“Call for him, he will come help you,” she hears an insidious whisper in her mind. “Call your angel, Elina! He will save you!” the Twin responds.
“No!” she screams at the evil in front of her and they twist their blades, increasing her anguish. Bright red blood runs down her tingling arms pooling at her feet.
“More pain, then!” The twins release the blades from her shoulders; and toss her down the bronze steps towards the warriors waiting below. As she crashes through the stone warriors, the weight of her body causes the stone to explode to dust. Cut and bleeding, Elina tries to scramble away but her arms are useless. Her intention is to pick up a weapon and fight back, but she is helpless. Stone faces turn to look at her and glowing red eyes stare.
“Call your angel!” the stone mouths demand.
Elina shakes her head no. Unable to get up she scoots back away from them, cutting her legs amongst the stone debris.
“Pain, then!” flashes a pair of red eyes. A terracotta warrior aims his bow and releases the arrow, piercing Elina through her thigh.
Unable to scream, writhing in pain, she weeps because she knows she has failed. Why have her powers left her? Another stone warrior steps forward and brings his stone foot down on the bottom of her leg, crushing the bones beneath. Her hoarse screams are interrupted by a voice from her nightmares.
“Brothers, I see you started without me.” Elina’s bright blue eyes look frantically for a way to escape, trying to lift her arms to shield herself. Raphaim steps up, raising his hands in the air to show he has no weapons, “Father sends his regards.”
In unison, the twins whip up their silver swords. “OURS!!!!” they scream.
Raphaim sighs and lowers his hands. “You two were always a pain in the ass!” With a small wave the entire army of stone warriors shift, turning their weapons on the pair.
“Betrayer” they hiss as they try to leave but find the way to them is blocked.
“Now boys, play fair. I only want a moment with the Keeper. What you seek is not here. The scroll is in another chamber, and judging by the rioting going on outside, it will be discovered soon. You best hurry along.”
Silver eyes meet and with a nod, they are gone. As he turns to look at Elina, he shakes his head in disbelief.
“This is not how I hoped to meet you again, Keeper. You are a mess. I was looking forward to fighting you again.” Advancing towards her, he stops when she tries to get away.
She kicks at him and causes her bleeding to increase. Sweaty, nauseous, and dizzy, she knows that she will black out soon. “Get it over with, demon!” she spits.
“Elina, I am here to help you. It looks like I am all you have, since you will not ask for help.” Stooping down in front of her, he reaches out his hand, “Live or die Keeper? The choice is yours.”
“I have dreamed of the moment we would meet again, Raphaim,” she pants in pain as she looks at the demon responsible for murdering her family, “But I had hoped the situation would be reversed.”
Laughing at her spunk, he is not surprised when she tries to lift her hand.
With a hiss of agony, she tells him, “I can’t do it, help me.”
He carefully lifts her into his arms and turns to go, only to find the Twins have returned. They stand holding the sacred scroll, and see Raphaim holding her and smile. Raphaim’s teeth lengthen at the smell of her rich blood. He leans down and asks his brothers, “I thought I’d have a bit of lunch, want some?”
“Ours!” they demand, with hunger in their silver eyes.
Raphaim does the only thing he can think to do. He tosses her at them. “Catch” he says. The twin holding the scroll backs away, while the other one attempts to catch her. Elina screams and kicks with her good leg, catching him in his jaw. With a thud, she lands on her broken leg, and tries to catch her breath. She looks around desperately for the scroll. Raphaim grabs his brother’s silver sword, and shoves it through his heart. The resulting scream echoes through the tomb and the terra cotta warriors seize the remaining twin. Elina lies on the floor watching in horror as the remaining twin’s chest bleeds in unison with his brother’s.
“They share everything.” Raphaim says looking at her.
“Covenant Breaker! You shall pay for all eternity!” the twin wheezes at him.
“No brothers, I am through paying.” Then using the sword he is holding, Raphaim severs the twin’s head and kicks the body into the sea of quicksilver. Picking up the doppelganger, he tosses it into the liquid metal river along with their swords.
He reaches down slowly, picking up the scroll and turns to Elina. Her vision is fading and all Elina sees is the shape of a man with large wings walking towards her. She asks, “Malach?” then blessed blackness.
Miles away, Raphaim lands with Elina, he knows by her shallow breathing she is losing too much blood. He builds a small fire for heat, then splashes water on her face and shakes her. When she refuses to wake he presses on her shoulder wound enough to wake her. Groaning in agony, she looks at him, and panics once more, every movement brings waves of pain.
“Elina, don’t move too much. You must call for help, I can’t heal you.”
“NO! I won’t do it!”
