Descent of Nightmare (Chapter Nineteen)
Dec. 20th, 2016 02:31 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
tanadin posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
saladloveIf you can call it that.
Chapter list: https://tanadin.dreamwidth.org/650.html
Map of Kaldriel: https://i.gyazo.com/332b0c0172dcc60acb46
Rough map of Hatu: https://i.gyazo.com/ea4f9f51b9dc7b9d8b86
Chapter Nineteen
Stronger
Akrar, Kaldriel. November 10, 2277. Time instance 842N.
Shawn wasn’t really sure what to expect when the angels arrived, despite Geluu’s briefing on their battle tactics. He slipped the bracelet off of his wrist, revealing his true form, before gripping his shotgun tightly and looking up, up into the expanse of the sky where the Sapphire Gate swirled and pinpricks of light began to appear.
“Guardians,” he heard Geek mumble. She was standing near them until the battle really started, and while Shawn wasn’t sure why, he found himself reassured by her presence. “I never thought I’d see them fly into formation, but here we are.”
Shawn nodded in agreement, watching the angels above. They had quickly formed a roughly semi-spherical shape around the portal and were expanding outwards as more angels came through, filling up the inside of the sphere and pushing the Guardians outwards. At first, there were no gaps between their shields, which confused Shawn until Geek explained that each Guardian held a physical shield that could create an energy shell expanding from it to increase the protected area.
Shawn thought that it was genius.
Eventually, though, the impenetrable wall became impossible to maintain. Gaps started to form between the Guardians as they expanded outwards. Shawn assumed that, had he been closer or had better eyes, he would be able to see flashes of non-Guardians between the shields and behind their wings, but it was nearly impossible to see at this range.
Then the turrets began firing.
The only word Shawn had for it was slaughter.
Angels coming through the gate started to fall from the sky, bodies shredded and torn to pieces as shots went between the Guardians. When a Guardian was hit, their energy shield would flash and crack dangerously if they were lucky and shatter if they were not. The second blow would almost always kill them, and it took even less than that to take out the angels behind them.
Shawn wasn’t sure if he was grateful that he couldn’t feel sick. It felt wrong, not having a physical reaction when his mind reeled back at what was happening before him. He wanted to look away, but his eyes were fixed on the carnage up above, at the blood practically raining from the Sapphire Gate.
He wasn’t sure how long it went on for. It felt like hours but it was probably five or ten minutes. Their entry had slowed significantly and had stopped by the time the explosion wracked the ground and forced his head to snap around, watching the flames and remnants of one of the turrets arc into the sky.
As they watched over the next few minutes, the rest of the turrets met the same fate, although their assailants were unknown and it certainly wasn’t ranged magic that destroyed them. An angel circling above the battle- one that had managed to escape the carnage and slip out between the now-ragged Guardians- flipped around and flew back through the Sapphire Gate. The Guardians drew back together at a barked order from an unseen figure, and angels started to come through once again.
The damage was done, however. Heaven had already sustained heavy losses, and not a single defender was dead. Fury radiated off of the angels as they approached from above, weapons drawn and eyes narrowed.
Shawn raised his shotgun and shouted an unnecessary warning to his squad. Geek took off and flew out of his sight, and she was soon completely out of his thoughts as the first of the angels reached them.
A Guardian bore down on the squad, his golden energy shield intact and uncracked. Shawn fired his shotgun and felt a pit open up in his chest as the shield only flashed dimly in response. An angel behind the Guardian raised her hands, eyes glowing brilliant blue, and Shawn quickly rolled away to avoid a blast of unfamiliar blue energy that he was sure wouldn’t be too good for him.
Otev took to the air, followed immediately by Kyzor. Darkness knocked the Guardian aside, revealing the angel behind. She paled as chunks of molten rock formed in Kyzor’s palms and slammed into her chest, followed immediately by a blast from Shawn’s shotgun.
She fell with a scream but Shawn didn’t have long to consider it, as the Guardian slammed into him and brought his sword down on Shawn’s right shoulder. He snarled in pain as his arm was severed from his body, effectively disarming him as his gun hit the floor. He formed a spike of ice in his left hand and shot it into the Guardian’s chest, growling in frustration when it shattered harmlessly against an invisible energy shield.
Flames wrapped harmlessly around the Guardian’s wings and he kicked Shawn away to deal with Mars and Chris, yelping in surprise when a bullet hit him in the head and shattered the shell covering his skin. He immediately started screaming as his feathers burned, turning and raising his shield to block the flames.
Neves and Fall both shot. He fell.
Shawn got to his feet and shoved his shotgun back into its holder, scooping up his arm. “Can someone put this back on?”
