Chapter Twenty-seven: Penny Lee's Promise

Hekin's holy fire engulfed the hell ogres, bubbling their hides and melting their bones. Deafening screams of pain filled the air until the blazes consumed their heads and throats. The blue and white fires hovered in the air like guiding lanterns after the deed was done. Hekin glanced around to gloat, but Penny Lee wasn't beside them. The fires beckoned him and the others to follow.

Penny Lee stared at Noforl with her golden cat eyes. She focused on his face as he approached her. He was unreadable, but his dark aura radiated with mal-intent. It had been centuries since she had seen him. His plot to kill all the angels succeeded. One by one, they fell prey to his schemes.

Schuren, the angels' greatest warrior, lost his life protecting his family. She could still feel the pain in his heart as he was attacked by Noforl. A blast of hellfire had knocked him out of the sky with his wife and newborn son. As he lay dying, half of his body blown away and the rest burning to a crisp, she had kneeled beside him in the shadows and wept. His human wife, Holirei, screamed for her baby that had been knocked out of her arms.

Penny Lee grasped the silver feather that Schuren had given her before his last breath.

"Save them," he had pleaded.

Schuren would never know how much she loved and admired him from afar. How could she have let him die? Her desire to conquer the world blinded her to the cruelty the demons unleashed under Noforl's orders.

Noforl's raging hellfires had consumed Holirei, and her shrieks of pain had echoed through the dusk air. Penny Lee had rushed to where Holirei had been pointing. The hellfires had reached the woods that surrounded their home. Penny Lee had gasped when she heard the baby cry from above. A kind forest spirit had handed the infant to her with its smoldering branches. She had promised to Schuren's spirit that she would guide him through a peaceful life.

With his silver feather and his son in her arms, her tears had vanished, replaced with conviction.

Penny Lee had stepped through the shadow portal and had brought the child to safety in the depths of the untouched wilds of the north.

Her desires of ruling the world dissipated as she held baby Tark in her arms. His little fingers had grasped her hand, and it was then she felt as if the world existed in the apple of his eye.

Exterminating the angels wasn't enough for Noforl. He craved power and control. His murderous stare convinced her that nothing would be left alive to contest him.

"Brother, you don't have to do this," she declared, her voice soft yet firm. "Has the collapse of civilization not sated you?"

Noforl stared at her and narrowed his violet eyes. "I won't be satisfied until every human is dead."

"So be it," she whispered.

Noforl charged at her, his crimson hair billowing behind him like a mad flag.

Penny Lee tried to kick his jaw, but he was fast enough to dodge the swift attacks her little cat body could unleash. She unveiled her claws and hissed when he swept a slicing arc that could cut her in half. She leapt to avoid it, and the arc cut through hundreds of trees before gouging a canyon in the earth.

"You took Schuren from this world!" she blasted. "I'll never forgive you!"

Her true form emerged; dark blue feathered wings sent a gale that threatened to snap away the trunks of the trees. Noforl resisted with a smirk. Her ebony armor glistened amber with the sunset. Ruby red hair with streaks of silver whipped with the wind. She lashed at him with Schuren's blades that spewed blue holy fire.

She hollered as she slashed at him with all of her might. Noforl's claws turned blue as he absorbed the energy.

"How is that possible?" she whispered, her eyes wide with disbelief.

Her heart stopped when his red claws pierced her breastplate and gouged her chest. His eyes were cold as he threw her to the ground.

"Penny Lee!" Tark shouted.

Memories of Schuren's kindness filled her thoughts as her black blood pooled beneath her. His turquoise eyes had never missed her, even if she had tried to hide. His strong hands had offered to lift her from the shadows after harrowing fights with other demons.

She closed her eyes when his spirit spoke to her.

"Thank you, Mayzel," he whispered. "We'll never forget you."

She opened her eyes to make sure it wasn't a dream. She gazed at Tark's anguished visage and grimaced. She didn't want to see him suffer or be in pain. She placed her hand on his forehead, letting the silver and dark blue feathers adorn his leather brace. They unleashed the memories of his family and the time they spent together.

Tark held her hand and kissed it as she took her last breath.

He glanced at his friends and allies that surrounded everyone with spiritual barriers, revealing a rainbow of possibilities.