Chapter 5 – Beasts and Human Beasts
Throughout the night, Aaron doesn’t dream and just sleeps peacefully. Today appears to be another day for the taking as everyone is in high spirits and ready to fight. The three eat their breakfast then go to receive their new orders from the Father.
He tells them, “First, we dealt with the monsters of the sea and sky. Today we will deal with those on land. You may have seen them already in battle. They are the insects and animals that used to do my bidding but are now extinct because they were used to further the human lifespan. Do not let our string of victories get to your head. Continue the good work that you’ve been doing, and you will be victorious.”
“Yes, Father,” they say in unison.
Once they leave the realm, Aaron and Alexi keep Father’s advice in their heads while Lars forgets it immediately. The advice is replaced with thoughts about what Lars should do for Tina tonight. Because of the large-scale battles that have shaken the earth, more facilities have shown themselves. Most are underneath destroyed cities while others are underneath mountains and inactive volcanoes. Again, the forces of good face demons, mutated animals, and mutated people. To live in this new world, the people who rejected Emmanuel’s help have used the DNA of insects and animals to evolve their bodies to suit their new environments, however, these people are no longer human, nor do they resemble humans anymore.
Despite their new mutations and help from Lucifer, the mutated humans are no match for the forces of good. Aaron, Alexis, and Lars manage to destroy their targets in no time.
While resting on top of a destroyed mountain, Aaron says, “You know, I’m kind of glad my parents didn’t survive to this point. I’d hate to see what they would’ve become.”
His friends agree.
“This seems easier than it should be. The Leviathan would usually show up again, but it hasn’t yet. I wonder what’s going on,” Alexis says.
“Maybe we’re just too strong for them. I mean, what else can they possibly throw at us?” Lars says with confidence.
“Don’t get too cocky. Remember what Father said.”
“Oh, that’s right.”
An angel appears to the three and says, “We need your help in Section 55 of the earth! More enemies have appeared out of nowhere and they’re killing us.” She then disappears.
“Come on guys. Let’s go help,” Lars says as he dusts himself off and gets up.
“Are you sure? It’s weird how the angel didn’t wait for us to give her an answer,” Aaron says as he ponders the angel’s sudden appearance.
“Does it really matter? If someone needs help, we help them. If it’s a trap, we’re strong enough to get out of it.”
“This just might be a trap. Emmanuel is usually the one who appears to us to tell us what to do.”
“Whatever. You can go to Father to ask for reinforcements. I’m going to go help.”
“I’ll come too,” Alexis says, “If he gets in trouble, I’ll make sure to support him.”
“Alright. I’ll go talk to Father then. Be safe you too.”
Aaron transports himself to the Father’s realm. There is a suspicious amount of people with halo’s above their heads, which means that the angel might’ve been telling the truth.
Aaron bows before the Father and says, “I have completed my mission.”
“Good. Where are Alexis and Lars?” Father asks.
“I think you know.”
“Yes, but I want you to tell me.”
“They’re helping out a group of people under attack. An angel appeared and told us that the demonic army is killing off our soldiers.”
“It was a trick by Lucifer to lure people into his trap. I’m worried about their current condition, so I grant you greater power to defeat your enemies. Bring your friends back home safely.”
“Yes, Father.”
Aaron quickly exits the room and bumps into Tina who has a halo over her head.
She grabs him and tells him that, “The demons kept me alive until Lars showed up. That’s when they killed me right in front of him. I don’t know what happened to him after that, but it can’t be good. Please, you have to help him!”
“I will! Don’t worry.”
Aaron is transported to the battle to find his fellow humans under some kind of mind control spell. He fights them off with his enhanced strength and agility that allows him to beat them all in one attack. Alexis then appears before him under the same mind control spell as the others.
“No…Alexis…” Aaron says as tears almost begin to form in his eyes.
He knows what he has to do, but he can’t bring himself to do it. He fights her without going on the offensive. That is when she goes for a charging blow that could kill him. This forces him to defend himself and cut her. Once she falls down, he grabs her body and begins to sob over it, but she reawakens and puts a knife to his neck.
“Please…Alexis…Wake up,” Aaron says as he’s about to accept his fate.
Aaron closes his eyes until he hears the sound of something being stabbed. He opens his eyes to see that Alexis has killed herself. Everything around Aaron goes quiet as he cries over her, but he doesn’t have any time to. Lars tackles him out of nowhere and attacks him. Aaron shakes him off and defends himself.
The mind-controlled Lars says, “I thought she would’ve killed you but that blade of yours must have done something to wake her up. It’s a shame too. I thought this would’ve been a good way to off you, but I guess I’ll have to do it myself.”
“You planned this?”
“Who else would think of such a good idea?”
The two best friends fight each other. Somehow, Lars is stronger than the other mind-controlled people. The fight comes down to a barrage of shots from their crossbows. All of their arrows collide with each other until Aaron manages to outmaneuver Lars and lands five shots on him. Aaron goes to his wounded friend who appears to have snapped out of his mind control.
“I-I’m sorry about doing that to you, my friend,” Lars regretfully says before dying.
“It’s okay. I forgive you.”
His body disappears into the light. The bodies of his other allies and Alexis’ have disappeared as well. The rest of his mind-controlled allies converge on him and try to attack him but are quickly dispatched of. With Alexis and Lars out of the way, there’s no reason to hold back. Aaron is rightfully mad at the demons who put his friends in this trap and he uses this energy to defeat everyone who is mind controlled and even defeats the demons as well. The Leviathan reappears with more heads and its skin is now black and red. It swallows Aaron whole. In its mouth, there are dozens of angels and humans who are trying to break free from it. Aaron puts his sword in the Leviathan’s skin and cuts his way all the way through it until the head containing them falls off.
“Come on everyone! We have to combine our strength into one to defeat this beast!” Aaron says as he glows like Emmanuel.
The fighting spirits of his allies soar as they yell out and defeat the Leviathan with a series of strikes that makes it fall to the ground. Everyone then strikes it together with everything they have while being strengthened by the Spirit, which finally defeats the beast once and for all. After everything Aaron has gone through, he collapses from exhaustion. The angels transport him back to the Father’s dimension and let him rest in bed.
Aaron sleeps until nighttime when he finally wakes up. He goes to the dining hall where everyone cheers for him for his victory. Lars and Alexis are among the crowd with halos above their head. Aaron runs to them, embraces them, and cries.
Alexis wipes away his tears and says, “We’re okay now. Don’t worry about us.”
“We’re not allowed to fight anymore,” Lars says, “We still need to be purified because we went against our orders. But we’ll always be here cheering you on.”
“Hey, I’ll still love you no matter what. Please, be safe out there.”
Aaron responds in silence and just holds them. He remembers dreaming of this and yet, he didn’t heed its warning. Aaron wants to hate himself because he came out loved, adored, and more powerful than before at the cost of his friends' lives, but he can’t. There’s just so much he has to do for the people he cares about. He has to be strong for them and show them why they put their faith in them and he has to do it alone…for the most part.
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