His squad shook their heads before quickly addressing another angel that came after them, this one lightly armored and wielding two swords. He sighed. “I was afraid of that. I’ll be back!” He quickly shot off, away from them, searching the skies for Geek and finding her quickly. He froze the feathers on the angel she was fighting’s wings, waving for her to land.
A unfamiliar energy blast sound and the splatter of blood against his back drew his attention, and he turned in time to see Everex leap into an angel standing directly behind Shawn, stabbing her several times until he was sure she was dead. He looked up with a wild look in his eyes, but it quickly shifted to shock.
“Your arm’s off!”
“Yes. It is.”
“Are...are you...what...why aren’t you bleeding?”
“I’m dead,” Shawn informed him. “Don’t you have a sister to defend?”
“What? Oh, yeah!” Everex shook it off. “Right.” He turned away and went after an angel fighting Twelve, intercepting a strike with a fierce snarl on his face.
Shawn rolled his eyes and turned to Geek as she landed. “Could you put this back on?”
Geek sighed. “Quit getting yourself injured. It’s a pain that Scara and Neves can’t heal you.”
Shawn grinned sheepishly. “Sorry.”
She took his arm from him and held it in place, mumbling an incantation as she passed her hand over the wound. The flesh stitched itself back together and at a nod from her, Shawn flexed his fingers. “Thanks, Geek.”
“You’re welcome.” She took off, leaving him to make his way back to his squad, shooting every angel he saw and wondering why they wouldn’t have the decency to die as easily as people, or even cyborgs, did.
He felt weird at the thought but shook it off.
Shawn caught the movement of a blurred figure in his peripheral vision, recognizing it immediately and not questioning it for a good five seconds until he head whipped around again, the significance of the shape registering in his mind.
He’d gone back into his old revolution battle mindset, and the sight of M flitting about had been a common one. He knew that M was back- he’d seen him with Tanadin- but he hadn’t really thought that he would fight with them again.
But here he was, darting from one angel to another and piercing them with his usual strange magic. Around him circled an identical figure, this one with glowing purple eyes hidden in their hood. Shawn quietly wondered why the hell there was now a purple M before shaking it off and re-focusing on the enemies around him, figuring that he could deal with any and all Ms later.
A shouted order several minutes later drew Shawn’s attention upwards. He didn’t recognize the language or the figure that had spoken, but his wings seemed to be made of light, shining silver feathers that made Shawn feel uncomfortable deep in his core. Power radiated off of the angel, and Shawn didn’t need anyone to tell him that this was one of the seven Archangels. By the shield he carried on his right arm, he was the Guardian Archangel, but Shawn couldn’t really be sure.
The angels immediately disengaged at his order, quicking winging their way back to the Sapphire Gate. A few demons tried to follow them into the sky for a final few kills but were shot down by some of the angels’ spellcasters, their bodies hitting the ground long before the last of the angels vanished into the gate. Shawn lowered his shotgun as they went, watching as the gate faded from the sky once the last of them were through.
He sighed in quiet relief and put his shotgun back, looking around for his squad to see who was injured and who wasn’t.
~~~
The only thing Myrzen could use to describe the slaughter at the Sapphire Gate was decimation.
He’d been one of the last Guardians through, being so inexperienced, and he had felt both joy and anxiety as he joined the shield ‘wall’ around the portal. They had moved outwards to accommodate the other angels, Avengers and Watchers eager to get into the melee while Balancers readied incantations. A few Purifiers had just gotten through when some odd machines on the ground that definitely weren’t demon-made came to life and started firing.
Myrzen didn’t know what they were. He didn’t want to know. All he knew was that they could shoot between the gaps in the Guardians and kill the angels behind them, and that two direct hits to even a rank three Guardian could kill them. He shivered as he continued to fly, instincts screaming for him to break formation but training tell him that he was safest here and that it was his duty to protect the other angels. He repositioned himself to protect a Purifier, cringing as the nearest Guardian was blown to bloody pieces, painting both Myrzen and the Purifier red.
“I can’t do anything for you!” the Purifier warned. “If it just injured you, I could heal it, but it just annihilates you guys!”
“I figured that out!” Myrzen was too frightened to be embarrassed about the way his voice rose and cracked with the effort of not fleeing. “What do we do?”
“I don’t know!”
Air rushed past Myrzen and he turned his head in time to see an angel shimmer out of sight. He blinked a few times before shivering.
That must have been a Punisher. It had to be.
