Fan Fiction ❯ Prophecy ❯ Mask of Mortal Suffering ( Chapter 8 )
[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]
By: Soulless Wanderer 
What happens when everything and everyone Alex ever care's for is destroyed.
Anime/Manga: Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Angst / Supernatural / Action | Type: Other | Uploaded On: 08.24.2005 | Pages: 3 | Words: 4.6K | Visits: 120 | Status: Completed
What happens when everything and everyone Alex ever care's for is destroyed.
Anime/Manga: Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Angst / Supernatural / Action | Type: Other | Uploaded On: 08.24.2005 | Pages: 3 | Words: 4.6K | Visits: 120 | Status: Completed
In another part of town.
Sara walked along a deserted street looking for a certain address on one of the many faded doorways. Before she reaches the end of the street she quickly turns around and freezes the ground behind her. It is then that she see’s a figure in tan clothing flip over the ice and land behind her. Sara ducks down low and aimed to knock the opponents feet out from under him. When she launched her kick the assailant jumped over her and landed behind her again. Sara then gets up quickly and launches numerous ice spikes from her hands. The person simply waved his hand in front of the ice spikes and they immediately melted. Sara launched a quick series of attacks with her staff but nothing she did hit the guy. Finally she twisted around quickly aiming a powerful attack at the guys head. Unfortunately the person ducks underneath the attack and grabs hold of Sara’s throat. The instant his hand touched her skin she felt her energy began to be drained out her.
“Now you’ll see why they call me Famine.” the person said as Sara struggled to maintain consciousness.
While Sasuka and Ashley were searching for information they were ambushed. Some freak with a high tech bow and arrow started attacking them in the middle of the street.
“So is this the guy you were talking about?” Ashley asked as she dodged an arrow that flew past her head.
“Nope, this one’s new.” Sasuka replied as he summoned wind to deflect the arrows.
“Well I guess we just attract all sorts of trouble.” Ashley replied sarcastically as she cut an arrow in half only to have it explode on impact!
“ASHLEY!” Sasuka yelled as he saw her disappear in a cloud of smoke and debris.
“I’m fine. Well that was unexpected. Guess these arrows are like your cards. Well guess we’ll have to watch out for them.” Ashley said as she avoided a few more arrows. Sasuka saw an opening in the vortex of arrows flying about everywhere and aimed and attack at his opponent. Sasuka ran in quickly and was about to launch his blade when an arrow struck the ground at his feet. The ground beneath him turned to ice, and thus caused him to slip and fall. Sasuka quickly recovered but as he got up an arrow collided with his forehead! It wasn’t a normal arrow, this one turned to a thick gas that covered his face and blocked his vision. Before Sasuka could disperse it with wind he was sent flying backwards, by what he could only guess was an energy arrow.
Ashley saw what was going on and launched her own attack against this mad version of Robin Hood. She launched both her daggers at the man along with numerous sonic blades. Her daggers were stopped in mid-air by the man’s energy shield he had created while still dealing with Sasuka. Her sonic blades however, caused the man to turn his attention towards Ashley. He smiled faintly at her and it was then that she realized he was blind!
“Heh so you want to feel the wrath of my plagues too?” the man said with a smirk.
“Plagues? What are you talking about. Are you an element alist?” Ashley inquired stalling for time.
“Fool, don’t you ever compare me to those weaklings. My powers are on a whole other plane from theirs. And as for your question to the plagues, that is my specialty. My name is Plague, but better yet let me give you a demonstration.” Plague announced as he created three more arrows and launched them at Ashley. Two of the arrows turned to ice as they hit Ashley’s feet. The other turned to a noxious fume which caused boils to appear all over Ashley’s body.
“Aah you bastard!” Ashley yelled. Plague only chuckled lightly at the comment. At that moment Ashley attacked. She summoned her two daggers which had fallen behind him and aimed them for his back. Unfortunately, they were dispatched once again by his shield.
“Imbecile, did you not learn the first time?” Plague asked as he lowered his shield.
“Yeah, always have a back up plan.” Ashley announced as Plague suddenly had his head rammed into the ground by Sasuka who had used Ashley’s distraction to quickly down their opponent. Ashley then destroyed her ice shackles and summoned her daggers back to her ready to fight.
“No Ashley we must retreat for now. We can’t fight him like this.” Sasuka announced.
“What do you mean, I’m fine.” Ashley said it was then that she looked into Sasuka’s eyes.
“S-Sasuka your eyes.” Ashley stammered.
“Yes, I’m blind.” Sasuka said at that moment Ashley and him quickly retreated before the mad archer could get back up.
Alex and Azrael had started their battle and Alex hadn’t even landed a single blow on Azrael.
“Come on Archangel surely your stronger than this.” Azrael said mockingly as he easily deflected everyone of Alex’s attacks. Alex was getting mad and finally summoned his sword. He summoned fire from beneath Azrael’s feet causing him to loose balance for a second. In that second Alex launched his attack aiming for Azrael’s chest. Before the blade struck however Azrael blocked the sword with his own weapon...a large black scythe!
