Kaliel

Chapter 3

I noticed that they all had wings, none of which were white. When I pointed this out to them, and asked how to fold my wings in like they had, they looked at me and confused looks overcame their faces. When I had asked what was the matter, Jake told me that only the angelic had white wings, and that the black feathers were probably from my demonic side. They taught me how to get fold them into my back, as well as more about the wings in general.

As we walked deeper into the depths, it got warmer until Mia and I had to take off our jackets and put them in our duffel bags. Sweat was starting to glisten on our skin and that was when I saw the first of the fires. We got closer to them until we realized that the amount of fires burning individually, and without any type of source, weren’t normal. I think that was also the point in time when we realized that we weren’t on Earth anymore.

We continued down the firelit path, following the single large tunnel until it opened up into a large cavern with smaller tunnels splitting off from it.

“Where do we go from here?” I asked, nervous at all the choices.

Mia looked at me before looking at each tunnel entrance. “I’m going to go with this one,” she says, pointing at one of the ones off to the side.

“Why?” Adam asked.

“Because those are some big footprints, and there’s not that many of them,” she replied quickly.

We all glanced at one another before shrugging and starting off down that tunnel, still holding our swords. The path felt never ending, the only sounds being that of our feet on the sandy dirt and our breathing. No one dare spoke a word to break the silence because we could feel the pure evil growing, radiating off of a place somewhere up ahead. The air got thicker the closer we got, and the tunnel began opening up.

Eventually it led into a larger cavern, so tall that a skyscraper could probably fit. It seemed impossible that this was under the Earth, but the nephilim had explained to me that we were in another dimension the minute we stepped into the mausoleum.

There was a tower going high into the cavern, the tip of it invisible due to the inky black darkness above us. The whole place radiated evil, like it was the tower in The Lord of the Rings housing the eye of Sauron. The doorway leading into the tower had to be twenty feet tall, able to fit three men standing on each other’s shoulder.

Our feet slowed until we came to a complete stop because of the footsteps we heard coming our way. My jaw dropped at the sight in front of us, and I heard one of the nephilim suck in a sudden breath.

We stand facing three massive demons, their matted and patchy fur a stark black, wielding white hot swords glowing with demon fire that licked the air and danced on the blade. One of the demons seemed to be larger than the others and he made his way forward stalking towards us like we were just a fly he needed to deal with. The smoke rolled off his back with each step, and he had pointed teeth and a greyish tint to his fur that made him look sick. This demon was at least fifteen feet tall and was wearing a thick chain around his waist with skulls hanging by the dozens in long chains, brushing his knees. Their faces had a missing patch of fur in the same spot, making a design that looked like a slightly tilted x in a circle. It looked like the skin had been burned underneath, and was an angry red.

I looked at Jake, Mia, and Adam, mentally asking who was going to attack first. Jake sighed and stepped up, spinning his sword lazily before charging at the approaching demons, picking the one off to the left, while Adam followed behind, splitting off to attack the smaller one on the right. Mia and I locked gazes for only a second, quickly planning our attack mentally Mia took off running across the ground while I unfurled my wings and leaped into the air. I matched her pace as flew towards the giant, swords in our hands, our mouths set in a flat line as we concentrated on the task in front of us.

With fear and a heartbeat that matched the earth shattering quake left after each step the giant took towards us, I was forced to look directly at his layers of shark like teeth that seemed to be made of iron, the rust growing like it was alive.

As I grew closer I thought of my aunt, of my peaceful life in Haggard, where the most dangerous thing to do was cliff dive. I thought of all the times I had sat behind my house, hugging my knees, watching the waves as they crashed against the cliff, occasionally sending sea spray in the breeze to gently fall on my face. I thought of everything I had done, and everything I had yet to do. Of my classmates, of the bullies, of the acquaintances. I thought of my aunt, waiting at home for me, her fingers tapping on the table, the warmth of her palms healing me whenever I got a cut.

I was snapped back into the presence by the sounds of fighting. Looking to one side, I saw Jake spinning and slicing, using his sword to slowly cause the demon to bleed out. Seeing he had control of the situation, I turned to Adam, seeing him just narrowly duck a swipe from the demon he was up against. Figuring that he had enough training from the Academy he studied at, I turned back to the giant in front of me, readying my sword and letting out a battle cry and Mia followed suit.

I swung my sword at his face, succeeding in creating a cut that inky blood dripped from. I flew backwards, dodging the claws that came up to rip me to shreds. Grunting, I trusted that Mia was doing all she could to get this demon on the ground so we could take care of him. I flew around his head like an annoying gnat that just wouldn’t go away, keeping his attention on me with swings and thrusts of my sword.

After what seemed like a decade, Mia managed to amputate his leg at the thigh, causing the demon to let out a roar of pain and to crash to the ground. Like a pack of wolves going for the kill, Mia, Jake, and I dove in. They held off his hands from swatting us away, while I went straight for his heart. I waited until I was a less than ten feet above him before I folded in my wings and dropped like a stone, angling my sword straight down and hoping against hope that I had estimated correctly.

Squeezing my eyes shut, I landed with a thud, my sword piercing through his tough skin until it was buried until the hilt. I loosened my white knuckle grip on the sword and let out the breath I hadn’t realized I had been holding. I felt him die beneath me, that last shuddering breath that was no where near as graceful as it seemed in books and movies. We let out a collective sigh of relief, happy that we were done with that for now. I jumped off the carcass, trying to hold back my disgust as its stench engulfed me.

The sudden sound of large footsteps rushing towards us made us all look up, fear on our faces because that sounded like more than a few demons. We could seem through the slits that were the windows of the tower. Hundreds upon hundreds rushed down to the doorway. I lept back up into the air, glancing back and forth between the tower and my company, trying to come to decision.

“Run!” Mia shouted at me. My mouth was dry and one thought kept ringing in my head. My game was over and not because I had won.