The waiter's eyes widened and he shot his hand out, covering the ring with his palm in a panic. "What are you doing?!" He hissed under his breath, gaping at Eve incredulously. "What are you planning with Altair? You know what- I can't hear this shit. I can't hear it." Saadah stood, straightening his waistcoat. "Whatever you're doing right now, I can't know about it. It won't be good for any of us."
Meanwhile, as his chaperones descended the long staircases of the castle and lead him down by his chains, Altair had perked up at the first sound of Eve's voice. He looked around in astonishment, thinking he must have imagined it, as he often did when he was alone. One of the soldiers escorting him looked over, "All well, sir?"
"Yeah, I'm alright." He muttered, pressing his brows together in confusion. He cleared his throat a little, noticing that the soldiers around him appeared unharmed, and wondered how they could have avoided the burns from earlier.
"I thought you wanted your contract severed. I'm giving you an opportunity to try, so..." Lowering the ring, she scanned the restaurant. Considering no one had been staring at the two, she pressed on. "All you heard was his name. You're already gonna be questioned just by talking to me, so do you want a chance now, or would you rather that promotion you won from playing 7's?"
"I think there's a bit of a misunderstanding. This is a chance, not a promise. I only know where the contracts are and can get you to them. I don't know where yours is specifically, and I won't be severing it myself. But with the second biggest diversion I can think of plus my company, this is *probably* your best chance unless you want to wait another few years. But anyways,"
With a cough, she brought the ring back up into earshot,
"You're not imagining my voice this time, cutie. I'm glad you finally stood up for yourself, it was a long time coming. Saw the whole thing."
Although the archdemon wouldn't see it, she was smiling, recalling his winning battle. She quickly shoved the ring down for a moment, glancing over to Saadah.
"You're hot, he's cute. There's a difference."
She blurted out before bringing the ring back up to speak.
"But, um, the moment you get back at Fore they're planning on knocking you out and going through with what Lev wanted. They think that would keep you from coming back around to see me, and get you fully under their control again."
Saadah's eyes widened again, and he opened his mouth to protest regarding the contract- but stayed quiet as she continued. His knee bounced in a nervous fidget as he listened in.
~
Altair looked up at the air in confusion, stopping in place on one of the steps. "They're going to do what?" He muttered, confused. The soldiers around him watched in alarm.
"What is it, Sir?" Marshall Audric Ravenor, the head of the company, asked him as he looked up the steps at the archdemon. His hands were wrapped tightly around a heavy chain linked to Altair's collar, with one good yank it could bring the thick inner spikes right through his neck. Each of the soldiers carried these, and while this little group had grown to be much of a family over the last few millennial, it was their job to destroy him if his loyalties wavered.
Altair gave them all a small shake of his head, "Ah, nothing, sorry. Just. Nothing." He frowned at the air as he moved onward, each step down clattering loudly.
She hesitated a moment, hearing a new voice on the other end. One of the few men close to Altair, and one who would definitely be affected, regardless if the archdemon took action. Covering the ring, she glanced at Saadah— his nerves were contagious, and the vibrations from his bouncing knee didn’t help.
With a nudge, she whispered to him, “If a drink would help your nerves any, order two. You’re making me need another one.”
Her drink hadn’t yet run empty, but she figured it would give him an out from continuing to listen in when it bothered him so much. Uncovering the ring and bringing it around to her other ear, she continued speaking.
“There’s a messenger on his way. He’s gonna relay some orders: they’re snippin’ the boys when you get back. Those bitchfaces see you as an individual now, but they still want to control ya. Since it’s kinda my fault you got caught, I thought you should know.”
Saadah snapped his fingers, "Thank you." He said in relief, sliding out of the seat and walking away in a hurry, letting out a loud sigh of exasperation.
~
Altair's eyes darted down in alarm before looking back up. He could now hear weighted footsteps clacking down the stone stairway towards them, and soon a guard appeared, breathing heavy as he caught his breath. "Aye?" One of Altair's chaperones stepped up to meet him and leaned forward, listening as the man muttered into his ear. The soldier's face hardened, but he nodded and bowed to the messenger before signaling for the group to keep moving. "All is well." He said.
