Once Forgotten 3.2

Rya stared at her untouched food. All about her, the soldiers laughed and talked as they enjoyed their food and the entertainment provided by the tavern master’s daughter. Feeling eyes upon her, she glanced around in time to see a flash of brown vanish out the door. She rose, excusing herself from the table, and hurried out. Barely had she stepped out of the door, when a massive blade came down upon her. Before thinking it, she leaped back and up, her wings lifting her into the sky. She eyed the dark figure before her.

Her eyes widened at the multiple arms that protruded from the figures body. “Samask!”

The Demon laughed. “Surprised to see me? I should think so. Clever of me wasn’t it? Here you were expecting my dear brother, Graindianeth, and I show up instead.” He frowned, taking in her appearance for the first time. “An angel?! How? How can you be interfering without giving us strength?”

Rya flicked her scythe, extending the blade. She twirled it, causing the wind to flow about her. She landed lightly a few feet from him. “I am no ordinary angel.”

“Unusual indeed. You do not have the sickening sweet smell of Alphairria about you. A mortal? No, but neither are you immortal.” Samask faltered slightly, unsure of her. “A mortal immortal…”

Rya narrowed her eyes. “What do you want?”

Samask inspected her with high interest. “You are a marvelous creature indeed. Strong, intelligent. Yes, quite marvelous indeed.”

Rya whirled her scythe before her. “Save your flattery. I know you had something to do with Helix.”

The Demon smiled. “You play a dangerous game, Rya Windseer. To accuse a God is a serious matter indeed.”

“I accuse not. I speak truth, and you know it! Chiel was witness to your deeds!” Rya shouted. She barely leaped back into the sky as two blades slammed down where she had been standing.”

“Do not speak that accursed name! You know nothing, child!” The Demon snarled. “Enough of this!!” He roared.

Rya soared up high, only to be slammed to the ground. The Demon laughed maniacally. “Naïve and foolish girl. Do you not know that I am next in line after Gainahtharinisidious? I am not the faded creature Maldis was!”

Rya raised herself to her knees and coughed up blood. Her blood glowed in the pale light. She glared at the Demon before her. “You should know by now. If there is one thing about us mortals, we just don’t call it quits!” She pulled herself to her feet, holding her scythe before her. She felt her mind clear, power coursing through her. Rejuvenated, she stood to face her enemy.

Samask glared. “I know this power…” He blocked the deadly blade singing towards him. “No! I will not fall to some infant upstart!” Rya was forced back into the air. If she wasn’t parrying of the deadly black blades, then she was warding off his other powers. Without warning, Samask stabbed a blade into the ground and grabbed her leg. Smiling wickedly, he threw her into the tavern. She crashed through the doors and slammed into the far wall. As she struggled to extricate herself from the rubble, Samask crashed through the wall. “Such power, yet no knowledge of what it is or how to use it! Pitiful.” He laughed at his own words. “But then, pity is for the week.” He rushed at her.

There was a burst of energy, and the Greater Demon careened into the opposite wall. Rya freed herself to find Brint standing before Demon Lord, the second M’rachtkenta. Alda, with several soldiers, was by her side in a flash, helping her. “Brint!” She gasped as they lifted a board off of her. The Priestess glanced at him.

“He will hold his own, yes. You must rest. Regain your strength.” She said, helping to lift her out. Samask ripped himself from the wall. Dark blue liquid dripped from a small cut. Blood of a Demon God. Samask snarled. “You will pay for that, mortal!” He charged, thrusting forward a black blade. Brint leaped up, landing lightly upon the Demon’s wrist. The Demon flicked his wrist, dislodging him with ease. The man ducked into a roll, coming up right in Samask’s face. He raised his sword and slammed it into his chest. The Demon slammed a fist into Brint, sending him crashing through the one good wall remaining.

“NO!” Rya screamed. Alda and the others scattered as the wind began to howl. Samask turned to see a cyclone of pure fury. It dissipated under his stare. He roared with pain as a streak of dark blue appeared across his chest. Before he could react, the wind slammed into him like a wall of demon metal. What was left of the tavern collapsed as the remaining support vanished. Rya hovered above, her wings glowing with blue light, her eyes blazing with untamed fury. Another streak of dark blue appeared, crossing the first streak, as Samask got to his feet.

He glared up at the girl. This wasn’t unexpected. He had known she cared for that pitiful mortal he had just killed. Yet she still had no knowledge of what she possessed. He laughed. “You think a few scratches will even weaken me?! HA!” He roared as he waved a hand. A cyclone, black and angry, rose up, devouring all around it. He released it, and it roared toward the mortal angel. Rya struggled against
it, barely able to keep herself free from it. With a cry of agony, she released whatever power she had. It slammed through the cyclone, straight into a shocked Demon. Unable to maintain her flight, she plummeted to the ground. Fighting to stay awake, she raised herself just enough to look at the Demon.

Samask’s breath came in ragged gasps. “Remember…this…mortal…You…have…not seen….the last…of me.” He vanished in shadow.

Rya sighed, but then fought of the exhaustion and the physical pain she felt. Brint. Hands lifted her from the ground. She looked up into Alda’s face. The fur around her eyes was moist. She was crying. Within her chest, she felt a new ache. Brint…he couldn’t be…

Soldiers, both Freedomist and Alandris’s, scurried about. They were pulling the wounded from the wreckage while they laid out the dead. Alda headed for a small group of mourners. Rya shook her head, tears falling. This isn’t happening…

Alda helped her into a kneeling position. Rya shook off the hands that held her and managed to crawl to her friend’s body. At the sight of his broken body, she broke into fretful sobs. They wreaked her already ravaged body, causing her pain, but she hardly took notice. The pain her heart felt was far greater. She stared down into his face, a new realization dawning to her. “No, please, no.” She wept. Her lips found his. They were still warm. “I love you…” Her head fell onto the chest that would never again draw breath.

Thousands of leagues away, a cloaked figure stopped in his tracks. A grief was on the wind. The ground shuddered from it. The water that flowed beneath the ground froze. He felt the Darkness laugh. And then…he smiled. Light energy was swirling in a way he thought it never would. Life grew stronger. The figure’s smile broadened. The Time Foretold had at last come.

Rya ceased her sobs. What was this? Light, pure, gentle, Divine, shone down upon them. She felt the caress of Life, having felt it once before, descend. Brint let out a long gasp and air, blessed air filled his lungs. Slowly, as though he was just waking from sleeping, he opened his eyes. A smile played at his lips as he stared up into the prettiest face he had ever seen. Rya collapsed into his arms. Overcome by everything, she just let herself be. For one moment, her pain, her exhaustion, everything, all vanished. It was just her in the arms of the one she loved. Whom she had always loved.

Nadarin smiled, laughter building within him. For the first time in an eon, Nadarin let himself laugh.