A Throne of Fire

Chapter 2

A dark eyebrow raises and her lips tighten in annoyance, “Creatures far beyond your level of comprehension, their forest, a war, and you’re in the ruins of a very old temple.”

Damon breathes out hot hair, “This all can’t be real at all? What kind of prank is this?” 

“I answered your questions, now answer mine.” She demands, determination set in her mint eyes. 

“Yes. I am human. Pretty sure we are a common species about this place called Earth.” He spreads his hands out, letting them fall heavily at his sides in a loud clap. 

“Nichole and you’re the last one. Congratulations.” She gets some form of a smug grin on her face, leaning in just slightly, “And I found you.” 

Nichole made it seem like some sort of big celebration, giving a giddy little bounce and running about in a circle, “They won’t kill me now.” Laughing almost maniacally, mumbling to herself now and again and giving another set of laughs. 

Damon, who was now standing absolutely shell shocked, still couldn’t---no, wouldn’t believe anything that he was just told. There was just no way that he was the last human. He literally saw his mother like three hours ago! Has it been three hours? Has it been longer? What about those woods? What’s actually out there? 

‘Creatures beyond your level of comprehension.’ Was what she told him, how exactly is he supposed to trust her? What if she was one of these, creatures. Maybe he should have just made a run for it after all. 

Silence filled the room for a while and he was slightly hopeful that she had just left, but instead, Nichole was grabbing his arm and hauling him off behind a corner. 

“Hey! Wait a minute!” Damon protested, pulling at his arm, damn she had a grip like iron. 

“Shhhhh!” The auburn-haired woman shushed him, looking slightly fearful. “Do you hear that?” 

At her question Damon’s eyebrows drew together, listening hard for whatever it is that she's getting so worked up over. 

He couldn't hear anything. It was all just silence. When he tried to move away from her grasp she only held tighter, he swore his own bones groaned from the agony of it. Gritting his teeth he tried to pry Nichole's fingers from his wrist, managing to get three of them off. 

A horrible, unbelievable, terrifying noise echoed down the hallway. It sounded like someone was scraping metal against metal. It howled across the hallway bounced off the walls, sending chills straight into his bones, he looked at Nichole, who seemed to be just as pale as he was. 

Pressing himself against the wall now he slowly inched backward, away from the hallway. For a moment it looked like he frightened Nichole with the sudden movement, though after she got it she slowly started moving too. 

“What was that?” Damon whispered, his voice shuttering ever so slightly. Pulse hammering wildly like a caged bird in his throat. It was almost hard to pick up his legs to continue moving. The lack of response coming from the woman wasn’t helping any either.

Darkness slowly enveloped them with each passing minute. Making him feel even more panicked. 

Maybe it was that shadow girl from before? Though why would she be back? 

The noise came again, this time it sounded closer, more clear. Next was a voice, one that sounded as if they swallowed ashes. 

“Scio te in hic.” 

What? 

Nichole tenses even more, this time totally whirling around and flying by him. 

He just barely caught the whispered “run” on her breath before he too followed. 

Though just before he turned around he locked eyes with opaque pools of obsidian. 

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We ran for what seemed like hours, not even caring if our lungs threatened to collapse in on themselves. Calves burning, the air coming in with sharp ragged breaths, Damon was pretty sure he just beat his record at his school for that dumb mile run thing they do for the gym. 

Fear sure drives someone to push their limits, huh? 

Collapsing on the ground at Nichole's feet, Damon pants, feeling the fire slowly cool in his blood. Maybe he could just sleep right here? Maybe he would wake up from this hellish nightmare. 

After their little ten-minute break passed, the brunette sat up, shooting the auburn-haired woman a sharp glare. 

“What, in the f**k, was that!?” Damon angrily whispered, a little more than afraid that if he spoke too loud then that, thing, would find them. God, it looked so hellish. Just like a demon out of nightmares, a beak protruding from its face, feathers that coat its entire humanoid body, looked like burning coals. 

It was like those monsters described during campfires to spook the kids so they didn’t go wandering off into the woods. Though it’s real. Damon finally took a good look at Nichole, seeing her drenched in sweat, her face wiped of any emotion but fear. There was no color to her face, not even her body, just a pale white sheet. 

“He knows.” She whispered shakily, “He knows we’re here.” Tears formed in her eyes and she finally looked at him. She almost looked like a scared animal. 