All is well my ass. The archdemon thought to himself, his eyes darkening with frustration as he slowly marched down the steps. His garnet gaze watched the back of the Marshall's helmet in front of him, then traveled to the soldier beside him. Then the one in back of him, then the one beside himself. His little family. The group of men that had watched over him since the beginning of his time. The only friends he'd ever made. He knew the names of their families, and why they were stuck here. He'd stayed awake for hundreds of nights as they told him all their regrets, and what they'd have done better if they could live their life again. They'd invented games for him to pass the time, sneaking in harmless contraband like books for him to read and relics from battles they'd fought. They'd listened to Altair cry for weeks without stopping, when his heart would hurt and he couldn't explain why, and they'd told him time and time again that he was more. More than a weapon.
More than a weapon.
As they reached the end of the staircase, Altair stopped. The Marshall looked over again, "Sir Invega, we really need-" He quieted when he saw the archdemon's face.
"They're going to cut me, Marshall. Just like you."
They stared at each other for a few long moments, both men exchanging looks of a mutual sadness. Audric looked up at the soldier in the back, who nodded slightly, before returning his gaze to the miserable creature before him. The soldiers were flitting their eyes between the demon and the Marshall, a cloud of pain and well understood shame hovering over the group.
"A sacrifice we all have made." Audric said quietly, resting a hand on Altair's shoulder. "A difficult but noble way to show the Lord our eternal loyalty. This is a very good sign. It means they are taking your words seriously." Altair looked up at him uncomfortably, "...I must be a crippled man for them to hear me?"
"You must do as you're told, whether they hear you or not."
"How could I... How could I ever face-" The Marshall waved his hand to silence him. "Forget about this woman. You've had your fun, but it's over. Forgotten. If you haven't already, you will love her, and it will kill you."
The demon looked away from him, and Audric grabbed the creatures face with his hand tightly. "Do you hear me, Altair?! It will KILL you! There is nothing to be done about it! Nothing! Let it go! I won't have you brought down by a woman after all these centuries. The shame of it all."
Altair growled at him and pulled away.
"I'm so fucking sick of everyone touching my face." He hissed in a low voice, glaring at the ground. "But I've put up with it, I've put up with all of it because I had nothing. Nothing to fight for or to stand up for, nothing to choose over this shitty-" There was a loud crash as Audric smashed his fist into Altair's jaw and sent the archdemon falling back. Ungracefully scrambling to his knees, Altair gasped in pain at the spikes of his collar he'd fallen hard onto.
"You foolish, rebellious creature!" Marshall Ravenor exclaimed, unsheathing his sword. "When will you learn? You're like a babe in the cradle, uneducated and unprepared yet wailing about wanting the world! You have no other purpose than to serve the Great Lord! What would you do if you were on your own for a day? You would be lost! Aimless! Empty! Destroying everything in your anger! You prideful little bitch! You haven't seen true pain or heard true weeping, if you did it would destroy you! You're far too soft, too soft for the world outside your cage." Altair glared up at him in dismay, blood seeping down the back of his neck. "It was YOU who told me all those years ago! That I was MORE THAN A WEAPON!"
"I TOLD YOU THAT TO SILENCE YOU."
. . . The Marshall cleared his throat and eyed his sword, avoiding the archdemon's gaze. Altair's expression of sheer horror brought an icy chill to the corridor. The men around him were silent. Slowly, he got to his feet, leaving the collar stuck in his neck. "All this time...Thousands of years..." He started, staring at each of the soldiers- who, he noticed, were now watching him with an unfamiliar annoyance. Their eyes were colder than he'd ever seen them, and they watched him with the same disdain the men of the council did.
"You've been...playing me...?"
The Marshall rolled his eyes a little, gesturing with his sword. "Let's go."
Altair looked down, feeling nauseous. His head spun. "The things you've told me, the things you've brought me, they were all..."
"On our to-do list, yes. Now let's go!"
Trembling with the broiling of his fury and the pain of betrayal, the archdemon muttered. "...Fuck you."
"...What?"
"FUCK YOU!" Altair screamed, sending a pulse of scalding air rippling out from his hands.
The Marshall and his men were thrown back in a tumbling heap onto the stone, all of them holding their faces and shouting in surprise.
"FUCK YOU!" Altair screamed again, throwing another pulse out, this time hot enough to make their armor glow. They shrieked, the skin simmering on their hands and falling off their faces in charred clumps. A few guards came running from around the corner to their aid, only to look up and get blasted with another wave of broiling air. Altair threw his head back and screeched, the sound rattling the castle's very foundations and making the stones rumble. A cry so loud, it pierced through every wail of every prisoner, cracked every window of the castle, and startled the entire kingdom of Limbo.
