*
Alex felt the thumping of the weather reduce to a quiver and thought it was safe to let the plane go. She released her hands and the aircraft soared over her head, the tendrils unravelling themselves from the wings. She turned as her wings kept her hovering, watching the plane continue gathering momentum and height. Her shoulders heaved with the aching need for breath, but the exhilaration she felt bubbled within her like a volcano. She had just saved someone’s life, fully conscious of what she was doing.
A crackle behind her made her turn. The smoke swirled and gathered to form the face she had seen before. The sinister one that mocked her with a feral grin, only now it wore a scowl of menace. A rabid dog that had been denied a juicy meal. It stared her down, high above the Sydney skyline. The face-off between a Valkyrie and the demon cloud. “Oh yeah… forgot about you. Guess you’re pretty pissed at me, huh…”
The face sank back as tendrils lashed out at her, wrapping around her waist and wrists, coiling tighter. The smoky substance couldn’t have been mist or fog as she felt it wrap around her like tentacles, yet she did gag and choke from the wisps that flew off it.
With a cry of desperation, Alex busted free of its grip. The tendrils retreated back at a rapid pace, and the face looked pained or in distress even. She looked over her shoulder. Her wings had expanded and stretched out with her cry and burst into flames. That’s what had broken the hold.
“Of course…” Alex thought. “Light hurts you. That’s why you want me dead. You can’t handle fire.”
The face, perhaps it was Dominus himself, was clearly preparing another tendril charge. This time she wouldn’t give it the chance. “You want me? Come and get me.”
She launched herself directly forward, veering left just as the great mouth snapped shut after her in an attempt to bite her. Consume her. She gave a quick glance behind and sure enough the face had followed her direction. The howling wind sent it racing after her. Masonian had said her speed was unmatched. It was time to learn how fast she really was. Could she outrun death?
She swerved through the air, keeping her body as straight as possible and trusting her wings to dictate her speed. The tendrils lashed out at her, but the flames of her wings acted like a shield. When they struck she felt them but no pain. Suddenly, Masonian’s voice came into her helmet. “Alex…the city has only minutes left. The hail is increasing in size. The damage is worsening by the second. You have to break the cloud up now…”
She couldn’t keep going like this. She had to do something else. She had thought that by chasing her the cloud couldn’t do any more damage. That wasn’t true...or maybe it was. Maybe she just wasn’t targeting the right thing. She pivoted and saw the demonic image far away, but still glaring at her. Alex glanced at her wings and then the face. Without a second thought, she launched herself forward and headed straight for it. Ignoring the opening mouth. Ignoring the tendrils. The mouth closed around her and she was surrounded by a crushing darkness. Her body seized and her lungs filled with smoke. She had no sense of what was where, but she focused on what she could control for as long as she could. Keeping airborne. Trusting her wings. Her armour. Masonian. And most importantly, herself.
Suddenly she felt her wings break free of whatever restraint they were in and the tensing of her body eased. Her limbs were free. A second later the wind gave another unearthly howl and She felt a gust from underneath her, rising up. The face had risen about fifty feet. Readjusting itself for another attack. The tendrils snaked out but she burst through them, heading straight for the mouth, her wings sweeping her along when the face moved higher, not wanting to come into contact with the flames. More tendrils came for her, but she could handle them just as long as her plan was working.
“You’re doing it…keep going.”
Alex spun around as her wrist was caught by a rather thick tendril. She fought and fought but to no avail. Her wings couldn’t burn them, and they were drawing her in, once again, to the mouth. “How can smoke hold on to me like this?” she thought aloud.
“The tendrils are not smoke. Neither is the face. It’s the essence of Dominus. They can seek and destroy. Connected always.”
“Connected huh…” Alex held out her other wrist. ”Come on…here I am…”
Just as she thought, within seconds more had restrained her. But instead of fighting, she let them bring her in even further. She was exhausted. She would only have enough strength for one shot at this. If it didn’t work…
She shook her head free of the thought. It was going to work. It had to.
She looked left and right, judging the distance away from yet another consuming, and then she gripped a tendril with each hand and rocketed high into the sky, holding on to them tight. A roar followed her. She looked down and the snarling face was creeping underneath, but it looked to be being pulled. Snarling. Angry. The tendrils were whipping around, trying to get free but Alex hung on.
She rose higher and higher. Her shoulders and arms burned and ached something fierce. She grit her teeth, straining her face from the effort of not only keeping a grip on both sides that fought so hard against her but also of dragging this son of a bitch away from Sydney...away from her home. Alex closed her eyes but snapped them
