(no subject)
Sep. 20th, 2008 11:15 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
korafoxDon't ever let it be said that I don't finish these things. Eventually. (Even if this one is coming up on six months overdue.)
Julia knows less than I do about what was actually going on in these events, but it's first-person, so hey.
And without further ado,
-------------------
Well, once again these people have made the case that humanity doesn't deserve to survive the End Times. Despite the doom that now hung in the very sky itself--a misty blackness was spreading to conceal the sun--Darren still managed to get the others to waste precious time trying to kill him. He did something patently stupid once again, tried to mess with Dex. Sam almost killed him this time, by smashing his face in with that sword. Don't think the calmer heads in the group will be able to stop him next time, and I'm not sure I'll even be able to lend my voice to that side.
Things were bad outside, by the time we left the Louvre. Vampires were openly roaming the streets, but we managed to safely make our way to the airfield our plane was waiting at. A couple of them were loitering by the airplane. My temper was short. I ran them off.
The seventh Seal was in the jungles of the Congo, and it was there that the Four demons would gather. I spent the whole of the flight getting the others in fighting shape. Wasn't easy, since half of them had been beaten half to death in fighting Markwell. So by the time we landed, I was once again on my last legs--been going without sleep far too long, far too often.
But before we had a chance to find somewhere to stay, we were met by two old friends at the airport. Apparently everyone except us had known that the Apocalypse would be starting here. Verris had been sent by the Mage Council, who had finally gotten their heads out of their asses and decided to help. Well, going up against all four of the demons, we were going to need the help. Harris had also made her way to join us once again. It's strange; though I know she's been doing this almost as long as we have, I can't help but think of her as that uninitiated FBI agent we had first met.
They'd already found someplace to stay, and finally I was able to steal a few hours of sleep. Decided to stop avoiding Avalon and face up to my failure.
It was burning...she had free reign there while I was awake. And so of course she spent her time razing that holy, ancient city. The worst part is that there's nothing I can do to stop her, unless I want to set her loose on the outside world instead. While we're both in Avalon, only she can tap into the power. The kings seemed to be alright, though their halls burned. I guess they've outlived enough that just one homicidal pyromaniac seems like nothing.
Seth's visions had taken us to a small town with a church before we would head up the river into the jungles. Probably a lot of it was due to the blackness partially blotting out the sky, but as we approached the village things just felt creepy. The church itself was deserted, but Verris could sense that the Seclesti had been here. I guess even here they buy into all that horror movie BS--there was a hidden stone passage leading down into the earth. We followed it down much deeper than it seemed conceivable to dig such a tunnel; like the Shadow-nest under the South Side apartment complex, I got the feeling that the spaces were not completely adjacent according to the usual laws of physics. We found a lot of rooms in those catacombs filled with nasty stuff best left uncontemplated. But the twisting passageway eventually led to a large hewn room. It held a table, against which had fallen several burned-out corpses. They were fresh.
The door to the room slammed shut just before Verris could step through. We had a new companion in the room--Johannes, with a misshapen bag slung over his shoulder. Admin told me, before he left, that he didn't trust Johannes. Guess he was right to do so...but it didn't look like his caution did him any good. That sicko had been carrying his head around in the sack. Said he was a collector. I think even if he wasn't out for our lives, even if we didn't have to kill him to get out of there, not one of us wouldn't have gone after him, seeing what he'd done to Admin.
Johannes' "collection" included some heavy-duty firepower--and one of the legendary weapons that had supposedly been destroyed. So we didn't waste any time in bringing out the big guns. I tried to employ my fire against him, but once again couldn't keep her from wresting control away from me. I think it'd be a bit hard for the others not to have noticed this time, too. And much as I hate Johannes, I took a small amount of satisfaction in how easily he shut her down.
Johannes may have been able to take out Admin by getting the drop on him, but he made a major mistake in taking us all on at once. Dex managed to steal the legendary weapon away from him (though I have to wonder how well the staff of the Monkey King really suits her), and Verris, though still stuck in the corridor, cast a spell that lit him up like a bullseye.
