Dyna needed him.
“Go now if you want to live,” he warned. “If you stay, I will not hesitate.”
Abenon snorted and wiped a streak of blood from the cut on his cheek. “Are you the Celestial? Do you have a pair of shiny black wings under that coat?”
It was as if they had dumped a pail of icy water over his head. The witch and now all these humans knew what he was? This encounter was not random.
“Should you fall,” Abenon said to his men.
“March through the Gates,” they replied in unison.
“Aye,” Abenon grinned. “And may He receive you. Now take him down, but don’t kill him. Not until we drain him of every drop of his precious blood.”
A cold shudder went through Cassiel. He truly had no choice.
Esh Zayinhummed as he drew it from the sheath. Brilliant white flames burst to life along the blade, and the air warped around it from the heat. The men took a step back, holding up their hands against its blazing light. His pulse throbbed with the rhythm of the convulsing flames.
“The first one forward will be the first one down,” Cassiel promised. “Should the flames touch you, they will consume you whole to your very soul.”
No one in the Mortal Realm had the power to destroy a soul, but he hoped the lie would frighten the Raiders enough to withdraw. Their advancement stopped. The dancing white flames gleamed on their wide eyes. Calculating, considering, confidence wavering.
“Without a soul, you would never pass through The Seven Gates,” one of them stuttered.
Abenon snarled at his men. “He lies! Now get him!”
Two men hefted their daggers and attacked from opposing directions. Cassiel moved on instinct, pivoting as his sword blazed through the break between them. He split one from his guts to his sternum and twisted around to run the second man through. The Raider gasped, blood gurgling from his mouth as he caught fire.
He pulled out his sword, backing away. The men screamed as the flames devoured their entire bodies in a white bloom. In seconds, the fire left behind nothing but a burst of ash. It scattered in the air like black snow, scattering across the ground and sticking to the sweat on his skin.
Cassiel gasped at the sudden pain searing inside of his chest as he feltElyondamn him for all eternity. A profound sorrow fell over him, filling him with the urge to drop to his knees and weep. No one had ever spoken of this part.
“Bloody hell,” a Raider said. They stared at him, some with shock, some with fear.
“Lieutenant,” another Raider called to Abenon. “The Captain failed to warn us of this.”
Warn them? They were not speaking of Von who they had called Commander. How many were involved in this?
“What of it?” the lieutenant snapped. “We outnumber him, you useless bastards.”
“Tell me where she is and no one else needs to die,” Cassiel said.
Abenon signaled and four Raiders attacked. Cassiel rode on pure adrenaline, holy fire roaring as steel clashed against flaming steel. He moved further into the alley, parrying and pivoting from the onslaught of attacks.
He broke through their defenses, his sword splitting through opponents one by one. Their screams echoed against the walls. Smoke pillars billowed in the air as their bodies became puffs of ash in his wake. His fear had drowned in a cloud of wrath at their persistence. They were forcing their deaths on his hands.
A Raider came at him and they crossed swords, bringing them face to face. The flames, inches from the Raider’s nose, shone in his petrified eyes.
Cassiel shoved him back, giving him the chance to escape. “Tell me where they took her and no one else needs to die.”
But the Raider attacked again. Cassiel evaded the incoming blade and impaled him through. The man clutched Cassiel’s coat, gurgling his last breaths before the flames consumed him. He ripped out his sword, letting the burning body drop.
“No one else needs to die!” he repeated. It was an offer. A plea. He could feel how each life he took sullied him further. Painting his soul black.
He only had a split second to duck as two more Raiders swung their swords for his neck. The blades met in a violent clash above his head, clanging like a broken bell. He droppedEsh Zayinand simultaneously drew out the knives from his boots, impaling his two attackers in their stomachs. Cassiel sliced through muscle and bone as he ripped the knives upward out of their chests.
“No one else …” A spatter of warm blood hit his cheek as the two bodies fell.
There was a stillness in him.
