The Watcher

Chapter 6: Feigned Retreat

     "Gah!" I yelled frantically as my body began to lose upward momentum. I was almost at the top of the zone, but I wasn't going to be able to fly above it. Time slowed when my hand reached out to try and move outside the field. My hand was an inch away from the field, I jolted my body and froze. In utter disbelief, with nothing but the very tip of my middle finger, I propelled myself at the mage. The mage's mouth bubbled as they twisted their fingers and spelt symbols in the air. I blasted full force at them in a fury, when I went past the first yellow symbol floating in the air it felt like a giant was grabbing a hold of me. Ropes of yellow energy emerged from the symbol and grabbed onto my legs. I shot a wave of soul lightning at the mage but a blue symbol it made in the sky reflected the attack back at me. Mortified at the thought of being consumed by my own volatile soul lightning, I lunged away until the yellow rope pulled tight. The rope wouldn't let me open any kind of portal. Panic made my hair spike up when I pulled away as hard as I could with no success. Lightning railed me, I could feel the power being drained from me, making my body weaker. It knocked me out of the air, leaving me hanging in the sky by the rope. I opened my eyes to see a freshly crafted red symbol with a laser cutting through the air begging to hit me. The ropes effects were getting stronger, at this point I couldn't even fly. The rope released from the symbol and rapped around me at the time the laser hit my chest. To my absolute terror, I got sent flying into the powerless zone. I crashed into the loose dirt so hard I could feel my eye popping out of my head. I tried yelling from the pain but I could only make a bone chilling "aaa" sound that echoed in my head. Blood dripped into my eyes and throat. Demons raced to rip my apart but through it all I found peace. I reached on my side, grabbed my rifle, and started wrecking the pillar. Swords stabbed through my body in every direction but I kept my focus. The white pillar cracked, then the forcefield started glitching. A smile arose across my face as lightning flooded the battlefield. It rained down from the sky and and rushed out of my body. Within two minutes I had the whole place was cleaned up. The mage was still just floating in the protection of its magic. Finnegan beamed from the side of the mage and activated the lightning stick. With nothing but momentum he tackled the mage out of the sky. As he plummeted to the ground he managed to put handcuffs on the mage and deactivated the lightning stick.
     "Let's Go! Use your retreat card," Finnegan yelled."
     When I pressed my button I waited for Finnegan to arrive on the main deck. As soon as I saw him I ran over.
     "Fuck this guy, what did you want to get out of him?" I asked anxiously.
     "That's a good question," Finnegan said looking at the mage, "I just wanted to know where your other commanders are."
     The mage couldn't control the smile fighting for his face, "waiting for you on the planets you just left to crumble," he snickered. My eyes were consumed by fear, my heart with rage. I ripped the sword from my side and cut off its head, sending the disgustingly long neck sloshing to the ground. Finnegan, in complete shock, ran to the control room to get them to turn around. Lightning started wrapping around my body, rushing out of my eyes.
     "Hey!" a soldier started yelling, "Stop! You'll destroy the ship!
     His back whipped forward and his neck flew into my hand; the lightning singed his skin. The lightning turned black with a grey outline and the soldier turned to ash. 
     Finnegan ran in, "What the FUCK!"
I teleported out the ship and was immediately followed by Finnegan.
    "Bar! Don't go ahead without us. You'll only be risking your life. They'll probably be gone even before you get there. Don't risk your life for nothing. Just come back in, and blow off some steam in the simulators. The next time we face the Marred, I promise I'll let you tear them all apart."
     "Deal." I said.
     The simulator I got into looked like a tanning bed. After laying down in it then closing the lid it emitted chemicals that knocked me out, then supposedly filled the tank up with a sweet liquid. I woke up in a bed with blue sheets and a metal frame. The siren alarm started blaring.
     "Everyone report to the main deck ready to jump now!" someone said over the intercom. I remember Finnegan saying "When you get into the simulator you'll get in a menu where you can choose what you'll do next." I had no menu. I raced out to the main deck but everything was pitch black. The lights flashed and I saw a tall skinny man with no eyes but a mouth. It had tan, fleshy skin covered in blood, large hands, feet, and head. My powers weren't working and the monster started chasing me. I raced back to my bedroom and locked the door. It kept banging on the door viscously, for five days. For five days I sat in the room anticipating it breaking through until I faded out.
     I woke up in a bed with blue sheets and a metal frame. "Everyone report to the main deck ready to jump now!" someone said over the intercom. *What is this hell*. I ran out to the main deck and chased after a sword. The monster was too quick and cut me off then crushed my head. I tried twenty times before I found a gun under the bed mattress. I walked out to the main deck, pointed the gun at its head, then pulled the trigger. BANG! I woke up in a bed with blue sheets and a metal frame. The gun shot a bullet in my face. When I tried to point it the other way it shot a bullet in my face. When I held the gun away from me so that it couldn't shoot me no matter which way I pointed it it exploded In my hand. It took me fifty more agonizing times before I figured out how to dodge the attacks of the monster and explode the gun in the monster's mouth. The main deck dropped immediately and fell off the ship. I fell five hundred feet and landed into water. I woke up in a hospital bed in a cabin completely paralyzed. The monster I killed earlier opened the door and walked toward the bed. I tried moving for what felt like centuries. The monster grabbed the back of the bed and wheeled me outside. Complete horror overtook my body. *NOO, FUCK NO, PLEASE! PLEASSSEE!* It was Mars, and all of the watchers were making their last stand. I had to watch everyone get peeled apart by God, over, and over again. I watched them die hundreds of thousands of times. Then one time it was different. The monster palmed my head and slowly crushed it. I woke up in a hospital bed inside a hospital. The monster walked into the room and pushed me out into the hallway. I watched my body get transferred into a different body. Then after the other watcher, Azazel, cleaned up the scene, God opened a portal to the hospital.
