Paladin 4: Chapter 30 (Patreon)

A few minutes later, Darren was standing over the ruins of what had formerly been the village.

He hadn’t meant to destroy every building, but the seraphim had proven surprisingly combative when he walked in with his sword drawn, his passive skills activated, and ready for a fight.

He’d walked right up to the building Asuriel had followed the villager in. When he found it locked, he cut the building in half. Then, when he didn’t find Asuriel inside, he grew truly angry.

That was when the villagers attacked him. Attacking Darren was a bad idea under normal circumstances. Attacking him when he was furious at the disappearance of one of his women was a lethal one.

Still, he’d maintained enough rationality to let them know why he was angry and give them a chance to explain themselves.

“Return Asuriel or be destroyed,” Darren demanded.

“Set the alarms! It’s another Protector, and we can’t catch this one by surprise,” one villager said.

And so they had chosen destruction. Darren was happy to oblige them.

Though the village was made of wood and stone from the heavens and was supernaturally tough, it did nothing to stop Darren’s rampage. He tore through wood, stone, dirt, and grime. He might have sundered the village with one swing of his sword in the mortal world, but here in the heavens, it took a lot more than one.

But destroy it he did, repelling his attackers and searching for clues. Despite attacking him, these seraphim weren’t particularly well trained. Most of them were only the equivalent of a third-order holy warrior back home. That was the lowest rank of power at which a seraph could manifest in a manner that could walk, speak, and think like a living human, so it was the most common rank for seraphim.

And so Darren stood amid the fire and the rubble, surrounded by the dispersing bodies of the dead, while he clutched the best clue to Asuriel’s whereabouts in his open fist. The bearded male seraph, who looked like a cheap knock-off of Kalaziel, squirmed in his grip.

“I’ll tell you nothing!” The seraph growled, clawing at Darren’s arm wrapped around his throat. His legs dangled uselessly beneath him. “You think you’ve killed us? Ha! Lord Kalaziel will resurrect us all when he comes into his own.”

Darren glared at him, having no patience at a time like this. Especially for someone so fiercely loyal to his sworn enemy.

“Where is she?” Darren asked again.

The seraph bit Darren’s thumb, but Darren merely twisted his grip and shattered the seraph’s teeth around his hand. There was a flash of something deep within the seraph. He’d seen it when he asked the question.

His control over Divine Aura had grown to new heights, especially after manipulating Ashe’s soul with Laura’s help to put it in Melancholy. That gave him a lot of insights into the structure of the living energy beings known as the seraphim.

“Where is Asuriel?” Darren demanded once more.

“Your image shall be ingrained upon every soul within me, and your likeness delivered to Lord Kalaziel. When he reigns supreme, he will surely smite you, and no place within the Seven Heavens will be safe for you...” the seraph growled, face grim. Blood dripped from his nose, and he looked much like what a mortal man might if they were in such a predicament.

But this was no mortal man. The blood dispersed into tiny fragments of soul energy, like a bright reflection of Demonic Spirits that came from a dying demon. Darren watched them and the rest of the collection of power within the seraph, as he spoke of Kalaziel.

These energy patterns defined all that this seraph was, so the thoughts in his mind had to be in there as well. Darren just had to figure out how to listen to them.

Doing what he planned would require pushing all his relevant skills to their limits. Aura Ascendancy, Soul Smithing, and Divine Energy Projection would all be tested.

While the seraph in his grip squirmed and ranted things about Kalaziel and how his utter destruction would soon be at hand, Darren focused on the seraph’s inner workings. The process was incredibly complex, and he had several other bodies that weren’t busy sitting down to help him think through what he was about to do. With Oracle Sight to warn him if what he was doing was about to go wrong, he began the procedure.

He plugged a cable from the seraph’s body into his sigil. Then he did it again.

The seraph in his grip continued to squirm and rant about Kalaziel, seemingly not understanding what Darren was doing to him. Finally, when he went limp, Darren asked his question again.

