Death Before Defeat

Chapter 3

It's officially 0:10 am here, and my sister has been bugging me for the next chapter for the past 10 minutes, so here's an early one.
Everyone say thank you Meike XDD

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Elias was vaguely aware of Aza calling him in the background, but he was too busy staring into the face of a very human looking being.

A hood (what was people's obsession with those anyway?) was hiding the entire left side of their face, but those were most definitely human features. The person looked to be quite young, around Elias’ age. One visible golden eye seemed to pierce right through him.

The only inhuman thing was that they were growling, the sounds you'd only expect out of an animal.

Suddenly the person got yanked off of him and he sat up, blinking confusedly. Aza was standing in front of him, Soul Knife in hand and ready to attack. The other was crouching on all fours, seemingly unarmed. They also didn’t seem eager to attack, considering how they were eyeing the trees to the right of him.

“What is that? No offense.” Elias asked, a little nervous. The mystery humanoid blinked with their one visible eye, staying completely still.

“That is a shapeshifter.” Aza answered, not taking her eyes off them. “They usually hunt in packs and are normally not in a human form.”

Elias tilted his head and studied the shapeshifter. They seemed agile and quick on their feet and he was quite sure he and Aza, or just Aza, didn’t stand a chance if the being decided to attack. “Well, if he is the outcast then it would make sense that he's alone, wouldn't it? Again, no offense.”

“Yeah, I guess it would.” Aza said, shifting her weight.

Elias eyed the magical knife in her hand. “And if he's the third person, don't you think we should not attack him with the soul destroyer?”

Aza huffed, but slowly put it back on her belt, still carefully watching the shapeshifter. “I suppose you're right. Happy now?”

Elias relaxed and nodded. “Oh yeah, I'm ecstatic.” He then turned his attention to their supposed third companion. “Alright, please don't attack us, apparently we were looking for you.”

The shapeshifter slowly stood up, still looking wary. “How so?” A gravelly voice asked.

“Allow me to explain, for the second and hopefully last time.” Elias said, clasping his hands together.

<*~*>

“So basically, we were chosen by the Time Goddess to fight another God. She hunts supernatural beings and I'm dead.” He finished, doing jazz hands. “Oh, I'm Elias Salinas and she's Azariah Skyler or Aza for short. Can he call you Aza?” He asked the assassin.

She rolled her eyes at him and looked at the third member of their group. “I guess you can.”

“Xavier Antar.” The shapeshifter said, not making any move to step closer. “About this whole defeating an evil God thing, can I decline or am I obligated to do this?”

Elias opened his mouth to answer, but got interrupted by someone else.

“You're stuck with this I'm afraid.” Elias groaned and turned around to see the God of the Underworld standing there in all his glory, an amused smile on his lips. “I love your outfit, especially the red, great choice.” He said, looking at Aza.

“Thanks.” She said and looked him up and down. “Who might you be?”

Veri chuckled. “My name is Veri, I'm the God of the Underworld. Some of my ‘colleagues’ will be joining us shortly.”