Ria
One second I was out of it and the next the world slowly came into view.
The blurry snow and figures surrounding us became more and more tangible as the pain in my chest dimmed and eventually disappeared. But as the angels came into view so did the spirits.
I honestly wouldn't have cared about not being able to see the spirits anymore if only it didn't hurt so much. That was the only downside.
I groaned as I tried to get up and fight against the angels.
The twenty of them were surrounding Arsheus, smiling and mocking him as they stabbed him time and time again with a dagger awfully similar to the one that had taken him down.
Arsheus laid on the ground, still clutching his chest, unable to defend himself.
I had to do something. Not because I kinda liked him now, no. I had to move because he was my only way out of here.
I looked around, desperate to find something to use against them.
There was nothing, not even the dagger I had given Arsheus. He had dropped it too close to the angels and I couldn't get it. Crap, I should've kept it for myself.
I looked at the sky, searching for reinforcements, but all the demons were too busy fighting for their lifes in the far away sky to notice we were in trouble.
From afar I could see a little black speck flying our way, but he was too slow to arrive on time and to top it all off he was being followed by at least nine white specks. I couldn't count on them.
What could I do?
My only advantage was that the angels didn't even know I was here or didn't care enough to check if I was really dead. Their real goal was the demon.
What to do now?
As I searched desperately for something my eyes met those of the spirits.
Was I doing this again?
I looked at where Arsheus was all but dead, blood pooling underneath him and then at the spirits.
I hoped this would work.
I looked the spirit in the eye and spoke.
" Kill them all"
The spirits's face contorted as blood started pouring out of their eyes, their flesh peeling away right before my eyes.
I wanted to puke as their skin left way to their muscles and bones, their creepy smiles never wavering as they turned to face the angels.
The angels in question had turned to face me as soon as they heard me speak, their expressions murderous.
" How is she alive?"
" I don't know, but let's kill her"
The angels walked towards me, their weapons drawn.
I gathered all my strength and got up, running away from them. With a little bit of luck maybe I could stall long enough for the reinforcements to arrive.
I ran away with my woobly legs, trying to get away from the angels and the spirits, who had now turned against their own kind.
The screaming didn't take long to begin.
I covered my ears as penetrating shrieks filled the whole area, the angels begging for mercy as the spirits ate their hearts right out of their chest cavities.
I didn't stop as I heard the screams. I kept running. It was only a matter of time before the spirits finished off the angels and came for me. I had to be long gone by then.
I heard as the angels panicked more and more, trying to kill something they couldn't quite see nor harm.
As they fell one by one I twisted my head to look at them, a satisfied smile on my face. For once things had gone as I wanted them to.
Of the twenty angels only two remained. The rest of them were laying on the snow, their eyes glossy as they looked up at the sky, no longer alive. Blood tainted the snow red under the corpses, making the scene seem like a massacre.
The fallen angels had their heads twisted and their hearts missing. Those same hearts were now on the hands of their fallen comrades, who smiled as they munched them.
The remaining angels looked terrified as they used all their powers to try to keep the floating hearts away from them.
It didn't work.
The last two angels fell in between screams as the spirits bit their heads off, smiling as blood poured down their chins.
I had to run.
I turned to run away again but the spirits were faster.
They grabbed me by the shoulders and begun pulling with all their strength.
I screamed as hard as I could as pain bloomed all over my neck.
It felt as if they were trying to pull my head off, probably because that was what they were doing.
My heart raced as I tried to think of a way out of this, but there were none. There were no more victims for the spiris to go after. It was my turn.
Arsheus was safe at least. For some reason the spirits seemed to dislike harming him. Maybe it was some kind of demonic perk. If only I had that power too maybe I wouldn't be dying at the hands of a vengeful dead angel.
I thrashed, trying to free myself, but all I managed to do was call even more spirits over to me.
All of them surrounded me as the one that was holding me pulled harder.
" Ahhhhhh!!!"
Tears begun streaming down my face as the pain increased more with each passing second.
I swung my legs and tried to hit the spirit, but that did nothing.
The spirit didn't even flinch. He only pulled harder as blood poured out of his eyes, his smile unnerving as he looked me in the eyes.
I was dead.
Fear rippled through my whole body as I felt how my head begun to break away from my body.
I searched desperately for something to defend myself with but there was nothing. I had never wished more to have a dagger with me, but it was too far away.
It was near Arsheus, who as still unconscious on the snow, covered in blood. Or at least I hoped he was unconscious. I had no way of knowing if he was alive.