He wasn't human--looked like he'd been sewn together out of spare parts. But he was dead, and with his death the door opened once again. Verris rushed in, and as we were regrouping we were joined by someone we hadn't seen in months. Don't know if I expected to ever see Mark again in this world (alive or otherwise), and I certainly wasn't going to trust him unconditionally, District 10 or no. But he seemed to know what was going on--even more than we did--so it wouldn't hurt to hear him out. Seemed he had a solution for one of our problems. There was no way we were going to be able to take on the Four with half of us in the power of the Books. Mark knew a ritual that had a chance to break that control.
So we got to see Carter, Sam, and Mori puke their guts out all over the cave floor. I guess it helped them, though they still weren't entirely free. But it would have to wait--that was the last interlude we got before our headlong rush to the final seal.
We didn't expect the surprise that was waiting for us when we got back up to the "respectable" part of the church. After all, the demons were already on their way to the Seal. Out of nowhere, a gunshot sounded and Mark's head exploded into a cloud of gore. With all our attention on Draco, our friends in the military had managed to catch up to us. Last time we barely managed to get them to retreat, and then we weren't facing them all at once.
Through all these battles, I've always felt that we were essentially on our own. In the beginning we might have had the tentative support of a distant organization, but the only people we could really rely on were each other. So when the cavalry--our cavalry--came charging in, it felt for the first time like we might actually be able to win this. The remaining members of District 10, George, even Doc had come to back us up. I almost wish we could have stayed to see that fight, but they were putting themselves on the line so that we could continue onward.
We found a barge waiting for us on the river--it would take us into the deep jungle where the Seal waited.
We had a good three days before we arrived, and Seth seemed intent on badgering me for every minute of it. He doesn't understand me. He thinks that talking will lighten this burden; I know the truth: there's no way I can find the strength to do what we'll have to do if he makes me drop my shields. I've learned how to put up a good front, but inside...well, there has to be a reason she won our fight.
So I gave him the cold shoulder. Found my own little corner of the barge and refused to talk to anyone for a day and a half.
Then she paid us a visit. First there was nothing more than a sense of being watched, then a rustling in the trees. Then she was standing on the deck of the barge. She was wearing one of the military's techsuits. Thought she was there to kill us. But her helmet came off, and I was looking into a face that I instantly recognized, twenty-four years and burn scars later.
My surroundings faded to a dim buzzing. Through the shock, I heard her ask me why I never came home, why I was fighting against them. I couldn't find an anwer for her. I was only able to stand there as my sister rushed forward to attack me.
One of the others stopped her in her tracks. Probably Darren. It didn't really matter at the time. They took her weapons while she was frozen and bound her.
I wanted to try to talk to her, help her understand that the military wanted nothing more than to exploit all of us...but the words deserted me. Such a wonderful leader I make. And while I was grasping for something to say to the sister I thought I'd killed all those years ago, she suddenly let out a piercing scream, broke her bonds, and fled into the jungle. I think one of the mentalists did something to her. By all rights, I should have been angry enough to send the whole country up in smoke. But after everything...after the shock of seeing her again...all my rage just seemed to drain out of me. I wanted all this pain, one thing after another, to go away.
Seth and Carter did their best to bring me out of it. But truly...I didn't want to accept their help. Maybe it felt like if I were able to just wake up and find that everything would be alright, then none of the pain would really have been real. Or worth it. Maybe that's just rationalizing some stupid masochistic psychosis, but what would the Champions of Humanity be if not bat-shit insane?
Whatever the real reason, I was in such a state that the only thing really keeping me moving forward at this point was a sense of duty and a desire to see this through to the end, for all it had cost us.
The last leg of our journey sped out from under us. Over the river, and through the woods...to the stone circle, and the four demons who were threatening the world. They had already begun their ritual. One sat within a barrier, chanting in preparation of the human sacrifice that would open the seventh Seal and end everything. The other three would be our opponents, first. They seemed to think they would be able to wipe us out without a second thought. But we were here to ensure the survival of all of humanity. We'd be tougher opponents than those Draco saw in Chicago all those months ago.
