JOY! HAPINESS! ECSTASY!!! Someone reviewed! So I updated. Good things happen when you review.
Thanks so much Fehize. I hope this chapter has enough Angel Ass-Kicking in it.
It was dawn and broken bodies of Desians lay everywhere, blood staining the grass a crimson shade. Not one of the filthy vermin had escaped. Even better…no one in Jalisa had died.
Kratos searched for Ahmond, half in a daze. He knew what the fervor of battle was like. He knew what it was to be passionate of a goal. Maybe because it had been four thousand years…or maybe it was because this was a fight of vengeance…but Kratos had never seen such ruthlessness in warriors for a very long time. As they coldly cut down Desian after Desian, even the ones begging for their lives, Kratos could see it in their eyes. The dead husbands, the dead brothers, the dead wives, the dead mothers…dead fathers, friends, uncles, aunts, cousins, and lovers. And everywhere he looked…the Jalisa were as ruthless as he was…as he had been for thousands of years.
He wasn't sure who started it…but somewhere in the heat of battle, a man atop the wall, his bow raised high, screamed over the clash of weapons; "Jamison! Jamison! Jamison!" And suddenly everyone around him screamed the name of their fallen leaders. Now they killed for their creators….the forefathers of their clan. "Jamison! Jamison! Jamison!"
Ahmond was directing the wounded into a hospital and receiving reports of enemy casualties. Denise was bandaging and stitching wounds as fast as she could manage.
"Ahmond," Kratos said, his eyes frantic with worry. "She's still not back. I'm going after her."
Ahmond glared, "We will send a proper search for her, lead personally by me and Denise. With us gone, you must remain here in control of-"
"I refuse," Kratos said calmly. "I am stronger than ten of your assassins combined for reasons you can not begin to comprehend. You can not, and will not, keep me from her."
Ahmond's eyes widened as he realized the metaphorical meaning as well as the literal meaning behind Kratos's last few words. "Give me one good reason."
"I love her."
"Well that's good enough for me!" Denise said, clapping a hand over Ahmond's mouth as he rapidly turned red with fury. "Hurry Kratos! We need-NOISHE!!!!" Denise released Ahmond and sprinted toward the gate through which a battered and bloodied Noishe was limping through. Kratos blood ran cold and the heart he didn't know he possessed stopped dead. Denise knelt beside Noishe, Ahmond right behind her as they examined the giant dog. Kratos felt a strange emotion fill him…something red-hot and aching. Something like…hate. He headed towards Noishe.
"Move," said an inhuman voice behind Denise and Ahmond. They turned to Kratos and shrank back. Power, rage, anger, and hate radiated off of him, so fierce they could feel it in their veins. Ahmond quickly strung and readied his bow, prepared to shoot this monstrous Kratos at his first false move.
Kratos knelt beside Noishe, examining the whimpering dog gently. After a moment, he straightened. Impossibly fast he seized Ahmond's arm and snapped the aimed arrow in half.
"What the-" Ahmond cried out.
"She's been taken," Kratos said in a voice as black as death. "By Kvar. I know his style…I know his marks. They are going to use her for a new project. I'm going. Do not follow. Heal Noishe."
Kratos turned and sprinted away, faster than should be humanly possible. Ahmond and Denise stared after him.
"Who in the name of Martel is he?" Denise realized.
"I think you mean 'what,'" Ahmond said, putting an arm around her shoulder.
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Blood pounded in Kratos's ears, yet he could hear every sound as he ran.
Damn you Mithos! I swear if she is harmed, you will rue the day I laid eyes on you.
He was furious…he ran faster than he ever had in his life, drawing on all of his rage and hate to propel him. It was then he felt it-the numbing sensation in his blood when he had sunk too far into the darkest of emotions. He felt hate and rage roll off him. He stumbled on a tree branch as he dashed through the forest, and roared in frustration at the tree. The one hundred foot, thick, dense oak tree was reduced to a pile of ashes in the blink of an eye. His soul, his blood-stained, corrupted, tainted soul waged war against his calmer half.