“Heh sorry you’ll have to do better than that to even lay a blow on me.” Azrael said. Suddenly the veil once again flew from his hands and ensnared Alex.
“Get it off me!” Alex yelled, the presence of death was so strong that he couldn’t stand it.
*I can’t breathe. If I stay in here much longer I’m going to die!* Alex thought as even more thoughts about death raced through his head.
“Oh my looks like I win. So sorry about that Archangel. I forgot that you told me not to use that.” Azrael said with a coy smile as he withdrew the veil from around Alex.
“You bastard.” was all Alex could say he recovered from his encounter with death.
“Wait a minute, Sara’s in trouble.” Jamie yelled she could sense Sara’s energy signal fading.
“Don’t worry I’ll help her.” Azrael said quickly as he suddenly vanished.
“I don’t trust him.” Alex said quietly.
“I know, but for Sara’s sake I hope he hurries.” Jamie said.
A few minutes later Azrael appeared back with Sara. When Alex and Jamie laid eyes on her they couldn’t hide their shock.
“Sara oh my Lord are you okay?” Jamie asked as she knelt beside her friend. Sara looked withered, as if she had aged by 100 years.
“What happened to her?” Alex asked as he too knelt beside her.
“ She has had her energy and life force sucked out of her. When I arrived I found her like this.” Azrael said. Alex placed his hands over Sara and began restoring her little life force to normal. After a few minutes Sara looked a whole lot better.
“Sara you okay? What happened?” Alex asked.
“I was attacked...by someone named Famine.” Sara declared. “Thanks for the save, but I still feel pretty weak.”
“Hmm that’s funny usually when I heal you guys it restores your energy to. Oh well it’s okay just rest.” Alex said. It was then that Sasuka and Ashley ran up.
“Hey gu...Alex over here!” Jamie yelled as she saw Ashley and Sasuka’s battered appearance.
“Whoa what happened to you guys?” Alex asked as he tried to heal them.
“We were attacked by someone calling himself plague. I’ve never encountered a foe like him before, that is except for War. His energy and powers were incredible. Some how he was able to take away my sight.” Sasuka said waiting for his turn to be healed.
“Yeah and gave me these boils...wait why haven’t they gone away yet?” Ashley asked noticing that all her other wounds had already been healed.
“I-I’m not sure. For some reason I can’t heal your boils. Hold on, let me try Sasuka.” Alex said, but same as before Sasuka’s blindness still remained.
“I suspected as much. Their power..it’s different from our somehow, stronger, older, more...mystical; for a lack of a better word.” Sasuka said.
“Well this is just great.” Jamie said noting everyone’s sour demeanor over there recent losses. It seemed like all this bad stuff was happening ever since they met Azrael. She, along with everyone else there knew they couldn’t trust him, but what else could they do for now.
That night everyone fell asleep despite some being uncomfortable by having a person they couldn’t trust sleeping so close to them. Sara’s powers still hadn’t began to recover even though by now they should have. Ashley’s boils still remained along with Sasuka’s blindness. And no matter how hard Jamie and Alex tried to push the tremendous feeling of death they had endured while under Azrael’s veil they couldn’t except its icy clutches.
Even though Alex was asleep he was still haunted by nightmares.
Alex was once again in ancient Egypt, there he saw what appeared to be an angel floating in the sky. The angel had four sets of wings, and clothes that were so bright it hurt to look at them. He had arm bands and shin guards of solid gold. The sheath for his sword was also solid gold. He had a band of gold across his forehead which kept his white hair out of his eyes. Even though his hair and beard were white, he didn’t appear old, quite the contrary. He looked to be about 30 years old the white hair seemed to add to his stature. In his right hand he held a sword that Alex recognized immediately, it was the Blade of Heaven! The sword erupted with fire and glowed brighter than the force of the sun. The light from the sword dispatched the darkness that surrounded Egypt revealing the four creatures from Alex’s first dream.
“Famine, Plague, War, and Death. The four horsemen of the Lord. In God’s holy name I bind you and your powers!” the angel declared, his voice causing the earth to shake.
“Hah, Archangel what power do you have over us? Only God, who holds our seal can command us.” The dark shadow, which Alex realized must be Death said.
*Death...could this be the Death I know of. But it can’t be, no this power seems different. It’s not evil like Shadow’s, sort of like what Sasuka said it just feels older.* Alex thought.
“Once again I command you in the name of the Lord. You will obey his majesty.” The Archangel said at this time he drew from his cloak what appeared to be a miniature cross. A strange type of energy flowed from the cross when the Archangel place the cross into his sword.
“No! Why do you have the seal?” War asked as he drew his sword.
“I told you, I am just following God’s will.” the Archangel said. At this time he disappeared. He then reappeared behind the group and with a quick slash of his sword sealed their movement.
“As long as I hold the seal you shall sleep. Until the final day or reckoning when you shall once again roam the earth. Even you the Angel of Death, you shall sleep in this slumber. For God has appointed one other to take your position until that day.” the Archangel said. Standing next to the Archangel was none other than Shadow...or rather Death!
“What why would God appoint someone else to take charge over the element of Death? I was picked by Him personally.” the Angel of Death complained.
