13.
Shielding Faith
It was quiet outside, but Reyna knew the silence was a lie. It was a delicate, brittle veil that hid the reality of their situation. Each step thickened the veil, though. Around her the trees were vibrant, the grass lush. Colorful wild flowers bloomed in patches here and there. It was perfect. It was serene. Reyna could easily pretend they were all out on a picnic.
As long as she didn't look up.
She exhaled, her shoulders drooping and her chest deflating. Reyna didn't want to pretend. She knew very well where she was walking could be her grave. Could be everyone and everything's graves.
"It's not over," Verden said.
Reyna flinched. She had forgotten how Verden always seemed to hone in on people's thoughts, say what was needed to be heard. She looked at him, only catching a glimpse of his profile and furrowed brow. The sight of his bloody bandages wrapped around his head still daunted her, but she hadn't missed how loud and definite his voice sounded.
"Not over, huh?" Gahn said in a way that gave Reyna pause.
"What I do not understand is why all of our assistance is required when half of us are powerless," Erian said. "What is your plan?"
All attention shifted to Verden, waiting. Reyna wondered when this silent but mutual agreement of designating him at their leader had come to be. Not just their leader but their king. It was their king they were looking at for help. It was their king they were waiting for to utter their next move. It was their king that was half human that now led all the demons.
And as all noble kings do when asked a question that determines the fate of those around them, Verden answered Erian's without any trace of uncertainty. "Our spirits will be protecting the portal's cardinal directions, and if our spirits are going to be there, we all need to be there to keep them in check. You may protect whatever direction you wish, however, know you will all be separated from your friends."
Reyna's breath caught in her throat. She had expected this, to be separated from Dante, to know he probably wouldn't be by her side at the very end. Verden didn't play favorites—and he shouldn't when the existence of two worlds was a stake—but hearing his words had still halted her existence for a fraction of a second as if their inevitable call for damnation had arrived early.
"Reyna. Dante," Verden said, snapping her from her thoughts. "As the only humans here your role is very important. The spirits seem to prefer attacking humans which means you two will be coordinating the spirits to and from our own."
"So we're bait," Dante said, his voice dry and flat.
Verden sighed. "I'm sorry to be asking this of you, but with so many of them against us so few—"
"I can protect us," said a smooth, soft voice.
"Azul, no," Erian said and grabbed her arm.
Everyone stopped.
Verden came up to the petit spirit. "What do you mean?" he asked her.
"Azul." There was a threatening tone in Erian's voice.
She ignored it. "I am capable of creating a barrier around us about hundreds of yards in diameter. I can protect us all while you finish the portal."
Verden seemed pensive, but his face betraying none of his thoughts. "How long do you think you can keep it up?" he asked.
"The need to coordinate and bait the spirits' attacks is still essential. The shield can break if pressured too much on a single area, but if successful, I can hold it up for an hour at the most. Assuming I do not succumb to my insanity first," Azul answered.
"You will not because you shall not do this. It is too dangerous and too much of a strain on you," Erian said.
Azul turned to him and smiled. "My dear Erian, you no longer order me. I will do this because I wish to and because it is the best I can do in saving your life."
He stared at her, his silver eyes for once betraying all his chaotic emotions.
"Then, that changes a few things, but not much," Verden said and began to walk, his indication for the rest to follow.
They did, silence reigning over them again, but this time the veil was torn by reality's teeth. The lightning in the sky danced like gluttonous worms devouring a corpse. Reyna scowled, feeling as if the rays had increased in number and activity. An electric touch not present earlier gripped the land. It was countered by a warm sensation that slid through her fingers. It felt alien for a moment until she realized it was Dante's hand holding her own. Reyna smiled at him, squeezing his fingers, wishing to give him the strength he was giving her.
"Here," Verden said, halting.
They had arrived at the portal. Reyna was surprised at how close the spot was to Verden's house, but when she turned around, there was no sign of the tiny, cozy home. Spots of the town peeked through a wall of trees but nothing more could be seen. For as deep as they had walked into the vegetation, she was awed they hadn't been attacked. She didn't like what that meant.
But what staggered her most was the fact they stopped next to Auronmar's grave. Ashy remains of his pyre were gathered in small piles a few feet away, and in the middle of the blackness was the crude stone marker that had been hidden under the fire to serve as his grave mark. The giant rock was blackened, but Reyna could still read the former demon king's name on it. She found herself asking him for strength, now realizing—and feeling the fool at how long it had taken her—how he had been the strongest of them all.
