The Falling (Book I)

Force

Rayi

She rose to her feet and stared at her hands. She whispered, "After all of this time, finally, I am free."

"Oh, what a turn of events! The Adsecula makes an appearance out of nowhere! Rayi, how long has it been since we last saw each other?" Lucifer boomed.

The Adsecula placed her hand over her heart. "It has been a long time since I have seen your face, Your Perfection. Oh, maybe 90,000 years, give or take?"

"What is he talking about?" the angel asked. She sent him an unimpressed glower.

"Use that brain of yours, angel. Have you never wondered what Adsecula are, how we came to be? Why we are found solely in Optima families? How our names—not our hosts'—are in those books silly humans stumble upon?"

She waited for him to puzzle it out with surprising patience. His jaw dropped. "Adsecula are the Fallen Angels who followed Lucifer in his rebellion. But how?!"

"Clever boy," she cooed. "We were once Archangels. When our original bodies died, whether it be from unnatural death or because Hell's atmosphere got to us, our spiritual presence was absorbed by those with an angel as one of their ancestors. Kopa, the girl's brother, was the Angel of War, Irsya was the Angel of Femininity, and I was once the Angel of Peace. Ironic, no?"

The angel's expression turned hateful. "What did you do to Melanie?"

"The same she did to me; locked her up in the deepest part of my mind. She is gone." She replied, licking her lips when she saw despair crumple his features.

"What do you plan to do now?" Lucifer asked her.

She smiled at the Archangel. "What you intended: kill the Archangel. I do expect you to hold up your bargain, though, darling. I wanted nothing to do with any of this, but the girl was too strong-willed."

"You have my word," he vowed.

"Excellent." Rayi disappeared.

The angel spun around as she reappeared behind him. He jumped back from her swing. "Stop, I do not want to hurt you!"

"You do not want to hurt her. I know you could not care less about me. The feeling is quite mutual."

He remained on the defensive, urging her to stop what she was doing. He unfurled his wings and beat them, the wind knocking her back. Sometimes she missed her wings, especially when she saw his. She was not impressed by his, though; she had had six wings the color of a rainbow. They had been beautiful.

She tilted her head up and lightning raced toward him. It struck his left wing and he grunted. The feathers were singed and smoked. She taunted, "Come, Archangel, fight back! You were not this hesitant the first or second time! You plotted to trap us and end us! Make me work for it!"

He glanced at his wing and gritted his teeth. Rayi's smile widened when she saw his eyes glow and he unleashed a stream of fire at her. "Finally!"

She teleported out of the fire's path and grabbed his wounded wing by the tip of its claw. He would not be able to grab her with his hands, a disadvantage to having such titanic wings.

Rayi lifted him in the air and slammed him back onto the ground. He wheezed and kicked fire toward her. She sidestepped as he scrambled to his feet. He spread his wings and swept them toward her, flames following their path. It covered most of the arena and she took the hit, hissing through her teeth as it bit her.

When the smoke no longer burned her eyes, she saw him race toward her. The claw from his unwounded wing sliced her forearm as she brought it up to shield her face. He swiped at her again and she ducked. Her body glowed and she charged him, knocking the wind out of him again and tossing him back against the rocky wall.