Chapter Four dawg! There will be lots of crazy drama in this chapter!
The first thing Sadie saw was her brother and Bast spring into action. Bast sliced at two of the demons with her claws and they dissipated...then reformed, even larger. The train still plowed on at full speed, but with a gaping, fiery hole in its side. Sadie watched as her brother aimed straight for the demons head and stabbed forward. The ghostly figure screamed and disintegrated, but this time, it didn't reform. Carter turned and yelled.
"Aim for their heads!"
Sadie grabbed her staff and swung it like a baseball bat at one of the demos. It disappeared, and the remaining mist flew out the flame engulfed opening in the trains side. She noticed Walt about to reach in his pocket for an amulet. She ran over to him and grabbed his hand.
"Don't Walt! I don't want to risk losing you any faster," she said.
The taller boy took his hand away from his pocket while Sadie stabbed her staff at the ghost-demons face. It dissipated as its mist flew out of the opening. Sadie kept whacking demons until her arms felt as if they would dissipate along with them, but there were too many ghostly figures. And they were getting bigger and stronger. It started taking three or four hits to finally destroy them, and even then, there were five more demons to take one's spot. Sadie yelled over the storm of fire and white mist.
"We need to get off the train! It's going to burn itself to nothing!"
Sadie looked over to the side of the burning train. It had completely burned off the right wall of the train and was now eating up the floor. Civilians screamed for their lives. Suddenly, a blue aura surrounded the train. It stopped instantly. The civilians all disappeared. Sadie, Bast, carter, Jaz, and Walt all hovered into the air and were placed on the ground next to the train tracks. The blue aura flickered and disappeared, and then the train sped off into the distance. Sadie recognized a warm feeling when the aura had surrounded her. She immediately pictured a medium height, tan skinned, sweet guy with evil brothers...
"Najan sent that...aura, to save us. He must have seen us in trouble somehow."
Walt agreed. "True. Who else would save us?"
Bast quickly reminded them that they needed to find out where they were. Sadie looked around for any sign of a state, city...even possibly country (hey, this is the same girl that traveled from London to Brooklyn in a matter of minutes). They finally gave up and began to walk in what they thought was east. Suddenly, a tall building illuminated an image of a bright pink breast cancer awareness ribbon on it's windows. Bast immediately recognized the building, and the city.
'That's the Amtrak building. We're in Philadelphia."
Sadie woke up the next day feeling refreshed. Bast had gotten them a few rooms for the night, and she had a good dinner in the hotel's main dining room. Her and Walt walked into the unisex bathroom, and Sadie put a lock spell on it.
"Ok, so lets try and put these clothes in the Duat."
Sadie did her thing. The portal opened, but it was a strange sight. There was an outpouring of white light, then black, swirling storm clouds engulfed the light, then the light came back and took over the clouds. Sadie noticed that the black clouds were larger and seemed denser than the light. Walt and Sadie gasped in unison as red lighting struck in between an attack on the light by the black clouds. Suddenly, a black tornado with red flashes of crackling lighting spun out of the portal into the bathroom. Walt grabbed Sadie's arm and pulled her to the door of the bathroom. It immediately turned into a wall of black and red swirling clouds. The floor beneath them shook and rumbled, and it also turned into black and red clouds. Sadie screamed.
"Bast! Carter!"
A blinding white light interfered for a moment. The storm disappeared, and Sadie heard a faint "Run!"...from Najan. An image of him flickered in front of her, then vanished. As soon as Najan was gone, the storm returned, even more fierce. Sadie heard Bast slicing at the door with her claws and hissing, while Carter was trying to take off the lock spell. The floor buckled and fell. Sadie saw murders, executions, and many, many more horrible things in the clouds of the storm. Suddenly, they stopped falling and were on the ground...in the Underworld. Sadie looked around her. It was a full out battle scene. Above her, light and dark battled in an endless tumble. Around her, demonic beings growled and attacked beings of the light. From the light beings she got a sense of... Najan. She knew these were his soldiers.
"Sadie, swing!"