~
From where he'd just sat down next to his queen at the dining table, Leviath looked up as the hellish shriek sent the utensils and plates vibrating off their surfaces. He looked over at Lilith in alarm.
"My dear-" The explosion hit hard. The wall of bricks behind them came roaring down onto the couple, followed by the tapestries, the rafters, and the tower above them. "LILITH!" The king's scream was muffled as he was separated from her, crushed under the pummeling tons of wood and timber that seemed to never stop falling.
The mighty castle of Penitence was wounded, shaking in its entirety as Altair took flight and rose from the gaping hole he'd made in the west wing. His chains had melted away, the collar and its spikes fused into his flesh. His eyes were wild with bloodlust and in his hands he held the heart of Marshall Ravenor. Lifting it to his smiling lips, he took a bite and watched the kingdom below him, drooling at the ecstatic pleasure he was feeling from being unleashed.
Silence flooded the restaurant as the first wave erupted. Some stood up from their seats, wondering about the commotion as others jumped from the suddenness of it all. Worried, curious faces looked to windows which always had the castle in view. It was first a rumble, though nothing fell. Their realm shook, but continued to hold strong.
That was, until the second wave followed immediately after, breaking the air with an ear-rupturing boom. There was a bit of distance from the establishment to the Penitence, but the wave of heat rushed at them. Dust picked up from the streets, flying past the building as Altair took flight. A tiny but noticeable spec as he appeared above the rising cloud of rubble and smoke.
For perhaps the first time in history, the Castle faltered. Every demonic creature could feel its weight, frozen in time. Jaws dropped as eyes widened in shock and horror, some patrons rushing inwards, to the back of the restaurant for safety. They’d been busily chatting a moment ago, indifferent about Hell’s standings. Even the staff had halted their duties, momentarily stunned by the explosion. A few of the workers rushed to the door, making sure it would hold and withstand the immense pressure then leaking from the structure. Some others had run up to the windows just to get a better look.
Any fiend, imp, Devil, and demon could feel Altair’s rage. Even those outside of Limbo’s borders could sense his intensity, leaking out from the realm’s core.
Rising from her seat, the silver-haired young woman broke the link of communication to the Castle's attacker, slipping off her ring and dropping it into her purse. Amongst the chaos, she trailed her way to the back of house, eyeing the fiancé who ran off for drinks. When she didn’t find him around the huddled staff murmuring to each other, she walked further in, searching for the back entrance with haste.
Of course he’d be outside, hidden behind the building as he smoked more Crutch. Worried of the state of the Castle. More specifically, worried for one within its caved walls.
After the wave passed over the lot and the echo of the collapsed stone started to settle, Hell’s stationed army sprung into action. Those with wings flew to the scene while others ran, eyes wide as they searched for the enemy. None of the militia even glanced their way, holding sight with the crumbling building. Up in the air, where they expected Angels to be. The heavenly army secretly initiating their attack. Very few realized that the one floating above the rubble was Altair, a member of the council itself.
“Saadah! It’s now or never.” She called to him, reaching a hand to his shoulder.
However, the world wouldn't wait for a response. Merely brushing against him was enough to change their location, teleportation set on an invisible timer to the Castle's destruction. Instead of passing through the natural doorway that would lead one into another realm, the place they lept to was already within the Abyss itself. Their surroundings faded and spun rapidly, transforming the back alley behind The Clove into that of the the land's underground.
Closed doors of stone were decorated with bones and mummified limbs. One couldn't see the ground itself as a layer of thick red covered it, as deep as a light puddle. The stone walls that extended far past the two held a few cracks on its west side, yet the room didn't appear to be in danger. However, the ground above them continued to rumble, Altair's roar never ceased for the structure within.
The only source of light for the two was that of a massive glowing orb further down from where they stood. It pulsed as one's heart might, rhythmic and slow. Its outer-ring of color shifted upon each pulse: red to blue, red to blue with a center that flashed white with black streaks.
Shelves upon shelves of artifacts and documents separated them from the orb, obscuring the two from view of the beasts which guarded it. A pair of two griffins, unfazed by the chaos above them. Each lifted their heads as a new stench rolled in, alert, but unmoving. They were chained and magically bound to their posts and could do no more than curiously sniff for those who joined them.
"So they're all in here with every other heaven-reject. Only Lil and Lev ever come down here, so whoever's contract ya feel like breaking, have at it. I can distract the kitten-chicks up there, no problem."
