The City Of Death

Chapter Twenty-Four- Macy

"Atlas, no!" I scream. I can't see his face from down here, but I can see the way his body tenses. "Go back to camp! Please, leave!" 

"I won't let you do this! I'm not going to let you sacrifice yourself!" he screams back, and a cry of frustration is trapped in my throat. 

"Atlas, please! Please walk away!" 

"It is interesting to see history repeat itself," Lucifer says, and I turn just in time to see him looking over at Satanus. My heart stops when I see Satanus nocking an arrow. I curse myself for not noticing earlier that every Vulture has some sort of weapon strapped to their saddles. Satanus, Behemoth, and Beelzebub all have bows, Belial and Lucifer have swords, Asmodeus has an axe, and Jezebel has a collection of nasty-looking knives. And now Satanus is raising his bow, aiming straight for Atlas, who hasn't seemed to notice. 

"Atlas, go!" I cry, but I can barely see him shake his head. His words are lost to my ears when I hear Lucifer's voice. 

"It seems I was right. He did come looking for you," he says, turning back to Satanus. "Do you have a clear shot?" 

"Yes. What kind of a shot am I taking?" 

"I want him alive," Lucifer says, and Satanus nods. He shifts his aim ever so slightly, releasing the arrow. 

"Atlas!" It feels like time slows as the arrow flies. I can feel the scream erupting from my chest, but all I can hear is the ringing in my ears. Israel notices what's happening and starts to run towards his leader. He doesn't make it. Atlas notices Satanus pointing the bow at him and he takes a step back, prepared to make a run for it. He doesn't make it, either. Before he even has a chance, the arrow finds its mark. Even from here, I can see how wide his eyes go as the arrow embeds itself in his shoulder. He screams in pain, falling to his knees. When he does, I see the metal arrowhead glinting in the sunlight. 

As he screams, he grabs the shaft of the arrow, and I start to scream at him not to touch it. I know he's going to try to pull the arrow out, but that would do more harm. Pulling it out could potentially cause him to bleed out. I'd need to see the wound up close, but from what it looks like, it managed to break clean through the scapula. Pulling it out could send bone shards flying through his body, possibly piercing a lung. He doesn't listen, though, and tugs hard on the arrow. 

The arrow refuses to budge, and the momentum sends him flying forward. Straight off the edge of the cliff. Israel falls to his knees and tries to grab him, but he's just a second too late. Atlas slips from his fingers and time slows even more as he hurtles towards the ground. I try to run to him, hoping to do something. Even if I can't catch him, per se, maybe just landing on me would be better than landing on the ground. Maybe if I broke his fall instead of the rocky ground, he could live. 

Before I can take two steps, though, Jezebel and Satanus move their horses slightly, denying me access. I scream and fight against them, trying to get to Atlas, but they don't budge. I start to cry, the whole ground seeming to shift under my feet. Atlas is falling to a certain death, and all I can do is stand and watch. Lucifer said he wanted Atlas alive, but if that's the case, why isn't he doing anything to stop this? Images flash before my eyes, taking me through my entire story with Atlas, and imagining a world without him in it. 

My thoughts come to a halt when a shriek pierces the air. All of the Vultures look up, many of them jumping slightly when they see the source of the sound. I smile slightly when I look up and see a gryphon. It slices through the air, diving towards Atlas faster than he can fall. At the last second, it reaches out with its talons, hard enough to dig into his shirt but gently enough to not scratch his back. The gryphon doesn't pull up automatically, seeming to know that the force of doing so could injure him further.