Mias and Elle 2 Ch.6: Ashes

Is there even a reaction big enough to seeing yourself outside of the mirror? I couldn't find one no matter how hard I tried. As I watch myself emerge from the raven form my eyes run over my old tattoos on her skin…my skin. Elias though, seems to find the reaction of his own; he shoots to his feet and comes forward.

"Azreal?" He asks.

"No." I whisper, though he cannot hear me, and his eyes are focused purely on her, nowhere else. I don't want him near that thing. That isn't me.

I may have my humanity but that thing does not. There is so much evil radiating off of it that it makes me gag. Fire is spreading this way, but Elias doesn't notice. The thing however, notices me. She turns her golden eyes on me for a moment and smiles, it is a horrible, fang flashing grin that my heart pounds faster in my chest. Is this what I looked like? Was I really this evil? The thought that I appeared this way to everyone I came by makes me want to throw up or sob, but before I can do either, its marked fingers wrap around Elias's throat and she smiles, I smile, or so it would seem to him.

"A-Azreal!" he chokes as she lifts him into the air.

Suddenly her eyes shift, the gold is swallowed up as the pupils spread and cover the whole eye. They would be completely black except for the one white dot in the center where the pupil should have been, the resulting look is horrifying and makes me tremble.

"W-why are you doing this!?" he struggles against her hand, though it is obvious he isn't trying to hurt her.

"What's wrong?!" He finally meets her eyes and sees the evil there, he can finally feel it and his skin pales. "W-what's happened to you?"

She snarls and her fingers tighten. "You left me to die." Her voice is dark and echo's as it did before.

Elias chokes and coughs against her hand. "N-no! I didn't!" His eyes are so confused, so much pain there as he is forced to remember. "You died in my arms!"

With a flick of her wrist she flings him to the ground and I can hear the force of it. He cries out and curls around his stomach. There is a rib or two broken, or at least badly bruised.

"I did not." She says, coming over to kick him onto his back, where she plants her foot on his ribs. He cries out again and she laughs. It's a terrible sound and I am trembling. "I was simply passed out. And you left me to die. But I was saved, and given a new chance to destroy you."

His eyes grow wide and it is when he whimpers, when Elias, the only human man I have ever known to make even animals tremble in fear at his might and rage, whimpers in fear and sadness, that I am truly filled with rage.

"Release him." I tell her. "You are not I, your body may be mine but your heart is black as night."

I step towards her, the long white dress billows around my ankles as she turns her awful eyes on me. "Silly wretch, His heart is mine, I am simply doing what I must, stand aside before I take what little ability you seem to have to appear before me." She waves me off and turns back to him.

He is more confused now than ever because he cannot see me. "W-what..."

She snarls and slams her foot down on his ribs and I hear the crack, then his scream of pain. "DO NOT SPEAK YOU WORTHLESS BEING!" she roars and he trembles.

Something then, seems to snap in me. Up until now I have succumbed to my human like emotions, I have allowed myself to feel, to cry, to regret, but now, I shove these feelings down, my fear dissipates leaving nothing but anger and love, love for the man I have given so much for.

"If you know what is good for you," I say, my voice is now echoing in a sweeter way than hers.

"Then leave him be, I have not a care in what your orders are, I will not allow you to hurt him."

A light is emanating from me, she hisses and steps back. "Stay back you horrible creature."

She snarls at me. I notice Elias staring in my direction; I realize that he can see me. I smile but keep my eyes on her. She backs away a bit more as I step towards her. "I am no horrible creature, for that is what you are, I am no demon of the night any longer, I am simply a guardian of a mortal soul. And this, I cannot allow to be taken."

Where ever we step the fire moves around us as if we cannot be touched by such trivial things. It is now that she lunges at me, I happily comply. I have no fear of death, for I am already dead, I have no fear at all but for Elias, who has curled up in pain from his wounds.

Good, I do not want him to see this.

Through the fire and around trees, grace and I dash. My heart is pounding and I can only hear its pace in my ear. My only feeling is of the heat around us and fear deep in the pit of my stomach. In the distance behind us I hear a loud collapse. What was once our home must now lay in ashes and shambles. But I know that Ari is safe with Abernos and Yousery, they escaped ahead of the flames grace and I now ride under, this urges me on.

I cannot allow Ari to grow without a father, nor could I bare it. So I kick graces sides lightly with my heels and she jets off at a faster pace. Beneath me she is pumping hard, legs pounding at the dirt. It's as if I can feel her fear. We both sweat with the heat and when we finally make it out of the trees from jumping over fallen branches, rounding burning trees, it is a blessing. Yet all too soon, this blessing becomes a curse, I can see the town as we close in on it. It is as if hell as opened up and thrown its fury at it.

