Read Aether Candelions: Divine Saga :: Chapter 9. Indocile, part two

"Ah!" he hissed, feeling the burn on his face seethe. He no longer cared about the blows to his body; only the pain in his face was felt. "It burns!"

His body bent, Damian tried to organize his thoughts. Until that moment, his hand rested on his face, as a way to soothe the suffering.

When he stood up, he took a deep breath.

"My God... What was that?" He grimaced in anguish, a few tears in the corners of his eyes. Only then did he look around. "How did I get here so fast?"

He examined his arm covered in the strange material. It still had a certain glow, but it wasn't bothersome. 'The armor seems to accumulate its own energy. Can I use it somehow?' he thought to himself.

"Still," he said aloud, his gaze fixed on the horizon of buildings, "even if I start hopping from rooftop to rooftop... Will I make it to the park without hitting the ground? What are the chances of this working completely?" Damian furrowed his brow, his mind racing. "Damn, I need to figure this thing out. Come on, you can do this." He encouraged himself, glancing back from where he had come, also remembering the wound on his face. "What exactly was that? Did he harden his own blood? It was like a sharp needle, but also dipped in lava. No, one thing at a time. I can't stay here thinking about this, I need to get to the park. Come on, Damian. I can only fly when the armor is complete, but I can't even control that. However, if there's still some force or energy that makes me stop in the air for a few seconds, well... I might turn the vacuum into a trampoline."

The boy could feel a fluctuation in the atmosphere. His heart still pounded in his chest, the proximity of danger tightening his core. When he heard a distant scream, he realized that Sinmir, the hybrid with rough skin, had recovered from the impact.

"Don't be a fool, boy! DON'T DELAY YOUR DEATH!" Sinmir roared from afar, running wildly across the roof of one of the buildings.

The axe in his hand, still dripping with his sharp blood. The drops followed him in the air like faithful companions.

Damian clenched his fist, running in the opposite direction, ready to take a leap.

"I'm not a fool," he said, refocusing his gaze on the path ahead. He prepared his knees while wiping the sweat from his face. 'Just a few seconds in the air, and I can reach that building. I can't slow down, or I'll lose the adrenaline and the strength. It's about falling and getting up. Running and jumping.' I was always the smartest in school... Even if no one noticed or cared. Without ever boasting, I was always ahead of others. Even though my grandmother used to say...

Sinmir was about to catch up to Damian, but the boy blasted off at an incredible speed. "That my intelligence would be worthless..." he leaped from the rooftop, his entire body soaring through the air, "if it wasn't used to help others!"

The boy threw his arm against the wind, and a crack of sound and light rapidly formed. A thin, luminous barrier in the air stopped Damian from falling. The impact gave the boy a push, allowing him to reach the next building.

His arms touched the ground first, then the torso, and finally, the whole body. He rolled a few times but quickly got up, shaking his head and accelerating his steps again. He focused on being consistent, feeling the piece of armor tingling on his left arm. Damian could tell it was ready again.

"DON'T RUN AWAY!" Sinmir followed, tracing the boy's movements. "By the end of this day, you won't be the only one dead! I PROMISE!"

Jumping for the second time, the boy didn't want to pay attention to anything else, just the goal of escape. He used the armor in the air, created the necessary impact, and quickly reached the third building.

"Just two more and I can reach the park. I just hope I can keep doing this in the air a few more times..." he said to himself after landing on the third rooftop, the hybrid's screams drowning out his voice. "I need to keep going."

Breathing heavily, he resumed his run. He jumped a bit lower this time, without precision in the action. With limited certainty that he would make it, he aimed the armor at the air twice in quick succession, generating enough energy to reach another building. He ended up landing awkwardly.

"Just one more," he said, his voice hoarse and pained. Exhaustion overcame him, as he was no expert athlete.

Ready, Damian lined up once again to run. However, he felt every hair on his body stand on end. A nearly dormant part of him cried out for help, and with a quick glance, he witnessed Sinmir above him.

The hybrid came down hard, the sharp droplets of blood hitting the boy, penetrating his clothes and reaching his skin.

The axe was about to split the boy's head in two. In an unplanned reaction, Damian assumed a stance of fury and defense, his injured skin burning painfully. The boy screamed just as the hybrid did, and in his right hand, a sword appeared, creating a clatter and sparks. The yellowish sword blocked the axe's attack, and the boy repelled the hybrid away.

Sinmir staggered but it wasn't enough. Damian himself hadn't even realized how the sword had come into his hand. He stared at the hybrid in astonishment, receiving back a sinister gaze. They had similar ideas.

