Novel 2 - Chapter 26

Reika looked at her hands. They were covered in blood. Her blood. Her brother's blood. Erin's blood. Her dress was stained thickly with it, a stain that seemed to reach right down into her soul. She was surrounded by death. If she had never gone looking for the sword she held, the sword that had been meant for her father, she wouldn't have been there. She would have been at home, blissfully unaware of it all.
That was how she had led most of her life, unaware of what was going on around her. She never asked questions, she never looked for a reason behind anything. She just accepted it. That was what she had been taught to do. To follow orders, to listen to her parents. Not that she saw her parents much. She ate one, maybe two meals a week with her mother, and only rarely saw her father. He was always off, doing something important.
She'd been raised by her brother, by her nannies. She'd never gone to school. She'd learned what her tutors had taught her. About respect, about loyalty. Most of all, they taught her about how wonderful heaven was, about how it was so much better than any other place, about how she should be thankful that she lived there. About how she should hate the demons that made the world such a corrupt place.
And when they said corrupt, they meant chaotic. There was nothing more pleasing to an angel than seeing things, especially people, running like clockwork. Beauty wasn't something that was different for every person. It was something that could be summed, verified, standardized. And, once the perfect example of beauty was crafted, everything else was made to look exactly like it. The most beautiful door. The most beautiful statue. The most beautiful fountain. The most beautiful garden.
The most beautiful person, with the most beautiful thoughts. All the same. They taught her that there was strength in unity, strength in sameness. Everyone sang the same songs, and read the same books. Nothing new came into heaven. Clothing styles hadn't changed in centuries. Building styles had remained the same for millenia. Thinking never, ever changed.
There were only two jobs for a man to have in heaven. They could either file paperwork, or they could swing a sword. Her brother had never liked the idea of doing paperwork for all of eternity. He'd started learning the killing arts at a young age. Reika didn't have a choice. A woman was supposed to live a life of leasure. In other words, she was supposed to go and get married and continue the family line. She had watched her brother train.
Perhaps it was the human in her that made her want to help him. She could still remember the day she'd first picked up a wooden sword and mock-battled with her brother. It had been the most exciting thing she'd ever done. They had only been children playing, but it had been thrilling. It had been the first time she had gone against her parents' wishes, even if they never knew of it.
When he'd left to find the sword, something they'd only heard about from a guest visiting their parents for dinner, she'd stayed for another week. That's when she'd realized just how boring it was without someone to talk to who would crack a joke, or who'd teach her something besides etiquitte. She left the day she realized her parents didn't even notice he'd gone. It just showed how active they were in their lives.
Kerian had been her last resort. When she'd heard that a half-breed was acting as a private detective, she thought she could trust him more than the police. After all, she'd grown up keeping secrets from authorities and only telling the whole truth to a single person.
She'd never expected him to be a half-demon. It had scared her, at first. She'd never seen a half-demon before. She'd been taught about their evil ways, about how they would try and trick her, to tempt her, to destroy her. But she had been desperate. She paid Kerian to find the sword, hoping he'd find her brother along with it.
He'd found her brother first, dead. She had thought, for a long while, that he might have had something to do with it. Then he'd brought her the sword, and she'd met his parents. It had been the most awkward dinner of her life. She had been used to eating alone, or with her brother. She didn't know how to act around so many people. She usually just sat quietly and ate in that kind of circumatance at home. There, though, they make her speak, made her more than scenery.
And now, after all of that, after Kerian had helped her escape the Astral plane, had helped her get back through Heaven's Gate, had taken her all the way back to the prison, to try to save the world, he was on his knees, in a puddle of his own blood, disarmed.
Gilead took a step towards him, sword raised. Kerian looked up at him. He seemed so tired. She didn't know how he could go on. He'd taken far more of a beating than she had, and Reika barely had the strength to lift her sword. It just seemed hopeless. Maybe Gilead had already won. She couldn't see any way to beat him, and even if they killed him, would it stop his army?
Maybe the world was doomed, and nothing could be done about it. It was silly to think that a few people could change it, could save it. She'd been taught, after all, that a group was always far more powerful than a single person, as long as they were united in purpose and ideology. She should have listened. Stories about small bands of heroes defeating evil empires were just that - stories. No truth to them at all. They were doomed from the start.
If they'd been able to get to Gilead without going through all those guards, if he'd been unprepared for them, they might have been able to do something. But it didn't work like that. He knew they were coming, and they had to fight through overwhelming odds just to get to him. She felt a tear run down her cheek.
Gilead had destroyed her brother's mind, but she had dealt the final blow. There was nothing she could do to get revenge, either. It was over. It was all just over. She couldn't stand up to him in combat. She'd be ripped apart. Gilead lowered the sword, and looked Kerian in the eyes.
"Perhaps a quick death is too good for you." Gilead said. "After all, you'd just end up back in hell, back in your damned home. There's no reason to send you without teaching a bit of a lesson first. Perhaps a year or two in the prison here. Why, maybe with a bit of work I can even make you repent your crimes." Kerian spat at him.
"You're going to have to do better than that." Kerian slowly, like a beast rising from its lair, got to his feet. Reika had no idea how he could stand. He must have been in an incredible amount of pain, must have lost more blood than she cared to think about. He was just running on determination now, and she didn't know when his body would fail. Gilead looked at him in surprise, and laughed.
"Look at you!" Gilead said. "You're barely even able to look me in the eye! You're shaking like a leaf!" Kerian just glared at him. "I suppose it should have been expected, though. You demons usually are just too stupid to die." He walked to Kerian's fallen sword, and picked it up.
"Give me my sword." Kerian said. Gilead looked at the blade.
"Such a crude weapon. I'm surprised you use it." Indeed, it was a plain and unadorned length of steel, designed to be an effective weapon, not a pretty one. It looked so useless compared to the sword of light Gilead was using, a weapon that was an extention of his will, almost a part of his body.
"I said," Kerian said, his voice steady and low, full of threat. "Give. Me. My. Sword." Gilead looked at him, then at the weapon.
"You are certainly desperate to have this back, aren't you?" He took a step towards Kerian. "You want to fight me, fairly, even knowing that you'll lose. That's so refreshing. Perhaps I was right after all. Perhaps you really are a good person, and you can be changed." Kerian reached out a hand. Gilead reached out his arm... and then held the sword over the edge of the balcony.
"I am afraid that I tire of fighting fair." Gilead said. "If you so desire the sword, feel free to go after it." He dropped it over the edge. Kerian, without any hesitation, jumped after it. Reika gasped as he vanished from sight. Gilead laughed.
"Kerian... no..." She said, under her breath. Gilead turned to look at her.
"I must admit, that was the last thing I expected. That was just a bit of a joke. I didn't think he'd actually do it. I suppose that only proves that demons aren't as smart as I had thought." He looked at her for a long moment. "I see you're the only one left. How appropriate. This would normally be the part where I offer you some sort of mercy, perhaps give you a chance to join my team. The winning team."
"I'd never join you."
"Oh, I know. That's why I won't bother asking. You've got ideals. I rather admire that. I would show you mercy, but you've already escaped once. That makes me rather reluctant to give you any sort of opportunity to do so again." He took a step towards her. "I am, of course, going to have to kill you now." Reika held her sword out. She wasn't going to go quietly.
"Do you really think you can do anything to harm me? Your friends couldn't match me, and they were a hundred times the swordsmen than you ever be." Reika fought back tears. She was the last one standing, the thin line between Gilead and the destruction of the world. If that line hadn't already been crossed.
"I can try." She said.