“It was not God’s intention to pass the title of Death from you to someone else. This was a deal of Lucifer’s. One that for the good of all of mankind must take place.” the Archangel said, with that he activated the seal, dispersing the four entities into what was supposed to be a long slumber.
“Be gone Death leave my side, your presence disturbs me.” the Archangel declared as he waved Death aside.
“One day I will get my revenge Archangel. I will repay this debt, of yours.” Death said under his breath as he vanished.
At this time the Archangel looked in Alex’s direction. And for the first time Alex got a good look of this “seal”.
*Wait a minute...that’s my necklace.* Alex realized.
Alex awoke in the middle of the night and was suddenly over come by what he must do.
* I’ve got to find War. He has my necklace which evidently is the seal that allows me to get rid of those monsters once and for all. But then again how in the world were they able to come back if I’ve had the seal. I mean, the Archangel in my dream clearly stated that as long as he held onto it then they couldn’t come back. Wait a minute could that Archangel have been me? Whoa way to much too think about way too late at night.* Alex decided as he got out of bed, got dressed, and flew out of his bedroom window.
*The night air feels so good. But right now I have a job to do.* Alex thought as he flew off. Unbeknownst to him a figure was watching him, waiting for his moment to strike.
Alex knew that something wasn’t right about all this. First off why all of a sudden did he start having these dreams. The second reason was the one that was really bothering him. If in what his dream was true, then War, Plague, Famine, the Angel of Death, even Shadow, were at least over a thousand years old. And if so, would that mean that the Archangel in his dream was once him?
By this time Alex was so deep in thought that he was barely able to dodge the multiple arrows that flew past his head.
When Alex looked to see where the arrows were coming from it was exactly like his dream. There standing before him was Plague, War, and Famine...behind them was Azrael.
“Heh so Azrael, you finally showing your true colors.” Alex said as he flew a safe distance from them, knowing full well that if he fought them one on four he wouldn’t stand a chance.
“But of course Archangel. I am only a humble servant” Azrael did a low bow as he said this “one who you betrayed.” Azrael looked up with disgust.
“So, my dream was true.” Alex said “So you’re the Angel of Death, the original one that is, am I right?”
“Correct. I am the original, I believe you’ve already encountered my...predecessor.”
“Yeah, he’s a real pain in the butt. I still don’t understand though, if you were the original Angel of Death, and you were a good guy, then how did someone like Shadow become the new Angel of Death.”
“Because...I am one of the Four Horsemen. I, along with Plague, War, and Famine are the one’s who will decimate the Earth in it’s final days. Unfortunately for us Lucifer made a deal with God. In a way as of right now the fate of the Earth is being played out like a chess game.”
“What...what in the world are you talking about?”
“Lucifer wanted a chance to defend himself, see how the humans would react to being tempted by pure evil. So God allowed him. God had the Archangel...you in other words, seal us away until it was time for us to come back and destroy the unbelievers.”
“So, God allowed Lucifer to place Shadow as the Angel of Death?”
“Now your catching on. The only way for Lucifer to win control of the Earth is if his Angel of Death defeats the Archangel. Hence the reason God sent you down to Earth. God thought ahead in the game and set up some pretty nice traps for Lucifer. One of which is God unleashing the Element alist back onto the Earth. God had sealed all their kind away long ago, but He knew you would need help and a few extra powers wouldn’t hurt. Another was giving your friends powers too. That way you would have people you trust lead you in the right direction. The final one which I might add was probably the best, was giving you the key to seal away our powers. Now that I wasn’t expecting. Lucky for us, War managed to get it from you.” Azrael said with an evil grin as he showed the necklace hanging around his neck.
“You bastard. But still one thing I want to know why the sudden change of tune. If your part of God’s army, why have you been attacking me and my friends?”
“Simple, we’d still be sealed frozen if it weren’t for someone unsealing us. I’m not sure how they did it but I’m glad. It turned out Lucifer sent them, they told us all we needed to know and said that if we didn’t kill you then we’d be sealed again. So here we are.” Azrael said as his eyes glowed a blood red. Black angel wings popped out of his back.
“You know what’s really pathetic. By now you were supposed to have regained all your memories of your life as the Archangel, but at this point you haven’t even remembered your own name. Much less remember your history as one of the famed Ten Guardians.”
“What do you mean...Ten Guardians?” Alex inquired.
“You were one of God’s elite soldiers. The best of the best. The utmost elite formed what is now known as the Ten Guardians. They are the final defense against the demons and the strongest ones at that. You were one of the Ten Guardians, as a matter of fact you were there leader. But now Archangel I believe we have some unsettled business.” Azrael said. At this time Plague shot out six arrows at one and energy beam connected the forming an energy net. The net encases Alex causing him to fall to the ground. War took advantage of this and drew out his enormous sword an charged Alex at full speed.
“Final Strike!” War yelled as he swung his sword in a wide arc towards the ground. The backlash from the attack formed a tremendous amount of energy that traveled along the ground aimed for Alex. Right before the attack struck him and giant wall of earth sprung up and shielded him from the attack.
