Chapter Forty-Six

Aeron grimaced when he felt the jagged rocks dig into his skin. Their sharp edges lacerated his fingers and palms, covering his arms in a thick layer of dried blood. Yet still, through the pain, he continued to burrow into the earth. "I know I heard her voice around here! Come on, Zia, where are you?!" For the first time in centuries, he felt true fear. He didn't know why he was digging with such feral intensity. After all, Zia and the others couldn't die, so there was no reason for him to be worried. Yet—even though he knew this—he kept going. Aeron tore through the gravel and rocks, even using his wings to give himself an extra lift. Eventually, after what seemed like an eternity, the Cherub pulled back the final stone.

"God… who's there?" a familiar voice said from underneath the rubble. As the dust shifted, Aeron caught a glimpse of Zia's fiery hair. When he saw that, the fallen Angel smiled. Without saying a word, he quickly tore the remaining slabs of stone off the ambassador's body. In the process, he also uncovered his companion's somehow conscious bodyguards. Once they were freed from the collapsed building, their bodies began to heal, and soon they were back in tip-top shape.

"You've got to be pulling my leg. Is that Aeron Weber?" Elizabeth chimed in as she, Kashif, and Zia dusted themselves off. It seemed as if the three of them were stuck in some sort of trance. Which, considering that they had all just lived through a decimating explosion, made some sense. After a few moments, Zia broke free of her shock, and when she did, the ambassador couldn't help but wrap her arms around the Cherub in a warm embrace.

"You sure took your damn time," she said. Now it was Aeron's turn to be shocked. In the past, he had been hugged by his kin and some within the Bureau; however, this was the first time that he truly enjoyed the experience. "I can't believe that you came back! What? Did you have a change of heart?" she continued as she jokingly patted his shoulder.

"I was planning to interrogate Poseidon to find out where he stashed the three of you, but now I don't think that's necessary," Aeron told them as he happily returned the gesture. However, this moment of bliss was short-lived. As, after their brief reunion, Zia immediately noticed that something was amiss.

"Your wings… why are they charred?" she asked as she stared at his burnt feathers. Aeron sighed. It wasn't like he could avoid explaining what happened. Plus, he had information that they needed to know. And so—once he was sure that all of them were listening—he told them everything, from what happened after Zia left his side to the knowledge about Poseidon he'd received from Satan.

"So that's how it is," he finished. "Anyways… that's the long and short of it, but what about you?" For Zia and her bodyguards, it had to have been a while since they last saw each other. However, to Aeron's surprise, there wasn't much to talk about. Elizabeth explained that they were drifting in and out of consciousness for most of the time after their capture. "Wow, that must've been one hell of an explosion you let off, Zia," the Cherub commented once he was caught up to speed. The ambassador didn't say a word. Instead, she opted to simply stroll next to him in silence.

"This place is Atlantis, huh? I never thought that it actually existed," Kashif mumbled as the four of them walked through an alleyway into a vast, dilapidated building. Thanks to Aeron's last attack, the limestone walls and marble flooring were covered in ash. Some sections—specifically the pillars supporting the building's roof—had been partially melted by the extreme heat. All around them lay kelpies' disintegrated bodies. The only way they could tell them apart from the regular dust piles was their shiny blue jewelry—which twinkled like stars in the bleak apocalyptic ruin.

"I guess these guys must've been in charge of managing the city," Zia pondered as she knelt to inspect some of the heaps. Several were small enough to belong to young children. Even though she knew that many kelpies were little more than non-intelligent beasts, those that died here were more than that. They called this place their home and lived out their lives in these very streets. In fact—in more ways than one—she'd say they were almost human. "This isn't right," she continued. Even though they captured her and her friends, Zia didn't believe that they all deserved to die in such a horrible fashion. After all, like the judges, many of the kelpies were just following orders. At least in her opinion, there were only two people here that deserved such punishment. One was, of course, Poseidon, as it was his fault that they were even in this mess. However, after hearing Aeron's story and seeing what the fallen Angel had done to Atlantis firsthand, she couldn't deny that she felt uneasy being in his presence. In a way—given his occupation—his actions made sense, but something about him unnerved her to no end. Maybe it was how easily he was able to accept becoming a fallen Angel to take down Poseidon, or, perhaps, it was the Cherub's apparent disregard for mortal life. Either way, with his account, her opinion of Aeron Weber changed.