A dark snicker escaped his throat as Altair watched the little demons scatter in the streets. He closed his eyes as another wave of energy pulsed out of his core, and opened them to watch the wave ripple across the kingdom, wreaking havoc as it did. Thick black dust clouds roiled over the buildings, sending some tumbling down with the force. Looking up, Altair raised his hand, twisting his wrist and grabbing from the emptiness a massive sword, glowing red- made from the very heat of Limbo. The red sky, always empty and clear, was swirling with black clouds. The archdemon had summoned them, his sword the reigns of warmth and fire itself. With garnet eyes leering in bloodlust, Altair swung his blade down, and by doing so, commanded the sky that roared in compliance.
From the ashy clouds that had formed above him, great stones of fire fell in torrents. He laughed, a sound pitched in a thousand different tones from a thousand different souls, before swooping up and plummeting down into the streets. Though the air was burning with ash and crashing with boulders, he felt more alive than ever. The scalding heat of Limbo was at the command of his fingertips, rippling and solidifying at his will. Stretching his wings out, he glided through the streets, leaving any demons that he passed over on the ground as charred mummies of ash.
A fisherman was storming up the cobbled road, having finally noticed the source of the danger, and as Altair drew near, he swung his massive scythe at the archdemon. The dust in the air stirred as Altair dodged him, gliding low and slicing his searing hot sword through the giant's ankles. Howling in pain, the fisherman stumbled to his knees. With a quick swoop of his six wings, Altair launched upwards, bringing his mighty weapon up through his foe's throat. Blood spurted in a torrential shower as the fisherman's head fell from his shoulders, drenching the archdemon who laughed wildly.
~
As the towers fell, so had Saadah's cigarette as he'd jumped in alarm. Before he could move, however, he was transported with the goddess to the deepest bowels of the castle. Looking around in panic, he shouted, "What the fuck is going on?! What did you do?!" His teal eyes found the griffins, and he stumbled back a few steps. "What are you talking about?! You think I can touch that? It's probably rigged!"
From behind the homicidal archdemon came a massive minotaur with scarlet fur, his face completely red as he withstood the intense heat Altair brought with him. Rings of gold decorated his mighty horns of bronze, while he also wore golden bands around his wrists. In his hands he wielded a silver great axe, one which immediately swung across the archdemon as soon as he managed to get close. Crimson fumed out his nostrils, the overall pressure attributing to the crazed look to his eyes. Livid and ready for a grand battle against Hell's former defense.
In the distance, several of the Abyss's guards had managed to gather together, bows in hand. Upon their commander's orders, they positioned themselves and released arrows to rain down on the cobblestone streets below. Regardless of the innocents still scrambling to safety, or those fighting off the devil himself, the squadron aimed for the true beast.
Meanwhile, the goddess flinched at Saadah's shouts. The griffins began to stir from their seated positions next to the orb, alerted by the noise nearby.
"All I did was tell Altair what was going on. And now you have your chance-- You said you'd do anything. And THAT'S your anything. Your contract's in there, Altair's contract's probably in there, Rose's contract's in there. Which, she's fine, so calm down. Breathe. The councilmen were dismissed early, so most of them already left the west wing."
Composing herself, she lifted her dress and started over to the two griffins which rose to their feet. As the goddess fiddled with her purse, she reached into its bottomless holdings and pulled out a ball of fish mixed with meat. Its wretched smell caused her face to contort in disgust, but she threw it over to one of the beasts before providing another to the second creature.
Altair turned to see the minotaur, his smile stretching widely and baring his sharp teeth as he yelled out in excitement.
"Yeah, give it to me, fuckers!"
Flipping backwards, his wings carried him through the air in an upside-down spiral as he dodged the massive beast's swing. With a slash of his clenched fingers through the air, the archdemon summoned into existence a set of gargantuan solidified spikes that clawed down at the minotaur from a distance. Altair, wielding the set of spikes with the movement of his fingers, lacerated the air from the right, from the left, and down the center of the monster. He looked up, noticing the storm of arrows on their way, and with a muttered "I don't think so-" , sent another pulse of hellfire heat that rippled through the sky and consumed the airborne attack.
~
Watching her in amazement, Saadah blinked and shook his head. "She's- She's okay-? Alright- alright, alright." Self-consciously straightening his waiter uniform, he approached the Griffins past the shelves, and by doing so, approached the Orb.
