Chapter 13

14 years ago

A young girl ran down the street in the pouring rain. She ran and ran, until she slipped in a puddle and fell to the ground. She curled up and began crying. She continued sobbing for several minutes before she heard a voice.

“What's wrong, young one?” said a man, who seemed to have come out of nowhere and was now standing over her, holding an umbrella.

She didn't say anything. She just continued to cry.

“Did your mother and father have a fight?” he asked.

“He's not my father!” she snapped.

“I see,” he chuckled. “You should go home.”

“No!” she said. “I hate it there! I'm running away and I'm never going back!”

“Some day, you'll be able to leave that place,” he said. “But now is not the time. You won't make it out there. Not at your age.”

“But-,” she started to say.

“It' okay,” he told her. “Until the day comes, there will be someone watching over you, to keep you safe.”

“You mean like a guardian angel?” she asked.

“Not quite,” the man chuckled.

He looked her in the eyes, and she became frozen in fear. His eyes had looked perfectly normal a moment ago. But now they were different. They were wrong. Inhuman. She would have screamed if she his gaze hadn't left her completely paralyzed.

“More like...,” he said, “...A devil.”

Present day

“This the place?” David asked, pulling his truck over across the street from an old building.

“Yeah, this is it,” Hera replied.

Hera, Kaiser, David, and John got out of the truck while Damien pulled up next to them on his motorcycle.

“Here goes nothing,” Hera said, approaching the door.

She was about to knock, but she noticed a paper taped to the door reading “It's unlocked come on in”. She tried the door knob, and it opened easily.

“Let's go,” she whispered to the others.

“Okay,” John said.

They followed her through the door. They found themselves in a dimly lit room. It was large, probably taking up the entire first floor of the building. There were no windows or lights. The only light came from the soft glow of the bizarre plants filling the room.

“I recognize a lot of these flowers,” Hera said.

“Did that guy send them to you?” John asked.

“Yeah,” she said. “This is definitely his place.”

Damien reached into hi pocket and pulled out a flashlight. He flipped it on and looked around. The beam of light fell upon a man sitting at a table at the far end of the room. In his hand was a bouquet full of weird looking flowers.

“Greetings,” he said to them. He got up and began approaching Hera. “I've been waiting for this moment for a long time.”

“Who are you!?” Hera demanded. “Why have you been stalking me?”

He finished his walk across the room, and stood before her. He brushed his hair aside to reveal his bright green eyes. They seemed perfectly normal, but they didn't stay that way for long. The pupils and irises seemed to melt and mix in with the whites, shifting colors rapidly . They swirled in a dance of strange colors, before taking a new form. A form impossible to describe. They were horrifying. Damien dropped his flashlight in terror, but the wicked eyes remained visible even in the darkness. No one could move. They were all completely frozen in fear as they gazed into his horrible eyes.

“Y-you!” Hera finally managed to choke out.

“So you remember now?” the man said. “Yes, it's me, your Guardian Devil. My name is Silene Stenophylla, the Terrorspawn of strangers and stalkers.”

“Why have you been stalking me!?” she demanded.

“It's in my nature,” he aid. “You see, before any of you were born, War concocted a plan involving the lot of you. So he hired me, and some of the other Terrorspawn, to keep you all safe from Conquest.”

“Safe from him?” Hera asked.

“He promised War that he would wait for the youngest of you to reach the age of 18 before he came to enlist you. In the meantime, we were hired behind his back to prevent him from doing so.”

“And what's this plan that War had in store for us?” Hera asked.

“I'm forbidden from telling you,” Silene said.

“Bullshit!” Hera snapped at him.

Silene opened his mouth to speak, but before he could, a blur flashed by him, and he was decapitated. His head fell to the ground, and his body slumped to the floor. Deceit stood off to the side, still in his fiendish form, with blood dripping from his claws.

“Deceit!” John said. “You killed him!”

“No I didn't,” Deceit aid.

“You cut off his head!” John said.

“Yes I did,” Deceit said.

“He's dead!” John said.

“No he's not,” Deceit replied. “He numb-nuts, get up already!”

“Ugh, fine,” Silene said.

His body got to its feet, picking up his head and reattaching it. The wound disappeared as if it was never there to begin with.

“What the- how?” John asked.

“All Terrorspawn possess a healing factor,” Deceit explained. “It allows us to recover a lot faster than a human could. But Silene's healing factor dwarfs all of ours. Honestly, I'm not even sure if it's possible to keep him dead.”

“Indeed,” Silene said. “So, why did you interrupt me so brutally?”

“I need your attention,” Deceit said. “Strain's poison took a bigger toll on me than I thought. I need healing.”

“I see,” Silene said. “I'm going to have to ask you all to leave while I treat him.”

“I'm staying,” John said. “I want to help in any way I can.”

“You sure, kid?” Silene asked.

“Yes,” he said.

“Alright, but I ain't paying for therapy,” Silene replied.

Everyone else left, while Deceit lay down on the table. John stood a few feet away, watching. Silene drew a scalpel from his belt and lowered it to Deceit's chest.