“Where is Asuriel?” Darren demanded.

“Kalaziel’s wrath shall annihilate you utterly! You will beg for death by the time he is finished with you!” The seraph ranted, though as he spoke, Darren caught flashes of emotion, images, and thoughts. All of it was recorded on his sigil for his viewing.

Most of it was garbage. There were long images of the seraph deciding to grow out his beard so that it looked just like Kalaziel. There were other images of him changing the way he dressed. And there was still more about him burying a strange device in the ground around the village. There was another of him tying up the unconscious form of Kilean and his companions.

Darren froze the moment he caught sight of those last few. He’d found what he was looking for.

He reviewed the memories several more times, this time looking into the background of each flickering image and any other contextual clues he could find. He soon spotted a corner he recognized. He wrapped the seraph in his clutches with bindings made of Divine Energy and started digging for the object the seraph had buried in his memories. Eventually, the shovel he’d snatched struck something hard and metallic. He pulled an egg-shaped mental object from the ground.

He held it in his hands, examining it much as he had done the seraph moments ago. This device was a lot simpler than the inner workings of an intelligent being, so Darren quickly figured out what it did. This egg was a receptacle for Divine Aura. It was full to the brim with recently deceased souls, forming tethers with the nearby seraph and injecting that Divine Aura directly into their very beings.

Things were coming together for Darren. The ophanim were just the beginning. If the trick worked on them, why not on regular seraphim as well?

Kalaziel had probably started with a few devoted agents, such as the bearded man Darren held in his clutches. But, thanks to the influx of souls from Whiteguard filled with the essence of hundreds of thousands of his most devoted mortal followers, he could overwhelm the souls of living seraphim, converting them to his cause by warping the very foundations of their being.

It was a disturbing thought, to say the least. If Kalaziel was merely consuming all the human souls he took from Whiteguard, he would have increased his power a bit further. But Darren had underestimated Kalaziel’s ambition. He wanted to turn every seraph in the heavens just as devoted as the mortals of Whiteguard had been after years of rewriting the Golden Temple’s holy books to praise him instead of the original tenants of the heavens.

Darren had thought it strange that the local villagers would be universally so dedicated to throwing their lives away for some scheme of Kalaziel’s. Now he knew why. They’d probably been perfectly normal until the bearded man in his grip bent their wills toward Kalaziel’s whim.

Darren turned to regard the struggling seraphim trapped in ropes made from Divine Aura. He tightened his fist, and the ropes wound tighter until the seraphim exploded in a fountain of white light. Darren had everything he needed, and he wanted to move fast to catch up with Asuriel.

***

Darren caught up with Asuriel down the road. From the glimpses he’d seen in the bearded seraph’s thoughts, people like Asuriel in the fifth order were too strong to be influenced by the eggs that the bearded man had used to warp the minds of the other villagers. They needed to be transported to a separate location that could produce the same effect, only stronger. That was where he’d sent Asuriel to.

He caught sight of one of those tractor creatures from afar. Unlike the others he’d seen, this one had a pair of drivers sitting in it. Behind them, an Asuriel-sized sack squirmed in place. Next to it, Darren spotted Melancholy.

He frowned. His sword was there, so why hadn’t Ashe rescued Asuriel already? The two seraphim driving the tractor were only at the third order. Once Ashe undid whatever bindings trapped Asuriel in that sack, she could easily overpower them both.

He didn’t know the answer, but he did see Ashe herself clinging to the rear of the trailer, spying on the two drivers where they couldn’t see her.

When she spotted him flying in the air overhead, she hopped off the tractor as quietly as possible, gesturing him to the woods where they could speak without being overheard by the pair of drivers.

“What’s going on?” Darren asked.

“Asuriel got caught by surprise,” Ashe explained. “That bearded guy works for Kalaziel! He hit her in the back of the head with a device that destabilized her Divine Aura and then tied her up.”

