Azrael

Eleven

Adira sat on a low, flat rock, dangling her feet in the still water of the pond. It felt cool between her toes and gave her a momentary distraction from her frustration. It shouldn't have come as a surprise that Azrael had not returned from her visit to the Sentinel yet, but it did anyway. She noticed the seraph's absence on more than a physical level, vaguely aware of the protective aura that Azrael had draped over her before. The surrounding trees looked strange and dull, like the life had been drained out of them. Had something happened, or was it just her body and mind that had changed?

As she glanced around at her surroundings, something on the edge of her vision caught her attention. Adira turned and looked up, noticing something strange about the trees just a few paces away.

Had Azrael returned?

She squinted, but the perplexing vision only intensified. One section of the mini-forest seemed to bulge outward as if she were looking at it through a dew drop. The subtle green and brown hues of the vegetation slowly separated into bands of more intense colour.

And then, it was there—a massive, winged creature hovering in the air, facing away from her. Adira was instantly paralyzed with fear and the only thing she could hear above the powerful beat of its white wings was the pounding of her own heart. The creature pivoted slowly toward her as it descended to the earth. When its human-shaped body touched the ground, the feathered wings, dappled with bands of gold and reddish-brown, came to rest.

If it hadn't noticed her presence before, it did now with large, deep-set, animal eyes, blue in colour. The prominent eyebrows gave it a look of intensity, as if it was able to see into her very soul. Its face and head were covered in dark, shaggy hair, swept back from its large, sharp nose as if blown by the wind. But the rest of the creature's tan skin was hairless. The party around her seemed to begoing on as normal, and none of the others seemed to see it.

Adira willed her body to move, but it was frozen in place, melded with the rock beneath her. The creature, whose body seemed to be made entirely of muscle, took a step forward. Almost immediately, a wave of nausea hit her, making her vision blur and her head spin.

The creature then opened its wide mouth and screamed, but no sound came from it. Taking no chances, Adira drew out the card that Azrael had given her, and it quickly grew warm in her hand, as though anticipating its use. She threw it as hard as she could at the beast, and the creature burst into flames half a second later.

This time its scream reverberated through the cavernous hall. Chaos ensued as the creature ran amok across the party, crashing into tables and statues as it burned alive. Adira could smell its flesh all the way from where she stood, and coupled with nausea, she threw up into a nearby bush.

Adira felt, rather than saw the moment when Azrael appeared.

"Stay calm," Azrael said, her voice cutting through the haze of dizziness. "Take deep breaths, in through your nose, out through your mouth." Her hand was still on Adira's shoulder, and she didn't know whether she was imagining it, but it was growing warmer.

Adira did as she had been told, and the nausea subsided after a few breaths.

"What was that?" she asked.

"An old friend," Azrael replied as she drew her dagger with her right hand. Alarm bells rang through Adira's mind. Whatever this was, she did not want to get caught up in it. Her palms started sweating and her heart beat rapidly. The clearing seemed to grow smaller and darker around her. She wanted to leave. She needed to leave. She would die if it meant leaving this place. The only thing stopping her from running off was the searing heat coming from Azrael's hand.

"Please, let me go back home," she begged as a shadow popped up in her peripheral vision, only to disappear when she looked that way. "I'm here," Azrael replied. "Focus on me."

More shadows appeared, seeming to close in on her, so Adira shut her eyes so she could not see them. But still, she felt them. She felt their despair, an absence of hope so endless that it made her want to do anything to make it stop. Her hand reached for the dagger Azrael held, which was pulled out of her reach.

"Hold on for just a little more," Azrael said, her voice sounding far away, even though Adira knew she was right by her side. The entire temple was a void of darkness now, swarming with shadows that pushed Adira into the deepest darkest corners of her mind. There was no pain, only the endless feeling of fear and dread crowding out everything else. Azrael's touch felt more like a fire now, the one thing that kept her alive, she knew, but for how long?

Just when she thought she couldn't take it anymore, it stopped. Adira found that she was lying on the floor, with Azrael kneeling beside her. It was only when the seraph brushed away her tears that Adira realized she had been crying. The temple around them was all but destroyed, and the hulking body of the creature, charred and blackened, lay on top of the remains of a broken table with two large shards of steel sticking out from its chest.

Azrael helped Adira to her feet. Her teeth chattered and her bones felt chilly. Azrael unclipped the cape she wore and wrapped it around Adira's shoulders, and just like before, she was covered by an aura of warmth that drove the cold away. To Adira's surprise, a fresh layer of snow covered the grass when they stepped outside the clearing.

"How long we were in there?" Adira asked, turning to Azrael.

"Minutes, maybe hours," the seraph replied. "Time doesn't flow the same in the world of the dead."

"I was dead?"

"No, but you were with the dead." Azrael took the cape off Adira's shoulders and to Adira's gladness, its warmth still remained. Azrael held out her hand, and the card she had given Adira materialized there. 

"Perhaps it was too soon to give you this. You aren't ready."

"What about the Sentinel? What did she say?"

"I'll answer all your questions when we get back to Kespen. For now, your mind and body need to rest."

Azrael pressed two fingers onto Adira's forehead, and darkness quickly closed in.