Seth and I went in with our swords against the European one. We knew from the visions that we only needed to slice a bauble from around his neck, and it would kick him all the way back to hell. But it proved more difficult than it seemed. And I fear I didn't live up to the sort of swordsmanship that a wielder of Excalibur should be able to bring into battle.
Things were further complicated by the fact that these were demons, and as such, had a few nasty tricks up their sleeves. We were hardly fighting for a few moments when the air in front of us became choked with buzzing, stinging insects. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the one that must have been Pestilence laughing at us. Locusts swarmed him, and his shape became so twisted that he seemed to become the insects.
But we were going to prove ourselves better than them.
I saw Harris stand up from the cover she had taken, and aim her pistol carefully. Something passed over her face--perhaps divine guidance, because as the gunshot rang out, something golden went flying away from the demon. There was a small pop as he disappeared, and the insects he controlled began to disperse.
Guess our little show was bound to attract some attention. Why Gabriel of all possible creatures had to show up is beyond me. For the moment he was content to sit on the sidelines, but I was sure that whenever that unhinged angelic/demonic mind of his snapped, he would make things hell for us.
Draco, egged on by Gabriel's taunts, decided it was time to get serious. Even though Sam was going after him with that giant sword, he was fully capable of bringing misery to the whole battlefield. Draco became a pillar of flames, and the stone circle lit up into a raging inferno.
I tried to shove them away from me, at the same time focusing on pressing the demon I was fighting, and it was that split of concentration that was my mistake.
I felt her slip past me, draw up power from the fire crackling around us, and assume control. She was a raging force; I was helpless against the terrible brutality of it. The fires swirled higher and I knew that she didn't care about the fate of my teammates or the world; she only wanted to see how far she could run with the power. My feet left the ground--she was channeling the fire so strongly that she floated above the battlefield. And then she apparently decided that she needed a challenge. She bent her will to the fires below and turned Draco's control of them over to herself. I knew in a moment she would unleash them, likely killing all the humans within range in the inferno just to prove she was better than him.
Then something cool slipped into my mind...it was like an ocean poured onto the raging flames. I felt the touch of Carter's mind--familiar, now--and suddenly was back in control. Tumbling to the ground in a heap, but myself once again.
Seth had managed to strike the necklace from the demon we had been fighting--now a figure wrapped in dull, grey robes--and sent him from this world. Now the balance had shifted in our favor. I saw Sam leap upon Draco--how there was anything for him to hold onto, I do not know--and begin to wither in the flames. But even though his body was crumbling to ash, he still clung to the demon. Then he grabbed something from Draco's wrist, and the flames vanished, leaving us with only one demon and a psychotic angel to attend to.
And, oh, was he psychotic. From the spot where Draco had disappeared, a book was floating in the air. A Book. Gabriel called it to him and began to read, his form twisting and morphing into something utterly horrible.
We were already hurting. All of us were injured, and Sam's burned form lay still on the ground. I couldn't even be sure if he was still alive. If we had to fight this monstrous thing, we weren't going to be able to finish the final demon. I figured we were probably going to die anyway, so I decided to do something that was monumentally stupider than even Darren had ever aspired to.
I went for the Gun. The one that Sam had been trying to figure out, to get me to use, for weeks now. I scooped it up from where it had been dropped on the ground, pointed it at the angel, and pulled the trigger.
A sun. I was a sun. Burning so brightly I had to shut my eyes against it--as the world in front of me melted together into one solid mass of light--of fire--glorious flames!--pouring through me, out of me--all that I held within me, let loose--burning---burning--burning---
The light gradually faded and then went out, and for the first time in my life, I felt free of it. The weight of that constant guardedness was gone from me, and despite everything, for a few moments I experienced true elation.
But our job here was not done. The hillside was fried, my teammates looked as though they'd been walking the desert without sunscreen, and there was a hole in the clouds that still swathed the sky...but the angel still stood before us. The Book crumbled to ashes in his hands; his wings were cinders and he was back to his usual form--but he still prevented us from finishing the final demon.