"H-Hah..." Nervously, he bowed a little to the Griffin that was nearest him, taking a few uneasy steps closer. "Don't-...Just don't-" He muttered, mostly to himself, as he held his hands to his chest in a surrendering way and watched the beasts all the while as he walked up to the Orb. Peeling his gaze off them, Saadah's face danced with light and shadows as he stared down at the ethereal object.
"Do I touch it..?" He whispered to himself fearfully, taking in a sharp breath of courage before reaching his long fingers out and grabbing the Orb.
Saadah winced, preparing for the worst, but after a few moments of nothingness, he frowned at the globe. "What...? I need to get in here, dammit!" He hissed, his frustration overcoming his fear as he gripped the orb tighter. "Let me see the contracts you shitty piece of-"
"It's here."
The man spun around in surprise, looking in disbelief at the figure standing where Eve had been moments earlier.
It was himself.
Rather, it was Saadah Yehia seventy years ago, before he'd died. He was thirty-one, with long black hair tied up in a knot. He was wearing the traditional robes of his clan, with his hands tucked into his sleeves. With a calm smile, the Other Saadah pulled out a small ticket from his sleeve, waved it tauntingly in the air, and returned it to its place in his robe.
"What-..." Saadah stuttered, glaring at himself with wide eyes.
"You're looking for your contract? That was it. It's mine, and you can't have it." Other Saadah said, turning his chin up. "I'm not sure why you'd want it anyways, she wouldn't be able to leave with you, after all."
"You're-? I-...?" Pushing past the strangeness of the situation, Saadah's gaze hardened. and he stepped down and towards his clone. "I'm here for myself, not for her."
"Always yourself, always us us us. Always a cheat, always a thief, always a nothing." His other self teased, stepping back as he stepped forward. "That's why you ended up here, isn't it? You abandoned your family for wealth, and look at you now, slutting your way through death as you did in life. Lapping up whatever your superior's piss out, as long as you get what you want in the end."
Saadah's head lowered, but his glowing eyes were fixed on his old self as he continued to draw near to him- while the Other Saadah continued to back away. "I left the family to make money for them, if they weren't happy with how I did it, that's their fault-"
"Bullshit! You only cared about us in the end, you only cared about you. You are all you've ever cared about. You are worthless. And now, you're going to abandon your family again. You're going to leave Rose to suffer torture alone, while you cheat judgement like a little pussy. "
"Me being free only means we're halfway there!" Saadah argued, "Better halfway than nothing at all! And if I'm free...I can love again. I can love her." At the mere thought of it, a fire lit in his eyes. Other Saadah opened his mouth to reply, but it was a moment too late. With an aggressive yell, Saadah had lunged at his clone and brought it crashing to the ground with him. He wrapped his hands around his self's throat and crushed it between his fingers, gritting his teeth.
"You are nothing," He growled down at his old self as he straddled the struggling figure, "I am everything. And I will be bringing her with me." Other Saadah's mouth gaped as he struggled for air, reaching up and grabbing his self's face weakly as his eyes grew foggy. Saadah showed him no mercy, compressing his thumbs up against the veins in Os's throat until his clone fell limp. "You are nothing." Saadah whispered again, his hands trembling as he continued to hold the Other's throat. He held it there in silence for a few minutes until he was sure it was dead, before scrambling to find the ticket he'd hidden in his sleeve. Feeling the tiny paper in his fingers, he pulled it out and immediately ripped it into pieces.
-And suddenly, he was back. Standing before the orb with his hands on it, gripping it tightly. With a gasp, he let go and stepped back, looking down at his hands. His ribs expanded as he took a deep breath in, and it felt like more air than he'd breathed in decades. Everything about him felt...uncaged. A feeling rose up his chest, something unfamiliar at first, but as it's warmth overtook him and his eyes welled with tears, he recognized it. Love. Covering his mouth, Saadah turned to look for Eve, shaking in amazement. "...I did it."
The goddess kept an eye on the two griffins as Saadah made his way up to the radiant orb. With his back turned to her, she dropped every ounce of confidence she had before he touched the orb. So many possibilities in that moment collided-- and yet the roll fate had given him played out hazily on the white part of the sphere.
As all seemed well, she carefully approached the massive creature, reaching out and stroking its feathers. It compliantly returned to its seated position, but only after snatching another treat pulled out of her purse.
By the time the lordless soul emerged with his victory, she'd managed to climb atop the griffin, stroking its side while the castle boomed above them. For although walls settled from their rapid fall, heated fires raged across the rubble, leaving fishermen to haul heavy columns of stone to find their prey.