“You may feel a slight disemboweling sensation,” he said.

A few minutes later

Hera, David, Kaiser, and Damien sat outside, waiting for them to finish.

“So, do you believe what he said?” Damien asked.

“I don't know,” Hera replied. “I don't trust him, but he could be telling the truth.”

“What about that clawed guy?” Damien asked. “Do you think he's trustworthy? I mean, his name is Deceit.”

“He gets that name from his biggest hobby,” David said. “From what I've heard, he whispers to people in their sleep, trying to turn them against their loved ones. He's a true deceiver.”

“Regardless of that, he bailed us out back when that beak-faced guy and his cronies attacked us,” Kaiser said. “And he's my one shot at getting my revenge.”

At that point, John burst through the door, panicked and gasping for breath.

“You okay?” David asked.

“It was... horrible!” John panted. “I didn't think it would be that bad.”

“Are they finished?” Hera asked.

“Far from it,” John replied. “I need to sit down.”

John dropped to the ground, still panting. A few minutes later, Zero rose from the ground before them and bowed to Hera.

“What's going on?” Hera asked.

“There's trouble coming our way,” it said.

“What kind of trouble?” David asked.

“Look,” it said, pointing to the horizon.

What appeared to be a thunderstorm was making its way toward them. As it grew closer, John realized that the cloud was composed of countless birds, all flying toward them. Lightning was flashing between them.

“What are those!?” John gasped.

“The Crown,” David said. “We're in trouble.”

“Yes, you are,” said a voice.

They all looked up to see a pair of figures standing at the top of the building, looking down at them. One of them was a young man with jet black hair and bird-like eyes. A pair of black wings sprouted from his back, and his right arm resembled a crow's talon. Next to him was a woman with dark hair, wearing a skin tight, snake skin dress.

“Who are you!?” John demanded.

“I am the Crown's sentinel, Andrew Miles,” the man said. “But you may call me Hell Talon.”

“I am Glasp, the Terrorspawn of inner darkness,” the woman said.

“Terrorspawn, huh?” John said, tapping one of the opals on his belt. A huge sledgehammer appeared in his hand.

“Where's Silene Stenophylla!?” Glasp demanded.

“Like I'm gonna tell you!” John said, shifting into a fighting stance.

“If you won't tell us, we'll force the answer out of you,” Glasp said. “Look around you. You don't have a chance against us.”

The Crown had all but surrounded them. They cawed viscously and sent bolts of lightning all over the place.

“This could get ugly,” Kaiser said, as Kestrel materialized on his shoulder. “You ready to fight?”

Kestrel nodded, and shifted it's form into a massive talon.

“Mistress, catch!” Zero said, tossing a scythe to Hera, who caught it.

“Thanks,” she said, holding it defensively.

“You think we have a chance?” Damien said, drawing his knife and standing back to back with David.

“Hopefully,” David said, raising his morningstar.

“Do you really intend to fight us?” Glasp asked.

“You bet,” John said.

“Very well,” Glasp said.”

She jumped from the roof and began running down the building toward them. Something flashed by her open her way down and grabbed her from behind by the hair.

“What?” she said, startled.

“Hello,” Deceit said.

He was now in his human form and seemingly in perfect condition. He stood on the wall as if gravity had no effect on him. He swung her by the hair with all his might, smashing her into the wall so hard it cracked. He then flung her down the street as if he was a rag doll. He jumped down, landing right next to John.

“Deceit!” John aid. “Are you okay?”

“Still a little damaged,” he replied, pulling a cigar out of his pocket. “I won't be able to use my full power for a while. But even in my human form, I'm still stronger and faster than her.”

He tossed his cigar into the sky just as a bolt of the Crown's lightning flashed above them. The two collided  and the lit cigar fell down straight into Deceit's hand.

“I'll be fine,” he said, taking a puff from it.

“You'll pay!” Glasp hissed, getting to her feet.

The ground rumbled, and three giant snakes burst from beneath it. They began slithering toward Deceit. He rushed toward them with blinding speed, swiping with his bare hand. His human fingers cut through their flesh like swords cutting paper. He beheaded the first one with little effort. He gouged the next one's eyes out with his bare hand, then ripped its throat out. He turned to the last one, which rushed at him with its mouth wide open. Deceit casually flicked his cigar into its mouth. It stopped and cried in pain as the embers burnt the inside of its throat. In an instant, Deceit was on it, holding the top half of its mouth in one hand and its lower mouth in the other. He tore its head in half like a pistachio shell.

“You son of a bitch!” Glasp yelled. “I'll kill you!”

John was awestruck by how much damage Deceit was able to do in his weakened human form. He had almost forgotten about Hell Talon.

“Don't let yourself get distracted,” Hell Talon said, descending to the ground behind John.

John turned and raised his hammer.

“I'll be your opponent,” Hell Talon said, raising a pair of sickly curved blades.

“That's fine by me,” John said. “I'll wipe the floor with you!”

“Don't count on it” Hell Talon said.

The two of them charged at each other, and their weapons collided in a flash of bright lightning. All around them, the birds charged forward, ready to kill.