Those who Favor Fire
Disclaimer: Characters and premise are the property of Kazue Kato. I'm just borrowing them for a little non-profit fun.
Chapter Two: Descent
"Up!" Angel's strident voice woke Rin and Bon from a sound sleep.
"What?" Rin mumbled rubbing at his eyes while Bon pulled a pillow over his head.
"It's January fourth and there have been no reports of Kallikantzaros mischief anywhere in the world," Angel said.
"Ummm… Good?" Rin asked sleepily.
Angel's statement hit Bon like a bucket of ice water. "Not good, world ends in forty-eight hours bad," he told Rin
"Shit," Rin exclaimed jerking upright. He tried to grab Kurikara while pulling on his clothes then grimaced when he realized that he couldn't get his shirt on over his sword.
While the two boys scrambled into their clothes Angel continued his mission debriefing. "Kallikantzaros are Kin of Beelzebub. They spend the year attempting to saw through the roots of the world tree but during the twelve days of Christmas they are able to enter Assiah and cause mischief. Fortunately for us they always do. While they neglect their purpose to cause trouble the damage they've caused over the year is healed. When they're forced back to Gehenna on the Twelfth Night the tree is whole again and they must start over. It took the True Cross' analyst ten days to note the lack of Kallikantzaros activities, as Surugo says, that leaves us two days to determine why they are still at work and stop them before they succeed in bringing about the end of the world."
"The three of us will be making an initial survey of the situation, traveling by Pheles' portals, we'll reach the Gehenna-gate Chinoike Jigoku within two hours. Lightning will follow with the rest of the Brigade by plane. It is our mission to provide enough information to form a battle plan when they arrive tomorrow morning. That will leaving us a day to prevent the world from ending."
"Plenty of time," Bon remarked drily as he buckled his holster on over his long Exorcist's coat. He grabbed a book-bag labeled 'Mesopotamian' from a selection of various civilizations.
Rin slid Kurikara into it's position beside his other katana and wakizashi. "So we get rid of those Ka-cowlick things and everything's good right?"
"The Kallikantzaros are demons, but in their efforts to destroy they unknowingly serve the necessary function of pruning the tree," Angel corrected Rin. "We must discover what has prevented their yearly sojourn to Assiah, put a stop to it, keep them from the Tree for twelve days to allow it to heal and then round them back up so that next year won't be disrupted."
Once the boys were dressed, Angel led them to a small garden door set into a hedge and unlocked it with one of Mephisto's keys. The door opened up on a busy street, there was nothing recognizable about the city to Rin's eyes. They hurried to the end of the street, climbed a narrow fire-escape then another key took them from the building's roof entrance to a covered shopping street with no end in sight. Rin smirked at the sign for Mandarake's right across from Mephisto's door and guessed the large anime and manga shop was the reason his otaku older brother had created this particular gate.
The three of them wove through the shoppers until they were outside and Angel was able to hail a cab. As they drove toward the next gate Rin glanced at Angel hesitantly. "Um… so about the Exam. I know my life's not riding on it this year, but do you know if I passed?" he asked.
"You passed," Angel said, not looking at Rin.
"Really?" Rin grinned, happy but a bit uncertain due to Angel's manner.
"I haven't seen your official scores, but Zi looked over your general test. He says you passed," Angel confirmed.
"Of course you passed," Bon said gruffly. "You worked hard on your short-comings all year."
The taxi took them to a building with a large ferris wheel on the roof and another key took them from HEP Five to the gift shop build beside Chinoike Jigoku, a near-boiling hot, blood red springs, and unknown to most of the visiting sightseers, an actual gate to the underworld.
As it was just past one in the night, the gift shop was dark and empty. Rin and Bon followed Angel past racks of tacky souvenirs and small bottles of the skin care products made from the mud of the Bloody Hell Pool. "Think Izumo would laugh?" Rin asked picking up a bottle of moisturizer as he walked past.
"Does Kamiki even have a sense of humor?" Bon replied. "But I think Noriko would like something from this place. Hey, Angel, this stuff's been checked out as safe before we let them go selling to tourists right?"
"Save the world first, gift-shop for your girlfriends later," Angel huffed.
"He's just grouchy because he didn't think of it," Rin whispered loudly to Bon. "Think we should tattle to Renzo, so he can pass it on to his mom?"
Bon shook his head. "I still can't process him being Renzo's step-father."