I can't let Anna see me this way! I'll mutilate her captors beyond her imagination and tolerance if I don't stop.
Captors…at the thought of the filthy hands of the Desians on his precious Anna the anger that filled him skyrocketed.
Damn you, Mithos Yggdrasil. DAMN YOU TO OBLIVION AND BEYOND!
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Anna could barely move a single part of her aching body, though she continued to try and try. Each time she did, her left hand ached beyond endurance. She squinted through the pitch blackness at her hand. She slowly raised it to her eyes, her arm screaming in protest. From the small widow, in the extremely dim light, she could see the cold face of a blue exsphere. She clenched that hand, gasping in agony as a tear rolled down her face.
I failed again! Now this…this cursed object is part of me! This disgusting orb made from the lives of humans! What am I to do? She lowered her hand and closed her eyes, drifting into sleep.
When she awoke, it was to the clank of keys in the lock on her door. Dawn was nearing outside the window. She sat up and scrambled to her feet as quickly as she could, set to attack her captors. As the door open, she dove forward into a hand spring, only to be jerked short by shackles on her ankles and wrists.
The Desian laughed at her. "Come on A012, time to earn your keep," he said unhooking her from the shackles. Anna started to fight him, but there was a crack as a strip of leather thudded into her cheek. She jerked her head to the side, but did not let them see it hurt.
"No matter what they do," Edric had told her, "Never let them see your fear and pain."
She followed them, her head high, as they lead her out to the work yards. There she and the other prisoners moved large blocks across the immense yard, for what purpose she could only guess.
She'd been at for an hour before she knew something was a miss. She realized that she shouldn't be able to stand, let alone push this outrageously heavy block across the grass. She paused for a moment, confusion on her face.
CRACK!
The whip collided solidly with her back, catching her by surprise. Fortunately her training held and she didn't flinch. She put her hands back on the block and began to push. But she stopped again staring at her left hand.
That's right…the exsphere!
Crack! Crack!
Two lashes to the back this time, but she still didn't flinch. A Desian guard came over and grabbed her by both arms and threw her into the dirt. She rolled as she hit the ground surging to her feet. She made to leap at the guard, but another cracking sound accompanied a leather whip wrapping around her throat and pulling her down to the ground.
"This is a tough one," The first Desian said. "She's not easy to break"
The Desian with the whip grinned evilly. "There is one way…the fun way to break the women." Two more Desians came over, laughing. "What do you think, lads?"
The first knelt down. Anna tried to slap him, but a sharp tugged from the whip around her neck pulled her back down, choking her. "What you say sweetie?" he asked. "Do you like it easy…or do you like it…rough?" The Desian reached for her and ran one finger down her cheek. "I'm not particular."
"Go to Hell," Anna replied, spitting in his eye. The Desian laughed and nodded to the others. The seized Anna and drug her across the yard as she kicked and fought. She nearly got away a few times if not for the rope around her neck.
"You bastards will pay for this with your lives," Anna said furiously. They lead her to a clove of trees and tied her wrists and ankles to it. The first Desian stepped towards her. "You're a pretty thing, missy."
Anna's blood ran cold and her mouth went dry as she realized what they were about to do. She began to shake, her eyes filling with furious tears. The Desian shoved her against the tree. "You never answered…easy…or rough?" He grabbed her breast hard, causing Anna to cry out unexpectedly. "We'll go with rough then, lass." He slid his hand down her side and ran a finger up between her legs. Anna closed her eyes tight, completely beaten, unable to move, not willing to let them hear her scream.
The smell of blood exploded in her nostrils. She opened her eyes and stared at the Desian in front of her. A sword blade was protruding from his chest, blood dripping to the ground. She looked down to see that her ugly brown prisoners dress was splattered with his blood. The blade was yanked from his chest and he fell to the ground dead, revealing the man behind him.
"Kratos!" Anna screamed, bursting into tears. In two swift moves he cut through her ropes.