Seth held his sword up against the angel, and began to glow with a holy light brighter than ever before. His wings came out, and the two went to battle against one another. They seemed deadlocked--for every blow that Seth landed, that mace would manage to find a way to strike him. Finally the two stood ready and charged one another for the last time. We all flinched as there was a painful mental snap as their weapons met, then Seth was on the ground, looking dazed and back to his normal appearance. His sword had disappeared, but more importantly, Gabriel was nowhere to be seen.
Which left us free to destroy the final demon. The barrier between us had broken--likely during my impression of a supernova--and Famine was unprotected against our assault. We may have been on our last legs, but together we were still more than a match for him. It was a matter of moments before he, too, was nothing more than dust in the wind.
We breathed a collective sigh of relief--but all was not yet well. The seal--which already was a twisting thing, barely comprehendible in any way that made sense to my eyes--was vibrating. As we watched, it began to pulse and grow, and despite its otherworldly nature we all knew that something was wrong with it. Panic set in. Had we come this far, only to fail after all our enemies were defeated? And then I remembered the one thing we'd yet to try. Over the rushing air that was blasting through the clearing, I shouted at Seth to open the Box.
Instantly all sound and sensation stopped. I saw the Seal, unmoving now, as if time had frozen. I, too, was unable to move. Then I heard a chuckle, and saw the figure of a woman walk toward the Seal. She was beautiful, and shone with a golden light, but something inside me was utterly afraid of her. She spoke--remarked that she couldn't believe this was all she had to do--and then she was gone, and the Seal had vanished from our sight.
It was over. We counted our dead. Sam's body was gone. Likely, I cremated him when I turned the Gun on Gabriel. His sword remained, though. It was stuck point-down into the ground, and no matter how we tried, none of us could move it. I guess it'll stay there. As a monument to him--they're never going to put up statues in our honor, anyway.
Harris didn't make it. We found her at the edge of the clearing. It doesn't seem right, that the rest of us made it through everything, and she was the one killed after only a week or two with us. Mori barely pulled through. Got to him just in time, after the Seal vanished.
And then we had company. George had survived the military's assault--many of our friends had--and he brought with him two men who were clutching Books. We had saved the world, but it seemed like we weren't heading for a vacation anytime soon. After all, we had an Organization to rebuild.
----------------------------------------------------------
What a long, strange trip it's been. :)
Julia knows less than I do about what was actually going on in these events, but it's first-person, so hey.
And without further ado,
-------------------
Well, once again these people have made the case that humanity doesn't deserve to survive the End Times. Despite the doom that now hung in the very sky itself--a misty blackness was spreading to conceal the sun--Darren still managed to get the others to waste precious time trying to kill him. He did something patently stupid once again, tried to mess with Dex. Sam almost killed him this time, by smashing his face in with that sword. Don't think the calmer heads in the group will be able to stop him next time, and I'm not sure I'll even be able to lend my voice to that side.
Things were bad outside, by the time we left the Louvre. Vampires were openly roaming the streets, but we managed to safely make our way to the airfield our plane was waiting at. A couple of them were loitering by the airplane. My temper was short. I ran them off.
The seventh Seal was in the jungles of the Congo, and it was there that the Four demons would gather. I spent the whole of the flight getting the others in fighting shape. Wasn't easy, since half of them had been beaten half to death in fighting Markwell. So by the time we landed, I was once again on my last legs--been going without sleep far too long, far too often.
But before we had a chance to find somewhere to stay, we were met by two old friends at the airport. Apparently everyone except us had known that the Apocalypse would be starting here. Verris had been sent by the Mage Council, who had finally gotten their heads out of their asses and decided to help. Well, going up against all four of the demons, we were going to need the help. Harris had also made her way to join us once again. It's strange; though I know she's been doing this almost as long as we have, I can't help but think of her as that uninitiated FBI agent we had first met.
They'd already found someplace to stay, and finally I was able to steal a few hours of sleep. Decided to stop avoiding Avalon and face up to my failure.
It was burning...she had free reign there while I was awake. And so of course she spent her time razing that holy, ancient city. The worst part is that there's nothing I can do to stop her, unless I want to set her loose on the outside world instead. While we're both in Avalon, only she can tap into the power. The kings seemed to be alright, though their halls burned. I guess they've outlived enough that just one homicidal pyromaniac seems like nothing.
