Story: Dawning Radiance
Genre: Dark Fantasy/Romance/Action
Rating: T
Claimer: I own each and every one of the characters in this story, so please do not use them, as they are my babies...enjoy!
I rolled my eyes with an amused grin "Fine by me since it's probably Demons that are attacking the place anyways; you'd be dead in the water if you left me behind" I commented, realizing that was probably one of the main reasons he'd offered to stick around anyways.
His lips pressed into a thin line and he stubbornly stomped a couple of feet ahead of me, "Just shut up and watch my back you useless scum…" he grumbled as he passed me, and I couldn't help but chuckle for a moment at the little tantrum I assumed he was throwing.
"So, where's Nate? Is he sleeping, or…I dunno how it'd work for the one while the other is in control" I inquired, and Rey turned his head the slightest little bit to acknowledge me "He's awake, he's just not in control right now. Pretty much, he gets to sit back and watch unless he's trying to get me out of control" he explained with a frown "We can't separate now either, since Valshe kept us up last night and we didn't get enough sleep to recover the energy we'd need to pull it off…figures things would end up this way" he added moodily, slicing at the air with his sword.
"What about…" I tried, but Rey spun on heel and glared at me, blade tip just pricking the sensitive skin of my neck. "You ask a lot of questions, you know that? This is hardly the time or the place Demon" he spat before pulling away harshly and continuing through the wreckage of trees.
I sighed and shook my head, but continued following behind him silently and we soon reached an area of the forest where the trees began to thin out and I swiftly moved to Rey's side when he stiffened up ten or so feet ahead of me.
Once I reached him, I followed his gaze to where it had locked on and saw what must've been the town square. I recognized the Judgment Hall right away, as I'd seen pictures of it before when other Demons had missions to come up here and they'd had to use it as a landmark of sorts.
Though the hall itself wasn't scarred in the least, the buildings and monuments around it were destroyed; engulfed by flames and crumbling to rubble on the once peaceful streets.
The older Angels and Nephilim were grouping up, weapons drawn, prepared to defend their lands as best they could from the intruders, and guided the injured and the younger ones to the safety of the Judgment Hall.
Rey looked like he was going to jump in, but he stayed still save for turning to me "This is your fault Demon! If you had just stayed where you belonged they wouldn't be here right now!" he snapped, taking a few threatening steps toward me.
"How is it my fault? If you guys hadn't attacked us in the first place we wouldn't even plan something this big!" I retorted, putting up my sword in a defensive position.
I was ready for it when he lunged at me, his sword flashing to life like a bolt of lightning falling from the sky and I adjusted myself to block the blow with my own weapon.
He was fast and ruthless, but because of his speed, it left open a few weak spots, though if I wanted to get him before he got to me I'd have to be faster or he'd rip me apart.
Again and again metal crashed together and his sword crackled and sizzled heatedly against mine. Just as I was about to make my move and hopefully end the fight, someone jumped out in front of me and parried one of Rey's blows with a long, deadly looking spear.
"D? How did you find us?" I questioned, but he didn't hear me; he was too busy holding off the Nephilim boy.
This was an even better chance than any to immobilize him, and I slunk lower to the ground, preparing to make a dash for where Rey and Damien were fighting only a few feet away.
Or that was the plan anyways.
Right when I was about to take off at him, someone grabbed me around the chest and had me swinging back at them in surprise.
"Wait, Xander! It's me!"
Valshe's familiar cry made me stop mid-strike and I turned to look at her as she buried her face in the back of my shoulder and gripped my shirt tightly in her hands.
I lowered my head and sheathed my sword slowly, putting one hand over her trembling ones around my chest, and letting the other fall to my side.
"I thought you were actually going to hurt me…" she sighed with relief, unknotting her hands from my shirt and gently pulling away.
Scoffing, I turned to look at her worried face "Well you shouldn't sneak up on someone in the middle of a fight then!" I scolded lightly, watching as she shrugged apologetically and started towards Rey and Damien.
When he saw her approach, Damien jumped back a little, but Rey didn't stop until she was right next to him, pleading with him quietly to calm down.
Sheathing his sword with a disappointed sigh, he crossed his arms and turned to face the battlefield that the area around the Judgment Hall was turning into "Why should I? Look at what their kind is doing to our home; to our people!" he growled angrily, making his way closer to the fray.
