PROLOGUE
"Push them back," he yelled as he sliced down another demon, "they're beginning to falter."
He continued to move further into the ranks of the demon army, cutting down any demon that stood in his way. This battle, which has lasted for several days, was finally coming to an end. Though the angels were outnumbered, their dedication to defending this realm and their determination to win were finally taking a toll on the demon army. Over half of the demon army was destroyed, their corpses dispersing shortly after their lifeless bodies hit the ground. And now, the angels were on the offensive, slowly pushing back the demons towards the portal they came through.
The angel continued towards the leader of the demon encampment, a large, horned demon that stood nearly seven and a half feet tall, who wielded a massive mace that was able to smash in an angel's breastplate with one swing. He knew that if he could take out their leader, the demon army would finally crumble. The only thing keeping the demons there was their fear of their leader and what he would do to them should they flee.
He took a step back to avoid an attack from a six-armed demon and prepared to counterattack when a massive while blade punched its way through the chest of the demon. The demon screamed its last breath and slid of the massive blade onto the ground, where its body began to disperse.
"Can we please get this battle over with Aidan," the angel with the large sword asked.
"It's not like we're not trying here Brennen," Aidan responded as he sliced through another demon.
A small white arrow whizzed past the two and punctured the face of a demon about to make an attack on one of them. They knew who had shot the arrow.
"Pay attention, you two," the female angel shouted as she fired another arrow at another demon with deadly accuracy.
"Thanks for covering out backs, Callan," Aidan shouted back.
"She's never going to let us live that one down," Brennen jokingly said.
"Yeah, I know," Aidan responded.
The two angels continued to hack their way through the demon army, slowly making their way to the demon leader. The leader, who saw them approach, barked orders at a group of demons to kill them. The two prepared themselves for the rush of enemies and, within seconds, took them down.
"Now for the leader," Aidan said as he rushed towards the demon.
Brennen was right beside Aidan as they took on the demon leader. The leader quickly swung his massive multi-pointed mace towards Aidan, who side-stepped and allowed Brennen to block the blow. Before Aidan could strike again, a six-armed half woman, half serpent demon attack the two. Aidan broke off the demon leader to take on the newcomer while Brennen continued to battle with the demon lord.
Aidan nimbly avoided or parried the demon's six attacks and began to swing back at the demon. Fighting a demon with six arms took great skill and concentration and many angels had fallen to the almost mesmerizing attacks of these demons. But Aidan was a trained angelic warrior with many battles under his belt and knew what it would take to fight toe-to-toe with one of these demons. He expertly dodged two of the attacks, blocked another two with his shield, and stopped with last two with his blade, but had no time to attack when the next attacks came.
Just as he was about to make a move to attack the demon, a white arrow drove its way through the chest of the demon, which gasped, then collapsed. Without looking to see who had fired it, he spun and plunged his blade into the back of the demon leader, who was so centered on Brennen that he failed to notice him. The demon screamed in pain as the blade protruded out of his chest. Brennen quickly capitalized on the situation and swung his blade around, lopping off the head of the demon, which tumbled down onto the ground, followed shortly by its body.
When the demons saw that their leader was dead, panic quickly took hold and huge portions began to flee back to the portal. The angels, tired and exhausted, cheered as the demons began to retreat and quickly followed them, taking out any stragglers that were not quick enough to get out of the way.
"Brennen, head towards the portal and help the others. A couple of them are trying to hide in those ruins over there. I'm going to flush them out. Have a couple of archers get ready to take them out when they make a break for it."
"You got it."
Brennen made his way to the portals location, while Aidan quickly made his way to the ruins. It took very little time to flush out the demons that were hiding there. While he slew those that tried to fight back, he saw two female angels he instantly recognized take out those that tried to flee with arrows. He waved at Callan and Rois to thank them. They returned to wave and headed towards the portal to finish off the demon army. A sudden movement off to his left side caught his attention. He brought his blade up, ready to attack, when a female succubus stepped out of the shadows.
"Aselma? What are you doing here? You should be running back to the portal. If they find you, they will kill you."
"I couldn't leave without saying goodbye."
Aidan placed his blade back into its sheath and walked towards the succubus. He grabbed her in his arms and kissed her passionately. She quickly responded and returned the kiss. As they broke, he could see tears forming in her eyes.
"What is it?"
"I'm sorry," was all she said before she stabbed Aidan in the stomach.
He stumbled backwards, taken by complete surprise. He quickly pulled the small object that had stabbed him and looked down at it, his eyes widening as he realized what it was she had stabbed him with. Before he could say anything, an intense pain shot through his body, forcing him to his knees.
