☾~ Evelyn ~☽
I had failed.
I failed.
As an Astrum Angel...
I failed.
"Evelyn?" a tentative voice spoke from the darkness that surrounded me. I was spiraling down, down into a deep pit of completely blackness. A tiny pinpoint of light shone miles and miles above me, whispering that word... That horrible, disgusting word.
"Evelyn?"
Just be quiet.
"Ev...ie?"
Don't say my name.
"Evelyn!"
Shut up!
My eyes snapped open and a hatred that completely encased my soul made my blood boil. I whipped my head around towards the girl who had incessantly called my name, who had woken me from the comforting blanket of unconsciousness. Who had startled me into this unending nightmare that was called life.
I clutched at my hair, and bowed down my head, letting a sob rack my body. I was a failure... I hadn't been able to fight back when that demon was ready for battle, hadn't been able to stop his blades from paralyzing my wings. Hadn't been able to save myself.
The look on his face when I had plunged out of the sky towards the demon city below us was enough to shatter my soul into a million pieces. It was enough to tear my heart out and wish that I could just die... But I couldn't die. I was an angel. A failure.
"Evelyn...?" The soft soprano's lilt came out hesitantly, and I turned my tear-streaked face towards the girl who had spoken. She was fairly short and about 14, maybe 15, at most. A small nose gave way to glowing hazel eyes. It was as if I was staring at Eternity. The friend I had failed.
My slim wings flapped once, in a forlorn and resigned gesture. I crept away from the brown-haired girl, spotting a flash of green from my peripheral vision. Sitting on a nearby rock, an expressionless teen sat. Her hair was as straight as a board, curving up towards her chin. Black bangs covered pitch black eyes that bored coldly into my back. I hunched over and turned my attention towards my surroundings, feeling shame and embarrassment flood through me uncontrollably.
How had I not been able to fight back?
The sight of the blades my opponent had used caused my joints to stick, caused my muscles to freeze. The only thing I could do was hover in the polluted air, breathing in lungfuls of murky oxygen and awaiting a certain death. Without hesitating, the demon had flicked all the blades my way, not even waiting for me to unsheathe my own weapon. All I could do was barely dodge the knives, not seeing them as they ricocheting off a mountain in the far distance and pierced every vulnerable spot in my wings.
Recalling the memory brought a stabbing pain to my chest, and I jerked away from the cautious touch of someone's hand. It was the human girl who had woken me. Abruptly, I stood up, completely ignoring the concerned face of the mortal. Passing her and her companion, I reached the entrance to Hell and began beating my wings. Soon I was rising into the air and flying straight into the depths of Hell where my battle with the demon had been abruptly cut short.
Valor, his long black hair fluttering about as he dodged his adversary's attacks, was in close-range combat with a lanky demon with cropped brown hair and half-opened eyes. Valor's one wing held him aloft throughout the battle, and he quickly dodged all the fire arrows that were shot his way, slashing them with his gleaming katana.
Through the thick haze that rose up from the dark city below, I spotted Eternity, throwing multiple shuriken at my previous assailant. They were speedily chucking their blades at one another, at such a speed that their movements were mere afterimage blurs of their actual battle. A shuriken grazed my skin and left a shallow cut on my arm.
Hurriedly removing my silver bow from the quiver strapped across my back, I nocked a Starshot, a dull rod that was fatal to demons and angels but would barely bruise a mortal, and aimed straight for where I predicted the demon's head to be in the few seconds it would take me to fire the arrow. Releasing the string of the bow, I watched with keen emerald eyes as the Starshot sailed through the air.
Just before the arrow made contact with the demon's skull, he ducked and pivoted in midair, swiveling to face me. Eternity halted completely, freezing as if she had seen a ghost. She raised a pale hand towards me, and at first I assumed she was pointing at me.
"Wha-" before I could finish my statement, I heard the sound of a weapon lodging itself in someone's body, and it sounded sickeningly close.
"Ev..." Valor whispered, and I watched his falling body in horror as he descended at a breakneck pace.
"Valor!" I screamed, my wings flattening against my back as I sped towards his receding figure. The demon city's misshapen buildings seemed to swallow up the angel whole as he continued to plummet towards the smog-covered ground.
Just before his impact with the ground, I clutched his hand tightly in mind and opened my wings to their full length, wider than they had ever reached before. Completely unfurled like this, they shimmered in the gloom cast by the darkness we were in. Slowly, I raised Valor into my arms, sinking slightly from the added weight.
