NOELLE’S POV,
Before I know it Roan, and I are surrounded by demons. They circle around us and start throwing flames and rocks with fire at us. Roan and I make a water shield and circle it around us. I take a look at Roan and realize he looks awful. He must have at least lost 10 kilos; his face is hollow with black circles under his eyes and his beard hasn’t been shaved in weeks. I don’t have much time to think about it though because the demons keep multiplying. I don’t know if that is actually happening or if it’s mind magic again.
Roan pants, “We have to try something else this is not holding them much longer.”
I nod and ask, “Can you make the water go past all their feet? Then I can freeze them, so we at least know which ones are real.”
Roan counts till 3 and then drops the water and shoots it at the demons. I imagine it all turning into ice and pour my magic out. Afterward, 10 frozen demons are still standing around us which is much better than the multiplying amount we had before.
Roan stares at the demons and says, “What now?”
I think back about my lessons with the magister in the Sky Realm and tell him that only light magic can destroy demons.
“I will destroy them one by one,” I say.
I walk to the first one and think about all the good things that have happened to me in Liberum before blasting the demon with a big ball of pure light. I am just walking towards the second demon when I hear Roan scream, “Noelle look out!”
I turn around and my life flashes before my eyes when I see that one demon throws a spear of fire pointed at my heart. Everything seems to go in slow motion. Roan jumps in front of me and the spear goes straight through his belly. I gasp and I can’t believe this is actually happening. The demon is laughing, and I want to run to Roan, but he grunts from the ground, “Finish it.”
I feel so much anger right now, but I know I have to channel it away if I want to destroy the demons. I think about what Zeus told me and I quickly make my head empty with meditation. It all happens in seconds but when I open my eyes they are shining with pure light and the light is coming from my whole body. The face of the demon immediately changes from happiness to fear. I let the light flow out of me and destroy the remaining demons all at once.
I hear Roan’s breath rasping behind me and I quickly run to him and fall to the floor. His belly is gushing with blood where the spear went through, and I put my hands on it to try and stop the bleeding. The blood however just rushes past my hands, and I can’t help but sob. Roan takes my hand and says calmly, “It’s okay Noelle. I am ready.”
I shake my head and shout, “No… No.. no I can try healing magic just don’t give up!”
Roan softly takes my hands away and says, “I don’t want to be healed, Noelle. I can’t live with all the mistakes I made any longer.”
I cry and whimper, “But… but.”
Roan coughs up a lot of blood and says, “There is one thing you can do for me though.”
I ask him, “What is that?”
Roan takes a deep breath and whispers, “Forgive me.”
I take his head into my hands and say, “I forgive you.”
Those words seem to have lifted a weight from his chest because with one last relieved sigh Roan his spirit leaves the 4 Realms.
I feel sad because even though he did awful things to me I still cared for him once. Without him, I would have never met Gabriel or any of my friends. I bite my lip and brush my tears away because the fight is far from over.
I look at the Sea Realm and everything is either burning or crushed. I don’t see any buildings that are still intact and bodies everywhere. I see that the army is struggling with fighting the demons because only magic can hurt them. I start running towards them but suddenly I hear a whinny next to me. My heart makes a jump when I see it’s Eowyn. She gallops towards me, and I quickly jump on her back.
“It’s good to see you girl,” I say. Eowyn snorts in response. I look at the army and realize that we are losing. There is only one thing I can think of that could help us, so I send a message through my mind.
There are hundreds of demons for me to get through before I even reach the army so the only thing, I think of is Gabriel. I picture his face, the way he looks at me, and produce as much light as I can. Eowyn and I become as bright as a star when we gallop into the mass of demons. Killing any demon that is in our path. I finally reach the army where Gabriel and Julias are fighting with swords covered in glow worms. I can see Zeus and the magicians are fighting with water magic and light magic. I look around to see where Nolan and Faith are, but I don’t see them anywhere.
Then I notice that the healers are standing in a circle like they are protecting someone. I jump off Eowyn and run there to see that it’s Faith they are protecting. She is bending over someone trying to heal him. His body is covered in wounds both burn and weapon wounds. I push myself through to see who it is and to my horror it is Nolan. His face is ashen white, and his eyes are closed. My throat swells up and I can’t believe how many people already died today. I get on my knees and Faith looks up at me worried.
“O my god Faith. Can you fix it? Can I help?”
Faith has tears rolling down her eyes and answers, “He is very weak if he stays here, he will die.”
She wipes away her tears and continues healing. “You should go fight they really need you there,” she tells me.
I get up and Search for Gabriel and Julias at the front. Gabriel is covered in sweat slicing into demon after demon. I go stand next to him and blast balls of light to explode the demons. It works but nobody is fast enough for the number of demons that just seems to keep increasing.
Julias shouts to Gabriel, “WE NEED TO RETREAT.”
Gabriel nods but shouts that there is nowhere to go.
“I can make a circle of light that will hold them off for a little while so we can discuss what to do,” I say.
I take a deep breath and create a bright wall of light all around what’s left of the army. Demons are pounding at the wall but for now, it holds.
Gabriel, Julias, Zeus, and I get together. Zeus looks at Gabriel and asks, “What do we do now?”
Gabriel looks devastated when he answers, “Honestly I don’t know there are just too many and no one will be fast enough to escape.”
Zeus looks scared because if even Gabriel has no ideas left then we are all lost. Gabriel looks at Julias hopeful and asks, “Do you have any ideas?”
Julias just shakes his head and the hope in Gabriel’s eyes dims out. I ball my fists and say, “Well then let’s take as many of these fuckers down with us as we can.” Gabriel smiles and kisses my forehead, “I love you. Can always count on you to not lose spirit.”
Gabriel turns to all the people that are left and says with a loud but sad voice, “MY DEAR PEOPLE. AS YOU CAN SEE, WE ARE HEAVILY OUTNUMBERED AND VICTORY IS NO LONGER AN OPTION. YOU HAVE FOUGHT BRAVELY AND WE WILL DIE AS GOOD PEOPLE FIGHTING FOR A BETTER FUTURE. OUR SACRIFICE TODAY WILL HOPEFULLY MEAN A VICTORY FOR OUR FRIENDS AND FAMILY IN THE FUTURE. SO, LET’S MAKE OUR SACRIFICE MEAN SOMETHING AND TAKE WITH US AS MANY DEMONS AS WE CAN. FOR NOW, THE SHIELD HOLDS SO TAKE THIS TIME TO BE WITH THE PEOPLE YOU LOVE AND SAY THE THINGS YOU WANT TO SAY. I AM PROUD OF YOU ALL.”
The people are quiet but then split up to find the people they want to be within their last moments. Gabriel takes my hand and takes me with him to an open spot. He opens his arms and I take in his embrace. He whispers against my head, “I am sorry it has to end this way, Noelle.”
I take his face in my hands kiss him, “There is nowhere else I would want to be than at your side. We belong together in this life and the next.”
We share a passionate kiss like it is our last and then just stand there cuddling. I look at the demon army behind the shield just getting larger by the minute. I hear someone scream when the shield slowly starts to break, and demons burst through it. I take a deep sigh and with a loud battle scream, I run towards the fight that will be my last.