A Loyal Companion
TEN: Battle

We were once again at the battle ground. Margaret with all her witches along with some other spell casters had set up perimeters that worked in keeping the battle unseen in the human eyes and to keep the damage to minimum.

I stood by Aranthias, looking right to the portal. Chill crawled up my neck as a gust of wind went pass. It wasn’t just a passing wind, it carried something with it. I felt the pressure as something hit the ground hard in so many places around the battle ground, shaking the land that lied beneath my feet. I saw a smile slipped pass Aranthias’ lips.

“They’re here”

The soldiers made a barrier for what had fallen in between them. I had no way of knowing what just hit the ground until I saw what it was, and my heart almost leap in joy at the sight of it. Toric, Allegra, Deirdra, Anzu and Eos had emerged from the ground where they hit. I had met Deirdra and Anzu once a long time ago, but I knew who the rest are thanks to Gin’s determination to pack me with all knowledge about my own ancestors, especially other ancient weapon bearers. They were so rare that there were only five of them in this world, six including myself, but none of their weapons were capable of killing a god, only mine did.

They glided smoothly towards Aranthias. The crowd of vampires and werewolf knew better than to attack the foreigners. They held such aura, so powerful that it densed the air around us. They stopped before Aranthias and offered a salute before turning to Gin and gave him another salute.

“Thank you for being here” Aranthias greeted them.

Toric straightened and came to meet my gaze. The man was tall and slim but he was well toned. He was incredibly handsome with his hazel eyes and his red hair, his elegance was visible even without him moving. He was beautiful in his own way, the long smooth red hair that almost matched Aidan’s was tied with a string of leaves, his brown-ish golden eyes swirled. Oh he’s beautiful alright. He carried a golden bow on his right hand, and strapped to his back were his arrows. I frowned at the arrow at his back, I only saw one arrow, but when I blinked I saw a dozen. So it was true what they said about Toric’s arrows… they’d multiply and would never stop multiplying, giving him an endless supply of magical arrows.

“Glad to finally meet you lil’ sis” his deep voice resonated in my ears. He took my hand and gave it a little squeeze before turning back to the others, showing his back to me, where he had the tattoo of a Pegasus on his right shoulder blade.

If Toric was elegant, Allegra was the opposite. The woman was about the same height as me, she was buffed up, packed with muscles. Her copper hair was dreaded and pulled into a small bun at the top of her head. Her chocolate skin bore many wounds, and her hands carried a couple of chakrams. The round pair of weapons sat on her palm, spiked and sharp with engraving on the flat side, she named them Ghiele and Lucaa. Gin told me that the chakrams could vary their sizes and spikes depending on how Allegra wanted it. She was a woman born to battle, everything of her was built to suit battle ground, even her spirit.

Eos was almost like Allegra, similar body build, but bigger and way taller than her. His hair was a dark shade of blonde, fell straight to his chin, but behind the roughness of his face was a gentle loving soul. He held his weapon by his side, which stood at his jaw height. It was a bardiche. I had seen one before but never quite like the one Eos held. It was fine and glowing. I looked closely and could find an eye at the base of the blades, and it was alive. A chuckle came from him, “Don’t worry, lil sis, he won’t eat you, he only eats bad souls” he patted his weapon as if it was a pet. That’s good to know.

I turned to Deirdra’s familiar face, one who had seen her once would not forget her. She had the motherly figure that made me feel like a little child again every time I look at her. Her embrace could invoke any loving memory from a family, which made her unforgettable, she became those memories. Her curly auburn hair was loose down to touch her shoulder blade. She was wearing a white dress with a wide golden waist band. But slipped in between that waist band was her jade flute, one of the deadliest weapons of all. Deirdra never had to touch an enemy to strike a killing blow, a tune from her flute could send them to death. I’ve heard a song from the instrument, it was the most beautiful sound I’ve heard and the tune she played was magnificent, but to the ears of the enemies, those tunes were excruciating, it would blow their arteries, break every bones in their body, until at the last moment of their painful death, their heart exploded. Deirdra came forward and gave me a light hug, sending a wave of warmth and loving under her touch, which reminded me of my lost home once again. I knew she didn’t try to summon my memories as she already had in the past, when I broke down and cry soon after, but being in her arms again reminded me how it felt to have my family again.

