Ethereal - Part Two

Chapter 43 - Honour

The room was in uproar after hearing what Lucifer had to say. Kazier winked at me, looking ready to accept the deal the devil had to offer, while Destry and Torrin were not happy in joining at all. Ryelen hand a firm hand on Azriel’s back, advising him that nothing good could ever come from making a deal with Lucifer.

“I will accept the deal, Lucifer, provided that you take only me and keep my fallen brothers free” Azriel said clearly and I closed my eyes in defeat. He was doing this for me. He was doing all of this for me. Ryelen slapped Azriel out of it and then grabbed him by his shoulders.

“Have you lost your mind, Azriel? You cannot trust him to keep his side of the deal”. “He’s right, Azriel. Please, don’t do this, you can’t accept this deal!” I begged him, my eyes moistening as I hung helplessly mid-air. “I can Mira, and I will gladly do so”.

“Enough talking!” Lucifer boomed irritably and then sighed heavily. “Wrath, I do not accept your proposal”. Azriel’s face fell in shock. “What?” He asked in a small voice. “I do not gain much if I only have one fallen joining me. I need…something more”. 

“What else could you want besides my presence and loyalty?” Azriel asked him, his brows furrowed. Lucifer’s smile stretched broader then. “Your honour”. I frowned in confusion, not knowing what he was trying to say, but it clearly made perfect sense to everyone else.

“No. No, Azriel, no. You cannot do this” Kazier said firmly, shaking his head. Torrin walked up to Azriel and placed a hand on his back. “I can understand why you think you must do this, but this will not help you or Mira in any way”.

“What the fuck is going on? What did he ask you for?!” I yelled at Azriel, hoping he would turn to me and look at me. A tiny hopeful smile crept onto his face. “You have no idea how much I love you Mira”. “Well, this isn’t how you show love, Azriel! Don’t you dare accept his deal. He says he will keep his promise, but he won’t!”.

“It is a chance that I must take”. “You listen to me, Azriel. He has my blood, and he will create those monsters. Don’t you see? I am dead either way. Once those demons are on Earth, we won’t stand a chance. I won’t stand a chance”.

I was practically crying by now, but it didn’t look like it made any kind of effect on Azriel. He seemed to have made his decision already. Azriel walked bravely over to where Lucifer was standing. He turned around to face the rest of the fallen and then kneeled down on the ground.

Lucifer whispered into the ear of a demon slave who then left the room and shortly came back with another demon dressed in formal wear. He was at the feast and also that day when I had first met Lucifer, the one who had transformed and scared the living daylights out of me.

“Sathanas, I thought you should have the privilege”. “Thank you, my King,” Sathanas answered and bowed to him. Then that same demon slave appeared with a weapon on a cushion and my system flooded with nerves.

“Wait, what are you doing. Don’t hurt him!”. Sathanas sent a smirk my way before looking to his king for further instruction. “Pick up the Dao” Lucifer told him and my heartrate inclined.

Sathanas picked up the weapon, admiring the wide and sharp face of the metal. It looked similar to a machete, but had more a curve and wider face. “Azriel! Get up from there, please!”.

Ryelen and Kazier were getting agitated, I could tell. They were tired of being pushed back by the demons who prevented them from getting to Azriel. Suddenly Torrin raised his blade and stabbed one demon to death, injuring another.

Ryelen and Kazier took that as their opportunity to get to Azriel. They both pushed forward, against the wall of demons and aimed their weapons at Sathanas. The demons in the room swooped around Azriel and Sathanas, guarding them from a possible attack.

I yelled out Ryelen’s name as his back was facing a demon who was about to claw into him. Destry got distracted by hearing Ryelen’s name and got knocked in the face by a creature. Luckily Torrin was close and pulled her up before he went back to fighting off the monsters.

I felt a presence behind me and thought it was another demon who was near to guard me, but then I saw a familiar tattoo on a very large bicep. Zeir! He made it. His wounds must have healed well enough for him to travel.

I tried to get his attention without making anyone notice, so I cleared my throat and coughed. I felt a reassuring hand at my calf and breathed a sigh of relief, my gaze skittering over to Azriel and the others.

Azriel was still on his knees waiting to be slaughtered, while both Ryelen and Kazier fought off Sathanas. On the other hand, Lucifer was nowhere to be seen. I scoffed, thinking of what a coward he was to just disappear.

“Hold still, Mira. And for Gods sake do not scream”. I pursed my lips and then drew them in to bite down on it as I felt Zeir withdraw the needles that were draining me.

“Almost done” He whispered and then reached up to cut the chains that were holding me. The noise was still audible over the chaos in the room, so I contorted my face in agony, covered the chains with one wing and used my other wing to cover my body so that they couldn’t see that the needles had been removed.

I checked once more across the room. Everyone was too occupied to notice that Zeir had freed me and had taken me in his arms. He carried me away, towards an exit, from where I could still see into the room. I watched as Clarren threw some kind of acid into the bags of blood that had been collecting through the needles.

The acid reacted and burned at the blood, the thin plastic bags melting away and the blood falling all over on the ground. Then Clarren washed it away with a liquid that looked like water, but I couldn’t be too sure of what it was.

She caught my eye and I smiled triumphantly at her, but my smile instantly faltered when I heard a painful scream pierce through the chaos. Azriel!