Resident Evil: End of Days

The Reaper's Lion

I find myself torn from Chris in a blink of an eye and thrown into the wall of the now-dormant volcanic caverns. My head collides against stone, and my mind is jarred from the impact, my back sore.

It's bewildering...I hadn't expected Wesker to be this fast  and this strong. If he was like this when he had the t-Protoype and the Uroboros viruses, it was clear he retained it the moment he came back alive. 

I worry for Chris' well-being...

I catch sight of the two locked in a knife-fight, Chris doing his best to get close to Wesker, but Wesker's taunting him, ever just a step or an arm out of reach. He's playing on Chris' anger, and I see that Chris is falling for it. Every swing he makes is an evident attempt to land the first blow. And every blow he tries, Wesker deflects. Every. Damn. One...

But I also remember: he's dealing with a demon, not a man anymore.

Wesker lands a hard palm into Chris, and my friend collides against the wall of the volcano. I hurry over, but Wesker vanishes and appears in front of me. He grabs my throat and lifts me up.

"Tell me Revenant," he growls. "What makes you comparably special to these pack of humans you run with?"

I can't breathe. I struggle to fight back, but I'm losing blood flow to my head. It hurts, pounding through my constricted arteries as my eyes mottle with black spots. I feel Wesker's hand squeeze tighter, and then I find myself flung to Chris.

...ouch...

I fumble to my hands and knees, and Chris is groaning next to me. I turn and mutter, "Sorry..."

"All good," He responds and looks across. He yelps, "LEON!" And moves me in a hurry as Wesker tackles him again. Just as I'm shoved aside, I look towards Wesker, and I see that he's taken on a change. Black wings have sprouted along his arms, his hands practically talons as he bears a wicked grin at Chris. He grabs the other and slams him onto the hardened sediment of lava. I swear I could have heard Chris' bones crack from the sheer amount of force...

Chris is paralyzed; I hear him choking for breath, struggling to move, to get up. But Wesker's grabbing him again. He's got a fist ready for a blow.

I can't think of anything else going through my mind, other than how much I need to protect Chris. I have to!

Something throttles me forward, everything around me in hues of blue. I grab for Wesker, whose body is inflamed in red fiery energy that I realize that I can only feel. It's hot as Hell itself; the skin on my hand practically cooks while I have a hold of him. However, I pay no mind to what's happening to my hand as I throw him back into the floor of the volcano, opening cracks of flickering lava underneath him.

Wesker's eyes widen. He throws his claws at me, and I feel one graze my neck. I feel a wound opening up, but as Wesker notices, I don't bleed like a normal man.

Nor do I realize how quickly I had healed then and there.

And it confounds him.

He lurches up and tries to land as many blows as he can on me. I see them before they happen, and I deflect them all. Something erupts from my chest, a loud roar unlike anything I thought I could make in my lifetime, and my own fist connects to his squarely.

I feel the earth shaking under my feet, stone and dust kicking up around us as wind both hot and cold whip around us. 

...We're equally matched, Wesker and I. 

This is unbelievable. No one has been able to match him, but yet here I am, standing fist to fist with the man with...this unimaginable power. Wesker sees this, as his face shows his evident confusion and horror. He snarls, "What the hell are you, Revenant?!"

My lips pull in a grin, a growl escaping my throat. 

I'm enjoying the look of shock on his face, so I take the chance to sweep up a kick and followed with a reverse crescent. 

The blow lands, and he rockets across from me, blows a hole through the wall of the volcano, and tumbles down the mountainside.

I follow suit.

Wesker fumbles to his feet. The red flame that was surrounding him has vanished, as his arms retain their sleeved appearance and the gloves intact. He backs from me as I get closer. However, I stop the moment I come to, and the blue vanishes from my line of vision. 

I can't let Wesker take this chance to get away. However, the moment I get over to him, he's turned and shifted forms, taking to that of a large avian. He kicks off, but I hear Chris firing off a few rounds. They don't make it, as Wesker has disappeared into the night.

I shake my head and make my way back to Chris in the volcano. When I look up, I see he's got a look of shock on his face.

...say something, you bastard. Why are you looking at me like that? I need to say something, something to gauge what the man is thinking.

"...Chris?"

"STAY BACK!" 

His gun's aimed at me, brows knit in focus as his brown eyes are fixated to me and me alone. My heart stops, my blood running cold. Chris...what's going on?

"Stay back from me! If you've turned, stay back!" he growls at me. I pause and look at my hands. Have I turned? My hands are blackened but healing, but as I look at Chris, I see through his body, seeing his heart thudding rapidly in his chest. He's...scared...

Of me...

I gulp and declare, "Chris...it's me. It's just me..."

Chris still keeps his gun on me, but he's shaking, wavering, wanting to believe me. He growls, "No...that's not you. That's...that's not Leon. You can't be Leon!"

I stop walking towards him. I...huh? What is he saying?

"Chris!" I bark, and he jumps. His finger pulls the trigger, and I feel something pierce me through my chest, taking the wind out of me for a moment. I stumble back, but I'm standing. 

...and alive.

Chris stares at me, stunned. He mutters, "...you're alive...God damn me, you're alive."

I look at him. For a moment my vision flashes in blue for a moment, and the wound inside of me closes. I look down and feel my chest, and Chris is staring at me in shock.

"...well that hurt," I jibe at him. Chris blinks stupidly, and he shakes his head. He tells me, "...you...I thought you turned for a moment back there. You...you fought like an animal. Like...a lion."

A what?

Chris tentatively approaches me. He raises a hand to lay on my shoulder, but he pauses. He watches me, but I'm just as confused...and to be frank, just as apprehensive. He said I was...not me. I want to know what he means by saying that to me.

He finally settles a hand on my shoulder. My body warms as my sight is back in the hues of blue, like a fire around my entire being. His touch is warm, living. Trusting. I look back at him, and I realize that I can see myself from the reflection of his eyes.

My hair is white, as white as the stars above our heads. My skin hasn't changed, but I see my own eyes back at me. The sclera's blackened, my irises a brilliant blue, bursting in ripples as if in a constant supernova of blue fire. 

His hand leaves my shoulder. The aura dies down, and I look like I'm back to normal. My face is flushed from the close contact, but he parts from me. There's nothing else that needs to be said from either one of us.

Yet in the excitement of discovering my powers, I'm still at a loss. I scared my close comrade, and I feel the gnawing of worry that hangs in the back of my thoughts. Could...could the world accept this new human into their society? This supernatural entity who can see angels and demons, be feared for that power, all in the cost of a desire to protect humanity?

...God I hope so...