Myrzen did his best to not die although it was only through sheer luck that he wasn’t one of the ones hit. Eventually, the machines went down and the angels descended. Myrzen wasn’t sure that this was such a good idea, either, as the defending force down below didn’t seem to be just demons. He saw humans and birdlike creatures he knew must be aven as well as elementals and humans that seemed to be part metal who proved themselves to be the most dangerous of all, with frightening speed and deadly accuracy.
Myrzen didn’t know what to do. The Archangels had been sure that they would be fighting demons and only demons. The mortals of Kaldriel had never stood with Hell before, and the elementals certainly had never even been involved except for a handful that had intentionally gotten themselves involved.
They didn’t have a chance. They were unprepared, overwhelmed, and had sustained heavy losses before even reaching the ground. Myrzen didn’t lower his shield or swing his sword once, staying back and protecting a couple of Balancers and a Purifier until the booming voice of an Archangel rang out, calling for them to retreat.
Myrzen had never been so relieved to see Archangel Hau’rah in his life. He had gratefully turned and flew back towards the Sapphire Gate, flying as quickly as his wings could carry him and making it through before most of the others.
He collapsed once he was out of the immediate vicinity of the gate, breathing heavily and letting the light of Heaven gently soothe his aching muscles, although he knew that he wouldn’t feel better until a Purifier looked at him.
Seeing all the ravaged and potentially fatal wounds around him, though, he knew he wouldn’t get the chance.
He shut his eyes but all he saw were metal men and demons who knew that they had won.
~~~
Krassor stepped carefully over the corpses strewn over the battlefield. His talons occasionally stepped in something unidentifiable that he didn’t want to think about but he kept going, seeking out where the medics had set up at the edge of the city. It was taking awhile to cross the battlefield, and the stillness of the air made him unwilling to fly. It felt like a violation of what had transpired here half an hour before. The corpses choked the air with the stench of blood, making his feathers feel like lead and painting black red and red redder.
He shuddered as he passed the final corpses and continued on, feeling dirt stick to his feet, caught in the congealing blood. He kept walking until he gratefully stepped onto the stone of the street, talons clicking quietly as he walked. The city of Eldar was far quieter than he’d heard it, the death and previous carnage hanging over the people like a shroud.
His eyes caught on a building marked with a red symbol, the one that a nice golden aven had described to him earlier. He hoped that he had it right as he pushed open the door and stepped inside, wiping off his feet on the mat before walking up to the counter and the women behind it.
“Is Devan Hellvan here?” He spoke in the language of the aven, a language that he had almost instinctively known and had brushed up on with Kaldric’s help. He was still working on English but was nowhere near confident enough to speak it.
The woman raised an eyebrow and asked him something in English. He shrugged helplessly and said, “I don’t know what you’re saying. Is there an aven around?”
Either she understood him more than he thought or she was tired of trying to figure out what he was saying, because she picked up an item he identified as a phone and said something into it before putting it back down.
Moments later, an aven with spotted gray feathers and tufts sticking up from the side of her head stepped into the room and tilted her head at him. “Who are you?”
“I’m Krassor Hellvan.” He folded his wings tighter against his back as her eyes shifted to look at them, knowing that he and Nightgale were different from normal aven and not knowing why. “Is Devan Hellvan here?”
“Yes.” The aven blinked a few times. “Are you...related?”
“Yes. He’s my...father.”
“I didn’t know he had children, or a mate, for that matter.”
“Neither does he,” Krassor told her, and she looked baffled for a moment before shaking it off.
“He’s very busy, so you might want to take a seat. I’ll go get him.”
Krassor nodded and sat down in one of the chairs, noting how comfortable it was compared to the ones that he was used to back in the desert. He noticed the human watching him and he clicked his beak in a friendly way, raising his wings slightly to approximate a smile. His beak didn’t allow him to make expressions like humans did, which saddened him at times, but he was used to it. He was the only one of his friends that couldn’t- Nightgale could shift into her werewolf form and became much more expressive that way- and it was occasionally frustrating when they misread his body language.
This woman was apparently used to aven, however, as she smiled in return. She asked him something but he shrugged helplessly. She mimed flapping wings and swinging a sword, then motioned at the outside with a raised eyebrow. Did you fight them?
He nodded and she cringed sympathetically. She went back to work on some papers but glanced up occasionally to look at him.
Eventually, the door swung open and an aven stepped out, one with black and red feathers dressed in white. Krassor got to his feet immediately and the other aven tilted his head, confused.
“What do you want?”
“Are you Devan Hellvan?”
He looked a bit surprised at the question. “Yes. Who are you?”
“I’m Krassor Hellvan. I’m a genetic experiment created by the aliens. I’m the son of you and your dead friend Sub.”
~~~
Cap felt a shock of ice run through her blood at the bone-chilling and agonized scream that split the silent post-battle air.