Darren grimaced. Of course she got taken by surprise. The next time they were free, he would have to teach her what being extremely observant was supposed to mean.

“Why haven’t you freed her?”

“Asuriel said this was all part of her plan,” Ashe shrugged. “After she got knocked out and captured, she said she meant to get surprised. That way, she’d be taken to wherever they took Kilean and the others we’re looking for.” She leaned forward conspiratorially. “But between you and me, I’m pretty sure she was embarrassed she got taken by surprise.”

Inwardly, Darren snorted. He could see Asuriel getting taken by surprise and then insisting it was all part of the plan after the fact.

“If it was all part of the plan, why was I left out?” Darren raised an eyebrow. Both of them should have known he would have been furious the moment he heard Asuriel had been captured. Unfortunately, the village was in ruins, so it was only a matter of time before their presence here was discovered by whoever that bearded seraph reported to in Kalaziel’s chain of command.

Ashe blushed. “That’s what I told her. Not that we had much time to speak.”

Darren frowned. He didn’t like this plan, not one bit. But if Asuriel was insistent on it, he knew he shouldn’t ruin it now. With a sigh, he did what Ashe was doing and wait.

He put on his Cloak of the Mysterious Hero again, hiding as he settled down next to Asuriel’s sack. The two drivers were only at the third order, so they didn’t have much chance of seeing through the cloak’s effects unless they had some very special skills like what Thalia had when they first met. If that turned out to be true, Darren would have the excuse he needed to kill the two of them and end Asuriel’s risky plan.

Alas, he settled down behind the two of them, and the two seraph were none the wiser. They chatted blissfully, unaware of the angry fifth order paladin lurking right over their shoulders, ready to kill both of them at a moment’s notice. He cut a hole in Asuriel’s sack so he could peek in on her, and he settled her down on his lap while they rode to wherever these servants of Kalaziel had planned to take captured Protectors.

“Say... when Kalaziel rules the heavens, what will happen to us? Will we still be farmers?” One of the seraphim asked. He was male, slack-jawed, and with a distant look in his eyes like he wasn’t all there. He spoke to the woman beside him, who shared the same somewhat vacant expression.

“Hell no! Kalaziel promised us his eternal embrace! He said his power will be our power, and we’ll become immortalized heroes to rule over the Seven Heavens for all the years to come!” The female seraph replied. The two of them stared straight ahead, repeating different variations of the same conversation several times as they rode, each time forgetting what the other said the last time the question was asked.

Traveling by tractor took considerably longer traveling along the ground than it would have by air, but third-order seraphim didn’t have wings, and even if they did, they probably didn’t want to fly with Asuriel in a bag for fear of being spotted from afar. Traveling along the ground, they had the cover of the massive towering trees that surrounded this farming community.

The journey took them deep into the forest, past the furthest planted fields of the settlement. The tall trees threw deep shadows, and though the sun shined brightly above, mortal eyes would have been cloaked in near darkness. Darren could see just fine despite the gloom, but the pair of seraphim driving lit the lights built into the front of their tractor and continued driving.

Eventually, they came to a building. At first, Darren thought it was just a clump of brush and vines, but a closer analysis revealed that to be an illusion conjured through both Divine Aura and mundane camouflage. Between the two, someone had hidden a building well enough that even his keen senses needed a second look to be certain it was really there.

The tractor drove right through the brush, shoving the thorns aside with its bulk as they entered a pocket dimension much like the sparring arena the Protectors had back in Calabor. Only this one was much larger. It was also full to the brim with Divine Aura, though the energy in the air here had a sickly sweetness to it that reminded him of the souls from Whiteguard. He’d sensed the flavor of utter devotion to Kalaziel often enough by now that he could recognize it at a glance.

Then he looked up. The pocket dimension they were in seemed ordinary enough at first, if a little dim, and with shiny metal walls. But the roof was oddly sloped and domed in a way he recognized. It looked like the inside of an eggshell.