Valshe caught his arm before he got too far, and spun him around so they were looking at each other intensely. "You guys did the same thing to their home and their people, so don't you think it'd be natural to want to strike back?" she coaxed, holding carefully to the cuff of his shirt sleeve.
He shook his head at the idea, opening his mouth to make a remark until he caught the look on Valshe's face and he let it drop with little more than a frown.
"Have you guys met up with Malachi yet?" I asked Damien as we moved to stand with Valshe and Rey "We found him and then we found Night a while after that. They were both going over to help the others I guess" he explained swiftly while we looked over the fray expanding before us.
"Do you know who's leading the attack?" I reluctantly asked, and Damien raised an eyebrow at me "Demons of course; but I can't figure out what classes they belong to yet…" he trailed off and watched some of the Demons from where he stood with a passive face.
There wasn't much more time for discussions though, and soon we'd made up a plan that just might help us figure things out.
We picked our way through the fights, moving towards the Judgment Hall as quickly as we could, hoping that someone would take the bait, which eventually, they did.
A trio of Demons headed towards us, weapons drawn and their faces holding murderous intent "Why're you two carting these Nephilim around?" One boy with fiery red-orange hair and light brown eyes asked "Yeah, we were told not to take any prisoners" a girl commented, pointing her whip at Rey and Valshe with a glare.
Damien gave a careless wave and one of his trademark smirks "Oh don't worry about that; we're not taking prisoners" Damien assured them "What do you need them for then? Just kill them right here!" the other girl demanded, crossing her arms impatiently "We're going to use them for something, but we're going to need a little help…do you think you'd be willing to come with us miss?" he asked politely and the girl blushed a light pink.
Charm successful.
"W-well…I suppose if you really need the help…I could come with" she stammered, turning to her two other companions "I'll be right back, okay?" she told them before following us to a side of the Judgment Hall where no one would be able to see us.
"So…what did you need me for?" the girl asked shyly, glancing back and forth from me to Damien "First off, I have a question for you" I told her, and she nodded obediently "Who's running this operation right now?" I asked her, and she cocked her head to the side a little in confusion. "Who's running it? You're just messing with me right? Kari of course! She's the only leader we have!" she laughed.
Kari? The name was familiar from somewhere…wasn't she the leader of the Rogues? That was it, wasn't it? Well wasn't that just wonderful?
I chuckled in mock amusement and shook my head "Of course I'm messing with you! Do you know where she is right now? There's something important I need to give her" I told the girl, who suddenly fell quiet, her face calculating "Who are you guys?" she asked, pulling the sword she had from its sheath and pointing it at me.
At that point we knew our cover had been blown, but it didn't matter as we'd found out what we'd needed to in the first place.
Damien had his Oni out in a second, using it to skillfully knock the sword from the surprised girls hand, where it fell to the ground a few feet away "Faction members? How did you even find out about this raid?" she gasped and jumped back away from us, preparing to run back and warn the others about us.
She didn't make it very far; Damien dealt with her before she'd even taken a step out of our hiding spot; dark blood and gore splattered noisily onto the burnt grass where she fell.
Rey rolled his eyes as he watched her body become caught in a mysterious blue flame before it swiftly disposed of her; leaving nothing – not even ash- left behind. "What did she mean, 'Faction members'? She was a Demon, right?" he questioned, leaning back against the hall nonchalantly.
Damien and I shared a look, and he shrugged; if we didn't explain it now, we'd probably have trouble later "She was a Demon, but…" I paused and watched Valshe pick up the Demon girls sword "Some Demons don't have classes; they started calling themselves Rogues so that way no one confused them with the rest of us; Faction members" I informed him, holding back a glare when he smirked.
"So let me get this straight; the Demons are fighting against each other too? Ha, you guys have an even more messed up race than I thought!" he laughed, taking out his sword and moving to join the fight.
Once Rey had gone, it left, Valshe, Damien and I wondering what exactly we should do next. Sure, we could help them, but why should we? This is exactly what they had done to our home, so why should we keep it from happening to theirs? After all, that was only fair.
But of course, Valshe told us that we had to do the right thing, especially after how much they'd helped us, which made it so we rushed into the fight in search of Kari, since that would be the fastest way to end this in the first place.
First we'd tried to send Valshe into the hall to help out there, then she'd be out of trouble, but she wouldn't have any of it; she was coming with and that was final.
