Chapter 07 | Awakening

On Saturday morning, Matthias came downstairs with a plan.

"Let's go shopping."

Belial paused with the coffee pot in her hand. Astreal looked up from her phone.

"For what?" Belial asked.

"Clothes for the two of you."

"Our clothes are fine."

"Adequate," Astreal agreed.

"I know. I'd like to pick something out for you."

He couldn't match a house or centuries of preparation. Every time he tried to think of an equivalent, he ended up doing nothing.

Clothes, at least, were something he could choose while thinking about what would make them happy.

Belial set down the pot.

"Something you choose?"

"If you like it."

The twins exchanged a glance.

Astreal pocketed her phone.

"Very well."

Belial was already smiling.

"When do we leave?"

By the third shop, Matthias had stopped pretending he understood fashion.

Belial stepped out of the fitting room and turned toward the mirror.

"What do you think?"

He forgot his answer halfway through opening his mouth.

She turned again, making the fabric swing. Her long golden hair followed, catching the light above the mirror.

"Master?"

"It suits you."

"You said that about the last one."

"It suited you too."

Her smile made him suspect she knew exactly what she was doing.

Astreal emerged from the next fitting room and adjusted a sleeve. She studied her reflection, then looked at him.

"This one?"

He nodded.

She inspected the stitching once more.

"Acceptable."

But she kept it with the things she intended to buy.

Matthias leaned against the wall, surrounded by bags. Yuki would probably have opinions about every choice he'd made.

He was enjoying himself too much to care.

They left the mall in the afternoon.

Matthias carried the bags. Belial had offered to take some, but he'd insisted on keeping them.

Then the prickling began at the base of his skull.

He stopped.

A woman stood between the entrance and the car park, facing them.

She was slightly taller than the twins, with a lean frame lost inside a dark robe. Untidy dark-blonde hair framed a pale face, and deep shadows sat beneath her eyes.

She watched him without blinking.

Belial stepped in front of him. Astreal moved beside her.

"Can we help you?" Matthias asked.

"I am Sylvia. Leader of the Cult of Apocalypse."

He tightened his grip on the bags.

So much for a quiet Saturday.

"I have come for the Dark Lord," she said. "The Gods have tipped the balance in their favor. The forces of light need a counterweight."

Her gaze stayed on him through the gap between the twins.

"You will restore it."

"You're looking for the wrong person."

Sylvia raised her hand.

Astreal reached back and pushed him behind her.

"Stay close."

A black circle opened above the car park.

Then another appeared over the pavement, followed by three more near the entrance.

Something fell through the first one and struck the ground on all fours.

Matthias couldn't make sense of its limbs. Bone bent where it should have been straight, and darkness clung to the gaps between its ribs.

It lifted its head toward a family leaving the mall.

Someone screamed.

Skeletons dropped from the other portals, swords scraping the pavement as they rose. Larger shapes pressed through behind them.

The crowd broke apart.

"Inside!" Belial shouted. "Back inside!"

Her silver staff flashed into her hand.

She glanced at her sister.

"Stay with him."

Then she ran toward the family.

Matthias dropped the bags.

The creature lunged. Belial planted herself between it and the fleeing shoppers and swept her staff across its path.

Light struck its chest.

It burst into darkness before it reached her.

Astreal's golden tomahawk appeared in her hand.

"Behind me, Master."

He backed toward a parked car as a skeleton rushed them. She stepped into its swing, cut through its ribs, and turned before the bones hit the ground.

A second attacker lost its sword arm.

Then its head.

Matthias flinched as fragments struck the pavement near his shoes.

At the entrance, Belial drove another wave back with a sweep of light. Shoppers fled through the doors behind her.

"Keep moving!" she called.

For a moment, Matthias thought they could hold them.

Then two more portals opened.

Fresh creatures landed among the remains of the first wave. One scrambled over a parked car while another dragged itself beneath it.

Astreal cut down the one coming over the roof.

The one underneath kept moving.

"On your left!" Matthias shouted.

She pivoted and struck it before it cleared the bumper.

Across the pavement, Belial gave ground. She could push the creatures back or cover the people still outside, but each choice left somewhere else exposed.

Matthias's mouth went dry.

There were too many.

A skeleton broke past the edge of Astreal's reach and charged him.

A black spear struck its skull.

The creature collapsed. The spear tore free, reversed in midair, and flew back across the car park.

Astreal followed it with her eyes.

"Gungnir."

Aki caught the black shaft in one hand.

"Hey."

He was breathing hard, but his grip was steady. The weapon turned in his hands, its weighted ends passing close to his body.

Matthias stared at him.

"Aki?"

"I'll explain later."

He drove the spear through the next creature and swept it clear of the path.

Gold light spun past him.

A huge sword cut through three monsters, circled, and returned to a waiting hand.

Yuki caught it one-handed.

Her silver rings flashed against the grip. She settled the two-handed blade beside her as easily as she might have lowered a shopping bag.

"Durendal," Belial said.

Yuki grinned.

"Okay, that totally counts as my workout. I'm skipping the gym!"

