The first noise Amira heard as she slowly awakened was the sound of liquid gently sloshing. She cracked open her eyes and found herself in a river.
Only this river was dark and oily, the currents rippling over her body.
It was so polluted.
Doll heads, banana peels, cloth rags and other unnamable objects swirled in the churning brown water. She didn't even want to think about what lay at the bottom of the river.
And she was sitting right in it.
With a yell, Amira jumped up, nearly crashing her head on the bridge above her. The stench was unbelievable to her sensitive nose and she made her way up the bank, slipping and sliding on the muddy bank. When she was about five feet from the river, she stopped. What was she doing? Walking right into unknown territory?
She knew better. Quickly, she studied her surroundings. The brown river at her feet flowed down the hill she was standing on into the darkness. On her right, a stony half-collapsed bridge connected the banks, roughly about six feet apart. Tall piles of something littered the area, seeming to reach up to the dark cavernous ceiling that seemed endless. She took a closer look at the pile closest to her. Was that...garbage?
Bits of glass, cups, carton boxes, and white and black full bags sat on top of each other to form a pile at least ten meters high. The odor was incredible, choking her lungs with its noxious smell. Yep, definitely garbage.
In the distance, she could make out more garbage piles and blackness, a fitting scene for Hell. The shadows seemed to darken at every corner.
A shiver rolled down Amira's spine. She smoothed her hand over her body, praying she'd feel the sharp tip of a dagger or knife. Nothing. They had really dropped her in the inner rings of Hell without a weapon. At least her wing shackles and handcuffs were gone.
Amira pushed down the anxiety that swamped her from being unarmed. She didn't need knives and daggers to fight demons, she had her own body. With this comforting thought, she opened her wings to check if they were functional.
Shock filled her at the sight.
They were functional, all right. Red streaks ran across her normal black wings, giving the illusion of blood seeping through her feathers. As she opened them for what felt like the first time in days, tingles spread over her fingers. Before her very eyes, black talons sprouted in place of pink nails. She gasped as they quickly grew, the tips razor sharp. Apparently, her Fall hadn't changed her too much as she could still feel the Warfire raging inside her. Yet at the same time, she felt...stronger. As if someone had injected power into her veins.
What's happening to me?
Then realization settled in. I have Fallen.
That thought made her stumble back, almost crashing back into the dirty stream. It had really happened. It wasn't an awful nightmare that she could just wake up from--it was reality. Someone had framed her for murder by placing her prints on the murder weapon. The Council had not listened to a word she said and here she was, in the inner rings of hell, for a crime she did not do.
Amira swallowed back the scream that threatened to climb out of her throat. Fury filled her entire body, so much that she trembled from it. Yet she also felt so confused. Why had this happened to her? Who had a vendetta against her that they would frame her for murder? She didn't think she had offended anyone, so much to the point that they would go to this length to hurt her. Maybe it was random? Maybe Jezabelle was the true target and they just targeted her because she was a La'ziel and knew that she would take the fall?
Amira's head spun at all the possibilities. She felt so frustrated that she had no idea what to do. But sitting here and wondering about the possibilities wouldn't get her out of Hell. She needed to find a way to get home, back to Heaven. But how would she get out? And what would she do once she got to Heaven? They would still kick her out because they believed she was the murderer. Unless she could find the real murderer and clear her name, that was the only way for life to go back to normal.
She hesitated. But did she want life to go back to normal? To see her and her fellow La'ziel jeered at and laughed at? To go back to the dingy dorm they lived in? To never see their efforts appreciated? Half of her said yes, the part connected to her friends. As a La'ziel, she knew she could feel no love but she liked her friends. There was a bond there between Amira, Amziel, and Ten. They were the ones that had her back during battle just like she had theirs. They were comrades. She wanted to go back for them.
Yet she was conflicted. The other half of her said no. The selfish half that hated every sneer tossed her way. The feeling of having fought for your life for strangers who didn't give a shit about you. Who tossed you aside the moment you became useless to them. Life in Heaven wasn't good and Amira wasn't stupid enough to not see that.
She figured that no matter what, she had to find a way out of Hell. She could decide afterward whether or not to return to Heaven. If she did, she would somehow find the murderer and clear her name. If she didn't, well, she would figure it out from there.
She looked around. Nothing but piles of trash and marshy ground met her eyes. There was no portal in sight. They must have dropped her here and closed it. She didn't think there would be any other portals located in the inner rings and even if there were, they would probably be closed. But she did know there was the rip. After all, she and the La'ziel used it all the time to fight the demons.
So she would find the rip. She would either go back to Heaven to clear her name or find a way to Earth from there. She was quite sure she could convince her friends to help her--if not Ilana and Asa, then definitely Amziel and Ten. What she wasn't sure was which ring she was in or what monsters and terrors laid waiting in the yawning darkness beyond. No angel in Hell knew what lay in the inner rings, perhaps only the archangels knew. A thrill of fear shivered through her. Yet at the same time, excitement sparked deep inside her.
She wanted to fight, to feel the air sawing in and out of her lungs as she moved. To feel the bite of her steel into flesh and the adrenaline filling her as she fought for her life. If that made her evil, well, she was in Hell. Her Warfire purred in agreement.
She beat her wings experimentally and sure enough, she flew forward as if she had been propelled by a missile. The feeling of flight, of pure freedom, made her so happy that she laughed out loud, despite the situation. Whirling in circles, she flew towards the cavernous ceiling, her wings inches from the razor-sharp stalactites, before alighting back on the ground.
The only problem was that she had no idea which direction to go. In Heaven, she was guided by the sun but there was no sun here. Angels usually had a directional instinct but hers was shit. She had never been good with directions. And maybe in Hell, normal directions didn't apply. Her instinct tugged her in a certain direction and because she had no other alternative, she flapped her wings and followed.
