Of Angels and Demons: A New Generation

Back to The Base

"Malick!?" Attira yells as everyone jumps over beds and desks to get to me. "What happened?" Moxi asks as Fallyn, Lastis, and Sinneth all stare at my left shoulder. I continue to hold my left shoulder a wince in pain. "He's not healing. Why isn't he healing?!" Attira asks as everyone stares at me, confused and shocked. "Malick, what happened?" Moxi asks as I slam my head back against the wall, struggling to deal with the pain. "I met the leader of Terminus. He told me that my left arm had been cursed." I manage to let the words creep out between breaths and exhales of agony. "They did this to you?" Attira says as she grits her teeth and closes her eyes. "Who did this? What's their name?" Attira says as I grip my shoulder tighter. "Raizel. His name is Raizel." I reply as everyone looks at each other. "I've never heard of him, but he must be powerful to do this to you." Lastis says as he kneels next to me and looks at my still not healing left arm. "We need to get in contact with the DAA as soon as possible." Lastis says as he quickly stands up and runs out of the room. After a few moments of suffering, Lastis runs back into the room and kneels beside me. "The DAA is now aware of your issue, they said someone will be coming here to look at your injury. Just hold on a little longer." Lastis says as I slam my right hand against the wall behind me. Not paying attention, I slam my arm through the wall and cry out in pain. I hear my heart beat one more time before I feel the cold concrete against my cheek. "Why do I keep having to suffer? Is this what demons and angels have to constantly endure?" I whisper to myself as I see a reflection my myself. My short black hair looks a little greasy. My clothes dirty and slightly tattered. The reflection shows a pitch-black mass wrapped around where my left arm would be. "What did Raizel do?" I mumble as a hand reaches through my reflection and touches my face. As I snap back into reality, I see Attira crying and touching my face. I slowly sit up, quick to notice my stump of a left arm is no longer hurting. "What happened?" I whisper as I see everyone standing around me, including Vale and Sheeva. "We had a DAA healer mend your raw energy pathways. By what she said, they were forcefully severed. She had never seen that before." Sheeva says as Vale touches my shoulder. "Does it hurt?" He asks as I shake my head no. "So, what? I'll never have a left arm again?" I ask, my heart beating heavily. Sheeva sighs as Vale pats my shoulder. "As we were told, you have lost the ability to regenerate your left arm. There's a foreign energy blocking and keeping your energy pathways closed off. We were told you'll be able to regenerate your arm whenever you can overpower that energy. If, you can overpower that energy." Vale says as I stare at him. "How will I fight? How would I be able to grow stronger!? If. But." My mind stumbles, staggers, denies the idea that I may never have my arm back. Attira quickly hugs me as Moxi grabs my wrist. "We're here, you don't have to go at this alone." Moxi says as Fallyn and Lastis nod in agreeance. "I'm also here, even though I don't think I could do much." Sinneth says from the floor. I look over the edge of the bed I'm on to see Sinneth on the floor playing on his phone. "We're all here for you, we'll help you through this." Fallyn says as Vale smiles. "I think this is one of the friendliest companies in the DAHC, most of the others would have thrown an injured member out, and replaced them." Vale says as Moxi laughs. "Looks like we chose the right company, eh Malick?" Moxi says as I smile and nod. "I'm glad we came here." I say as I stand up, Attira assisting me a little. "So, do we have any other missions?" I ask, smiling slightly. "Malick, are you sure you'll be ok going on a mission?" Lastis asks as I nod. "I can't let depression eat me alive, especially if you are all here to help me get through this." I say as everyone smiles, except Sheeva. "Your right hand concerns me, and if I had a say in your physicality, I would've preferred that your right arm get removed instead." Sheeva says in a colder tone than normal, I quickly look to her. "And what do you mean by that?" I ask, equally cold. "You are a demon, and the fact that your right hands symbol has raised your C.P.I as much as it has, it raises much concern among all generals. It's unstable and the will of chaos seems to seep from it." She says as she glares back to me. "What do you mean by 'I'm a demon'? You seem to be implying something about all demons." I say as she quickly spins and stares at me. "Not so long ago, you seemed distraught at the thought of being a demon, and now you fully support the idea. What caused you to change?" She says, raising her voice as I clutch my right fist. "I learned that I would be able to protect my friends." I say as we glare at each other. "And from how you're acting right now, Sheeva, it seems I'll have to soon fight you to prove I can protect my friends." I say as she quickly summons her scythe. "Big talk for someone so weak, how about we have a real life or death fight, see how far your words get you." Sheeva says as I feel my right arm tingle a bit. As I look down, I see blue and purple energy wrapping around my hand. "Alright, let's go." I say as, in the blink of an eye, she kicks me through the base and onto the grass outside.