Chapter 1
931 Words
Chapter 1
November 3,390 BC
Earth: Mesopotamian Plain
PAREESA
Pareesa's heart pumped as she ran at a speed she would have never thought possible. A conversation she'd once had with Mikhail during training after landing a successful blow replayed within her mind:
“If you get distracted like that during battle," she had said after Mikhail had glanced over at his wife instead of watching her, "it could turn out very badly for you.”
Mikhail had effortlessly disarmed her and handed her back her staff without even ruffling a feather.
“If I didn't trust you,” the big Angelic had said, “you would never get close enough in the first place to -see- me get distracted.”
Her arrow was strung before she broke over the rise. She knew. She knew their plan. She shot as soon as she saw the glimmer of metal in the light of the campfire, but she was too late. The woman who was not his wife plunged the blade into Mikhail’s heart.
"No!"
The first arrow cut down the imposter, dead even though she still stood, quickly followed by a second. Grabbing two arrows out of her quiver at once, she drew the bow again and cut down two hideous lizard demons who rushed at him with firesticks.
Mikhail's wings drooped towards the ground. The red-caped imposter slid out of his arms, dead.
Pareesa gave an anguished cry.
Mikhail staggered. Even from here she could see his look of disbelief as he tried to protect the woman who had just betrayed him. Around him, the lizard demons lunged, eager to finish him off.
Pareesa screamed her mentor's name. Stringing her bow again, she took aim and shot down a third lizard demon.
Mikhail's wings trembled like a dying bird, proud appendages brought low by this act of betrayal. She watched in horror as he wordlessly slid to the ground.
Oh gods! Oh gods! The other warriors were a good six minutes behind her. She had to keep the enemy off of him until the others could get here! But how? Six minutes in battle was an eternity and she was outnumbered seventy to one!
“Bishamonten,” Pareesa prayed to the Cherubim god. “Watashi wa shi no gakki o hozon suru tame ni tsuyo-sa o ataeru [please give me the strength to save your instrument of death].”
She threw herself through the enemy warriors as if they did not exist, shooting arrow after arrow until her quiver was empty. She was so close it didn't occur to them to shoot back. They had not been taught to use empty hands and feet as weapons as she had; the last thing the enemy expected was a thirteen summer girl to hurl herself to her fallen comrade's side with single-minded fury.
Diving into a defensive maneuver Mikhail had taught her to escape spear-thrusts, she rolled towards his body and rose. Somehow his sword found its way into her hands, the sword he’d refused to teach her out of fear it would someday be used against her. It was heavy. She didn't even know how to wield it.
“Bishamonten!” Pareesa cried out to the Cherubim god. “Help me! Please! Use my body and do whatever you must to save him!””
Something tickled the crown of her head. She gasped as a sensation akin to the air during a thunderstorm slipped gently into her body and vibrated outwards from her heart into her extremities. It was not painful as she'd always assumed possession must feel, but a pleasant sense of tingling as the Cherubim god took control. That part of her which was still human watched from the left-hand side of her brain as her body worked of its own volition to defend her teacher without conscious thought.
She felt like … power. Was this what it was like for Mikhail when he entered into the killing dance?
No. This was something more. Mikhail channeled the old god's energy; used it to constrain the even deeper power only she and Gita knew the dark-winged Angelic could harness. Pareesa, on the other hand, had become the ancient Cherubim God of War.
Bishamonten planted Pareesa's feet on either side of Mikhail's body and caused her to crouch, sword raised above her head, ready to smite any who came at him. The lizard-demons were terrible creatures with sharp fangs and yellow eyes, but the Cherubim god viewed them with disinterest. He took out the largest threat first, a lizard-demon who seemed to be in charge of the ambush, leaving the other four demons in a state of disarray. Behind them, throngs of enemy human mercenaries surged, laughing at her audacity to defend her hero single-handedly.
They stopped laughing as, one by one, the lizard demons met their deaths at the end of Mikhail's sword…
The last lizard-demon took aim at her with a firestick. Pareesa did not have wings, but she was far faster than it thought she would be, especially enhanced with Cherubim reflexes. The creature underestimated her ability to leap into the air.
Pareesa twisted sideways mid-air…
An explosion of blue lightning narrowly missed as she hit her apex and slammed downward with the sword. The sleek silver blade comprised of no substance yet available on their world, steel Mikhail called it, cleaved the monster from its shoulder downward through its rib cage. Gore splattered onto her body. With detached curiosity she noted the reflexive extra slice, running the lizard demon through its heart to ensure it would not get back up even though she was certain the creature was already dead.
The God of War was nothing if not efficient…
Gesturing an invitation for the human mercenaries to expend their lives at the end of her sword, Pareesa mercilessly cut down the human enemies who had the audacity to take on the Cherubim God of War …
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