Angel Dust - Terry Kuder III (best classic books txt) 📗

His breathing was a bit shallow. Ezebra had slowed down to a walk. Dan looked around at the trees that Ezebra had sliced trying to figure out what he was up to.
Ezebra held his hand out, palm open. Dan raised an eyebrow as Ezebra balled his hand up into a fist. As he did so, five portions that he sliced protruded from the trees. The top halves with the branches and leaves, fell over colliding with the ground and the bash echoed throughout the whole woods. Birds flew up in the air disturbed by the ruckus. The five pieces floated through the air, rotating slowly. Ezebra smiled again, his fury had completely disappeared.
"Shit." I heard Dan mumble on the screen. Lily was still hunched over in the middle of the area as the logs began to circle around Lily. The hulking masses of wood, disturbed the air around them, creating a whooshing sound as they circled faster and faster.
"My quarrel is not with you, young man." Ezebra announced over the drone of the logs. "Just exit as you arrived and you will be spared."
"I cannot do that." Dan screamed back.
"Very well. You have signed your own death certificate."
"As long as it was my signature and not someone else's." Dan replied back with a smirk. He looked down at Lily. "I'm sorry, Lily. I couldn't just stand by and watch you die." Lily was too weak to respond. All she could muster up was another cough of the sickening goo. She looked up at Dan with sympathetic eyes. They were saddening. It was as if she spoke to him through them telling him of what a fool he was. His eyes spoke back apologizing.
Their conversation was cut off as a log went flying towards Dan. Dan flipped through the air, somersaulting over it, and grabbing an arrow that was stuck in it. He placed it in with his arsenal. He landed on the other side hunkered over with his hand in front of him. He looked up in enough time to see another log fly towards him. He rolled to the left and started running towards Ezebra. Ezebra used the logs as obstacles for Dan moving his arms around in a mesmerizing way as he was performing some ritual, waving them back and forth. He dodged, flipped, slid underneath, and jumped off the logs as they careened towards him. While in the air, Dan pulled an arrow from his quiver, drawing it back, and firing it. A log slid in front of Ezebra and the arrow stuck into it. Ezebra pushed his arm in front of him, thrusting the log forward. Dan couldn’t maneuver in mid air. It smashed into him, launching him back with the log following. Dan hit a tree behind him and the follower crushed him between the two and he dropped his bow. The log came back and rushed towards him again. Again and again, Ezebra used the log to pulverize Dan into nothing. He contorted back and forth until it looked as if his spine had broken. I heard a crack over the sound of the slamming. Dan slid down the tree and the bulk stopped.
Ezebra couldn’t help but smile. He closed his fist again and the portions gathered back around Lily, spinning around her again. Ezebra walked up to Dan. He knelt down and grabbed him by the shirt. Dan was black and blue. Both of his eyes were swollen. His arms were limp by his side as Ezebra lifted him up into the air. Dan’s eyes went as wide as they could as a sword dug into him. The silver blade gleamed on the other side of him, red dripping off the tip. He coughed up blood, spitting it onto Ezebra’s blue armor. He let go of the sword allowing it to dangle in Dan as he pushed a strand of hair back behind his ears. He placed his hand back onto the sword and started rotating it. Dan hollered in pain. Ezebra ripped the sword out of Dan and let him drop to the ground.
“Well, it was a valiant effort.” Ezebra said as he flicked his sword, flinging the blood off it. It splattered onto Dan. He was in a state of complete shock, grabbing his stomach from the loss of blood. His eyelids closed halfway. Dan was losing consciousness. He looked over at Lily who was just as stunned. His eyes continued their conversation from before, apologizing to her again, this time for failing her. Her eyes spoke back. Don’t worry, they told him. Through his sudden drowsiness, his eyes looked confused.
Lily stood up in the middle of logs, hanging her head down. “Oh ye of little faith.” She whispered out loud. A blast of light emerged from Lily and the logs fell into their designated areas that were around us at the current time. Ezebra looked back, his smile had vanished again. Her eyes glowed with light, completely evaporating her pupils. A faded light floated around her entire body, giving her a strange aura.
“Th…this isn’t possible.” He said, backing up slowly. “Y…you….can’t be using it!”
