Ascendent (Nephilim #1)

8. fight or flight

The Institute

It's been two weeks now since we arrived at the institute. Training has been going really well for everyone. Chris has learned how to open portals and carve his battle runes. Freya has learned how to access her magic and perform certain spells. I've learned how to access more of my angelic powers, apart from my speed and strength, which has already been activated. My senses have been heightened, I can now super see, hear, and smell. I can even tune my eyes to pick up thermal heat signatures. I can sense when danger is near, and I also learned how to put a minimum amount of power in my dominance stare, but still enough to get a satisfactory result. Dane and I haven't been spending a lot of time together, with all the training and planning that's been happening.

I type different locations on the computer to try and find out where they would keep my dad. I've just created an algorithm with his DNA to try and see if we cannot pinpoint it using magic. "Okay. The algorithm is complete. Freya, you ready?" I asked. She nodded her head as she placed the last of the runic symbols around the computer. "Magic and technology. What a wonderful, disastrous combination," Chris says. "Okay, I'm ready," Freya answers. I load the algorithm and press enter, "Go for it," I say. She nodded and began chanting, "Sanguinam exspiritus. Sanguinam corpus hic libital seertuum. Technum mesum intentia, vertuus potentia." The runes lit up and got brighter as she continued chanting. The computer switched to different tabs and worked out different steps, until there was a beeping sound and a location appeared. "Freya, you did It!" I exclaimed. She stopped chanting and looked at the screen. "Looks like your dad's being held in a bunker of some sort. The algorithm calculated the bunker to be in... Vegas, Nevada, exactly beneath the Laylines, which is north of the tropic crater," Tyler explains. "Can you open a portal near the crater, Chris?" I asked. "As a matter of fact, I can. I've been to the crater and Vegas loads of times with my dad," he said. "Okay then, people, let's get ready to save some middle-aged behind," he added.

We geared up and got everything we needed. We decided to only take primary weapons so we could move around easier. "Hey, you ready?" A voice behind me asked. I turned and found Dane standing in the doorway. "Yeah, I'm all set and ready to kick ass," I reply. He grins and walks over to me,  putting his arms around my waist, pulling me closer to him. "What's say when we get back, you and I can go out for some alone time," he says. I smile and reply, "Yes, I'd love that." He does a deep hum and leans forward, kissing me. My heart skips more beats than it's supposed to, and in that moment, I forget that we have a mission. I forget that my dad has been captured, I forget that we could all die on this mission. Everything just slips away. We break away to catch our breath when Tyler walks into the room. "Okay, lovebirds, break it up, Chris is about to open the portal," he says and walks back out. "We'll pick this up later," Dane says before giving me a quick kiss, lacing his fingers in mine and leading me out of my room.

We reached the place Chris calls 'the mission area'. It's where we plan all our missions and objectives, as well as identify roles. "Okay, we're all here. Let's do this," Chris says eagerly. "We actually just waiting for you to open the portal, smartass," I say. "Oh! Yeah. Hahaha," he replies. He turns around, closes his eyes, and stretches out his hands. After a few seconds, blue energy strings start appearing and weave themselves together at a really fast pace. Before we know it, we're standing in front of a fully operational portal. "Wow. Great job, Chris," Gabby says. "Well, thanks, Gabby," he replies with a smile. "Let's go, shall we," I say and step through the portal first. When I reached the other side, I walked straight into a sand storm, dust flying everywhere, obscuring my view. Soon, everyone was out of the portal and standing in the ravaging sandstorm. "Well, this is bad," Chris says. "Maybe I can do something," Freya says. "Like what, you hardly know any magic. Are you gonna try and reason with the sand," he asks sarcastically. "As a matter of fact, I am," Freya says seriously and bends down, placing her hands flat on the ground. She whispers her spell. "Terra." The ground started shaking, but not enough to make us stumble or fall. She then raised her right hand in the air and whispered, "aeros." Then the dust started settling, as well as the wind, and soon everything stopped, and it was clear. "How did you do that? You didn't even have a lot of training," Chris says. "My last four lessons were on the elements. I just called out their names and asked them to remain calm and give us a safe passage," Freya explains. "Oh. Okay," Chris says and returns to scowering our surroundings. "Which way?"Gabby asks. Tyler points the way, and we start walking.

We continued walking for about ten minutes when a loud roar stopped us in our tracks. We looked around but couldn't find the cause of the roar. Just then, two huge bear like creatures emerged in front of us, with a small army of soldiers. "Wow. Okay, that's new." Chris says. "Brax demons," said Tyler, pulling out his staff. "Guys, do you think you can hold them off while I get my dad?" I ask. "I'm not letting you go in alone," Dane exclaimed. "I wasn't going in alone, I was going to take Freya with me. She has magic, which means she's my only chance of making it out there alive, WITH my dad. I'm not going to put you or anyone else's life at risk, Dane. So please just let me do this," I plead. He frowns and looks away. Freya steps forward and says, "I'll protect him, Dane, I'll make sure he's safe," she reassured him. He nodded and looked at me. I moved towards him and placed a kiss on his lips. "I'll be back, I promise. Besides, you still owe me a date," I say, and he gives a half mouthed smile. "You better," he says before kissing me again. I break free and take Freya's hand, and we start running.