The Legend of the Dark Angel

Chapter VII

The trio steps through the portal into a grey landscape. Jason turns and takes his last look through the portal. He waves good by to Eddie.

Once the portal is closed, Carmen asks Marci a pretty important question. "Where is everything? All I can see is grey plains for dozens of miles, and then mountains all around. Tell me I'm not the only one who sees that."

Jason agrees with his best friend. "Yeah, that's all I see. Also, I'm hungry, riding on the back of a demon really works up an appetite."

"Hold on boys. I can't do everything at once! Just, watch this." With that, she walks forward a few feet. Then, she stops and turns around, looking at the two teenagers with a sly grin.

And she takes a step backwards.

Her wings dissappear.

Needless to say, the boys are in disbelief. "What the... how the... but... what...?" Carmen lets out a string of words while Jason just stands there jaw-dropped.

Marci giggles at the two dumbfounded hybrids. "Just come on and look!" She disappears completely behind the barrier. Her giggling is cut off as soon as she crosses.

Jason and Carmen run over to where their guide vanished and, with only a second of hesitating, cross over the line. They are absolutely stunned at what's on the other side.

They stand on a sidewalk. An enormous, busy metropolis spans as far as the eye can see. The boys both turn around to look at where they came from. They can still see the small grassy area with a tree in the middle. However, on the other side, the city keeps going on.

Marci interrupts their moment of shock at taking all of the sights in. "Surprising, huh? It was the same for me when I first saw this place." She sighs, "good memories."

Carmen and Jason take a look at each other. They come to an understanding in a split second. "So, this is Limbo?"

"Yeah, but this is only one city. There are about thirty to forty cities." The others balk at that idea. "Plus, this is one of the small ones."

"That, is insane. You agree, right Carmen?" The Hispanic boy does agree with Jason.

Marciella leads them through the city, to a destination unknown to the other two. The city, Cyrak(pronounced ky-rack), seems to them to be much like large cities of Earth.

There are street vendors that sell food and various items. There are lots of cars zooming up and down streets. There are even some Dark Angels walking dogs (as well as one walking a kangaroo).

There are subtle differences, however. The place is a lot cleaner than the likes of New York. Also, the cars seem to vary much in age. The oldest being model T's, and even chariots. There are also modern vehicles and vehicles that look very futuristic.

Jason asks, "why do people drive cars if they have wings?" There are people who walk or fly, I can see them everywhere but the ones who drive just... stick out as odd to me.

"Oh, that's simple! People are stubborn." Marci answers this with a laugh.

"Well, I agree, that is true. Another thing I noticed: are my wings bigger than the rest of the Dark Angels?" Jason had noticed this for awhile, he just hadn't wanted to say anything until now.

"Yes, Jason, they are. And, honestly, I have no idea why. Either the technician for the aptitude machines or the beastmaster of this city will be able to answer that."

The trio keeps on walking through the the city.

Carmen and Jason tell Marci some stories of what the two have done on the past.

"Hey, Jason! Remember that time my grandpa took us to Cabela's? That was fun. That one guy who told us to get out of the boat was kind of a douche, though."

Jason starts laughing hystericaly. "I had to apologize to the lady who worked on the fudge shop because someone took seven samples!"

Carmen hits Jason, who's still laughing, on the arm. "Shhhhh, she doesn't need to know that!"

It's then that Marci puts out her arm to stop them from walking further. "Here we are! You two are about to find out just what you can do."

They're standing in front of an enormous building that looks similar to the Lincoln Memorial. A large plaque above the grand entrance reads "Technology Institute and Aptitude Gallery of Cyrak"

"Wow!" The two young men say in unison.