The Gathering

XIX: A Blind Rage

The magnificent wooden architecture of the church ceiling was blown to smithereens in the blink of an eye, faster than Johanna and Michael could react. The fragments of ember and wood shards fell to the floor around them like the first snowfall of winter, calm yet foreboding. They were startled, but did not break their stances, shields up, swords ready. Out of the cloud of smoke and smoldering rubble emerged three shapes.

"Surrender now, Jonah!" a male voice bellowed.

"Who's Jonah?" Michael feigned, knowing it probably wouldn't work. "Just us here..." the smoke cleared a little more and Michael could see who he was facing: the man he had considered his younger brother – Asmodel. "As..." Michael's identity was hopefully still concealed by the balaclava and helmet, though if As had read his letter correctly, he would know that Michael was probably not dead like Gabriel and Phanuel had told them he was.

The figure in the smoke was silent. Johanna acted first, quickly sheathing her sword she outstretched her palm and yelled as she conjured a bolt of pure lightning into the haze. The blast deflected off of As' shimmering bronze shield, blasting another hole into the poor church's edifice. Two figures began to emerge next to Asmodel, the two cadets who had accompanied him. Muriel took the left towards Johanna and Ieshim took the right towards Michael.

Michael clashed with Ieshim's blade, his large build was at a disadvantage against Ieshim's slender frame and quick movements. Ieshim ceded and allowed the clash to break in Michael's favor, but she swung herself to his left as he lunged forward, her sword lurching for his Achilles tendon, but instead she was met with a Michael's shield to her chin! She bounced back, still on her feet, and wiped the small trickle of blood from her now split bottom lip. Johanna and Muriel were virtually the same size and build, both equally agile and proficient with the blade, their clashes and parries were elegant and evenly matched.

...

The blast from up above startled Jonah, who was laying on his back in front of Gadreel. The black veil still covered her mysterious face, her ancient outstretched fingertips lingered on his forehead, feeling and finessing their way into his mind. He could feel her expert touch on his subconscious, much gentler and far less terrifying than the red-hooded empath, but still unpleasant. Jonah exhaled and tried not to worry about Michael and Johanna.

"I can feel so many fingerprints inside of your brain, child." He could feel Gadreel's omnipresent voice in his bones as she probed and examined each mental block looking for the empath's link. "So much pain, so much fury, blocked behind layers and layers of cognitive barriers... very skillful, very elaborate."

'you mean someone besides the empath has been in my mind before?' asked Jonah in his own thoughts, which Gadreel was now completely privy to.

"More than one someone, I sense the work of at least three distinct angels here. Each empath's psychic footprint is unique, Jonah. I can feel their ridges and valleys, their signature motions and sways." She continued deeper and deeper into Jonah's mind. "I can feel a broken barrier. Originally erected by someone of middling competence, but broken by a truly powerful angel."

'You mean angels have been putting up and tearing down each other's barriers in my head without me knowing about it?' Jonah felt disgusted to know that more than one angel had been inside of his very brain without his consent.

"Precisely", Gadreel felt further and hit another blockage. "It seems your subconscious has been the battlefield for spiritual warfare for some time, child." She felt a way around the blockage to continue into his thoughts and memories. "This adept hand, I recognize its feel, I've felt it before, long ago."

Another blast shook the undercroft, knocking loose dust and gravel from the rafters above them, the debris landing calmly on Jonah's upturned face. "I can sense your impatience, Jonah, but if I do not remove this link, they will be able to find us again and again." Gadreel tried to comfort Jonah, but the continued fighting was worrying him, he couldn't bear the thought of having anyone else's blood on his hands.