literature

Novel 2 - Chapter 28

Deviation Actions

Black-Hare's avatar
By
Published:
200 Views

Literature Text

Gilead looked terrified as he went over the railing. That filled Kerian with a kind of sadistic glee. Not that the angel didn't deserve it after all he'd done. It almost made Kerian feel justified. He watched Gilead fall, the angel's wing fluttering wildly and ineffectively. White feathers fell like snow from it. Blood trailed from Gilead's wounds, making him fall in a rain of his own gore.
The ledge, ten feet down. It had saved Kerian's life. It didn't help Gilead at all. Kerian had thought he could get him past it, but it didn't work out quite that way. Gilead's leg clipped the edge. Kerian heard a sharp snapping sound. Gilead's ankle suddenly twisted to a different angle. It was almost certainly shattered. Gilead's face contorted in pain.
Thankfully for him, that pain didn't last long. The ground was only seconds away, after all. Gilead landed with a dull thud. He didn't bounce, just landed flat and unmoving, almost right on top of the wing Kerian had cut away from him. A puddle of blood spread out under him, thick and dark. Too much blood for anyone to lose and still live. Even if it wasn't, Kerian could see enough, even from this height, to know that Gilead wasn't going to get up again. It was over.
"He's dead." Kerian said, simply. What else was there to say?
"Good." Reika said. She walked to his side. They looked down at Gilead for a moment, neither of them saying anything. Kerian wasn't sure which of them moved first, but their hands found each other. Kerian turned. Reika was looking at him. He squeezed her hand. She squeezed back.
"We've sure been through a lot." Kerian said. He wasn't exactly sure what to say. This wasn't exactly a situation he'd ever been faced with before. It wasn't like women threw themselves at him, after all.
"Yes, we have." Reika said. "Together." They drew together, embraced. Kerian looked deeply into Reika's eyes, and saw only someone that loved him, who he could love back. It was the first time he'd ever felt like that. He'd known other women, but there was just something about Reika. Maybe it was the way she looked at him like a person, instead of half a person. Maybe it was the way that she needed him, to protect her, to love her now that her brother was gone.
Or maybe it didn't matter. Kerian didn't care why he loved her. It wasn't really important. What mattered was that she loved him back. Their bodies pressed tighter. Their lips came together. The moment seemed to stretch on forever. Kerian could have stood there, his lips locked against Reika's, for the rest of his life. For that short time, the countless hurts on his body faded away.
"I'd give a round of applause, but I seem to be down an arm or two." Said a voice. Kerian and Reika spun. Alexander was pushing himself to his feet with the ruin of his remaining arm. "Do give me a hand, will you? Mine would be best. It's lying just over there." Reika let go of Kerian and picked up the severed limb. It twitched in her grasp. She gasped with shock and almost dropped it.
Kerian walked over to Alexander and knelt by the fallen warrior. His wounds did seem to be healing, though at somewhat slower pace than before. The glass tubing that formed his organs was coming back together. He could see cracks sealing themselves, the glass flowing to where it was needed. Reika handed Alexander his lost arm.
"Thank you, my lady." Alexander said. He held the ragged end of the arm to the small stump left of his limb. Thick strings, almost more like twine, snaked out of his body and into the arm. They pulled the edges together, and Kerian could see it stitching together. Within a minute, Alexander was able to move it.
"Are you doing okay?" Kerian asked. Alexander nodded.
"It was truly a close thing." Alexander said. "I am nearly at the limit of my ability to regenerate damage to my form. Just slightly more effort on his part, and I would not be speaking to you now."
"Yeah, well Gilead isn't doing nearly as well." Kerian replied.
"I saw. That was a good bit of work you did. Unlike anything I've read on swordplay."
"Most people don't write down the things they do when they're desperate." Kerian said, with a shrug. He helped Alexander regain his feet. He, it, seemed to be doing better by the minute. Kerian felt a drop of blood run down his leg, and a twinge of pain from his leg as it protested the effort. He'd need to go and get some medical attention before too long. Reika stopped, and looked up.
