Devil Ash Days (Devil Ash Saga) (26 page)

“Hold it!” she
said.

Aura breathed a
big sigh of relief. “What took you so long?” he asked.

“I came as soon as I heard the commotion,” she replied.

Apsat was temporarily stunned, but he quickly shook it off and came to his senses. When he finally got a good look at his attacker, he was amazed. “Lady Shiva!” he said with glee.

“That amulet doe
sn’t belong to you,” Shiva said. “The Knights in Satan’s Service are here to reclaim it, and
kick your ass
as well.” Aura chuckled at Shiva’s use of the team name.

“
I can’t believe my luck!” Apsat said. “First the death toucher, now the King’s daughter! My slaughter list just keeps growing!”

Indeed, it was an impressive kill list if he could pull it off. But Shiva was not one for being talked down to, and rather than reply with witty banter, she charged forward. She actually managed to land a punch to his stomach, but it was only because Apsat allowed
it in order to test his own endurance. He barely felt it. She continued to work his body over, steadily increasing the speed of her punches until Apsat simply stopped allowing her to.

He started with a fast kick to the stomach that stopped her from attacking anymore. Shiva’s lungs begged for air, but Apsat would not allow her to take a breath. He raised both fists, locking his fingers together to create a weapon on par with that of a sledgehammer. His heart raced excitedly at the th
ought of ending her life. With a grunt, he brought his arms down at an alarming rate, expecting to collide with Shiva’s skull. Instead, Aura pulled her aside just in time as Apsat’s fists slammed into the ground, creating a sizeable dent in the street.

“I guess a thank you would be appropriate,” Shiva said to Aura, picking herself up.

“That is the usual response when someone saves your life,” Aura replied. “But I wouldn’t want you to step outside your comfort zone.”

Apsat
surveyed the damage he’d done, paying great attention to the distinct lack of splattered Shiva on the ground. He eventually turned his focus back to the two teens ahead of him.

“Looks like it’s me and you against him,” Aura said.

“Pity. If only Ash were here. He’d make a great shield.”

“It
is
a pity. I’d rather
he
be my partner,” the boy said. His thoughts turned to where Ash was at that moment, hoping his friend was still alive.

“I’m not too crazy about this team-up, either,” Shiva told him. “But let’s try and make the most of it, and
maybe
save Hell in the process.”

The time for talking was over, apparently. At least, that’s what Apsat decided as he lunged at them. The duo split up, allowing their attacker to pass between them. When he was directly in the middle, they each readied the largest fireball they could muster at the time and - turning towards each other - released. The blasts hit Apsat dead on,
creating a cloud of smoke that hung in the air, concealing what they hoped would be his charred remains.

No such luck. Before the smoke even cleared, Apsat dashed out like a bull charging from the gate, and he was heading straight for Aura. The plucky death-toucher barely had time to react, as he raised his ungloved, black hand at his opponent. In a momentary lapse of judgment, Apsat recoiled in fear of the death-touching hand. In that instant, Shiva attacked from behind. She struck quickly with her elbow, aiming straight for Apsat’s spine.

Her elbow dug into Apsat’s upper back, hitting his spine with a force so strong, it caused him to feel pain he’d yet to feel in his super-powered state. He stumbled forward. Aura saw this as a moment to redeem himself in the minds of all the onlookers, and reverted back to his plan of using his death-touching hand. He had to try, anyway. With his arm fully outstretched, he lunged forward at the monster, his black fist leading the charge.

“
Death punch
!” Aura screamed, hoping to strike some fear into his opponent. The blackened fist connected with Apsat’s face, stopping him cold in his tracks.

Apsat shriek
ed, thinking this was the end for him. Nothing happened. The punch barely hurt, and he wasn’t going to wait around to see if anything else would happen. He swatted Aura’s arm aside and blasted him with a fireball from his free hand. Aura took the flames head on and tumbled to the ground. Shiva tried another back attack, which Apsat evaded by stepping aside, tripping her and sending her to the ground beside Aura.

“Is there something you want to tell me about that hand of yours,
Draxler
?” Shiva asked, suspecting all was not right.

“Well, there
is
something I should have mentioned earlier,” Aura said.

“
And?
”

“It
is
an honest-to-goodness death-touching hand,” he said. “It just doesn’t work on devils.” Shiva was disappointed, and realized why Aura had said this underneath his breath. He didn’t want the crowd to know his secret.

“Let’s just continue fighting,” she
said, realizing that her useless partner was even more useless than previously thought. Maybe she
would
have had better luck if Ash were there instead.

“But it totally works on demons!”
Aura said, trying to redeem himself.

Shiva jumped back up to her feet to launch another attack, but Apsat was ready for her. Before she could do anything, Apsat grabbed her by the throat and lifted her off her feet. She could do
nothing but struggle and grasp at his wrist. Aura summoned all his strength and leapt up, only to rise directly into Apsat’s other vice-like hand. Now, the crazed thief held the two of them while they kicked and squirmed, slowly choking the life out of them. The nearby Royal Guard knew that they should interject, but feared for their own lives.

“You’re
both
going to die!” Apsat cackled.

* * * *

Ash still lay idle on the floor in the exact spot Apsat left him. Though his eyes were open, he hadn’t seen anything until now. It was a peculiar phenomenon; he wasn’t entirely unconscious, and had witnessed Apsat’s transformation. Yet he was immobilized and unable to do anything to stop it, or to chase after him. It was like he was in the most peaceful, tranquil state possible, as if the world were only a dream. His mind cleared of any and all thought, even of the dangerous threat that Apsat now posed. He was trapped in a waking slumber. But that was only the first part.