Anzu on the other hand, looked like a teenage rebellion, and the personality matched her looks. Anzu was the youngest before I came into being, but at my side, she looked like she was the youngest, especially with her fashion taste. She was wearing a cropped black leather jacket, with a body hugging red t-shirt underneath and a pair of black pants down to her calves, with big black boots with buckles to match the jacket. Her lavender hair was pulled into a pony tail, which shows a small tattoo at the back of her neck, a devil mask tattoo, which she told me that it was her guardian given by her grandfather. A long chain circled her entire right arm, at the ends of the chain were heavy solid metal, one end was sharp while the other was dull. Her Ancient weapon, which goes by the name Moora, was was known to be unbreakable and extremely destructive. I heard the story of Moora held an entire army of goblins in place and not even the sharpest blade could break the chain. Unlike Allegra’s chakrams which vary in sizes according to Allegra’s will, Moora was more ‘alive’. It protected its master and could change in length and size at its own will. In short, I could say that it was more like an iron snake which answered to its master. Along with Moora, a slim and long metal container was strapped to each side of her slim thigh. They were her additional weapons, a pair of iron fans which she earned after one of her quests. She smiled at me and waved me a ‘peace’ greeting, she reminded me of Chloe.

“Nice to see you again, I like what you’ve done to your hair” she motioned her hand in a straight long downward motion. My hair used to be wavy and very long, now I had done my hair straight and it was no longer touching my hip bones.

“Thank you. Same goes to you” and touched my hair with my finger, noting the change of colour, because her hair used to be emerald green.

“We’re honoured to have you all here” Gin offered a friendly bow and extended his arms.

“What did you expect? We’d let you you fight this war alone? Hell no. You gotta leave some fun for us” Allegra’s voice was high pitched but pleasant on the ear. She sounded her battle roar and brought her gaze back to Gin, the woman was full of energy and passion.

“Now, let’s get these sons of bitches down” she said again, but her voice this time made the hair at the back of my neck crawled, she was vicious and hungry for blood. At the same time, my Crimson Tears vibrated against my back, as if it heard Allegra’s call and it had awaken Crimson Tears’ lust for blood. Aranthias felt it and put his hand on the hilt, but he quickly took his hands off it, and I could see smoke came from his hand. He hissed at the pain Crimson Tears had caused. I saw a burn mark on his palm, red and smelled of burning flesh.

“Is it suppose to do that?” I asked as Aranthias blew a cooling air to his palm and the mark disappeared immediately

“Don’t worry, it just gave me a warning. It won’t let me touch it until you made your choice between Antheon and I”

But I want you! My heart screamed. Before I came across Antheon again, I would want to choose Aranthias. I took his hand on mine and searched his eyes for an answer I was seeking, but I didn’t find it there.

“What would happen if I declare that you’re the one I’ve chosen?” He took my hand to his lips and kissed it gently, but sorrow filled his eyes.

“I’m sorry love, I wished it would do something, but your words wouldn’t make a difference, it’s your heart that does”.

My heart torn in pieces as the words left his mouth. I denied the attraction I had to Antheon, I couldn’t help it. I felt so low for having the same feelings for Antheon as I had for Aranthias, how could I love a man that was bound to kill everyone I cared and loved for?

The earth moved as I let go of my arm from Aranthias’ grip. It was time. I heard the soothing melody from Deirdra’s flute and the swishing sound from Moora. Gin stepped next to me and placed his hand on my shoulder.

“You be careful”

I placed my hand on top of his and pressed it against my shoulder. I wanted to hold his hand longer, feeling the security and protection from him as how I always felt whenever I was with him.

“I will. You too, Gin. Fight well”

He took his hand off my shoulder and smiled. Just as he turned his head towards the incoming army from the portal, I saw his eyes gleamed in blue silvery color. After centuries knowing him, I never knew he had those eyes.

I moved to stand next to Aidan, his wings spread and embraced me with its softness and warmth. In that warmth I saw the two men I loved moved towards the incoming chaos. Then Aidan pressed both his hands on my shoulders, gave me a light kiss on my forehead and he too, took off to face the enemies.

As soon as the dark army set their foot on the soil, the wave of Deirdra’s melody sent the entire front line to face their painful death. The vampires and werewolves strike forward and faced their battle. The next batch was more powerful and Deirdra’s song only managed to slow them down and hurt them, but did not kill them. Arrows flew from behind the defender line, sending a rain of magical arrows towards the enemies. I shook my head, braced Crimson Tears in my hand and charged to meet with the others.

The earth trembled beneath my feet, I realized Eos had swung Manon to feed on its prey. The impact had sent vibrations throughout the whole land. I summoned my braveness and slashed my way through the dark army, feeding Crimson Tears with the enemy’s blood.