“We need to leave. Now. Right now.” Taking the brunette's hand she makes haste down the nearest hall, sticking close to the walls. Vibrant green eyes scan anything and everything, even if it is dark it seemed as though she could see well enough. 

“Who is he? Where can we even go? Last I knew this temple didn’t exactly have a back door!” Damon’s own fear seemed to be kicking back into his system, keeping up with her as best he could. 

Nichole ignores him in favor of diving into a nearby door, not exactly being the quietest when breaking it open. As soon as she is inside she begins to raid it. Cobwebs line the inside, broken boards, here and there and what looks like really old filing cabinets line the walls. In a frenzy she begins to tear open the filing cabinets, searching forwards, angel beads, something, anything that would help protect them against him. She can feel her heart slamming against her rib cage, her eyes scanning anything and everything, her breathing heavy and frantic, why why why?! Why is there nothing?! Did the monks just clear out when they left?! 

At finding nothing she finally feels defeated. Maybe this was her end? He found her, a broken angel. At this point, she is lost in her thoughts, not really caring about what’s around her for the moment. Sinking to the floor, her knees hitting the hardwood with a bruising sound. She’s dead. She’s just going to die here in the Temple of Forgotten Munks. 

Tears stream down her face, she’s too lost to feel the hand wrapped around her wrist. She’s far too gone to see the room slowly moving further away from her. Why run? They were just going to die. Might as well accept it. 

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Damon watched the frightened woman rip the room they were in apart, making about as much noise as possible. This is bad. That thing was going to find us in here with how much noise she was making. He had to think of something. Anything. 

He brews on it for a second, just as he hears a thunk on the floor it hit him in the face. There is another big stained glass window little ways down the hall from here! They could jump out that! Not that they would really survive as he was pretty sure they were at the highest point in the temple. Though it was worth a shot. 

Not really taking the time to explain anything to Nichole, who has taken to weeping and staring at the ceiling, he grabs her by the wrist and rips her from the floor. All but dragging her out of the room as he makes his way for the window. They would live. He’s not going to die in some stupid dream. 

The hallway is still dimly lit, though the candles are slowly burning out, which meant dawn was approaching. Nothing bad ever happened at the break of dawn right? As his legs carry him, although they burn, they carry him with fervor. His heart beating excitedly as the window comes into view. Paying no mind to the the tugging on his arm or the words being thrown at him, they would live. Damon’s body is suddenly lurching forwards over the threshold of the window and he feels nothing. Throwing his hands out he tries to grab onto something, anything, to keep himself from free falling. It’s a futile effort but he still tries, just when he thinks that he is just going to skydive into death's arms, another pair grapple around his waist, suddenly he is jerked upwards a bit, almost like a parachute going off. Though it’s short lived as they both hit the ground with a painful thud. 

With a roll the two land side by side, Damon just letting his body at this point go as limp as can be. Relaxing sounds so nice, even if this wasn’t exactly the best place to do it. 

For a while the two sat in silence, before he took a look at Nichole, who looked starch white.

No, oh no, nonono!  Damon took the chance to look up, though as he did he heard Nichole laugh out her anxieties. 

“Hitching a ride?” The auburn haired woman chuckled out, when he saw her line of sight he too let out a small laugh. It was the ravenette from before. Though she seemed to be a little out of place as well, her dress fluttered out in piles of ruffles beside her. Rubbing her back as if she landed wrongly, Xaylin’s tendrils snaked and flicked out beside her. Scoping out the ground beneath her and slithering over to Nichole. Who clicked her tongue and brushed them away from her in what looked like disgust. 

“Nope, you know I hate it when you try to do that.” 

Xaylin lets out a disgruntled sigh, shuffling around to a more lady like position, staring off between the two. One of her coils unwraps itself from around his ankle, to which he wasn’t even aware was there to begin with. 

Nichole lets out a long sigh that Damon felt she was holding for a while, “So. Xaylin. I saw him die. Why is your uncle alive? I saw him burn to ashes.” Her question comes out sharp, though it sounded more like a statement to him. 

“He did die.” Xaylin responds dryly, “Tell me, broken angel, do you know how a Phoenix is reborn? Do you know how a phoenix dies?” Icy blue eyes narrow towards her, a few of her shadows seem to flick in irritation, almost like a cat. The thought makes him smile a bit. He misses his cat. 

He misses his house. His bed, his mom, his friends.  

