The Tale of Aeryn Glaze (UNDER MAJOR REVISION)

Chapter 13: Anguish

The creature did not burn to ashes like other shadow demons that were killed by us. His head fell from his body, rolled down the rubble, and stopped when it hit a large piece of gravel and I watched as I stood there exhausted, sweating bullets. The rest of his body then fell to the ground, lying flat on his chest, almost like a rubber dummy.

"Aeryn Glaze. Can you still hear me?"

The voice of the mage rang through my head again and I sigh.

"Yeah. The creature is already dead. I'll find a way to send a signal now."

"No, you don't have to. We have found the palace and we're in the middle of a battle right now against the shadow demons. The others are on their way inside."

I pursed my lips and sigh again as I looked around. I couldn't hear what was happening outside but I can only imagine that it was like the battle back in Erether, where the mages and the humans who were part of Thanatos organization were fighting together against the enemies.

"Alright." I nodded even though she can't see me. "I'll find the children first and I'll give you an update."

"Understood."

I looked around the hall and when I was sure there was no one else around the area, I put my sword back to the scabbard. Just when I was about to turn around and leave the place, I stop and then return my gaze to the creature.

I kneeled beside his body and I watched as his skin started to peel off dryly, and his reptile-like skin began to emerge. It was dry and cracked, and because the black smoke of his body had slowly disappeared, it reveals his dark skin color. It was the same skin he had when he shift into a winged-creature and probably shadow demons look like this without their human-like appearance.

I tried to remember the army of the shadow demons that we have encountered back at Erether and remembered no one can see their appearance because of how dark the black smoke was covering their body. But maybe, just maybe, those army doesn't have a human-like appearance like the creature in front of me because they don't have it. And might I add that there are less than ten of the shadow demons that I've seen who have a human-like appearance so far. I'm quite convinced now that there isn't a lot of them who could look like humans.

I blinked and stood up. And upon sudden realization, I cover my mouth, and a lone tear escapes from my left eye.

"Shit," I whispered.

I turned around to leave this time as I wiped the tear away. However, just before I could take another step, I heard a muffled sound behind me and there was a feeling as if someone or something was about to run towards me so I turned around, only to see a dark orb coming towards me, so fast that I could not even dare to avoid it.

I heard a muffled voice from it as it ran in my direction before it collided against me, the impact so strong that it pushed me down to the ground.

"Fuck!" I groaned, my chest rising and falling rapidly. "What the fuck was that?"

I took a deep breath before standing up and brushing off the dust from my coat. I tried checking on my chest to see if there was something and even looked around to search the dark orb, but there was nothing. It just disappears after it knocked me down. I would have wanted to know about it more but when I heard an explosion outside, my head whipped to the door on the left and I immediately ran towards there.

Another hall greeted me when I went behind the door, and to my left was a huge floor-to-ceiling window that goes until the end of the hallway. It was dark inside and outside the place but since there were fires outside, it lit up the surroundings and I could see the mages and my team fighting against the shadow demons that were twice the numbers that we fought yesterday.