"Would you two focus?" Angel snapped. He pushed open the door from the gift shop. They stepped outside. Steam rose from the blood-red pool, under the moonlight the rocks jutting up from the water took on weird and demonic forms. Angel glanced over the notes he'd scribbled in a small book, then held a large key of polished ebony over the water and recited a short phrase in a language none of them recognized. The waters receded revealing a stairway disappearing into the depths of the earth. All business now, Rin and Bon followed Angel into the darkness. As they descended Rin caught flashes of dark, sluggish rivers flowing through caverns and foreboding gates out of the corner of his eye but when he turned to look there was nothing to see but the crudely hewn tunnel walls.
They continued descending the steep, narrow stair until finally the passageway opened up on vast cavern. A massive treetrunk broke through the roof of the cavern, splitting almost immediately into a tangle of roots. There were messy stacks of pruned surface roots scattered all over the room. Beetle-like demons, slightly smaller than an average human with saw-toothed jaws half the length of their bodies swarmed over the roots, sawing away at them. They were guarded by thirteen whip-wielding ifrits.
Bon scowled at the ifrits remembering their attack on the Myo'o Dhari salamanders a year and a half ago. "Looks like Iblis isn't contenting himself with just ordering the murders of any of his subjects who hate Assiah less than he does, he's going straight for destroying the world."
"These guys don't unknowingly serve some useful purpose right?" Rin asked Angel, eyeing the ifrit darkly.
"Ifrit are simple thugs," Angel said. "Iblis' enforcers, of absolutely no earthly use."
"Think we can take a baker's dozen?" Rin asked him.
Angel looked torn, then his expression went blank. "Surugo, go back. Report to Adept Light when he arrives. Rin?"
"I don't think-" Bon began.
"Let's do it." Rin exclaimed over Bon, his eyes beginning to glow as he reached for his flames.
"We're gambling the fate of the world," Angel pointed out as he ran his palm over the length Caliburn's blade leaving behind a crimson edge. "Don't hold back."
Rin nodded and switched Kurikara to the second sheathe, keeping his heart protected but unsealed. His ears and fangs lengthened, his nails sharpened into claws, flames coalesced around the end of his tail and formed horns on his temples.
Bon glanced doubtfully between the two of them, but he hesitated to voice his objections in the face of Rin's obvious enthusiasm for the plan. Reluctantly he started backing up the steps.
"Let me make the first move," Angel ordered, pointing Rin toward a scattered grouping of ifrit. "Remember, within the same kingdom the stronger demon triumphs, but piercing your opponent's heart still speeds things along."
Angel moved quickly along the wall, trying to get a bead on a tight grouping of four ifrit that wouldn't include the World Tree as collateral damage. Rin slunk between piles of debris from the Kallikantzaros' efforts over the year, trying to get close to one of his targets before Angel struck.
"Angel Slash!" Angel exclaimed, the red-tinged blast from his sword disintegrated three of the four Ifrit he'd targeted and left the fourth with only half a wing. Rin leapt at the closest ifrit, impaling it before it realized it was under attack. In less time than it took Rin to kick the corpse off his sword his flames had burnt out it's heart. He didn't pause, engaging his next target while the ifrit was still staring at Angel. The blond Paladin quickly finished off the Ifrit he'd injured. Then Angel cut a second line along the top of his forearm as he turned and blasted another pair of ifrit out of existence.
The third ifrit Rin went after took to the sky before he could reach it. Rin slashed the air, unleashing a bolt of blue fire that severed the ifrit's head from it's shoulders. "The King of Flames told us you'd come, pretender to the throne," one of the four remaining demons addressed Rin.
"Too bad for you." Rin narrowed his eyes as the ifrit dodged his first attack with a quick stroke of it's wings. He sent a hasty barrage of fire bolts at the ifrit then turned and ran for the tree. While the ifrit dodge his initial attack, Rin kicked off the tree's trunk, gaining altitude and unleashed a final blast from above. As it perished, the ifrit smirked at Rin. "I am honored to end your rebellion, although it costs my life," it declared and the floor crumbled and fell away around the roots of the World Tree.
Rin twisted in midair and managed to grab one of the roots as he fell. Further from the tree, Angel never had a chance. He was sucked instantly into the portal opening beneath them. The opening continued expanding, quickly consuming the stair as well as the cavern. In his reluctance to leave Angel and Rin behind, Bon was caught in the ifrit's trap as well. See the two of them fall, Rin sheathed his sword, released his hold on the tree and dove in after them.
Once caught in the malstrom beyond the portal Rin found that they weren't simply falling they were being sucked away, spun round and tossed about along with massive boulders that had been the ground just a few moments earlier. Then Rin sensed Karura manifest. /You've got Bon?/ he shouted mentally.