“Oh, you best believe it is, dear.” She said. Lily’s appearance had completely changed. Where she had looked weak, she now beamed with strength. Her wounds had healed completely and she looked a bit healthier than before. Whatever was happening, it was enough to scare Ezebra now. What had happened? Where did this power come from? It suddenly hit me when I thought about what Ezebra had said. “Do you have any idea what you just did?” He had screamed at Dan. He was in fear now. Ezebra was hoping to fill Lily up with so much power that she would burst. Yet, he couldn’t finish. Instead, all the power that he had transferred was now hers.
“You can’t use my energy!” He screamed. “Energies can’t mix. It’s not possible!” Energies couldn’t mix? What did that mean? I didn’t understand it, but I jotted the question down in the back of my head to ask later.
“You’re right, they can’t. So, you best believe that in order to protect my daughter from your vile hands that I will do whatever it fucking takes to kill you including using your own power.” She replied, raising her hand in front of her.
“It’ll kill you though! You will surely die!”
“I know.” She said. She was willing to let go of her life to save her daughter. Was the Angelic Sanctuary this bad? What was the last rule that made Lily this determined to destroy Ezebra? Another question locked away for another time as I watched intently to the events that laid before me.
A burst of light shot out of Lily’s palm. Ezebra quickly put his hands together, pointing his pointer fingers up and tilting his head down towards them. His hair fell before his face as he spoke quickly and fluently. The flash hit him with a force that was blinding even from the viewer’s side. I watched as Ezebra’s figure became a mere shadow fading into the light. For a solid minute, Lily put everything she had into the blast. Dan shut his eyes and placed his arm over his face trying desperately to block the light. It wasn’t enough as he screamed out in frustration. Water streamed down his eyes from the pain. It sounded as if Lily was screaming, her shrill voice sounded victorious. The tree behind Ezebra was blasted into dust. The dirt around Ezebra unearthed itself and was also obliterated in the light. The light flickered for a brief moment and Lily fell to one knee. She grabbed her arm with her other hand and pushed for another solid minute.
This light was significant to everything Lily had fought for up to this point. It was the reason why she wanted to become an AG; the reason why she left Arine. It was the countless years she put into raising Azalia; the endless nights of not sleeping for fear that if she didn’t keep moving, Ezebra and the Angelic Sanctuary would catch up to her; it was the reason why she had to leave her daughter to grow up on her own; it was even the reason why Dan was here in the first place; it was the very reason for why she lived: to protect the ones she loved.
The light finally died down, fading in flickers. Lily huffed violently. She couldn’t catch her breath. Her lips were parched and her eyes were closed halfway. Dan opened his eyes slowly, blinking a couple of times. He looked up at Lily who was frozen in her current state: on one knee with one arm holding the other up, palm extended upward. Her hand was singed from the power that just exploded from it. It smoked and sizzled. Lily was too tired to even move from this position. She looked over at him, smiling. “That’ll teach him….” She said, falling over. Dan looked over at where Ezebra once stood. The smoke hadn’t cleared yet, but he was certain that Ezebra was dead. There was no way someone could have survived that. Dan looked closer though, squinting as the remnants of smoke showed a form. It couldn’t be. There was just no way in the world. I was leaning forward on my log in disbelief.
The smoke finally cleared away and there stood Ezebra. His hands were still together. A majority of his armor had been disintegrated; only small chunks clung to him. The tie that held his hair back had burnt off leaving his hair in a disarray. It ran down to his shoulders, his bangs in front of his face. His skin appeared to be charred; nearly third degree burns. Black wings slowly flapped from behind him. They appeared to be unscathed as they released a couple of feathers that glided down. Ezebra stopped his chanting and looked up with that smirk that I was so familiar with seeing now. I wanted to punch him myself. He dropped his hands to his side and the rest of his armor fell off; he was now completely naked. A light breeze picked up, gliding through his hair as he fell to his knee. The scene ran chills up my arm. How could someone be this powerful? How was it possible? Any images that I saw earlier of a weakling, were erased as I witnessed the power that he was truly capable of. Of course, he did have time to grow from the weakling who could only use strength to over throw someone like Master Dowin. I started contemplating how powerful Master Dowin must have been. It was too amazing.
“That was quite a trick there.” He taunted. “I would really like to know how you were able to use my energy.” Lily just lay there, too paralyzed to even be shocked. Dan was