Granted, it wasn't all bad. She could tell that one of the main reasons he did what he did was to save them, but that didn't excuse his actions or make her feel any better. "Hey, what's up? You look a bit pale," the Angel told her as he placed a hand on her shoulder. It was the warm hand of a caring comrade, but she didn't find any comfort in the gesture.

"It's nothing… let's just keep moving," she responded as she stepped over a partially disintegrated skull. It pained her to admit it, but, for the moment, she would have to grin and bear it. She couldn't afford to waste time on a petty argument over morals, not when all of creation was at stake. "So, Poseidon—your kin—do you think he has the Scale?" she asked as their group inched through a crumbling archway.

"To tell you the truth, I have no idea. Although, I do know that he is the reason for the kelpie attacks." Poseidon, at that moment, was a significant threat that needed to be neutralized. "But, if he did have the artifact, don't you think he would have used it already?" They were facing an Angel that fancied himself a god. If he had the Scale, Aeron didn't believe for a second that such a being would leave it untouched. Therefore, it was relatively safe to assume that God's tool wasn't in the fallen Angel's possession.

"That's a good point," Zia added as her boots rattled against the stone seabed. Her gut told her that Aeron was right. Poseidon didn't have the Scale, but if that was the case, where in the world was it? "I guess we'll have to figure that out after we get past this roadblock." For the moment, their primary objective was capturing the false deity. Until that was accomplished, the Scale would have to wait. With that out of the way, their group continued their journey through the desolate ruins in silence, only speaking when they came across an obstacle or the occasional stray kelpie.

"Damn bastards just don't know when they're beaten," Kashif groaned as he let a kelpie—whose neck he'd just snapped—fall to the ground. Since Poseidon's lackeys had confiscated most of their weapons when they were captured, Zia, Kashif, and Elizabeth had to rely primarily on hand-to-hand combat to make it through the hordes. Thankfully, with Zia's unbelievably sharp senses and Kashif's brute strength, they made short work of the few weak fiends that came their way. And—thanks to Aeron's previous attack—what monsters they did come across were already severely burnt and injured. A few were so frail that they could barely lift a sword, much less fight. "Do we really need to kill this one?" Kashif wondered when they came across one such kelpie, who was missing both of its arms and half its stomach.

"Is that even a question? Of course, we do," Aeron responded as he flew over and effortlessly tore the beast's head off. The kelpie's neck was already mostly burned through, so he could wrench it from its spine with just one hand. "Ah, would you look at that?" he continued as he knelt to inspect the monster's corpse. The second its waist touched the stone, a noticeable clink reverberated through the air.

"Was it carrying a weapon?" Elizabeth asked. Aeron nodded. To be more precise, hanging off the creature's belt was a couple of pistols and a large metal club. Without a moment's hesitation, he distributed the haul between them. Kashif, of course, got the club, while the two handguns went to Zia and Elizabeth. Thankfully, both were loaded.

"How in the world did kelpies get a hold of these?" Zia wondered as she carefully inspected the weapon. Thankfully, Elizabeth had an answer for her.

"If I remember right, those kelpies we fought at the dig site had disguised themselves as mortal soldiers. Some of them probably brought a couple back as souvenirs."

"Let's hope they pillaged more than just guns," Aeron added as he continued to search the kelpie's body, finding a few full clips in the process. After giving the ammo to Zia and Elizabeth, he stood up, turned around, and squinted as he looked off into the distance. "If we're lucky, we've got about three hours before the ocean overtakes this place." Even though he evaporated a vast swathe of the surrounding waters, that wouldn't last forever. Eventually, the ocean would drag Atlantis back down to its depths, and he couldn't let that happen. "If Atlantis floods before we're done with Poseidon, the bastard may use the waves to escape." The fallen Angel was technically supposed to be the god of the seas, after all. Time was of the essence.

"So, where do we find the man of the hour?" Elizabeth asked as she rubbed her tired eyes. In response to her question, Aeron shrugged and unfurled his charred wings. Seconds later, he was floating high above Atlantis' streets, searching for a sign of Poseidon's location.

"An Angel who sees himself as a god should have a home that reflects those feelings." The Greek Pantheon was not known for its subtlety, which, as luck would have it, allowed him to effortlessly locate their foe's place of residence. In the distance—near the center of the city—was a large castle built into the ocean floor. The fortress' rocky roof was covered in algae and other plant life, giving Aeron the impression that he was staring at a natural underwater mountain. "That explains why I wasn't able to see it from the ground. The damn thing is practically camouflaged."

"Did you find it?" Zia called out. Aeron nodded.

