Page 124 of Soul Forge

“What happened to you?”

“I was enlightened.” His smile was poisonous, no longer the face of an angel. “It was nice seeing Ana and Eris again. Ana grew so big, and Eris looked just like our mother.” Sypher’s face fell, his heart dropping into his boots. Malakai laughed wickedly. “Don’t worry, brother. I made it quick.” He tossed something silver and shiny to the ground below them.Ana’s locket. “You’ll be joining them soon.”

The air was sucked from Sypher’s lungs, his wings faltering until he landed heavily on his knees in the dirt below. His vision tunnelled, blood rushing in his ears at the realisation that his daughter, his Ana, would never smile again. She’d never laugh, never ask to be thrown into the air, or beg to see the fish in the lake. She wouldn’t go back to school in the morning. She wouldn’t be tucked into bed by him or throw her arms around his neck and tell him she loved him.

His sister, only fifteen, was also gone. Her life had been snuffed out by her own brother, someone who was supposed to love and protect her, before she’d really had the chance to live it. Her vibrant laughter would never fill the rooms Sypher entered. She wouldn’t leave books she thought he’d like on his nightstand anymore.

Sypher’s world, his life, everything that meant anything, was gone.

The only feeling left to fill the hollow thing that used to be a father, used to be a soldier and a Seraph, a leader of his people,was rage. It burned bitterly in his chest, driving his wings to beat, flexing his fingers around the hilt of his sword.

“You were mybrother!” he roared, launching himself at the angel-turned-demon. Every clash of blades brought with it a glimpse of Ana’s smile, her bright eyes, her little wings fluttering with excitement. “You were myfamily!” Eris curled up in an armchair with a book in her lap, a frown on her face as she fell into the pages of another novel.

Malakai cackled, enjoying the pain and turmoil raining down on the place he’d once called his home. He countered every strike thrown at him, toying with Sypher when his emotions made him sloppy. The soldier was a husk of a man, an empty thing running only on the false promise that retribution would ease his debilitating pain.

“Killing me won’t bring her back,” Malakai taunted.

"Die!” Sypher raged, his sword moving so fast it blurred. Their blades collided with concussive blasts, the pair trading elbows and knees and head-butts with startling ferocity. They battered and tore at one another until eventually, inevitably, Malakai’s weapon found its way between Sypher’s ribs.

His eyes widened, a choked noise escaping him when the tip burst from his back. Malakai twisted as he pulled it back out, and Sypher dropped out of the sky, his own sword falling from his hand when he hit the dirt with a sickening thwack. His wing crunched beneath him, shattering many of the finer bones. The wound in his chest pumped blood steadily, every heartbeat forcing his life to flow down the front of his armour.

But Sypher was rage, not man. His fury made him stand. It made his broken wings beat, carrying him into the air again with his sword clutched once more between his bloody fingers.

“Oh, how tragic,” Malakai tutted. “Won’t you just die with dignity?”

“If I die, I’m taking you with me,” Sypher vowed, his words stilted by the excruciating sting radiating through him. Malakai snapped his palm and threw Sypher backwards with the air, wrenching the sword from his grip.

The monster bared his teeth in a grimace and shattered the blade, suspending the splinters in the air while Sypher struggled to stay conscious and airborne. Malakai pushed his palms together, and the shards shot towards his brother, the hilt piercing his chest right above the first wound, the rest of the blade peppering his arms and legs, one sliver slicing into his throat. Sypher gagged, his body jerking with each impact, but his wings still held him aloft, driven by his fierce intent on revenge.

He lurched towards Malakai and wrapped his arms tightly around him, ignoring the pain of his brother’s sharpened teeth biting into the tendons at his throat and tearing them away, fresh blood leaking down his armour.

They dropped from the sky once more, both of them hitting the dirt heavily. Sypher pooled every last ounce of his power into his fire magic, pushing himself beyond every limit his body had. A white-hot ball centred in his chest, a thousand times more painful than his many wounds, but he clung to the demon through the torture, building and building the magic until he couldn’t contain it anymore.

An inferno hot enough to melt stone burst from him and engulfed Malakai, sizzling and burning the demon until he screamed and writhed. Sypher’s vision faded when his body was consumed by flames, his eyes closing to the sound of the world dying around him.

Sypher was still on his knees, his whole body trembling, tears streaming down his cheeks. Elda knelt beside him, a breath stuck in her chest as she tried to process everything she’d just witnessed. A broken sob escaped him, smashing through her stupor.

She caught Sypher when he collapsed, cradling his head against her chest and rocking him gently, holding the shattered pieces of him together while he howled his agony at the dirt. Her own tears were hot on her cheeks, tracking down them in rivulets as she clung to him. She’d never heard a sound like that come from anyone. Elda knew his absolute sorrow would haunt her forever.

The others watched in solemn silence as the legend, the Soul Forge, the saviour of Valerus,crumbled.

“You were my first seraph, Sypher,” Cerilla admitted eventually, her head still bowed. “You were an angel of the highest order, a leader of your people. I loved you dearly. When you died – whenallof my angels died – I was overcome with grief, and we had no way to stop Malakai from tipping the balance of this world. Aeon wanted us to leave Valerus to its own devices.”

“Why didn’t you?” Julian asked when he realised Sypher was beyond answering her.

“I am the only other Spirit blessed with the power to create. I had the ability to do something that might save this world we love so much,” she explained. “I wanted my seraph back. I needed someone to fight the evil that had overtaken Malakai. So, I kept your soul from moving on, and I created you a new body.”

“You should have let me rest,” Sypher whispered, pulling away from Elda to look Cerilla in the eye. "You should have let me die!"

“Sypher, I couldn’t let you go,” Cerilla admitted, shame knitting her brow. “There was nobody else capable of wounding Malakai, let alonekillinghim. And I missed you dearly. I was selfish, but I stand by my choices.”

“Why would you create me to be a half-demon? Why would you allow me to be enslaved?” he asked through his tears. “Do you have any idea the kind of torture I’ve had to endure? Have you ever had someone pluck out your eyeballs because theycan? Or cut bones from your arm just to see if they’d grow back?”

The harsh truth of his past as Soul Forge hit Elda like a slap in the face, her stomach pitching at the idea that anyone could do that to him. She’d seen his scars enough, but to actuallyhearwhat left them there was almost too much. She fought the urge to retch onto the worn tiles.

Sypher advanced on Cerilla until he towered over her. “All of the misery, all of the enslavement, the torture, the killing, the pain, all of that isyour fault?”

“Yes,” she whispered, closing her eyes. Just when Elda thought he might strike the Spirit, he backed away from her, shaking his head.

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