No matter how many were down, more of the dark army kept coming towards us. I kept slashing them, drawing blood, but the incoming seemed to never end. Then in the middle of that chaos I saw Antheon, stood proud in his dark armor, unmoved, surrounded by his minions. Stood by his side was a demon, bigger than the others, wearing golden armor, and carried a bastard sword on his left hand. I was certain that the demon was the second in command. The air around them was so dense that it was visible to the naked eye. I felt the odd attraction again towards Antheon. As much as I didn’t want it to exist, I couldn’t resist, he was the same man as Aranthias, I thought. Would he share the same touch? The same gentleness? The same passion? All the thoughts that I wasn’t suppose to have flowed through, and as if it was spoken out loud, Antheon found me in the middle of that madness.

When our eyes met, I had a split second vision of him and I joined as one. His naked body was as beautiful as Aranthias’, shielding mine. The passion heated up and I was riding him wildly. Before I could stop myself, I walked forward towards Antheon. I ignored all the chaos around me, I didn’t even stop when a few werewolves collapsed on my path. I ordered my legs to stop walking, but it refused to stop.

“Ondine! What are you doing?” I heard Nasya’s voice called for me. I wanted to turn to her, but I couldn’t even do that, my feet kept taking steps closer to Antheon.

“Nasya! Leave her! You’d get too close to him! She’s charmed!” Gin’s voice rang in my ears. Even hearing the man who had cared for me for so long didn’t stop my feet from walking. “Elliot! Get her!” again, Gin’s voice rang in my ears.

I saw Elliot ran closer to me from the corner of my eyes. He stood and tried to reach me. He could only touch the outer layer of my thoughts. I actually wanted to go to Antheon, wanted to touch his skin, wanted to feel his kiss. I cursed at myself for wanting so. Gin stepped to my side, and grabbed my waist to stop me from walking, but even a man as strong as Gin couldn’t make me budge. Then I saw what I thought was an illusion earlier, his silvery blue gleaming eyes sparkled again. He murmured a few words in an ancient tongue, followed by a freezing breeze through my feet, something that looked like a thick, frosted ice wall suddenly appeared in front of me. The wall was old magic, which worked to disturb the charmed Antheon had put on me. I snapped back to reality, trying to gain my own control again.

“Will you manage?” Gin’s voice was full of concern.

I managed a little nod before looking into his eyes, but the color had turned back to his normal grey eyes once I looked. I murmured a thank you to him before he took the magic off, and found that Antheon was no longer on sight. I felt disgusted at myself for wanting to feel his touch.

“Thanks. I’ll take it from here” I murmured to Gin.

He squeezed my shoulders and nodded, then left me to face the chaos again. I looked around and found Aranthias fought the demons on his path, and at that time I wondered if he knew what just happened.

I didn’t linger much longer before I started fighting again. Somehow I felt twice powerful than I was before, Crimson Tears was still thirsty, asking for more blood, which I gladly gave to it. I fought my way until I found my place at Aranthias’ side again, looking for comfort from being lured to his twin, but what stood before him didn’t give me any comfort at all. Antheon stood silent, facing his twin on the battle field. The two didn’t speak, but their aura told all the stories. I couldn’t find any anger or jealousy in the air between them, instead, I found perfection. I didn’t feel as it was two people standing facing each other, it felt like one person facing a mirror, only that the reflection showed a different look. The twins turned to face me, and what I found in their eyes torn my heart in two. Two different pair of eyes, one gaze, one feeling, both were love. Even someone as dark as Antheon had love in his eyes. The two really were one soul torn in two, and I did not know who to choose, or even if I could choose between the two of them.

It was only when a bear charged its attack towards Antheon that my thoughts broke. The bear was one of Elliot’s boys, he was big and powerful, its claw slashed Antheon’s chest and left open wounds. Antheon hit the ground with the force from the bear. In a few seconds I saw the wound closed itself and two seconds later his chest was smooth again. With one full blast, Antheon sent the bear to meet his death, but another creature appeared on his way, it was Faye who rose to the challenge. Aranthias chose that moment to grab my hand and move me away from his twin who was occupied with Faye, but as we backed off, the second in command, Antheon’s right hand stood behind us, and strike his bastard sword down to Aranthias’ shoulder. I felt warm blood splattered onto my face. Aranthias’ grip loosen in my hand, he maneuvered and took the sword out of his flesh, and planted a fist on the beast’s stomach, pushing him back a few meters. I saw the blood streaming down from Aranthias’ shoulder, and the flesh that was trying to sew itself together again, but it failed to work. I knew in an instant that the bastard sword was an ancient.