“What the hell.” War muttered as he tried to peer thru the dust.
As the dust settled the net over Alex was cast off of him. Alex stood up tall with sword shining brightly thru the dust. Beside him was Jamie, Sara, Ashley, and Sasuka.
“Well, I might not remember my name Azrael. But I do remember that God gave me friends for a reason.” Alex said with a smirk .
“Sasuka, Sara you two take Famine. Jamie, you and Ashley take Plague. As soon as you guys finish them go for War. I’ll hold him off as long as I can until you guys get through. But leave Azrael to me.” Alex said quickly as he teleported towards War. Jamie and Ashley wasted no time on their assault on Plague, trying hard not to give him anytime to shoot out any of those lethal arrows. Sara and Sasuka also started their attack on Famine. Sasuka was having a hard time fighting due to the fact that he still couldn’t see, but regardless he was doing fairly well.
Famine lunged in at Sara, who blocked with a wall of ice. The wall was immediately eradicated by Famine’s power’s leaving nothing but mist as a reminder of the wall. Sara back flipped quickly to avoid being grabbed by Famine’s hands. Famine jumped into the air lunging towards Sara before he reached her he was tossed backwards by a strong gust of wind. Sasuka and Sara then rushed in for a quick combo. Sara turned the ground beneath Famine’s feet to ice causing him to loose balance. Sasuka then launched a barrage of energy attacks at Famine as the dust settled Famine had taken a beating but was still standing.
Jamie and Ashleywe’re doing exceptionally well against Plague. Every time Plague tired to shoot any of his arrows Jamie blocked them with a wall of earth. Jamie kept up the defenses while Ashley took the offensive. Ashley deflected one of Plague’s arrows with a quick sonic blast she then ran towards Plague to try and finish this fight quickly. Unfortunately, Plague dodged her attack, he then back handed her with his bow which sent Ashley flying back towards Jamie. Jamie softened Ashley’s landing by having a hand made out of soft dirt to catch her. Jamie then launched several spikes of dirt at Plague, but all the spikes were destroyed by an energy blast from War.
“Alex! I thought you were going to handle War.” Jamie yelled as War and Plague teamed up. “Alex?”
Jamie and Ashley momentarily turned there attention away from their fight to see what had happened to Alex, what they saw made them instantly realize why Alex hadn’t stopped War. Azrael was floating the up in the air holding Alex by the throat!
“Hah, see I told you already my power is on a completely different plane from yours. There’s no way you can beat me, not even the Archangel stood a chance against me. All it took was a little taste of my veil of death for him to give. Heh, a normal human could last only about 3 minutes in there, but him” Azrael said as his grip tightened. “ He could only last about a minute. Because of his power of life he is about 100 times more susceptible to my veil of death.”
“Now, it’s time for our revenge.” Azrael said evilly. Out of nowhere Plague jumped into the air beside them. His hands glowed with strange energy as he shot Alex in the face. Azrael smiled as a black film began to come from his hand and cover Alex’s face.
“Now is the time for my ultimate revenge...Mask of Mortal Suffering!” Azrael said, at this time the film completely covered Alex’s head. For some reason Alex didn’t even struggle as it closed around him. For Alex his entire world went black when Plague hit him with that energy blast. When he awoke his head was on fire. He felt like Hell and probably looked like it too. He blinked a few times taking in the bright light, it was then that he noticed just how quite it was.
*Wait a minute, something’s wrong here. I was just in the middle of a fight, what happened to everyo-.* At that point Alex lost all rational thought as his eyes fell upon the dead bodies of his friends. Sasuka arm had been ripped off, his legs looked broken, and his face was non-existent! Sara’s and Ashley’s bodies were just as bad. The next body he saw caused him to fall down on his knees and vomit. There pinned to the wall was the decapitated body of Jamie. The item pinning her to the wall...was Alex’s own sword! Alex couldn’t move for what seemed like hours all he could do was cry.
*Why God? Why! Is this all of Your big plan? To take everything I ever cared about and let it die. Why is it that every time I care about some thing or someone You manage to find new ways of killing them.* There were just some of the many thoughts that were passing thru Alex’s head. Alex knew he head to get, he knew he had to get out of there. He barely was able to stand up, and regretted even more what he had to do next. Slowly Alex reached out to grab the hilt of the Sword of Heaven. With what little strength he had left he pulled the sword out. Alex winced as he heard Jamie’s body hit the ground. At this time it began raining.
*Great, just great.* Alex thought. Alex was out of energy but he still had one last thing to do. With his bare hands and his sword he began digging graves for his friends. About four hours later he was finished. Exhausted and soaked Alex barely made it back home. He was by this time emotionally, physically, and mentally drained so when he saw his house he barely even reacted. There home...his home had been burnt to the ground everything inside of it had been destroyed also.
“Fuck...” was all Alex said.
*Those damn bastard’s have taken everything away from me. In just one day, everything and everyone I cared about and knew had been destroyed. I mean for crying out loud...they even killed my cat!* Alex thought as he saw the burnt remains of his precious cat.