One such stone that was lifted revealed a half of two lords; the woman, no longer crushed and disfigured, stumbled upright, eyes wide as she searched the unfamiliar scene for her lordly counterpart. After wiping the dust from her eyes, she pointed up to the sky, a voiceless command given to the gargoyles of the estate. Those still whole and even those who'd crumbled with the Castle all rose, flying off to protect the realm. And although the queen said nothing, a twinge of fear crossed her features as she noticed the sky, stormy and blackened. And with knowledge that the contract room had been breached.
"Hell yeah, you did it!"
The goddess cheered, pulled back from her vision of the land above. She dismounted the griffin and hopped over to him, eyes bright with curiosity.
"Kicked your copy's ass. So, you feel any different? Light-headedness? Any side-effects?"
While she bombarded him with inquires, above ground, the fight continued. While the minotaur toppled to the ground, sliced to bits, another competitor approached through the chaos. A familiar voice to the archdemon, friendly yet confident.
"Altair! What's gotten into you, bro?"
Dressed in violet and black armor, Altair's off-duty guard stepped forward, affixing a red mask over his face as he brushed back amber strands. As he dropped his arm, a long double-sided dagger formed, with electrical energy pulsing off and around the weapon. He readied himself for a blow as he spoke, but also prepared himself to immediately lunge in with an attack if he was denied answers. A zap strong enough to stun the archdemon, or a conversation and fight long enough for reinforcements to gather. The group with arrows were laughable to him, at best.
"Listen, settle down a bit, drop the sword, and let's talk before things get even more messy. Comrade to comrade, yeah?"
The words struck Altair's heart like poisoned arrows and the breath caught in his throat as he looked over his shoulder. For the first time since his attack, the archdemon settled his feet on the ground. Turning to face the off-duty guard, he lifted his chin and watched the man suspiciously- his eyes darting from Luther's mask, to his weapon, back to his mask. "I know you don't give a shit, let's be honest here. For once, just try it, won't you?" His aura of scalding heat pulsed a few times, keeping oncomers and arrows at bay. "Marshall's dead." He added, swiping his tongue over his lips. "And if you don't get out of my way, I'll be eating your heart next."
Although his face was hidden from view, the surprise was clear in his tone of voice. He cocked his head to the side, expressionless to Altair, but sinisterly grinning under his mask.
"I can't believe we had you fooled for so long. Hah, no, I won't be going anywhere, kid. Your tantrums are nothing new. You just want some more attention, right?"
He laughed, waving a hand as if that dispelled the charade completely. With a tightened grip on his weapon of choice, sparks flew over to Altair, nipping at his feet. An energized reminder of what he could do, and what he'd already done.
"Although, this really shouldn't come as that much of a shock. The council hated you, after all. Pretending to be a soldier. Look at you now-- the exact opposite. You can't blame us for taking advantage of you, when you're only proving us right. Not like you'd ever say no."
As the guard spit out snarky remarks, he'd zapped multiple locations around Altair-- four in total as he set a trap. All the archdemon needed to do was move outside the marked areas and sparks would fly up, frying him so harshly his organs themselves would cease to momentarily function, his muscles spasming involuntarily. Of course, with how quickly Altair could heal himself over, it was nothing but an attempt to stun and subdue him.
Deep in the dark of the Fore, the men of Altair's company had come to the demon for entertainment over the last five-thousand years. Chained and bound and starved for affection, Altair had taken their advances, however painful and terrible they were, again and again and again. He'd been assured that it was simply what friends do, and how one helped their brothers. Luther, however, was a different story. The very smell of him brought chills up the back of the archdemon's neck, and he could feel the sweltering wounds of his electrifying dagger, the rough clenching of his hands in his hair, and the cold whispers taunting in his ear again. Luther had never played the part of a friend, nor had he ever gone easy on the prisoner, sometimes even bringing his companions to take part.
As the sparks snapped at his feet, Altair jumped back. The ring of heat protecting him fell away for just a moment as his heart pounded in fear, and he stumbled forward when two arrows shot through the membranes of his wings and into his back. "Ah-...!" Catching himself, he took a long breath in and glared at the man, his wings trembling.
"I was a fool." He growled, nodding bitterly. "And I see you now." Altair's fingers clenched, bringing forth the massive spikes he'd used against the minotaur. Raising his hand, the spikes followed in return and flew high into the air. "And I think this time, I'll decide when we finish." He hissed darkly, slashing both his hands through the air and sending the spikes slicing downwards towards Luther.
