To Love a Celestial

Chapter Forty: You Have Forsaken Me

A soldier charged into the courtyard where Raden and a group of archangels stood discussing a battle strategy. "WAIT!" All eyes were trained on the poor soul who had run from the city. "I've just received word," large inhale, "Merikh has captured the girl."

"We need to find them now," Raden barked. The rest nodded and they were about to fly off.

"Hold on," inhale, "I wasn't finished." The soldier held up a hand as he continued his struggle to catch his breath. "Merikh has captured the girl in King's City and they're on the move."

Raden looked over with impatience. "Where exactly?"

"Dude, I just sprinted from the other side of the city give me a damn minute." This got a few chuckles from some of the others standing around. Raden shot them all warning glares that shut them up quickly. "They're heading here. The legion of death angels was sent ahead to wipe out our armies in the city then the archangels."

Raden turned to one of the angels. "Tell Deimos and Lorcán now." He turned back to the soldier. "When the legion arrives, hide them throughout the city and everyone is ready for an ambush."

"You're not serious about having us fight Death!"

"No. I'm about to have us kill the motherfucker." Raden ran back inside the castle hoping word reached Lorcán before he got to him. Luckily enough it did.

Deimos began barking orders for his men. Lorcán was rushed off to the innermost room of the castle and guarded tightly. The entire castle was going into lockdown with royal guards posted at every potential entryway. Much of the celestial army was sent out to the city waiting for the arrival of death angels with Deimos and Raden staying put at the castle.

Both watched over the city. Not much could be seen from the castle as Ifera became a ghost town overnight, but they stood over it nonetheless.

"You think we'll finally be able to end this war," Deimos broke the silence.

Raden stood stoic in the shadow of the night. "It's our only option. If we don't stop this now then there won't be another day to fight." The lights in the city below were extinguished and he knew that Merikh was here.

Deimos looked over at Raden. "Can I ask you something?"

"Yeah," Raden answered hesitantly. He glanced over at Deimos watching him rest on his arms against the banister.

"What happened? You went in so confident that Azrael would be coming back with you."

Raden sighed. He sat against the banister folding his arms. He turned to face Deimos who was waiting patiently for an explanation. "Serkan had placed several charms and spells on that place he had Azrael. All to dull or completely extinguish any powers. I don't know how I found her because on top of all that it was a complete labyrinth of halls and doors."

"Powerful magic," Deimos added. "So, what happened?"

"Serkan beat me until I almost died."

Deimos raised his eyebrows and whistled. "Fucking hell man." Then his brows knitted together. "How are you standing here?"

"I don't know." A lie. "I just remember hearing someone speaking and I woke up alone and healed."

"Looks like you had a guardian looking after you," Deimos joked and smiled. Raden smiled as well.

It was moments like these. The small jokes or smiles made up for the hell they endured.

"You really love her."

Raden nodded. "She's my purpose in life."

Deimos pushed back on the banister and patted Raden on the shoulder. "Then let's make tonight count."