Seth's visions had taken us to a small town with a church before we would head up the river into the jungles. Probably a lot of it was due to the blackness partially blotting out the sky, but as we approached the village things just felt creepy. The church itself was deserted, but Verris could sense that the Seclesti had been here. I guess even here they buy into all that horror movie BS--there was a hidden stone passage leading down into the earth. We followed it down much deeper than it seemed conceivable to dig such a tunnel; like the Shadow-nest under the South Side apartment complex, I got the feeling that the spaces were not completely adjacent according to the usual laws of physics. We found a lot of rooms in those catacombs filled with nasty stuff best left uncontemplated. But the twisting passageway eventually led to a large hewn room. It held a table, against which had fallen several burned-out corpses. They were fresh.
The door to the room slammed shut just before Verris could step through. We had a new companion in the room--Johannes, with a misshapen bag slung over his shoulder. Admin told me, before he left, that he didn't trust Johannes. Guess he was right to do so...but it didn't look like his caution did him any good. That sicko had been carrying his head around in the sack. Said he was a collector. I think even if he wasn't out for our lives, even if we didn't have to kill him to get out of there, not one of us wouldn't have gone after him, seeing what he'd done to Admin.
Johannes' "collection" included some heavy-duty firepower--and one of the legendary weapons that had supposedly been destroyed. So we didn't waste any time in bringing out the big guns. I tried to employ my fire against him, but once again couldn't keep her from wresting control away from me. I think it'd be a bit hard for the others not to have noticed this time, too. And much as I hate Johannes, I took a small amount of satisfaction in how easily he shut her down.
Johannes may have been able to take out Admin by getting the drop on him, but he made a major mistake in taking us all on at once. Dex managed to steal the legendary weapon away from him (though I have to wonder how well the staff of the Monkey King really suits her), and Verris, though still stuck in the corridor, cast a spell that lit him up like a bullseye.
He wasn't human--looked like he'd been sewn together out of spare parts. But he was dead, and with his death the door opened once again. Verris rushed in, and as we were regrouping we were joined by someone we hadn't seen in months. Don't know if I expected to ever see Mark again in this world (alive or otherwise), and I certainly wasn't going to trust him unconditionally, District 10 or no. But he seemed to know what was going on--even more than we did--so it wouldn't hurt to hear him out. Seemed he had a solution for one of our problems. There was no way we were going to be able to take on the Four with half of us in the power of the Books. Mark knew a ritual that had a chance to break that control.
So we got to see Carter, Sam, and Mori puke their guts out all over the cave floor. I guess it helped them, though they still weren't entirely free. But it would have to wait--that was the last interlude we got before our headlong rush to the final seal.
We didn't expect the surprise that was waiting for us when we got back up to the "respectable" part of the church. After all, the demons were already on their way to the Seal. Out of nowhere, a gunshot sounded and Mark's head exploded into a cloud of gore. With all our attention on Draco, our friends in the military had managed to catch up to us. Last time we barely managed to get them to retreat, and then we weren't facing them all at once.
Through all these battles, I've always felt that we were essentially on our own. In the beginning we might have had the tentative support of a distant organization, but the only people we could really rely on were each other. So when the cavalry--our cavalry--came charging in, it felt for the first time like we might actually be able to win this. The remaining members of District 10, George, even Doc had come to back us up. I almost wish we could have stayed to see that fight, but they were putting themselves on the line so that we could continue onward.
We found a barge waiting for us on the river--it would take us into the deep jungle where the Seal waited.
We had a good three days before we arrived, and Seth seemed intent on badgering me for every minute of it. He doesn't understand me. He thinks that talking will lighten this burden; I know the truth: there's no way I can find the strength to do what we'll have to do if he makes me drop my shields. I've learned how to put up a good front, but inside...well, there has to be a reason she won our fight.
So I gave him the cold shoulder. Found my own little corner of the barge and refused to talk to anyone for a day and a half.
Then she paid us a visit. First there was nothing more than a sense of being watched, then a rustling in the trees. Then she was standing on the deck of the barge. She was wearing one of the military's techsuits. Thought she was there to kill us. But her helmet came off, and I was looking into a face that I instantly recognized, twenty-four years and burn scars later.