/Got him,/ Karura replied. /Worry about yourself and the Paladin./
Rin saw Angel several yards away. The Paladin was making use of the falling boulders to control his descent. Skill as he was, Rin figured Angel could keep himself from being crushed by the debris falling with them, but they and everything around them was rapidly approaching terminal velocity. All the skill in the world couldn't save Angel from hitting the ground with enough force to reduce him to a bloody smear. Rin wasn't even sure if his own heighten strength would be enough to save him from the fall.
/You're descended from an angel,/ Karura reminded Rin. /Wings are part of your heritage./
/Just forget about the Fallen part right?/ Rin replied, trying to recapture the moment during the previous day's test where he'd flown.
/Fly! You've done it before,/ Karura commanded. /Where we're going Ryuji won't stand a chance without you./
The flames wreathing Rin exploded into a bonfire then shaped themselves into wings. Rin spread them wide, from tip-to-tip his wingspan was more than four times his height. For a moment he hovered as the storm raged around him. Then Rin tucked his wings in tight and dove for Angel. As the Paladin leapt off another falling boulder Rin caught him under the arms. He tried to swoop upward but Angel's weight was more than Rin's wings could bear and they dropped precipitously. Rin flapped his wings furiously, gritting his teeth as he strained against the double burden.
"Let go!" Angel commanded. "You'll kill us both trying to save me!"
"I can do it!" Rin insisted. And gradually his flight was leveling out, instincts taking over, allowing him to make better use of his wings. Their fall turned into a controlled glide.
"See to your aria," Angel said, switching tactics. He reached up and pinched Rin's wrist, forcing him to let go.
Rin matched Angel's renewed fall. "Karura's got him," he replied. "Stop being stubborn and once we get out of this tell Lightening I listened to him about 'sometimes the best way to protect him is to get out of the way and let the experts do their job.' This is only the second time I've flown you know!" He grabbed Angel out of the air a second time.
"I'll take my chances on my own in that case," Angel said.
"Trust me Sensei," Rin insisted. "I'll crash softer than you would on your own."
"Left!" Angel shouted. Rin veered sharply to avoid a boulder the size of a small car then tumbled for a few moments before regaining control.
Karura swooped past them. Bon was clinging to the phoenix's legs, looking terrified and a bit green in the face. /We can't fight the current,/ Karura warned. /Follow me down./
/Lead on,/ Rin replied as he tried to mimic Karura's flight.
A few minutes later the sky opened up. The stones that had been carried along with them began to drop toward the ground rather than swirling madly around them.
/Up!/ Karura commanded.
Rin spread his wings wide then drove himself into the sky. And then they were clear of the debris, hovering high above an alien landscape. The smell of sulphur permeated the air. Slowly boiling mud pits dotted the patchy white and yellow slopes, interspersed with springs of iridescent blues and malevolent reds.
"Gehenna," Angel breathed in shock. Then he started coughing harshly. Rin heard wracking coughs coming from Bon as well.
"Coal Tars," Karura explained. "Too small to be seen but as plentiful as dust motes."
Rin nodded and wrapped both Bon and Angel in his flames, burning the microscopic demons from the air before the two humans could breathe them in.
"Can we fly back out?" Rin asked.
"No," Karura said as they descended. "The portal has closed. We'll have to find another gate… Somehow."
When they were several yards above the ground Rin dropped Angel. The Paladin hit the ground and rolled, absorbing the impact and coming smoothly back to his feet. Rin crashed gracelessly into one of the hot springs as he tried to land. His flame-wings dispersed and he floundered in the hot water for several moments before dragging himself on to the shore.
"You okay?" Bon asked.
"Yeah, Flame-Demon, I guess I don't burn- Or boil," Rin replied after coughing up a mouthful of water. He focused for a moment, using his flames to burn the water from his clothes.
Then Rin took the time to switch his swords so that Kurikara was in its own sheath and sealed but his flames didn't diminish. With a look of budding panic Rin looked at his hands, they were still the clawed hands of a demon. He reached up and touched his ears, as he'd feared they were still elongated and obviously pointed. "I can't turn it off! Why can't I turn it off?"
"Breath!" Bon exclaimed thumping him on the back. "We're in Gehenna," he reminded Rin. "Kurikara is a portal to Gehenna, allowing your power into Assiah, your sheath is the gate. Closing the gate doesn't do a damn bit of good if you're on the wrong side of it."
"I won't stay this way?" Rin asked staring at his clawed hands.
"Once we're back in Assiah everything'll go back to normal," Bon told him with a great deal more certainty than he felt.
"No time," Karura cautioned. "We have to find a way back to Assiah before the inhabitants notice us."
Angel turned around slowly, making a survey of the alien landscape. "Which way?" he asked the phoenix. Silence answered him.