Death Sword

Tengzu, Cheena, Earth

***

'I am going to die!' His thoughts rushed to his death.

He saw the assassin take a few more steps back to clear himself from the blast radius. Any second now, the knife will blow and will turn him into bits of pieces, a slab of meat. Dreygo closed his eyes and surrendered.

Bang!

A gunshot loomed.

He opened his eyes but to his surprise, the explosion did not come. To his discovery, the knife was already destroyed. It was not his doing and he found Elaine was down the stairs and shot the knife's handle with her handgun. Even the Assassin was surprised by the shot. A target that small was nearly impossible for her not to miss.

Elaine immediately veered to her side and aimed the gun at the Assassin but her handgun was shoved back by the Assassin's perfectly executed roundhouse kick.

"Elaine!" Dreygo called.

Without hesitation and regard for his injuries, Dreygo sprinted across the kitchen towards the living room and lunged his body toward the Assassin.

Their bodies clashed and both slammed towards the wooden wall, creating a large crack right after they smashed themselves on the tiled floor. Their bodies intertwined and both struggled to gain an advantageous position until Dreygo was on top and pinning the assassin to the floor.

Dreygo put his weight on the Assassin's stomach while the assassin struggled to free himself. The Assassin tried to fight back and threw futile punches that carried almost no bearing. A fraction of his demon powers permitted him to withstand such normal human attacks. Dreygo disregarded his attacks and started to deliver ground-and-pound punches.

The Assassin covered his face for his last line of defense. Nevertheless, Dreygo continued punching until the assassin's forearms cracked and went limped. This made the Assassin defenseless and exposed his face in the process. Two to three punches connected, breaking the Assassin's teeth and instantly delivering his demise.

His face was deformed, somewhat sunken from Dreygo's powerful punch. Dreygo hauled himself up and saw Elaine curled on the staircase. Dreygo exhaled and took out the knife's blade lodged in his stomach.

"Is it done?" Elaine asked, her voice cracking.

"Yeah." Dreygo snorted.

"We have to go. Authorities will come any second now," She said.

Dreygo hauled himself up while he pressed against his wound and limped towards the stairs. As they reach the bedroom, sirens of police cars appeared outside. Dreygo peeked from the nearest second-floor window and saw three police cars. Neighbors went out of their houses and crowded outside behind the police cars.

"We cannot trust the police. They could be under the Triad's payroll." Dreygo pondered.

"Dreygo, we are ready!" Elaine said as she carried their bags.

Dreygo saw a few policemen advance towards the house with guns pointing. They took the window in the adjacent room that facing at the back of the house's façade. Elaine jumped out to the window and landed at the nearest tree. She climbed down gradually. Dreygo just jumped directly to the ground with their bags.

They ran along the road and suddenly a black sedan halted in front of them. The driver's seat window rolled down and it was Officer Sho.

They went inside the car and drove away.

"Perfect timing, Officer Sho!" Elaine praised.

"Yeah, I intercepted police frequency from my radio and heard that the house is attacked. I drove here immediately."

"Any longer or I will punch you in the face," Dreygo said his voice fainting.

"Always with the jokes, Dreygo," Officer Sho responded with a hint of humor. They knew that Tengzu will be attacked by the Lord of Wrath on that night and time was short for preparations. Seeking help from Viriel was their best option.

"We have to lay low even for a few hours," Elaine mused.

"I know a place," Officer Sho said abruptly turning the wheel to the right.

The car was heading out toward the borders of Tengzu and Tsi Luen but far enough that they could be seen by populated areas. They settled in an abandoned warehouse adjacent to the scrap dumpsites.

"How do you know this place?" Elaine asked.

"We usually look for vehicular evidence near here. Mostly, we come here if we investigate some vehicles. Most of the criminals hide their getaway cars here for scraps.

Dreygo sat on a stacked wooden crate and Elaine attended to his wounds. She place a thick gauze on the wound after he cleansed it with Vodka and removed the remaining blood.

Dreygo had to sleep to accelerate his healing capabilities. He clenched Elaine's hand and gradually relaxed his body to sleep.

"How is your family?" Elaine asked Sho.

"I took them away from the house and with my parents in the province," Sho replied.

"It's good to hear that they are safe."

"They are not safe as long as we stop the Triad." Sho retorted.

Elaine sang Dreygo lullaby again and her voice echoed through the empty warehouse.

Dreygo slept instantly and succumbed to his current weak state.

***

His dreams started to appear, his subconscious took him again to his family. It was much clearer now than before. He had forgotten how his family died. They were murdered but the reason was vague.

He could see the beautiful garden with flowers strewn on garden plots. His daughter, facing her back towards him, fell to the ground bloodied. On the other side of the garden was his wife, who ran to her daughter as she fell.

Everything was in slow motion, in full detail, and realistic enough that the harbinger could feel the sadness. He wanted to move, to capture her daughter while she fell but he couldn't. Something had stopped him. Maybe the dream itself playing tricks on his mind, preying on his weakness and insecurities.

"How did she die, my daughter?" he mumbled in his sleep.

He focused on her daughter and saw an arrow lodged in her chest. He glanced from where the arrow was fired, and a figure appeared from afar, holding a bow. He did not recognize who, as the face of the murderer was distant and blurry.

"No!" He screamed in his dream. He could do nothing.

He returned his gaze to his daughter and his wife was hugging her, crying while she knelt on the ground. Her clothes were soiled. She was looking at him, and suddenly another arrow flew across his vision and landed on her wife's chest.

"No!" He screamed again and extended his arms into the air. He could not move his feet. He could not understand. All he felt was that he was hopeless and could not participate in intervening in their deaths, only an audience. The past was already written. History could never change, his thoughts told him.

"Why I was descended to Hell? Did I do something wrong?" he questioned himself. He could not recall how but his first thought was vengeance. He became a vengeful soul until his death.

***

He was startled by Elaine. He fluttered his eyes open and saw Elaine was shaking him. He hauled himself up and noticed the pain was less noticeable now.

"You had a nightmare," Elaine said.

Dreygo inspected his shirt and it was soaked wet with his sweat.

"Why did you wake me?" He asked without thinking. He had to know what happened to his family. Those dreams were memories he never had when he was in hell.

He could not explain what triggered his dreams to replay the dreadful moments of his family's death. Maybe because he was becoming more of a human than a demon, or maybe because of Elaine.

"Viriel is here." She said.

He glanced at the center of the warehouse and the angel stood wearing a smile on his face.

"It's about time," Dreygo said sarcastically.

"I brought news, the good and the bad," Viriel said.

"Shoot the bad first," Dreygo suggested.

"You probably know it already. Zerath is here," Viriel said but he knew that Dreygo recognized the undead demons were the workings of the Demon Lord of Wrath.

"Yeah, I know. Then what's the good news?"

"This!" Viriel held his hand up at chest level and suddenly a burst of light appeared. It formed a sword and then it finally revealed its true form right after the light disappeared.

"My sword!" Dreygo exclaimed.

"I had smuggled this just now. But it was not easy. I had connections from Limbo who had given me access." Viriel said proudly.

Now, Dreygo knew that he could face Demon Lords with his sword. It had blessed Kragus himself to do his bidding. His current capabilities made him doubt in a fight with Demon Lords but having his sword would contribute to his advantage.