He
returned to a state of awareness, as the blurry ceiling above came back into focus. No longer feeling paralyzed, the boy raised his hand and held it in front of his face. He felt something inside of him that was as difficult to understand as it was to explain. It was as if he had been going through life blind and was now suddenly able to see. It was as though his body had weighed one hundred tons before, but now was light as a feather.

He sat up, and still examining his hand intently, thought about his flame. Before he had even begun to imagine it
, a bright blazing flame appeared in his hand.

It’s that easy
, he thought.

Clasping his hand shut and extinguishing his newfound flame,
the boy jumped to his feet. Something had changed, most definitely. He was lighter. Faster.
Stronger
. Though his physical appearance didn’t change at all, he felt as refreshed as if he had just gotten a full night of the deepest sleep one could get. He held out both hands this time, attempting to see if it was still as easy to create flames as it had been seconds ago. With hardly a thought on the matter, wild fire shot out from his palms like fireworks erupting in the sky.

“It was this easy all along!” he
said to no one.  He dropped his arms and took a powerful stance, letting the feeling of tremendous soul energy wash over him. Flames emitted from his body, and not just from his hands. More and more wild flames shot out of his back, shoulders, and even the top of his head. He brought out his wings and spread them as wide as he could, and the flames spread to them as well. It didn’t hurt; instead it felt warm and tingling. Unfortunately, his dusty old suit coat didn’t survive the blaze. It burned up, leaving Ash coat-less. His flame-wing pin fell to the floor with a clatter.

“Holy crap, I feel awesome!” he said, again amazed at the new sensations he was feeling.
Examining his body, he realized that he was literally on fire. With a simple thought he extinguished the flames before more of his clothing could burn off.

Apsat!
He recalled his dilemma. What happened next was completely unintentional. Ash had no idea he even had the ability, but in that moment when he thought of Apsat, he felt something. Call it a psychic ability or just a gut feeling, but Ash was able to
feel
where Apsat was. He felt a strong pulling in a certain direction. He couldn’t put a label on it, but it
felt
like a terrible and yet familiar power that had to be Apsat. Unaware that Apsat had actually borrowed some of Ash’s own soul energy, he didn’t know that what he was feeling was his
own
power. The frightening vibes he got from it were all Apsat’s doing, though.

He could feel his friends, too. There were two other souls he was picking up on, Shiva and Aura, who both had their own pulling. They
felt
like Shiva and Aura, that is, the feelings that they inspired in Ash. Aura’s soul felt like pure, careless
fun
, with a bit of unidentifiable intrigue. Shiva’s soul reminded Ash of hard work and determination, but also a bit of sadness that he couldn’t explain.  There was one other difference between his friend’s and Apsat’s souls: Shiva and Aura’s were slowly fading.

Ash weighed his options. The plan had worked,
and even better than the boys intended. With Apsat causing such a distraction, he was certain that infiltrating the castle would be a simple matter. He was even feeling confident enough to challenge The Prince if need be. This was his chance to storm the castle, steal a gate key and go home!

On the other hand, he could
actually
feel
Aura and Shiva dying. He leaned down and picked up his flame-wing pin. Clutching it tightly, he remembered what it symbolized. This was all Ash needed to make his decision. He tucked the pin into his pants pocket. With a direction in his mind, he bolted out the hole in the wall that Apsat made earlier. Once outside, the boy took to the skies using his soul as a compass.

* * * *

Back on the street that had turned into a battlefield, Apsat slowly drained the life out of Shiva and Aura. The soldiers were in a stalemate and didn’t know what to do. If they remained still, it spelled doom for Lady Shiva. If they moved in, Apsat would simply end her life immediately. Commander Stryd finally arrived at the scene, pushing his way through the lot of soldiers and any remaining civilians.

“What’s going on here?!” he
asked, but didn’t need an answer. He saw for himself the behemoth of a man with his hands wrapped around the two youngsters.

“Lady Shiva!” h
e called to her, taking a step forward.

Apsat intervened. “Don’t take another step, Stryd!” he
said. “Or I’ll end her life right now!”

“Glad…you guys…care so much
… about
me!
” Aura managed to say between desperate breaths for his life. If he were about to die, he felt he might as well go out with a snarky comment.

“Sir!” a Royal Guard said, taking the Commanders side.
“I think we should get The Prince! Surely he’ll be strong enough to handle this!”

“Prince Darko is outside the kingdom on another one of his demon hunts! We have to deal with this ourselves!” Stryd
said to his men. But the Commander was already out of ideas. He thought about how The Prince and King Satan would feel if Lady Shiva perished at the hands of this monster. It actually gave him some hope, as he didn’t think they’d care all that much. At most, he thought they would be annoyed at not having someone around as blindly loyal and willing to undertake any ordeal as her.

T
hings looked grim for Shiva and Aura, as they drew their last breaths. This was it for them; they could feel their consciousnesses start to slip. Apsat laughed maniacally at the life fading from their eyes, and it was a terrible sound to die by. Everything was working out for him, and after putting an end to the troublesome two-some he’d make his way to the castle. It seemed all was lost.

“Yo
Crap
sat!”

A voice rang out from above and echoed through the st
reets. The people looked around but saw no one. A shadow appeared over the mass, as the sun became blocked by a figure in the sky. With tremendous force, Ash rained down from the sky like a meteor, slamming his foot directly onto the side of Apsat’s head. The gargantuan thief collapsed to the ground, stirring up a cloud of dust as he dropped Shiva and Aura. Free from his death-grip, the two gasped for air and filled their lungs as if breathing for the first time.