"Split how you wish and take a cardinal direction. Dante and Reyna, spread the onslaught as evenly as you can between the two halves of the shield. I will open the portal as soon as I can. It will not take the entire hour." Verden's instructions were short but clear. Everyone present had participated in countless battles before, and Reyna didn't know if that was a good or bad thing.
Verden held their gazes with his own as if acknowledging, reminding, each of them, even the spirits, that they existed. Verden nodded once and he and Ayame departed to the portal's location.
The group divided in half without discussion as if this had been decided beforehand. Mundus, Lina, Gahn, Radi, and Jvala separated from Cerus, Flow, Erian, and Azul. Dante and Reyna were the only ones that remained behind. She didn't want to see his face knowing she would waver, so she took her steps eyes downcast, but she felt Dante's hand tug her back.
"Go with Mundus," Dante said, a sad smile on his face. "I know he'll protect you with everything he has."
Reyna couldn't help it. She hugged him. "Not more than you."
They separated.
Gahn, Radi, and Jvala took their position north of the portal. Dante followed Cerus and Flow to the west, and Erian and Azul went south. Reyna followed Lina and Mundus to guard over the east.
Verden had wasted no time in continuing his creation of the portal. His hands were glowing and tearing the air itself, a line of heat that distorted the scenery. As Reyna watched him call forth a doorway to another realm, she recalled when Verden had offered to teacher her how to create a portal. If only there had been time for that. If only there had been time for a lot more.
"Reyna," Mundus said.
She looked at him, but when she did, he looked away.
A faint shadow approached her, originating from the south. It ran over the grass, over her, Mundus, and Lina, and continued eating the ground only to stop shortly after engulfing Gahn, Radi, and her spirit. It was the loom of Azul's shield, an opaque gray dome that enclosed them all in a cloudy blur.
It seemed as if the shield's summoning also brought the spirits. A creature that appeared like a cross between a sparrow and a human bashed against the dome like a bird hitting a windshield. Talons scrapped the gray surface, inches from Reyna's stoic face. Other spirits joined the assault—a flurry of vicious eyes, elongated fangs, scratching claws, inhumane screeches. All mindless in their attempts to grab at their target that was behind a strange, magical barrier.
Reyna swallowed, unsure how much abuse the wall protecting her from an eye-gouging was going to hold. When a handful of more spirits joined the fray, she decided to run. She didn't have her Magika, but she still did have her stamina. A glance over her shoulder told her Dante was also on the move.
Reyna and Dante did well in corralling the spirits around the dome despite the limited amount of area they had. When Reyna's swarm was hovering on the right side of the barrier, Dante's were on the left. When he herded his spirits up the shield, Reyna went down. Though she couldn't communicate with him, Reyna felt content at how synchronized she was with Dante. A small smile played on her lips.
We're actually gonna do this.
She frowned. She and Dante were dealing with little more than a handful of spirts each, hardly the throng Ram had spoken about. Which meant the majority of the spirit horde was still attacking the city. Reyna bit her lip. As much as Reyna wanted the spirits to stop their onslaught in the town, if they were to appear here, it would mean the death of everything.
After several minutes Reyna noticed the hairline cracks crawling over the shield .She spared Verden a glance as she passed by him to see the thin mirage line from earlier had expanded large enough to admit a dog through it.
Just a bit more.
"Reyna!"
She jerked to a stop from her run a few feet from crashing into Dante. He gaped at her with eyes that asked what had been her distraction, but she didn't answer. Instead both of them looked up at the sky, realizing at the same time what they had done.
Above, the masses of spirits that had been chasing them merged into a dense, angry pack that crashed against the shield. There was a buzz of white noise, waves of it pulsing against Reyna's ears in the same violent manner the spirits were pushing against the dome. An underlay of tiny cracks ran with the sound, staccato drops within the fray.
A sharp shatter.
Heat radiated around her so fierce she couldn't breathe. Reyna opened her eyes she hadn't realized she closed to see a wall of fire before her, twice as tall as her. A figure broke through the inferno, unburnt despite the angry flames that swirled around her limbs.
"Radi," Reyna said.
The demon glared. "Hurry and go."
"But Dante—"
Radi bared her fangs. "Your distractions have done enough! Jvala will keep this breach covered. Keep them away from here."
Reyna wanted to ask about Dante again, but Radi's face betrayed the end of her patience. Reyna dashed away. A few spirits followed her away from the flames but came to a halt even though she was still running. She wondered at their hesitation only to see them all at once ram against the shield. She recoiled. Their attacks had been uncoordinated flailing with the manifestation of a few weapons that scratched at the barrier. The spirits struck again, and the familiar sound of cracking glass rang out.
