Death and Darkness

Chapter 8

I reverted back to my humanoid form, slightly out of breath. Delta had a huge grin on her face as she looked at me with a raised eyebrow.

"No," I told her. "I refuse to admit defeat."

"Too bad!" she shouted.

A crow flew by overhead, startled by Delta's sudden cry. I almost mistook it for a raven, as crows aren't commonly seen in the Grand Canyon. Down at the bottom, everything seemed far higher. The rocky walls on either side towered threateningly. I dipped my foot into the narrow stream that would've been the river way farther back.

"Let's follow the stream," Delta said, beginning to walk.

I followed her, looking around in wonder. Soon, the stream was gone and our surroundings grew warmer in temperature but not unbearably so. Delta muttered something in Spanish.

"What was that?" I asked, not fluent in the language myself.

"I said that the walls are getting narrower," she told me. "Must be something not too far ahead, right?"

"Well, Tartarus should be a few miles up ahead. Unfortunately, if we fly or take a shortcut, we'll easily miss it. The gateway is very tricky to locate. Hell, we might've even passed it already," I explained. "No pun intended."

"I mean, I can sense—"

"If you say 'a disturbance in the Force,' I will drown you in the Colorado River," I interrupted jokingly.

Delta laughed. "No, I don't, but now I'm tempted to. I do sense something dark and... really strong."

"Stronger than you?"

"Of course not. Strong enough, though," she added.

"Probably Tartarus then," I replied.

Delta suddenly stopped. I nearly crashed into her.

"Hey! Why'd you—"

"Shut up," she hissed sharply, narrowing her eyes.

I froze, sensing her powers flare. I swore I could've seen a shadowy aura writhing around her, but it was gone as soon as I caught sight of it. Then suddenly, I was knocked over, barely avoiding a blade.

"You maggot!" my attacker shouted, raising his blade.

Delta had pushed me out of harm's way. I had enough practice that I flipped myself onto my feet before I could hit the ground. Taking a more observant glance, I noticed that my attacker was the Sin Wrath. Then I noticed something more terrifying. The blade he used wasn't his at all.

"Interesting," Delta mused, grinning. "The archangel Michael's Sword. That will definitely kill a Reaper."

"The question is," Wrath added, grinning his own grin. "Will it kill a Shadow?"

"Kiara. Go on ahead. I'll deal with this fucker and catch up later," Delta told me, turning her full attention to Wrath as the other six Sins appeared.

I hesitated, eyes trained fearfully on the Sword before taking off, feeling the canyon walls as I went pursued by three other Sins. Under an arched piece of the wall, I found a hole just big enough for an adult. I turned around, eyes widening in shock as Wrath sidestepped Delta and rose Michael's Sword.

"Delta!"

My mouth went dry. The Shadow's eyes dulled as her body was impaled by the Sword. Red coated the blade and stained the surrounding walls and floors as she began disintegrating like black ash to the wind. I fought back the urge to leap for Wrath and pushed myself into the hole, blinking away the wetness from my eyes.