The beast stood and went towards us again. Aranthias was struggling to heal himself as the wound wouldn’t heal the way it would with other wounds. As a god Aranthias couldn’t be killed even by an Ancient weapon, but it would take a few minutes to heal instead of a few seconds, and that was the few minutes we didn’t have with the way the beast charged towards us. I blocked his bastard sword with Crimson Tears, sparks came as the two swords met. His force pushed me down until I kneeled on the ground, he was heavy not just with his strength, but his aura was so dense that it pushed me down. I summoned my inner energy and fed it to my aura, making it as dense as his and pushed him back. I was finally back on my two feet. I slid one hand down the back of my jacket, just near the edge of my pants, and pulled out a dagger. Without hesitation I plunged the dagger on his chest. I knew it wouldn’t do much to him, but it was enough to distract him for a fraction of second. As soon as I felt him jerked, reacting to my dagger I moved Crimson Tears to the side of his neck and brought my dagger up to block the bastard sword. I knew the dagger would be severely damaged as it wouldn’t hold the blast, but it was better for the dagger to be damaged than my arm. With one sure movement, I severed the beast’s head. It fell to the ground and the body followed.

A warm fountain of blood bathed me, and Crimson Tears was satisfied. The bastard sword glimmered a little, and as soon as the beast’s soul left the body, the bastard sword dimmed. I looked back to Aranthias, his wound was nearly half closed, it was quick healing considering it was an ancient that strike him, but being a god, even in a man’s body, he was capable of healing fast from it. He stood straight, one hand blasting more enemies as they came his way, but he managed to turn to me, at that moment I knew that he could have handled it himself. I felt somehow silly for how I acted, I forgot that he was a god.

“You didn’t have to do that, you know” he said jokingly, he pointed at my side which was covered by the beast’s blood

“Look at the mess he got you into” he said again. I shrugged and gave him a little smile

“Couldn’t resist”

He mouthed a “Thank you” before blasting another demon.

“In that case, we better get you out of those clothes, pronto”.

I gave him a wicked smile “I look forward to that, since you’re not in a much better state than I am” I pointed to his bloodied clothes and hair. I didn't need more prompting before re-joining the battle.

My eyes fluttered open to find myself awake in Aranthias’ arms. If I hadn’t knew better, I would’ve thought that he was an angel asleep beside me. He still struck me with his angelic look. It didn’t occur to me that we were lying in the woods until I smell grass and heard the sound of trees. I recalled the memory of last night’s battle. We were saved by sunlight. Gin was clever to use greed against the dark army. He had sent Cael and his men home to avoid getting them fried by the sun, leaving us only with a little over half of our initial army. The dark army hadn’t pulled back when they saw the vampires retreated, they thought we would be easier to beat. Somehow Antheon didn’t think to save his own men. It didn’t surprise me though, to him, the minions were expendables, he had left them to turn into ashes as the sun hit them.

“Go back to sleep… it’s still early” I heard Aranthias murmured beside my ear. His arms clutched tighter around my ribs, pulling me closer to him as he drifted back to sleep, I felt his manhood against my rear. He was soft. I felt naughty and wanted to bring him hard with my touch.

I turned to face his sleeping face, brushed my hand on the shoulder that was wounded from the bastard sword. It had healed perfectly. I felt his chest rose up and down as he breathed. I slipped my hand down to his shaft, stroking him gently at first. He moved slightly in his sleep as my fingers did the magic. I kissed his adam’s apple and trailed my way down to his nipple, nibbling it gently. I looked up to him to make sure I hadn’t awakened him yet. I moved down to his hips and nibbled on his hip bone, the delicate skin was soft and warm against my lips. I felt the urge to take him in me then, but I waited, I let the pleasure build up as I teased him. I heard him gasped lightly as I kissed my way down his pelvic bones to his root, where I took his sack in my mouth. I moved my way up to his tip, he was firm then, I gave him gentle suction while my hands caressed his thighs, his buttocks and massaging him. I felt him growing harder in my mouth, filling me with all his length. The man was thick and long, I savored the pleasure of having him whole in my mouth, bringing my lips to meet the root and tasted every inch of him. I felt his legs tensed and one of his hands cupped my hair gently, holding it against my head, forming a little messy bun, he was awake then.

