CoH CoS (Chapter 23)
The Knight Arias team arrived at the intercept point in a flash of gold and silver. Damien saw a thin spot of black on the horizon. It grew quickly.
“They come.” he spoke.
Shielding units on armor were activated and weapons were gripped tighter. He looked to his left checking the line; perfect. He nodded to the fourth in the line. The fourth was Honey. She had passed her AV and accepted the position in the unit. He looked to the right and stopped. One more person on the line. He looked harder and the suit drew id for him. His eyes narrowed and he mouth drew into a thin hard line as the id was confirmed. A mental flick of his mind and the personal communication unit was activated between his suit and the other.
“Athena, you had better have a damn good explination of this.”
Athena had never heard the tone in his voice. She stammered, her rehearsed explination, that had sounded so right and intelligent in her mind earlier, now sounding selfish and stupid.
“I..I’m sorry. I felt I could make a difference.”
“You’re right, but you never stopped to think that it might not be a good difference. If you survive this battle you will be stripped of rank and position for disobeying a direct order in a wartime situation.”
Athena swallowed hard, “You said, if I survive…”
“Yes that’s right, if. This isn’t a game. The Randon kill without thought or hesitation. I can’t relinquish my position in this battle just to watch you and protect you. All the others here are looking to me for direction, and more importantly, victory in this battle. You have made your choice and you must live with the consequences.”
Damien could see the Randon clearly now, hearing their battle cries of hate and destruction. He shut off the communicator before Athena could reply. He raised one saber in the air, looking straight ahead. The saber activated and they charged.
The forces met with the sound of thunder, an earthquake, and a tidal wave rolled into one. Shouts and screams were raied in the din of battle. Light and darkness flashed like the meeting of a supernova and a black hole. Blood flowed in streams. Light flashed harsh and bright from opposing spells. Staff met ax and saber met sword. Gradually the sound lessened and lessened until all was silent. Like the sound after the tornado dissapates. Damien took a look around cautiously before shutting down his sabers. He pressed a control on his suit and lifelines of the team came up. He scrolled through each entry and then stopped. One had flatlined. He moved quickly through the battleground, throwing aside Randon corpses, looking for the member of his team. Finally he saw Anita trying to pull Athena away from a group of bodies. He moved forward and threw aside the bodies. Under them a body lay face down. Damien kneeled down slowly and turned the body over. Honey’s lifeless eyes stared up at him. He stared at her for a few seconds. Then he threw his head back and screamed. Athena came over next to him.
“I’m so sorry. I fell in battle and she came to protect me. She was fighting one and she never saw the one coming from the side….”
She stopped and then stumbled back. She had looked up to see Damien looking at her. His eyes had changed color to a deep gold, looking almost like golden fire.
He gently picked up Honey’s body and threw his head back toward the sky.
“You know what I want. You owe me this. I took this position, I left everything I knew behind. Now I want this. You will grant me this.”
His voice rang like thunder. A light grew around him, brighter and brighter. Damien screamed deep as his back bulged and grew for a few seconds before angelic wings spread out from his back to full length. He screamed louder and louder. Finally the screaming stopped and the light dimmed to a soft glow…
-Damien