Walt's deep voice alerted her to a demonic, cloudy form...floating angrily towards her, with a sword so dark that she couldn't even see it clearly. She grabbed her staff and stabbed at the dark form. It poofed into black dust. Sadie knew what needed to be done.
"We have to find Anubis."
Walt gave her a confused look. "Why?"
"Because he can help us!"
The tall boy nodded quickly, and they began to run. Cloud forms, dark ghosts, and figures that looked like they had just popped out of a horror movie followed them. Every once in a while, the light above would flash down and kill a few hundred of them, but they would come back in stronger ranks. Suddenly, they burst into Anubis's palace. They searched the halls, trying to find the handsome god. Finally, they entered the main room. Anubis sat there with Osiris, AKA Sadie's dad. They both had looks of despair.
"Sadie? You shouldn't have come. Why are you here?"
Sadie took a deep breath, and explained how her and Walt had been trying to put their clothes into the Duat, and the storm engulfed them. "We ran all the way here to see if you could help us."
Sadie's father looked at her. "Do you know of Najan's condition?"
Sadie was confused. Her heartbeat sped up. "What do you mean?"
Osiris and Anubis exchanged a gloomy look. Anubis was the first to speak. "Najan...He has begun to use his red force."
Sadie still didn't understand, and Anubis could tell. "When one of the Originals begins to lose a fight...they start to use their red force. It is part of their very being. Each Original, Time, Forever, Confusion, and Najan, have a life force. The outer layer of their life force is the color the predominates whenever they fight, for Najan, that color is blue. Their red force, the second layer is the power that Void gave them to survive as children. Their black force...is their very essence. It has the power to either destroy a universe, or save it."
Sadie understood. Najan was fighting his brothers as they spoke. She took a deep breath. "Does that mean...his brothers are now on Earth?"
Osiris nodded.
"But what's all that have to do with the craziness down here?" Walt questioned.
Anubis sighed. "Confusion paid us a visit today. He...he set free all the demons locked under this palace. He even brought some of his own little wretched creatures. Then, he came to try and enslave his first gods," he looked at Osiris, "Us."
Sadie couldn't believe what she was hearing. Najan was chipping away at his own life to try and save everything. Pure evil had set foot on Earth. And, to top it all off, Confusion had tried to turn the Duat into a slave trade. Suddenly, a black essence flickered at the end of the opposite hallway. Osiris stood in front of his daughter. They began to slowly walk towards the flickering black dot. Then, the really bad stuff happened. Out of the black flickering dot at the end of the hall...Confusion emerged. He charged forward, with an army of identical little black diamond warriors. And Confusion drew a sword so dark, that when Sadie looked at it, she instantly got a headache. She drew her staff and prepared to fight. She swung her staff at the first creature. The diamond demon completely ignored her attack, and launched straight at her. She moved out of the way just in time, and the little demon smashed into another identical one, and they crumbled. Diamonds can only be broken by other diamonds, she remembered. Just as she finished her thought, a red explosion at the end of the hallway blew her backwards. If this was another evil god, they would not be able to fend off the attack. But it wasn't...Sadie saw something that made her stomach get butterflies. Najan was decked out in a red Adidas jacket, red sweatpants, red and white Nike's, with a red and white snapback. Even with the fate of the universe in his hands, he was well dressed. Sadie tried to run towards him, but Anubis grabbed her hand.
"Don't," he warned, "he's in his defense state right now. If you approach him, he'll obliterate you."
That was enough to keep Sadie back. The handsome god glowed red. He leaped at Confusion and punched. The ghostlike Confusion laughed, and used his robed arms to grab his brother.
"Oh, now stop brother. After I enslave all life everywhere, maybe you can be my special little helper!"
Najan broke free of his brothers grasp and froze time. Sadie spun around, only to see a battle scene that was completely frozen. Najan turned to her. Suddenly, Bast and Carter appeared. Walt became unfrozen as well as Osiris and Anubis.
"Go," he spoke in a strained voice. "Open a portal. I can't keep them frozen for much longer..."