"Why are you both here?" Matthias demanded.

"In a sec, babe! Monsters first, yeah?"

Her eyes moved from the portals to the doors, then to Astreal's position beside him.

"Left side's mine! Belial, keep that entrance clear, okay?"

Aki moved toward the center of the pavement.

"I've got the gap."

The twins moved with them.

Yuki's sword carved a golden arc through the next wave. Aki met the creatures that slipped past her, keeping them at the end of his spear.

Belial gained enough space to send the remaining shoppers toward the doors.

Matthias pressed his back against the parked car.

Four people were fighting around him, and all he could do was try not to get in their way.

He wanted to call Belial back from the entrance. Then he saw the people still running behind her and swallowed the words.

She's needed there. Stay where Astreal can reach you.

It was a small instruction. He clung to it because he had nothing better to offer.

Then metal scraped behind him.

He turned.

A skeleton had come around the rear of the car.

Its sword was already falling.

Astreal was several steps away, her tomahawk buried in another creature. He saw her head turn.

She wouldn't reach him.

He knew it with the same awful certainty that had warned him on the train.

Move.

His arm rose.

He shut his eyes.

Steel rang against steel.

Nothing hurt.

Matthias opened his eyes.

A sword filled his hand.

Its grip rested against his palm as though he'd held it for years. A simple cross-guard protected his fingers, and soft gold light ran along the straight, single-edged blade.

The skeleton's weapon pressed against it.

His arm held firm.

Light spread across the point where the blades met. It raced up the attacker's sword, reached its wrist, and consumed the bones.

The skeleton fell apart into dust.

Matthias stared at the space it had occupied.

Then at his hand.

I was empty-handed.

"That sword."

Astreal had reached him. Her gaze stopped on the blade, and for the first time since he'd met her, she seemed unable to finish a thought.

"How did you—"

"I don't know."

Yuki cut down a creature near the next row of cars and looked over.

Her grin faded into open curiosity.

"Wait, seriously? You can summon that?"

Aki thrust his spear past a raised shield.

"Questions later. Matthias, can you move?"

He looked toward the remaining portals.

Another creature was coming. His fingers tightened around the grip, shifting into a position he hadn't chosen consciously.

"I think so."

He stepped forward.

The creature swung. His body turned just enough to let the blow pass, and his sword cut across its ribs.

It dissolved.

Matthias stumbled through the end of the movement, startled by how little resistance he'd felt.

"Stay beside me," Astreal said.

He nodded.

The next attacker came from his right.

He saw the opening before he understood why it was there. One step, one cut, and it was gone.

He had never learned this.

His hands seemed to disagree.

For an instant, he wanted to stop and find out where the movement had come from.

Another creature turned toward them.

Afterward. Be frightened afterward.

Astreal covered his flank as he advanced. Across the pavement, Yuki and Aki drove the creatures away from the entrance while Belial struck those still dropping from the portals.

The stream began to thin.

One black circle shrank and collapsed. Then another folded inward above the abandoned shopping bags.

Matthias cut through the last creature in front of him.

The final portal snapped shut.

For a moment, he could hear only his own breathing.

Sylvia stood beyond the scattered remains, staring at his sword.

Her jaw tightened.

She looked from him to Aki and Yuki, then to the twins.

"This is not finished."

Purple light swallowed her.

Matthias took a step, but she was already gone.

He lowered the sword.

Now that nothing was coming toward him, his knees felt unreliable.

Belial hurried to his side.

"Are you hurt?"

"No. I don't think so."

She checked his face, then his arms. Only when she found no wound did her shoulders ease.

Astreal stayed close, watching the empty space where Sylvia had stood.

Matthias turned the blade once.

The weight still felt right. That frightened him almost as much as the attack.

"What is this?"

Before anyone answered, the sword faded from his hand.

He closed his fingers on warm air.

He wanted the sword back. That unsettled him too.

A few minutes with it, and an empty hand already felt like being unprepared. He looked toward the mall doors, checking again that nothing stood between the shoppers and safety.

Yuki stopped beside him.

"Babe, a holy sword? You really went all out with the surprise."

"I'm getting tired of being surprised."

Aki rested Gungnir at his side.

"Fair."

Matthias looked at him, then at Yuki.

"You said you'd explain."

"We will," Aki said. "Both of us."

Beyond the cars, the shoppers had reached safety. Some were on their phones, while others stood together near the mall doors.

Aki surveyed the wrecked pavement.

"But I'd prefer to do it somewhere we can sit down."

Yuki shifted her sword.

"Somewhere with food, please. I'm so hungry right now."

"Hot pot?" Aki suggested.

Matthias stared at them.

A few minutes ago, he'd thought he was about to die. Now his friends were discussing broth.

Belial touched his arm.

"Sitting down would help."

He let out a breath that nearly became a laugh.

"Hot pot," he said.

"Hot pot," Aki confirmed.

Astreal retrieved the shopping bags. Somehow, they had survived without a tear.

Matthias reached for them, but she kept hold of the handles.

"I'll carry them this time."

He didn't argue.

With Belial beside him and the others close, he walked toward the car.