"Reyna!" Mundus grabbed her arm and away from the volley of shards that erupted.
The sound of the shield falling was deafening. It reminded her of the brash, imploded clash that sounded when two cars clattered head on into one another, the twisting of their metal bodies ringing in the air.
No.
Again, Reyna felt herself pulled along by the arm. After a blur of green, she found herself sitting on the grassy ground behind a line of shrubbery that arched around a tree. Mundus was crouched next to her, his sword out, eyes sharp and surveying the area.
Reyna looked at her hand that was palm out on the ground. Her fingers dug into the dirt. She was being protected again and she hated it. She hated how all her years of training had been in vain. She hated how her powers, her ability to help, had been taken away along with half of her arm. She hated how, right there and then, she might as well had done nothing since the day she found out she had a demon's soul in her body.
"Stop it, Reyna," Mundus said, his eyes still on the spirits in the distance. "I know of what you think."
She kept quiet, holding on to her loathing, as she watched the scene before her. She had never seen the raw power of spirits that had once been bound to demons, but instead of awe, she felt envy.
She and Mundus had been able to make their escape because Lina had kept the spirits at bay. What Reyna could only describe as an impossibly long whip wrapped around the spirits that had attacked her. Limbs were enfolded, wings suppressed, mouths gagged, necked choked. The weapon illuminated like a live black light and whatever it touched, it charred with plumes of eerie blue smoke.
A streak of black and grey dashed between the captured spirits, slashed throats the only evidence of Flow's presence. The blood of the slain splattered in the air, ocean waves crashing upon a rocky shore. When the pup landed, his fur was dyed red. He shook, splashing blood on the ground, before continuing his assault.
Columns of fire framed the scene. They spiraled with life, following any straggling spirits. Jvala burned them without the need to lift a finger, and she did it all with a smile full of crooked fangs that split her head in half.
Verden stood in the middle of it all, protected by Ayame. Her work was cut out for her, though. Hardly any spirits penetrated through the onslaught, and those that did met with white arrows that flew from the palms of Ayame's hands. Reyna couldn't help but notice how similar Ayame's powers were to her own.
She couldn't find Dante. Reyna crawled a few inches forward as if that would answer her desire. He wasn't the only one missing. The rest of the demons weren't seen as well. She sighed, eyes caught by the ground. Of course they weren't there. Powerless, they could only hide, like her.
A low growl rose from Mundus.
Reyna's head shot up, expecting an attack but saw none. "What?" she whispered.
"Azul," he said.
"Azul?"
The blue spirit was off to the side, collapsed against Erian. Reyna didn't know if her erratic twitches meant she was succumbing to her own insanity or simply a sign that she wasn't unconscious. Reyna didn't wonder long. She caught sight of a crazed spirit, a glowing spear in his hand, heading towards Azul and Erian. A black cord coiled around the advancing opponent forcing him to drop his weapon. It pulled him to the ground where Flow finished him off with a snap of his jaws.
The horde of spirits thinned out enough that Reyna felt confident to rise to her feet, but when she took a step forward, Mundus held her back by her shoulder.
"Mundus—"
A roar that Reyna could only describe as the scream of an angry God drowned out the rest of her words. Her eyes widened when she saw where the sound was coming from. A throng of spirits descended upon them, dense enough to block the light from the sky. They crashed through the shield as if it were made of porcelain. Reyna felt Mundus squeeze her shoulder and pull her behind him, but she shook off his arm when she saw Dante.
He was trapped by his wrists by crystal chains that grew from the ground. They drew him down, one loop at a time, as it disappeared into the grass. A spirit that sported four devil-like wings rushed at him. With glowing claws, she slashed at Dante's chest, shredding his shift off and coating whatever was left of it in blood. She gashed at his face, his arms, his back, each hack of his flesh done in a flurry of red as Dante dragged to the ground by the chains.
Reyna took off with a half-choked call of his name, but an arm around her waist brought her run to a stop. She struggled against Mundus's strength, but she knew she wouldn't win. She faced him with a scowl.
"Remain hidden here," he said.
She kicked as he lifted her off the ground and back behind the bushes. "No!"
Mundus glower froze her. She had seen plenty of his glares, thousands, but there was something different about this one. "Dante would not wish for any harm to fall upon you. If anything, stay here for him."
Dante.
Reyna sank to her knees and hugged herself. What could she do with one arm anyway?
"But you should go," she said. "You should help Verden."