As we weaved through the crowd of Angels and Rogues clashing at all sides, we released our wings and decided that since there was nothing flying though the air in this area, it'd be easier to find her from higher up and each took one of Valshe's hands as we glided over the others.
We found her with Malachi on her left and Night coming up for an attack on the right, which she skillfully dodged with a graceful jump backwards.
The partners worked in tandem, picking out her blind spots, and attacking them as best they could, but for some reason, they just couldn't seem to find the right rhythm to actually get through and do any major damage.
Landing swiftly, we rushed into the deadly dance the three were creating and they all stopped in their tracks. "Finally I get some back up" Kari panted lightly, turning to us with a relieved smile. Damien chuckled at this, shaking his head "Right. Back up" I told her with a devious smile, causing her eyebrows to knit together in confusion.
Malachi and Nigathiel had stepped back, and were watching us carefully, in case we were planning on turning on them instead. "You're Kari, I assume?" Damien asked calmly, pulling his Oni from his belt.
Kari looked passive for a moment, before giving a coy smile "And if I am?" she teased, leaning back on her right leg. "We're Faction members, in case you haven't already noticed. We'll give you one warning to get out of here before we're forced to kill you" I threatened emotionlessly, noticing Valshe straighten up courageously beside me.
She laughed mirthfully "Oh, I get it now; you two are the Demon kids that're carting around that human girl! This is her, right? How amusing" she smiled, slowly positioning her weapon for attack "I wonder if you've taught her to defend herself yet?" she speculated before rushing towards Valshe with a blood thirsty grin.
I would've been able to stop her before she'd even gotten close if Valshe hadn't ran forward to meet her challenge, bringing her sword up to parry the blow before it hit her.
Moving forward to protect her, to make sure she didn't get hurt, or worse because of Kari, I was stopped by another Rogue before I'd even taken two steps "So you're a Faction member, huh? Might as well take care of you two as well then…" he laughed, and a few of his accomplices appeared behind him to stop Damien as well.
They were better fighters than I'd thought by just looking at them, and it seemed that they weren't about to just let us slip by and potentially take their leader down, so we had to beat them before we could even hope to help Valshe out.
That was easier said than done, of course.
Right away I got a few good hits on him, but after that he shaped up and learned my moves so he could block or dodge my assault and every once in a while get out a counter attack or two.
Just as I was going in for another swing, someone came from behind and ran the man through with one clean swipe of a lightning bolt blade. Rey stepped around the figure as it fell, and like the other, singed quickly into nothing.
"What are you waiting for? Get over there and help her!" he demanded, moving to help the others with their fights.
I nodded and turned on heel towards where Valshe had been knocked to the ground, breaking into a sprint so I could save her before Kari could hurt her any more than she already had.
Valshe rolled to the side to dodge one vicious slice at her, but couldn't recover quickly enough to be able to dodge the next one.
I was almost there, but could I really make it before…? It wasn't looking like I could make it in the short amount of time it'd take her to give another good swing; I needed a longer weapon if I wanted to stop that attack.
My thoughts fled to the Oni I still had in my belt. It had never worked for me before, but…this time it had to!
Not even bothering to take the time to sheath my sword, I altogether dropped it to the ground and whipped out my Oni, swiping it outwards in the path of the Rogue leaders swiftly swinging sword, and hoping that, just this once things would turn out for the best as a scream left Valshe's lips.
I couldn't keep myself from yelling either, and I fearfully, frantically called out.
"Valshe!"
To The Reviewers: indescribable music: Thank you! I made this one a bit longer, so I hope you like this one as well!
Devil wingz: Well, at least you got to it, right? And I know Rey is cute. He tries to be so tough, when in reality he's just a very stubborn, protective older brother with a violence problem! I hope you enjoy that cookie and aren't too mad that I just kinda left this at a freakin' huge cliff hanger!
A/N: So...I really enjoyed writing this chapter; could any of you guys tell? The next chapter is either going to be another one of the other characters add-ins, or it might just be another regular chapter...I can't decide yet, but I kinda want to do something in Damien's POV. Anyways, the next regular chapter is going to be wonderful to write, I'm thinking...until next time, please review, and make sure you're eating right and keeping hydrated! (I've been doing a horrible job of that lately, so I figured I'd make sure you guys did it xD)