My surroundings faded to a dim buzzing. Through the shock, I heard her ask me why I never came home, why I was fighting against them. I couldn't find an anwer for her. I was only able to stand there as my sister rushed forward to attack me.
One of the others stopped her in her tracks. Probably Darren. It didn't really matter at the time. They took her weapons while she was frozen and bound her.
I wanted to try to talk to her, help her understand that the military wanted nothing more than to exploit all of us...but the words deserted me. Such a wonderful leader I make. And while I was grasping for something to say to the sister I thought I'd killed all those years ago, she suddenly let out a piercing scream, broke her bonds, and fled into the jungle. I think one of the mentalists did something to her. By all rights, I should have been angry enough to send the whole country up in smoke. But after everything...after the shock of seeing her again...all my rage just seemed to drain out of me. I wanted all this pain, one thing after another, to go away.
Seth and Carter did their best to bring me out of it. But truly...I didn't want to accept their help. Maybe it felt like if I were able to just wake up and find that everything would be alright, then none of the pain would really have been real. Or worth it. Maybe that's just rationalizing some stupid masochistic psychosis, but what would the Champions of Humanity be if not bat-shit insane?
Whatever the real reason, I was in such a state that the only thing really keeping me moving forward at this point was a sense of duty and a desire to see this through to the end, for all it had cost us.
The last leg of our journey sped out from under us. Over the river, and through the woods...to the stone circle, and the four demons who were threatening the world. They had already begun their ritual. One sat within a barrier, chanting in preparation of the human sacrifice that would open the seventh Seal and end everything. The other three would be our opponents, first. They seemed to think they would be able to wipe us out without a second thought. But we were here to ensure the survival of all of humanity. We'd be tougher opponents than those Draco saw in Chicago all those months ago.
Seth and I went in with our swords against the European one. We knew from the visions that we only needed to slice a bauble from around his neck, and it would kick him all the way back to hell. But it proved more difficult than it seemed. And I fear I didn't live up to the sort of swordsmanship that a wielder of Excalibur should be able to bring into battle.
Things were further complicated by the fact that these were demons, and as such, had a few nasty tricks up their sleeves. We were hardly fighting for a few moments when the air in front of us became choked with buzzing, stinging insects. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the one that must have been Pestilence laughing at us. Locusts swarmed him, and his shape became so twisted that he seemed to become the insects.
But we were going to prove ourselves better than them.
I saw Harris stand up from the cover she had taken, and aim her pistol carefully. Something passed over her face--perhaps divine guidance, because as the gunshot rang out, something golden went flying away from the demon. There was a small pop as he disappeared, and the insects he controlled began to disperse.
Guess our little show was bound to attract some attention. Why Gabriel of all possible creatures had to show up is beyond me. For the moment he was content to sit on the sidelines, but I was sure that whenever that unhinged angelic/demonic mind of his snapped, he would make things hell for us.
Draco, egged on by Gabriel's taunts, decided it was time to get serious. Even though Sam was going after him with that giant sword, he was fully capable of bringing misery to the whole battlefield. Draco became a pillar of flames, and the stone circle lit up into a raging inferno.
I tried to shove them away from me, at the same time focusing on pressing the demon I was fighting, and it was that split of concentration that was my mistake.
I felt her slip past me, draw up power from the fire crackling around us, and assume control. She was a raging force; I was helpless against the terrible brutality of it. The fires swirled higher and I knew that she didn't care about the fate of my teammates or the world; she only wanted to see how far she could run with the power. My feet left the ground--she was channeling the fire so strongly that she floated above the battlefield. And then she apparently decided that she needed a challenge. She bent her will to the fires below and turned Draco's control of them over to herself. I knew in a moment she would unleash them, likely killing all the humans within range in the inferno just to prove she was better than him.
Then something cool slipped into my mind...it was like an ocean poured onto the raging flames. I felt the touch of Carter's mind--familiar, now--and suddenly was back in control. Tumbling to the ground in a heap, but myself once again.
