Daeva: Black Diamond Chrysalis - Danielle Bolger (essential reading txt) 📗

shining spear appeared as though it cleaved through the very fabric of space.

The redhead on the far end had her whip damaged and seemed incapable of attack from this distance so it was not surprising that she made no move with it, however she made no move at all, not even to evade. She just remained standing there, smiling as the blindingly fast arrow shot towards her with critical accuracy.

Then it stopped dead a mere foot from the red-head's chest, shone white then, as it fell limply towards the ground, it disintegrated and disappeared completely.

A moment before that another girl had emerged onto the clearing and with lightning quick footing stepped to Venessa's side and pointed a hand just a foot in front of her companion to the point where the arrow ceased its movement. At first it seemed the girl was just holding a rigid hand out, until at the point of impact white shone from five lines, each attached to a finger.

Ariel's silver eyes seemed to burn in their brilliance. "And Lara is gate-crashing too, bringing her silly-strings along." Ariel exclaimed dryly.

"Back off, Ariel." Lara, with deep brown hair and hostile brown eyes, warned coolly. "You're not having this one. We found out what you are up to and will not let you have her."

Ariel growled through gritted teeth. "Why do you have to interfere in this? Don't you see this helps your cause!?"

"Sure, it helps give us company as you line us up for the slaughterhouse." Lara stated as she pulled her hands away and assumed a side-on battle stance, fingers remaining taut and poised. "But I really can't see that as a big win for my side so the real plus for me is in herding the cattle away from your treachery. Seeing you squirm and rant is only second to killing you."

Ariel instantly materialised another arrow and was just about to fire when an amber coiled line snapped at her hand so violently that the emerald arrow dropped and again disappeared before hitting the ground.

Ariel recoiled her hand with a desperate shout as she turned to her side and glared back at Vanessa.

"You think one little tear is enough to stop my Crimson Tongue?" The redhead laughed as if she knew the response was ludicrous before sobering with a sideways smirk. "Well think again, Shirley Temple, because this baby can regenerate just as fast as those measling little sticks you throw!"

Ariel scoffed. "Is that right? You think my arrows don't pack any punch? Well then, how about I show you how foolish you are?"

"You can try," Vanessa incited boisterously, "but this time you will fail and I will wipe you and the rest of you dirty daeva-nox scum from the face of the earth!"

"Hm, big words for someone that's had her arse kicked countless times." Ariel teased.

"You're right," A new girl with long straight ebony hair ran into the clearing. "Vanessa won't do the deed, but I will." But this girl did not hold back like the other two, this one ran full speed forward and brandished two long swords, both deep sapphire in colour, and in a flash of a moment swiped them from left and right to cut right through Ariel's torso.

Ariel gasped and turning to her other side raised her bow but with wide-eyed horror realised that she was too late for the surprise attack.

That was when my blade intercepted.

My claymore materialised with surprising ease as I ran in front of Ariel, deflecting the attacker's two smaller blades with just one of my own. Albeit, my very big one.

This other girl, gritting her teeth as she forced her swords against mine, interred, "So we were too late for you, damn it! But you should know that right now, you're fighting for the wrong side. If you swallowed her bull about gaining this power to protect the world then right now you're doing exactly the opposite of it!"

"Ha!" Ariel cheered. "That's right girls, I might not have the rest of my crew here but I'm not alone, I have Bethanie to back me up! Bet you never even realised that I had her turned! But you know, she's a damn quick study at this job. You shouldn't be so fast to deny people of their potential when they're this good released!"

Ariel fired another arrow towards Lara who easily blocked it with her glistening strings. Then this strange girl's fingers reached out and in the faintest of moments I saw light reflect from five straight strands just before they sliced through right where Ariel was standing.

I called out to her, desperately too little too late, but fortunately Ariel was already gone by the time the impact happened and was suddenly many meters away.

"Ariel!" Abigail cried painfully.

"Raziel, get her out of here!" Ariel shouted hurriedly. "You can't let those girls get to her!"

"You think I'm gonna let you make off with another lamb?" The redhead declared emphatically. "Well then you've obviously lost your sanity with that soul of yours!" Then another coil of light split the air and directed for right where Raziel and Abigail were standing.

"No, Abigail!" I yelled as I broke the lock with the girl pressed to me but as I began to turn a blade snaked back towards me.

I shifted my sword around to block this weapon a shy four inches from my throat.

"Don't interfere." The black haired girl warned stiffly. "You don't realise it yet, but you're not on their side, but ours."

"Oh, yeah?" I refuted as I shoved her blade away. "And why the hell would I want to team up with power-hungry scum like you?"

The black-haired girl recovered quickly and settled into a ready stance. "Because you have been played by an expert actress whose actions will lead the world into darkness."