The two met this time, weapons clashing in an unyielding battle. The boy swung constantly, trying to defend himself in any way. The skin irritated by the blood still suffocated him, but he couldn't stop the fight to tend to his wounds.

'I'm never going to get out of here. Why is this sword so heavy?!'

"So you decide to show yourself now, huh?! With that damned sword?!" Sinmir spat angrily, overwhelming Damian with his axe blows.

The boy's face changed color, as if angry blood rushed to his face.

"Leave me alone!" he shouted, spinning the sword in the air and striking his opponent's face. Sinmir's bulging veins relaxed for just a few seconds.

"Leave you alone? Why would I do that? You think..." He was interrupted.

"SHUT UP! I can't stand to hear your voice anymore! And I can't even stand to look at that face! Why do I have to deal with you?!"

The hybrid's pupils dilated, but Damian didn't seem to care about that. The boy's face showed fatigue, but the way he lifted his chin in disgust revealed even more of his emotions.

"You killed those men," he remembered, holding the sword with authority. "You killed them as if they were nothing... As if their lives didn’t matter. Now you want to do the same to me. You want to hurt more innocent people. I think I already know..." Damian let a bitter, sideways smile escape. The distance between them was short. "What I've been feeling since you started chasing me. It's not fear. This urge inside me is disgust. All I feel is revulsion."

"What?" Sinmir let slip. Only the breeze of the wind between them.

"Yes! The nausea in my stomach isn't even about your horrendous appearance! What?! In the end, we're all going to die?! You think I live my life so recklessly?! Everything I've lived should be thrown away because I'm going to die someday?! You're mistaken! Before I leave this world, I want to do many things! So, just so you know, I don't plan to die today! MY END WILL BE VERY DIFFERENT!"

Sinmir didn't let Damian speak any further. Numb from the words, he lunged fiercely. The boy countered the violent action, using his arm armor as a shield, then driving the sword into the hybrid's leg. The enemy felt the cut, a seemingly thin opening, but which immediately spurted blood.

What happened next didn't help the boy. The green blood spilled from Sinmir came to life for the second time, attaching itself to Damian's exposed skin. From hand to elbow, the greenish fluid clung like a magnet. He backed away in panic as the pain consumed him. His loud scream was loud enough for the entire neighborhood to hear.

Damian dropped the sword to the ground, his knees giving way. Still screaming, he watched his skin being chewed, tortured. Fallen and distracted, he received a kick to the chest. Knocked down, he remained where he was, his face turned towards the sky above. His eyes wanted to close, tears leaping out in silent pleas.

"A different end, huh?" the hybrid said, crushing his face with his dirty, stinking foot. "All living beings have the same ends. All are unfair in some way. There's nothing that determines how far life should go, you know?! To live a little longer, just a little bit more, JUST A LITTLE BIT MORE!" Sinmir delivered another blow to Damian, who still gasped on the ground. "Why? Why? Why, huh? Why do people want to live a little longer? What's so good about LIVING?" He screamed madly while beating Damian. "Why? Why? WHY, HUH? CAN'T YOU ANSWER ME? WHY DOES NO ONE EVER ANSWER ME?!"

The boy spat blood when he received the last blow. His face was bruised, blood sprouting from his forehead, his lower lip swollen. The sword had disappeared from the scene, and even if he wanted to, Damian didn't believe he could wield it again. His vision was blurring, the fading sky disappearing gradually.

'I can’t... I can’t move, but I need to.'

"Ah, this is so tiresome..." The hybrid paused to rest, his yellow eyes glazed over in the distance. "I know. Actually, I wanted to drive my axe through your body. But I have a better idea..." Raising his hand, he glanced at his pointed nails. They grew even longer, like sharpened claws. Sinmir’s body also began to change. "I want to feel your guts on my fingers."

The boy's eyes widened at the scene unfolding before him. The hybrid was transforming, wings similar to those of bats, only darker, sprouted from his back. A horn grew on his forehead, the yellow eyes twinkled, and his mouth revealed sharp teeth. Sinmir's entire skin slowly transformed, becoming wrinkled and greenish.

Damian drew in as much air as he could into his lungs, staring at the monstrous figure before him. 'I need to get out of here,' he thought, also wishing that no one would appear at that moment. 'Heavens, what will become of me?'

"And now, huh?!" The hybrid roared happily, seeming larger than before. "What do you think of my appearance now?!"

Damian acted in desperation. He took advantage of his enemy's ego, and made that moment his only chance to escape. The boy managed to stand, confronting Sinmir. He pushed him hard, using the energy of his armor to his advantage. At that moment, it glowed dimly. The two fell from the building, in free fall.