He turned to face the three Desians racing for him. Anna shrank back against the tree. Kratos had changed. His eyes were glazed with evil and blood lust. The thirst to kill radiated off of him.
"Anna," he said in a voice that wasn't human. "Do not watch." His blue angel wings exploded from his back as her rose above the Desians. More had run over now, alarmed at the intruder and his evil, cold-blooded manner. Kratos stared at his enemy, blood dripping down his sword blade as he raised it high above his head.
"Kratos!" Anna screamed, but he was beyond her reach. This was Kratos Aurion, the Cruxis Angel, one of the Four Seraphim. Her Kratos was long gone.
He brought his sword down in a quick slash, pointing it at the Desians.
"Judgment."
The ground shook violently. Anna screamed out Kratos's name as she clung to the tree. Kratos told her not to watch, but she couldn't tear her eyes away as the sky went pitch black. A bright beam of light exploded from the blackness, colliding with the Desians. Anna watched as the flesh melted off the screaming men, leaving behind still standing skeletons that crumbled to the ground and turned to ash.
Then all was still again. Anna stared up in horror as Kratos turned to look down at her, his soul still consumed by evil.
And suddenly the memories that had haunted her dreams came crashing back, only this time, they were different.
She was surrounded by fire. The huts of Jalisa burned anew, black smoke curling into the sky as screams echoed from with in. Children cried, mothers screamed. The clash of weapons was everywhere as were cries of agony. People dashed into the forest, only to be cut down by the enemy lurking in the trees.
"Get out of here!" someone screamed. "Head for a village! Go!"
Anna spun around. It was her mother yelling for her people to run from the roof of their burning house. Anna watched in horror as her mother leaped down into a fray, and Anna stomach clenched as Felicity, her father and brothers were struggling to throw off-
"Forcystus!" she screamed in rage, charging at him, just as Felicity was thrown through the air, landing at her feet.
"Anna!" her father cried. "Stay back baby! Take Felicity and go!"
"No! I won't go!"
"Do as I say-" but her father's chest exploded in blood as Forcystus struck him from behind like a coward.
"Daddy!" Anna screamed running to her father. But before she could reach him, a figure darted out in front of her, engaging her in combat.
Anna fought for all she was worth, she had to get to her father, she HAD to get to her father.
"Anna," Edric cried, rushing over to her, closely followed by Samuel and their brother Adam but the stranger knocked Anna to the ground. Immediately there was a bright flash of light followed by a symphony of screams. Anna jumped up and stared into the blank and unseeing eyes of her brother Edric.
"No!" she whispered as her eyes took in Samuel's bloodstained body, Adam's motionless figure...her mother's expressionless, still face. "NOOOOO!" she screamed falling to her mother's side.
They were gone. Everything around her went dark. She couldn't see, she couldn't breathe, she couldn't think. She turned to face her family's killer her. In the flickering light from the burning houses she could see a man, his brown eyes cold and in human. His spiky red hair swayed in the wind as he stared at Anna. Two blue wings protruded from his back in sharp contrast to the bright purple armor her wore. It was Kratos.
Anna fell to her knees, staring up at Kratos. Finally she closed her eyes, tears running down her face. "YOU KILLED MY FAMILY!"
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Kratos turned from the dead ashes of the Desians and turned to face Anna. Slowly, the rage began to fade as he looked into her panic stricken face. I told you not to watch. But you didn't listen. Now you see. Now you know what I really am. What I've done. What I let Forcystus do to your parents and brothers.
He closed his eyes when Anna shouted, "YOU KILLED MY FAMILY!" He didn't answer. While it was Forcystus who had cast the spell, it was he, Kratos, who lead the attack. Who ordered Forcystus to destroy the leaders of Jalisa.
Anna panted, sobbing quietly as she stared up at him. "You cast that on them, watching in glee as the life was stripped from their bodies. WHY?"
Kratos looked at Anna. She saw that his eyes were softening. The old Kratos was coming back, but it hardly mattered. All she wanted now was to run. To keep running and never look back. He had stolen everything she had…including her heart.
