Legions (32 page)

Chapter 34

How many thousands of us
there were, I’d never know. I didn’t need to know. I could feel
their souls. I could feel their intentions. We were all acting as
one - here for a single act.

The wind was blowing harder
than it had all spring, the rain coming in sideways as it pelted
us, picking up speed from the ocean. The weight of my drenched
clothes was nothing compared to the burden I felt deep inside. As
the wind howled over the cliffs and through the trees to finally
reach us all where we stood, there was a vigilance it brought with
it. I was leading us directly into victory, and I was leading us
directly into defeat. Some of us wouldn’t make it. Some of our
family members wouldn’t make it. That was known well before anyone
decided to join us.

We were an army. They never
saw it coming. Standing in the front row, I felt for Athen’s hand
and squeezed it. Looking up at him as he stood stoically, hair
completely drenched, clothes stuck to his body, I knew we were all
miserable - miserably waiting for a fight that would drastically
change things to come for both our world and the mortal world.
Looking to my left, I saw Cyril and Arie, hands interlocked,
looking straight ahead, waiting for the same thing as all of us – a
sign of the enemy.

I let go of Athen’s hand,
stepping forward and spinning around to see something I’d been
telling myself not to. Partially worried that the numbers I’d see
wouldn’t meet my expectations, I didn’t want to psych myself out.
Instead, what I saw was countless rows and rows of our fellow
Fallen Angels, lined up side by side, hands interlocking, ready to
face whatever we might encounter in this first of many
battles.

The entire beach was lined
with being after being with the beautiful green eyes that I took so
much comfort in. The lines of Fallen Angels went as far as I could
see, circling beyond and behind the jagged cliffs. The sight was
more magnificent than anything I could have thought up in my own
mind. Catching Athen’s eyes, I felt tears begin to surface because
of the overwhelming support that was going to lead us into
victory.

Nodding at me, he took a
step towards me, spinning like I did to look at the numbers who had
gathered to support us.

“Wow, Ana. This is
incredible.” He whispered.

“Isn’t it? If only it
weren’t for the reason that it was, I might be able to revel in it
all.”

Doing my best to wipe off
the rain droplets that were continually running down my face, I
shrugged off the chill that was trying to present itself deep
within in my bones.

“More are coming, aren’t
they?” I asked Athen, as I did my best to make out the images I was
seeing come down one by one, making their way to the end of the
lines that my eyes could no longer find any more.

Nodding, he stood back in
line, and I followed his lead. The evil ones were on their way. I
could feel it. Facing forward, I raised my arm up towards the sky
and circled my wrist, with a finger extended. It was time to
listen.

Straining to hear past the
torrential downpour and crashing waves, I did my best to
concentrate on the vibrations that I’d learned so recently to pick
up from the demons. I steadied my breathing in hopes that it would
help pick out what I needed to hear before the others.

I felt the shift, everyone
had noticed my signal. Row after row of warriors, like myself, were
stiffening, preparing for an unknown. The vibrations began to set
themselves into motion. A light pounding began off in the distance
- the intensity rising with every beat. Closing my eyes, I did my
best to distinguish the beats. With every thud echoing through the
air, I knew that it accounted for an army not that dissimilar to
ours in size.

The cracking sound began
reverberating through my eardrums. They were here. The sky opened
up, pouring more on us than dampness as the deathly images began
dropping down on us one by one. Thousands of minions, dripping in
chains were like puppets dropping from the sky, only coming to life
once they hit the ground.

The battle had begun.
Letting go of Athen’s hand, I heard his whisper reach me telling me
that he loved me just in time. He rocketed through the air meeting
his first opponent. Forcing myself to turn away from him, I was
determined not to let our love hinder my performance; rather, it
was there to strengthen it. I felt the first blow of the sharp,
metal chain as it hit my back, sending my body to the wet sand with
a force like no other.

As I felt the tiny granules
of sand enter my mouth, I commanded myself to get up. Everyone was
looking at me to lead us to victory. I couldn’t let them down,
especially within the first seconds of fighting. I jumped back up,
readying myself to take out the creature that sent me into the
earth, only to see a towering figure hovering over me waiting for
my next move, laughing as if he had already won the
fight.

I began running towards
this figure who I didn’t recognize, only to dart to the right at
the last moment, grabbing the chain that I was certain was the one
that whipped me, pulling it with all of my strength. A shriek ran
through the air, as the demon was flipped onto his back, my heel
burrowing into his neck. Tugging on the chain, another shriek came
barreling out of the creature. Finishing him off with one last
quick stomp on his neck, I followed the chain as it led to his
body. Assuming that the chain was hooked to the demon’s clothing, I
was horrified when I felt it lead its way to his hip. Pulling up
the shirt, I realized the chain was buried deep within the
monster’s flesh. The sight was repulsive as the metal edges were
barely visible as the chain snaked deep under the skin.

The shrieks and screams
from the other demons, as they were being thrown and caught by
their chains was an encouraging sound. As the demons and minions
continued to land, I was able to estimate there was at least three
of ours to every one of theirs. For now, the numbers were working
in our favor. I knew it was crucial to not let myself become
overconfident because that’s when mistakes could be
made.

Scanning the beach, I saw
the demons being overtaken by our own. I did my best to channel my
findings to my family. If we target the ones with the chains first,
we would be able to eliminate quite a few in a very short time. It
felt too easy. I couldn’t see Athen, Cyril, or Arie so getting
confirmation that they received my message was
comforting.

