Guardian(Part II): Soulborne

Chapter 38: Haemon

The roar that echoed across the sky above Illondas was one that I knew all too well. It was the roar of a deva, a demon that towered above any other, with three heads, six arms, and a dark weapon held in each hand. The aura of darkness I felt from this one was immense, one of the most powerful I had ever felt. It was real, but devas were extinct. I knew what the monster really was. A Tuatha, with an Amulet of Shifting, similar to mine, but that gave its wearer the ability to turn into monsters instead of animals or other people. The one a Tuatha wore was dark and corrupted, and could only turn its wearer into dark and corrupted things, while an Ilentia's was pure and radiant. There was a glitch with mine, though, and now couldn't have been a better time to use it. I flew across the battlefield, passing over the forest in front of Quorias, until I had a view of the vast Camnorish army that Finn and I passed three days ago. As the cannon fire from Illondas' forces continued, their numbers had dwindled, but there were still enough soldiers and war machines to burn Quorias to the ground. I saw the deva's middle head stare directly at me, and it began to stomp my way, crushing what must have been hundreds of Camnorish soldiers every time it stepped with its massive feet. I flew higher into the air, matching the deva's height, and turned the dial of my amulet, transforming myself into a deva, but one that used radiant blades instead of dark ones in all six of its hands. I stomped towards the enemy deva, crushing hundreds of Camnorish soldiers with my giant feet with every step, and swung all three of my right arms at it. Each one of my hands held a long, thin sword that could easily cut all three of a deva's heads off, but this Tuatha fighting as one was prepared for that. It raised its top left arm that held a black club to block my attack. When my blades crashed against the club, they knocked the weapon out of the hand that held it, and severed the hand completely. I felt the ground under me tremble as the demon staggered backward, with all three of its heads roaring with pain. It gritted its teeth, then thrust a spear in its middle right hand at my chest. I caught the spearhead with all six of my blades, but was pushed back across the ground, sliding on my feet. I parried the spearhead, then swung all six of my radiant blades right at the deva's chest. The demon couldn't raise any of its weapons in time, so all six of my swords landed a slash across its chest with the very tip of their blades. After every single cut I landed, a roar of pain came from the demon's three heads, and then a red light surrounded its entire body before it disappeared. I still sensed a Tuatha's immense aura of darkness, despite what he transformed into disappearing, though. I turned back to my true form, then began to fly above the ground to look for the Tuatha.

"Where are you?" I whispered. I must have flown over thousands of Camnorish soldiers that were crushed during our fight alone, with the few that were still alive too terrified to lift a rifle or sword against me. I followed the Tuatha's aura, and eventually found him, bent down on his knees, supporting himself with a long spear with a black tip.

"I thought Tuatha were tougher than that in their deva form?" I taunted, with a grin across my face.

"Do not mock me," the red-skinned Tuatha growled. I saw him catching his black blood in his hand as it poured from the six cuts in his chest, but then I saw that blood return to the wounds, and the cuts sealed. I had thought that Tuatha couldn't heal themselves, then I remembered that the only way to kill one was to take their head off. I raised my staff and pointed it towards the Tuatha as he stood upright and pointed his black spear towards me.

"Let us end this," he challenged.

"Let's," I agreed. I flew into the air, then launched myself straight at the Tuatha, twirling my staff in my hands as fast as I could. One of the blunts crashed against the shaft of the demon's spear, nearly snapping it in half, then the Tuatha swung his spearhead at me. I deflected the attack before kicking him right in the chest, firing a burst from my propulsion boots. Before I could fly away, the Tuatha's hand grabbed my small foot, and he spun around and hurled me through the air with all his strength. I managed to fly back into the air before diving towards the ground again. I began twirling my staff in my hands as I closed the distance with the Tuatha, but he suddenly ignited a red, glowing darkshield from his left gauntlet. He managed to raise it before my staff could strike his black armor. Instead, my staff crashed against the darkshield, and the ground under us trembled. A crack split the ground open, then I flew into the air again. I knew exactly how I would kill this Tuatha. I came down, then went back up, grabbing the Tuatha by the top of his armor before he could attack again. He dropped his shield as I brought him as far into the air as I could. I waved to a Giant castle before going back down as the sky began to darken, entering Zenartha's atmosphere again. I flew down with the Tuatha warrior in my grasp as fast as I could. Flames began to surround us as I pushed my propulsion boots to their absolute limit, and I began to scream as the heat became more intense. My aura shield protected me, but I still felt the fire around me. The Tuatha I was holding, though, was completely ablaze, with his white hair burned clean off, and his red skin beginning to follow it. We crashed onto the ground, and an explosion erupted from the ground with our impact. I closed my eyes to protect them as my aura shield shattered, and felt the Tuatha's aura fade until it was gone. Once the heat from the explosion was gone, I opened my eyes again. I was standing at the bottom of a wide, deep crater, with ash all around me. It felt like my feet were standing on a flaming rock, right in the middle of a fire. I could feel both of my parents' auras rushing towards me, but I felt myself fading. I fell to my knees, stopping my face from hitting the ground with my hands.

"Haemon!" Mom screamed.

"Haemon!" Dad shouted. I felt someone pick me up and cradle me in their arms. It was Mom.

"Mom?" I whispered.

"We're here," Mom promised.

"We?" I rasped. I managed to turn my head over to the other side, and saw Dad. I never thought I wanted to see him again, even after suddenly reappearing after centuries, but he was there.

"We're both here," said Dad, with his hand on my forehead. Normally, I would have cringed at his touch, but he was here when I was in danger, now, and it warmed my heart to see that. My eyes began to close, and I heard them both crying my name. Mom began to shake me, but I didn't feel it.