"Anna," he said, his voice filled with anguish. "I did not cast that on them. Forcystus did. On my orders, he was to kill the leading family of Jalisa. I may have killed your family…but I did not spill their blood." He was tired. He felt his strength draining away. He needed to come down, but he couldn't face her leaving him. Not yet.
Ana shook her head violently. "You bastard! I lost everything because of you! EVERYTHING! My people are in ruins. How could you face us with a guilt free face knowing what you did to us?"
"If you think I was guilt free," Kratos replied. "You are sadly mistaken."
"Then why?" Anna asked. "Why did you come to us? To me?"
Kratos shook his head. "For the past 4000 years, I've stained my soul with too much blood to be repaid. All I deserve now is death, but even that is too good for the monster that I am. So, I sought the Jalisa and turned from Yggdrasil, hoping to atone for some of my sins."
Anna laughed harshly. "You can never fix what you have done."
"I know," Kratos said. "Anna…I…"
"Who was it that knocked me away?" Anna asked. "You were close by. Who was noble enough to save me and my sister?" She laughed harshly again.
"I did," Kratos replied with another sigh. He was so very tired. "I couldn't…you two were just children at the time. You were sixteen and she was fourteen. I couldn't…I could bring myself to do what had to be done. It was in that moment I realized…Yggdrasil was wrong. I was wrong. And so I made a split second decision. I was going to turn my back on Cruxis and pay my blood debt. So I started by saving you…the young girl with fire in her eyes."
Anna's head spun. The man who ordered her parents killed had saved her. The man who had killed so many had just saved her again. The man with the blood stained soul dove off a cliff to save her life.
Kratos clenched his fist as Anna looked at him. He was back to normal. "Now you see," Kratos said. "Now you see the monster that I really am. A blood thirsty, enraged being that should have died four thousand years ago." He looked Anna right in the eye. "But for the first time in all those millenniums… I am glad that I am alive. Because of you. I'd rather die now, knowing that you hate me, than walk the earth forever having never seen your face, never heard your laugh, never watched you fight, or never held you in my arms." He closed his eyes as everything swayed. He was about to lose consciousness. "No matter what happens, even if you despise me as you should, I love you Anna. I always have, since the night I protected you from myself. I always will."
Anna stared, mouth agape at Kratos the Angel. Then she shook her head. "You're wrong Kratos," she said. "And I'll tell you why. I've seen this monster you speak of. A cold man with inhuman eyes and darkness in his soul. But he is not you. He is the man who killed my family and my comrades. The man whose hands are stained with the blood of millions of lives. The man who lost his heart to evil long ago. The man named Mithos Yggdrasil." Anna got to her feet and smiled softly. "You are not him, Kratos. You are the man I love. You no longer have to be what he wants you to be."
Kratos closed his eyes and smiled. For the first time in 4028 years…he felt free. He looked down at Anna who was walking towards him. Then suddenly, his wings disappeared back inside of him as he dropped towards the ground, his strength having left him completely.
"KRATOS!" Anna screamed running toward him as he dropped. She threw her arms out to catch him and hit the ground hard as he fell into her arms.
"Anna, he murmured. "Anna…we've…got…to get away from here."
Anna stroked his hair frantically. "I know I know!" she said, holding his head up. "But how?"
"Opening…in the fence," Kratos pointed in the direction. "Your clothes are…out there too." He dropped his arm weakly. "Go…I'll follow shortly."
Anna glared. "No way," she stood up. She stared at the exsphere embedded in her skin. At least I can get Kratos out of here with this. She pulled Kratos to his feet and draped one arm over her shoulders, holding on firmly to his waist. "You can move your feet can't you?"
Kratos mumbled something, flaring Anna's temper to life.
"Damnit Kratos!" she yelled. "What's the point of being a bloody angel if you can't walk ten feet?!"
Kratos smiled weekly, glad to hear her voice, glad to be at her side. Slowly, he moved forward, Anna supporting him as he leaned against her.