Greys III - Revelations

Chapter 48 - Crashing

The wind whipped past as a storm fell over the clearing. The towering trees groaned as they bent. Jordan's power battled my father's as she diverted his bolts and danced away from his attacks with a snarl showing her tapered teeth. But when they did connect, it sounded like cracks of thunder.

Ailech recovered from whatever shock he had stood in when my father's host appeared. He raised his hands, his eyes sealed shut, and pulled from the vast power and darkness across the grounds. Malachi fell into his role quickly as well, physically stepping between Ailech and the battles scattered before us, annihilating anyone who so much as looked at his charge. Kael and Nevaeh were further in the fray, cutting through Darklings and Skia like chaff, teaming up and using their history and connection and purpose to overwhelm their opponents. That was the last I saw of them before I joined my partner, a mirror to my Pair as we clashed with a being I wasn't even sure could die.

I strangled that thought.
Everything could die.
Everyone could die.

I extended the blades at my wrists and called my fire, sending a pillar as I dove forward, one blade slashing down, one straight out. Jordan did the same, my perfect counterpart, dagger in both hands and a bolt of air locked onto his chest, another close behind aimed for his throat.

For a split second, I forgot who he was, who we were up against, and I didn't foresee any way he could possibly dodge all unscathed. But he was the closest to a god I would ever know, had ever known, and whether he was the god of death or darkness or nothingness, it didn't really matter. He merely turned one shoulder, a minute flick of his long upper body, and my fire roared past, wasted. His movement angled him narrowly out of the path of Jordan's invisible attacks too, like all our simultaneous attempts were nothing. A clear metaphor for our entire plan, for how outmatched we were - like children against a true soldier, one from Heaven.

He blocked our knives with the guards on his arms, sliding our blades down into one another's, and for the first time, our steps, our attacks, our partnership was a hindrance rather than an aid. We recovered swiftly, smoothly, but before we disengaged, before Jordan and I could fully pull back and ready ourselves for his counter, his eyes met mine. Infinite and empty and all too familiar, a smirk on his lips, dragged between pointed teeth. And being so close to him, feeling his draw and power mixed with my hatred and fear, it took my second Shift from a controllable burn, licking at my mind and discipline, to an inferno, and everything melted away in its hellfire.

» ✦ «

James joined me against his father after only the edge of a second's pause, but with Malachi's hatred stoking my own and my Red Shift calling for blood, I wasn't surprised I made it to our target first. When James arrived, it was with the same deadly silence I expected from him. He moved like vapor on the wind, a shadow that brought death to all it touched - at least, until today.

James' father was not only his match, but mine, even with Ailech pulling from him, my Air, James' Fire, our blades and Shifts, Red covering the black and white. James and I untangled our blades after our first combination failed, but then he froze, just a fleeting moment where his eyes locked on his father's, and something changed in his face. The animal version of my Pair, the Fallen version, the monster was the only thing left in that suspended moment.

A growl came from some deep place within him, and the familiar, terrifying black began to drip from his matching eyes. But unlike before, where it ran to the edges of his high cheekbones, slowly snaking to his jaw, this time the calling from his father ran like twin rivers down him, staining his collar even as more continued to flow. His growl turned to a roar as he dove for the monster before him. He was no longer calculating, no longer analyzing and cunning and sharp, a masterful mind in battle, no, this was wild, this was emotional and impulsive. He was lashing out like a rabid animal. This was his Red Shift taking him over.