Fan Fiction ❯ The Soul Reaver and The Spirit Shield ❯ Fire Demon ( Chapter 6 )

Chapter Six

Raziel raised his wraith blade in preparation for battle. The demon gave a bemused snort at his much smaller foe just before charging at him with his large horns. Raziel quickly moved out of harm's way, being much more agile than his opponent. Seizing the opportunity, Raziel swung his blade around and slashed the demon across its back, causing it to let out a piercing howl.

The demon spun around quickly in reaction to the blow and glared angrily at Raziel. Lashing out with its claws, it swung viciously at Raziel, causing the former vampire to back up defensively, barely avoiding the dangerously sharp claws. Ducking under the demon's arm, Raziel avoided a crippling blow and rolled behind the beast. Raziel slashed at the demon, and sliced through the demon's leg. The fire beast screamed out in pain. Blood spilled onto the floor.

The beast had been damaged badly, and halted his attack for a moment. Summoning up its strength, the beast was engulfed in fire. The flames did not damage the demon however. The fire actually regenerated the wounds inflicted upon the demon to Raziel's horror. He could barely manage to strike the beast, and now all blows were in vain due to its healing abilities.

With heavy uncertainty, Raziel hesitated his attacks to strategize. The fire around the beast settled, and the demon glared directly into Raziel's eyes. Raziel was unsure as to what the demon's next intentions were. The fire beast drew in a deep breath, and before Raziel could react, he found himself in the center of a continuous stream of flame pouring from the demon's mouth. As the beast's attack diminished with his breath, Raziel found his body severely burned. The attack had left him very weak and vulnerable.

Unrelenting, the demon charged at Raziel, crashing into his prey with his overbearing horns. Raziel was sent flying across the room and slammed into the far wall before sliding down to the floor. Aching, Raziel knew that one more successful attack from his opponent would send him into the spectral realm. Barely able to lift his head up, Raziel noticed the beast summon up a sphere of flame within its claws.

`This is it,' Raziel thought to himself. Like the demons he had encountered previously, Raziel knew this one would most likely follow him to the spectral realm to finish him off. He would only have a narrow moment of opportunity to regain some strength and then catch the demon off guard as it made its shift. Raziel braced himself as the demon released his attack to the helpless former vampire.

However, something caught Raziel's eye. A flicker of light beside him drew his attention to the skeletal remains he had noticed upon his arrival. `The soul! It had been hiding in there this whole time!' he realized. Almost as if in slow motion, Raziel watched the soul with bewilderment as it emerged from the corpse and seemed to dance around in front of him. The approaching attack had been temporarily forgotten.

For some unknown reason, even to himself, Raziel did not feed upon the soul. Even though it would have restored some of his strength. He continued to watch with curiosity as it floated almost protectively in front of him. That's when his attention was brought back to the ball of fire nearing his being. Having been pulled from his daze, time seemed to restore back to its normal speed and the fireball rocketed towards its target. Raziel winced at his stupidity for having dropped his guard.

The attack never came. Raziel opened his eyes and was shocked at what he saw before him. The soul in front of him had manifested itself in a humanoid form and was standing before him with its back turned to Raziel. The soul had manipulated its own energy to create a shield from the blast. The flames from the attack were forced out and around Raziel and his protector, creating a magnificent show of light when combined with the aura of the soul. The attack subsided and the form of the soul slackened from exhaustion.

"He is weak. Attack him now," the soul's voice rang in Raziel's ears. Though the soul never turned to face Raziel, it could sense his weakened condition. Despite the soul's own fatigue, it spared all the energy it could and allowed it to absorb into Raziel's body. Unsure of how he could have absorbed the spirit's energy without consuming it, Raziel rose to his feet.

"Do it now, before it's too late," came the voice once again. Raziel looked up at the spirit, to see that in its weakest state, it could not maintain its shape and that it had reverted back to the sphere of energy. Only this time it was very faint. Almost fully restored, Raziel turned his attention to the demon, who had used too much of its own energy in the previous attack.

Summoning up the power of the Reaver, Raziel thrust it into the beast's midsection. With a crackle of energy, the wraith blade disintegrated the beast, releasing its soul from its body. Before it could escape, Raziel devoured the beast's unfortunate soul. With his victory, Raziel turned back to where the soul who had protected him had been. The soul had floated back over to the corpse, which Raziel figured had once been the body to which the soul belonged. Raziel could sense the fading aura of the soul.