Seth had managed to strike the necklace from the demon we had been fighting--now a figure wrapped in dull, grey robes--and sent him from this world. Now the balance had shifted in our favor. I saw Sam leap upon Draco--how there was anything for him to hold onto, I do not know--and begin to wither in the flames. But even though his body was crumbling to ash, he still clung to the demon. Then he grabbed something from Draco's wrist, and the flames vanished, leaving us with only one demon and a psychotic angel to attend to.
And, oh, was he psychotic. From the spot where Draco had disappeared, a book was floating in the air. A Book. Gabriel called it to him and began to read, his form twisting and morphing into something utterly horrible.
We were already hurting. All of us were injured, and Sam's burned form lay still on the ground. I couldn't even be sure if he was still alive. If we had to fight this monstrous thing, we weren't going to be able to finish the final demon. I figured we were probably going to die anyway, so I decided to do something that was monumentally stupider than even Darren had ever aspired to.
I went for the Gun. The one that Sam had been trying to figure out, to get me to use, for weeks now. I scooped it up from where it had been dropped on the ground, pointed it at the angel, and pulled the trigger.
A sun. I was a sun. Burning so brightly I had to shut my eyes against it--as the world in front of me melted together into one solid mass of light--of fire--glorious flames!--pouring through me, out of me--all that I held within me, let loose--burning---burning--burning---
The light gradually faded and then went out, and for the first time in my life, I felt free of it. The weight of that constant guardedness was gone from me, and despite everything, for a few moments I experienced true elation.
But our job here was not done. The hillside was fried, my teammates looked as though they'd been walking the desert without sunscreen, and there was a hole in the clouds that still swathed the sky...but the angel still stood before us. The Book crumbled to ashes in his hands; his wings were cinders and he was back to his usual form--but he still prevented us from finishing the final demon.
Seth held his sword up against the angel, and began to glow with a holy light brighter than ever before. His wings came out, and the two went to battle against one another. They seemed deadlocked--for every blow that Seth landed, that mace would manage to find a way to strike him. Finally the two stood ready and charged one another for the last time. We all flinched as there was a painful mental snap as their weapons met, then Seth was on the ground, looking dazed and back to his normal appearance. His sword had disappeared, but more importantly, Gabriel was nowhere to be seen.
Which left us free to destroy the final demon. The barrier between us had broken--likely during my impression of a supernova--and Famine was unprotected against our assault. We may have been on our last legs, but together we were still more than a match for him. It was a matter of moments before he, too, was nothing more than dust in the wind.
We breathed a collective sigh of relief--but all was not yet well. The seal--which already was a twisting thing, barely comprehendible in any way that made sense to my eyes--was vibrating. As we watched, it began to pulse and grow, and despite its otherworldly nature we all knew that something was wrong with it. Panic set in. Had we come this far, only to fail after all our enemies were defeated? And then I remembered the one thing we'd yet to try. Over the rushing air that was blasting through the clearing, I shouted at Seth to open the Box.
Instantly all sound and sensation stopped. I saw the Seal, unmoving now, as if time had frozen. I, too, was unable to move. Then I heard a chuckle, and saw the figure of a woman walk toward the Seal. She was beautiful, and shone with a golden light, but something inside me was utterly afraid of her. She spoke--remarked that she couldn't believe this was all she had to do--and then she was gone, and the Seal had vanished from our sight.
It was over. We counted our dead. Sam's body was gone. Likely, I cremated him when I turned the Gun on Gabriel. His sword remained, though. It was stuck point-down into the ground, and no matter how we tried, none of us could move it. I guess it'll stay there. As a monument to him--they're never going to put up statues in our honor, anyway.
Harris didn't make it. We found her at the edge of the clearing. It doesn't seem right, that the rest of us made it through everything, and she was the one killed after only a week or two with us. Mori barely pulled through. Got to him just in time, after the Seal vanished.
And then we had company. George had survived the military's assault--many of our friends had--and he brought with him two men who were clutching Books. We had saved the world, but it seemed like we weren't heading for a vacation anytime soon. After all, we had an Organization to rebuild.
----------------------------------------------------------
What a long, strange trip it's been. :)
