Darksiders: Deathly Aura (Book 1)

Chapter Twenty The Nightmare Scenario

Time had abandoned them ages ago, around a century to be exact.
Luck had come around every once in a while, but eventually grew tired of its seemingly pointless visits.
Now even the elements had turned against them, assuming they'd been on their side to begin with.

Threatening thunder rolled through the sky as a dark tide. Forks of lightning lashed out like snakes' tongues, jumping from one cloud bank to the next while rain plummeted to the earth below, each drop assaulting every visible surface like liquid bombs; refusing to relent.
Distorted pools of flowing glass dotted the waterlogged ground. They were disturbed further by what sprinted through them at a hurried rate.

With water dribbling from the tips of his feathers, Soren shivered. His small talons held fast to the leather that covered the shoulder he perched on.
Glancing to his right, he caught the Auralin's blue eye, but she didn't return his gaze.

The rain soaked her to the skin. Her limbs were numb with both the cold and fatigue, her endurance ebbing.
But, nonetheless she pressed on. She had to.
Stopping now was a death wish.

As they ran, Carina's gaze was mostly fixed on who was ahead of her.
The man's straw hued hair was plastered to his head by the wet. His forest green trench coat billowed behind him with each step. Armour took up some of the space provided by his shoulders, arms and legs, covering all it could. The clothing underneath his coat bore the same flaming, diamond shaped emblem as Carina's. The only difference was that his was partly green instead of blue.
With eyes of a similar colour, Kayden looked back at his daughter.

"That's it, you're doing great. Keep it going" he told her.

A sudden edge came into the Auralin's voice at the end of his sentence as something else briefly entered his vision. Something large and silhouetted, leaving again before another flash of lightning ripped the sky open.
Now running level with Carina, Kayden clenched his gloved fists tighter. He knew the bare bones of what was to come, but the end result was a mystery.

As they came out into a more open area, the rain was starting to ease its onslaught.
Kayden exhaled and stopped; grabbing his daughter's shoulder.
Carina looked up at him in surprise at the sudden pause.

"...Do you remember what you have to do?" he asked her out of nowhere.

Carina nodded her head, but not without hesitation.
"Y-yeah, but why ask me now? We-we're going to get out of this!"

But, her father had looked away; back the way they'd came. His glistening brow furrowed.

"...I'll hold him off for as long as I can...get to the portal. I'll find you one way or another..." Kayden answered, squeezing her shoulder.

Carina instantly tried to protest.
"But da-"

"Go!" he exclaimed, shoving her in the direction he willed her to run.

By now fear and confusion had latched onto the young Auralin, refusing to let go.
They'd been in this sort of situation before and always fought together. What made this time so different? Why stop now when they were so close to leaving the third kingdom behind?
But, one backward glance over her shoulder answered everything and more.
The instant she saw him, Carina stopped as if the puddles had turned to ice and froze her there. Soren's talons dug even deeper into her shoulder.

Standing in full view, blocking the way the Auralin had came was a Demon nearly twice Kayden's height. A pair of twisted, tattered, crimson wings sprouted from his deep orange back as did dark horns from his head. Armour covered his left side, hands and lower body.
Yellow eyes fixed themselves on the Auralin, accompanied by a devilish smile of razor sharp teeth.
The Blood Prince, the Red Wanderer, he had many names. But his power was something no other Demon could match or outdo.
This was Samael.