"Can you feel that?" She asked.
"No. What is it?" Kerian asked. She looked at him, then outside.
"Gilead gave the orders. In a way, he was the orders. I can feel it, like a wind."
"Feel what?!" Kerian asked, again.
"Change. It's not something people are used to feeling here. This is a place where everything stays the same, where everyone tries to keep it that way." She looked again at Kerian. Her eyes were bright, happy. "This is it! His death really has changed things! People will know that he's fallen, will know that they can stop following his orders!"
"Will they, though?" Alexander asked. "If they dislike change so, will they not continue on this mad quest, even without anyone giving the orders?"
"Like a chicken, running around with its head cut off..." Kerian muttered. A gruesome image. This chicken would be killing people, Reika shook her head.
"Gilead said that he was strong because of his ideals. Because of his convictions. That was more or less true. We get our strength from following an ideal, from having a code of ethics and laws and sticking to them. It's the same way you get yours from defiance, from rebelling." She paused a moment. "Right now, every angel in the world is finding his sword growing heavier. Without a leader, without a cause, they'll grow weaker and weaker."
"Good." Kerian said. "I hope they get taught a lesson or two."
"What will we do now?" Reika asked. Kerian rubbed his chin. It was a good question. First, obviously, they would treat their wounds. They all had some pretty serious injuries, after all. But that wasn't what Reika was asking. She wanted to know what their next goal was. Perhaps the more correct thing to say was that she was searching for a new cause to throw herself onto. After all, she'd said angels got their power from their goals.
"I have a few ideas." Kerian said. They started walking out of the prison. He looked at Erin's body. She couldn't have been happy. She'd missed seeing Gilead die. And she'd missed him and Reika kissing. He didn't know which she'd regret seeing more.
"Ideas, eh?" Reika asked. Kerian nodded.
"First thing I want to do after we've healed up is to go to hell and check on Erin. She's gotta be furious about getting killed." Most people were angry about being murdered, after all. It just wasn't something that you got over easily. At least, in Erin's case, it wasn't something serious. Full demons tended to get over the trauma pretty quickly.
"And then?" Reika asked, looking at him. She probably already knew what he wanted to do. She was a smart girl, after all, and she had more than enough empathy to know what he was thinking of, what was on his mind.
"I'm going to go back to Elandon." He said. Reika smiled. It made him feel good when she did.
"I'm glad. I know how much they mean to you." Kerian nodded. It was true. If he'd stayed there, things could have been different. Fate, though, had led him on a different path. Maybe he hadn't stayed because he needed to be in the right place at the right time to save the world.
"Think you'll have room for a third wheel, such as it is?" Alexander asked. Kerian chuckled.
"Of course." Kerian said. "We'll have room for you for as long as you want to stay." Alexander seemed to smile, though he didn't really have a face. Kerian was just glad that he could give him a place to belong.
"Are you going to take it over, again?" Reika asked. Kerian shrugged.
"If they really want me to be their ruler, I'll do it." Kerian sighed. "Though the paperwork is really a bitch. You'd think a king could get things done without having to sign in ten places and get approval from two different councils."
"Paperwork, eh?" Alexander asked. "As I recall, a certain demoness has quite a bit of experience in that field." Kerian raised an eyebrow.
"But she's... oh, right. She got fired. Yeah. I suppose she could use another job, eh?" Kerian shook his head. "Hell, it'll work out well for me, too. Good idea." Alexander nodded.
"We can worry about it later." Reika said. "I feel like I'm going to collapse, and you don't look like you're doing much better." Kerian nodded. They had time, now, and they could think about things like the future.
After all, the world had a future, now.
Almost at the end. Sometimes you do get a happy ending, you know?
© 2006 - 2024 Black-Hare
Comments1
Join the community to add your comment. Already a deviant? Log In
FEARtheFAHD's avatar
[link] No pressure, just looking for good writers like you. :)