Mundus turned his gaze to the battle. Verden and Ayame were hidden from view by the incredible amount of spirits that zipped, crawled, ran, and flew through the broken shield's holes, but they both knew what that meant. He turned back to her, and she saw the hesitation in his eyes.
"If you want me to stay here, then you have to go. I promise I'll stay hidden," she said.
He sighed and gripped his sword. His other hand cradled the back of her head and he kissed her forehead. "Be safe, Reyna,"
Reyna watched as Mundus disappeared past Azul's shattered barrier and wished him luck. Wished them all luck.
She searched for Dante. Each second she spent combing through the bloodlust of insane, attacking spirits caused her stomach to lurch and drop. Each slash that painted the air with someone's blood, whose she couldn't tell and that killed her all the more, made her head buzz with dizziness, her chest ache with the rock that had replaced her heart.
She heard a scream. In fact, that was what she had been hearing, but this one was familiar. She had heard that voice mature into what it was now since the third grade. As if her thoughts commanded reality, the spirits parted to reveal Dante just as he head-butted his assailant that had him bound. Cerus leapt and tackled the dazed spirit, pinning her to the ground and snapping her neck while Flow chewed through the chains that bound Dante.
Reyna's breath caught to see him out of harm's way, but the chill returned when a monstrosity of a spirt crashed into him, taking not only Dante but Cerus too out of view. With their disappearance, Gahn emerged. He was armed with daggers, Radi by his side with her blade that no longer held its blaze. They battled their own foes, but every slash they delivered granted them double in return.
Reyna was about to go back on the promise she made Mundus when she saw Lina crash through the brittle shield, skid along the ground, and come to a stop a few feet away from her. She rushed to the spirit's side. She appeared unconscious but also in pain.
"Lina?" she asked.
The spirit's eyes shot open. Their usual warm lilac color was cold and hard and they didn't seem to recognize Reyna. Lina gripped Reyna's wrist and pulled her down so the two were eye-to-eye, enough for her to see her crazed leer.
"Lina!" Reyna tried to pull away.
She gripped Reyna tighter, and an intense blaze flared around her wrist and up her arm. Blue smoke surrounded her and Reyna could smell her flesh burning.
"Lina, you have to stop," Reyna hissed between her teeth, the burning pain causing her eyes to water. "Cerus and Flow..."
The spirit paused and a flicker of something dashed in her eyes. Reyna caught her breath as the heat around her wrist stopped, but her arm still pulsed with pain. She pulled away, but Lina captured her again, eyes again overcome with the insanity that was fueling her. Her other hand shot around Reyna's neck. She felt like the spirit's palm was going to decapitate her, melt through her flesh like a hot knife through butter.
Lina yelped and shot to her feet.
Reyna gulped in air, but each inhale felt like swallowing shards of glass. She blinked away her tears and tried her best to cradle her aching arm as she looked up to see what happened to Lina. The spirit held her hand, blood dripping between clenched fingers. She faced the tip of Mundus's sword.
Lina's eyes narrowed with anger and hatred. She launched her whip at Mundus, a black mamba that danced in the air. It wrapped around his blade, warping the metal and pulling it out of his hands. He followed through with her movements and dashed at Lina. She flinched at his sudden appearance in front of her. Mundus enclosed his palm around her throat only to remove it a second later. Her neck, which had been bare, now wore a black choker.
Lina blinked.
"Lina, are you yourself?" Mundus asked.
"Master!" She nodded and hugged him. She whirled around towards Reyna and gasped when she saw the fierce, red, blistered skin on her. "Oh no! This one is so sorry! This one is so, so sorry!"
Reyna wanted to speak, but a shrill cry drew her attention.
"Verden!"
It was Ayame's.
Mundus hands curled into fists, his indication that he heard the yell too, but his appearance was anxious as he walked towards Reyna. He took her injured arm in his hands. She hissed but his touch felt cool and soothing.
"Lina," he said without looking at her.
She bounced over to him. "This one will protect Master's human," she said as if reading his mind.
He hesitated before removing her necklace. "If you feel as if you are losing yourself, leave." Mundus gave his useless sword a glance before leaving.
"I'm not his human," Reyna said, her voice raspy.
Lina's smile seemed an apology. "This one didn't mean anything bad."
"No, but..." Reyna looked at the battle in the distance.
Even from where she was, she could see how Erian's entire chest was red, the color dying his pants. She could see Azul's vain efforts to summon shields to protect him from further onslaught. She could see Gahn fall to his knees and Radi rush to his side as a lance of light impaled the two together.