Sadie almost ran and kissed him. But Walt was standing right there...It just hurt to see Najan is so much pain, having so much anger. She waved goodbye to him, as she was the last one to step through the portal. As she stepped in, she felt the sand swirling around her. She heard a faint rushing wind sound, and as soon as the Underworld faded from vision, she felt it explode back into warfare. She had a horrible feeling that she would never see Najan again.
Sadie jumped in the car with their newly larger group. In the third row seat of the minivan was her and Walt. In the second row was Carter and Anubis, and Osiris was driving. Bast sat in the passenger seat, annoyed with the lack of a convertible top. Sadie struggled to erase the scene that they had just emerged from from her mind.
"What...was that going on down there?" she asked.
Osiris looked at her in sadness. "The Underworld will most likely be destroyed. It's a small price to pay, however, for the survival of the entire universe."
Sadie nodded. Walt rested his hand on her lap.
"I know...i know you feel something special towards Najan, and I don't want you to lie to make me feel better."
Sadie took his hand in hers. "No Walt, I... I have no feelings for Najan. None. I told you before, we're just friends."
She wanted to throw up as she uttered the sentence. Every word she had spoken was a complete and total lie. She saw, out of the corner of her eye, Anubis's expression brighten. Apparently this was good news for him as well. She slumped back in the soft car seat and plugged in her earphones. I Was Here by Beyonce started its soft tune. It made her think of Najan...how he was giving up literally part of himself to save people he didn't even know very well. Sadie made a promise to herself right then to remember what Najan did, whatever he would do. She refused to believe that she wouldn't see him again. And with that thought in her head, she told carter to put a sleep spell on her.
Sadie awoke in ruins of a large city. She looked around...and saw the Hollywood sign, obliterated into all separate letters. Buildings had collapsed, and fire flared and burned out in many places. The sky was red with black clouds. And then, as Sadie was exploring the new territory, she froze. She saw Najan catapulted through the air above her, landing with a crash a few hundred yards away. She ran to him and knelt down. Najan slowly rose to his feet. She grabbed his arm and screamed.
"Najan! What's going on?"
The god turned to her. "You've slipped into the future. Don't stay here too long, or you'll be stuck! Sadie, you have to go. Now."
The girl rolled her eyes. "I'll stay as long as I please."
She saw the teenage looking immortal crack a small smile. Sadie felt an overwhelming wave of sadness...she suddenly thought that this was her last chance to tell Najan how she felt. But she already felt herself becoming rooted to the future. She grabbed Najan by the shoulders. She realized that he was only about three inches taller than her.
"Najan..."
That was all she said before she threw her arms around his neck and leaned in. Najan pulled her in closer and positioned his head for her kiss. She felt his warm breath on her cheek, her face getting closer and closer to his...Then nothing. She awoke back in the minivan. When she realized that she hadn't kissed Najan, she slammed her fist into the seat. She felt like everything would be OK when she was that close to Najan...he had that much power. She felt renewed, like a power surge had just flown through her. Now, that feeling was gone. She felt worse than she did before she fell asleep. She felt like there was nothing she could do to help...like she was just a pawn. Suddenly, Carter spoke.
"Stop the car."
Sadie straightened up. She wished she hadn't. Out of a sewer hole in the street, demons, ghosts, and other demonic beings flooded into the streets of downtown Philadelphia. Sadie drew her staff and got ready for a fight. In a flash, they all turned to the minivan, and charged. Sadie braced herself for impact. The demons immediately broke through the tinted windows and began their assault. Sadie felt pinching, biting, punching, and slapping all over her. There were so many demons, she struggled to pull her staff close to her. She couldn't see any of her friends. She heard the yelp of Carter, and Walt's grunt. She swung her stick as best she could. Then she realized...her feet weren't even on the ground. She screamed, and immediately after that, she heard an explosion and the screams of innocent mortals. She fought her way through the tangle of demons and emerged on the other side of the fight. She looked back and saw pure chaos. Demons were jumping on cars and crushing them, fighting people, and jumping into buildings and causing more chaos. And in front of her...a horrible sight. The Amtrak building was covered in smoke and flames. She heard the all glass windows shattering. Walt emerged next to her, and the rest of the group followed.
"We have to get into Center City. The tall buildings..." Carter's voice faded away as he gasped in horror. "Run!"