"His castle is just over that next group of buildings. I can't imagine that Poseidon would spend his time anywhere else but there." With that, Zia, Kashif, and Elizabeth all gave him a thumbs up and hurried off towards their final destination. The closer they got to the gigantic structure, the more kelpies they found.

"Some of these guys must've been hiding underground when you attacked," Elizabeth said as she shot a bullet right through a giant horror's skull, splattering its brain all over the moldy pavement. Immediately after killing the beast, another two crawled up out of the seabed and swiped at her legs. However—before the creatures landed a hit—Zia filled the two of them with holes.

"You've gotten better," Aeron spoke as the ambassador replaced the pistol's clip. Probably due to Zia's lack of makeup, her shooting had become unbelievably more precise. In fact, at that point, Aeron was willing to admit that she might've been a better gunslinger than him. At his compliment, Zia turned to him and nodded.

"Heads up, Aeron! There's a large group heading towards us from the south!" Kashif yelled from atop a nearby stone pillar.

"How many are there?"

"I'd say about fifty; however, just by looking at their bodies, I can tell you that half of them are critically injured." He was telling the truth. Aeron could see the small company of monsters off in the distance. Most were missing a couple of limbs, at least; he didn't even know how the rest managed to stay upright.

"Perfect, this will be a good test," he whispered with a smile as he unsheathed his blade, sending waves of scorching heat into the surrounding areas. Kashif—realizing what the fallen Angel had planned—quickly hopped off the rock they were standing on and dived for cover.

"Hey, Aeron, warn us the next time you plan to use that thing!" the bodyguard yelled, which shocked Zia and Elizabeth. It was extremely rare for the man to raise his voice at anyone. It seemed that a slight amount of distrust had wormed its way into Kashif's heart. After that, the three of them heard another large explosion, immediately followed by the kelpies' horrific screams. These must've been intelligent. For, after being set alight by Aeron's sword, several of them started to search for a pool of water to quench the flames. However, there were no such pools. They'd all evaporated after Aeron's explosive entrance. Over the next few minutes, Zia and her bodyguards could only watch as the beasts slowly but surely burned to death.

"You could have killed them instantly. Why did you make them suffer?" she asked Aeron once the last creature took its final breath. The fallen Angel didn't answer; in fact, it seemed as if her words flew right over his head. Instead, in those precious few moments, Zia saw Aeron staring at the beasts' smoldering remains with a look of absolute glee—an expression eerily similar to the Demons that tortured her all those years ago. Yet, as quickly as that look surfaced, it vanished.

"Are you three all right?" the Cherub asked as he helped her up. Yet again, their damned comrade shocked her. She could tell that Aeron truly meant that; he cared about their well-being.

"But still," the ambassador thought as one of her hands clenched into a fist. "That doesn't excuse his behavior. Hell, if it weren't for his halo, I'd easily mistake him for just another Demon." It was at times like this that she remembered who she was dealing with. A being whose dark and twisted mind took pleasure in the destruction and suffering of others. Yet, somehow, she resisted the urge to reprimand him for it. Bringing his disturbing personality up would only delay their mission. "I need to focus on the greater of the two evils," she whispered as she stared at Poseidon's citadel. Until that twisted soul sat rotting at the bottom of Tartarus, Aeron could wait. "It's time for us to finish this dance of death." And, with that, Zia hopped off the pillar and headed deeper into Atlantis' charred ruins. "This," she started as her boots effortlessly shattered the burnt kelpie corpses with a disturbing snap, "this is Hell."

From the desk of Beurt Albere...

That man, Aeron Weber, might be my kin, but I believe him to be one of the vilest of God's creations. Granted, when in public, I put up a front to not show my fear, but when I'm alone, all my uncertainties bubble up to the surface. I still remember the moment when I first saw him. I was but a young fledgling—just barely old enough to gain my wings. Aeron Weber and I never formally met during those days, but I saw him. Before I became the Bureau's minister, I had only laid eyes on him once, and that one time was more than enough to etch fear into my heart. It wasn't on any special occasion. I was just at the usual morning's mass at my congregations' church. Aeron Weber, at that time, was infamous for his constant skipping of services and other nefarious deeds. But, for some reason, he showed up that day. I'm not sure why he decided to attend. If I asked him about it now, he'd likely wave me off without a care in the world. In hindsight, it was such a minor event, but when he walked through those doors, that was when I got a gander at the genuine Aeron Weber. Or, as I like to say, that was when I got a glimpse of the Devil himself.