His eyes flickered open for a moment and he cracked a small smile, before his face went slack. I looked at the arrow lodged in his chest. On top of failing my first battle, because of me, Valor had almost gotten killed. He was on the brink of death now, panting heavily from the exertion of staying alive. All this... Because of me.
A solitary tear trickled from my eye as I began to lift on from the floor. Tilting my head upwards so that I could glimpse the still ongoing battle above, I continued rising from the ground level, ever so slowly. My speed was greatly decreased because I was carrying Valor, but there was no way that I would leave him here.
Just as soon as my feet had left the ground, a clammy hand gripped my foot, my ballet flat tumbling to the ground. The hand yanked me and Valor down to the ground, and I collapsed onto the rocky pavement. Valor fell next to me, cringing in pain as the arrow was jostled inside of him. I wanted to yank it out of his chest, but was afraid of damaging his internal organs.
Peering up at the hand that had stopped my flight, I saw that it was attached to a rather scary looking man with so many scars I could barely see one pale eye poking out from a flab of scabby skin. Flanking him were two other figures who's form shifted constantly, as if they were shadows.
"Sorry, missy, there's no leaving for you," the bald guy sneered, kicking me in the stomach. I winced in pain and coughed loudly, trying to raise myself up on my arms. Now, my wings were weighing me down.
"P-Please," I muttered, looking up at the man. Two wings protruded from his back, and from their midnight black color I knew instantly he was a demon. His clothes were draped around him in tatters, and through the holes I could clearly see the deformed body of a true demon thug.
"Please! Do you hear that?" he scoffed and turned towards the shapes that were with him, and a robotic chuckle escaped their forms. I hadn't even noticed a mouth on either of them.
Just a few feet from me rose a staggeringly tall building, with shattered windows and a rotting door hanging off its hinges. If I could just reach the building and restore my strength, surely I would be able to defeat this man. I was an Astrum Angel... And I was a failure. The thought sent a chill down my spine.
I was a failure.
I was going to lose Valor.
It would be all my fault.
No. I would not let that happen. With a fiery determination, I heaved myself up from the soot-covered ground, glaring at the demon before me. He looked at me with contempt that was reflected in my cold, green eyes. I would not let this man lay a hand on Valor.
"You think you can fight me?"
"I will not let you harm him," I seethed, lowering my gaze for a moment. But one second was all it took for the guy to lunge towards me. I quickly dodged the dagger he had removed from his pocket, lashing out with a slender foot and tripping him.
The man quickly rolled to the side and jumped upwards, rounding on me once more. He feinted a few punches and pounced on me, knife at the ready, but I was faster. Nocking a bow faster than his beady eyes could follow, I quickly released the Starshot, and it pierced the demon straight through the spot where his hard would have been. Dissipating into a pile of black dust, I watched with satisfaction as the residue from his dead body floated to the ground.
What I hadn't anticipated was the man's shadow followers to attack. One of the shifting creatures slithered towards me, disguised as a tendril of mist. It snaked up my leg and I attempted to shake it off in alarm, but the fog seemed to solidify as it wrapped around my limb and cling to it. A scream was about to escape from my lips, until a hand covered my mouth, and it wasn't until I glanced down at the "hand" that I realized it belonged to the other shadow.
The one that was climbing up my leg was beginning to branch out and creep up my body, wrapping around my torso, my chest, and seeping coldness. An icy chill encompassed my body, and I shivered. A deep bass voice whispered in my ear, as if it was the wisp of a feathery cloud and I moaned.
"Give in, Evelyn. With us, you will no longer be a failure."
The shadow's grasp changed from the forceful grip of a demon's powers to the soft caress of a lover. Closing my eyes, I could almost picture Valor, his body entangled with mine as we became one...
"Evelyn, join us. Join us..."
My lips parted slightly in consent, and I was about to give in to the shadows when the slicing of air before me and a shrill yell caused my eyes to snap open urgently. A winged figure landed loudly next to me, and I saw Eternity holding her magical shuriken in hand, poised for attack.
"E-Eternity?" I stammered, turning my head about to look for the ominous mist that was nowhere to be seen.
"Come, I'll grab Valor, we must go back to Cloud 9 immediately," she murmured, grabbing my hand and jerking me towards her.
I nodded and began ascending towards the entrance to Hell, shaking off the fading memory of Valor and I. It was a fantasy. A trick of the shadows. But the voice seemed to stick with me, constantly muttering in my ears.
"Join us, Evelyn... Join us."
~~~
Ooh, mysterious dark dirty force. XD That right there, is what you call rapist mist. LOL! I hope you don't mind me making Valor like... Almost die right there. ^^; Random action, and a new evil force who I don't know what to call yet! Woot woot! :D
