Remnants of Souls

Chapter 4 - The Trap

William summoned his energy, praying he would have enough time to raise a ward. The air in front of him shimmered, thickening when a burning pain spread through his left arm. He ignored it, focusing on the ward instead, watching with relief as more and more bullets ran into it, stopping in midair before dropping on the floor with a loud clang.

He sensed a movement on his side as Ariana stepped beside him with her hands outstretched. Rashid and Marcus covered the windows which were now hanging bare, glass littering the carpeted floor. The sound of gunfire ceased, giving place to the clicking of magazines as the soldiers recharged. William glanced at Ariana and she nodded.

They moved toward the door together, letting the ward disintegrate. William threw his shoulder against the wood, wincing as the pain in his arm intensified. He could feel Ariana’s hand on his back, her energy dancing around them in a protective bubble.

When the door fell and they stepped into the corridor, the soldiers looked at them with surprise. A second later, a few of them drew their sidearms and opened fire while the rest were feverishly trying to recharge.

The bubble around them held, purple sparks flying around them every time a bullet hit. William waved with his hand and the three soldiers with the sidearm were yanked toward the wall, crashing into it with such force that they didn’t move after tumbling to the ground. The others tried to retreat down the corridor while still shooting, but William went after them without hesitation.

A bullet pierced the dome and flew past his head just as he sent his energy to wrap around their weapons, forcing the metal to heat up. The soldiers let out surprised cries, throwing their guns to the ground. William finished them by smacking them into the walls a few times.

“Clear!” Ariana shouted. Marcus was already in the corridor, building a wall of thick air around the front door of the mansion to prevent those outside from barging in. Rashid sealed the room they had come from before they all turned toward William.

“Ariana, Rashid, and Jordan—you come with me. We’re going after the sword!” William said without wasting time. “Marcus, take the rest and find those disruptors. Turn them off so we can leave. Once you are done, portal out without waiting. Everyone clear?”

“Clear.” They echoed.

“Keep your eyes open. Nobody is allowed to die tonight.”

He watched Marcus and the others rush down the corridor where the others had tried to retreat to, checking rooms and sealing them off as they went. William headed toward the curved staircase in the opposite direction, picking up one of the sidearms from the fallen soldiers and checking its magazine. He didn’t like using guns, but with half of their powers gone, he needed all the leverage he could find.

He wasn’t leaving without the Asi sword tonight, no matter what.

William took out the weird device in his free hand, wincing as the thing made that loud sound again. Ariana had reconstructed her bubble, spreading it wider to cover all four of them, and they climbed up the stairs in a tight formation.

They hadn’t even reached the middle when somebody started shooting from above. The bullets stopped outside of the bubble, but still, Jordan let out a panicked yelp when one of them froze inches away from his face.

“Stay in the dome,” Ariana warned in a tense voice, and Jordan quickly moved away from the banister. William did the opposite, stepping next to the railing and shooting with the gun toward the soldiers upstairs. He didn’t aim to hit, he doubted he could do it even if he tried, but just as expected, they ducked for cover.

When their group finally reached the landing, William nodded to Rashid. He stepped next to him, hands moving in a circular motion as he created a ball of flickering energy that grew to the size of a basketball. Once it was finished, he hurled it into the corridor the soldiers had retreated to. Threads of electricity separated from the sphere like little bolts of lightning, dashing toward each soldier. Some managed to shout before they got hit, others just convulsed before dropping to the ground.

As far as William knew, those weren’t enough to kill them—Rashid despised killing more than anyone in the Order and he refused to kill even to save his life. He had explained before that he created that spell to work as one of those human devices that, when pressed against the body, sent enough electricity through it to incapacitate a person for a period of time.

“A little help!” Jordan shouted and William turned, staring at the remaining four soldiers that were standing shoulder to shoulder and desperately shooting without pause. Before William could interfere, Ariana waved with her hand, and a cloud of purple mist shot toward them. The soldiers’ eyes widened in surprise and they tried to run, but then the mist spread around their heads and they all froze stiff before dropping on top of each other. Both William and Jordan stared at her, but she did not react, as if what she did wasn’t a big deal.

Her power had grown, William realized with surprise. Before, she could barely hold one spell for a prolonged period. Her strength had always been her words and her conviction, the fighting was usually left to him, Damien, and Iris. It felt odd, fighting alongside her. And yet, it was somehow comforting having her with him. Like old times.

A bright light shone from outside the windows, followed by the sound of a voice enhanced via a speaker.

“You’re surrounded! Surrender now or we will open fire!” The voice demanded.

“Like hell, fuckers,” Jordan murmured.

William raised the device again, the arrow now dancing around the middle. He stepped over the bodies of the soldiers that had spread all over the corridor, following the device’s radar until the arrow was jumping excitedly all the way to the right, the sound so loud it made him cringe.

He turned the device off, sliding it into his pocket, and looked at the others who nodded in unison. Ariana raised the protective dome around them and he turned the handle, opening the door.

