remiel comes in with an attack on the opposite side. I attempt to block both, but end up blocking neither. The demon's attack is slightly redirected, but still takes out my right leg just below the knee. His sword cracking through bone. Remiel's attack takes my left arm a fraction of a second later. The sudden shift in balance causes me to fall face down in the sand. I hear the staff that had defended me so faithfully for all these years impale itself in the sand. My severed arm acts as a flag waving in the dust the boney hand still clinging to the weapon.

I use the last bit of my anger to send lightning towards Ornias. It's enough to send the demon flying away. Remiel lands on my torso with a thud.  He raises his sword in a two handed stabbing motion. He says, "Thine end ist here Thomas. Goodbye." He brings his blade down.

A deep booming voice says, "NO" A flash of white light covers everything. The power of the flash knocks Remiel off of me before the blade can pierce my back.

An angel descends slowly to Holivera.  The battle that was raging on moments ago has ended as all of the demons scatter. I only hear Remiel's whisper because of the new found silence it breaks. "Michael?"

Is that the Archangel Michael? The glow around the angel is bright enough to make it difficult to see his features. He extends his fist towards me then releases his fingers in a quick motion. It feels as if my entire being is unraveling. The souls within that had clawed and fought to attach themselves to my own soul are forcibly removed. The pain would have caused a mortal to pass out, but unfortunately that wasn't possible for me. Michael motions at the souls to seperate them into groups, and then he sends some to heaven and the rest to hell.

The archangel then turns his attention to me. He cocks his head to the side as if listening to something. He says, "Now what shall we do with you?"

Remiel jumps up. "He belongs in hell!"

Michael looks at Remiel with anger. "I will deal with you in a moment." Remiel recoils as if smacked. The archangel lands next to my mangled body. "No this will not do." He reaches out to me once again. I can feel my soul floating outside of my body. I see the cracked ribs, the severed limbs, and many other gashes within the bones I called home for hundreds of years.

I wonder to myself, "Am I going to heaven or hell now?"

As if he can hear me Michael responds, "It is not your time yet. You know what to do. You still have a mission of vital importance to perform. Have faith Reaper Thomas." The archangel looks up. A swirl of black smoke appears in front of him. When it clears I see another grim-reaper body. He slams my soul into the chest of the new body.

It takes me a few minutes to gain control of the senses within this new body. The first thing I see is Michael with his arm around Remiel. Remiel does not look happy. All of the angels then teleport away.

Thank you for reading Grim! As always please comment/vote! The Ghost Season 2 will begin soon!  I want to edit and format season 1 for release on Kindle as well as finish working on my first full novel before beginning Season 2. If you want to keep up with news about my writing and get notified of release dates for Kindle versions of my works the sign up for my monthly newsletter here:  http://brianbasham.blogspot.com/p/blog-page_29.html