“What’s the point anymore. I mean, the reason I always fought so hard was because of my friends...and now, what’s left to fight for?” Alex said to himself as he sat down, the rain mixing with his tears.
“Maybe it’d be better if I just let them win. At least there would be no more pain. Maybe...heh at the least I’d be able to see mom again.” Alex said as he looked towards his sword, despair and hope filling his eyes as he grabbed the hilt of his sword.
Sara walked along a deserted street looking for a certain address on one of the many faded doorways. Before she reaches the end of the street she quickly turns around and freezes the ground behind her. It is then that she see’s a figure in tan clothing flip over the ice and land behind her. Sara ducks down low and aimed to knock the opponents feet out from under him. When she launched her kick the assailant jumped over her and landed behind her again. Sara then gets up quickly and launches numerous ice spikes from her hands. The person simply waved his hand in front of the ice spikes and they immediately melted. Sara launched a quick series of attacks with her staff but nothing she did hit the guy. Finally she twisted around quickly aiming a powerful attack at the guys head. Unfortunately the person ducks underneath the attack and grabs hold of Sara’s throat. The instant his hand touched her skin she felt her energy began to be drained out her.
“Now you’ll see why they call me Famine.” the person said as Sara struggled to maintain consciousness.
While Sasuka and Ashley were searching for information they were ambushed. Some freak with a high tech bow and arrow started attacking them in the middle of the street.
“So is this the guy you were talking about?” Ashley asked as she dodged an arrow that flew past her head.
“Nope, this one’s new.” Sasuka replied as he summoned wind to deflect the arrows.
“Well I guess we just attract all sorts of trouble.” Ashley replied sarcastically as she cut an arrow in half only to have it explode on impact!
“ASHLEY!” Sasuka yelled as he saw her disappear in a cloud of smoke and debris.
“I’m fine. Well that was unexpected. Guess these arrows are like your cards. Well guess we’ll have to watch out for them.” Ashley said as she avoided a few more arrows. Sasuka saw an opening in the vortex of arrows flying about everywhere and aimed and attack at his opponent. Sasuka ran in quickly and was about to launch his blade when an arrow struck the ground at his feet. The ground beneath him turned to ice, and thus caused him to slip and fall. Sasuka quickly recovered but as he got up an arrow collided with his forehead! It wasn’t a normal arrow, this one turned to a thick gas that covered his face and blocked his vision. Before Sasuka could disperse it with wind he was sent flying backwards, by what he could only guess was an energy arrow.
Ashley saw what was going on and launched her own attack against this mad version of Robin Hood. She launched both her daggers at the man along with numerous sonic blades. Her daggers were stopped in mid-air by the man’s energy shield he had created while still dealing with Sasuka. Her sonic blades however, caused the man to turn his attention towards Ashley. He smiled faintly at her and it was then that she realized he was blind!
“Heh so you want to feel the wrath of my plagues too?” the man said with a smirk.
“Plagues? What are you talking about. Are you an element alist?” Ashley inquired stalling for time.
“Fool, don’t you ever compare me to those weaklings. My powers are on a whole other plane from theirs. And as for your question to the plagues, that is my specialty. My name is Plague, but better yet let me give you a demonstration.” Plague announced as he created three more arrows and launched them at Ashley. Two of the arrows turned to ice as they hit Ashley’s feet. The other turned to a noxious fume which caused boils to appear all over Ashley’s body.
“Aah you bastard!” Ashley yelled. Plague only chuckled lightly at the comment. At that moment Ashley attacked. She summoned her two daggers which had fallen behind him and aimed them for his back. Unfortunately, they were dispatched once again by his shield.
“Imbecile, did you not learn the first time?” Plague asked as he lowered his shield.
“Yeah, always have a back up plan.” Ashley announced as Plague suddenly had his head rammed into the ground by Sasuka who had used Ashley’s distraction to quickly down their opponent. Ashley then destroyed her ice shackles and summoned her daggers back to her ready to fight.
“No Ashley we must retreat for now. We can’t fight him like this.” Sasuka announced.
“What do you mean, I’m fine.” Ashley said it was then that she looked into Sasuka’s eyes.
“S-Sasuka your eyes.” Ashley stammered.
“Yes, I’m blind.” Sasuka said at that moment Ashley and him quickly retreated before the mad archer could get back up.
Alex and Azrael had started their battle and Alex hadn’t even landed a single blow on Azrael.
“Come on Archangel surely your stronger than this.” Azrael said mockingly as he easily deflected everyone of Alex’s attacks. Alex was getting mad and finally summoned his sword. He summoned fire from beneath Azrael’s feet causing him to loose balance for a second. In that second Alex launched his attack aiming for Azrael’s chest. Before the blade struck however Azrael blocked the sword with his own weapon...a large black scythe!
“Heh sorry you’ll have to do better than that to even lay a blow on me.” Azrael said. Suddenly the veil once again flew from his hands and ensnared Alex.
“Get it off me!” Alex yelled, the presence of death was so strong that he couldn’t stand it.
*I can’t breathe. If I stay in here much longer I’m going to die!* Alex thought as even more thoughts about death raced through his head.