Reyna could see a flailing Flow in the grip of a spirit and Jvala pinned to the ground by a swarm of spirits that stabbed her with weapons of ice. She could see Cerus on one knee, assaulted by the fists of an attacker twice his size. She could see a fallen Ayame cradled by Verden with one arm while his other glowed with the slow process of creating the portal that was merely the size of a child. She could see Mundus by his brother, his roars the only weapon at his disposal.
And she could see Dante slumped against a boulder, his arm draped across a bloody gash on his stomach.
Reyna felt their muscles screaming, their lives draining. The blood poured nonstop from their wounds and dripped from their mouths. Each movement appeared their last, and it was only by their heaving shoulders that she knew they were still alive, but she also knew it wouldn't be for long.
Their defeat weighed her down, numbed her from everything else. Reyna moved in slow motion as she looked at her lap and dirt stained shorts, the ones that had survived the cross from the demon world with her.
Reyna's head snapped up. "Lina, you have to reach into my pocket." She coughed. It hurt to talk.
The spirit frowned and tilted her head.
"The flower Mundus gave me is in there. You have to revive it with your Dark Blood powers."
Her eyebrows went up. "No! No! Master said this one should never—"
"Lina! Look around! Look at what's happening!" Reyna jumped to her feet, the movement jerking fresh pain into her burned arm. "Who cares what Mundus said if he's going to die?"
She paused, youthful face further pruned of age by her pleading features. "No! This one can't disobey Master!"
"Lina! Cerus and Flow are going to die!"
She gasped. Tears gathered in her eyes. "No. But this one...this one..."
"Lina, please! I can save them, but I need your help." Reyna panted for air, her throat threatening to dry out.
The timid spirit gazed at the scene in the distance and facing Reyna nodded once, determination overtaking her. "This one will do it."
Reyna's joy surged so high it pushed away the throb of pain from her arm and the burning ache in her throat. "It's in my right pocket."
Lina's hand slipped into her pocket and pulled out a blackened twig. The withered stem between her fingers fattened with color, gleaming. From it, orange and purple petals bloomed like a firework. Lina held the pristine flower to Reyna, and she almost cried at the sight.
"Oh," Lina said, looking at Reyna's injured arms. "This one will feed it to you."
"No. Mundus said I had to accept it on my own for it to work. I don't want to risk anything right now," Reyna said. With a cry, she forced her arm to move and her fingers to grip the flower. She bent down and ate it.
A familiar surge overtook her. Her aches and pains vanished, and before she knew it, she was running. She was faster, and it didn't take long for her to reach her destination. Verden's surprised face stared at her. The scowl that replaced it told her he knew what she had done and the underlying apprehension in it told her he also knew what they both now had to do.
"I'm sorry," he said.
"Me too," she said.
They kissed.
Reyna thought it would only last for a second, but the Magika held them together longer like two lovers reuniting after ages of separation. The surge running through her body roared and rushed as if it was her very blood. She could feel Verden essence pumping into her as hers dashed out into him. The two met and twisted, spiraling and forming. Their core reached out to other corners Reyna both recognized but didn't, but their presence was a comfort, and Reyna felt at ease knowing she and Verden were giving them life.
They separated to find Mundus and Ayame gaping at them, but the fact they were standing, their wounds diminishing by the second meant it was done. The Magika was back.
"Such an unpleasant display," Mundus said.
"Did you have to kiss for so long?" Ayame asked.
Silence.
The spirits had gone still, all facing towards the heavens. Reyna followed their gazes and though scowled at what she saw, she felt like her eyes betrayed her dread.
Lys hovered above them all, a giant sack in her hands. She threw it at them. It crashed through the deteriorated shield, bringing it down in a clamor akin to a waterfall's roar. The sack landed with a squishy thud by Reyna and Verden's feet, but it wasn't a sack. It was Ram's lifeless and bloody body.
Lys descended before them, acknowledging the next king and queen of demons. "It does not matter. You are all too late," she said, her voice as lovely as ever.
~*~*~
Author's Note: Yup. An update. Wow. I think I changed Lys's gender. Again. Though he...she...doesn't exactly have a gender, but it makes the writing easier. XD
I know it probably means nothing by now, but I am sorry for taking so long, and to those of you that are still reading this story...thank you so much for your patience. I hope you enjoyed this chapter even though it's short compared to the others. Which I am also super sorry about. It took a lot for me to write this chapter, and I know the writing is stiff, but I hope as I continue the story, that clears up.
Again, thank you so, so much! <3