There were only four guys inside, looking like they wanted to be anywhere else on earth but there. William and Jordan took care of them quickly, securing the window and the door. The man outside in the helicopter kept demanding their surrender.

“Don’t tell me it’s behind this,” Ariana groaned. Standing in front of a massive door made of reinforced steel, she turned to look at William.

“Shit.” He cursed as he placed his hands on it. “We can’t blast through it. Or portal inside,” he murmured, weighing their options. “Any ideas?”

“Melt it?” She suggested, knocking on the metal. William hesitated but eventually raised his hands against it, waiting for Ariana to do the same. As she did, he called onto his powers, forcing them to heat the surface. He closed his eyes after a few minutes, unable to look at the reddening metal. Sweat dripped from his chin as the heat grew hotter and hotter.

“It’s not working!” Ariana shouted. He let his hands fall by his side, glaring at the metal door that hadn’t budged or dented even a little bit.

“Damn it!” William swore, turning around in search of something that could help them. He pressed twice onto the communication device Mary had given him, wincing as the loud static noise filled his ear. “Marcus, any luck?”

“Found it.” Marcus’ voice resounded in his ear. “Working on getting to it now. You?”

“Get out of there once you take it down. We’ll figure out the rest,” William said, staring at the metal door.

“Got it.”

A noise came from the other side of the room just as William was tapping on the earpiece to sever the connection. All four of them looked around. The sound seemed to have come from the wardrobe beside the door.

Jordan moved toward it, pulling his energy in a sphere in his left hand while reaching for the wardrobe door with his right one. William watched tensely until the boy finally pulled the wing open.

A second later he leaned in, grabbing something from inside and hauling it out. A man in a three-piece suit landed at William’s feet. As their eyes met, the man tried to crawl back but hit Rashid’s legs before he could move much further.

“Doesn’t this one look like the guy from the video?” Rashid pointed out.

“I won’t say a word!” the man shouted, whimpering as Rashid bent down to grab him by the arm.

“Last warning! Surrender now or we will show no mercy!” the voice outside shouted again. Everybody looked at the window with annoyance; the man in the suit—with hope.

Shots and shouts still echoed through the house, which meant whoever was outside, probably didn’t exactly know where their enemy was. Unless they planned to blow up the whole building, they had a bit more time.

“Help! Please help me! I am here!” The man in the suit shouted out of a sudden, trying to run to the window. Jordan’s fist sunk into his stomach before anyone could do anything, and the human bent over, fighting for breath.

A wave of weightlessness washed through William, and he sucked in a sharp breath. He glanced at the others, only to find them looking just as relieved. Marcus must have gotten his hands on the disrupting device.

“Tell us the code for the vault,” Ariana said impatiently. He looked up at her with a red face, a disgusted expression on his face. “What’s your name?”

“Like I’ll tell you, witch! You may look like us, but you are all abominations, devils! I will tell you nothing!” he snarled. Ariana looked at William, who was just folding his sleeves. He had to make him talk, and they were out of time. The man looked at him with horror, cowering back.

Before William could do anything, Ariana stepped toward the man, asking Rashid to hold him still. He did so with a hint of hesitation, despite the human’s vigorous fighting. Ariana raised her hand toward the exposed neck of the man drawing a truth rune on his neck. He screamed in agony as the flame burned his skin, but she didn’t stop until the rune was complete. When she stepped back, William gawked at her with utter disbelief.

“Why did you—” he started, but she sent him a sharp glance.

“We have no time and we need answers,” she explained with a serious expression, turning back to the human. “Tell us the code.”

“You know that the rune can kill him,” William said, still fighting the shock. He would have thought nothing of it were it anyone else, but Ariana never purposely hurt anybody, and never allowed anyone else to do it in her presence either. She detested violence and avoidable suffering. “And if it doesn’t, he won’t be able to tell a single lie in his life. No matter how small.”

“Then I’ve set him up for an honest life,” she said with an annoyed sigh. She turned back to the man. “Code, now.”

He seemed to fight it for a second, the rune on his neck heating up to painful red. He let out a yelp of pain.

“Okay, okay!” he whimpered. “One-four-four-seven-five-zero-three! Please, please make it stop!”

Ariana stepped toward the tiny screen by the safe door. William motioned for Rashid to hold the man, then followed her. By the time he reached her, she had finished punching the code in and the mechanism unlocked with a reverberating click. She smiled at William, opening the door wide enough for them to walk in.

There were a lot of objects in the fault—paintings, figurines, statues, and whatnot. On a pedestal in the middle of the room stood the sword, gleaming under the artificial light. William drew closer, reaching for it with shaky hands. He could feel the energy imbued in that object just as he had felt it with the Obsequium dagger and every other artifact they had found. But the sensation was so strong this time that it made his fingers tingle.

Ariana stared at the weapon for a second before she looked back up at him.

“Let’s get out of here,” William said, still unable to take his eyes away from the shiny surface of the sword. “We have already overstayed our welcome.”