Page 199 of Psycho Devils: Aran's Story 2

The revelations.

High above us in the sky, the angels once again fought with their ice swords. Far below them, hidden in the shadows behind the academy, the devil legion also trained with swords, but theirs were made of fire.

I shivered as I studied the two legions.

Fire and ice.

Angels and devils.

Sadie said they shared a realm, and I hadn’t understood until this moment what that meant.

Now I saw the similarities.

Strength and power radiated from both groups, and even their swords were mirror images of each other.

I squinted at the devil legion as we ran past. It wasn’t hard to picture them with wings.

BANG. Ice swords slammed together, and blue flames exploded.

BANG. Fire swords bounced off each other loudly.

It was the alchemy law of extremes: At its hottest temperature, fire mimics the properties of ice. At its coldest temperature, ice mimics the properties of fire.

Goose bumps shivered down my spine.

A shadow flashed in my periphery, and I looked over my shoulder. I scanned the surf, but there was nothing, just rocks and the sea. I must have imagined it.

Movement. I whipped my head to the right.

There.

A pale body dashed swiftly across the rocks, angling itself in the shadows of boulders so that it was almost impossible to follow its progression.

It was a member of the assassin legion.

I’d assumed the other legions were all resting inside between competitions, but now I wasn’t so sure. To the naked eyed, there was no one else outside training.

Has the assassin legion been training around us this entire time and I’ve never noticed?

Taking a deep breath of sulfur-stained air, I relaxed my arms and drove forward with my legs. I focused on each step.

I ignored the angels in the sky, devils on land, and assassins in the shadows.

Endorphins pumped through my blood.

They kept the haze at bay. Just barely.

I focused on my breathing and not the stranger who was matching pace beside me. Stride for stride, we ran together like we’d been doing so our entire lives.

Just like with John, Luka and I ran in perfect tandem. We’d done this same jog dozens of times.

But unlike with John, I didn’t know this man.

Yet, he knew me.

From the shitshow that had been yesterday, Luka had no interest in getting to know any of us further.

After Luka had revealed who he was, everyone in our legion had spiraled into a mini meltdown over the revelation.

---