He realized he recognized some patterns on the nearby walls. He recognized them from the very device he now had in his Inventory. They were inside a giant version of the egg he’d found.

Whatever affects this egg possessed were amplified many times over from the smaller variant because even he felt the pressure crushing down on his soul. He likened the intensity to being down in the Seventh Layer of Hell, crafted by Laura to condense Demonic Aura. This device must have done the same for Divine Aura, and it was currently full of all the power harvested from Whiteguard.

If this were Demonic Aura, years of experience and his special skills would allow him to fight it off as long as he wanted. But this was Divine Aura, and he wasn’t nearly as adept at separating this foreign power from his own soul.

“D-Darren... I don’t feel so good...” Ashe muttered, sagging against his side.

“Go back into Melancholy,” Darren said. She’d be safe in there. He worried about Asuriel though. She was a seraph and lacked the physical body he had. He feared that meant the pressure on her would be even worse.

He could only think to hold her tight so that his soul would envelop hers. There was no way he’d allow her to be corrupted by some Kalaziel worshiping dead people.

That seemed to be exactly what this room was for. Lining the floor in all directions were dozens of fourth order seraphim, along with a few at the fifth order. Darren spotted Kilean and his friends there. Some of these people were probably Protectors from other cities who got caught in the same trap that had tripped up Asuriel. Others were likely local villagers who were too powerful for the smaller eggs to influence. All of them were lying here and steeping in these contaminated energies that were changing the very nature of their being.

Darren was on a time limit. Not only was he guarding his own soul against infiltration, but he was protecting Asuriel’s as well. He had to complete the mission by rescuing Kilean and his companions and get out of there before his defenses wore thin enough that the rogue souls drifting around him couldn’t find their way into either him or Asuriel.

This would have been effortless if he’d been surrounded by Demonic Aura. One use of his purification ability would dispel all the Demonic Aura and probably convert the aspect of the entire pocket dimension as well. But he was up against Divine Aura already, so neither his purification ability nor his buffs against demonic alignment entities would be of any use here.

The Divine Aura swirled around him, as thick as soup in the air. Tiny motes of brilliant white light flowed through the chamber. Just as Demonic Spirits manifested in dense Demonic Aura, so did Divine Spirits manifest in the presence of intense Divine Aura. Divine Spirits weren’t nearly as common, and they didn’t exert influence as directly as Demonic Spirits that could reanimate corpses and turn them against the living, but Darren was certain they were dangerous. Perhaps even more so if they could change the very fabric of a living being without them even noticing.

Darren’s instincts had served him well throughout all his years in Hell. And now, like a trapped animal, his instincts screamed at him to lash out. So, with Melancholy in hand, he unleashed a slash that scored a deep gash in the egg around them. He poured his Divine Aura and tremendous speed and strength into the attack, more than he would have dared to use in the sparring ring back at the Protector’s office.

The very thing Captain Gaviel had been so worried about there happened here. The pocket realm the egg was inside of began to unravel. The world frayed around Darren, like stitches tearing loose.

He saw glimpses of a fiery hellish landscape, likely somewhere in the Seven Hells. Then he glimpsed the countryside of Whiteguard. An instant later, that too faded and was replaced with the dense forest he’d seen coming into this place.

Darren expected rejoining the larger dimension of the Seven Heavens would be a bit rocky, but he underestimated how rocky it would be.

The massive heavenly trees all around them shattered. A portion of the forest floor was torn from where it had sat for countless years and thrown in all directions to make way for the egg manifesting in the middle of it all. The act of space stitching itself back together again was more akin to an explosion than the gentle healing of a wound, like he was used to.

They did not leave the egg unscarred either. Darren’s cut had slicked a deep gash down the glowing runes and the intricate weaving of Divine Aura within and throughout the egg. But when the egg suddenly appeared and pushed outward on all the air, dirt, and trees around it, so too did all that substance push back on the egg.