“Oh my looks like I win. So sorry about that Archangel. I forgot that you told me not to use that.” Azrael said with a coy smile as he withdrew the veil from around Alex.
“You bastard.” was all Alex could say he recovered from his encounter with death.
“Wait a minute, Sara’s in trouble.” Jamie yelled she could sense Sara’s energy signal fading.
“Don’t worry I’ll help her.” Azrael said quickly as he suddenly vanished.
“I don’t trust him.” Alex said quietly.
“I know, but for Sara’s sake I hope he hurries.” Jamie said.
A few minutes later Azrael appeared back with Sara. When Alex and Jamie laid eyes on her they couldn’t hide their shock.
“Sara oh my Lord are you okay?” Jamie asked as she knelt beside her friend. Sara looked withered, as if she had aged by 100 years.
“What happened to her?” Alex asked as he too knelt beside her.
“ She has had her energy and life force sucked out of her. When I arrived I found her like this.” Azrael said. Alex placed his hands over Sara and began restoring her little life force to normal. After a few minutes Sara looked a whole lot better.
“Sara you okay? What happened?” Alex asked.
“I was attacked...by someone named Famine.” Sara declared. “Thanks for the save, but I still feel pretty weak.”
“Hmm that’s funny usually when I heal you guys it restores your energy to. Oh well it’s okay just rest.” Alex said. It was then that Sasuka and Ashley ran up.
“Hey gu...Alex over here!” Jamie yelled as she saw Ashley and Sasuka’s battered appearance.
“Whoa what happened to you guys?” Alex asked as he tried to heal them.
“We were attacked by someone calling himself plague. I’ve never encountered a foe like him before, that is except for War. His energy and powers were incredible. Some how he was able to take away my sight.” Sasuka said waiting for his turn to be healed.
“Yeah and gave me these boils...wait why haven’t they gone away yet?” Ashley asked noticing that all her other wounds had already been healed.
“I-I’m not sure. For some reason I can’t heal your boils. Hold on, let me try Sasuka.” Alex said, but same as before Sasuka’s blindness still remained.
“I suspected as much. Their power..it’s different from our somehow, stronger, older, more...mystical; for a lack of a better word.” Sasuka said.
“Well this is just great.” Jamie said noting everyone’s sour demeanor over there recent losses. It seemed like all this bad stuff was happening ever since they met Azrael. She, along with everyone else there knew they couldn’t trust him, but what else could they do for now.
That night everyone fell asleep despite some being uncomfortable by having a person they couldn’t trust sleeping so close to them. Sara’s powers still hadn’t began to recover even though by now they should have. Ashley’s boils still remained along with Sasuka’s blindness. And no matter how hard Jamie and Alex tried to push the tremendous feeling of death they had endured while under Azrael’s veil they couldn’t except its icy clutches.
Even though Alex was asleep he was still haunted by nightmares.
Alex was once again in ancient Egypt, there he saw what appeared to be an angel floating in the sky. The angel had four sets of wings, and clothes that were so bright it hurt to look at them. He had arm bands and shin guards of solid gold. The sheath for his sword was also solid gold. He had a band of gold across his forehead which kept his white hair out of his eyes. Even though his hair and beard were white, he didn’t appear old, quite the contrary. He looked to be about 30 years old the white hair seemed to add to his stature. In his right hand he held a sword that Alex recognized immediately, it was the Blade of Heaven! The sword erupted with fire and glowed brighter than the force of the sun. The light from the sword dispatched the darkness that surrounded Egypt revealing the four creatures from Alex’s first dream.
“Famine, Plague, War, and Death. The four horsemen of the Lord. In God’s holy name I bind you and your powers!” the angel declared, his voice causing the earth to shake.
“Hah, Archangel what power do you have over us? Only God, who holds our seal can command us.” The dark shadow, which Alex realized must be Death said.
*Death...could this be the Death I know of. But it can’t be, no this power seems different. It’s not evil like Shadow’s, sort of like what Sasuka said it just feels older.* Alex thought.
“Once again I command you in the name of the Lord. You will obey his majesty.” The Archangel said at this time he drew from his cloak what appeared to be a miniature cross. A strange type of energy flowed from the cross when the Archangel place the cross into his sword.
“No! Why do you have the seal?” War asked as he drew his sword.
“I told you, I am just following God’s will.” the Archangel said. At this time he disappeared. He then reappeared behind the group and with a quick slash of his sword sealed their movement.
“As long as I hold the seal you shall sleep. Until the final day or reckoning when you shall once again roam the earth. Even you the Angel of Death, you shall sleep in this slumber. For God has appointed one other to take your position until that day.” the Archangel said. Standing next to the Archangel was none other than Shadow...or rather Death!
“What why would God appoint someone else to take charge over the element of Death? I was picked by Him personally.” the Angel of Death complained.
“It was not God’s intention to pass the title of Death from you to someone else. This was a deal of Lucifer’s. One that for the good of all of mankind must take place.” the Archangel said, with that he activated the seal, dispersing the four entities into what was supposed to be a long slumber.
“Be gone Death leave my side, your presence disturbs me.” the Archangel declared as he waved Death aside.