     The tanning bed opened and liquid spilled out onto the floor. My weakened, pale naked body fell right to the ground when I got out. I walked outside the door and it slammed shut. Lights beamed down onto me. The loose dirt beneath me featured a powerless pillar sitting in the middle of a circle. Outside the circle was thousands of the Marred army and M.A.M.. Complete humiliation terrorized my mind. Azazel stepped into the ring, with light armor, a sword, and gloves with barbed wire around the knuckles.
     "Did you like the show?" Azazel asked.
     "What is this Azazel?" I asked, terrifyingly confused.
     He smiled, "The Marred, the M.A.M., and Emperor Stone's empire were all made up to humiliate you. I want to make sure you feel every ounce of terror that you deserve!" He yelled as he ran towards me. I tried running away but was stabbed in the back by Azazel's sword.
     "Don't run away, I'm not even close to being done with you Baraqiel." He said, ripping my body towards him and punching me until I couldn't stand. The tattered cloth that was left of my skin flooded blood out onto the ground.
     "Now you'll watch as I explode every single one of these dumbass planets, then hang you with barbed wire." He said. I watched the sky I saw all the planets explode. All that was around me receded into the darkness and it was just me and Azazel. I could've spent eons pushing my body to get up. I pulled the sword out of my chest while screaming and thrusted at his laughing head. He dodged and started beating the life out of me.
     "What-" he kept beating me "Did he do- to you?" I muttered. My mind couldn't handle what was happening. Azazel was the most kind-hearted watcher there was. I still can't forget all the times he had by back and made sure I was living my best life. *"Oh what happened" I weeped.*
     "God just showed me the truth, watchers are disgusting terrorists who claimed the lives of billions! You want to know why that one planet was sent to the wrong place when we moved here? Because YOU messed up! YOU didn't have a clear enough head to do the right thing! And you just play this innocent little doll! But I know you're the most insidious being to ever have been created, and I will not stop to kill you until everything you have ever loved has been taken from you."
     "Azazel. This is madness. Even with a destroyed mind you should sense it" I shrieked
     "My mind-is just fine," he tilted his head then continued beating me.
     "God gave me the chance to reconcile for my sins and kill you. I won't fail him ever again. If I let you live you'd destroy the universe." Azazel said. It was a miracle I was still alive, nevertheless conscious. Every piece of my body was shredded and pulsing out blood. I cried and shouted even after he stopped to hang me.
     "This should've happened a long time ago but you were too wimpy to stand and fight. Now you'll die and the watchers will finally have been wiped out." Azazel said.
     "Kaa-Kee" I muttered whilst blood drained from my wrecked mouth.
     "What was that cretin? Did you have some last words? Well it's a shame we couldn't hear them." He laughed. The word "we" sparked my mind to zoom out and realize all the people around me yelling.
     "Keep...us....alive" I managed to whisper. He had a platform ready to hang with the barbed wire around my neck and his hand on the lever. He had a concerned look on his face when he pulled the lever. Before I even fell I heard something explode out from the black temple. It's footsteps were heavy and quick. I couldn't see anymore because my eyes were covered in blood but I knew there was only one thing it could be. The monster that he met on the street. It raced Into the circle completely unaffected by the pillar. I heard it cut the barbed wire around my neck, felt it  grab me, then heard it knock over Azazel. When we exited the powerless zone I blasted all of the energy I had in the form of soul lighting. I probably killed everyone on that planet except for Azazel. The entire planet was consumed while I teleported away with the monster in a shadow portal.
     "Joel? Are you in there?" I asked
The monster showed no response. I left him in that shadow dimension then left to another one to try and get Death's attention. After failing I went back to check on Joel. To my surprise he was human again. I realized I was still naked and forged smooth black armor around me.
     "Friend! How long have I been here? Where am I? Joel asked, happy to see me.
     "You've only been here for two hours. You're in a shadow dimension I created. Which reminds me I never got a chance to tell you about who I really am. I am The Watcher, and I am really powerful. My species was wiped out by the guy who created us because he was a bitch. I created your home planets and now I'm wandering the universe to get powerful enough to kill my creator, and now his new lackey." I said.
     Joel was really shocked, but less shocked than I expected.
     "That guy Azazel, captured me for a couple years. During this time he told me a lot about you but I could tell it was mostly bullshit. Before "the marred" attacked he tricked me into revealing that I had been in contact with you by posing to be you and flying through the window. When he found out he locked me in the temple. I'm usually trapped in my monster state for months before turning back into a human. I don't have any control when I'm the monster but shortly afterwards I'll remember everything that happened. I try not to turn because everytime I do I seem to be gone for longer amounts of time." Joel said.
     "You saved my life." I fully realized.
     "What happens now?" He asked.
     "The only way to move forward is to send Azazel six feet fucking under. I will not stop until he is dead. Knowing God knows I'm still alive changes **everything** " I said.
     "Then we lure Azazel out and fight him on our own terms." Joel said.