Half a tree stuck right through one side of the egg. The earth in another chunk was piled so high the sleeping forms of all the captured seraphim were piled atop one another in the far corner. One wall of the egg was entirely gone and nowhere to be seen.

The tractor Darren, Ashe, and Asuriel had been riding in was a shredded wreck. It had joined places with a boulder. That had been a battle the tractor had clearly lost, as had the two third order seraphim driving it. There were even less left of them than the tractor.

The one saving grace of the destructive act was that the dense field of Divine Aura within the egg was disappearing, and it was getting easier to hold back with every passing moment.

“Kilean! Protectors! On your feet!” Darren yelled at the heaping pile of slowly stirring seraphim. Whatever had been keeping them unconscious was wearing off now that the egg had been destroyed.

Darren scanned the pile of bodies as many moved, slowly climbing to their feet one at a time. Asuriel squirmed in the sack thrown over Darren’s shoulder. He reached up with one free hand and ripped the bag open. Asuriel came spilling out of it, and he caught her before she hit the ground.

There was a gag in her mouth, and her hands were tied behind her back, but from the look of her, she’d been halfway through worming out of both. She spat the gag out as soon as she was free, having long since chewed through the fabric. Her hands were tougher to free, but how she could arch her back, she twisted in an amazingly limber motion to bring her legs through the loop of her bound wrists and bring them in front of her.

“Darren!” Asuriel nibbled on her lip with worry. “Uhhh... this was all part of the plan! I definitely meant to get taken by surprise.”

“Later,” Darren replied. He tore off the cuffs binding Asuriel’s wrists and set her on the ground next to him. “Stay close. The aura in the air is bad.”

Asuriel twisted, turning so her back was pressed against Darren’s. Glowing spheres of golden light appeared in her hands as she glared into the shadows. She soon locked on the moaning, groaning heap of seraphim, slowly climbing to their feet.

“Wait... I think I see Kilean!” Asuriel waved. “Kilean, we’re here to rescue your sad, sorry rear! You’re welcome!”

Darren locked eyes with Kilean. Kilean’s gaze was hazy and distant, only half there. Darren was relieved when the focus returned to them, but that feeling didn’t last long.

“Raaaaaarghhh!” Kilean growled and charged right for Darren with no weapons other than his empty hands.

Kilean was no match for Darren even when armed and healthy, and right now, he was neither. His aura was in tatters, his equipment was gone, and what was left of his clothes made it look like he’d been on the losing side of a rough fight.

But Darren was here to rescue Kilean and his companions, so Darren couldn’t cut him down with Melancholy. So, reluctantly, Darren shoved Melancholy into the ground behind him.

He met Kilean’s mindless charge with one of his own. Asuriel scrambled backward to stick close behind him. Kilean’s two fists met Darren’s two palms, and Darren twisted in a smooth and practiced motion. He flipped Kilean over on himself and spun his arms around, so both of Kilean’s arms were behind his back.

“Asuriel, the cuffs!” Darren shouted. A moment later, the cuffs that had bound Asuriel were attached to Kilean’s wrists instead. He struggled on the ground, and Darren planted a boot on his back to keep him still. Kilean frothed at the mouth, desperate to attack him.

Darren would have tried to figure out what was wrong with the seraph, but as more figures emerged from the heaping pile, he realized he had bigger problems to deal with. Kilean wasn’t the only seraph who lost his mind.

Many of the others had already turned on one another, spitting and snarling as they punched, kicked, tore, and bit at one another like wild animals. And now those feral seraphim were turning their wild gazes on Darren and Asuriel.

<Note>

Sorry for the delay! I gotta sit down and edit my backlog ahead of time that way I can schedule all these chapters and forget about them. I know how you guys like to have them come out at the exact same time every week, but alas, human Marvin is easily distracted in the morning. Was working on Spellheart 9 and completely forgot about today's chapter until I went to the post office and discovered it was closed because it is Saturday.