483. Beyond the sky, 9

(Myls)

It took us a few more days to return to the surface of the ruins.

We knew at least one of them would be out there, waiting for us.

These very pale pink roses, spawns of Magenta.

B - If there’s a handful of colours I cannot associate with Rose, oddly enough, they are pink and white.

I don’t understand what she means by that. She rambles things like that, once in a while.

We reach the outside air at last. My motorcycle is still ready to go as well.

And as expected, they were there.

A cold shiver ran along my spine.

Magenta wasn’t visible anywhere in the sky, but these white roses were. At least three I could spot in the distance, and maybe more out there...

Of course, the one closest to us was already running in our direction.

Blume unsheathed her long sword and opened her rear body parts that look like giant petals.

I aimed with the rifle and looked through the scope. I saw her. I felt a pinch, but I took the shot.

That one collapsed as she ran, like any human would from a bullet through the chest.

The noise of the shot echoed in the desert.

I felt another shiver running through my back.

A much deeper one. A bad feeling.

It can’t be a flock of them.

Not yet... Please...

Thankfully it wasn’t. A handful more was gathering on their way to us, but not hundreds.

But one was illuminating the evening sky as she flew into the air above. She still had wings that one, and enough strength to use them.

Winged humans falling from the sky...

I feel horrible and hateful at the same time.

But mostly hateful.

And that one which still had wings was now coming at us fast like a bird.

I couldn’t aim steadily. Blume went in my stead. She jumped unnaturally on top of the ruins that arched over the tunnel opening. From that higher point, she released toward the sky a cloud of red smoke I never saw before.

As soon as that fake angel came in contact with that reddish cloud, its light vanished and she lost her ability to fly.

That angel crashed close to me.

It stood up, hurt from the fall, still with its wings attached to the lower part of her back.

She looked at me, but didn’t see me.

She then looked at Blume, and began running after her.

That was odd I thought, but I took advantage of it and shot her in the back.

She fell down, bleeding.

She tried to stand up again while I was getting closer to put her down.

Before I was able to, I felt a gust of wind and saw a glint.

Blume had jumped down to behead her in a swift move. The rose’s head flew a little further while blood was sprayed all over me and the ground.

She turned around as another one was about to reach us. That acidic light was appearing on her hands.

Blume jumped in a surreal manner given the size of her body. She avoided the clawing of the glowing hands, moving swiftly beside that rose.

And as she did, her sword decapitated that rose as well.

I was lowering my handgun without really noticing, looking at that.

Against the nightfall in the landscape, Blume didn’t need my help to face these things.

They were no match for her.

With supple and incredibly fast movements, she was flowing between them. And they fell one after another, simply decapitated.

That demon was terrifying.

These angels that spooked me so much were no threat to her now that she knew them.

The surprise behind us, I knew these kind of balance of power could be tipped the other way around faster than you’d expect or guess.

Magenta and the first one we faced proved it. They could be insanely dangerous and resourceful as well.

Surprise was multiplying the effect of strength.

Blume would not be caught by surprise a third time.

That’s how I understood her aggressive behaviour there.

Before I knew it, all was clear.

Blume was standing there, cleaning her blade. And I helped her gather the heads...

I was disgusted about it, but I helped her anyway.

She ate all of their brains. I managed not to vomit, but given the number of dead today, it was difficult.

M - You read what’s inside, right?

B - Yes.

M - Are they... Rose?

B - No. These things have a very empty brain. There’s no memory from Rose inside whatsoever. Not even genetically.

M - But... Why do they look like her then?

B - ... Hate... I think...

Hate is pouring down.

Blume is breathing in deeply.

In the horizon, Magenta is rising now...

~

Now is not the time to go.

God is awakening before us. And soon, his hate will rain upon us as normal.

We return into the caves again, to hide. We wait the end of the storm.

I swear to this god I will be the one to destroy it someday.

I know how.

It can be done. And I will.

We will.

We’ll journey across the continent to that place where nukes can still be found. And then to that place in the ocean where we can fly into space. I don’t know how, but we will.

We will bring death to you, Magenta.

I promise you!

Throw your worst calamities at us.

Try and stop us, bitch.

Try...

~

We wait for the end of the deadly rain. But it doesn’t come.

This time, there’s no rain.

We even see Magenta getting further down into the sky, from the safety of the tunnel. It’s gone.

Weird...

We go outside, cautiously.

Because we know that thing is more intelligent than we wish it was.

If rain did not fall this time, it was because Magenta had something else in mind to smite us.

And it surely did.

A different glow was falling down from heavens, like another ball of fire.

Another pseudo-angelic rose maybe.

A better one. A much stronger one.

A new form of calamity.

That thing stopped its fall maybe two hundred metres above ground, spreading its wings suddenly.

A rose of bright light, radiating like a small sun into the falling night.

A ring of fire suddenly appeared around her.

Blume rushed herself to me while I was looking agape at the fire grow.

We rushed into the depths of the tunnel again.

We heard behind us the loud scream of air itself catching fire, and a moment later, the entrance of the tunnel turned into a loud wall of flames.

~

We ran deeper inside while temperature rose because of the fire behind.

I aimed the rifle from the depth of that corridor.

I waited.

We waited, as night was setting itself in the distance.

The calamity didn’t show herself.

This one would not run blindly after us. She would wait for us to come out...

Trapped. Almost. We went to another exit from this underground maze. It might not look like much more than a cave from outside, but the place we hid into was connected to the old metropolitan network.

After a few hours into the night, we reached the rubbles of another way out.

I carefully got out and looked around.

And we were right.

She was waiting just above the entrance where we supposedly still were, waiting for us to come out.

But she saw me in the distance.

My shock didn’t stop me though. I shot the bullet at her.

I missed. I grazed her shoulder only.

Her wings opened began to glow.

Her whole body bean to glow.

She begun levitating, not flying by flapping her wings like a bird. That was even scarier to witness.

She was coming toward me. I was almost ready to shoot again.

But suddenly, she looked elsewhere into the night.

An ocean of darkness fell onto Earth, swallowing her whole and causing a sudden quake.

Something else came from the sky tonight. Something far more massive.

Our best friend in all of Earth’s skies I think now.

The lord of nightmares’ prodigious child had landed.

~