Her head snapped around as she instinctively reached for her rifle, expecting to see an enemy but only finding Lucy and Kallen standing on their own out on the battlefield. The scream had wrenched itself from Lucy’s throat as she covered her ears and fell to her knees, shaking and sobbing as Kallen tried to calm her down and figure out what the hell was going on.
Cap put her rifle on her back and bounded over to them, leaping over corpses and avoiding puddles of blood to reach them quickly. “What’s going on?”
Kallen looked at her helplessly and motioned at Lucy. “I don’t know!” The words were uncertain but he was too worried to think about his pronunciation or proper word usage, kneeling by Lucy’s side as she mumbled frantically in Dranonic. Sheva flicked around her, agitated but not speaking. Where she was looking was uncertain due to her blank eyes, but she seemed to be looking around at things that Cap couldn’t see.
Cap knelt down and put a hand on Lucy’s shoulder. “Lucy! Lucy, what’s wrong?”
“Make them stop!” Lucy sobbed, fingers digging into her head and tangling in her hair. “Please stop!”
“Make who stop?”
“Them!”
Cap looked at Kallen helplessly before glancing at Sheva. She offered no explanation and Cap shook Lucy gently. “Lucy. Who?”
“You can’t hear them?” Lucy’s voice broke halfway through her sentence and she shook harder. “The...the...the fragments!”
Cap’s eyes widened in realization. She could see fully formed ghosts, even those that were faded and degenerated past the point of recognition, but she couldn’t see fragments of ghosts, impressions left behind by the recently dead that hadn’t entirely passed on. These fragments would often fade hours or days after their body’s death when they ran out of energy, but until then they were usually screaming and furious.
Cap put an arm around Lucy’s shoulders and pulled her closer, hugging her tightly. “Shh. They’ll be gone soon. Come on.”
“Make them stop! I can’t help them! I can’t…”
“Come with me.” Cap stood and Kallen helped get Lucy up. “We’ll get away from here, okay? Shh. They won’t follow far.” She started walking and Lucy stumbled after her, still caught in Cap’s embrace and showing no signs of breaking away.
Cap’s heart thudded painfully as she watched Lucy cringe and sob at the overwhelming grief and anger of spirits that Cap couldn’t see.
And, silently, her final suspicions were confirmed.
Lucy was marked by death.
no subject
Date: 2016-12-20 09:25 pm (UTC)*dons waterproof poncho and goggles*
At first, there were no gaps between their shields, which confused Shawn until Geek explained that each Guardian held a physical shield that could create an energy shell expanding from it to increase the protected area.
Shawn thought that it was genius.
Shawn wants one of those shields. Would it work the same when not held by an angel though?
Shawn wasn’t sure if he was grateful that he couldn’t feel sick. It felt wrong, not having a physical reaction when his mind reeled back at what was happening before him. He wanted to look away, but his eyes were fixed on the carnage up above, at the blood practically raining from the Sapphire Gate.
I'm glad I put my waterproof poncho and goggles on....
...as the Guardian slammed into him and brought his sword down on Shawn’s right shoulder. He snarled in pain as his arm was severed from his body, effectively disarming him as his gun hit the floor.
Both literally and figuratively disarming Shawn there....
Shawn rolled his eyes and turned to Geek as she landed. “Could you put this back on?”
Geek sighed. “Quit getting yourself injured. It’s a pain that Scara and Neves can’t heal you.”
Shawn grinned sheepishly. “Sorry.”
*pokes head out of medical tent* Well you're the one that made Shawn like this Geek...*sees more wounded headed towards tent*...gotta go got my hands full here...*ducks back into medical tent*
The Archangels had been sure that they would be fighting demons and only demons. The mortals of Kaldriel had never stood with Hell before, and the elementals certainly had never even been involved except for a handful that had intentionally gotten themselves involved.
Welp a lot changes in, what is it 1000 years since Heaven and Hell last battled? The Archangels are shit out of luck in this first battle.
Cap’s heart thudded painfully as she watched Lucy cringe and sob at the overwhelming grief and anger of spirits that Cap couldn’t see.
And, silently, her final suspicions were confirmed.
Lucy was marked by death.
So Lucy and Fall are both marked by death, does that mean that they both can see fragments?
no subject
Date: 2016-12-21 05:35 pm (UTC)Yes, they can both see the ghost fragments.
no subject
Date: 2016-12-22 01:13 am (UTC)Hmmmm....if they can both see fragments then Fall went through some serious shit when she assassinated people then
no subject
Date: 2016-12-22 02:16 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-12-22 02:24 am (UTC)