The flames reach high into the sky, seeming to lick at the clouds. People run from it, wounded and some still on fire. The smell of burning wood and flesh makes me gag but I manage to hold down my lunch. I pull grace to a halt a safe distance away and climb off her back. I can see where the fire spread to the woods and I look away, trying to focus. I pet her nose and kiss it.

"Stay here unless you must leave." I tell her, and the intelligence in her eyes tells me she understands.

With one final pat of her neck I turn and make a mad dash for the burning buildings. Perhaps I am crazy; maybe this is all for nothing and Mias made it out safely. Maybe I will die here for nothing. But I cannot risk it, if he needs me then this is where I will go. And if he is not here, then this is where I will die knowing he is safe. I blink against the fire and think I may just be hallucinating, but a figure immerging from the flames tells me I am not.

"Elle!" Bernos says as he comes to a stop in front of me, eyes wide with fear and adrenaline. "What are you doing here?! Where's Ari and Abernos?!" He grips my shoulders and stares at me.

I swallow hard. "They are safe" I hope to god they are. "I came looking for Mias."

I feel guilty for a moment because I didn't come to find Bernos as well; my mind is focused on my husband. Bernos crushes me with his silence. "Where is he?" I whisper.

Bernos bites his lower lip and looks away.

"WHERE IS HE?!" I yell, tears well in my eyes.

Bernos meets my eyes now. "We split up. He went after a man." This is all I need to hear, with one last look at Bernos I sprint for the town.

"ELLE! WAIT!" Bernos grabs my wrist and pulls me to a stop. "Mias told me to keep you and ari safe no matter what happens."

I turn my eyes on him, my gaze determined. "This is the man I married, Bernos. I have to find him."

Bernos looks at me, staring really, the flames reflect in his eyes and the wind rustles our hair. Slowly, he releases my wrist and steps back. "I never saw you." He says. I nod, understanding, Bernos couldn't look Mias in the eye if he knew what he did now

"Make sure they are alright."I say, "When I find him, we will return." I don't dare to think of the alternative. He nods quickly and turns, heading for the woods.

Turning on my heel I go quickly, into the town and down the streets, over broken bodies and beneath wreckage. I make sure to keep my eyes ahead, to save myself the view of carnage. Its only when I turn the corner of a building do my eyes seem to deceive me. For there, in the living, breathing flesh is Arian whose hands are soaked in blood, and at his feet lay the crumpled form of Mias.

When we clash there is a boom like thunder. Even though I am human I am fighting like I am not mortal. My movements match hers. We clash and skid back then come at each other once more. To say I am battling my inner demons is a mild way to put it. Whatever this is…is truly who I was before.

Elias looks up and scrambles back as he watches us locked in battle. I can feel the darkness in her, wanting to suck me in, for I am merely a soul and isn't that what I took before? But I am not just a soul, I am a soul with a purpose, to be a guardian, this alone gives me the physicality I need to protect Elias. It pulls at my essence like I am no more than a feather in the wind. But this doesn't mean I do no damage of my own.  We fight like only two immortals truly can, fast, graceful movements with sharp, deadly strikes.

She aims for my neck with a slash of her nails; I duck back like I was being dipped down and bend into a flip, coming up with a kick aimed for the underside of her jaw. When she evades I land on my feet and lunge, swinging for her chest. She grasps my wrist and throws me hard, my back slams into a nearby building and a choke on the blood that sprays from my lips. I get to my feet again and crack my neck, unwinding the knot there.

"Come now, how can a simple soul such as you resist my pull?" She asks with a chuckle as she steps towards me.

"It's simple really." I say with a snarl and lunge, my hands wrapping around her throat, forcing her to the ground, the glow that has incased me spreads down my hands to wrap around her throat along with my fingers; it sizzles as it touches her skin and she screeches inhumanly.

"I've lived my whole life with darkness." I pull one hand back and slam my fist into her jaw, the glow follows and sizzles there too she screeches again and bucks beneath me, clawing at me and drawing blood, but I pay no attention despite the searing pain.

"I know how it works and how it feels." I continue to assault her, my punches and scratches opening her skin, black blood flows from her. "I don't know what you are, or who put you in my body," the glow that surrounds me now engulfs her as well.

The markings on her skin that I know so well begin to ooze with her black blood. She is screaming and thrashing, opening up painful wounds on my body and ripping my dress that is dark with her blood and mine.  When I speak, my voice is low, menacing and I sound like my old self.

"But that is MY body and mine alone! BE GONE!" I cry and thrust my hand into her chest, breaking flesh and bone until my fingers wrap around the unbeating heart that pulses with dark energy.

Whoever put this demonic soul into my body, whoever gave it its orders to hurt Elias, will pay dearly for their mistake. When I rip it free, there is another boom like thunder and I am thrown onto my back, my head smacking against the concrete and the world turning blurry, I can hear Elias calling my name as I blink slowly out of consciousness.