The Rising Darkness {Currently under editing}

Chapter Seven-One last step

It's at this point in my life that I began to feel truly lonely. Perhaps those eleven years were finally catching up with me? Or maybe it was simply being around Ebony and Alice. They were, truth be told, surprisingly pretty girls and it was making me thinking. All those years telling myself that love was useless, simply because I had no one to fall in love with. Now every time I glanced at Ebony I struggled to look away, and get her out of my head.

I woke to find Ebony shaking me, quite vigorously. I sat up and saw her beautiful face light up with an even more beautiful relieved smile. When she spoke I lingered on the tone of each individual word. I could have sat there and listened to her forever, if not for the fact there were a half dozen Hellspawn charging us.

If my life was ever made into a movie the film studio would have to be Warner Brothers. Why? Because "bullet time" is figuratively and literally owned by Warner Brothers [Thanks Google]. Also, if, by some miracle, I'm still alive when this movie gets made I'm going to haggle whoever gets to helm the project to let me have a spot as a producer.

Time slowed to a crawl, as the lead Hellspawn fired a shotgun at me. I dodged to the side as a thousand tiny pieces of metal flew past me. I dived for the creature, knocking him down and wrenching the weapon from its grip. I shouldered it, pressed the barrel against the Hellspawn's skull and pulled the trigger. The weapon let out a tremendous bang, and jerked in my grip. The lead (Or more likely Celestial bronze) shredded the skull and pulped it into the floor. The rest of the beast crumbled to dust, leaving the jacket as a spoil of war.

I sat up and pointed the shotgun lazily in another Hellspawn's general direction. I pulled the trigger and was greeted by an empty click. Was the gun soul bound, had it died with its owner. Nope, it was a double-barrelled. I discarded the weapon, and dove aside. The creature I'd failed to kill embedded a throwing knife in the floor where I had been.

I pulled out Dawnbringer and swung it in a wide arch. Two of the creatures were disintegrated in an instant, and the other three backed up. I threw Dawnbringer into the one nearest to me, who exploded like his friends. I then tackled the fifth (Knife thrower) into the nearest wall, feeling the brickwork crack.

Ebony threw Gunmere, clearing up the last one for me. Unfortunatly, the Hellspawn pinned against the wall had wriggled an arm free. He placed his hand against my cheek, and ignited it. I screamed as the hand burnt through my flesh and down to the muscle. I jerked my head out of its grip, and pounded my forehead against his jaw. After a few more attempts I heard a sound crack, a short screech and the sound of bones turning into dust.

Ebony passed me a hand mirror, which I used to examine my face. There was a bloody welt on my forehead and a grizzly blackened hand mark on my right cheek. I concentrated, wincing as the skin knitted itself back together. Now I no longer looked like an photo-negative Urukhai. Six more Hellspawn safely in Tarturus, hopefully less than a million to go...

My hopes were well founded. Given the sheer number that we'd taken out on the training level we must have decimated their forces. However, their forces were getting more and more adept with their weapons. By about negative seven, a dozen was seemed like a legitimate threat.

At the end of negative seven we met the guy from the Lotus Hotel. He'd changed into more suitable armour, and was wielding a celestial bronze axe. He swung the axe around in an arch, missing my neck by about an inch. His blade scraped a hole in the wall, and he swung downwards.

He swung with too much force for me to bother blocking, so I just needed an opening. Fortunately one presented itself a few moments later, when his axe head became lodged in the floor.  He swore, and I kicked him in the chest. Before he could regain his footing, he found himself without a right arm (A key ingredient in wielding a two handed weapon).