Fire Child Part 7

“Lord Zendrius!” screamed Nessha.
The rotating serrated edge of the blade was about to carve into Zed’s skull when the sanguine flames solidified, encasing the blade along with Zed in a limpid crimson crystal. Colour appeared to seep from Zed’s irises, dyeing the rest of his eyes in their entirety to a polished silver.
“What is this?” said Father Steven as he futilely tried to pry his sword free from the crimson crystal.
Nessha felt a wave of relief wash over her as she glanced at the protective shell surrounding her lord while dodging a potentially fatal blow. She had thought herself a bloodied veteran, one who would never succumb to her emotions during battle but this occasion had informed her otherwise.
Father Steven saw that the demon had regained her composure and as a result they were losing men, with a grunt of disgust he drew his knife and rushed over.
Nessha parried a blow and riposted, punching right through the man and his SAINT before making a spinning turn which reduced the number of exorcists to ten. Upon having regained her good sense, she had weaved the appropriate signs and now the last of her wounds mended themselves.
“Steven, what’s Warren’s condition?” asked the usually taciturn Father Adam hopefully as their second-in-command rejoined them.
“Not good.”
“What should we do? We won’t last for much longer, she has just become infinitely more dangerous.”
Father Steven glanced back at the crystal formation. “The only thing we can, we have to stall until the rift closes then we’ll retreat and brief the military about the situation. Their weapons might be primitive but she would eventually be overwhelmed by their sheer number.”
“What about Zed? We can’t just leave him with her.”
“We should have killed that abomination the moment we got our hands on it, but instead we were sent here to play house with it. The mission was to keep it here and if necessary, stop it from ever returning. I doubt that demon has the power to open rifts and if they had the capability to open them at will they wouldn’t have only sent her, no this whole mess reeks of desperation. Once that rift closes they lose, and if the cost is all our lives, at least we’ll know that we died protecting our home.”
“What about the native people? They are our ancestors.”
“They have lived in ignorance for long enough, perhaps it is time for them to have a small taste of what our people experienced when they first crossed over.”
Father Adam was about to reply when Nessha killed another of his companions, forcing him to fill the opening which had been left.
The rift had shrunk to a meagre 4 ft when the sanguine crystal returned to flame as abruptly as it had crystallised, freeing Zed to slump to the ground.
Nessha smiled at her unexpected fortune, just when she had finished gathering the appropriate energies to make her move, the only variable that could have thwarted her vanished. It almost seemed like divine intervention.
Father Steven turned back from the unconscious boy to issue new orders when the demon weaved a few signs and shot up into the air with paranormal speed. “Shoot her down!”
Nessha smirked as she easily perceived and avoided the incoming projectiles before sweeping down for Zed.
Father Steven watched with a sense of helplessness as the demon enfolded Zed within her wings before starting a nosedive.
All the exorcists futilely tired to stop the inevitable, some attempted to shoot the fast moving target down, while others struggled to reach the rift before the almost supersonic flesh comet, but none were successful.
“Should we follow?” asked Father Adam as their purpose darted through the rift.
Father Steven almost spat the words, “We can’t, the rift is too small, the SAINTs would never fit through.”
“But – ”
“But nothing! Crossing over without sufficient protection would mean instant death, you know this as well as I. Do you think it is easy for me to just stand here when there’s a door home right in front of me? We all knew this was going to be a one-way trip and I would rather stay here than throw away all our lives because of foolish pride. The best thing we can do now is dispose of our SAINTs and live out the rest of our lives under the radar.”
“Then we have failed,” said Father Adam in resignation.
“Yes we have, but I’ll tell you one thing, I’ll be damned if those two think they’ve won,” said Father Steven as he suddenly marched over to the rift with purpose.
Father Adam watched his superior open his SAINT’s interface. “What are you doing?”
“A SAINT might not be able to fit but a signal will. I’m letting Juria know that we’ve failed and that the Fire Child has returned to Los-Reinar.”