I caught his smile and his golden eyes, his breathing had paced up as he grew rigid in my mouth. I gently let him slid out, then gave him a last lick before moving up to claim his lips with mine. A low growl escaped from him as we tasted one another. He traced his tongue on my bottom lip as we broke from the kiss. He spread his fingers on my jaw and to the back of my ears, gently tilting my head back so he could ravish my neck. His tongue felt warm on my skin, tracing up to my ear, biting on it, and slowly entered his tongue into the earlobe. I twitched for how good it felt.

With me still on top, he picked me up so that my bare breasts were right in front of him. He looked at them hungrily, and took each one in his mouth in turn, without leaving any part of it untouched. He rounded his arms tight around my waist to bring him closer. To my surprise he skillfully rounded one of his arms and reached between my legs from behind without losing contact with my swollen nipples. I was dangerously close to a scream from the pleasure he was giving me. I dug my nails into the skin on his back, scratching, trying not to collapse from the pleasure. Slowly, he laid me down on the grass, invading me with the smell of fresh green grass, the morning dew wet my back. His lips traveled from my breast to my navel, while his hands spread my legs. Lying on his side, he put his cheek on my thigh, near the pelvis. His fingers teased my opening, I felt the blood pumped to my cheeks as he exposed my most intimate parts.

“You’re beautiful” he whispered, sending warm air to my womanhood. A moan escaped me as he kissed it gently. He drove me over the moon when his tongue filled me. I turned to my side, reaching to face his lower half, rounding my arms around his hips, drawing him closer to me. I rolled slowly while he was still filling me with his tongue, and ended up back on top with his erection standing proud before me. I took his length again in my mouth, only this time I could barely swallow his length. I felt his growl vibrated through the inside of me, delighted with ecstasy, my body squirmed for him. I felt his body shuddered under mine, he had gone harder and tighter. I took the tip in my mouth and let my palm traveled the rest of him. When I thought it couldn’t get better, he plunged two fingers in me, stirring and tasting me at the same time. I couldn’t stop the moan leaving my lips, out of frustration and desire. He sent me to a place I had never thought I could be, my body ached for him, I thought I was reaching for heaven as he drove me to the edge of my climax, I wanted release, but he held back, holding it longer. His shaft was harder between my lips, eager to be released too. I knew what he wanted as he pulled himself out and finally kneeled behind me, my rear faced him.

I felt his hand on my hip as he drove his rigid shaft in me. I anchored both hands and knees to the ground, holding my weight as he thrust his hips, one hand made circling motion to the center of my body where I ached for him the most, while the other played with my hardened nipples. He thrust himself faster and harder, I dug my fingers to the ground and bit my lips as every cell of my body wanted to burst. Without warning, his strong arms picked me up off the ground, one arm around my ribs, while the other behind my knee, I leaned back to him as he moved the other hand down behind the other knee. He stood up when I rounded my arms backwards, to his neck, exposing my front to the warming sun, while he held my legs opened wide for him to thrust himself in. The sensation was overwhelming. He buried his face on the curve of my neck, biting the skin. I tilted my head back to rest on his shoulder. His breathing was raged as he used his arms to move me to his rhythm. I screamed his name in my climax as he screamed mine.

We lied on the green grass, trying to catch up with our breath again, snapping our minds back to reality. Still panting, I rose to his chest, and faced him,

“Where are we again?” his chest vibrated as he let go of a small chuckle, his hand combed my damp hair,

“Somewhere safe, love” he answered while playing with my hair. To be completely honest, I couldn’t remember how I got to the place where we were. Somehow my memory had black spots after the battle. Not that I mind since I woke up to my naked angel, I could survive everyday of my damned life just to have him by my side.

“Ondine” I looked up to him as he said my name, “Hmm?”

“Ondine” this time I frowned as I looked at his face, his lips didn’t move when I heard his voice called my name. Now, that’s not right. I sat up and his gaze followed me, and one more time, the voice called my name again, only this time I felt a force pulling me away from Aranthias, dragging me out of the woods, and as I felt my back hit something I didn’t know what, my vision went blank.

This time, when my eyes fluttered open, I didn’t find Aranthias by my side, instead, I looked at a stone ceiling on top of me. I realized the satin sheet beneath me as I managed to adjust my vision to the dim light. Oh no… not again. I hated it when good dream felt so real, and when I woke up it wasn’t as pretty as it was in my dream. I could smell Aranthias as if I was just with him and I felt I was still wet from the love making, as if the dream was real. I wondered, had I summoned him to my dream? Wait a minute! Where the hell am I?

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