Aftermath of the Reckoning

Chapter 31

Nex watched the three approach with mild interest. The girl strode ahead of the other two, confidently returning to her position in front of him. The scarred man, Lucas he assumed, dropped the one-armed man beside another headstone a few feet away.

Zoey turned and scowled. “Careful Lucas!”

“Don’t worry your pretty little head, he’s asleep and ain’t feeling anything right now I reckon.”

Tangled brown hair covered the upper portion of the one-armed man’s face, but Nex’s eyes widened as something about the man’s aura caught his attention. No, it was the fact that he could actually see the man’s aura. He hadn’t been able to see a visible aura since...since the first years of the Reckoning.

The aura glowed green with an ebony tint around the shoulder of his severed arm. He recognized both auras. The black belonged to Wendell, one of his earlier creations, before he lost the ability to bring life to the dead. As for the green, there could only be one explanation.

Nex slowly rose to his feet and stepped toward patch. He halted abruptly after impacting something solid, like an invisible wall. He reached out a hand and felt the wall. Smooth, unyielding and separating himself from his three visitors.

Zoey said, “I brought them here like you asked, now provide the information.”

Nex looked at Zoey and smiled. Seems he had underestimated this thief, though she must have been skilled to have stole from him in the past. “Telekinesis...I presume?”

Nex pressed his palm more firmly against the barrier, but felt no weakness as it resisted him. “You’re very...good. Most aspects would be nullified this close to the mausoleum.”

Beads of sweat appeared on Zoey’s forehead but she maintained eye contact with Nex and the barrier did not weaken. “I’ve completed my part of the deal. Now it is your turn.”

Nex shook his head. “No, I asked to meet them, yet one of them sleeps in my presence. Allow me to touch this man...this Patch as you call him. Allow me to awaken him.”

“Absolutely not!”

Lucas feigned mild interest in the conversation. “Hey, I’m awake. My name is Lucas by the way.”

Nex ignored Lucas. “You will release the barrier, or this ends now.”

Zoey did nothing and the barrier remained in place.

Nex turned around and walked back toward the mausoleum. “Have it your way. However, I can assure you this man will not survive the night. At least...not in his current form.”

***

Zoey subconsciously relaxed as Nex turned his back to them. She did not want to reveal the difficulty she experienced in telekinetically blocking his approach. Something about the cemetery made her aspect very difficult to use, like trying to carry a handful of sand a long distance before it all escaped.

However, his last words struck greater fear into her heart than his presence.

“Wait! What do you mean by current form?”

She watched Nex pause and then turn back to face her. “How much do you know of this man? This — Patch — as you call him. Do you really believe that to be his true name?”

Zoey wanted to dismiss the question as foolishness. However in some ways Patch still remained a mystery. He couldn’t reveal much of his past because of the amnesia. Perhaps...no...it didn’t matter. If he could accept her past, she would accept his no matter what it involved. All she cared about was the love they shared. She needed to find a way for him to survive. “Please! Touch him, do what you need to do. Just make it quick. I cannot lose him...”

Lucas sat on a tombstone and placed his head in his palm. “Good one bub, now you got her going with the water works.”

Nex said, “Touching. Really.” He walked toward Patch, this time without interruption. He moved his hand slowly to the top of Patch’s head.

Zoey tensed. She felt as if she were about to fall backwards from a great height, trusting an enemy to catch her. “DON’T hurt him.” She could feel the door in her mind opening a bit wider. The natural suppression of the environment faded away slowly as her apprehension grew.

Nex only smiled and placed his palm on Patch’s head. He mouthed one word that Zoey did quite hear, but rather felt in her skin. “Azrael.”

Patch’s eyes shot open.

***

Patch awoke from a dream that he couldn’t remember. He awoke to a name that he also couldn’t remember. But the name remembered him. The name wanted him. All he had to do was stop fighting, just sit back and relax. Allow the name to take control and make everything...right.

Patch felt the energy pulse through his body. His eyes and mouth opened wide, glowing with an otherworldly greenish hue that flowed slowly down his neck. He felt the aura concentrate on his left arm and intensify. The light brightened to the point of nearly blinding him, and the feeling...he felt his bones rapidly extend from his scapula and ribs. He felt them leap into the air near his left side and form something resembling an arm. Flesh began to close the holes in his side and enshroud the bony structure that now attached to his shoulder.

A mix of pain and pleasure overwhelmed his mind, further convincing him that it would be ok to allow the name to take control. It would be ok to just sit back and enjoy the pleasure, Azrael would handle the pain. So simple to let his thoughts fade, disappear to the point where only Azrael mattered. Only Azrael knew what his body needed.

“Patch!”

The voice broke through the darkness like lightening, rousing him from his relaxation and enabling him to temporarily regain consciousness. He knew that voice. Someone...someone from a past life? Someone that he didn’t need anymore because...NO...it was Zoey. He did need Zoey and she needed him.

Then the beast appeared before him, utter blackness, the absence of light defining its existence. Patch could not separate it from himself, it clung to him like a part of himself.

Instead Patch illuminated his mind, brightness, so bright that it drowned out everything. The creature, Azrael, absorbed it like a black hole, feeding on the light, warping it. But it was too late, Patch did not relent. Light poured from somewhere, somewhere that he knew would never cease, not so long as she needed him. And she did.