The Morningstar Brigade

Chapter 8

VIII

URIEL

175 A.E.F.

Eli's Chapel, Sanctuary

Faust crouched down beside Eli as Uriel watched in motionless horror. The Fisher was doubled over in pain, his brow slamming against the wooden floor as he collapsed over his injury. The man picked up his fallen glasses and tossed them aside. They were a broken toy that served no further purpose. "Did you really think you could just run from your sins, Eli?" Faust asked in a low voice. He wrenched the Fisher's head up by its hair so the beaten man's fearless gaze could meet his merciless stare. "That's what infuriates me most," he spat, his eyes narrowing. "The cowardice." Faust placed a hand underneath Eli's chin, tilting it from side to side as his empty eyes searched the man's face for a crack. A weakness. "Don't you have any honor? Any shame? Don't you have the decency to just suffer?"

Eli looked at his attacker with hollowness in his eyes, a defeat in his empty stare. It was the only time Uriel had ever seen his father truly afraid. "I tried to-"

"Shut up," Faust snarled, beating his fist into Eli's cheek with a calculated brutality. "I've waited. This time is mine. I'll tell you when you can speak," he said, wiping away a drop of blood dribbling down over Eli's lip. "For now? You're going to listen."

"Let him go," Uriel ordered, his body ablaze with anger and his fist quivering with a newly stoked rage that had laid dormant. "Now."

Faust shook his head and chuckled miserably. "You've got more courage than he does. I can respect that." He extended an open hand, training his palm on Uriel as the air began to crackle around it. "But the first role of a warrior is to learn your place on the battlefield, and you're hopelessly out of your depth." Black fire erupted from the air, engulfing Faust's hand in a roar of obsidian flames.

Uriel took a step back, his mind racing to process the impossible. "What are you?" he asked softly, his tight fists beginning to waver.

"Right now?" Faust asked, a dark scowl framing his sharp chin. "I'm irritated." With a flick of his wrist, the flames shot from his hands and raced towards Uriel. "You don't want to make me angry." He crouched down and flicked his index finger as the blaze began to close, suddenly splitting the infernal missile into four. Faust smirked, allowing himself a small spark of pleasure as Uriel attempted to dodge the projectiles. One by one, the flames found their mark until each enemy wrist and ankle were covered in nightmarish embers. Spreading his hand wide, Faust toyed with the flames like the master of a demented marionette. A slight, satisfied curl rested on Faust's lips as Uriel was whipped into the air and then slammed against the back wall of the chapel. The would-be hero was completely unable to do anything but thrash against his profane bonds.

Uriel gritted his teeth in pain as he struggled against the ethereal restraints, the fire burning as though it was slowly eating away at his lifeforce rather than his flesh. "What is this?" he growled. "Let me down!"

Without a sound, Faust stood up. He reached down, grabbed Eli by the neck and raised the Fisher into the air. A tense of his nose the only evidence of rage on his face, he then whipped Eli back down into the floor and shattered the wood beneath through the sheer force of his savagery. Having incapacitated his target, Faust then turned his gaze to Uriel. "I have no interest in spilling innocent blood today. There's plenty to come and I'm not a glutton."

At this, Uriel audibly scoffed, mustering what little resistance he could.

"Then consider those bonds a lesson in humility," Faust observed in measured tones as he walked over to his captive. "I have so much to teach you. Knowledge is uncomfortable, however, so we'll move slowly. I am your elder, after all. I should set a proper example. " At this, he allowed himself a thin smile.