--
Amira flew for what seemed like hours. So long that even her newfound strength was draining. Yet the trash piles seemed endless. There was nothing else in sight. The longer she flew, the more she worried. Was she heading in the right direction? Or was she flying deeper into Hell?
After the sixth hour of flying, Amira couldn't handle it anymore. She needed to take a break. Her stomach was beginning to grumble and she remembered she hadn't eaten. Alighting on one of the trash piles, she was about to sit down when she heard a soft growl. It was the unmistakable growl of a demon, a sound she was all too familiar with. More growls came from all around her as red eyes blinked at her in the darkness.
Despite her tiredness, she couldn't help but grin. This she was used to. Fighting dozens of demons with her comrades at her back. Except...she didn't have comrades and she was by herself. It didn't matter, Amira thought, shaking her head. She could still take them.
The very pile under her feet suddenly began trembling and realization dawned on her. The demons were in the trash piles. Amira shot up right before a clawed hand raked the space where her foot had been. The pile shuddered once, twice, and suddenly, four demons were exploded out of it.
Only these demons looked different from the ones she fought on the outer rings. The ones she usually fought were skinny, withered beasts that ran on all fours. The monsters standing in front of her stood on two legs, their bodies three times bigger, nearly her body size. Instead of being withered, powerful muscles bunched under their matted fur. Wicked claws the length of Amira's fingers decorated their hands and red eyes glittered from their deformed faces.
Amira felt a thread of unease snake through her. Usually, she could take a few dozens of these creatures but she had no idea how strong these new demons were. She needed backup and weapons. As much as she wanted to fight, the intelligent part of her urged her to fly away. Only, her wings were exhausted from flying for hours and she wasn't sure how far she would get.
The Warfire snarled its disapproval at the thought of running away. Amira ignored it.
Quickly, she landed on the marshy ground. Delighted howls and pounding feet filled the air. The demons had given chase.
The anticipation of battle stirred the Warfire and her vision sharpened as her eyes turned red.
The first demon reached her lashed out with razor-sharp talons. Her instincts saved her. She dodged the blow and kicked hard at its soft stomach. It grunted but stood its ground, swiping at her. She blocked the swing, slamming her fist into its face. Once. Twice. Black blood exploded and it howled in pain and anger before reaching for her again.
She was surprised. If this had been a regular demon, three blows from her would have toppled it. Yet this bastard kept coming.
She kept dodging but the other demons had caught up. Now the four of them surrounded her, eagerness and hunger set in their deformed faces. Uh-oh, this was not good, Amira thought.
As they rushed forward, she flapped her wings hard, rising in the air but not before claws sank into her right leg, ripping into her flesh. Her Warfire numbed some of the pain but it still stabbed at her. The claws wrapped around her leg pulled her down hard and she slammed into the ground. Breath whooshed out of her lungs. She struggled to rise when something bony crashed into her face. She felt her nose break. Teeth tore into her wings, sending pain radiating throughout her upper half. At the same time, a brute force collided with her midsection, sending her to her knees.
This was the first time Amira felt panic. In all the battles she fought, she was always the victor-even if she came out of it with a few scrapes. But these demons were bigger and stronger than those she was used to and now they had her trapped. She couldn't escape.
The thought of dying here at the hands of demons was the trigger. Her Warfire, which had burned steadily through the fight, suddenly filled her chest with such heat that she gasped. Power inundated her, filling her tired limbs with new strength. Her vision, already sharpened, became even sharper. She had never felt so strong in her life.
With a scream, she pushed upwards, thrusting the demons away from her. Her wings, now bloody, pumped furiously as she flew several yards away. She could try to run but her Warfire was roaring in challenge and she was roaring with it. All the fear had left her body, leaving only determination to kill the creatures in front of her. She just wanted blood.
They barreled towards her, teeth bared. She flashed her own in response. As one got close to her, she slashed with her talons, raking its faces to shreds. It howled but she kept coming, sweeping its feet from underneath them. When it crashed to the ground, she broke its neck before it could react. She flew at the next one, wrapping her legs around its neck as she dug her talons deep into its neck. It gripped her legs with its claws, sinking them deep into her flesh. She ignored its struggles as she dug her own talons deeper, her Warfire reveling in the cries of the dying demon.
When he became nothing more than a limp heap, she let go, letting out a hoarse yell of triumph. The last two demons hovered uneasily a few feet away as if they had sensed the change in her. She would not let them escape.
Hurling herself at them before they could move, she tackled them to the ground. She knew dozens of ways to bring them down without getting up close and taking damage but at this point, she didn't care. All that mattered to her was ripping them apart with her talons. Teeth and claws sank into her body but she pressed closer, slicing at them. Blood pooled underneath their bodies, theirs and hers. Slowly, their struggles weakened and their bodies went limp.
Amira sat down, hard, falling to her knees. Her Warfire, which had burned her with such heat, suddenly puttered. The red left her eyes and Amira's body sagged with exhaustion. Even though her Warfire numbed most of her pain, she could feel the many wounds on her body. They would heal soon but it wouldn't take away the exhaustion she felt.
She felt dazed. Her Warfire had never burned with such intensity and she had never felt so uncontrolled. Yes, she was bloodthirsty but she had always felt in control of her Warfire. This time, it felt like it had taken over her.
She couldn't worry about that now. Where there were four demons, there were many more. The scent of blood attracted them and as predators, they would follow.
She had to get out of the open. Summoning the last of her strength, Amira dug through the stinking garbage and shoved herself into the small hole she made. It went against all her warrior instincts to hide like a rat but she had no choice. She was too spent.
The world faded into darkness.
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