Lore/Story Angels And Demons: Chapter 24

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Chapter 24: Breaking In
~Nicolas~


Daila pulls out a black object from his pocket. I lean in and see it's a compass. Day brings the compass up to his mouth, and speak to it the coordinates the captured bandit told us. The compass glows, and the arrow starts clicking and moving. With a final click, the compass's arrow stops to face east.

Luke nods. "We're good. Let's go."

Day nods back. He pulls another object, which is a colour between orange and purple. It is a smooth sphere, the inside of it churning.

"What's that?" I ask. Day grins and throws the sphere at the ground. It doesn't shatter, but lands on the ground with a thud. "Come, Vulcan!" Day shouts.

The sphere starts to glow and expand. A magnificent red chestnut horse rears up from the point where the sphere was. The horse lands on all fours, and look at us with its red, beady eyes.

The horse's mane is the colour of fire. There is a plain leather saddle on the beast's back. Day grabs the straps and hops onto the horse. The horse snorts and takes a step forward.

"This is Vulcan, my spirit horse," Day says. Vulcan snorts again.

"That's awesome!" Katherine says. She strokes the side of Vulcan's neck. "He's a good one." She smiles.

"What was the crystal thing?" Luke asks.

"That was Vulcan in his compact form," Day says. "Spirit horses are horses that can be summoned wherever. They are only given to people considered as heroes."

"And you've got one?" I ask. Day nods. "I killed a shaman who sneaked into one of our storages and killed a few of us. Tough fight; loads of undead." Day fidgets with his bow. "Enough talk. Let us go already."

"Alright." I nod and grin. Day spurs Vulcan forward, and we follow him.

***


"It's here?" Katherine murmurs. Cool air come out of the gaping entrance to a cave. Day checks his compass, then nods. "It is here."

Luke mutters something under his breath and on the tip of his wand, a small twinkling light appears. I meet his eyes, and we nod.

I draw my spear, Katherine her dagger. Day jumps off Vulcan, changes him into crystal mode, then unslings his bow from his shoulder.

"Let's go," I whisper, and we silently move into the tunnel. We try not to make any sounds. As we walk, I start to feel a change in the atmosphere. "We're coming into an open space," Luke whispers, and we stop.

Day peeks into the open room. He looks back at us, his expression worried. "Guard golems." He says. "About twenty of them. Looks powerful."

"Twenty?" Katherine smiles. "We can take them." She turns her dagger in her hands, which starts to charge with white energy. Day nods. "Okay then.... go!"

We jump out into the room. On the other side is a large door with two human guards. Between the doors and us is a narrow room, where exactly seventeen stone guard golems walk around. All their heads snap to our direction as we come charging. The two bandits raise their voice at us. "Wait there, who're...." One of them starts to say, then he see us. "Guards, kill them!"

I dash to meet the first golem. It has been raised by dark magic, that I was sure. I jump and soar over the golem's head. I bury my spear into its face, and the monster crumbles into rubble. The two guards gasp.

Day shoots a series of arrows that accurately bury into the golems' faces. Luke and Katherine fight alongside me, cutting down the golems one by one. The two men start to panic and try to open the door to the bandits' lair. Before they could do so, two arrows burrow themselves into the men's back. They fall face-down, dead. Day lands just before their bodies.

I cut down the last golem, and look at Day. He seemed to have no hesitation killing people. As a soldier, I shouldn't be scared of something like killing, and if I were to hesitate in a battle that would bring danger to myself and my friends. But something is off with Day; he seemed too cold when he killed those people. It doesn't look like Day enjoys it, but it doesn't seem to bother him... as if he has seen many deaths before him. So much that it took away those feelings...

"Come on, Nico." Katherine taps my shoulder. I snap back into reality. I nod slowly, then hurry after Day and Luke, who is already opening the door.

We walk into another stone corridor lit with oil candles. We keep our weapons ready until we walk into a wide space. The place was surprisingly bright, due to many fires lit everywhere around it. A dirty river runs down the cave, with only two bridges over it. The place has at least two dozen tents. Bandits roam around, sparring, fighting, and eating. Luke points to a big tent at the end of the cave, which covers an entrance to another cave.

"That must be where the people are captured." The mage says. "Nowhere else seems capable of holding prisoners." As he says that, a large bandit comes strolling to us.

"Looks like you're new here, huh?" The bandit says, fiddling with his mace and grinning. "Sarza hires many mercenaries every day. You've got money, eh?"

The man grabs at Day's cloak, which hides his armour and gear. Day doesn't move until the man grabs his cloak and rips it off. The bandit's eyes widen in surprise as he sees Day's brown armour. "It's the Ternaves' Archer!" The man shouts, catching many bandits' attentions.

Day aims his bow and shoots at the man's chest. He staggers back, howling in pain. The man blindly swings his mace, but Day jumps and lands on the man's broad shoulders. The boy fires another arrow into the oncoming bandits, which explodes and sends two of them to the ground.

I focus my magic into my spear and yell, casting a Charge spell. As I barge into the crowd, I also cast a Bash spell, sending the bandits back. I swing my spear, and swear as a man with a shield blocks the blow. A spear user's worst enemy is a shield user. I growl and cast another Bash onto the shield. The man loses balance. I step to the side as Luke's magic attack pierce through the man's shield. I finish him with a blow to his head with the back of my spear.