Wonder what they are thinking at this point. Oh well, the more important thing at this point is to make sure that he gets home, alive. 

“...Use him for The Sacrifice?” Sacra-what now? Damon now comes down from his own little cloud, hearing Xaylin’s dry voice echoed in his mind. He glances at Nichole, trying to figure out what it was that they were talking about. She just looked more ashamed than anything, twiddle her thumbs and taking quick glances at him every so often. 

“What about this sacrifice?” His heart kicked up a bit. 

A wicked grin spread across Xaylin’s porcelain face was that a gap between her front two teeth? as Nichole stated that she was going to bring this up eventually.

“Oh? When there was a knife in his chest? Lying, bleeding out on your sacrificial table? When, my dear, will you be bringing up how your family threw you out of their lives for your sins? It’s really a no wonder on why they dropped you from the skies.” Xaylin stated almost haughty, "It's people like her that my family tells strangers to steer clear from."

Nichole bristles at her comment, "Oh! Like your family is any better! You have a crazy uncle who has literally obliterated an entire f*****g race! Your family is full of broken misfits, and defections! Who gives you the right to tell anyone who to stay away from!?"

Xaylin laughed, it was light, almost like empty bells, "Your family of angels rejected you. And now you think your old ways will allow you to be brought back to them. Make your wings pure. How childish of you." She seemed slightly offended by Nichole's statement, only slightly though.

The ravenette turns to Damon, "So, considering you won't last on your own in this forest, who do you trust your life with? A broken angel? Or a defective girl?"

Damon on the other hand had absolutely no clue what was going on. Apparently the person who he was being saved by, is now trying to lead him to his death. Then there's this weird shadow woman who is not only really creepy, but also trying to get him to make some choice between being lead to his ultimate demise, or going along with her into some family of demons? 

On one hand he has been with Nichole since the beginning of this whole adventure, albeit he did try to run from her at first but really, who wouldn’t? To suddenly wake up in the woods and then be chased into a Temple you think you know, get chased by some Demon who just wants to kill everyone. Who is apparently related to this little girl over here. 

He would just say screw them both and go out on his own, but taking into consideration what he just had seen back in the temple there was no way he could survive on his own. He could go with Nichole, maybe try to find some other way she can..’go back to the skies’, without having it result in his own death. Or he could go with Xaylin, who happens to be the niece of that insanity wandering around the Temple. Though she seems to be harmless on her own. She did drag him down a hallway. 

He supposed, for his chances to live, in case this Uncle might prefer Family over something he was out to obliterate, then his best choice would be to go with Xaylin. 

“Listen, i don’t want to have to chose to go with anyone. But considering my options and weighing out the possibilities of what could possibly happen, I’d have to go with….Xaylin?” He says, not exactly sure if he got her name right. 

Smugness filled the air around the ravenette, and Nichole looked slightly heartbroken. Which made him feel only the slightest bit guilty. Only a little bit.

With a slight intake of breath, Nichole’s expression hardens, “I will not forget this.” And with that she takes off, running off into the woods. 

Damon shivers slightly, her last statement to him just sounded so...sinisterly melancholy.

Looking over at Xaylin he waves his hands, “Lead the way, oh graceful leader.” He stands up, his legs almost protesting over the effort, though he had no intentions of sleeping on the ground. 

Xaylin stands, her hands out to the sides of her as if for balance, “Come here.” She demands. 

Wow she really just has no manners.

Stepping forwards a bit, he looks at her with one brown eyebrow raised, “Okay?” 

Suddenly shadow like tendrils snap out around his waist, neck, wrists, and ankles. Eyes widen in panic and he almost begins to fight back, though she walks towards him and pushes a finger to her lips, “Shhh, you’re fine you big baby. Just going for a little ride.” The tendrils began to ooze out some sort of liquid and for some reason or another he felt kind of dizzy, maybe it was the things around his neck? Can he breathe right now? He can’t really feel much of anything now that he thinks about it. It’s almost as if he was floating, nothing touching him or him feeling his own clothes or the ground at his feet. 

Before he realized it he began closing his eyes, though just before he did he saw a larger shadow, it’s face was melted, no eyes, only the eye sockets. He would feel scared though whatever was going on he couldn’t do much of anything. So he succumbed. Damon felt like if Xaylin wanted to kill him she would have already done so. 

Her mouth moves though he can’t hear anything, and the shadow behind her moves swiftly. 

All he sees is black.