"Why", was all he could say as he gasped for breath from the pain.
With tears flowing down her cheeks, the succubus turned around and ran away from him, deeper into the ruins. As he watched her run, searing pain, much like fire, arched its way through his body, sending him down to the ground. He tried with all his might to fight back the vile energy that was trying to snuff out his life. But he could feel that he was losing the fight, the vile energy slowly beginning to engulf his body. Through squinting eyes, he could see someone entering the ruins. It took him a second to realize who it was.
"Morna, please help me," he said through clenched teeth.
Morna looked down at Aidan and saw the weapon he had pulled out of him. She knew that soon, he would be engulfed in vile energy and would mix with his, causing a massive explosion that would destroy not only his body, but his soul as well. For a moment, she began to reach down towards him, to help him, but paused.
"Hurry . . . . . I don't have much time."
She seemed to think about it for a second then withdrew her hand away from him.
"What are you doing," he screamed out in pain.
She knelt down next to him and spoke.
"With you gone, there is no one who can stop me from becoming the new ruler."
He could not believe what he was hearing. Aidan tried to respond, but the pain was making that all but impossible. Morna stood up and turned around.
"Good bye, Aidan," she said as she walked away.
He wanted to scream at the top of his lungs. He wanted to curse at her.
'How could she leave me like this? How could she do this to me? She was an angel, a protector. Why is she letting this happen to me,' he asked himself. But he would get no response. The vile energy had engulfed the majority of his body and he could feel his energy and the dark energy beginning to mix. He knew the end was soon and knew there was nothing more he could do. So, he prepared himself to die, knowing that once this was complete, there was no hope of bringing him back. He would be erased from existence. Just as he was about to give up, a small voice whispered in his head, one he had never heard before.
"There is another way."
Outside, Morna ran towards the angel army, tears streaming down her eyes. Rois was the first one to see her.
"Morna, what is it," Rois asked as Morna collapsed into her arms.
"It's Aidan," she said, fighting back the tears.
"What about Aidan," Brennen asked as he approached the two.
"He's been stabbed . . . with a soul dagger."
Brennen and Rois's eyes widened in shock and horror at the announcement. Both looked towards the ruins where they had last seen him. There, something inside the ruins grew brighter and brighter, arcs of dark energy and white energy moving around the ruins.
"NO," Rois yelled as she let go of Morna and began to run towards the ruins. Brennen, however, quickly grabbed Rois by the shoulder and shoved her back.
"Let me go," she yelled at Brennen, "we've got to save him."
Rois tried to fight out of Brennen's grasp but to no avail. He was just too strong and was determined not to let her go.
"It's too late," he whispered.
Suddenly, the light brightened inside the ruins and everyone stared in horror as they knew what was about to happen next.
"Everyone move! NOW," Brennen yelled as he picked up both Morna and Rois and began to run away from the ruins as quickly as possible. Other angels began to fly or run away before the explosion happened. But as they began to run, a winged figure, surrounded by an immense field of dark and light energy, launched itself skyward at incredible speed, climbing higher and higher into the sky. A second after it flew through the clouds above, a blinding flash of light filled the sky, followed by the roar of an enormous explosion. A massive ball of energy lit the sky where the figure flew to, the clouds forming an even bigger circle around the explosion. A few moments later, the brilliant ball of energy dimmed and winked out of existence, the giant hole in the clouds the only sign of what had just happened.
"NNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO," Rois screamed at the top of her lungs, her cries echoing through the field.
Callan and another male angel quickly made their way to the small group. They could see how visibly distraught Rois was. Morna sat with her head bowed and seemed to be crying. It was Brennen that caught their attention the most. He was still looking up at the sky, but tears were freely streaking down his face.
"Oh no," Callan gasped as she realized who it was they had lost.
"Who was it," the male angel asked.
Callan brought her hands to her face and began to cry. She collapsed to her knees and began to sob uncontrollably. A bit confused, he turned to Brennen, who was still staring skyward.
"Aidan," was all Brennen could say, his voice cracking with the effort.
"No," the male whispered as he too looked towards the sky. 'Anyone but him,' he thought to himself as tears streaked down his cheeks.
News quickly spread as to who it was that had suffered the tragic fate. Many were in shock and could not believe that it was possible. Some began to cry. Others remained silent. As Brennen looked towards the angelic army, there was not one single dry eye. Aidan was liked by all. And he would be greatly missed.