My blade had fallen heavily to the ground after my last thrust but then I raised it again and holding the long blade behind me, arms trembling from the weight I replied, "Evil will always lie if it thinks it can gain the upper-hand in a situation. I know what you're doing, you're just trying to make me feel uncertain about everything going on so I'll lower my guard and then that's when you'll come in with those two... little knives, and try to finish me off!"

The black haired girl's eyes narrowed. "Don't do this, Bethanie, don't be so blindly ignorant. Ariel is a daeva-nox intent on opening the world to the shades so that her and the rest of her phantoms can siphon the world's power into themselves. Don't you see what she is? Can't you see that all she desires is power. Nothing less. That's all they want, phantoms don't care about anything else. They just want to be strong and they'll destroy the world in the process. Don't listen to her, Bethanie, don't believe her lies."

"Shut up! I roared. "I don't know who the hell you are, but I know enough to know what you are. You're the dark daeva and you are my enemy!"

Behind me I heard Aerial screech as she fired more arrows as well as the patters of two sets of steps off into the distance. I hoped they were of Abigail's and Raziel's. I almost turned to affirm that thought but the black-haired girl's gaze in front of me was too hostile to turn from. There was anger in her eyes, a green anger pointed at me and I knew that if I shifted my sight for even a moment I would fall prey to their cruel master.

"Raziel has taken off with that girl, I think that you understand the implications of that already." She stated pointedly.

"Yeah, her life is being saved." I replied belligerently.

"Humph. I suppose there really is no reasoning with you. Well, I guess that means I have no other choice but to eliminate you now for her sake." The girl repositioned her blades.

The muscles holding my sword tensed tighter. "There is just no reasoning with crazy!"

"Exactly," the girl shouted as she came at me, "the point I was making!"

A blade fell down but this I blocked with my claymore. Another blade fell from the other direction but with a simple turn and shift in footing I both maintained the initial block and stopped the new attack with a dozen centimetres before calamity.

"I think you probably already realise that I'm new to this game." I admitted as our swords were locked in their unfriendly embrace. "But you should know that I'm no push-over. In fact," I smirked over the top of the ebony of my sword's massive black girth, "I have been commonly considered the underdog, the girl that came out of nowhere and suddenly became good at all sports, so much so that I'm better than most guys too. Two years ago, no one would have thought that I could have won any kind of contest. Sure, I was fitter than most girls, well-versed in sporting ability, but not anything stand out. But that changed when I proved that physical ability was a mere by-product of strength of will!"

I shoved both her blades away as if I was swatting mosquitoes, turned my blade to the left then sliced back across.

The girl blocked it with an alarmed gasp that seemed unnatural to her steady features and as she poured all of herself into her two deflective blades I continued my story.

"You see," I continued, "things all changed when pain stopped being a deterrent but instead became a motivating factor. My pain was all that kept me living, all that kept me feeling and it drove me on to greater heights. I broke through thresholds I never thought I could have, I became faster, stronger and more skilled at every sport than I could have ever dreamed and it was all because of one thing - that I invited the pain inside."

The girl held her arms up valiantly and wincing replied. "I don't know much about you, but I understand a thing or two of pain, so I get it. The determination to overcome it can give you great strength but..." She cried as her muscle gave way for a moment and her own blades were forced back towards her face. "I know, it can also destroy you inside. The darkness leads to power but it also leads to the destruction of your soul."

"Shut up!" I pushed forward harder. "You know nothing about me! What the hell do you know? What the hell do you know of pain!?" Our interlocked swords narrowed so close to the girl that the sharp edges became scant centimetres from her flesh.

"I know..." The black haired girl stated with her usual calm before anger leaked in violently. "Its destruction!"

Then, with a power arising from seemingly nowhere her two skinny blades forced my massive one back and like a game of tug-a-war, it went from me almost driving her swords back into her to her almost slicing me with my own.

I gasped as I looked down at my own sword, heavy and formidable, pointed at my throat.

"Yield!" The girl roared at me. "Yield! So we can explain!"

Pushing against hers but managing no further distance I yelled, "I will never yield! I will never give up!"

She narrowed her eyes and with a settling resolve responded calmly. "Fine, then I will deliver you the fate far kinder than has been set in motion for you." Then her blades fell down on me harder and so heavily that I could no longer fend them off. I tried, but my failure was proved when I felt a sharp sting to my neck and liquid fall down.

From my own sword.

Then I saw something, golden, pure and ethereal float out in front me. Light gentle feathers fell before my eyes so densely that they filled my vision for a time. In my moment of doom, I wondered what these meant, were they the wings of an angel to carry me up to heaven and return me back