Katherine appears behind the bandits and raises her dagger. It starts charging with energy.

Time seems to suddenly slow down. Katherine opens her eyes, and dashes at the bandits with incredible speed. Her daggers blur as they move in extreme fast motion. Three men are sent into the air from the spell.

The four of us fight through the bandits. The bandits are weak compared to us, but more just keeps coming and as the time passes, we start to get tired.

"We have to head to the room!" I shout over the sounds of Luke dropping a massive fireball onto the bandits. Across the room, I see Day nod and call towards Katherine. I give a little push to Luke and we start running.

Suddenly, a dark shape drop in front of me. I halt to a stop, just as a huge force of air knocks me onto my back. I flinch from the pain on my wings. The bandits stop behind us and cheers.

I groan and get up. I look around and see that Day, Katherine and Luke was also knocked down. Someone laughs in front of me.

A young man stands on the ground a few yards away from me. He wears black from shoulder to toe and holds a curved sword. His hair is grey, and his eyes have a crazed look. He laughs again and points his sword at us. A force of air attacks us from the man's hand. I yell and cast a Bash spell directly in front of me, which sends the air particles away from my direction. I look around, and see that Day, Luke and Katherine have been knocked back again.

This one's a mutant. I think as I face the man again. His power is... air force projectiles? "Stay back. I'll deal with him." Before they could argue, I charge at the mutant.

I yell and stab at the man. Air pushes him to one side, and my spear misses. I whirl and bring my spear onto the man's face, but he blocks the blow with his sword.

He's fast. I think. I shouldn't have because in that moment of hesitation a force of air hits me in my stomach and sends me flying back. My body hits hard on the ground. I try to get up on a backroll but fails and end up on my stomach. I feel several wounds opening from the sharp rocks on the ground.

Something flashes as the man reach inside his cloak. I roll to the side as three spikes bury themselves into the ground where I was. I leap up, just as another three spikes fly towards me. I jump to the side, but one of the spike cuts across my arm. I grit my teeth as I hold the wound. My body feels too heavy, and I was too slow.

I look back at Katherine, Day and Luke. Katherine nods.

I close my eyes. I untie the laces that hold my cloak on my chest and let the piece of clothes fall onto the ground. A gasp comes from the bandits as I stretch my wings. I swing my spear back, and carefully cut the bandages off. I breathe in, and out. The pain eases a bit.

The mutant sneers and releases another force of air at me. I jump and flap my wings. I nearly drop onto the ground from the pain, but I keep flapping. I spin midair and dodge the attack.

I turn and dive straight towards the man. He sends a force of air to the ground and jumps out of the way just as I land. I quickly take off before the ground is destroyed by the mutant. The man throws his spikes again, and I prepare to dodge. Just then, the mutant creates wind directly behind the spikes. The speed of the projectiles become significantly faster, and I am not fast enough to dodge it. One impale into my shoulder.

I yell and dive at the mutant with all my power. The pain threatens me to black out, but I keep going.

I see it before it comes: the mutant raises his hand for the last attack. I raise my hand in front of me and muster the same magic I used against the Necromancer. I open my eyes and release the magic.

Symbols appear in front of me, forming a circle. The shield solidifies just as the mutant's air force hits it. The mutant's attack is cancelled, and is dispersed into all directions.

I flip and connect my feet into the mutant's head. It sends him to the ground, and I land on top of him. Before the man can reach for his sword, I kick it away and put my spear in front of his neck.

I lean closer to the man's face. He raises his hands and looks away. "Please! I don't want to die..."

I raise my spear and thrust it down. The blade buries itself into the ground right next to the man's face.

"Where are the people you have captured?" I ask quietly. The man widens his eyes in fear. "In the furthest room, next to our boss, Sarza's room." The man says, his voice quivering. I snort and stand up. I pull my spear out of the ground and turn away from the man.

Instantly the man reaches for his spikes inside his robes. I turn around and smack the back of my spear on his head. The man instantly goes limp and falls on his back.

I face my friends and force myself a smile. Then I drop to my knees as my legs finally give away from the pain.

Luke comes running to me. He kneels next to me and casts a healing spell. I pull out the spike in my shoulder and let the wounds close up. I also let him speed up my healing in my wings.

"Good fight," Luke whispers into my ear as he stands up. I look at him and smile.

I hear the sound of someone pulling the string of a bow. I turn around and see Day with his bow with a knocked arrow. And it's pointing at me.

I grunt and get up. The point of the arrow follows my head.

"Day, what are you doing?" Katherine asks in horror. She points her dagger towards the boy.

I tighten my grip on my spear. As I look closely, I see Day's hands shaking.

"You... you are an angel?" He asks quietly. I nod and unfurl my wings. Day grits his teeth.

Suddenly, the boy turns to his right, towards Katherine, and fires the arrow. Katherine doesn't have time to react as the arrow whizzes straight past her head with only an inch to miss. A thud follows as a man fall to the ground right behind Katherine.

Day looks down and lowers his bow. "Lead the way." He says.