“One day I will get my revenge Archangel. I will repay this debt, of yours.” Death said under his breath as he vanished.
At this time the Archangel looked in Alex’s direction. And for the first time Alex got a good look of this “seal”.
*Wait a minute...that’s my necklace.* Alex realized.
Alex awoke in the middle of the night and was suddenly over come by what he must do.
* I’ve got to find War. He has my necklace which evidently is the seal that allows me to get rid of those monsters once and for all. But then again how in the world were they able to come back if I’ve had the seal. I mean, the Archangel in my dream clearly stated that as long as he held onto it then they couldn’t come back. Wait a minute could that Archangel have been me? Whoa way to much too think about way too late at night.* Alex decided as he got out of bed, got dressed, and flew out of his bedroom window.
*The night air feels so good. But right now I have a job to do.* Alex thought as he flew off. Unbeknownst to him a figure was watching him, waiting for his moment to strike.
Alex knew that something wasn’t right about all this. First off why all of a sudden did he start having these dreams. The second reason was the one that was really bothering him. If in what his dream was true, then War, Plague, Famine, the Angel of Death, even Shadow, were at least over a thousand years old. And if so, would that mean that the Archangel in his dream was once him?
By this time Alex was so deep in thought that he was barely able to dodge the multiple arrows that flew past his head.
When Alex looked to see where the arrows were coming from it was exactly like his dream. There standing before him was Plague, War, and Famine...behind them was Azrael.
“Heh so Azrael, you finally showing your true colors.” Alex said as he flew a safe distance from them, knowing full well that if he fought them one on four he wouldn’t stand a chance.
“But of course Archangel. I am only a humble servant” Azrael did a low bow as he said this “one who you betrayed.” Azrael looked up with disgust.
“So, my dream was true.” Alex said “So you’re the Angel of Death, the original one that is, am I right?”
“Correct. I am the original, I believe you’ve already encountered my...predecessor.”
“Yeah, he’s a real pain in the butt. I still don’t understand though, if you were the original Angel of Death, and you were a good guy, then how did someone like Shadow become the new Angel of Death.”
“Because...I am one of the Four Horsemen. I, along with Plague, War, and Famine are the one’s who will decimate the Earth in it’s final days. Unfortunately for us Lucifer made a deal with God. In a way as of right now the fate of the Earth is being played out like a chess game.”
“What...what in the world are you talking about?”
“Lucifer wanted a chance to defend himself, see how the humans would react to being tempted by pure evil. So God allowed him. God had the Archangel...you in other words, seal us away until it was time for us to come back and destroy the unbelievers.”
“So, God allowed Lucifer to place Shadow as the Angel of Death?”
“Now your catching on. The only way for Lucifer to win control of the Earth is if his Angel of Death defeats the Archangel. Hence the reason God sent you down to Earth. God thought ahead in the game and set up some pretty nice traps for Lucifer. One of which is God unleashing the Element alist back onto the Earth. God had sealed all their kind away long ago, but He knew you would need help and a few extra powers wouldn’t hurt. Another was giving your friends powers too. That way you would have people you trust lead you in the right direction. The final one which I might add was probably the best, was giving you the key to seal away our powers. Now that I wasn’t expecting. Lucky for us, War managed to get it from you.” Azrael said with an evil grin as he showed the necklace hanging around his neck.
“You bastard. But still one thing I want to know why the sudden change of tune. If your part of God’s army, why have you been attacking me and my friends?”
“Simple, we’d still be sealed frozen if it weren’t for someone unsealing us. I’m not sure how they did it but I’m glad. It turned out Lucifer sent them, they told us all we needed to know and said that if we didn’t kill you then we’d be sealed again. So here we are.” Azrael said as his eyes glowed a blood red. Black angel wings popped out of his back.
“You know what’s really pathetic. By now you were supposed to have regained all your memories of your life as the Archangel, but at this point you haven’t even remembered your own name. Much less remember your history as one of the famed Ten Guardians.”
“What do you mean...Ten Guardians?” Alex inquired.
“You were one of God’s elite soldiers. The best of the best. The utmost elite formed what is now known as the Ten Guardians. They are the final defense against the demons and the strongest ones at that. You were one of the Ten Guardians, as a matter of fact you were there leader. But now Archangel I believe we have some unsettled business.” Azrael said. At this time Plague shot out six arrows at one and energy beam connected the forming an energy net. The net encases Alex causing him to fall to the ground. War took advantage of this and drew out his enormous sword an charged Alex at full speed.
“Final Strike!” War yelled as he swung his sword in a wide arc towards the ground. The backlash from the attack formed a tremendous amount of energy that traveled along the ground aimed for Alex. Right before the attack struck him and giant wall of earth sprung up and shielded him from the attack.
“What the hell.” War muttered as he tried to peer thru the dust.
As the dust settled the net over Alex was cast off of him. Alex stood up tall with sword shining brightly thru the dust. Beside him was Jamie, Sara, Ashley, and Sasuka.
“Well, I might not remember my name Azrael. But I do remember that God gave me friends for a reason.” Alex said with a smirk .
