Failure and Retreat

Azreal’s eyes were sticky and resisted his attempt to open them. ‘Come on...!’ He had no clue what was going on and his memory wasn’t returning to him. All he knew was that an instinct deep inside him was telling him to open his eyes. After a few moments of extraordinary effort, his eyes finally fluttered open.

Everything was dark and his vision was blurry, but the red tint the atmosphere had taken on was gone and the roaring had ceased. There was only the cold silence of the night. He didn’t feel the oppressive feeling of dark magic anymore, either. ‘Are those things gone?’ 

 He was vaguely aware of a sense of movement jostling him against something, but it took a few minutes for his senses to return to him.The back of someone’s head loomed before him. ‘Long blue hair...’ “Sariel?” Azreal croaked.

“Good. I assumed you’d make it, but I wasn’t sure.” The other mercenary was running up the side of the canyon, with Azreal slung over his back

Azreal jolted weakly as memories flooded back into his mind. “Scath?” Sariel shook his head curtly.

“He was already gone when I found you. Sorry. This mission was an utter failure. This is a disaster. We need to find Cryph and get back to Nacre as soon as possible. Tempest using demonic powers...no one could have expected this.”

Azreal hung limply, stunned beyond words. “T-the others that were with you?”

“Those things got them. And my arm.” Azreal realized that Sariel’s left arm was hanging limp and mangled at his side. “I’m literally running on my adrenalin right now, but it’ll wear off soon. We need to get you help as soon as possible. I got the bleeding to stop, but that injury on your side looks nasty.”

Azreal looked up at the full, bright moon, hanging in the sky as if to taunt them.

“We were totally annihilated...” His grim words hung like a sword in the air as they beat an unfortunate retreat