I had played the hero and managed to kill the angels but I didn't even know if what I had done had all been in vain. If Arsheus had died then I would have just thrown my life away and I had no way of knowing if he was okay.
As I held onto the spirit's hands, trying to pry them apart all I could think about was that I didn't regreat trying to save Arsheus, even if he was a bastard and I hated him. He wasn't that bad, even if he had kidnapped me and threatened me time and time again.
Just what was wrong with me?
I smiled sadly at the spirits as their hold became stronger and stronger.
This was it. I was done for.
I screamed as blood begun pouring out of my neck.
I watched in horror as my head begun separating itself form my neck, the tendons visible through the gap between them.
I could see my own throat as blood poured out, staining the spirit red.
He didn't seem to care as he pulled harder.
I screamed and tried to back away, but it was already too late.
All I could do was watch as the spirit pulled one last time and more tendons broke along with the skin.
My bloodshot eyes never left the spirit's as he pulled. There was a dark satisfaction in his eyes. He loved seeing people die. This was why I hated spirits.
All of the sudden the pressure on my neck disappeared and I fell to the ground, the pain not fully gone but definitely better than when they had been actively trying to kill me.
I held my neck as I looked up.
Above me was Arsheus. He was half dead and covered in wounds, but he was still standing.
In between his hands he was holding the spirit's head.
What the fuck?
Could spirits be killed?
I stared at the bleeding head in awe.
How had he done that?
The rest of the spirits ran away in fear, disappearing right before my eyes.
So this was the reason why they hadn't messed with him. They were afraid of Arsheus. He could kill them, but how?
I only had eyes for the severed head as Arsheus leaned down and lightly pried my hands away from my wound.
I didn't want to look down.
I knew how bad it was. I could feel my blood pouring out of my body as my strength declined.
Arsheus placed his hands on my neck and the pain went away.
I looked down only to see my wound was gone and my head and neck were perfectly attached to each other again.
" Thanks"
Arsheus had saved my life. Again. I owed him.
" It's nothing"
I could see it wasn't nothing by the way he stumbled when he got up, his legs almost failing him.
He was more hurt that he wanted to admit. He could barely stand on his own.
I got up and helped him walk.
We were close enough to the mountains. In normal conditions it would've taken a few minutes to reach them, but in our condition it could take up to half an hour.
I looked up at the sky, afraid the angels were following us and saw that all of them were still too entertained with the demons to go after us.
The only thing approaching us was the demon from before. He had taken out the angels following him and was flying at full speed our way.
We could meet him up when we reached the mountains.
" Come on"
I took Arsheus's arm and let him rest all his weight on me.
He was way heavier than me and each step I took felt as if I was trying to move while I had a bag filled with rocks attached to my back, but I had to keep going.
Arsheus had healed me and saved me. I could make do with a little bit of tiredness. I could bring the both of us to safety.
I pushed my body to move forward, refusing to even think about how pale Arsheus was and how faintly his heart was beating. I refused to think he could die. I refused to notice the amount of blood he was losing every single second.
He was going to make it and so was I. We were going to be fine.
I used up all my strength to move us, my legs begging me to quit. Every single muscle in my body was on fire as I dragged an unconscious Arsheus closer and closer to the mountains.
After losing almost all my strength we finally arrived at the edge.
I felt so relieved that we were finally safe that I fell to the ground, dropping Arsheus.
He ended up face first on the snow, waking up as soon as the cold got to him.
I too would've been shivering if I hadn't been so warm from all the exercise. It was as if someone had lit me on fire.
" Come on, open the portal"
Arsheus looked barely conscious as he looked at me and smiled. Then he fell back to the snow, unconscious again.
Fuuuuuuck!
What could I do now?
I didn't have the dagger and had nothing to get his blood. Still, he was bleeding so profusely I could just take some with my hand and smear it on the rock.
Question was, would it work or did it need to be done by Arsheus?
I looked at him and then at the sky, where the angels had won the battle and were flying our way.
Fine, whatever.
I smeared my hand with Arsheus's blood and proceeded to smear it on the rock.
As I did I thought about my home and about how much I wanted to go there.
I thought about the trees and the children. I thought about the glass castle and the snow covered trees.
The mountain shook and a passage appeared.
Time to go.
I grabbed Arsheus by the legs and started dragging him into the tunnel.
Just when I was entering the demon that had been following us landed and I finally saw who he was. He was the handsome one.
He looked at the passage and then at Arsheus.
He didn't need to be told what to do.
He grabbed him by the shoulders and carried him as we entered the tunnel.
As soon as we were inside the entrance closed and we were left in the darkness.
Just great.