"You have questions yet unanswered, Raziel. You still have time to prevent this soul's departure from this world," the unforgettable voice of the Greater God rang in Raziel's head.

"And what interest do you have in that spirit? Why all of a sudden, are you so willing to offer me advice after I so blatantly deceived you?" answered the reaver of souls.

"It is not I who has interest in that soul, but you. You have questions you wish to ask of it, yet your opportunity to do so is dwindling."

"I shall find my answers one way or another."

"But not the information long forgotten with this being's demise," coaxed the God. "Are you so willing to cast away the spirit that only moments ago spared you from your own demise?" Silence.

"You have a point, but why do you offer me your assistance? Certainly there is something in this for you should I heed your advice," Raziel interrogated.

"There most certainly is, Raziel. With yours and Kain's meddling, you have released a far greater evil than any you may have encountered back into this world. And I expect you to rectify this situation. To do so, you will need further assistance from that fading spirit. This building possesses the means to restore this soul. I trust you will make the right decision," the God finished before his presence left Raziel's mind.

Raziel glanced over to the soul. Its strength had almost diminished. Turning to leave the small chamber, he decided to help the spirit. Not for the Greater God, but if only to repay his debt to the soul for its assistance. And perhaps he would get some answers. Leaving the smaller chamber, Raziel looked around at all the machinery around the larger enclosure. It was then that he noticed that the small chamber he had just emerged from was in actuality part of a machine. Fortunately, the machine was in much better condition than its counterparts in the room.

Studying the contraption, Raziel noted that above the cramped inner chamber, there were many pipes and gears. However, time still had aged the machine, as there were sections of pipe that had rotted away and a few missing gears. `Borrowing' some parts from other machines, Raziel replaced the missing and damaged parts.

"Now what to do?" Raziel asked himself aloud as he gazed upward, following the machine to the platform high above. Raziel spotted a ledge he could climb to on the other side of the small chamber. From said ledge, he could jump to the platform high above. As he rounded the chamber, he noticed images of the ancient vampire race that were better preserved than the rest about the room.

The image was that of what seemed to be an injured vampire inside a box. From the box, were lines that were drawn upward and then to the right. As the lines went further up, an increasing amount of violet had been drawn within the lines. The lines led to another vampire with its arms outstretched to its sides. Pikes of some sort had been thrust through each of the vampire's palms. From its hands, dripped a violet liquid, which seemed to collect under the vampire.

Raziel realized that the image was instructions for the use of the machine. Raziel climbed up to the platform above. But the pikes he noticed in the picture were not present on this platform. Looking around, Raziel noticed a pressure switch on a far wall. Using the reaver, he shot a sphere of energy at the plate. This resulted in the machine whirring to life. The gears began to turn and the pikes Raziel had seen in the depiction slowly rose from the platform below Raziel's feet.

The machine now active, Raziel knew what he had to do. Though slightly painful, he thrusted his palms down onto the two pikes on either side. Raziel felt a slight suction emanate from below his feet as some of his energy from his physical manifestation was drawn from his palms. The energy collected at his feet, as did in the images.

Raziel removed his palms from the pikes at his sides. The platform below him opened up slightly, enough for the collected energy to travel down into the pipes of the machine.

Though slightly drained, Raziel leapt down from the platform, holding his wings for a slower decent. The pipes from the platform above led directly into the small chamber below. After a few moments, the smaller chamber seemed to come to life, fulfilling its part of the operation. Raziel watched intently.

Finally after several moments of anticipation, the machine settled back down into silence. Wondering if the machine had accomplished its task, Raziel pulled open the door to the smaller chamber. It had grown dark inside once again, the torches having been extinguished by the machine's activities. Summoning the reaver's light enhancements, the chamber was illuminated well enough to see.

Looking around, Raziel could not locate the spirit he had left behind inside the chamber. As he neared the far side, he spotted the corpse. Only it no longer was a corpse. In place of the corpse, was a fully rejuvenated body of a Sarafan priest.

`Great, just my luck,' Raziel inwardly groaned. `As soon as he gets up, he'll probably attack me.' Raziel was pulled from his thoughts as the warrior stirred into consciousness. Slowly, the Sarafan rose, and Raziel was taken by surprise.

"You're not a Sarafan priest!" he exclaimed out loud, catching the attention of the recovered warrior. "You're a priestess!"