Sadie followed Carter's eyes to the Amtrak building...and saw it begin to collapse. She took in a sharp, terrified breath and ran as fast as she could. She swung at demons, not to kill them, but to move them out of the way. She felt the wind of the collapsing building behind her, then the debris. There was a deafening smash of thousands of glass windows shattering against the ground. Sadie was blown a hundred feet when the building smashed into the pavement. She struggled to her wobbly feet and searched for her staff. It had disapeared. She panicked, but then found it in a heap of dunt two feet away. She ran in circles, looking for traces of her group.
"Carter! Walt? Bast! Anubis! Osiris!"
No answer. She walked slowly into Center city, the middle of downtown Philadelphia. (A/N : I live in Philly, that's how I know all these locations, just in case you were wondering :)) She looked around for any evidence of any life at all. But so far, all she saw was dust and debris...then then the fires. She emerged in center city, and saw the colossal Comcast building lit up in flames. She ran over to a little mom and pop garden shop and say on a chair. She coughed and dust came out of he mouth. Her knee was cut and her arms were bleeding. She sat back and took a deep breath. Walt busted in through the front door.
"Sadie! You're hurt!"
He ran over to her and grabbed her arms. He began to murmur a healing spell, and her cuts began to close up. The bleeding had stopped., but Sadie couldn't let him finish.
"Walt, stop it. You have to use as little magic as-"
"Stop it! Stop telling me that! I know I'm sick, ok? You keep telling me to stop using magic, but you never say it to Najan!"
Sadie was taken aback. Her surprise turned to anger. "I'm just trying to help you! Forgive me, oh mighty Walt, for wanting to keep you around a little bit longer! What? Why wouldn't I say it to Najan? I haven't seen him in weeks, and he's not dying from using his power!"
Walt shook his head, looked down, and laughed. "Were you even listening to what Anubis said, back in the Underworld? Najan is dying as we speak. His entire life was running from his brothers. He isn't built to actually face them. Sadie...Najan is getting weaker by the minute and-"
"Shut up! Just shut up, will you? He's not dying, he's going to beat his brothers and save the universe, and-"
Sadie finally realized how far fetched and unlikely her hopes were. Her thoughts flooded with images of Najan getting hit one last time by his brothers, but this time, he didn't get back up. And then, she cried. She came to the conclusion that she had cried over Najan a lot in the past month. But she knew he was worth it. And she couldn't stand the thought of losing him. Then, Sadie and Walt jumped as they heard and ear piercing screech. They ran out of the gardening shop. Demons were at the top of the Comcast Building, throwing people out of the top floors, smashing them onto the pavement. Sadie's stomach did a gymnast flip and she turned away. Walt wore a look of pure disgust. Sadie covered her ears as she heard a deafening crash. She looked up, then looked immediately back down as glass fell from the towering building. Then...it fell. Sadie dropped to her knees and brought Walt down with her. She covered her head, and Walt wrapped his arms around her. But Sadie didn't feel any pain. She uncovered her head and looked up. A purple forcefield surrounded her and Walt. She saw the building fall, the people inside it, and she even felt the ground shake as the last bit of the debris fell. The she saw the demons run up to the forcefield. Sadie expected the forcefield to just keep the away...she was wrong. The purple shield flickered and vanished. The demons surged, but then they vanished as well. Sadie and Walt stood in the debris, surrounded in not only dust, but confusion. A blood curdling screech was heard by the two teens, and they ran to the source. Walt spoke.
"Sadie...I'm sorry for yelling at you back there. I was just..."
She held a dusty finger to his lips. "It's fine. No need to apologize. I was being...overprotective."
Walt smiled. "Now lets find where that screaming is coming from."
Sadie nodded and walked deeper into center city. The city was quiet except for the occasional scream and explosion. Then, they reached the source of the scream. Walt and Sadie froze and looked on in horror
Carter was in cloudy chains.
Anubis, Bast, and Osiris had black leashes tied around their necks...with Confusion as their master.
Drama! Destruction! D...Something else that starts with a D! Dogs! Anyway, I hope you liked this chapter! It was fun writing. Please Review!