“Sasuka, Sara you two take Famine. Jamie, you and Ashley take Plague. As soon as you guys finish them go for War. I’ll hold him off as long as I can until you guys get through. But leave Azrael to me.” Alex said quickly as he teleported towards War. Jamie and Ashley wasted no time on their assault on Plague, trying hard not to give him anytime to shoot out any of those lethal arrows. Sara and Sasuka also started their attack on Famine. Sasuka was having a hard time fighting due to the fact that he still couldn’t see, but regardless he was doing fairly well.
Famine lunged in at Sara, who blocked with a wall of ice. The wall was immediately eradicated by Famine’s power’s leaving nothing but mist as a reminder of the wall. Sara back flipped quickly to avoid being grabbed by Famine’s hands. Famine jumped into the air lunging towards Sara before he reached her he was tossed backwards by a strong gust of wind. Sasuka and Sara then rushed in for a quick combo. Sara turned the ground beneath Famine’s feet to ice causing him to loose balance. Sasuka then launched a barrage of energy attacks at Famine as the dust settled Famine had taken a beating but was still standing.
Jamie and Ashleywe’re doing exceptionally well against Plague. Every time Plague tired to shoot any of his arrows Jamie blocked them with a wall of earth. Jamie kept up the defenses while Ashley took the offensive. Ashley deflected one of Plague’s arrows with a quick sonic blast she then ran towards Plague to try and finish this fight quickly. Unfortunately, Plague dodged her attack, he then back handed her with his bow which sent Ashley flying back towards Jamie. Jamie softened Ashley’s landing by having a hand made out of soft dirt to catch her. Jamie then launched several spikes of dirt at Plague, but all the spikes were destroyed by an energy blast from War.
“Alex! I thought you were going to handle War.” Jamie yelled as War and Plague teamed up. “Alex?”
Jamie and Ashley momentarily turned there attention away from their fight to see what had happened to Alex, what they saw made them instantly realize why Alex hadn’t stopped War. Azrael was floating the up in the air holding Alex by the throat!
“Hah, see I told you already my power is on a completely different plane from yours. There’s no way you can beat me, not even the Archangel stood a chance against me. All it took was a little taste of my veil of death for him to give. Heh, a normal human could last only about 3 minutes in there, but him” Azrael said as his grip tightened. “ He could only last about a minute. Because of his power of life he is about 100 times more susceptible to my veil of death.”
“Now, it’s time for our revenge.” Azrael said evilly. Out of nowhere Plague jumped into the air beside them. His hands glowed with strange energy as he shot Alex in the face. Azrael smiled as a black film began to come from his hand and cover Alex’s face.
“Now is the time for my ultimate revenge...Mask of Mortal Suffering!” Azrael said, at this time the film completely covered Alex’s head. For some reason Alex didn’t even struggle as it closed around him. For Alex his entire world went black when Plague hit him with that energy blast. When he awoke his head was on fire. He felt like Hell and probably looked like it too. He blinked a few times taking in the bright light, it was then that he noticed just how quite it was.
*Wait a minute, something’s wrong here. I was just in the middle of a fight, what happened to everyo-.* At that point Alex lost all rational thought as his eyes fell upon the dead bodies of his friends. Sasuka arm had been ripped off, his legs looked broken, and his face was non-existent! Sara’s and Ashley’s bodies were just as bad. The next body he saw caused him to fall down on his knees and vomit. There pinned to the wall was the decapitated body of Jamie. The item pinning her to the wall...was Alex’s own sword! Alex couldn’t move for what seemed like hours all he could do was cry.
*Why God? Why! Is this all of Your big plan? To take everything I ever cared about and let it die. Why is it that every time I care about some thing or someone You manage to find new ways of killing them.* There were just some of the many thoughts that were passing thru Alex’s head. Alex knew he head to get, he knew he had to get out of there. He barely was able to stand up, and regretted even more what he had to do next. Slowly Alex reached out to grab the hilt of the Sword of Heaven. With what little strength he had left he pulled the sword out. Alex winced as he heard Jamie’s body hit the ground. At this time it began raining.
*Great, just great.* Alex thought. Alex was out of energy but he still had one last thing to do. With his bare hands and his sword he began digging graves for his friends. About four hours later he was finished. Exhausted and soaked Alex barely made it back home. He was by this time emotionally, physically, and mentally drained so when he saw his house he barely even reacted. There home...his home had been burnt to the ground everything inside of it had been destroyed also.
“Fuck...” was all Alex said.
*Those damn bastard’s have taken everything away from me. In just one day, everything and everyone I cared about and knew had been destroyed. I mean for crying out loud...they even killed my cat!* Alex thought as he saw the burnt remains of his precious cat.
“What’s the point anymore. I mean, the reason I always fought so hard was because of my friends...and now, what’s left to fight for?” Alex said to himself as he sat down, the rain mixing with his tears.
“Maybe it’d be better if I just let them win. At least there would be no more pain. Maybe...heh at the least I’d be able to see mom again.” Alex said as he looked towards his sword, despair and hope filling his eyes as he grabbed the hilt of his sword.