Chapter 9: Pariah

The guild finds themselves in a nest of fallen angels, where they come face to face with their leader: Azrael.

We slowly approach the observatory. As we walk up, several things race through my mind. First, the observatory as a whole. I feel like this is the perfect place to hide away if you were a ghost of Heaven. The broken windows, the cracked up walls, and the dark look seems to perfectly match fallen angels. Second, fallen angels. My uncles never said anything about fallen angels. The last time I heard of fallen angels was with Rel on our first mission. These guys are completely foreign to me, and that has me at a disadvantage. Third, and something that just occurred, the prophecy. As we headed over here, I heard it silently in my head. Something tells me that it'll come true tonight.

As we enter, we see claw marks on the wall. We decide that we don't want to know if those were from fallen angels or something else. We reach the main hall, which is a large circular room only illuminated by the sky above, but the sky is as dark as the room we're in. We all look around, and we hear the flutter of wings above us. We see that fallen angels have perched themselves on the window ledges. They're all armed with weapons, and are ready to strike. We look up at a balcony and see Balthazar accompanied by another man.

He wore dark black armor that covered everything. We saw no sign of wings, yet the fallen angels respect him. His mask covered half his face, and had thin purple lines where the eyes would be. He looked down at us, and we heard a gasp among us. It was Rel who gasped, and she looked horrified.

"Could it be?" She asked, still in terror. "A-Are you-"

"I'm not the man you once knew, Mirella." He interrupted. He knows Rel? As I think, I soon remember who he is. "I am instead the man I always sought after. I, am Azrael!"

"All Hail Azrael!" The fallen angels exclaimed.

"I'm glad to see you again, Mirella." Azrael said. "Now I can finally watch you die, as you watched him die."

"I don't think so." I say, attempting the Harrison Way again and firing a shot at Azrael. He was fast enough to backhand it and fire a blast of black energy back at me. Unfortunately, I wasn't as fast as him and I was knocked back. As I laid down, I saw Azrael scold me for my fruitless attempts to stop me. He then sent down his fallen angels to kill us, and the guild fought back.

It took awhile to get myself together. When I did, I got up and was ready to fight back. I shot several fallen angels as I worked my way back with the guild. As I rejoined them, I went to Rel, who was blasting at several fallen angels, more angry than any of us.

"Want me to get you up there to fight Azrael?" I asked her, knowing her past history with him. The real him. She looked over her shoulder, but not at me. She was thinking about this.

"No.." she said sadly. "I don't have the strength to face him." As I look up, he looked down at us, smiling. "But make sure to do it for me." She said.

On that note and signal, I leaped up to where Azrael was and I drew my sword out. He drew his, unimpressed at me. I tried to change his mind by spinning it, creating sparks at my feet. This got his interest and got ready to actually fight. I took a swing at him, sending him back some. I took another swing at him, and he blocked it. He took his turn to strike, but I ducked and went for his legs, but he just jumped up and behind me. Before I could turn around, he knocked me down to the ground. I quickly got up and charged at him. He blocked my charge as he left me exposed for him to stab me.

"I expected better." He ridiculed as he dropped me down with the others, blacked out.

As I regained my sight, I saw Azura tending to me. She saw me wake up and offered a hand up. I took it and got up, grabbing my blade and ready for action. We all worked together to fight off the remaining fallen angels there. They eventually fell back, overwhelmed by our power.

As we celebrated, I looked at us. Everyone was ok and well. But I looked around some more, noticed that Aaron wasn't there. I asked where he was, but no one knew where he was. At that moment, a wounded fallen angel spoke up.

"They got 'im.." he say, coughing up blood. "They took him to the meat factory downtown. They want you, cambion. Arrive unarmed, and they won't hurt 'im."

Rel stabs him in his throats with his own spear, killing him. But as he laid there, dead, I'm still standing there, frozen, wanting to pass out. This can't be happening. This can't be happening..