Looking in the crowd for
Azazel, the disappointment began building as I realized this wasn’t
the battle he was going to participate in. This was the preemptive
battle that was our test. The fury was building inside of me,
knowing the battle would not be ending today, but rather, this was
only the beginning. My desire to destroy Azazel was only growing
stronger with every trick and trap he set for us all. It also
answered my question that I had buried deep inside on whether
Lilith was going to show up for this one either. My disappointment
would have to wait for another day; instead I had to channel my
anger into the fight before me.

Diving into the crowd of
minions to continue my fight, I was determined to finish them off
quickly. This was a waste of time and resources. It was disgusting,
and there was nothing I could do about it other than participate
and make it end.

Snagging chain after chain,
causing dreadful squeals of pain as I tugged from one evil creature
to the next, destroying as many as were in my path as possible gave
me the strength to keep going. Catching Athen’s eye quickly, he
nodded, letting me know he captured all of my thoughts earlier,
which brought a huge amount of relief. They are on the same page.
We needed to get this over with and quickly.

It was painfully obvious
that we were the victors in this match, but unfortunately, we had
to ensure that we had taken care of every minion left standing.
They wouldn’t stop until they were destroyed. The dark mist was
being released into the air from the mounting pile of minions who
were being destroyed. The dark mist could easily be mistaken as the
most wicked of winter storms. I stood in the far corner of the
beach surveying our victories and watching our side fly away to
wherever it was they came from after they finished their last
victims off. I’d never get to say thank you or meet all the
individuals who came to help us fight. The fallen angels were
leaving as quickly as they had come, never receiving anything in
return. I was staring in utter disbelief as I saw the piles of
minions we had destroyed.

Feeling the slash of a
chain hit my neck from behind, I turned around quickly, only to be
hit again. Grabbing the chain as quickly as possible and yanking it
as hard as I could, while I watched the wretched creature’s skin
stretch in the direction of each tug, I collapsed alongside the
last minion that was apparently left to be destroyed. Seeing his
body crumple to the beach, satisfaction began to swell through my
body until the pain dropped me to my knees.

Athen was immediately by my
side, picking me up. Not understanding why these injuries, compared
to any of the other lashes I had received, were worse, confused me.
I honestly couldn’t fathom why the last lash that I was dealt would
have done this to me. My mind was becoming quickly cluttered as I
tried hard to concentrate on Athen’s face, his lips, anything to
get my mind focused.

“What if our love is the
downfall?” I whispered.

My arms were wrapped around
his neck as he carried me from the pile of bodies spread across the
beach.

“Never. It only makes us
stronger.” He was out of breath, and I didn’t understand why until
he dropped to his knees, letting me roll out of his arms onto the
pebbles below.

“Athen!” I screamed without
realizing what was happening, watching him begin to fall forward.
“No, Athen!”

I searched his body for any
sign or clue. I didn’t understand what was happening. My fingers
felt over every crease and crevice of his skin and clothing. I felt
nothing. The tears were streaming down my face, I was unable to
catch my breath. We had defeated the Legion. It was me who had
gotten hurt, not Athen.

“Sweetheart, please…please.
I don’t understand. Don’t leave me, please.” My wailing had to
catch someone’s attention. There had to be someone left on the
beach. I prayed someone would hear because I couldn’t move, not
with my injuries. I began to feel serenity envelop my body. Holding
Athen, I slowly scooted myself to be closer to him. It was as if
his body was making me calmer. The ocean air began to get deep
within my lungs, as I did my best to focus. I had to communicate
with Cyril and Arie. I tried my best calling for help.

The confusion set in. We
won, and now, Athen was lifeless in front of me, and I can’t use my
legs to get help. A sense of hopelessness began to invade my
thoughts as I did my best to concentrate and beg for Cyril or Arie
to help by way of thought. The steady beat of the waves crashing
washed over me as I, too, met the same darkness as
Athen.

***

Somehow I was in our bed –
we were in our bed at our Kingston home. I opened my eyes and saw
the familiar colors surrounding me along with the wonderfully
comforting sound of Matilda snoring. I reached for Athen’s hand,
clasping it as tight as I could. He slowly began to tighten his
hand around mine. Remembering where I last was and the inability to
move my legs made me shudder. Cyril and Arie must have gotten us
both back to our home.

“How are you feeling?”
Athen muttered into my ear, turning on his side to face me.
Remembering that I couldn’t move my legs from the injuries, I
turned my head to face his.

“Good but awfully
confused.” He looked completely unscathed. “Come here!” He moved
closer, and I began kissing his neck frantically. I couldn’t stop.
I thought I’d lost him, yet again. I felt his breath whisper down
on my forehead.

“You’ve got to explain! I
was the one with the injuries, and then you collapsed?”

“Um, well. I was doing my
best to try to heal you. I was just trying to do it too fast, and
it depleted my resources so to speak.” His eyes sparkling as if I
should be pleased with this answer. “Move your legs.”

I curled them up and
realized they really did move. Happiness flooded through
me.

“Are you serious? You can
do that?” I completely flipped over now, not having any fear of
pain radiating through my spine or legs.

“Yeah, depending on the
injury. We’ve all got our talents, you know?” He tried to play it
off.

“Seriously? That’s your
special talent?” I asked tickling his ribs.

“One of them.” He replied
before coming over to grab me and take me under the covers with
him. Completely exhilarated by the idea, I happily followed as he
slid me down between the sheets. I still couldn’t believe that I
was still relearning so much about this life and, truthfully,
Athen.

***

The sun was drying up every
cloud in the sky - a welcome sight for the Northwest. Athen and I
were still at our Kingston home, just us two. It was incredible to
be able to spend this time together, alone. I couldn’t get enough
of his newly-created sparkling, green eyes. It pained me not to see
them for those several months that seemed like an eternity.
Understanding more and more what fifty years of waiting for me must
have been like, I felt like I could never reach that same level
that he had been on, no matter how hard I tried.